HELENA — Helena City Commissioners selected the person they want to serve as the next city manager and bring stability to a position that has had six people in the role over the last seven years.
The Helena City Commission met on Tuesday evening, to discuss which applicant for city manager will be the best for the city of Helena. After three hours of discussion, The Helena City Commission chose Interm City Manager Tim Burton.
Tim Burton previously served as Helena's city manager from 2000-2009 and was brought back as interim city manager after Rachel Harlow Schalk left last year.
The commission voted five to zero to bring Burton back as the permanent city manager, Tuesday, and Helena Mayor, Wilmot Collins, said "the vote was almost unanimous."
"He had been very proactive. He came in wanting to bring stability to our city. He did that. He came he wanted to bring some assurances to the directors and employees that stability would be here and he did that," said Collins.
The city originally received over 30 applications for the position, and over the last couple of months, the list was narrowed to three finalists.
Collins thought this process was the right route to take on this decision.
"We had the community involved, we had HCC involved. We had the leadership involved, and we took a local company that was able to guide us through this. So I'm very happy with the outcome. I'm very happy with the process. At least now we have a process to follow. We don't have to reinvent the wheel next time," said Collins.
The city commission also discussed, along with the recruitment process in December, improving the city manager's contract.
They decided to offer Burton a three-year contract with a salary of $180,000 a year.
"We added a $4,000 increase from his from what he was making as an interim," said Collins, "and so yeah, yeah, I think the contract is healthy and we will be negotiating that contract with him tomorrow and we'll move forward."
