Alright, I'm gonna call this uh Tuesday, September 9th, 2025, special city commission meeting to order, and I'm gonna call upon the city auditor and clerk for an invocation.

Please standily father, we affirm our faith in thee.

We seek your divine strength, wisdom, and guidance in the deliberations that affect the lives of each of the citizens of our community.

In our name we pray, amen.

I like allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic of which we're God's liberty and justice at all.

All right, and are there any changes to the order of the day?

No, mayor.

All right.

Um please read the pledge of public conduct.

Thank you.

We may disagree what we we will be respectful to one another.

We will direct all comments to issues, we will not engage in personal attacks.

Okay, we have one person signed up to speak.

Uh Martin Hyde.

Well, good morning.

I uh just wanted to follow up with uh last time.

So Charles Ponzi ran an investment scheme, which relied on two things.

One was finding new investors to pay the old ones, and the second was knowing that uh many people will suspend their judgment concerning things being too good to be true if that's what they want to believe.

In short, the Ponzi scheme requires lazy, willing participants who are prepared to believe that money grows on trees.

The last two city managers and the subsequent two interim managers since have kept the city of Sarasota's Ponzi scheme alive by virtue of higher property values and new development covering the new investment aspect, and more worryingly by keeping material facts from you about the sustainability of your budget.

This year, city staff, no other way to say it, deliberately excluded your single biggest obligation.

Fully 70% of the general fund is wages.

You should have known that.

They certainly did.

The blustering response to Commissioner Koch by Interim Manager Baluk, when she dared to ask what the cost of raises might be was embarrassing.

They had nine months to calculate the impact of a cost of living raise based on the payroll total, which I obtained from a record request.

It took me less than 30 seconds, once I had the payroll totals to calculate that the cost of a 4% raise will create a close to three million dollar black hole in the budget that you just passed.

You are now faced with having to spend reserves meant for emergencies and disasters when the only emergency and disaster is the lack of candor from those preparing the budget.

The old question of what did you know and when did you know it applies here?

I'll give you the commission of the benefit of the doubt and assume you were unaware of the deliberate obfuscation, but you do know now, and it's time to ask them the same question.

Based on the fact that they had this data all along, the answer should be obvious, as should your obligation to make sure it never happens again.

Hanging heads in shame isn't enough.

Heads need to roll.

The question of whether it's staff for obfuscation or commissioners for incompetence at the ballot box is up to you.

Thank you.

All right.

Let's see.

All right, our next and really only agenda item is the presentation, the discussion regarding the executive search firm for the city manager search.

And I'm gonna call upon City Auditor and Clerk Griggs and City Attorney Polzak to make the presentation.

Good morning.

Thank you, Commissioners.

And um so everybody could be aware we are having some technical difficulties, so please be patient with us on this.

Um we thank everybody for being here.

Um each search firm has been invited to give a pre a brief presentation followed by questions and answers session from the city commission.

The schedule for presentation session interviews will be as followed.

Um, our brief little introduction here.

Um 10 to 1015.

MGT will be from 1015 to 1115 a.m.

Sumter will be from 1115 a.m.

to 1215 p.m.

Um Slavinov, we all know has uh withdrawn their proposal, so we just have the two um search firms this morning, and then we hope to deliberate and be out of here at a good time.

So additionally, um some commissioners have submitted questions and they were given to the search firms to have in your presentations.

So hopefully that is what we will hear about today, and you all will have the time to answer or ask the questions that you want to ask as well.

So on that note, I'll yeah.

Well, well, Sunchill.

We look forward to just proceeding with these interviews and getting you involved.

All right.

Um, do you have any questions about the procedure today, what we're doing?

Not for the uh search funds.

Excuse me.

What happened?

I think it's just okay.

No questions.

All right, thank you.

All right, then I'm gonna call upon Charlene Stevens and Jim Denine from MGT to make a presentation.

Thank you.

Um, if you if you'd like um if I can share my screen, I think we've got a brief PowerPoint and we'll walk you through that, and then of course, we're happy to answer um questions as well.

So let me get my presentation up.

So again, thank you for the opportunity uh to be here today.

I'm Charlene Stevens, Vice President of Human Capital, and along with me today is Jim Denine, um, one of our executive recruiters who is based in Florida, and we'll introduce ourselves a little bit further as we go along.

Just want to give you a brief kind of overview of MGT as an organization.

Um, in addition to executive recruitment for the public sector, we do quite a bit of other uh work as well in terms of working with uh all of our work is generally in the public sector, working both with K-12 as well as city-county governments throughout the country.

We do strategy uh planning implementation, human capital, that is where our executive uh search uh is placed.

Uh, we also do some work um in terms of technology infrastructure as well as fiscal planning uh for local government uh as well.

And so we do work very broadly across the country.

A little bit about human capital.

Um our firm was initially founded as GovHR and then was acquired by MGT a couple of years ago.

Uh the principal of uh GovHR, Joel Academatori is still leading our human capital practice uh and has a long career in local government.

One of the things that we pride ourselves on is that all our individuals working in human capital in the public sector have all also been practitioners in the public sector, and we feel that that gives us some um very robust insights into the public sector.

Uh, just a little bit about this team.

Again, I am uh Charlene Stevens.

I lead our human capital solutions in terms of executive recruitment.

I have over 20 years of experience in local government, have worked across uh the country, worked in three different states, and I've been with the firm leading executive recruitment uh for the last two years, but I was an executive recruiter starting back in 2019.

Um we also support all of our recruitment with a team, myself, our client services manager, reference specialist, as well as a recruitment coordinator that assists.

Um, the principal for this recruitment will be Jim Denin, and I'll let him introduce himself and give his background uh to you.

Jim.

Good morning, everyone.

Thanks for the opportunity to hear what we have to say in terms of our opportunity to help you find a new manager.

Um I'm located here in Florida.

I'm in uh Mu Summerta Beach.

Um I've got a little almost 45 years in the public sector.

Uh half of it as either city or county manager.

Last 12 and a half years before I retired from the public sector was with Belichia County as their manager.

So I think I have a pretty extensive background, which I think is essential in understanding what the client client, which case the commission's needs are versus what the different candidates will offer.

Thank you.

Just a little bit more on our experience in addition to Jim.

We always say that when you hire us, you don't just hire one individual.

Jim will lead this recruitment, but we have 36 recruiters located coast to coast.

We think that gives us a really broad outreach and a really broad national presence.

And you can see um where some of our recruiters are located.

And we've done over 1500 recruitments in 45 states.

So we do have a national presence with what we call local with local expertise.

Uh a little bit more about our Florida experience as well.

And uh Jim has worked on almost all or many of these recruitments as he is based in Florida, but you can see the amount of work that we have done in Florida, both city county management, uh recruitment, and then we have also we also do a department director and other senior level positions.

And so we do have a large footprint in Florida.

We feel we know the market, um, and Jim will speak to that a little bit later as well.

Just want to touch on our our methodology and our approach.

We kind of say we have six steps to success.

We start kind of with first kind of really understanding the organization and the position.

And so we would spend time doing kind of one-to-one uh conversations with the commissioners with other key stakeholders, really learning the organization that helps us really try to find uh to learn the organizational culture and helps us to really understand the fit and what you're specifically looking for.

We also develop the position announcement, the brochure materials out of that.

We're not just marketing the position, we're also marketing uh the city of Sarasota as well.

We really pride ourselves on our candidate outreach and our recruit and uh sourcing of candidates, and so we don't just kind of post and hope on a position.

We spend time really actively reaching out to candidates that are passive job seekers, they may not be actively actively looking, but when we reach out to them, put the position in front of them, uh they're you know likely to apply, and we'll have those conversations uh with candidates as well.

Uh, we also coordinate the entire process.

So we coordinate kind of taking in the applications, initial screening.

We're gonna have Jim talk a little bit about what's going to be a little different in this search um in a moment.

Uh, but we take in all the materials, um, we uh take that burden away from your human resources team as well.

And we really work with your uh with you as a partner in that.

And I'll let Jim kind of talk about how we see this process, maybe just a little bit different than some of our recruitment, but understanding um the importance of the commission being involved uh in the selection process.

So, Jim, do you want to touch on that?

Yeah, yes.

In in your case, uh commission seems to be uh desire to be a lot more involved in the process, and we run across dedication and we always modify our system to fit what the client's needs are.

In this case, uh specifically, what we will do is during our recruitment process, we will Sherling pointed out.

We will have a brochure developed, the key to bro developing that brochure, and there's nothing that's in plants this, and that's for the recruitment firm, myself especially to really understand what you're looking for.

Because it goes beyond, as we know, it goes beyond just credentials, it's also chemistry fit.

Do they fit culturally?

So our ability to find out exactly what you're looking for, what your history's been, where you hope to go really makes a difference.

Now, once we do that, we end up having uh this information in the brochure.

This goes out.

We send it obviously to the places that everyone else would normally advertise, but you need to know that a big part of what we do, and Charlene showed you how big our network is that over 50% of the referrals that we get come from our network.

There's a lot of people we know out there that are looking in a lot of cases not looking for a job, they're looking for the right opportunity.

And so we coordinate, I coordinate with the other recruiters across the country.

And yes, we do find people from different parts of the country.

There are people that uh you have that are in Florida that want to stay in Florida and what are interested in your job.

There are other people across the country, and it doesn't cost you any more to advertise across the country that could be interested.

And a lot of times people are surprised that some of the people that we get from other states uh went to school here, grew up here.

Uh it's not unusual for us to have people that went to FSU or UF and they want to come back.

Also, what we have is uh people that are mature in their career who want to move to Florida because in some cases they have family now in Florida.

So that opens up a lot of possibilities.

Now we will get a large candidate pool.

And normally what we do is I'll look at that and go through and we what we do, which is makes us unusual, is we will spend the time, a significant amount of time interviewing the appropriate candidates that meet the criteria.

In your case, what we're gonna do is add an additional step, which is to allow the commission to see all the resumes we get, and we'll categorize them as those that meet the minimal qualifications and those that don't, and you will get a bunch that don't meet the minimum qualifications.

Through that, we hope to work with you to get from the commission a list of candidates that they believe using it somewhere in the range of 10 or 12 that we should interview.

Now, as we get that list from you, we'll make sure you obviously have all that information.

We will give you that at the end of the of the outreach program.

And you really have to wait to the end because in most cases, some we get some of our best candidates in the first couple of days and the last couple of days.

Usually the first candidates we get are people maybe they're actively looking.

At the end, because of Florida Sunshine Laws, a lot of people hesitate to put their stuff out in the public until we're right at the end of the research uh or the search period that we allow.

All that information would go to you of the people that you would like us to interview.

And we can we'll discuss that with you if we could add a few more.

If we also think there's some additional people maybe that you've missed, we will do an individual uh it's called Spark or Spark recruitment where it's a one-sided view of the candidate live, where that person gets you get to see how they perform live.

All that information will go to the commission, and then I will also interview in-depth.

Usually these interviews go 45 minutes to an hour, sometimes even over an hour, to really understand between what I understand of doing the job, because I've I've had the job for 25 years.

I was either city or county manager.

So I have a feel for what the candidates are telling me.

I'll have my own notes from those interviews.

And then what we can do is once you've seen the candidate pool, uh, you've had us interview people, we sent you the material, we've given you the Spark uh interviews.

Uh, then we can talk through a process where I can also give you my perspective upon not so much how the candidates rank among themselves, but which candidates are the best qual the best qualified for you to consider interviewing.

Yeah, and as Jim noted, to make a decision.

Go ahead, Jim.

Yeah, and it should really work with you to f and as Jim noted, really work with you to facilitate that process and narrowing down the candidates and such.

And the spark hire is a kind of extra step.

It's about a, you know, it's a one-way uh interview, video interview.

The candidates are given, you know, three to five questions, given a few minutes to answer each question, um, would work with you on what those questions are that might be important, kind of the why of what the uh of the position or maybe some critical issues, but it gives you an opportunity to see a little bit of those candidates as well as Jim having the opportunity um to have an in-depth conversation with them and really get at more of what their actual skill sets are, what their experiences, how they present themselves, uh, because you know, uh what people put on paper and sometimes how they present themselves or how um they really articulate those experiences can be different in our experience.

And so we want to partner with you uh throughout that process.

And then um also, you know, once you've narrowed down to kind of the semifinalists and finalists, we are there with you um throughout that process as well.

Uh, we are also doing media searches on the candidates, we're doing reference checks on the candidates as well.

And then Jim would be present to um and help facilitate schedule coordinate um the interviews with the commission as well as assisting you um to whatever degree uh is important to you or necessary in terms of um selection of the candidate as well as uh working through the offer and negotiation with the candidate.

So we stay with you through the entire uh process uh as well.

Um, just a few things that we think make our firm also a little bit different than other firms, or kind of you know, a reason to hire us is um we feel kind of our uh placement rate and our retention of candidates uh stands out.

So nationwide, the chief administrative officer position in local government kind of average about five to seven years, and that's according to ICMA International City County Management Surveys and such.

There's just sort of that's the average tenure of a CAO uh position.

Our kind of track record kind of falls right in line there with um our average placement being uh retention being about five years, some are going to be longer than that, but that's about an average placement.

So we feel we're kind of um right where we need to be as well.

Uh number of searches we do uh conduct almost 200 searches ex uh annually throughout the country.

Um, and we have about 50 that are active at any one time.

Um, Jim kind of works really um you know a little bit differently.

Um, and he maybe handles one or two searches um at a time, um, and such and so he is able to amply um support the city of Sarasota and really give his full attention to the city of Sarasota.

And as I said, we always have a team behind our recruiters.

Um, so we make sure that all of our recruitment um stay on track on time um and are really supporting our recruitment uh our recruiters um as well.

Um the other thing I think really stands out, Jim touched on this too, is that we really um actively source candidates through our team of 30 some consultants.

Jim talked about the reasons um that you'll find candidates locally, regionally, but also we always say there's candidates out there as Jim kind of described that may want to come home and want to come back um to Florida, and we really reach out to those, or there are candidates that just have been in other searches that we think are phenomenal.

Maybe they were the runner up.

Um they're actively looking, and we'll kind of put them in touch um with another recruiter if we think that that's gonna be a potentially uh good match as well.

We also really have a broad um social media network in terms of our candidates.

So we reach over some 50,000 contacts on LinkedIn when we're putting um jobs out there.

Our career center alone um draws over 17,000 public sector job seekers um monthly.

Um, and then Jim's credentials in Florida.

I mean, he just really knows uh the market in Florida, knows individuals in Florida, and knows who's looking and knows who to call about potential candidates as well.

I just wanted to kind of cover again the summary of our costs uh for the recruitment, the feed um uh for the recruitment of approximately 37,000 or is 37,000 recruitment expenses.

Um, those are um additional expenses there, such as advertising and due diligence as well, and those are really billed at cost.

And so if it doesn't cost $2,000 to advertise for the position based on the sources that we recommend and that you select, then we don't charge you um additional for that.

We you know that and if we go over that, we of course verify that with you at first as well.

And then we have included the what we call spark higher, it's just the name of the tool, but the one-way video interview.

That's what that uh would be an additional note as well.

And then um, in any additional, we've just estimated some uh some travel um for Mr.

Digging uh to be present uh and such.

But that again is billed at cost.

We don't upcharge that um as well.

And so um the uh cost of the recruitment 45,000.

Um just kind of lastly, and then we'll be happy to answer questions.

There's just some other reasons that we think you um should strongly consider us, and we're again very honored to be considered is that um we really do work with you to find the right match.

Jim talked about chemistry, um, talked about getting to know the candidates and getting to know the organization and really making sure it's beyond the credentials, beyond the technical skills, that chemistry piece.

Um, and so you know, we're very comfortable offering our guarantee too that if a candidate leaves within the first year of placement, we will come back and do uh a second search for you at only the cost of expenses.

And the reason we feel comfortable with that is because it only happens in about 3% of our recruitment, and we think that's a testament to the time we spend up front getting to know you, getting to know the organization, and really working to find the right candidate and the right match for you.

Um, and you know, with that, we um would be happy to answer uh questions that you might have.

Shirley, if I could, I'd like to add one comment at the end here, and that is one of the things that people ask.

And I I think I have an advantage here, because I you know lived here now 20 some years and ended up staying in Florida.

And like one of the questions I get asked of people is, Jim, would you take this job?

Well, as a manager, and I can tell you right now that at least your community.

It's not gonna be an issue of five managers, and we find the right manager.

I mean, you've got a desirable community that's beautiful.

One of my best friends lives there.

I used to come down once in a while now because we live on the other side of the coast, we see them twice a year over there.

You can't who wouldn't want to live?

I mean, if I was a younger man, I'd probably be applying for this job myself.

It's gonna be fun in the right person, and you have such a beautiful community.

I think you will get a lot of people that are attracted to this job.

That's this is an exciting job.

It's a great job for a manager, and I think the issue will be can we pick the right person because the towns would be comfortable as somebody that they unanimously think is going to be the right person for them for now and into the future.

I think that we work, we are capable of helping you find that.

And I think we are uniquely qualified here in the state of Florida to do that.

Thanks, Jim.

All right, thank you very much.

Um, are we going to just maybe uh go through the questions that were submitted first or um okay?

I'm trying trying to figure out how we should handle these questions.

Okay, first off, let me address something.

Um can you stop sharing your screen um MGT, just FYI?

Hopefully.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

Um did the slideshow.

Um I guess it's up to you all if you want to address the questions that were submitted first and then kind of go around and have your own individual questions.

All right, I don't I think that was sort of what we talked about.

There would be um any questions that everybody wanted to submit.

Um maybe I'll I'll have the uh people who submitted the questions go through them.

Do you have yours in the front of you?

Vice Mayor, okay.

All right, why don't you go ahead and ask your list of questions?

Thank you very much for your presentation.

And I think you covered my first question, which was to confirm that the process to whittle down the list of semi-finalists into the list of finalists is driven by the commission.

And I believe you confirmed that.

And then the other is in light of the Florida Sunshine Law and the need to be transparent to confirm that all applicant materials will be available to the public upon request and immediately shared with the commission if it's shared with the public.

Yes, uh, we're very familiar with Florida Sunshine Law, Jim as you know, Jim has had a career in Florida.

So typically the way that we work that is we're working as an agent of the city, so we would provide that to your you know, point of contact at the city, whether that's HR upon request of a public when they receive a public information request, we'll provide the data that we have to them, applicant resumes, cover letters, the materials for them to release.

We don't typically release it on the behalf of the city, but we make sure that we're providing that in a timely manner for the city's release.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you.

Um two questions during our previous search, uh, we plan to include two what I think were unusual elements in the process, and I'd like your opinion on each of them.

Uh the first one was a town hall mixer at which the finalists under five would be would introduce themselves to the public, and then there would be time after the formal program for them to have one-on-one conversations with the public.

What is your opinion?

Would you recommend or say don't do that?

What are your thoughts on that?

Yeah, I'll I'll start and then Jim can jump in.

But we have facilitated public meet and greets and also kind of in the next um your the next part of that question, I think is also the um using a stakeholder committee or another uh group in interviews.

We facilitated both of those as parts of interview processes.

I think our opinion is we really work with you on, and I and Jen, and I want to say that we respect your knowledge of your community and so what is going to work in your community.

Now we will tell you, I think that there are some pros to that.

There are some you know potential downsides to that, you know, some of the pro some of the opportunity in it is for both is for the community and for candidates actually to get a better insight into the community as well.

Um I think some of the downside to that is the more public the process is for candidates, sometimes the more likely the candidates might withdraw in that process.

Because you know, many of your best candidates um are employed in another organization, and so they may look at that um and question kind of moving forward in that process if it's overly arterous or again it exposes them unnecessarily to public scrutiny uh in that.

I think the other thing that I will add is what's really critical for either of those components is to really be clear up front on what you'd like from that.

So if you're doing a public meet and brief, um having some public comment cards and some things that can be kind of feedback that you can use as a commission and then just take that in as feedback and it might inform your decision, uh, but being clear that it's not um the public not selecting the candidate.

Same thing with an additional interview panel if they are community members that they're gonna provide input into the process, but not necessarily ranked candidates because that's ultimately the choice of the commission.

And Jim, do you want to kind of um weigh in there as well?

Yeah, I actually have some opinion on that.

I actually went through one of those uh town hall things.

Um actually I think they can be worthwhile.

Uh after the people get the sort of grid, you know, one of the ways I've seen it work is you move the candidates to different corners of the room.

And allow the public to circulate to different people.

The key, I think there is making sure that people have comment cards because the biggest problem you have is you getting the information back.

But if you give them comment cards when they walk in so they can make comments about the person, and usually people you're asking people for their fit or chemistry of maybe ideas they have.

If they if they have it in their hand like that, they can note it and know to who they talk to, because this gets confusing after they've talked to a bunch of candidates.

But if they can do that and then submit them, and the beauty of that is one, there's a public record of all those comments.

Okay.

And two, they all go to all the commissioners.

So one of the problems if you don't have the little cards is who's talking to who.

I didn't get a chance to talk to that commissioner, or I wasn't sure which candidate.

But I do think they have value if you organize it.

Um, as for having a committee, I think that Charlene talked about you know, have it up to the I understand why people want to do that to get someone else's perspective.

I think as long as the person doesn't think doesn't get confused on who's making the hiring decision and the stress.

And the and the stress, um, one of Carline or Charlene's issues was in the public sector.

I think we all have to be clear.

I mean, I went through this, is that some of the candidates you want or the candidate you want may be very successfully employed somewhere else.

And they see this as the next opportunity in their career.

In Florida, because it's all public, you can undermine your current employment.

And we lose candidates because of that.

So the only thing I think Charling was pointing at is the more public it is, the more leery some people get.

I'm not talking about I'm talking about really good candidates because they're afraid that their own community will get beat up because they're looking for a job somewhere else.

And if you are a commissioner and your manager's looking, uh well, that it a lot of times it doesn't bode well for the person looking.

And so we try to make sure that under Florida law, everybody gets to know who's out there.

But in most cases, if people are going to take that risk, they don't mind taking it as much if they're a finalist.

But if they're not even a finalist, it's a big risk to take.

Thank you.

And I just have two more that are related to each other.

Uh would your firm ever source a candidate that you have placed?

We do not actively reach out to our candidate for a period of uh five years, and we really don't actively, I mean, if a candidate applies, they apply, uh, but we um do not reach out to a candidate for a minimum of five years.

Okay, thanks.

Because I see that that also works both ways.

If you place someone here, we would know that you would not source them for at least five years.

Right, right.

Okay, thank you.

You would not actively source them for a period of five years.

Now, if they apply it on their own, but I will tell you, even as a recruiter, I'm always a little cautious and leery, but it is a free job market, so we don't want to uh prohibit people.

Thank you very much.

That's all.

All right, thank you.

Uh Commissioner Ulrich, you had a list.

I did, thank you.

Uh thank you for submitting answers to my questions in writing.

We received those answers just shortly before our meeting.

So we haven't really had the opportunity to dig deeply into them.

Oh, no, that's that was the other.

Sorry.

So uh let me go through and ask my questions.

How do you dis how do you strive to understand our organization's culture, our city's culture and leadership needs?

Jim.

Let me yeah, let me jump in on this.

Okay, that the most important thing in this process is to get it right, is to really understand what you're looking for.

And you know, being a manager all those years, I mean, I really understand, okay, the nature of working with the commission.

The most important thing, and now I'll either personally I'll I can do this by Zoom, I can do it on the phone, or what I prefer to do is if the city will help organize it, is to meet with you all you privately in person and go through what you're really looking for beyond just the normal credentials people have to have to be company to have this job.

I I can I can tell you real quick, you know, the credentials you have to have to be able to actually manage an organization this big.

I've done it.

But I need to understand what you're really looking for, and that's the cultural part.

That's the chemistry.

That's the and a lot of times it's it's not just what people like or what they want, it's what they don't want, or what they think issues are, or things they can point out to me.

I I believe that our process where we spend the time, and like I said, I can drive over there.

Okay, I just need somebody to help me organize it so I can meet with you all one-on-one, I can do that, I can meet with staff, and I can meet wherever you want to be meet with that are stakeholders or have input.

That is invaluable because that's what I will use to help screen people, and it's not just the question I asked the first time, it's the follow-up when I hear what their answer is.

Because I know what you're really looking for.

Thank you.

Um, my next question is fit is as important as technical ability.

In what ways do you determine fit of the candidates?

Um the technical side, I think what we're gonna look for is I'm gonna look for all those examples of things that I think are essential in how that person is going to do their job.

And that's everything from uh communication skills, their written skills, their philosophy, their integrity, their ethics and how they deal with that, how they deal with staff.

You know, you have to do this long enough, you understand how to mentor people, you know, but you also have to understand how to manage people.

Okay, you have a big organization.

You also gotta look at how do you provide information that's key to all the commissioners, and how do you make sure that all the commissioners are treated treated equally?

Now, the interesting thing about treatment people equally is that not everybody receives information the same.

So I think there's that whole issue about how do you make sure that each commissioner is getting what they need, and and sometimes you have to explain to other commissioners that I had to do.

One person likes to be on the phone, one person likes to be in person, one person likes to do it on Zoom.

They gotta make sure that everybody knows you're not treating anybody else different than somebody else just because of their communication skills.

The other thing is to make sure, for example, I make sure that they know the basics in in life, which is if you produce something for one person, you produce it for everybody.

So those are those skills together with I need to see what kind of actual numbers they handle to during a budget, how many people they've managed.

You know, I ask people things like you know, examples of things where it didn't work out.

How do you handle it now?

You know, how did you deal with you know people that shall we say don't belong on the team anymore?

How do you bring people along?

How do you deal with issues where people are really good but they're in the wrong job or got promoted to the wrong spot?

Those are all the critical things that a person needs to do have together when you're manager though, it goes way beyond that.

It's how they communicate with the public.

It's it's they're gonna deal with a lot of your constituents, and you're gonna have places where they need to speak to groups, and that's how they're gonna handle themselves with that.

And here's the big thing when you're managed, how are you gonna delegate?

Because you can't be a one-man, okay, and make this work.

How are you gonna delegate and and and how are you gonna assess the qualities of the staff you have?

And I know for a fact that you have, I know the reputation you have.

You have a good staff.

Well, this person needs to find out what the strengths and weaknesses are and how that person can be a part of honing that so that you're even a better organization.

And that's all through experience.

Great.

Thank you.

Um so my next question is you don't live in Sarasota.

How will you keep us informed at every stage?

And specifically, who will be our point person on a daily basis?

I'll be your point person, and I'll let him and let them talk about how he keeps uh uh clients informed throughout all the uh throughout the entire project.

What I will want is for the commission to decide I need to have a contact person, someone that I can make sure that I'm addressing everyone's needs and making sure it gets to the right person so they can distribute it all to the to the commission.

I'll work with that person to try and give you the updates that you need based on the information as it comes in.

And obviously, we're gonna have a set time.

For example, we're gonna advertise for four weeks, and we can go through that process, and like I said, it it it varies.

Sometimes you get a lot of stuff in the beginning of that process, and you don't get a lot so afterwards.

But I can keep you informed as to where we are, yeah, all those kind of issues, how many candidates, how the response is so far, and where we are in getting ready for the next step, which is doing all the the uh interviews.

But I will be responsible.

Thank you much.

Um we pride ourselves on communication.

Uh those are my questions, you know, uh, but I do have some specific to your proposal that I'll ask later on.

Uh Commissioner.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate your um presentation and you making yourselves available for us to to go through our questions.

Um I have a uh a question very specifically to something that you had um mentioned when you had said about Sarasota.

Um yes, we are a wonderful place to be, and we are a beautiful city.

Um and you know, you had said who wouldn't want to live here, and that's true, who wouldn't want to live here?

But very specifically, I'm looking for uh how you're going to frame this with who wouldn't want to live here and do a very difficult job, a high demanding job.

We have a very engaged community here, and this person's going to have to deal with all spectrums of our community and um and make sure that you know when we have a uh we're looking for this candidate that they understand then they're not gonna be sitting on the beach with a pinnacle in their hand.

Uh that's not the job.

And so, you know, this person's going to have to be somebody who can manage emergencies and not just hurricanes.

We have all kinds, someone who can handle a budget, um, somebody who can talk to the public and deal with even the tiniest of issues.

They have good uh personal skills uh with our our constituents, somebody who understands the state legislature and how they function and preempt uh this municipality.

So we have a lot of um demands that are really important for us to for you to be able to showcase those skills.

How do you intend on framing that?

I I think first of all, um it's obvious to me because of your issues and and the complexity of your community and the size of it.

You need somebody that's got a certain level of maturity.

And I will tell you right now, any competent mature manager that's looking at this job, they're gonna do their homework.

I mean, everybody knows that everyone's gonna look on the internet and social media, they're gonna look to see everything they can find about the city, they're gonna look at the budget.

But here's the beauty.

Your community is one that for a lot of people I know because I would have felt this way myself if I was younger, is a real kind of a capstone kind of a community where you can really make a name for yourself, and you're gonna want the community where there's a real challenge.

But you're gonna want a community where the challenge where you can be successful.

I I think I think you're gonna get really good people that are that have the potential to do this job, and then you have to pick between them based on, like I said, the chemistry and and the quality of the person.

Um I think in some ways any good manager that you would consider is gonna be smart enough to understand the complexity of the organization, they're gonna take their time to uh to find out what the issues are.

Um, so I I do think people are gonna come in with their eyes open.

I do I do think though that because it is such a wonderful place, and I mean that, that there's a real incentive to to be so successful that they're there for the long run.

And you only want to be in places where you want to be there for the long run.

Also, what's really important to no matter who the candidate is, is if they're if they have a significant other spouse is do they want to live there?

Do they have kids?

Do they want to live there?

If you check all those boxes off, I mean I I know I go there a couple times a year, it's a wonderful place, but you know, you're like one of them, you're what a lot of people look for that small city feel, but with all the big city parks.

I mean, the cultural stuff, uh, the farmers market you have, the whole the whole um a quality of the culture aspect of the community.

So what I'm saying is I think you have a community where somebody's gonna be willing to take on those risks and take on those tasks because it's a wonderful place to live.

But I think what you'll know in your interviews is are they prepared to take on?

And that's one of the things I need to know from you is what specific elements, okay.

Uh, I have pretty good handle on what you're gonna probably tell me, or what elements they're gonna have to tackle, and you need to point them out to me.

But we'll point out the dime side, I will talk to the candidates about what what you know the I I'll talk about the pros, but I'm gonna talk about the cons too and how they're gonna manage it.

But all good managers are interested in having the challenge.

And I just would add that I think um Jim's experience sitting in that seat, my own experience sitting in that seat.

I've also been a chief administrative officer, I think that helps us that individuals, um, and and being in organizations of different sizes in our career can help us up help us to also understand if somebody can really scale up to the size and Terra and Southern Army.

Or again, if they're talking about scaling down, what that means to them, um, and that it's not kind of that it's not a retirement opportunity and such.

I mean, the public sector is is you know being a chief administrative officer in the public sector is an intense job with a lot of public scrutiny, and you know, making sure candidates are really prepared for that, and particularly as someone who is out of state, but someone uh, you know, that understanding somebody who's not from Florida, understands the implications of working in Florida with the sunshine law.

And I think Jim is very good at doing that and understand and making sure that out of state candidates understand what might be different um in Florida because of Sunshine Law, because of legislatures that might be different from other states in the country.

Thank you.

Um that was exactly what I was looking for uh as a response.

And I just want to be crystal clear.

I think it's important not to sugarcoat this job.

It's it is not a retirement job.

It is a job that requires somebody to be on their toes and to have a certain amount of experience, but also be able to pivot when necessary.

Um and then that leads to my next question is because you source throughout the entire country, and I think that is a um a positive, uh, but also that's gonna come with its own set of challenges because of what you had just said.

You know, Florida, we are a coastal community.

Uh, we have different challenges than somebody who is not on the coast.

We have the Florida sunshine laws, which uh are no joke.

And we also have our state legislature and the constant preemptions and navigating that.

We have to be able to pivot from one session to the next and adapt really quickly, and not only us, but the staff and the city manager is going to have to be able to communicate with the staff and understand all of these challenges.

And so what can you do in your outreach to make sure somebody understands that aspect of this job?

You couldn't be more like I don't I well, let me just uh clarify.

I'm sorry, I don't want to interrupt.

Um I don't mean specific experience they already have, but maybe characteristics of who they are so that they can adapt.

Am I making myself clear on my question?

Yeah, you could you could you couldn't be clear, okay.

Um to be honest with you, I found myself in that same issue when I got recruited to be Volusia County's manager.

I was from Ohio.

So I came down there and I spent 12 and a half 12 and a half years in that job, okay, and really understood.

And I think what you're looking for, I know what I think you're looking for, and that is adaptability.

In other words, you want people that understand let me make it real clear.

The law is is has some differences.

The sunshine law, you need to learn real fast, real quick.

In fact, I talked to a lot of managers about that.

And they're pretty smart, they can learn it, okay.

We had different air variations of that, like when I was in Ohio.

But the bottom line is is that you need you you gotta come in here with your eyes open with the idea that you will learn quickly.

You you need to take advantage of staff that really knows you don't know everything.

But let me tell you this.

I brought a lot of things to them they never thought because I wasn't the way we did it all the time.

I brought them ideas from a different part of the country, and quite frankly, it's only said, Oh, yeah, you know, you could legally do that, but no one's done it that way.

So you want somebody that's gonna also bring you that they're gonna they're gonna need to come up to speed.

But sometimes the answer may not be it's the staff you have.

It may be with someone from the outside that looks at this differently, you know.

That's a but you want to train professional.

And the one thing I think that we're good at, Charlene, myself, everyone at interviews is I think we're really good at seeing who are the people that are the most adaptable to fit different situations and can bring that skill package to task.

And a big part of that is how they get along with staff, because the staff does know.

Okay, and we and what so what they can do is they can empower staff to help them, and they can also empower staff to step up and be maybe more than they've been.

And they can show staff things they've never seen before.

That's the dynamic where everybody's working together and feel good.

But but you're really right.

Let's put it this way.

No one that I would interview would not understand the complexity of how of what this job's gonna be like and the challenges, and they're in some of the really good things about the challenge, but also like I get asked this question, okay?

Would you take this job?

And what I can do is I'll know better.

I think I would.

I'll know better after I talked to all the commissioners.

That will really give me an idea of what you're really and on to in talk to the staff.

And I'll have a real good handle so I can talk to the candidates about what I really understand based on what I used to do the job, and now talking to you and talking to your staff.

I'll really have a better handle on it.

Thank you.

I hope that answered your question.

Yes, thank you.

Um when it was said earlier that 50% of the referrals are out of your network.

What exactly do you mean by that?

Um, I think what Jim was saying is that you know, our candidates come in a couple of different ways.

I mean, obviously we post it and advertise it broadly.

Um, and so candidates are applying on their own.

Um, and then we're just then we're doing active outreach to candidates.

So they're candidates that are that haven't been in a previous search for us, that aren't just, you know, we're not just we're we are not picking candidates off the shelf that we have to fit Sarasota.

We're really going out and looking for candidates that will fit Sarasota and such.

And so I think that's the key difference there is that you know, we may have candidates that we know through other searches, or uh that we think would be great that um in Sarasota, but we also may have candidates, you know, but we really go out and force candidates for Sarasota, not just kind of taking what's in the shelf or what's already in our applicant tracking for them if that helps.

Let me give you a quick example.

I I won't tell you who, but I'm working on a client that took asked us to do a job for them because they could never fill a certain position.

I had somebody from another search that never even looked at this job that I got for them.

Again, they're in the process of interviewing that person.

They cannot believe I'll qualify this person.

I got them two other people through people I know in Florida by asking them and telling them what I was looking for if they knew anybody that might be looking for the right opportunity.

I got two more people that way.

In other words, would not have saw just the ad.

It's that a lot of it's by contacts.

And when you're here long enough, like I've been here 20 years, I know so many people.

A lot of times you put the word out to people and say, Well, if you know this job's this good for somebody that's looking for the next opportunity.

And a lot of times that'll go catch cruise.

That's how we get people's attention.

Um, thank you.

And do you source outside of just those that are currently in government?

Um, people like yourself, uh, may have been in the public sector and now are in the private sector.

Do you source another private sector areas where somebody may have some experience that's valuable, but they've also also built on that in the private sector, and now that's made them uh a much more solid candidate with other skill sets that they've had the opportunity to learn.

Um is that something that you do as well?

Yeah, we do.

Um, and there are candidates that go back and forth between the public sector consulting private sector.

We also are seeing um, you know, it's just the current political environment.

We're seeing federal employees, and some of those skills translate very well.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

Military veterans are another source of candidates.

Um, is that they often former garrison commanders, they have really done a lot of the same role, kind of like running a small running the city.

Um, and so we will source those candidates.

It's just making sure again, do they have the adaptability, do they have the ability uh to transition into a different into the into this role?

But we absolutely do broadly source.

Okay.

And will we have the opportunity to see every single solitary person who applied.

Yeah, yeah, as Jim as Jim says um earlier, kind of when they uh when the application period closes, I mean, or again, if there's periods of time that you want it before that, but when the application period closes, you will get all of the resumes, cover letters, information that the candidates submitted, and then Jim would work with the commission to narrow down kind of the fine the semifinalist, a pool of maybe 10, 12 for initial screening um by Jim as and then um doing uh a virtual a one-way video interview and then help you facilitate that that pool down you know to a more of a semi-finalist pool for interviews with the commission and then getting down to a finalist, so you will have the opportunity to see all of the candidates uh all of the candidate materials in that process.

Thank you.

Right now, the if let me clarify something for a bunch of candidates that you get that don't meet the minimum qualifications, do not get interviewed.

We give you that whole list of them by name, and you can request any of the resumes from any of the candidates.

But these are people that we did not interview that in almost every case didn't meet the minimum for qualifications, or their resume was so weak compared to the to the successful people that we didn't interview.

Those you can have, we give you that list at the end when we give you the book, okay, at the end of the advertising.

And if you want those resumes, you need a request, and we'll give them to you.

Okay.

Um we'll work with you on that to make sure we have access to all the information you you desire.

Okay.

Just to be crystal clear, if you were selected, I would want the names and resumes of every single person that would apply.

Even if you deemed them not qualified, I would like to commission.

We'll note, you know, where they don't meet the minimum, but again, you can look at those and um look at those resumes and cover letters and such.

Okay.

I'll let somebody else ask questions.

Um I know Commissioner Ulrich had some more, and then Commissioner Batti, did you have any?

I don't see them sign up.

Okay, and then I'll I'll ask mine.

Okay, uh just one then there from me.

Um in your proposal, you indicated 12 hours of meetings were included in phase one.

I'm thinking that additional meetings when we have candidates are important for us.

Uh meetings with staff, meetings with the community, perhaps a meet and greet, uh, are important to help identify fit.

Uh I see commissioners not participating in those meetings, but observing.

Um, how could we work those meetings into this process?

Yeah, I think you're talking about two different things.

Kind of phase one is those hours are really um the time that Jim has spent get is spending getting to know the organization.

So though kind of one-to-one with commission key stakeholders, we certainly can accommodate um in the interview process, kind of as you narrow down to semi-final and finalists.

Um we often do multiple panels in a day of interviews.

And so we have kind of, you know, put in the hours for uh Jim to be on site for you know two or so full days of interviewing with your finalist candidate.

That can that does typically include whether that's the meet and greet, whether that's facilitating a staff panel or a director panel or a community panel in that.

Um Jim would work with the commission to really once you've narrowed down your semifinalist finalist, what does that interview process look like for Sarasota that's going to meet your need and then be present to facilitate that?

Um typically, you know, typically at a CAO, there is an expectation that the interview process takes a day to a you know, a half day to a day and a half uh for candidates because there are kind of multiple steps um in there.

Thank you.

Okay, I I just have I I think one question, and I think you answered it in your presentation, but I just wanted to clarify because in my view, we're you know, the commissioners here are not recruitment experts and you know can't just look at a resume and say this is a good candidate or not a good candidate.

So I just, you know, uh in in narrowing down who we're going to interview, I want to make sure that you all are involved in not only helping us narrow it down, but if if we're not including candidates that you know are good candidates that we should include, because otherwise why hire a search firm if we aren't going to um, you know, if you aren't going to give us your expertise.

Um, you know, otherwise we'll just look at a whole list of candidates and say, okay, well, we're gonna interview this one, this one, and this one.

But we want, you know, I want to make sure that we're getting that input from you.

Absolutely, and that is part of the process.

So kind of when that process concludes uh, or when the application period closes, you would get from Jim a kind of a for lack of better term, maybe a matrix that really kind of looks at the candidate pool and sorts them out kind of in terms of their qualifications, experience, and kind of rate rate them in a sense, or give you a sense of these are kind of candidates would recommend for that initial kind of semifinal and screening.

The commission can weigh in and you might see some of those candidates differently.

Um, but kind of it's an it's a partnership to get that list narrowed down, and we'll be very and Jim will be very candid, you know, respectful but candid with you on candidates that he feels you know you should consider, and maybe candidates that you're saying you want to consider, and maybe he has some reasons that you think that that he doesn't feel they're going to be, right?

We might have media on them or just making making sure that you know what they come with before you kind of go down the path.

But you know, we always do work through the process with our clients, and um, you know, I've done enough, I've done a number of recruitments too where I've always where I always say, hey, if you feel I miss somebody, I am happy to go back and screen them.

Um, you know, it's not I'm not always perfect, and so if I if you feel I overlooked somebody, I will go back and screen them in a pool.

And so we don't take offense at that, but we want it to be a partnership, but we're gonna give you our candid opinions on that.

Anything you want to add, Jim.

Yeah, um, I do think given the whole issue of transparency in this commission want to make sure that they're involved.

I like the idea that you get the first shot.

That's not the only shot.

You get the first shot looking at this material.

And that way no one says that anyone played it had an adverse influence on you or who you think should be interviewed.

Now, I will tell you that if you give me a list, let's say there's 10 people that jump out to the all the commissioners that obviously look like they ought to be interviewed.

If I look at that, I I'm I'm not gonna tell you not to interview somebody, but if I don't think there are people on that list that you have missed, I'm gonna make that clear to them.

I'm gonna make that clear.

But that way you will be only hearing from me after you had, which I think is good for transparency, a first shot at it yourself without any influence from anyone, that these are people given your what you believe you need, or should be at least interviewed.

Okay, because at this stage we're just talking about interview the people.

You have my word that when I look at that list, if I think you're missing anybody, I will make that case too.

But I think I'm not looking for you just going through the 10 that we might pick.

I'm looking for you to also recommend people that you think would be worthy.

I I don't want to have the commissioners picking alone the 10 that then we narrow down.

I want to make sure that your ex with your expertise were looking at the people that also that we you feel we should be looking at.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I'll be doing that.

Okay, so I'm gonna be looking at that pool.

But the interesting thing will be maybe out of that pool, let's just say I had 10 people.

You might have six of them right off the top.

Well, then I can say, okay, those six plus here is the other, here's four more that I believe you need.

So that way you got transparency, we played an active role in it.

I also will make sure that you didn't miss anybody.

Okay, thank you.

All right, Commissioner Aaron Koch.

Thank you.

Um the uh quote for the cost is $37,000 plus an additional sort of uh uh as needed amount with a 45,000 dollars is your quote.

Is that a not to exceed number?

Or is that 37,000 the not to exceed?

Yeah, the recruitment fee is 37,000.

Um the recruitment expenses are four thousand, um, up to four, those are not to exceed, and then the travel cost is estimated.

The travel cost is an estimated three thousand, that's how you get to the 45,000.

I think that that's I think that that's generally gonna be sufficient, but that's where it could um, depending on the number of trips, maybe that uh Jim needs to make to Sarasota, that could change a little bit.

But 3,000 is a pretty robust number in there from for travel uh for Jim.

And the only other expenses outside of that would be candidate travel, that would be upon the city uh to reimburse those.

We can also sometimes we take those uh the fee.

We sometimes we take in the the request for reimbursement, sometimes we even reimburse the candidates, but it has to be paid back by the city either to us or to the candidate uh directly.

So uh, and then again, we just we do have an out additional hourly if you would have more than the typical kind of one to two-day interview process, there might be some additional charge.

So there is no travel expense built into the 37,000 at all.

There is not, no, that isn't additional.

Okay, okay.

See, and the reason we do that is we bill that to you at cost.

Um, and so we don't want to frankly overbail you and put in a fee that you know, and we we just build the traffic at the cost.

Okay.

And uh the point of contact, would that be you, Miss Stevens, or would it be Mr.

Deanen?

Mr.

Denise.

Okay.

And then um one last question.

Um, you know, there are different forms of government in the country and in the state, and we are a city manager form of government.

How will you make that clear to this to the candidates that we are a city manager form of government?

Tim.

The way we the way we advertise together with knowing people in the in the field, it won't be a mistaken by anybody that's uh a mature person in the field.

They'll know real quick, they'll look it up, they'll understand the biggest question they'll ask is in some cases uh it was a manager from a government.

Sometimes it how they are report is different with the mayor in some cities, but that's something I think will be easy to clarify.

Now, what what we'll have to do is this is where we have to Schreelen said about adaptability is make that clear to people that may come from the private sector that aren't quite clear on how this works, uh especially under under public law.

So I think that's pretty easy to get across to people, and I think the kind of people that you're looking for clearly have experience doing this, clearly understand the nature of the business.

Thank you.

All right, any other questions, commissioners?

All right, I guess um we'll say thank you very much.

Thank you for your presentation, and I'm sure we will be back with you one way or the other.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We appreciate the opportunity and wish you the best.

Thank you.

Mayor, do you mind if we take a break?

Because we need to call the next search for breaking.

So we for let's what we need one anyway.

It's 1107.

Can we be back in 1120?

Okay.

Ron recess.

Okay.

I'm going to call back to order this Tuesday, September 9th, 2025, special city commission meeting to interview the executive search firms for city manager.

We finished up the first search firm before we went to break.

And now we're ready to go with the second search firm, which is Sumter legal government or local government consultant.

So call on the author and clerk and city attorney to introduce them.

All right.

Well then I'll let them introduce themselves.

Very good.

Thank you, Mayor.

My name is Warren Humaker.

Hopefully you can hear me very well through the audio.

Excited to be with you this morning.

I'm having a hard time hearing him.

Warren can hang out.

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

We've also forwarded to the staff the uh responses to all the questions that were presented to us in advance as well.

So you know, start off with uh kind of tell you a little bit about Sumter.

We were started about four years ago.

Um I served as city manager for uh over 15 years uh in local governments in Georgia and Texas, ranging from 2,000 to 85,000 in population, uh, and founded the firm uh to do work with local governments specifically uh and to work with executive search interim staffing and general consulting.

And so we've built a team uh I have about 60 clients over the last four years.

So we've been extremely successful.

Uh I'm really excited to be in front of y'all today.

And so I think the key message we're trying to send uh through the presentation on top of the proposal that we've already submitted is that we're hungry, uh, we're scrappy firm and we know how to do this.

Um so that you can have a lot of confidence in working with us.

Uh I think it's important based on the listening to what y'all have said uh through the process that uh that you've got a single point of contact and that you're working with somebody that you can build a relationship with.

And so I made it purposeful today to to appear by myself without the team behind me, uh, let you know that you'll be working with me as that I'm the president of the firm.

Um can make any and all of the decisions that are necessary uh for the best interest of the search.

Uh you'll only be working with me directly, although we have a team behind us.

Uh it's kind of one throat to choke uh to be successful.

Um second is you know, some of the cities that we work with are smaller uh than the city of Sarasota.

And uh I wanted to let you know in our opinion, the size of the cities that we work with is really insignificant.

The process that we go through, the attention to detail, the personal touch, uh, and how we go ahead and recruit candidates is gonna be similar uh regardless of the size of the community.

What we really have to recognize is what makes Sarasota unique uh and what kind of qualities and ideal candidate profile uh the managers that we're gonna be looking at uh to help you hire for the city of Sarasota, that they're gonna have to really understand the complexity of a large city, that they're gonna have to have the sophistication to be able to deal with a large and diverse community uh and the issues that all come along with that, and then managing a large staff and a large budget.

And so I think that's really the important part of the process, not necessarily have we worked with a city of your size before.

Uh and third one is our our fee is really inconsequential, and so not saying that we necessarily want to work for free, but um, you know, I think there were some questions about you know how can they came in at 18,000?

Do they understand you know what's going to be expected of them through the process?

Are we gonna get kind of a half effort uh because they're they're offering half the fee uh that a larger company is offering?

And so I just want to let you know that for us in our situation, uh being a four-year-old firm, our fee is really inconsequential to us.

The benefit to us uh is really to be able to have the city of Sarasota on our resume to be able to do an exceptional job for y'all, and then when next time you're at the Florida League of Cities, and people ask you how your city manager search went, it's worth every dollar to me when you're able to tell them that that we got an excellent candidate that warrant did an outstanding job for us, and that you recommend that everybody work with us in the state of Florida, and that really would help our business a lot more than charging you an additional 15, 20,000 uh to be able to work with you.

Um so this is kind of the key take homes uh for a process.

I want to introduce you to some of our team.

Uh so I've already introduced myself.

We've got Sean Gillen.

Sean is a former uh city manager for 20 years, uh former mayor, uh, and also he was an offensive lineman for Iowa.

I'm not quite sure why that's important, but I would like to mention that.

Uh Billy Grogan uh was a uh former police chief and interim city manager, uh expert public safety and also leadership.

And then Gary Lavinia is a really important part of our team as well.

And uh Gary is the former city manager of Fruitland Park Florida, so he's got over a decade of experience in Florida, uh, really understands uh y'all sunshine laws uh and all the other complexities, and he's he's a big help to us in Dade City uh when we were doing the search there.

Uh so excited to introduce you to our executive team, and then we also have um some administrative support staff and then a really top shelf marketing firm that's working behind us as well.

So we've got all the resources of a big firm, uh, but but basically you're gonna just have me as your as your point of contact.

Um we've worked in five states, uh, and so it's just kind of a sampling of some of the uh communities that we worked with, but we worked in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, uh Maryland, South Carolina.

So we've got a lot of experience in going into other states, being able to recruit exceptional candidates and do a do a great job in understanding the the nuances and complexities in other places other than our home state of Georgia.

Um so why are we different?

And so I think that's gonna be important, especially as you compare two firms today.

Uh one is that I I want to really point out that we've got a very flexible and customizable approach.

It doesn't mean that we don't have our own systems and our own way of doing things, it means that uh we're not stuck on them.

And so as we talk to the client and you say, Can you do this differently or can you do that differently?

The answer is yes, and we'll figure out how to get that done as long as we're not breaking the law.

Um, and so I think that's one of the uh things that differentiate our firm.

Uh second is our candidate review process is really spectacular, it's detailed, it's transparent.

I think it's really helpful to the elected officials when you're making your decisions.

So you're gonna see our entire thought process that goes into it.

Um, and so if you want high level of detail, it's there.

If you want a small level of detail, it's there.

And so we go through a candidate matrix and scoring system to try to make it as objective as possible on our initial candidate review, and you'll see every point value that we assign, every candidate, how they scored in that process and how they shaped up, and then we split we select those into three tiers uh of candidates.

You'll see every resume, every application that we have, um, and you'll see it either in real time because we can give you access to our candidate portal, uh, or um as we deliver documents to you, we're just gonna deliver everything to you as well.

We do that with recommendations, but we also want to make sure you see everything.

Um there's no hiding the football here.

Um, and so the other differentiator uh I did want to point out is we've got a video uh recording process that we do for our semifinal um interviews, and we usually, you know, for some cities it could be 10 or 12 or 15 of these.

Uh these are not one-way recorded videos that you see with the big national firms.

Um we think those are frankly a little bit lazy uh and don't give you the full value.

And so what we do is we use our recruiting team.

Um I'll take the lead on these, and we'll do interviews with each of those uh semifinalists, it'll be about 45 minutes, uh, and we'll be uh sharing those video links with you so you can watch the videos just as if you were there.

And so you'll see everything that we see.

Uh at the end of that process, we'll provide you with a report that will have the links to the videos, also have the uh semifinalists, uh, you know, detailed resume, backgrounds, uh, we'll do our web checks and and news checks at that point, uh, and then we'll also give you a little bit of what I like and what concerns me on each candidate, and then finally we'll make recommendations for which candidates we think you should bring uh to Sarasota for the in-person interviews, but ultimately um you know, all the choices of cutting candidates whose recommended uh for uh particular stages in the process are gonna be all your decision at the end of the day.

We will provide input, we'll uh tell you what we think, but at the end of the day, uh these are your it's your city, and you guys make those decisions at the and final.

Um so a little bit of our executive search core values.

Uh so we've got transparency, accountability, community engagement, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

And so for transparency, as I already kind of mentioned, you see everything, we'll give you access to our candidate portal, uh, accountability.

Uh, we're we are responsible for the success of the search, and oftentimes we see you know, in a public process that you know the search firm will say, Well, the city didn't have a high enough salary, or the city you know was arguing on their videos, and therefore candidates didn't want to come.

Uh, we take full accountability for the search.

We're responsible uh for for giving you a successful outcome, and we'll do everything we can to get you to that point.

Uh community engagement is a is part of our expertise and our passion, and so some cities you know want to use significant amount of community engagement, some don't want to use it at all.

That's y'all's choice, uh, but want to let you know that we're revved up and ready to go before you know we get started as to interviewing community stakeholders and trying to drive that ideal candidate profile uh during if you want to use you know community uh engagement through the process of either having stakeholder panels, interview the the candidates, uh, or you know, doing some kind of a town hall or speed dating um approach where the community gets to meet the candidates.

Um we're open to all of that, and we've got the expertise to be able to uh drive that process for you in a way that's valuable both to the community and also ultimately for y'all making a good business decision.

Uh what we mean by diversity equity inclusion is that we really feel strongly that the bigger the pool, um the better the results that you're gonna get.

And so when we do our advertising, uh we strategically uh we'll place it in the normal places the city managers would look uh for these type of jobs, but we also use a number of affinity groups that we've we can strategically advertise with that just makes the point that the city is open to all candidates, whether it's you know military backgrounds, um folks of color, uh different national origin, um everybody's welcome to compete, um, and that we're gonna pick ultimately based on qualifications of the of the candidates and what's the best fit uh for the city of Sarasota.

Um and I think that one of the most important elements of our process is we really get to know the community uh through our process, and we will spend multiple days down with you, touring the city, meeting with your staff, going to visit fire stations and parks and all kinds of uh areas of the downtown to really get a good idea because when candidates talk with us about these positions and they say, tell me a little bit about Sarasota.

I don't want to have to say, well, you can just read the brochure because I don't know anything about it.

I want to be your expert.

Uh I want to be your passionate um you know communicator for what the benefits of this position are for great candidates all over the place.

Um we will also in that process you know study all of your plans, the strategic plan, follow the news, uh interview each of the elected officials individually so that we can get a really good idea of what is the most important to you, interview your staff and the community as well.

Um so you know, we we've given uh in very extreme boring detail in our proposal, sort of how our search process works, but I just want to highlight a couple of things for you.

Um advertising, as I mentioned before, we we really put in the extra effort there to get your bigger pool with those affinity groups.

Uh we also have 25,000 person uh database of local government professionals, uh and we've got that tagged and split by all kinds of uh positions, including city and county managers, town managers, administrators that we communicate with often constantly, and then also uh we'll hit them with these jobs as well with the brochure uh with LinkedIn, and then we actually pick up the phone and call people.

Uh, I know that's kind of unique in 2025, but we feel like that's an important element to it because just with um, you know, when you're dealing with uh, say, for example, fundraising, the reason the main reason people don't give to charity is because nobody asked them to.

And so we feel like in the job market it's the same thing is that sometimes candidate doesn't apply because nobody asked them to.

And so we will make that extra effort uh to you know call those candidates that we think are or should be candidates for this position, whether or not they're in the job market or not.

Uh, we've also built some significant relationships, I think will be important in Florida.

Uh we're an important sponsor with the uh Florida City County Managers Association.

We've exhibited at their last two conferences and built uh significant relationships both with managers within Florida and also the senior advisors, which are great resource uh and tool.

They they know all the gossip and uh will be able to help us understand uh what the backstory is on candidates and then also finding candidates uh that may not be obvious in the job market, and then using Gary Lavinia on our staff who's got that significant Florida experience uh to help me through the process and to be able to generate more leads for candidates and be able to talk with folks.

And then lastly, uh you know, I think our our final interview day format is really creative and gives you lots of data points.

Uh we like those one to two-day processes where we bring folks in, spend a lot of time with them.

We find that people in 45 minutes during interview can can shape who they are and uh fool you, but over two days it's very hard for those folks to stay in character.

And so we really feel like with them with the multiple data points that we have because of the number of people that we're asking them to meet with and the experiences they're gonna have in Sarasota that they will not only be sure of their decision to to want the position, but also you'll get a lot of input from different groups within your staff within the community uh that can kind of feedback to you to let you know what they think of the candidates.

Uh, and I think that helps you make the best business decision uh possible.

Um from an innovative standpoint, we feel like our brochures are the most beautiful uh in the industry.

We spend a lot of time because these are really the marketing piece uh that the candidates look to not only to see is that someplace I want to be, but also is it you know, tell me all about the job.

And so we've got not a six-page brochure, we usually do a 15 to 17-page brochure.

We get into all the details uh for this.

We're also gonna break out our embedded video uh into the process so that people can kind of click in an area, be able to see video, talk hear from people, have you know um elected officials and staff folks be able to tell them about things that not only just be able to read them.

I think that's a nice differentiator.

Um, I'll talk a little bit about our background check uh in a moment, but that's another area of innovation for us uh where uh we really excel, and I'll go into that in a minute.

Um the selection process and long-term commitment, I think is super important.

And so the final decision, we've seen consultants that sort of leave you to your own devices when we get to the final decisions.

Um that's not our process.

We'll sit with you in exec sessions.

Uh well, actually, sorry, Florida, not exec session, it's gonna be all out in the public.

Uh, and we'll help advise you on the candidates.

We'll be part of that discussion.

Um, and it's being a former city manager and working with elected officials for for so long.

Uh, I've got a good feel for how to sort of keep you on track and and and help bring the group together to get to consensus.

Uh so we think that'll be a real ad.

Uh on the negotiation side, uh, you know, I'm really a nationwide expert um on contracts for city managers, and uh it worked through the ICMA model, through other statewide models, and then also private models uh for the contracts, so it can be able to help you with the key business terms, uh leave the legal work to the attorneys, but we can help with the negotiation with the candidates uh and also the the key business terms you know with severance um and other complexities, and also kind of help you understand what is the trends right now for what benefits uh the city manager candidates can expect uh within their package in this kind of world that we're in now.

Our background check process, we don't um ask for references.

Uh we know who to talk to once we have the applicant that you all want to hire.

And so we we go ahead and and go through our own reference checking um and we talk to the folks maybe they don't want us talking to.

Um, and uh so we can give you a really clear idea of who these candidates are because a lot of times if you ask for references, they'll give you their brother-in-law, their uncle, and somebody that you know absolutely love them at their last job.

So we want that to be a real process.

We've also in in other searches, uh, I've gone and done trips to to the community where the manager is from.

And so one of them, I'll give you an example.

Uh it was really important to the client that the downtown redevelopment be an issue.

And so both candidates talked glowingly of how they you know transform the downtown um in their communities that they work for.

And so instead of taking their word for it, I took a trip to both communities, looked around, and then in one of them it was all true.

And then the other one, either they've got a different view of what good downtime redevelopment looks like, or they weren't telling us the truth.

So that was a good data point to bring back to the client to say I went there, I talked to people, we looked around, and here's what we saw.

Uh, so you've got a good idea of of again making the best business decision possible for the community.

Um, and then for the transition support, um, you know, we put a two-year guarantee uh on this, uh, which is really kind of leading in the industry now.

And that's it's a risk for us because if things don't work out, um, you know, we've got uh to redo the search for free minus expenses.

Um and so we want to avoid that uh for a lot of reasons, mostly because we want you to be successful, and so we stick around after after the person's hired, uh we build a relationship with the manager that you've hired, we build a relationship with all of you, and we do check-ins uh and we provide support to make sure that both sides are happy with each other, and if there are things that we can help with communication tweaking support, uh we're gonna do that.

And so we'll be sticking with you all the way through to make sure that we've got a successful outcome at the end of the day.

Uh I want to talk a little bit about the fee, and because we're we're very unique, I think, in this, and there's no nickel and dime with us.

The fee is the fee.

And so there's there's sort of two elements to it.

One is that uh we've got the $18,000 flat fee.

Flat fee meaning we'll do anything and everything you ask for uh within that $18,000 to make sure the job gets done properly.

Uh the only expenses that we have are gonna be advertising, um, which you will pre-clear and choose um you know how much you want to spend on that based on our recommendations and travel, which again is also within the sphere of um the commission.

And so if we're not just gonna come down on our own and charge you for it, we're gonna let you know we're you know, we're gonna make this trip.

Here's what we think it's gonna cost, and let you weigh in to say, you know what, maybe those are better for Zoom, we want to save some money, or come on down.

We don't charge you for the labor, but we will charge you for the travel expenses, which is actually a pretty easy drive from Atlanta.

Um that's sort of how our fee works.

It's very simple and doesn't take a lot of questions to understand that.

Uh for the how we divide it, we don't charge you a lot of firms charge um one-third at the signing of the contract.

We think that's ridiculous.

We haven't done anything, why should we get paid anything?

And so phase one, uh, which goes all the way from the kickoff meeting all the way through placing the advertisements and kicking off our recruitment efforts.

Um, we get paid for effort.

Um, and so once we've got that done, we'll charge you for one-third of the fee, but you'll have significant deliverables at that point, and we know and you'll know we're on the path to success.

For phase two, it goes all the way from the time that we place the advertisement through the time that you select finalists.

And so for phase two, we don't get paid unless we have success.

And so if you're not happy with the semifinalists, we redo that.

If you're not happy with the finalists, we redo that.

Um, and ultimately, uh, if you're not happy with the result that we we come up with, and we have to part ways, you don't pay for that phase at all, and we're done after phase one.

This never happened to us, but um, you know, we will we really like the motivating factor of being paid for success, and then the final phase three is from the time that you select the finalists all the way through the person starting for the job, and then we don't ask for payment on phase three, which is the final third, uh, until the person starts.

And so some folks, some firms, as soon as you choose your candidate, will charge you the last piece and move on.

Uh, we recognize that until they start the job, you don't have a city manager, and so uh we stick around all the way through the end to make sure that that gets taken care of properly.

Um, and so just kind of final um pitch from our standpoint uh is similar in my first slide.

That's it exactly.

Uh so hopefully now you've had a chance, not just from reading about our proposal, but from meeting me, and then we'll get into the QA and getting to know me a little bit.

Um, and so you're gonna be working with me.

And so I think that's uh important to know exactly who you're gonna be working with, what my experience level is, how adept uh and my expertise in this executive search field.

Um size of the city is nothing that you all need to worry about.

Um we can handle the city of Sarasota size because our process is adaptable to any size community and the attention level of detail and the backup that we've got on our team is significant, so we can bring to bear uh as many people as necessary to be able to get the job done, and that doesn't cost you anything more.

Uh and again, you know, uh our fee is we like to get paid, but our fee is really inconsequential.

We're in this uh to build our reputation in Florida uh to get rave reviews from you so that we can continue to build our business and become a bigger firm that's uh even more successful than we've been within the short period of time that we've been in business, and uh really excited about this opportunity.

Um, really, I think the the way I would think about it from the city standpoint is that you will be our number one client.

Uh, we're not taking on any other city manager searches in Florida while we're working with you.

Uh and we're gonna give you all of the attention that this process deserves, and I think the the that attention to detail, that commitment and that level of motivation is really gonna get you an exceptional result.

And that's at the end of the day, what we're looking for is to put the right person into that city manager seat to take Sarasota up to an even higher level.

And be happy to answer any questions that y'all have.

I certainly have the questions that you've asked originally, and um just let me know how you like me to go through that, and I will be quiet and uh wait for any questions that y'all may have.

All right, thank you very much.

Um were your questions based on your answer?

Were your questions based we were answered with my questions were true by the but I will have more questions as we go around.

Okay.

Okay.

Go ahead and start then.

Okay.

On your first slide.

I'm concerned, first of all, with the idea that the fee is inconsequential.

You know, I don't know how a company sustains itself by undercharging in terms of its fee.

It gives me concerns that if we need additional effort, additional hours that at some point will be well internally to you, but not telling us, gee, we don't have really the time to and resources to sustain this additional work that you need.

So I I and I can appreciate the idea of yeah, we want to buy Sarasota's business.

Um and that's how I see it, and it does concern me.

So I'm sorry, let me interrupt you.

Can I um can you guys please stop sharing your screen?

If you got one on the other end, something thank you.

So do you have uh a response to that concern?

How to do that, figuring out how to uns unshare that easy, right?

Um I'm sorry.

I mean I figured out how to share it, but I may not be able to Warren.

There should be a next to the share button, there should be a little arrow.

Yes.

And then you can should be able to click one of the options should be stop sharing.

Uh okay.

So if I let's see.

Yeah, we can see you, so it's so I apologize.

So do you have a response to my concerns about uh your suggestion that the fee is inconsequential?

Yeah, and I think you know it it it comes down to trust, which again we don't know each other well, so I can understand why it that may be difficult.

Um, and so you know, I encourage y'all to talk to our other clients.

Uh we we've got our fees range um depending on the circumstances, and so um that I think the maybe the screen sharing went off now.

Um, and so you know we're gonna put maximum effort into this because it's important to us, and also because if I screw this up, it's gonna hurt me more than any other outcome that could come dependent regardless of how much we charge.

We'd be happy to match the MGTC.

That would make y'all more comfortable.

Um it's really not how I work.

So I worked in government for over 20 years, uh, worked for the salary that I had, and I put maximum effort into it when I was making 46,000 and when I was making 250,000 as a city manager.

And so it's just kind of the way I'm wired.

We we just do a good job, and uh I think the results will end up allowing us to charge a lot more later in the future uh to other communities, but um you know, so it's it's really uh not gonna impact at all the way we're gonna go about this.

Um, and uh you know, we we've committed to um taking on, you know, this project is the only one that we're gonna work on in Florida of City Manager Search.

Um, and so I think we'll certainly have the time and effort to dedicate to it.

And then also the way our business is built, we have other segments of our business that operate that provide significant amount of revenue for us to be able to focus on the search business.

So you know, I I'm not gonna be missing that extra money uh that we could potentially charge you for it.

Um, and so I I hate to give you the answer just to kind of have to take my word for it because that's who I am.

Um, but that that's really the best I can do and ensure you that you're gonna get all of me.

Okay, th thank you.

The other question also from that slide was uh the indication that the size of the cities is in you know doesn't matter.

I I sort of see that the size of the city uh indicates the complexity of the city manager's job or the number of issues that are thrown at you simultaneously.

So, you know, a search for a city of 18,000 for their city manager would be different for from a search for Sarasota.

So you know absolutely agree with you.

And so the point I was trying to make, maybe not as elegantly as uh as I wanted is that the search process that we go through is customized to the communities that we work for.

And certainly I understand the complexity of having work for 85,000 person city with hundreds of millions of dollars and you know, hundreds of employees of what it takes to get that job done and the the process that we'll put in place you know will be sufficient to be able to uh make determinations on the candidates.

I think the important part I was trying to make is that the complexity and sophistication of your city manager will be way different than in a city of 18,000, and that who we're looking for uh has to understand the complexities of having multiple funds, uh having hundreds of thousands, whatever employees um that go along with that in the multitude of issues, but they also gonna need to be a leader and be able to delegate and to be able to use their team as opposed to someone in a smaller city, you just gotta do a lot of it themselves.

So I think the profile is 180 degree different.

Um, but the you know, the fact that we've done some smaller cities, you know, could we handle a larger city?

Absolutely.

Because the search process is generally the same.

Um it's just you just dealing with a little bit more of a complex nature of the community, uh and it's gonna take some more effort and time to be able to sort of uh swallow that and then put that into manageable terms uh for the um folks that we're you know reaching out to to be able to understand exactly what they're getting into.

And and that brings me to the other thing in terms of the people that you would be reaching out to questioning the size of your list of contacts in, you know, I'm gonna say, I was gonna say initially Florida, but elsewhere in the United States who might be good candidates, how large is your exposure and list of say personal contacts as opposed to, yeah, I can Google and look on LinkedIn and you know, all these other things.

Right.

So we have a database that we send out continually, uh, which is about right now is at about 25,000, uh, which includes every manager in the state of Florida within that database.

Um and so those are folks we're regularly reaching out to.

Uh, do we have everyone in Wyoming?

No, we don't.

Um, but I don't know that's gonna be important at the end of the day.

Um, and so we've got national reach uh within that database covers I think 42 of the 50 states uh within the union.

Um and then also our LinkedIn presence, and so but but I think really, you know, we're advertising in the place, same places that other firms are gonna be advertising in, and that's gonna be uh a lot of what will attract the candidates to start with, and then we'll be working the regional area and other markets that we we've been in and that we know people or to reach out to uh to be able to source additional candidates.

So I I don't think any one recruiter, you know, knows everybody in the country and is gonna get every possible candidate uh to be interested in, but um, but I think we've got the resources to be able to uh get the folks we need to and get in front of people that we need to get in front of as well.

It the other thing, I guess this is probably my final question.

Um you cited situations where um you know part of the process and if the city of Sarasota wanted to add something or do something differently, that sure it's up to the commission what they want to do.

Um we're not professionals in you know management search, and you know, we're looking to professionals to give us guidance.

Um I guess that's my question.

How strong is would your guidance be and uh uh are you that confident in your expertise in this area?

Yes, absolutely.

So I've been at both a a candidate with search firms and gone through the process of um applying for city manager jobs.

I've been a uh a client of the search firms, and so work from that capacity, and then I've also uh now for the last four years have done all these searches uh for the city manager level.

guidance be and uh uh are you that confident in your expertise in this area yes absolutely so I've been uh both a a candidate with search firms and gone through the process of um applying for city manager jobs I've been a uh a client of the search firms and so work from that capacity and then I've also uh now for the last four years have done all these searches uh for the city manager level um you know and so we've got that experience and then also 20 years of working with elected officials I know how to um to be able to communicate uh know how to be able to sort of the group dynamic that occurs and then also provide you with our honest advice on each of the candidates we understand what city managers do um and we can be able to advise you on you know this person's you know may not have the the right set of experience may not have the um the skill sets that you're looking for the fit um they may be a great city manager but they may not be a great fit for the city of Sarasota uh and so you know we can be as strong a voice in that room as we need to and so usually I read the room and there's there's some folks on your commission that may you know they've got their mind made up they want to do their thing and then there's others that are looking to us to say what do you think and so we will give you an opinion uh and it'll be a strong one and it'll be accurate and that's how we're saying business is not not telling you stuff that uh either being afraid to tell you things or telling you things that are not going to be accurate.

Thank you very much.

Commissioner do you want to go all the way to what we did last time questions or um I think what your questions answered with my questions were pretty much answered and I can address them as I go through all mine.

Okay.

Okay.

Um thank you for your presentation I um I'm I'm pleasantly surprised by you know some of the innovative approaches that you have to some of these uh needs that we're going to be um you know jumping into but I wanted to ask you about um the one of the same questions I asked the other firm which was this presentation of Sarasota what is your presentation of Sarasota going to be uh and hopefully it um you will include the fact that this is a beautiful city but we're expecting a lot from our city manager because we don't come without challenges and um you know it's really important that we are presented in a light that is not uh sugarcoated.

Absolutely so you know I think that one of the most important things when you're recruiting candidates is that it's really a two-way street and so the candidates you don't want them to come in thinking it's gonna be one way and then they'll last six months and figure out that it's not and so that doesn't do you any good at the end of the day.

And so we spend a lot of time on the front end um really talking with y'all about what the ideal candidate profile looks like what are the expectations we do a huge section within the brochure on opportunities and challenges and uh and we're honest with them.

If there's things that are wrong let's list them.

If there's things that are are opportunities for improvement let's list them and so it's not going to be a a chamber of commerce or a visitors bureau marketing brochure but it's really a data set and I think one of the things I really like about our brochures is that when the candidates come in for the in-person interviews they often bring them with them because it's a data set for them and that they're able to refer back to the information in there and that they're finding it helpful to be able to navigate what they're getting themselves into.

And I again I I appreciate the comment there because I think it's super important that that folks be able to see not only the the the great things we're going to talk to them about but also the blemishes and the areas where there's an opportunities for improvement.

And then also the candidates are are really smart.

They're gonna go watching your videos on your council meetings they're gonna read the newspaper they're gonna do their research and so if we're telling them one thing in the brochure and they're seeing another when they do the research you know we would our firm and the city have lost credibility at that point.

And when you said you will come and talk to you all who who's the you all that you're gonna talk to yeah so typically we will talk to each individual elected official and spend as much time with them as necessary to get their perspective on what the ideal candidate profile is going to be because I think that's important those you're the the boss of the city manager at the end of the day as a body and um that's important element of it we also will interview all of the key staff to get an understanding from them as to it's one what are the issues they're are facing the next city manager.

What are they looking for in a leader that will be motivating and help them be successful.

And then we will reach out to you as a commission and as a staff and ask the question every every interview we do we ask the question who else should we be talking to and so you know if it's the the folks in the religious institutions, education, um chamber of commerce, whoever it is that can offer us a perspective it doesn't mean that we're gonna write down everything they say and put it in the brochure but it gives us a lot of background context to be able to summarize and to be able to tell the story of Sarasota.

Would we have the opportunity to see this description of the job before it go actually goes out.

Yeah absolutely yeah okay and then um something that's very important um I think to this commission and especially to me is sourcing of candidates um not just throwing a wide net out there and see what fish you catch but actually saying this is the perfect candidate and that's the perfect candidate and that's the perfect candidate and we're gonna go after them.

What is your process for that and what it what sort of um tools do you have in place to make sure that that is a streamlined and efficient process.

Yeah it's a great question I think it's a strength of ours that uh we don't I've I've seen a lot of is where you know the you put your ads out and then go and applied well we didn't really have any value.

Y'all can place an ad.

It's not that complicated.

And so from a process standpoint, you know, we've established good relationships especially in the state of Florida with the senior advisors, with the um FCCMA folks and then all the people that we've dealt with through the different um experiences we've had at our conferences and the search and date city and so we feel like we've got and and then there's a lot of folks from Georgia that also have moved down to Florida to take positions as well that we're still connected with so we're gonna reach out to that work individually and say, you know, here's what we're doing here's kind of the fit and profile we're looking for you know who do you think would be good candidates that we should talk to that are not currently in the job market.

But I think also there's an efficient approach of looking at the candidates that you're gonna be talking to you know going to be people in similar sized communities with similar type of challenges that are gonna be good candidates for y'all as well.

And so it's identifying who are the top 25 cities that um you know we that we know have good reputations that we want to look at and then contacting those folks as well to see if some of those candidates may be good ones for the city of Sarasota as well.

So you know it's really about just leveraging those relationships um and and kind of the hard work that comes with it the effort that it takes to be able to to source candidates versus um hope hope that they come to you.

And I'm just gonna say this because it's it's sort of the elephant in the room so to speak but when you say leverage those relationships I agree that that's really a valuable tool.

However you've been in business for four years um what what is that leverage that you have?

Yeah so one I've been in the local government for 25 years.

So the four years in in the private side of the business you know for that time before that I was also building relationships um you know with involvement in the different uh state associations the places that I've worked and then also you know with ICMA um which gives you a more national perspective on the marketplace um and so you'd be surprised over that period of time how many folks do you get chance to meet and build relationships with so we're also gonna take advantage of uh Gary Lavina who's on our team that was the city manager of Fruitland Park for was in Florida for a decade and has different relationships than I do within the state and uh and be able to talk with those folks as well.

So I think we're pretty well covered in Florida especially and in the Southeast but you know it's it's nobody knows everybody but we're gonna do our best to be able to leverage all of those relationships that we can okay thank you and um along those lines of um this pool of people and the experience and the coverage that you have you know I'm very specifically looking for somebody who has experience dealing with a coastal community um and that's important.

The experience is is extremely valuable but if you don't have the experience there are certain set of skills that can be adapted in that situation.

What are you going to specifically do to find those candidates that may not have the experience but have the skills that they can adapt quickly to our needs here.

Yeah I think the key word that you talked about is adaptability and so um you know we we spent a lot of time on the front end of putting together that ideal candidate profile and and we're looking at not only experience um and qualifications but really important as soft skills and leadership and and identifying what type of leaders would be the right fit for the city of Sarasota um and and it's a large organization so it's gotta have to be somebody that understands how to delegate uh somebody that knows how to recognize talent uh to be able to organize processes um and and sort of lead as opposed to just simply managing um and so I think you know as as we talk with you and the other commissioners and the staff we'll get a better idea of what exactly that personality fit is going to be not an expert on Sarasota um and don't want to pretend to be but I think it's putting together that profile and then starting to match that and so you know there's certainly folks in the nonprofit sector uh that work for federal government, military, um state government that may have the skills and abilities but frankly I I think mo the most likely candidates are going to be folks that have um the profile uh similar to Sarasota.

But I think it's putting together that profile and then starting to match that.

And so, you know, there's certainly folks in the nonprofit sector that work for federal government, military, um, state government that may have the skills and abilities.

But frankly, I I think mo the most likely candidates are going to be folks that have the profile uh similar to Sarasota.

They worked in a larger community, whether it's as an assistant or as a city manager, and understand what it takes to get the job done and that and can deal with the complexities that y'all are dealing with.

Um and then I think on the coastal side, there really isn't a whole lot of substitute for that.

Um, it's just unique.

And so one of our our staff uh was the city manager in Tybee Island, Georgia, which is coastal community, and he shared with me over the years the just a myriad of issues, environmental and um and other um issues that come up with being a coastal community, public safety and otherwise.

And so I I think that's gonna be important.

Um, but adaptability um and leadership is gonna be really the key.

Yeah, no, I uh yeah, I agree with that.

Um Madam Mayor, may I continue?

Uh thank you.

Um those lines of very specific things that we we need the candidate to be experienced or at least adaptable to the to the needs that we're looking for, sunshine is a big one.

Um, you know, how how are you going to be able to emphasize uh there being these candidates being fluid and understanding the incredible um uh uh need to be uh um proficient in understanding sunshine and sunshine laws.

Sure.

I think it would probably warrant a separate section within our brochure uh to deal with that because I think Florida is is so far from almost all other places in the country as to the level of transparency that the law requires and that you know for personnel discussions for discussions like this that in other places might be done in an executive session that's not Florida.

And so I think it's it's a mindset that these folks are gonna have to have.

Um, one is to be adaptable to whatever the laws of the state are going to be, but also that their natural inclination is to be open and transparent, and that there's nothing private about what we're doing.

And that the community has the right to know and not only the right to know, but that that you should make it easy for them to find out.

So instead of having to file a request, why not post it, you know, online ahead of time so that people can see it without having having to ask?

And I think that builds trust.

And so I think you know, it's it's communicating that not only, you know, here's the Florida law, you need to follow it, but trying to find folks that have the personality that fit where it's not going to be a difficult transition for them going from you know how they do business to how Florida does business because I think y'all will be frustrated if somebody's coming in continually trying to hide the football when in Florida, you need to show them everything that we got, and you gotta do it with a with a smile as opposed to being mad about it.

Uh and along those lines, um, you had mentioned in your presentation that you have some sort of an applicant portal that we could have access to.

It's live.

Can you just explain that a little bit better?

Would it be just us?

Would it be the whole world?

Like how is that working?

Yeah, so what we do is we will set you up with a user profile that will limit you to only seeing the applicants for the city of Sarasota for this position.

Um, and so you can log in, you know, as a user on the system, and you'll see every applicant as they come in, they'll have all the attachments, all the emails that we send to the candidates with updates, um, and you know, everything that we've got on the back end, y'all will be able to see as well.

There's no nothing secret.

And when you say y'all, you mean us or you mean the whole city of Sarasota?

Speaking to the transparency and all of the.

If y'all, if the city decided they want to make that more openly available, I don't have any problem with posting it because as soon as they apply, it's public information.

So there's nothing real secret about what we're doing at all.

That's what I mean.

Like that'd be up to you guys.

It would be up to the city as how how public you want to make that information.

But what we're trying to communicate is that what we see is what you see, and that we're not there's not gonna be candidates that you're gonna go, I didn't know they applied, or how come you didn't recommend this person to us?

Um, so you'd have the opportunity to see what we see.

Certainly, you all don't have time every day to go online and and look at all these things, but um, you know, so we'll have our reports and our process to go through.

But if you want to go see all the back end data, go for it.

That's not a problem for us.

Okay.

Um I really appreciated uh under your background um when you're talking about the brack background of folks and doing the checks and not just looking at the recommendation from the brother-in-law and the neighbor, um, but doing other outside background checks.

How do you go about doing that?

So I think first is that we really are try to communicate to the elected officials that we don't want to get tired at the end of the process, and that's what we see in a lot of places that by the time you've made your sort of choice, this is my number one candidate.

You don't want anything to go wrong.

Um, and so it's just sort of this um, you know, tire is not the right word for it, but it you get everybody gets a little bit lazy at the end, and that's the point where we gotta wake up and do the the most work.

And so uh what we do from there is we just let the candidates know that um you know you've been chosen as a sole finalist or or two finalists.

Uh this is all public in Florida, and so we would advise you to certainly share with your elected officials what's going on so there's no surprises there because you're not gonna be able to hide the media is gonna post your name and so many Google alerts and everything.

Um and then we we just tell them, you know, we're gonna be looking into the background, uh, we're gonna make a trip up to where you are, we're gonna talk with people.

Um we you know, from a process standpoint, if somebody was a city manager, um, you know, we're gonna contact a couple of elected officials in each of the communities that they're with, they've been with over the years and talk to them.

Sometimes they won't talk to us, but we'll give it every effort that we can.

We'll talk to some of the key staff that they've worked with and try to get that rounded picture.

Um, and so we want to talk to the folks, you know, we're not looking to dig up things or to cause trouble, but we want to give you as much data and information as possible.

And so when we come back and give our final report, we're gonna give it to you all of it, and then you know, make a recommendation of hey, I think there's too many red flags here, and here's why.

Or we think that some of these things are um you know, three sides to every story, we're not quite sure what happened, but you all need to know about what's been reported and what we've been able to dig up and then help you through that decision making process.

Um and so hopefully somebody that y'all really you know chooses your candidate as clean as anything, and that we can you know come back and say that they they wear a cape and they're super you know, superhero, but um you know sometimes they're not, and and y'all need to know that as nothing worse than a client being embarrassed a year later when they find out that you know somebody has been fired from a position for a horrible reason and uh and nobody knew about it.

Yeah, I I think that might work both ways, people knowing that this kind of extensive background research is happening, then that may help.

Yeah, we're we're clear and up front with the candidates so it's not a surprise, and that you know, if they don't want to go through that process, they can drop out, but um, you know, we've never had that happen.

And traveling to the other towns, I thought that was very interesting.

I've heard that before in the past that other cities do that.

Um maybe commissioners will do that or city staff will actually go to where the finalists live, travel there and just randomly talk to folks and say, Do you know who the city manager is, what's your experience with them, and so on and so forth.

And I um that you're the first person that I've heard say that uh as a as part of your process.

Who pays for that?

How does that work?

Do we pay for that?

Is that one of those expenses that's added on later, or how does that I think it's a valuable thing?

Yeah, so the I mean the travel expenses would be considered as travel expenses and something that have to be pre-approved by the client.

And so, you know, if somebody's in Maui and you know, I say I'll go there for three weeks and and I'll where I'll get every piece of information I can, you may say no to that.

But um, you know, we just kind of have to see where they are and what level of research you want us to do.

So that's all pre-approved.

The labor is free, it's just the um the travel costs that would come associated with that.

And if you want to send a team, I've seen that done in a community before where two councilmen, you know, went and um, you know, with the city attorney in that case, and then they they did their own research when they were there, and uh I can tell you it's nothing, no substitute for seeing at first hand um because the the picture the candidate paints is and it may be accurate in their mind, but it may not be what your expectation is.

So I think it's I think it's a really neat thing to do that is worth the extra expense.

Uh it shouldn't be considerable as this travel expense.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, I've um I thought that was an interesting uh point that you made.

And just to be one last question, just to be crystal clear, you offered two-year guarantee, is that correct?

Yes, definitely.

I just want to make sure I heard that correctly.

Um those are all my questions for the moment.

All right, thank you, Commissioner Rover.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you much for addressing the questions I submitted ahead of time.

Um I do have other questions.

Um Commissioner A.

Hearn Koch addressed one or asked one, and that was regarding the candidate portal.

Um I think we can among ourselves clarify who we want to have access to that portal.

So that doesn't need to be discussed further today unless the city attorney has something to say about that.

Yeah, Warren, I think you indicated you're obviously willing to customize that to be compliant with Florida law and whatever transparency uh priorities we have.

Yes, absolutely.

I was also interested in what you referred to as an objective scoring grid.

Um I think it's easy to get technical skills and experiences into a technical and to an objective scoring grid.

How do you find out about and include soft skills and fit into such a grid?

I don't think you can.

I I think there it's too subjective.

Um when you're talking about all the soft skills that come with it.

Um and so what we do is we will on the first run, which will be the initial candidate review, will be very statistically, you know, objective as to you know, education and experience.

Um we usually come up with some creative categories.

Um, you know, so if you want to see, you know, how many of the candidates have you know coastal experience?

Um, you know, or other things that are important to Sarasota, we we customize our um not only the categories for each community, but also the scoring method um that we use.

So in other words, if something is you know extremely important to you, we put more points on that than something that wouldn't be.

Um and certainly we can share that with you to make sure that we got it right.

Um and you'll see it, you know, each candidate scored so you can see how we did that.

For the soft skills, that really I think that the beauty of you know, other firms use the one-way video um and that you can watch the they they give you three questions, they give you 40 seconds to answer it, candidates in a panic, they they try to get through that question and get on to the next one.

And uh, I don't know there's a lot of value in that.

We do the 45 minute two-way video with our consultants, and so we have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions, uh, to dig into things that didn't make sense to us on the resume, uh, to ask specific questions about their communities that um they're not gonna be in a generic three question one way.

And so we use that to assess the soft skills on the at the onset uh as a tool.

And so what we do is we include in our um report on the semifinalists not only the video link so you can watch it yourself, but we'll also have uh a whole set of notes on what we like about the candidate, what concerns us, what questions should we ask next time that we meet with this person that would be red flags for us that we may want to look into further, and then also having the reporting of the of what we're finding on social media and and um news reports and then try to put that all together.

But the the quick answer to your question is that we can't be objective about subjective um of things like fit, but it's you know we we kind of know it when we see it, and so using our expertise in those reviewing those video interviews, doing the video interviews, and then when we meet with them in person, we're really good at letting you know that you know what what we think this person's leadership skills or soft skills look like.

Thank you.

Um and like uh Vice Mayor Trice, I too was concerned about the statement that the fee is inconsequential to you.

I do understand a new company wanting to expand its uh base, its client base and charging lower fees, but from our perspective, we can't get into the middle of a contract that started at $18,000 and is sky high.

Right.

And so there'll be no there'll be no change orders to what we do.

Um, yeah, this is uh is not the you know, a percentage of revenue, even if we charged you $50,000 for our, you know, we we're over $2 million a year in revenue.

So the $50,000 versus the $18,000, it it's not important enough to us to blow this opportunity.

And so I I would you know kind of try to share that with you is that you know, I I my mindset is not, you know, well, I'm I'm gonna work a little bit harder today because I know there's another 20,000 coming my way.

It's really, you know, if we can do a great job here, uh it's gonna be huge for us and that it with our reputation and we want you to go into the Florida League of Cities and talking about us.

And if you go to the Florida League of Cities and say we hired this firm, they we we came in at this low price and that they you know it ended up being higher price or they just gave up halfway because they ran out of steam.

I'm done.

And and I I don't wanna be done.

We're just getting started um within our our you know how we're gonna grow our business.

Um but frankly, and I I don't mean this in a um come off the wrong way, but if it would make the council more comfortable to have a higher fee, we're happy to charge that.

I it's it's really no issue for us.

Um it's it's not what I'm focused on.

I really just want to do y'all a good job and and be able to get more business in Florida.

No, and I appreciate your humor and that contract comment.

Thank you.

All right.

Anyone else?

Um I guess my my only question is you answered uh a lot of them, and um, you know, and I and I uh frankly understand your comment about the theme being not as important as uh sort of getting this contract and doing a good job and building your reputation in Florida, so that makes sense to me.

Um but what qualities do you think are important in a city manager?

Do you have you know something that you look for as when you're looking at applicants?

That's a great question, Mayor.

And so I I would say, you know, obviously it's there's the easy answer is different in every place, and I can't answer it, but that's not really true.

So I think you know, having done the job for you know 17 years in the city manager, um one, you gotta have some thick skin.

Um, and so I think that's something we look for is the you know, can you do the right thing when the pressure's on, uh, or are you just trying to count votes and do what you think you're supposed to do to get by.

And so uh I think courage, I think integrity is is incredibly important.

Being a motivator is important.

I think the leadership skill of understanding when to step up and when to step back is important, being able to read the room because there's times where the the you know commission is gonna want you to get ahead of an issue and get out in public and talk about it, and then there's other times where you need to be in the background working with the staff and getting getting the materials together.

And so it takes a lot of um smarts to be able to figure that out, and that takes time um and you gotta do the job to understand that.

And so I think and then also I it's really a lot about you'll you'll kind of see it when it's there, and that there's having a presence, having gravitas, being able to control a room, um, and be able to work with all kinds of people and and do it happily.

Um I think those are all skills I would look for in a city manager, uh, and somebody that's gonna be a mentor and a motivator to the rest of the staff that builds a positive culture, uh, understands what culture is, um, and and you know, has the sort of passion for public service.

Um and that, you know, they're gonna command a high salary of this job and they're gonna earn every bit of it.

But um, you know, they it they they've got it's gotta be within.

And I think that you're gonna find that um a lot of great city managers have that quality.

And so I would say in general, those would be my sort of big ones, but I could probably talk about that for an hour as well because it's an interesting question.

No, I I I uh couldn't agree with your answer more.

Um so thank you.

Thank you for that.

Um the other commissioners asked the other things that I had had on my list.

So um I didn't have anything else.

I just wanted to say I thought um it was really interesting.

The client portal idea, I think that's really good.

I like the use of innovation and technology um to actually make the job a whole lot easier.

So um Commissioner Batti, now just keeping my question.

All right.

No, you know, my mine's not so much of a question of whatever I I wanted to ask you.

Um have you ever visited Sarasota?

I've been in the area, and I think I've been in Sarasota itself, yes.

Okay, I thought you were my work in Dade City, so I've taken about five trips to Tampa.

Okay, and then also kind of driven around the area.

So that was more just for my own fun than for uh, you know, doing research on Sarasota.

All right, excellent.

And and so um you know, you you your fees and so on don't don't concern me one bit on the stand and and and respect, you know, um what it is you're trying to do and trying to accomplish, you know, in your business, especially being uh a young company um and and trying to make your mark and and and uh you know make you a footprint, you know, in the in the industry.

So um I don't have a concern about that.

But have you uh for the most part, you know, because Sarasota is a very complex, you know, city to be honest with you, with a number of challenges.

We have a lot of things coming down the pike um with this city evolving the way that it is and at the the the pace at which it is doing so.

Have you studied Sarasota in any regard um in in that way?

Um yeah, I mean, we've been following along um through the you know process following your meetings.

Um am I an expert in Sarasota and could I answer, you know, a quiz on it?

No.

But um that's gonna be our job going forward is to become the expert uh on Sarasota.

And so we know you know the challenges that y'all have had, I know that you've been through a aborted search once and don't want to have that happen to you again.

Um and uh and then the complexity from running the city is is gonna be significant.

Uh and and you're in Florida, so it makes it even harder um than in other places in the country.

So uh, you know, our job is gonna be to get in there and figure that out and then be able to communicate that um fairly and evenly handed to the candidates while trying to put you in the best light possible.

Excellent.

And uh you know, to the mayor's point, you know, I think all the questions of you know for you know, as generic as they are, whatever, um you know, have been, you know, answered and uh and uh I think the commissioners for for all the questions that you all did have because um you know it shares a lot of light on uh what it is we're looking for as a for city manager and um and you know the the pool that you're gonna have to draw from it.

Um I think one of the things that that we have to deal with in this city is uh talking about um sunshine and land use and and things of that nature.

So, you know, when you're doing your search to to sort of uh you know make that something that uh that is of importance to to your candidates and whatnot.

Yeah, can't avoid that in Florida.

Exactly.

But uh thank you very much for your presentation and for for you know taking the initiative to to be a part of this process and helping us with it or what have you, and good luck.

Thank you, Commissioner.

All right, Commissioners.

Anything else before we mister uh Huttmacker is Hutmucker, is that the right way to pronounce it?

You got it.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you so much for your presentation, and we will be back with you one way or the other.

Wonderful.

Thank you for the time.

Thank you.

Okay, Commissioners.

Um Mr.

Hyde do his public comment.

Yes.

We'll do Martin High.

And then um I guess take a break for lunch and then come back and discuss, or do we want to just discuss?

No, I think it does because our end was at two o'clock.

You have a heart in it too.

So I don't know what's happening.

Oh I mean I don't think it's uh they can hear me.

Um I don't think there's really any contest here um between the firms.

Clearly.

Objectively to me, as somebody who's hired a lot of firms and spent a lot of money on these sort of things.

MGT has a better proposal.

Um a couple of things.

It was interesting that uh the member of the MGT team was a county administrator in Volusia County, which has got a population of 600,000.

So that's relevant experience.

Um just you wouldn't know this, appointed two weeks ago a new uh deputy county administrator, interestingly enough on a hundred and eighty-five thousand a year in the county of six hundred thousand.

Well, you know, our deputy city manager makes 40,000 more than that.

The point is not to dig out, Mr.

Robinson.

Uh I'd be interested.

I think you should be interested to to hear what he thinks of our proposed compensation level of between 250 to 300,000 in a city of 60,000 people compared to say what the governor of Florida gets, which in case you don't know, is 141,000 a year.

Um MGT's fee of 45,000 is worth it, and then some if you get a good manager.

Um the key, and it is a key, is communicating, and this is for you five, to the recruiter, the realities of where we're at, the budget constraints, the previous issues of management which need to be addressed and understanding going forward than a managers to implement policy, not to make it.

That former manager of Vollucia will be the key factor in finding the right person because he said something which is true.

He has the experience in the job and in Florida.

Jim, I think his name was sounds like you'll be honest with candidates if you're similarly honest with him.

A phrase that he used which I thought was interesting was that uh the people you believe you need based on the fact that he's an expert, when as Mayor Alpha said, and I no one would expect you to be, none of you can claim to be experts at uh recruiting.

Um I'm not gonna pass any negative comment on the second presentation.

It sounded a little desperate, more like a plea for help than anything else, a pretty easy drive from Atlanta, never having had been to Sarasota before.

Not exactly you know, comments that uh that resonate with me.

But I'm simply saying, in my view, for what it's worth, absolutely hire MGT.

You can get off and get your lunch early.

Um but there's just one caveat.

Listen to the expert and be honest with him.

Just my thoughts.

Thank you.

All right, uh Vice Mayor.

Um I'm going to offer a motion so we can start the discussion, and I move that we hire MGT.

Second.

All right.

Anybody anybody All right.

I'm I'm going to counter that.

Um I would have said the same thing until I heard uh the Sumter presentation, you know, I thought there's, you know, as I uh was impressed with MGT, but I was actually more impressed with Sumter.

Um I felt like there was uh for instance, what there was a there's there was more of a energy, a passion for doing this job, for wanting to do this job.

And when he answered the questions from each of you, he actually answered the question you asked.

I I kept feeling like the uh Jim from MGT um actually gave a canned answer and didn't really answer the question that you asked him.

I thought the innovation with a you know a client portal and these types of things to keep it real time, to keep it transparent.

Um and I, you know, and I get the idea that for them to get a city like Sarasota on their resume is worth charging a little less so that they can make that happen.

But I, you know, I felt like there was there was um, you know, uh a real eagerness to really do a good job for us, and I think they will.

So um I'm I'm going to uh not necessarily support that motion.

I I was really, really impressed with with Sumter and didn't expect to be.

So just the for order, we had a motion in the second.

I think the maker of the motion probably should be able to speak to her motion real quick if best possible.

Yeah.

Okay.

I appreciate that Sumter will would strive to do the best job that they could because they need our business.

However, I have more confidence in MGT based on their presentation.

One of the differences that I noted is, yes, as the mayor said, Sumter responded directly to the question.

And Mr.

Denin of MGT responded to the question and then added some additional professional expertise.

Uh you know, one of the things that I noted that he said in uh actively sourcing the candidates and all good managers want a challenge.

So he was suggesting that the best people would be excited by the number of challenges that we have in Sarasota, as but the fact that he added that additional information from his knowledge.

But I'm thinking when it's a case of Florida Sunshine Law, if you're reaching out to a uh city manager, assistant city manager who is in a position at the moment, there's a matter of trust before putting your name out there to apply for a new job.

And you probably will think twice if it's just somebody that calls you because your name was on a database, as opposed to somebody said, hey, you know, your buddy Joe recommended that I call you because he thinks you would be a really good person for this job.

So I I would trust that we would get a better candidate from MGT.

Yeah, we could take a ch our chance on Sumter, we'd know that they'd work hard, but I feel that MGT has more knowledge, expertise, and resources behind them.

Um and the other thing that concerns me, I appreciate the idea of yes, we want a guarantee that if the person that's takes the job uh it doesn't work out in two years that you will provide us with another search at no additional cost.

I would rather not go through this in two years.

I would I have more, you know, the the fact that MGT is saying that on average their people have been in place for five years, and I just feel that with MGT we would have uh more likely to get an the better candidate who would stay in place for a longer period of time, and it would be a crapshoot with Sumter.

I mean, that's why they reduced their price to buy our business.

So, you know, uh they could have said 45,000, 37,000 off the bat, but they knew that they had to offer us at a disbargain basement price in order to get our business.

So that's why I feel strongly that MGT is the way to go.

Any seconder of the motion?

Uh yeah.

Um I to be honest with you, I was impressed by both.

Um it seems like it comes down to a uh David than in Goliath type, you know, um situation.

Uh MGT comes with all the bells and whistles, they come, you know.

Well, not exactly.

Okay, maybe that's a sign, right?

I don't even say anything else.

I mean so but um you know MGT comes with uh, you know, all the bells and whistles that they they've been in the business for for uh a a great number of years.

Um they have a number of uh relationships and and so on.

Umter in and as you know, speaking of uh Vice Mayor of the database and and you as well, Mayor, um to draw from.

And I don't knock them for for being young, and I and I don't necessarily look at it as them like kind of like buying our business, so to speak, as it is their young, you know, fledgling company, this you know, this trying to get their foot in the door and uh and you know make their bones and and you know I can respect and appreciate that.

And I think uh what was it?

Hutch Hatch Hutchman.

Was it um uh Mr.

Mocker was you know very candid and uh transparent with you know with his answers when asked questions.

Um the the thing about MGT that that that I can uh respect um and that uh that uh uh I like his their close proximity, you know.

I mean, they're they're right right here.

And uh, you know, they can be here um in the you know matter of you know an hour or so or whatever.

Um not saying that we know we can't communicate you know with Sumter as well.

Um but again, you know, I was impressed with with with both and uh you know uh would like to hear what what I mean we heard what the mayor said if anyone else has anything to say about uh the war.

Thank you.

Um Commissioner Aherncotch.

Thank you.

Uh I thought they both did an excellent job, both in their presentation and in their interviews.

I was um pleasantly surprised by both of them.

Um and it just goes to show you the value of the human uh interaction and what you see on papers, not always necessarily um the real situation in the picture.

So once again, it reiterated that value of having that two-way conversation.

Um there was a couple of key points that I think um where one excelled over the other.

One of them was the cost, even though there's 45,000 versus 18,000 with the interview process that Sumpner talked about, I think that that would if we would want to take advantage of them and their willingness and flexibility to do all of those extra steps, that would require them to do more travel.

Um there they would have to come down here more often if we wanted them to go to interview people wherever the candidates were from, all of those those nice bells and whistles would probably at the end of the day make both those costs pretty close.

So the cost for me is is the same pretty much.

Um the reputation uh MGT has is very well known and has a great reputation amongst um city managers and city manager candidates.

And Sumpner has uh a reputation when I called the place in Date City, they came highly recommended.

Um they also have a reputation for what we all have perceived, which is being new, being young, being hungry, and being innovative.

Not a bad thing, just a different thing.

So, you know, as far as the reputation goes and the weight in there, they're a little bit different, but still I think of the same value.

Uh what's very important to me is sourcing of candidates.

Um this is where I think MGT pulled ahead a little bit because of their vast database uh throughout the country and also in the state.

When you look at where they have had experience in placing city managers across the country and the state of Florida.

I mean, it that's there's there's no doubt in my mind there.

Um it doesn't mean that Sumner can't do a good job, it just means just from the pure fact of experience in that area of sourcing, I think MGT pulled ahead there.

Um the process, I really appreciate the process that Sumpner talked about.

I loved their innovative ideas about how they would go about I, you know, um sourcing uh you know their way to to source candidates, you know, with uh not only ICMA but FLC, about you know, their uh um personal experience in uh being a city manager, um and the the two-day process.

I loved that they were going to interview somebody and it would be a two-day process, not just a 45 minute interview.

And I I agree with that.

It's one thing to to talk to somebody for 40 minutes, it's quite another to spend two days with them.

And I think that would give us a side of that those candidates that we wouldn't have otherwise asked for.

So I really appreciate that.

I appreciate the the idea because uh, you know, I've been asking around as you all have done, I'm sure, you know, when you were city managed when you were a uh a city commissioner, um how did you hire a new you know, city manager?

And I've talked to several former elected officials, and these were the things that they liked and didn't like.

And one of them when Sumter mentioned, you know, about traveling to the city, that was something really special that sort of hit a little buzzer, and I thought it was so they are really out there talking about n really good ways of doing things.

So for the process, I thought they both had strengths of their own, different, but strengths of their own.

The guarantee of one year versus two year, clearly that Sumptner, two years is it is it's you know, I I've not heard of anyone else offering two years, and I think that that is them saying we're putting our money where our mouth is.

And so I I feel like Sumpner pulled ahead there.

Um and the um the actual interview process for um the candidates themselves and um and how they will help us hone in on the qualities that we're looking for.

Uh they both were really strong.

I felt that um uh you know they would each offer us uh guidance but also step back and not be too pushy.

Be candid, but also not have a heavy hand.

So that was a really uh kind of a on same gro uh even ground there, but um not the same product, but on even ground.

Uh for Florida experience, that's clearly MGT.

Uh and that has to do with everything, sunshine laws, uh proximity to us, um, understanding what has to do with our coastal city and our resiliency.

And then um availability, they both offered us the comfort that there would be a dedicated person and a dedicated team that would support team and that they would not overburden and handle 10 clients at the same time.

So the that's my thought process is about where I am.

I was very impressed with both of them.

I am very happily conflicted, which is what I wanted.

I really wanted to be conflicted on this, and thank you to you two for doing such an incredible job in making me conflicted right now.

So I don't know if that help helps or hurts anybody, but that's where I am in weighing these two firms.

And I would have loved for us to take a break and then come back, but we have a two o'clock end time, so I I guess that's not possible, but we can take 10 or 15 minutes.

No, you want to take a bathroom restroom break, but not a full hour, yeah.

We can take a short time so that people can kind of um process what what we've heard.

Um now we do have a motion on the table too, so I spoke to the motion.

Commissioner Alright wanted to speak to the Marshall.

Thank you.

Um I too thought both of the companies did a very good job in their presentations to us um with MGT, of course, it's a bigger company with contract uh contacts nationally that I think would benefit us and would result in a bigger and better pool of candidates and a final candidate.

Uh I thought um Sumter uh their process was more customized and whatever we wanted they could adapt to, and I thought that was unique.

Um and also that the procedures were more innovative.

Uh I appreciated that the uh candidate portal and the objective scoring grid.

I really appreciated that.

Um and so I too am conflicted.

I think both companies would do a very good job for us.

All right.

Um did you want to add to your Yeah, well, yeah, the the thing that I did want to add uh because Commissioner Ulrich did remind me of something that concerned me with Sumter, it was uh while their process was different with a lot of it was oh yeah, and if you want to do this, you we can go along with it if you want to do that, we can go along with it.

Uh which to me was putting it on the onus on us to come up with uh and the the best way of doing a search whereas uh what I got from MGT was advice and recommendations based on all of their experience.

But I suspect there are things that we've may have found attractive in Sumter's process that if we hired MGT and said we liked this thing that Sumter does, could we do it?

Whether it's the the scoring sheet for the um the objective measurements or whatever, I think that you know, if we went with MGT, but there was something we liked in Sumters that they would say, yeah, we could we could do that, but uh I felt more comfortable with their professional as opposed to Sumter saying, yeah, if you want to do it that way, we can do it that way.

Okay.

Um I I think uh commissioner and her coach's comments were really um you know spot on that you know it it you know both companies I thought were good.

I just felt like Sumter kind of pulled ahead in uh in a few things, like I said, you know, with the client portal, um, with us being able to do, you know, see the video interviews and all of the back and forth, I think the transparency is much better.

Um and and I don't, you know, and MGT may have a broader database, but I felt like with Warren's experience through the ICMA and Florida Leo Cities and other things that I you know, I feel like their, you know, his reach is going to be broad enough that it would be still beneficial to us.

And I, you know, I and I don't know why it's important to have somebody here within an hour.

I mean, you know, it's like I mean, I I don't know that there's gonna be an emergency uh about this, but I'm sure you can get on a flight from you know I have an emergency question.

That's right.

I think the two-year guarantee um indicates to me that not that we're gonna have to do it within another two years.

It indicates to me that they're confident enough in what they're doing that they can say, you know, we can guarantee that somebody's gonna be there uh for a minimum of two years.

Um and I also didn't feel like they were putting the onus on us on how to conduct the search.

I think they were very clear on how, you know, how the search should be conducted.

However, they were, as um uh Commissioner Ulrich said, they were more adaptable.

Um and to be able to tailor it to what our specific needs are.

So um I think with all of those things, to me, they had the slight edge.

All right, Commissioner Ahern Kotch, you wanted to weigh in again.

Yeah, just uh do a question about process here.

Um do we have to vote right now, or could we take a break and then come back and vote?

I mean, is there any rule that says we can't take a uh, you know, any rule of Robert's order that says we can't uh take a bro break and then come back and I I don't know offhand of any rule that says you can't take a break, but I think that during a motion it's not okay.

I mean during a motion is do you want to withdraw your motion so that we can take a break.

Well, I was going to withdraw my second and when I just asked about that because I just have a quick question.

Uh is this a majority or a supermajority?

This is not a supermajority, so this is not a legislative thing.

So this is just a regular majority.

Um but and just for the record, Commissioner Bette has decided to withdraw his second.

So right, as of right now, there's no motion on the floor.

Okay, well, I was just gonna speak to just one other thing.

Um put the motion back on the floor.

No, no, no.

I'm just I just wanted to make a comment about uh a comment that that you all had made.

Um it is that uh the the flexibility that Sumpner was talking about saying, well, we can adapt and do it this way or we can do it this way, whatever you want.

Um I'm looking I'm looking less to them guiding us with a heavy hand.

And I think we found our voice.

We found our process, and I am really proud of how far we have come in through this process.

And I think while we are not experts, we are learning a lot about it.

And I don't mind us all finding our voice in this process and having a firm that will it, you know, that will adapt to us.

So I saw that as a positive thing and not as a negative thing.

Uh and not that the not that MGT wouldn't do that as well.

I just wanted to respond to that that I'm sort of looking, I'm sort of looking at it from a different angle than that.

So I saw that as a positive.

May I say one more thing, Mayor?

Not on the motion, but um adjourning when there is a motion on the floor.

We don't have a motion on the floor now, and it will be different, but when there's a motion on the floor, the problem with adjourning is being influenced by somebody when you're in recess.

Um and impropriety or the perception of impropriety while you are in recess.

So since we don't have a motion on the floor, it's a little bit different.

But I would suggest that during this uh recess, we not discuss this what we're gonna be voting on with other people.

Yeah, and I think, you know, and I think one way it it we could do it if um there is a motion on the floor is we take a short recess, but everybody stays right here, and you can sit and go through your notes and think about you know giving yourself a little pause so that you're not you're not getting, you know.

You stay on camera so you're not looking at your phone and getting input from a text message or something like that.

But I just think sometimes, yeah, sometimes you need you, you know, you want to like kind of mull over things a little bit and not make this you know, like sudden, like, okay, we're just gonna go with this, and then later on you're like, Well, I didn't think of this or this, you know.

So anyway, just that's my I think that's allowed on that.

As you said, mayor under the Roberts Rules of Order that becomes uh the other motion becomes subsidiary to that, but the perception's important and I I agree.

I totally I mean I do totally totally get that.

Commissioner Ingram Cross, did you have another comment?

No.

Are we allowed to use the restroom?

Uh yeah.

I was gonna say she somebody might need to use it.

Yeah, yeah, we're we don't have a motion on the table.

So um it is um so basically, for all intents and purposes, one o'clock, uh, be back at 11.

Perfect.

Uh we're in recess 10 minutes.

Okay.

All right.

Uh we are back in session for this special uh city commission meeting on Tuesday, September 9th, 2025, to talk about uh city manager executive search firm.

Um before we went on break, we'd gotten both presentations from both search firms and now commissioners have been discussing um which ones, you know, or the pros and cons of each one.

There was a motion uh by the vice mayor that was withdrawn then before we went on on break.

And I think happily we have uh a choice between two good firms.

So um, you know, it's a a great position to be in.

And I see commissioner or vice mayor choice uh would like to speak.

Yes, I would like to uh restore my motion and move that we hire MGT for the city manager search.

And it's gonna fail for lack of a second.

All right.

Somebody want to make an alternate motion.

Yes.

I will, Mayor.

I move that we hire center local government consulting for the city manager search.

Second.

I'll speak to the motion.

As we've all said, um we have two highly qualified companies this that can guide us in this search.

I think you all know I'm a process and procedures person.

I love the innovation that uh Sumter proposes to us, and uh I think it's in our interest to hire this company.

Vice Mayor.

Yeah.

For sure.

Um I've been weighing them, uh, and it's it's very, very difficult.

Um I you know, I went through the pros and cons and um yeah.

Okay.

All right, Vice Mayor.

Yeah, I I appreciate that um it looks like the process that Sumter has new and different.

Uh I'm not especially comfortable with it.

The idea of the portal scares the dickens out of me because as I'm seeing it, uh every single applicant and all of their background backup material could potentially be accessible to everyone in the United States if they wanted to log on.

Uh and it would make me think that there are some highly qualified uh candidates, potential candidates in other cities who are happy in their jobs, will say I don't think it would be a good idea if all of my everything is out there, therefore I will not apply.

I can see that maybe there will be we can impose some procedures so that the only way the public can get in is through some link on our website or through the city auditor and clerk's office rather than anybody who wants to can log in, you know, to that portal.

Uh that is concerns me considerably.

Um and and there are some of the other processes the whole idea of going to the city of a potential candidate and saying, oh yeah, what do you think of your city manager?

I think if you went outside in Sarasota and say, who is the city manager?

Who is the interim city manager?

You know, maybe you would find one in 50 who can give you Mr.

Bullock's name.

And and maybe there will be one in 50 who will say, well, isn't it Marlon Brown?

I mean, so I I don't know really the value of going out and asking the man on the street in the other cities, you know, what they think of that candidate.

But I I am not excited about the processes, the the innovative stuff that Sumter has come out with, and I am really enthusiastic about the history and the tried and true methodology and contacts that MGT has.

So that's where I stand.

Hey, Commissioner Batti.

Uh yes.

Um, I I think uh the vice mayor makes some very um valid points, you know.

Uh but when it comes to the portal, it is that like at our discretion in terms of like you know how this this uh information is disseminated and that's what he's saying.

Okay.

Uh good.

Yeah, so that that's one thing.

Um, and I and I totally uh understand you know her fear of of you know of that.

Um but like I said, uh I I you know listening to Sumter and I was uh appreciative of uh of his enthusiasm.

And I and I don't think it's a matter of you get what you pay for with with uh with them.

I think they're they're they will do um put in the work.

Um and uh not that not that MGT wouldn't um you know, I was very impressed with them and and uh again their their history and their their broad reach and experience, you know, um in this in this arena.

Um but uh I I think that uh Sumter, you know there's an opportunity or whatever when they said I'm I I hear you in terms of like going to other cities and doing doing that work.

I think that's kind of kind of pushing it.

I mean, you know, Mr.

Bug when we did our background check on you, you can rest assured that it came back okay.

Or not you know um, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Exactly.

We won't say what they said about you.

But uh, but yeah, I think that's uh a bit of a uh uh uh stretch because you could, you know, open that up for problems or what have you, and and people in that fact, even just putting that information out there like that may kind of detour uh potential candidates and and so on.

So um I would suggest that they'd be very uh cautious and luri with with that whole idea.

But um, you know, mayor.

Okay.

Uh if I uh or Commissioner Iron God.

Um just to be clear, it's not like you're going doing like a video for Jimmy Fallon and like just stopping people on the street.

It's actually what the way he described it, the you know, the the candidates would say, I was here, I did this, and these are the challenges, and then you would actually go and see the project that they did.

Was it a bio sweller?

Was it a park, or was it, you know, uh building uh uh one-stop shop or you know, and go and see and look at the challenges and dig into the actual project and see it for yourself.

So it's not okay asking the top 10 questions of you know, whatever, and not that situation.

No, I didn't want it like a Jerry Springer type situation.

Yeah, no, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, that's not that's not it.

But it's yeah, it's a little more complicated and in depth and real than that.

But um, and it, you know, it's it it it's uh from what I've heard from folks who've done it, it's a very valuable tool to have.

But it's nice to know that it's in the toolbox.

Um I just wanted to clear that up.

But um, Vice Mayor, you bring up some really excellent points um about uh you know that that's where with this um firm and it being a little um more innovative and flexible and and and uh um that could deter some folks from applying because it's a much more open process, it's a much more involved with the candidate right on the outset.

Uh and that could some folks it could deter them and want to hold back and maybe not apply because they don't want so it's a double-edged sort, and we have to know that going into this, right?

I mean, there are pros and cons to all these approaches, and um that's where we have to weigh it.

Is it in our best interest uh in this search for a city manager or isn't it?

And these two firms have different processes and strengths and weaknesses, and um uh that's where where we have to weigh that.

And just to to jump in there, uh you know, everything that's received in the search, either by us or by our agent as a public record, regardless of whether it's put into a portal or not of public facing or not.

So that's something to keep in mind, and we can obviously advise the firm on that portal and any preferences we have.

So that would be even the other MGT, whatever they would receive is a public, so it's the portals neither here nor there.

Right.

It's just more of a of a vehicle of transparency, if easier for the commissioners to get all the information.

Well, I mean, it's also easier for everybody to get the information, you know, under normal circumstances, it would be a public records request.

But but it doesn't have to be open to everybody.

I the portal itself can be limited to the commissioners.

It doesn't have to be open to anybody else.

We decide how open that portal is, but the transparency of the applications are open to public records requests.

So we would have to establish a process.

So in theory, it would be it's open to us and to Ms.

Griggs's office, and people would do a public records request to her office, and she would pull it out out of the portal for them.

That's that's sort of correct, other than it still would be public in terms of what applications were received when people submit their application.

Even if they don't even if they didn't have a portal, if they're submitting applications and we're keeping it open, transparent process, they're still gonna somebody can do public records of class and ask for it and give it.

So we'll make sure it all complies with uh Florida law.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Um Vice Mayor Commissioner.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Uh Commissioner Battery, do you have another?

Yeah, yeah, I just wanted so if I'm if my memory serves me correctly, he said that they would be just work with Sarasota in Florida or what have you, you know, and that's that's uh another plus.

And to be honest with you, you know, he he kept mentioning, you know, um working for us, working for Sarasota and mentioning the Florida League of Cities.

And the reason why why that's important to me is because I know when, you know, like my first few years on the um commission or whatever, going to Florida League of Cities.

Sarasota was it.

I mean, you know, you walk in and it was like Sarasota's in the house.

Everybody knew Sarasota because of the things that we were doing, and so on, you know, and for him to be that in in um enthusiastic about you know wanting to work for us and and um and putting his name out there at the Florida League of Cities, should we go back there and and and say, oh yeah, you know, we we work with Sumper and they did a great job for us.

I you know, I think that that that only serves us but serves them as well, and um not only serves them but serves us as well.

And uh, you know, I I I like that.

All right, Commissioner Ulrich.

Thank you.

You know, I have a little note here that I wrote down something um Warren from Sumter said that they're looking for somebody who has all kinds of skills and who does their job happily.

Yeah, I caught that.

That's important to me.

Yeah, I I think um I was very impressed with MGT and um went into you know hearing Sumter thinking I don't even know why they're gonna bother to present because there's nothing that they're gonna be able to present to us that's gonna equal MGT.

And so I was uh truly blown away.

I was like, whoa, you know, and um took notice and I thought his description of what qualities that that one would look for in terms of a city manager were so right on point and you know showed me that he knew exactly um what the job entailed and started out with.

You have to have a really thick skin.

And I think every city manager you've ever talked to would say, yeah, that's that's one of the the big things.

So anyway, um I think they would both do an excellent job.

I just felt like there was just a uh an edge with Sumter, and I was just blown away by their presentation.

So we have a motion and we are we ready to vote?

Yes.

Okay, so it's not your vote, Commissioners.

Yes.

All right, the motion passes four to one.

All right.

Thank you all, and uh good good luck to Sumter.

So yes, and that's what Sumter has been selected as the search firm, and we um will take this as moving forward with working with the cure and whatever we need to do to come for the proposal.

Yeah, and and be sure to con and I'm sure MG team will probably watch the video of this, but but sure be sure to convey to them you know our our uh sincere appreciation for their presentation then that um you know it was definitely a close call.

We will we all take that as direction to proceed and engage with Sumter.

Very professional from both firms, right?

And Shailan, I just wanted to note and thank that, you know, uh Renee and Kevin and Alexia and Laurie were really the heavy lifters with this project and really appreciate everything that they did on it.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Oh yeah.

Okay, anyway.

All right, we have and and and they took the trouble of answering these questions in writing.

You doing your job happily, is that no?

That's what I was about to say.

Mr.

Roller can speak to that.

Yeah, yeah, they say we're adjourned.