Manatee County Deputy Administrator John Osborne resigns

Manatee County Deputy Administrator John Osborne submitted his letter of resignation Jan. 29.

Osborne worked for Manatee County for 21 years and has served as deputy administrator since March 2019. He will continue working for the county through Feb. 16, the day before commissioners decide whether to terminate Administrator Cheri Coryea. He thanked Coryea for the opportunity to work with her in his letter.

Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge said he had spoken with Osborne about the possibility of taking over as administrator in late 2020 in the aftermath of the commissioners' first motion Nov. 19 to hold a vote regarding Coryea's contract. That vote never happened, as commissioner George Kruse moved to reconsider the motion Dec. 10.

Osborne, however, said his future with the county looked uncertain. Multiple commissioners have expressed a desire to hire a permanent administrator from outside Manatee County if commissioners vote to fire Coryea on Feb. 17. Osborne believes it is likely such an administrator would want to hire his or her own deputies rather than keeping him on board.

"When you have a new leader like that, they probably need that ability to decide who's going to stay and go," Osborne said. "That's just the way things are both in the public sector and private sector at this level."

Additionally, Osborne said he received an opportunity to work for a private company doing urban planning and consulting. He said it feels like the right time to move back to the private sector.

Osborne has enjoyed his time in county government and said he feels honored that he had the opportunity to serve Manatee County citizens.

"There's some self-sacrifice to what county employees do every day for citizens, whether it be making sure the water's good to drink, and the sewer goes to the right place, and traffic signals are consistently operating, and the parks are open and clean," Osborne said. "All these things that you do to basically be the backbone of civilization. You do that and try to do that efficiently and do your best everyday. There's a lot of people that work in the county who are just truly unsung heroes. And it's an honor to be overseeing a staff like that."