Flagler Beach Manager’s Job List at 83 Names; School District’s Mike Judd Withdraws His

Mike Judd, one of the top administrators in the Flagler County School district and an applicant to the city manager’s job opening in Flagler Beach, withdrew his candidacy for that job Friday afternoon. “I plan to stay with the school district at least until Janet Valentine retires,” said Judd, who’s the senior director of school operations.

Valentine is the district’s new superintendent, replacing Bill Delbrugge. She just reorganized the top administrative ranks, eliminating three assistant superintendent positions, among them Judd’s. But any suggestions that Judd was displeased with Valentine or the district are off the mark Judd said. He had no designs on the superintendent’s job, for example. “I think Janet was the best person for the job and Janet and I have been friends for a long time, and she would have been my choice for a superintendent.”

Judd’s interest in Flagler Beach was a matter of opportunity: that sort of job doesn’t open often in the county, and he has ties to the city. But when he walked into Valentine’s office to tell her he wished to stay as long as she was there, she responded: “Absolutely. I didn’t want you to leave in the first place.”

The number of applicants for the job in Flagler Beach is now 83. Only 12 more applicants swelled the list in the past two weeks. The city will take applications through the end of the month. Once the position closes, commissioners will do the sifting individually, without involvement from consultants or the administration.

Thursday evening, commissioners agreed to pare down the list of applicants to 10 names each during the first commission meeting on Aug. 12. They’re devising a ranking formula, but presumably, commissioners during that meeting will agree on a universal top-10 list. They will narrow down the names to a list of those they want to invite for interviews at their Aug. 26 meeting.

But Commission Chairman John Feind conceded that the commission is unlikely to have finished the job by the time the current manager, Bernie Murphy, puts in his last day on Sept. 30. Feind said the city may end up with an “interim interim manager.” Murphy is ostensibly an “interim” manager and has been since taking the job as such in 2006. The tag stuck because the city charter requires its manager to live in the city, and Murphy still lives in Ormond Beach. The commission doesn’t plan to make the same allowances for its next manager, who will not even have the convenience of a transition with the current one.

As for paying travel expenses for applicants: forget it. There was a faint suggestion in the air to do that, but it was quickly shot down. “I’m not willing to spend money,” Commissioner Joy McGrew said, only to be outdone by Mayor Alice Baker who, at 71, was born the year that Depression picture at the top of this article was taken outside of Sal Capone’s soup kitchen. “Let’s see how bad they want the job,” Baker said.

The latest 12 names bore no surprises—no one local, leaving Judd’s withdrawal the only local surprise of note. One of the 12 new applicants is from Florida (from Vero Beach). Two of the 12 applicants are unemployed, continuing a trend, of larger proportions, of unemployed applicants in previous batches.

The chart below has been updated with the latest names.

Flagler Beach City Manager Applicants