##VIDEO ID:OoK4TDXzf4Q## call this special meeting um to order the time is4 the day is September 5th 2024 and we currently have all Commissioners present except for commissioner Banks and we have Charles rud he is our city manager we have Karen our Clerk and Miss Sheila is our HR um [Music] with that I'm go ahead we can you would please stand United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation God withy and justice for all thank you Char do you want to um well I had I had sent out to you a recommendation for how to proceed given this 30 minutes uh with the cancellation we do have a little extra time if you want to go over on these first two uh we have the time before the third cand is scheduled okay um so my recommendation just was to have them of introduce themselves and explain kind of what what brought them here today why they think they're good candidate and then to go down the line and uh until you run out of time asking questions individually um and give them some time at the end perhaps they have questions back for the commission and then we'll we'll hold them in the lobby till we get through all three and then they stay there while you deliberate and if you decide today um as you like one of the candidates um we can have them come back in and you could talk about the the particulars of their s and so forth um we'll have sign authorizing us to do a background check to the Sheriff's Office and so forth okay um and also in front of you Don Holmes our City attorney Who provided you with the um questions and topics that as an employer you should avoid so do we want to everyone had a chance to look at this yes yes okay um you ready for um commission yes um I think it would be helpful before we do our selection process if we do allow ourselves a little time to talk about anything we want to talk about before we select give ourselves I was allowing for that yeah I to before we did our selection we need some discussion okay you see the time frame on on the agenda you will see that you have 15 minutes in between each each time frame but there is an hour after 2:15 the next person will be 3:15 I was thinking that we would want to take that opportunity after we I got it I got it say thank you the saying something thank I got it oh hello hi how you doing how are you and welcome to Crescent City thank you it is um good to see you and hope your travel here was a pleasant trip a little bit a little bit wet if you want to if you would like go ahead and just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about about okay um sure all copy my resume and probably know more about me than I do myself but my name is el v and 20 years in retirement military and uh just completed 40 years as a fulltime city manager in various cities of Georgia and Florida uh one ra of North Carolina Board cop to back and pit cotton plow m slop Hogs and mil cows and all that growing up and and they said walk to school walk back to school and played hard from day to night night to day morning to night but uh I have I'm so fortunate that I have a family gr up in a regular family mom and daddy and my older brother had a sister who I never saw she died when she was three years old with polio back years and years and years ago in the iron iron so a good full full supporter of polio plus and and all the other things I can do to help with with polio because support that I didn't personally see it but I saw pictures and and I still have the little box of where candy used to come in that you take a chance get a chance chance from Candy and Mama P up all her little clothes and put in there and and I still have that's that's the memory I have of but with school you got got out of school and started to work and thought ra North Carolina and thought I uh good good a good job working in the warehouse and B me one day and [Music] said might make us a good employ down the road but you get tra with you know not much we going to be able to do to you so two months later I was in I had volunteer tra was in the Army and was going through two years come back Mar High School Street Art and as you go through all the all the stores I brought a friend of mine from Minnesota home with me and so he took off my street I never seen never seen since then so 20 years 20 years y uh when I graduated reti uh I went back my GI to give a master's degree in public administration with the intention of going back working Europe with the state department or something uh because my ex-wife was in France and you had had a good time and I I really enjoyed Europe I SP 14 my 20 years in the Army was in Europe and so I think about going back that that that didn't happen so uh my personal job as a city administrator W Georgia I know any other water Georgia side of stateboro and Savannah and then Stow Mountain Georgia to H Georgia lville Georgia then Camila and then in 97 I came to chance be appointed first city manager in chuchi par they never really had I never had a city manager before and I had never been the first city maner I always follow somebody so I figured I'd be a year and a half two years and go 22 years later I was still there I resigned 10 days before Charlie back in 2018 but I hung around and helped the young guy that was taking my place temporarily to uh and then of and on I I uh was fortun enough in uh August of July 19 to come to Pac en C there for five months really enjoyed it got got to know uh putam County that five months we had a couple of their emergencies and and I can say I told in and I'm sure they've done improvements to it since then they they must have the the best Emergency Management building facility I have ever been in and all the place c i they they they do have that and establish a great relationship with the sheriff a lot of the county people who are still L still on St so uh by having those still have those contacts in in the put put M to a couple here I Know I Know M Banks s him and got some of but uh I've had a great great career most I'm small small cities uh small small town and you can look at me and I don't have to lie to you you can look at me I got some age on so I'm not going try to hide in any age of thing but uh I feel like I still got a lot more service in me to give somebody and when this other musician came up I said yeah yeah you know do that and get there if I prove myself if I get a job and I prove myself maybe they would consider me for two three four more years down the road or something but right now I tell you that I'm here now for the en Division and uh we'll see how see how things go if between now and whenever and so but I've had some great jobs I've been on a lot of policy committee meetings [Music] florid I've been the president of floral Electric Association uh president FL Natural Gas Association board directors of FL FL City County management association I've been right right now I'm the commander of our American post1 American Legion in in in chattah huchi uh on been roed for years I just get I I'm involved I'm some I get involved with the churches or the community and I want people to know I'm there for not only for one or two people but for the entire entire Citizen and so I feel with with my not full knowledge of everybody in the county I got I think I got a a good leg up on a lot of people might come at this job already got contacts at but County you know places County Commission all all the way down count County Manager sheriff's department so I feel like I can hit hit the road running uh I need a long time to notification to if you shut need a week weekend I can be here a week B bless you if time is time is a de I can I'm working part time I work part time right now just have something to do hone do this get long and so I'm just working four days a week now five hours a day at inv gr Tallahasse reception I sit there and push the button from come the door push the button it's very stre you know ha Tire hour but I enjo it and I consider myself a people person if I have a stranger I don't know who it was I I feel like it well we on just about everything you can throw at me from the local government side of you you from Fe disas to Grants to Personnel to you police I know you had contract with with the sheriff department had that one one case up in Georgia before had a contract with with the sheriff department but those two places that have own police department and that's uh prev much me I'm I I just feel like i' got I think I got another three five seven years of service to give my C okay thank you thank you very much thank you so commissioner um do you have I'm G to open it up for for you to have any questions Mr Mar um I'll start down I'll start I'll start with bton there's one thing I noticed about your application or your resume you're like the Energizer Bunny you just keep on working I'm too young you really are just a very very busy and I'm good help I'm healthwise I'm fine you just pass all my my test and everything or everything pretty much blood Life Health heart Liv you name it uh uh I I do feel like d me and I think I thank God Mama and Daddy yeah that work yesterday back when I was to I think it's great and uh but the only question I have for you really about Crescent City is have you really kind of looked at Crescent City and what's going on here yes yes ma'am I was interviewed for the job before when Mr back in and and I just C in the car I put it off a copy of of a Revis Charter and code code of ordinances and had scaned and scan this Personnel policy I think you got a lot good things going still any small small City or any large city there's always something that can be be improved upon but I think you got a well City here I tell you we we've worked really hard to you know build the city back up yes ma'am and U so we got he's got he's still got a lot of irons in the fire that all of a sudden going become your in the fire believe if you become the manager ready to jump in hours a day what I have to do okay I that's cu here I'm not scared to jump in the fire all right that's that's my all I want to say okay um well thank thank you very much for being here and we're we're glad that you're still going and having fun that's that's the important part um you you mentioned uh Grant experience that was one of the things that we have a lot of those irons that are in the fire right now are a legislative appropriation Grant and some other money you know stuff that's going on but you have experience with closing out grants and that kind of right administer was a little assistant here and there from a consultant or engineer or somebody and I your [Music] engineer James Moore Oh Jam we got some people BR Bron just I just wanted to ask about we also have a historic resources Grant with a site survey that we're going to be working on so have you done one of those before I really written one but in chattahi we got that R the ront down the river and we started one way back years ago and then all kind of problems come up with floods and everything else and finally after after now 10 years after after 2018 they finally got it approved for new Campground and upgr Campground and and we Main Street had Main Street I was involved in getting started in chattah huchi uh so I've been involved with with the chamber with all the county department and economic development I mean I'm not an expert in all them but but at least I know where to go look for and call somebody and and I think I got enough a contacts in in state legisl in florid cities and uh people around around the state who my my peers I can call sisters any any you board for 14 15 years is in for l City count manager association so just I feel like I feel like I got L Aller short time per thank you okay commissioner hi Mr Garner um I have to say um I remember when you applied here before and um I've read a number of things that you've written I've enjoyed talking with you um at least once or twice at the league of cities conferences um I think of you as a small cities manager expert and you're you're just one of the most articulate people that I know in in this business um the I have the question for you that I have it's at the top of my list for everyone who's applying um just so we can know a little bit more um about interpersonal relationships and and just how things are going in general um can you tell us I noce your last um city manager position was in sne which I believe is in the handle correct right and so um what was the what was the reason that left that position at sneeze I had one council member who uh we came on he asked me about my age when I came on and just a year ago about I say August to September of 20 he asked me how I have consider retire sometimes sometime I never bad word I had a bad comment from any council members about the job and he said well we got to you know we got few people here in town that think you've outlived your your your usefulness and might consider I said that's up the have me evaluation tell me one way or other I just been going on and every H has been outstanding all our uh reports I GR management has been uh uh outstanding in every respect just just let me know so uh and I'm sure in C City there's four or five people here that won to run everything and you just have to have to SLE work with you smoo best you can you know and and do do your job and and and look out what's good for all the citizens mean I don't work would work for you individual I work colle as a body as a council and I don't work don't work individual Citi I work all the CZ in CR City and so you just have after year you just see well thank you you have a lot of insight on dealing with the public know thank thank you that I love get FR of the TV Camera what's going on public speaking a stranger I was or thank you very much okay that that answer that there perfect um the one thing I I know that is important to me is familiarity in the city and with the residents um as you know it's a small community you're used to being in a small community you go to L Dixie some sometimes shopping for one thing will end up costing you two hours um so but I I feel like that we as and and I consider the city manager right there with us um as Leaders here in the community that that's that's that's important of the familiarity and so I don't know if you thought about coming into the community I know this is only for the interim for right now is what we're looking at how youve thought thought about um getting involved and meeting the people and getting a good feel of of what's going on yes I want to do that I Community if I get a paycheck here that people understand that L the paycheck back here and um uh I don't know what the housing situation would be here but I'll be here as much as I can again I will be a trip to that's 3 and a half hour trip near CH you back you know not that not that far but uh uh for the most part I'll be here and want become part of the Comm Community have a chance to check inic groups you have I'm sure you am there I'm involved in church people know that uh when I was in when I was in Black went the church there the preacher single me out and says you know of all the years I've been here we know how to City manage the grace the of our church here that I'm aware of welcome and I like get other cities and don't have black white [Music] bring of everybody you that that's to be involved all all the groups and just get [Music] involved yeah I'm pretty Sai I think this guy has a l of experience really I I think this happened in local government in Georgia South Carolina 40 years I have probably had been the touch it's touched me somewhere along the way I think your guidance through the the School of Hard KNX and I appreciate that I value that to dat I'm here we see how things eled we'll see how things go for but right now right now do the best job I can possibly For You So you're satisfied I'll take my my guidance from from yeah okay commission de yeah Mr gner um I use print copies some of the Commissioners look at things online um in the print copy I have of your resume I noticed it did not have your education but the the copy I have but you told us that you have a master public adist and don't wor it by the office but I have an associate the C College C County haveo Business Management Georgia M College I have a bachelor degree from Lone College bachor management to at L college and list tell you l i mean from now Li college and I have a bachor master in public health administration public administration got my daughter in my mind uh in public administration from Bal University Limestone and now were all predominantly latest colleges years and years ago turn over but in the military and before I got retired I used so my time on B usually course on Bas I I didn't go to classes too much on time but in the meantime I was in Atlanta for 13 14 years I talked in in the f f education system at the FED fion in Atlanta you know basic math algebra VAR I qualifi to teach to their education using pphs before before they ran out right well I kind of thought you you had several degrees and it didn't get on the copy of what I received but I just thought it was important that we all be all I just wanted to make sure um you mentioned about with the main street in chattahi so you are a proponent of Main Street or how did that did Main Street come on when you were when you were yes started how did it get started u late King to town and uh I think uh I'm not about anything but lady walk in the store here when I was here and just ask asking some questions and I think kind she's Savage here but it just came in some questions were asked and we started looking into it and the lady said I'm move I moving here from from new and I'd like to get involved in the Main Street book and start looking into it satary State's office and uh at the time there was not one there was one inqu but the fun uh and so Secretary of State's office and did all the paperwork and got enroll again and this it's good bad it depends on if if you got counsel supports them see we start we start out that it was going to cost the city anything to run it pay for by state funds but I think soang lot it cost some money to get going with Support Program although you got a good group group of volunteers and City organization that work with it but you have to have that that energetic leader and then you got to have a little bit of money by back I'm not against it but I'm not I'm not 100% for I mean if somebody looking at one I'll be glad to jump we are we are amazed Community we have that established coming into our third year and so that's why I was um be glad to help revive get get whatever we need to do to get know Lev one real where we need to go to okay okay thank you do you have any other questions [Music] Comm Charles do you have anything you would like to ask I just remember that that Harry Banks said to me when I was interviewing um somebody got to have a lot of plates spinning keep them all spinning yeah and that's the really good summation of the job is everything that happens uh uh you have your hands in here you know in a small town right and you do you can't turn it over here it's got to be done I think that's something that Charles has has found is that um often times a lot of these things he has to be involved in and he has to take care of them where in a larger Community they have that's farmed out and they have they have that um you know other offices that can take care of that but in a small community you're right have a lot of PL spinning you're right and you got to keep them all spinning well thank you we greatly appreciate your trip over here and the interest that you shared in City yes go ahead you can close I are y try to make some decision soon or we hope to today we hope today okay yeah we have to just wait in the lobby okay yeah thank any question com up have my cell phone email there okay I'm I've called you I've even called you several times to call you several times so thank you thank you very thank [Music] did I still um there going to take short breaks in between we can I would I could use a short break you need a break okay I'm going to break for five minutes just feel e e e e e e e e e e e e e hell Mr Edward hello how are you nice to meet you and thank you for coming to Cresent City and your interest in coming the interim city manager here thank you thank you than you for the well we appreciate that and if you would like go ahead and tell us just a little bit about you and yourself and and what's your interest in prent City absolutely well first of all again thank you mayor Commissioners for your time today I know this is an important decision transition period for you um I'm originally from lebur Florida grew up there uh and of course I'm a native of Florida very familiar with Florida communities of different sizes and and um uh resources and leveraging those resources um started out my career actually in my hometown of leeburg um uh basically before looking before then graduated from the uh University of Central Florida with a bachelor's of public administration um I worked for the city of lbo which is not only resume but it's a very short St there as a planning Tech uh and I ended up getting called back to City of leeburg because I had done an internship there uh so I spent time there managing um Economic Development and Community Development for uh the city of leeburg um small City I like at the time I was there about 22 23,000 still consider small um in that standard but um I had a lot of robust projects that I worked on on there um ranging from affordable housing uh which I know something that the community is trying to work on here as well um Community uh Redevelopment uh touches a lot of different areas obviously dealing with a lot of sidewalk projects utility projects uh as well as new business and trying to retain businesses and not seeing businesses G the community because often times you know they do look for greener pastures and so just doing the best I could to facilitate uh retention there so we were able to stand up a a business incubator there for startup businesses and uh partnered with u the county as well as UCF to do the first incubator for Lake County um so that was a tremendous privilege we had a good opportunity there then we moved on from there Maran County working for the County Administrator uh there Reon again Economic Development liaison basically was helping to stand up a new model for them uh they were transitioning away from a model that the government would lead Economic Development to a chamber Le Economic Development and now um I can say I was part of earli start uh of what they are probably one of the fastest growing economies in the state right now in Marian County um and that's largely because of that model that they shifted away from um so that was a positive thing I was able to get in the ground Flor of that uh and then I got recruited up to City tassi work for the city manager Office up there uh for a fairly new newly created position as business Advocate um that really spam across uh you know the policy side the project management side um didn't manage any personnel with that position but I was a part of the executive staff for the city manager uh and my goal was to try to get ahead of problems with the business community and try to alleviate those problems as well as uh address issues that have been kind of longstanding in the business community so working with a lot of the department heads in the city on Pro projects and plans uh certainly in communities that were um disadvantaged and trying to find resources and grants and you know develop plans and the things that you need to do to address some of those issues from infrastructure and wide ranking areas of that nature then I left there um a little bit after that time as deputy director it was organizational restructuring uh so I was over in Economic Development to stand up a new model that was going from the chamber back to the to the uh uh government Run Cycle model rather uh so they chose different and they're doing good so sometimes it works on even Spectrum so um and of course I had a step in commercial real estate I work for a company called structure uh did you traditional commercial real estate stuff Sales and Leasing things of that nature and from there transition to the city of new beach um you know one of one of the places that um was significant in a very significant time in history obviously Co height of Co uh it was a different time to do economic development but despite all of the challenges that uh the community faced uh I think we were able to do some good things with some good programs we were able to use what we had uh and also leverage other resources obviously a lot of communities got AR funds and things of that nature so over time we've had experiences of that but did more of the same more of the community redevelopment uh built one of the F helped to partner with uh Housing Authority there to do a new report by in multif family uh Senior Housing Development 80 units um we stood up uh a us one quor which uh is a very uh distress Corridor it's kind of had historically it was the old 95 of the day uh and it just really has gone had gone down for the city had not been as useful um so we were we were tasked uh by City management to come up with programs that were created and innovated that would allow there to start to be a new Development season in that that Corridor uh it takes time you're doing Redevelopment obviously planning and things of that nature but we were able to ignite that through really creative programs one of the largest programs we had was called the Adaptive reuse opportunity uh Grant uh and that helped to uh get an old antique mall building and redevelop it into an executive office for a local company in needed space as well as um allowed them to go in and create business space for seven other businesses that were looking to lead new so um it was one of those multiplier type projects that we didn't anticipate but uh it was one of those Grant reimbursements so the owner paid all the funds up front they got 50% reimbursement back from the CRA um and then of course we were tasked with doing things that a lot of Florida communities have to do is try to diversify the tax base come up creative Revenue ways uh work closely with the city manager assistant City Manager on several projects uh strategic wise the city strategic planning process uh working with the mayor as well as a commission in all of those communties actually um Tass was one of those unique places I had opportunity to work with some of the mayor Commissioners on a one-on-one Consulting basis just to talk to them about certain things we working on so wide ranging experience and yes I am on the personal side uh a very proud uh graduate of w WWF of a Masters in Business Administration uh very very unique School in Pan um and they're not the UCF they're not the FSU but they're they're great School uh and personally also I am also married um and so but yes that that's my background oh yeah do um I'm G start down here on this end commissioner okay thank you hi thank you for being here it's very nice to meet you have a lot of energy um one question that I have is you know we're a small town and we have a small staff um how comfortable are you um with both overseeing and getting involved in our budget process and uh I ask you this because um we have a fairly new Finance director who came to us from um the nonprofit SE so he is new to the niche um area of Public Finance um so what experience do you have and how able would you be to guide him and help him and supervise him certainly um first of all finan is a critical component of running any government and in these days obviously we all have to look at budgets and and you know efficiency and how we can cut back and live a little more lean um at the same time I you know with with C it's a special district it's also a trust fund uh that we had to manage so is from a department standpoint while I have not been at to see the managers level as far as comprehensive budgeting for all departments I've worked closely with Finance directors throughout my career obviously in CRA work and trying to develop budgets to present to commissions and councils uh in my career um so I understand that process uh from start to finish as far as trying to uh line by line and program by program you know cut things or add things so I have had some experience working uh with finan workers are not managing them so yes that would be new for me uh but it is something that I've collaborated with them on regularly thank you um I was just wonderous um projects that are kind of dear near and dear to my heart that we're dealing with here in the city is our old school that was closed out that the school district ownes and we're working on trying to take that over as um you know how you how good how much experience do you have with getting grants and working with partners because we're going hopefully working with the school district as well as maybe the the state college and some other partners and we're looking for partners to help us kind of take that over because it's a huge job it's a huge project you know absolutely so you know anytime you have an old building that's reach reach G of it's useful life and think you want to redevelop um yes definitely throughout my career um you know limited resources require you to go after grants to go after uh programs that can help you either at the state level or even at the uh Federal level and sometimes even the private level uh in my resume Proby early on in lansburg we had to go after a home loan bank FL home loan Atlanta bank loan uh for project um in leeburg so now that project didn't come to fruition uh that was something that ultimately the commission decided to um just back away from they didn't want to get in the business of Housing Development so um but we did get the funding and so it was a process to do that and I also had experience working with a lot of state grants a lot of the federal grants uh that can help communities rural communities in particular um when you had a USDA um rural Enterprise I believe ARB Grant business Enterprise grant that we got for Leb when we did our incubators we had to apply for Grants so yes as far as writing grants and seeking grants and getting grants um obviously leveraging what resources we have to try to address that project thank you Mur um what I see here really is um your expertise is as in economic developer you're really going to go after that to develop the economics of your cities and stuff it you're coming in wanting to be a city manager so that's one aspect out of 10 um how do you feel how do you feel you would be able to step in manage the finances manage Public Works manage manage our gas you see where I'm going this this managing people is extremely important and managing all the problems that come with it um I I don't I think we need Economic Development here so don't get me wrong that be really bad and I like you know what I've read with what you've done with that but that's like say one piece there's so much more even though we're a small community that you'd have to step up and do as a city manager how would you manage that well no question commissioner I I understand where you're going with that and and but it's but you have to understand also that most city managers came from somewhere they came from somebody's Department uh and so they they all had a learning curve and a very quick learning curve at that um I can say that you know likely to a city manager seat is someone who's an assistant or a deputy so they can sit and kind of observe that seat uh I didn't get that privilege per se uh entitled but I did get an entitle asset so I have a chance with the city manager there to kind of see how a comprehensive operation work you're talking about a city which obviously a larger scale of resources but I got a chance to see how the strategy went because I was part of their Retreats with her and her executive team which included all department heads and her assistant city managers her them making fluid decisions about what they want to do and strategically move forward um I will say to answer your question specifically uh there will be a quick learning curve but a lot of the Departments that you mentioned just as examples are departments I would work with anyway so kind of understanding what they're doing already and then taking a more leadership role with those departments um I'm going to ask you it looks as if and you kind of obviously you this is an interim position right now um so my question to you would would be managing people um you've got um a small staff but a good staff you've got a staff that's been here for a long time um we've got some that are going into retirement hopefully will not be going into retirement while we're in the interum um but um it's going to be something that um as a as a newcomer they've gone through they've gone through a lot in the last couple of of years and so how are you as far as with that interaction with with staff and getting to know them and and working with them how what's what's been your experience and and what are your thoughts As you move forward should you get this position well thank you mayor that's a great question um a key part of being you see city manager um is basically learning how to be a good team leader um whether you got a small team or a big team and most of the communities I worked in departments I worked in honestly I'm used to small uh large organizations but often times departments I work in we're not properly staffed from my my stpoint new is no no different most of the communties I work in it it really has been one person maybe two three at the most so it's always been small staff I think one of the things is we learn how to go you know work together come together get to know one another uh from a professional standpoint but also you know get to know person a little bit personally not too much in their personal business uh but just a little bit of their professional you know goals aspirations and as you said those who are looking to retire um you know making sure that they're training up maybe those people underneath them so that when they do retire it's an easy to transition there's a succession plan uh for for them um and just really respecting their expertise and their institutional knowledge because you know just going through that with new samna our city manager had been there 30 years just retired so a lot of the institutional part of that just like can happened in tassy uh the city manager I work for she retired so a lot of that knowledge and that stuff goes out the door um but that doesn't mean that you can't use that knowledge to be a bridge to where you're trying to go as a community so I think it wouldn't be an issue for me uh to adjust or adapt to that institution would lean heavily on it obviously being a first time in the seat uh in a Rome City Manager uh to to understand uh what their concerns are and really take some of that and not be a micromanager that's one thing I don't believe in I think people are hired to do a job let them do it they need help help them uh and I think that's the way I see things on that commissioner um well I have one question um that I ask everyone but if you don't mind I'll kind of ask you a two-part question um if the mayor doesn't mind that's okay so um one thing I want to ask everyone is um why did you leave your last position and for you the compound part is um what is your long-term goal would you rather work in general Administration or are you considering um continuing in the economic development area so yeah that was my next let's maybe I'll do the first one kind goal is kind of that thing so do the first part tell us first yeah so with with uh City M Beach obviously I've been there I came in at the the height of uh Co actually um and so there were some unique circumstances one of the things that I identified as a priority for the city even amidst some of the challenges was how we could diversify the tax base uh one of the ways that the commission wanted to do that uh was through um U you want to say um new business new industry um bit of a challenge when you start talking about bringing in new industry to a community because you have Florida you have all states everywhere is trying to compete to those same companies and sometimes they throw everything but kitchen sink at those companies and they come there's a mixed bag of people and reactions as to the incentives and whether they should be offered incentiv should not you know do taxers really get anything back forward um you know one of the challenges that we had was the pace in which those companies will come into the city so uh one of the things that I acknowledged up front was that it's going to take time uh but however um you know one of the things that I learned about uh with that particular position Economic Development you are a chief salesman for your community so you're not only marketing to those companies that you want to bring in but you can't forget the companies that are already here um you know and that's one of the things that um I work exclusively on CRA uh so we worked a lot with be as we call it in Economic Development World business retention expansion so I did a lot of that the recruitment side you know was something that we did have we had some wins in my tenure there we had two new companies coming into the community not large companies but good companies one was a manufacturer one was a uh telecommunications company um which I I thought were successful uh but it was it was clear toward the end of my time there that you know I think because we had a larger um project that was plan I don't know if there was any any um uh difference of opinion about what strategy we should use and I was you know at the time we were developing a strategic marketing and Communications plan for that new development City's plan this huge huge development out near I95 there um and something that's not going to happen tomorrow but it's going to take quite some time to build up but I think they were looking at some of our performance as far as comparing us to other cities who had other resources and had some things in place and were making some comparison was like well you know we're not moving quick enough to get there um but with most Economic Development economic devel practitioners around the country around the state we'll tell you the same it it the time can vary from every Community what you bring to the table with most companies that you really want to attract does take time we had an airport there as well um some of the challenges there with our land lease and some of the projects that we were going after uh but not always getting and so I guess you know in my mind to to further Advance uh and to segue into your second question is it okay to segue now ahead go ahead segue second question so yeah I have uh I joined Florida City County Manager there's no no no secret to my city manager uh we retired uh that I had aspirations to be at a city manager level I enjoyed it when I was in Tallahassee I knew I had to earn my way back up into an actual position where I could manage people and manage different departments um but I joined FCC because I wanted to learn the path to get there a lot of the successful city managers you hear about from around the state people you know all over P County or pel some those larger areas uh all of them started somewhere usually started parks and wreck or Finance or some department and they got into what they you know an assistant city manager role in newa uh we have an assistant city manager who wasn't looking to leave so um I knew that wasn't going to happen so one of the other ADV is that you know a lot of people in the profession will tell you is often times you to go to a small City get your feet wet in a lot of different other places and then be able to uh move on to to uh other opportunities as your career accelerates you know get get the experience that you need in the valuable experience you need um and use that as part of your your career plan um to be a permanent City Manager for a community so that that is that I hope that ask your question so that is so that is your goal your ultimate goal is become city manager yeah I mean I I and stay in public service as as commissioner Burton already said you know you look at my resume you see a lot of econ devel C but people really like really don't realize often times even in that yes it's departmental but it has it touches across so many different areas of any City uh if you you for example for CRA I need sidewalks that may not be seen as but that's that's still something I gotta my public works you know if there's something going on with um a business and it has so many different wide range or lighting project or whatever that's all part of the CRA these are all functional things of that special district so yeah it makes you feel better Mr R went down that same path he went down that same path yeah so it's good answer commissioner Lor um I I I assume that you're talking about deing par is that project yes I am because I I was interested I found came across out the other day I was like this is really exciting I'm like but nothing I mean it's a long long long it's a long project it's not it's not even cleared started the process but it's it's a long long road to it I think even the leadership there understands it's going to take some time to get there I don't think they realize how much time it's going to take because when you start putting things in place and then getting commitments from from companies that have you know that you're not ready to be operational in six to8 months which is the time that a lot of these new companies want to be up and going and ready right so they can create the opportunities and expand their business so if you're not even at that threshold where you've got infrastructure in place all that's going to take some and there also has a Road Extension that's got to go from that City to the neighboring City so yeah I I was wondering really what was going on that and I mean you're dealing with a land that owns thousands and tens of thousands of acres and they're you know they're saying that eventually they want to develop it but really they're not in a hurry I mean they're using it for civil culture and they're really kind of going to work at their pace and so um but that's an interesting experience to beol so being in the C you know in our city we have actually three cras we have the central one that's much older that will be U you know suns setting in a few years or just a handful of years and then the two newer ones that we on and so um you know have you Le far you guys have one C or is there we only have one but it's about 12200 Acres it's a fairly large one yeah we have it's AR smaller but it's the center part of town so basically all the commercial stuff um so um you have a lot of experience that do you what would you say we need to do to bring people to our area well one one of the things I I've heard about uh being in Central Floridian native is is your cat disch Festival things I mean you I'm a cat disch guy like catf blade though but um but anyway so but no I mean festivals like that you know people don't realize just how much economic impact those have because again you you bring new business into your community um you know through vendors who may in that event or you know they're telling someone hey I'm going be you know so again people are coming here and they're getting a chance to see your community maybe even recreate some of the lakes or whatever and do things so I think from a standpoint you have to have a good quality life which I think even though it's a small town I think there's a good quality life that will attract people generally that want to be here but at the same time we have a balancing act and I think every community that being has struggled with the concept of growth and what that looks like and do we lose ourselves in that growth that's a process it's something that you have to try to balance you know I had people throughout my career saying why can't you just close the gate let only us just be here and and I'm like you're going to die um literally um as a community because you're basically not going to be able to thrive and a in a changing economy a changing Marketplace so you know it's different a lot of people don't want change they don't want growth i' I've been in communities like that even my own Hometown people weren't happy with some of the projects we were trying to pursue but you know it's it's part of a community that wants to continue to thrive and grow if you want to die then B me shut it down and don't do anything let things just be let businesses die let you know go from one generation business to the next and maybe the kid doesn't want to do what Dad did you know so these are things that you have to kind of get ahead of yeah I'm good did you read our new master plan I casual with the over yes I think it's it's a good plan I think we've got some good elements in there that could be you know implemented in short and long time have you um watched any of the meetings the commission meetings see actually no actually I was looking at uh some of the um videos uh I like a multi thing okay yeah but no I mean I did I have watched a couple of them so I've seen some of the dialogue and some of the citizens concerns and that's one of the reasons why I mentioned the fact about growth because I heard I think one of the sists came one evening and talked about you know they didn't want new people here which is not uncommon every Community has people who would rather see the same faces and see the same places but again like I said these example of a business owner who's who's generational a family owned if that son or daughter doesn't want to do that business what happens to that business it gets sold to someone so you're going to get a new person whether you want to or not the market will dict take that or you know just do you know economy overall or it basically is a decision of the community and whether or not they want to grow or not and I'm not saying grow to to be like an Orlando grow but grow good enough to where you're you're strong you're strong you indicated that you would you not sure yet if he would apply for the long-term position right now I mean my focus would be and I have I be honest with you I'm one of the core four principles that I have is professionalism productivity accountability and integrity so I'm gonna be upfront with you I do have other people who are interested in in my skill sets and so I am entertaining that as well so that's one of the reasons why I I would you know love the opportunity to be your interal but keep it in mind that there are some other opportunities that you know they don't come around every day so um and so that's one of the things that I will say honestly uh to this commission that you know if that opportunity came I might consider it not saying I would go for it but you know that's one of reasons why I didn't want to definitively say that and you know get you confident that I'm going to be here long term and something may come up and I'm not always constantly looking to leave everywhere I'm at there's a reason why I'm there and I'm there to serve a purpose and and just as Charles has done here for you all serve that purpose and then because you always have new talent coming and you know faces will change in any organization I've been through that so um I think this is a great Community even though it's a small community um probably the smallest Community I've worked in or would work in prefer uh possibly but um I will say uh that I that I am aspiring for other communities particularly um you know full service utilities and things of that nature that I've had some special projects that I I like to expand on and you know and I've enjoyed working with communities that had airports and things so sometime in the future let say it wouldn't be immediate or short term but if you were selected how soon could you come on board as in room um I know you probably be the end the month I believe I heard more weeks uh probably maybe the 16th yeah so for two weeks um mayor I have a question okay I'm going to start by filling this in and then okay so um and thank you Charles and thank you for sharing so given that um you have other people that are interested in you if we hired you as the inter manager would you be able to stay until we hire a permanent manager and um how long would you expect us to take to do that process good question um you know that that really is based on the circumstances right now I don't have anything uh that I would say definitively today um but there are some things I'm in the pipeline for that that might be a good opportunity as well to consider um so I I really don't have an answer to that question though commissioner that's a great question um but is you know I would think I would negotiate and respect the time given here make sure that I'm I'm checking all the boxes off for you all if that something uh if that happened quickly like that if it didn't happen then of course I'd be for in Period perhaps even the longterm period okay and well how long would you anticipate it would take us to hire a permanent city manager um Charles moved really quick on this one so I think you know you got and I've looked at some of the other candidates based on your public records and and you know a lot of good people are interested in community uh in CES City I don't anticipate um that taking more than two three months to accomplish okay through proper B yeah um how do you feel about the training and development of other staff and you know obviously you you've benefited from that but you know this something that takes time and and energy and maybe having some people leave to go for training class like that how do you deal with that or you commissioner I think that's that's key to everything one of the things that that I sometimes through my career been a little frustrated with is just suggesting some business process improvements and training and op and and you know people will come in occasionally do something that people don't really glean from they don't pay attention to it it's not engaging but yeah I believe in any employee who who sets out their career goal that they want to accomplish certain things in the organization because we want to keep people if you going to put money and training folks you want them to stay on board you want that instutional knowledge to be passed on to the next person as they're as they're retired out or whatever um but I'm I'm a strong advocate for for training to answer your question uh and and you know if we can afford it you know maybe we can participate in some other programs that could help pay for some of those programs sometimes there scholarships or different things that people you know um I know icma offers certain credits for certain things as well so you know any way that we can try to you know you leverage program so we're not always using our resources to train people but maybe we can let folks go and participate something the Count's doing or the state's doing you know so they can get the training they need than commissioner Bon you have anything that's up that you well I think commissioner too kind of hit a nail on the head for the amount of time U that you're willing to give this uh being a becoming city manager in to get your feet wet and I'm hearing that youd be able you'd be willing to do about two to three months well no what what I what I was getting at commissioner was the time because I think a question was asked by commissioner L about how long I would think it would take was two to three months um you know the and I I think what commissioner VTO mentioned earlier um I don't know the exact timeline because that's something that I could negotiate obviously I anything that I've ever done I never like to leave any organization not properly prepared to transition properly so out of respect for the opportunity that I would be given to even the privilege if you will to serve in this capacity you know I would work closely with that other entity if that if that came along to do I think some some s what Charles is doing give time for there to be a transition to the next person if that makes sense so I I would give adequate time I feel like respectful time so that you all wouldn't feel in flux because of something I just up and left my concern though is this is something you've never done you've never been a city manager that's true okay so I guess it just kind of hit me like well okay I I can take two three months and get my feet wet and then move on well two three months brings you for the end of December and then you can just move on and uh transition for example that's going to happen between if it happens between you and him be about 3 weeks um so that's my concern yeah I'll just Express that no no I mean it's a very valid concern like I said you know I would want to work with you all first of all see where your time table your expectations are if that situation came around because again this is this is an in position so there is no uh I mean obviously there's a time for performance and you would determine if that person would be qualified for your permanent seat but for because it's an interim opportunity you know there's not really certainty around it it makes you still kind of I mean I know other city managers who've done that I'm not a city manager but I know who who have entertained even though they were interim I mean there's just a lot of stuff going on right now for the next three months you know we have a have an election going on then you have Thanksgiving coming up you got Christmas coming up you just there's a lot of other things kind of coming into play here for the next three months um so anyway our last inter um just for reference we was four months it was he was here for four months and it took us four months for Charles to to come on board to give his notice and why you're a little bit larger cast a larger net than we did for the inter position fast f and that was for your permanency right yes that was double edge sword if if you got applicants for the interim for the interim you got it's you know it's those people that that have that that can do that and know that it might not be permanent and then you've got those people that are looking for the permanent that are not necessarily going to apply for the inter so it's kind of a double the yeah um you have a commute you said You' be willing to commute I'd be will yeah it was an easy drive dve I'll tell my husband that he drives that to Orange every day well just a little bit down yeah it's a little bit further south but it wasn't bad my it's just a 40 and 17 yeah I mean it it's a little interesting at times certain times of day was a rush hour today maybe um but it was fine for me always find you call parade can't pass and you have like eight people in front of you and you're just like just wav everybody because you're whatever speed the person in front wants to go I'll believe leave a little early never we talked about this um earlier in that in a small community like this um you are juggling a lot of plates and like you said in most places you've work they're under staff and budget constraints you know we are under staffed um so I guess my question to you would be are you comfortable with multitasking because that is the one thing I have seen from Charles is that he is multitasking continuously and and what do you feel like has has brought you to this point to that's given you that experience with multitask well yeah no I I mean I just start with my last my last stop uh Sim in a situation where you know I was asking for help um for two budget years I had justification for that um but couldn't get that that couldn't get the person and so just you know taking lemons and making lemonade really just you know buckling down and trying to focus in on the priorities you know and the things that need to be done right now uh and there there were multiple I had to release on any given week probably 10 15 different projects um that were all coming indust my department that deal with the Citywide stuff that maybe city manager city manager call me into to work on and like develop a quarter plan you know well I'm not I'm not a planning department but you know I got to make time to do that and that's that's time consuming then generate your own agendas and generate your own um budget and generate this you know take your all your customer calls people calling about issues and problems and trying to take that all in intake and just being really overwhelmed uh and other staff um it just it's just the nature of it um I think whenever you work for small communities and I throughout my career just that's all I've done is been been a multitasker and I've tried to do that with quality and Excellence uh even though you know because you can do a lot of things and nothing gets important nothing's not quality but you know just constant you know quality controlling yourself you know is this is this a good product that I'm pushing out and so given the circumstances I did the best I could uh and that's what I would continue to do if I were given that opportunity okay thank we have any other questions anybody has any other questions did you work with the main street we didn't we didn't have well the CRA that um my predecessor Tony ton um that CRA helped do a lot of the downtown work and so they had chamber the chamber was on the down their main downtown uh and so they really didn't have a Main Street program per se the C kind of took on that for because the city is unique it has two different M uh main streets downtown on they call it Mainland and then Beachside so Beachside had its own flavor Mainland had its own um but CRA Sunset little before I got there which had contributed to a lot of Redevelopment along those areas so they were kind of really self- functioning they had like um you know District groups like a group of businesses that got together but not a fun [Music] it was gal Street historic district as an example and then was Flagler but both of them had their own business organizations but not like the traditional and they had a lot of different events and things so I guess you kind of say informally they had some type of Main Street program but nothing formal well can now is that were the Adaptive RS the Adaptive RS took place on us one which was Dixon freeway okay small yeah you come in you come in off of us one off Port Orange yeah that's that's us one us one runs all the way up I mean all the way up the St we we went and they doing they were closing out that one moving out there yeah yeah it's a lot of exciting thing we had a HB company that you know they outw where they were they bought property next door it was eyesore they knocking it down from the 6,000 foot Warehouse there right now so yeah good stuff what questions do you have for us you have any questions for us yeah uh so it seems like you want to move quickly obviously and then you're going to make a decision possibly today um how would you describe you mentioned the the the um the the veterans if you will of the organization how would you describe organizational culture here like is there a team effort or is it kind of everybody in their own little pocket or how the hell would you describe it when you say our organizations you talking about our Civic organ well no I'm talking about the city itself City nuts very small uh cohesive staff we have a um a small natural gas department and those guys are typically gone all day around the field all day our natural gas system runs all the way up East Baka over to W um so those guys are Regional and um very small um public works department they're all be jack of all trades and then uh staff I think is pretty close in City Hall we we have U staff breakfast get together do po breakfast and have a great Christmas party every year so I think there's good camaraderie we have a weekly staff meeting senior staff so I don't know how they would feel about it but I think it's it looks pretty good it's very um not to but it's very I feel it's very family oriented everyone looks out for each other true and that's the one thing about the staff and and I know I'm very passionate about taking care of the staff too is making sure because they all work hard yeah and and you know often times it's that um to have good work environment is so important especially wages you know or you know where where they are with Bas on the budget constraints so but I would say in all when they come together um it's really a neat experience when we have the the Thanksgiving lunch and when we have the Christmas the Christmas dinner um when he has his breakfast or we have lunch they all seem to come together and they enjoy one another and when we turn on the Christmas lights no seriously that's a big deal oh yeah you know how to operate a high reach yeah you know no but no yeah I could but yeah employees want to be appreciated and so it's always good that you do that yeah have any other questions yeah um I guess uh what would you say some of your in your P opinion what would you expect in the first 30 days 60 days that this interim person would be doing for you that are priorities even the RO one May yes could I yes just hasard gu um I don't know why you've been in the room if we've talked about the plates in the air but essentially here in company with the clerk and finance department the city manager has to keep the operations going and there are a lot of very small but continual tasks to be done the commission meets once a month the agenda has to be formulated quite a bit in advance there are um always ordinances or um other issues that the public notice has to be sent out and some of that is the clerk's responsibility but again the city manager is ultimately responsible every week checks have to be written all the bills have to be paid for every Department including the utility department the city manager is a co-signer on those checks and the city manager really is the one who knows what's being purchased wouldn't you say Charles for all the Departments has to sign off on right has to sign off on those um we have some very serious well we have uh contracts for uh Information Technology um our attorney is on contract our planner is on contract um we have planning meetings and plan zoning meetings once a month and the planner is on contract but I would say the city manager has to kind of oversee the flow of that would that be correct Charles yes so [Music] um and um what else is going on here two our main projects that are well hang on I want to make sure we we have the core functions of the city that just have to keep going day to day to day week to week month to month and from what I experienc it's it's there's never any stop there's no pause it's you know the checks each week are new the Planning and Zoning meeting that has to be organized um Planning and Zoning issues have to be addressed we do have quite a bit of inquiries in new development coming in and by development it might be one lot or two lots or eight Lots um and then as commissioner War said very very important um we have the waterm projects that are underway you might have noticed in the middle of town There's heavy equipment um there oh it is pouring I hope you brought yeah but anyway and then there water projects and um so I would say keeping the keeping the city running would be my major expectation to me that is not a small task no absolutely I agree with you and also France we have the one historic um resources Grant that's in process we're waiting for paperwork to sign on that and get that bit out to have a site survey done so there's a lot of stuff that that's the biggest thing is we want to keep momentum you know if absolutely Charles if everything stops and the plates fall then we have to start all over again that takes a long time I have a list of projects nine pages long and it's just I mean but please please understand that there will be Grace there also because you know um as was with Charles when Charles came in um you know there has there has to be and we as a commission have to we have to we we'll be understanding with that but I think it's my priority would just be to make sure that things continue to operate we're going into a legislative season absolutely um we're going to have some requests so you would be part of that um you be part of that and so that's something um that we have another project that um a fire station a fire department and so we're working on that right now and we're going to have to go we looking to go back to them we've got some water some additional projects that from the legislative standpoint so that would fall on you probably at that point abely yeah we have to get those we have to get those submitted they with those quick and we're going to be dealing with so a lot of it's not till after the election you know you're coming into an election season also so you've got we have three seats here yeah that are up um and and then also our our legislator we're losing our um Senator and new Senator too so we had the um the last one we had was a puam county um resident and this next Clay County that's that's up for election now he's coming into the general election so he's he's got that work on those relationships on those relationships yes absolutely absolutely I think you have anything that's all I have right now app well thank you so much I appreciate you thank [Music] you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e session um our next you want to go ahead and tell us what happened yeah our next interview cancel he he got to town and and emailed me and said it's too rural for him would be a good fit so Mr day has withdrawn his application um we do have the option if you're not um we don't have a majority interested in the candidates we've heard today the two candidates that had scheduling uh conflicts come up we could ask them if they could reschedule um either live or Zoom uh for next week or you can make a selection from the two gentlemen you've heard today my recommendation is if we don't if we decide that maybe we want to hear from them that before we adjourn and the Charles reaches out to them and asks them if they are interested in in um interviewing um before we yeah just make sure just make sure yes well mayor yes so before we discuss that should we give some time right now for Charles to reach out see if we can contact them so we would do that now if that is if we feel like we would like to hear from the the two additional ones before we make a final decision okay because I have a question about so I'm not clear on who's dropped out and who just couldn't make me interview today um Jack but uh he had a he's on a zoning board or something somewhere Orange County and they have a meeting 21 items on the agenda I didn't think he would finish in time so even I couldn't call him today probably because he he in that meeting okay and then uh Sean Bole informed me yesterday had a family emergency to would not be able to be here I used plan to come to town um but was unable okay so those two um and then actually the guy from Ohio um also had something else scheduled today so it couldn't make this this date which guy was that so let me ask you um let me ask you a question Charles I know that Micha has been making some she's been calling on referen is there any of these that that have any negative references or anything that I only got one which one's that which one Mr Garner one reference wasn't willing to talk about it and that was a commission right City Commissioner okay so my question mayor I could yes okay so let me understand this um to say something before we she's so the the person that wasn't willing to talk to Sheila was that someone that Mr G listed as a reference that is correct yes there's a a council member from chuchi on here is the only thing list on reference is elect official is that that must beened okay it was chedi and they were list they just they just wouldn't give they just speak and often times you know they um especially in elected official can be I don't know how I would feel about yeah so asking me well but um so that's that's a reference that was given on the list that they did they declined Tock share okay um so and when you're look when you're thinking about this if you look look at um kind of where their what their request has been from a monthly salary to that's something to take into consideration um Sean I think he was our highest he was our highest can I say something yes okay so Sean who by the way I think um would actually make an excellent manager however um on this is what I found him and I say but I looked him up yes and um he resigned okay and the reason he he resigned uh was that uh it was the uh problem that has been going on that was going on with social media in Winter Springs okay so so anyway um he kind of resigned said the emotional and physical distress I've been under make me unable to continue working as a city manager for City of Winter Springs I like I really liked him but I think the worry that I would have because of the social media that we have that runs rampant here in ceson city with a lot of uh false accusations and all that kind of stuff um I don't know if he's looked us up and maybe that's why he couldn't show up today I don't know but I think somebody should bring bring that up to him because I hate for to come here because he's immediately probably going to be attacked he would be jumping basically could be jumping out of the fire Into the Fire yes commission um I um saw the same article that commissioner Burton did um my my thoughts on that are that um he seems to be very well qualified to come into this situation we have a new Finance director we've had a situation where we do notability in finance and he is an expert in finance and this is not a longterm potentially position um so I'm um I think commissioner Burton has raised a good point um or other a good question did Mr Boyle have cold feet or did did he really you know is there an actual family emergency and he's just being polite about it um I would like to find that out and I think that um you know I think it's important to have full disclosure to let him know you know yes we have social media here um but I don't think it's exactly the same situation because he would be coming in as an inter and he has you know expertise so anyway um on on the paper it looks as if he could really help us but we have some issues to ascertain maybe he really just doesn't want to come I don't know and there was a lot going on in Winter Springs at the time that was the reason that he was you know being attacked on social media no one should ever be attacked on social no say that he deserved it a lot there was State audit going on there was a county audit as far as the infrastructure money that they had spent and changed their PL sy so I mean there was a lot of you know controversies going on so he was dealing controvers going understand that no but saying sound very similar to what you're saying made up on social media I think that so so I would I would like for you I mean my recommendation commission is that um I like the guy I think he'd be excellent you reach out to him and ask him if you want to call him now if you want to step out of the room and calling now and see if if in fact um he is even interested because we're gonna have to we're G have to make some we're have to make some decisions I do like at least try my kind of my inquiry um if I was foil on the phone would be um we would like if you are seriously interested in us we would like to accommodate you and give you another time to interview because we are interested in you as well as I'm sure yeah that's kind of what we're doing by to see if he's he's willing to do this right well moving on Jack Butler I mean you know he wants 10 and 375 bucks a week for housing and he only wants to work 4 days a week I don't think I'm interested at all in Jack well I think we that Sean asking I think it's the four days a week that reallys yeah and mayor I follow up on that um I was concerned about the four days a week I am even more concerned if there are some days that is absolutely not available because he has a zoning board obligation because this is a 247 um this is a 247 job in my view and we have some things that can't really wait is there something Sparky spark the cars are there's a lot of I hear something sparking back here well maybe is it burning no you know we have I mean I think at this time too we can go ahead and and we can discuss we have two two applicants that that did make the TRU over here we um does anybody have any um I I just I will started out with my observation um we have the complete opposite ends of the St we have someone who has never been a city manager who wants to go into that role and we have someone who probably has more experience than almost anyone in the state right now as city manager um I think that Mr Garner has the experience he knows this job he can teach this job he has t this um well I don't think he taught that to the in the federal system um and they're just they're complete opposites of each other in some ways except they both are very energetic um the one thing I think we need to to keep in mind and and is that at least the last four city managers plus whenever I applied right and was and was chosen um we're not city managers Patrick wasn't he was a planner he came in came in assistant city manager so he became city manager and then and then from there it was michaelo and he had not been a city manager so I think what we have to realize and and is that in a small community like this um we might be we might be a starting point we might be a starting point and that's okay I Patrick was here for what 13 years has Charles has been here for three years but we are we are not even yet we are hiring an interim manager who has to jump in in a few weeks and keep things running I understand while we are looking for the permanent position and I thought I heard commissioner Lor or someone say that we want or in their view we should be casting a wider net for the permanent position I don't was that commissioner FL the advertis right well you get different applicants because you get those people that are looking for more of a permanent position it's hard to go in as an interim if you're if you're at a certain age and your livelihood this is your livelihood and in four months you're going to be looking you're going to be out there no I understand and that makes perfect sense but I guess um what I'm saying is I think we need to keep in mind we are looking for an interum um my concern and I guess um our city manager was back I don't know what answer he has for us um my concern is oh voice well there so we don't know um my concern is that we have someone who can hit the ground running and keep the bills paid and the staff supervised um and the projects supervised and the ordinances advertised and implemented um and it's a it's a pretty tall order ad um doesn't don't you have consultation with the city manager he attorney attorne I what I do is I send it off to them their titles and then they bring it back there's something that needs to be changed right but there's there are a lot of functions there a lot of functions that have to be done and um so you know Mr Garner is willing to come and to stay indefinitely um I think Mr day is looking for his long-term future how about Mr Ed I'm sorry I said the wrong one had the wrong thing you're right it's Mr Edwards um he has to look to his future and says he's considering several options and he doesn't know um at this time what kind of offers he might get concern he might leave in a you know right I I think what I got was that he would we hired him he would stick here until we found something I don't think he's just going to run off but it'll depend on his hiring him they'll give him I was fortunate I got him two months notice they were okay with that because the city manager there is staying until January and Consulting capacity but if someone see empty we're not you don't two months for you we need you in two weeks or 30 days so mayor I have another question yes are both of the candidates we interviewed Chris Edwards and Mr Garner um are they both still waiting here yes we ask Mr Edwards again if he if we hired him would he stick around until we hired some new I understand that this is an inome we're hiring you to STI here until you find some new and see what his answer is because I I think there was a little bit of misunderstanding I asked him I asked him that question directly and he did not he an answer didn't give us an answer I think be out of his hands okay a great opportunity and you would never want to get in the way of somebody that has a a better opportunity especially to grow and so if another opportunity came along and like Charles said you know um what did you give to come here two weeks we gave you two weeks I give two weeks two weeks notice um you know that would um that that might be what we get and then we would really be we really be I really liked mred like he had some strong energy I think that um I think even though he this is something that's on his career path and so he's going to absorb seems as if he absorbs and listens and learns um Mr gner brings you know a pleora of of knowledge and institutional knowledge and experience that um you know hopefully could keep could keep things to keep things going well if we're able to reschedule one or two other candidates and you're not satisfied with those results you could always can offer to one of these gentlemen I just don't I don't like having just two options and that's it we still we're not running out of time yet we still I'm saying that we have you know two options I'd like to just have three I mean I just don't like the that's I texted him left a voicemail and email him so hopefully he'll respond but if he's a no not interested then we're back to just Mr Butler well maybe you just send it to him say we really need um and and did you text him also I did not was talking about his four cornerstones yeah and integrity and I just think that if he was to take the job he was going to stick here until we ready that's the feeling I get from this personality oh and I'm not confident of that because I asked him very specifically and he was not able to say he he de he really did not say um I don't think he would just walk out the door because I I think he is too professional um to just be here one day and on the next um I think he would give us as much time as we had my concern is um you obviously to have some other irons ins fire which means he's a smart person and um I think as Charles and the mayor Point doubt he might only have so much time to give us I think he would give us whatever he was able this is we from eight down to two so you know yes sir I'm just wondering I'm listening to the debate here if you want to just talk to Mr Edwards and dig a little deeper into what irons he has in the fire and just sort of present to him that you're kind of stuck on the one to three month thing what do you really got going on we're close to a decision here try to dig a Little Deeper with him now while while you go supped to have on the record who spoke yeah that's true go ahead state your name and your address if you youe Pete 278 okay thank you Mr [Music] Pete that's that's a commission if y'all want to ask him to come back in andate and talk to him and ask him you know we have to be careful as far as what we asking um but I think if that's that's what's holding us up as far as not that's that's a concern I think we should take the opportunity to clear off that concern and get an answer that's here is there call poll since you're meeting here publicly can we show up hands or something maybe we've got three of you for one candidate already and we're three of you like Mr Ed or Mr Garner gar add something to with Mr EDS to um he did say that he can start on the 16th that's two weeks so if we wait another week we got to add another I'm just saying that I just wanted to that Mr Garner did he say as far as theing down here not yet he asked was around explain to what I've done with Airbnb and so yeah till I found the place but you sing news probably about I would say about I'm just guessing I know we know place it would be about maybe 1,700 um but I'm going to say between 15 2000 well and actually when you're talking about housing STS obviously Mr Edwards says he would commute for housing Sten wouldn't you have to include also utilities with that or would you just do the rent that be I think that would be it that's okay typically when you do a housing s it's pay your rent and your utilities with it yeah that's expens those are their expenses now Mr Edward says you know 6200 and he's he will I'd probably offer a little bit more there some gas quite friendly I get 250 a month car LS okay why is your car white it's my wife's car okay I brought get a detail but it's not open today but Charles your car is that for is that for your commute I forget for City business use it for Citys the commute is over and above what the car the car all is for the the work day um on on City business so um I don't know I'm very torn here um well I think we all are that's where we all are this is a big this is a um you could just say a name all in favor see if you have three onebody wants to make a motion um or should we should we um put it you know pass off the little slips and still public record any I know that you you I know you I think you'd be quick just to raise hands I'll I'll make a motion to um how I want to say this vote on who we want for an interim uh manager starting with Mr Garner how many people would like Mr G is that your motion to I just to vote so so is that your recommendation so wait a minute so you're saying we should first vote on Mr Garner I'm just trying to start something yeah so so I would I would go with your recommendation with my recommendation recommendation would be Mr Edwards actually so your motion is to to vote to select Mr Edwards have a second second now keep in mind okay everybody I just want as we as we do this and we vote we're making a decision for hiring without taking into consideration um the contact from yeah from Mr Bo um so we're eliminating we're eliminating that so so right now we're if we vote on this um if everyone is ready that's what I'm saying if every I think more the motion maybe is that we just keep that in mind that when we vote on this that we have to make him an offer yeah got we need to make him an offer because we're making it this is a choice we're choosing between these two and and not Mr not Mr Bo now Mr Bole can always come in and he can apply for for Perman J the permanent job we have that option too but if we if we feel that this is really putting us in a in a a tight squeeze that we have to have somebody um when Charles steps out um I'm just that's all I'm saying so right now we currently have yes I'm sorry you go ahead we currently have commissioner Burton's motion and she's making a motion um to offer the position to m Edwards is that correct commissioner Burton that's correct did I get a second second and so we have a second okay so do you have any comments I have a couple of comments and I have a question number one when we say we're making an offer is that what is that going to be subject to because we raised the issue of background check what kind of background check are we doing we the normal background office to do a background check I have a form with me so they were complete form it has to get notorized by we'll get here and and then I um go ahead and submit it to the sheriff department and I believe that they do a local one and a you know a national one as well okay but that does not include um because my concern about both these candidates are we don't really know anything about their references I mean the one you mentioned the one person you checked from Mr Garner did not want to comment have we checked I don't think Mr Edwards provided references he did he did yeah come up here Sheila you would please you can sit why don't you sit where Don is me make sure speaking to please um he did uh even with Mr gard's records I think he gave four individual I called all four whoever you gave me though I called okay and so with him I called all four for Mr garden and I also Mr I called all his as well okay what were results um only got for Mr Edwards I got I think he had five I believe it was for his uh I had good feedback on two people uh did not um call me back and like I explained to Charles a lot of the reference they gave they had high positions a lot of those people probably wasn't in the office was in the meeting so usually it takes a couple days for them to get back to you um um Mr Garden I called he had that one commissioner that did not want to speak he said I I don't want to speak he wasn't comfortable with speaking and then I had one more that spoke on his behalf too um she was a little iffy about it um she stated some stuff that um that she worked with him and um some of it was good and some of it was not good res correct okay correct and that's on Mr yes okay I think get approval um the past president of the FR is the economic CRA director for Dayton Beach and I asked if you knew Mr Edwards and he said yeah you couldn't say enough about Mr Edwards and recommended him yeah he's got a lot of good energy that's what I like about he and even if it's this is a steing over him I think he still can learn and do a good job you don't have to do everything to do this job but I think he's willing to learn and I think that he's willing he's got enough experience and enough energy that I think that he can learn on the job and keep going and I think he's I think that he can keep all your plates up in the air and I think to first off I would I would want at least I would ask him if if he could possibly give us a four month commitment but with that we also have to have some incentive M that would would make him want to stay here um so again that's that you know you want to give him a yeah a fuel St in he's you know I just feel that that we would that we would do that he has the housing so I'm gonna if we're ready then every ready to take a vote um should we come up with an amount for not we yeah then then we then we'll go into negotiations get work fromal employees they I'm sorry I didn't hear that I said that I was just emailed by several employees saying that they they like this direct several bar employees okay so is the finance department but is is that supposed to be part of our commission record like don't we have to afford that to the clerk it's it came came from the clerk minutes said it came from you to yeah they're texting me Steve Pam Roberta um our staff is our staff I mean this is this is very concerning to them and they're very they're very nervous and and apprehensive and there's a lot of anxiety I have anxiety myself um and so but this we've done this before we're gonna do it again and and I did get some thumbs up also that they they felt you know that he would that he would blend well um so yes and so I have it did cross my mind um about making an opportunity for the candidates to me the staff I me we're doing this on a very short time frame um my concern is that we didn't have a formal process for that I think in future we should consider that because it's really you know they're doing their best but this is kind of irregular we need to create a a even mechanism we will do that as we go forward with the permanent in the last time we didn't do that either um and and so and but as we go forward with our permanent we absolutely will if you'll remember correctly we had I don't think we had it with you Charles but prior to that we had a meet and greet so people in the community could also come in and meet the candidates when we narrow them down to three and so I think we could do that um and have an opportunity to to talk to the employees they did that in TR experience right with you we did yeah had a public meeting had a tour of the city and we had one-on-one interviews with the Commissioners on Saturday yeah that's right I read they did our this one was done at one point they had a Saturday too when they did set of interview here um and then Mr ESO when he was chosen I think they did that on Saturday because they did a Friday night you did a Friday night and it was Saturdays that they had the three candidates and he was not the first candidate he was the second candidate first candidate in the going start because he too was was um looking at another at another job job often times they have they have their applications out there that's why I say with Mr whoever we choose we just need to make sure that we make it appeal to with that I'm going to go ahead and call this um hearen if you would do a roll call please we have a currently we have a motion and proper Motion in a second to select Mr Edwards at least to offer him that position and then go into negotiations commissioner Deo I Comm Lauren hi commission Bon hi May Myers hi okay so so you want to announce the results I'd say that because in teral things they just blurted it out and we walked back in the room and it was very awkward yeah you got so how do you how what would be your suggestion uh just explain that we deliberated and and um you want to go bring [Music] he didn't realize yeah oh God who Mr Ed yeah remember he his car CU he said he'll be right back yeah I said but he's not back let me see if he's out his car hey Chris Charles did you have to leave okay we're ready for you to come back theeni Mr thank you for opportunity to present myself to you and I S I told mayor I stand by something don't work out anything Ser sh week 10 days or whatever I help you with need some help please call thank you safe um be safe because you drove through the rain get some more you might want to go down the three bananas and have some to eat before you appreciate your service years [Music] oh Michelle I did I'm yeah they're and I like them because they're not like pretzels are so hard but chips nice do you have that Pap ready sea about to accuse you of taking my phone you're the closest am I supposed to be onuse right now supposed [Music] to Commission we did not recess okay I did long line a long line we said it might take you a little while minutes um I'm GNA go ahead and Mr Edwards um unanimously the commission um would like to offer you the position okay than um we are interested in a commitment of we know it would take at least four months um and um and that's something that I I believe that that that was one of the concerns that we had okay it was um a tough decision underst you know but um by all means we would look forward to working with you we think that this would be um You' be a good fit thank you just based on what you bring to the table thank you so much I appreciate that Commission too discuss yes that's subject to the background show right it's subject to right it's subject to you understand that the background check and um Sheila will be working on that she's already started working on that so it will be subject to that and then um we need to go into some do some salary um you'll be driving back and forth yes so you didn't need a housing stien um but and you requested 8600 talking about a fuel allowance car allowance yes that would be help I don't know if that's good enough or not um well hold on it's what 100 miles around trip it's about 100 miles trip 5 days week 500 what's the um what's the federal reimbursement 32 60 325 okay we were very close so we give you 325 for for cars mileage all right and you said you start on 16 give you two weeks with me we can Pro rate the first month that work I don't you do that just cut a check Phil just got one check a month now you have in here that you've got the 6,200 that would be your the salary that you would look for month I mean monthly that's your netet the net okay yes okay with the understanding how would we do this are we doing this as um you got a199 we did build as a $1999 say 1099 how would you feel about doing that as a 1099 or would you that was understand position okay so that would be that would be your your net and you're comfortable with that amount is that include the add addition okay so we could round that up and go to um 66 666 Gas pay $6,600 a month that includes the gas allowance for commuting okay but okay just to be clear um Mr is saying the 6200 was net what diday well you're adding sounds like you're adding okay but when you say I mean our understanding if it's a 1099 you're responsible for your own tax well AOSS amount that I was saying I was just trying to clarify what he wants that's what he wants his take to be and that's what his take would be responsible he would be responsible for and insurance right 600 cor okay I need a second second okay so we have a proper Motion in the second to offer you a monthly salary of $6,600 and um that includes your car allowance of$ 325 and this is all subject and of course you might want to say that this is all subject to um background check this is all subject to the background check okay right and starting date and starting date of the 1696 916 okay okay any other discussion no do you want me to second that again yes I will second the revise motion thank you we have a proper Motion in a second Karen if you do a roll call Force please commissioner Burton hi commission Lori hi commission hi hi May Myers hi thank you thank you yeah we're going have some with you and um we're gonna have to if there's a day that you can come over um I don't know what your schedule is like with Charles just to kind of come in and meet the staff absolutely um so before the 16th yeah I think that would be good we have time now I can walk you around I have a question um I before we leave I would like to follow up on something important city manager shared with us um you mentioned that you have a nine-page list of ongoing projects um and I really appreciate you doing that because um the city managers who have in our recent turnover I don't think we got never yes so I really appreciate that thank you so much Charles has detailed information and right so my really U request for the commission or my suggestion for us as Commissioners is it might be a good idea the city manager would share that with us and since um Mr Edwards um I'll ask you you know what you want us to call you later um he asked what our priorities were maybe we should see that list and be able to look at it and even um you know have the opportunity maybe we should set aside some time or have a special Workshop time before Charles leaves so that you know we could get any questions answer I'm just saying you've got the list um we don't have to ask you questions but it might help us um to see it and okay and thank you so much that's really thank you than app to have any additional workshops budget what you sent us is right now that's the plan if you need something it'll have to ear next week I just I just if just going to go all I looked at I looked some of it I mean it all makes sense I just didn't know if there was if there was anything that you need clearance on or direction are we we've advertised current millage rate and what I'm going to recommend to you is that youu the roll back rate and that's the spreadsheet you got recently show we can we can handle that thank you um so I mean you could adopt something different you have to recate for second reading but um you've I believe you got a copy of the current at the current millage rate and then if you need me to send that to you again so you have the both I just want to L up spreadsheets you track so the one that's called roll back budget is the one I'm going to recommend for approval so then you would you'll make that motion and we'll change the ordinance for second reading to reflect that change on first reading and if we accept that this will be the first time in how many years 12 years 12 years not 10 years 2014 that 8.5 we' accepted the r back right and been able to operate that so commission okay so um I'm not fully completed mine yet but I just wanted to remind us all um we were given a questionnaire about the job description in the event that we want the um senior advisers to assist with our job search um and as well when we were at the league of cities conference um commissioner Lori and I spoke to I'm having a brain freeze in last name he is now a senior advisor of marker do you remember his last name no because I just know him by Mark um well he is retired um he's a retired city manager from a town in for County he but he sent us a pure that he did um when he managed the process for his replacement and it involved um and I bring this up because you know we had the message for the person from Kate Coral uh who withdrew his application um but Mark the retired city manager said um he really made an effort to recruit someone by quote use the word cell but trying to attract a good fit to his town thank you so much okay you're looking on your email so I'm hoping sometime soon we will talk about our options for the city manager search and also um how we could follow up on MAR Mark Ryan's advice to really advertise um what our town has to offer to attract a city manager would be a good fit so you got that yeah the two gentlemen are coming to speak um one of them is newly retired and the other one's um Mr Hansen uh and they're going to talk about that they'll produce a flyer for us for sure they they want that from you to like what are the selling points what are the concerns um you know the city what what do you think your challenges are as a city and then and they'll put together a a brochure and pamplet if you will but and when was the last time they helped us with one search and I can't remember which one was Charles was it okay but that um but Mr L was we left most of it up to Mr L um he must have talked Toc yeah he was he was working with them they contacted you I I saw the ad and sent in my resume and then I um Phil just reached out to to uh let me know that he received it or maybe I called him I think I was at an FCC Conference um but then I don't remember meeting George in that process I know I must have because we that's why he came back and did the strategic planning with us yeah because he was involed with that he I I believe he helped us inter that was that was my recollection I thought he helped I thought helped with I'm in fact now I positive we helped with the interim I was not sure about the Second Step so anyway so we're supposed to um complete that questionnaire today and give it to you yes please he'll collect those when he comes um next Thursday to present to you the process he's going to ask for your vote approval of them going forward yeah ad yeah do the the whole thing mhm okay was um did you include Pacer AI in the U C budget did I do what the Pacer AI yes it's still in the budget okay I didn't look at the there's a lot of spreadsheets yeah at the school distri one thing I'll I'll re encourage the roll back rate is um look out for how much revenues exceed expenses in this year that'll be some money you can put back in because I know we've cut we cut the tree budget as one of the efforts to cut a lot of little lines to make that roll back so when this year revenues exceed expenses which they probably will by three or $400,000 in a mid your adjustment you put that back intially the city manager salary look for that yes and is Julian still helping us she is yes oh and yes what is the status of the audit I was to say you want to get sure I had a zoom call yesterday with the Auditors and um Julian believes she's finished sending them all the data samples and things they've asked for they weren't caught up in their side with what's they've received when they can take off the list um they have another Zoom call scheduled Tuesday morning to um meet with Marina is the the employee of Jen for that has been heading that up they've got to then reschedule us with the audit so all that back and forth they do the information is not actually the audit so um they have to block out more time see if they can finish our audit so we're looking at into September or early October potentially we don't know on the zoom call frustrating they didn't know the schedule yet to when they can finish us it's close we have two years left on this contract but it's not about the aitor it's our inability to get them what they asked for everybody no one back no one you know the two people working on it or here in that fiscal year so when they asked for backup and and so my coaching to see was now you know as to go forward when the commission to buy something go ahead and grab the minutes and the ordinance and put it in a folder with the receipts and the invoices so that Year's AIT they say you this truck so next probably year after next year will be f after will because it's like moving Target like they answer this and come it's an incredible task working on I know Steve's working on it you know full time trying to get all their their questions answered and right now you know still trying to do next year bud at the same time finishing and there were a lot of a lot lotes put something on this side didn't put it on that side and so fix all that as they go and and kind of what I'm gathering from staff and hearing and talk about it is the this Edlund system that was purchased back in what 20 Patrick purchased it well purchased it the commission purchased but actually I remember this very distinctly and we need to keep this in mind when we base things on staff recommendation Patrick asked the staff for their recommendation Edmund was the choice of our staff at that time that was the one they came to the commission meeting and they said they recommend today said that abely what they found what I'm getting is what they have found is that it's not as user friendly and and others it seems like James more and and everybody seems to have some issues in working in working with admin so right but it's an investment we've made we've made that investment and it um but it hasn't been um very expensive and you can't just do um you can't just do it 180 it took them a long time training for it so anyway that's do we have anything else if we have nothing else we'll see everybody next Thursday can I get a motion to adour I move the motion in a second all in favor say I Mr thank you all for staying here and sitting through this we appreciate it good job thank