The Centre Region Council of Governments is starting the search for its next executive director.
Eric Norenberg informed the COG General Forum in a Jan. 16 letter that he is retiring on June 1 after four years in the role. Norenberg was appointed to the position on March 16, 2020, just as the Centre Region and the rest of the world were beginning to grapple with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It has been an honor to have served the Centre Region Council of Governments as Executive Director with an outstanding team of talented and committed staff,” Norenberg wrote. “Together we have worked to successfully face the pandemic and to provide outstanding services to the Region’s residents and visitors each and every day.”
He added that with successful recent hires for key positions joining experienced professionals already on staff, the COG and its next executive director will have “a team of Agency Directors and staff that is knowledgeable and confident to serve the Region into the future.”
“I know they will serve the organization well during the transition and beyond,” he wrote.
Norenberg said at Monday night’s General Forum meeting that he and his wife, Kaye, are “looking forward to the next chapter” in his life.
Prior to leading the COG, Norenberg was city manager in Oberlin, Ohio, and Milford, Delaware, and before that worked for the city of Mesa, Arizona, for 20 years.
The Centre Region COG executive director works with the 32 elected officials from its six member municipalities — State College Borough and College, Ferguson, Halfmoon, Harris and Patton townships — while overseeing a staff of nearly 100 full-time and 40 part-time employees and a budget of $27 million.
Norenberg’s successor will be just the fourth COG director since the organization’s formation in 1969. His predecessor, Jim Steff, held the position for 36 years.
“When we did this four years ago there were a lot of documents we did not have in place because [Steff] was in the position for so long,” Becca Petitt, COG human resources director, said on Monday. “It took us over the course of five quarters, starting in quarter one of 2019 with the notice of resignation and the creation of a job description.”
The General Forum on Monday authorized the formation of a search committee to be composed of one member from each of the six municipalities. Components from the last search, such as the broad outline of the process, job description, position brochure, salary range and employment agreement can be “reused or easily refreshed,” Petitt said, meaning the appointment of the next executive director should take far less time.
According to a preliminary timeline presented on Monday, the search committee will hold regular meetings in February and March, during which time it will survey staff and stakeholders; develop a specific process, profile and interview questions and advertise the position.
The committee also will determine if a search consultant will be hired.
The General Forum authorized the committee to use contingency fund to hire a consultant, should it determine one is needed. The fund, Norenberg said, has about $35,000 available, but consultant expenses would likely be “well under” that.
Pettit said because so much is in place from the last search, which utilized search consultant GovHR, the committee would not need extensive services this time around. Harris Township Supervisor Nigel Wilson, who was involved with the last search, said “it will be a pretty minor fee” if a consultant is hired.
Fellow Harris Township Supervisor Frank Harden said he did not think a consultant is needed.
“I want to remind everyone that Harris Township conducted a very successful manager search this summer and, without going nationally and hiring a firm, we ended up getting 30 applications for our manager’s position,” Harden said. “I’m not sold on having to go and pay a lot of money for a search thing. There’s ways to do it. And if anybody wants when we get on the committee we’ll be more than happy to share how we did that and how we did it without paying a lot of money.”
After advertising the position, applicant screening and virtual interviews are expected to take place in March and April. In-person interviews with the search committee, executive committee and agency directors would then take place in April and May.
Following background and reference checks, the tentative timeline calls for the search committee to make a recommendation to the executive committee, and ultimately to the General Forum for final approval, in May or June.
“It’s still an aggressive approach to get somebody in the seat by June 1,” Petitt said.
