Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash is the first to publicly throw a hat into the ring for our city manager search. See the announcement in the Boston Globe. The to-be-named preliminary evaluation committee will meet in private 3 times between 8/25 and 9/13 to narrow the field of applicants to the top 3 — and to preserve the privacy of those applying and possibly not selected. As a state official Ash is required to disclose because it could be a potential conflict. Now the others know who they’re competing against. Will some other candidates go public, too? Due to the state’s open meeting laws only 4 councillors can serve on the preliminary screening committee, so even the 5 of us “left out” may never know all of those who applied. The full 9-member Council will vote publicly on the choice at a City Council meeting at the end of September.
The deadline to apply to serve on the 19-member preliminary screening committee is Friday, 8/12.
The job description stated that the deadline to apply for the city manager position closed on 8/1 but the online application site still appears to be accepting applications.