The Town's consultant, Collin Baezinger of Baezinger & Associates, hosted a virtual panel Wednesday night where residents of the town were able to submit questions for the potential new manager.  

Finalists Kathie Brooks, Matthew Garside and Maria Ladsay answered nearly 2 dozen questions submitted by members of the community. 

The meeting began with each candidate giving background information on who they were and what they hoped to accomplish as town manager of Bay Harbor Islands.

Up first, Kathie Brooks introduced herself as someone with more than 30 years of experience working south Florida local government, recently even serving as Interim City Manager and Assistant City Manager for the City of Miami Beach. She said she had a long-standing relationship with neighboring municipalities, county officials and the Miami-Dade school system. 

Next up was Matthew Garside, town manager in Poland, Maine. Garside said Poland is a town of 6,000 people, similar to that on Bay Harbor Islands. Before becoming town manager, he served in the U.S. Navy where he worked in leadership positions and lived internationally. He said that he plans on being a rule follower while treating people with kindness and respect. 

Last to be introduced was Maria Lasday. Lasday attended the University of California, Los Angeles where she received her law degree. Post graduation, she moved to Chicago to work as an attorney, but eventually changed career paths to work in local government. She has worked as a city administrator in the city of Highwood, Illinois and as village manager in the village of Bannockburn, Illinois. Despite not living fulltime in Florida, Lasday said she is a homeowner in Florida and loves Bay Harbor Islands. 

When asked what each candidate’s first 90 days in the position looked like, Brooks and Lasday had similar answers: hire a new police chief. Brooks hopes to renew the search, since she said the search for a new police chief has been extensive. Additionally, Brooks wants to get a complete understanding of the town’s finances, begin to receive the direct reports and begin to create a strategic management process for Bay Harbor Islands. Similarly, Lasday wants to evaluate the budget — especially in terms of changes due to COVID-19, evaluate staff and roles for efficiency as well as getting to know the agencies and communities. 

Garside said in his first 90 days, he hopes to create relationships with internal communities, such as the people he works with, as well as the community of Bay Harbor Islands. Garside also wants to talk to the finance director and get a good understanding of the budget, specifically how it relates to COVID-19. 
 
Residents of Bay Harbor Islands wanted to hear long-term plans from three candidates, and Brooks, Garside and Lasday all had similar answers: Keep Bay Harbor Islands a place that people love to live. The candidates want to develop strategic planning for long-term goals while listening to what the community hopes their villages look like in 10 or 20 years. 
 
As town manager, all three candidates will face situations where they may need to make tough decisions. In those instances, Garside said he will look at relevant data and input from staff. He said that while he will try to make decisions based on consensus, but he understands he may need to make decisions on his own. Regardless, he wants his decisions to be consistent with the town’s long term goals.
 
Similarly, Brooks is very analytical. She likes to get input from her staff before making her decision to see what will produce the best outcome. 
 
Lasday, much like the other two, likes to see the facts regarding a situation. She likes to understand the long term results of her decision as well as being methodical about the short term results as well.
 
With tough decisions come some successes, but also failures. All three candidates agree that when successes should be shared with the staff, but “the buck stops with tem,” and all three believe that when there is failure, they should and will accept responsibility for the mistake. 
 
Residents of Bay Harbor Islands are concerned with how transparent the potential town managers will be. Brooks said to maintain transparency she plans to use a results-oriented approach to explain to staff and citizens how they will approach a project. Overall, she hopes to improve communications internally and externally. 
 
Lasday said she believes that transparency is important, and she hopes to create agenda items for the community to see as well as accept feedback. She wants to use her strategic planning to remain transparency and hold herself and the town accountable to the budget. 
 
Garside said he wants to put financial documents online for anyone in the community to access as well as explaining how and why he and the town are choosing to do something a particular way. He said he wants to keep his “eye on the ball” if chosen to be the next town manager. 
 
In the age of COVID-19, it is hard to keep morale high in any work environment, but especially in a municipality. Residents wanted to know how the three potential town managers would keep morale high if they were chosen for the position. 
 
Garside said he would continue doing what he does in his current town of Poland, Maine: smile, keep his head high and say “thank you” as often as he can. He said he wants to offer recognition to people who are doing great jobs and help get obstacles out of the way that prevent people from efficiently doing their jobs. 

Brooks said she wants to practice clear expectations with her employees. She said in her experience employees want to do their jobs well, but sometimes don’t have the correct direction to do so. She believes that communication should be efficient, with no surprises in her expectations or communications. With all of this and mutual respect, she believes she can keep morale high. 

Similarly, Lasday wants to create mutual respect and improved working relationships among all town staff. She plans on holding meetings to listen to her employees and hear their concerns and create clear communication. She plans on holding her employees accountable, while also praising those who deserve to be praised.
 
At a meeting expected to be schedule for next week, The town council will appoint either Brooks, Garside or Lasday as Bay Harbor Islands town manager.  Current Interim Town Manager Marlene Siegel will return to her prior post at Town Clerk.