For the second time in less than two years, Brooksville must conduct a search for a new city manager.
With Charlene Kuhn officially stepping down last month after she submitted her resignation in November, the City Council heard a presentation by Kyle Martin, human resources and risk management director, during the Feb. 3 regular meeting detailing the process for hiring the next city manager.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because Martin similarly conducted a search to fill the position in 2023, only for the council to unexpectedly hire Kuhn in September of that year.
Now the city will mostly repeat the same process, posting the position for 30 days on seven external websites: ICMA (International City/County Management Association), FLC (Florida League of Cities), FCCMA (Florida City and County Management Association), GovernmentJobs, Indeed, the City of Brooksville employment site and LinkedIn.
That posting will close on March 9, allowing council members a week to review submissions prior to the March 17 scheduled meeting when the council will begin prescreening candidates.
In a departure from the 2023 city manager search, the council decided to forgo forming a hiring committee and will handle the prescreening directly. Also, the council has opted against using an outside recruiting agency at least for the moment.
Besides standard educational requirements, the city is seeking someone with at least five years of experience as a city manager, assistant city manager or equivalent government executive positions, but would prefer at least 10 years experience. Candidates with equivalent education and experience in other areas will also be considered.
Richard Weeks, Brooksville’s public works director who is currently co-interim city manager along with the city’s community development director David Hainley, told the council to strongly consider raising the pay range.
The presentation initially listed the range as $97,000-114,000 and showed that to be lower than two less-populated cities that recently searched for new city managers: Fruitland ($120,000-187,000) and Port Richey ($110,000-145,000).
“I believe that this city does need a seasoned city manager, someone that’s been a city manager before and that has the experience,” Weeks said. “I know what we deal with on a day-to-day basis and we need somebody with experience, and honestly, this pay range is not comparable to other local municipalities. I think that really will affect our candidates here.”
The council opted not to list a pay range but rather a starting salary of $115,000 and will determine the final salary based on the qualifications and experience of whoever gets hired.
“We know that we have communities around us that are going after quality people and if you want quality people, you’ve got to pay for them,” Councilman Louis Hallal said. “That’s just the way it is.”
In other business at the meeting, the council opted to accept a mediated settlement agreement with Brooksville Associates and approve the rezoning of a 41.22-acre property located on the north side of Wiscon Road, approximately 615 feet west of the intersection of Wiscon and Broad Street immediately east of Horse Lake Road and south of Barnett Road.
The site had been zoned for 741 mobile homes by the council back in 1989. In July 2024, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted in favor of a rezoning for 93 single-family homes. However, the City Council denied the rezoning in August and Brooksville Associates responded by requesting relief under the Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act (FLUEDRA).
That led to the mediation and an agreement to reduce the number of units to 92. Any development would still be subject to meeting stormwater requirements. It was recommended to accept the settlement by both city staff that negotiated it and special magistrate Derek A. Schroth who served as mediator. Declining the settlement could have led to a prolonged legal dispute.
Also, the council approved the second reading of a new ordinance placing Majestic Oaks on the exemption list for the current wastewater moratorium. Majestic Oaks, which is attempting to build a sports academy at Brooksville Country Club, has been fighting for the exemption since the moratorium came into effect last summer. It agreed to pay connection fees at the newly raised rate, which will provide the city with $4,903,296 to use toward efforts to expand wastewater capacity.
