Payson Special Town Council Meeting: Interim Manager Appointment and Recruitment Process - January 15, 2025
Payson Special Town Council Meeting: Interim Manager Appointment and Recruitment Process - January 15, 2025
The Payson Town Council held a special meeting on January 15, 2025, at 4:01 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers to discuss three key agenda items: the process to fill the Town Manager vacancy (Item A), the appointment of Charlie Seraphin as Interim Town Manager (Item B), and engagement of a consultant to review town department processes (Item C). The meeting lasted approximately 1 hour 47 minutes, adjourning at 5:48 p.m. After significant debate, the council voted down the interim manager appointment, unanimously approved an in-house search for a permanent town manager, and deferred the consultant discussion to a future work session.
Discussion Items
- Item B: Appointment of Charlie Seraphin as Interim Town Manager – Council Member Jim Ferris moved to appoint Charlie Seraphin as Interim Town Manager and direct the Town Attorney to negotiate an employment contract. Council Member Charlie Bell seconded. Seraphin requested the discussion be held in open session rather than executive session. Council members expressed mixed views: some praised Seraphin’s business turnaround and marketing experience, while others questioned his impartiality, lack of government experience, and the perception of a rushed decision. Council Member Dallin Haws apologized for the length of the prior meeting and noted the community saw the process as hurried. Vice Mayor Susan Tubbs reported receiving threats over the issue and supported a broader search for an interim manager. Mayor Stephen Otto argued that government knowledge had not helped with permitting delays and favored bold change. The motion failed 3–4 (Yes: Mayor Otto, Council Members Bell and Ferris; No: Vice Mayor Tubbs, Council Members Flaherty, Haws, and Nossek).
- Item A: Process to Fill the Town Manager Vacancy – Human Resources Director Lynne ODonnell presented a proposed 5–7 month recruitment timeline, noting the previous search took 13 months. Staff provided options for in-house vs. professional recruiter, with in-house estimated as cost-saving but requiring council input on qualifications, compensation (estimated at $158,000–$237,000 salary range), and screening methods. Council members debated the merits of using a recruitment firm (costing ~$25,000–$30,000) versus internal resources, with several preferring in-house to avoid consultant fatigue. It was clarified that “in-house” means staff-led recruitment, not limited to current town employees, and could include internal candidates alongside external applicants.
- Item C: Consultant to Review Department Processes – Vice Mayor Tubbs proposed engaging Charlie Seraphin as a consultant working for the council. Council Member Brett Flaherty suggested forming a small group of retired contractors, while Council Member Scott Nossek requested a specific scope of services. Town Attorney Christina Estes-Werther noted that a contract would require defined deliverables. After discussion, the council consensus was to postpone action and instead hold a work session immediately after the January 22, 2025 regular meeting to develop a clear scope and consider a committee approach rather than a single consultant.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to appoint Charlie Seraphin as Interim Town Manager failed 3–4.
- Motion to begin an in-house search for a permanent Town Manager passed 7–0. Staff was directed to start immediately, with council members asked to provide input on qualifications and recruitment materials by a date to be determined (the initial Friday deadline was extended due to a council member’s personal commitment).
- No action taken on Item C (consultant engagement). The council agreed to discuss the scope and structure of a possible review committee at a work session following the January 22, 2025 regular meeting.
- Agenda order discussion: An early motion to table Item B indefinitely, name Seraphin as the Item C consultant, and then discuss Item A was withdrawn after council members preferred to vote directly on Item B.
Meeting Transcript
To order of the common council for the town of Payson. This is a special meeting, January 15th, 2025. Michelle, would you give us the roll call? Yes, let the record show that all council members are present. Mr. Mayor, if I may. Yes. Um in an effort to streamline tonight. I I'd like to make a motion that we uh table P and name Charlie Serafin as the individual discussed in item C and then attack A. Okay. I'll second that. Now which motion or which so tape table um item B indefinitely, so we can uh uh name Charlie Serafin as the individual um to engage in consulting services in item C and immediately get to that discussion and then tackle item A at the end. That's my motion. I'd like to hear from the council on that. Any discussion? We have a second. We have a second from Susie. So we have any discussion or no I I think that's appropriate. I mean, I think we discussed a lot of B in our executive session and feel good about going to C okay. Call for a vote. Well, I have all right, Jim's my thing, but um okay, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and um what I need to have the consult consulting services better defined. What what are we talking about consulting services? That'll be part of the discussion, I would think. So we're here for well if we're if we're moving it around, if I you know, depending on the nature of that discussion, you know, I I may or may not want to do that, and I I don't know if it isn't up to the mayor to um decide what order these items are brought up. So we do have a motion and a second, so at this point it it does call for the vote because we can't withdraw after we have a second, unless both want to withdraw. Oh, we can't have conversation before the course, yes. I'm just saying in terms of where we're at in parliamentary-wise, we have a motion and a second, so unless uh council member Nossick and Councilmember Tubbs want to withdraw, both have to withdraw, then we need to go to a vote after your discussion. Is it not though the prerogative of the mayor as to what order things are taken into? Correct. I think that's easy to do. So can we as the council make a motion and second and override that prerogative that he has? No. We have a motion and a second, we've got to have it on, I believe. Certainly it it could fail. But it's overriding what otherwise would be his authority. How can you override someone's authority? So he does have discretion normally. So he has discretion normally to obviously if he wants to move items around in the agenda. I would say the distinction here though is we're not necessarily just moving around items. This is a table indefinitely, which means it's not we're just moving it to later in the schedule. It's we're tabling it, it may or may not come back ever. So I think that's a little bit of a distinction, and then we're moving to obviously a different item. C before A. Andrew Chris being so essentially we're just saying, hey, we're gonna excuse me. Okay. Oh, sorry. That's okay. Oh, sorry, I didn't see that.
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