After interviewing three city manager candidates, City Commissioner Scott Maddox, who is the focus of a federal corruption investigation, made a motion to hire current interim city manager Reese Goad and the permanent city manager. City Commissioner Curtis Richardson seconded the motion. Mayor Andrew Gillum also supported Goad.
The final vote was 4-1.
The final vote to hire Goad comes after the city commission changed their mind about waiting until after the elections. Two city commissioners and Mayor Gillum will not be returning.
The change was the subject of many rumors about insider dealings by individuals who wanted to keep Goad in place so that the “status quo” could be maintained. Goad was an assistant city manager to City Manager Rick Fernandez who was forced out over alleged ethics violations.
Check back for updates to this report.
Insiders Get Their Man: Reese Goad Hired by Lame Duck City Commission added by Staff on
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I just re-read this article after two years. How prophetic. There is only one way, one scenario where Goud goes in 2020. The last in the triad must go. November 4th, 2020, which 3-2 vote will it be to replace city management, or not? The old guard, or a new wave of change?
How much worsecan he be than the last couple?
We shall soon see. OTOH, idiot-meters & so-called red-light cameras, and traffic cameras that are clear and high enough resolution to recognize vehicle occupants in a picture of the control center monitors reprinted in the cage-liner are evil.
Should have plebiscite recall… and means to penalize power-mad commissioners & code-nazis, etc… and statute initiatives… and if a campaign for a seat on the councils & commissions were affordable by the average working person, then we’d see improvements.
Mayor Dailey says:
“Let them eat cake.”
(But, with a friendly smile on his face.)
Mayor Dailey says:
“Let them eat cake.”
So to the THREE NEW COMMIONERS; you have your first task: 1) Unseat Goad; 2) Re-implace a Real search for a trustworthy City Manager and get them in place ASAP AND 3) make this part of your campaign promise!
Snidely – wouldn’t it be entertaining if all candidates (Daniels included…? HA!) made this their campaign promise and then made good on it?
That would send a message.
What say you – John Dailey?
@ Tom Derzypolski – for the record, my name is Arthur Kirby and a Tallahassee resident living *inside* the City limits.
The point is this. Our currently seated Commission is under legal and ethical scrutiny for CORRUPTION. Three of the five seated commissioners will not be Commissioners in 90 days. The other two have individual issues related to the same scrutiny.
I have seen Mr. Goud’s work. The issue is, if he is the right choice now, then – if the vetting process were true and upstanding – Mr. Goud would be the right choice in 90 days.
Any reasonable person understands it wasn’t the right thing for this Commission to do last night.
The voters are going to have a voice on whether they approve of the status quo. There will be three new public representatives in three months. Considering there is a probation period upon hiring, and a new commission can decline to continue his employment without cause, it truly makes me wonder *why* he – or any candidate – would accept the position during this time frame.
I certainly hope this is on all candidate’s radar. This voter is looking for definitive candidate positions on this issue. Waffling or non-descript answers are unacceptable.
Wow: Freedom 93.3 FM just said that Greg Marr, Jr. Is “no longer an employee.”
What happened there?
After losing his father, this can’t be good.
Tom,
I applaud you for your courage! I agree with you that it does us no good to attack the person as opposed to the issue. When the person is attacked instead of the issue, it takes away the credibility of the argument and turns it into a personal agenda. Like you, I expect and demand accountability. I believe that we all should be accountable for our actions, not just what we do but what we say. Love the person and hate the sin will make us all better people and it may even bring us together so that we can move forward to a better place. It is in our differences we become stronger and better. I like everyone else has made poor choices and bad decisions in life. Thank God there were people who believed in me and built me up instead of tearing me down so that I could accept the consequences for my decisions and move forward to try and become a better person. The lions dens sometimes is not a bad place to be, ask Daniel.
Tom,
I have worked with Reese and I have seen what he has done if you piss him off… there are many FORMER employees who know him real well too. Good Luck to all City Employees… I’m guessing another re-org is coming real soon.
A lot of people really know Reese Goad; and yes, I know Reese Goad, he was selected by the old guard to perpetuate the abuse of tax payers money; he was hired and promoted by Cynthia Barber (who was promoted over Police with NO law enforcement credentials) and Goad consequently knowingly carries forth the baggage of Marks, Favor-Thompson, Barber, Cassandra Jackson, Scott ‘the Las Vegas Midget Man’ Maddox, Gillum, Fernandez, a series of extremely questionable deals and is inherently deeply rooted as part of the problem; he just can’t be cited with it. The manner in which he has been brought in is the COT signature of abuse of the system. Mr. Dierzypolski – your presented naivety should honestly be re-examined. Goad has hung out and been promoted by demonstrably dishonest people; and he is one. Our City deserves better.
“Dirk” – that is not the point I was making at all. Using your real name is not an argument. I simply stated it would be nice for people to be bold enough to say what they mean and mean what they say – in public. Heck, we expect those in appointed positions to adhere to a high standard, shouldn’t those who attack them reach that standard?
You know nothing about me – but because I use my name you can research me or at least perhaps have some perspective on a position I take. I volunteer, I serve, I run a small business, I love Tallahassee and I’m not insecure when people offer positions different than mine. I don’t attack people and I didn’t attack the “News Maven” above. And, I’m not attacking you. I am for extreme accountability and believe we – the people – should hold people in elected positions and those they appoint to a higher standard.
I know Steve Stewart and believe he cares about this community. I loves his family and is trying to run a good business. He and I can sit and agree on many things – and disagree on others. When I see Steve he will often say, “sorry about the brutal nature of the comments – it’s rough in there.” – meaning, in the comments section of his stories. To me that is too bad. I think more people would engage if there was more substance and less name calling from nameless commenters.
Oh, and what does GTFOOH mean Dirk? I don’t use that phrase in my life and am unfamiliar with it. And I assume you are calling me the Tallahassee Swamp Dweller? Or is that a closing to your comment. Sometimes people close a comment with a “salutation then a comma and then their name” “GTFOOH, Tallahassee Swamp Dweller” Because people like using alias I didn’t know if “Dirk” was you name and perhaps Tallahassee Swamp Dweller was your alias – or perhaps you were calling me the Tallahassee Swamp Dweller. Hard to tell.
Either way, have a good evening. I’m not attacking you or anyone else commenting here.
Seriously, GTFOOH, a marketing shop owner who has contracts with the city. Sorry Tom, I’m not one of your polite southern yokels who nod their heads in agreement as you piss on their leg and tell them it’s rainung.
Sure wish people had enough conviction behind their comments to use their real name. I am Tom Derzypolski. I believe in civility, courage and yes, holding people accountable.
Ah yes, the use-your-real-name argument. Where you win by default. Because you can’t refute the facts. GTFOOH, Tallahassee Swamp Dweller.
Tom:
We’ve seen his math, as it applies to calculating the value of a Skybox seal at Doak.
I must admit though, for this year, $99 would be overpriced by about $97.
Skybox seat, sorry.
Wasn’t it several tickets? It would be like getting a house built, but saying that each brick only cost 2.99
Do any of you even know Reese? I mean really – have you sat in meetings and seen how his mind evaluates situations and how he stands for what he believes in?
I have seen him work. He is smart and cares for Tallahassee. I know I’ve jumped into the lions den here…many of you are commenting without any knowledge of this man. Give him a chance. Hold him accountable.
I love this community and expect the highest standard of behavior. Both elected officials, and you.
Let’s move forward as a community.
Tom, Yes I do. Not as friends, but in his role and mine. Look at his role with the utility and the fiascoes of the not-so-SMART Meters, the alleged solar power project, and other various rate plans and cost increases which continue to fleece the poorest of this community. How about the simple reality of sitting quietly while corruption exploded all around him…or maybe the ridiculous assessment of the cost of the FSU skybox tickets accepted by his former boss to provide cover?
The rank and file workers provide the service while the bloated and over-paid senior management reap an embarrassing set of benefits…some, it has been determined unethical, if not illegal.
Tom, you believe in accountability…me, too. In fact, nearly everyone who comments here have been looking for it for years. This city needs a completely fresh set of professional eyes looking at the entire operation. What the outgoing commission just did was put more distance between its, and others, actions and determining all that is wrong.
It causes concern to simply consider those on the commission who have been pushing for him to have the job and made the motion to hire.
A read in the archives here ends discussion on the need…stories based on the public record and documents not whitewashed with “friendships” like other local media outlets.
Do you think Reese is going to uncover and sweep out all of the mismanagement or will he sweep it under the rug? His time as interim has answered the question already. Has he proposed getting rid of four, FOUR assistant city managers (we have more than cities five times our size)? I could go on and on.
Reese was an assistant city manager and highly positioned for how many years of mismanagement – how can the community move forward when it just got anchored to its mismanaged past
Tom, don’t you have contracts at the city? Doesn’t supporting Reese help secure these contracts? Reese has shown who he is with his silence all these years. Even as a interim his silence continued. He is more of the same. Lets get Tallahassee out of this “good ole boy network” mentality and yes, that includes you Tom and your family connections. Lets start fresh. I hope the new city commissioners fire the new city manager on day one and start a new search. Tallahassee deserves better!
Tom, I think it’s great that you love this community and expect the highest level of behavior from our elected officials and residents alike – an admirable goal.
However, assuming that “behavior” encompasses Ethics, Morality, and Integrity, you can’t tell me (or any other Tallahassee resident) with a straight face that you’re content and satisfied with the embedded pattern of COT corruption (aka: their “behavior”) over the past decade – and presently.
Please don’t try to tell anyone there’s no corruption – that would be intentional denial of reality, there are simply too many repetitive cases of suspect land deals with city officials’ cronies, rigged-bid vendor contracts to cronies and family members, and “pay-to-play” cash-laundering setups of dummy companies (we all know which Commissioner is involved with that).
Again Tom, great that you expect high standards of behavior – we all want that. But we can’t “move foward as a community” until Tallahassee leaves all of the present long-term, high-level COT officials behind, along with their corrupt culture. The FBI isn’t in Tallahassee to waste time and look busy, and I hope they soon have a very thick file of indictments ready to go.
Who dissented?
I’m guessing Gil.
What a charade.
Geez, they already have Goad listed on the web page as City Mismanager.
Complete with a mugshot.
They don’t want any new eyes peeling back the layers of Insider dealings and their modus operandi. A win for Scott Maddox and Andrew Gillum and a loss for Tallahassee.