County Attorney takes on additional full time County Manager duties

By Cindy Jackson
Reporter
January 7, 2018 5:00 p.m.

It’s official. County Attorney Michael Mullin will also be the full-time County Manager for Nassau County as unanimously agreed to by the Board of County Commissioners at a special meeting held January 3rd.

The position of county manager was last held by Shanea Jones who resigned as county manager in July of 2017. Since that time, Mr. Mullin has held both positions.

When Ms. Jones’ resigned, the Florida Association of Counties was called in to offer assistance in finding a replacement. Clay County (FL) manager and secretary of the Florida Association of Counties, Stephanie Kopelousos, was placed in charge of that executive search.

At one session of the “Ask the County Manager” meetings, (held prior to the November elections), when asked how much longer he would be wearing the two hats, Mr. Mullin stated the decision was made to wait until after the elections for the search to be continued. . . or not.

Just this past week, on January 3, Ms. Kopelousos presented the findings of the search committee. The committee received 26 applications, nine from the state of Florida. The pool of potential candidates included 11 sitting city managers still others with significant experience in the field of economic development.

Pausing after a rundown of the characteristics of the applicants, Ms. Kopelousos said, “If you want my honest recommendation . . . you’ve got the best man for the job” – referring to Michael Mullin.  Among other things, she listed the qualifications commissioners had provided at the start of the search including honesty, integrity, an understanding of the community, a priority on customer service . . . and an attention to employee morale . . . and further noting that Mr. Mullin had all of those traits.

By a unanimous vote, it was decided that the search would be closed and Mullin would serve officially as both county attorney and county manager. Up and down the line of commissioners came nothing but compliments.

Outside legal counsel will be employed to negotiate the terms of the contract.

Take a look at the county website for job openings and included is the need for a building inspector, a building inspector supervisor and trainee, a building official. . . a construction supervisor, a county engineer, a firefighter/paramedic, a technician in the IT (information technology) department, and a road and building supervisor.

What isn’t listed is the need for a director of the Office of Management and Budget (since the departure of Justin Stankiewicz) and a director for Public Works (since Becky Brey left to take a job closer to where she lives).

During additional discussion the BOCC did agree to instituting a process of succession planning with details to be finalized at a later date. Ideas included having an assistant county manager and/or an assistant county attorney.

Mr. Mullin graciously accepted the offer and stated “I didn’t think it was possible four months ago,” but went on to say, “ it is only made possible because the county has good department heads.”

Editor’s Note: Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, Cindy received her BA in Political Science from Dickinson College. Upon graduation, Cindy began her career on Capitol Hill working as a legislative aide and director. She later became a part of the public relations and lobbying team of the American Iron and Steel Institute and served as director of the office of state legislative affairs for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). Cindy was involved in economic development with the state of Maryland, and served as executive director of Leadership Washington County. As a community volunteer, Cindy participates in numerous volunteer activities serving as a member of Sunrise Rotary, and as board member of Cummer Amelia Board of Directors.