City Attorney Hiring Process Debated

Finding a replacement of now departed City Attorney David Coffey moved forward at the July 19 City Commission meeting. The eight applicants for the job were ranked by each of the Commissioners. Following announcement of the rankings that left four applicants with low ranks, a debate over selecting three versus four for interviews ensued. Both Commissioners Scott Dennison and Sue Colson said that they had done extensive research on the applicants by telephone. As the discussion moved to interview just the top three an objection came from the audience. Several of the Commissioners gave their reasons for limiting it to the top three. The top three applicants were Holly Blumenthal, Bryan Flagg and Norm Fugate.