At his press conference today, Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves explained how he expects Capt. Cliff Collins, USN (Ret.), his Associate City Administrator for Strategic Initiatives and Adrianne Walker, his Strategic Initiatives Project Officer, to operate in his administration.
The restructuring moves away from the previous model, where deputy administrators managed six departments.
- “We just found some inefficiencies in terms of upstream and downstream communication,” Reeves said. “There’s this kind of odd setup when you do it that way that the city administrator is kind of asking permission of a deputy city administrator to talk to a certain department.”
The new structure establishes a clearer chain of command, with the city administrator at the top, followed by a deputy, and then an associate with specialized responsibilities.
Strategic Focus on Complex Projects
Rather than managing traditional departments, Collins and Walker will serve as coordinators for large-scale transformational projects that span multiple city departments. These “glue people,” as the mayor described them, will focus on moving strategic initiatives forward.
The approach addresses the reality that major projects like the South Palafox development involve public works, parking, engineering, downtown business engagement, and the mayor’s office simultaneously. Similarly, supporting initiatives like American Magic requires coordination across economic development and multiple city departments.
Mayor Reeves gave an example of how their future work may involve developing community nodes outside downtown—walkable neighborhood centers that residents identified as priorities in the city’s strategic plan.
- “How will that project ever move forward without someone waking up every day and figuring out how to do that?” Reeves asked. “Because where are you going to get the property? What do the neighbors think? That is such an elephant to take on.”
Continuity During Transition
These appointments come as current City Administrator Tim Kinsella prepares to leave. “We will have a national search for the city administrator’s job. Amy Miller will be the interim city administrator. She stepped up for us before, and certainly has decades of experience and respect in this building. So I’m glad to have her on our team to step in there.”
On Kinsella, Mayor Reeves said, “We’re going to miss Tim, no doubt about it. And he did so many amazing things for us in the city, and we are a better city today than we were before he started. But those are things that we want to continue in a new administration, and so we’re excited to get somebody on board and keep that momentum going.”
Give Amy the damn job!! She is qualified and experienced.