The list of candidates for the Walton County administrator job has been narrowed to six.
Larry Jones, a former county commissioner who finished in the top three the last time the position was open, remains in the running.
Jones, who presently is the county’s special projects coordinator, is joined as a finalist by Floridians Jack Brown from Taylor County, Tony Gomillion from Santa Rosa County and Wendell Taylor from Hendry County.
The other two candidates are from Georgia. Ron Rabun is from Spalding County and Richard Hampton is from Jefferson County.
The men were selected from 37 applicants by a three-man committee appointed by the Florida Association of Counties. The association was asked to help Walton County find a new administrator after its last choice, Robert Halfhill, left under a cloud just a month and a day after he started.
The committee identified Jones and Gomillion, Santa Rosa County’s director of public services, as “non-traditional candidates.”
They “possessed some unique attributes … but did not possess local government, county management experience,” the committee wrote in a report to county commissioners Thursday.
Brown, Hampton, Taylor and Rabun had “traditional experience” in local government or county management, in the committee’s estimation.
The committee was made up of Leon County Administrator Vince Long, Bay County Administrator Ed Smith and Santa Rosa County Administrator Hunter Walker.
A memo from Chris Holley, the Florida Association of Counties’ executive director, to the commissioners outlined procedures the committee used to make its choices.
“There was a strong desire by the tenured committee to recommend candidates with strong professional experience that also met (a) profile articulated by the board (of commissioners),” the memo said.
“The candidate pool was narrowed, in part, by eliminating some of the candidates that were part of the previous selection process,” it said.
Halfhill was hired in February after a lengthy application process. He began work March 1 and resigned April 2.
Three of the 37 candidates, including Jones, competed with Halfhill for the job.
This time around, the county’s staff provided guidance to the FAC committee in narrowing the field of applicants, the memo said.
“Official in-person recommendations” of the candidates will be made at the commissioners’ meeting at 4 p.m. Aug. 13 at the South Walton Annex, according to county spokesman Louis Svehla.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
