At a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 9, the Clarkdale Town Council voted to choose the Novak Consulting Group to handle the search for Gayle Mabery’s replacement as town manager. Mabery is set to retire on July 1 of next year, after 21 years serving as town manager.
The council had previously heard presentations from Novak, CPS HR, and Slavin Management Consultants at previous meetings. In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the council sought to prioritize Novak as its first choice pending negotiations with town staff, with CPS as a second choice and Slavin as third.
“My opinion on having sat through their proposals is that the three firms would do pretty equivalent jobs,” Clarkdale Mayor Doug Von Gausig said at the meeting. “To me, that means Novak comes first, because they are cheaper.”
Novak’s listed price in its proposal is $21,300 for the cost of services, with an additional $1,000 to $1,500 billed to the town for advertising and further expenses for background checks and travel costs for the applicants.
The vote was unanimous, with all four council members expressing a preference for Novak over the other two applicants. Councilman Ben Kramer recently resigned and a replacement has not yet been appointed.
“Novak did an excellent job in their presentation,” Councilman Bill Regner said. “Because they’re already working in our area and have some ties in our area, they have the edge for me.”
Novak was also hired by Cottonwood for its city manager search to replace outgoing City Manager Doug Bartosh, for the same price.
“I thought Novak’s presentation was really really really well done, really professional,” Councilman Scott Buckley said. “I thought Novak understood Clarkdale better.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the Clarkdale Town Council approved new guidelines for sustainable development prepared by the Clarkdale Community Development office. The guidelines are aimed at helping developers to keep new construction environmentally conscious, with suggestions to find alternative sources of water, seek energy efficient designs including potential solar capability and taking advantage of the area’s natural climate, use of local materials and environment in construction, and building in proximity to existing developments.
“We hope that by providing those recommendations we can help builders in their work,” Vice Mayor Richard Dehnert said. “We want to encourage development that is energy efficient and works well with the environment.”
In a final order of business, the council approved a name for the future park set to be located at the northwest corner of the intersection between Mescal Spur and the Old Jerome Highway in the Crossroads at Mingus development.
The council unanimously approved the name Copper Penny Park after it received the most votes of any of the choices up for consideration in a poll on the Clarkdale town website.
In the park’s new name, Copper is a reference to Clarkdale’s history in copper mining and copper art, while Penny is a reference to the dog belonging to John and Colleen Tobias, Clarkdale residents who have spearheaded the effort to create the new park.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
