The Port Arthur City Council voted unanimously Monday to elevate Rebecca Underhill, assistant city manager, to interim city manager.

That was about all councilmembers agreed on at the special meeting, which included a workshop to discuss finding a permanent city manager.

Underhill, who has worked for about 20 years with the city, will replace Harvey Robinson, who served as interim city manager for about 16 months. Robinson, a former assistant city manager, has been holding the temporary position since December 2017, after former City Manager Brian McDougal resigned.

Underhill’s appointment appears to be open ended, as little progress seemed to be made on how to find her permanent replacement. Following an hourlong, executive session, councilmembers were divided whether they should hire a private firm to conduct the search for the permanent city manager or whether the search should be conducted in house through the city’s human resources department.

District 4 Councilmember Harold Doucet favored hiring an outside, private search firm, conceding that the council’s first effort to find a permanent city manager, which was conducted internally, had ended March 27 without final success. District 1 Councilmember Raymond Scott agreed.

“We can’t go forward pointing fingers,” Doucet said, suggesting that a professional recruitment firm would be able to produce a larger list of viable, qualified candidates for the permanent city manager job.

“The firms specialize in that,” he said.

But District 7 Councilwoman Charlotte Moses said hiring an outside firm would be too costly — the cost would be about $20,000 to $30,000, it was suggested — and said the city’s Human Resources department could handle the search itself.

Elizabeth Villarreal-Diaz, director of human resources, said her department could handle some aspects of the search capably — for example, developing a brochure and advertising — but suggested a private firm would be more equipped to identify and recruit potential candidates for the job.

Underhill said she and the staff would study possible options for a search, and return suggestions to the City Council, perhaps as early as next week.

The city’s council-manager form of government places chief executive capacity in the city manager, a full-time professional who works daily with department heads and city staff as well as with councilmembers. The city manager oversees the city’s annual budget, developing and implementing personnel regulations and coordinating daily operations.

The city’s website says the city manager is responsible for 650 employees and an annual budget of more than $141 million.

As interim city manager, Underhill will be paid at a rate of $175,000 per year and will have a monthly transportation budget of $600.

Mayor Derrick Freeman said the meeting of more than two hours, about half of it in private, was productive.

He said Underhill is a “solid interim.”

Moses said councilmembers hold confidence in Underhill’s leadership and said, in answer to a Port Arthur News question, that Underhill is not restricted from applying for the permanent position.