The Antis Township Board of Supervisors have delayed their search to fill the vacant position of township manager. The selected applicant will eventually succeed the late Bill Hughes, who unexpectedly passed away May 5 of this year.
Chairman Leo Matuszewski will assemble this morning with the Altoona based firm, Advantage Staffing, with expectations of hiring the firm to help township supervisors attract candidates for the open manager position.
The firm will assist Antis Township to more clearly define what the structure and/or duties are required for the job, along with an idea of what the compensation will be for the selected manager.
Matuszewski stated on behalf of himself and his fellow supervisors, “We as a board think it’s extremely critical that we take and explore every avenue and get a firm to help interview and select the best candidate to replace Bill Hughes, to help Antis Township go forward into the future and seek out and get some good applicants.”
Chairman Charles Taylor shared a similar perspective in considering finding a firm that specializes in searching for and/or consulting with the best qualified and potential applicants.
“It’s worth our while to at least consider some outside help to make this choice a responsible thing to do,” said Taylor. “We weren’t real comfortable about moving forward until we received professional advice in this field for finding qualified individuals.”
He added, “I don’t want to go through this and then have to go through the process again in a couple of years.”
At the September 5 Antis Township Board of Supervisors meeting, township supervisors accepted around 20 applications and planned on interviewing six people in the coming weeks. But according to Matuszewski, with a combination of a somewhat disappointing application turnout and the thought of bypassing a good candidate, the board has delayed hiring a new manager.
The board supervisors haven’t officially sat down and reached a point to where they have made a short list narrowing down applicants or anything of that nature.
Taylor stated, “I don’t think we want to hire someone who’s ambition is to use Antis Township as a stepping stone for another job. We want someone who wants to make a commitment to become deeply involved with the township and stay here to perhaps retire.”
“The township here isn’t like a larger community with department heads,“ said Taylor. “There’s very little administrative support, stability in this position is more important in a larger community.”
Matuszewski noted, “Our first choice would be to get someone local that knows the community, situation and environment, but if we can’t we will seek someone outside that will do the job at hand in the most professional way.”
Matuszewski and Taylor both commented that there is no set date to hire a new manager for Antis Township.
Taylor said, “It’s something we need to do as soon as we can, but I’d rather take what time need be taken to find the right person for the job.”
