This time we'll call to order the January twenty-seventh twenty twenty-six meeting of the Clearwater City Council.

This time we'll move to item two point one on the agenda.

Executive recruitment services for city attorney.

And uh and I see that we've been provided with three uh proposals.

There are any uh comment you'd like to make on these three that we've received, or just morning Tiffany Macris, HR director.

Um Mayor, just the three that you've received were from SGR, Major Lindsay in Africa, and S.

Renee Narlock and Associates staff did reach out to Baker Gilmore, and they went for sponsor.

Okay.

But um interesting what the other council members thoughts are on these.

Um it goes to either an RFP or something similar to that.

Um I believe two of these are under fifty thousand anyway, um, so it wouldn't necessarily be a concern, but I did see that one of them is over fifty thousand.

And so um if you ended up choosing the one that was over fifty thousand, I don't see a problem with it legally because our purchasing code provides an RFP exception for impractical purposes.

And we've had staff come forward several times with other other items that are impractical, and to the mayor's point.

If you were to treat this as a formal RFP, not only would you lose a lot of time, but the question is who would sit on the RFP committee, right?

Are are all five of you going to sit on the RFP committee?

How would you manage that with sunshine with schedules and things like that?

So, at least from my perspective, if the council chooses to move forward with one of these, which you're not obligated to do, but if you choose to move forward with one of these, I think it comfortably falls within the impractical exception for procurement, and I do believe you could make that selection today if you choose to do so.

If you choose to do so, I do believe you should open it up to public comment because that would be a proposition before the council.

But from a procurement perspective, I believe you could choose any of these, or you could choose someone else entirely, and I think that would be fine.

And whoever we choose with these three, that uh they work directly with the five of us.

They meet with us individually at the outset to get our own thoughts.

Uh certainly staff will help you know communicate administratively and gather things that is needed as requested by the consultant.

But I I really hope that this is the five of us engaging directly with whoever we hire somebody to just make sure that it's our decision at the end of the day.

Um so and I and I believe SGR to do that.

So council member Alberton.

Uh yeah, just thinking back on how we did this last time.

Yeah, uh we hired a company to do a national search, and they went through all the um this is for the people that probably weren't here before.

They go through all the uh people that respond to their search, and they come up with I think it was five you know, different people they they thought were the top ones, and then they bring it to us.

But in the interim, we did meet individually with the with this with the company that was doing it, so they can get what kind of an idea what we're looking for, and um, and then they go out for the search, and then they put pretty much distill it down probably to five, four or five, and they bring that to us, and then we do the interviews and then come up, you know, a discussion, and then come up with uh who we're who we're gonna pick.

Um I'm fine with SGR.

I've read them read them all.

I don't have an issue with that.

Uh looks like they've done a lot of uh this type of RF, you know, uh thing.

So uh I think if we get started on it, it's gonna take a while for to get the RFP out and then to get all the proposals in, and uh, and then of course talk to us, and then when they do get that, they will distill it down to four or five and then bring it to us.

So it's gonna be a time, it's it's gonna be a little bit of time to get all that done.

Yeah, I think that's the advantage of moving pollways, it's to put an out take that additional time, and we've already accepted the resignation of the city attorney and have moved forward.

Someone in um getting ready to lose someone in the interim, so I think that's important.

So okay, Councilmember Cotton.

Yeah, thank you.

Apologize for my tardiness.

Um, thank you to staff for uh doing the work and getting those other proposals uh for us.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, for getting us um SGR's proposal.

And you know, I looked at this proposal like I look at uh everything else based on its merits, and then it's fit for clear order.

Um of the companies are qualified, and I think we could see that when we were going through the paperwork and each of the three proposals, um very unique.

I think we can all see the just distinct differences too and nuance, you know, from price to what each one offers from bringing to the table and the approach in which they would approach the five of us because I agree with what the mayor is saying as well.

This should be uh uh an effort that that we're heading up to make sure that this role is is set by the right person that this council puts there for the best for the city.

Um, you know, we manage an executive airport, uh working marina, world-class touristic beach and downtown redevelopment.

Um we have major business relationships with utility companies and professional sports teams.

So, you know, this role is an extremely important role to fill, and and I think that we have to get it right in doing that.

So just going over my notes here.

Um, when looking at all three proposals, I I did start to fall with SGR as well.

And what stood out to me about SGR was their um the deep local government experience, you know, the recruiters are all former city managers, um, municipal executives who have operated in the environments like ours that are just kind of notated.

Um when we deal with uh a city attorney, we're not just uh dealing with a a person or or an attorney, we're dealing with somebody that's dealing with the legal expertise and judgment for municipal matters, right?

We're dealing with somebody that's dealing with the legal expertise and judgment for municipal matters, right?

That's why I think it's so important uh and kudos to you and your team and pushing on your team for board certification.

You know, I think that that's really important, and it says a lot to you and and your bit uh your your office as well.

Um, you know, they advise us on certain policy and what we do going forward.

Um so you know, my support is based on that fit and evaluation primarily, and and I agree.

I think that SGR is probably the best out of all three after looking.

So thank you, HR team, for going through and getting me those.

I do appreciate it, and thank you, Mr.

Mayor, for doing the work with SGR.

So, first of all, I do agree that all of us um should meet with um the recruiters and have one-on-ones, but not necessarily hold up the process, it could be done during the process, so we don't uh belate it or make it extend the timeline.

When I looked at all the three companies, I feel the same way, they're all qualified, there's just slightly different differences depending on what our priorities are.

Um SGR does have one major advantage, and that um let's say over the MLAs because they have actually Florida placements versus just general.

Um their presentation was also very good, and their timeline was acceptable versus SRNA, which was like almost 16 weeks.

So I'd be comfortable with SGR as well.

And then I I guess we can talk about qualities or criteria that we're looking for at later on in the conversation.

Okay, Councilmember Manino.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Um, thank you as well for all the work and getting these proposals to us.

You got us a unique is a good word for it.

I mean, three almost completely different types of companies.

Uh MLA obviously is much larger and global, and their uh price tag shows that uh as we all saw going through it.

I I would be confident any direction we we go in this.

I did have a couple questions regarding SGR that I'm sure I could get through, but in seeing that they're a hundred percent remote, um that that causes me a little concern to dig a little deeper that allows gaps in communication, causes problems, some of their time zones.

There's something about the eye contact and handshakes that they miss that can affect internal culture and accountability.

Uh I did I did um like that they do have a lot of experience in the state of Florida and ran by an ex-city manager, I think it said from Lakeland.

Um they do have that ability.

I was surprised that they just recently hired a city attorney for Northport, but in their cover letter, they used two examples but didn't identify the most recent in Northport.

That kind of shocked me.

Um I I did like that there were the only one that gave a price and gave a not to exceed price.

Um that that was pretty clear and cut and then being specialized.

Um you know, and then if you look at the last one that I think we all seem to be ranking as last is Renee Narnar, if if you're budget conscious, that is the only one that offered a guarantee.

And if if if that city attorney you hire doesn't last within that first year and is fired for cause, uh they do that search completely cover minus the expenses on the back end, but they cover almost the 24-25,000 price tag and do the search for you again, which may give some comfort.

But it looks like there's support for SGR, and I I could find um confidence in them doing the job for us as well.

Yeah.

Um I think we discussed last time, but you you may have read the uh the city attorney northport they hired our person.

So that's uh that's part of it, yeah.

So um, and uh and out of that, you know, they're not so far away that I mean they were close enough to us that maybe they may have some candidates.

The other thing, Doug Thomas, who's listed first.

I I don't know if he lives in Tampa or still lives in Lakeland, but he's still in the Tampa Bay Area, and he's the one who I spoke with who I think would be upfront on this as well.

So yeah.

Okay.

Any further discussion?

And and I guess we can negotiate terms, like we could add in whatever agreement.

We have to take whatever they propose as a contract.

We can talk to them about adding provisions that we like and some of the others.

I think it can certainly be negotiated, but we'd have to know you know what to negotiate, you know, whether it's the manager, whether it's mean, you know, someone's gonna have to communicate to them and say, okay, this is what the council would like to see that's different than what they proposed.

If they would propose what he council member meno say the guarantee in regard to candidate placement, see if they'd be at least ask.

See if they would okay.

I mean, as far as a discussion on on who leads it, obviously that you there's only a couple weeks left, and if we're talking about a two and a half month process, I don't know if that would make sense to start the process and then backfill with somebody else just for continuity, but you may have a better answer than that.

Just kind of glancing at what they are currently proposing.

So if we're discussing each SGR, SGR says that uh in the this is quoting from their proposal, they say, um if for any reason you're not satisfied, we will repeat the entire process one additional time.

You'll be charged only for expenses.

This is on page 17.

Um, they also say in the event that you select a candidate vetted by SGR who subsequently resigns or is released for any reason within 12 months, um, they will commit uh one-time um additional executive search, and they'll be charged only for expenses.

So it does appear within the scope of their current proposal that they do actually have of within that time frame the significant guarantee.

Now, 12 months is 12 months, so it's like but that's to the mayor's point.

Any of these terms are negotiable, um, but I do believe that they are including a placement guarantee currently.

Which I believe was the same as Renee's.

She was gonna charge expenses as well within 12 months.

Yes, which makes sense.

Okay, so it didn't look like we could do anything differently.

Yeah, Councilmore Albert.

Yeah, I mean, going through the initial post uh prior to posting position, uh you know, of course, we have the contract execution, but the most important to me is the uh stakeholder interviews and listening sessions because they we don't have to really do it in person, that can be done remotely, that's fine.

Uh the thing that really uh to me makes the most out of this whole process is at the end when they do you do face-to-face interviews, um, because a lot of times you can read, you can see a picture, and it until you actually meet the person, and we'll probably do some background checks as I did last time.

You know, I looked at council meetings, you know, to see how they perform, and uh it to me it it the whole process through week 12.

Um, you know, I'm very satisfied with so well.

Any further discussion?

So is there a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve SGO.

Oh, just kidding.

Mayor, just one thing that I want to make sure that we do have clarified there will need to be a point person for the um for SGR to work with if that's who you guys suggest.

Um, and so all decisions absolutely made by the council, but in terms of coordination, there will need to be a point person.

So do you want that to be HR?

Do you want that to be something that clerks?

HR.

Okay.

Thank you for that clarification.

Yeah.

So with that, I'll make a motion to accept SGR's proposal for the city attorney's urge.

Second.

Okay.

At this point, is there anyone here from the public who desires to speak to this agenda item?

I'm Mr.

Haluba.

And it is my sincere hope and request that this search for a new city attorney does not forfeit the respect and trust of the public, like I believe happened with the search for the city manager.

Appointments and promotions of city officials and employees shall be made solely on the basis of merit and fitness.

That's a quote from your rules.

So we don't want to make a mistake, in my opinion, again on an appointment because of made-up time frame.

There's not any cost restrictions either for this.

So I hope that uh you know you're on board, Mr.

All Britton, with finding someone else instead of how it went last time.

I believe that shortcuts and ignorance of the city charter should not be tolerated this time.

Clearwater needs new faces, needs fresh ideas, new ideas, new blood, if you will.

And there's reasons for that.

Need to mitigate some perceived harmful outside influences, need to better promote open and transparent city government, which is sorely lacking under this administration, and perhaps a new person will at very least cause the fiefdom of Gandhi Wallach and slaughter some trepidation.

Now, given these reasons, I don't believe Owen Kohler should be uh even considered, even though he does have one qualification.

Apparently, he does live in the city of Clearwater.

I think this situation demands an exhaustive, expensive nationwide search for the next Clearwater City attorney.

And please don't again take the easy way out and forfeit the respect and trust of the public.

I think all three proposals should be approved and funded.

Is anyone else here today from the public desires to speak to this agenda?

If not, then uh we will vote.

All those in favor?

Aye opposed, unanimous.

Okay.

Okay, so we'll gauge them soon and then I guess set up meetings with each five of us.

And Vice Mayor, your point.

You know, I think that that's the time for us to share our individual thoughts on what we want and don't want.

Yes.

You have something to share, Timmy?

Good morning, and thank you.

So my understanding is the HR will run his point on getting the contract as or the quote as it's written, or was there a desire to negotiate some terms?

I think we're wrong.

I think we're okay with the terms we saw.

Okay.

Okay, excellent.

We will get that going.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Move to item three on the agenda.

Uh closing comments by council members.

Any comments?

Uh item four, closing comments by mayor.

I don't have any.

So with that, we will adjourn the January 27, 2026.

Special meeting Clearwater City Council.