A.G. Gancarski
Hopes were that Jacksonville would find its new Inspector General by the end of the summer. However, that search appears destined to go longer.
A Monday meeting involving Council President Lori Boyer, Council Vice President John Crescimbeni, and Carla Miller of the ethics office revealed a general dissatisfaction with the shallow pool of applicants.
Reopening the advertisement will be the move going forward, pending the official imprimatur of the Inspector General Selection Committee on Tuesday.
Of the 25 or so applicants (a number down from 85 last time), eight were presented to Crescimbeni for his review.
He liked three of them, to a point, but “nobody jumped out” as a slam dunk candidate.
An issue, agreed the committee: those with police or military backgrounds lacked the CPA component of the job. And those who had CPA backgrounds lacked the auditor experience.
Given that the office is “kind of a conglomeration of investigation and audits,” Boyer said, that presents a problem.
Crescimbeni also noted he wants an inspector general with “interpersonal or communication skills.”
“Investigators tend to be brash … authoritative,” Crescimbeni said.
If he were being audited, he’d want “someone who’s nice … not a bully thing going on.”
“I want them to feel good about being audited or investigated,” Crescimbeni added, and that would require an inspector general with “diplomacy.”
Ethics director Miller noted some organizations use headhunters.
“If we don’t pick the right person,” Miller said, “it’s the beginning of the end for the program.”
“If we’re 0 for 2,” Crescimbeni added, “we could be done.”
Though the Inspector General Selection and Retention Committee will make the call, Boyer urged to have the ad posted through the end of August, allowing for a hiring process that would extend through early fall.
Interim Inspector General Steve Rohan has indicated a willingness to stay on until the right person is hired.
Indeed, that right hire is crucial.
Councilman Crescimbeni ruefully noted that the first hired inspector general, Thomas Cline, was represented to him as the best of the pool of over 80 candidates. Yet last year in front of the city council, Cline’s office didn’t have its budget balanced, which Crescimbeni thought was “embarrassing.”
