Gulf Shores council hires new city administrator

Originally Published by the Mobile Press Register

Steve Garman's previous jobs include city manager posts in Pensacola and Decatur, Ill.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

By RYAN DEZEMBER Staff Reporter

GULF SHORES — By a unanimous vote Monday, 66-year-old Steve Garman, a former city manager in Pensacola and Decatur, Ill., was hired as the city's next administrator.

Garman said Tuesday that he will arrive in Gulf Shores today to begin looking for a place to live while he sells his home in central Illinois. He will report to City Hall on Oct. 1 and spend a month learning the ropes of his new job, taking over the day-to-day management of Gulf Shores when the next administration assumes office in early November, said Councilman and Mayor-elect Robert Craft.

"I'm very pleased the council asked me to join them," Garman said. "I'm excited to get started."

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Garman becomes Gulf Shores' first administrator since last fall, when Ernie Smith stepped down and returned to his previous job as the city's economic development director. Prior to Smith's appointment in 2004, Tony Rivera held the city's top non-elected position for 13 years.

The terms of Garman's contract include an annual salary of $132,000, a monthly auto allowance of $650, expense reimbursement of up to $500 a month, and an $1,800 housing stipend for either six months or the length of time it takes him to sell his Illinois home, whichever comes first. The city will also pay Garman's moving expenses as long as the job is bid out like other city expenses, the contract says.

Gulf Shores began the search for a new administrator in 2004 by interviewing corporate headhunters, but later aborted the effort when Mayor G.W. "Billy" Duke III appointed Smith to the position. This March, the council resumed its search, paying Georgia-based Slavin Management Consulting to bring them a list of job candidates.

More than 40 people applied through Slavin for the position, Councilman Steve Jones said, and that list was whittled down by the search firm to 16 top candidates. Of those, council members selected their favorite six and interviewed them in Gulf Shores.

Craft said Garman was the council's first choice because of his extensive experience running cities.

"Of all the candidates that we interviewed, Steve seemed to have the background and experience that I felt would help us," Councilman Philip Harris said. "We were looking for a guy who's been where we're wanting to go and he seemed to have the experience in other areas to help us get there."

Jones said Garman has a reputation as someone who "coaches people up to another level.

"He's not someone who walks in and hatchets people or makes quick change. He evaluates everyone, finds weaknesses and finds strengths. I just think we felt that this is someone who would catch everyone up in his enthusiasm and get them to the next level and be the most proficient person to get us where we need to be."

Craft said that in his administration, Garman will be asked primarily to manage the city's various departments and to handle day-to-day matters, which would allow the council to focus on planning and long-term issues.

Garman, who was born in Hutchinson, Kan., holds a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma City University and master's degree from the University of Oklahoma. From 1978 to 1985 he was Pensaco la's city manager, leaving that post to start a financial firm called Government Credit Corp.

Garman took the Decatur job in 1999, a job he said he heard about through Slavin. He had announced at the beginning of this year that he would leave that city manager post in October when his contract expired, but decided to resign in May so that he could look for a new job, according to Decatur's daily newspaper, the Herald & Review.

Decatur, a city of about 82,000, is about midway between Chicago and St. Louis and sits about 40 miles east of the Illinois capital, Springfield, in the central part of the state. It is home to agricultural giants Caterpillar and Archer Daniels Midland.

The contract he had been working under in Illinois paid him $131,158 a year with a monthly car allowance of $500, according to the Herald & Review.