County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry should be a top choice for Tucson's next city manager, two unlikely City Council allies said Wednesday.
Republican Kathleen Dunbar and Democrat Jose Ibarra, who seldom agree on anything, both said Huckelberry would be a favorite to replace the departing James Keene, if he's willing to consider the move.
Huckelberry said he hadn't thought about the city job, and any comment on his part would be "premature."
The search should be kept within the region and not conducted nationally, Ibarra and fellow Democrats Shirley Scott and Steve Leal told Mayor Bob Walkup, a Republican, in a memo yesterday. That led to Huckelberry's name coming up.
Keene resigned last week, effective in January, to take a job as director of the California Association of Counties.
The idea of limiting the job search to local and regional candidates appears to have support from most of the council.
The three Democrats also suggest appointing a citizens committee to decide how to identify and evaluate candidates for the council to consider.
That idea didn't go over very well with the rest of the council members - Walkup, Dunbar, Republican Fred Ronstadt and Democrat Carol West. They want city officials to conduct the search, and to give citizens input after finalists are chosen.
The memo asked Walkup to put the issue on a council agenda. Walkup will do so for a Nov. 1 study session, his spokesman said.
"I'd like to have Chuck Huckelberry," Dunbar said. "If we want to make this a metro government, the way to start is with someone who knows the city and the county. He does. If you're serious about consolidation, who would be better?"
Besides, Dunbar said, "He's popular. People like him and people trust him."
She said she also considers former IBM head Rick Myers a possibility.
Ibarra worked with Huckelberry when the councilman was an aide to former county Supervisor RaΓΊl Grijalva. "We went through a lot of fights, against each other and with each other," Ibarra said.
Although they didn't always see eye-to-eye, Ibarra said he always found Huckelberry "extremely capable and intelligent. More than just being intelligent, he knows government and he has good instincts.
"If he's willing, we should welcome and encourage him to consider the job. He would be a great asset if we could get him," Ibarra said.
Huckelberry's contract, which expires in January, includes a salary of $185,000 a year. If he left for the city job, he would be eligible to retire at about 75 percent pay, in addition to his city salary.
Keene makes $192,000 a year.
Ronstadt is less enamored of the Huckelberry possibility.
While all the attributes noted by Dunbar and Ibarra are true, Ronstadt said, he thinks Huckelberry's management style would rub a lot of top city employees the wrong way.
Huckelberry comes from a more political environment, Ronstadt said.
"He engages with his staff differently than our staff is accustomed to being engaged," Ronstadt said, predicting an exodus of key city officials if Huckelberry were hired.
Walkup aide Andrew Greenhill acknowledged Huckelberry's name has come up but said the mayor is focused on setting up a process for finding a new manager and not ready to comment on any candidate yet.
Walkup said last week that he wanted to limit the replacement search to Arizona.
Walkup was not available for an interview Wednesday but issued a statement through Greenhill about the Democrats' memo.
While he still believes Arizona should be the primary search area, Greenhill said Walkup wants to meet with the full council before deciding how the search should be conducted.
West agreed with her fellow Democrats that the city needs to get moving on hiring a new manager, saying she is surprised the issue isn't on Monday's council agenda.
