POCC Chooses 5 Finalist City Manager Candidates

Port Orange, FL – The city of Port Orange received 84 resumes for the City Manager position vacated by Jake Johansson in December 2020. A consulting agency narrowed the selection to the top ten candidates and last night (March 9) members of the Port Orange City City narrowed that down to five finalists. They are Mike Bernstein, City Manager of Lake Worth; Wayne Clark, former Port Orange Community Development Director; Robin Hayes, City Manager of Mount Dora; Alan Ours, Manager of Glyn County, GA; and Brian Weiss, CO-Naval Airstation Jacksonville.  District 2 councilmember Chase Tramont said for him, it was easy to narrow down the selection. He wants someone who wants to be in and part of Port Orange. "What I found, at least from my top four candidates, is there is a genuine interest in the city of Port Orange from all these candidates. They’ve got some connection, each one of them do, with the city." Coming up next in the hiring process is a group tour of the city for the five candidates during the day on Thursday, March 18. That evening, there will be a meet-and-greet event for the candidates and the public at the Lakeside Community Center from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday, March 19 will be a day of interviews, according to Tramont, beginning with one on one interviews between each Councilmember and candidate. That will be followed at 1 p.m. with public interviews. "Council will interview from the dais, one candidate at a time, and that will take place for as long as it takes. We are setting a goal to have a consensus by the end of the day." Tramont says the goal is to choose the person best suited to lead the city of Port Orange.