City makes progress toward hiring a new manager

They come from as near as Sarasota and Port Charlotte, and from as far as Stockton, California. Some are retired career military — one a Navy rear admiral — and another has a law degree. Some have more than 10 years of experience as a city manager, others none at all.

There are 42 of them in all, pared from an application pool of 87, and what they all have in common is an interest in being considered for the now 15-month vacant Sarasota city manager position. 

With a March 6 sunset of Dave Bullock’s tenure as the city’s second interim city manager looming on the horizon, the Sarasota City Commission held its first open meeting with Warren Hutmacher of Sumter Local Government Consulting on Jan. 13. The purpose was to discuss his group of 37 candidates recommended to advance in the process, a pool augmented by five more at the dais by Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch.

Sumter's list is based on a ranking methodology that weighs heavily on experience as a city manager.

During the meeting, Hutmacher laid out the five-phase strategy for the search, the fifth being the extension of an offer to replace Marlon Brown, who retired from the position in October 2024.

In the interim, the commission first appointed now-retired Public Works Director Doug Jeffcoat to lead the city government, then Bullock, the former Longboat Key town manager, who assumed the role in May 2025.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Now working with its second executive search firm — commissioners and Colin Baenziger and Associates of Daytona Beach Shores parted ways in May 2025 after a mutually dissatisfactory launch — Bullock’s impending departure applies a hard deadline lest the commission be compelled to seek yet another temp to fill the void for a third time.

That sense of urgency was not lost on Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich in countering Ahearn-Koch’s insistence to add one more step in winnowing the field from 42 to a finalist group of six — more of them or fewer at the commission’s discretion. 

“I keep remembering Mr. Bullock is going fishing March 9 or something, and I don't think it's necessary to add one more step,” Ohlrich said.

“Maybe not another step, but some sort of a conversation,” Ahearn-Koch replied. “It just feels like a lot to go from 40 to six, and with five (commissioners). Commissioner (Kyle) Battie may have a different six. You may have a different … maybe not. I don’t know.”

With Sumter’s prescribed Phase 1 now complete, Phase 2 is underway as the firm will conduct video interviews with all semifinalists, which will be shared with and individually viewed by commissioners. A special meeting has been scheduled for Feb. 10, during which finalists — six is the target, adjustable at the commission’s discretion — will be selected.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Remaining phases on the schedule are:

• Phase 3: Finalist selection on Feb. 10. Commissioners will review the semifinalist report and supporting materials and select finalists to invite to Sarasota for in-person interviews.
• Phase 4: Interviews over a two-day period that include one-on-one sessions with each commissioner, individual meetings with the city’s leadership team, a city tour, a full commission interview of up to 90 minutes per candidate and a public open house to allow for interaction with community members, the latter dubbed “speed dating” by some commissioners.
• Phase 5: Whomever survives and emerges from all of that is selected as the preferred finalist by the City Commission, which will then authorize City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs to negotiate a proposed employment contract. Any offer is contingent upon a successful background check by Sumter approved by the commission and affirmation of contract terms, also by the commission.

Per the city charter, selection of the preferred finalist will require a commission supermajority of four votes.