Our Town Manager, Carrie Dyrek, has chosen to retire after 25 years of service to the Town and 6 years as Town Manager. Her love for Cave Creek is immense. She has been a key leader throughout her service as Town Clerk and then during her time as Manager. She navigated economic busts, layoffs, two wildland fires, and expansion of the Town Utilities. She deserves credit for solving the conflict with Phoenix over water service and turning that into a cooperative relationship that is the basis for the Phoenix Interconnect project providing major reliability improvements.
She has assembled a talented staff as her legacy to her successor. Her guidance in establishing Town Fire and Emergency services, completion of the trail system, and purchase of key land adjacent to Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area will benefit the Town for decades. Her final legacy is the seamless cooperation in bringing her yet unidentified successor on board. She proposed, and the Town gladly accepted, her working as needed with that new manager to avoid the disruptive onboarding of new Town Managers we have seen in the past.
The ideal resume for a Town Manager includes demonstrated management success, but also elements of legal, financial, economics, engineering, public safety, and negotiating skills. Managing results and by Key Performance Indicators is essential. Interpersonal and facilitation skills are critical. Those same skills and traits also define the ideal elected Mayor and Town Council Member, by the way.
Imagine a manager job with 6,000 critics and 7 unique bosses (the Town Council). It is not a job for the faint-hearted. I believe it is important for the community to keep the job difficulty in mind when a particular issue triggers intervention in Town government. Not many of us could do a job of this scope with its external complaints, suggestions, and huge responsibilities.
The process to choose a new Town Manager is well underway. Carrie and Teresa Riza, Deputy Town Manager/Town Clerk, have scheduled each review session, interview, negotiating period and hiring decision. The target to select our next Town Manager is early January, as suggested by Carrie, so the new manager has ownership in the upcoming budget. It forms a dominant element in Town Manager objectives and performance. We have engaged an executive recruiter with proven and recent success hiring at this level. In addition to the exhaustive list of skills and traits, we are focused on Arizona as the recruiting ground. A candidate with knowledge of Arizona law, water issues, and personal contacts is important. The recruiter will forward every resume to Council Members who will choose a few finalists for interview.
Once the top candidate or candidates emerge a contract must be negotiated to set a salary and other contract provisions if relocation or other special circumstances arise.
Portions of the process will be done privately but in full compliance with the Open Meeting Law of Arizona. This is an important point. To get the best candidates, applicants must have assurances their interest does not trigger a negative reaction from their current employer. The final stages will be at public Town Council meetings, so the entire community can see the candidate before a decision is made.
Bob Morris
Mayor, Town of Cave Creek
