Commissioners To Reconsider City Manager Candidates

It's not you — it's us.

That's the message City Commissioner Terry Turner is sending about the

"I think that the fact we couldn't pick one says more about us than it does about them," Turner said Tuesday during a special commission meeting.

City Commissioners will reconsider the four finalists for its city manager post after failing to agree to appoint Deputy Manager Marlon Brown as acting city manager on a suggestion by Mayor Suzanne Atwell.

"If we don't change our approach to the problem we're unlikely to find a candidate that we can agree on," Turner said.

The City Commission will discuss during its Monday afternoon agenda to reconsider the candidates for the job, who are:

•  Thomas Barwin - Village Manager, Village of Oak Park, Illinois  -  2006 to 2012
•  Rick Chaffin - Deputy City Manager, McKinney, Texas  -  2006 to 2012
•  James Chisholm - City Manager, Daytona Beach, Florida  -  2004 to present
•  Edward Mitchell - City Administrator, West Palm Beach, Florida, 1999 to present 

"Each of them had a successful track record in a number of cities," Turner added. "I think any one of them could have been successful in Sarasota."

It's also possible that more candidates may be suggested by search firm Colin Baenzinger and Associates if they found suitable candidates during its latest search.

The city is in a pinch to form a transition as , as he delayed retirement more than what he'd like. That led to talks of if continuity should be ensured by placing Brown as acting city manager as the city had agreed last week it would recreate a search for a new manager. The search firm also suggested potentially looking to hire someone for $70,000 more than the $150,000 advertised salary to get different candidates.

"It's unfair to Mr. Lewis," Turner said about the commission dragging its feet. "He made it clear that it's not only unfair, but it's unacceptable." 

Chaffin withdrew his name from consideration July 2, but Turner says he's "unwilling to believe that [Chaffin] is still not a candidate" and believes the recruitment process might have been "arduous" but could be influenced to be brought on board if that is the consensus choice.

Turner pointed out that the commission did not provide a second choice candidate, and Chaffin would have been his.

"If we insist on getting our first candidate we will never find a city manager," Turner said.

Atwell agreed with Turner that a second choice is needed.

"I am willing to look at the candidates we have," Atwell said. "And you are right on when you say it's not about them, it's about us. We need to take a look at them if they're still interested."

In their selections July 2, Barwin was endorsed by Shaw and Turner; Atwell for Mitchell and Commissioner Paul Caragiulo for Chisholm. Snyder declined to vote for any candidate.

Atwell wanted to appoint Brown as acting city manager Tuesday, but the support for that decision to be made Tuesday wasn't there at the urging of Vice Mayor Willie Shaw and  Caraguilo to instead take a brief pause and wait until Monday's regularly scheduled meeting to discuss it.

"Monday's going to be here. We should take the moment to let nothing that has previously influenced, persuaded, or directed us into our thoughts prevail at this time as we get ready to move forward with this decision," Shaw said.

However, even if the commission appoints a city manager Monday, it will likely take a month before the manager could arrive in Sarasota for duty after contract negotiations, and an acting city manager could still be needed to fill in.

The city's charter does not require the commission appoint an acting city manager, city attorney Robert Fournier said, but the deputy city manager does not become acting city manager by default, and additionally, having a deputy city manager is also optional.

Continuity shouldn't be overly considered in spite of another attribute, Caragiulo said. 

"I'm frankly more concerned about competency than continuity," he said.

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