Apalachicola city manager to step down
After less than four months on the job, Michael Brillhart. Apalachicola’s newly hired city manager, has announced he plans to step down, effective July 3.
“I have recently accepted a position that represents a better professional fit for my background and experience,” he wrote in a June 3 letter to city commissioners.
“It has been an honor to work with you and city staff over the last two months,” Brillhart wrote. “There are some critical and unique projects underway that will provide positive and long-term benefits to the community. The city has a dedicated and thoughtful staff committed to public service.”
Brillhart, 61, did not name the community that he would be relocating to, likely as a city manager. Online newspaper stories indicate he has been a recent finalist for jobs in Fort Myers Beach and Palatka.
Brillhart’s upcoming departure represents the second change in administrative leadership for the city. City Planner Bree Robinson left this week to assume the role of county planner, replacing Mark Curenton, who recently retired.
At the June 3 city commission meeting, commissioners unanimously approved a proposal to contract with the Apalachicola Regional Planning Commission for general planning services, at a cost not to exceed $55,000 annually.
“This option is favorable at this time in light of a shortage of professional planners capable of performing this work on a full-time basis within budget in the Forgotten Coast region,” wrote Brillhart.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.