Statesboro City Council on Tuesday accepted a proposal from Developmental Associates LLC – the same North Carolina-based firm leading the search of a new Statesboro police chief – to also conduct a nationwide search for a new city manager.
Unlike the now-former Statesboro Police Department chief, Mike Broadhead, whose retirement, announced about six weeks earlier, took effect July 1, Statesboro City Manager Charles W. Penny, 68, is still on the job. But he announced June 2 that he plans to retire effective Jan. 1, 2027.
As recently reported, Developmental Associates, headquartered at Chapel Hill, was the same firm that also conducted the search that brought Broadhead to Statesboro in 2017. Definitely a national search respondent, he came here from Riverton, Wyoming, where he was previously police chief. Before that, he served through the ranks with the police in Littleton, Colorado, and has now, at age 60, competed a 40-year career in law enforcement.
But additionally, Developmental Associates was also the firm that helped Statesboro’s mayor and council recruit Penny out of his previous retirement in the spring of 2019. He had retired as city manager in Rocky Mount, N.C., in 2017 and already had 35 years experience in city management.
Statesboro’s city Human Resources Director Demetrius Bynes presented Developmental Associates LLC’s most recent proposal during Tuesday’s 9 a.m. regular City Council meeting. It wasn’t a scheduled agenda item, but during the “other business” portion, Mayor Jonathan McCollar asked Bynes to guide the council through information on the “future search for a city manager.”
He noted that they had the proposal in front of them.
“Developmental Associates assisted this body the last time there was a vacancy for a city manager,” Bynes said. “Of course, with Mr. Penny announcing his retirement, we will move forward and begin a search.”
He noted that Developmental Associates’ proposal carried a cost of $31,900. In fact the typed proposal states a “basic fee” of $29,500 but then notes “additional variable costs” before stating a “maximum total fee of $31,900.”
However, it further notes that this maximum does not include some potential costs. For any work requested by the city government that is not included in the proposal, it states that the company could charge $350 per hour.
For full background investigations of individual candidates, the added fee would be $2,250 per candidate, to be paid directly to another North Carolina-based firm, USS ISS Agency, if the city “wishes to use their services.” City officials may choose someone else to do the background investigations, Developmental Associates’ proposal noted.
Other added fees could include $350 each for “coaching” internal candidates – meaning any current city employees – who apply but are not selected; out-of-pocket advertising fees, which the proposal states typically cost $1,500 to $2,500; and requested travel expenses, at $350 per day.
“Please note that if you do decide to utilize Developmental Associates, this will be a nationwide process, which means that external as well as internal candidates may apply,” Bynes told the council.
District 1 Councilmember Tangie Johnson made a motion to approve the agreement with Developmental Associates. District 3 Councilmember Ginny Hendley seconded the motion, and the vote was 4-0.
“I will notify them that the council has accepted their proposal, and within a month, we believe, (the future job opening) should be posted,” Bynes said after the meeting.
He and Penny said Jan. 1 is still the target date for Penny to retire and a new manager to begin work.
“What we wanted to do is give the council an opportunity to do their search, and this will give them an opportunity to do it without any time pressure,” Penny said after the meeting.
‘Objective approach’
In a cover letter addressed to McCollar and the City Council, Developmental Associates LLC President Stephen K. Straus, Ph.D., said the firm uses a process it refers to as “Evidence-Based Recruitment and Assessment,” which involves an “objective assessment approach.”
This process, he stated, was used by the firm in helping the Savannah City Council, then “facing significant cleavages,” reach a unanimous vote to hire a new city manager after the Savannah council previously dismissed two other firms that had been unsuccessful.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson is one of the firm’s listed references. So is Penny. Many others are in North Carolina.
Search procedure
First, Developmental Associates will develop a candidate profile and job description. The firm proposes to meet first with City Council, either in interviews with individual members or with the council as a whole, and also consult the city’s departmental directors and some community members “if identified by the Council.” So far, this doesn’t include an open public-input process like that used for the police chief search.
“City Council employs the city manager, the city clerk and the city attorney, and so it’s ultimately their decision who will be selected,” Bynes said when asked about this after the meeting.
This is technically different from selecting the police chief, a department head hired by the city manager with advice from the mayor and council and traditionally here, some input from the public.
Developmental Associates plans to post the job opportunity in professional journals and websites, including those of the Georgia Municipal Association, the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, similar organizations in surrounding states and the International City/County Management Association, as well as some websites that focus on women and minority candidates. It also offers targeted recruiting of leading candidates, as well as social media postings.
After 30 days of that process, and a first-level screening of top candidates, the search consultants will meet with the council in closed session to narrow the field of candidates for closer screening.
Next, a second-level screening will be done with video or phone essays and “electronic survey questions.”
After that, with another closed session after Day 43, the council will identify up to five finalists for the final assessment process.
To evaluate finalists in a manager search, Development Associates uses both skill-based assessments and “emotional intelligence” testing. A psychological inventory called EQi-2.0 is used for emotional intelligence.
The skilled-based exercises, after Day 60, will involve teams of assessors.
Back in 2019, the search that led to Penny’s hiring drew 45 applicants from multiple states, according to a Statesboro Herald archived story from that time.
A 14-member team, which included managers from other cities, human resources managers and finance people as well as two local residents, scored the candidates on responses to various questions and scenarios. Penny was one of the four candidates who returned for interviews with the council.
Cost comparisons
For the current police chief search, Developmental Associates’ expected fee for guiding and assisting in process is $32,900, Bynes had reported. So the $31,900 “maximum” for the city manager search is similar.
When the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners in March 2025 launched a search for a new county manager with assistance from Dr. Ian Coyle and his Livonia, New York-based search firm Pracademic Partners, the contract fee was $26,500. This led to the hiring of current County Manager Chris Eldridge in mid-September.
The Bulloch County Board of Education took a slightly different route beginning in December, contracting with the Georgia School Boards Association for assistance in the search for a new school superintendent. The stated contract cost was just $8,000, because the local board is a member of the association.
That search resulted in the recent hiring of Superintendent of Schools Torian White, on the job since July 1.