Public meets with Corpus Christi city manager finalists

More than 150 Corpus Christi residents, elected officials and community leaders turned out to meet with the finalists for the city manager position Monday evening, though it could be a little while longer before the lone finalist is revealed.

The event, held at the American Bank Center, was an opportunity for the public to meet with the four finalists — Harry Black, Lee Feldman, Keith Selman and Peter Zanoni — in an informal setting. Attendees to the meet-and-greet were able to have face-to-face conversations with the individual finalists, as well as attend sessions where each candidate talked about themselves, accomplishments and their vision for Corpus Christi.

Flour Bluff resident Shirley Thornton said she was happy to see the council opted to hold a public meet-and-greet event with the four finalists to give people a chance to meet them and provide feedback.

"Sometimes events like this can give them insight into what the citizenry is looking for," she said. "In this case, for me, I live in Flour Bluff, so we have lots of issues concerning infrastructure, like everybody else, but ours are unique to Flour Bluff."

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Thornton said she and other residents have formed a group to work with city staff to address some of those infrastructure concerns, and has reached out to current interim city manager Keith Selman and his staff to work on this. Selman is one of the finalists for the Corpus Christi city manager position, but Thornton said her focus on Monday was to find out how each of the finalists planned to work with citizen groups.

"I'm really interested in hearing how each one is willing to work with citizens groups in the future — not just tonight, but in the future," she said. "Give us some input, let us give input so that we can all get on the same page and work together to solve a problem. I'm a firm believer in the citizens having a responsibility in taking care of a community, as well — it can't just be the job of city. We all have to do our part."

Nick Alutto, managing partner with The Bay Jewel Event Center in the downtown area, said he was interested in learning what each candidate had in terms of ideas for furthering development in that area. He said each finalist seemed to have their own individual strengths, and that the event was a great opportunity for people like him to hear from them in person.

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"If we want to have a say, we have to show up to things like this," Alutto said. "We have to listen to what the people have to say."

"I'm just looking to listen to all of them," he added. "I really want to see someone who's going to do something."

The candidates were divided up into four rooms, and attendees were able to sit in on a discussion while each finalist introduced themselves to those gathered and answered questions in 45-minute sessions. Afterward, the crowds could move to different rooms to listen to another finalist speak, and provide feedback cards — color-coded based on the candidate — in boxes outside the meeting areas.

The feedback  was provided to the city council for consideration, officials said. The council will hold a televised question and answer session Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. at City Hall for two hours with the finalists before the council goes into closed session to deliberate.

WHEN WILL A FINALIST BE NAMED?

Mayor Joe McComb on Monday said that the council would not publicly name a lone finalist on Tuesday, but would likely come to a "consensus" while in closed session. The council will then work with the city's search firm — Slavin Management Consultants — to negotiate a contract before that name is disclosed, he said.

"We'll have a discussion with the search firm and our legal department, and depending on whether or not we can come to some consensus to instruct them to go talk to Candidate X, Y or Z about 'let's talk contract terms,'" he said. "We'll do that and then we'll wait to hear back from the consultants, so there won't be any announcements as far names go (Tuesday)."

"Assuming that we want to pick Candidate X, well we're not going to announce who we picked to pursue a contract with because, you know, Candidate X may not agree or we may not be able to negotiate with them," he said. "We're trying to keep that confidential until we've set the hook, in South Texas and Corpus Christi language."

Tim Acosta covers the Port of Corpus Christi, county and city government stories for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Consider supporting local journalism with a digital subscription to the Caller-Times.