Flagler County Sheriff’s Chief Mark Strobridge considers the long-needed appointments of directors to two of Palm Coast government’s most important departments–utilities and growth management–as the capstone to his unusual tenure as an assistant city manager on loan to Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston.
The city on Wednesday announced the appointments of Brian Roche as director of the Utility Department, the city’s largest department (with 166 employees) and recently unsettled, and John Zobler as Community Development Director, a position vacant since Jason DeLorenzo was named chief of staff in September 2022. DeLorenzo left the city earlier this month.
“That was the mission that Lauren gave me the first day that I walked in, actually, before I came here, and she said, here’s what you’ve got to do,” Strobridge, who is the sheriff’s chief of staff, said. He is returning to his sheriff’s job at the end of next week. “These are two key positions that we need to find the right fit for to be able to go forward.”
Johnston had recruited him for the time-limited tenure to help her steer the city as she focused on budget season, with key hires as essential goals. “I have enjoyed his company,” Johnston said, “and I can’t thank him enough for all the help that he’s provided and really put us back into–not back into a positive direction” (Johnston did not want to give the impression that the city was on a negative direction), “but it just helped, just an extra set of eyes and hands.”
Johnston and Strobridge spoke in a phone interview this afternoon about the appointments, Srobridge’s tenure and the near future. Since they portrayed the template they set in the last few months as a success, they were asked why their duo should not be the permanent city manager and assistant city manager going forward.
Johnston said it was a “great question,” but answered it as she has in the past: it has to do with “individuals’ personal and professional career, next steps, and their home life, and that balance.” Both Johnson and Strobridge have very demanding home lives, Johnston as a young mother, Strobridge as the patriarch of a family that could have its own zip code.
Strobridge led the interview committees for each position, with human resources always involved. Lynn Stevens, the deputy stormwater director–who has rich experience in utilities–and Steve Flanagan, a former director of the utility, took part in that department’s interviews. Strobridge and Johnston interviewed the candidates for the community development position.
They spoke glowingly of the two hires. Strobridge sees Roche as a “fixer” with many years’ experience at Jacksonville’s JEA, the largest municipal utility in the state with some 2,200 employees. Roche directed the utility’s finances, was its general manager, and for a few months until February 2021, its chief financial officer. He started his career as a project engineer for Aramco Oil Co. in Texas.
Strobridge described him as “somebody who really, truly understands utility, has an insane passion for utility, understands the numbers, and because of his longevity and experience in the field everywhere from Orlando to Jacksonville to even small systems across the state, he’s well rounded in that regard.” He does not appear to be interested in the city manager’s job because of that “passion” for utilities, Strobridge said.
Roche is ending his sixth decade. “We don’t know how long anybody is going to be in any position. As you know, tomorrow is not promised to any of us,” Strobridge said. “So just because a person is more seasoned than somebody else doesn’t really speak to their longevity. Not only that: once you have some good playing and succession work put into place in an area where he has experience, it will not matter.”
Since 2023, Roche has been the water resource director of North Florida Professional Services, a private engineering firm. He’s both an engineer and a certified public accountant, with an MBA and a master of accountancy. He’ll be paid $175,000 to start. (See his resume here and his application here.)
Zobler, who’s owned and homesteaded a house on a canal in Palm Coast’s C Section since 2015, brings a seasoned resume to the job as well, including as Ocala’s city manager between 2014 and 2019 and its deputy city manager before that, as well as its public works director between 1999 and 2008, though no work listed since 2019. He’s coming out of retirement to take the Palm Coast job (he lists Bradd Clark, the deputy city fire chief, as one of his references.)
“Ocala has experienced that same type of, from horse farms to now very populated areas,” Johnston said. “So he brings that experience and knowledge to the department to help them work through, lessons that he’s learned that [positions] Palm Coast better to the future.” Zobler will be paid $155,000. (See his application here.)
Asked about other achievements that would define his tenure, Strobridge did not answer directly. “We got some policies that will be coming out here shortly. They’ll be fully implemented, probably a little bit after I’m gone,” he said, “but we’re kind of excited about what the accomplishments have been in this short amount of time. And I think that the next phase of all of this will be to see what happens in the future with the city manager position.”
He said “there’s so many subtle things that occurred as a result that are not as quantifiable” as the appointments.
But he addressed the gap between public perception of a city supposedly on the wrong track and the reality. “My assessment is the perception is off, and part of that gap is created by a lack of communication directly to the community on what we’re doing here at the city,” he said, though the city has not lacked for busy and varied communications strategy. That strategy appears to have little resonance against a small core of naysayers who routinely fill public comment segments at city council meetings with baseless claims and frequent, undocumented smears against city employees, thus consistently but disproportionately affecting the city’s image.
“One of the elements we also worked on here is to message out that there’s some great workers here at the city of Palm Coast, and that is absolutely, positively true,” Strobridge said. “A lot of people who know their craft and know it well and care deeply about providing services to the community.”
Johnston and Strobridge will be on WNZF’s Free For All Fridays with David Ayres Friday at 9 a.m.
