Fort Lauderdale hires city manager

Chris Lagerbloom to start Jan. 1

FORT LAUDERDALE Fort Lauderdale will have new city leadership in the new year.

Chris Lagerbloom, currently the assistant city manager, will move to the top position Jan. 1, city commissioners agreed Tuesday. By unanimous vote, commissioners approved a job contract with Lagerbloom. He’ll be paid $225,000 a year, plus a $592 monthly car allowance.

The vote finalized a decision commissioners made in November, when they said a national search wasn’t necessary, and gave Lagerbloom the nod.

City Manager Lee Feldman was fired in October on a split vote of the City Commission. The three who voted to fire him won their seats in the spring elections, promising closer scrutiny to development and more attention to the aging wastersewer system. Feldman will stay on through December.

The same three fired the city attorney at their first meeting in March.

Their objections to the manager and attorney were more about style than substance. Both jobs were filled by people already working in City Hall, a move that minimizes disruption and brings little change. Alain Boileau is the new city attorney.

In Fort Lauderdale, serving under Feldman, Lagerbloom oversaw public works, development, transportation and parks and recreation.

Lagerbloom, 44, has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Georgia State University and a master of public administration degree from Columbus State University. He lives in Victoria Park with his wife, Michelle, and 14-year-old son, a student at St. Mark’s Episcopal School.

Lagerbloom has been heavily involved in the city’s top issues, including the “Go Big, Go Fast” effort to rebuild water-sewer infrastructure.

He joined the city’s top ranks nearly three years ago, leaving a city manager job in the relatively new city of Milton, Ga. He had served as that city’s first police and fire chief. Prior to that, he served in the police department in Alpharetta, Ga., rising to the rank of captain.