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City of Fernandina Beach, Florida
On the agenda for a workshop of the Fernandina Beach City Commission set for 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 7, is a discussion of how the city will recruit and hire a new city manager.
Former City Manager Dale Martin’s employment contract with the city was terminated Feb. 21. Former Fernandina Beach Police Chief Mark Foxworth has been serving as interim city manager since then.
Denise Matson, Human Resources Director for the city, sent a memo to Foxworth last week outlining the options for the city for the hiring process.
Under the city’s charter, the city manager must be chosen solely on the basis of executive and administrative qualifications without regard to political belief. While a person hired for the position is not required to be a resident of the city or state at the time of appointment, they must become a city resident within 90 of taking the oath of office. The city manager must have prior management experience, and the commission must consider more than one qualified candidate for the position.
Matson’s memo outlined three avenues for choosing a new city manager. One was for the city’s HR department to handle the process. Conducting recruitment solely in-house would involve developing the recruitment packet, advertising, and accepting resumes, managing the interview process with the city commission and conducting background and employment verifications on candidates.
If an executive search firm is hired by the city, Matson said they would typically meet with each city commissioner and other stakeholders to develop a candidate profile, which would include personal and professional characteristics desired by the commission. The executive search firm would use that information to publish recruitment advertisements and recruit from their networked of candidates, screen candidates and submit the information to the city commission, who would then select candidates for interviews. The firm would assist in contract offers and negotiations and perform background and reference checks. The estimated cost for services, Matson said, is from $35,000 to $55,000.
At the meeting where Martin was fired, commissioners said they wanted to involve some city residents in the search for a new city manager. Matson included that as a third option for the hiring process. She said a recruitment committee could be made up of employees, citizens or a combination of both, and could work with an executive search firm or in-house recruitment, or could handle the process entirely.
Matson said that with any of the options, the process would take “90 to 120 days from start of recruitment to an offer of employment with selected candidate.”
The salary range for a new city manager was also discussed. Matson provided the 2022 Annual Public Employee Personnel Information Exchange Survey, which shows salary ranges for “Agency Manager” of local governments in Florida that includes city and county managers. The memo said the average salary range is $158,564 to $248,727. The average actual salary, which includes allowances for cars and cell phones and benefits, is $229,999. In comparison, the former City Manager’s annual salary was $157,110; the Nassau County Manager’s salary is $185,354.
The matter will be discussed at the workshop to be held at the city commission chambers.
