Mayor, most council members eyeing assistant to replace Port St. Lucie city manager
November 17th, 2009 by TCPalm.comPORT ST. LUCIE — The City Council came close Monday afternoon to naming Assistant City Manager Jerry Bentrott to replace Don Cooper as the next city manager.
But Councilwoman Michelle Berger put the brakes on the move.
Mayor Patricia Christensen suggested the city enter into contract negotiations with Bentrott, 61, to replace Cooper, who’s resigning Jan. 8 after 20 years with the city.
At least two other council members, Vice Mayor Jack Kelly and Christopher Cooper, were ready to move forward with Christensen’s recommendation and begin negotiations, but Berger was not.
“I’m still in support of looking at a national search if for no other reason than to benchmark the talent that we currently have,” Berger said. “We have two great individuals that can step into the role. I have no doubt. But certainly part of what we should be looking at is making sure that they are the right person.”
Christensen said she suggested hiring Bentrott on a recommendation from City Manager Cooper and because he has more seniority over Assistant City Manager Greg Oravec. And, the city is not in a financial position to conduct a national search, she said.
“My biggest concern is the fact that we don’t have the money budgeted to go out on a national search,” Christensen said. “The work level is not up to what it was several years ago, and if we were to hire another city manager and have the two assistants, then we’re in the position of now possibly having to pay that new city manager relocation, all of that, another expense that we haven’t budgeted for.
“We have a great team in place,” she said. “We’re just going to be down one. I’m just looking at the financial aspects of this thing.”
Councilman Cooper and Kelly also agreed the city doesn’t need three city managers running City Hall.
“We’re saving the cost of one employee,” Councilman Cooper said. “Times right now are slow enough that I think these two can handle the job. In the past the main idea was to get some of the workload off of Mr. Cooper. That’s why we hired Mr. Bentrott. Actually, I was very impressed when Jerry showed up, and how quickly he was brought up to speed on projects and knew what was going on around the city. I was very happy with his performance.”
Kelly said he likes Don Cooper’s management style.
“He’s not a micromanager,” Kelly said. “I think Jerry and Greg under his tutelage will be the same thing. Contrary to what some critics may say about City Hall, it runs very smooth, and the other governments in the area know it. I don’t want to rock the boat. I think things are fine like they are, and we’re going to save a salary.”
The council agreed to have individual discussions with Bentrott and City Attorney Roger Orr before agreeing to begin negotiating a contract with Bentrott. They also agreed to at least select an interim city manager at the Dec. 7 City Council meeting. Councilwoman Linda Bartz said there should be no rush to hire a city manager once an interim is in place, which likely will be Bentrott.
“My opposition is not toward Mr. Bentrott,” Berger said. “It’s toward the process.”
Bentrott came to the city as assistant city manager in late 2005. Prior to arriving in Port St. Lucie, Bentrott had worked under Cooper as assistant city manager for the city of Craig, Colo., for seven years where Cooper was city manager. Bentrott also was the director of management services for the city of Colorado Springs for 21 years where he handled all of the infrastructure and internal operations for a department staffed with about 1,000 employees.
Bentrott said he and Cooper attended graduate school together at the University of Colorado. Bentrott now oversees the city’s planning, public works, building, engineering, community services and parks and recreation departments.
He was also the project manager for the Civic Center and Torrey Pines projects.
His goal if he becomes city manager, he said, is still to provide basic services for the community and get through the downturn of the economy.
“It’s going to be very difficult,” Bentrott said. “It’s going to be a rough year or two with property values projected to fall some more and less revenue to provide the city with the same level of service, and it’s going to be difficult to do that.”
Tags: don cooper, Jerry Bentrott, michelle berger, patricia christensen
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November 17th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
The Port St Lucie city council has a habit of fast tracking things. That is one reason PSl is over a billion in debt thanks to the city manager and city council. Since Oavec was the last hired and has the lowest seniority then he should be gone without a severance package. lets not forget he has already received one servance packeage from the residents i see no reason to give him another. I am far from a Michelle Berger fan but in this case I agree with her judgement. Christensen fast tracked balancing her check book with respects to her campaign funds and look what it got her. She is now a disgraced politician with a criminal record. She is a complete disgrace to the city and the residents she supposely represents. She fshould resign for the good of the city.