Consultant recommends candidates from Miami, Colorado and New Jersey from among 28 applicants.
A consultant is recommending that Brevard County commissioners interview three candidates for consideration as the next county manager.
Daniel Alfonso, the city manager of Miami.
Todd Leopold, the former county manager of Adams County, Colorado.
John Pulomena, the county administrator in Middlesex County, New Jersey.
Higginbotham also named Dale Walker, the former county manager of Macon-Bibb County in Georgia, as a semifinalist.
The recommendation came from a pool of 28 people who applied for the position, a figure that was less than what Higginbotham initially had expected.
County commissioners can decide to hire one of the recommended candidates, hire someone else who applied or recruit someone else for the position.
Brevard's former county manager, Stockton Whitten, left on April 30 to take a position as associate vice president in charge of facilities and special projects at Eastern Florida State College.
Assistant County Manager Frank Abbate currently is serving as interim county manager, but did not apply for the permanent job.
County Commissioner John Tobia has placed an item on the County Commission agenda for its next regular meeting on July 11, asking the commission to consider Abbate for the job.
Tobia said he is impressed with Abbate's work, and wants commissioners to consider him.
Tobia said Abbate is "diligent" and "a pleasure to work with."
He said Brevard County government department heads he has "informally surveyed" have a good working relationship with him.
"He is well-liked and respected," Tobia said.
Furthermore, Tobia described the pool of candidates as "weak," and doesn't want the county to spend any more money on the job search — including bringing out-of-town candidates in for an interview — until commissioners get a chance to consider Abbate.
In a letter to county management, Tobia wrote: "Due to the lack of diverse, qualified candidates who applied for the county manager position, and concerns with several of the finalists selected by The Mercer Group, it is in the best interests of Brevard County to put a temporary halt to any further expenses incurred in recruitment."
Tobia said that, since May 1, when Abbate became interim county manager, "it has become abundantly clear that the county already has a top-tier candidate within its ranks. Interim County Manager Frank Abbate has demonstrated exceptional skill in this position. He is a man of integrity who is respected by the members of the legislative, executive and administrative branches of our county government."
"To illustrate this point, in response to an anonymous survey my office sent to our department directors, Mr. Abbate was mentioned by name as the ideal county manager," Tobia wrote. "Perhaps more importantly, the qualities and experience which these directors have described as essential in a county manager match those of Mr. Abbate."
Higginbotham said, of the 28 applicants, he considered only seven "minimally qualified," and chose six of them for one-on-one interviews, then narrowed the list further.
The only Brevard County resident to apply for Whitten's job was Palm Bay City Manager Gregg Lynk, who consultant Higginbotham put on his list as a "second-tier" semifinalist — in effect, ranking him fifth of the 28 applicants. But Lynk on June 14 withdrew his name from consideration.
County commissioners received copies of material submitted by all 28 applicants. So they can add or subtract people from the list to be interviewed.
In a letter to county commissioners, Higginbotham encouraged them to schedule interviews with the leading candidates for the job as soon as possible.
"As time elapses after the closing date, the more likely we will lose good candidates," Higginbotham wrote. The application period closed June 9. But the County Commission does not meet during June.
Whitten gave the county nearly two months' notice before leaving for the EFSC job.
The county manager job posting did not give a salary range for the job but noted that "the salary for the most recent county manager was $188,000 annually, with an excellent fringe benefit package."
The latest salaries for Alfonso, Leopold and Pulomena all are more than $200,000 a year.
Alfonso and Lynk were among six candidates from Florida who applied for the job. Other candidates came from 16 other states and the District of Columbia.
Brevard County Human Resources Director Jerry Visco attributed the relatively small number of applicants to "market conditions" — basically, who was looking for a job at the time the search was underway.