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Firm will help pick Dunedin manager

The city will seek bids from consultants to help a panel of local managers review the applicants.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE
Published April 8, 2006

DUNEDIN - The national search for a city manager has alternately been called honest and biased, legitimate and a farce.

On Thursday night, the new City Commission added yet another twist.

On one side are the residents and city officials who believe in the existing process, in which human resources director Nancy Duggan leads the search for talent and picks a panel of local city managers to review the 65 applicants and make recommendations. The old City Commission voted for that process last year.

The other side scoffs at the in-house method, arguing that acting City Manager Maureen Freaney will be a shoo-in for the job. Freaney is a popular internal candidate who outranks Duggan - a fact that likely dissuaded outside talent from competing with her. They say private recruiters should have controlled the hiring process.

In his first meeting as mayor, Bob Hackworth led the commission to a compromise: They would solicit bids from consulting firms.

Those firms would not take over the search from the five-member reviewing panel, which consists of city managers from Clearwater, Largo, Oldsmar and New Port Richey, as well as St. Petersburg's city administrator. Instead, the private recruiters would offer additional expertise, Hackworth said.

The move ruffled the calm that had characterized commission meetings in the weeks leading to the March 14 election.

About an hour after being sworn in Thursday as Dunedin's mayor to replace John Doglione, Hackworth called the city manager search "one of the most important issues we're going to discuss." Then he suggested starting over the monthslong process because the pool of applicants did not meet his expectations.

More than half were not from Florida.

"I think there's evidence that it has discouraged some good people to apply for this job," Hackworth said. "There was a perception that this wasn't a pure and objective process and that the decision has already been made."

"Clearly, there was no outreach made by the city," he later said. "I recommend that we reopen that search."

As commissioners, Hackworth and Dave Eggers, now vice mayor, clashed with others over who would replace longtime City Manager John Lawrence, who retired in January. They lobbied for a professional headhunting firm and heard presentations from three during a commission meeting last year.

Outvoting them were Commissioners Deborah Kynes, Julie Scales and former Mayor Doglione.

But as Thursday's meeting progressed, it appeared that Hackworth and Eggers would have the majority. Newly elected Commissioner Julie Ward Bujalski said she favored an outside firm to lead the search: "You hire an expert to get an expert. That's simple Business 101 for me."

Kynes announced she would vote against the private consultant idea. She said such talk was premature when the panel of city managers is just getting started - they meet April 28 to discuss their top 10 choices. They "will make a good decision," she said.

Eggers reaffirmed his interest in outside firms, but said he was curious to hear the panel's opinions.

Scales, in a swipe at Hackworth, said "there's a lack of trust" in the new proposals being made. She was referring to communications Hackworth had with the three outside firms, talks that she considered inappropriate.

"What you call inappropriate contact I call appropriate and doing my job," Hackworth said, noting that he talked with the consultants after they voted not to hire them.

Soon a vote was called. With Kynes casting the lone dissent, commissioners approved a motion to solicit bids from professional recruiters, who, in addition to the reviewing panel, would offer opinions of the applicants. Of the top candidates, the commission will decide which ones they want to interview in May.

Freaney sat silently as the commissioners argued.

"They decide the process, and I absolutely respect the process they decide," she said after the meeting.

Scott Miller, New Port Richey's city manager, said Friday he was unaware of the decision. But as a member of the panel, his chief concern was going through the resumes and making an assessment. "How they use that information is purely up to them."

He said he has been involved in hiring top-level management for years, all over Florida, "from police chiefs to economic developers to county directors, you name it."

"I'm going to give them an objective opinion," Miller said. "I think I've been in this profession long enough to know what experience and qualifications a good candidate would need."

* * *

In other action, the commissioners unanimously approved a million-dollar ladder truck for the Dunedin Fire Department. The multifunctional truck would replace a bulky 16-year-old model and take a year to build, said fire Chief Bud Meyer.

Some commissioners seem startled by the truck's price tag. "We're supposed to have advance notice," Hackworth said. But, he added, "it's a legitimate million-dollar truck. We can't do it for less."

* * *

Before the meeting got testy, all was light and cordial as John Doglione received a sendoff that involved cake, a wooden plaque and "high-class food stamps" from Dunedin restaurants for his 15 years of city service.

Leisure services director Harry Gross presented the restaurant gift certificates, while Commissioner Julie Scales read from the plaque. Doglione, getting teary-eyed at moments, thanked his wife of 51 years, Lianne, for sticking by him throughout his long Air Force career and time on the City Commission.

Doglione also presented his successor with a gavel and a watch. "Make sure you're on time," he told Hackworth.

[Last modified April 8, 2006, 07:30:58]