Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

The Hartland Consolidated Schools Board of Education on Tuesday voted to hire a Chicago-area search firm to help the district find its new superintendent to replace Chuck Hughes, who is retiring as of December 31.

The district will pay a base fee of $21,500 to Hazard, Young and Attea (HYA) Corporation.

"The board will have access to a portal so that we'll know in real-time if candidates are applying. I think the others did not offer that," said Treasurer Greg Keller.

"Seventy-five percent of the searches they performed are going out getting candidates that maybe weren't even looking, which I think tends to be a stronger candidate. Relative to the others, they are able to cast a wider net nationally in terms of whom they can go out and get, versus the other two that seem to be more regional."

The move comes three months after Hughes announced his retirement, something Vice Chair Cindy Shaw explained has many in community questioning what is taking soo long.

"The fact that this board has made so little progress in three months, including failing to appoint even an interim superintendent while our current superintendent is still here, is shameful and not in the best interest of our students, our parents, or its employees," she said.

Trustee Glenn Gogoleski defended the process.

"I think that this is a very important process. We should take our time. And I don't think we could have done things any quicker. I don't understand that," he added.

Trustee Jeff Scott said he was never under the impression a new superintendent needs to be in place on January 1.

"It's a lot of money. Every dollar we spend of the taxpayer is a lot of money, but we're talking about a decision that will impact this community for, hopefully, a decade or more," he said.

"So, I don't think this is about finding the cheapest vendor. This is about finding who we think can give the best results."

The agenda and video of Tuesday's school board meeting are linked below.