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Village Manager search comes to a close (HN) 9-24-04liom-rallori Ncrws q-zq-o ff By Michelle Kaplan staff writer. NORTH PALM BEACH The search for a replace- ment for the North Palm Beach Village Manager has drawn to a close, with five candidates under consid- eration. The village was expected to make a deci- sion Thursday. With the resignation of former Village manager Dennis Redmond, who served North Palm Beach for eight months in July, the office was left with a significant void. North Palm Beach was under contract with recruiter Colin Baenziger who. provided a guaran-, teed that the position would be filled with a can- didate for two years. Since that requirement was not fulfilled, .the additional search by Mr. Baenziger was done at no additional charge. The village seeps a candi- date that can wear many hats due to the various operations. the village manager oversees, includ- ing the country club, which is not a regular task for a town manager. According to Mr. Baen- ziger, executive recruiter, the five candidates each bring with them different skill sets that he said gives the village council the dif- ficult task of choosing one. "what we were looking for was somebody with Florida experience. Some- body who had been a town manager, preferably in a costal, upscale communi- ty. Somebody with expert- ise in financial manage- ment, annexations and ideally country club man- agement, although we did not have much luck with that one," Mr. Baenziger said. He said the candidates are all new, with none being from the initial list. "What I try to do is bring five candidates with differ- ent backgrounds. I think a lot of the time people don't know what they're looking for until they see it," he said. "The city knows their issues, their problems, tb.eir chemistry better than I do. They're, intimately involved in them. They're the ones that have to live with them." The candidates ♦ George N. Hunt. with more than 20 years of experience in city manage - See Manager page A4 NORTH PALM BEACH — Mark Bates, an accoun- tant and former city manager in Brow►ard Coun- ty, is being offered the village's top job. Bates beat out six other candidates Thursday for the job vacated by former Village Manager Dennis Redmond. The village council will offer him $105,000 a year to fill the seat. Redmond abruptly resigned on July 19 af- ter eight months on the job. MANAGER Continued from page Al went, Mr. Hunt served as manager of Venice, Flori- da from 1991 to 2004. Mr. Hunt was also a budget officer for the city of Rockville, Md. from 1990 to 1991. Mr. Hunt earned his Bachelor's degree in polit- ical science in� 1974' at Western Illinois Universi- ty in Macomb, Illinois. ®Eric Paul Sabiston presently 'serves as city administrator for the city of Mexico Beach, Fla,. He also served two terms as a city council member for Marietta, Ga. from 1994 to 2001. Mr. Sabiston earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in Spanish at Wake Forest University in Win- ston-Salem, NC. He earned his law degree at the Walter E George School of Law at Mercer University in Macon, GA. *Mark Bates is currently serving as manager of North Lauderdale. He was the finance director of North Lauderdale from 1992 through 2000. Mr. Bates was also the assis- tant director of finance for the Port Everglades Authority from 1990 through 1992. ' Mr. Bates earned his Bachelor's degree in .accounting in 1982 from the University of South Florida, Tampa. *Charles Clark Saddler III has served in local gov- ernment for 24 years. From 2000 through 2001, Mr. Saddler served. as County Administrator with the Jefferson County Board of County Com- missioners in Port Townsend, Wash. Mr. Saddler was city manager for the city of Fort Meade, Fla. from. 1985 -1993 and also served as a town manager for the munici- pal corporation of Cape Charles, Va. from 1980- 1985. He earned his Mas- ter of Public Service .Degree in Public Adminis- tration from Western Ken- tucky University, Bowling Green, in 1977. Mr. Sad- dler earned his Bachelor's of Science degree from Union College in Bar- bourville, KY in 1976. *Jason Randall Nune- maker is currently vice president of corporate development for the Gehring Group in Palm Beach Gardens. Mr. Nunemaker served as town manager for the town of Lake Park from November 2001 to May of 2003. He also served as interim city manager for the City of Dania Beach, Fla. from March 2001 to October 2001. Mr. Nune- maker earned both his Master of Public Adminis- tration in 1996 and Bach- elor's of Arts degree in 1994 from James Madison University in Harrison- burg, VA. "I think it's a real good group of candidates and it's really just a question of who the village council will think will be the best fit for them," Mr. Baen- ziger said. "The (council members) I've spoken to have said that they're very impressed with the candi- dates and it's going to be -a hard decision."