Brooklet City Council members last week tentatively offered the job to Paul Dyal, from Lake City, Florida, making him the only current finalist to be Brooklet’s first non-interim city manager.

From 2012 until February 2024, Dyal served in various roles for the government of Lake City – population 12,783 as of July 2024 U.S. Census estimate – including as its interim city manager for one year, December 2021-December 2022, and confirmed city manager for roughly one year, January 2023-February 2024, according to his resume.

Meanwhile, Brooklet – population 2,285 and growing, according to a World Population Review 2025 estimate – switched from a previous charter under which the mayor had administrative responsibilities to a city manager form of government with a new charter approved by the Georgia General Assembly in early 2024. Carter Crawford, past city manager for Metter, Statesboro, Sylvania and other area towns, has been serving as Brooklet’s part-time, interim manager for 11 months now.

The Georgia Open Records Act exempts most documents that identify people applying for jobs with public agencies from release. But where the “executive head of an agency,” such as a city or county manager or school superintendent is concerned, an exception in the law requires that “all documents concerning as many as three persons under consideration” as “best qualified” be released for inspection and copying “at least 14 calendar days” before a meeting where final action or a vote to hire will be taken.

In recent years, many agencies have released information on only one finalist, implying or stating that all others have withdrawn.

Brooklet Council reportedly interviewed Dyal in a closed-door session held during a called meeting that began at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 9. The next day, a notice containing the following statements was sent to some news organizations:

“After the interview, the mayor and council emerged from an executive session into an open session, where the council voted to extend a tentative offer of the city manager position to Mr. Dyal, contingent upon the State of Georgia's required 14-day waiting period before the city formally makes a job offer to Mr. Dyal.

“Mr. Dyal has over 12 years of experience in city management and city utility management. Mr. Dyal is from Lake City, FL. Mr. Dyal's resume will be available at Brooklet City Hall for review for the next 14 days.”

A link was provided to “minutes” of the meeting, posted on the cityofbrooklet.org website but marked “unofficial,” which included the same statement that was sent to the Statesboro Herald. However, those minutes, which would remain unofficial until approved, and possibly amended, by the council at a future meeting, do not actually record a vote to make an offer, only a motion and to come out of “executive session,” in other words the closed meeting, followed by the statement that was publicized, and then a motion and vote to adjourn the meeting.

Both the motion “to come out of the Executive Session and return to the Special Called Meeting” and the motion to adjourn were made by Brad Anderson and seconded by Keith Roughton, with the other council members, Sheila Wentz, Rebecca Kelly and James Harrison, joining in the 5-0 votes. The only previous motions, also unanimous, had been to approve the agenda and go into the closed session. Mayor Nicky Gwinnett was also noted as present.

His resume says …

Dyal’s resume describes him as a “dynamic leader and accomplished professional with a wide-ranging background in multi-million-dollar budgets, capital projects, government operations, customer service and relations, utilities, financial management, economic development, community partnerships,” and as a “trusted leader with a forward-looking vision to empower people through collaboration, vision, partnerships and community pride.”

He had worked for Lake City as GIS (geographic information systems) and CAD (computer-aided design) technician and crew leader, 2012-2014; assistant executive director of utilities, 2014-2015; and executive director of utilities, 2015-2024. Another segment of the resume gives the title “assistant city manager-utilities and public works” in 2017-2018, also with Lake City, and he continued as executive director of utilities while interim city manager, December 2021-December 2022, and city manager, January 2023-February 2024.

The resume lists Dyal also as public works director for Homer, Alaska, “January 2024-January 2024.”

Returning calls from the Statesboro Herald, Dyal explained that he actually concluded his work with Lake City in October 2023 but received credit for service there until February 2024. He worked briefly in Alaska in early 2024 but returned to Florida for health reasons, he said.

And he says …

On the phone Tuesday, Dyal also said he had not received a firm job offer from Brooklet yet, which is in keeping with the City Council’s statement that last week’s offer was tentative, pending a final vote. But he said he plans to take the job if it is offered and to move to Brooklet if he becomes its city manager.

“That’s the plan,” Dyal said. “I have a grandson who goes to Savannah State, and I have another son that lives up in Virginia, so that would kind of put me closer to them.”

Brooklet officials had told him it “would probably be midweek,” before they called him again, he said, adding, “So I’m still waiting to see if that’s the direction they want to go.”

Dyal’s resume states that as Lake City manager he administered a more than $70 million budget, which is many times larger than Brooklet’s (fiscal year 2026 general fund about $1.2 million), and more comparable to Statesboro’s (fiscal 2026 general fund $24 million; all funds minus internal transfers, $88 million).

His reported accomplishments include overseeing budget and construction for a water reclamation facility and obtaining a $2.7 million grant for expansion of Lake City’s sewer system and undertaking “land use initiatives for annexation.”

Brooklet currently has contractors building the first phase of a sewer system primarily to serve its downtown but expandable to areas beyond the current city limits.

Dyal attained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Columbia Southern University in Orange Beach, Alabama, graduating with top honors in 2016, and public manager and supervisory certifications from Florida State University-Tallahassee. He previously attained two associate degrees from Lake City Community College, according to his resume.

Before working for the city there, he worked for a company called Comm Tech Inc. in Gainesville, Florida, 1999-2012.