At a Town Council meeting on Jan. 17, the Town Council named Richard Brown the interim Town Manager effective Monday, Feb. 19. The council also laid out the next steps in the Town Manager search process.

Last month, Town Manager Karl Kilduff announced he had resigned from his position and would be starting a new job in Weston in February. His last day in Clinton will be Feb. 19.

To ensure that town operations could continue as smoothly as possible until a full-time town manager is found, the council unanimously voted to appoint an interim town manager at its meeting on Jan. 17.

Following an executive session, the council announced that Richard Brown would serve as the interim manager effective Feb. 19.

Town Council Chairperson Carrie Allen said Brown will work 21 hours in Clinton and seven hours virtually. He will be paid $140 an hour, according to Allen. Brown will serve as interim manager for up to 180 days while the town looks for a full-time manager.

Brown’s hiring is the latest step the council has taken to begin the search for Clinton’s next town manager. Earlier this month, the council members appointed themselves as the search committee for the new manager and hired Randi Frank Consulting LLC to help with the search. Brown is a member of the LLC.

The town is paying $15,000 for the consultant service, though it could be higher due to travel costs, advertising, and background checks.

“A typical total cost inclusive of all expenses would be $22,000,” Kilduff said earlier this month.

On why the council chose Brown, Allen said, “He comes with 40 years of experience as town/city manager and, since 2021, has served as an independent management consultant. He is currently with Randi Frank Consulting LLC.”

“He will serve on the inside as Randi Frank serves us on the outside, searching for our next town manager. We find it effective that Richard will learn first-hand as to Clinton’s requirements of a town manager and can relate that info to Randi Frank in her search,” she continued.

In 2019, one of the first actions the newly formed Town Council took was to appoint former Public Works Director Peter Neff as the interim Town Manager for a term not to exceed 180 days. Neff ended up serving as the interim Town Manager for about one month before Kilduff came aboard in January 2020.

However, Neff was a resident and former department head well acquainted with Clinton and its town operations; Brown is not a Clinton nor even a Connecticut resident.

“None of us on the council are concerned with that as long as he has Clinton’s best interest in mind,” Allen said. “We feel very fortunate to have his experience in this transition. There aren’t many town managers in Connecticut, as this is a relatively new form of government in our state.”

While the Town Manager/ Town Council form of government is popular across the country, it’s relatively rare in New England.

Allen said that Brown “will provide us operations management, financial and labor relations, organizational analysis, and customer service until our next town manager is found.”

The Process

Prior to the start of the Town Council meeting, the council held a special meeting where Frank joined the council virtually and laid out more information about how the search process would work.

Frank said that the first step would be interviews with community stakeholders. “We want to hear what stakeholders are looking for in the next town manager,” Frank said.

The next step would be to develop a profile based on what the town needs and what the stakeholders say they are looking for.

From there, a national search for candidates will be launched. Once resumes are collected, the applicants will be screened for qualifications, and a list of semifinalists will be presented to the council. After that list is whittled down, the finalists will be invited to interview for the position.

The council stated earlier that some sort of public engagement may be held for residents to interact with the finalists. In 2019, the town hosted an open house event for the final three candidates so citizens could meet them and ask questions.

Frank did not provide a timeline, but earlier this month, Kilduff estimated it might take a little while for the town to complete the search for his replacement.

“The engagement to find a candidate could take 120 days. Contract negotiations with a successful town manager candidate would potentially require additional time beyond the window to select a finalist. It is possible that the recruitment window could be reduced, but that is a function of the availability of stakeholders to the recruiter during the budget season,” Kilduff said at the time.