Tallahassee commissioners chose longtime city executive Karen Jumonville after a nationwide search, rejecting a proposal for a one-year transition contract as the city prepares for a new mayor and potentially changing commission in November.<\/p>\n
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Tallahassee city commissioners have selected Deputy City Manager Dr. Karen Jumonville to become the city’s next manager, choosing a 27-year City Hall veteran to lead the nearly 4,000-employee organization through a politically sensitive transition.<\/p>\n
The commission voted 3-2 Wednesday to move forward with Jumonville and begin contract negotiations, with Mayor John Dailey, Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Richardson and Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox supporting the selection. Commissioners Jeremy Matlow and Jack Porter voted against the motion.<\/p>\n
The vote followed presentations from three finalists \u2014 Jumonville, Scott Andrews and Valerie Washington \u2014 who emerged from a nationwide search that recruiters said reached more than 1,500 local government professionals.<\/p>\n
“This is one of the most important decisions that we’ll make in our career,” Dailey said as the meeting began.<\/p>\n
Jumonville: ‘I’m here for the long haul’<\/p>\n
Jumonville has worked for Tallahassee for 27 years, including the past four-and-a-half years alongside current City Manager Reese Goad. She told commissioners she is prepared to oversee approximately 4,000 employees, 30 departments and a $1.2 billion budget.<\/p>\n
Her pitch emphasized organizational accountability, fiscal stewardship and a “One Tallahassee” approach to delivering services.<\/p>\n
“I have spent 27 years learning this organization,” Jumonville said. “I don’t want to be any city city manager. I want to be city manager in the city of Tallahassee because I love it here.”<\/p>\n
Asked whether she was approaching retirement after nearly three decades with the city, Jumonville rejected the suggestion.<\/p>\n
“I’m here for the long haul,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere.”<\/p>\n
Williams-Cox: Jumonville is the right choice ‘for such a time as this’<\/p>\n
Williams-Cox made the motion to select Jumonville, saying all three finalists were strong enough to lead the city but that Tallahassee ultimately had to choose one.<\/p>\n
“For such a time as this, our best choice to keep moving forward together now … would be Dr. Karen Jumonville,” Williams-Cox said.<\/p>\n
She pointed to Jumonville’s rise through the organization and said promoting her sends a message to city employees that hard work and professional growth can eventually lead to the organization’s top job.<\/p>\n
Richardson quickly backed the choice, praising Jumonville’s responsiveness and saying she has earned the respect of city employees.<\/p>\n
“I can’t think of a time when I called Karen and brought an issue to her attention that it wasn’t addressed expeditiously, expertly,” Richardson said.<\/p>\n
Matlow, Porter wanted one-year contract<\/p>\n
The selection exposed a significant divide over timing.<\/p>\n
Tallahassee is roughly two months away from an election that will produce a new mayor and could alter the makeup of the City Commission.<\/p>\n
Matlow proposed giving Jumonville a one-year transition contract, arguing that would allow her to work with the incoming commission before that commission decided whether to continue the relationship.<\/p>\n
Porter seconded the proposal.<\/p>\n
Matlow said moving ahead with a longer-term arrangement could create instability by tying the hands of future commissioners. Porter said she had opposed making the city manager selection before the election but viewed a one-year agreement as a compromise.<\/p>\n
The substitute motion failed 2-3.<\/p>\n
Dailey said a one-year contract would further politicize the manager’s position when what the city needs is stability and long-term leadership.<\/p>\n
The original motion selecting Jumonville then passed 3-2.<\/p>\n
Contract comes back Sept. 9<\/p>\n
Wednesday’s vote does not yet finalize Jumonville’s employment agreement.<\/p>\n
Dailey will negotiate contract terms with Jumonville with assistance from the city’s human resources and legal staffs.<\/p>\n
If an agreement is reached, the signed contract will return to commissioners at their Sept. 9 meeting for final ratification. It will not take effect until the commission approves it.<\/p>\n
The selection puts a familiar face at the top of Tallahassee government at a moment of substantial change.<\/p>\n
Jumonville told commissioners she understands the city deeply enough to lead immediately while recognizing that its next chapter will require both “continuity and courage.”<\/p>\n
“I have worked my entire career for this opportunity,” Jumonville said, “and it would be the greatest honor of my professional life to serve this community as your next city manager.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tallahassee commissioners chose longtime city executive Karen Jumonville after a nationwide search, rejecting a proposal for a one-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-388795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}