On Monday afternoon, Aug. 10, 2026, Flagler County commissioners sat down with six applicants hoping to become the next county administrator, the highest-ranking county official who isn’t elected. By the time the day ended, the group had trimmed the pool to four and began mapping out a final round for early September.
The workshop got underway at 1:02 p.m., with HR Director Charlie Pecano overseeing the process. Interviews ran roughly 45 minutes each. Every commissioner posed one question, then Vice Chair Kim Carney wrapped up with a final one. Chair Leanne Pennington participated remotely, saying she wasn’t feeling well. Before anyone spoke on the record, commissioners had already read an outside evaluation of the candidates.
No surprises in the questions. Each person was asked about their background and management style, the hardest criticism they’ve ever had to absorb, and how they’ve put into practice the county’s stated values: excellence, integrity, coordination with cities, and careful use of money. They also had to discuss experience with major capital work, roads, airport improvements, beach projects, and explain how they handle working for elected officials who don’t always agree with each other.
The six candidates
Rich Reedy said his career spans more than three decades in city and county government, and that he now leads a coalition of 39 city managers in Palm Beach County. He kept returning to the same basics: listen closely, treat people fairly, and communicate often. He talked about weekly briefings and one-on-one check-ins so commissioners are never blindsided. “You shouldn’t be walking down the aisle of Publix or Target or Walmart… and wondering what’s happening,” he said. At one point, he acknowledged the nerves, “Sorry, I’m getting nervous for whatever reason.”
Tracy Miller, appearing by video, described a career that included 20 years with a nonprofit focused on government innovation, followed by a decade at Sarasota County and later assistant city manager work in Oldsmar and Bartow. She said she has overseen budgets ranging from about $140 million to $1.1 billion. Strategic planning, clear metrics, and public-facing dashboards were her focus, with project progress tracked month by month. “When we say we’re going to do something, we should do it,” she said.
Tom Hutka, a civil engineer and former Wall Street municipal bond trader, spent 11 years as Broward County’s public works director. He ran through a list of large projects, including a 900-bed jail in Osceola County built in nine months and a re-timing of roughly 900 traffic signals in Broward that he said reduced travel time by 25 percent. “You won’t find anybody who’s built more projects for city and county government than me,” he told commissioners. He also framed his career around two personal aims, “to help people and to protect the environment.”
Sean Boatwright, a former Marine who came to the interview from Camden County, Georgia, pointed to infrastructure and service work he said he helped deliver with grant support, including a Resiliency Operations Center, along with road, park, and animal control improvements. He argued the challenges across the Georgia-Florida line look familiar, especially the push at the state level to limit local taxing authority. When the conversation turned to strained finances, he cracked a joke: “We always call it the F-bomb here, and it’s not the bad word. It’s funding.”
Stanley Hawthorne, a Florida native with city-management experience in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and in Connecticut, talked about building a staff-driven values program built around “I CARE,” integrity, compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence. Since his background is exclusively in cities, a commissioner pressed him on how he would work with separate elected “constitutional officers” at the county level, such as the sheriff and clerk. Hawthorne said he has dealt with comparable independent offices and relies on what he called a “10-factor” review to gauge how healthy an organization is.
Aaron Van Cleek has worked 23 years in neighboring Volusia County, starting on a bridge crew and moving up through finance into emergency services, where he now oversees a department of more than 500 employees. He didn’t dodge what he called “the elephant in the room,” that he has never served as an administrator or deputy administrator. Still, he argued the upside is drive and urgency. “You’re getting someone that is hungry,” he said. He also suggested Flagler consider a written agreement to reduce annexation disputes with cities, pointing to friction over areas such as Somerton and Veranda Bay.
Themes that kept resurfacing
Certain issues kept reappearing as the day went on. Commissioner Greg Hansen, a retired Navy captain, told candidates the county has experienced both an over-involved “micromanager” and a more distant leader, and he wanted to know where each applicant fell on that spectrum. Van Cleek’s response was direct: “I would never be a micromanager… You hire the people to do the job.”
Commissioner Pam Richardson raised another concern, new commissioners, she said, weren’t given much support in learning the details of county operations when they first took office, and she wants a better onboarding approach.
On long-term problems, there was broad agreement that beach nourishment, restoring sand and dunes and paying for it, sits at the top of the list. The existing beach plan is several years old and still lacks a clear funding approach. Commissioners also noted the county’s strategic plan needs to be refreshed.
Financial pressure ran through nearly every exchange. Amendment 3 and possible property tax changes came up repeatedly, along with warnings that the county might face reductions of 10 percent or more. Van Cleek noted that a large portion of county homes, which he estimated at 49 percent, carry a homestead exemption, a factor that could limit how much revenue the county can raise. At the same time, the county is expanding fire service and carries a sizable sheriff’s budget, even with a newer jail already in place.
How the list shrank
After the interviews ended, the board reconvened around 6 p.m. to narrow the field. Instead of a formal ranking, each commissioner marked their top three choices with an “X,” and Pennington emailed her picks.
Commissioner Andy Dance selected Boatwright, Miller, and Van Cleek. Hansen chose Miller, Reedy, and Van Cleek. Carney marked Boatwright, Miller, and Reedy. Richardson picked Boatwright, Hutka, and Reedy. Pennington selected Boatwright, Van Cleek, and Hutka.
| Commissioner | Top three picks |
|---|---|
| Andy Dance | Boatwright, Miller, Van Cleek |
| Greg Hansen | Miller, Reedy, Van Cleek |
| Kim Carney | Boatwright, Miller, Reedy |
| Pam Richardson | Boatwright, Hutka, Reedy |
| Leanne Pennington | Boatwright, Van Cleek, Hutka |
| Candidate | Selections |
|---|---|
| Boatwright | 4 |
| Miller | 3 |
| Reedy | 3 |
| Van Cleek | 3 |
| Hutka | 2 |
| Hawthorne | 0 |
Boatwright led the group with four selections. Miller, Reedy, and Van Cleek each had three. Hutka had two, while Hawthorne received none. At first, commissioners discussed moving ahead with only three finalists. Pennington pushed to keep four, saying the county shouldn’t hurry. “We don’t need to rush, we need to get it right,” she said, adding that applicants are “uprooting their lives” to pursue the job. The board agreed to advance Boatwright, Miller, Reedy, and Van Cleek.
The final round
Planning for the next step followed right after. Commissioners outlined a final process that would include private one-on-one meetings, a public interview where finalists answer questions on camera, an opportunity for residents to meet them, and then a special meeting to choose the administrator.
One sticking point was whether finalists should receive “scenario” questions in advance, essentially a hypothetical problem to solve, or whether commissioners should ask those questions live. Someone noted that Palm Coast once required a written paper, but worried that with artificial intelligence now widely available, that sort of exercise carries less weight.
With vacations, a scheduled commission meeting, primary election results, and budget hearings crowding the calendar, the board settled on Sept. 3 and 4. The plan is for one-on-one interviews the afternoon of Sept. 3, the same evening as the county’s budget public hearing at 5:01 p.m., with finalists returning on Sept. 4 for the public interview and a decision. County staff said the timing would limit travel demands, candidates would only need to stay one night and “will know next morning if they got the job or not.”
For now, Flagler County is being led by an interim administrator, the county’s planning director. Officials said they hope to have the permanent administrator chosen by late August or the first week of September, with a start date as soon as practical after the new budget year begins Oct. 1.
