By DOTTY NIST
Provided with recommendations for six county administrator candidates to interview, county commissioners quickly narrowed the list to four and set a date for interviews.
Candidate recommendations provided by the Florida Association of Counties (FAC) were formally presented to the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) at its Aug. 13 regular meeting at the South Walton Annex.
Candidates recommended by the FAC included Jack Brown of Taylor County, Larry Jones of Walton County, Tony Gomillion of Santa Rosa County, Wendell Taylor of Hendry County, Ron Rabun of Spalding County, Ga., and Richard Hampton of Jefferson County, Ga. The commissioners were also provided with a complete list of applicants for the position so that they could add other candidates to the list if they so desired.
There were no additions to the list of interviewees, and the county commissioners agreed on four candidates to proceed to the interview process. After a brief discussion, the list of finalists agreed on consisted of Brown, Jones, Gomillion, and Rabun.
Interviews have been scheduled for Aug. 26. The public is encouraged to attend a social meet and greet scheduled with the candidates for 12 – 2 p.m. on Aug. 26 at the Walton County Courthouse in DeFuniak Springs. The candidates are also to receive tours of Walton County. The commissioners are expected to make a decision on the person to fill the open county administrator position at the regular BCC meeting on Aug. 27, which is to begin at 9 a.m. and also take place at the Walton County Courthouse.
According to discussion at the Aug. 13 BCC meeting, the numerical scoring method that was recently used for ranking of candidates for the Walton County Tourist Development Council executive director position is to be used to rank county administrator finalists.
In other action at the Aug. 13 BCC meeting, staff received direction from the BCC to move ahead with preparations for a contract with interim county attorney Mark Davis providing for him to become county attorney.
Davis received praise for the services he had provided to the BCC since being enlisted as interim county attorney in early 2013. “I say we do whatever we have to do to keep the man,” said District 4 Commissioner Sara Comander.
“I appreciate his response in getting things done,” agreed District 5 Commissioner Cindy Meadows.