The City Commission is scheduled to vote on the new contract for recently appointed City Manager Rick Fernandez at their next meeting on December 9th, 2015.  The recommended salary is $228,000.

At the November 10th Commission meeting, the City Commission unanimously voted to appoint Mr. Ricardo Fernandez as the City Manager. Mr. Fernandez had most recently served as the Assistant City Manager over the Service area of City Utility Services. The City Commission further directed Human Resources and the City Attorney’s Office to negotiate a compensation package for City Commission for approval.

View Rick Fernandez full bio here.

Mr. Fernandez’s current salary is $177, 798.92. He has served the City of Tallahassee for 27 years, including ten years as City Auditor and seventeen years as Assistant City Manager. The City Attorney’s Office negotiated a contract for employment with Mr. Fernandez which can be viewed here.

The proposed contract provides for an annual salary of $228,000, severance pay of 20 weeks, use of a City automobile during the term of the contract and a City contribution to the Mr. Fernandez’s IRS 457 retirement account in the maximum amount permitted annually for deferral.

City Attorney Lew Shelley is responsible for the agenda item and recommends that the City vote for ratification of the employment contract. The agenda states; “In light of the substantial experience which Mr. Fernandez brings to this position, the compensation package as reflected in the proposed agreement is recommended.”

Tallahassee Reports research shows that the current City Manager in Gainesville makes $174,956.

In Fort Lauderdale, the current City Manager Lee Feldman, makes $226,280.

However, Feldman replaced a City Manager in 2011 that was making $230,000. His starting salary in 2011 was approximately $199,000.

After the vibrant discussion, which referenced the input from a number of citizens interested in addressing the proposed 23%  property tax, Mayor Gillum summed up the comments and gave specific directions to the city manager and the city staff. See the video below.

Mayor Gillum specifically asked for a budget option with no tax increase along with other options for the City Commissioners to consider.

On Friday, the city released the agenda for the first public hearing on the budget, which will be held on Wednesday September 16th, and City Manager Anita Favors-Thompson has ignored the Mayor’s request.

The agenda for Wednesday’s meeting did not include an option for no tax increase.

Mayor Gillum said in the August 19th meeting, “If we wait until September to get to it we are really going to be within a rock and a hard place.”

Well it is September and sources tell TR there is no budget option with no tax increase. TR, and others, have emailed Heath Beach of the City’s budget office and asked about the omission. So far there has been no explanation forwarded.

Questions remain.

Is this part of a budget strategy on behalf of the City Manager Favors-Thompson, to put the Commission “within a rock and had place” as Mayor Gillum stated?

Has Mayor Gillum or any other Commissioners sought clarification from City Manager Anita Favors-Thompson?

TR will continue to investigate.

On all applications, including Jaber’s, which can be viewed here, is a box with the following request: “Identify any potential conflicts of interest that might occur were you to be appointed:”

Ms. Jaber provided no information in response to the request.

In addition to our previous report, which documented a contractual relationship between Jaber’s law firm and the City of Tallahassee, TR has learned of more conflicts with the City of Tallahassee and the Gunster law firm.

First, a review of the current members of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Utilities finds that a Gunster lawyer from the Tallahassee office, Beth Keating, is a current member. Members can be viewed here.

Members of this committee are appointed by the City Manager, Anita Favors-Thompson, the highest ranking non-elected official in city government.

In this situation, potential conflicts with Ms. Jaber and her Ethics Board responsibilities could arise in a number of situations.

Second, Adam Corey, an employee of the Gunster law firm, is a member of two City boards, the Tallahassee Housing Authority and the Downtown Improvement Authority. Membership rosters can be viewed here.

Both appointments require approval of the full City Commission. Again, potential conflicts with Ms. Jaber could arise in a number of situations, including any complaint filed against an elected official.

In addition, Mr. Corey has a contractual relationship with the City of Tallahassee as the developer of the Edison restaurant.

The Edison restaurant is a public-private partnership which has required City Commission approval on a number of occasions.

TR tried to contact the corporate offices of the Gunster law firm without success.

A number of questions remain.

First, given these relationships and the potential for conflicts, why did Ms. Jaber not include any of this information on her application?

And second, given the facts as they are now, can Ms. Jaber continue as a member of the independent Ethics Board?

TR will continue to investigate.