Located on rolling Oklahoma prairie land, Chickasha is the county seat of Grady County and has a current population of 16,034. Lo-cated on Interstate 44 at its intersection with US Highways 81, 281, 62 and several state highways, Chickasha is only 45 minutes from Oklahoma City, one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The city is also served by two railroads and the Chickasha Municipal Airport with its 5,100 foot runway. The local business community is diversified and in-cludes manufacturing, education, retail and other services.
Chickasha is located in the middle of the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP). SCOOP encompasses 3,300
square miles of south-central Oklahoma; most of which is within four counties- Stephens, Grady, Garvin and Carter. The area, the potential of which some have compared to the Bakken area of North Dakota, has experi-enced the recent ups and downs of oil prices. In addition, Chickasha is experiencing several new retail develop-ments, two planned hotels and a 200 home subdivision.
Chickasha’s location just 45 minutes southwest of Oklahoma City and 40 minutes west of Norman, gives residents access to the amenities of a major metropolitan area including professional and major college sports, a major com-mercial airport, theater and other cultural activities. At the same time, residents enjoy the quiet atmosphere of a small town.
The city offers a broad variety of cultural and arts programs as well as a number of special events throughout the year. The University of Science and the Arts of Oklahoma (USAO), hosts many fine arts and performing arts events. USAO is the only liberal arts university in Oklahoma and has been recognized as one of the highest ranked public liberal arts college in the nation. The University of Oklahoma in Norman and Oklahoma City Uni-versity are both less than an hour drive from Chickasha.
Chickasha Public Schools serves the community with quality personnel and facilities including the Chickasha High School Activity Center. CHS has been recognized as one of “America’s Best High Schools” by Newsweek maga-zine. Another component of the educational system in the area is the Canadian Valley Technology Center which has served the high-tech educational needs of Grady County for over 40 years. CVTC provides career education in a variety of fields as well as customized training and consultation services for area businesses.
Residents of Chickasha can also take advantage of an extensive parks system that offers a wide variety of facilities and recreational activities. The Chickasha Sports Complex includes soccer fields, ball fields, playgrounds and sup-porting facilities. The Sports Complex hosts a number of tournaments that attract large numbers of visitors to the city. Chickasha’s Festival of Lights draws over 250,000 visitors to the City in late November and December.
The Chickasha area is also served by a vibrant, modern medical community through two large medical clinics locat-ed adjacent to the Grady Memorial Hospital medical campus, as well as a variety of other medical and health ser-vices.
Chickasha is also home to the Grady County Fairgrounds which hosts events almost every weekend. It is currently going through an $18 million expansion that will allow it to serve larger venue events to bring in more tourism dol-lars.
GOVERNANCE
The City of Chickasha operates under a Home Rule City Charter, adopted by the citizens in 1946 and last amended in 2005, which provides for a Council/Manager form of government. The City is governed by a City Council com-posed of the Mayor and eight Council members who serve two-year terms of office. The city is divided into four wards which are represented by two Council members each who are required to live in the ward they serve. One member from each ward is elected in odd-numbered years and one is elected in even-numbered years. All Council members are voted on by all qualified voters of the city.
The Mayor and City Council members also serve as the boards for the Chickasha Municipal Authority, which over-sees the city’s utility operations, and the Chickasha Municipal Airport Authority.
THE POSITION
The City Council appoints a City Manager to serve as the administrative head of the municipal government by a majority of five (5) votes on the basis of his/her executive and administrative qualifications. The City Manager serves at the pleasure of the majority of the whole City Council and may be terminated by five (5) affirmative votes. Under the City Charter, the City Manager has the authority to appoint and remove all employees of the City except as provided otherwise by the Charter. The City Manager is charged with managing the day-to-day opera-tions of the city government including the preparation, submittal and oversight of the annual municipal budget.
The City Manager of Chickasha directs the affairs of a full service municipal organization with 137 full-time and 10
FTE part-time and seasonal employees and a Fiscal 2016-2017 combined budget that totals over $40.8 million for
all funds. The General Fund represents $10.9 million, and the Municipal Authority/Utilities Fund represents $16.1
million of the total. The primary revenue sources for the city include sales taxes and water, sewer and sanitation
service fees. The city provides services through a number of departments and divisions including Police, Fire
(includes EMS), Finance, Public Works (includes utilities and solid waste), Community Development, Park and
Recreation, Library and Municipal Airport. The City Manager serves on the Board of the Economic Development
Corporation. The City has collective bargaining agreements with unions representing police and fire employees
ager to give initial priority to a number of critical
issues:
Economic Development: The City of Chicka-sha is continuing to benefit from the South Cen-tral Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) activity that has significantly improved the local econo-my. However, the City Council is concerned about the long term economic health of the com-munity and the city’s ability to fund needed ser-vices. For those reasons, the City Council will look to the new City Manager to work with the Chickasha Economic Development Council to conduct an aggressive economic development effort for the com-munity. As part of this effort, the Council will expect the new City Manager to review the city’s development codes and procedures to identify opportunities to make them simpler and more business friendly.
Infrastructure Maintenance and Renewal: The City has developed master plans for long range capital im-provements to update the City’s water and waste water systems. This 30-year plan envisions $150 million in capi-tal improvements. In addition, the City passed a renewal of the dedicated sales tax of ¾ cent for capital projects. The City has also developed a street and drainage condition inventory that has identified 150 lane miles of roads needing improvement. A number of these projects have been started. The City Council will look to the new City Manager to quickly become familiar with these projects and insure their successful completion on schedule and budget. In addition, they will expect the new City Manager to become familiar with the planning for future pro-jects and develop recommendations to the Council for methods of financing and implementing these needed im-provements.
Community Appearance: Council members have identified several issues concerning quality of life in the com-munity that relate to beautification and code enforcement. Previous efforts have primarily involved demolition of substandard structures. The Council will look to the new City Manager to quickly become familiar with these com-munity issues and develop recommendations for addressing them which include other strategies including the de-velopment of rehabilitation programs.
Potential Retirements in Key Executive Positions: Several key positions within the City organization may be vacated through the retirement of current incumbents in the near future. The City Council will expect the City Manager to review and evaluate the current organizational structure and be prepared to expeditiously fill the posi-tions.
PERSONAL QUALITIES AND TRAITS
A common concern voiced by Council members for the
city’s highest official is the strength of the candidate’s
leadership qualities and financial management skills.
The next City Manager must be a strong and dedicated
leader who has the ability to lead staff and community
to further shape and define the future vision of the city.
He/she should have the ability to build coalitions to
accomplish the vision of the City Council, taking care to
encourage a consensus that is derived by the critical
evaluation and consideration of all input. The Council
will want a City Manager who possesses strong and
effective communication and interpersonal skills .
The City Manager should have experience interacting with a diverse community. He or she will have a track record that shows demonstrated proficiency in maintaining and building constructive relationships with a wide range of community groups, governmental groups, organizations and the media. Candidates should also be comfortable with the transparency, visibility, and public activity that are a vital part of the role of a City Manager.
The next City Manager should also have the following additional characteristics:
A proven record as a team player who applies personal ethics that reflect honesty and integrity in all relation-ships to establish an example to staff and citizens alike.
A history of being fiscally conservative, with a working knowledge of municipal financial management and ex-perience in preparing a budget of similar size and complexity to the City of Chickasha.
The ability to see the “big picture” and anticipate the future impact of decisions.
A track record of successful project management and completion of projects on schedule and on budget.
Strong organizational and management skills with a reputation for a creative problem solver.
A demonstrated ability to implement ideas by recognizing and involving stakeholders in decision-making.
Familiarity with successful economic developmental practices, particularly familiarity with economic develop-ment tools authorized for Oklahoma cities.
A reputation for being a good listener who is ap-proachable and has an ability to communicate suc-cessfully with employees at all levels of the organi-zation.
The capacity to apply policy in a fair and con-sistent manner.
Proven ability to select, motivate and develop competent, qualified staff and develop effective teams.
A record of evaluating the effectiveness of munici-pal operations and personnel while demonstrating effective delegation skills and holding people ac-countable for results.
Experience with collective bargaining will be a plus.
The City Council is seeking candidates who would see the City of Chickasha as a great career oppor-tunity and as a great place to live and who would look forward to becoming an active member of the community.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
The City Council is seeking candidates who have at least seven years of experience as a city manager, or assistant city manager in an organization of compa-rable complexity to the City of Chickasha. This position requires a Bachelor’s Degree in public or business administration or a related field. The City Council will require the City Manager to reside within the city limits of Chickasha.
The competitive compensation package is negotiable depending upon the background and qualifications of the person selected. The City has a generous benefits program including Oklahoma Municipal Retirement System, health and life insurance, paid vacation, sick leave and holidays.
TO APPLY
Send an electronic version of your current resume, salary history and a list of ten work-related references (including su-pervisory) with phone numbers ASAP to G. Chris Hartung at [email protected] . The first re-view of candidates will be January 16, 2017.
Applicants for this position selected as finalists will be subject to a background review prior to interview. Under the Oklahoma Public Information Act, information from your resume may be subject to release to the public.
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