The Knoxville City Council took its first steps in the city manager hiring process at its meeting Monday night. They appointed Assistant City Manager Heather Ussery as Interim City Manager, and will go through a process to find a replacement. Outgoing City Manager Aaron Adams says the council has a variety of options, and will complete the process in the most thorough manner.

“The council really seemed to focus on the need to recruit for this position. There’s a whole spectrum of things you can do here, which starts on one end to consider Heather as the permanent replacement. But there’s also another side that says you do need to recruit, see who’s out there that might be the best fit. They definitely leaned towards that. So as a staff, we have an RFP that we will bring out, and I will send on to the mayor and council, and that can start a whole process.”

This RFP, or Request For Proposal, will allow the city to hire a recruiting firm that will reach out to qualified applicants and refer them to the city.