The Fort Myers Beach Town Council voted unanimously Friday to begin contract negotiations with its top-ranked town manager candidate, Will McCanney, following a public question-and-answer session with five finalists.

Under the council’s selection procedure, Resolution 23-182, each council member ranked the five candidates and the town clerk tallied combined ranking scores. McCanney had the lowest combined score and therefore emerged as the council’s top choice; the council then voted to authorize contract negotiations and appointed Councilor Woodson as the council liaison for those talks.

Why it matters: The incoming town manager will inherit a municipality still implementing recovery projects and state and FEMA-funded capital work following recent storms. Council members asked finalists detailed questions about budgeting for a small municipality with fluctuating property values, FEMA reimbursement and project implementation, intergovernmental coordination, and restoring community relationships — topics the council said are central to the next manager’s job.

Councilors said the evaluation process was intended to be transparent and consistent with the council’s policy. The procedure discussed on the record required a 15-minute, public Q&A with each applicant; council members then ranked candidates and the clerk combined the rankings. The clerk announced the combined scores during the meeting: McCanney 5 (lowest), Jeremy Schaefer 13, John True 16, Patrick Jordan 18, and Michael Brillhart 23. The council interpreted the lowest combined ranking as the top selection, per the procedure explained on the agenda.

The finalists each answered a similar set of questions from councilors about leadership style, budgeting, disaster recovery, and consensus-building. In his remarks during the interview, McCanney said, “Fort Myers Beach to me represents a terrific opportunity, to be part of bringing back the community,” and described a leadership approach of listening first and empowering staff: “My leadership philosophy ... doesn't start with me. It starts with those that I serve.” Those remarks were part of the public record during the candidate interviews.

Council members moved to authorize contract negotiations rather than immediately appoint a manager. Vice Mayor Aderholt made the motion to proceed with negotiation for McCanney and to designate Councilor Woodson as the council’s liaison; Councilor Safford seconded. The motion carried unanimously; each council member present signaled “aye” when the mayor called the roll.

What comes next: The council said it will use the town’s existing draft contract as the negotiation starting point. Councilor Woodson will work with staff and the selected negotiator to reach terms. The council also discussed a contingency: if negotiations with the top-ranked candidate are unsuccessful, it may proceed to the next candidate(s) per the council’s previously stated process.

Other matters raised during the interviews included managers’ experience overseeing multi-year capital programs and securing outside funding. Candidates cited prior work with FEMA, state agencies and federal partners; they emphasized budgeting over multi-year horizons, intergovernmental coordination, and community engagement as priorities for Fort Myers Beach’s recovery and future planning.

The meeting closed after the council’s unanimous vote to begin negotiations. The council did not take a final appointment at that meeting; any formal hire will follow completion of contract negotiations and a future council vote.