Palm Beach County administrator position: A look at the salary, timeline and four finalists
Palm Beach County will soon have a new county administrator.
And for the four finalists, the days ahead of the expected Tuesday, June 17 announcement will be exhausting ones. Individual meetings with each of the seven commissioners will occur Monday, June 16 in their respective offices, the day before the vote to hire an administrator. The interview sessions are expected to take up most of the day.
The finalists are Deputy County Administrator Patrick Rutter, Assistant County Administrator Isami Ayala-Collazo, County Clerk Joe Abruzzo, and Keith Clinkscale, the county's director of strategic planning and performance management. The position, is expected to pay around $450,000 a year.
The position is open because Verdenia Baker — the first woman and the first Black person to lead Palm Beach County's government — is retiring after 10 years as county administrator.
Following the one-on-one closed interviews with the commissioners, the finalists will attend a community event at the Palm Beach County Convention Center from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Residents, who cannot attend, can view the session on Channel 20, the county's television station, where it will also be live-streamed.
The candidates will introduce themselves. Then, questions, submitted by the public, online or in person, will be asked of each of them. The moderator will randomly select the questions, and candidates will have up to three minutes to respond.
Meanwhile, The Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches has invited the finalists to attend a "Meet & Greet" with chamber members from 5:30-7 p.m., Wednesday, June 11. Only chamber members can attend the event at the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, 401 N. Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach.
The two outside applicants — Cornell Wesley, director of the Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity for Birmingham, Alabama, and Eric Johnson, the city manager of Norcross, Georgia — withdrew their names from consideration last week.
Wesley told The Post that he had important commitments that he could not postpone, preventing him from attending next week's interviews. He noted that the interview dates were adjusted and that he was prepared to be interviewed based on the initial schedule.
'I had asked to come on another date, but the county was unable to accommodate my request,' Wesley said. Efforts to reach Johnson for comment were unsuccessful.
Todd Bonlarron, an assistant county administrator, has been appointed interim administrator until a new administrator is hired. He did not apply to become administrator. His salary has been set at $350,000 a year.
The candidates will be publicly interviewed by the county commission at the Government Center Chambers in West Palm Beach from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 17. The session will be televised on Channel 20 and live-streamed.
The candidates will answer the commissioners' questions in a rotating order. They will have up to three minutes to respond. A commissioner can then ask a follow-up question. Once the interviews are completed, the commissioners will publicly discuss which candidate should be chosen. Each commissioner will indicate their preferred candidate on a ballot.
More: Palm Beach County's next administrator has big shoes to fill | Editorial
More: Retiring Palm Beach County administrator Verdenia Baker looks back on a career of firsts
If a candidate receives four votes, that person will become the next administrator, replacing Verdenia Baker who retired on June 1. A deeply divided county commission voted 4-3 this year to skip on a national search. Instead, it chose to depend on a volunteer task force to narrow the candidates down to six applicants. More than 200 applied.
If no one can secure the necessary majority necessary on June 17, the commission will start a true national search for a new administrator by hiring a recruitment firm. Three commissioners — Mayor Maria Marino, Marci Woodward, and Gregg Weiss — initially insisted upon this option.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County to meet to select new administrator on June 17
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