Commissioners Confirm Bishop's New Deputy

BRADENTON — During a BOCC meeting on Tuesday, county commissioners narrowly confirmed the appointment of a new deputy county administrator. Dr. Corey Stutte will fill the vacancy created by Evan Pilachowski's separation from the county earlier this month. Three commissioners who voted against the confirmation raised objections to the hiring process before the 4-3 vote.

Stutte—who attended the confirmation hearing via Zoom—will relocate from his current home state of Nebraska, where he served two terms as the Mayor of Hastings. Stutte also previously worked for the Hastings Public Schools Board of Education and the City of Hastings Planning and Zoning Commission.

Once a resident of Florida, Stutte also previously worked as a planner in Polk County Government’s Land Development Division and served on the City of Bartow’s Code Enforcement Board and Planning Commission.

A former Navy Reserve intelligence officer, Stutte holds a Ph.D in Public Affairs from the University of Central Florida, a Master’s in International Relations from Troy University, and a Bachelor’s in Organizational Communication from the University of Central Florida.

Following Stutte’s introduction before the commissioners, Commissioner Bob McCann opened the discussion by raising concerns regarding the process of selecting a candidate to fill the third deputy administrator position. In his opening remarks, McCann emphasized that his concerns were not regarding Stutte personally, nor his qualifications.

The commissioner proceeded to detail how he was informed that County Administrator Charlie Bishop had communicated the decision to fill the vacancy. McCann stated he was first informed on the Friday before the meeting (June 13) in an email sent to commissioners by Deputy County Administrator Courtney De Pol, and not from the administrator himself.

McCann went on to read from the relevant county code, as referenced in the county administrator’s contract, which states that the county administrator is authorized to hire/fire employees, but department directors and above positions—including deputy county administrators—must be confirmed by a vote of the BOCC.

“There have been questions about timeliness and putting things on the agenda,” McCann said. “And because there are those questions, you know, this was not added to the agenda until last night at 6:00 pm.”

McCann then offered that, based on county procedure and concerns regarding consistency in transparency, he wanted to propose a motion to defer the confirmation vote until the next scheduled meeting.

According to McCann, he was not afforded any additional information about the county administrator’s intention to fill the position until he received the email from De Pol on June 13, and it wasn’t until the evening of June 16—the night before the meeting—that the item was formerly added to the meeting’s agenda as a last minute agenda update.

In addition, McCann referenced his understanding that other commissioners were uncertain whether the position should be filled at all once Pilachowski left the organization.

Commissioners Carol Felts and Jason Bearden supported McCann’s motion to defer the confirmation, largely agreeing with the points raised by McCann.

“I have to agree,” Felts added. “This is not about the applicant; this is about proper process and procedure. We just launched our DOGE program, and we are looking at a transparency issue. I let one fly with the big building that we kind of sprung on the people, and I think this is one where we need to take a look at our procedures and go for a little more transparency to the public.”

Felts seemed to be referring to the commission’s recent approval for a $23.5 million purchase of an additional County Administration building in Lakewood Ranch. 

In his comments, Bearden acknowledged the administrator’s role in filling vacancies, while also highlighting the board’s role in confirming hires to upper-level positions.

“This may be technically authorized, but that doesn’t justify filling it without the board’s consensus or a public discussion,” Bearden said. “We should’ve had a discussion on this last week, but we didn’t. The board has been openly questioning the need for this role…and ignoring that undermines transparency and trust.”

“Authority without accountability is a problem,” he added. “The administrator may have the authority, but the board is responsible for the oversight and fiscal responsibility of this county.”

Like McCann, Bearden raised the issue that the confirmation of the appointee was coming before the board before commissioners had been allowed to have a broader discussion on hiring and positions. Commissioner McCann had recently placed the topic on an agenda for discussion, but then removed it to defer after being requested to do so by county officials.

“To the public, guys, this looks like a political move to lock in a position before it could be eliminated,” Bearden told his colleagues.

But Commissioners Amanda Ballard, Mike Rahn, Tal Siddique, and George Kruse disagreed with McCann, Felts, and Bearden.

While Kruse acknowledged that he, too, had verbally advocated against filling the third deputy position after Pilachowski resigned, he also pointed to the prior week’s budget work session meetings, saying that the appropriate time to raise objections to filling the position would have been then.

“As a board, we had the opportunity to do something about this last week,” said Kruse. “We had an empty FTE for this position, and nobody on this board motioned to pull that FTE position.”

Ballard agreed with Kruse’s point that discussions about cutting positions should have been held during the budget work sessions.

Last week’s budget work sessions were held for next year’s budget, FY26. The current deputy administrator vacancy and position are included in the current year’s budget, which will not end until September 30.

“I do understand the frustration at not bringing this timely,” said Ballard. “But I do think that this is a position that needs to be filled now… I think that we would overload our other two deputies if we gave them the permanent responsibilities of this position.”

Siddique also disagreed with tabling the new deputy county administrator’s confirmation, stating that conversations with county staff led him to the conclusion that the position was very much needed.

“We are coming in at a time when these departments that will be under this deputy are facing the most intense public scrutiny that any set of departments has—scrutiny not for how the departments have been operated, but for the importance of these departments.”

Once he begins in the position, Stutte will oversee the county’s Departments of Public Works, Utilities, Information Technology, and Financial Management.

Speaking in agreement with Kruse, Ballard, and Siddique, Commissioner Rahn added, “Manatee County is a business, I have a CEO who is Charlie Bishop, he’s our county administrator.”

“I would challenge any of you up here (on the board) to walk a day in the shoes of someone who is running Utilities, or Public Works, and like the administrator said that is a 24/7 job…we can’t dump the total of Public Works and Utilities on our two current deputy county administrators and say, ‘Do more and more work for the same amount of pay,’” Rahn suggested, adding that “none of us would do that in the private sector.”

Administrator Bishop responded to the concerns raised by some commissioners by acknowledging the poor timing.

“The timing of this is bad,” Bishop offered. “I apologize for that.”

Bishop then explained that because Stutte would be relocating to Manatee County with his wife and school-aged child, he wanted to give the new deputy enough time to get the child enrolled in the local school system.

Bishop also apologized to the commissioners for delegating Deputy De Pol to send the Friday email informing them of the intended hire, rather than doing so himself.

However, the administrator also explained that, by his assessment, the position was too important to leave vacant, and a deferral to the next scheduled meeting would mean waiting until the end of July to confirm a replacement.

“We are preparing for a hurricane season, and the timing could not be worse. The man’s qualified, and the salary for the position would be less than two of my current directors.”

Bishop then reminded the board that, under the previous county administrator, Scott Hopes, four deputy county administrator positions had been created, and that he was currently seeking to fill only three.

Prior to Hopes, the county organization operated with two deputy county administrators, and up until November of last year, Bishop filled each of those positions under his leadership.

When former Deputy Administrator Andrew Butterfield unexpectedly separated from the county after serving just over a year in the role, his position was reassigned as a department director position, and the county’s new Department of Government Relations was formed.

Following board deliberations, the split remained 4-3, with Commissioner Rahn, Kruse, Ballard, and Siddique in support of confirming Stutte to fill the position, and Bearden, McCann, and Felts in opposition.

Ahead of the vote, three citizens provided public comment asking commissioners to support McCann's motion to defer the item. 

Stutte will relocate with his family to Manatee County to begin his new role.

Former deputy Evan Pilachowski officially ended his service with Manatee County on June 5, after unexpectedly announcing his intention to resign several weeks prior. Pilachowski was named deputy under newly appointed Administrator Bishop in October 2023. Before serving as a deputy, Pilachowski served one year as Manatee County’s Director of Utilities.

Former Deputy Administrator Butterfield now serves as the interim City Manager for the City of Port Richey.

To replay Deputy County Administrator Dr. Corey Stutte’s confirmation hearing, click the video below.