A search for Islamorada’s next manager brought more than 60 candidates from Nevada to New Hampshire submitting their resumes. A village hiring consultant shortened that list to a few candidates.
It’s the village council’s second hunt for village manager since November 2020, when the current members were elected. They first hired Greg Oravec, who then left earlier this year. The former manager is receiving salary and benefits, as well as a housing allowance, unused sick time and accrued sick leave, through March 31.
A village contract with the hiring consultant Colin Baenziger & Associates allows for another search at no cost to the local taxpayers.
Members on the dais received a list of candidates just before the March 10 meeting, which saw hiring consultant Colin Baenziger providing resumes for eight candidates interested in the village manager position.
Among the candidates is former mayor and councilman Charles “Ted” Blackburn. Residing in Osprey, Florida, he served on the village dais for five years, from 2010-14, and initiated the creation of Islamorada’s wastewater system. Blackburn believes his knowledge could be an asset to the village.
“I certainly do not grasp all the issues or the solutions pertaining to Islamorada. But I do understand a bundle of them, and I feel I have a head start and a desire to find solutions,” he said.
A former city and county manager, applicant Lee Staab is a retired military officer who joined the U.S. Army following graduation from West Point. He served more than 27 years and went on to the public sector to oversee infrastructure development at U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force locations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spent two years as manager for the City of Minot, North Dakota, and a little more than two years as manager of Grand County, Colorado.
Matthew Garside is the town manager of Poland, Maine. With a government composed of 86 employees and a $12-million budget, Garside has served as manager since 2017.
Julian Jackson entered his name for the village manager position during Islamorada’s manager search last year. He’s the former manager for the Georgia cities of Monroe, Peachtree Corners and Stonecrest.
Joseph Kerby has served as administrator for Benton County since 2017. He served almost five years as La Plata County Manager in Durango, Colorado.
Don Rosenthal is the former assistant county administrator and current commercial redevelopment project liaison in Pasco County, Florida. As county administrator, Rosenthal managed 285 county employees and directed a number of offices, including economic growth, code enforcement and planning and development.
David Williams spent nine years as town administrator in Sherborn, Massachusetts. Before that, he served as assistant town manager in Framingham and Weston in Massachusetts.
Thomas Yates has 12 years of experience in government and currently serves as mayor/chief executive officer for the City of Twinsburg, Ohio, which has 19,000-plus residents.
Of the 62 applicants, five were deemed “local candidate resumes.” Blackburn’s resume was considered local from his time on the dais. Among the other interested locals were current administrator of Key Colony Beach, David Turner. Brian Klimakowski’s resume states that he’s from Big Pine Key, but his job shows him as current undersheriff for Ocean County in New Jersey. Debbie Pierog, owner/proprietor of Caribbean Cafe & Catering, threw her name into the hat. Joseph Thomas’ resume shows a Tavernier address; He’s a facility manager of International Flavors and Fragrances in New Jersey,
“What we need to do next is select finalists and set up interviews,” Baenziger told the council. “It’ll take a while. We’ll have to allow a little time to get through it.”
Councilman David Webb said he spent several weeks conducting research and outreach during the last village manager hiring process. Village council members will have three weeks to sift through the applications from the time they received the resumes on March 10 to the next meeting on March 31.
