Palm Coast city manager search likely to take off as new council is sworn in

Palm Coast Observer
News

The search firm for Palm Coast’s new city manager is ready to hit the ground running once the new City Council members are elected and sworn in in November.

Strategic Government Resources Executive Vice President Doug Thomas told the current council that once the four new council members are elected — or selected, in the case of the District 4 seat — after the Nov. 5 election, SGR will be reaching out to meet with them to see what their priorities are in a city manager.

Thomas said he encouraged the city's human resources department to wait until the new council is seated before beginning the search. Most candidates, he said, would skittish about applying for a job with a high turnover and where the majority of the council members would soon be changed out.

“Realistically, most qualified city managers are not going to want to step into that uncertain landscape of who their direct reports are going to be, the five that are going to be sitting at this dais,” he said.

SGR was hired by Palm Coast for the city manager search back in June when the council decided to piggyback on a city manager search contract SGR had with New Smyrna Beach. It is a national search firm that has over 450 local government recruitment clients in over 37 states. Most of the candidate pool will statistically come from Florida, though, Thomas said.

Realistically, most qualified city managers are not going to want to step into that uncertain landscape."
— DOUG THOMAS, SGR executive vice president

The first step is gathering information about the city of Palm Coast and what are its unique issues and dynamics, he said. That includes learning the city’s goals and backgrounds, meeting with staff, interest groups and stakeholders, the size of the city budget and key responsibilities and projects facing the candidates.

All this information, plus the compensation range, potential challenges facing a city manager and what “hard and soft skills” the council members believe a candidate should have, will be compiled into a brochure that will be advertised across the nation for qualified candidates.

Ideally, he said, the brochure would be finalized and ready for the council’s approval at the Nov. 19 business meeting, the same meeting that the newly elected candidates will be sworn in. That will depend on if Thomas is able to meet with the newly elected members ahead of time.

Once the brochure is approved by the council, there is a 30-day advertising period, which would place the application window closing directly before the Christmas holiday, he said. Most candidates won’t apply around the holidays, he said, so if the City Council waits any longer than the Nov. 19 meeting to approve the brochure, it would mean a longer advertising period before SGR returns with a list of candidates.

Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri said she was concerned the timeline Thomas laid out didn’t leave enough time to find qualified candidates.

“Timeline wise, I don’t want to rush the process,” Pontieri said. “We haven't had the best stability at the city manager position the last few go arounds.”

I don’t want to rush the process. We haven't had the best stability at the city manager position the last few go arounds.”
— THERESA CARLI PONTIERI, Palm Coast City Council member

Thomas said that SGR will only close the advertising period if there is a good pool of candidates and that he will remain in touch with the council throughout that 30-day advertising process.

“Before we get to the end of the 30 days, you'll know whether I think we're in good shape or if we may need some more time,” he said.

Based on some of the challenges the council is facing — including a council where four of the five members will be completely green at the job while the fifth will have only two years of experience — Thomas said the city will likely want to attract “really well qualified candidates.” To get those candidates, he said, the city should have a salary range of $190,000 to $240,000 for the position.

Former city manager Denise Bevan’s salary base salary was $175,000 when she was promoted to the position in 2022.

Council member Nick Klufas also pointed out that city managers have higher turnover rates, which impacts the salary demands of candidates. Thomas agreed with him: City managers have an average of five- to seven-year tenures, he said.

“You’re probably looking for a fairly well experienced member,” Thomas said. “It’s like anything else, you pay for talent.”