Escambia County Administrator's Search Narrows to 4 Names: Where We Are & How We Got Here

Escambia County will soon be hiring our next administrator.  The sooner, the better.....

Thursday afternoon it was announced publicly that our search for the next Escambia County administrator was narrowed to 5 names.  That announcement came shortly before we were given the packages on the five finalists selected by the Florida Association of County Managers (FACM) panel we hired to help us narrow the field.

I spent time over this weekend reading all these resumes.

We had a huge list to work down from initially--and it was helpful and necessary to have a firm help us get to the short list.

We spent $5K to do this and I believe it was money well spent.

This panel we hired has been diligent in the way they have carried out this search and the way they narrowed the field.

Friday, they released their report to staff that described their members, their methods and metrics, and also their thought process in culling the large list down to five names.  They also list in detail the positives and negatives of each candidate on the short list.  Also, they list detailed next steps for us to take in the process to hire our next administrator--from negotiating the contract to transitioning him into the organization once we make the selection.  I thought this report was extremely informative--and I believe this group earned their $5K for what they have delivered.  Every citizen that is interested in this process should read this report because it is a very thorough and enlightening report.

(The Escambia School Board members should read this report and see how we have moved this forward as a preview into what challenges and issues they will face as they prepare to hire their first appointed Superintendent....lots of good information here!)

At last Thursday's meeting, there was some tension in the air about how this process concluded, and about the way the committee did the cut without consulting any member of the BCC.

There were questions about why no women made the cut.  "Were there even any minorities in the final list?" was another question I heard.

I happen to know there were several former military officers on the first list that appeared very well


 qualified to take the job--none of those names made the short list either.

Meanwhile, our list of 5 names from the committee is now officially down to 4, as Kenneth Griffin has withdrawn from consideration for our position and accepted a different position elsewhere.

So, although we are now down to four names "officially"--at the end of the day, we have the final say in whomever it is that will make the final list.

I will listen respectfully and in an open-minded fashion to my counterparts at this week's meeting--and I'll ask questions too--particularly about why the committee did not include the military members from the initial list.

But my initial inclination now, after reading the final report, is to make the selection from the short list that we paid to receive.  I believe this group we selected did what we told them to do, and they listened to us when we told them what we, as a board, wanted in an administrator.

We shall see what happens this Thursday, though.  Anything could happen.