- November 25, 2024
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The Flagler Beach City Commission narrowed its interim city manager choices down to three candidates — Katrina Powell, John Drago and Michael Abels — at a workshop on Feb. 13.
The commission will hold a town hall at 4 p.m. Feb. 23 for residents to meet with the candidates before the 5:30 p.m. commission meeting. Rick McFadden, the city’s chief building officer, will serve as acting city manager until an interim is chosen.
The commission heard from five candidates, including former County Administrator Jerry Cameron, at the Feb. 13 meeting.
Earlier that day, news service FlaglerLive.com had released a story stating that Cameron had been lobbying for the city manager position and that the Flagler Beach Business Bureau, also known as FB3, had been assisting him.
FB3 acknowledged to the Observer that it had spoken with commissioners to advocate that they hire Cameron.
“We did express our frustrations with Mr. Whitson as city manager and we actively sought his termination when speaking with several city commissioners,” FB3 President and Oceanside Beach Bar & Grill co-owner John Lulgjuraj said in a message sent to the Observer on behalf of FB3. “We also advocated that the commission hire former Flagler County Administrator Jerry Cameron as an interim city manager, during a critical time for the city.”
Lulgjuraj added in a later statement, “Furthermore, I have a right and a responsibility to voice my concerns to city commissioners and to directly communicate problems with solutions as our Flagler Beach Business Bureau has done in the past.”
But Chair Ken Bryan was the only commissioner to place Cameron among his top three candidates, with Powell and Abels as his other two choices.
Both Cameron and Bryan denied that Cameron had been reaching out and meeting with commissioners to replace Whitson, and at the start of the meeting, Bryan denied that Cameron had been “lobbying” him for a job.
“Mr. Cameron did not lobby to me, I’m going to make that clear,” Bryan said. “I called Mr. Cameron myself. … I called him to ask him for help.”
Several residents and City Commission candidates asked the commission to take more time before choosing an interim, especially since some resumes for candidates who spoke were not available before the Feb. 13 meeting.
“I want this person to be successful,” Commissioner Deborah Phillips said. “I don’t want to rush anything.”
“I’ve never seen a position this important in which there wouldn’t be an opportunity to at least meet [or] look at the resumes,” said attorney Scott Spradley, a candidate for City Commission.
Commissioner James Sherman suggested holding a town hall with shortlisted candidates. Four of five commissioners and the mayor all listed Powell, Abels and Drago.
The three candidates will meet with department heads and commissioners before the Feb. 23 town hall and commission meeting.
Powell said she served as city manager in Longwood from 2009-2011, in Fort Meade from 2005-2007 and in Hamtramck, Michigan from 2014 to 2017. She was appointed to the Hamtramck position by the Michigan Department of Treasury after that city was declared to be in a state of financial emergency.
Drago — who said he is only interested in the interim position — was the city manager in Longwood from 1999-2009, just prior to Powell. He said he also served as city administrator for Winter Springs from 1997-1999 and for Okeechobee from 1986-1997. He serves on the vice chair of Orange County Board of Zoning Adjustment.
Abels has a doctorate in public administration and most recently served as city manager in DeLand, from 1999-2008. He then taught public administration at the University of Central Florida until 2016 and at Stetson University as an adjunct from 2016-2021.
