Officials with Harlan Municipal Utilities (HMU) have hired two representatives from Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities (IAMU) to help search for a new Chief Executive Officer. In a board meeting Thursday, Al Bonderman and Bob Haug informed the board of a new concept called a “Poll rogram,” to reach out to several states Municipalities to find a new CEO. Bonderman told the board they would help advertise and review applications for the opening at HMU and would work with Haug as a team.

“The process that we would propose to you is come back to Harlan and spend some one on one time with all the board members and spend the day with employees to try and get everyone’s input on what the ideal candidate would look like. Bob would be in charge of the administrative process. Develop the language for the ad and place the ads on websites at state associations in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Kansas.”

The HMU board discussed at length in a previous meeting on Thursday, February 13^th to hire a separate firm to go out a recruit candidates for the job. Bonderman says the IAMU process is a little different. “The difference in what I call a headhunting firm, they will seek out candidates. You pay them a lot of money and the value is they will actively looking for people to fill those jobs. They are not just advertising. They are making phone calls and cold calls, trying to find any warm body to apply.”

Chairman David Tyrell said this process from IAMU will be effective and cheaper than the other firms. “Basically for the purpose of the executive search, $5,400 plus another $500 for advertising, you are talking about less than $6,000 as a high end on the budget. There are two executive search firms that we contacted and got pricing on those. The first one came in at $39,000 and the second came in at $30,000. Obviously there is a drastic financial difference for what you are offering versus the executive search.”

In addition to the maximum budget of $5,400, Bonderman will help as a temporary CEO if or when needed and will not exceed $2,500. The HMU board approved the agreement with IAMU. In other business, the board approved the certificate of completion for the water treatment plant and tabled a funding request from the city of Harlan in the amount of $25,000 per year beginning July 1^st, 2014. HMU had a three year agreement with the city for the same amount but the board decided to table the item in order to focus on the other projects at the utility company.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)