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Port Richey Fires City Manager

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: December 16, 2008

Updated: 12/16/2008 03:13 pm

PORT RICHEY - Mayor Richard Rober said Tuesday morning he didn't "sleep a wink" in the wake of a marathon special meeting Monday night during which City Manager Richard Reade was fired.

The City Council voted 3 - 2 to let Reade go once his one-year contract expires, on Dec. 26.

Rober voted with Councilmen Phil Abts and Steven O'Neill to not renew Reade's contract. Councilmen Mark Hashim and Perry Bean wanted to keep Reade. Hashim wondered if the council might be violating Reade's contract by not giving him a proper performance evaluation.

READE

Reade had not yet responded as of early Tuesday afternoon to messages requesting comment on council's decision to end his tenure as city manager.

Last night's "contentious" special meeting had been more difficult for him than even the hotly debated canal dredging issue, Rober said. The meeting lasted for about four hours, breaking up at about 11:30 p.m.

Reade conceivably could hire an attorney and challenge the council's decision in court, the mayor speculated this morning. There is no other form of appeal open to Reade, Rober said.

The search for Reade's replacement could start next week, Rober said today.

"At this point it looks like we're going to set up a special meeting next Monday," Dec. 22, Rober remarked. The next regular council meeting won't be until Jan. 13, he noted, since the council decided to scrub the regular meeting that ordinarily would have fallen on Dec. 23.

More than likely, the council will appoint an interim city manager, the mayor said. Assistant City Manager Ellen Posivach might be a candidate for the interim post, he said.

POSIVACH

Reade hired Posivach, the former city manager of Tarpon Springs, in October to supervise city redevelopment projects. Posivach ended her nine years as Tarpon Springs city manager in late April, after the City Commission began a search for her replacement.
Tarpon Springs commissioners had become critical of Posivach's management style and suggested she was spending too much time out of town. Posivach said she had become a target of the city's political old guard because she would not do its bidding.

Following the naming of an interim manager, the city manager's position would be advertised, Rober said. A committee would then look over candidates and interviews would follow.

The new city manager's salary would be based on experience, Rober said. Reade was earning about $80,000 a year, plus benefits.

"It's going to take a few months, to say the least," Rober said of the city manager search. "We're fortunate we've got a lot of senior staff" with a lot of experience to handle the city's affairs during the interim period.

Reade's imminent departure was hailed today by an anonymous Web site critical of city leadership. "Goodbye Richard Reade!!! Thank You Port Richey!" the headline reads on the home page of myportrichey.com.

Rober introduced the motion simply to let Reade's contract lapse.

"We've put Mr. Reade into a corner," Rober declared. "We've pushed him into a corner. And we've damned him if he does and we've damned him it he doesn't."

Abts was critical of the virtual standstill over recent months of the city's canal dredging project. Abts also said the administration's "biggest blunder" might have been allowing trash pickups to lapse for several months.

"Maybe it's not his fault and maybe it is," Abts said, referring to Reade. "That could have been handled differently."

But the morale of city workers concerned Abts the most. "I've been here for 15 years and I've seen employees unhappy, I've seen them upset, I've seen them mad. But I've never seen them beat down as hard as they are right now."

Even a simple project such as filling potholes hasn't been accomplished during Reade's tenure, Abts complained.

Bean vigorously defended Reade. Trash pickup problems should be blamed on department heads, Bean said. Reade took care of problems and trash service resumed, he said.
The morale of city workers goes up and down with every election, Bean said.

"Mr. Reade has been a stellar city manager," Bean said.

"He turned on the lights and the roaches started scrambling," Bean added, alluding to problems from previous city administrations.

Hashim pounded the City Council dais while declaring the decision to let Reade go a "big mistake."
Hashim criticized the mayor for saying one thing and then doing another.

"You wait until the 11th hour to pull the (rug) out from underneath him, without even an explanation, without even telling him what he did wrong."

Former city managers were "a joke," Hashim remarked.

Addressing Reade, Hashim said: "Rich, run, run for your life. You don't need this. You were whipped cream on crap."

Later, during the public comment period, former Councilwoman Phyllis Grae took issue with Hashim's remark.

"I have seen bad and I have seen good," Grae said. "I have never, ever been as offended as I have been tonight when the vice mayor said the city manager is whipped cream on crap. That will never ever be forgotten nor will it ever be forgiven."

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