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The Fort Walton Beach City Council voted in a special meeting this week to hire South Florida professional recruiting firm Colin Baenziger & Associates for about $29,000 to help search for a new city manager.
Longtime City Manager Michael Beedy left the position in early November, and the council appointed Recreation and Cultural Services Director Jeff Peters as acting city manager.
During the meeting, the city council heard from Stephen Sorrell, senior vice president of Colin Baenziger & Associates.
“We would have provided you with a large number of good candidates,” Sorrell told the council.
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Sorrell, who previously spoke individually with the city council and staff, outlined who the ideal candidate would be and what the process for finding that candidate would look like.
A potential city manager will need a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and five years of administrative experience in municipal administration. A master’s degree would be desirable, Sorrell said, but work experience may count in lieu of higher education requirements. They will need to live in Fort Walton Beach or within 15-20 minutes of the city to respond quickly to emergencies. The candidate must also be someone who understands the importance of military bases in the area and their connection to the community.
Sorrell noted some of the challenges facing the city and some of the important projects a new city manager will oversee. These include the new Brooks Bridge replacement project scheduled to begin next year, the project around the mound to realign the U.S. Highway 98 downtown, and major improvements to the city’s recreation complex and Fort Walton Landing Park.
“You want someone who is a strong decision-maker and a leader, Sorrell said. “Someone with great interpersonal skills…someone who can communicate with citizens, council and staff.”
Sorrell recommended the council an advertised salary of $140,000 to $175,000 for the position, but stressed that figure is ultimately up to the council.
“You as a city council can negotiate above, below or anywhere in between those ranges,” Sorrell said. “What we need is a salary range that we think will work to attract a viable candidate.”
Sorrell said Colin Baenziger & Associates will handle advertising the position as well as finding and screening potential candidates, and he expects the firm to begin receiving applications in January.
“I’m going to appreciate every single one of them,” Sorrell said. “We’re going to do background checks…and I’m going to do personal interviews with each one of them.”
From there, Sorrell said he will narrow the field and present the council with about 10 candidates, including acting City Manager Peters.
“You all speak very highly of him, and we will include him in the final group that we present to you and recommend,” Sorrell said. “You’ll be able to compare him to all the other candidates we’re offering you.”
Sorrell recommended the council whittle that list down to three or four candidates before starting its own interview process. He proposed that council members Zoom interview each candidate and that the city hold a public “meet and greet” where residents, business leaders and others can meet and form their own opinions on who they think should be the next city manager. .
“This will allow the public to have input into your selection,” Sorrell said. “And then you, as elected officials, can decide on the candidate you want.”
Councilman David Schmidt expressed reservations about making such a major decision before the March 2023 city council election.
Council members Mike Holmes, Nathan Kelly, Kirby Locklear and MG Moran all have terms ending at the end of March. Fort Walton Beach residents will vote on these four council positions, potentially changing the makeup of the council.
“I don’t want politics or anything else coming from a new election and a new board to come into it,” Schmidt said of the hiring decision. “My recommendation is that we take these candidates … but hold off until after the election to make that final decision.”
Council member Nick Allegretto spoke in favor of moving forward with the hiring process now.
“I think it’s extremely important that we spend the $29,000 to make sure we get the right person to run the day-to-day operations of the city of Fort Walton Beach,” Allegretto said. “I think we owe it to every single taxpayer to say that we did an exhaustive search, we hired the best firm that specializes in this exact situation and has the most contacts and the most experience in this.”
City Attorney Hayward Dykes Jr. noted that the city charter only allows the council a total of two 90-day periods (180 days) in which to appoint a new city manager, delaying that decision until the next city council meeting after the election will be very close by this deadline.
In the end, the council voted unanimously to continue the process of finding a new city manager with the help of Colin Baenziger & Associates.
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