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Three candidates remain, with public interviews scheduled for April 25.
The top-ranked candidate to be the next Palm Coast city manager has dropped out of contention: William Lee Smith has been hired as the city manager in Nome, Alaska.
The news was reported to the City of Palm Coast on April 1 by Doug Thomas, executive vice president over recruitment and leadership development for SGR, the firm the city has hired to guide its city manager search.
Thomas reported that the fifth-ranked candidate, Michael Reese, also dropped out “to focus his energies on another opportunity,” Thomas wrote. He had been ranked fifth at the City Council’s March 11 meeting.
The three candidates that remain are Paul Trombino, Richard Hough and Sonia Alves-Viveiros. They will be flown into Palm Coast on April 23 and checked into a hotel, at the city’s expense. They will meet with city staff and City Council members one-on-one on April 24, with a public meet and greet at 6 p.m.
The schedule continues on April 25, as the City Council will conduct 1.5-hour public interviews with each candidate.
A city press release stated: "The new city manager will be responsible for implementing the City Council’s strategic action plan, managing daily operations, preparing the annual budget, and ensuring transparency and accountability in governance."
WHERE DO THE COUNCIL MEMBERS STAND?
Mayor Mike Norris gave all three of the remaining candidates the lowest possible score of 3 out of 3. He had given Smith a top score of 1, as well as a 1 to his former boss, Lee Eureste, who finished sixth in the ranking and was therefore eliminated. Eureste has threatened to sue the city.
The other City Council members gave Trombino, Hough and Alves-Viveiros each a 1 or 2, except city Councilman Chares Gambaro gave Alves-Viveiros a 3.
Overall, based on the rankings, Trombino is the remaining favorite, followed by Hough and then Alves-Viveiros.
MATT MORTON
Thirty-eight candidates applied for the Palm Coast position.
Meanwhile, in similarly sized Palm Bay, 114 candidates applied for the position of city manager, which most recently paid about $260,000, according to a story on floridatoday.com.
By a vote of 4-1 on March 31, that city selected Matt Morton. Morton served as the city manager of Palm Coast from March 2019 before resigning in June 2021. He was succeeded by Denise Beaven and now, Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston.
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