How long have you been a FCCMA member?
I initially joined FCCMA in 1987 and was a member for 2 years; I left the state of Florida to accept a position in Virginia and returned in 1997. I have been a member since that time.
Are you an ICMA member and if so, how long?
I have been a member of ICMA for over 37 years.
Please describe your areas of formal/advanced education.
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Valdosta State University; a Master’s in Public Administration from Georgia Southern University. Throughout my career I have attended scores of professional development courses and sessions and I have worked very hard to stay up to date in an ever changing field.
What got you interested in public service?
My grandmother was a very giving and community involved person. She was a member of the American Legion, the Eastern Star and was active in her church. She volunteered as a poll worker and was always assisting as a volunteer in community causes. I observed her level of commitment to her community and was inspired by the idea of public service from her actions. As I weighed options for my own career, I kept coming back to the personal gratification that can be gained by serving your community. City and County management seemed like a natural fit enabling me to serve communities but also to engage in gratifying and interesting work for a lifetime.
What is your current occupation?
Since 2005 I have served as the City of Gainesville City Manager.
Please give a brief job description.
I serve at the will and pleasure of the City of Gainesville City Commission. In that capacity I work with a team of gifted leaders to provide recommendations to the City Commission on policy options available to them as they strive to guide the community. I also directly supervise the department directors for general city government who are carrying out City Commission policy. As City Manager I believe we serve many different roles. We serve as facilitators and sometimes resemble the orchestra leader making sure that everyone is prepared to play their part in a complex score. I also provide leadership to both the organization and the community on various issues. Important elements of this role involve planning, implementation of policy direction and evaluation of the activities and actions of our organizations.
Please describe your typical day.
Gainesville works a compressed work week so I am typically in the office by 7 AM and almost immediately start meeting with staff members in a team format. On any given day, I will have between 8 and 10 appointments that focus on various issues. I spend a lot of time with my City Commissioners and meet at least 1 ½ hours one-on-one with each Commissioner each week. In addition to those individual meetings, I attend meetings of our City Commission committees, City Commission meetings and in some cases specials meetings that commissioners or the full commission has called. Like most City and county Managers the day does not stop at 6 PM. I typically have 2 to 3 night meetings per week. It is not unusual to start the day at 7 and finally make it home after 9 pm; throughout the course of the day, the week and the year there are mostly highs and a few lows. As a team based leader I work hard to ensure that the right people are focusing on the initiatives to be accomplished. I check in with those individuals regularly and provide assistance when required to help the team achieve their objectives.
What is your favorite part of the job?
As the City Manager it is exhilarating to look back over a period of time and see that the organization has grown in its capacity to make solid decisions and implement objectives established by the City Commission. I gain significant gratification in seeing the members of my team; (the department directors and managers from the organization) grow and accomplish the City Commission initiatives. One of the characteristics that make City and County Management so appealing is the diversity of issues of which we deal. On any given hour, six or more very distinct issues may come across your desk and offer you challenges and opportunities. As I look back and assess what really makes our jobs interesting it is first the diversity of issues with which we get to deal and second watching our organizations grow in the ability to accomplish objectives.
What is your least favorite part of the job?
When things are going well and everybody is pulling in the same direction, being a City or County Manager is an outstanding job. There are times when dealing within a political environment that a City Commission or County Commission cannot reach a general consensus on the community’s direction and the manager can get pulled into the politics of community issues and decision making. When the manager becomes a focus of the political process rather than one element of the process the job can become more difficult and is less enjoyable.
What is your most memorable experience on the job?
I have been fortunate to have a career that has provided me many opportunities to learn about many different services and issues. My most memorable experiences involve facilitating teams which accomplished significant results. While serving as a Deputy County Manager in Loudoun County, Virginia, I served as a team leader to build over 300,000 square feet of new county government space. We used that new construction opportunity to reengineer the organization. Teams were assembled from throughout the organization to focus on business processes that drove the physical layout of the buildings that we were planning to occupy and were able to reengineer our processes both streamlining how we did business but also reducing the physical square footage that would be needed for county government operations. The building that was constructed met the community’s needs and was done so using innovative construction and financing techniques that set the standard for local government at the time. Although that was a memorable experience, the most important experiences that I have had in my local government tenure has been building sustainable teams, hiring good people, and helping those individuals to grow in their professions.
What are hobbies/interests?
Since I moved to Florida in the late 80s and now for the past 16 years, I have been very interested in palm trees. Even though Gainesville’s winters can be a little cooler, I still observe the palm trees that can grow in our climate and have a number of trees in my own yard.
If you could give one piece of advice to young people interested in a career in public service, what would it be?
Persons interested in local government have a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the cities and counties in which they live. I strongly believe that early in your career you should seek different opportunities to grow in areas in which you are not an expert and should volunteer wherever possible to be a team member or team leader in issues beyond your basic job description. Those opportunities to be a team leader or a team member for projects beyond your primary position will open up doors and build your confidence in a manner far beyond just fulfilling the requirements of your job description.
Who were your mentors and how have you passed this information down to other young public administrators?
I have served with a number of outstanding City and County Managers and department directors. I have also worked with a number of very good elected officials. I hope that I have learned from everyone that I have worked with. I had the opportunity to work with former Lee County Manager Jim LaRue in the 80s and observed Jim’s commitment to public service together with his humility and quiet tenacity. I spent several years in Charleston SC and worked with Mayor Joe Riley. Mayor Riley was elected in the early 80s and continues to serve in that role today. In a diverse urban environment he demonstrates his commitment to the people of the community in a selfless manner. I also observed his attention to detail which is surpassed by none. Many of the department directors who I have worked with are outstanding leaders in their own right and each have taught me more about service and the technical skills needed to accomplish great things.
Have you always been in the public sector or have you had experience in the private sector?
I began my career while I was in college. I started out managing a tropical fish store and at 20 years old opened my own business. I went to school full time and ran my business full time. I sold the business after I completed graduate school. Since that time I have been 100% committed to local government management.
What career would you pick if you were to pick another?
I have often wondered what the answer to that question would be. When I think of the things that might interest me one of the professions which matches my interests and skill sets is a real-estate developer. I am also very interested in landscaping and plants and I think owning a nursery would provide gratification as you help to make the community more aesthetically pleasing and sustainable.
