After CFO Resigns, Manatee County Appoints Interim Replacement

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — A longtime Manatee County employee will take on the role of interim chief financial officer for the county after Jan Brewer resigned from the position earlier this week.

Sheila McLean, who most recently served as deputy director for budget for Manatee County government, steps into the CFO role immediately.

“(She) brings over three-and-a-half decades of financial management experience to the role—with nearly a quarter-century of that locally in Manatee County,” according to a county news release.

In the resignation letter she submitted Tuesday, Brewer pointed to issues with County Administrator Scott Hopes, ABC 7 reported. She said the administrator withheld information from her and didn’t invite her to a meeting that included others from her department.

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“I cannot help but be concerned that other information is being maintained in this manner as well,” she wrote. “The exclusion of the CFO from the conversation is not healthy for the organization.”

On Friday, Angel Colonneso, the county clerk of the circuit court and comptroller, sent a letter to commissioners outlining he “grave concerns” about Hopes’ job performance.

She criticized him for his "lack of transparency" when it comes to responding to public records and said his "lack of communication" slows down county projects. The clerk claims that Hopes also exclusively drives a county-owned Chevrolet Tahoe despite receiving a car allowance.

In her letter, the clerk warned commissioners of “repeated troubling events that continue to happen involving your county administrator of which you may not be aware.”

Among her issues with Hopes, Colonneso highlighted a lack of communication and transparency, the impacts of his reorganization, and fiscal accountability.

In a narrow 4-3 vote Tuesday – the same day Brewer submitted her letter of resignation - the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners voted to extend the administrator’s contract and give him a $10,000 raise.

McLean, who has lived in the county since 2004, has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance and a master’s in business administration and accounting. Of her 24 years in local government work, 16 were in the finance department at the Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court and eight years have been in the county’s Financial Management Department.

She has been working in accounting — both public and private — for more than 35 years, the county said. “That sort of wide-ranging experience is vital to oversee the operating and capital improvement budgets, infrastructure sales tax revenues and financial analysis for all county departments.”

“I love my county,” McLean said. “This is the place that allowed me to create a career . . . and to make a difference.”