The City of East Lansing is beginning the process of finding a new city manager. That’s after its city council voted last month to terminate George Lahanas’ contract.
Lahanas served as East Lansing city manager for more than a decade. But council members decided in January they wanted to go in a "different direction" and find someone new to serve in the role.
Ben Dawson, the interim director of Human Resources for East Lansing, says his department is preparing to find a permanent replacement for the role.
“So what that means is we're at the early stage of requesting bids from professional firms that coordinate this kind of work, normally for municipal and private sector organizations,” he said.
Dawson says the city’s deadline for proposals from firms to coordinate the hiring process is Tuesday, Feb. 14.
“We want to run a national search and really spread a broad net to get a lot of folks an opportunity that are qualified for the position to show their interest,” he added.
The interested firms are submitting search proposals to the mayor and city council. Once a firm has been selected, a national search for the position will begin.
In the meantime, former Fire Chief Randy Talifarro will be serving as interim city manager.
