Former Fort Walton Beach City Councilman Dennis Reeves will serve as interim city manager following a 6-1 vote by the city council Tuesday night to fill the position being vacated by Jeff Peters.

• The council’s decision came after lengthy discussion about the selection process and a failed motion to have City Attorney Kim Kopp temporarily fill the role until February 11.

Councilman David Schmidt’s initial motion to appoint Kopp received support from Councilmen Bryce Jeter and Nic Allegretto but failed in a 4-3 vote.

The council then voted 6-1, with Allegretto dissenting, to appoint Reeves for a 90-day term that could be extended to 180 days or until a permanent city manager is hired.

• Peters, who accepted a position with the county, will leave his post on January 24 after council members approved his request to waive the 60-day notice requirement in his contract.

Several candidates expressed interest in the interim position, including former Destin City Manager Lance Johnson, who attended Tuesday’s meeting and indicated he would consider the permanent position if offered.

The council’s discussion centered largely on whether to appoint someone interested in the permanent position. Councilman Travis Smith cited advice from a former councilman suggesting interim managers often become permanent, potentially discouraging other qualified candidates from applying.

• “I don’t want somebody to not apply for the job because they think whoever is in that interim position is already in the catbird seat to that job,” Smith said.

Allegretto, the lone dissenting vote, expressed concerns about the rapid appointment process.

“We’re not offering the opportunity at all to the public to anyone that’s interested to be the city manager on an interim basis,” Allegretto said. “Mr. Reeves himself said he didn’t know about it until this morning when he received a phone call from members of the community.”

When Councilman Jeter asked if Reeves would still be interested in serving as interim manager if the decision was delayed two weeks, Reeves expressed uncertainty.

• “I came as more of a service because I wanted to give you guys the opportunity,” Reeves said. “I really don’t know if I want to come back and do it again next week or two weeks after Ms. Kopp makes a decision.”

Reeves, who previously served on council for 6 years and is listed as the chairman of The Watch Group, emphasized he was only interested in serving temporarily. “I have no interest in the long term,” he said. “I came tonight because I thought we were going to make a decision. I didn’t really have to think about whether I wanted to put myself out on the line with all the social media scrutiny.”

The city charter requires the council to hire a permanent city manager within 180 days.

Next steps for city manager search

In a subsequent vote Tuesday night, the council unanimously approved hiring Colin Baenziger & Associates to conduct the search for a permanent city manager at a cost of $29,500.

Steve Sorrell, representing the firm, told council members the search process would take between 90 and 120 days and include a national recruitment effort. The firm maintains a database of about 10,000 potential candidates and will conduct comprehensive background checks on all finalists.

• “We’ll do criminal, we’ll do credit, we’ll do reference checks, we’ll do everything. And you will know everything there is to know about that candidate,” Sorrell said.

The process will begin with individual meetings between the firm and council members starting January 17. The recruitment phase is expected to take place in February, with candidate review in March. Final candidate selection is anticipated for early April.

Councilman Travis Smith emphasized the importance of efficiency in the search process. “I want to get this thing done as quickly as we can,” Smith said.

The selection process will include individual interviews with candidates, collective interviews, and a public meet-and-greet session to gather feedback from constituents.