GRANITE QUARRY — The Granite Quarry Board of Aldermen has begun the process of looking for a new town manager, discussing what firms it may want to hire and what qualities the board is looking for in potential candidates.

Jason Hord, who is the public works manager and fire chief for the town, has been acting town manager since former town manager Larry Smith had his contract terminated on Feb. 7.

Members of the board asked Town Clerk Aubrey Smith to speak with other municipalities that had recently completed searches for managers and ask them for recommendations for firms. Both Landis and Salisbury provided recommendations of firms that assisted them.

The members of the board also spoke about the types of candidates that they may need to focus on. Alderman John Linker said that, in his prior experience, that managers can face a steep learning curve coming from other states to North Carolina due to the differences in state governments. 

Linker also spoke to the types of candidates that a smaller town such as Granite Quarry tends to attract. Typically, candidates are either experienced but near the end of their careers or younger and hoping to show their talents with the town in order to move to a larger city.

“Maybe, we’re a bit of a lesser level of management in a bigger company and in a bigger company they’d try to move up. Be prepared to talk about those kinds of things,” said Linker.

Mayor Brittany Barnhardt said that while she agreed that the town needed to take into consideration the differences in candidates’ experiences in-state, as well as their relocation fees, she did not want to exclude out-of-state candidates who could be perfect for the role.

“We have a double need and that’s been demonstrated. On the one hand, we need knowledge and experience to your (Linker) point. On the other hand, we need someone who is a compassionate leader, for lack of a better term, that can marshal our staff and workers in a positive way,” said Alderman Rich Luhrs.

When speaking about the firms, the aldermen said that they preferred companies that were willing to assist with negotiations with chosen candidates. The three firms that were discussed were Baker Tilly, Narloch and Associates and GovHR as well as the Centralina Regional Council, which offers some complementary recruitment services.

Near the end of the discussion, the aldermen agreed to ask Smith to call some of the firms and Centralina and begin conversations about what services they could offer the town as well as what the costs would be if hired today.