By Mary Hladky
Boca Raton City Manager George Brown will retire at year’s end, ending a 43-year career with the city.
Brown, 74, announced his departure at the April 8 City Council meeting, allowing time for the executive search firm Mercer Group Associates to conduct a search for candidates to replace him.
Under the schedule laid out by Brown, council members would interview possibly as many as five candidates in July and finalize a contract with their top choice in September.
Brown’s retirement was expected. When he officially assumed the top job on Jan. 1, 2024, eight months after the council selected him to succeed Leif Ahnell, Brown indicated that he intended to serve a short time.
Yet Brown’s tenure will be long enough that, if all goes as planned, he will have overseen the completion of a final deal with Terra and Frisbie Group to redevelop the 30-acre downtown government campus — the city’s highest priority project.
The council heaped praise on Brown.
“Whoever comes in has big shoes to fill,” said Deputy Mayor Fran Nachlas. “I appreciate your expertise, your knowledge and guidance.”
“What we have here is a person who has dedicated his life to the city,” said Council member Marc Wigder.
“You have done an enormous amount of fantastic service to this city,” said Council member Andy Thomson.
Brown quickly shared credit with city staff. “It is a team effort. It was not just me,” he said.
And he vowed to remain engaged.
“I am not going to be disconnecting from the city,” he said. “I intend to remain involved, committed. I can’t get it out of my blood so that is just something that is going to have to happen.”
Brown joined the city’s building inspection division in 1977 and rose through the ranks to become assistant city manager. He left for five years, but was recruited to return and became deputy city manager in 2004.
He has handled many of the city’s most complex matters, including the sale of the city’s western golf course in 2021 and the lease of city land in Mizner Park in 2022 that at the time cleared the way for construction of The Center for Arts and Innovation. That project, however, came to a halt earlier this year when TCAI was unable to meet city-set fundraising deadlines.
In another key administrative change, the city has hired Jorge Camejo as deputy city manager.
Camejo effectively will take over Brown’s responsibilities when he held that position, overseeing major projects — especially in the downtown.
Camejo has a 28-year history with the city, serving as executive director of the Community Redevelopment Agency, which oversees the downtown, from 1989 to 1998, and as director of development services from 1998 to 2010.
He left to become executive director of the Hollywood CRA, a position he held until his return to Boca Raton.
Rules governing downtown development expire in 2028 and the CRA will cease to exist in 2039. Camejo will have a major role in revamping the development rules and the city’s eventual takeover of the CRA’s functions.
Camejo’s ”vast experience in urban redevelopment and his deep understanding of our community’s vision makes him the ideal candidate to help guide growth and development in downtown Boca Raton,” Brown said in a statement.
Comments