The City Commission narrows its search to four: a Dade City lawyer and three with administrative experience.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published April 1, 2003
DADE CITY - The national search drew candidates as far away as Lodi, Calif., and Yonkers, N.Y. But when the time came Monday evening to pick the finalists for city manager, the Dade City Commission stayed local.
Harold Sample, a former Pasco County Sheriff's Office administrator now working in a Dade City real estate office, made the final cut. So did Karla Owens, a Dade City lawyer who has offered to serve as city manager and city attorney.
James L. Williams, a Wesley Chapel resident who once served as city manager and police chief in Decatur, Ill. (population 83,000), also made the list.
And rounding out the top four is a man from neighboring Polk County: Richard J. Reade, the assistant city manager of Auburndale.
The commission will interview the finalists early next week, at a date and time to be announced. The new hire would replace City Manager Doug Drymon, who announced in January he would step down July 31.
The commissioners said they weren't trying to stack the finalist pool with local residents. Each one ranked the 13 applicants ahead of time, then shared the top picks with the rest of the commission at the special meeting Monday night.
Sample and Reade landed on the lists of all five commissioners. Four commissioners picked Williams and Owens.
Commissioners originally planned to pick five finalists, but two candidates - former Lake Alfred City Manager James David Drumm, and former Paris, Ill., City Administrator Michael Brillhart - tied for that fifth spot. Rather than expand the field to six, they narrowed it to four.
"Four is enough for me," Commissioner Bill Dennis said.
In other business Monday, the commission voted unanimously to set up meetings with county government and Pasco County School Board representatives to explain the proposed fire services fee.
The proposal would change the way Dade City charges for fire services. If approved, the School Board could face a $99,138 bill for its facilities inside the city, while the county could face a $67,025 charge for its administrative buildings, according to a consultant.
Some commissioners say the new formula would share the cost of fire services more effectively and could eventually lower property tax rates.
Commissioner Hutch Brock, who suggested the meetings, said he would talk to county government officials. Dennis will meet with school officials. They will report back to the commission at the April 8 meeting.
"It just appears to me, for us to have our ducks lined up, we need to know where they're coming from," Brock said.
[Last modified April 1, 2003, 05:26:39]
Pasco Times headlines
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
