LA GRANDE — The La Grande City Council takes a step forward with its search for a new city manager during the Wednesday, March 5, regular session meeting.

The council will consider approving GMP Consultants as the recruitment firm to spearhead the search process to replace longtime City Manager Robert Strope. After 17 years in the position, Stope announced in January he will retire later this year. He encouraged the council to hire a consulting firm to help find his replacement.

Councilors agreed with Strope that it was worth retaining a firm to head up the search given the importance of the position to the city and the impacts of the decision. The city advertised it was looking for a recruiting firm and received seven proposals.

Council members met on Feb. 10 for a work session where they heard presentations from three of those firms — Prothman, Jensen Strategies and GMP Consultants.

Out of the three, councilors reached a consensus to move forward with GMP Consultants.

If the councilor approves the contract during the March meeting, the city will pay the search firm a total $18,500 for the company’s service, according to the proposal. The fees are broken into three separate installments — once at the beginning of the search, a second at the halfway point and the third upon completion of the final interviews.

La Grande also will need to cover the cost of additional expenses for the search, including advertising estimated to run between $1,600 and $2,200, direct mail announcements at $1,300 to $1,900, consultant travel and candidate background checks.

Candidates’ travel expenses will also need to be reimbursed directly by the city.

The search will take place across four phases.

In phase one, consultants will work with the council and city staff to understand what La Grande is looking for in a city manager. This includes information gathering, developing a candidate profile and announcing the position.

Phase two entails a strategic marketing campaign and phase three will include candidate screening and shortlist presentations.

In phase four consultants will organize the final interviews process and help facilitate negotiations with the top candidate.

The contract includes a guarantee that if the city follows all the major elements of the process and does not select a candidate, then GMP Consultants will represent the recruitment once while waiving the professional fees. The only cost to the city in this situation would be the expenses.

Additionally, the scope of work also includes the guarantee that if the selected candidate leaves the position within the first 18 months of their employment with the city, GMP Consultants will conduct an additional round of recruitment. The city would need to request this within six months of the employee’s departure and would only be required to cover the cost of expenses and announcements.

Following the conclusion of the March 5 meeting, the council holds a work session with GMP Consultants to discuss expectations with the company.

The Wednesday, March 5, regular session of the La Grande City Council, which is open to the public, will begin at 6 p.m. at La Grande City Hall, 1000 Adams Ave. The meeting also will be streamed live on the EO Alive website and Facebook page. The meeting also can be viewed on Charter Communications channel 180.

The full agenda for the March 5, regular session meeting can be found online at the City of La Grande’s website.