KILLEEN, Texas — Killeen's city council is beginning the search and replacement process for current city manager Ron Olson, who is set to retire in October.
In a special workshop Tuesday night the council debated three options: Hire a recruiting agency, use Strategic Government Resources, which was the same agency that brought Olson on, or hire internally, since David Ellison is the current assistant city manager under Olson.
During the short discussion, councilmember Shirley Fleming asked the council to consider looking internally first.
"Let's not forget who we have in house right now before we go out and spend a lot of money, rush and get someone we don't even know," said Fleming.
However, once it was clarified that anyone can apply under all scenarios the council decided to move forward with the SGR agency that put Olson on its radar.
Olson said the job will come with its financial challenges. In 2016, the city faced an $8 million dollar budget deficit. Olson came in and was able to quickly get things in order and balance the budget. He said the next city manager will need a similar skill set to his.
"We're certainly not in the crisis we were in a few years ago. In order to fix a financial problem it takes a plan and discipline, so being very selective about what you say yes to and no to is going to be very important," said Olson.
Mayor Jose Segarra agreed with Olson. He said he hopes the new candidate will be able to shadow Olson before he departs, so Killeen will continue the progress Olson began.
"He's got strong financial budgeting background, which is important and strong interpersonal skills which is important not only with the community but with the council," said Segarra.
Olson said he's enjoyed his time in Killeen and hopes his replacement excels with this great responsibility.
"It's extraordinarily important, it's the service that touches our lives every single day," said Olson.
Segarra said the recruitment search cost during this process is estimated to be around $20,000.
Olson said his future plans include traveling and writing a book about his decades-long career as a city manager.
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