- October 5, 2026
Flagler County commissioners are considering bringing in a professional recruiting firm to restart their search for a county administrator after sole finalist Aaron Van Kleeck withdrew his name from consideration.
The County Commission reached a consensus during a Sept. 14 workshop to have Human Resources Director Charlie Picano gather pricing and services from executive recruiting firms. Commissioners plan to revisit the issue after a new commissioner is seated in November.
Picano opened the discussion by announcing that Van Kleeck had withdrawn, leaving the county with no candidates moving forward. He presented three options: return to the original pool of 30 qualified applicants, pause the process until after the November election or hire an executive recruiting firm and begin again.
Van Kleeck, Volusia County's emergency services director, emerged as the sole finalist Sept. 4 after commissioners interviewed three remaining candidates. Commissioners Andy Dance and Greg Hansen supported Van Kleeck, while other commissioners wanted additional time with him before making a final decision. The board ultimately agreed unanimously to continue the interview process with Van Kleeck rather than immediately offer him the job.
The county had 30 qualified applicants in the search. The Florida Association of County Managers reviewed the pool before commissioners selected eight candidates for further consideration in July. After withdrawals, six candidates were interviewed Aug. 10, and four — Van Kleeck, Tracy Miller, Richard Reade and Shawn Boatright advanced.
With Van Kleeck now out, commissioners spent much of Monday's discussion debating whether another county-led search would produce a different result.
Commissioner Pam Richardson said she favors using a professional firm rather than repeating the process.
“I believe that we need to go to a firm that their expertise is strictly that,” Richardson said. “We went through their whole group. There was 30 people.”
Richardson said she did not want another search to take six months, although she said there is not an immediate need to hire an administrator.
Commissioner Kim Carney also supported looking at a professional recruiter. She said the previous search took too long and questioned whether going back to the same pool of applicants would produce a different result.
“We're just going to get the same applicants,” Carney said.
Dance disagreed with immediately hiring a recruiting firm, particularly while the county is looking for ways to reduce expenses.
“I'm not in favor of hiring a big fancy firm,” Dance said. “We're in the process of saving every hundred thousand dollars we can right now.”
Dance instead supported waiting until the new commission is seated and using the next several weeks to determine what the board wants in its next administrator. He said the pending change on the commission may also have complicated the previous search because candidates knew Hansen's seat would change hands in November.
“The thing that I got out of it is we don't know what we want,” Dance said.
Carney pushed back on that assessment, saying commissioners spent significant time revising the administrator's job description and developing the proposed employment contract.
“We know what we want. We know what we need,” Carney said. “There's somebody out there. We just have to find them.”
Carney said she was comfortable waiting until November but wanted the county to investigate professional recruiters in the meantime.
Commission Chair Leann Pennington said she believes a recruiting firm may ultimately be the better option but wants commissioners to see firm pricing before making that decision.
“We'll know about Amendment 3. We'll have firm pricing in front of us. We'll have a new board member seated, and we'll make the decision in that meeting,” Pennington said.
Hansen, who will leave the commission in November, said he would support whatever direction the majority chooses but cautioned that money spent on a recruiter has to come from somewhere, particularly as the county prepares for possible future budget reductions.
Picano will now collect proposals from firms of different sizes and compare their costs and services with what county staff provided during the first search.
The commission is expected to decide how to restart the administrator search after the new board member is seated in November.
