Vacancies in high-level positions make it difficult for Evanston to manage day to day operations, Mayor Daniel Biss told residents Tuesday night.
During a public town hall, Biss also said that the high level of resident engagement, along with the multiple open and interim positions have impacted efforts to fill the city manager job, which has been vacant since 2019.
“It really sucks for our city staff to be working on something that’s not going to be done in six months but know that their new boss may be somebody that none of us has met yet and may just not like this thing before it’s done,” said Biss. “That’s not a good working environment.”
Currently, Evanston has an interim police chief and interim city manager — the third since former city manager Wally Bobkiewicz left in fall 2019 — as well as an open Alderman position in the 2nd Ward after Peter Braithwaite announced his departure and a fairly new face on the council as Juan Geracaris took over as 4th Ward Alderman in March 2022.
“There are a lot more municipalities whose constituents vote for municipal authorities to take care of the meat and potatoes, do the basics and call it a day,” said Biss. “Not show up for anti-racism and climate action and social justice and the myriad of other issues that 90% of what residents asked me about when I was running for this office.”
Traditional city manager candidates are less likely to have the experience or desire to engage with the public on these issues, said Biss, leading city administration to look outside the box for less traditional candidates.
Without a permanent city manager, residents have called for increased transparency during the hiring process, requesting to give the public the opportunity to ask questions of candidates. Biss said that some less traditional candidates have been wary of how public the process is.
“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,” said Biss.
One person asked if the mayor could take on the duties of city manager, but Biss said this would be a shift from the city manager form of government. Biss said the point of having the city manager and mayoral duties separate allows for city operations to be managed without the interference of politics.
Biss offered no specifics about current candidates but there have been continued interviews. He could not be reached for further comment.
“What I want to do is hire a city manager who will help us have a government that a year from now we’re all gonna see as better than the government we have today in the ways that are most important to us,” said Biss.