Broward’s oldest city has a new boss.
Ana Garcia, a former manager with North Miami Beach and tiny Biscayne Park, has been tapped to lead Dania Beach now that longtime manager Bob Baldwin has retired.
Garcia, 57, will be sworn in March 12 at 7 p.m. and start work the next day.
“Dania Beach is Broward’s first city and my goal is for Dania Beach to be Broward’s best city,” said Garcia, who left North Miami Beach in July with a severance package approaching $150,000.
“I’m really excited about this opportunity,” she said. “Dania has tremendous potential. That’s what attracted me to Dania Beach.”
Garcia will earn $200,000 a year. Her predecessor, whose 10-year tenure ended in January, earned $176,613.63.
Mayor Lori Lewellen-White described Garcia as a dynamic visionary who can help lead the growing city forward with energy and enthusiasm.
“I felt like we need new energy,” she said. “The whole city is changing. We have a different vibe coming in and she’s only going to help that.”
The Cuban-born Garcia says she worked her way up in government, starting out in parks and recreation with the city of Miami. She’s also worked for Miami Beach, South Miami and Palmetto Bay in south Miami-Dade.
When Garcia was village manager for Biscayne Park, she promoted Raimundo Atesiano to police chief in January 2013 at the recommendation of the outgoing chief.
More than five years later, Atesiano was sentenced in November to three years in federal prison for framing black men for burglaries they did not commit.
In July 2013, Atesiano boasted to village officials about his department’s 100 percent clearance rate in burglary cases. The following month, Garcia resigned to take a job with North Miami Beach.
“This all came to the surface after I left,” she said.
Had she known about the scheme, Garcia says she would have fired Atesiano immediately.
“I am so glad they threw the book at him,” she said.
Dania’s mayor and two other commissioners said they were not aware of Garcia’s connection to the disgraced former chief of Biscayne Park. The recruiter didn’t bring it up and neither did Garcia.
“I don’t think that would have changed my mind anyway,” Lewellen-White said. “I don’t blame her for that. People make their own decisions.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4554. Find her on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan.