Sarasota city manager search starting from scratch

When Sarasota city commissioners met last week to begin in earnest selecting a new city manager, the task was to choose five or so candidates from a list of eight finalists provided by professional search firm Daytona Beach Shores-based Colin Benzinger and Associates.

Instead, the meeting ended with the commission asking Rick Conner, who is spearheading the consulting effort, to just provide the dossiers of all 51 candidates — now minus one who has already accepted another post — and doing the whittling work themselves.

That was mostly driven by the few semifinalists commissioners found acceptable. Mayor Liz Alpert said she saw some positives among all eight of the firm’s recommendations. Vice Mayor Debbie Trice said she was enthusiastic over three, Jen Ahearn-Koch said she could take a closer look at six and Kyle Battie was baffled by the fact there were only 51 applications given Sarasota’s consistently high livability rankings and numerous accolades.

Conner said the reason is two-fold. One is the numbers of qualified candidates are symptomatic of a national trend of fewer people entering the profession, leaving a depleted talent pool.

“There has been a significant drop in the people who are entering this field,” Conner said. “I made a presentation to the state Association of City Management two years ago at their state convention trying to encourage younger people to get into the process, to learn and then just keep moving up the ladder. We're just not seeing it the way we did several years ago.”

Photo by Andrew Warfield

The other factor is the same challenge facing many other employers in the city and county — the cost of living here.

“It is expensive to live here and these people, the people that you want — the good people — they do their homework and they understand,” Conner said. “I had a couple of candidates say to us, ‘I'd love it. I can't afford it.’”

This despite the salary range for the job, which requires residency within the city limits, at $225,000 to $315,000. 

The commission was warned that because many of the candidates are actively in the job market, any delays in the process will likely deplete the field.

The recruitment period to replace Marlon Brown, who retired from the city in October 2024, began Jan. 9 and ended Feb. 7. The search firm then embarked on screening and reference-checking the pool, which was completed on March 18. Of the nine chosen to present to the city, one has since withdrawn.

"I had requested to have all of the backup material for all of the candidates,” said Ahearn-Koch. “Just on a cursory look, some of them seem more qualified than others, and when you look at the backup material, some of them seem more and less qualified. I would have appreciated having all of the backup material for all 51 that applied. 

"I really wanted to be torn over 10 great candidates. I am not there, and I maybe if I had been shown all of the applicants there would be 10 great candidates.”

Ahearn-Koch will get her wish along with the rest of the commissioners. Sometime by early April they will receive all of the backup material to be studied prior to April 11. That’s when a workshop is scheduled for 9 a.m to noon, when each will submit a list of up to 10 candidates to be discussed.

Following a lunch break, they will reconvene, providing the can agree, to select the finalists who will be invited to attend a multi-day public process to be evaluated by commissioners. The in-person sessions will include an opportunity for public questioning and input. 

And if that process doesn't yield the desired results?

"If none of these people are a good fit or meet our needs, then we'll start all over again," Trice said.