OGDENSBURG — The City Council has hired the Bonadio Group of Syracuse to lead the recruitment of a new city manager.

“I think they were the best of the three we received responses from,” said Deputy Mayor Michael D. Morley. “I have great confidence that they will do a good job for us.”

The Bonadio Group will be paid up to $15,000 from the city’s contingency fund, according to a resolution passed unanimously at Monday night’s council meeting.

The council chose from among three firms: the Bonadio Group, Voorhees Associates of Deerfield, Ill., and an undisclosed local candidate. Of the three, the Bonadio Group was the only firm to make a presentation to the council in person, which made a difference, Mr. Morley said before the meeting.

“Their representative came to us and spoke to us face-to-face,” he said. “I think that made them a more attractive candidate — plus, they are from New York and have done this kind of thing in the past.”

In April, Dominic Mazza, who will lead the search for Ogdensburg’s city manager, told council members that he had helped several municipalities throughout New York search for managers.

Now that a search firm has been selected, the council will move forward with other preliminary work for the hiring, including revising the city charter to limit the term of a city manager. The charter calls for managers to serve an indefinite term

The council also wants more say in developing the manager’s contract.

The language of former City Manager Arthur J. Sciorra’s contract made it difficult for the city to fire him, which it did in February. City Comptroller Philip A. Cosmo is interim city manager.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer