A new Corpus Christi city manager might be named at the City Council’s March 19 meeting. After considerable pressure from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times daily newspaper, the council released the names of the top six people being considered for the position. The city has been without a city manager since Margie Rose resigned last May.
Samuel Keith Selman, the assistant city manager serving as interim city manager, is on the list. Another in-house candidate, Sylvia Carrillo-Treviño, was fired by Selman in February because “I have lost confidence in your ability to perform the critical duties,” Selman wrote in her termination letter. Carrillo-Treviño said, as far as she knew at the time, she was still under consideration.
Of the 30 applicants for the position, 11 were deemed by head hunters Slavin Management Consultants to be eligible for the position. Slavin Management was hired by the council last October to conduct a nationwide search. Those names were whittled to seven and now stand at six after one withdrew their name to keep it from being made public.
The candidates named as under consideration for the position are (in alphabetical order):
• Harry E. Black, founder and general manager of Maximum Management Group in Cincinnati, Ohio. Other credentials include serving as city manager in Cincinnati, director of finance in Baltimore, and deputy chief administrative officer in Richmond, Virginia.
• James T. Dinneen, county manager, Volusia County, Florida, from 2006-18. Past experience includes city manager of Dayton, Ohio. He resigned his Volusia County position after more than 12 years in charge. He left that job in January of this year.
• Simon C. Farbrother, president of Farbrothers and Associates Inc. He was city manager of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 2010-15 and chief administrative officer of Waterloo, Ontario, from 2005-09.
• Lee R. Feldman, city manager of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 2011-18. He has also served as city manager of Palm Bay, Florida, for eight years and the city of North Miami, Florida, for six years.
• Samuel Keith Selman, current interim city manager in Corpus Christi. Before coming to the Coastal Bend, Selman served 15 years in Laredo as director of planning and Metropolitan Planning Organization. He served as city manager in Clyde, Texas, before coming to Corpus Christi.
• Peter Zanoni, deputy city manager in San Antonio since 2012. He recently made the short list to replace retiring San Antonio City Manager Sheryl Sculley but did not get the job. He has worked in a variety of city management positions in San Antonio since 1997.