Ledger Article: "Polk City Begins Manager Search"

Here is the link to The Ledger article Polk City Begins Manager Search which was printed in Tuesday's paper, following Monday's City Council workshop.  In this article, the author, Kevin Bouffard, seems to imply that City Council decided that a  "bachelor's degree, preferably in public or business administration", would be required.   To the contrary, Council decided they would prefer job applicants with this degree, but would not require it as a minimum qualification, even though Mr. Simmons of Kissimmee, a member of the Florida Chapter of Range Riders, urged the council to limit the search to candidates with at least a bachelor's degree in public or business administration.

It was decided by council to keep the salary and benefits open or negotiable.  The annual salary for the previous City Manager, Cory Carrier, was $72,000 plus generous benefits.  As you might remember, her severance package included a monthly payment of over $9,000 for the last six months of her contract, which was the equivalence of her monthly salary and benefit package.  That comes to a total of over $108,000 annually.  That is a very aggressive compensation package and hopefully the new contract for the next City Manager will mirror the downsized role that this new manager will have.  Quite a few of the responsibilities of our past City Manager have now been outsourced.