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Council moves to alter hiring, firing procedure
By ED QUIOCO, Times Staff Writer OLDSMAR -- If some City Council members have their way, the city's top three municipal officials will have less job security. That's because some on the council want to amend Oldsmar's city charter, the town's governmental blueprint, to make it easier for them to hire and fire the city's three so-called charter officials: the city manager, city attorney and city clerk. Currently, the charter requires that at least four of five council members approve removing someone from any of those three offices. The proposal before council members would amend the charter so that firing and hiring those officials can be done by approval of three of five council members. Some say that could lead to political instability. "The problem I have with a three-fifths vote is it can be very easy for an issue to come before us that has several members of the council a little upset with a charter official," City Council member David Tilki said. "On that particular night, three members of this council may vote to fire one of our charter officials in the heat of the battle." At a meeting Tuesday night, council members voted 3-2 to give preliminary approval to send the issue to voters, who would have the final say on whether the charter is changed. If the issue survives a second council vote, then residents would be asked during a referendum, possibly in November, whether they want to approve the change. Tilki and council member Brian Michaels voted against moving the effort forward, warning that doing so could make city government less stable. Michaels said that one of the reasons the charter currently requires at least a 4-1 vote to remove a charter officials is "to keep a political wind ... from changing the city government at a whim." Mayor Jerry Beverland disputed the likelihood of that happening. "That's showing disrespect to your council members to say that we would let somebody go on a whim," Beverland said. Council member Marcelo Caruso said he was not looking to fire any of the charter officials. Rather, he said, going to a 3-2 vote would give the council and residents "a little more say in the day-to-day operations." Caruso also expressed some dissatisfaction with charter officials and added that the current requirement of a 4-1 vote means "they could sit very comfortable and really don't do anything." "I feel that sometimes the voice of this council is not really heard by our charter officials," Caruso said. Council member Don Bohr pointed out that a committee of residents charged with reviewing the charter had recommended the change and said that council members needed to follow through by sending the issue to voters. "These people are doing a thankless job reviewing city code," Bohr said. "To have this City Council sit here and basically do nothing is ridiculous and an insult to the time they are putting in." Tilki said that not everything needed to go before voters. "I was elected to office not to sit here and take everything back to referendum," Tilki said. "I was elected to office by the people of this city to sit here and make educated decisions and hopefully make the right decisions." Tilki tried to change the proposal so that it would take two three-fifths votes at two separate meetings at least 10 days apart before the vote would be final. This would provide a cooling-off period, Tilki said. Tilki's amendment was voted down. After the meeting City Clerk Lisa Lene said she liked Tilki's suggestion of a cooling-off period. "I would have liked to see the amendment" approved, Lene said. City Manager Bruce Haddock pointed out that the issue of a simple majority vote has gone to voters twice in the past 16 years and was rejected both times. "I don't think this proposal promotes good government," Haddock said. The last time the council removed a charter official was in 1997 when the council voted 4-1 to oust Cheryl Mortenson, the city clerk. Michaels said that Mortenson's firing proved that the system worked. "I'd really like to find out a little bit more on why we are fixing something that isn't broke," Michaels said. -- Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or
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