New City Manager Selection Process Stalls, Announcement Still Expected This Month

The process of selecting of a new City Manager for Pasadena slowed this week with the cancellation of a Tuesday evening special meeting to conduct final interviews, due to scheduling conflicts.

Mayor Terry Tornek, who earlier had said he was eyeing the selection by the first week of July, now says any hiring and announcement won’t come “early as I’d hoped.”

“We’re going around around again, scheduling-wise. It’s just hard to line everybody up,” said Tornek yesterday afternoon.

Despite the cancelled meeting, Tornek is optimistic about the search, saying, “Things are going great. I was hoping we could button this up, but it’s like herding cats, you know?”

Tornek was tight-lipped about not only about the number of candidates, but who the candidates are, but did allow that the announcement should come in July.

The city has been seeking a new candidate for the position since the February departure of former City Manager Michael Beck, who took a senior position at UCLA.

Former Assistant City Manager Steve Mermell has been acting as Interim City Manager since that time, and is also applying for the position.

The process of finding a new candidate has been in movement since last December with public comments at council meetings, and the creation of a website. The City also hired a executive search firm to research candidates and conduct at least two town hall meetings to gather community input. The position has been advertised nationally as well.

Candidate interviews began in June.