The Political Whore

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

In a Hillsborough County Commission meeting last week, Commissioner Rose Ferlita brought up those clandestine raises issued by County Administrator Pat Bean. When Ferlita holds up a mountain of paperwork indicating that she has done her research that usually isn’t good news for whoever might be on the other side of that paperwork. Ferlita didn’t think that Bean had fully informed the Commission prior to giving those raises, and because proper procedure had not been followed, the board’s decision to approve those appointments back in November could be null and void. During the discussion, Ferlita cited agenda documents and ordinances (article 6 section 1) and she even brought up a similar situation from way back in 2005, before she was even on the board.

Other commissioners echoed similar complaints about not having the full information, and this is not the first time they have hammered Bean about this raises. Commissioner Kevin Beckner brought it up several weeks ago. But Bean held firm during Wednesday’s meeting stating she felt “we” had done everything “we” were supposed to (is there a Co-County Administrator that “we” don’t know about or does “we” just mean herself and Commissioner Jim Norman?)

Ferlita asked Bean to present her case the next day at the budget workshop. Commissioner Mark Sharpe went a step further and suggested a vote of no confidence (nobody bit) but he made it clear he felt Bean was not the one to lead them any longer. THANK YOU Commissioner Sharpe!

Bean stated in this article that she wouldn’t throw her employees under the bus. Um, Ms. Bean, there isn’t any more room under the bus for your employees considering you are proposing to fire hundreds of them. She was later quoted as saying she would not apologize to commissioners unless she was proven wrong (nice attitude) and don’t forget that mountain of paperwork.

Well, Ms. Bean was wrong and she admitted during Thursday’s workshop that indeed she failed to provide the board with the job descriptions and salaries of the individuals (details, details) and she apologized. This meant commissioners got to re-vote on those appointments. The majority of the board seemed to want the same thing, the reorganization without the double-digit raises. Turns out all the board can vote on is the appointments. This is where it gets muddy because evidently Bean doesn’t need the board’s consent to give raises……..now what?

You know things are bad when Commissioner Al “I Have The Floor” Higginbotham invites Ferlita to share the floor with him during the discussion. After much discussion on what they could actually do, Ferlita made the motion not to approve the appointments and Commissioner Mark Sharpe seconded. This didn’t take the raises away though (only Bean can do that) and she never offered to. Instead she explained somewhat defiantly that this would now create two vacancies that she would need to fill (costing you more money). Her HR person backed her up saying they couldn’t ask people to do more work for less money because of the rules (is there a union down there or what?) The board voted anyway not to approve the appointments 6-1 (only Norman protected Bean).

It didn’t end here, though, because Ferlita left the ball in Bean’s court saying we can’t make her do the right thing (referring to rescinding the raises). Maybe not but hammering her publicly, withdrawing support for the appointments, and outlining what she should do might help. Bean showed no willingness during Thursday’s meeting to work with the board on their wishes so that is why I was surprised to read that indeed Bean rescinded the raises last Friday. (Game, Set, Match-Ferlita)

Ferlita and Sharpe were impressive all week. In addition to researching and shining the light on Bean’s shadowy raises, Ferlita  put the Moral Courage award name change on the agenda and kept it on there despite what looked to some of us as an attempt to silence her (and made the motion to have the controversial Hughes name stripped from it). She also created a memorial award in honor of Phyllis Busansky. Sharpe is to be commended regarding his comments during the Moral Courage award discussion, his calling for Bean’s head and finally for his instruction to staff to find out about the lawsuit other municipalities have filed against the state’s approval of the anti-growth management bill SB360. Thank You Commissioners Ferlita and Sharpe! Not to leave out Commissioner Kevin Beckner, either, because his comments and votes were also impressive. A few more good commissioners and I will have more time to go biking at the Flatwoods. (You can help me reach that goal by doing your research before voting.)

So far it sounds it like several of the Commissioners are reluctant to axe Bean because of the huge severance package in her contract (wonder why they agreed to that in the first place?) Maybe commissioners can find a loophole in the contract or maybe “reorganize” her job description? Why not ask the 700 people showing up at the budget public hearing how they felt about Bean’s raises in spite of her proposed budget cuts?

Update: Since this post was submitted the County Commission had another discussion on Bean’s raises during Wednesday’s budget workshop. I read the captioning and it sounded like they broke out into a chorus of Kumbaya. Bean asked for the board to officially approve the appointments (with only a 2.5 percent and a 2.5 percent cost of living raise) from what I could gather and she apologized to the board, the citizens and the other county employees. Ferlita made the motion to approve and it passed 7-0.

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