LWB commissioners back interim city manager for permanent job, even if he won’t interview for it

6 days ago
5 min read

Updated: 2 hours ago

Lake Worth Beach Interim City Manager Jamie Brown (LINKEDIN)

PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR Jamie Brown, who for the past 20 months has served as interim city manager, should be the full-time city manager, a majority of city commissioners said Aug. 1.

But Brown, after listening to a spirited debate by commissioners four days earlier over whether he should have to apply for the job as part of a national search, expressed reservations about accepting the promotion.

“Based on what I heard Monday night at that shortlisting meeting, I'm not going to battle on a weekly basis with an elected. I’ve dedicated too much of my life and my professional career to the city to deal with that,’’ Brown told commissioners at a pre agenda work session Aug. 1.

“Apologies that I kind of became the root of an argument at Monday night’s meeting,’’ he said.

Meeting July 28 as an “evaluation committee,’’ commissioners were supposed to focus on shortlisting seven proposals from companies seeking to conduct a national search for a city manager.

But the proposals were never discussed, according to people who attended the meeting. Instead, Vice Mayor Sarah Malega suggested postponing the search, leading to a debate about the merits of hiring Brown full-time.

Unlike most other city commission meetings, the video of the evaluation committee meeting had not been posted publicly when this story was published. (A copy was finally shared with ByJoeCapozzi.com on Aug. 8 after multiple requests. Watch the video by clicking here or on the screen link at the end of this story.)

The debate continued Aug. 1 at the commission’s pre-agenda work session, with Malega, Mayor Betty Resch and Commissioners Chris McVoy and Mimi May voicing support for hiring Brown.

But Commissioner Anthony Segrich said he was troubled by Brown’s refusal to interview for the full-time post, which has other duties beyond what’s expected from an interim manager.

Brown has said he shouldn’t have to apply for a job he has been doing since City Manager Carmen Davis was fired in late December 2023. Malega agreed, saying his application process has been the 20 months he has served as interim.

“When accepting that interim city manager position, which was as of today 20 months ago, my objective was clear and it hasn't wavered. My focus was to elevate and maintain staff morale and keep the wheels on the bus and keep that bus moving forward at a steady pace and begin addressing a lot of issues that have become stagnant,’’ he told commissioners Aug. 1.

“What I was not going to do, and what I have not done as interim, is institute a new set of policies and procedures and operational performance measures and so on and so on and across all departments,’’ he said. “These are not tasks for an interim position. Those are tasks for whoever is sitting in this office as the permanent city manager.’’

Brown’s comments reinforced Segrich’s point, Segrich told commissioners.

“I think he’s doing a great job as the interim city manager, which as Jamie pointed out is vastly different from the full-time city manager,’’ said Segrich, elected in March by District 4 voters.

“To say that in the last two years he’s been doing the job of a full-time city manager, that’s just not true. And even Jamie said that, because he’s being pulled between two jobs.’’

Other commissioners, however, said it makes no sense to spend money on a search firm when they already have a qualified candidate with whom they are happy. Some criticized Segrich for insisting that Brown apply.

“It’s a bit of an insult, actually,’’ Resch said.

The mayor pointed out how the commission voted 3-2 to fire the previous full-time city manager after giving her a raise earlier that summer. (McVoy voted to fire Davis along with Commissioners Kim Stokes and Reinaldo Diaz, whose seats are now occupied by May and Segrich, respectively.)

“Having seen what happened to Carmen … is probably a chilling factor,’’ Resch said.

Malega was concerned about a one-on-one meeting Brown said he had with Segrich on July 29 when Brown said he “was kind of told what I should and shouldn’t be doing with different departments.’’

“I apologize if any elected person on this body berated you or brought any hurt upon you or any bad feelings because I think you are doing a phenomenal job,’’ Malega said.

“For those who are newly elected, you need to take a step back and realize what the city has gone through in the last four years,’’ Malega said. “Staff morale is one of the number one things we had to focus on and Jamie you've done a great job with that.’’

Segrich questioned why the commission hasn’t hired a full-time city manager sooner after Davis departure instead of using an interim for nearly two years. He said he makes no apologies about requesting performance metrics and insisting Brown apply.

“If somebody doesn't want to interview for this process, that's a huge red flag. I can't get past it,’’ he said.

Brown, though, said he has sought advice from colleagues in the Florida City and County Management Association. “They all overwhelmingly had the exact same answer: No, they wouldn't apply for it either. I didn't have a single person tell me they would,’’ he said.

But there is precedent for Segrich’s request. In Ocean Ridge in 2022, Interim City Manager Lynn Ladner was among six finalists who applied and interviewed for the full-time job. Unlike Brown, a Lake Worth Beach employee for 14 years, Ladner was not an Ocean Ridge employee when the town hired her for the interim job.

Segrich, in an interview Aug. 2, offered praise for Brown’s performance over the past 20 months. If the commission votes to scrap the search process and hire Brown for the full-time job, “I will do my best to make sure he succeeds and has clear goals and expectations from us,’’ he said.

“Part of the recruitment process was to develop that. We don't have that. That's still got to happen whether we do it with professional assistance or not,’’ Segrich said.

The July 28 meeting, which followed a daylong budget workshop, was open to the public but not livestreamed. Video of the meeting has not been posted yet on the city’s website or YouTube page.

Just about all City Commission meetings, including pre-agenda work sessions, are livestreamed and posted on the city’s website and YouTube channel. The July 28 meeting was different, City Clerk Melissa Coyne said in an email, because commissioners were serving as “the procurement evaluation committee members.’’

“It was not a City Commission meeting,’’ Coyne said, even though the evaluation committee was composed of all five commissioners.

Coyne said video of the meeting was available to city staff. She did not explain why the video had not been posted on the city's webage. After multiple requests, the clerk finally shared a copy with ByJoeCapozzi.com on Aug. 8, 2025. Here it is:

This story was updated Aug. 9, 2025, to add video of the July 28, 2025 meeting.

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About the author

Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.