Altoona City Council is correct in its reluctance to rush into naming a permanent city manager, but a question hovers over the hiring issue.

That question is:

Is there anything about Altoona that is a turn-off to candidates with the experience and mettle to address this community’s various issues and unfinished business while maintaining a positive working relationship with the personalities elected to correctly oversee the city’s well-being?

Perhaps there are no turn-offs, but the puzzlement logically persists about why that right individual still has not surfaced, especially as city officials sought candidates through sources usually successful in matching candidates with existing vacancies.

Councilman Bruce Kelley expressed one plausible explanation — that good managers already in place might hesitate to move, based on the time they’ve invested where they are now and the money they’ve accumulated in pension plans.

Mayor Matt Pacifico provided another reasonable observation — that Altoona’s difficulty in finding the right candidate is a challenge other communities are also experiencing.

“It’s a dying career,” Pacifico said. “Not many go to school for it.”

Altoona’s former Manager Omar Strohm, who provided laudable service to the Mountain City, retired at the beginning of this year. He was replaced on an interim basis by Police Chief Joe Merrill, who served capably in that role, but always intended that his city managerial duty be temporary.

He has returned to his police position, and Public Works Director Nate Kissell now is serving as interim manager while the search for a permanent manager continues.

There has been no indication whether Kissell might be an eventual candidate to become full-time manager, or even whether Kissell would in fact want that position.

Pacifico indicated the search for a full-time replacement might have to center on firms that provide a consultant. However, that should be regarded as a last resort.

Altoona needs someone who is on the job — on site — daily, not potentially dividing his or her local duties with someplace else. Also, Councilman Dave Butterbaugh made the good point that Altoona is a challenge to manage because it is a “full-service” municipality with both a police department and a fire department.

However, the right candidate is out there — somewhere. City officials must remain committed to identifying that individual and maintain a willingness to make the managerial position financially acceptable amid a mutually cooperative environment.

Fortunately, such an environment is possible here with the capable elected officials currently serving.

Those elected officials must remain open-minded during the search-and-hire process that lies ahead.

Butterbaugh made an excellent observation during the discussion about the hiring search — “the entire staff stepped up big time to be supportive of him (Merrill) and one another.”

Such a spirit of cooperation must continue while Kissell is working in the position and after the new permanent manager is hired.

Altoona is a third-class city, but it is a city with a lot of class, ongoing progress and with myriad opportunities not yet tapped.

Hopefully, the eventual successful candidate will come equipped with the kind of vision for the future that is necessary plus the commitment and vigor to help the city government make great things come to pass.