Rockledge City Council Announces Top 5 Candidates For New City Manager

By  //  August 5, 2016

Total field of 32 applicants

At a special meeting on Wednesday, the Rockledge City Council whittled down the list of candidates for the new city manager to five.
At a special meeting on Wednesday, the Rockledge City Council whittled down the list of candidates for the new city manager to five.

BREVARD COUNTY • ROCKLEDGE, FLORIDA – At a special meeting on Wednesday, the Rockledge City Council whittled down the list of candidates for the new city manager to five.

What began with a field of 32 applicants became a shortened list of 11 as a result of the work done by the Rockledge City Manager Screening Committee, which is composed of individuals that are affiliated with the Senior Advisor Program, an arm of the Florida City and County Management Association.

The Screening Committee was charged by City Council to review all applications received for the position of Rockledge city manager and refine the field of candidates to between eight and 12 applicants.

Jim McKnight
Jim McKnight

The search for a new city manager for Rockledge was precipitated by the impending retirement of the city’s current manager, Jim McKnight.

When McKnight retires at the end of 2016, he will have spent more than 31 years in the position and will have the distinction of serving as only the second city manager in well over 50 years.

“The goal is to bring these five candidates in for interviews around the third week of August and have Council make a selection in September to provide sufficient time for contract negotiation and relocation, if that ends up being necessary,” said McKnight.

“If possible, I would like to have about a month to spend with the selected applicant,” McKnight said.

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The five candidates on the short list include locals Brenda Fettrow (Cocoa), Kimberly Prosser (Rockledge), and Milo Zonka (Merritt Island), as well as Albert Penska (Pennsylvania) and George Schafer (Illinois).

A sixth candidate, Robert Francis (Oregon), will remain on the list as an alternate in the event one of the top five withdraws from consideration.

CLICK HERE to view the applicants’ resumes and other information related to the city manager search.

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