Seemingly on its way to naming a long-sought permanent city administrator, the Apopka City Council ran into a virtual brick wall Wednesday night, in the form of an eleventh-hour, social media kerfuffle over the interim administrator’s qualifications.
Radley Williams, the city’s recreation director at the time, took the interim role April 28 after Jacob Smith was fired in March by Mayor Bryan Nelson.
Nelson said Smith was terminated after just nine months in the job over his poor communication and failure to inform city officials of an emailed inquiry from the state’s Department of Government Efficiency. A city investigation found that Smith instead deleted the email.
Nelson was pushing to give Williams the job that would pay him $187,500 annually on a permanent basis Wednesday night. But a post on a Facebook page entitled “Apopka Critic” at 10:26 a.m Wednesday said, “Apopka we could do better!” It had dozens of comments — most supporting its skepticism regarding Williams.
Then, early in the council meeting, Williams raised the public debate his candidacy generated and offered the option of commissioners pulling the issue from the agenda.
“I’ve heard the recent public discourse on my recommended ratification for the permanent city administrator position,” Williams told them. “The last thing I want to be is a detriment or distraction to the city of Apopka or its operations.”
Hearing no response from his fellow commissioners, Nelson, who said he discussed the issue with Williams prior to the meeting, moved on to the next agenda item and the subject didn’t come up again.
He said Thursday morning that Williams will remain in his interim role until commissioners provide direction at a future meeting.
“I was a little disappointed that we weren’t able to make him the permanent city administrator,” he said. “Even though it’s been five months he’s done a really good job.”
Nelson confirmed the Apopka Critic as a source of criticism about Williams: “I’m not a fan of them and they’re not a fan of me.”
Jack Do Martin, a retired Apopka businessman who started the Facebook page in 2010, said Williams simply doesn’t have the experience needed to run the city.
“That’s not what he went to college for. He was to be a recreational director,” Martin said when reached Thursday morning. “He wasn’t trained to be a manager.”
“Understand, that I like Radley Williams, I think he did a good job as recreation director,” he said in his Wednesday morning post. “But his qualifications are just not there. The city is in bad shape and we don’t have time for on the job training.”
Before Williams joined the city he worked for Lake Mary from 2004-22, starting as recreation assistant and moving up to assistant Parks and Recreation director in 2020.
When reached Thursday morning Williams said he had little to add to the statement he made during the meeting.
“Obviously I will continue to commit to working and bringing the best of my abilities to the city however the city needs me to do that,” he said.
Nelson said the city’s top administrative job could change dramatically based on what voters say in the upcoming election. Residents head to the polls March 10 to decide the fate of eight charter amendments — including whether to change the structure of city government, shifting power away from the mayor and giving more authority to a city manager.
An Apopka Critic post at 7:57 a.m. Thursday referenced what happened at the meeting and suggested commissioners conduct a national search for a candidate who has experience as a city administrator.
When reached by phone Thursday morning, Vice Mayor Diane Velazquez said she didn’t have time to talk but referred to her response to the Apopka Critic’s morning post.
“The ratification was not pulled by the Commission, it was pulled by Interim CAO Radley,” Velazquez said. “The Mayor should have advocated for him during the meeting, he is the Strong Mayor.”
