Okaloosa County commissioners are moving toward hiring a new county administrator.
Colin Baenzinger & Associates, the Palm Beach County consulting firm hired to conduct the national search, has received 103 applications to replace outgoing Jim Curry.
“They are planning to refer the top candidates to the commissioners somewhere around March 11,” said Kay Godwin, the county’s human resources director.
Godwin said the company will narrow the applicants to a pool of five to seven people.
Commissioners then will have about a week to review the candidates’ information and backgrounds, and discuss each applicant individually with Colin Baenzinger.
“We have on our calendars for March 28 and 29 to do the actual on-site interview process, which will include a tour of the area and perhaps a reception,” Godwin said.
During those two days, the candidates will have one-on-one interviews with each commissioner and a group interview open to the public.
Godwin said commissioners could decide the top candidate at their meeting April 2, and the new administrator could be hired within the following few weeks.
“We were shooting for early May because our budget process begins,” she said. “(Curry) wanted to afford the opportunity for the new administrator to be a big part of developing that budget.”
Curry, who has worked for Okaloosa County for 35 years, is set to retire sometime between May and October.
He began working for the county as a corrections officer in 1978. He was named director of the corrections department three years later and served in that position until 1997.
Curry was the county’s No. 2 administrator from 1997 to 2005, when he was named county administrator.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.
