City commissioners in Sarasota, Florida, did not hire Susan Stanton to serve as the new city manager.
While most city council meetings across the country receive little fanfare for their hiring choices, the decision not to hire Stanton has received widespread media attention.
The former Largo, Florida, city manager was fired in February after admitting to plans for a sex-change operation.
So Stanton, who has not yet had the surgery but now goes by the name Susan instead of Steve, applied to serve as the city manager of Sarasota. She went through the application and interview process, and this week met individually with each city commissioner. The commissioners interviewed five candidates for the city manager job, but she was not ultimately selected for the position.
Despite her hopes that the commission would base the decision on merit, Stanton told reporters after the board meeting that perhaps it “was too soon for a transgender city manager.”
Stanton also acknowledged that while Sarasota commissioners considered her fairly, the media frenzy made it difficult to convey her passion for the job.
While still job hunting, Stanton’s severance from Largo included 12 months of pay totaling $140,234; about 550 hours of accrued vacation time; and health, life, and disability insurance benefits and contributions to retirement accounts.