Juvenile Welfare Board’s interim CEO demands $100k, job for a year
- Mark Parker
- 8 hours ago
- 4 min read
With a high-stakes leadership vote looming, the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County now faces a $100,000 ultimatum. Interim CEO Mike Mikurak also wants the agency to scrap its search process and extend his contract by a year.
The taxpayer-funded board, which distributed $133 million to youth-focused nonprofits in 2025, has spent the past several months embroiled in a controversial search for a permanent CEO. Glen Gilzean, a frequent gubernatorial appointee who was accused of but never found liable for misspending millions as the Orange County Supervisor of Elections, is the front-runner.
In March, the board voted 6-5 to name Gilzean the permanent chief executive. Members, who must hold a final vote on Thursday, now have something else to consider.
Mikurak became interim CEO in June 2025, following Beth Houghton’s retirement, and is also a finalist. However, he believes defamatory statements from a board member tainted the process and has threatened to sue the agency.
On April 29, Mikurak’s lawyer sent a settlement proposal to the board, which was subsequently obtained by Power Broker Magazine. Attorney Shane Vogt wrote that Mikurak “feels compelled to offer a final opportunity to amicably resolve this situation without the need for litigation.”
The settlement highlights multiple requests, starting with the “immediate retention of a reputable national search firm to identify qualified JWB candidates.”
Board members must then drop the “interim” from Mikurak’s title and make him the CEO for at least a year, “or as needed until the new CEO selection process is fully completed … and such period of time necessary for Mr. Mikurak to help the new CEO become acclimated to their position.”
The board must also refrain from conducting a second vote to appoint Gilzean. Mikurak would retire after his new term ends.
He also pledged to work in “good faith” with the board to help improve the lives of area children and families. Vogt wrote that the settlement would not become effective until approved at Thursday’s meeting.
“Within 30 days of the effective date of the settlement agreement, Mr. Mikurak shall be paid $50,000 to resolve his civil claims against Board Member Renee Chiea, and $50,000 as reimbursement for his attorneys’ fees incurred in connection with this matter,” the proposal states.
“In exchange for the foregoing, Mr. Mikurak will fully release JWB, its board members (including Ms. Chiea), their employees, agents, attorneys, and insurance carriers, from any and all claims and causes of action,” it continues.
Mikurak declined to comment on the settlement proposal.
The local Juvenile Welfare Board was created nearly 80 years ago through a Special Act of the Florida Legislature. As a special taxing district, the agency funds nearly 100 programs that foster early childhood development, increase school readiness, and mitigate child abuse and neglect.
Mikurak, 72, was an international consulting partner with Accenture before retiring in 2003. He was appointed to the JWB in 2013 and has since held multiple leadership positions with the agency.
The board, which includes 11 county officials and gubernatorial appointees, released a formal job posting for a permanent CEO - with an anticipated annual salary between $200,00 and $245,000 - in December 2025. An ideal candidate should “be able to articulate and implement JWB's strategic mission while maintaining the highest level of transparency and accountability to the taxpayers of Pinellas County,” it states.
Board members selected three finalists in January, with Mikurak and Gilzean, 44, becoming the front-runners after an informal straw poll the following month. Vogt, in a letter sent to Chiea on March 23 - after the straw poll and initial vote - accused her of making false and defamatory statements about Mikurak.
The 13-page letter notes that Chiea, a gubernatorial appointee, publicly questioned Mikurak’s transparency and ethics, and essentially accused him of participating in Medicare fraud in 2012. Mikurak denied the accusations and threatened to sue.
In December 2024, the Orange County Comptroller’s Office found that Gilzean spent $9.9 million, over half of his annual budget as the supervisor of elections, in a two-month period. Gilzean denied any wrongdoing and sued the county. His case was dismissed the following month when he left office.
County Commissioner Renee Flowers, in a social media post on Monday, suggested that the board restart its search for a new CEO and eliminate the current applicants. “This is the best way for JWB to focus on the work and move forward,” she wrote.
“This organization is too important for us to get it wrong.”
In his latest letter, Vogt wrote that the settlement was proposed to resolve Mikurak’s claims, and “more importantly, try to mitigate the substantial harm JWB and its reputation are suffering because of the manner in which the CEO selection process has been conducted.” An agreement would constitute a “compromise,” and not an admission of liability or wrongdoing.
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