- February 26, 2026
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A whirlwind two days of activity wrapped up Tuesday afternoon for the five finalist candidates for the position of Sarasota city manager. If the remainder of the process goes as scheduled, on Friday, Feb. 27, the Sarasota City Commission will extend an offer to its preferred choice via required supermajority vote.
The five — Troy Anderson of Wichita, Kansas; Harry Black of Cardiff, California, Kemarr Brown of Homestead, Florida; Karie Friling of DuPage County, Illinois; and Christopher Rodriguez of Washington, D.C. — were selected by the commission from a field of more than 80 to visit the city, meet with commissioners and be grilled by residents at a Monday evening open house at Robert L. Taylor Recreation Center.
A sixth finalist, Tim Gleason, withdrew after being named city manager of his current employer, the city of Davenport, Iowa, where he had been serving as interim city manager.
In perhaps the most awkward of job interview scenarios, the five remained in close quarters for the better part of two days. On Monday, they met with senior city staff in group meetings and individually with each of the five city commissioners. Later, they shared the stage at the Robert L. Taylor Recreation Center to deliver introductory remarks followed by speed dating-style roundtables where they met with residents and neighborhood and community organization leaders to receive input and address questions.
“I'll admit I was skeptical going in, but it worked,” said David Lough, president of the Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association. “The evening was really valuable for everyone in that room — staff, commissioners, the public and the candidates themselves. And with the community members present, I'm sure the candidates heard a lot. The audience was genuinely diverse in background and point of view. That's not nothing.”
Tuesday’s agenda included a morning trolley tour of the city followed by an hour-long public interview each before the city commission to conclude the two-day process.
The replacement of former City Manager Marlon Brown has taken more than 15 months since his retirement in October 2024. Commissioners experienced a failure to launch with the initial executive recruitment consultant, Daytona Beach Shores-based Colin Baenziger and Associates.
In September 2025, commissioners authorized hiring Sumter Local Government Consulting of Alpharetta, Georgia, which laid out an aggressive plan to have a new city manager in place by spring 2026.
Along the way, commissioners named two interim city managers, first now-retired Public Works Director Doug Jeffcoat followed by former Longboat Key Town Manager Dave Bullock, who was coaxed out of retirement to lead the city on an interim basis through a challenging budget season.
At age 75 with national parks yet to visit and fish in Alaska to be caught, though, Bullock had no interest in the job on a permanent basis.
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“I've been traveling in and out of Sarasota for the last decade. You have a beautiful city here. It is a great place to live. I lived briefly in Lakewood Ranch and had some experience sending my kids to school in Siesta Key and really enjoyed my time here. It was very fortuitous for me in particular that this job came up and so I'm very excited about the prospect.”
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“My pathway to becoming a city manager started out growing up in Baltimore, in the inner city, and seeing the governance process and action in terms of how communities are affected by city hall for the good and for bad, depending upon their resources and to the extent they can have advocacy. Growing up in that environment, I knew well that public service was going to be my calling.”
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“I believe the role of the city manager is to be conductor and orchestra in some ways, and the chorus is you, the beautiful residents of the city. Every community has their own DNA. Every community is different from the next. It's the people, it's the neighborhoods, it’s your DNA that makes your community so unique and special.”
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“I worked with the city of Miami, the city of North Miami Beach and now the city of Homestead, and in all capacities we have been charged with transforming the internal operations of an organization and ensuring that there is efficiency in how services are delivered; ensuring that we look for opportunities to make things easier for the residents; and most importantly ensuring that the resident has a very clear and consistent way to hold the city accountable.”
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“I've been involved in the Midwest, particularly in public administration, for almost 20 years now, and have had the pleasure of serving in some of the most highly efficient, highly effective, some of the largest cities in the nation in the ranks of economic development development services. I think, much like a lot of my colleagues, we get tasked with things that we never anticipated we'd get involved in. Some of those experiences, both professionally and personally, are the tools in the toolbox that I'll bring with me to Sarasota.”
