Winter Springs to interview four candidates for city manager 

Winter Springs will hold a special workshop on Aug. 26 to interview four finalists for city manager — a position that hasn’t had a permanent replacement in the city for a year and a half.

Commissioners voted Aug. 12 to hold the workshop and invite candidates by Zoom, although in-person interviews are also allowable. The commission could vote later that evening to fly in the top one or two candidates for in-person interviews. 

From left to right: Winter Springs Commissioner Cade Resnick, Mayor Kevin McCann and Commissioner Ted Johnson. (Photo by Abe Aboraya)

Robert Slavin, president of Slavin Management Consultants, is handling the hiring search. Slavin said of the 34 applicants for the job, he narrowed the field to five candidates, one of whom later dropped out citing concerns about that candidate’s name being publicized.

“I think the four people are enough,” Slavin said. “You’ve been through this before and lost candidates. My suggestion is to move forward.”

The candidates are: David Jones, city manager of Ankeny, Iowa; Scott Moye, county manager of Ware County, Georgia; Richard Reade, deputy county manager and interim public works director of Okeechobee County, Florida; and Kevin Sweet, manager of the town of Wrentham, Massachusetts. 

During the discussion on when to do the interviews, Commissioner Cade Resnick originally began listing dates he could do the interviews, with the first available day Sept. 3. 

“Hold on, hold on, I need to really clearly understand – you cannot help us with this for three weeks?” Mayor Kevin McCann asked.

“League of Cities this week,” Resnick started to say. 

“I’ll cancel League of Cities. I’ll give up the money for this, this is important,” McCann replied. 

Winter Springs has been without a permanent city manager since February of 2023, when then-manager Shawn Boyle retired, citing “emotional and physical distress.” The city was on the verge of hiring a manager in September of 2023, but the top candidate withdrew after a contentious city meeting where Resnick questioned the candidate’s leadership style, and Commissioner Victoria Bruce questioned the search firm used to find the candidates. At the time the candidate was the top scorer out of more than 100 applicants. 

Since then, there have been accusations that commissioners Resnick and Bruce have been intentionally delaying the process, hoping that this November’s election would result in a change in elected leadership and a new governing philosophy.  

“To put this off, for whatever reason, just seems like intentional procrastination,” Commissioner Rob Elliott said at Monday’s meeting. “For someone to go through their calendar and spew out all these days that it can’t be, it can’t be, it can’t be, so we can put this off another three weeks, I find completely unacceptable.”

Resnick responded by criticizing Interim City Manager Phil Hursh. 

“To the residents of Winter Springs, he’s right, the mayor’s right, we barely have an able city manager, which is why I call him out all the time,” Resnick said. 

Hursh shook his head at that, saying the comment was unprofessional. 

“Quite frankly, as much as I want a city manager in here, I have a calendar and a responsibility first to my family and the residents,” Resnick said. “I know my calendar a month ahead of time because I have three children. To ask me to miss their events for something that wasn’t planned or scheduled is unfair. If you want to do this without me, so be your choice.”

Ultimately, the commission voted to hold the interview Aug. 26 during the day, before the commission meeting that night. 

“As a matter of fact, the 26th is my birthday, but I will be here,” Elliott said. 

In other news, the City of Winter Springs at Monday’s meeting:

• Relaxed code enforcement restriction on political yard signs for the coming election. Residents can have as many political signs in their yards as they want, as long as the signs aren’t bigger than 36 square feet. Candidates would still have to pay a fee to have larger signs installed in some circumstances.  
• Allowed WastePro to send a letter contesting the results of an annual customer service survey with the city’s independent contractor. The city’s vendor for trash and recycling has a clause in its contract that if customer satisfaction drops below 90%, the company does not get a $15,000 performance bonus.