'Open long enough': Panama City sets Aug. 31 deadline for city manager applications

Nathan Cobb, Panama City News Herald
·2 min read

PANAMA CITY − Local officials continue their search for the right person to fill the shoes of former City Manager Mark McQueen.

Panama City commissioners on Tuesday gave an update about the ongoing search for a new city manager to replace McQueen, who resigned from the position on Aug. 1 and now works as superintendent of Bay District Schools.

According to information from the meeting, the city already has received about 50 applications for the job. Officials voted Tuesday to close the application period on Aug. 31.

Panama City Commissioners continue their hunt for the right candidate to replace former City Manager Mark McQueen, who now works as superintendent of Bay District Schools.
Panama City Commissioners continue their hunt for the right candidate to replace former City Manager Mark McQueen, who now works as superintendent of Bay District Schools.

"It's been open long enough, (and) I think we have plenty of applicants," Commissioner Brian Grainger said. "I think within the pile of applicants that we have, we have several that are worth looking into further."

Commissioners voted in June to privately advertise for the city manager position for about a month, and then begin negotiations with either Goodwin Recruiting or BPS Recruiting if enough quality candidates were not found within that time.

They did this after considering the proposals of five executive search firms that applied to help find McQueen's replacement. The firms were Goodwin Recruiting, BPS Recruiting, Gomez Partners Inc., GovHR USA and Strategic Government Resources.

As of Tuesday, officials agreed a recruiting firm was not needed, given the amount of applications the city has received.

To help narrow down the search, commissioners approved on Tuesday a separate motion directing each of them to create a list of their top five applicants by Sept. 6. Those selected will then be interviewed.

Ideal candidate: Panama City to use a job description similar to Mark McQueen's to find his replacement

During the meeting, officials also voted to temporarily increase the salary of Brandy Waldron, who is serving as interim city manager and interim CRA director. She will now make $150,000 a year − the advertised salary of the city manager position.

Waldron, who currently earns more than $134,000 a year, was given the increase for taking on the interim duties in addition to her existing responsibilities as assistant city manager of budget, human resources, development services, logistics, quality of life, economic development, business services and CRA.

"It's a lot of work," Commissioner Jenna Haligas said. "You should be paid for the work that you're doing. ... Once we hire a permanent city manager, the salary will revert back to where you're at right now."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City will stop taking city manager applications Aug. 31