[11:40] Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Flyer County Board of County Commissioner Special Meeting. Today's September 4th. It is 9.11 a.m. if you'll please stand for our pledge.

[12:04] Thank

[12:09] you. Now we'd like to take a moment of silence to reflect and pray for those men and women serving us here in a broad.

[12:26] Thank you, everybody. Yesterday we interviewed three finalists for our county administrator role.

[12:36] They were presented their onboarding plans and a leadership approach to follow up questions from this board.

[12:42] As noted all candidates have already completed their public interviews with the board.

[12:47] So today's meeting solely focused on our board deliberation and a possible selection of a county administrator.

[12:54] Today, we'll proceed this morning. We'll begin with any brief and final comments. Reflections or thoughts from our commissioners regarding the three finalists.

[13:03] And once we've all had an opportunity to speak, we'll move on to public comment and then our voting portion of this.

[13:11] So, and so with that, I'll go ahead and open it up to our board. If anybody would like to have some discussion on the finalists and comments, reflections.

[13:21] We will at some point take a vote if necessary, but I want to go ahead and start with just comments.

[13:29] I open it up.

[13:30] Sure.

[13:30] Thank you.

[13:32] First and foremost, right?

[13:33] Thank the applicants one for wanting to the job that they do, which is a hard job.

[13:47] And it is sometimes thankless, but I think with the right support, you know, everybody can be successful in what we do.

[14:00] We just need to, you know, the conclusion to this is hopefully all of us get behind and support the choice.

[14:12] I did feel bad a little bit for Mr. Read. He had a meeting the night before, so he had to go through his commission meeting before coming to do our interviews and it was.

[14:25] He was a little bit by the end of the day. He was a little tired, but he did well throughout the day.

[14:32] And he said he didn't end into like 4 A.M.

[14:36] One of thanks staff, everybody with the three applicants were extremely complimentary of the

[14:42] human resources department and the treatment that they received throughout the process.

[14:48] I even Mr. Boat Wright who took another job was very complimentary of the process and made it

[14:56] known that he enjoyed the process while he was in it.

[15:00] I did want to bring one other piece of information, right? I think I was wanted to be transparent to the process of the information that I found out I shared with you about Mr. Van Kleek and his emergency management, how he got to be emergency management director.

[15:18] And last night, I had an unsolicited phone call

[15:22] from Volusia County's former sheriff in Johnson.

[15:27] So the sheriff reached out to me and wanted to let me know

[15:30] that he thought very highly of Mr. Van Kleeak,

[15:35] the working experience that he had with him,

[15:38] that he was in his words a good man,

[15:40] and he was ready for the role.

[15:43] So I just wanted to make sure that we were all

[15:46] privy to that conversation. He said I could release it publicly, said Aaron had no idea that he was

[15:52] calling on his behalf. But with that I just, that's, that's it. Again, I just want to thank the candidates

[16:02] and the rest of the staff for helping us get through this process. So.

[16:08] Thank you, sir. Miss Carney, the only just comments and I'll just, I'll just speak to the

[16:16] process. I wanted a professional firm and I know they go anywhere from 30 to probably

[16:26] $50,000. The board didn't want to go that route. I do believe that we got a fair number

[16:39] qualified applicants. I do believe that FAC narrowing down. It's funny that we chose two

[16:48] people that never made it to their shortlist, but that's our, that's what we're here for, right?

[16:55] I mean, we can all envision and see what we want after speaking with the three candidates

[17:07] who have been through the process both both through a professional search firm and the way

[17:16] we did it. They felt that they were well taken care of. They felt that the process was fair.

[17:22] They felt that it was more timely than going through a recruiter which can take a lot longer.

[17:29] So I'm settled with how we did everything,

[17:38] I do have a preferred candidate, but I'm going to, I'm going to go along with the board.

[17:45] So I do believe we need a 5-0 decision on this, I don't think it's fair to split, we can't split and conquer, we have to agree and move forward.

[17:57] I will say for the record that if we don't feel in our hearts that we have the right person, I am not obligated in any way to move forward for the sake of moving forward.

[18:11] I know that Adam is tired. I can see it in his face. He has persevered through hell.

[18:18] amazing man. So I want to say thank you for that. Thank you to John. John has been there by

[18:25] his side the entire time. This process is ugly, I know, but I'm not adverse to continuing

[18:34] if we can't come to consensus. Thank you. Mr. Anthony.

[18:43] Just a comment on the process. I've

[18:45] And through this a few times, three or four.

[18:51] And I really credit to our HR department, and I thought this was really well run.

[19:00] Kept us informed on what we had to do, and made it pretty simple for us, for the five

[19:08] of us, to do this.

[19:11] So Charlie and his team did it. I think did a great job. So I'm very very very happy with that

[19:19] That's Richard's in the last before the final. Okay, that's her last

[19:26] Kim your sentiments are very similar to mine

[19:30] I agree if we don't all feel a hundred percent sure we've waited this long we've worked this through

[19:39] Again, Adam, one of the most amazing people I've ever known, all the candidates were kind,

[19:49] they were so kind to each other.

[19:52] I was able to greet them the minute they put that I got here and I think they were all

[19:58] professionals in their own fields.

[20:01] My biggest concern is the strength of what we need to get through whatever is going to happen

[20:07] next,

[20:10] whatever happens during the election, we're going to have another person here that's

[20:14] going to have their own mindset as well.

[20:18] The timing is a little bit off for me.

[20:21] I like them all, but do I have one in particular?

[20:26] Not necessarily.

[20:27] They all had strengths, and they all had weaknesses.

[20:31] I think we need to keep a strong leadership here.

[20:35] We have staff, we have our new attorneys working well.

[20:40] We're flowing, we're not falling apart because of this.

[20:44] We're just getting stronger.

[20:46] So I just don't know that we got the right one yet,

[20:50] and I'll wait to see how everybody feels,

[20:53] because we all get a preference at some point,

[20:55] but I want somebody who's going to be able to really take the leadership out.

[20:58] Because right now we've got two guys doing one job.

[21:02] And I thank you for that because you really are doing great and I'll leave it at that.

[21:07] Thank you, ma'am.

[21:09] I will say, you know, I'm open to, I think all the comments are valid.

[21:15] You know, we've come a long way and we've been taking our time and working through this.

[21:21] There were a lot of applicants.

[21:23] Is the perfect applicant here in this group?

[21:27] I'm not sure, and so I'm happy to entertain,

[21:35] you know, a motion or discussion about

[21:37] an applicant from this group, but if we aren't able to decide immediately, I would say

[21:44] that doesn't make us indecisive, it makes us pragmatic on this one, so I think, you know,

[21:52] it's an important, this is an incredibly important role, particularly for what we're

[21:58] getting ready to go through as a government. So with that, you know, I'm open to executive

[22:06] searches and I'm open to having a discussion about one of these candidates. So with that,

[22:12] I'll, um, they've asked that we ask each commissioner if they would like to state who their

[22:18] choice would be for a county administrator at this time.

[22:24] Is there any particular one you would

[22:25] and you're down for discussion, or that's what's on my list, so...

[22:30] We don't have to do it that way, but that's what they placed in here.

[22:32] Well, that's fine. I mean, I've gone through this. In my head, again, I'd, you know, want to thank

[22:42] well, three of them again. I didn't mention Ms. Miller earlier, but I was very impressed with her approach

[22:50] through being able to set up a system that was built for success.

[22:58] Mr. Reed is the, in my mind, the, the ready candidate.

[23:04] Do the his experience in different things.

[23:07] Mr. Van Cleak brings a different set of strengths.

[23:11] And I think the, the energy that he presented and showed in his approach

[23:18] and his confidence, and what he's done, you know, in Valusia, the example of taking over

[23:28] a 500 person department without any prior experience before and running that successfully.

[23:40] And I think even last night with the call from a prior constitutional officer, a lot of the questions

[23:46] did a Mr. Van Kleek not having a prior head position and, you know, can he deal with

[23:57] constitutionals? Can he manage five bosses? A lot of those were kind of answered in the

[24:07] discussions that I revealed. So if I was to move anything, I would like to discuss

[24:16] Mr. Van Kleeak as the administrator.

[24:27] So I'm looking for a agent for change and my selection is Tracy Miller.

[24:41] Mr. Hansen.

[24:44] Yeah, for all the reasons that have been stated about Mr. Van Kleeak.

[24:48] I think that he's the right guy for this amendment three issue.

[24:53] because of his leadership abilities and how he handles himself.

[25:00] So I would move to, given that when it's time,

[25:05] I would move to select Mr. Vankley.

[25:08] Mr. Richardson?

[25:12] I think they all had different values and qualities.

[25:17] All wonderful candidates, but I don't feel that any of them fit.

[25:21] are needs at this time. One thing sounded great, then it fell short on the other side. One

[25:29] another one. They all were great people. I said if I could put all three of them into one

[25:34] person, man, would we have the best, you know, administrative ever. But at this point, I don't

[25:41] think there's a choice for me to make there. I was leaning toward Mr. Reed for his experience,

[25:46] but it was just wasn't the strength I wanted to see, I want leadership to be strong, and I

[25:55] and I need that in order to feel that we're doing the best we can do for our residents and

[26:00] our community and I'd rather hold on to what we have now than make an era and have to

[26:07] suffer the consequences later. I was able to come with that idea in my mind immediately once they

[26:15] to the dias and present it what they knew. And these are all lovely people, but I just didn't

[26:20] feel that any of them were going to be. Having the leadership qualities I'm looking for,

[26:26] and I'm looking for a strong leader. I'll just leave it at that. That's the only way I feel.

[26:31] So thank you, Mr. Richardson.

[26:36] So out of the three, and I know that I was the one who brought

[26:41] Mr. Grant Cleaks resume to the front because I did see, you know, was interested in how he

[26:48] worked from the bottom to the top and all the various departments he worked at.

[26:52] I am a little leery given the forms that we were provided for references.

[26:58] They both, they all seem to mimic the same weakness, which is aggressiveness and intense

[27:03] intensity and debate, so that makes me somewhat hesitant, because I'm not sure that we need

[27:10] aggressive with us, obviously, and with staff, and intense, and convicted about their beliefs,

[27:18] they said, and that might be difficult to work with. So I'm not opposed to hearing more debate

[27:25] to try to get a group consensus on him, or not opposed really to continuing to move

[27:33] with a search. I did not think that Miss Miller had enough. I liked her. I really thought she'd be

[27:41] good for strategic planning. She seems like an excellent consultant but I'm not sure that she would

[27:48] had the depth with actual county work in budget to continue. Mr. Reed was a very nice person again

[27:58] small town, small town, small, you know, and I don't think that's right either, that kind

[28:06] of reminded me a little bit of what Palm Coast is going through with their pick, and I just

[28:12] wasn't comfortable with that. So those two, I can't really get on board with. I can see the attraction

[28:19] about Mr. Vancouver. He seems like a real go-getter, but I'm a little worried and so I'm open

[28:28] to hearing more discussion for him, but I'm also open to continuing a search. So that is where

[28:35] I'm at. And I know that Ms. Carney said that she

[28:42] did not want to, you don't want to, you have your

[28:45] pick. So I understand that. So I don't know Mr. Dance if there's any other information. I did not

[28:51] here for anybody, our staff has indicated

[28:55] that they really liked Mr. Rand Creek as well,

[28:59] just because it's always nice to have

[29:01] somebody that has a good breadth of understanding

[29:05] for government, and obviously is nearby.

[29:09] But just a little bit of hesitant

[29:11] based on some of the comments in the references.

[29:16] So that's where I'm at, that, and you know,

[29:20] Is that the right that so I'm open hearing more about that and I think that's what we have to do because it doesn't look like we have 100% on board right now.

[29:30] So if there's any argument to be made of what you felt would be a good fit here.

[29:36] Well I hear it.

[29:37] If we're going to pause here, I'd like to know what.

[29:42] And we need to give direction,

[29:47] I did ask the candidates about the search.

[29:52] I feel that if you have a willing able body that's in a profession,

[30:00] Like, I didn't demonstrate her, making $200,000 a year.

[30:07] Did we do anything? Can we do anything different that we

[30:10] haven't already done? And the answer is going to be, I believe, a professional search team. And

[30:17] I'm not so sure that it's not going to be the same pool of people that already went through the

[30:24] process that we just went through. So I would need to know what exactly did we miss on

[30:32] getting the right candidate.

[30:35] We let FAC narrow down 91 people, 98 people, 81, oh, 81, sorry, 81 people.

[30:46] 30, 30 qualified and they narrow down the 30. I'm sorry to 12 or 10, whatever. And then we came together

[30:56] And we were able to come to consensus on three, four, and then somebody got a job.

[31:03] I just don't know what waiting and are we waiting for Commissioner Hanson's seat to be

[31:14] turned over because I'm not, I don't think that Palm Coast had any better of a successful

[31:20] search than we had.

[31:21] that is not my point okay that's not so how are we going to get I would like to hear from Charlie or Adam

[31:30] how are we going to get a different pool if we just went through 30 how do we get a different pool of

[31:37] people do we knock on doors do we send letters requesting people to come here we have a pretty

[31:46] nice package. I hope everyone on this board believes that we have a very attractive

[31:52] package. That's what we need the best. Well, how do you get the best PAM? I mean, we're both

[32:00] realtors. Everyone says that we want the best. We want the best. So they look us

[32:05] up on the internet. They see how many houses we sold last year and they call us

[32:11] interview us, right? So, how do we know, how do we know who is the best, Pam? How do we know

[32:17] who is the best? By seeing more than three candidates and saying, okay, this is all we got.

[32:24] We didn't, but, but, but, it's all 30. We didn't see 30. We saw three. Well, no, Pam. We saw

[32:30] 10. We had that original interview. I know. And the numbers were not all agreeable. And

[32:37] every week, everybody voted for boat, right?

[32:40] Yeah, everyone vote, right?

[32:42] Not everybody, it was still four.

[32:43] I think it would have been a different choice

[32:45] if we had had five that day.

[32:47] Correct.

[32:47] And it would have been a different discussion,

[32:49] but we had four.

[32:50] Okay, we had four, we had four.

[32:55] And so he went and three people

[32:58] that we were looking at, all got the jobs, right?

[33:01] The first three, right?

[33:04] It was three others.

[33:04] So there was six, so little by little, we took our time long enough to make sure that it was found to be the professional firm as well.

[33:13] And if we think any differently, then we're got our heads in the sand, because a professional firm will take longer than what we just went through, because what we went through was pretty long.

[33:26] I'm not going to say that.

[33:27] So I guess I just need to know who is the perfect candidate.

[33:30] so do you want somebody from Orange County? Do you want us to? How do we pick up the best NFL

[33:38] player when we're not defined? We have a job description. We've got to take some kind of action

[33:49] in order to get a looksy. We can't figure out who the right person is in three hours of sitting

[33:57] I'm talking to them. I just, you got to, you just got to, you got to set realistic expectations.

[34:10] I'm sure.

[34:12] You know, let me, a couple things that I heard as we went down the dice.

[34:17] You talked a little bit about temperament.

[34:20] So what I think we saw in Mr. Van Kleek is, at least in my interview, he talked about his leadership style.

[34:29] and being a coach coaching youth and others.

[34:33] I think what you see is that enthusiasm from a coaching standpoint,

[34:39] and the references I coach people up, right?

[34:42] So I think that intensity is probably part of his personality

[34:50] and has led him to the successful point where he is.

[34:54] So I, you know, even an analogy that I've used in this process is, right, it's no different

[35:03] than, and I'll use the sports analogy, a universally looking for a new coach.

[35:09] You can look at the existing pool of coaches that have been around for a while, I'll use

[35:18] the leaders as an example.

[35:20] So you take and you look at successful lower division coaches and can they make the step

[35:27] and sometimes you hit the home run, sometimes you don't, but you know, the gators went down

[35:34] to a lower division and brought in urban mire and got them a national championship.

[35:38] They also went down and got Billy Napier and had mediocrity.

[35:45] But I see traits in Mr. Van Kleeak that we have, I feel, the opportunity to go down into

[35:54] that lower division of somebody who has proven themselves, but not at the upper level and

[36:00] provide that opportunity for them to be able to shine and implement their system.

[36:09] I'm was equally impressed by how he approached the position where he didn't have the experience.

[36:16] And I think he'll bring that back to the administration level.

[36:21] So when he went to emergency management, he rode with EMS.

[36:25] He spent a shift with the fire guys and learned those positions and that department from the ground up.

[36:33] And that will translate, I think, to administration and take that same approach to one, and also the relationship with the five bosses.

[36:45] I mean, he's not unfamiliar with that. He had to deal with commissioners, but not as bosses.

[36:51] But, I see, I think there's opportunities to be able to,

[37:03] the also thing is longevity, I think, because he's from

[37:07] Balucia, he understands he's got to move, but he also has family

[37:13] and roots in Balucia, and I think there's long-term stability in that,

[37:18] which is really critical in our success as stability.

[37:24] The process we're going through is not healthy.

[37:28] Three, three year change.

[37:30] The school district has done that. They haven't been able to keep an executive for more than three years, and it hurts momentum. So I also feel that local roots will provide stability.

[37:45] and the opportunity for long-term stability.

[37:48] Madam Chair, if I may.

[37:50] Yes, sir.

[37:51] When I was interviewing the three candidates,

[37:54] I was in my mind thinking about the memory three

[37:57] and thinking about what we just went through

[38:00] with a 5% cut.

[38:04] And I kind of in my mind, I was wondering,

[38:07] how would they handle that?

[38:08] How would each of those three handle it?

[38:10] And so I kind of directed my last comment myself question was leadership style, and I didn't get a good feeling from two of the candidates that they could handle that, which is going to be could be tough, real tough.

[38:32] And Mr. Van Cleve came of the three, he came across as the guy

[38:40] who could handle that.

[38:43] Because it's going to be tough, and his leadership style lends itself to getting through this with the staff intact.

[38:53] It really does, as Andy pointed out, is coaching style, and I really appreciate that.

[39:04] Having been leaders of men for a long time, I appreciated his approach.

[39:15] And I think he'll work.

[39:17] I really think he's the right guy, and I think he'll be able to handle what's coming.

[39:25] So, I certainly would like to at least deliver a vote of a majority consensus.

[39:33] Is this something that I know Ms. Carney and Ms. Richardson and myself?

[39:38] Is this something that if we had more time with Mr. Vankley, a second round of interview,

[39:44] just with him, would that be something that you, you feel like you could need, or you would

[39:49] an entertain to have a comfort level there or so you can go further and interviewing or the

[39:58] sport makes a decision or are you comfortable with arguments that were made and is there

[40:04] anything there for you to think about or consider?

[40:09] I'll start.

[40:11] I think Mr. Van Cleat was a dynamo.

[40:14] He's a dynamo. He's very impressive. He's dressed sharp. He was very, very jovial, very pleasant,

[40:27] very guy. My question is, is it the right guy? Because there's a complex board up here, and we have

[40:37] complex and different types of, it's not a simple little small city that everybody's all together.

[40:46] We've got diversity, has he been rural, has he been, has he been ocean-front?

[40:54] Just because he's in pollution doesn't mean he's worked on those issues, does he have

[40:58] a full understanding of what this job has he been prepped for this job?

[41:03] This is my concern and are we going to be the preppers and then who's he going to follow?

[41:09] And how's that going to work?

[41:11] That's where my concern is, where is he going to get educated on that job?

[41:14] What? I don't doubt that he's not educated on the job given his tenure in

[41:20] Felicia County nor do I doubt that he's not work both rural and beach.

[41:24] That's a, that's a, that's a given with Felicia County.

[41:28] Did you, did you have enough of it?

[41:29] But I discussed it with him.

[41:31] I did not.

[41:31] Okay.

[41:32] Limited did the three questions really in the timeframe.

[41:36] Twenty minutes did not give a,

[41:38] a good breath to get through it all.

[41:42] Is there any,

[41:45] I hate to, before we go out and hear from the public, is there Ms. Carney, you said Ms. Miller,

[41:54] but there's just not seem to be an interest to follow through with Ms. Miller, and I believe

[41:58] we can say, if we say that Mr. Reed is probably not in the running here, so I think there's

[42:04] I'm being a click, I'd love to see either consensus for Hammer, consensus.

[42:10] My concern is a continuation of Volusia County.

[42:14] Let's face it.

[42:15] Flegal County was once Volusia County.

[42:18] 100 years ago, we split from Volusia County and St. John's split right down the middle,

[42:25] exactly.

[42:28] so

[42:31] I like his approach.

[42:35] He takes on a challenge. There's no doubt he takes on a challenge.

[42:44] I guess I didn't talk so much to him about money or finances.

[42:52] Mr. Reed had, in my opinion, the most strong, the strongest finance background.

[43:03] I just don't want, I don't know.

[43:05] I just don't want an extension of pollution.

[43:08] Every reference comes from a pollution county.

[43:11] I would almost guarantee that we should be prepared that his deputy would come from flight from a pollution county.

[43:18] I know that we have interlocal agreements with

[43:24] Valucia County on fire, safety.

[43:27] We work very, the sheriff's department.

[43:30] I just see this as an extension of Valucia County.

[43:34] I hate to say this, but I just see it as an extension

[43:38] of Valucia County.

[43:39] Would I love for somebody to bring him in as our deputy?

[43:45] Yes.

[43:45] I'm just not so sure we're ready for that step.

[43:50] We all know it.

[43:52] The administrator is the head of the departments.

[43:55] The department heads are the people on the ground.

[44:00] He doesn't manage our 500 people.

[44:04] He manages probably, I don't know, a half a dozen, a dozen people who then manage 500 people.

[44:12] So, I guess if I could see the vision or to see how I just see us becoming

[44:22] Volusia County and I'm sorry.

[44:26] I did not see a lot of economic development there.

[44:29] I did not see, I just didn't see it.

[44:35] So, unless I get more time with Mr. Van Klee, I'm not going to be in consensus on this.

[44:40] I'm sorry guys.

[44:41] I just see a FO of the Lusha County road to us and said I became the CFO of Lusha County, November

[44:48] 2019. I hired Anna Annan Erin as my management and budget director in October of 2020.

[44:55] Unless in two years I advocated and secured Erin's promotion to Deputy Department Director of

[44:59] Budget.

[45:00] Due to his exceptional work product and ability, he excels an analytical analysis and communication.

[45:06] So, he does, he was with them as a budget director. I sense from this that we don't, we like him, but we don't know enough and we haven't spent enough time.

[45:17] And I'm wondering if the best thing to do and the fairest thing to do would be to spend some more time with him, possibly, and come back and reconvene on this.

[45:31] Mr. DeHath?

[45:33] Mr. DeHath?

[45:35] It's unconventional.

[45:36] I don't know, but I don't disagree that that might be the best path.

[45:42] I mean, he's not actively, he's not one of the ones actively searching.

[45:48] You know, because he's a neighbor and is looking at a, you know,

[45:54] his career path is administrator.

[45:57] I mean, he wants to be an administrator

[45:58] that's what he's worked all this time for, um, and instead of doing another open search, I would

[46:06] rather spend time with building a consensus if it comes to that. And an opportunity for him to

[46:15] build the consensus would be an answer to some of these questions would be worthwhile time as opposed

[46:21] to opening it back up again. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not adverse to doing that. I would focus in more

[46:27] on what his answers are.

[46:29] And I think we went on one time.

[46:30] We would then submit concerns so that he has time to address those or

[46:36] give him an opportunity.

[46:38] So there were some very valid concerns raised that we may not have had time to hit in a

[46:44] third minute interview.

[46:47] And I'll take Commissioner Carney's point, he was in charge of one of the largest

[46:55] departments. He wasn't running Volusia County. I think it's unfair to call him an extension of Volusia

[47:02] County. He's not had that opportunity to be able to shape the top level of Volusia County.

[47:11] But it's, um, so I don't know that I would go that far.

[47:15] In addition, he's trying to up his, his, that basis, he's willing to fight and win and learn.

[47:23] Right. And Volusia County is much, I mean, it's a huge county, and so he's been exposed to a lot of things that we haven't maybe, you know, because we were growing, but we're by no means clean up. And Volusia County is extremely diverse. I mean, they've got, you know, the west side, that's a whole Southern side. It's similar. So it's, it's a, it is a unique, they have their own unique set of,

[47:52] problems and stuff. So I don't see, I see your suggestion as positive, we would need him to buy

[48:00] into that. We've now gone, if what you're saying was we've gone from 3 to 1, will you spend

[48:07] some extra time with us so that we can answer some of our questions?

[48:12] That's some of my point. I mean, not that we can have a say and I would like to know what he also would

[48:18] as a interim, you know, who would be our deputy, you know, thoughts about where he would

[48:25] thought he would go internally or versus externally for that, you know, there's just some

[48:32] of that. I just didn't get enough time up with him. It literally went so quick. It was like we

[48:36] got 15 minutes,

[48:40] and I just couldn't even get into, you know, this reference says this or whatever,

[48:46] Plus, we didn't have our Constitutionals didn't show up to meet and greet.

[48:52] We didn't really hear from the public.

[48:55] So there's a whole separate...

[48:57] Yeah, the opportunity.

[48:59] Maybe I don't want to throw the baby out with a bathwater.

[49:01] That's always my saying, like, I'm not ready to do that.

[49:04] I would like some more one at one time.

[49:07] So that when we come back, we know that the other two are not effective or don't work for us.

[49:13] We know we're not going to get consensus on them.

[49:15] but the one who is not actively entertaining because he wants to stay in the region,

[49:19] he's looking to be promoted, we could have someone on one time with him, and then we'll really

[49:23] know, we have to go back to a search because I uncovered this or felt this way. I don't think we're

[49:29] ready to answer that yet. So that's that's my take on it. I would rather than deliver a 501 whoever we choose.

[49:36] I would rather spend time on on the one consensus candidate than going back out.

[49:45] even if it's just an hour hour and a half.

[49:47] I don't object to that because I thought we were on speed dating, you know,

[49:52] and they were gone and there was no follow-up for my time.

[49:55] And I think you can add more time.

[49:57] It doesn't have to be.

[49:58] I think it's the time and I don't want to put them short.

[50:01] Now we're hour and a half.

[50:02] Or maybe, you know, it could be something, I don't know, in very specific

[50:07] to issues in your region that could give us our follow-up questions.

[50:11] HR could review them, make sure they're good to go with those.

[50:14] And then have those questions answered by him, you know, you know, I may have very specific

[50:21] questions.

[50:22] He has a rodent bridge background.

[50:23] I think I don't see someone that's not done this before or has an influence structure

[50:32] experience in the realm of administration, of a county getting us to the next level.

[50:39] I think he's probably perfect for, like I say.

[50:43] He's already deputy or assistant or where he is in evolution, but this is going to be

[50:51] a hard self for me.

[50:52] I'm just going to be totally honest.

[50:57] But I think there's no consensus for the other two, no real consensus.

[51:02] So rather than lose the one app, I can't at least let the rest go through the vetting process.

[51:09] And then we can come back to the

[51:12] Diaz here in determined if we need to do a professional search

[51:16] from there or we comfortable to move forward.

[51:19] So your consensus on Vincleek is,

[51:22] my consensus right now because even I,

[51:24] I'm not sure because this 20 minute was just not enough.

[51:28] I just, in fact, I don't have an issue with him for say.

[51:33] I just need a little bit more time.

[51:34] This is a big decision for our group.

[51:37] And I want to get it right, and that's not that we're in decisive, it's that we're really trying to get this right and make sure that they're really good fit for this organization.

[51:48] And so I think there's no way that everybody walked out of there in 20 minutes and could really get a grasp because he doesn't have a track record as an administrator.

[51:59] So there's not a lot out there for us to look at in that regard, but I think he deserves

[52:06] another hour of our time each to fully vet how we feel about it because you said,

[52:13] oh, I don't know about budget and all that, but he had a long history of budget, so maybe

[52:16] get into that.

[52:17] Well, the finance part.

[52:18] It is.

[52:20] And Volusia has a very much different arrangement on taxing, you know, they've set up.

[52:30] Numerous, different taxing authorities underneath, instead of just our one at the alarm, general fund.

[52:38] They have a whole different and unique, we spent some time talking about how to become more effective,

[52:47] more efficient, more transparent. If you haven't talked to him about that, I think there's opportunities

[52:54] these there too about how we, you know, because we were making, and you have to, you have

[53:02] to get buy-in on those things too. So, I mean, there's time for more discussion, I don't

[53:09] disagree.

[53:10] I think if we're at least going to consensus too, set up time with him individually, have

[53:18] HR that are questions, and maybe if you want to give him a one-pager and be like, how would

[53:23] you solved this issue, what is your take on this budget,

[53:27] what is your take on this?

[53:28] Again, it wasn't the personality, it wasn't what,

[53:31] I mean, I mean, I just don't think we can see what,

[53:34] yeah, other than that, then we can come back and have a discussion

[53:37] if there's a lot of things, if there's not a consensus,

[53:40] we can have a discussion after that to do a public search.

[53:43] In defensive, the process that we're doing.

[53:48] If I could fall back on, you know, it's a state's navy.

[53:52] They have to select commanding officers of ships.

[53:58] And the process is not unlike what we're doing here.

[54:05] A board meets, and all they have to look at is what the person has done.

[54:13] That's all they have.

[54:15] And it's guaranteed that none of them have had commanding officer experience.

[54:20] but they've been executives, executive officer,

[54:24] other words, the number two guy.

[54:26] They've managed at that level.

[54:29] And that's kind of what we're faced with here.

[54:31] We're faced with someone who's never been the commanding officer.

[54:36] But it's for the Navy, it's worked pretty well

[54:39] for 250 years to do that process.

[54:44] And have the board look at what this individual has done,

[54:48] What makes up their resume, if you will, what have they done, and have they done it well?

[54:55] And that's all the selection board has to go on when they pick commanding officer. That's all they have to go on.

[55:00] And that's all we have to go on in this case. So I think the methodology we're using is good.

[55:07] And I actually think we could pick somebody today. I think we could do it. We've got a lot of background. I agree that

[55:14] two of the candidates just

[55:15] There's too many weaknesses, too many, but this one individual has got a good solid track record.

[55:24] He's led people, a lot of people, big organizations.

[55:32] I was very impressed with his, especially his background in the financial management.

[55:41] He's managed in Bolusia County, the big groups of people, and I think if we look at that

[55:48] overall and we look at that track record, there's enough there to make him a county administrator.

[55:57] There's enough, there's plenty of background, plenty of successes to say this guy's ready.

[56:04] He's ready for coming in.

[56:08] So I just throw that off him.

[56:12] You don't mind.

[56:13] We can go to public comment for just a minute.

[56:15] I think I'm back and see if we can get a consensus somewhere.

[56:18] I'd like to open up this to public comment.

[56:20] That's three minute time out of period allocated.

[56:23] You can approach state your name and give us the information.

[56:29] and only one public member here, but we've received some questions.

[56:32] Looks like there's this rest of it.

[56:35] No one approach.

[56:36] I close out public comment.

[56:40] I'll leave their entertainment a motion.

[56:42] But as I said, I don't know that we're gonna move towards

[56:44] a true consensus of what we'd like to have, a 50.

[56:49] Is there a consensus to...

[56:52] Man, I'm sure we try it.

[56:54] Can we try it?

[56:54] We certainly can try it.

[56:56] Man, I'm sure I move that we select,

[56:57] Aaron Bentley has our next county administrator.

[57:01] I would say, Greg, that at this point, I'm not going to second it because I don't

[57:08] think we have at least a four to one, I don't think the motion is even worth doing.

[57:14] I think if we're going to move, let's go on consensus to continue the process with Aaron and

[57:22] And the vote is unnecessary because he needs the entire support, at least a four to one to be able to move forward in my mind.

[57:36] It's, it's, his success depends on a supportive board and if we can't get there, then we don't get there.

[57:43] But I think you, we give him an opportunity to continue answering some of our questions that we have.

[57:51] One of the comments that was made, I don't think I'm in charge, I think we're all in charge.

[57:57] I think we're all equals here.

[57:59] And I can listen to anything that's been told to me.

[58:04] I do appreciate what you said, Greg.

[58:06] I'm wondering, in the Navy, do they have somebody over the boat?

[58:13] Oh, the chief of the boat?

[58:15] It's a ship. It's not a boat?

[58:17] the ship to me it's a boat it floats it's a boat okay I'm not in a navy and I'm not a military woman

[58:24] so it's okay just a mother it's very cool or real okay is there somebody above you know

[58:30] could make fun I'm so stupid because I've got some sense well I'm not a stupid as I love

[58:39] the ship excuse me the ship there's somebody over that captain the captain's pretty autonomous

[58:46] But there is a boss.

[58:47] But there is a boss.

[58:49] Okay, so we are the boss of the ship's captain.

[58:53] There you go.

[58:54] Okay, making you all happy now that I said what you wanted.

[58:59] I think we can give him a chance.

[59:01] I thought he was a lovely candidate.

[59:03] I think he said got a great personality.

[59:05] And I think he can cause some calm in the storm of what we're going to be floating into.

[59:10] floating, you know, like that floating into on the next round. I think we can give him

[59:17] his, I'm not against giving him an opportunity to prove himself to each and every one of

[59:22] us. And that's what I think we should do if anything with any of these candidates. He is a

[59:29] star that might just turn up to hit the moon. But if not, he might just land on the stars.

[59:37] So it's not the end of the world, but I think he's got an opportunity to prove himself to us because of his personality and his style.

[59:51] He does have a style. We all saw that. So at least we know his leadership quality.

[59:57] Oh yeah, I had a Ted Lasson moment from him.

[1:00:00] I mean, he's like like in a coach. He's a courier, it's not judgmental. He was excited. He said, I had it said last

[1:00:08] moment, so, but I just, I'm sure he's watching this. I like him 20 minutes is not enough for me to know.

[1:00:16] It's not. I would really like some more time. I have very specific drill down question.

[1:00:22] And instead of preparing for three, we can prepare for one. Can I just clarify for a moment, please?

[1:00:28] Yeah, so Pam the reason behind my comment is I was standing face to face with the captain on a cruise ship

[1:00:36] And I called it a boat and he looked at me he goes, ma'am

[1:00:40] I run a ship. I don't run no boat

[1:00:44] You just tell him I was just telling my story. I want to clear you I want to make it clear to you

[1:00:49] We carry boats. Yeah, it's right because if you want a boat you got a survivor boat right outside

[1:00:57] That's called a safe note, right?

[1:00:59] Yeah, that's the pink one that you jump into like that.

[1:01:02] With that, is there consensus to move forward, Mr. Rianclee,

[1:01:07] for further interviewing?

[1:01:08] Sorry to be the procedural web blanket,

[1:01:10] because we have a motion, so we're either going to have it fail

[1:01:13] for like a second or does the motion make

[1:01:15] or one with straw his motion?

[1:01:17] I would throw all the motion. Thank you.

[1:01:18] Thank you, sir. I'm so glad.

[1:01:23] That's why we pay him the big ones.

[1:01:26] That's why we have him here.

[1:01:28] Is there a sense of to continue on with interviewing process of Mr. Ranclete?

[1:01:33] Yes.

[1:01:33] Is there a time we would like that?

[1:01:37] Is there a time that we would like to be able to do that?

[1:01:39] Okay.

[1:01:40] So if we could have a, we don't want to drag them through the mud.

[1:01:45] So if there's a half day he can come in between down the next scheduled board meeting

[1:01:50] would that be? Do we have to do everything one-on-one or can we do the one-hour up here?

[1:01:58] That's a good question.

[1:02:00] Mr. Rodriguez, what's here?

[1:02:01] I would like some one-on-one I want to talk about.

[1:02:04] I think the process was good, where at least another public presentation where we have more of the public.

[1:02:11] So we go to the the trouble of making sure that we get most of the kind if not all the

[1:02:16] Constitutionals here and and a lot more people from the from the public I don't think it was

[1:02:22] Well average right I don't think that most the public didn't really realize we were even doing this right I found that out last night

[1:02:29] After all well, so that's that would all that was another thing, you know, and our Constitutionals were traveling and this

[1:02:36] And so now that we've got it narrowed down, that one might, you know,

[1:02:40] oh, we may end up doing public.

[1:02:41] I don't know until I have more time.

[1:02:44] I think that's not too much.

[1:02:45] My only hiccup is right after them.

[1:02:49] If we do it before the meeting, it's great because

[1:02:51] right after that, I've got the fact innovation

[1:02:54] and policy meeting in Jacksonville.

[1:02:58] All right.

[1:02:59] Do we have to revisit something today?

[1:03:04] Yeah.

[1:03:04] of you can meet with them individually and that's not a problem. I just can't have more than one

[1:03:08] of you meet with them. So if you want to have one open meeting where it's all discussed out

[1:03:13] in the open, that's fine. You can either have it as part of a, and let's say it's an agenda item

[1:03:19] and a workshop and then you can just have a special meeting right after it to, to make your

[1:03:23] to vote for your selection. You can do that or have it be a separate meeting or include it in one of

[1:03:28] our scheduled commission meetings if you really want to get the public more involved. That's fine.

[1:03:33] but I just can't have more than one of you meeting

[1:03:36] with him at the same time.

[1:03:38] That individual time is fine.

[1:03:40] I would look to Commissioner Carney and Richardson

[1:03:43] on how best you want to approach it.

[1:03:47] You have more questions, reservations.

[1:03:50] How do you want one on one time and a public meeting?

[1:03:55] Let's do that.

[1:03:57] I'm fine with whatever you want to do.

[1:03:59] I'm not against any of it.

[1:04:01] I just want to make sure we're doing the right thing.

[1:04:02] That's all my concerns are really truthfully, it's not the value of him, it's the value of what it's going to serve our entire group.

[1:04:11] So I appreciate that.

[1:04:15] Is that okay for everyone?

[1:04:17] All right.

[1:04:18] With that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

[1:04:20] Move for your adjourn.

[1:04:20] We're adjourned.

[1:04:21] Thank you.

[1:04:23] I can go to work now.

September 4, 2026 Commission Special Meeting

Agenda

Transcript