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

her understanding that the Presidio bills have been divided and stated that has not been addressed, that is where the power is being taken and delivered, they go for checks and balances again. She expressed disappointment in that she thought she i would have seen allegations addressed. She thought it is time to send a message and it is time to make a stand. She said they are elected by the people and the next time there is a meeting like this let them all in on the meeting and not half out of the meeting in an area close by, and expressed her opinion there was no reason to separate people and make them feel like second class citizens. She said to remember that people do not change and it is up to Council to make a decision and questioned if they were going to make a decision on half a report. James Thoreen, 33 Anastasia Drive, stated he cannot speak to or about Ms. Absher but he had an observation about the investigation. He commented it seems there has to be a little bias to it when the only people who respond are the people who have a grievance, that there was no randomization of asking questions of everyone.  Special Council 3 -11 -08 42 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS cont. Mr. Thoreen commented he sensed there is a disappointment that the investigation did not find some tension between Ms. Shanahan and Ms. Absher and expressed concern they could consider things like losing your temper or saying something fussy could be construed as hostile. He expressed hope that Council can figure out a way to straighten this out, to get it out of the newspaper except in a positive way, and to recognize Joyce Shanahan is a wonderful City Manager and they better help her out. Kevin Dunworth, 1620 Ella Ruth Drive, commented it seems the citizens are not pleased with Council. He applauded the gentlemen's suggestion to change the emphasis to Council' s decisions more so than to the issue between the Finance Director and the City Manager. He thought they are all wondering if Council i considers previous work history when hiring their Charter Officers and remarked it seemed some of that might have foreshadowed some of the events of the last two years. He also wondered if Council plans to replace the workers that say they will leave, or if Council thought they are bluffing. He wondered how Council can explain the overwhelmingly consistent testimony, and thought the best answer he heard so far was that they were not under oath and must all be liars. He wondered how much Council thinks they have cost the City in waiting this long to deal with the issue, finally having to conduct an investigation, and then suffer the deterioration of the speed with which work gets completed. He expressed his thought that the best explanation he can see to explain some Councilmen' s behavior is that they have the philosophy that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. He did not believe that is necessarily the case. He expressed while in the auditorium and heard some of the comments Council made, he assessed the mood of the room and he frequently heard moans, giggling, laughing, and "L" signs on the forehead. He did not think the citizens' opinion of Council is very high right now and hoped they would resolve something swiftly. David deVaux, 348 Marie Circle, mentioned some of his concerns have already been expressed by different citizens and one is it is starting to be divisive with the City employees, the citizens, and Council and he would like to have this matter corrected as fast as they can. He reminded Council they are to set the policy of the City and staff administers the policy and if there is a problem with staff administering the policy then it is up to Council to decide what to do next. Mr. deVaux mentioned the attorney said he had to subpoena documents and asked if the attorney subpoenaed documents from the City. The Mayor clarified the attorney has the authority to subpoena, he did not have to. Mr. deVaux expressed he has had nothing but professionalism from City staff, the City has great employees, and a lot of them are overcome in this mess. He wished Council would take care of what they need to do, get everything running smoothly again so everyone can feel safe at work, safe in their job, and safe at the house. Tom Murray, Public Works Director, referenced the question from Mr. Miller about the issue of Lisa Absher exceeding her authority and said he brought the issue to Lisa in written form by email with a copy to the City Manager and to her assistant Carole Jones, to address with Lisa how to resolve the issue of her exceeding her monetary authority by over ten times her authority limit, exceeding the type of monies she had transferred from his operational accounts, and the fact that she had disrupted the Public Works operations and created quite a bit of waste. He said his testimony for the investigation was provided during the interview session and the reports summary of his testimony comprises three -quarters of a page, double spaced. He said there was quite a bit more information he submitted to the attorney and he is sure it is included in the information the attorney referred to earlier. He said even though the summary report does not come near being complete as far as the content, he felt it is a very responsible representation of what he submitted during his testimony with the attorney, and he is very satisfied with the reports summary of his testimony. He said he needed to add some further testimony of more recent events. He said Lisa has retaliated against him for participating as a witness and providing testimony in this matter; she has attempted to impugn his character and his good name; she has submitted a formal complaint to the State of Florida Commission on Ethics claiming he is unethical. He said on a personal basis, she has taken a very personal attack on him, very public and personal attack. He said he fears nothing on her baseless claim; he feared nothing from Lisa Absher, and he will work with the Commission on Ethics if they see there is reason to discuss it. He said he will initiate contact with them and the first thing he will do is fill in the gaps in what was submitted to them by Lisa to make sure that the Commission on Ethics has the full story.  Special Council 3 -11 - 08 43 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS cont. Mr. Murray stated many employees are in the room; they bared their souls in providing testimony and they stepped up to inform Council of what is going on in the City. He expressed for himself and many others as a body, they ask City Council as a body to step up in this issue and take action on this issue and fix the problems so they can move on as a City. He expressed his satisfaction the report is a good representation of what is going on and the elements and problems with the Finance Director at the core. y Becki Pence, 1303 Edenphill Hill Drive, stated she is a friend of Lisa' s however she has had absolutely no problems with Ms. Shanahan either. She said she is not here to choose sides either way and only wanted to talk about chain of command. She said she has often questioned when she has listened to some of the Councilmen say they have had all these employees coming to them and telling them what is going on and all their problems. She said when she was an employee they were not allowed to go to City Council, they had to go to their Department Head and then she assumed to the City Manager. She said if that is the case it is going to be very hard for an employee to come forward to Council to tell them maybe they support Lisa or problems they had with Ms. Shanahan. She said she had none but just wanted to offer a reason maybe Council has not heard support for Ms. Absher. She mentioned she read in the report that people are threatening to quit if things like this are not resolved. She said she did leave the City, there was an option for her to apply for another job when the grant came to an end and she chose not to because of issues like this and management issues that she did not think were very professional, people talking about the Finance Director and no one stopping it. She said she chose not to stay for her professional career and thought it was something Council might want to hear. Chuck Keeler, a former City Manager, mentioned the letter he sent Council and after reading the report he would like to change his suggestion. He said from what he knows and if 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