Permits, Purchasing, and the Checkbook: City Hall Fills Three Key Seats in One Month

PALM BAY, FL (The Palm Bayer) — In the span of about a month, Palm Bay has filled three of the most consequential seats in city government: the official who decides what gets built, the official who controls how the city buys, and the official who watches the money.

Roy Johnston, Chief Building Official

Roy Johnston was announced on October 28 as Palm Bay’s new Chief Building Official, the city’s top authority on building permits, plan review, and code enforcement.

He arrives from the University of Central Florida, where he served as Director and Building Official from December 2017 until this month, running a building department accredited by the International Accreditation Service. He holds the International Code Council’s Master Code Professional credential, its highest certification, along with Florida licenses that are all active with no disciplinary history. Before UCF he worked as a master code official in Pittsburgh and as building official in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, where he championed occupancy and accessibility pathways for buildings built before 1927. His department works out of 120 Malabar Road SE.

Chris Smith, Chief Procurement Officer

Chris Smith started September 28 as Chief Procurement Officer, the official who runs the city’s bidding and purchasing.

He came from Fairfax County, Virginia, where he worked as a Contract Specialist II from 2024 to 2025, after a stint in procurement for the City of Alexandria from 2022 to 2024. He earned two national procurement certifications in 2025, the NIGP-CPP and the CPPB. In Fairfax, the contracts he managed barred automatic renewals and tied any extension to a performance evaluation, and he ran solicitations on Bonfire, the same bidding platform Palm Bay uses. Introduced to the City Council in October alongside his wife, Dr. Mary Smith, he pledged integrity, ethics, and transparency in the city’s purchasing.

Bill Schmidt, Chief Financial Officer

Bill Schmidt started in mid-October as Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Larry Wojciechowski. The job itself was elevated in the change: Wojciechowski held the title Finance Director, while Schmidt carries the CFO title.

City Manager Matthew Morton describes Schmidt as a certified public accountant of more than 20 years, with roughly 20 years in the public sector and 10 in the private sector, and says he was already flagging needed improvements in his first two weeks. The city has not yet published a biography for Schmidt; The Palm Bayer will add his background as it is confirmed.

The common thread

Three hires in one month, touching the three points where city government meets residents most directly: what gets built, what things cost, and where the money goes. The Palm Bayer will be watching all three offices as the new team settles in.