To find qualified folks to fill the general services and library director positions in Cortez, the City Council agreed to appoint a recruitment company at its meeting July 23.
The company, Columbia Ltd., has done recruitment work for Cortez in the past.
City Manager Drew Sanders, City Attorney Patrick Coleman, Parks and Recreation Director Creighton Wright and Director of Public Works Brian Peckins all were recruited by the company.
“We’ve ended up with incredible employees because of Columbia Ltd.,” said Mayor Rachel Medina.
Andrew Gorgey, the founder of Columbia Ltd., credited staff in key positions for the city’s financial turnaround.
“They did some very heavy lifting in the last several years to right the ship financially, and the city is probably in its strongest financial position ever because of what these people have done together,” Gorgey said.
Back in 2018, the former city finance director was caught embezzling at least $63,642 from the city of Cortez over a few years.
“When we were looking for a city manager, … we were behind on audits, the city was in a very rough spot,” said Medina. “He (Gorgey) helped us be very honest with the candidates.”
At the time, folks applying were walking into a position where they’d have to clean a lot up and rebuild culture, Medina said.
“He helped us find Drew Sanders and he’s been an incredible city manager and has helped really turn the city around in the last few years. The city is doing better than it ever has,” Medina said.
She said it was worth contracting out the recruiting work because the HR department has two workers who are already full-time and busy doing their daily tasks.
Plus, it’s an extra boost to broaden the reach to find more potential candidates for the job, Medina said.
“We had a failed search for our library director and then another key position opened up,” said Medina. “It was an opportunity to say ‘Well, we have two important positions, let’s go ahead and use a headhunter,’ and see if we can be more successful in finding our next directors.”
The general services and library director positions have both been open since May on the city’s website.
There’s a city planner position open too, but they’re not using the recruitment company to fill that one.
Gorgey said it takes about 12 weeks to send out an offer letter once the search begins. He’s already met with the city and folks from the hiring departments to get a better idea of their ideal candidates.
There’s a yearlong warranty with this search, too. In the rare case the role does not work for the city or person hired, Columbia Ltd. will help source another candidate, Gorgey said.
“To have any role in helping with that by bringing them good people – qualified professional, executives, local government leaders – that’s incredibly gratifying, that’s exactly why I do what I do,” Gorgey said.
