June 8, 2022

At their meeting on Monday, March 21, 2022, the City Council received an introduction of Heather Renschler, President/CEO of Ralph Andersen & Associates, who is leading the City’s recruitment effort for a new City Manager. After a 31 year career in local government, Mill Valley City Manager Alan Piombo recently announced his upcoming retirement anticipated for the Fall of 2022.

Over the following weeks, Ms. Renschler solicited feedback on desired qualifications and experience from Council, City staff, and community members. She developed a candidate profile and recruitment brochure, which was released in late April 25 and followed by a 4 week recruitment period.

Ms. Renschler conducted a robust nationwide search, which closed on May 31, 2022. The recruitment garnered some international interest and resulted in 17 applications from diverse candidates across the country and Canada.

Ms. Renschler conducted initial candidate evaluations, which included applicant screening, preliminary research, and interviews. Ms. Renschler met in Closed Session with Council on June 6, 2022 to review all the applications and produce a group of top candidates for the next phase of interviews.

Next Steps

Ms. Renschler will coordinate interviews of the top candidates with the Council and a Community Panel, which will include community members and professionals from a wide cross section of City of Mill Valley residents, businesses, and organizations. 

Questions or comments may be directed to Seth Allingham, Human Resources Manager at sallingham@cityofmillvalley.org.  

April 28, 2022

The City is pleased to announce that the recruitment brochure and application website at Ralph Andersen & Associates for the City Manager position is now live. We invite all interested parties to view the materials and share with friends, neighbors and contacts. Interested candidates should apply by submitting a cover letter and comprehensive resume to Ralph Andersen & Associates at apply@ralphandersen.com no later than Tuesday, May 31, 2022.

April 21, 2022

At their meeting on Monday, April 18, 2022, the City Council received an update from Human Resources Manager Seth Allingham on the City Manager recruitment process. Heather Renschler, President/CEO of Ralph Andersen & Associates has solicited feedback on desired qualifications and experience from Council, City staff and members of the community. We thank everyone that took the time to share their input. She has been working to develop a candidate profile and recruitment brochure, which we anticipate will be released the week of April 25 to kick off the 4 week recruitment period. 

March 22, 2022

At their meeting on Monday, March 21, 2022, the City Council received an introduction of Heather Renschler, President/CEO of Ralph Andersen & Associates, who will lead the City’s recruitment effort for a new City Manager. After a 31 year career in local government, Mill Valley City Manager Alan Piombo recently announced his upcoming retirement anticipated for the Fall of 2022.

Ms. Renschler shared that recruitment efforts typically take 120 days, and this effort is on track to identify and select  the new City Manager to overlap with the end of Mr. Piombo's tenure, providing the greatest continuity of management and services possible. 

Recruitment Timeline

Ms. Renschler reviewed the estimated timeline for recruiting a City Manager (all dates are subject to change).

• April 4 – April 18: Develop Position Profile: Ms. Renschler will meet with the City Council, senior staff, and invite comments from community members to develop a position profile, which will detail the experience, professional background requirements, personal and professional characteristics, and management style desired in the City Manager. 
• April 18 – May 31: Outreach and Application Period: The Ralph Andersen & Associates team will develop an outreach and advertising campaign, coordinate ad placement and website posts, and engage municipal professional networks.
• June 1 – June 15: Candidate Evaluation: This phase will include applicant screening, preliminary research and internet review, and preliminary interviews.
• On/around June 21: Ms. Renschler will meet in Closed Session with the City Council to review the search report on the top candidates to produce a group of finalist candidates.
• June 22 – July 29: Selection: Ms. Renschler will coordinate finalist interviews with a Community Panel, a group of community members that represent a wide cross section of City of Mill Valley residents, businesses, and organizations. The final selection process will span both the current City Council and the incoming City Council, who will be seated in June or July.

Community Input 

Ms. Renschler and her team shared that they will set up a dedicated email address where members of the community can email their input and desired characteristics for the City Manager. The email address is millvalleycmsearch@ralphandersen.com. 

Please let us know your thoughts on the following:

• What kind of personal attributes are you looking for in a City Manager?

• What do you think are the top 3 priorities for our City?

• Please share interview questions that you would like asked of City Manager candidates.

Please get us your comments before Monday, April 18, 2022 at noon.

Learn More

Read the March 21, 2022 Staff Report 

Watch the presentation (Jump to Item 7)