Search for new Roanoke City Manager kicks off with public input meeting

ROANOKE (WSLS10)- The search for a new City Manager is underway in Roanoke after Chris Morrill announced in February he will be taking a job in Chicago.

A search committee is looking for his replacement-- focusing on public input in the early stages of the search. Community members are getting the chance to voice their opinion on the qualities and experience they'd like to see in the next City Manager.

City Council member, David Trinkle, is heading up the committee. He says it's going to be a very open search process-- one that the community can follow and be involved in during every step of the process.

That public involvement begins tonight, during the first community meeting on the topic.

"People can come and say what they want and what they think are the important areas for a city manager to focus on," says Trinkle. "It could be economic development, safety or any number of things."

The search is expected to be a thorough but relatively quick process, with a new city manager in place by mid-to-late summer.

Chris Morril's final day in city manager will be April 15. After he leaves, an acting city manager will be put in place until a new candidate is hired. We can expect to learn more details about who will fill the role as active city manager in the next couple of weeks.

As the process plays out, Trinkle says the search is focused on someone with many of the same characteristics and qualities we see in the current city manager.

"There's an opportunity to get different assets, but in general we're looking for the same type of person," he says. "It's going to be an intense search, a national search-- but I think Roanoke is in a position that's well suited for a lot of people to want to come here. I'm hoping we have a good field of candidates."

A job posting for the position is expected to be up in the next couple of weeks.

Anyone is invited to be a part of the search process-- with the first public input meeting kicking off at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chamber tonight.

You can also voice your opinion by sending an email to the search committee, at citymanagersearch@roanokeva.gov or click here to follow the search step by step.