Madeira starts selection process for city manager’s slot
By TOM GERMOND
Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007  |
MADEIRA BEACH – City commissioners want to learn more about six applicants for the city manager slot but said they are not ready to exclude other candidates from the selection process.
At their workshop session Dec. 4 the commission asked its staff to obtain written permission from the candidates to conduct background checks on them. The candidates also will be asked to complete employment applications.
The six candidates are Therese Leary, general manager of a Hilton Head, S.C., planned community; Robert Mearns, a former Fernandina Beach city manager; Bradley Thorpe, director of community services for Citrus County; James Vardalis, a former city manager for several Florida municipalities; Derryl O’Neal, Madeira Beach fire chief and Peter Cavalli, the Belleair Beach community services and IT director.
Though the staff had ranked the 11 applicants for the job, commissioners refrained from doing likewise. Selecting the six was just a starting point.
Commissioners considered a variety of ideas for continuing the selection process, such as interviewing top applicants by phone and interviewing them in person. They also discussed calling elected officials who worked with the applicants.
“I think we have to know from people that work with them what kind of job they are doing,” Commissioner Arnold Alloway said.
Commissioner Nancy Oakley suggested waiting until after the city election next year to make a decision, saying that the pool of applicants would increase.
She said that when commissioners hired Silverboard, the city had 102 applicants for the position.
City officials said the crop of candidates could be down because they didn’t advertise nationally in major newspapers. Interest also could be lower because of the approaching holidays.
“People are not thinking about making changes at this time of year,” Deborah Cline, city human resource director, said Dec. 5.
Mayor Charles Parker said that the city has had six city managers since he has been in office and most have left on their own volition for better jobs. He said that Silverboard had been with the city the longest, more than three years.
“I don’t think time on the job is always the criteria,” he said.
Commissioner Steve Kochick said his top criteria for the candidates is that they have technical knowledge about computers, experience in development issues and building codes and experience in working with marinas.
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Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007
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