BRADENTON — Roughly one month after commissioners appointed him to the county’s uppermost leadership role, Manatee County Administrator Charlie Bishop has filled his administrative leadership cabinet. In a BOCC meeting on Oct. 10, Bishop presented an additional Deputy County Administrator and a Chief of Staff for confirmation by the board.
This past Tuesday, Bishop presented for commission approval the promotion of Evan Pilachowski to Deputy County Administrator. The confirmation brings Bishop’s leadership team to a total of three deputies—Pilachowski, Courtney De Pol and Bryan Parnell.
Pilachowski, who has served as Manatee County’s Director of Utilities for the past year, will begin his new role in county administration on Monday, Oct. 23. He brings an impressive resume and during Tuesday’s meeting discussion Commissioner George Kruse noted that, in his opinion, Pilachowski might be “the best Director of Utilities in the country.”
Kruse was the only commissioner who expressed some hesitation in the lateral move of Pilachowski, but made clear his apprehension was not due to any doubts about Pilachowski’s qualifications or competence but rather concerns that Pilachowski will be taken from his current role where the commissioner believes he has been an asset to the organization.
Pilachowski’s resume was attached to Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
During the morning portion of a September 12 BOCC meeting—the same meeting where Bishop was later made county administrator—the board confirmed the appointment of Bryan Parnell as a Deputy County Administrator. Parnell is set to begin his role with the county on Monday, Oct. 16. Parnell's resume was attached to the September 12 meeting agenda.
In 2021, when commissioners appointed Scott Hopes as county administrator, the county’s department of administration had two deputy county administrators under its previous administrator and Hope’s predecessor, Cheri Coryea.
During his tenure, Hopes undertook a reorganization of county departments and divisions while also adding two additional deputy positions to the administration’s department. Under Hopes, the county’s administration saw Courtney De Pol, Charlie Bishop and Robert Reinshuttle each appointed as deputies. The fourth deputy position was filled by the county’s former CFO Jan Brewer until her resignation in May of 2022.
From May through November of 2022, the fourth deputy role sat vacant, until late November—less than three months prior to Hopes’ separation from the county—when Hopes appointed Manatee School District Attorney Mitchell Teitelbaum to the role. Teitelbaum would rescind his acceptance of the appointment just weeks later following reports of an HR complaint having been lodged against him.
The same day Hopes unexpectedly departed the county in February of 2023, former deputy Reinshuttle’s employment with the organization also abruptly ended. Commissioners appointed Lee Washington as acting administrator to fill the vacancy left by Hopes.
Under his short tenure as acting administrator, Washington changed the administrative roles of De Pol and Bishop, having them continue in their roles as deputy administrators, but reducing their dual director positions.
Under the county’s newest administrator, Bishop, three of the deputy positions are now filled (or slated to be) and the fourth has been renamed as Bishop’s Chief of Staff.
On Tuesday, the Chief of Staff position was confirmed to Andrew Butterfield. Butterfield was an applicant in the board’s permanent administrator search and appeared to be a top candidate among commissioners. However, at the last minute, commissioners opted to deviate from the administrator search process, and instead appoint then-acting administrator Bishop to the role, despite his not having submitted an application.
On the day of Bishop’s appointment as administrator, multiple commissioners expressed their “hope” that the new boss might consider Butterfield for a position within Bishop’s administration. Bishop shared with commissioners that he had already spoken to Butterfield and informed him that if the board selected Bishop for the role, he would in turn bring Butterfield into his administration.
Butterfield's resume was attached to the Oct. 10 meeting agenda.
Each of the new appointments, plus the existing deputy, brings the county’s Department of the Administrator to five total positions.
Click the image above to zoom in.
Neighboring Comparison
In an effort to gain a better perspective on the county administration’s new form under Administrator Bishop, TBT turned to the nearby Sarasota County Government.
According to 2022 United States Census reports, in recent years, Manatee County has gained on its fellow neighboring county to the south in estimated population. While Sarasota is estimated to have 462,286 residents as of July 1, 2022, Manatee County is close behind with an estimated 429,125 residents—a difference of only about 33,000.
Likewise, both county government organizations under their board of county commissioners have similar active employee counts. According to public records reviewed by TBT, Sarasota County Government has approximately 2,360 currently filled positions while Manatee County Government has about 2,220.
Manatee County Government’s administrative leadership is made of five positions: a county administrator, a chief of staff, and three deputy administrators. Sarasota County Government’s administrative leadership is composed of four positions, a county administrator, one deputy county administrator—who also serves as the government’s CFO—and two assistant administrators.
To access a larger version of the Sarasota County Administration ORG chart, click here.
Although Sarasota Government has one fewer position in its administrative leadership, Manatee County will spend more of its annual budget on administrative leadership positions than Sarasota will each year.
Sarasota County Administrator Johnathan Lewis has been with the Sarasota County Government since 2017. Lewis formerly served as North Port City Manager from 2011-2017 and served as Deputy City Manager of Palm Bay from 2004-2011.
A graduate of the University of South Florida, Lewis holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master's in Public Administration.
According to public records, Lewis was appointed Sarasota County Administrator in January 2018 and has a current base annual salary of $257,816.
By comparison, Manatee County Administrator Bishop joined Manatee County Government in 2001 as a project manager later earning a Project Management Professional Certification in 2002. Bishop also served as a facilities services manager, an infrastructure division manager, and a construction services division manager, before becoming director of property management in 2015.
A veteran of the United States Air Force, Bishop earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Southern Illinois University and a Master's in Public Administration from Midwestern State University, according to a spokesperson for Manatee County Government. In August 2021, Bishop was named deputy county administrator and, most recently in September, was named county administrator.
Currently, Bishop’s annual base salary as county administrator is $226,595.
According to public records, Sarasota County’s other top administration officials earn the following annual salaries:
• Deputy Administrator and Chief Financial Officer Steve Botelho - $221,499 base annual
• Assistant Administrator Mark Cunningham - $205,420 base annual
• Assistant Administrator Brad Johnson - $203,548 base annual
In Manatee County, public records show that Deputy County Administrator Courtney De Pol currently earns a base annual salary of $196,643, while Deputy County Administrator Parnell will start the position at $190,923 annually (base), and incoming Chief of Staff Andrew Butterfield will likewise start with a base annual of $190,923.
Although Pilachowski does not assume the position of deputy for at least another week, if he is hired at the same rate as other recent deputy appointments, he would receive a base annual salary of $190,923.
While Sarasota County’s deputy administrator and assistant administrators earn higher overall base salaries as compared to Manatee County’s incoming chief of staff or deputy administrators, administrator cabinet officials in Manatee County are much newer to their organization. De Pol, the longest-tenured Manatee County employee among them, was first hired as a department director in January 2022.
Based on these comparable administrative leadership positions and their current rate of annual base salaries, Sarasota County’s administrator’s cabinet will spend $888,283 per year on its four administrative positions, while Manatee County’s administrator cabinet’s positions will cost $996,007 annually for its five positions—a difference of nearly $108,000 annually.
Because Sarasota County Deputy Administrator Botelho also serves as the organization’s CFO, the total paid to administrator cabinet positions includes the expense of the county’s CFO position. In Manatee County Government, the CFO—who also serves as the Director of Financial Management—earns a base salary of $178,464.
If Manatee County’s CFO base salary is factored into the administrator cabinet calculations to account for Sarasota County’s deputy also serving as CFO, the difference in administrator cabinet spending between the two counties grows to roughly $286,000 annually—or $888,283 for Sarasota County’s administrative leadership versus $1,174,471 for Manatee County’s administrative leadership plus CFO.
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N_Alice_Newlon
Under Cheri Coryea there were 2 Deputy County Administrators. Now there are 4. Looks like they need to put women in charge again.
Sunday, October 15, 2023 Report this
rjckeuka4
Like your comment Alice!! :) It made me chuckle. I wrote and wrote in an attempt to save Cheri 3 years ago and even met with KVO, but to no avail. Since them it's been a zoo! We've got to elect some intelligent and responsible people to lead our County.
Sunday, October 15, 2023 Report this
Debann
MORE WASTED MONEY $$.CONSERVATIVES MY ASS
Sunday, October 15, 2023 Report this
sandy
When I started at the county, the administrator Ernie Padgett only had one deputy administrator Dave Rothfuss. Dave announced he was retiring so Dan Schlandt was named deputy. Dave and Ernie retired about the same time. Ed Hunsicker became administrator and along with Dan he named Karen Windon Deputy Administrator. When Karen retired, Cheri Coryea was named to replace her. When Cheri became administrator Dan retired and John Osborne replaced him. Cheri also named Karen Stewart deputy administrator. John resigned the day before Cheri was terminated and Karen named interim administrator for a short time before Hopes was named interim administrator and confirmed administrator. Hopes named Charlie Bishop, Courtney De Pol, and Reinshuttle. His fourth was approved by the board but within days there was a sexual harassment complaint that he rescinded his acceptance. Hopes resigns and Lee Washington named interim administrator and board commits to a national search. But KVO not satisfied with any of them even after a vote made down to 2 candidates, Bishop was added to the list even though he never applied for the job. Bishop now administrator and Butterfield (from national search) now chief of staff, a position that did not exist in the 26 years I worked for the county. They didn't shrink government, but expanded it. I am so ashamed and embarrassed by this board that I don't even want to admit I worked there for 26 years and my late husband 15 years. This so-called board is not true conservatives.
Monday, October 16, 2023 Report this
WTF
All that money wasted on a national search. I am sure there were far more qualified candidates than applied. Those candidates did their homework and probably watched previous BOCC meetings and said to themselves, such a calamity and dysfunction why on earth would I possibly want that position. The dysfunction of the current board probably turned off the most qualified candidates and must be thinking why would I want to be in that zoo, only to be fed by the developers hands.
Wednesday, October 18, 2023 Report this
Cat L
It's still bizarre to me that all they have been making more than the states Gov. (Although looks like they've set that in motion to adjust. Whomever fills the seat in 2027 will have $250,000+...)
That's a lot of motivation to lean towards the interests of those that put you there...
Sunday, September 15 Report this