Tom Angus, the man hired by Mayor Charlie Luken to help find Cincinnati's next city manager, has 23 names scribbled on various pieces of paper on his desk.

        Together, they make up the “long list” of candidates for what once was — and may still be — the most powerful job at City Hall.

THE LIST

The “long list” of 23 candidates for city manager as compiled by The Angus Group of Cincinnati:     • J. Russell Allen, city manager of Raleigh, N.C.     • Eric Anderson, city manager of Des Moines, Iowa.     • Lawra Baumann, vice president of the Fifth Third Bank Foundation, Cincinnati.     • Mike Bierman, former city manager of Columbia, S.C.     • Robert Bobb, city manager of Oakland, Calif.     • Scott Borgemenke, a Columbus-based lobbyist.     • Terry Brechtel, city manager of San Antonio.     • Michael Brown, city manager of Savannah, Ga.     • Robert Collins, city manager of Kansas City, Mo.     • Michael Enright, deputy city manager of Baltimore.     • Samuel Halter, chief administrative officer of Tampa, Fla.     • Gary Jackson, city manager of Fort Worth, Texas.     • Valerie Lemmie, city manager of Dayton.     • Peg Moertl, director of the Cincinnati Department of Neighborhood Services.     • Dave Rager, director of the Cincinnati Water Works and acting assistant city manager.     • Tim Riordan, Cincinnati finance director and acting city manager.     • Bruce Romer, chief administrative officer of Montgomery County, Md.     • Steve Strnisha, deputy director of Cleveland Tomorrow.     • Pamela Syfert, city manager of Charlotte, N.C.     • Nick Vehr, leader of the effort to bring the Olympics to Cincinnati in 2012.     • Chris Warren, economic development director, Cleveland.     • Aubrey Watts Jr., economic development director, Charlottesville, Va.     • Paul White, director of the Atlanta Enterprise Zone.

        They include three “internal” candidates already at City Hall: Tim Riordan, the acting city manager and finance director; Dave Rager, the acting assistant city manager and Water Works director; and Peg Moertl, the director of Neighborhood Services.

        Other locals include Lawra Baumann, vice president of the Fifth Third Bank Foundation and a 2001 City Council candidate, and Nick Vehr, president of the Cincinnati 2012 committee that put together an Olympics bid.

        And then there are others with Cincinnati ties.

        Michael Bierman, the former city manager of Columbia, S.C., worked for the Cincinnati Water Works in the early 1990s.

        Scott Borgemenke, who owns a Columbus lobbying and public relations firm, is the former director of the Cincinnati Business Committee. He's also a former policy adviser to Gov. Bob Taft.

        Paul White, director of the Atlanta Enterprise Zone, served at City Hall in the administration of City Manager Sylvester Murray.

        But most of the candidates are the kinds of people who have filled the city manager's job in the past: city managers, deputy city managers and chief administrative officers of manager-run cities and counties nationwide.

        “We are relentless in casting a national net,” Mr. Angus said.

        Not all those on the list are necessarily interested in the job. Some, Mr. Angus said, are being recruited and may not yet even know they're on the list.

        Told his name was on the list, Mr. Vehr said, “It shouldn't be.”

        “I'm a vice president at Dan Pinger Public Relations. That's where I am, and that's where I plan to be,” he said.

        “We're just pulling together a list of people we may or may not be interested in,” Mr. Angus said. “We may call a guy like Michael Enright, the deputy city manager in Baltimore, and he might say he's not interested — but he might give us the name of someone else we're interested in.”

        Mr. Angus' headhunting firm, the Angus Group, of Cincinnati, has a $40,000 contract with the city to help narrow the list of candidates to five or six finalists.

        Under the new “stronger mayor” system that went into effect Dec. 1, Mr. Luken will nominate a city manager for City Council. In practice, Mr. Luken said, he will seek council input before sending a name upstairs.

        The list is by no means exclusive — other names could still be added.
   

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