City manager search firm list narrowed to three

Narrowing a list of executive search firms down to three, the Sarasota City Commission has begun anew its search for a new city manager. 

At its July 7 meeting, City Attorney Joe Polzak and City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs presented the commission with six firms that specialize in recruiting for municipal executive positions. Commissioners also developed a list of questions to be posed to the firms as the city opens communications with the candidate firms.

At the commission’s direction, on May 23, the city issued a letter of interest to the Florida Local Government Executive Search Firm List seeking a firm to lead the search. Having received six, in mid-June each firm was asked to provide supplemental responses to express in greater detail their experience, success rates, performance guarantees and other pertinent details.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Of the six, the commission instructed staff to provide additional questions to the finalists and to arrange video interviews with each. They are:

• Slavin Management Consultants, Norcross Georgia.
• Sumter Local Government Consulting, Alpharetta, Georgia.
• MGT Impact Solutions, Tampa.

As Interim City Manager Dave Bullock looked on during his first City Commission meeting since being appointed, commissioners discussed the process to find his permanent replacement. 

Former City Manager Marlon Brown retired in October 2024 when the commission appointed Public Works Director Doug Jeffcoat to serve in an interim capacity. Jeffcoat stepped back from that temporary role in May and Bullock, a former Longboat Key town manager, began.

As the process moves forward, the candidate firms will be asked to respond to approximately 10 questions. They include:

• How many active searches do you have currently underway?
• What is your retention rate?
• What is the cost?
• How do you source your candidates?
• What size of cities have you worked with in Florida?
• Are your searches national in scope?

Also, Mayor Liz Alpert asked to determine if the firm has watched relevant City Commission meetings by having them restate the commission’s stated preferred criteria for the next city manager.

Alpert suggested submitted answers to the questions posed to the firms be in writing. Vice Mayor Debbie Trice, who presided over the meeting as Alpert joined remotely, added the motion to select the three finalists, which was unanimously approved, include the commission, will determine which firm or firms to interview and how interviews will take place.

In May, the commissioners ended their prior search in partnership with Colin Baenziger and Associates of Daytona Beach Shores ostensibly because they felt they were not directly enough involved in selecting the firm and setting its expectations for their participation in the process.

Griggs told commissioners to not expect all responses to be completed by its next regular meeting scheduled for July 21. What they can expect, though, is to see the city manager search item on the agenda for all upcoming meetings.

“We plan on having a standing item every meeting to discuss this,” Griggs said. “I don't think we'll get all this information back in enough time for the next meeting, but this will be an agenda item. We may not have much of an update, but we'll keep a standing item on the agenda.”