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Touart Removed From County Administrator Candidate Pool
December 6, 2013
Interim County Administrator George Touart won’t be named Escambia County’s permanent administrator. Thursday night, the county commission voted 3-2 to remove Touart from the pool of candidates being considered for the job.
On a motion made by District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry, the commission voted 3-2 to remove Touart from the list of 16 candidates presented by a national search firm hired to help find a new administrator. Barry, Lumon May and Grover Robinson voted in favor of the motion, while Gene Valentino and Wilson Robertson voting against.
“I’m just ready to get somebody in here that’s a permanent administrator that will move Escambia County forward,” Robinson said, after saying Touart was not ever meant to be the permanent administrator. “Somebody that will begin to unify both this board and the citizenry…I think it is important that we find that leader and bring that leader forward.”
“Are y’all afraid George might make the top five?” Robertson asked his fellow commissioners. “Are y’all afraid the citizens (advisory committee) don’t have enough sense to make a decision on the top five. Why have we got to single out and exclude anybody?”
The list of 15 semifinalists will now go to a citizens advisory committee and the consulting company to be narrowed down to a list of five. Those five candidates will be vetted with proper background checks and the finalist list presented to the commission at their January 9 meeting. Commissioners hope to have the new administrator in place by February.
The commission’s 3-2 vote also prohibits Touart from making any senior level staffing changes without board approval during the remaining days at interim administrator.
Pictured top: District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry Thursday night. Pictured bottom inset: George Touart.
Comments
20 Responses to “Touart Removed From County Administrator Candidate Pool”
@gigi- The ridership is from the south end of the county to the north end and in reverse. There are a number of people who work at CCI, health care and nursing homes plus other locations between Pensacola and Century who need a way to get to work. Are the buses always full–no– because of people who prefer to drive. (I wonder if these people ever car pool to help save on gas). On 20 gal. of gas the 4cents will not buy very much. You are partly right– no, you can not ride around the north end on the bus– but you can get from downtown to work in Century. Like it or not the ridership on buses is up in general. Even Greyhound is running more buses and showing a profit. There are some services that the government has to support– you may not use some of them but you’ll still pay for them. I have not had a kid in school for over 20 plus years, but I still am taxed for them. Fire service, parks, small roads paving, grass cutting on the side of the highway and on and on. There are some things that are done for the common good and some one has to pay for them.
Wilson Robertson wont be running in 2016 he has a hand picked successor Dave Carsac
Thank you Commissioner Steven Barry for your strong leadership in trying to drive out the good ole boy system in Escambia County. For too long this county has had decisions made by politicians with strong personal agendas. Thank you for caring for the citizens as a whole and not just the few.
Molino jim, i dont know what you’re talking about. People in the north can’t ride the bus because it doesn’t go there but those residents get the privilege of helping to subsidize it. Of course 4 cents won’t break anybody, but they keep nickeling and diming us to death on everything. Don’t we have a right to draw a line somewhere or are we supposed to just tell the government to come and get it?
Way to go Steve Barry! We’re very proud of you in North Escambia County. It would be nice to have all county commissioners using good judgement , honesty and acting in the best interest of the people they represent. Maybe then, we would begin to move forward. Keep up the good work!!!
1. They made the wrong choice by excluding George Touart from selection. I guess the pressure got to them….
Thank you, Comm. Barry for standing your ground and doing the right thing.
Touart was never supposed to be a permanent replacement.
Please, vote Wilson and Gene out when the election comes around since they obviously do NOT have the best interests of the county on their radar.
Commissioner Barry so far has not shown any leadership in his district or in the monthly meeting. I’d put him in the same category as a Randy Oliver. He seems to think so deeply yet comes out with empty ideas. I’m with keeping George on the list, at least he has experience and sound judgement when it comes to running the county.
Mr. Barry will have my vote come reelection time!
Thank you Mr Barry and the other two CC who did the right thing. Wilson- you can now take George hunting and fishing any time you wish, please ask Gene to join you. Hope the CC picks up Georges county credit card before he leaves. @Bob’s Brother– you may wish to ask the people who are working in the north part of the county and have to use the bus to get to work if the bus service is worth the money. As far just giving them a car there was a program a few years ago that tried this in Florida. The state had the title as I recall and the driver had to keep a job plus keep the car up and pay insurance and so on. There were so many people against the program until it was dropped. The ones who were working lost their jobs. If the 4 cents is going to destroy your life style—you are already in trouble.
Me think he doth protest too much!
Wilson must really be getting something from George for him to show his stupidity so much. We had Wilson when he was up in the north end and as far as we knew he did ok. But if I could do anything about him I would run him out of Escambia County for pushing the 4 cent gas tax on us. What a fiasco!
The other question is how much work has Wilson’s friends been getting from the county? George has a limit he can approve without going before the board for construction jobs and hand out as favors to Wilson’s buddies. Not saying it happened but that it could have happened, so why is Wilson so upset about George? He never got this upset and fought so hard for any other motions except the 4 cent gas tax.
Valentino and Robertson need to go. Wish I could vote against both of them!
If you dont like your job as a servant of the people, then quit that job and find another one, serve without complaining, be content with the service your providing and stop complaining, come on over to the accountability side of the free market where you have to actually produce results efficiently rather than just show up…hhmmm no???? Did not think so!
Don’t forget the ones who voted for that 4 cent per gallon gas tax foisted upon the citizens of Escambia County to support that ECAT system that doesn’t even serve the majority of the North end of the County. It would be more economical to simply buy cars for the people that ride that transit system. ECAT should be dismantled because eventually, that 4 cent per gallon won’t be enough, and they’ll push for 8 cents, then 12 cents.
Way to go Mr. Barry. How in the world could two vote against this. We get what we deserve by voting Wilson back in last year.
Agree, it IS indeed time for the county to unify and move forward working in the best interest of us, the Citizens who pay the bills.
So, if Robinson says, “…Touart was not ever meant to be the permanent administrator.” why was he ever put on the list of candidates? Sounds like more mumbo-jumbo from Wilson.
And, if he was “…not ever meant to be the permanent administrator” why didn’t Robertson vote to remove him from the list?
Now that this is over what is next?
Good to see Commissioner Barry show leadership and initiative in ending this comedy.
The next effort is to remove Valentino and Robertson.
I applaud Comm. Barry for having the fortitude to put this on the table and squash what everyone saw coming down the pike. If only we had some common sense representation here in District One.
At least one of our CCs seems to understand that the good ol’ boys system isn’t working anymore! We need leadership that will move Escambia County forward, not backward.
THAT IS SAD FOR ROAD DPT EMPLOYEES CAUSE HES THE ONLY ONE THAT WANTED TO GET THE EMPLOYEES A RAISE. THATS ASHAME