Homewood council interviews city manager candidate; seeks hire before March as governance transition approaches

Homewood councilors interviewed a candidate for the city manager post and reiterated a hiring timeline tied to a governance change that will take effect Nov. 1 after a municipal election in August. Council members said they are conducting multiple interviews, expect to bring top candidates to Homewood for in-person meetings, and hope to have the selected manager on board by March 1 to help shepherd the transition.

The candidate described a long career in local government and economic development and said learning the city and meeting department heads would be priorities. “The first 100 days, any manager, you really are good with listening to your department directors that are already there,” the candidate said, adding that “effective communication is the first thing for me as a priority” during an initial period of transition.

Why it matters: Homewood is changing from a larger council structure to a manager-led model. Councilors said the city’s budget is “just south of $70,000,000,” there are currently 11 department heads, and officials want a manager in place before the new elected officials take office so that the manager can meet department heads, learn operations and provide continuity.

Council discussion focused on three themes: the candidate’s executive-level and budget experience, risk management and liability mitigation, and what the candidate would do in the first 100 days. Councilor Nick Sims (Ward 3, Place 1) asked about executive experience overseeing departments; the candidate said they had held executive and director-level roles in several Florida local governments, worked closely with department heads and been responsible for budget presentations and line-item budgeting. The candidate noted prior work with large organizations (citing experience in Tallahassee) and with community redevelopment and tax increment-style programs in other cities.

On risk assessment, the candidate said proper infrastructure maintenance, liability awareness (including matters that can lead to lawsuits) and cost controls were central to mitigating city exposure. “When you start talking about public infrastructure... those things that we’re responsible for — the sidewalks, the roads, you know, potholes — you look for ways to mitigate those risks,” the candidate said.

Councilors described Homewood’s organizational setup and expectations. A council member described JJ Bizhoff, the mayor’s chief of staff, as “kind of the glue that holds a lot of our department heads together.” Councilors said department heads currently operate with a high degree of independence because the city has not had a permanent centralized chief executive; they said relationships among department heads and with council have been positive and that staff supported the governance change that passed by referendum in September.

Timeline and process details provided by councilors: multiple interviews were underway, with additional interviews scheduled next week; councilors said they will deliberate and narrow the field, invite top candidates for in-person visits to meet department heads and the mayor, and aim to have the new manager in place by March 1. Councilors emphasized that the municipal election in August will elect fewer members (the council will move from 11 seats to four elected positions) and that the elected officials from that election will take office Nov. 1, which is why councilors seek an earlier onboarding.

No formal vote or appointment was recorded in the interview session. Councilors described the hiring process and timeline but did not announce a selection.

What’s next: Councilors said they will continue interviews, convene deliberations to select finalists, host in-person candidate visits to Homewood, and plan to make a hiring decision in the coming weeks with the objective of onboarding the chosen manager ahead of the November changeover.