The city of Whitefish’s top choice to replace retiring Chuck Stearns as city manager has turned down the job after several days of negotiations.

The job had been offered to Chuck Winn, assistant city manager of Bozeman.

“Winn was the unanimous selection of the mayor and City Council,” Mayor John Muhlfeld said.

Muhlfeld said Winn was satisfied with the terms of employment and compensation for the Whitefish position, but in the end “it boiled down to a life decision” and he chose to stay in Bozeman. 

Whitefish is budgeting a salary range of $100,000 to $130,000 for the position. Stearns’ salary this year is at $130,383.

Winn has been with the city of Bozeman for 32 years, the last eight years as assistant city manager.

Muhlfeld talked with another finalist, Ken Decker, county administrator for Caroline County, Maryland, but Decker withdrew his application over the weekend largely because he would be taking a substantial pay cut from his job in Maryland.

“We had cordial discussions; he wished the city the best of luck,” Muhlfeld said about Decker.

The council had selected four finalists in mid-August. One of the four — Dara MacDonald, a former city administrator from Salida, Colorado — dropped out in early September after accepting another job in Colorado. Kim Park, who had served as an elected town supervisor in Wolcott, New York, and elected county supervisor in Wayne County, New York, was then added to the list of finalists.

The other finalist was Edwin Meece, former city manager for the city of Livingston,

Muhlfeld and the council will hold a closed executive session at 8 a.m. Friday to talk about how to move forward with the hiring process.

There are four options, Muhlfeld said.

• The council can consider a remaining candidate, which likely would require a second interview.

• The council can go back to the original slate of candidates and see if a potential finalist was overlooked.

• The city can advertise the position again and go through the same process.

• The city can hire a head-hunting firm to target a broader market.

A professional employment consulting firm was used when Chuck Stearns was hired eight years ago. This time around the council opted to conduct the search in-house “to save city taxpayer dollars,” Muhlfeld said. “We were trying to keep the cost down by using [Human Resource Director Sherry Baccaro] and myself.”

It cost about $40,000 to conduct the head-hunting search for Stearns, he added.

Stearns took over as Whitefish city manager in December 2008, replacing Gary Marks. His career in local government spans more than three decades.

During his time in Whitefish the city has dealt with several major projects, including the reconstruction of Central Avenue and Second Street and completion of the Emergency Services Center. Whitefish transitioned to around-the-clock fire and ambulance service during Stearns’ tenure.

Stearns also was involved in the city’s decision to establish a conservation easement to protect the city’s water source in Haskill Basin and has been involved with the City Hall and parking structure currently under construction.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.