guys that did the selection, but they provide the Board all that and each Board Member has to
read it over real good and do the ranking; that will stop them from bringing in other candidates,
spending additional money; he has no idea how much was spent on these 60 people to fly
them in because of the per-diam and the hotels; it is bigger than $35,000; the Board did not say
how big it was, and he does not know how big it could get, but that sounds like they are trying
to get a little extra money to get some more candidates; that is just how business is; but the
Board can shut them off right now, tell him the Board wants Mr. Liesenfelt in there, as long as
he wants to be in there, but he has not heard that from him; he does not understand why the
Board is going to short-sheet this, it could have done that earlier; but if Mr. Liesenfelt gets it,
since he did not raise his hand earlier, he thinks he should pay the $35,000 because the
County went through a selection process, and if he wanted it, it should have been said, and the
Board should have said it wanted that; and he does not know why the Board is back-tracking.
He added he thinks that is the right thing to do. He noted he does not know Mr. Liesenfelt; he
worked with former County Manager, Frank Abbate, and he has a history here; and that is
great, but there are 60 people to look at.
Kevin Jeffrey stated Thomas Payne said, “No country can be called free which is governed by
absolute power; and it matters not whether it be an absolute royal power or absolute legislative
power, as the consequences for the people are the same.” He continued by saying as County
Commissioners, this Board is engaging in representative government, it is not the government,
the people are the government; the American Constitution bestows all of the power on the
people; this Board is supposed to be representing the people; as representatives for the
people, it is committed to having an open search to replace the County Manager; it has spent
$36,000 on a search firm with 60 applicants and still have an open window to receive more; if
the Board freezes this process and appoint the Interim County Manager, this will be an affront
to the people of Brevard County; they deserve better; and this Board will be circumventing the
process. He went on to say there appears to be no valid reason for doing this; it actually has all
the earmarks of cronyism; maintaining the public trust is important; a vote to suspend the
County’s process will do serious damage to the public trust; when he was a boy he went to the
store and over the counter there was a sign, “since man to man is so unjust, we know not men
we ought to trust. We’ve trusted many to our sorrow, pay cash today, we’ll trust tomorrow”; and
he would like to reverse that a little bit and say, “Politician to politician is so unjust. We know
not politician we ought to trust. We’ve trusted many to our sorrow, let’s continue the process,
we will trust tomorrow.”
Sheriff Wayne Ivey, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO), stated he has with him, Doug
Waller and the Clerk of Courts; they stand before this Board and thank it for taking up this
matter and hearing from them; they have all collectively had an opportunity to work with Mr.
Liesenfelt, not just in this last budget process, but over the past 12 years as he has had the
blessing of serving as the Brevard County Sheriff; he has always been an open door for him,
and understanding of this community, the challenges that it faces, and the needs that it has;
when there is someone at the helm that has demonstrated, the old saying ‘past performance
predicts performance’ and Mr. Liesenfelt’s performance has been stellar for this community; he
is dedicated and loves this place; and he agrees with Mr. Herman that there ought to be some
type of exam on him to understand why he would be willing to do this. He continued by saying if
this Board does not select him in this capacity them the Board Members should have their
heads examined; he thinks he is right there ready to do the job and he knows the challenges;
and he is proud to stand with him.
Rachel Sadoff, Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, stated she has heard the people and what
they are saying about looking for someone outside, but it says something about the community
when it looks inside and grows its own leaders to then reach the point of being a County
Manager; she thinks that is something that is said about how the County promotes within its
community and for the people of Brevard; that provides hope to have jobs here that are secure
