Melbourne Beach narrows town manager interviews to five finalists; consultant recommends sequestered in-person process

The Melbourne Beach Town Commission on Nov. 21 voted 5-0 to advance five finalists for interviews in its search for a new town manager and set a Dec. 19 interview day, after hearing a detailed briefing from recruiter Jim Degan of MGT.

Degan told the commission his firm ran an eight-week national search and "got 70, applications from 17 different states. 53 of them were from Florida." He said eight candidates were interviewed by the firm and one later withdrew, leaving seven interview-level candidates. Degan recommended limiting the number of in-person interviews to a manageable group (three to five is common) while leaving the final choice of whom to interview to the commission.

The commission debated whether to interview all seven recommended candidates or narrow the list so the interview day would be feasible. Commissioner Tim Reed moved to adopt a shortened interview pool and, after discussion, moved a formal motion to advance five candidates by name: David Bridal, Sherry Burrows, Lisa Frasier, Marie Smith and Tim Thomas. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously on…