Search for City Manager Starts With 'Times' Ad

Cambridge's next city manager may get his job through the New York Times.

As the first step in a 90-day nationwide search for a new manager, the City Council place dadvertisements for applicants in yesterday's Times and Washington Post. Prospective applicants will be required to have a bachelor's degree (preferably a degree in public administration) and five year's experience in municipal management.

After applications close March 11, the council will screen the resumes and then invite the top candidates to Cambridge for interviews. They hope to appoint the new manager by the middle of April.

Yesterday's advertisements stated that "Cambridge has had three city managers since 1942." They did not mention that two managers have been removed in the past two years.

Councillor Thomas H.D. Mahoney, who is heading the search, feels that all nine councillors may be able to agree on the appointment, despite the deep division over the recent removal of Joseph A. DeGuglielmo '29. "That would be my hope--it may be unrealistic, but I wouldn't close the door," Mahoney said.

The recent divisions in City politics might, Mahoney said, actually attract applicants. "It would be a real challenge... to prove that you were good enough to rise above politics and make yourself indispensable."

No salary has been set for the new manager (DeGuglielmo received $20,000 a year), but Mahoney said, "If we can get the best man the country can provide, we ought to be prepared to pay him properly."

He felt that the "advantages of a University city" would help to attract a qualified professional manager. In particular, the Council may allow the new manager to study part-time at the Kennedy School of Government.

Public Works Commissioner Ralph J. Dunphy is serving as interim manager until the new manager is appointed.