Press Release:
The Florence City Council voted today to hire Drew Griffin, City of Florence Director of Public Works, to succeed David Williams as City Manager. Mayor Stephen Wukela explained, after a lengthy executive session, that the City Council had been conducting a search for its new City Manager since current City Manager David Williams announced on January 18, 2011, that he intended to retire effective September 30, 2011, after having completed in excess of 26 years of service with the City.
The Mayor went on to explain that the Council employed the services of a search consulting group, The Mercer Group, Inc. to assist them in the search. The members of the consulting firm that the City contracted with to assist with the search were actually a husband and wife team, Phillip and Kay Robertson. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson undertook the task of compiling a profile job description for the new City Manager after interviewing the Mayor, each Council member, and numerous stakeholders in the community. Unfortunately, the Mayor explained, the Group had not yet finished the profile when Kay Robertson fell from a horse during a weekend horse show and suffered severe head injuries. Tragically, after remaining in a coma for a number of weeks, Mrs. Robertson ultimately passed away due to her injuries.
The Mayor went on to describe that while deciding how to deal with this terrible set of events, and its effect on the job search, Council members, to a person, noted that in drafting the City Manager job profile, the name of Drew Griffin, current Public Works Director, consistently came to mind as epitomizing the characteristics of a good Florence City Manager. Mr. Griffin was the former City Manager of Johnsonville and has worked under current City Manager David Williams for many years, most recently as Public Works Director. Drew Griffin is regarded as hard working, extremely knowledgeable, and honest by each member of Council and the Mayor.
Therefore, the Mayor indicated, it made sense to Council to suspend the City Manager search for one year and to hire on Drew Griffin as interim manager during that time. That is precisely what City Council did by unanimous vote this evening. Council indicated that Mr. Griffin would leave his duties as Public Works Director effective September 1, 2011 and, following a transitional period, would assume the duties of City Manager upon David Williams' retirement on October 1, 2011.
