Meet and Greet 2

 Stopped in for the last half hour of the Meet and Greet with the city manager candidates. There were still about half a dozen people talking with the candidates. I got to ask questions of current Interim city manager Stan Reno and former city manager of Hastings NB, Shawn Metcalfe:

Stan Reno--I was primarily interested in why he wanted the job, given that his entire career until the last 6 months has been in law enforcement. He said that he had planned to end his career in law enforcement but found that, as he  performed the city manager duties, he found he enjoyed it and felt he did a good job. He estimated that, since the city would probably not engage in as widespread a search for his replacement as chief of police, the city could fill the position in about 3 months. Asked about what he would do about the perception, not the actuality, of Carbondale's high crime rate (the crime rate is no higher than any other town of Carbondale's size), he said transparency would be the number one way he would combat the perception and that encouraging events like the Off The Rails concerts, which have had no disruptions, would aid in that. He feels his work with the police department, working relationship with council and his in-depth knowledge of Carbondale would make him an effective manager. However, the past six months is the sum total of his experience as a city manager.

Shawn Metcalfe-- has experience as a city manager, having worked as one in Hastings, a town about the same size as Carbondale. However, his contract there was not renewed so he is looking for a position in a similar sized community. His expertise is in finance and human resources, which would be beneficial to the city. to get a feel for the city,  he read back through past city budgets and city council agendas and watched about 14 hours of recorded city council meetings, but has no "on the ground" familiarity with Carbondale. Strengths of Carbondale, he feels are SIUC, hospitals and medical development and the town's access to the Shawnee National Forest. I also asked him about dealing with the perception of Carbondale as having a high crime rate and he thought more events getting the police out into the community such as the "national Night Out" would help combat it. He also expressed interest in revisiting the city's position on Uber and AirB&B operations.

I did not get the opportunity speak with Thomas Thomas

Council will interview all three candidates in closed session tomorrow night and make a decision in the near future.