St Augustine Commission appoints new City Clerk

On the job since June 1, 2009, Darlene Galambos, currently the Recording Secretary for the City of St Augustine, will receive a promotion to fill the position of City Clerk; currently held by Alison Ratkovic.

At the July commission meeting, Ratkovic, who came to the city on June 8, 1989, announced that she will retire effective October 1, 2015. It was a final item on the agenda, and commissioners did not take up the task of finding a replacement during that meeting.

At Monday night’s commission meeting, August 10th, selection of the next city clerk appeared as an agenda item. The clerk is one of three positions at City Hall that is decided by vote of the commissioners — the others are City Attorney and City Manager. All other positions, including all department heads, the Fire Chief and Chief of Police, are hired by the City Manager.

Commissioner Neville and Mayor Shaver were reluctant to waive an outside search; but, in this case, the decision was made to replace the City Clerk from within as opposed to advertising for applications, then conducting required vetting of any potential responses. Both Neville and the mayor made it clear that their reluctance in no way reflected any lack of support for Galambos, rather it was made to express potential concerns for the process of hiring without first making a public announcement of the job opening. The vote to appoint was unanimous, 5-0.

Galambos will assume her new role as City Clerk on October 1, 2015. Ratkovic retired earning an annual salary of $53,543.62 plus benefits. Galambos is currently earning an annual salary of $33,378.67 plus benefits. There was no discussion of salaries; either for the new Clerk, or the replacement Recording Secretary.