Here’s The Scoop …. BROOM BOYS “BUSTED”! …. THEY COST US ALL $250,000 ….
August 21, 2009 by Barbara
THEY GAVE US A CLEAN SWEEP ALRIGHT…CLEANED OUT OUR POCKETS!…
Dear Readers…. Yesterday this writer received the Public Record Request for the backup material provided for the Regular Commission Meeting on May 22, 2007 for Consent Agenda item (page 18) ..10 G. Town Manager Employment Agreement (Town Manager Colon)…Previous posts and articles in the By The Sea Future (last edition) showed that the Employment Agreement was NOT, as we were repeatedly told by the “Broom Boys-2 Hats” Commissioners and the Town Manager on the dais for the last 2 years, the same contract as her predecessor Town Manager Baldwin …It was a CASH COW!!!!….This no- term contract with a full salary severance if terminated with an indemnity clause and compensation/ pension perks will ultimately cost the LBTS taxpayers approximately $250,000 to get rid of her…WAS INCLUDED IN THEIR BACKUP!!!!!!
That’s right!…. The May 22, 2007 backup shows the same Employment Agreement previously posted on this site……These 2 Commissioners either…. did not read their backup … chose to deceive the taxpayers by continuing to assert it was the same as Town Manager Baldwin’s for the last 2 years… or stuck it to all of us LBTS taxpaying voters thinking we would never find out!!!
A quick look back at those minutes from May 22, 2007 …at the comments made from Commissioner Silverstone and Commissioner McIntee…
” Commissioner Silverstone stated that Esther took over Robert Baldwin’s old contract, and in that contract he was given 10 weeks off a year that was supposed to be unpaid.”
“Town Manager Colon indicated that her contract does not included the 10 weeks.”
“Commissioner Silverstone stated that she was being paid the same but working more, and he thanked her for doing that.”
“Commissioner McIntee said Town Manager Colon took the 10 weeks out of her contract without anyone asking her to do it. He said if she was gone for ten weeks, then the second in command has to step in and get paid 10% over his payroll. She, he stated that she gave the Commission a very nice gesture without asking for it. She said she removed other things as well, on her own.”
BC- included in the 5/22/07 backup was a complementary “thank you” letter from outgoing Town Manager Baldwin saying that Finance Director Colon assumed his role while he was gone…did she receive the 10% per then- Comm. McIntee’s statement?)….
Up until this last month Commissioner Silverstone who says from the dais, he does his homework (Hmmm) is on record repeating the same tired rhetoric he used in 2007 …the 10 weeks removed and the contract being the same as Bob Baldwin’s…He [Silverstone] recently went so far as to request the compensation package Baldwin received (prev. posts) and we hear, put it out as vindication of the two contracts being the same… (before the specifics were requested from Comm. Dodd and former Town Manager Bob Baldwin was contacted to deny the payout was the same as Town Manager Colon would receive adding his agreement was NOT the same as Colon’s)…This alone should spell the end of his political career in this town!…
Vice Mayor McIntee who seems to be on a”tear” to suppress the residents ability to contact other Commissioners privately (prev. post..e-mails from the Mayor/Dodd) has repeatedly backed up the Town Manager, singing her praises….watching her back…. But anyone who was around prior to his election in March 2006 knows full well if that Commission had done what he did and approved this kind of contract…all hell would break loose!…Just look at the ongoing reaction he and Silverstone had over 10 weeks unpaid leave!…This too should put an end to any idea that he should have a second term!…
We face some big issues at the start of September…and not just the 2009-2010 budget (see sister site link above)…
First up…. the Sept. 9, 2009 Commission meeting …. It will be the first meeting since the RFPs were stopped from being read aloud on 7/29/09 & 8/11/09/ Finding page 19 of the Purchasing Manual was revised ( the RFP page) on 2/17/09 without Comm. approval / The LETF use was a decision per the manual for the Police Chief & Commissioners NOT the Town Manager & is not allowed for use on renovating the Public Safety building/ The Purchase Manual rule #5 that states 30 days BEFORE approval of BUYING property 2 ads were required to be published in a newspaper for general circulation in LBTS …..as of yet no PRR verification it was adhered to for the hotel purchase in 2008/ Public Records Requests for all “Town Related e-mails to Mayor Minnet & Comm. Dodd from Vice Mayor McIntee/ Exorbitant Town PRR fees and lengthy or non- response for PRRs that conflict with the Fl. PRR State Statute #119….. This writer cannot wait to see just how are the “Gang of 3” are going to respond to all this!…..
Second, the next day….the Round Table meeting on September 10, 2009 to “discuss” the criteria for the Town Manager’s Annual Performance Review required per her agreement……What is the “Gang of 3” going to do?…Keep their heads down?…Put their poker faces on?….Play the “emperor has no clothes?”…. Jarvis Hall should be full!
BSO Police Chief Gooding was removed for “fiscal irresponsibility”…using that criteria…(faulty reason used by the TM per the LETF guidelines in the purchasing manual) it is time to get out the “dust busters” in March….. blow away the “Broom Boys”…and then “brush aside” the Town Manager!…
Also included in the backup was a copy of Ms. Colon’s resume!…A different one than the one this writer received on Aug. 11, 2009 after 2 requests and months of waiting…the resume I posted and received that day was 9 years old …the one with no details except for her BSO description stating she had “over 20 years experience”…Hmmmm……The resume included in the May 22,2007 backup had detailed work experience …including the experience as LBTS Finance Director …and stated the following …
“SUMMARY” (Esther Colon)
” Almost 30 years experience in local government. Technical knowledge in both PC and menu driven mainframe computer network. RESOURCEFUL, FLEXIBLE, HIGHLY CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE, WILLING TO TAKE RISK, THRIVE ON OPPORTUNITIES TO ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY. TEAM WORKER WITH STRONG INTERPERSONAL AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS.”
“EXPERTISE IN ORGANIZING AND PLANNING TO ACHIEVE HIGH LEVELS OF PRODUCTIVITY. STRENGTH IN RECOGNIZING, ANALYZING AND SOLVING PROBLEMS. STRONG COMMITMENT, VISION, LEADERSHIP SKILL, HIGH ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM.”
BC…IF ONLY!…Sad to say….her resume “summary” and the summary of her actual actions as Town Manager in LBTS for the last 2 years…should be grounds for termination at any cost!!!!
more to come…..
