Green retires to another managerial position
Retiring interim Town Manager Jack Green is ready to relax. His last day of dedicated service to the Town of Fort Myers Beach is Friday. Come Saturday, he’ll no longer be employed and that suits him fine.
“I plan on sleeping in a little,” said Green “I’ll probably putter around the house a little, then I have softball practice at 1:30 p.m.”
Green is managing the girls age 9-12 softball team in the Fort Myers Beach Little League organization. This is something he “inherited” at mid-season last year. He credits FMB Little League President Charlie Whitehead for the intimidating push into that field.
“Last year, the young girls had a little coaching problem,” said Green, who’s son Chris is an assistant. “My granddaughter plays for the team. When the problem presented itself, Charlie pressed us into service, and he doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. This year when he became aware of my retirement, he called me and said that’s a heck of a way to make yourself more available for softball. So, I’ve agreed to do it again this year.”
At his last managerial meeting Feb. 1, Green received two proclamations and was congratulated and thanked by each of the Town’s committee chair people for his services with words like “dedicated,” “hard-working,” “integrity,” “professional,” and “tireless.” During one resolution, LPA chairwoman Joanne Shamp said “Jack Green’s leadership of the North Estero Boulevard project has been of particular excellence, and the LPA will always think of him as we drive that improved boulevard. The LPA also wish that he would have been here long enough to see the rest of Estero Boulevard achieve that vision.”
Green was close to being emotional, lost for words and kept his speech short when he did speak.
“It’s been an honor and a privilege,” he said, after a pause. “I’ll cherish these five years.”
During those five years, Green climbed the Beach ladder of public service. He began as an original member of the Anchorage Advisory Committee in 2003, a volunteer group which advises town staff and the town council on all issues pertaining to the town’s public mooring field. In that capacity, he helped oversee the procedural end of the mooring field.
“The credit really goes to Matt Feeney, former public services supervisor,” said Green. “Dan Hughes, the mayor at the time, and Marsha Segal-George, the town manager at the time, were instrumental in getting the submerge land leases. Our role was to recognize policy and procedures for the mooring field to the council.”
From there he was hired to work for the town, first as a community planner for a year from April 2005 to April 2006, then he was promoted to public works director until July of 2009. Those duties included different land use issues; streets; storm water; water utility and its repair work; the mooring field; and the trimming, weeding and landscaping around town facilities.
When Town Manager Scott Janke was dismissed, he was named to take over the managerial duties in an interim capacity July 22, while on vacation. He assumed full-time managerial responsibilities on Aug. 4, and collected roles such as emergency manager, emergency operation planner, communications manager and logistics manager. He was also involved in debris clean-up, the first responders unit and interfacing with emergency partners.
He essentially became the town’s information technology manager by virtue of his background with the Coast Guard, which he served from January of 1975 until he officially retired in July 2005.
It was during a five-year break in his Coast Guard service that he gained a lot of experience in municipal government. The hands-on experience occurred when he was the assistant executive director of the Waterbury (Conn.) Development Agency and the community development director for that town.
Even when he was selected to follow Janke, Green was unsure how long he would serve in the interim position. In August of 2009, he stated “the council has not yet discussed what they are going to do or what type of process they might want to follow” and “we need to get through the budget, the Bay Oaks transition and several different things that you just don’t want to hand off until they’re concluded.”
The hand-off to Terry Stewart, the new town manager, has been smooth. Green calls it “filling in the blanks” and thinks Stewart has done great with the transition and believes both he and Stewart have related management styles.
“Because we have similar management styles, the staff will get acclimated much quicker,” said Green, who continued with an example. “My requirements were always ‘bring me your problem, bring me some solutions and tell me a recommendation.’ During his first staff meeting on Tuesday, Terry said ‘I endorse a Napoleonic form of management.’ I’m thinking they’ve heard that before. They are used to that.”
Green also said the two have similar approaches in dealing with the staff.
“He allows the staff to be at ease and not to be stiff, worried or concerned,” said Green. “You need to think clearly.”
When he picked up Town manager duties, Green appointed Cathie Lewis as interim Public Works Director. She held the position of Deputy Public Works Director and has since been appointed Public Works Director. Scott Baker, who was Special Projects Manager, was named interim Deputy Public Works Director.
When he tendered his resignation in November, he was quoted as saying he “enjoyed working for the Town and getting some really significant projects in play like Bay Oaks and North Estero,” but that he needed to get his “life plan back on track” since retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Besides his wife’s honey-do list around the house, Green also has plans to go sailing with Beach resident Jay Light to the Carribean for six months starting in December.
“I figure that I have about a year off before I decide what I really want to do with the rest of my life,” said Green. “And, I am looking forward to it.”