Sephora CharlesRetired Marine John Carey says he has a calling to serve God; national search is on to find replacement.
After serving Palm Beach County as the inspector general for a decade, John Carey is stepping down this summer to pursue a career in ministry.
Carey, a retired Marine colonel appointed as the county’s second IG in 2014, said that he is retiring from government service after nearly 50 years to focus on ministry in the Presbyterian Church, a calling he said he has felt since his teenage years.
“I’m ready to move on to my next mission, now still serving people, but in a different capacity, with a new boss,” he said.
In September, Carey was ordained as a minister at First Presbyterian Church of North Palm Beach, where he and his wife Lea are members.
His new role comes after 25 years in the inspector general field. Carey helped establish the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the Marines, serving as its first deputy IG, he said. Later, he worked as the Defense Intelligence Agency’s inspector general.
During Carey’s term in Palm Beach, the inspector general’s office did not generate major news, but he said it identified more than $50 million in questionable costs.
The staff of 30 counted more than 1,000 recommendations to local governments and referred more than 650 cases to law enforcement and local or state ethics commissions. Its work led to 12 arrests or prosecutions, Carey said.
Carey credits the office’s accomplishments to the team he built.
“I get the benefit of being the spokesperson and the leader of the team, but really, they’re the folks that do the hard work,” he said. “I feel very good in the fact that I’m leaving the office in a good place.”
As Carey prepares to start full-time service as a pastor, he said he is comfortable moving on from this chapter of his life. Given the responsibility of this position, he said it will take “a special person to be able to take this job on.”
“It’s just time to turn the helm over to somebody else. I think it’s good to have a new set of eyes and new leadership to move the office forward,” he said.
Carey, who started in June 2014, will end his tenure on June 23.
Job pays more than $260,000
The inspector general’s office, created in 2009 along with a local ethics panel after a grand jury called for independent oversight of county government, reviews the county, its 39 municipalities, the Solid Waste Authority and the Children’s Services Council. It is meant to be independent from the local governments it reviews.
Carey replaced the office’s first IG, Sheryl Steckler, after a national search. Steckler served as the inspector general for the first four years of the office’s operations.
While county Human Resource officials will handle the search for Carey’s successor, decisions will be made by a seven-person panel drawn from several local groups. State Attorney Alexcia Cox and Public Defender Daniel Eisinger serve, as do representatives appointed by local bar associations, the Association of Chiefs of Police, the League of Cities, Florida Atlantic University and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
The new IG’s contract is subject to Palm Beach County Commission approval.
The committee approved a job description in a 20-minute meeting on Jan. 8. It agreed to post the job opening the following day, giving applicants until Jan. 30 to apply.
Minimum qualifications are a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of relevant work experience. Pay range is $260,000 to $280,000 a year. Applicants must not have worked for government agencies overseen by the Inspector General’s Office in the past two years.
The committee agreed to meet Feb. 5 to review applications.
