Cape Canaveral council names five finalists for city manager interviews, sets June 25–26 visits and interviews

The Cape Canaveral City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to advance five finalists for interviews in the search for the city dministration—hief and set community visit dates for Wednesday, June 25, 2025, with interviews to follow on Thursday, June 26.

Mayor Daniel Morrison presided over the special meeting at City Hall and invited recruitment consultant Colin Benziger of Colin Benziger and Associates to summarize the recommended selection process. Benziger told the council the firm had provided materials on seven candidates (one withdrew at the last minute) and recommended a straw-preference poll to identify three to five finalists. "What we find works the best is if you take the straw ballot that's in front of you, indicate I'd love to see five from each of you," Benziger said.

At the council—lerk—ount, Mark Rooney, Mark Taylor and Keith Touchberry each received three council votes; Tom Abate received two and Blaine Obern received two. After the results were read, Council member Jackson moved to interview Rooney, Taylor and Touchberry and to include Abate and Obern (with Obern designated as an alternate if travel or availability becomes an issue). The motion passed 4. "If somebody drops out, we have four," Benziger said when the council discussed naming an alternate.

Council members also debated whether to reopen recruitment to attract additional applicants and whether the city should pay higher salaries to expand the candidate pool. Council member Willis said, "I would like to see more candidates, honestly," while Council member Jackson raised concerns about salary expectations: "I have a real hard time understanding why someone might make $250,000 and wanna drop down into our salary range." Benziger and others said the firm could relaunch the search if the council explicitly directed changes to the recruitment materials or compensation.

Members and the consultant discussed logistics and costs for bringing out-of-state candidates to Cape Canaveral. The council agreed to invite the top finalists to visit on June 25 so residents could meet them and to hold formal interviews on June 26. Benziger recommended having candidates arrange their travel and for staff to recommend hotels; he noted that the city could pay directly to avoid sales tax if it chose to do so. "We normally ask the candidates to do the bookings on the flight, so that if they cancel at the last minute, the money's on them," he said.

Members of the public who commented urged the council to prioritize candidates who live in Cape Canaveral and to press finalists on performance measurement. Patrick Campbell said he wanted the new city manager to reside in the city and to have demonstrated experience implementing performance measures. "I would like council to please give that some consideration," Campbell said.

Before the vote, the council also considered holding preliminary Zoom meetings for long-distance candidates. Dr. Roberts and a resident urged using a short virtual meeting as a precursor. Benziger said the firm had completed reference checks and that full candidate packets were available online and could be emailed to members of the public who requested them.

Formal action recorded in the meeting minutes included: approval of the agenda early in the session and two motions related to the city manager process. Council member Jackson moved to forward the named finalists for interview and Council member Willis moved to adopt the interview dates; both motions passed 4. With no further business, Mayor Morrison adjourned the special meeting.

The council's next steps are to confirm finalist availability, finalize travel logistics with staff and the consultant, and hold the community engagement visits and interviews on the June dates already adopted.