Michelle Heiser was promoted from interim to permanent town manager by commissioners and will make $225,000 a year. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By John Pacenti
It’s been pretty kumbaya in Ocean Ridge ever since Michelle Lee Heiser showed up to serve as interim town manager.
Commissioners have praised her preparedness, especially on budget matters, and they even approved raises for non-union police and administrative employees — something the previous manager tried in vain to get them to do.
So it should come as no surprise that when Heiser showed interest in the job permanently, commissioners were eager to get her on board. They voted to hire Heiser at a $225,000 annual salary at the July 8 meeting, approving it on the consent agenda with no discussion or debate — something that is pretty unusual for a top hire.
Heiser was a candidate in 2023 when the town went in a different direction and hired Lynne Ladner as manager. Ladner benefited from changes on the commission to secure the job — she went from interim to permanent to interim to permanent.
Ladner, though, had a chaotic tenure with very public mistakes aired out during commission meetings. When she resigned in April after bad evaluations from all five commissioners, Heiser quickly came on as interim.
From the start, Heiser’s hands-on management style seemed to calm commissioners and staff alike. The last two commission meetings have run smoothly, quickly and with no drama.
Heiser is a former Port St. Lucie councilwoman and former town manager for Sewall’s Point. She was hired to help find Ladner’s replacement, but then threw her name into the ring.
Her salary is essentially the same as what the town paid Ladner when she left in April.
“Thank you for your vote of confidence,” she told the commissioners at the July 8 meeting. “I am excited and honored, really honored, that we could get here this fast.”
Heiser said she looks forward to guiding capital improvement projects in the next year, such as the ongoing project of replacing the town’s corroding water pipes.
Heiser met with each of the commissioners regarding the job and cited Vice Mayor Steve Coz, particularly, for “a very challenging discussion on my contract.”
At Ocean Ridge Commission meetings, Robert’s Rules of Order are more of a suggestion than a mandate. As such, former Commissioner Terry Brown can pop up at almost any time to add his two cents. He spent his time at the podium on July 8 to praise Heiser’s hiring. He added that the town should post her résumé so residents know what they are getting.
“If you would have included a single page of Ms. Heiser’s background, when people were looking at it, they would see that it was a wonderful choice, and that the compensation is fair and she’s getting great benefits,” he said.
Heiser told The Coastal Star on July 16 that the contract had been signed, but admitted she was a bit surprised that Mayor Geoff Pugh placed her hiring on the consent agenda. She said Ocean Ridge traditionally places as many items as it can on the consent agenda to streamline meetings to avoid the inefficiency seen in other towns.
That doesn’t mean the commissioners haven’t put in the work, Heiser said.
“These commissioners spend one to two hours apiece with the (town) attorney and I,” she said. “Reviewing each item on the agenda prior to the meetings. They ask many questions and gain an understanding of the impacts.”
Comments