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City auditor candidates to be interviewed by council

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City Council members will formally interview three candidates for the position of city auditor during a special public meeting at 1 p.m. today in Council Chambers at City Hall.

The candidates are Andrea Butola, J. Bradley Simmons and T. Paul Tomoser. The interviews will follow time allotted for public comment.

Council members discussed the process at the end of Monday’s meeting, a process that included the public mee-and-greet gathering Tuesday at the Cape Coral Yacht Club.

At least half of all council members were not comfortable with taking the candidates and their spouses out to dinner at city expense after the meet-and-greet. They also did not want to establish a precedent with the dinner as it had not been done before.

“I am somewhat against doing it,” said Councilmember John Carioscia. “I don’t recall us taking the city manager candidates out. My problem is putting the taxpayers on the dole for it.”

Councilmember Richard Leon said, “This is a terrible idea and the city should not have to pay for it.”

“It’s not about the money for me,” said Councilmember Rana Erbrick. “It’s about the perception. I have the resumes. I think we should follow the process we did for city manager, let the candidates rotate through our offices before we come upstairs for the interviews.”

The council members ultimately agreed to meet individually with each candidate in their offices before the public meeting, at the end of which members will vote on which candidate they will hire to replace retiring City Auditor Margaret Krym.