By Mary Hladky
The Boca Raton City Council has selected Mark Sohaney, who has an impressive resume but no experience running a city, to succeed George Brown as city manager.
In so doing at an Aug. 12 special meeting, the council rejected two highly qualified in-house candidates — Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer James Zervis and Deputy City Manager Jorge Camejo whose focus is on the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
Sohaney is the former chief executive officer of Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. Before that, he was chief executive officer of Naval Air Station Key West and has held other positions with the U.S. military.
The vote for Sohaney was unanimous. Before the vote only council member Andy Thomson voiced support for Zervis, and said Camejo was his second choice.
The others praised both Zervis, the former chief administrative officer for Kern County, California, before he joined the city in 2024, and Camejo, who rejoined the city earlier this year after serving as executive director of Hollywood’s CRA.
But council members said Sohaney would provide a fresh perspective and brings experience with complex infrastructure projects at a time when the city is planning redevelopment of its downtown government campus.
They expect to finalize an employment contract with Sohaney in September.
Brown, who is retiring in January, is a 43-year city employee who served as deputy city manager for 21 years until he was promoted on Jan. 1, 2024, replacing longtime City Manager Leif Ahnell.
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