Council Selects Executive

After two years of searching, the Pensacola City Council may soon have a new executive. The council decided last week to offer the position to Lila Cox.

Cox was among a group of candidates put forth to the council after it recently turned to the Landrum staffing agency to provide a pool of potential staff. On her resume, she is described as a “results oriented professional with doctorate in public policy analysis.”

The executive finalist was not the first candidate offered up for consideration during a special meeting of the city council Sept. 27. At the time, some members of the council expressed a desire to hold off on hiring staff.

“Driving down here, the thought occurred to me, we’re probably going to lose a third of the council in less than two weeks,” Councilman P.C. Wu said at the meeting.

After noting that everyone was “anxious to get to the end,” Wu suggested the council wait until new members were seated in November before making a decision regarding hiring an executive.

“I’m not trying to mess up the process,” he said. “I’m not trying to confuse it.”

Councilman Brian Spencer disagreed. He referred to an earlier meeting, during which frustration was expressed with the various twists in the process thus far.

“We clearly heard from the public, as well as other council members, that the time was now,” Spencer said.

In addition to Cox, the council was considering David Murzin and Dana Williams for the staff position. Murzin is a former state legislator, while Williams is the former clerk of court in Destin.

“I’m not excited about any of them, so I come to this with great reservation,” said Councilwoman Megan Pratt, telling her fellow council members that she was “struggling with this decision.”

The councilwoman also said she didn’t think enough of a salary was being offered for the position. This concern was also voiced during the earlier meeting, when Council President Sam Hall and Councilwoman Sherri Myers met to discuss their respective interviews of the top three candidates.

“We haven’t been attracting the caliber of candidates I think we could,” Pratt said.

Myers said that she thought the contentious relationship—or “perceived conflict”—between the city council and Mayor Ashton Hayward’s office also hurt the field.

“They don’t want to get in the middle of it,” she said.

At Hall’s suggestion, the board decided to bring someone on for a 90-day trial period. Council members also decided to give up or down votes on the candidates, as opposed to using a ranking system when making their decision.

Myers initially wanted to nominate Murzin, a choice Wu seconded. But other council members said they couldn’t support the candidate, who councilman-elect Charles Bare had earlier cautioned against.

Vice President Ronald Townsend said that Murzin’s legislative experience did not mean as much in his opinion as Williams’ experience working as a clerk.

“That’s not all that impressive to me,” he said of Murzin’s credentials. “I’m more impressed with the relative experience.”

Council Brian Spencer said Murzin’s experience could actually be a negative.

“Someone that has had basically a career in politics is not someone I want to see in this position,” he said.

Pratt agreed.

“Someone who has been in a leadership position is now going to have nine bosses, and that’s tough,” she said.

Myers defended her choice as being “informative” and “approachable,” but the council rejected Murzin. Townsend then nominated Williams.

Hall said he had some reservations about Williams. He told his fellow council members that he didn’t like discussing it publicly—“this just feels so wrong”—but that after interviewing and researching the candidate he could not support her.

“The big concern I have with Mrs. Williams is job hoping,” Hall said, noting that he “thoroughly enjoyed the interview” but that the candidate had served relatively short stints in multiple jobs.

Williams also failed to gain the council’s support, with only Townsend and Myers voting for the candidate.

“That leaves Mrs. Lila Cox,” Hall said.

“I was also very impressed with her,” Myers said.

Councilman Larry B. Johnson noted that a “business leader” in the community had contacted him and put a word of support in for Cox. He told the board he would be supporting the candidate.

Cox gained council’s approval on a 6-1 vote, with only Pratt dissenting. Councilman John Jerralds and Councilwoman Maren DeWeese were absent for the vote.