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Marco Island Parks and Recreation Director Dana Souza will take over as interim City Manager when Tony Shoemaker steps down officially April 7.

It was decided through a unanimous vote by the Marco Island City Council Monday night during a special-called session to discuss Shoemaker’s resignation, which he turned in just last week.

The decision ran contradictory to Shoemaker’s recommendation for his own replacement, City Finance Director Bill Harrison. Many on the council said they were concerned that in a time where budgeting would become increasingly fraught by reduced revenues, Harrison needed to be singularly focused on directing his department.

“I think our budget and our planning is of utmost importance,” Councilor Jerry Gibson said. “I think Bill would better serve our city by concentrating on the budget part of it. I also have a lot of respect for Dana. Everyone feels very strongly about the job he’s done.”

Souza joined the city in 2002 from Portland, Maine, where he held the post of parks and recreation director. As parks and recreation director, he is responsible not only for the city’s park lands and recreational facilities, but also for the upkeep of landscaping along city medians and right-of-ways.

Councilor Ted Forcht agreed, saying he would prefer that the city’s finance director be “single-minded focused” on budgeting.

City budget workshops begin in May, and the city will be in a position of even greater restriction than when planning for the Fiscal Year 2008 budget when property tax revenues were less than in the previous year for the first time since Marco Island incorporated.

“I’ve talked to Souza about working directly with Harrison,” Council Chair Bill Trotter said. “Mr. Souza seemed very amenable to that. That would allow the direct communication with Mr. Harrison we think is so critical in this time.”

Council discussed allowing Harrison to report directly to council during budget talks, eliminating one “layer” Trotter described as being an impediment to effective planning.

City Attorney Alan Gabriel cautioned that the city’s charter precludes the council from providing any orders to administrative workers, and stated that the council would have to walk a fine line between suggestions to Harrison and direct orders. The latter form of communication would have to go through Souza, the interim city manager, he said.

“I want you to be aware that there’s a fine line between directive and participation and suggestions,” Gabriel said.

In addition to formally accepting Shoemaker’s resignation, council made the decision to put off determining additional pay for Souza during the interim period. A permanent city manager is not slated for selection until April 15, when the search process is scheduled to come to an end. Trotter estimated that Souza would need to serve in his interim capacity for six to eight weeks.

Shoemaker recommended an additional $1,000 per week to whoever fills his shoes. Council discussed possibly increasing Harrison’s pay during the interim if his duties become increased by filling any necessary gaps, possibly giving him a fraction of that weekly $1,000.

During the talks, Councilor Chuck Kiester told his fellow councilors he felt that the process to fill the permanent post of city manager was proceeding too quickly. He suggested halting the process in its tracks to allow the city to undertake a charter review.

“To that point, I think it would be totally unfair to anyone we brought in here as a permanent city manager to be unaware of the charter changes or to have the charter changes happen after he or she is hired,” Kiester said.

The suggestion did not gain much traction, though, as the council focused on naming a new interim manager and bypassed Kiester’s recommendation.

“As long as I’ve been on council, I’ve believed we needed to have a charter review committee, but I think it has nothing to do with the city manager search,” Councilor Rob Popoff said. “If we don’t find a qualified candidate or a candidate we have a consensus on that we’re comfortable with, then we start this thing over. I’d like to see where this thing takes us and not throw it in the garbage yet.”

Council took another unanimous vote, agreeing to waive the requirement that Souza live within Marco Island city limits in order to act as city manager.

Councilor Frank Recker said after the meeting that he thinks Souza is held in high regard among his fellow city employees, making him an ideal choice.

“I think people in-house are going to be very pleased,” Recker said.

Souza made the rounds shaking each councilor’s hand following the brief meeting.

“When I first considered it, I wanted to make sure it was a situation that I could help out in positively,” Souza said in an interview. “I think that I can. The focus of my work has been in involving the community.”

He said he thinks he can translate that experience to the post of interim city manager, particularly where it comes to motivating city staff to work as a team.

However, he was also quick to praise Harrison.

“I think very highly of him as an individual and as a finance director,” Souza said.

Shoemaker’s resignation letter indicated that he would retain his post until April 7, leaving Souza to take over in just two weeks’ time.