Lee County Commissioners Tuesday unanimously appointed deputy County Manager Dave Harner as manager with the July 31 retirement of current County Manager Roger Desjarlais.
The board also voted to negotiate a contract with Harner with it scheduled to be approved at the next board meeting on June 20.
Desjarlais, 73, county manager for the past 10 years, submitted his retirement notice to the commissioners on Monday.
The vote came after discussion of a possible national search for a new manager. Commissioners weighed the bringing in a someone new against the issues affecting Lee County including recovery from Ian as well as a possible recession.
In the end the board approved, with no dissent, the advancement of Harner as the new manager.
Harner, 56, has 32 years with Lee County and has been deputy County Manager since February 2019.
He has also served as director of Parks & Recreation beginning in 2012 and more recently as Assistant County Manager since 2015, and stepped in to serve as interim director of Domestic Animal Services.
As deputy county manager, Harner served as the chief operations officer for Lee County and oversees all assistant county managers as well as having direct supervision of the County’s Natural Resources and Transportation departments.
Harner played a role in overhauling and updating agreements with stakeholders and partners, streamlining processes through involvement in inter-departmental committees, overseeing Hurricane Irma debris removal and flood mitigation projects. He led Lee County operations during the COVID-19 response and Hurricane Ian response and recovery
Harner holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in public administration from Florida Gulf Coast University.
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