Council discusses city manager search
Interim City Manager Mike Ilczyszyn will at least serve until the end of budget season or maybe a little while longer.
That is what the Cape Coral City Council concluded during its Committee of the Whole meeting on Wednesday at City Hall, a non-voting meeting where staff and council discusses issues to reach a consensus on what the governing body wants to do.
City Council did not appear to be in any hurry to find a permanent city manager following the firing of Rob Hernandez on Feb. 15.
“We know that a national search is about a four-month process. If we go through with this, staff will have to tell us about cost and when we should have the conversation,” Mayor John Gunter said.
Councilmember Jessica Cosden suggested they wait until after hiatus in July to start the search or maybe have the firm they choose to start looking for candidates.
“I also think we should wait until after hiatus to decide if we’re even going to do the search,” Cosden said. “I don’t want to do it if we all have the same opinion on the current city manager. We need to give him time.”
City officials do not want to go through what they did during the last city manager change, with John Szerlag passing the baton to Rob Hernandez midway through the budget cycle.
They would like Ilczyszyn, who was appointed interim manager on Feb. 17 from his position as public works director, to run the show through this cycle and wait until, at the very earliest, the end of summer hiatus, or even until the cycle ends (as Keith Long suggested) to start the search so it won’t be a distraction.
This could result in a city manager not being hired until the beginning of 2024. It could also make council reconsider its search for a new city attorney in the immediate future.
Ultimately, the council decided to wait until the beginning of September to start the process. That could seat a new city manager by the end of the year.
In other business, one of the things the Hernandez instituted was to hold COW meetings in the mornings. Councilmember Dan Sheppard suggested moving those meetings back to 4:30 p.m.
This produced mixed results. Councilmember Patty Cummings liked the idea because it would allow her to spend more time with the business she owns, even if it meant some late nights as COW meetings tend to drag on.
Ilczyszyn said staff has adjusted to the new schedule, but would accommodate if council wished to move the COW meetings back.
Cosden said the 9 a.m. meetings allowed people to give public input because it was easier than at 4:30 p.m. meetings and that no matter what, there would be issues.
Gunter said 9 a.m. meetings made more sense from an organizational standpoint and because its more consistent.
Gunter also asked to hold a shade meeting on Wednesday, March 1, at 3 p.m., to discuss security measures at City Hall.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com