Community organization leaders in Evanston have described the characteristics they would like in a new city manager and urge officials to consider their recommendations before selecting a candidate for the fourth time.
Representatives from Evanston’s Citizens Network of Protection, Community Alliance for Better Government, EvanstonToo and Reclaim Evanston wrote an open letter in early June to Mayor Daniel Biss and the Evanston City Council with suggestions.
Lesley Williams, president of the Community Alliance for Better Government, said if Evanston considered the letter there would be “no way” the most recent candidate, Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten, would have advanced to the July 28 town hall. Mitten was the third finalist for the job, which in previous contracts paid $245,000 a year.
The letter’s four suggestions include making racial equity a fundamental criteria item, creating a job description based on resident desires, hiring a recruitment firm with a track record of prioritizing racial equity, and being fully public with the hiring process. Some in attendance at the town hall thought the process has remained unavailable to them.
Williams said the city never responded to the letter addressing concerns. Biss previously said Evanston’s high resident engagement has made it difficult to fill the position.
Biss did not respond to Pioneer Press’ request for comment after the city abandoned its third candidate.
“What I will say is that we have become more conscious of — and I think unwilling to accept — the fact that the greater the level of public process, the more candidates we lose,” Biss previously said.
An Aug. 6 news release announcing Mitten is no longer in consideration stated the city will consult Interim City Manager Luke Stowe on next steps. The previous candidate John Fournier, turned down the position after multiple rounds of negotiation. The city’s first search led to candidates, Michael Jasso and Daniel Ramos. Ramos later rescinded his application and city council chose to begin the process anew with another recruitment agency.
Wally Bobkiewicz, Evanston’s former city manager, held the post for roughly a decade and was widely praised for bolstering the city’s commercial interests, the letter reads. However, the letter claims his tenure helped bring other concerns to light.
“His tenure saw multiple cases of racial bias in our police department, human resources and parks,” the letter read. “Bobkiewicz presided over callous attempts to remove social-service programs from the budget, to dismantle the highly effective, lifesaving Youth and Young Adult services department and the city’s Victim Advocates, who help survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. These policies disproportionately affected the Black and Latin communities.”
In addition to the open letter, organizations created a city manager job description to reflect what they believe Evanston residents want. Main points include racial accountability, participatory budgeting and providing visible leadership to the Evanston community.
“A high-functioning Evanston city government is actively anti-racist,” the suggested job description reads. “It has a healthy economy and democratic practices like full transparency and civic engagement that works for everyone.”
Evanston officials’ most recent pick did not meet that criteria, according to Williams, who said Mitten’s track record for transparency and racial equity “is exactly the opposite of what we’ve been pushing for, and would set the City of Evanston backward in both of those areas.”
Ensuring transparency in Evanston remains a concern, and is something Alderperson Claire Kelly acknowledges, noting some incumbents have lost seats in local elections to the issue. Representatives of these organizations hope the city will have a more transparent budget and include enhanced public input as it impacts every aspect of city operations.
“Commitment to public participation, and measurable accountability to incorporating public input into decision-making, must be a hallmark of the … role execution,” the description reads. “(They must) actively solicit public input into all facets of city government, from individual conversations to neighborhood-based meetings.”
The organizations wrote in the open letter that they want an open hiring process, which would include a publicized timeline, job description and hiring strategy. Organizations want those requests to be accompanied by multiple town halls and community organization stakeholders and resident interviews. Some expressed frustration that this third search attempt did not include resident interviews and only had one town hall where submitted questions were selected and read by the mayor.
“Every interview (and conversation) between City Council and Biss should be listed publicly as part of the process,” Williams said. “We are tired of these closed door negotiations.”
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.