During a special commission meeting ordered by Mayor Rick Lott to discuss the future of the City Manager position, City Commissioners voted to set the date for a special meeting to discuss the future of the City Manager position.
Lott called Monday’s meeting, held a few hours before the commission’s regularly scheduled meeting, after it was made evident that current City Manager Mike Herr would be accepting a position as city manager of Winter Haven. The Winter Haven City Commission voted to make Herr an offer for the position during a Monday, May 1, meeting. The contract was approved during a special meeting in Winter Haven two days later, and Herr submitted a letter announcing his contractually obligated 30-day notice to the Plant City Commission Thursday, May 4.
Herr’s last day with Plant City will be Friday, June 2. He will begin work in Winter Haven on Monday, June 12.
During the meeting, Herr thanked the City of Plant City for supporting his efforts in completing projects, many related to economic development, since becoming city manager in September 2014.
“A city manager has to have the freedom to be able to assess his or her leadership team without interference,” Herr said. “You gave me that freedom. You gave me that opportunity.”
Though a number of projects begun during Herr’s reign — such as the long-awaited Midtown redevelopment — are in the mid-completion stages, Herr and City Commissioners said they are confident in their ability to continue moving forward.
“There’s no reason for us to take our foot off the gas,” Lott said.
Herr’s departure leaves Plant City with the all-too-familiar task of searching for a new city manager. Before that, however, commissioners must determine how to select an interim city manager.
Commissioner Nate Kilton suggested selecting someone from within the community for the job, while Commissioner Mary Mathis and Vice-Mayor Bill Dodson suggested using the Senior Advisor program, available through the Florida League of Cities, to find a suitable interim city manager. According to Dodson, Plant City has successfully taken advantage of similar programs in the past. Dodson also recommended the use of a consulting agency to conduct a national search for a new city manager.
Leaving no stone unturned, Dodson said, is “important for us as a city of our size.”
Commissioners voted to reconvene at 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 15, in City Hall’s Sadye Gibbs Martin Auditorium with a prepared list of local candidates and names from the Florida League of Cities to determine candidates for interim city manager, as well as names of potential consulting agencies.
Contact Daniel Figueroa IV at dfigueroa@plantcityobserver.com.