Morganton's Prolonged Search for a Development Planner: A Quest for Passion and Expertise

Rus Scherer has had his share of challenges filling vacancies during a nine-year stint as Human Resources Director for the City of Morganton, but nothing like this.

A planning position in Development and Design has been open for nearly a year – much longer than the average job – and viable, qualified candidates have been few and far between. Scherer has only a half-dozen interviews – none of which have panned out – to show for his intensive search.

He may have to wait even longer for the right applicant to come along.

“The job has been open since May or June of last year,” Scherer said. “It’s one of those jobs where we’re looking for someone who has a passionate understanding of planning.

“(Someone who) understands the theory of planning and why it’s important. This (the job) is not just to throw up roadblocks or make life difficult for people, but it’s very much seeing the big picture about, if we want a walkable city and a place where people want to be, here are some of the elements we need to strive for to create that space.” 

Scherer said that means the city is looking for someone familiar with municipal codes and who can make sure applicable rules and ordinances are followed, while at the same time possessing the interpersonal skills necessary to work with developers and citizens in order to help them complete projects.

A bachelor’s degree in planning or a related field such as public administration is required for the position, which has a listed pay range of between $48,000 and $70,000 per year, depending upon experience.

The city has cast a wide net over several neighboring states by contacting various planning associations, as well as reaching out to colleges. Scherer has also utilized a number of online job-search sites like LinkedIn. 

But there are a number of obstacles standing in the way.

Relatively small municipalities like Morganton typically aren’t on the radar of graduates who have their sights set on the big city.

“What I’m seeing from talking to my peers, other HR directors, is they have had struggles with these positions as well,” Scherer said. “From talking to a lot of people, what I’m seeing is a lot of planners, when they’re coming out of school, they’re talking about going to a big city, with the idea there are more things happening and they’ll get more exposure.”

In addition, public entities are in constant competition with the private sector, and engineering firms often pluck promising planning graduates from the applicant pool.

As if that weren’t enough, the far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic have shifted the working landscape drastically.

“The workplace has changed, too, as far as the amount of people who want to work from home,” Scherer said. “I’ve gotten several people who have asked, ‘how much of this can be remote?’”

It’s also possible the number of students majoring in fields like planning is shrinking, although Scherer said he doesn’t have any empirical data to back up that supposition.

“I have heard that anecdotally,” he said. “But I’ve not talked to any admissions officers or anyone who could validate that. I don’t know how much exposure people have to this kind of career path.

“If you ask a fourth-grade class what they want to be when they grow up,” he added with a laugh, “you’re not going to get ‘HR director,’ and you’re not going to get ‘planner.’”

As the search has dragged on, the city has widened its vision of what the right person might look like. It has also explored the idea of promoting from within and then training the new planner on the job.

“At this point, anything is on the table,” Scherer said. “As we progress, we’ll broaden our scope, but we’re still looking to strengthen the team as best we can.”

And make no mistake, the team concept is vitally important to the city, and to Scherer in particular.

“I thoroughly enjoy it (working for the city),” he said, “and once again, it deals with the team that (City Manager) Sally (Sandy) has assembled. And the focus, regardless of the department you’re in, boils down to, what can I do to make the city better and grow? We have a great sense of pride and a low sense of ego. If you’re here for personal accolades, this might not be the place for you. If you’re here to contribute as much as you can, helping to make some cool things happen, this might be the place for you.” 

Scherer is confident the right person is out there.

“We’ll keep tweaking our approach until we get what we need,” he said.

Marty Queen is the senior reporter for The Paper. He may be reached at 828-445-8595 or at marty@thepaper.media.