A task force reduced the field of nearly 100 applicants for Palm Beach County administrator to seven last week, providing a look at the arguments likely to shape the debate over who should get the $400,000-a-year job.
The seven-member task force established by county commissioners split over the strengths and weaknesses of frontrunners Patrick Rutter, the deputy county administrator, and Joe Abruzzo, the county’s clerk and comptroller.
One of the seven dropped out, narrowing the field to replace Verdenia Baker to three county employees, including Rutter; a local elected official, Abruzzo; and two outsiders. Three are white men, two are Black men and one, Assistant County Administrator Isami Ayala-Collazo, is a Puerto Rican woman.
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The task force, chaired by financial adviser and business leader John R. Smith, voted Wednesday on each of the 96 applicants who met the minimum criteria for the job, set after lengthy County Commission debate to require at least a bachelor’s degree.
County Human Resources staff eliminated more than half of the initial field of 223 applicants because they failed to meet the criteria. The county did not recruit applicants with a headhunter.
The task force of five men and two women plans to interview the six remaining candidates on May 23. It plans to recommend up to five finalists to commissioners by early June.
Task force members allowed themselves just two nominees each but no nominee could move forward without majority support.
Eric Johnson
Just one candidate, Eric Johnson, got a yes vote from all seven task force members.
Johnson, city manager of Norcross, Ga., worked from 1993 to 2017 as an assistant administrator and budget director in Tampa for Hillsborough County and, before moving to Norcross, three years as county manager of Forsyth County, Ga.
Smith, appointed by County Commissioner Sara Baxter, is chairman of BizPac, the Business Political Action Committee of Palm Beach County, which has been interviewing candidates for local elected office and providing financial support since 1992.
He nominated Johnson, pointing to his government experience.
“He’s one of the few people on the list that has had pretty extensive experience as either a county administrator or as an assistant county administrator,” Smith said of Johnson. “His whole background is as a city and county manager.”
Johnson holds a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Florida and a master’s in public administration from the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Joe Abruzzo
While three task force members voted for all seven candidates, Smith’s only other yes vote was for Abruzzo.
“With Joe Abruzzo, you know what you’re getting,” Smith said. “With the vast bulk of the rest of the people on this list, you really don’t know what you’re getting.”
Smith cited Abruzzo’s knowledge of the county budget as head of the agency that audits the county and acts as its treasurer. He cited Abruzzo’s success investing county money and his experience in Tallahassee, as a former Democratic state House and Senate member.
“That could help us,” he said.
Acknowledging that he’s known Abruzzo for 20 years, Smith pointed out that Abruzzo’s record of winning elections means he enjoys public trust.
Added business development manager Kimberly Weston, the appointee of Commissioner Bobby Powell: “The majority of the county decided that they liked him for this particular role and I think that’s important that he was the winner in an elected capacity, which says that they are part of this process as well.”
Abruzzo faced contests in his first four elections from 2006 to 2012, losing one, but won a House seat in 2016 and the clerk’s job in 2020 without opposition. He defeated Republican Samuel Thompson for the clerk’s seat in 2024 with 53% of the vote.
“People know him. They like him,” Smith said.
Ron Ferris, the longtime city manager of Palm Beach Gardens and the appointee of Mayor Maria Marino, voted against Abruzzo, questioning whether he has enough professional management experience, foreshadowing a key question facing his candidacy.
“I think professional experience as a professional manager … is necessary to be able to make the transition into this position as quickly and easily as possible,” Ferris said. “Learning curves in this position are going to be very steep for people who are not very experienced in it.”
In his cover letter, Abruzzo wrote, “I fully understand that the role of County Administrator is not to set policy, but to faithfully carry out the policies and priorities established by you and your colleagues that make up the Board of County Commissioners.”
Ferris’ support landed on the two top in-house candidates — Rutter and Ayala-Collazo.
In endorsing Ayala-Collazo, he touched on the distinction between administrators and politicians.
“There is a very fine line, but a thin line, separating the politics and the policy makers and the employees and those who implement those policies,” Ferris said. “In other words, trying to keep the politics out of the implementation of the policy — a strong administrator can do that.”
Patrick Rutter
Ferris conceded that he and Rutter have been on opposite sides of issues over the years but praised Rutter’s professionalism.
“I’ve had frequent contact on issues (with him),” Ferris said. “He’s always there, willing to lend a helping hand.”
But Rutter drew criticism from Jay Nisberg, an appointee of Commissioner Gregg Weiss, and Sam Caliendo, an appointee of Commissioner Marci Woodward.
Nisberg, an accountant, said he got “an unsettling feeling” from the number of positions Rutter has held as he climbed the county ranks.
When I see somebody who has two-year stints in a number of positions in this role,” Nisberg said. “It just gives me reason to pause.
Caliendo, a developer, echoed the point, saying “(He) just rotated through a lot of different places on a two-year basis. Some even less.”
Rutter started with the county as deputy planning director in 2003, a position he held until 2016.
Since May 2016, Rutter spent two years as planning, zoning and building director; five years as assistant county administrator; and 18 months as deputy county administrator.
Baker promoted Rutter, a West Palm Beach native, to deputy administrator in December 2023, a move seen as grooming him for the top job. He oversees six county departments, including planning and zoning, engineering and environmental resources.
Caliendo said Rutter’s resume bothered him.
“I think we need some new blood into this,” Caliendo said. “But I see too much rubber-stamping of his predecessor in this. I have a real problem with this applicant.”
Only Caliendo and Smith voted against Rutter.
Isami Ayala-Collazo
Caliendo fully supported Ayala-Collazo, the assistant Palm Beach County administrator, calling her resume “probably the most impressive resume I’ve seen out of the whole 90-some odd here, bar none.”
Ayala-Collazo is a chemical engineer, an attorney and has a doctorate in public administration.
“I obtained both graduate degrees while holding full-time jobs and building a family,” she noted in her cover letter.
She wrote that she managed more than $400 million in capital projects in Carolina Municipality, Puerto Rico, from 2007 to 2016, before getting a job in Montgomery County, Md., as chief of Facilities Management.
After a promotion there, she was hired in 2019 as facilities deputy director in Palm Beach County and promoted to director the next year before her elevation to assistant county administrator in December 2023.
She continues to head the Facilities Department, overseeing 800 buildings with 14 million square feet, while also overseeing the county Airports Department, the Tourist Development Council and special projects, including recently conducted negotiations with Vanderbilt University over a downtown West Palm Beach campus.
“I can confidently state that around-the-clock operations come as second nature,” she wrote.
Smith cast the lone vote against her but did not explain his reasoning.
Cornell Wesley
Caliendo nominated Cornell Wesley, director of the Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity for Birmingham, Ala. He worked from 2015 to 2019 as an economic development representative for the U.S. Commerce Department and had been a banker in Alpharetta and Atlanta in Georgia.
Weston supported him as well since he had experience in cities that have been impacted by harsh weather. Ferris opposed him, calling his experience too narrow.
Wesley’s four votes came from Caliendo; Weston; Commissioner Joel Flores’ appointee, Marcella Montesinos; and Commissioner Maria Sachs’ representative, Rabbi Yossi Shapiro.
Keith Clinkscales
Weston nominated Keith Clinkscales, the director of strategic planning and performance management for Palm Beach County. He worked at Office Depot, A&A Associates Staffing and Security and Oxygen Development before getting a job as performance management manager at Palm Beach County’s Palm Tran in 2015.
When he moved to the county job in 2018, he wrote that he conducted an analysis that uncovered significant silos and cultural barriers across departments. He redefined the county’s vision, mission and strategic priorities, he wrote.
He holds a doctorate in strategic leadership from Concordia College and University of Delaware and a master’s in business from Quantic School of Business & Technology.
Weston said she heard him speak at a county event and found him impressive and likeable. Nisberg, Montesinos and Shapiro joined her in voting for him while Ferris, Smith and Caliendo voted no.
Read more: The resumes of the six finalists are here.
Video: To watch the two-hour meeting, click here.
