- November 6, 2024
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Palm Coast will begin the process of searching for a replacement for City Manager Jim Landon. But it won't be quick: The council is planning to release a request for proposal in January for a firm to aid in the search, then proceed through a search process it estimates may take 12-18 months.
Landon had discussed a potential Spring 2019 retirement with council members individually in the past, saying he wanted to retire around the time his granddaughter graduates from high school.
Meanwhile, individual council members have expressed a desire for change. The solution the council came to at a special meeting Aug. 3 about Landon's potential termination is intended to bring in Landon's replacement at around the timeframe in which he'd planned to retire.
If the council finds the perfect candidate earlier than Spring 2019, it would terminate Landon to bring in his replacement.
Some of the council members who've been most vocal about replacing Landon also said at the Aug. 3 meeting that they have appreciated his performance as city manager so far.
"I think he’s done a fantastic job," Councilman Steve Nobile said at the meeting. "When I was here in the city but not on the council, you could tell that the city was ... very disorganized. ... Mr. Landon has taken that dysfunctional organization and turned it into a very process-driven, focused organization. But the methodology it has taken to do that is different, I think, than what we need going forward."
Nobile said he wanted to start the process of preparing a request for proposal for the city manger job, but that he was flexible.
"My goal is today, tomorrow. But I’m willing to negotiate," he said.
Councilmen Nick Klufas and Bob Cuff warned against having a disorganized or rushed process for replacing Landon.
Klufas estimate that the search and hiring process might take 12-18 months. So if the council waited half a year or a year to begin the search process, the transition would occur close to the time at which Landon had hoped to leave.
"We have to do the process correctly," Cuff said, noting that the search would take time and money. If the council decides to fire Landon before his contract ends, Cuff noted, the city will owe Landon severance in the amount of approximately six months worth of his pay. Landon is paid a base salary of $175,600, plus benefits.
Cuff suggested working the search process into next year's budget.
"We’re going to need money for the search; we’re going to need money for the severance ... and I’d like to see that (in the budget)," Cuff said.
Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland agreed that it was time to have the discussion about replacing Landon, but, like Cuff and Klufas, warned against rushing it.
"If we’re all in agreement that we’re looking at this with a new perspective and looking in a new direction … I think then we actually talk about strategy and timelines," she said.
She asked if any council members would support using Landon's proposed retirement date as a starting point to determine when to start a search, most likely in late 2018 or early 2019.
Cuff said he would support that.
"I personally don't see any reason to rush the process," he said.
If a great candidate "falls out of the sky" earlier in the hiring process than anticipated, Cuff said, he wouldn't object to terminating Landon, paying his severance and hiring the new manager.
Klufas agreed that seemed feasible.
Nobile disagreed. "I want to start now. ... I don't want to wait," he said.
"If we have a retirement date and we start the search now, we have now the ability to pick the golden goose, so to speak — we don’t need somebody," he said. Starting later, he said, "Does give us a smaller time frame. ... If the golden boy or girl shows up, we say, 'OK, we need to terminate that contract.' But if the golden person doesn’t show up, then we just keep searching."
Shipley agreed with him.
"I just think that there isn't any reason not to start the process now," she said. "If it’s going to be that long of a process, start it now."
Holland preferred to start in January, but noted that it will take time to prepare an RFP and find and hire the search firm, and that if the council starts that process now, it might not be ready to release an RFP until January anyhow.
Nobile agreed with her — the council could begin preparing an RFP for the firm now, and release it in January after the holiday season.
The council agreed through consensus to prepare to release an RFP in January to find a firm to aid in its search for Landon's replacement.
