MORGANTOWN — If your city manager leaves, the expected course of action would be to appoint the assistant city manager to fill that role on an interim basis – especially if said assistant has previously served in that capacity.
But what happens if your city manager leaves and the assistant city manager is away from work for an extended period of time?
Morgantown City Council may soon find itself answering that question.
As part of Tuesday’s agenda, council will consider a contract with Raftelis, a North Carolina-based executive search firm to conduct a national recruitment effort to find Morgantown’s next city manager.
As has been reported, City Manager Kim Haws announced in late September that he intended to retire at some point “in the near future.”
He was not in attendance at neither the Nov. 20 meeting of council, nor the Nov. 26 committee of the whole meeting. Multiple sources indicated he was dealing with a personal family matter.
The Dominion Post reached out to the city for clarification on whether Haws intended to stay beyond the end of the year.
“Details regarding City Manager Haws’ retirement are still being finalized, but we will notify the public as soon as we have more information,” Communications Director Brad Riffee said.
What is known, however, is the search process Raftelis is proposing is expected to stretch well into March, and Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli has an extended leave on the horizon.
“While Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli is on leave, a designated city official will serve as the interim city manager,” Riffee said.
He points to Article III, Section 3.03 of the city charter, titled “Acting City Manager,” which explains that the city manager shall designate, subject to council’s approval, “a qualified city administrative officer to exercise the powers and perform the duties of manager during his temporary absence or disability.”
The charter goes on to state that if the manager fails to designate an acting manager, council may, by resolution, appoint an officer of the city to perform the duties of manager.
Muzzarelli, who was hired as assistant city manager in June 2018, served as interim city manager for several months in 2020, between the departure of Paul Brake in March and Haws’ hiring in December.
She did not apply for the job.
Haws, who spent 20 years as the city manager in Bridgeport ending in 2019, was selected by Morgantown City Council out of more than 100 candidates turned up in a $24,300 search by Novak Consulting.
The proposal put forward by Raftelis comes with a base price of $35,800 plus the cost of background checks and travel expenses for the finalists.
