Will the next search for City Manager be as transparent as the last?

"I’m very confident that the full city manager search process will involve significant public input...but there remains inherent uncertainty."

Former City Manager Tarron Richardson's hiring in 2019 was a historic departure from the way City Managers in Charlottesville were hired. Indeed, for over 70 years Charlottesville city managers had typically been white men chosen from the ranks of city government who went on to serve for years. For example, Gary O'Connell, who, in addition to being city manager for 15 years, was assistant city manager for 14 years under Cole Hendricks, who served for 25 years. Even our first African-American city manager, Maurice Jones, who was selected in 2011, had served as assistant city manager under O'Connell.

In the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in 2017, the city took a different approach to hiring a city manager, contracting with an outside consulting firm to screen applicants, 37 in all, in a rigorous, year-long process that included stakeholder group meetings, a community survey, and public interviews of all three finalists. Sadly, Richardson resigned 16 months later after months of …