Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 03-25-08 regular agenda — reading text

the report is factually true, that the Finance Director should be gone. He said he has always looked at the City, especially when he worked here, as the Mayor is the Chairman of the Board, each Councilmember is a member of the Board and the City Manager is the Chief Executive Officer who ran the day to day operation of the City. He said he would fault the City Manager some because in her day to day operation if there was some kind of turmoil going on it should have been her business to take care of it or get the message to Council and have Council take care of it. He said if Council did not take care of it, then they are the bad guys. He took back his recommendation about firing the City Manager. He did recommend she become the Finance Director and they take him back as the City Manager. Sally Ashwood, 123 Jet Drive, said she did not get to testify because she was out of town, but she did write a " to whom it may concern" letter and she did talk with a Council member about her feelings. She stated she is retiring at the end of the month, she is not a disgruntled employee, and loves her City, and loves her job. She said she has been happy here for almost 29 years and she has never seen it like this. She said she has worked for Ms. Shanahan as Finance Director and City Manager and she never had a problem with Joyce; and in fact she went out of her way many times when she helped her to say her appreciation. She would like to see this matter cleared up and something has to be done. She said she has had her encounters with Ms. Absher in the past but they resolved them. She said she does her job like a lot of employees do; however, it is very distracting to see this and it is tearing the City apart. She asked Council to be fair in their decision and think about not only the employees but the City residents; they need a Council that will stand behind them and do things to make their City grow. Mari Johnson, employee of the Finance Department, asked Council to look into her eyes and her co- workers eyes, and said they are not joking or making it up. She said it is not a hoax or a conspiracy; it is their lives and they are not bluffing when they say when they have to leave, they will have to leave and probably it will be more because of how it is affecting them emotionally and what it is doing to them physically. She asked Council to think about what they are doing and what they are doing to the employees. Carole Jones, Executive Assistant to the City Manager, wished to bring a couple of points to Council' s attention. She mentioned the citizen decided he knew about a nine o' clock staff meeting and said his behavior, towards a colleague and herself, was rude and arrogant. She said several times it was said this evening that we should have told you, and she said they tried. She thanked Mr. Mattimore and Mr. Bonfanti for the respectful manner in which they took the interviews and their respectful manners. 44 Special Council 3 -11 - 08 COMMENTS FROM GENERAL PUBLIC cont. Charlotte Dunworth, Budget/Grants Manager, said she has worked for the City for nearly six years and Ms. Absher is her third supervisor, and this is the first time she has felt distrust for and less than inspired by the actions of her superior. Kathy Duke, employed with City for 23 years, said she is in full support of Ms. Shanahan, she has always been there for the employees, she backs them up at all their functions, she participates right along beside _ them and they all have the utmost respect for her. She referenced the letter that one person commented that should not have been done and said the employees were very upset about the articles that came out in the paper. She thought the employees have a right to defend their supervisor, and she proudly signed that letter. There was no one further from the general public who wished to speak. DISCUSSION OF MOTION Mr. Minich moved to terminate the Finance Director' s employment immediately with the City in accordance with her contract. Mr. Holmes seconded motion. Mr. Minich expressed he liked Lisa Absher, that she is very knowledgeable in the Finance Department and is an intelligent person; however, there are many other aspects of her job that she is not performing correctly; she is not supervising her Finance Department in a way that she should. He noted you could read the report but also look out into the room and clearly see it. He commented the people who stood up, and as long as he has been on Council Charlotte Dunworth has always been someone he had the most respect for because she is nothing but numbers, she shows the numbers and lets them do their job, and if she cannot go to work without crying or coming to a meeting then that is not the type of work environment she should be asked to work in. He commented Ms.Absher should be counseling Department Heads, not arguing with; she should be working with them, not against them. He mentioned all the Department Heads, except one, cannot work with Ms. Absher. He said whether she is the best in her field if she cannot work with her Department Heads she is not doing her job effectively. He said she has to have trust with other Charter Officers, she has to have trust with outside people, and he did not see it there. He thought Mr. Main said it best, it is not a good fit and that is all. He commented it is not Ms. Absher's fault exclusively, it is Council' s fault; they maybe should not have hired her for the job and she should not be totally penalized for it. He said that is why in the motion he made that he asked for her to be terminated in accordance with her contract and the contract allows for Council to give her six months termination pay and he thought that is fair. He mentioned people have said Council should put this off because they have not had time to look at it, but the report is there, the people have come to Council, the employees deserve better, and they deserve an answer right now. He said they came for an answer right now and they deserve it. He said Council needs to make the decision they have to make and move forward so their City can get back together. Mr. Holmes expressed they let facts be facts, and they have facts. He said they are overwhelming but just the mannerism in the way the employees have been treated, those key employees have been in a hostile environment is enough in itself to terminate her employment. He said it is not that Council is not caring and compassionate because he noted what they have tolerated in giving an opportunity to work out, and given everyone a chance to work it out, and it is not going to happen. He expressed he did not fully support the termination arrangements, but Council needs to put it behind them now and they need to get the City moving in a positive direction like it had been over the last five or six years, and they need to give Ms. Shanahan an opportunity to move it back in that direction. He stated Council would do a terrible injustice to those City employees that bared their soles to come speak in front of Council tonight. Mr. Reeves expressed he hated to see employees distraught and he knew it was difficult to work in a hard He voiced his appreciation to Mr. Mattimore for a good report. He said it is an awfully large situation. body of employees in senior positions to tell them we really don't believe what they told Mr. Mattimore, that it is some kind of a large conspiracy. He was reluctant to bring it up but he found that Lisa Absher likes to get people in her cross -hairs to some extent. He said he personally does like Lisa but he, in the twelfth hour, was given some information because he requested it from the City where Lisa came from, which is how it came out so late.  Special Council 3 -11 - 08 45 DISCUSSION OF MOTION Cont. Mr. Reeves mentioned there is another honorable City Council that has fought with some of the same things they fought with, the City of Alachua He said he read it and it says some of the same things they are dealing with now, right here. He explained the reason he asked for the information because he thought it is an outside entity that does not have anything to do with what they are doing up here now, that was their own battle they fought with not a cohesive situation and a problem with an employee. He hoped he could talk a little bit and the other Council members would feel his pain in this matter and that they can come together and to move forward. He said he did not really want to relive this and thought the two 1 Charter Officers were going to try to work this out and move forward, but Council is here again. He said he will support the motion because he understands and feels the pain of the employees and the people that are affected by this in the City. Dr. Pullen expressed his complete understanding of the turmoil in the City. He stated that Council, twice in the past, voted to retain the Finance Director and in so doing they gave her permission to do her job to provide the City the needed checks and balances of the citizen' s money and assets. He said it appears that the City Manager, the Mayor, the City Manager's staff, and a minority of Council do not support this action as required by the Charter, which is a majority vote of the Council. He asked if the Council members who voted to retain the Finance Director have the integrity and ethics to support the prior action and allow her to do the job of checks and balances that they asked her to do. He said it should not be a popularity contest, but business. He found Ms. Absher very honest, very straight forward; sometimes she can be tough because Council has given her the responsibility that the Department's live with in their budget and he has not seen that in the past. He said Council asked her to do a checks and balances and he has found that the City Manager has exceeded her spending authority on several occasions. He said it was brought to her attention by the Finance Director, which was her responsibility. He thought they as a Council have failed in that they did not set the parameters for each and every Charter Officer, because they should work together. He stated that has been mentioned in Council before, that the Charter Officers should sit down and work together, not in collusion which he has seen done in the City before; he has seen collusion, money wasted, money gone, invoices changed to try to keep them within the City Manager's spending authority when all she had to do was bring them to Council. He said he could add a few other things that pertain to the actions of the City Manager but the motion is on the Finance Director and he will not support it because they have a responsibility to the citizen' s of the City to see that their money is spent properly. He said he has found it very difficult; they are supposed to have, by State law, open government and he cannot get records. He stated he has asked for records, they are not provided. He said he has asked the City Manager for those records, the people that have those records or know what happened work directly for her and she does not give him answers. He said it is very frustrating but that can come up later about the City Manager, and he will not support the motion. Mr. Hartwell commented it is unfortunate that so many of the citizens who made comments tonight do