On February 5th, each City Council member met for one-on-one interviews with eight (8) city manager candidates. Yesterday, the Council met to discuss each of their findings.
Of these eight candidates, Mayor J.P. O’Connor asked each Council member to give their top three choices in order of preference.
Councilwoman Charlotte Leonard – 1 Leondrae D. Camel; 2 Howard W. Brown; 3 Michael Jackson
Councilman Erik Gleason – 1 Leondrae D. Camel; 2 Howard W. Brown; 3 Larry Tibbs
Councilman Gary Werner – 1 Howard W. Brown; 2 Mark A. Kutney; 3 Peggy Castano
Vice Mayor Greg Langowski – 1 Leondrae D. Camel; 2 Howard W. Brown; 3 Peggy Castano
Mayor J.P. O’Connor – 1 Leondrae D. Camel; 2 Howard W. Brown; 3 Peggy Castano
Did you spot the pattern? A super majority of the Council had the same top two picks: Leondrae D. Camel and Howard W. Brown!
These two candidates are being invited to speak at Westlake’s March 3rd Special City Council meeting, 5PM at the Lodge. The Council feels it’s important for Westlake residents to see the appeal of these two candidates for themselves.
LEONDRAE D. CAMEL is a Florida A&M and Barry University alum. Mr. Camel is a former Palm Beach County teacher who moved into municipal government roles in 2003. Mr. Camel has been the City Manager of South Bay, FL since 2013.
HOWARD W. BROWN is an FSU alum, an Army veteran and is a credentialed City Manager. Since 2013, Mr. Brown has been working in all sorts of pertinent roles, such as Acting City Manager, City Manager, Village Manager, Town Manager… from Florida to Oklahoma to California to Georgia and back to Florida again!
The City of Westlake is hiring our new City Manager as an independent contractor and therefore providing an “all inclusive salary” (i.e., no benefits package). Councilman Werner wants to amend the city charter to change that, providing a benefits package that will attract top tier candidates going forward.
The City Attorney is working on a professional services agreement that will make clear the expectations and parameters of the job and provide the agreement to the two top candidates ASAP.
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