AUBURNDALE — Jeff Brown recalls a day from 1994, when he sat in Auburndale’s City Hall for an interview with City Manager Bobby Green.
As Brown sought a position as Green’s assistant, the city manager asked about his ultimate career goal. Brown answered that he wanted to be a city manager.
“And he says, ‘You will be, but don’t expect it to be here,’” Brown said. “And so, what he was trying to tell us – matter of fact, he’s told every assistant that he had — was that his intention was to train you up and get you be a city manager somewhere else.”
That is how it unfolded, as Brown went on to become city manager in Frostproof and Panama City.
After 32 years, he defied Green’s prediction, in a way, by returning to Auburndale as city manager. The City Commission voted 5-0 in February to hire him over two other finalists, and Brown started work on April 7.
His career has now come “full circle,” said Brown, 60.
The return makes Brown’s third period as an Auburndale employee. He worked from 1994 to 1999 as assistant to the city manager and from 2021 to 2022 as city clerk and special projects director.
Brown returned to Auburndale from Daytona Beach, where he served as director of economic and strategic opportunities. Green retired in 2021 after 30 years as city manager. Brown follows Green’s successor, Jeff Tillman, who resigned in October.
As city manager, Brown will receive a salary of $189,280, with cost-of-living increases matching those for other city employees and a vehicle allowance of $500 a month, The Ledger previously reported.
Getting to know his staff
Sitting in his second-floor office five weeks after starting work as city manager, Brown appeared relaxed and comfortable. The airy office held a few mementos from his alma mater, the University of Florida, and a Haines City firefighter’s hat bearing Brown’s name.
Brown grew up in Winter Haven, and he was residing with his parents, who still live there, as he awaited completion of a house being built for him and his wife, Sara.
Brown said he had spent his first five weeks mostly getting oriented to the position and the city’s employees. In his previous role that ended four years ago, he had limited dealings with department leaders, he said.
“A lot of orientation, a lot of meetings,” Brown said. “The first week, I met with all the city commissioners, kind of trying to establish that working relationship with them. And then after that, it was getting out to the departments and doing tours on what has changed since I was here last.”
Auburndale Mayor Alex Cam said Brown has established a solid connection with city commissioners.
“I will tell you one thing that I’ve been very impressed with is how important he feels communication is,” Cam said. “I’ve been very pleased with his ability to communicate with, in my personal experience, with me. And I’m sure the other commissioners are getting the same treatment from him — again, very professional. I can’t say that enough.”
Brown said he had also met with prominent community members, including Sandra Hall, executive director of the Greater Auburndale Chamber of Commerce; Florida Polytechnic University President Devin Stephenson; the principals of local schools; and the city’s lobbyist, Dave Shepp.
In meetings with commissioners and department heads, Brown has sought to become informed about ongoing, major city projects. Those include the construction of Auburndale’s second fire station on Berkley Road. The city has an agreement with Polk County, which will provide emergency medical services at the station.
Auburndale has been engaged in major improvements to its wastewater systems for years. The city is replacing one force main, or pressurized pipeline, and upgrading others that feed into the regional wastewater treatment facility.
The city will need to expand the facility within five years to add two million gallons of capacity, Brown said. The upgrades also cover the need for better disposal of treated wastewater, he said.
Cautious about business incentives
Auburndale’s population has grown by more than 4,000, or about 27%, since 2020.
“There’s a few more subdivisions here than when I was here last, even four years ago,” Brown said. “There have been several new developments that have come on. And so, that’s where the challenge is now with our utilities, making sure that we upgrade those utilities so that we can accommodate that growth and anticipated growth, as well.”
Though he has experience with economic development, Brown said he had not been able to devote much time to that realm during his first weeks on the job.
Situated along Interstate 4, Auburndale has approved several warehouses or distribution centers in recent years. During public interviews with the three finalists for city manager, one city commissioner quoted residents as saying that they wanted “more restaurants, less warehouses.”
Asked about warehouses, Brown said that some large facilities are incorrectly given that label. He made a distinction between large buildings housing just one company and others divided among several companies. The Ruthvens, a Lakeland company, recently completed a 167,000-square-foot facility that is segmented into smaller spaces for multiple businesses, he said.
Cities in Central Florida are often competing with other cities and counties to attract businesses that will bring jobs. In discussing economic development, Brown said he has a philosophy of not offering incentives in advance, such as tax breaks.
“I’ve always been fortunate that I’ve never worked for an organization that was, ‘Well, let’s give them a lot of incentives on the front end,’” Browns said. “It’s always been incentives on the back end. So it kind of changes your perspective of how you go about economic development. So it’s — you get here, you produce jobs, then the incentives come in.”
Brown said that it’s too difficult to “claw back” financial gifts to companies if they fail to deliver on promises of job creation.
Uncertainty hangs over budget
Perhaps the most important job of a city manager is preparing an annual budget. Brown arrived at a time when city leaders are starting to formulate budgets, which must be approved before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.
Auburndale’s budget is expected to be about $97 million, Brown said.
Brown calculated that he has prepared 27 budgets during his career. In addition to his periods as a city manager, he was responsible for his department’s budget in Daytona Beach.
After reviewing the main components of budget planning, including capital projects, Brown said, “And then, of course, on everybody’s radar is what’s going to happen to ad valorem.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has strongly advocated for eliminating ad valorem taxes, property taxes based on assessed value and millage rates set by local governments. DeSantis has talked of directing the Florida Legislature to hold a special session in July (its third this year) to address property taxes.
Cities and counties derive parts of their budgets from ad valorem revenues. The elimination of property taxes would cut nearly $4 million from Auburndale’s expected budget, Brown said.
“And so, ever mindful of that potential out there, without knowing what kind of timeline we’re talking about as well, we’re just being real cautious going into this next budget cycle to make sure that anything that that we propose, as far as expenditures, that we’re able to (say), ‘How can we anticipate this?’” Brown said. “And those are going to be conversations with the commission that we’ll have to have when that time comes – if that time comes.”
Brown made it clear that he does not anticipate requesting an increase in millage rates. Auburndale’s current rate is 4.25, equating to $425 in taxes for every $100,000 of assessed value after homestead exemptions.
“I’ve never proposed raising a millage rate,” he said.
Emphasis on customer service
Brown said he feels a responsibility to maintain Auburndale’s level of customer service. For example, he said that anyone who calls City Hall should reach an actual person, not a recording or a virtual agent.
“And at the same time, it’s how do we make the government more — how can we run more efficiently and effectively and where’s that happy balance between those two things?” he said. “Because being efficient and being effective are not necessarily, they do not run necessarily in a straight line together.”
Brown said that he impresses the need for continuous improvement upon the city’s employees.
“Like I told my staff early on, I said my challenge to them is, how do I get anybody and everybody that’s in the county to say for a city the size of Auburndale, that the public works department is the best one in the county, that the fire department’s the best one, the parks and rec department’s the best one, all the way across the board?” he said.
Once Auburndale achieves that distinction, Brown said he will push to make each department the best in Central Florida and then the best in Florida.
“We spoke about that in our initial meeting, when he first came on board, and that’s something that’s very important to both of us and where we seem to be aligned on that,” Cam said. “That’s a reputation the city of Auburndale has had for decades, providing that excellent service to our residents, and absolutely, that seems to be very important to him as well, and that’s very much appreciated.”
Brown noted that four of Auburndale’s five commissioners attended Auburndale High School. He said he will focus on making the city as appealing as possible to keep residents from leaving after graduating from high school or college. He also ponders how to “integrate” newer residents into the community.
Brown said that he expects this to be his final career stop.
“That is my intent, is to finish out my career here,” he said. “I mean, it’s now come full circle. To be able to finish my management career in a building that I started my management career at, in the city that I started in city management, I think it’d be the perfect bow on a career.”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Jeff Brown happy to finish ‘full circle’ as Auburndale’s city manager
Reporting by Gary White, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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