City manager and city attorney departures, acting manager appointment and legal retainer authorized

Titusville City Manager informed council March 20 that he will step down; at the same meeting the council designated the assistant city manager to serve as acting city manager and directed human resources to begin recruitment for a replacement city attorney after the city attorney announced his own resignation.

City Attorney announced his intent to resign after roughly 20 years in office and said he provided 60 days’ notice; council members praised his service and directed staff to begin recruiting a replacement. Council gave HR direction to post the city-attorney vacancy and use the existing salary-study data to set recruitment parameters; staff said they would use the Florida League of Cities and other outreach tools to assemble a candidate pool.

Council next appointed the assistant city manager as acting city manager for the interim period. The motion to make the assistant city manager the acting city manager passed on a council voice vote.

Separately, council authorized the city manager to execute a retainer agreement with construction-law attorneys Sasso & Sasso at a reduced hourly rate to assist with the city’s Indian River force-main replacement project. The project’s prime contractor walked off the job with substantial work outstanding; staff said the city has engaged the contractor’s surety and needs construction-law counsel to advise on claims, retainage, and completion strategy. City attorney and public-works staff recommended Sasso & Sasso because they are board certified in construction law and available to assist on an as-needed retainer basis. Council approved the retainer by voice vote.

Ending: Council directed HR to initiate a city-attorney recruitment and confirmed an interim leadership assignment for the next two weeks while beginning the legal work needed to complete the force-main project with assistance from specialized counsel.