By Tim Pallesen
The selection of Delray Beach’s new city manager was all about toughness.
Don Cooper was chosen by a 3-0 vote on Nov. 7 after job references told Delray commissioners that Cooper was a tough leader as Port St. Lucie city manager for 19 years.
Mayor Cary Glickstein said he sought a strong city manager to build a team at City Hall by mandating the best management practices to city employees. Commissioners Shelly Petrolia and Jordana Jarjura joined with him. Commissioners Al Jacquet and Adam Frankel were absent.
“The top criteria for me would be results, results and results,” Glickstein said. “At the end of the day, this city needs results.”
Cooper, 64, was the last of five finalists interviewed by commissioners at the meeting. The mayor told him that his job references described him as “strong, tough and a bit arrogant.”
“I never thought I was particularly tough,” Cooper responded. “I hold people to be accountable.”
“I don’t think staff should feel that accountability is a threat,” he explained. “Accountability brings increased performance.”
That response delighted Jarjura. “I agree with him. I think credibility, accountability and doing your job is a lost art,” she said. “I don’t think that’s being tough.”
Petrolia focused on a Port St. Lucie commissioner’s description of Cooper as an “iron fist in a velvet glove.”
“Staff might not feel warm and fuzzy with some of the comments that you are making,” Petrolia told Cooper. “Not that that’s a bad thing.”
The toughness talk took a different twist earlier in the meeting when commissioners interviewed interim city manager Terry Stewart for the permanent job.
Commissioners thanked Stewart for his past four months. But Glickstein pressed Stewart about how he would act differently if he got the permanent job.
“You are one of the toughest, most straight-forward individuals I’ve ever worked with,” Stewart responded to the mayor. “You don’t pull any punches.”
Stewart said the pressure to perform is having a “profound effect” on city employees.
“The people out there in the trenches. They take it to heart tremendously. It hurts them,” Stewart said.
“They want to be able to do a good job to make you happy,” he said. “Please understand the impact that you are having on people sometimes.”
Stewart also said Petrolia and Jarjura are tough: “It’s a tough group.”
Cooper starts in Delray Beach on Jan. 5 with a salary of $170,000.
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