I am ready to proclaim my cautious optimism in Princeton’s search for a new city manager to take the reins of a government that, to my eyes, appears to be flailing.

The City Council appears ready to hire a search firm with some serious credential to lead the search effort. Compared to to slap-dash, and frankly underhanded, method that brought us the previous city manager, it looks as though the city has awakened to smell the coffee.

The council has stated it likes the way CPS HR Consulting has presented itself. It will hire the firm, founded in 1985, to bring candidates to Princeton. And get this: Council members will interview the finalists, actually meet them prior to decided whom to choose as the next city manager. The most recent city manager, Mike Mashburn, emerged from the shadows in January 2024. He met the City Council for the very first time in an executive session of the council, which then hired him unanimously on the spot and decided on a healthy salary package.

Mashburn last a little less than two years on the job. I haven’t read a single detail of the terms of his sudden resignation, but my trick knee tells me he was asked to leave the building immediately. Why? Well, I guess he wasn’t working out.

Then the city brought in a fellow, Jeff Jones, to run City Hall in the interim. Then he quit suddenly just recently. Again, no details have been forthcoming. The city is being run by Jim Waters, the current interim manager who happens to be the city’s chief of police.

Now we have a new mayor, Eugene Escobar Jr., has vowed a transparent search. His mayoral predecessor, Brianna Chacon, made the same vow when embarking on the search that brought Mashburn to Princeton, but didn’t deliver on that pledge.

CPS HR Consulting can claim success in finding city managers.

Let us hope its success rate is bolstered by a selection for Princeton. This city has moved rapidly beyond the one-street-light burg it used to be. It’s now a city in high demand by new residents. It needs a strong hand to take the reins of the city administration. Just keep it in the open.