Bunnell City Manager’s Job Draws 83 Applicants, Including Two of Its Own Directors

Eighty-three people applied to be Bunnell’s next city manager by the time the application window closed at the end of last week. The 75,000 to $80,000 position was advertised barely two weeks, but it’s drawn 36 applicants from 26 states and the District of Columbia, with the balance—47 applicants—from Florida.

Of those, eight are from Palm Coast, including Perry Mitrano, Bunnell’s solid waste manager, two are from Ormond Beach, including Judi Stetson, the city’s special projects director and a leading contender for the job, one from Flagler Beach (Neal McCopping, a former school administrator) one from Daytona Beach, and just one is from Bunnell—Mark Richter—though his resume, like several in the mix, cannot be taken seriously as a city manager candidate. Most of the Florida candidates are from within 90 minutes of Bunnell, and only four are from large cities (Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Miami).

Elbert Tucker, one of the city commissioners, has said that he’s opposed to hiring anyone from a large city, because it wouldn’t be a good fit for Bunnell. (His original comment had been aimed at Miami in particular, where the current manager, Armando Martinez, came from. Tucker later explained that he did not mean to single out Miami or a particular geography so much as exclude candidates from larger cities—something county and city officials often do when they consider what would be the best fit for their own city.)

Mick Cuthbertson, Bunnell’s community services director since 2006, had considered throwing his name in, but then decided against it. “I love what I do right now,” he said.

Bunnell is looking to replace Martinez, whose contract expires in October. To keep him on, three of the five city commissioners wanted to pay Martinez less than his current salary of $112,000. Martinez would not agree to go below $97,000. The three—Elbert Tucker, John Rogers and Bill Baxley—would not go beyond $80,000, making the end of Martinez’s five-year tenure all but final.

Mayor Catherine Robinson and Commissioner Jenny Crain-Brady attempted to keep Martinez, staunchly defending his record, but fell short. The battle over Martinez has deepened a serious rift on the commission between the three men and the two women—a rift that colored the departures of Finance Director Cynthia Bertha in July, and the resignation of City Attorney Lonnie Groot last week after two months on the job.  Betha blamed the new majority for her resignation, while Groot hinted at a lack of professionalism on the commission after Crain-Brady questioned his billing.

The rift on the commission, whose meetings now frequently devolve into something little short of name-calling when serious matters are on the table, will likely define the way the five members hire a new manager—if they succeed in doing so.

The manager, once hired, will be in a precarious position, because next March’s election may change the complexion of the commission once again. Two seats are up, those of Rogers and Brady. Several candidates are lining up to run, or testing a run, among them Randy Burke, the long-time Bunnell City Police lieutenant and Daisy Henry, the former city commissioner who lost in the last election by a few votes. The election may be a referendum on the new majority. If that majority falls, Robinson, who’s reacted bitterly (and publicly) to the current majority’s actions, may look for pay-back. Martinez himself has said that he would consider returning to Bunnell if he was not employed elsewhere by then, and if there was an outcry for him.

But a new manager may create new dynamics as well.

As is often the case when a city is flooded with applicants (Flagler Beach got 140 applications in 2010), a substantial number of those can be ruled out with a quick glance, as the applicants are clearly unqualified for the position they’re seeking—with little to no management or public agency experience.

Other than Mitrano, the Palm Coast candidates include John Elac, William Karback (a former sheriff’s employee and candidate for sheriff), Michelle Liedtke, an events and catering manager, Jacqueline Pratt, who’s been involved mostly in education, Natalie Terman, most recently a substitute teacher in Flagler schools, R. Scott Tippton, a Florida State Trooper  since 1983, and Lawrence Williams, a former city manager of Belle Isle, a city of about 6,400 (“In 2008 I resigned from my position,” he wrote, “to be closer to my grandson who was diagnosed with a serious illness”). Only Williams has managed a city before.

Below is a full list, including the resumes and applications of all candidates who turned them in.

Bunnell City Manager Applicants