The city of Alachua is preparing to install interim City Manager Rodolfo Valladares as city manager after the City Commission voted on Monday to draft a three-year contract for him. 

During the commission comments at the end of a regular meeting, Commissioner Jennifer Ringersen waived meeting rules and rights to motion for interim City Attorney Scott Walker to draft a city manager contract for Valladares.  

Vice Mayor Shirley Green Brown provided the second, and the dais voted 4-1 to pass it, with Commissioner Jacob Fletcher in dissent.  

“I feel like this is something we have to move forward on,” Ringersen said. “Rodolfo, in my opinion, met with several other people in the city today on the culture. And the integrity and the feeling in this building, to me, has been a dramatic change, and it feels great in city hall.” 

Fletcher agreed that the city has seen improvements under Valladares’ leadership. Before knowing what Ringersen’s motion would be about, he said he was hesitant to entertain one after she did the same thing in August. 

Ringersen motioned during the commission comments to fire former City Attorney Marian Rush. 

Fletcher said he was concerned that, because the commission fired Rush under the guise of “moving forward” and wanting to hire an in-house attorney, but still hadn’t, the same outcome would happen with Valladares. 

“My question is, are we going to go through the motion to do something that puts us in a position where we’re scrambling to find an attorney, or we’re trying to scramble to achieve something here, and then we don’t even follow through on it?” he said. 

Ringersen’s motion and the timing of it heightened tensions between some of the commissioners. 

Following Fletcher’s question, Commissioner Dayna Williams said, “You don’t have to respond to him,” away from her microphone. Fletcher accused her of conversing with Ringersen against the Sunshine Law, to which she responded that the comment was to herself. 

Ringersen prefaced the reason for her motion by saying there’d been a lot of time for her to reflect since the last meeting because she’d contracted pneumonia. 

She said in commission meetings that she feels she’s struggling interpersonally with her personality and lifestyle and wants the city to move forward. 

Fletcher asked Ringersen why she didn’t put the topic of city manager on the agenda to give the public more notice and she said resident Tamara Robbins’ statement during public comment about the city’s upcoming election prompted her to bring it up when she did. 

“The gall of you guys to stonewall the public and your arrogance is just off the charts,” Robbins said earlier in the meeting. “April 15th is rolling around. And if everybody doesn’t know that that’s an election, and Mr. Mayor, Commissioner Dayna Williams’ seat is going to be up for election. So I encourage voters to get someone up here who cares about what the public thinks.” 

Ringersen said she’d take note about putting things on the agenda for future meetings, but that she’d also make motions during commissioner comment again if she wanted.  

“You have the right to vote any way you want,” she said. 

Multiple attendees from the public voiced support for making Valladares the city manager, saying he’d been personable and productive to work with.  

Others said they weren’t necessarily opposed to Valladares, but shared Fletcher’s concerns about how and when his contract was brought up, and that a national search for candidates that the commission supported never happened. 

Williams clarified that the motion was only to draft a contract for Valladares and that it would come back before the City Commission and public during the next meeting on Jan. 26. 

Valladares stepped into the interim city manager role in June following former City Manager Mike DaRoza’s resignation. He worked as assistant city manager for DaRoza after serving as the city’s director of public services for eight years.  

Valladares is named in a letter written by former Alachua planner Justin Tabor, who detailed reasons he resigned in February 2025 after 17 years with the city. The commission voted multiple times to investigate Tabor’s and two other planning staff’s resignations, before calling off the effort altogether in July.