Hollywood City Manager Candidates To Interview For Position
HOLLYWOOD (CBS4) – Six candidates vying for the chance to become Hollywood's next city manager will be in Hollywood on Thursday and Friday as part of the recruitment process. The news comes seven months after the previous city manager was ousted over a $10 million budget shortfall.
On the city's website they pointed out that, "In August, after reviewing the qualifications and conducting interviews with several firms, the City retained the services of Affion Public, a well-qualified search firm with an extensive background in recruiting candidates for local government positions."
At a special city commission meeting on December 13, 2011 the search firm conducting the city manager recruitment process, Affion Public, presented the commission with six candidates for the position. A total of 60 resumes were received and Affion Public conducted several rounds of interviews including background screening before arriving at the top six candidates. The final candidates include:
- David Andrews - Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director, Town of Paradise Valley, AZ
- Jim Chisholm - City Manager, City of Daytona Beach, FL
- Robert Frank - City Manager, City of Ocoee, FL
- Doug Hewett - Assistant City Manager, City of Fayetteville, NC
- Horace McHugh - Assistant City Manager, City of Oakland Park, FL
- Frank Ragan - Former City Manager, City of McKinney, TX
On Thursday, a meet and greet with the public is scheduled from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, 1650 Harrison Street.
There will be a special city commission meeting in the commission chamber of Hollywood City Hall at 2600 Hollywood Boulevard where the commission will interview each of the six candidates on Friday, beginning at 2 p.m.
CBS4 4 reported back in July that long-time Hollywood City Manager Cameron Benson, who was ousted over the $10 million budget shortfall, received a severance package of almost $300,000.
Benson, 49, stepped down June 15th after Mayor Peter Bober called for his dismissal, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald.
According to the city, the commission appointed assistant city manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark to serve as interim city manager and held a workshop to discuss and provide city staff with direction in the search for a new city manager.
In his defense Benson said he took full responsibility for the day to day affairs but found it "a little unfair" to targeted for the budget crisis. To balance the financial scales, 18 city employees were also laid off and all city employees were force to take pay cuts of eight to twelve percent.
Since his departure is an 'agreed termination', Benson was eligible for a year's salary ($205,000) and any unused sick or vacation time ($83,000). At the age of 55, he will be eligible for a pension of $9,000 per month.
First hired in 1995 as assistant city manager, Benson had led the city since June 2002.
Information on all six candidates is available on the City's website, www.hollywoodfl.org under "Hot Information."
The meeting on Friday for the six candidates is open to the public and will be broadcast on Hollywood Community Television (Comcast Channel 78 and AT&T Uverse) and streamed live on the City's website, www.hollywoodfl.org.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
