The Redington Shores Commission was set to vote until issues arose about the top pick's current job performance.
By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published December 7, 2003
REDINGTON SHORES - Last-minute information about the leading candidate for the town's first professional administrator put a sharp brake on the process Thursday night.
Instead of selecting one of three candidates as planned, the commission postponed any decision until they and their consultant could look into information obtained that day about their first-choice pick, Paul Sabiston.
Commissioners said the other two candidates were not right for Redington Shores. Reference checks on one revealed a problem with "profanity." The other's personality was described as "condescending."
If Sabiston is ultimately rejected, the commission may readvertise the position, seeking a new pool of candidates. The first effort yielded 25 to 30 qualified candidates out of some 70 applications. Six were selected as finalists, but three dropped out for varying reasons.
Sabiston, 40, is currently city administrator of Mexico Beach, a small town in the Panhandle. He had impressed the commission with his legal background (he is also an attorney) and his enthusiasm for his new profession. He appeared headed for a unanimous vote.
But when consultant Bob Chambers announced at Thursday night's meeting that a nearly inch-thick report listing numerous irregularities in Mexico Beach financial policies and practices had just been issued by the state auditor general - and that Sabiston may be the subject of an ethics investigation by the state Ethics Commission - it was too much for the Redington Shores Commission to swallow.
"Paul was my No. 1 pick," said Commissioner Marshall Reynolds, who questioned why Sabiston did not "answer differently" when he told the commission during Wednesday's public interview that there were no "skeletons in his closet" that could embarrass the town if they became public knowledge.
The commission and its consultant also were disturbed that Sabiston said he might need more money than the $40,000 to $60,000 salary that was advertised and wanted to "negotiate" a better contract.
"We've been running this town for 50 years. I'd prefer to wait another 30 or 60 days (to hire an administrator)," said Reynolds, adding that he has not totally rejected Sabiston.
Mayor J.J. Beyrouti said the commission needed "all the facts" about Sabiston before making a final decision.
Commissioner Lee Holmes, who first proposed hiring a professional administrator to run the town's day-to-day operations, was the only commissioner who knew about the audit and ethics investigation before Thursday's round of private interviews.
"I didn't get the feeling he was trying to hide anything," said Holmes. "The audit seems to involve problems that were there before Paul was hired (by Mexico Beach). He was reluctant to talk about the ethics investigation, but only because he wasn't sure he was allowed to (by the state)."
Holmes said Sabiston confirmed the ethics investigation and told him it involves circumstances surrounding his purchase of personal vehicles at an auction at a nearby Air Force base at the same time the town also purchased vehicles.
The Ethics Commission could not be reached for comment.
