The North Port Commission voted to part ways with City Manager

The commission voted to part ways with City Manager Peter Lear. He presented a separation which the commission changed his request of six months of paid insurance to 4. He will work until November 13th and then be put on paid administrative leave from November 14th to November 27th. He has 48 hours to sign the separation agreement.

This will give him enough time to work with the acting city manager Julie Bellia, the public works director.

She was picked because she has institutional knowledge of how the city runs, she has been with the city since she is 19 years old, she has worked in several departments, done budgets and knows how to problem solve, and she did it before several years ago when the city didn’t have anyone to temporarily lead in between City managers.

During this time we will put out applications for anyone interested in being the interim City manager. it can include people from outside the city. Some said they preferred it that way.

Whenever we pick will be in place until a new city manager is selected. Some said that process could take a while, as much as up to a year.

The interim city manager will have to work on the upcoming City budget, any potential negotiations with Sarasota County for the parks agreement, preparation for a new fire department, the ongoing rewrite of the ULDC code, any COVID related issues and new commissioners.

The two assistant city managers will work on the 120 existing projects. They will also help the acting city manager and then the interim City manager.

Our budget workshops begin in about 5 months.