Mayor says selection of next Carson City treasurer to be open

Carson City government’s next treasurer will be selected by the Board of Supervisors in an open process that gets started Feb. 5, Mayor Robert Crowell said Monday.

The five-member city governing board must select someone to become treasurer, which normally is an elected office, because Al Kramer left city government after two decades to take a top spot in the state treasurer’s office earlier this month.

Whomever secures the board appointment still would have to face voters in 2016 after a shortened term required by state law.

The 2016 winner gets a four-year term starting in January, 2017, but the board appointment is the first step on that road.

“The process is designed to follow what they did in Reno,” said Crowell, pointing to the public way in which former Assemblyman David Bobzien was selected from among applicants to take the at-large City Council seat vacated by Mayor Hillary Schieve after she won the mayoralty race there.

“I think we’re going to be open,” Crowell said, “absolutely.” He said in the neighboring community to the north, at-large council slot applications were solicited and council members let their five preferences be known in the group among the applicants.

Then those selections were meshed, as Crowell put it, and the top candidates were then interviewed publicly to make the choice.

Crowell said he had talked with City Manager Nick Marano and the pair agreed the Carson City process for the treasurer’s opening should be similar.

Salary for the consolidated city treasurer’s post in the state capital community is set by state statute at $76,013 annually.

To be considered, a qualified elector — someone entitled to voter — at least age 18 must have resided in Nevada six months and in Carson City at least 30 days prior to securing the appointment.

Crowell provided an information sheet expected to go before the next Board of Supervisors meeting a week from Thursday detailing the proposed process, which envisions applicants must come forward by Monday, March 9 at 5 p.m. to be considered. Application packets, if that process passes muster with the governing board, may be obtained from www.carson.org or the Human Resources Department in City Hall at 201 N. Carson St., Suite 4, which also is where the applications must be submitted. Applicants’ information submitted is considered public and each contender’s application packet data will go on the city’s website.

“Each applicant may meet with the mayor and board members, on an individual basis, to discuss his/her qualifications and interest in the position,” said the document supplied by the mayor, but it also indicated the mayor or any supervisor could at his or her discretion decline such an opportunity. The board members then, without discussing it with other colleagues, return to Human Resources the names of their top five from among the pool of applicants.

At the April 2 meeting, with applicants invited to be present, the board would narrow the group to a list of finalists.

On April 16, another regular meeting, public interviews would be conducted with the pool of finalists, and the appointment is expected afterward. The oath of office would follow then or at a date set for administering it. If a selection isn’t made on that date, however, the board at its discretion may hold one or more additional sessions to consider applicants and make the appointment.