Lady Lake commissioners unanimously agreed Thursday afternoon to extend an employment offer to the top candidate for its town manager job.
After spending the morning interviewing five candidates brought forth by the executive search firm of Colin Baenziger & Associates, commissioners agreed to extend an offer to Matthew Campbell, the town manager of Kenneth City, a town of about 5,000 located north of St. Petersburg in Pinellas County.
The town has previously discussed an annual salary of $120,000 for the next town manager. Campbell is currently earning $113,398 in Kenneth City.
In 2013, the Town of Kenneth City modified its charter from a strong mayor to a council-manager form of government. Campbell became Kenneth City’s first town manager under the new system. Lady Lake commissioners gave Campbell high marks for navigating that change.
“I was quite impressed,” said Commissioner Dan Vincent.
Before taking on the Kenneth City job, Campbell served for three years as assistant to the city manager for the City of Dunedin.
Commissioners have directed the town attorney to negotiate an employment contract with Campbell, a graduate of Georgia State University. He interned at Coca-Cola and was in the closing ceremonies cast at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.
If Campbell accepts the Lady Lake job, he will succeed previous Town Manager Kris Kollgaard, who was paid $54,216 in severance when she parted ways with the town last year. She had worked for the town for 26 years and had been performing both the town clerk and town manager jobs for an annual salary of $140,967. Her tenure with the town hit choppy waters when she demanded the resignation of Chief of Police Chris McKinstry. He later sued the town for age discrimination.
