Georgetown City Council has decided to get help in the search for a new city administrator.

In past searches, council has opted to conduct the process on its own. This time, a recruiting service has been hired to do most of the leg work but council will have the last say on who is on the finalists’ list.

Carey Smith of Rock Hill is currently acting as the city’s interim administrator but he told the Georgetown Times Monday he does not want the job permanently. The position became available in June when Chris Eldridge left to become Horry County administrator.

Slavin Management Consultants of Norcross, Ga. has been hired to conduct the search. Council has agreed to pay the firm up to $20,825 to do the job.

Owner Robert Slavin says his firm has recently conducted similar searches in Rock Hill and Hardeeville.

“We are able to recruit well-qualified candidates for our South Carolina clients who would otherwise not have applied for fear of premature publicity,” Slavin said in a letter to Smith.

Smith said to get the process started, Slavin has questioned council members to find out what qualities they would like to see in the city’s next administrator.

Slavin is now using the information from council to develop a recruitment profile.

The next steps in the process are to identify and recruit qualified candidates and then make recommendations to council.

Sometime in the near future, Slavin’s team will meet with council to “present a group of well-qualified finalist candidates for interviews,” the information to the city states.

Slavin said he expects 12 semifinalists to be presented to council at progress meetings and council will probably interview the top five finalists.

The process could possibly be complete in the next two months. However, according to a timeline presented to the city, it could take longer.

By Scott Harper

sharper@gtowntimes.com