By Kathryn Reed

Apparently it pays just to show up.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council on April 17 agreed to hire Prothman Executive Recruitment to find city manager and city attorney candidates. The votes were 4-1 on each contract, with Councilman Tom Davis in the minority for the city manager vote and Councilman Austin Sass the dissenter on the city attorney.

Brad Robbins with Prothman spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, saying he was impressed with how the council conducted itself based on seeing them in action that morning. There were snickers in the audience. He told the council he had done some research about the city and thought they were a great group.

Of the three firms applying for the job for the city attorney search, only Prothman had a rep at the meeting.

The council members did not discuss the other candidates.

Sass said he was fine with the current firm Burke, Williams & Sorensen, with Nira Doherty doing the bulk of counsel responsibilities.

In the end, the majority of the council said having an in-house attorney is better for all involved. These last six months were the first time South Lake Tahoe had used an outside firm as legal counsel for routine work and not just hired as special counsel.

The city attorney search will cost $8,500, with a not-to-exceed figure of $12,000.

While the council talked to Robbins they broached the subject of his firm doing the city manager and interim city manager searches as well. They ultimately picked him to find a full time city manager. That will cost about the same as finding a city attorney.

The recruitment for city manager and interim city manager were a combined separate agenda item, however the city had never asked for firms to apply. Government Code normally mandates a more fair process for hiring firms than just giving it to the person who happens to be in the room.

The city’s human resources director will find the interim. Unsolicited, three people have turned in resumes for that position, with a fourth expressing interest. As this time their information is not public.

The city will be accepting resumes for interim city manager until April 26. The council at a special meeting on April 30 will interview the candidates. It remains to be seen what part will be done in open and/or closed session.

Fire Chief Jeff Meston has been acting city manager since earlier this year when City Manager Nancy Kerry was let go for reasons that could remain forever a secret. Meston has told the council he is stepping down from the city manager role in a matter of weeks.

Also at the April 30 meeting the council will be getting a lesson in the Brown Act and ethics training. The time of the meeting is still to be determined.