Marathon’s search for a new city manager may ultimately hinge on a candidate who has yet to apply for the job.
Public commenters and Marathon City Council members traded jabs over nominees for the city’s top post – and occasionally each other – before narrowing a field of five finalists to two on July 28: City Clerk Diane Clavier and St. Lucie County deputy county administrator Mayte Santamaria.
The city received 69 applications before an internal staff panel scored candidates based on council-approved criteria. Council members then reviewed the rankings and selected five finalists for interviews on July 23. According to emails from four of five council members requested and reviewed by the Weekly, Santamaria and Green Cove Springs Interim City Manager Michael Null each received interview requests from three council members, followed by Clavier and Code Director Ted Lozier with two each and former City Manager Mike Puto with one.
Tuesday’s discussion revealed a few points of consensus among the council; namely, that Santamaria delivered the standout interview. Several council members praised her extensive background with Keys government and regulatory systems as well as her background in emergency management, acquired through work with Monroe County, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida’s Area of Critical State Concern program.
“When you’re running a $912 million budget with 900 employees as a deputy (in St. Lucie) and now being appointed as an interim county administrator, I think you’ve got the chops to run a city,” said councilman Lynn Landry.
But praise for Santamaria stopped short of a motion or vote to hire her.
“Everybody says she was the candidate that knocked it out of the park, but yet there’s hesitation on voting for her, and that really, really confuses me,” said councilwoman Robyn Still. “Everybody’s saying the same thing.”
But the meeting also featured repeated attempts by several council members, led most persistently by Vice Mayor Debbie Struyf, for interim City Manager Steve Williams to enter the race, lauding his performance since February.
Williams never applied during the city’s six-week application period and said immediately after then-City Manager George Garrett’s dismissal that he did not want the job. Asked numerous times Tuesday night if he would submit an application before a second round of interviews, he declined to answer, stating he would not want to influence a final vote by the end of the evening.
Asked by the Weekly again the following morning if he would apply, Williams said it was “the morning after, and I’m still thinking it over. But I think they have some really good candidates here, and I’m not sure what I’d offer that they couldn’t.”
Both Struyf and Mayor Lynny Del Gaizo said they were uncomfortable hiring an outside candidate after a single interview, with Struyf adding that she would have wanted a larger group of finalists. Councilman Kenny Matlock said interviews and resumes cannot measure trust built over time with internal employees.
“(Santamaria) is a very impressive candidate, and I’ve been struggling because … it’s six of one, half-dozen of the other,” said Matlock. “Diane brought me a lot of ideas of how to handle current staff that she already has a relationship with, there’s no learning curve, and (she knows) how to deal with the issues with the state. … I’m afraid if a new person comes in, they’ll just drop the hammer and get rid of (some staff).”
Landry argued the city had already completed an exhaustive months-long search and should trust the process that produced Santamaria as a finalist.
Struyf said Santamaria impressed her during the interview, but calls from local contractors in the following days made her hesitate. Asked by the Weekly the following day for the specific concerns, she said residents were wary of adding another former Monroe County employee with pre-existing local government connections to Marathon’s payroll.
While both the council and public commenters toyed with public interviews for a second round, the council agreed to conduct private in-person interviews with both Santamaria and Clavier, adding Williams should he choose to apply. They specially thanked both Lozier and Puto for their time and dedication to the city before and throughout the application process.
A special call session during August is expected to hold the deciding vote.
