Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct information about when the mayor votes on Town Council business.

Per town statute, Silverthorne has around five more months to find a new town manager following former manager Ryan Hyland’s resignation. 

The process is beginning now because Silverthorne Town Council gave direction to town staff to start preparing for the search at a June 25 meeting. At a July 9 meeting, council ended with a 3-2 vote favoring the town attorney’s recommendation to start the search for a firm to help find candidates. Council members Erin Young and Joannah Glassman voted no over concerns about the planned method to choose a firm and subsequently a candidate. Council members Tim Applegate, Tanecia Spagnolia and Amy Manka voted yes. Council member Kelly Baldwin was absent and mayor Ann-Marie Sandquist didn’t vote to avoid having a tie with six members present. 

Town staff members plan to send out a request for proposal to find a search firm on July 14 after the vote, and the timing helped fuel Young and Glassman’s no votes. 

Glassman worried about putting out a request for proposal for a firm before the council decided what they wanted in a candidate. Council plans to discuss what they are looking for in candidates in terms of qualifications, how they would want the person in the position to interact with the community and what type of incentives they are comfortable using to attract candidates at an Aug. 13 meeting. Glassman would have rather seen this meeting happen beforehand. 

Young also had these concerns. And she worried about firms already having candidates in mind they would want to promote and that a situation could arise where the perfect candidate is overlooked because of it. 

Town attorney Karl Hanlon said, based on the current market, hiring a firm will likely cost somewhere between $25,000 to $50,000. He said his best guess for what the town could spend is $30,000 to $40,000. 

Young said she couldn’t support the expenditure. 

“We’ve been asking all of our departments to cut back (because of a drop in sales tax), ” she said. “(What fund is this money) going to come out of … It’s not something we budget for.”

She said she understood it was a long-term investment for the town, but she felt the town had strategies in place to find candidates without spending tens of thousands of dollars on a firm. 

Sandquist requested a community survey to gauge what residents wanted to see in a town manager. She said the town had the same leadership team for 13 years with former town manager Ryan Hyland and assistant town manager, now interim town manager, Mark Leidal, and “we’re looking to kind of change direction.” She said she wanted residents’ voices to help guide that direction. 

Another potential spend Hanlon said would probably have to be made is on housing. He said the town would be looking at either a “very healthy monthly stipend for housing” or providing housing. He said this has become the standard for attracting qualified candidates to the mountains.