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Highlands Today

Avon Park's Interim City Manager Settling In

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By Douglas  Carman | Highlands Today

Published: January 15, 2008

AVON PARK — Two weeks after Sarah Adelt, who continues as the city clerk, took over as the interim city manager, it doesn't seem all that different in Avon Park City Hall despite the change in city managers.

The double doors still open to Sarah Adelt's desk, and she's juggling the phone speaking to a city council member while plugging numbers into her computer's planner.

Despite shuffling some tasks around "the transition's going very well," she emphasized.

"We're continuing most of what we had in place," she said, referring to the old city manager, C.B. Shirey's agendas.

But there are some visible changes in the way things are operating now.

Adelt, for one, is running a somewhat tighter ship, trying to keep the city's department heads within earshot of her and the council. That was not always the case with her predecessor. She preferred to describe it as a "learning curve" for herself and the people she's now supervising.

"They have had to be a little more responsible for a few things, but... C.B. (Shirey) has been here for 11 years he can do things on top of his head that I'm not able to do," Adelt said. "Everyone has a different leadership style."

One immediate change would be apparent at the council meetings, where she's requiring all the department heads to be with her at each meeting.

Adelt said she was doing that so that people and council members could directly ask the department heads questions on specific problems.

"We have a new city council. I believe it just frees people's time," she said.

She noted that Shirey used to conduct meetings with the department heads after the council met, though in the past several months of his tenure he stopped holding them.

"No one has to make a decision without full information," Adelt added.

Shirey and Renee Green, the city's finance director, both said it was also partially to help Adelt out, and in Shirey's words, "so they can answer the questions rather than her."

Green said she thought the new rule was a good idea though she always attends meetings.

Otherwise, Green said there hasn't been enough time to see any difference between Adelt's and Shirey's administrations, and she hasn't heard any complaints from the other department heads.

"Everything's the same as always. Our work doesn't change," Green said.

Shirey, who's leaving his old office sometime this week to move to the airport, repeated what Adelt said about the transition from his administration to her stopgap operation moving along. He has been giving her pointers and has been helping her out during the time.

His phone's gotten a lot less activity the past couple of weeks –– and he's certainly not complaining.

"They're taking their issues to Sarah rather than me," he said.

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