With the resignation of Santa Maria’s city manager, the City Council will seek a recruiting firm to help hire his replacement.

City Manager Jason Stilwell last week announced his resignation, effective next month.

Council members met in closed session before the start of Tuesday’s meeting to discuss the vacancy.

City Attorney Thomas Watson said the council agreed to direct human resources staff to solicit requests for qualifications for an executive recruiting firm.

The council also appointed an ad hoc committee made up of Mayor Alice Patino and Councilwoman Gloria Soto to evaluate both internal and external candidates.

It has been at least 28 years since Santa Maria has hired from outside the city to fill the top job. 

Stilwell and at least two of his predecessors — Rick Haydon, who served for six years, and Tim Ness, who served for 16 years — were promoted to the city’s top job after working for the city manager’s office in the No. 2 job. 

Hilda Zacarias, a former council member now serving on the Allan Hancock College board, noted the importance of picking a new leader for the city’s staff.

“We’ve never as a city opened up our process for how we hire a city manager, and I want to just encourage you to use some of the amazing tools that are out there to cast the widest net you can to bring this critical position here to the city of Santa Maria,” she said. 

She also encouraged the city to launch an inclusive process that includes hearing from community members and staff. 

“You never know, the best candidate might be here already, but it’s the process that you get to use to engage others to end up finding the best candidate,” she said.

Stilwell was absent from Tuesday night’s meeting, but Councilman Mike Cordero expressed his appreciation for Stilwell’s leadership.

Cordero praised Stilwell’s budget management prowess and for assembling the team leading various departments. 

“I think that we will, for years to come, as in past city managers, owe him a debt of gratitude for his contribution to the city, and I certainly appreciate the learning I got from him,” Cordero said.

Since the council canceled the Sept. 5 and Sept. 19 meetings, that means Stilwell has attended his final meeting as city manager unless a special meeting is convened. His late day will be Sept. 22.

Before joining the city staff, Stilwell worked as an assistant county executive officer for Santa Barbara County, among other positions in his career that began in 1991.