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The search is on... again

By CHRIS CONROY

MONTICELLO – Once again, the quest for a new village manager is on.

In a hastily called February 5 press conference, Mayor Gary Sommers and newly hired Village Manager Jay Dwyer informed the gathered media that Dwyer had submitted his letter of resignation to the village board earlier that day. As of February 19, the village manager position will be vacant once again.

According to Sommers, the search for a new manager will begin with the candidates who have already been interviewed once by the board. Dwyer was the most local of the previous candidates, living in Middletown. No new manager will be hired until after the board has its own elections.

"My resignation as village manager has nothing to do with the board," Dwyer said. "I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the mayor and the board."

Having received an offer for a higher paying private sector job, Dwyer said he regrets not being able to stay on as village manager. "The village and the county are about to make a turn around," he said.

Looking ahead to resuming the search, Dwyer offered some suggestions to help the board draw in more candidates. One suggestion was to offer applicants a one-year contract before asking them to meet the residency requirement of the position. Another suggestion was to offer more money for the position.

In response to the residency requirement, which caused some controversy as Dwyer lived in Middletown, Sommers said that the requirement "should probably be looked into," and that it would be discussed by the board at a later date. Dwyer was required to rent a room locally to meet the requirement.

Regarding the suggested pay increase, Sommers agreed that for what the village is asking, the current pay is low. "We should probably be offering $65,000 per year (as opposed to the current $49,000), but the money just isn’t in the budget." There is a possibility some extra funding may become available from the state to increase the salary.

At present, the tasks of village manager fall to Sommers. Until Dwyer was hired, Sommers had been acting as both mayor and village manager.

Looking to the future, Sommers said, "We’ve laid the groundwork; we just need someone to sit in the chair. The manager needs to be here to help develop the village."