Mayor Tim Lattimore said his candidate search for a permanent city manager is over after observing the job done by interim city manager Michael Long over the past month.

Lattimore put a resolution on this week's city council agenda to appoint Long as the permanent city manager. The remaining members of council, however, while supportive of Long, said they favor undergoing a search process to select a permanent manager.

"I've gone through the search process before, which was very unsuccessful," Lattimore said, referring to the hiring in 1990 -- when Lattimore was a councilor -- of former city manager Joseph Braun, who left after five months. "If you take Mike Long's resume, it's better than any other resume you've seen. ... The candidate search, for me, is over."

Long took over as interim manager after former city manager John Salomone left on Aug. 16. Lattimore said Long's 26 years with the city and his master's degree in public administration from Syracuse University's Maxwell School are both attributes that qualify him for the permanent job.

The four remaining members of council, however, all said they favor some form of a search process to find a permanent manager.

"I was shocked to see that resolution," said councilor Thomas McNabb. "There's got to be a process here. From what I've seen, there is no process. ... Obviously the mayor doesn't want one. It makes me suspect why he doesn't want one."

Read the full report in Tuesday's edition of The Citizen.