Some local government officials, wary of the uncertain economic climate, are keeping a close eye on spending.
But in Fort Lauderdale, City Manager Rickelle Williams is reportedly making waves by initiating rapid, sweeping changes in her first year on the job. Those changes include promoting 20 upper management staff and creating new high-paid positions, some at the top of the allowed pay range.
Mayor Dean Trantalis said he is not bothered by the changes Williams has made at City Hall.
“When new managers come in, they want to bring in people they are comfortable with,” he said. “It was not unexpected that she would bring in a new team. She also promoted people from within. This was not unexpected. If we’re spending $2 million and saving $50 million then that’s a good investment.”
Such rapid changes aren’t typically the norm for an incoming city manager, said Charles Zelden, a political science professor at Nova Southeastern University.
“City managers can have a fair amount of autonomy, but usually that comes with time in office,” Zelden said. “Someone who’s been in there 10 years might say, ‘There’s a better way, let’s do this.’ Someone doing this right out of the bat is not common.”
Williams, 40, came aboard on April 2, 2025, just weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis publicly announced his plan to abolish property taxes.
Even before talk of property tax reform surfaced in Tallahassee, a city consultant warned Fort Lauderdale commissioners to plan for extreme budget shortages in the coming years, partly due to a steady increase in staffing costs coupled with an expected slowdown in revenues.
Even now, the city is struggling with ways to pay for several costly projects, including a new City Hall, promised improvements to city parks and widespread upgrades to Fort Lauderdale’s infrastructure.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel obtained a detailed list of the salary changes and sent Williams a list of questions. One asked why the changes were needed.
Her response: “The City Commission and residents raised legitimate concerns about delayed projects, leadership instability and a lack of visible progress. Today, those same projects and initiatives are advancing.”
Williams restructured City Hall staffing, going from 10 departments to 16.
She also created several new positions. Now, there is:
— Another assistant city manager: Quentin Pough, salary of $247,500.
— A director of utility services: Albert Carbon, salary of $235,555.
— A director of capital projects: Colette Satchell, salary of $215,000.
— A director of strategic communications: Kevin Pulido, salary of $210,000.
— A director of administration and strategic initiatives/chief of staff: Tiffany Bain, salary of $165,000.
— Another executive assistant to the city manager: Nikhan Cotterell, salary of $89,000.
Williams also approved the hiring of Brad Kaine, whom she worked with in Miami Beach, to serve as public works director. Kaine is making an annual salary of $235,555. His predecessor made $222,105.
Several top managers are now making more after being promoted.
Chris Cooper’s salary jumped to $272,065 from $247,330 when he was promoted to deputy city manager. Yvette Matthews’ salary increased to $247,330 from $183,555 when she was promoted to assistant city manager. And Todd Hiteshew’s salary increased to $190,835 from $156,860 when he was promoted to deputy director of public works.
The Fort Lauderdale commission is expecting to make tough budget decisions if voters across the state approve property tax reform in November. Commissioner Ben Sorensen, from left, Mayor Dean Trantalis and Commissioner Steve Glassman are shown on Feb. 3. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The changes were not made in a vacuum, city officials say.
Williams discussed them with the commission as well as members of the city’s Budget Advisory Board, saying they were necessary to make day-to-day operations run more efficiently.
No harm, no foul — as long as the commission bosses back the changes, Zelden said.
“The city hires a city manager because they have expertise,” he said. “The commissioners need that city manager to do the job. And that gives a lot of autonomous power to the city managers as long as they keep the board happy.”
Williams, a rising star in local government circles, walked into a leading role as the top boss at Fort Lauderdale City Hall after honing her skills working for the likes of Miami Beach, Miami-Dade County and Dania Beach.
Williams is the fifth person in seven years to hold one of Fort Lauderdale’s most high-pressure jobs. Before even starting the job, Williams said she planned a long stay.
Her five commission bosses were expected to give Williams her first annual job evaluation during Tuesday night’s City Hall meeting. But due to a packed agenda, the evaluation has been set for May, city sources say.
Williams is the highest-paid city manager in Fort Lauderdale’s history, with an annual salary of $350,000.
As top boss, she oversees a $1.2 billion budget and more than 3,000 employees, including the police and fire chiefs.
In Miami Beach, Williams was an economic development director before being named assistant city manager in November 2022. She also served briefly as interim city manager in 2024. Before that, she worked as executive director of the Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency and was an economic development manager for Miami-Dade County.
The Fort Lauderdale job comes with a history of high turnover.
Former top boss Lee Feldman held the reins for seven years. His ouster came in late 2018 when he was fired in a 3-2 commission vote.
Next up was Chris Lagerbloom. He lasted three years, shepherding the city through the throes of the pandemic and a series of headline-making sewage spills. He resigned in mid-2022 to take another job in Georgia.
Then came Greg Chavarria, whose tenure was just shy of two years. Chavarria resigned in June 2024 amid allegations from the county’s Inspector General saying he violated a charter rule requiring city managers to live in town. Chavarria disputed the report, saying it was full of inaccuracies.
Susan Grant followed, serving nearly one year as acting city manager while the city conducted a national search to replace Chavarria.
Backing the manager
In the past year, Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen has emerged as one of Williams’ biggest supporters.
“I think Rickelle is doing a great job in managing a highly complex city with a lot of financial challenges at the moment,” he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Yet he acknowledged that her no-nonsense style has ruffled feathers both inside and outside City Hall, from union leaders trying to negotiate new contracts to lobbyists working on public-private projects with the city.
“I think the city manager can be a very tough negotiator, especially when negotiating on behalf of the city and the residents to make sure the city gets the best deal,” Sorensen said. “And that might be frustrating for people on the side of the table.”
A recent report from Florida Politics claims the payroll at City Hall has risen by more than $15 million under Williams’ tenure due to “reckless hiring.”
Williams refutes the claim.
“Our city’s personnel budget growth is trending downward, and the numbers make that clear,” she said by email. “Fiscal year 2025, general fund salaries and benefits grew by 8.1 percent over (the previous year). Fiscal year 2026, my first budget year, growth decreased to 7.5 percent. Fiscal year 2027 growth is projected to further decrease to 5.08 percent.”
Trantalis defended Williams.
“I don’t always agree with her, but I think it’s premature to judge her at this point.”
As city manager, Williams said she strives daily to move the city forward and to the next level. “My vision includes making intentional investments in our workforce that consistently translate to better services and tangible outcomes,” she said by email. “Higher expectations naturally bring change.”
In the email, she touted her accomplishments, saying it was the just beginning.
“I have strategically realigned existing personnel based on organizational needs,” Williams said. “The strategic reorganization was developed and shared in a transparent manner at various public meetings with favorable input from the Budget Advisory Board and approval by the City Commission.”
Williams added: “Since my tenure began in April 2025, I promoted 20 talented individuals from within the organization to senior leadership positions. My team and I have recruited qualified, experienced and credentialed individuals from municipalities across South Florida.”
The Sun Sentinel asked Williams: Did you consider the fact that the state is looking into property tax reform? Or the fact that city consultants have warned of upcoming extreme budget shortages?
“We consider the potential financial impacts of every decision with a focus on balancing sound fiscal stewardship with providing high‑quality services to our neighbors,” Williams said by email. “We are closely monitoring the recent discussions around property tax reform, as well as the various factors that have future budgetary implications.”
Trantalis defended the changes.
“We were made aware of her intention to hire more people,” he said. “We gave her the direction to create efficiencies in fulfilling the needs we have. In the parks bond program, construction was actually delayed on projects. We knew she was going to make new hires to address that.”
Juggling personalities
Williams’ first year on the job, however, has not been without friction.
A tense discussion was on public display in January when the mayor had tough questions for the city manager.
Trantalis wanted to know why she waited months to share important information with the commission about a less expensive option for a new City Hall.
The owner of a nearby office tower had approached the city in July 2025 about selling the building to serve as the new City Hall. Williams did not inform the commission until January.
Now, three months later, the commission is wrangling over whether to buy the existing tower or build a pricey new City Hall that could cost more than $1 billion over 30 years.
Williams told the mayor the proposal from the building owner was incomplete. She also said she did not meet with the building owner until December.
The mayor made it clear he was not happy being kept in the dark.
“I’m curious as to why you kept it a secret from us and finally disclose it to us after midnight at a commission meeting,” he said. “Going forward we need to know what you’re doing.”
Brian Donaldson, former chair of the budget advisory board, had praise for Williams.
“In the commission meetings I like how she has handled a multitude of different personalities,” he said. “It is a very difficult job and that is why we have churned through so many city managers.”
Donaldson says he has heard rumblings that Williams has brought in senior staff at high salaries.
“To me the pivotal thing is whether the head count has gone up,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me if she went outside to make hires. I don’t care where they came from. If you have an opening, fill it with the best person. But is the head count up? Is the overall payroll up? And do we really need those positions?”
Bill Brown, chair of the city’s budget advisory board, said the answers to those questions will be clear in the coming months during budget discussions.
He declined to comment further.
‘I think she’s really smart’
Mary Peloquin, a community leader who served on the City Manager Search Committee, described Williams as charming and dynamic.
“I think she’s really smart,” Peloquin said. “I think she’s articulate. When we interviewed her, her answers were complete and thoughtful and detailed.”
But Charlie King, a frequent critic of City Hall, questioned the wisdom of making sweeping promotions and creating new high-paid positions.
“I wouldn’t think now would be the time to hire people and raise salaries since property tax reform is being put to the voters,” King said. “I would think you stay level at this point until after November when we know what’s going to happen. It seems like the other side wants to pretend this is not going to happen and sticking their head in the sand.”
Charlie Ladd, a local developer, remarked on the long line of city managers who came before Williams.
No one ever knows how long they will be in the job.
“City managers are like baseball managers,” Ladd said. “They come in and do as good a job as they can. And when politics change, the city moves on to a new one.”
In the end, it’s up to the commission to decide how long a city manager stays in the job.
Under her contract, Williams would receive a lump-sum severance package of 20 weeks of pay if she were to be fired without cause.
If she does stick around, her contract guarantees a $10,500 longevity bonus in April 2028, or 3% of her base salary on her third job anniversary. She would also receive 1% of her base salary each year after that.
In response to the list of questions from the Sun Sentinel, Williams touted her accomplishments and promised there’s more to come.
“Our team has demonstrated the capacity and willingness to increase accountability and productivity to meet the higher expectations set by our City Commission,” she said. “That is the direct result of my administration’s focus and direction, and we are just getting started.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan