In a stunner, former two-time Sheriff Jim Manfre was the top vote-getter in the short-listing of possible candidates for Palm Coast City Manager as the council this evening picked six candidates to back-ground check and possibly interview in January.
A stunner, because in previous attempts at the city manager’s jobs, both in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach, Manfre had not been so much as short-listed, let alone interviewed. He also applied to be an appointed county judge in Flagler in 2019. He was interviewed, but not short-listed, and Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Andrea Totten.
Council members Victor Barbosa, Ed Danko and Nick Klufas included Manfre on their lists. Mayor David Alfin did not, nor did Eddie Branquinho, who said Manfre made his final 10, but not his final five. Ironically, the two staunchest Republicans on the panel chose one of the political figures most closely associated with the Democratic Party in the county. His wife Cornelia Manfre ran against Klufas in 2020 and was among the candidates in the special election for mayor last July, falling second to Alfin in a field of six.
Council members did not discuss their choices in a relatively brief meeting barely attended by the public: just four people showed up. Two spoke–one in favor of Manfre (before the tallies), one to thank the city for the clean-up of trash in two parcels in Town Center.
“I am honored,” Manfre said when reached by phone shortly after the council meeting. “The only thing I can surmise is that they’re looking for a local candidate.” Manfre said in his experience in the county and the city, going back over two decades, the better county managers and city managers were local products.
Neither Denise Bevan, the interim city manager, nor Jerry Forte, the forte chief and interim deputy manager, applied, though either would likely have had the votes to be the council’s choice.
The council reviewed 86 resumes. Each council member turned in up to five names from that list. The names were tallied, resulting in just six candidates who had two votes or more. Manfre was the only one who got three.
The six others that got two votes each, all men, are Vince Akhimie, Anthony Carson, Shawn Henessee, Patrick Marsh and Scott Moye. Klufas noted the list’s lack of diversity. (See the candidates each council member picked here.)
Every city manager candidate brings baggage. The city’s human resource department will be uncovering much of that in its background checks, though Manfre’s many years in local politics, including a few contentious years as sheriff, make his local past an open and copiously documented book.
“You call it baggage, I call it lessons,” Manfre said. “Politics is a tough game. You make friends, and you make people who don’t agree with you.” He described his talent as “the ability to get along with different people.” He said the position is “not political,” and that he was looking for an operational position at this point in his career.
The council had decided to conduct the search itself, delegating the early steps to Renina Fuller, the director of human resources, and her staff. This evening she summarized the steps taken so far, took the council members’ short lists, and laid out the next few week’s schedule: the council won’t meet again on the subject until January, when it will review the background check and decide who will be interviewed.
“I look forward to being able to discuss with city council our criteria,” Alfin said. “In other words, how we are looking at the finalists, because the goal would be to take our criteria and match it as closely as we can to candidate in the hopes of identifying a single candidate.” The council did not discuss criteria ahead of time. Alfin said that was not necessarily a drawback.
“It may seem customary to do it the other way. But I’m not sure that that is necessarily a better way,” Alfin said. “Now that we have a list to work from, now, we can share our criteria and come up with a common set of criteria from which to match the the candidates to the agreed upon criteria.
Alfin is insistent on finding a candidate who will win the council’s unanimity–a steep challenge on a divided council.
“The success of a future city manager is highly dependent on the support of all five city council members,” he said. “I don’t know whether or not we will achieve that or not.”
Alfin also said he was not interested in “settling” for a candidate, even if it means ending the search and re-starting it differently: “It’s not set in stone, but we also have an option, we have an option of suspending the search and hiring a third party search firm,” the mayor said. “So because I’ve said before, I’m not yet convinced that we will settle for that until we have identified all of the most capable, capable applicants out there.”
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Michael Van Buren says
I hope that the council members review all the documentation from the Florida Ethics Commission before making their decision.
The link that follows is from Flagler Live’s previous coverage of that event and has links to the actual documentation. I suggest they read it, I have. I was employed by the Sheriff’s Office for 28 years, and under him for approximately 7 years and had a front row seat to some of the shenanigans the occurred while he was in office.
https://flaglerlive.com/90608/manfre-censure-fine-recommendation/
That is a small glimpse into the turmoil that was the 2 terms of Manfre as Sheriff. Working there for so long, I worked under Sheriff Robert E. McCarthy, Jim Manfre, & Sheriff Donald W. Fleming. I have never seen so much turmoil and eye raising ethics than under Manfre’s terms. If I had to vote between Jim Manfre and all of the other Sheriff’s that had served previously, Jim would rank below Dan Bennett (Who was the only Sheriff removed from Office by the Governor.)
Palm Coast if you choose him, you deserve the chaos and controversy that will probably follow based off his track record. After all a leopard can’t change it’s spots.
Jimbo99 says
No wonder, at every turn the same mistakes are made every couple of years with the same deck of cards reshuffled with no aces or royal face cards in the deck. It’s almost an incestuous pool of candidates that we’re continuing to get.
Resident says
Amen!!
Not again! says
I also worked under Jim Manfre. PALM COAST PLEASE DONT MAKE THIS MISTAKE!!!We CAN do better!
Tim Sturman says
Spot on Mike!
Lorraine says
Don’t do it Flagler County! Manfre was one of the worst Sheriff’s Flagler County has ever had! This would be more fuel to the already would be fire burning among the politics of Flagler County!!
Just saying says
Oh, please say it is not so
Right says
The city has lost it’s effing mind… Terrible Sheriff, ethics violations guilty and fined, wrongful terminations and was successfully sued, improper use of Sheriff’s Office vehicle, crashed said vehicle and did not report it , improper purchases on Sheriff’s Office credit card, and more. For such a proven ethically challenged person to get this kind of consideration I can see it resulting in a one term Mayorship for Alfin if Manfre gets the job and council members voted out.
Concernd says
Is this really their best choice out of the whole world?? You’ve got to be kidding!!!!!
Dennis says
Wow. Hard up for a city manager. Pretty sad no one really qualified applied for dis functional Palm Coast manager. Pretty much a slap in the face.
Marc says
The good qualified people don’t apply to work here. What’s that say about Palm Coast!
Dennis C Rathsam says
Hey….That was a good laugh. He was a bozo as sheriff, always looking to make himself look good. Well we lived through his time as sheriff, and all the stupid things he had done as top cop! Why do we try to recycle people that have no talent as city manager. Manfre knows as much as I do about running a city. Everyone thought the new mayor, would change things, incorperate new ideas, clean out the mess in city hall….LOL Im not impressed!
Never Forget says
Does Palm Coast have a ” Death Wish ” ?
OMG, DO NOT ELECT Manfre
Concerned Citizen says
This county has the worst time letting has been politicians go.
And that exactly is why we will never see progress in Flagler County. As long as we keep recycling the same we will never see different. And our City Council seems to think we are ignorant enough to think there are no other qualified candidates on that list.
I hope we raise enough hell on this one to make them re-think. We are already stuck with one clown running the circus.
Percy's mother says
You have GOT to be kidding.
Danko wasn’t around when Manfre was sheriff, having only come to Palm Coast in the last 3 years.
I doubt Klufus (due to his age) was cognizant of the goings on when Manfre was sheriff.
Was Barbosa even around when Manfre was sheriff or was he in Costa Rica?
This what happens when “you” keep lowering and lowering the bar instead of striving for excellence.
What do you expect when you advertise a professional job on “INDEED.COM” for God’s sake.
This council could have used the same headhunter group that Suzie Johnston (Flagler Beach) used, and that is a headhunter group (from what I remember of the conversation) made up of retired city managers, which was less expensive than a regular headhunter group. Flagler Beach now has a city manager which for all intents and purposes everyone seems happy with.
This city council is extremely dysfunctional. What the hell is wrong with Klufus? Did Klufus do any due diligence into the background of Manfre?
Danko and Barbosa as usual are the downfall of the city council . . . all bluster and no brains.
Palm Coast already has enough drama on the city council. If you want REAL drama, just hire Manfre.
Karen Bivone says
This is a joke right… OMG…
Mythoughts says
Just like the loser County Commissioners that vote in someone that the taxpayers don’t want, you watch the City of PC will do the same with Manfre, When they hear taxpayers saying no they jump on it and say lets elect that one.
I can bet Manfre will get appointed.
Shark says
Can’t be any worse than what we had in the past !!!!!! Might as well resurrect Fleming!!!!
palmcoaster says
Past sheriff’s all had their ethics (committee) issues GOP and DEM. Some had more than one: https://flaglerlive.com/45595/ethics-commission-don-fleming/
Even when the manager position is nonpartisan the posters above obviously show their partisan opposition against a known Democrat former sheriff. Just too much politics influencing when what is really needed are; credentials in education, honesty and family values for our city.
Let Freedom Ring says
Too bad there’s a statutory dual office holding prohibition in Florida. Mullins would make a great Palm Coast City Manager.
Just a thought says
I implore all city commissioners to speak to some of the deputies that worked under Manfre. Speak to Joe Delarosby’s widow!!! Manfre will drag the City to lows it has never seen. He has no leadership abilities and commands by threats and intimidations. please rethink this decision or tell employees to keep their resume handy because you will see the largest turnover in your short history.
Duane says
We all must remember, there is a reason the internal interim CM and assistant have not applied, we just don’t know the reason. I can understand the lack of confidence the Commission may have in a head hunter firm to find the next manager, but leaving the process up to the staff and council is worse. At the very least, they could have identified some experienced managers within the state to invite them to apply for the position.
Michael Cocchiola says
Actually, Jim Manfre was a very good sheriff. Crime was down, costs were down and Flagler was peaceful. Remember that? He did make a mistake years ago and paid a fine. We’ve all made mistakes in our careers, fixed the problem, learned a valuable lesson and became a better person. Case closed.
Jim is a long-term citizen of Palm Coast. He knows and loves this city. He has more executive experience than anyone else on the candidates’ list. He has a calm and measured leadership style and he is sharply focused on results. He will bring the best out of his very talented professionalstaff. He’ll listen carefully to our citizens’ issues (how refreshing is that!) and will work closely and cooperatively with the entire city council, And as important as anything, he’ll partner with the county’s staff to help Palm Coast and Flagler move forward together.
I fully support Jim Manfre’s candidacy to become Palm Coast city manager. He is the leader we need to work productively with the city’s staff, the council and the county.
Michael Van Buren says
You obviously didn’t work for Jim. They reason crime was down was because of the hard working staff on the front line. If you saw half of his actions behind closed doors I’m pretty sure you would have a different opinion.
Politicians tell people what they want to hear to get elected and stay in office. It often is far from the truth.
Jack Howell says
Jim Manfrey would make an excellent choice as City Manager. He is well educated, personable, and is known in our community. Yes, he has had his share of issues while in the capacity of County Sheriff. He paid his fine and learned from his mistakes. It is time to move on! The most important thing to remember is he will be working for five bosses and a majority of three can fire him if he is not complicit with the council’s directions and demands. As a former city councilman, I endorse Jim for the position of City Manager.
CJB says
I cannot not comment on your endorsement of Jim Manfre for City Manager of Palm Coast. As a former Marine and retired deputy of FCSO, Jim Manfre was used by the deputies years ago to bring on change what was needed for the FCSO and Flagler County. After his being elected we learned and observed that his being elected was a huge mistake, as evidenced by his ethics violations and more. Many deputies most retired and former I’m sure could add to the stories of lack of leadership and ethics violations during his term(s).
As a Leader of many Marines and in command I’m sure your are familiar with the term of being “fragged” as if in combat Jim Manfre would have been suredly fragged. If given the position of authority you don’t dare challenge or cross HIM for your position would be in question. Jack I’m sure you feel know Jim Manfre but not in the mannor may deputies do in a position of leadership and command.
From this Marine to you, Semper Fi Devildog!
Shark says
So I guess you think Fleming was a model citizen!!!
James M. Mejuto says
Yes, folks . . . our current situation in Palm Coast reflects exactly what is happening
when we, the people allow one party to rule a community.
I hope our citizens understand there is not a SINGLE democrat nor independent
represented on the City Council or any other gov’t agency or committee.
We have a City completely under the control of one party, the Republicans!
Has anyone heard a sound or a peep from the democrats and independents ?
BOGDAN J PANEK says
And it’s such a great town. Must be a coincidence. And Democrats ruining every city they run, that’s a coincidence too?
Laura says
Am I reading the onion?
Praying this is a sick attempt at humor. Manfree as city manager?… Please NO. Never. Never EVER.
starryid says
GOD HELP PALM COAST!!!
HeadedNorth says
Are you OUT OF YOUR.MINDS??????
I worked under Manfred for 6 months and got out as fast as I could!
Read VanBurens comments, he hit the nail on the head!
God help Palm Coast if you elect that moron!!
Realist says
Some of these politicians are like HERPES. You never get rid of them
Doug says
Why can’t these “former” elected officials just go away?
PalmCoasterFloridian says
Where were all these Palm Coasters with such specific and strong views, knowledge and experience with this candidate on meeting day. Palm Coast citizens need to attend and make their voices heard at these town/council meetings. I doubt much of these comments are making their way to the ears of the Mayor and city council. People! lets show up to the meetings and say what and how we want our town to be ran. I agree, Manfre is NOT a good candidate! a leopard doesn’t change it’s spots.
All that commented on here should also email or write to the Mayor and share their thoughts on Manfre as city manager.