PHOTO/

Sarah Spurlock

 

New assistant city manager steps up

 

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

Putting together the city’s $160-plus million budget each summer is not City Manager Bob Vitas’ favorite project. It takes an enormous amount of time, meeting with department heads, finance department staff and city commissioners, all arguing for their pet projects. But this year Vitas has a new arrow in his budget prep quiver: Sarah Spurlock.

 

Spurlock, who started as the city’s new assistant city manager of administrative services on May 19, has had to hit the ground running. Her first week was spent introducing herself to all the departmental directors and their staff, trying to get a feel for the issues and priorities in front of them.

 

“Every community has their own unique issues, challenges and problems,” she said. “Key West is no different.”

 

The Key West City Charter allows for three assistant city managers but Vitas says the city has traditionally been happy with two, one for operations, a post currently held by David Fernandez; and administration, Spurlock’s new purview. She takes over for Mark Finigan, who resigned Dec. 20 after six years on the job.

 

As the head of town hall administration, Spurlock will oversee the finance and information technology departments as well as human resources and management of city-owned property. Her background as Assistant Town Manager for Palm Beach, Fla., with a seasonal population of 25,000 and a $153 million annual budget, and Assistant City Manager in Sunrise, Fla, where she helped manage that town’s $440 million budget, has prepared her for Key West.

 

“I’ve been in south Florida for 11 years in local government,” Spurlock said. “I knew about island living and the different issues an affluent tourist town brings with it.”

 

“She’s done a lot of finance work and a lot of work in strategic planning, which is near and dear to my heart,” Vitas said. “As the organization grows and as she blends in with the organization, we’ll be looking at how we establish her duties on an annual basis.”

 

One of Spurlock’s first projects will be an update of the city’s strategic plan, which was adopted in 2011. A road map for where the city wants to go in the future, the plan calls for City Hall to take the pulse of residents and businesses in a citizen survey expected to kick off later this year. The plan will take those opinions into account as it lays out the framework of how to reach established goals.

 

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]