Courtesy photo/Ponce Inlet. Jeaneen Clauss, 43, of Edgewater, and mother of twins, has been promoted from interim to permanent town manager of Ponce Inlet. Because the town doesn't have a residency requirement, Clauss and her children will continue to reside in her family's longststanding Edgewater home.
EDGEWATER -- By day she's town manager of Ponce Inlet. By night, well, around the clock really, she's a mom. Welcome to Jeaneen Clauss's world.
The "interim" tag has been removed from Clauss's job in Ponce Inlet, and she now has a $90,000 annual salary to go with it.
Her promotion, unanimously approved Jan. 28, also provides her with $500 in monthly car allowance, have served as the interim since Kassandra Blissett left last May.
Blisett was recently acting city manager of DeBary. Before that, Clauss, 43, of Edgewater, was the assistant manager/deputy town clerk for four years, having earned about $80,000, before climbing to $86,000 as the interim.
One of Clauss's last official acts before becoming the permanent manager was asking for the resignation of Police Chief Steve Thomas, who suspended him with pay on Jan. 22, pending a hearing before the council two days later. The council voted unanimously to terminate Thomas.
"It was an at-will suspension and I asked for his regination," Clauss said, declining to specify why, except to say the time was right. He was replaced by Sgt. Wayne Lurcock.
Thomas, who had been chief for 11 years, told the commission he had no hard feelings about the termination, stating only that he understand that what Class was doing was "only business."
"I'm not leaving here with any negative stigma," Thomas told the commission. He received a severance package of $53,000.
Clauss said Lurcock will remain in that position at least through this year's budget cycle, which runs through September.
Clauss said holding down spending will be her top priority as she moves forward in this fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30.
"We were successful in reducing taxes 26 percent under the rolled-back rate last year and while I don't see another 26 percent available for reduction, I do anticipate that we will continue reduction efforts," she said.
Clauss oversees a city of 48 employees serving the town of 3,206 residents.
FAST FACTS: Jeaneen Clauss was hired in Ponce Inlet in 2005, after working as city clerk in Holly Hill for six years. She graduated from the University of Central Florida in 1996, with a bachelor's degree in public administration and served in the U.S. Air Force as a radio operator. She lives in Edgewater with her 15-year-old twins, Joshua and Elizabeth.