Newberry City Commission picks Mayor Marlowe for city manager 

Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe speaks at the Dec. 9, 2024, City Commission meeting. Photo by Glory Reitz
Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe speaks at the Dec. 9, 2024, City Commission meeting.
Photo by Glory Reitz

The Newberry City Commission voted unanimously to negotiate a contract with Mayor Jordan Marlowe to make him the new city manager, during a regular meeting on Monday. 

The motion, made by Commissioner Ricky Coleman and seconded by Commissioner Tony Mazon, authorizes mayor pro tempore Mark Clark to negotiate and execute a 3-year employment agreement for Marlowe to serve as city manager, with all terms and conditions remaining consistent with the current city manager contract. 

“I appreciate the confidence that that shows, I really do, from the bottom of my heart,” Marlowe said at the meeting. “I think that Newberry’s on a fantastic trajectory. I don’t want that to change, I don’t want to see that change. I want to keep us moving in the direction that we have set, that [city manager Mike New] has created.” 

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The motion also authorizes Marlowe to negotiate and execute a contract with Assistant City Manager Dallas Lee to serve as interim city manager until the end of the school year. Marlowe is a teacher at Newberry High School and said he has a duty to remain with his students through the end of the year, especially for those preparing for college exams. 

New turned in his letter of resignation on Jan. 24, to be effective Feb. 24, as he looks to move into the private sector. 

At its last meeting, the first after New turned in his resignation, the commission directed Marlowe to Travis Parker, Newberry’s former director of capital projects and facilities, who left the city in July to work as facilities maintenance director for Alachua County. 

Marlowe said he had multiple conversations about the position with Parker, who eventually decided he was not interested in making the switch, so the city would need to move to “Plan B.” 

Though staff had a presentation prepared with options for city manager recruitment, Coleman said he had Plan B and read the prepared motion to make Marlowe city manager, with Lee to hold the gap as interim. 

Marlowe said he was willing to enter negotiations to make himself city manager, and said he was aware of the city’s budgetary challenges, so would be willing to do the job for a lower paycheck than New’s. 

Staff’s presentation lists the city manager’s salary in 2025 to be $115,000 to $162,000. 

The motion received mixed responses from meeting attendees, with some saying it is normal for the commission to choose a preferred candidate without a search, and others saying it was evidence of closed-door discussions that shut the community out of the decision. 

“This is not about questioning the abilities of Mayor Marlowe, but about ensuring that our decision is made with thoughtfulness it deserves,” Naim Erched, citizen and member of the Planning and Zoning Board, said. “I encourage all of us to remain committed to an open and objective selection process, knowing that by doing so we reinforce trust and confidence in your decisions.” 

Resident Joy Glanzer said she has been involved with city government for 50 years, and during that time the city has only had public discussion around two city manager hirings. She said she supports Marlowe taking the position. 

Marlowe said the commission chose him with the same process and amount of public input as when they asked him to try recruiting Parker. He said it is a normal process. 

“I’ll say the same thing tonight that I said then: if that’s the person you want, don’t go through the hoopla if you already know who you want,” Marlowe said. “That’s not fair to the applicant.”   

Commissioners expressed their confidence in Marlowe to do the job well, after eight years as mayor, plus more as commissioner before his current position. 

“We’ve discussed the salaries we have to get to. We’ve got a buy-in. You’ve [Marlowe] already got the knowledge, so I’m behind you,” Clark said. “But to say that we’ve done something wrong in our process because we’re saving $150,000 by not reaching out to the nation and bringing people in like we did when Mike [New] came, and I came… if we didn’t feel like you could do the job, you would not be getting it, I can promise you.” 

Commissioner Tim Marden said Marlowe is also an advantageous choice because the commission and community have had years to learn about him and see his lifestyle, commitment and government decisions. 

City attorney Scott Walker agreed during his comment time at the end of the meeting. 

“I can’t think of any stronger interviewing process for this city than a mayor that has essentially taken on at least a part of the management piece of the community,” Walker said. 

Marlowe’s seat as mayor is up for election this April, along with Mazon and Marden’s commission seats. Giving up his bid for reelection, as city manager Marlowe would be responsible for overseeing the city’s infrastructure, economics, utilities and more. 

The city manager also has the authority to make decisions on purchases up to $100,000 without bringing the decision before the commission. The commission raised that threshold from $25,000 to $100,000 in September 2024. 

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Bill Whitten

While acknowledging the benefits of being very familiar with a person’s work and character, it’s difficult not to get the reek of a club of “good ol boys”.

Albert

What a total swampy move. Newberry is a cesspool of swampiness.

Fred

Closed door meetings, handshake deals. Obviously this was not the first time Marlowe heard the proposal, he was ready to jump at it. Is he qualified? As a school teacher, has he negotiated big contracts? Does he actually have the business acumen to be a city manager? Has he even been a manager? I know he’s done classroom management, but that’s not the same as managing an adult workforce or negotiating fair business for the city.

Real Gainesville Citizen and Voter

To paraphrase Marcellus in “Hamlet”: Something is rotten in the state of Newberry.

James

As long as he isn’t “Mayor” so not having both hands in our community’s till. But I agree with others commenting here. A rotten smell of gas is coming from city hall.