Begin the search at home; Consider local candidates for city manager before going national.(A SECTION)(Editorial)

If the Punta Gorda City Council decides to hire Public Works Director Rick Keeney to take City Manager Willard Beck's place, it will be the second time in a row that the council has hired a firm to do a national search only to turn to an internal candidate.

Beck was the city's finance director when he was hired as manager in 1998 after another nationwide job search was abandoned.

While it's reassuring to scour the nation for applicants to make sure you're finding the best out there, the council members might have saved some money if they had looked closer to home first. The best person for the job might have been sitting in the council chambers.

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