East Lansing officials spent more than $26,000 in their search for a new city manager before hiring an internal candidate for the vacant position, records show.
Pennsylvania-based executive search firm Affion Public was paid $18,000 as part of its contract with the city for the search, while other expenses totaled $8,077 as part of the search process.
Five finalists were brought before council in late January to interview for the position, before the city council unanimously appointed Interim City Manager George Lahanas to the permanent role.
Lahanas had served in the interim position since former City Manager Ted Staton stepped down last October.
Affion Public was brought on later that month.
The firm sifted through 56 total applications before narrowing down the field to nine semifinalists, a list that included East Lansing Director of Public Works Todd Sneathen and Lahanas.
The council then selected the five finalists.
The city paid about $3,898 for travel and lodging for out-of-town candidates to stay at the East Lansing Marriott at University Place, 300 M.A.C. Ave.
The city did not cover expenses for either Sneathen or Lahanas.
The city also paid about $1,683 for a community reception with each of the five finalists, which was held the night before the council interviewed each of the finalists.
The reception featured food, drinks and the opportunity for residents to interact and talk with the candidates.
Finance Director Mary Haskell said the city was able to save about $108,000 across its city council, city manager, human resources and city clerk budget projections during the past fiscal year because of cost savings and position consolidations, and came in under budget for its city manager search as a result.
“We did not have to budget additional money for this,” she said in an email.
Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett said East Lansing fared well in terms of costs incurred throughout the search.
“The city ultimately came out ahead financially, due to the selection of an internal candidate and the subsequent consolidation and restructuring of positions,” he said.
Triplett said although an internal candidate eventually was hired, the search process was thorough and detailed.
“A demanding search process gave residents confidence in the council’s ultimate city manger selection,” he said in an email.
Conducting a national search for a candidate always brings some financial burden, East Lansing resident Jeffrey Sewick said.
“There’s always going to be a cost, and if you can keep that cost down, that’s good,” he said.
As a candidate, Lahanas said the process was involved, featuring meetings with residents as well as city staff and council members.
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“I think that all of those steps certainly gave good opportunity for both the council and residents,” he said.
Candidates were evaluated based in part on criteria developed by teams of residents and city and university officials.
East Lansing resident Joe Caruso said while he’s relatively pleased with the outcome of the process, the selection seemed slightly fast.
“I thought they picked (Lahanas) rather early on,” he said.
