Schedule for County Administrator Search Unveiled

Interim Sarasota County Administrator Terry Lewis informed commissioners on Tuesday about the search for his permanent replacement. “This is a very rough [stretch],” he said. Things are already off to a slow start.

The county hired The Mercier Group on July 1 to seek a replacement for Jim Ley, the former county administrator . “Mercier will close the application process on Oct. 28,” said Lewis.

County Commission Chair Nora Patterson said, “They have not put out the notice there is a vacancy. Which is disappointing.” 

Lewis said the company had “recently finished off the recruitment brochure.” It is based – in part – on what qualities citizens said they wanted during public meetings earlier this month. 

Lewis said he asked Mercier to bring 10 tor 15 semi-finalists forward by Nov. 2. Commissioners would narrow the number down to five or six at its Nov. 8 meeting. They would then be invited to town on Nov. 14 for one-on-one discussions with commissioners, as well as two open meetings for citizens to look over the candidates.

“From my perspective, this is way too compressed,” said Patterson. “If they have even 50 candidates, which would be very low, to pick through them to get a short list in that time period is not realistic. They’d have six days to do background checks.”

Commissioner Mason seemed to agree. “I don’t think we want the public to believe we’re shoving this down their throats.”

Even Mercier has reservations, said Patterson. “I spoke with Mercier yesterday, and they had concerns about the time schedule. They normally have six weeks to solicit applications instead of four.”

Commissioner Joe Barbetta suggested accelerating the process even further. “They could close the application [period] on Oct. 21,” he said. “If three weeks isn’t enough time [to solicit applicants], in this electronic age people can get their applications in within three days.”

Mason argued for more time to allow the public to meet the finalists. “It is vital we allow more time for the public to have some input, just because of,” she said. 

Lewis reminded the commission they might not find any of the finalists acceptable. “In the last 10 placements by Mercier, two went into a second round,” he said. 

“So then we’re into January,” said Barbetta. Commissioners approved Lewis’ schedule by 4-1, with Patterson in the minority.