By Joe Capozzi
Launching a do-over in their search for a full-time town manager, town commissioners have agreed to retain the national recruiting firm Colin Baenziger & Associates.
The firm, based in Daytona Beach, offered to conduct the search for $29,500, the highest fee quoted among three recruiting companies that responded to a request for proposals.
“It’s a lot of money. I’m not sure there is a way around that,’’ Vice Mayor Kristine de Haseth said at the Nov. 7 commission meeting.
But de Haseth and other commissioners were impressed by CBA’s track record in Florida. Commissioner Steve Coz pointed out how the firm was responsible for filling 127 of 161 openings for town manager or town clerk in Florida over the past four years.
“They also talked a lot about proactive recruiting and I think that that was probably our downfall in our last search,’’ de Haseth said before the commission voted to retain CBA.
Town attorney Christy Goddeau agreed to draft a professional services agreement with CBA for commissioners to consider in December.
CBA was chosen over GovHR USA, based in Northbrook, Illinois, and Strategic Government Resources, based in Keller, Texas. Those firms offered to conduct the search for $23,500 and $24,900, respectively.
Commissioners hope to find a new town manager by Feb. 28, when interim manager Lynne Ladner’s contract expires. Ladner took over after Tracey Stevens resigned Sept. 11 to accept the manager’s job in the town of Haverhill.
When commissioners started the search process in July, days after Stevens announced her plan to resign, they opted to save money and rejected hiring a recruiting firm.
Commissioners relied on guidance from the Florida City and County Management Association’s senior advisers program, which provided free recruiting services and advertised the job on trade websites and local newspapers.
Just 15 candidates applied. After a series of meetings with the commission, all but two of the finalists withdrew, prompting town officials in October to start over with a recruiting firm.
Tree ordinance creates knotty situation
Plans for Ocean Ridge to become a Tree City USA member have been uprooted because of concerns about excessive language in a proposed ordinance creating a tree advisory board.
The ordinance, a requirement for the designation, went beyond the narrow intent for Ocean Ridge to partner with the Arbor Day Foundation and join more than 4,000 other municipalities across the country as a Tree City USA member, Mayor Susan Hurlburt said Nov. 7.
Referring to the purpose of the advisory board, Hurlburt said, “It was never the intention to oversee anything more than a singular Arbor Day celebration.’’
Among the stipulations in the proposed ordinance, which commissioners withdrew from the agenda Nov. 7, was for the board to offer advice on “the care of all trees on town-owned property” consistent with the town’s land development code and to “assist the town in enhancing its existing tree canopy, and raise the standards for better tree care throughout the town.”
“It kind of went down a rabbit hole,’’ Hurlburt said before asking staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance.
Commissioner Martin Wiescholek said he wants the commission to consider a new draft as soon as possible.
“I don’t want to table this and just forget about it,’’ he said. “I think it’s important. I would like to have Ocean Ridge as a Tree City. I was hoping we could just discuss the flaws and straighten up this ordinance and get it done.’’
In other business:
• The Starbright Civic Collective, a nonprofit formed by Ocean Ridge residents, presented the Police Department with a painting by artist Pati Maguire. The painting, called The Weight of the Flag, was donated as a gesture of “our gratitude and respect” to the Police Department, said Carol Besler, the group’s chairwoman.
The collective also has offered to help pay for emergency medical technician training for residents and officers. Chief Richard Jones said the EMT proposal, including cost estimates, could be presented to the Town Commission as early as December.
• City officials are considering requests by the Garden Club and the Book Club to waive rental fees at Town Hall, where the clubs meet. The requests were scheduled to be considered Nov. 7 but were pulled from the agenda.
• The annual “Light the Lights” holiday event will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at Town Hall. But the Santa golf cart parade, first held in 2020 as a safe pandemic celebration, will not be held.
• Unwrapped toys for the annual Christmas toy drive can be dropped at the Police Department through Dec. 5. The toys will be distributed to needy children.
• The first Town Commission meeting in 2023 will be Jan. 9, a week later than the usual meeting date on the first Monday of the month. Jan. 2 marks the observance of the New Year’s holiday.
• The Town Commission will hold a joint workshop with the planning and zoning board on Jan. 11. An agenda will be set in December.
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