FIRM WILL HELP FIND REPLACEMENT FOR SCHLANGER

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 8, 1993                   TAG: 9303080078
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
FIRM WILL HELP FIND REPLACEMENT FOR SCHLANGER
A North Carolina consulting firm will help Roanoke City Council find a successor to former Finance Director Joel Schlanger.
Council has hired James Stump Associates of Charlotte - the company that helped the city's Redevelopment and Housing Authority recruit a new executive director last year.
Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. said council will pay Stump Associates $14,900. The fee is very reasonable, he said.
Stump's assignment is to help advertise for applicants and make sure that there is a pool of good candidates. Fitzpatrick said Stump can help handle the administrative details to keep the search moving forward.
Fitzpatrick is chairman of council's Personnel Committee, which will oversee the search.
Council has not set a deadline for filling the vacancy, but Fitzpatrick hopes it can be done within six months. Council will select the finalists and interview them.
Schlanger was forced to resign in December after charging $1,788 in personal long-distance calls to the city.
Schlanger, who still lives in the Roanoke Valley, declined to say what he is doing or to discuss his plans. Acquaintances say he is working in the home-building business that he operated on the side when he worked for the city.
Schlanger's salary was $88,000, but the pay for his successor will depend on experience and qualifications.
Council said the finance director will be a key position as the city deals with growing financial pressures.
Acting Finance Director James Grisso, who was Schlanger's top assistant, intends to seek the job.
"We all have faith in Jim Grisso, but we have a responsibility to make sure we have the best-qualified person we can," Fitzpatrick said, adding the person might turn out to be Grisso.
City Manager Bob Herbert recently used a consulting firm to help recruit and screen more than 200 applicants for assistant city manager. He gave the job to James Ritchie, the city's director of human resources, saying Ritchie was the best-qualified applicant.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB