STEUBENVILLE — Members of Steubenville’s Charter Review Committee are rethinking their recommendation that voters should decide if it’s a good idea to eliminate a requirement that candidates for his replacement have a bachelor’s degree along with relevant on-the-job experience, Mayor Jerry Barilla said Tuesday.

The commission nearly two weeks ago had convened to approve the final draft of its charter report, incorporating changes that had been previously discussed on council floor — eliminating outdated language and correcting dates as well as limiting the authority of the recreation and planning/zoning boards.

But when Law Director Costa Mastros said the Charter Review committee had submitted its report, Councilman Mike Hernon said he was “just a little concerned” with reports that they’d recommended easing the requirements for city manager, suggesting it might “(send) the message that we we’re not (maintaining) a higher standard for our city manager, who runs … a $60 million a year operation,” than the department heads reporting who report to him or her, many of whom are required to have a degree.

But with City Manager Jim Mavromatis planning to retire in 2026, Barilla said commission members told him they have some reservations about changing the job requirements and wanted to reconvene so Chairman Willie Paul, a former councilman, was planning to call them back to renew the discussion.

Paul could not be reached Tuesday evening for comment.

Law Director Costa Mastros admitted he was unaware of the proposed changes to the job requirements when he sent an email to council with a rundown of the proposed changes included in the committee’s final report, telling council that, “unbeknownst to me there was another issue that was brought up, a requested change in the city manager qualifications.”

Steubenville’s charter currently requires the city manager to have an undergraduate degree in public administration, business administration, accounting, or a related field and at least two years’ experience as a city manager/county administrator or comparable position, or at least five years’ experience as an executive officer or chief fiscal officer of any business or governmental entity.

The proposed change, which was endorsed by several council members, would allow city council to consider candidates who may not have a degree in public administration but do have strong managerial skills.

“That option can let us promote from within,” Councilman at large Joel Walker said after the meeting. “The change gives you more options — not everyone with a degree can manage people.”

Councilman Dave Albaugh freely acknowledged he was one of the council members requesting the requirements be relaxed.

“I think that experience is just as relevant as a piece of paper,” he said afterwards. “The applicants will be vetted and scrutinized as individuals that bring a wide variety of experiences and knowledge.”

Councilman Royal Mayo questioned the wisdom of easing the requirements, particularly since degrees are required of most department heads. “Why wouldn’t the highest level (admistrator) be qualified by a degree if everybody under them has to have one?” he asked.

“Education is great but it’s not always end-all,” Albaugh replied. “I don’t have an education, but I know I made six figures in the last 30 years. So, was education a part of that? No. But what I did is I worked. I just don’t see that education is the end-all, the fix-all.”

Councilman Ted Gorman, however, said they shouldn’t devalue the importance of education.

“That’s great that you made six figures,” Gorman told Albaugh. “That’s great. But we’re talking about a person that’s responsible for $60 million of our city money. And again, I think (the city manager) should have the education to do that: You should have the background and not just work experience, you should have the background and the education to support that. And I think as a community, (we have to ask) what do we want? Do we want an educated person to run our city government? The city manager needs to have not just experience … they need to have some education behind it.”

Councilwoman Heather Hoover said she didn’t want to devalue education, either, “but I do think that work experience plays a factor in somebody’s ability to meet the qualifications.”

“But we set the standard and qualifications,” she said. “We can set the standard up or down but I’m (still) looking for an applicant who has high qualifications.”

Hoover pointed out they’d voted to relax the standards applicants for the recently-filled planning and chief building official positions but still chose the candidates who presented with the strongest mix of education and experience.

“That’s what we’re going to do with our city manager (search),” she said.

Mastros said that based on the concerns Barilla brought to them, he would send the report back to the Charter Review Commission for a final review. He acknowledged time is of the essence, since ballot issues have to be presented to the Board of Elections 90 days prior to the election.

While council had hoped to begin advertising the upcoming vacancy in the next few months, Mastros said if voters approved easing the job requirements in November they’d have to readvertise the position.