Mayor, council pass on both city manager finalists

Mayor Neal McIntyre and the Fernley City Council declined to offer the city manager position to either of the two candidates they interviewed on Jan. 7 and will restart the process of recruiting candidates for the job.

The council interviewed two finalists for the job, Andy Ramirez, Assistant City Manager in Loma Linda, CA and Amy Stephenson, who was most recently the Director of the State of Nevada Governor’s Office of Finance.

A third finalist, Sean Grayson, the former City Manager of Nevada City, CA withdrew from consideration after being appointed the interim city manager in California City, CA, and a fourth finalist had withdrawn in mid-December. 

During the interviews, council members and McIntyre each asked asked Ramirez and Stephenson one question relating to their leadership, experience and vision. Following the two interviews, the council went into recess and McIntyre conferred individually with each council member.

When the council reconvened, McIntyre announced that they would not be bringing either of the two candidates forward for a vote.

The recruitment for the city manager’s position was led by CPS HR Consultants, which received 92 applications for the position. McIntyre said they will reach out to some of the other candidates who applied and see if they are still interested. 

McIntyre also said council members asked him to try to form a committee that would include Sheriff Brad Pope, North Lyon Fire Chief Brian Bunn, a council member or Mayor Jeff Tedford from Fallon, and at least one representative of the Fernley business community to help vet the next batch of candidates.

As part of its $30,000 contract with the city that was approved in July to conduct the candidate search, CPS Consulting will conduct another recruitment at no cost to the city except for additional expenses such as re-advertising, additional consultant travel expenses and added background checks.

During a separate conversation, McIntyre said he emphasized to CPS HR Executive Recruiter Erich WonSavage that the search cannot take six more months, because the city is preparing to begin its process for the fiscal year 2026-27 budget.

McIntyre said he also asked WonSavage to meet individually with each council member to get their input on what they are looking for in a city manager.