Published on: Thursday, February 02, 2012

By Daryl Buchanan

The Rockville City Clerk and City Manager search won’t be vacant for much longer. The Rockville Mayor and Council are moving closer to filling the two major positions. 
Rockville has been without a City Clerk since last year when Glenda Evans resigned on September 17 of last year amid controversy with City Hall. Deputy City Clerk Brenda Bean was named acting city clerk shortly after.
According to Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio City Hall received about 112 applicants for the City Clerk position after a wide net was cast in search of a candidate. That number was whittled down by human resources staff when they eliminated unqualified applicants. Right now Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio and City Council members each have shortened lists of potential candidates.
First time Councilmember Tom Moore is experiencing his first city clerk and city manager hiring process and is so far pleased with how it has been going. Councilmember Moore said they are still early in the process and discussions about candidates eligible for interviewing should occur soon. 

“From the beginning we carefully wrote a position description that was very detailed. We got a very healthy response from the city. We each have lists of candidates that we will pick who we feel is best suited for the position,” said Moore. “We’ll then get together and see if we have anyone in common and who should come in for an interview. We’ve been very careful about this process and I have been pleased with the professionalism that I’ve seen.”
The other big opening at City Hall is the City Manager position. The position has been empty since Scott Ullery announced his retirement in July after seven years as City Manager for Rockville. Ullery oversaw many achievements in Rockville that included the development of Rockville Town Square. Jenny Kimball was appointed acting city manager in November of 2011.
The new City Manager will be taking on a job that faces monumental issues of a very complex city. Rockville has a million dollar budget and 500 government employees and a population of 62,000. There is also continuing growth and development along Rockville Pike.
Councilmember Tom Moore recognizes the importance of filling the position and also praised Kimball’s work as acting city manager while the search continues.

“We’ve taken our time on this to get it right. It’s one of the more important things we will handle this term. I think Jenny Kimball has done a great job as acting city manager while we have been searching,” said Moore.
Mayor Marcuccio says the head hunting service Springsted, Inc. currently has the profiles of candidates the City Council would say is their ideal candidates and the search for potential candidates will begin soon.
“The head hunting firm is sharpening up our profiles of the type of person we would like to see as our City Manager. So we have to wait while they search and interview people that they will recommend to us for consideration to hire,” said Marcuccio. “This process has taken a long time but we have to make absolutely sure we get this choice right. So we are taking our time and making sure we get the best person possible for Rockville.”