Henderson names Bristol Ellington to lead city while it seeks new top manager

The Henderson City Council voted Thursday to appoint Bristol Ellington as interim city manager while it seeks a permanent replacement for the departing Jacob Snow.

Ellington, who is one of two assistant city managers, will begin the job on Snow’s last day, April 23. He is expected to serve for a few months before returning to his regular duties.

The other assistant city manager, Fred Horvath, could be a candidate for the top job. But because he accepted the interim post, Ellington cannot apply.

Under a plan approved Thursday by the City Council, an executive search firm will take applicants for the manager job and recommend finalists to the council.

The names of those finalists — likely four to five people — will be made public, and the council will interview them in public before a vote. But the names of other applicants will not be released, even to council members.

The city could have decided to make the names of all applicants public, but City Attorney Josh Reid said that would have required getting them all to sign releases. He said many people would be unlikely to apply if they knew their current bosses would find out regardless of whether they became finalists.

“We want the best and the brightest,” Reid said.

No one in the city — not even the human resources director — will know the names of the applicants who don’t become finalists.

Councilman John Marz said he was troubled by the idea of a third party eliminating qualified internal candidates when people in the city know them far better than a search firm could. But Marz joined the 5-0 vote to approve the plan.

Mayor Andy Hafen said he thinks the outside firm will find a more qualified person than the city or council could on their own.

Ellington, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, has been with the city since 1996 and worked mostly on planning and community development issues. He was named assistant city manager in 2007.

Hafen said he spoke with many top city staffers in recent days. Ellington, the mayor said, was the only one who wanted to be interim city manager and not apply for the permanent job.

Snow, who came to the city in early 2012, announced in February that he would be leaving in the summer. But on Monday, the city released a letter he wrote last week, saying happy family news caused him to move up his departure.

Snow said his daughter just got engaged, adding to his family’s busy calendar — his oldest son was already planning a wedding in May.

When Snow first announced his departure, the mayor asked Reid and the city’s human resources director, Jennifer Fennema, to craft a plan to find a replacement.

The two picked a California executive search firm, Ralph Andersen & Associates, that they said came highly recommended by people in other governments. The city will pay the search firm about $29,700.

Fennema said the Andersen firm has experience recruiting managers in Nevada for Washoe County, Carson City and local water agencies. It also has worked for Cincinnati and several cities in California: Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa and Riverside.

Snow’s annual salary — not including benefits — is $228,375. But the new manager will have a new contract, which could include a different salary.

The search firm will ask people to apply by May 22, and the city hopes to have the new manager start by July.

Contact Eric Hartley at ehartley@reviewjournal.com or 702-550-9229. Find him on Twitter: @ethartley.