Like Playing Jenga While Drunk

This week, the soap opera that is our county commission lurched forward in its plan to reshape our local government’s culture by hiring a new administrator who more adequately represents the new majority’s conservative ideology.

When they took power after November’s election, the voting bloc of commissioners Vanessa Baugh, George Kruse, Kevin Van Ostenbridge, and James Satcher–all of whom have been put in office by developer dollars–quickly agreed with their benefactors that Cheri Coryea must be fired. However, all parties are not yet on the same page in terms of whom the reigns should be handed over to, or at least they wish to make it appear as such.

While several commissioners seemed intent on making a decision at Tuesday’s meeting, they had to settle for further refining the path forward, despite the very tight timeline imposed by Deputy County Administrator Karen Stewart having agreed to serve in the interim role for no more than 30 days, which gives them only until March 23 to name a successor.

The board ultimately voted 4-3 (Baugh, Van Ostenbridge, and Satcher dissenting) to have the county’s HR department advertise the interim administrator opening and bring all applicants back to the board so that a broader net might be cast. The board also directed County Attorney Bill Clague to create a draft agreement that would limit the interim administrator's ability to hire and fire senior staff (department heads and deputy administrators).

Some commissioners expressed concern that the process had been narrowed too quickly. Clague had initially brought forth former Sarasota County Commissioner Charles Hines as a potential candidate for commissioners to consider, but that idea turned into a fiasco over contract proposals and blew up before a vote could be taken.

Van Ostenbridge has been championing school board member Scott Hopes who has himself made it painfully clear that he wants the job. Sources close to Hopes say he has been looking for something beyond the part-time public office of the school board. Having unsuccessfully lobbied to be named President of USF in 2019, he has made a full-throated pitch for himself at every meeting in which the item has been discussed. It does not, however, seem that he has majority support, with several commissioners mentioning the ongoing scandals within the district as reason for their lack of enthusiasm. It's notable that while some commissioners went out of their way to say they liked Hopes, no one beyond Van Ostenbridge is expressing any sort of preference for his candidacy.

Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance CEO Dom DiMaio is said to be the top pick of politically-powerful developer Pat Neal and was pushed by Neal’s pal Carlos Beruff when Coryea was hired in 2019, but the special interest influence that has tainted DiMaio’s candidacy seems to have made commissioners who’ve taken money from one or both of the developers reluctant to speak up on his behalf, although that definitely does not sink DiMaio’s chances, especially if both Neal and Beruff both really want him in. DiMaio has, however, been quoted as saying he is not interested in an interim position.

Commissioners in the majority bloc seem more open to hiring a one-year "acting" county administrator and have used language to suggest there would be a fairly direct pathway to the permanent role, and there’s nothing to say that DiMaio couldn’t be assured offline that his interim status would be nothing more than a formality and, barring him really messing the bed, the permanent role would be handed over to him down the road.

Satcher has mentioned former Manatee School District Superintendent Rick Mills but hasn’t received any affirmation from his fellow board members when pitching the retired colonel. Commissioner Misty Servia said on Tuesday that she’s talked with a retired Florida county administrator who’s served as an interim on three occasions and was open to taking the job, which led to the vote to advertise the position that Kruse lent his support to, but it seems doubtful that plan will bear any fruit.

Let’s face it: Baugh, Van Ostenbridge, Satcher, and Kruse will be choosing the next county administrator, and both Neal and Beruff will have somewhere between a lot and total influence over who gets the job. In fact, if Servia, Whitmore, and/or Bellamy are terribly enthusiastic about anyone, it probably hurts that candidate's chances. Such is the division on this board. If this all seems chaotic, that’s because it is. This is what happens when a bunch of elected officials who’ve never served in government have seats bought for them by special interests and immediately commence pulling the levers and turning the dials before they’ve taken the time to ask and learn what each one does.

In the end, what matters most is that there is at least competence in whoever ascends to the top spot of an enterprise that includes some 1,900 subordinate employees and touches every aspect of your life as a citizen from essential public services to the local economy. Regardless of who fills the role, a majority vote of the board is what will decide the broader future of this county in almost all regards and that voting bloc has the votes to direct the administration as it sees fit through passing ordinances. But ideology definitely seems to be prized much more than competency, and that could spell trouble not only for the board but for us, the citizens.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why it is so very important to pay attention to local politics and participate in democracy as an informed citizen. Those turning our county upside down right now really do believe (despite the onslaught of emails and public comments telling them otherwise) that they have a mandate to do so, just because someone sent out enough glossy mail pieces that had nothing to do with such issues to get them elected. And they are insulated by the blind loyalty of a much smaller group of partisan supporters who assure them that despite the jeers, they’re actually being brave in such recklessness.

So, unless they screw up badly enough to be removed from office–and after Baugh seemingly survived a horrid scandal that brought shame to the entire county, there’s no reason to believe such a line in the sand even exists–this is likely a mess that will only be cured at the ballot box. Vote, get friends to vote, and educate everyone who will listen. Otherwise, this sort of chaos is sure to become the status quo. This is the Jenga leadership style, which is to say that any block that is next to be pulled, could be the one that sends the whole tower crashing down. Let's just hope that this hire itself isn't that block.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of ourweekly podcast. He is also the host ofPunk Rock Politixon YouTube. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County governmentsince 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Clickherefor his bio. His latest book, Burn Black Wall Street Burn, is scheduled for release in late April. His other books are availablehere.