They come from as near as Sarasota and Port Charlotte, and from as far as Stockton, California. Some are retired career military — one a Navy rear admiral — and another has a law degree. Some have more than 10 years of experience as a city manager, others none at all.
There are 42 of them in all, pared from an application pool of 87, and what they all have in common is an interest in being considered for the now 15-month vacant Sarasota city manager position.
With a March 6 sunset of Dave Bullock’s tenure as the city’s second interim city manager looming on the horizon, the Sarasota City Commission held its first open meeting with Warren Hutmacher of Sumter Local Government Consulting on Jan. 13. The purpose was to discuss his group of 37 candidates recommended to advance in the process, a pool augmented by five more at the dais by Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch…