Writer: Jeff Gill
Published May 20, 2021
The Gainesville Times
Flowery Branch City Clerk Vickie Short was officially named interim city manager Thursday, May 20.
Flowery Branch City Council voted to appoint her to the role in the wake of Bill Andrew’s May 12 resignation. Short will hold down the job until a permanent replacement is found. Her annual salary was set at $110,000.
She will not perform city clerk duties. Those will be handled by Shelia Cooper, who was appointed interim assistant city clerk.
Short said after the vote she was ready to take on her new duties.
"I'm looking forward to continuing on what's started with Flowery Branch," she said. "I have a great staff … and I look forward to continuing as normal."
As for Andrew’s replacement, Mayor Mike Miller told The Times on May 12, “I’m sure we’ll engage the services of one of the search firms to help us identify candidates to fill that vacancy.”
Short has worked her way up the ranks since being hired by Flowery Branch in 2012. She began as accounts receivable clerk and became city clerk in 2020.
She is a certified municipal clerk by University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government and is working toward further government certification.
Her new post was a sudden one, as Andrew turned in a resignation letter on Tuesday, May 11, and left the next day. He had held the job for 15 years.
No explanations have been offered for his departure, and Andrew couldn’t be reached for comment.
“We are grateful for the service and professionalism which Mr. Andrew brought to the role and for his dedicated service to the residents and businesses of Flowery Branch,” Miller said in a press release. “We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
