Regan’s poor performance under attack by commission candidate

Ellis calls for national search to find new city manager

Chris Ellis, candidate for City Commission, told Historic City News editor Michael Gold this week that, if elected, he is committed to completing a national search before the City of St Augustine hires its next city manager.

A national search would enable us to choose from outstanding candidates who could help us produce real success on the major quality of life issues affecting our residents.

“I have had the opportunity to study and evaluate the city manager’s performance. I closely followed his most recent evaluation by the city commission in December,” Ellis said. “I agree with a number of the points made by the Mayor and Vice Mayor about major deficiencies in the city manager’s performance during that December evaluation.”

Candidate Chris Ellis

Under the current city manager’s leadership, Ellis observes that the city is not making enough progress on traffic, flooding, managing growth, and city finances. He points out that, under John Regan’s management, taxes and fees continue to increase while services are cut and our infrastructure declines.

“He’s had eight years on the job and we now pay him almost $174,000 a year,” Ellis concluded. “We can do better and that is why I strongly support a national search for a new city manager.”