Monday night, April 15, the Deltona City Commission is set to finally choose a permanent manager of the city. 

The City Commission April 8 settled on five finalists for greetings and interviews leading up to the selection of a top choice for Deltona’s highest administrative post.

Deltona has not had a permanent chief administrator in more than four years. The city has been supervised by five temporary, interim and caretaker managers since the exit of Jane Shang in January 2020. 

Shang resigned as city manager after the City Commission gave her a no-confidence vote, capping a nearly five-year stint in which she became a lightning rod for criticism from commissioners and citizens upset with her management style.

A public meet-and-greet of the finalists is set for 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 11,at Deltona City Hall, 2345 Providence Blvd. All of the meetings are open to the public.

The following evening, the City Commission will convene at City Hall for interviews with the five.

The City Commission will convene for a regular session at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 15, at which time the elected body will select its top candidate for the post. After the commission makes its decision, city officials will begin negotiations for a contract with the person chosen. Salary, benefits, moving expenses, and a start date for taking over as city manager of Deltona are among the points to be settled.

Deltona received 31 applications in the latest search for a new permanent city manager.  Those applicants were winnowed the field to five finalists for visits to Deltona and a tour of the city this week and interviews with the City Commission.

Those five finalists, as ranked by a committee appointed by the City Commission and by Colin Baenziger & Associates, an executive-search firm, are:

1. C. Scott Andrews, city manager of Bakersfield, California
2. Dale Dougherty, city manager of Garden City, Michigan
3. Terry K. Suggs, Putnam County administrator
4. Carmen Y. Davis, city manager of Lake Worth, Florida
5. Christopher Miller, former administrator of King George County, Virginia

Once the City Commission selects the next city manager, City Clerk Joyce Raftery said it may be “30 to 60 days” before the new hire actually comes to work.

Even as it looks to conclude the manager-selection process, the City Commission is also seeking someone to serve as its legal counsel. Who will be Deltona’s next city attorney?

City Attorney Marsha Segal-George has served as Deltona’s top legal officer for two years, since the commission severed its relationship with the Orlando law firm of Fowler Feeney and Associates PA in March 2022. City commissioners complained about high bills from the firm.

Though Segal-George was and remains a member of that firm, the commission selected her to handle Deltona’s legal work, from advising city leaders to drafting ordinances and resolutions. Segal-George also served for a few days as city manager as well as city attorney, between the departure of John Peters as acting city manager in September 2022 and the coming of James Chisholm in October. Her time at the post has been marked by criticism from Deltonans regarding her billings for her work.

At the direction of the City Commission, Interim City Manager Glenn Whitcomb will contact two law firms who previously expressed interest in working for Deltona to ask if they are still interested. Those two law firms who applied during Deltona’s prior search for an attorney are CobbCole and Fishback Dominick.

“This is our other charter officer right now,” Commissioner Dana McCool said. “We need to take care of this tonight, and not kick the can down the road.”

McCool called for — and got — a commitment to set within 30 days a workshop on finding a new city attorney or law firm for Deltona. The date of that workshop has not yet been set.

“We need to move forward on this,” she added.

Commissioners said Deltona needs someone else to handle the rewriting of the city’s land-development code and amending its growth-management plan.

“When we start working on our land-development code, I want a fresh set of eyes looking at it,” Mayor Santiago Avila said.

Speaking of leadership changes in Deltona, before adjourning its April 8 special meeting, the Whitcomb informed the City Commission that the city government has yet another senior-echelon vacancy. Finance Director Mari Leisen, he said, had submitted her resignation.

Other department heads have exited Deltona City Hall in recent weeks and months, including Development Services Director Joe Ruiz and Human Resources Director Rebecca Wilk.

By this time next week, we should know who will be tapped to be the next permanent city manager of Deltona.

As they move to hire a new chief administrator, the mayor and commissioners are also reviving their search for a new city attorney or a law firm to handle the city’s legal business.

“I think we should still wait until our new manager is here,” Vice Mayor Jody Lee Storozuk said, regarding the timing of the search for a chief legal officer.

Within just a few more days, we may know the name of the next — or prospective — city manager of the 100,000-population Deltona. 

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