Candidates For Temple Terrace City Manager To Be Introduced Aug. 17

TEMPLE TERRACE, FL — The city of Temple Terrace will host a city manager candidate meet-and-greet on Wednesday, Aug. 17 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club, 200 Inverness Ave., Temple Terrace.

Mayor Andy Ross and the Temple Terrace City Council are inviting residents ,business owners and members of community organizations to meet, engage with and review the five candidates for the Temple Terrace city manager position.

Introductions and brief presentations from each candidate will begin at 5:30 pm. Candidates will be available to interact with the public between 6 and 7 pm.

Attendees are encouraged to register any comments or preferences regarding the candidates to council members as soon as possible. Feedback forms will be available at the meet-and-greet. Refreshments will be served.

The Temple Terrace City Council approved five candidates and one alternate (in the event one of the candidates declines) to advance to the interview stage in the search for a new city manager at its Aug. 2 city council meeting.

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The five candidates were chosen from a list of the top 10 applicants ranked by Colin Baenziger & Associates, a nationally recognized executive recruiting firm. In all, 38 people applied for the position.

The council also approved a schedule for the next stages of the process, which will include an opportunity for public input.

The candidates are as follows:

Carlos Baia has been the deputy city manager for Concord, New Hampshire (population 43,503) since 2007. Previously he worked for Deerfield Beach (population 75,018) for nine years, with the last eight as the economic development manager.

Anne Fritz has been the chief financial officer for the city of St. Petersburg (population 261,338) since 2010. Her prior employment includes serving as the finance director for the city of Westlake, Ohio, (population 32,689) for 10 years and the finance director for Willard, Ohio, (population 6,806) for 10 years.

Benjamin King has been the city administrator for Groveport, Ohio, (population 5,630) since 2020. Prior to his current job, he worked for Pataskala, Ohio, (population 15,751) for 13 years, serving the last six years as the city administrator.

Mark Orme most recently worked for Chico, California (population 98,683) for nine years, with the last eight years as city manager. He also worked for Hemet, California, (population 81,203) for 14 years and was the interim city manager at the time of his departure.

David Williams was most recently the town administrator for Sherborn, Massachusetts, (population 4,301) for nine years. Before that, he served as the assistant town manager for Framingham, Massachusetts, (population 69,288) for three years, the assistant town manager for Weston, Massachusetts, (population 11,261) for four years, and the finance director for Bath, Maine, (population 8,514) for three years.

The alternate candidates is Steve Kelley. Kelley has been the county judge executive (equivalent to an elected county manager) for Pulaski County, Kentucky, (population 64,789) since 2015. Prior to that, he owned several businesses in the community.

Interviews of the five candidates will be conducted at a special meeting of city council at Temple Terrace City Hall, 11250 N. 56th St., on Thursday, Aug. 18, beginning at 1:30 pm.

The meeting will be broadcast on Spectrum Channel 641 and Frontier Channel 39, as well as on the city's YouTube Channel.

Another special city council meeting will be held at City Hall at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at which time the city council is expected to vote on a final candidate.

That meeting also will be broadcast.

The contract for former Temple Terrace City Manager Charles Stephenson was terminated on Feb. 1. Steve Spina, a senior consultant with Imagine That Performance, a consulting company focused on local government leadership, has served as interim city manager since Feb. 16. Spina's contract expires Oct. 1. He was not eligible to apply for the position.