Short List of Candidates in Place as City of Bridgeport Moves Forward with Search for New City Manager
By Jeff Toquinto on May 14, 2019 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
The search for Bridgeport’s next city manager is moving ahead at full steam. The details are only slowly emerging.
Just prior to the start of addressing the business items at Monday’s Bridgeport City Council meeting, Mayor Andy Lang talked briefly on the status of the search to find a replacement for current City Manager Kim Haws.
Lang broached the May 6 special meeting of Council. During that session, the agenda was singularly focused on the search for a new city 
manager. Lang said Council met with the consultant hired to help with a nationwide search, GovHR USA, to discuss the candidates that applied for the position.
manager. Lang said Council met with the consultant hired to help with a nationwide search, GovHR USA, to discuss the candidates that applied for the position.
“GovHR gave us an update on the candidates for the city manager’s position,” said Lang. “We’ve created a shortlist. From this shortlist we’ll start the interviewing process.”
Lang said after Monday’s meeting he couldn’t give a specific number of who is on the shortlist. He said he wouldn’t know until later if all the candidates that were shortlisted would still want to move ahead. That information, along with the total number of applicants, will be made available shortly.
The need for a new city manager came due to Council opting not to renew the contract of current City Manager Kim Haws. His contract expires on June 30 and a majority of Council opted not to renew it. Haws has served nearly 20 years as city manager.
Council heard from Wendy Moeller with Compass Point. The consultant went over the update of Bridgeport’s Comprehensive Plan, which serves as a development guidance tool. The initial plan was completed in 1999 and it’s updated on five-year intervals.
After going over changes from the previous plan and touching on a community survey, Moeller’s work was complete. Council unanimously adopted the updated plan on a first reading.
Another ordinance was passed on first reading. Council agreed to amend the planned unit development (PUD) at White Oaks to change four parcels from Business-1, which allows commercial activity, to Residential-3. An R-3 designation is for multi-family units and town homes.
Community Development Director Andrea Kerr said after the last Council meeting officials with High Tech Corridor Development – the group handling the development of White Oaks – believes they will have a deal to develop the parcels that total roughly nine acres to construct as many as 100 high-end units of one or two stories each. Kerr went over the item with Council who followed with a vote to the affirmative.
Council also heard an annual report from Bridgeport Fire Chief Phil Hart. Check back to Connect-Bridgeport for more on that in the days ahead.
In other business, Council:
- Approved a contract with Bear Contracting to handle the asphalt portion of the city’s road paving and repairs for 2019. Bear was the responsible low bidder at $315,000.
- Agreed to move the Monday, May 27 Council meeting to Tuesday, May 28. The reason for the move is due to the Memorial Day holiday on May 27. Council generally moves all meetings to Tuesday when the regularly scheduled meeting falls on a Monday.
- Heard from East Olive Street residents Rodney Bates and Harry Delaney. Both were dismayed of recent “no parking” rules they said were put on the street with no public notice. Bates also voiced concerns about long-term sewage woes in the area with a decades-old terracotta line that he said was undersized and serving too many homes. Council directed Haws to look into the matter.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Council during a brief work session prior to Monday's meeting, while Community Development Director Andrea Kerr addresses a rezoning approved by the Planning Commission impacting the White Oaks development.
