Brooksville extends city manager's contract

One council member objected to the contract extension that pays Richard Anderson more than $66,000 a year.

By WILL VAN SANT
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 24, 2002

BROOKSVILLE -- The City Council has voted to extend the contract of City Manager Richard Anderson, despite the objections of one member.

The two-year extension secures Anderson's employment through March 13, 2005. The city pays him $66,206.40 a year, plus deferred income and pension in the amount of $6,240.

Before Monday night's vote of the City Council, member Joe Bernardini questioned Anderson's oversight of audit and budgetary matters.

Completion of city audits has been months behind schedule and their findings poor, hampering budget preparation and exposing the city to revenue losses.

Bernardini was firm in his position that greater accountability for these failures was needed and that the time had come to devise a method to regularly assess Anderson's performance.

"I can't support the motion to extend the city manager's contract," Bernardini said. "I would respectfully request the city consider annual evaluations."

Vice Mayor Richard Lewis and other council members defended Anderson, saying the burden of past failures did not fall solely on the city manager.

Many of the blunders can be attributed to employees no longer with the city, Lewis said, and the role of the council cannot be ignored.

"I personally feel we have given Mr. Anderson responsibility to manage the city, but ultimately the responsibility falls on us," he said. "The buck stops here."

Lewis said he evaluates Anderson's performance informally on a weekly basis and is satisfied.

Anderson reacted philosophically to Bernardini's remarks, saying he would work harder.

"We all have areas where we could improve," Anderson said.

Also Monday night, the City Council voted to give R.A. Schweickert, an Inverness company hired to build racquetball courts at the Quarry Golf Course at Tom Varn Park, until Oct. 30 to make satisfactory progress on the job.

The company has been egregiously behind schedule, officials say, jeopardizing state funding of the project. That funding could be lost if the project is not completed by Nov. 30.

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