It has to be asked: Can Sacramento do better on its new city manager?

City officials are in the final stages of negotiating a contract with John Shirey, executive director of the California Redevelopment Association. The City Council, which is to discuss Shirey behind closed doors this afternoon, could announce his hiring as soon as Thursday evening.

He is an experienced bureaucrat with deep knowledge of California. His résumé includes more than three decades of government jobs, including city manager in Cincinnati, assistant city manager in Long Beach, assistant chief administrative officer in Los Angeles County and the last nine years at the redevelopment association.

But before council members take this big leap, they need to be absolutely sure the answer to all these questions is "yes."

• Is he the dynamic, creative leader the city needs right now?

Sacramento badly needs someone who can work inside City Hall to streamline government, yet work outside with business and labor leaders on a smart economic development strategy.

• Can he fully succeed when Mayor Kevin Johnson has already raised doubts about him?

While pledging his full support if the council picks Shirey, the mayor has also made clear he's not satisfied. It should also be noted that Johnson still has designs on a "strong mayor" measure for the 2012 ballot and Shirey has publicly opposed the proposal.

• Will he have the strong relationships with Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders that the top administrator of California's capital must have?

You can be forgiven some doubts given the bare-knuckled brawl over the future of redevelopment agencies. Shirey's at-times antagonistic attitude in that fight makes one wonder how deftly he could broker a deal with the Maloofs on a new arena, for instance.

• Was the search and recruitment conducted in a way to come up with the strongest candidates?

Council members chose to keep the process entirely private, so the public has little idea of how exhaustive the search was, whether it could have resulted in a better product and how cushy a deal is being offered.

All we have is their assurances that Shirey is the best among the 30 people who did apply, and that he's worth the contract he gets. (Not to bring up a sore subject, but is he head and shoulders better than Gus Vina, the interim city manager who left after the 5-4 vote to do a national search instead of giving him the job permanently?)

Shirey could very well use his skills and expertise to move Sacramento beyond a job-creation blueprint that is too reliant on redevelopment.

The worst-case scenario is that he isn't the right fit, and the city is looking again in six months or a year. As it is, he would be the fifth city manager in less than six years. That turnover has not been good for Sacramento.

Yes, the city needs a permanent manager. But more importantly, it needs the right one.

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