Clermont council updates city-manager search timeline; interim manager announces deputy hire

Council members and members of the public pressed for clarity on the city-manager search timeline and community involvement in the hiring process, and Interim City Manager Freddie Van Wagner reported next steps and a personnel appointment.

Several residents urged transparency and a clear timeline for hiring a permanent city manager. Resident Brian Bain and Paula Hoisington asked why a city-manager update was not listed under new business and requested a plan for public participation in the search. Council members said procurement required completing evaluations of nine candidate firms and that two council members still needed to finish scoring; Van Wagner and staff reported the item is tentatively scheduled for the May 13 meeting for council action on a search-firm selection.

Separately, Van Wagner announced he had hired Dan Mathis as deputy city manager (an interim appointment taken during Van Wagner’s interim tenure). Van Wagner said staff conducted a national search and narrowed candidates; he described Mathis as “very knowledgeable” and said he had the council’s consensus to proceed. Mathis addressed the council briefly and thanked staff.

Council members discussed promotion and temporary appointment practices within the police department as a related personnel example. Several council members expressed support for promoting from within for morale reasons while acknowledging the city manager’s ultimate hiring authority.

The council did not record a formal roll-call vote on the deputy city manager appointment; Van Wagner reported he proceeded after staff interviews and sought the council’s informal consensus.