According to an announcement made in November of last year, City Manager Tony Caudle, is slated to retire from his role on May 30. Caudle has only served in the position for just over three years, but has been working in city government for over four decades.
Saffo said the City Manager position was highly sought after, bringing in around 80 candidates with city government experience from all corners of the country.
After a nearly two-hour closed session to consider who Caudle’s predecessor should be, the Council narrowed down their picks to six candidates, which Saffo said was a pretty diverse pool – without divulging too many specifics on the demographics of the candidates.
“We feel pretty confident that we have a good pool of candidates,” Saffo said. “[A] very diverse group of candidates, have a lot of experience in municipal governments around the country, and I think they'll bring different perspectives to what we, collectively as a council, are looking for.”
One thing that stuck out about some of the candidates – beyond meeting the basic qualifications – was that they hail from communities experiencing the same impact as Wilmington due to growth, Saffo said.
Saffo said the Council will be conducting interviews in the next couple of weeks, and they hope to have the new City Manager named by June 1.
