East Ridge City Manager Andrew Hyatt was offered the position of City Manager in Neptune Beach, Fla., Thursday night, according to our friends at The Island Times.
Hyatt, who has been City Manger here since October 2013, was one of four finalists for the job. Those candidates _ Michael W. Doss, City Administrator, City of Buckhannon, West Virginia; James D. Drumm, Former City Manager, City of Zephyrhills, Florida, and Amanda Askew, Community Development Director, City of Neptune Beach, Florida _ interviewed with counselors in Neptune Beach on Thursday afternoon. The candidates fielded questions from Neptune City Counselors and citizens at the 7 p.m. regularly scheduled meeting.
The Island Times reported that Hyatt did not receive a “super majority” vote of the Neptune Beach Counselors. The final vote came down to Hyatt and Doss. Hyatt was ultimately chosen.
According to The Island Times, Hyatt told the council: “Neptune Beach is a unique city, as you know. It has a lot of opportunity, a lot of charm. It has what I feel is a good sense of community, and a good way of going forward with us pulling some things together as we move to the future. I think we’ve got a great opportunity and I’d like to share that with you.”
The Neptune Beach council still has to finalize the details of the contract that will be offered to Hyatt. That discussion will take place on June 15, at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the body. The East Ridge City Council is scheduled to have its next meeting on June 16.
Calls to Hyatt, Mayor Brent Lambert and Vice Mayor Marc Gravitt, seeking comment on the city manager’s possible departure, were not returned.
Should the city of Neptune Beach and Hyatt not be able to come to terms on the contract, the council directed its City Attorney to begin negotiations with Michael Doss, who was the council’s second choice.
According to minutes from the Neptune Beach Council meeting of May 4, 2015, the council agreed that the starting salary of the new city manager would be in the range of $95,000 to $110,000. The high range of the salary would be given based on experience, the minutes state.
Hyatt’s current salary with the City of East Ridge is $100,000. According to the proposed budget for 2015-16, the total compensation for Hyatt is $137,000.
A discussion of Hyatt’s contract was deferred until the June 16 City Council meeting.
