TRUMAN– The Truman City Council held an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss a staffing plan. The council is looking to fill three positions at city hall.

City Clerk Amy Huber left her position in late October. Deputy clerk/utility billing specialist, Thea Boesch put in her notice in the middle of November and long time part-time administrative assistant, Sherry Hanson, will be done at the end of February.

Council members Patty Truax, Brian Nickerson, former long-time city clerk, Monte Rohman and Boesch recently sat in on the interviews for a utility billing/deputy clerk.

Truax provided the other council members the description of the position as well as information on the favored candidate.

“She matches up really well. She doesn’t have municipality(experience but she has a lot of years of service,” Truax said.

Truax said that those who sat in on the interviews agreed on their top candidate.

Council member Brandon Mosloski expressed that he was a little nervous with the lack of accounting experience.

“I think we’re all a little gun shy because of the experience we’ve had the last few years,” said Truax.

Mayor Terry Bentele said if the candidate is a good fit, hopefully they will stick with the job for a long time.

Mosloski said while he has concerns, he acknowledged that those on the committee heard the information from the candidates and he trusts that they did their job.

“It’s a little concerning but we need somebody. These guys have a good feeling and that’s what we’ve asked of them,” said council member Jake Ebert.

He made a motion to move forward with the candidate and Truax seconded. The council unanimously approved.

Moving to the city clerk position, Truax said they’ve interviewed someone for the position and while they had some matching qualifications, it didn’t fell like a good fit.

She also said the current ad that’s out for the position and the job description don’t exactly match up.

“It’s our feeling that we need to re-run the ad with corrections,” Truax said.

The council considered whether the position calls for someone with an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree.

Truax said if they ask for an associate’s degree at the minimum they may get more people to apply. A bachelor’s degree would still be preferred.

While they’ve already started the interview process, Truax said she’s checked in with the city attorney who said they can re-run the ad.

“I think we should run the ad until it’s filled,” Truax said.

She said that since Hanson is done in February, she thinks they should put an ad out for the administrative assistant position soon so that they can get someone hired and trained before Hanson is done.

“I know it’s a lot but we’re at that point where we’re not going to have anybody in there,” Truax said.

“The sooner we can get all of these positions taken care of, the better off we’ll be in the long run,” said Bentele.

Truax made a motion to get an ad out there for the clerk position as well as the assistant administrative office position. The motion passed.