Apalachicola hires Brillhart as city manager

The Apalachicola city commission has turned to a veteran administrator of both city and governments to become its new city manager.

By a 3-1 vote at a special meeting March 4, the commissioners voted in favor of a motion by commissioner Despina George to extend an employment offer to Michael Brillhart, 45, who currently serves as interim city manager of Crescent City, in Putnam County.

Commissioner Adriane Elliott, who had supported T.J. Fish, a veteran public administrator who now works in Groveland, cast the lone nay vote. Mayor Brenda Ash, who had also sought the job, recused herself from the entire process.

The offer of $90,000 was extended Friday by City Attorney Dan Hartman, who has handled negotiations with the candidates to succeed outgoing city manager Travis Wade, who completed his stint in office Feb. 28.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Brillhart, who is expected to begin within three weeks of the day the contract is signed. “It seems like a really nice place.”

After a review of the initial wave of 17 applications for the job, which had been posted at a salary of $80,000 annually, commissioners whittled down the top three finalists to Brillhart, Fish and Ash.

In the event Ash had been selected, she would have stepped down as mayor, the commissioners would appoint an interim mayor, and the process would conclude by voters making the decision at the ballot box at the next regular election.

But as it turned out, Ash decided Feb. 28 to pull out of the process, leaving commissioners to decide who among the five people who were interviewed would be their top choice.

On Hartman’s advice, Ash continued to stay completely out of the hiring process.

After hearing from a handful of residents, such as Ellizabeth Milliken, who had urged commissioners to make a decision between the two remaining top finalists, both of whom had professional qualifications, commissioners reviewed their thoughts on the two men, at a meeting chaired by Mayor Pro Tem Anita Grove.

Elliott liked what she saw in Fish, and said she felt he might be better with planning and infrastructure, two priorities of the city.

For the past seven years, Fish has been director of transportation and public works for the city of Groveland, where he earns $126,000 annually. Prior to that he served for 13 years as director of the metropolitan planning organization of Lake and Sumter counties.

Fish had asked the city for a salary of $112,500, and sought a city vehicle as part of his asks entering into negotiations.

“I liked both candidates for different reasons,” said George, as she prepared to make her motion for Brillhart.

She said Brillhart had been ranked as the top candidate by three of the four commissioners, and ranked second by the fourth.

George noted that the budget had allocated $84,500 for the post and so Brillhart’s request would cost the city an additional $7,800 considering wages and benefits. She noted that the funds would come out of a roughly $130,000 budget overage, which had been lowered by a recent payout of $21,000 for Wade’s accumulated vacation leave.

“He’s an experienced city manager,” she said. “We should offer him what he’s asked for.”

A native Ohioan, Brillhart earned a bachelor of science in urban administration from the University of Cincinnati, and a masters of public administration from the University of South Florida.

Between 2004 and 2013, he served as St. Lucie County’s business manager in Fort Pierce, and then for the next three years was county administrator of Barnstable County, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

In 2016 and 2017, he was county manager of Camden County in North Carolina, and then worked for three years as village administrator in North Baltimore, Ohio, and for three years after that as city administrator of Wapakoneta, Ohio.