City Realizes It Must Jump To It on Manager Search

Tuesday was quite a day for the city.

First, Interim City Manager Charlie George underwent an extensive medical procedure and began what will be a lengthy recovery period.

Then, Operations Director Jeremiah Glisson was officially tasked by the Fernandina Beach City Commission with supplanting George as interim city manager as George recovers.

And finally, the city commission was confronted with the realization that it was time to search for a permanent city manager to run the city.

"We are praying for Mr. George to get back to us as soon as possible, he does such great work," said Mayor Bradley Bean in beginning the city commission discussion regarding Glisson's appointment and a city manager search.

For the next hour, commissioners sparred over what steps should be taken to find and hire a city manager to run the city.

All agreed that the first step was for the city to contact executive search firm Colin Baenziger & Associates for advice on how to proceed and possible timelines for hiring a new city manager. Colin Baenziger & Associates conducted the original search that led to hiring last September of Ty Ross as city manager. Ross resigned seven weeks later and as a result, Colin Baenziger & Associates told the city it would conduct a new search at no cost.

In responding to the motion to appoint Glisson as interim city manager, Commissioner James Antun said he would support the appointment but wanted commissioners to consider former Chatham County, Georgia Manager Lee Smith for the job or going back to Colin Baenziger for a new search.

"This is something we could not have foreseen and we need to act now," Antun said.

Commissioner Chip Ross also advocated hiring Smith, who was among the five finalists for the city manager position last September.

"I believe we should begin a negotiation with him (Lee Smith) if he is willing to come and be our city manager," Ross said. "He's already been through this (search firm) process. We had two strong candidates, one of them is still available and it's not unusual for cities to go to their number two candidate when the first one doesn't work out."

But Commissioner Darron Ayscue saw the city's options differently.

"I don't agree with going back to Lee Smith. On its surface, it doesn't feel right that there would be enough transparency, be enough citizen input in the process if we went in right now with Lee Smith," Ayscue said. "Let's call the search firm, don't put any time frame on it, when it's going to happen, when it's not going to happen. I don't think that decision needs to be made tonight. It's going to take time for (city) staff to reach out to them (Colin Baenziger) and figure out what can and can't be done and bring that back to us."

Bean weighed in and declared he wanted to see "the top five names."

"I'd like to put some urgency under their (Colin Baenziger) sails. It's been nine months," Bean said. "It could be Lee Smith, he very likely might be in those top five names. We need to see who we're picking from."

Ross immediately pushed back.

"I totally support Jeremiah Glisson as interim city manager for a short period of time. We're asking him to do two jobs," Ross said. "I think time is of the essence. We've already gone through the vetting process. We had a city committee, we had meetings. They've been heavily vetted. We've been through this. You're asking to repeat all this."

Ayscue responded that the first step should be contacting Colin Baenziger for advice on how to proceed.

"I'm not looking at time frames. Let's get them on the phone and ask them what are our options?" Ayscue said. "We'll know our options in two weeks. If we need to speed it up or slow it down or pick one of the candidates that was still left, at least we'll have options."

Several public speakers advocated that the city commission delay hiring a city manager until after the Nov. 5 city commission election when there are three of the five city commission seats on the ballot.

"What if you hire someone and there are three new people up here (on the commission) that don't like that person. Then you're back to square one," said former Mayor Robin Lentz. "I would urge you to delay it. Maybe to have your short term list (of candidates) ready after the election."

Taina Christner suggested commissioners consider hiring a temporary city manager on a consulting basis.

"We have to do something immediately and you can only do that through a temporary contract," she said.

Commissioners eventually agreed to have Human Resources Director Denise Matson contact Colin Baenziger and ask about an expedited timeline and other considerations.

Bean instructed City Attorney Tammi Bach to schedule a special meeting around June 20 for commissioners to discuss their options once Colin Baenziger responds to the city's inquiries.