The Longwood City Commission selected Leanne Cartagena as its new city clerk on Sept. 15 after a multi-step finalist ranking and deliberation process.

City staff reported 170 applicants for the vacancy. The commission interviewed a final pool of six candidates at earlier meetings; the top six read into the record were John Brock, Madeline Bu, Cassandra Kilgore, Aaron O'Donnell, Bonnie Zlotnick and Leanne Cartagena. Commissioners used confidential ranking sheets (1-5 scale) to narrow the list to three finalists: Aaron O'Donnell, Madeline Bu and Leanne Cartagena.

Following commissioner deliberations, an initial commission vote to appoint Cartagena as city clerk passed 3-2. Commissioners Boney, Morgan and Mayor Brian D. Sackett voted yes; Commissioners McMillan and Deputy Mayor Shoemaker voted no. The commission then directed the city attorney to prepare an employment agreement and placed final appointment and approval of the agreement on the Oct. 6 regular meeting agenda.

At the Sept. 15 meeting the commission later voted 5-0 to approve the motion directing the city attorney to prepare the employment agreement for Cartagena and to place the appointment and employment agreement on the Oct. 6 agenda, contingent on successful pre-employment screening. Staff said the position requires a level 2 background screening because the clerk will access confidential files; the candidate currently holds a level 1 screening.

Commissioners and staff praised the finalist pool. Several commissioners noted Cartagena's performance while serving in an interim communications/library role and her weekly reporting to the commission; other commissioners stated they favored candidates with more records-management experience, including work on high-volume public-records requests.

City HR staff will run the required level 2 background check and, subject to a successful result and to the parties finalizing employment terms, the commission will consider formal appointment and the employment agreement at its Oct. 6 meeting.