Neptune Beach Approves Contract for Hyatt

On Monday evening, the Neptune Beach City Council in a special session approved a city manager contract for Andrew Hyatt.

The contract is tentatively slated to begin August 1, though there was discussion according to the Neptune Beach City Attorney Patrick Krechowski about having him start on July 27th.

Krechowski told Neptune Beach councilors that he had spoken with Hyatt on Friday and Hyatt had reported that he would be traveling to Neptune Beach between now and July 27 to begin the process of looking for a place to live. The Neptune Beach council then agreed to extend travel and lodging reimbursement to Hyatt for this travel. They will also, according to Krechowski, begin including him on e-mails soon to help bring him up to speed and to help with a smooth transition.

Hyatt was one of four finalists interviewed to replace retiring City Manager Jim Jarboe. Hyatt has served as City Manager for East Ridge since October 2013.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.