Chelsea Begins Search for New City Manager

Chelsea City Council began discussions of hiring a new city manager and appointed Chief Kevin Kazyak in the interim at the July 1 special meeting.

The meeting was called after the departure of previous city manager Marty Colburn to discuss the hiring process for a new manager. According to councilmember Beth Morris and Mayor Jane Pacheco, the city plans to find an interim manager to replace Kazyak and fill the role until November, where four of the seven council seats are up for reelection.

“I do think it makes a lot of sense,” Pacheco said. “However, it is a lengthy process. We would still want to hire a recruiter, get a community profile, do all of the recruiting and have it sort of ready to go for that next council.”

At the meeting, a team was established to assist with the transition between Chief Kazyak and the future city manager.

“The city plans to appoint an acting interim city manager, then hire the interim city manager,” Mayor Pacheco said. “To assist both the Chief and then the interim, we’re requesting to establish a transition team to include the mayor, one named city council member, the city attorney, the acting interim city manager, then the actual interim city manager, the Community Development Director, and rotating senior staff.”

Councilmember Kate Henson volunteered to be a part of the transition team. The team will be dissolved 12 weeks after the hiring of the new city manager, per the suggestion of Kate Mehuron. At this time, the city plans to begin reaching out to hiring firms to aid in the finding of potential candidates for the city manager position, hoping to begin interviews on July 14.

To accommodate applicants’ submissions, the regular council meetings for July will be changed to July 14 and July 28.