Bean faces fight for county's helm

With a fierce ambition and savvy political skills, Pat Bean survived the rise and fall of seven Hillsborough County administrators before she got the job in December 2003.

As the first woman to hold several county executive positions, Bean built an enviable record. She helped create the county's indigent health care system, and her financial stewardship was largely responsible for the county's AAA bond rating, supporters say.

"She's street smart," said former County Administrator Fred Karl, who was Bean's boss from 1990 to 1994. "She understands the human mind and how to get things done with people she works for. She understands how to fight when it's necessary to fight."

But the past year has been a rocky one for Bean, 64, who faces two state investigations over a 1 percent pay raise she and the county attorney approved for themselves. Bean did not inform county commissioners about that self-approved raise, or about hefty pay increases she gave her top aides late last year. The news broke while the county was facing a $140 million deficit.

On Wednesday, the county commission will conduct its annual evaluation of Bean's performance. It promises to be a bruising session, and Bean's job could be on the line.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe said he will make a motion Wednesday to replace Bean. Sharpe, who gave Bean excellent ratings in past evaluations, said she has been unwilling to look for imaginative solutions to deal with a sharply reduced tax base and gridlock in the county's transportation system.

"We've got to have someone in government who looks reality in the face and says, 'You know what? That's not good enough,'" Sharpe said. "We don't have that drive, and that's what's driving me nuts."

Budget makes job tougher

How did someone recognized locally and nationally for her work in public administration plummet so quickly in the esteem of her bosses?

Bean would not speak for this article, citing legal issues related to the 1 percent pay raise. People who know her, however, say a setback was inevitable, given the potential pitfalls that come with such a difficult job.

Bean manages 5,148 employees and is responsible for preparing a $3 billion budget. She answers to seven county commissioners who set policy with a wary eye toward their political fortunes.

"In government, compared to the rest of life, we expect our officials to come to the plate each time and hit a home run," said former Commissioner Chris Hart, a Republican. "If you look at how tough the job is, and what she's accomplished over the course of her years as county administrator, I'd still want to work with Pat."

Yet, great leaders are expected to shine brightest in crisis situations. In the eyes of her critics, Bean, also a Republican, failed miserably when faced with a $140 million budget deficit early this year.

She responded to the sharp decline in revenue with a proposed budget that would have whacked 560 jobs and slashed county services such as animal control, code enforcement, and parks and recreation. She recommended eliminating a number of programs, including child care licensing and an after-school recreation and education program.

The proposed cuts unleashed a torrent of public angst and anger. Commissioners responded by patching together solutions using increased fees, federal grants, and partnerships with private groups and agencies.

"You don't prepare a budget and say, 'Let's go straight across the board and knock off 20 percent of everything,'" Republican Commissioner Rose Ferlita said of Bean's budget. "That's not good administration, and that's not good business."

Bean compounded her problems with two disastrous decisions: the 1 percent pay raise she and County Attorney Renee Lee approved for themselves in 2007, which came to light in September, and pay increases of 5 percent to 15 percent Bean gave to six county executives late last year.

Commissioners were infuriated at the timing of the raises and the fact they had not been consulted. Bean's response to both matters made things worse.

At first, she refused to apologize for giving her aides raises, saying she had not broken any county rules. And she justified her 1 percent pay raise by saying it was given to employees who had found more efficient ways of doing things that saved the county $17 million.

"I led the charge to get those efficiencies and produced some of them myself," she said in September.

She and Lee later asked the commissioners to take the raises back.

Some commissioners also held Bean responsible when the county's Affordable Housing Office lost $2 million in federal funding in 2007. The commission wanted to fire Bean's handpicked director of the office, Howie Carroll, because of the mismanagement. She transferred him to another position to deflect some of the criticism.

Federal officials, who award grants to the Affordable Housing Office, say management there has improved.

Bean's rise as an innovator

Bean was born Aug. 18, 1945, in Columbia, S.C. She attended Winthrop College in Rock Hill, S.C., earning a bachelor's degree in sociology and psychology in 1966. Twenty years later, she earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of South Florida.

In the late 1960s, she married Harold A. Gray, and they had two sons. Pat Gray worked at government jobs in North Carolina and New York, according to her resume, before she and her family moved to Tampa in the early '70s.

In September 1972, Bean was hired as chief of recruiting and testing for the Tampa Civil Service Board. Four years later, at 31, she became Hillsborough's first female department head when County Administrator Rudy Spoto hired her to set up a personnel department. Her pay was $18,700.

Two years later, she was promoted to director of community services, a division with 10 service departments and a $20.3 million budget. Bean's pay rose to $29,110.

In the early 1980s, Bean oversaw a county social service network hit hard by Reagan administration cutbacks in aid to the states and a deep recession that depressed tax receipts. Bean advocated maintaining the safety net by using volunteers instead of county workers. It was the kind of innovative, money-saving solution county commissioners say was lacking in her budget this year.

As both department head and later as assistant county administrator, Bean was outspoken on the need for a county indigent health care program. At that time, most poor people went to Tampa General Hospital when they were sick, and the county paid for it.

Bean argued that providing poor people with primary health care in clinics would keep them out of expensive emergency rooms.

In the spring of 1990, she stood toe-to-toe with former Tampa state Rep. Elvin Martinez in a crowded room in the state Capitol. Bean pleaded with Martinez to support the county commission if it levied a one-third-cent sales tax for indigent health care. According to news reports, Bean went back to her room and cried when the Legislature failed to act.

But lobbying by Bean and many others bore fruit a year later when the commission passed a half-cent health care tax. Martinez supported the effort in the Legislature.

"What she did was articulate the need and the why," said Democrat Jan Platt, who was a commissioner at the time. "The public needed to understand why it would be a cost-saving measure in the long run."

Taking charge

In August 1981, Pat and Harold Gray divorced. In December of that year, she married Charles F. Bean III, a former county commissioner and the owner of a construction business.

Charlie Bean would later spend four months in federal prison for his part in a political corruption case that, in 1983, saw three sitting commissioners - Fred Anderson, Jerry Bowmer and Joe Kotvas - led out of the courthouse in handcuffs. Pat Bean stood by her husband through his legal problems, but the couple divorced in 1997.

With the retirement of Fred Karl in 1994, Bean, then deputy county administrator, applied for the top job. She had an impressive list of supporters, including then-Sheriff Cal Henderson, the county firefighters and paramedics union, Tampa convention and visitors bureau director Jim Clark, and former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People officer Al Davis.

The commission opted, however, for Tallahassee City Manager Dan Kleman. He went on to become Hillsborough's longest-serving administrator until the board fired him in 2003.

With his departure, a majority of the commission voted to hire Bean as the county's first female administrator. Since then, she has received glowing reviews by county commissioners, including Sharpe, a Republican. Her average evaluation scores are between "outstanding" and "excellent."

A strong work ethic

Bean has other interests besides work. She shares her South Tampa home with two cats, Miss Pretty and Jackson. Bean likes to read mystery novels, and gardens when it's not too hot. She collects artwork and attends exhibitions whenever she gets a chance.

But her days, even weekends, are mostly filled with county business. Reporters know that if they call her office after 6 p.m., Bean will often pick up. During the 2004 hurricanes, she practically lived at the county's emergency operations center. She told a Tribune reporter at the time that she couldn't go home while emergency workers stayed at their posts.

In past interviews, Bean said she wanted to complete her contract, which expires in December 2011.

Some commissioners would like her to go now, but firing her would cost taxpayers. Under her contract, Bean is entitled to one year's pay - $226,376 - if she is fired. She would also be paid accrued vacation time and 50 percent of accrued sick leave, bringing the severance total to $430,794.

The severance package would be nullified, according to her contract, if Bean commits a felony, crime of "moral turpitude" or an illegal act involving personal gain connected to her job. Commissioners may choose to wait for the outcome of an ongoing investigation of the 1 percent pay increase by the Florida Commission on Ethics, and a preliminary probe by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

"Nothing she has done, from what I see, has escalated to criminal where the citizens would not have to pay," Ferlita said. "Do we terminate without cause and cost the taxpayers some dollars? Or do we have a tough conversation?"

Ferlita said she won't have that answer until she hears what other commissioners have to say Wednesday.