WHO WILL IT BE? KEY WEST OFFICIALS SELECT NEW CITY MANAGER THIS WEEK

mandy@keysweekly.com

More than 200 residents headed to Waterfront Brewery for a Feb. 13 reception to meet the four finalists for Key West’s city manager job.

David Burke, Albert Childress, Thaddeus Cohen and Abraham Conn each had a table at the event, where people could stop by to ask questions and get to know the applicants.

The position is not an elected one, as the mayor and city commissioners will select the city manager. But that didn’t stop the politicking, both at the reception and behind the scenes around town, with various individuals and organizations urging support for their favorite finalist to the mayor and commissioners.

Commissioner Clayton Lopez on Feb. 13 was vocal about his support for Cohen, given his background with the former Florida Department of Community Affairs. Conn handed out T-shirts bearing the words “Honest Abe for City Manager” to his supporters during the reception.

The city commission is expected to name a new city manager at a special meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. That meeting occurred after presstime, but visit keysweekly.com for a full report of the commission’s selection.

Prior to the public reception, candidates met one-on-one this week with the commissioners and city department heads.

The four finalists were selected from 43 initial applications.

Professional search consultant Dona Higginbotham narrowed that first list down to nine qualified applicants who met the city’s criteria. That list of nine was further whittled down to the four finalists who were invited for interviews.

David Burke, Albert Childress, Thaddeus Cohen and Abraham Conn. (Candidates’ resumes are linked on the city’s website at cityofkeywest-fl.gov. Click on the “City Manager Search” tab from the home page.)

Conn, a retired U.S. Army colonel, served three one-year tours in Afghanistan. He also worked for 26 years as a senior special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Key West, according to his application.

Cohen is an architect who formerly worked as Key West’s planning director. He is now a project manager for MBR Construction in Fort Lauderdale. He also worked as a department head in charge of growth management for Collier County, Florida, his application states.

Burke is a retiring Navy captain who most recently has served as chief of staff for JIATF-South, the military’s elite Joint Interagency Task Force headquartered at Truman Annex in Key West.

Childress worked for Doral, Florida for 16 years, most recently serving as its city manager for two years. Before that, Childress was the code compliance director for Miami from 1996-2005.

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