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Clerk Doesn't Spend Enough Time At Office, Critics Say

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By TODD LESKANIC

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 15, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - It's not often that a county clerk becomes the center of attention.

Pasco County Clerk of Circuit Court Jed Pittman hopes things get back to normal for him - and soon.

Over the past few weeks, Pittman has come under criticism for spending too much time out of the office for someone who makes $136,000 a year and draws a sizable monthly state retirement check.

Pittman, though, says the laws governing the clerk's office say nothing about keeping office hours.

"I am not held to any hourly time or fixed time," he said in a recent interview. "I'm paid a salary that's set by the Florida Legislature, and that's it.

"I would say the amount I'm in the office has decreased somewhat, but I don't think my ability to run the office and make decisions has decreased, and I still do those things. I meet with my staff. I don't go to all the so-called staff meetings because sometimes there's nothing on the agenda for me."

Pittman, 66, was first elected Pasco clerk in 1977. He has held the office ever since but announced months ago he wouldn't seek another term in November.

Pittman attributes most of his absence to declining health, particularly in the past two years. Both of his knees need replacing, but he has gained too much weight to have the surgery. Pittman also suffers from severe arthritis and is diabetic. He uses a motorized cart to get around.

Asked how often he works at one of his office's six locations, Pittman answered, "A few days a week."

How many hours a day?

"Several hours, more or less."

Pittman's contention that he is not required to keep office hours is correct. James Dye, a Bradenton attorney who is board-certified in local government law, said he knows of nothing that compels elected officials to be in their offices.

"I don't know of any elected official that has a statutory requirement to be sitting behind a desk from 9 to 5 or anything like that," Dye said. "But if there's not a statute or rule, that's because most of them know they have to answer to the voters and put in normal office hours. It's kind of a self-governing thing."

A manager who is consistently out of the office also can affect an organization's overall morale, experts said. Wendell Lawther, a professor of public administration at the University of Central Florida, said rank-and-file workers notice supervisors' behavior and will react negatively to it under certain conditions.

"It would obviously depend on the kind of management style the boss has in place," Lawther said. "If it's a traditional bureaucratic everyone-does-their-own-task, I would think the boss's example of not being there can't help but have an adverse effect.

"But if he's forward-looking and cutting edge and really cares about his employees and their career development and his employees think well of him, his absence is not going to have that much of an adverse affect."

Some of the clamor has been about Pittman drawing a salary and retirement benefits at the same time, but the law allowed it when he entered the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) in 1999.

The program allows state employees to begin accruing retirement benefits in an interest-bearing account while working for up to five years. After that, the employee receives a lump-sum payment from the account.

In 2004, Pittman received a payment of $362,688 from DROP. Most state employees retire at that point and begin drawing their monthly checks. Those who want to work for the state again have to go off the state payroll for a calendar month.

Pittman, though, was re-elected in 2004, the same year he received his DROP payout. The payout triggered his monthly retirement checks. Since Pittman had entered DROP before the law changed in 2002, he was allowed to receive his DROP payment and draw his paycheck and retirement without having to go off the state payroll.

Under the new law, elected officials are barred from drawing any type of retirement until they retire.

State records show Pittman's monthly retirement payment is $6,242.34.

Still, all the questions will be moot once Pittman leaves office for good early next year. He said he thinks he's done a good job for Pasco County and has given the taxpayers more than their money's worth.

As the interview with Pittman ended, he sat waiting for everyone to clear from his conference room before getting up on his bad knees to go about his business.

"I don't want you to see a grown man cry," he said.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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