Florida firm to help find Waukesha city administrator

Colin Baenziger was only in Waukesha for a few hours during his brief visit a couple of weeks ago, but he already has a favorite restaurant.

After interviewing with members of the Human Resources Committee to become the search firm that will help Waukesha select its next city administrator, Baenziger sought out a place to dine before heading back to his Florida-based company.

"I asked anyone if they had a recommendation and a couple committee members told me I should try Taylors People's Park," Baenziger said. "I'd have to say that it was probably the best salad I've ever had."

He'll have the opportunity to try many more items at the downtown restaurant in the coming months, as his firm, Colin Baenziger & Associates, has been selected as the national search firm for Waukesha's city administrator position.

"I'm thrilled," said Baenziger in a phone interview while he was in Salt Lake City on a short vacation last week. "It (Waukesha) is a great community. We're just thrilled to have the opportunity to work with them."

Waukesha's HR Committee voted 4-1 in favor of them last week over Voorhees Associates of Illinois and Georgia-based Slavin Management Consultants.

Voorhees, which conducted Waukesha's city administrator search in 2008 as well as the director of public works in 2008 and police chief in 2009, received the one vote from HR Committee Chair Joan Francoeur.

For Ald. Vance Skinner, who is a member of the HR Committee, the choice was clear based on Baenziger's communication abilities.

"Colin was very comfortable with the subject material, not only in answering questions on the fly, but his answers went above and beyond," Skinner said. "He was comfortable responding to the 'Q & A' and more importantly he adjusted his communication style depending on what committee member he was talking with and when it comes to the larger council that resonated very well for me."

Skinner added that while Voorhees didn't get the selection, he said it's beneficial for the city to have connections with both firms.

Beyond Florida

So just who is this firm that will assist Waukesha in selecting its third city administrator since the position was formed in 1999?

Baenziger, who has a master's degree in public administration from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, started the search firm in 1997. But he added that it "didn't take off until 2002" and "that we are still kind of a new kid on the block."

It appears the "new kid" is doing quite well. Since 2005, Baenziger said his firm has helped in the search of 72 of the last 99 city and county administrators in Florida.

"We started in Florida and our goal was to dominate the Florida area," said Baenziger, who has performed work for 128 municipal clients across the country including 102 in the Sunshine State.

Baenziger's firm has also helped cities and counties find positions in all parts of the country including in Utah, Arizona, Oregon, California, Alaska, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Maine, among others. It has also done work in Kansas and Iowa but no other states in the Midwest. That's why being involved in Waukesha's search was so intriguing to Baenziger."We've worked in the Midwest before, but never in Wisconsin," Baenziger said.

Illinois native

While the company is fairly new with Midwest clients, Baenziger isn't. He grew up not far from Chicago in Des Plaines, Ill., before heading to Africa for a few years to be a Peace Corps volunteer after college. He then spent time in Washington, D.C., before moving to Florida to start up the company.

Baenziger had a successful career working with a number of cities on recruitments and on management, operational and organizational issues. His clients have ranged from local governments to the Fortune 500. While municipal clients are his specialty, he has done one executive search for the Office of the Attorney General for the state of Arizona.

Other important assignments include: serving as the interim manager for Wellington and Islamorada in Florida during their start-up phases; conducted a planning study of the fiscal impact on the City of Palm Beach Gardens of several development scenarios for its western-most 7,100 acres; and completed an organizational review of the government of the City of Lauderdale Lakes that led to the city changing its form of government to the council-manager plan.

Scrutinize backgrounds

Since the middle of last year, his firm has been at the helm of 16 recruitments.

These projects include helping Oregon City find a finance director, Hernando County (Fla.) find a county administrator and Hallandale Beach (Fla.) and Yakima, Wash., find city managers.

When conducting searches, Baenziger has clear objectives.

"I've seen too many searches have problems where they haven't spent a lot of time on background checks, but we do. We (also) guarantee our price up front. It doesn't matter if it's longer or if there are complications."

Baenziger said it will cost the City of Waukesha $20,500 for his services.

He also explained that it usually takes no more than three months to give a city its recommendation on a final list of candidates.

Baenziger will be the primary person conducting the search. He anticipates as many as 80 people will apply, and he will present a list of fewer than 10 candidates to the City of Waukesha.

"Once we agree on a schedule with them, you can take that schedule to the bank, because we make sure everything goes according to plan," Baenziger said.

Job description changing

In addition to helping Waukesha find a good list of candidates, Baenziger will assist them in determining whether or not the city will once again change the description of the position. Before the summer of 2010, the city administrator always reported to the mayor. But after a closed-door meeting, the Common Council decided that the administrator should report to the council and stripped the mayor of any authority over then-city administrator, Lori Luther.

Baenziger is looking forward to helping the city iron out this issue.

"We'll give them a proposal," Baenziger said. "If they want us to work on that, we'll be happy to do that. We try to be flexible."

Skinner said city officials will "lean" on Baenziger for help in determining the description of the job.

Baenziger said he'll meet with the Common Council in the next couple of weeks before taking the search to Florida. But keeping an open line of communication with city officials in Waukesha is important to Baenziger.

"You have to keep them informed," Baenziger said. "If you go away, they're wondering what's going on, so that's why I'll be talking with people in the city multiple times."

Community Development Director Steve Crandell has been the interim city administrator since Luther left in August 2011. And despite that being more than six months, Baenziger said that's a normal amount of time for cities to do their searches.

"I've had others that go on for much longer than Waukesha," Baenziger said. "Waukesha's been pretty typical. They wanted to make sure they had the right firm.

"I think Waukesha has handled their recruitment process really well. They've moved along in a measured speed, did their homework and are doing it properly."

Waukesha is now hoping Baenziger will deliver the best candidate to the city.

"We're customer-service oriented and we specialize on bringing in the best and will spend the money and resources to make sure it happens so Waukesha can get the candidate it deserves," Baenziger said.

At a Glance

Who: Colin Baenziger

Education: B.A., majoring in Chemistry (Carleton College, Minn.)

M.P.A with Distinction, Johnson Graduate School of Management (Cornell University, N.Y.)

History of clients: Municipal (128); Not-for-Profit (five); Private Sector (four); State (one); Educational (one)

Headquarters: 12970 Dartford Trail, Suite 8; Wellington, Fla. 33414

Fact: His firm has done work in 16 states

Website: www.cb-asso.com