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New Names In Dade City Manager Search

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By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 12, 2008

DADE CITY - Round four has begun in the protracted search for a manager to lead this city of 7,200 residents.

Fourteen applicants had submitted resumes as of the deadline Friday afternoon. Six were from people who had applied at other times during the nine-month search. Eight resumes came from new applicants.
City commissioners will receive the applications Monday and are expected to discuss them at their meeting Jan. 22.

Notable among the eight new applicants are:

•Katrina Powell, who spent two years as the city manager of Fort Meade until her firing in May.

•David Huseman, town manager of Granby, Colo., who has held similar jobs in small towns in Tennessee, Arkansas and Minnesota.

•William Poe, assistant planner with the city of Zephyrhills, who received a glowing recommendation from City Manager Steve Spina.

•Gary Word, village manager of Islamorada, who has almost 30 years experience in municipal government, although most of it was out of state.

Of the six repeat applicants, only Mulberry City Manger Frank Thomas III and Robert T. Mearns, former city manager of Fernandina Beach, received serious consideration in previous searches.

Mearns, who now works as a consultant in Fernandina Beach, was one of two finalists being considered by commissioners in December when they voted to readvertise the position.

At the time, they said Mearns hadn't been ruled out. Some commissioners might have had reservations about Mearns because of his DUI convictions from 1999 and 2000.

Thomas has been city manager in Mulberry since 2006 but has had to survive 3-2 votes on his employment three times. Dade City officials interviewed Thomas when the search began but he wasn't a finalist.

Commissioners began searching for a manager shortly after Harold Sample announced in March that he planned to retire from the post July 1. Sample now works for the Dade City Business Center.

Commissioners thought they had a winner on two different occasions last year.

In late May, they unanimously voted to hire Richard Reade, a municipal consultant and former city manager of Davenport. The deal fell apart weeks later when Reade and city officials couldn't agree on the terms of a contract.

Reade, 37, was hired as manager of Port Richey in December.

After reopening the search, the commission again whittled the field down to one finalist, James P. Gleason, then the manager of an Atlanta suburb. Gleason withdrew in August, saying he didn't want to take a pay cut.

Since Sample's retirement, Jim Class, the city finance director and clerk, has been working as the interim manager.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (352) 521-3156 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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