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Hernando County Fires Emergency Manager
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Published: May 9, 2008
BROOKSVILLE - At 2 p.m. Friday, embattled County Emergency Management Director Tom Leto was ushered into the county administrator's office to hear whether he still had a job.
A sheriff's deputy sat in the administrator's anteroom, awaiting the verdict.
Five minutes later, Leto came out, accompanied by County Administrator David Hamilton.
Hamilton motioned to the deputy to escort Leto to the elevator and out of the building.
Leto had just been fired. He turned in his county-issued credit card, department cell phone and other belongings. Except for accrued sick time, vacation time and personal time off owed him, there was no severance package.
When asked to comment, Leto declined.
However, Leto did call Hernando Today two hours later and issued a terse statement:
"I plan on appealing the county's decision to the personnel advisory board, or further if necessary," said Leto.
That "further," could be a lawsuit, he said. He said he's done nothing wrong — certainly nothing that justifies termination.
Leto said Hamilton's office was not the appropriate place to discuss his situation. The place to do that, he said, is in front of the advisory board, which is made up of citizens and county employees who hear personnel complaints.
"I've done a lot of good for the county," Leto said. "(Hamilton) is a new guy coming in and none of that matters? He doesn't (even) know me."
Hamilton said he really had no choice, given the documents outlining questionable management practices in Leto's office the past several months.
"Your personal relationship and professional failures have eroded both your staff's and my confidence in you as a department head," Hamilton said Friday in a memo handed to Leto.
This marks the second high-profile county department manager to leave under a cloud. Ex-human resources director Barbara Dupre quit under pressure last month after a damning independent legal report found numerous management deficiencies.
Purely Platonic?
Earlier Friday, the sheriff's office had released the results of a five-week investigation into Leto's department, which had already seen the arrest of his administrative assistant, Stephanie Anderson, on charges of falsifying payroll records to receive $9,865 in compensation for days she wasn't at work, investigators said.
The investigation determined Leto committed no criminal acts.
The county had also done its own investigation into the allegations lodged against him by Audit Services Director Peggy Prentice.
During that questioning, Leto denied any wrongdoing.
He denied using his official position to further the career of Anderson. He also denied discriminating in Anderson's favor when determining overtime hours for her.
Leto told Prentice he believed Anderson had worked all the hours she sought reimbursement for.
And, answering allegations that he had been romantically linked with his secretary, Leto said his relationship with Anderson was purely platonic.
According to the sheriff's office report, he explained the reason why his car was at Anderson's house was that he picked up a motorcycle to work on for her.
He told sheriff's investigators he was paid for the motorcycle work and that he left his car there while he took the bike.
Evidence Doesn't Add Up
Hamilton said he believes that the Prentice interviews and the sheriff's office report contradict Leto's statements.
County documents show that between Jan. 5, 2007, and Feb. 29, 2008, Leto had approved the payment of 365 hours of overtime for Anderson, according to Hamilton.
Excluding firefighters and paramedics, that represents the highest number of overtime hours ever approved for a county employee during that period of time.
Hamilton said the work duties Leto assigned Anderson could not justify that much overtime.
Leto required all other department staffers to take flex time in lieu of overtime, according to Hamilton.
And as for Leto's admission that his relationship with Anderson was platonic: "The documents provided by the Hernando County Sheriff's Office demonstrate that you had a much more intimate relationship ... than you claimed," Hamilton said.
The Sheriff's Office, after subpoenaing cell phone records, showed that Leto had participated in almost 1,000 conversations with Anderson — many of the calls made at night to her Citrus County home.
When sheriff's detectives tried to locate Anderson following a judge's order for her arrest, a detective spoke with her mother, who identified Leto as her daughter's boyfriend.
At county expense, Hamilton said Leto attended a hurricane conference with Anderson in New Orleans, even though her job duties did not justify her attendance. Leto denied other EOC employees permission to attend conferences that directly related to their duties.
After reviewing the sheriff's office documents, Hamilton said he determined that Leto deliberately misrepresented the nature of his relationship with his secretary and that he was romantically involved with her.
Reviewing documentation provided by Prentice, Hamilton said he concluded that Leto failed to verify Anderson's employee time sheets and overtime requests, a violation of county policy.
Taking all the evidence as a whole, Hamilton said Leto lied to him, also a violation of policy.
Rowden: 'It's A Shame'
The sheriff's office documents were forwarded to Assistant State Attorney Mark Simpson for review, who advised that no further charges would be filed on Leto at this time. The sheriff's office has marked the case closed.
Hamilton said he will meet with Emergency Management Department staffers next week to ascertain the current climate. He believes the department is faring well under the guidance of interim Director Mark Tobert.
"The Emergency Management Department has distinguished itself well under trying times," he said.
Leto was placed on paid administrative leave March 31, nearly six weeks, while the investigation was pending. He will not be required to pay any of that money back.
Hamilton said he knows the investigation seemed to drag on, but he didn't want to interfere with the process.
County Commissioner Diane Rowden said she feels bad for Leto's wife and newborn child in all of this.
"To me, it's a shame when someone throws away their entire career for obviously a good time," Rowden said, referring to Leto and Anderson. "They didn't put a lot of thought into whatever they were doing."
Rowden also praised Hamilton for his swift and decisive job in dealing with the situation. She said the administrator e-mailed all county employees after he fired him so they would hear the news before it was made public.
That shows respect for the whole organization and leads to improved morale as the county goes through a healing process, she said.
County Commissioner Jeff Stabins said he was surprised to hear Leto is appealing.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed," Stabins said. "I think it's time that we all moved on."
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( hemi_girl ) on May 9, 2008 at 6:34 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Mr Hamilton, you are doing a great job of cleaning house over here in Hernando County.....keep up the good job!!!
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Posted by ( RevThaddeusPaulk ) on May 9, 2008 at 6:40 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
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Posted by ( smmarkfan ) on May 9, 2008 at 7:05 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
A thousand kudos to Mr. Hamilton. It's about time a County Administrator put an end to some of this "good ol' boy network" nonsense and started administrating. I hope it spreads to other counties in the area very soon.
Mr. Hamilton, you are setting a fine example.
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Posted by ( ceibert ) on May 9, 2008 at 11:41 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I can't wait for Pasco county to get cleaned up. Somebody please help us here in Pasco. From the law enforcement to the Judges we need help.
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