Key Biscayne leaders unanimously voted to hire longtime administrator John Gilbert as village manager last week.

Most council members said that Gilbert’s 18 plus years working in the village is what made him the right choice for the job. Gilbert, 58, has worked as the village’s fire chief, acting public works director and public safety director.

Gilbert had been recently serving as interim village manager.

Councilman Jim Taintor nominated Gilbert for the interim manager position in September when former manager Genaro “Chip” Iglesias left to work for Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

“One of the concerns we all had on the council was whether or not he could make transition from chief to manager,” said Taintor. “He has done an excellent job.”

Councilman Michael Davey said that “he is hands on” and “thinks out of the box”.

Before the vote, Councilwoman Mayra Lindsay and Vice Mayor Michael Kelly said their first choice was Mark Taxis, who is Doral’s assistant manager. He was Doral’s parks and recreation director from 2002 to 2004 and Hialeah’s park and recreation director from 2002 to 2004.

In her remarks before the vote, Lindsay went through a litany of village deficiencies that she said were directly related to management in the last 20 years.

She included mismanaging sea grass restoration which resulted in an expense of over $1 million to taxpayers. She said that the village didn’t keep an accurate count of village cars “and overpaid auto insurance for approximately 20 non-existent village vehicles for years”.

Lindsay also said that the village hasn’t established a relationship with the school board or addressed the green space shortage.

“These pitfalls are a result of no strategic planning other than our capital plan, no self-assessment tools and no benchmarking,” said Lindsay at the meeting. “We have not had bad managers. But they have been reactive instead of proactive.”

Kelly was impressed by Taxis’ “superlative” educational background. He said that it takes “intellectual rigor” to have attained a bachelor’s and master’s degree in public administration and is not “a process that be can be attained with on the job experience”.

“But a strong education is not enough” said Kelly. “[Taxis] has a proven track record in obtaining funding and land from the State of Florida.”

In 2009, Taxis successfully applied for a $3.6 million Florida Forever grant that reimbursed Doral for 15- acres purchased for its park system. And last year he secured a long-term lease for 15-acres at $300 an acre for the police and fire department.

Mayor Frank Caplan said that he agreed with Lindsay and Kelley but was going to vote for Gilbert.

“I could work with anyone of these gentlemen. I could especially work with Mr. Taxis,” said Caplan at the meeting. “But I see insufficient reason to switch a horse.”

Former Key Biscayne Councilman Raul Llorente and resident Ed Meyer, both spoke in favor of Gilbert at the meeting.

“He will work toward the preservation and protection of the character of our community and our way of living,” said Llorente. “He can truly understand who we are and what we want and has a special Key Biscayne common sense.”