The clock is rapidly ticking toward the exit of Deltona City Attorney Marsha Segal-George, and the City Commission has not even begun to select her replacement.

Segal-George announced in June she will resign, effective Sept. 30, and the commission subsequently decided to launch a search for her successor. That search has slowed to a near halt, as few people — only three thus far — have applied for the position.

“Right now, I’m not thrilled with where we are in the city-attorney search,” Colin Baenziger told the commission Sept. 9. “We want to continue the search.”

The deadline for those wishing to become Deltona’s next city attorney was Friday, Sept. 6.

Baenziger is the professional-personnel recruiter who aided the Deltona City Commission in seeking out, screening and ultimately hiring Dale “Doc” Dougherty as Deltona’s permanent city manager. Colin Baenziger and Associates’ offices are in Daytona Beach.

Dougherty, formerly the city manager of Garden City, Michigan, began work in Deltona in June. Pleased with his work in landing Dougherty as Deltona’s first permanent city manager in more than four years, the City Commission tapped Baenziger to search for a new legal adviser.

“We’re limited to attorneys here in Florida,” he said, noting Florida’s local governments need lawyers with in-state experience in the state’s constitution and statutes, as well as being licensed to practice law in the Sunshine State.

To attract more applicants, Baenziger recommended increasing the starting pay for the new hire for Deltona’s city attorney.

“We advertised it for $180,000-$195,000,” he said, referring to the annual pay.

“I don’t remember discussing salaries,” Commissioner Maritza Avila-Vazquez said.

Inasmuch as the City Commission was meeting for a workshop, meaning an informal session in which no official or final action could be taken, the elected body made no decision about Baenziger’s advice “to raise the level of compensation.”

Rather than focusing on individual prospects, Commissioner Dana McCool suggested her colleagues and Baenziger seek out law firms willing to represent Deltona.

“Are we looking at firms at all?” she asked.

“I think it is shortsighted if we’re not soliciting firms,” McCool added.

Baenziger said the three applicants include two individual lawyers and one firm.

The Deltona City Commission has not yet decided if it prefers to have a city attorney who would be a full-time employee working at City Hall, also known as an in-house attorney, or a lawyer or law firm working on a retainer basis and billing the city for hours worked. Segal-George has served as a full-time city attorney since March 2023.

Prior to that date, she served as city attorney with the Orlando law firm of Fowler, O’Quinn, Feeney & Sneed, when the firm was under contract to provide Deltona with legal services. When the City Commission decided to sever its relationship with the firm, it appointed Segal-George as city attorney apart from her role in the Fowler association.

In any event, Dougherty said some prospective lawyers may hesitate to respond to the advertisements in professional publications because of fears that their current employers will know they are seeking work elsewhere.

“A lot of people hold off on putting themselves out in public,” he told the City Commission.

As the effective date of Segal-George’s resignation nears, members of the City Commission may find themselves having to make short-term arrangements for legal counsel. The commission could ask Segal-George to extend her tour of duty until her permanent successor is hired and at work. The elected body could also arrange to hire a law firm to provide as-needed legal services for the interim between Segal-George’s exit and the hiring of her replacement.

“We’re looking to a transition knowing there may be gaps,” Dougherty told the commission.

One point that the commission members must bear in mind in choosing a new city attorney is the 2022 charter amendment requiring Deltona’s charter officers — meaning the city attorney and the city manager, each of whom is directly hired or fired by the commission and is answerable to that body — to live within 25 miles of the city limits.