Interim City Manager On Agenda

At a special meeting Monday, Port Richey City Council is scheduled to appoint an interim city manager and start hunting for a permanent replacement for Richard Reade, City Clerk Shirley Dresch said. The council did not renew Reade's contract during a special meeting Dec. 15. His one-year contract expires Friday.

The agenda already included red light-enforcement cameras and collective bargaining with unionized city employees.

Reade has been using vacation days or comp time since shortly after the council's decision Dec. 15, Dresch said. Reade already has turned in his keys to his city hall office.

Reade left instructions to consult Police Chief David Brown until the council meets next week, Dresch said.

Assistant City Manager Ellen Posivach might be a candidate for the interim post, Mayor Richard Rober said this week. Reade hired Posivach, who spent nine years as Tarpon Springs city manager, in October to supervise city redevelopment projects.

Following the naming of an interim Port Richey manager, the vacant 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.

In a Dec. 16 letter e-mailed to newspapers, City Councilman Perry Bean wrote that the city "basks in its dysfunction." He called Reade's ouster a "shameful lynching of the brightest hope this city has seen in years, maybe decades, for positive change."

Bean said he believes Reade had "given his heart and soul to the task of dragging this city out of the abyss."

Bean blamed criticism of Reade on "disgruntled employees and union types whose only concern was their own personal gain and bitter ex-officials." Reade will be let go at Christmas at a time his wife is expecting their second child, Bean noted.