STUART — The City of Stuart has formally launched its search for a new city manager, setting a proposed salary range and an accelerated hiring timeline after commissioners finalized the position’s job description and compensation framework.
At a recent commission meeting, interim City Manager Louis Boglioli outlined how the city typically handles pay increases for charter positions, noting that the city manager would be treated like other employees when it comes to benefits and raises.
“The employment contracts that we have with the charter positions all include a basic clause that says this employee will be treated with the same benefits and privileges as any regular employee,” Boglioli said. “When we budget any sort of rate adjustment or merit performance or something like that, typically the charter position employees participate in those same amounts.”
Mayor Christopher Collins pointed to the experience with former City Manager Mike Mortell as a reason to be cautious about starting salaries that are too high, especially when annual increases are factored in.
“What these positions get paid initially on paper versus what they actually get paid can be very dramatic, especially over time,” Collins said. “We had signed him at $225,000, but with those bumps, he would have been making $285,000 in actuality. The initial rate that you start off at needs to be lower.”
Collins said the city should either begin with a lower base salary that allows room for future increases or consider a structure with smaller, fixed annual adjustments.
“So you either need to have a lower rate — and this is just my opinion — somewhere in that maybe $195,000 to $215,000 range to make room for that over the years,” he said, “Or having a different type of arrangement where we remove that and have just a fixed salary that increases incrementally at a smaller rate.”
Commissioners ultimately settled on a proposed starting range of $190,000 to $215,000, which city officials said is generally in line with salaries in comparable communities. Human Resources Director Roz Strong told commissioners that those figures do not reflect the full value of benefits that often accompany the role.
“That said, with the comparables, the average is $235,000,” Strong said. “Most of them have car allowances and phone stipends and things like that, but some have deferred compensation contributions that are significant.”
The Stuart city manager position has traditionally included a robust benefits package, including vehicle and technology allowances. Commissioner Campbell Rich initially expressed some hesitation about starting at the lower end of the scale but ultimately supported the consensus of the board.
Commissioners also approved updates to the job description, including a change to the residency requirement. Strong said the revised language gives candidates more flexibility in where they live.
“Prior language in here, we had 25 miles, but listening to prior conversations on the dais brought that down a little bit,” she said. “Living within city proper is probably a different discussion, but within 15 miles — that’s Hobe Sound, White City, parts of Port St. Lucie, Palm City.”
Other revisions removed requirements the city no longer views as essential, including changing the master’s degree qualification from mandatory to preferred.
With the framework in place, Boglioli laid out a tight timeline for filling the position, beginning with an initial review of applications in early February.
“So we would kind of do the once over, make sure they’re all legit,” he said, adding that on Feb. 9 the commission could receive a report on the number of applications and decide whether to form a committee to narrow the field.
If enough qualified candidates apply, Boglioli said a shortlisting meeting could take place as soon as Feb. 13, followed by candidate interviews on Feb. 27. Under the proposed schedule, the commission could select a finalist by March 9, begin contract negotiations shortly after and have the new city manager start by March 23.
The search follows the dismissal of former City Manager Mike Mortell in October, after Vice Mayor Sean Reed alleged misuse of power.