On August 15, 2023, the Delray Beach City Commission discussed the performance review of Delray Beach City Manager Terrence Moore and voted unanimously to increase his salary by 4.1%.  The Delray Beach City Manager is responsible for overseeing various departments, managing budgets, and executing policies. Prior to Mr. Moore’s appointment, the city had gone through eight city managers in as many years.
 
Mr. Moore started his tenure with the city when he was unanimously appointed on June 8, 2021, at a salary of $230,000, considerably lower than his predecessor, who earned $265,000 annually.  Justifying the pay increase, Vice-Mayor Ryan Boylston praised Mr. Moore for his organizational and communication skills, and effectiveness in the community. Commissioner Adam Frankel noting that the City Manager cannot please everyone, stated that he believes Mr. Moore is “doing a damn good job trying to.”  Deputy Vice-Mayor Rob Long commended Mr. Moore for his professionalism, and Commissioner Angela Burns noted his commitment to “turning things around.”
 
Mayor Shelly Petrolia, unsurprisingly, disagreed with her colleagues, stating she did not see things the same way as there are areas “falling short.”
 
On a scale of 1-5, Mr. Moore was evaluated by each commission member on: 

• Leadership, decision making and judgment.

• Planning & organization

• Budgeting & financial reporting

• Responsiveness & dispute resolution

• Interaction with city commission members (following directions, communication, availability).

• Job knowledge, personnel management and ethics. 

At only 2+ years, Mr. Moore's tenure can actually be considered long by recent Delray Beach City Manager standards.  The instability at the top is considered to have negative consequences in many areas:  high turnover in city staff, overall, disruptions and delays in decision making, and failure to adhere to the city's comprehensive plan, which defines long-term objectives.  Establishing stability in senior leadership in Delray Beach was identified as a key priority in the recent municipal elections.  The favorable review of Terrence Moore appears to present an opportunity for the city to formalize this stability.

Towards that end, Deputy Vice-Mayor, Rob Long, suggested that the commission consider amending Delray’s pension ordinance as it relates to the vesting period for the City Manager and the City Attorney. He stated that benefits like that help Delray Beach retain good talent making the city competitive among other cities.
 
Mayor Shelly Petrolia stated, “We haven’t had an issue of retaining; we’ve released people from these two positions.”
 
Long says, regardless of why they left, the majority of this commission believes, "We have a City Manager doing a great job and a City Attorney that’s doing a great job. I would like to do everything we can do to retain them.” 
 
Vice-Mayor Boylston said, “It’s an extremely competitive market out there in both the private and the public sector.  At my own company we take a proactive approach, we don’t wait until we’re losing people. We address it proactively.”
 
There was a consensus to schedule a meeting with the city’s pension counsel to explore the issue in relationship to what other municipalities are doing.