City Commission Conference Meeting on 2025-02-04 1:30 PM
meeting
Fort Lauderdale City Commission
1h 57m
6 speakers
8 agenda items
transcribed 5 days ago
official recording ↗
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the purpose of today’s City Commission meeting and how is the interview format structured?
Okay. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the City Commission Conference meeting this Tuesday, February 4th. Thank you all for being here today. The only item we have on the agenda today is to interview the two City Manager candidates that have now been brought before us. The Advisory Board has made their recommendations. I believe there were over 90 applicants, and through the process of vetting each of the candidates through THE ADVISORY BOARD AS WELL AS THROUGH CITY STAFF, CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS ROSE TO THE TOP. I UNDERSTAND OF THE THREE THAT WERE PRESENTED BY THE COMMITTEE THAT ONE OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS DECIDED NOT TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THEIR NAME. SO TODAY, BEFORE I ASK THE CHAIR TO COME UP AND
AND GIVE A FORMAL PRESENTATION, I THOUGHT MAYBE WE SHOULD CONSIDER THE FORMAT THAT WE'RE GOING TO FOLLOW. WHAT I WAS THINKING WAS, AND IT'S OPEN FOR DISCUSSION, WHAT I WAS THINKING WAS WE WOULD ASK EACH CANDIDATE TO GIVE A FEW MINUTES OPENING REMARKS AND MAYBE FIVE MINUTES, AS MUCH AS THEY NEED, AND THEN WE'LL GO START WITH DISTRICT ONE, DISTRICT Well, Pamela Beasley-Pittman, District 3, it's all jumbled up here. We'll just go across the table and everyone will have an opportunity to ask questions of each candidate. Of course, the candidates will appear one at a time and when we're concluded with one candidate, we will dismiss them and then we'll ask the next person to come in and do the same format.
Does that make sense to people or do you want to change that? Does that make sense? Okay. All right. So we'll move forward with that. Is the chair of the committee here? Who was the chair?
It was
Melinda. Oh, Melinda. She's not here. Okay. Well, Susan, you wanted to tell us for the public record who the two candidates that we're going to be listening to today.
Absolutely. We have Jason Davis scheduled first and then Raquel Williams scheduled second.
And
they are in the Einstein room, sequestered in a soundproof booth. So they're there along with Dele Lohman, who was the recruiter who coordinated in our HR director, Jerome Post. And whenever the commission is ready, I can text Jerome and tell him we're ready for the first candidate whenever you're ready.
Okay. I think we're ready,
right?
Okay. Okay. Bring in contestant number one.
Bring. Two seconds. Okay.
Oh, there you are. We just opened the proceedings, and we came up with a format. And do you have anything? Did you want to say anything? We were going to ask you to present the names of the individuals, but Susan Grant did it on your behalf since we already began the meeting. It's okay. Is there anything you'd like to add to talk to the commission before the candidates come in?
Push the button at the bottom. Thank you.
As we discussed at the last conference agenda meeting, I was very happy to be chair of the City Manager Search Committee as a seven-member committee. I think we talked about that before. And just to reiterate for those who are in the room today, there were 94 candidates. We used the search firm MGT, the city had hired them back in early June. Deli Loman was our contact there and she narrowed the pool down to 13. Then the city manager search committee, we narrowed it down to eight. We ended up interviewing seven candidates The interviews went on all day from 8 to 5.15. And then we narrowed it down to three. And as I discussed at the last meeting, the three candidates were basically we had Jason Davis, Matthew Von Der Hayden,
and Raquel Williams, but Matthew Vonderheiden did drop out. So yeah, I'm just very excited that these two candidates are coming before you today. I think some of you got to meet them last night at the meet and greet, and they are both candidates who are currently working in Florida. Jason Davis is the assistant county administrator for Port St. Lucie. And Raquel Williams is the assistant city manager for City of Miami Beach. I think both of them are great candidates. I'm very excited for this opportunity for the city to move forward with one of them. And yeah, unless you have any questions for me, I'm excited for the candidates to answer your questions.
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Agenda
8 items
1
What is the purpose of today’s City Commission meeting and how is the interview format structured?
0:00–10:06
2
Who are the two City Manager candidates and what are their professional backgrounds?
10:06–19:50
3
What did Jason Davis share about his experience and vision for Fort Lauderdale?
19:50–30:13
4
What did Raquel Williams discuss regarding her qualifications and plans for the city?
30:13–40:36
5
How do the candidates propose to foster economic development, affordable housing, and social equity?
40:36–1:09:39
6
What strategies do they suggest for emergency management, business continuity, and public safety?
1:09:39–1:26:57
7
How will the candidates address CRA renewal, infrastructure funding, and smart‑growth challenges?
1:26:57–1:46:14
8
What is the final voting process and what were the key takeaways from the interview session?
1:46:14–1:57:52
Speakers
6 identified
Rickelle Williams 32 min
Dean Trantalis 18 min
Steven Glassman 8 min
Pamela Beasley-Pittman 4 min
John Herbst 3 min
Ben Sorensen 2 min
Officials recognised by voice; public commenters shown as “Speaker N” unless they state their name.
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