Pensacola taps former NAS Capt. Tim Kinsella as next city administrator
The city of Pensacola has selected former Naval Air Station Pensacola commanding officer Capt. Tim Kinsella to serve as the new city administrator.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves officially introduced Kinsella as city administrator during his weekly press conference at City Hall, Tuesday morning. Kinsella says he is looking forward to the position and believes his leadership experience will be an asset to the city.
"Give me until I get actually get into the job," Kinsella joked when asked about what his priorities will be. "My No. 1 priority is learning. It really is learning about the city, learning about the people, learning about the mayor's priorities, learning from the deputy city administrators, the other directors about their roles and what their priorities are and how I can help them. My job really is to give the people at city hall the tools they need to do their job, to create the environment that they need to break down whatever barriers are there so they can do the best they can for the people of Pensacola."
The hire comes comes a few months after previous city administrator Kerrith Fiddler announced his resignation, in June citing family reasons.
"I think Tim’s track record of leadership, of experience, his impeccable reputation and credibility in this community and the military community is unmatched. To be able to add his ability and skillset to our team is a great thing for Pensacola," Reeves said. "I think Tim as city administrator will make me a better mayor. The city of Pensacola will be a stronger operation and that means it will be a better community."
Reeves previously tapped Kinsella to lead his transition team when he was elected in 2022, saying at the time that Kinsella brought the experience and insight of a world-class leader to his transition team.
Kinsella retired from the U.S. Navy with more than 33 years of service, including leading NAS Pensacola from March 2019 to January 2022, three of the most tumultuous years in the installation's history.
A December 2019 terrorist attack claimed the lives of three sailors and left nine other people wounded. In September 2020 Hurricane Sally caused more than $500 million in damages to the base, and the global COVID 19 pandemic heavily impacted the installation's operations for several years.
Kinsella said being at the helm of NAS Pensacola during that time helped him learn how to handle a major crisis, skills that can be useful in his current position.
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"Bad things are going to happen," Kinsella said. "They're going to happen while we're here. I'm not getting paid in this position for when the sun shines. It's also for those difficult days. I think I bring a pretty unique perspective to that. We went through some pretty tragic things on the base, but that was also part of this wider community. The city of Pensacola played a pretty big role in helping the base get through those things."
For his outstanding leadership and service to NAS Pensacola, Kinsella received the John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational Leadership from the Navy League of the United States. The award recognized "Kinsella’s dedication and motivation for excellence contributed significantly to the operational effectiveness and mission readiness for NAS Pensacola," with military leadership noting, "not only has Kinsella persisted in the face of tragedy, but he has also initiated multiple projects on base and in Pensacola to improve the conditions of the community as a whole."
"To have someone with the experience level Tim has will only further my bandwidth for me to spend a little less time in operations and more time out in the community being a mayor and doing the things I need to be doing to lead the city - more communication, more visible to constituents, even more of strategy," Reeves said.
Kinsella, was most recently director of the Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz Center for Leadership in the Lewis Bear Jr. College of Business. The Center for Leadership's overarching mission is to teach the skills and qualities needed to be a good leader in the business world.
Kinsella will start in his new role Sept. 30.
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The city launched a national search for applicants in June, with deputy city administrator Amy Miller filling the role interim city administrator after Fiddler's departure. She will return to that role when Kinsella comes on board the city. The city suspended the search when the opportunity to hire Kinsella came along, Reeves said, noting that he is confident Kinsella would have been the best choice even with a national search.
"Amy as usual stepped up for the city to take on additional bandwidth and projects and did a phenom job" Reeves said. "It’s why Amy has such respect in this building. She’ll continue to be a huge asset for us moving forward.
The city administrator is in charge of the daily operations of the city, leads a staff of more than 800 city employees and has a listed annual salary range of $172,099.20 to $250,000.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Former NAS Capt. Tim Kinsella is next Pensacola city administrator
