67 apply for city administrator

Moving one step forward in the search process, Jefferson City officials announced 67 people have applied for the open city administrator position.

The application period ended Friday. Human Resources Director Gail Strope was unable to provide specific numbers after business hours Tuesday, but said some of the applicants are local residents, while the majority are from out of the area.

Former City Administrator Nathan Nickolaus was fired in September, with Mayor Eric Struemph saying at the time that the city needed to move in a different direction. City attorney Drew Hilpert has been serving in the interim.

Struemph has appointed a selection committee made up of 10 prominent community members to review applications and recommend one or two candidates for the position. The final decision will be left to the mayor and City Council.

"I really look forward to working with the selection committee and getting a qualified, experienced city administrator that can move us forward," Struemph said.

Third Ward Councilman Bob Scrivner, who chairs the selection committee, said with more than 65 applicants, there should be some good, qualified candidates for the position. Scrivner noted there was some concern about the amount of candidates the city would be able to attract to the position.

In a previous national search for a finance director, officials had to eliminate several candidates because they did not live within city limits and were unwilling to move.

"I am encouraged by the fact that we have a number of applicants, because that's really what we wanted. We wanted a pool of applicants," Scrivner said. "This is a good job. Jefferson City's a great city and I would think it'd be a desirable place to be an administrator."

The selection committee will begin meeting next week to start screening the applicants, Scrivner said. The interviewing process will begin in December, but Struemph said it likely will slow down around the holiday season.