Escambia County Reorganizes: New Assistant Administrator, Some Department Directors Ousted

June 26, 2015

A new assistant county administrator is on the way in and some department heads are on the way out under a new organizational chart approved Thursday night by the Escambia County Commission.

Retiring Pensacola Police Chief Chip Simmons will come on board after his retirement in August as an assistant county administrator.  He will be responsible for overseeing community public safety relations and coordination, firefighters both paid and volunteers, jail construction and public safety coordination and employee relations. Corrections Director Michael Tidwell, Public Safety Director Mike Weaver, Facilities Management Director David Wheeler and Building Services Director Don Mayo and their departments will report to Simmons.

Assistant County Administrator Amy Lovoy will oversee the Pensacola Bay Center, the county budget, contract management, property sales, purchasing and risk management. Library Services Director Todd Humble, Information and Technology Director Shawn Fletcher, Waste Services Director Pat Johnson and Natural Resources Management Director Keith Wilkins and their departments will report to Lovoy.

Two longtime county department directors will be gone. Marilyn Wesley, director of Community Affairs, and David Musselwhite, information and technology director, will no longer work for the county.

Two other prominent county employees, public information officers Kathleen Dough-Castro and Bill Pearson, are leaving the county by choice, not as a result of the reorganization.

The new Escambia County organization chart looks like this, with changes and additions circled (click to enlarge):

The old Escambia County organization chart looks like this (click to enlarge):

Comments

5 Responses to “Escambia County Reorganizes: New Assistant Administrator, Some Department Directors Ousted”

  1. Dennis L Williamson on September 15th, 2015 10:54 am

    This is a mistake. David Musselwhite saved the county money foolishly spent by the previous IT Director. This was the purchase of unused, very costly Oracle PeopleSoft software. This software was rejected by the Financial Department and the Human Resources Department. Also several very good IT personal left because of friction caused by the IT Department head during the Ivan and Dennis Hurricanes.

    Mr. Musselwhite converted the IT Department to a less expensive and better suited hardware and database softwaresolution. Even the State of Florida does not use expensive hardware and software like Escambia County was using. I have high praise for Mr. Musselwhite for saving Escambia County money that was better spent on the IT hardware and software that he implemented for Escambia county.

  2. jeeperman on June 28th, 2015 12:02 pm

    “Jack” could not do this reorganizing without the blessing of the Board of County Commissioners.
    If the BOCC did not like the new organization, they could have voted no.

  3. Julia Pearsall on June 26th, 2015 1:00 pm

    Thank you for providing this information. Your graphic is clear and easy to read.

  4. bewildered on June 26th, 2015 10:46 am

    At least they are saving tax payers’ money this go around. Advertising lucrative positions is a waste of the applicants’ time. Usually a decision was made beforehand who will be hired. Power corrupts – it does not matter who is in charge. Always has been and always will be. .

  5. onemooretime on June 26th, 2015 7:19 am

    The good old boys are at it again. Escambia County never learns. Jack needs to go.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News