A request for proposal (RFP) for a professional search firm to assist in the process of finding Clinton’s first town manager has been officially placed. The RFP was issued on Feb. 27, and lists a deadline for proposals to be submitted by Friday, March 22.

The RFP asks for each firm to submit proposed costs for the services, a history of similar searches that it has completed, an estimated timeline, and its success rate at placing candidates during the past seven years. The entire document can be viewed under the “Bid Opportunities” section on the town’s website www.clintonct.org.

Once a search firm is selected, it will be tasked with assisting in several of the steps required to find Clinton’s first town manager. The selected firm will be tasked with assisting the recently established Town Manager Search Committee (TMSC) with items like identifying the skills a town manger should possess, searching for and recommending candidates for the position, and advising the TMSC during the interview and hiring process.

Earlier in 2019 the Board of Selectmen (BOS) formed a six-member bipartisan Town Manager Search Committee (TMSC) that includes Hank Teskey, Carrie Allen, Phil Sengle, Tim Guerra, Dennis Donovan, and Anselmo Delia. Sengle and Guerra are also current members of the BOS.

The RFP also suggests deadlines for the services: The TMSC must have a written summary of each candidate by July 3 and the final candidates must be selected by Sept. 11. The document states that after the current BOS is out of office on Nov. 19, “the newly elected and seated council will have the responsibility and authority to hire the town manager and approve an employment agreement. It is expected the council will offer a final interview to select candidates. The town will make provisions to hire an interim town manager should that become necessary.”

At the Feb. 27 BOS meeting at which the RFP was discussed, Sengle called the issuing of the document “a milestone day.” Sengle said now that issuing the RFP is an event that gets the ball rolling the for TMSC.

“This is when the gun goes off,” Sengle said.

Another milestone day for Clinton was Nov. 6th 2018: the day the town voted to change its form of government from the current BOS style, to a town manager style. With a town manager form of government, there will no longer be a BOS. Instead, a professional, accredited town manager, answerable to a newly formed, seven-member town council, will act as the town’s chief executive, taking on many of the duties handled by the current first selectman. The hiring or firing of the town manager would require at least a 5-2 majority vote by the town council. The town council that will hire and supervise the new town manager will be selected in the November 2019 elections.