Three longtime managers leave abruptly. Outside consultants will run the department and issue housing contracts.
By DAVID KARP
Published April 17, 2004
TAMPA - Mayor Pam Iorio turned the city's housing department upside down Friday, rearranging the chain of command, hiring an outside consultant to make changes and forcing out three managers.
The managers left work Friday morning without getting a chance to clean out their desks. Gone are:
- Vernell Savage, community redevelopment agency manager, who had worked at the city for 27 years;
- David Snyder, assistant redevelopment manager, a 16-year city veteran;
- Kim Norquist, who awarded housing contracts to a company that the mayor had prohibited from getting work with the city.
City housing chief Bob Harrell already had resigned from the department, saying he failed to improve its damaged image. His predecessor, Steve LaBrake, is facing federal prosecution for bribery.
Friday's reorganization marks a complete change for the office, which has suffered three years of scandal, audits and criminal indictments. For the first time, every manager in the office on Nebraska Avenue will be new.
Now two outside firms will be brought in to manage changes and award contracts to repair homes for the poor.
The contracts had been the source of accusations of favoritism and bribery. In a criminal indictment handed down in November, federal prosecutors charged that LaBrake helped contractor Dean Ryan get the work in return for bribes.
After Ryan's indictment, Iorio vowed the city would not do business with him again. But the company changed its name and made Ryan a consultant, and it soon was back to work with the city. Iorio learned of this from the St. Petersburg Times.
She will propose an ordinance to let the city cut ties to businesses or individuals whose integrity had been found lacking by a court, agency or administrative body.
"When we see problems, we are going to analyze, investigate, and we are going to act on those problems," Iorio said Friday. "We want this department to be better. We want affordable housing to be better."
The current managers "did not seem on track" to meet those goals, Iorio said.
Once a national model, the city's housing program has been a source of scandal during the last eight years.
To turn that around, Iorio, who took office last April, decided she needed wholesale changes, economic development administrator Mark Huey said.
"It will take some time," he said.
Friday morning, he spent an hour and a half explaining the changes to the staff. He said many were "shell shocked." Many had known the managers for years.
"There is going to be some mourning," Huey said.
Savage resigned from her post Friday morning. Snyder resigned after his position was eliminated to "streamline" the office. Norquist was laid off when his postion was cut. He had been transferred to the wastewater department after the Times reported on his work.
Norquist and Savage could not be reached for comment. Snyder said he was looking forward to new opportunities.
"I appreciate this administration's approach to customer service and ethical administration, which I am in full support of," Snyder said. "Things will work out."
In two weeks, City Attorney David Smith will take an ordinance to City Council to change the way the city handles bidding and contracts. It would affect all city bids and contracts, not just the housing department.
The immediate impact could be felt by CTB Home Builders, the company created after Ryan's indictment and headed by Chris Schnitzler, Ryan's grandson.
The city awarded the company about 12 contracts, although only three were finalized. Smith said the company can finish the three, but the others will be re-bid under the new procedures.
Schnitzler said he would sue next week if he's not allowed to do all the work. The city can't stop him from competing and winning contracts, he said.
"Legally, Dean Ryan could be running the (company)," said Schnitzler, who was vice president of Ryan Construction. "The mayor does not have the right to suspend him. The governor could not even suspend him."
Schnitzler said it's "extremely probable" his grandfather will be a witness against LaBrake or other figures in the case.
Schnitzler said his lawsuit would be "fun."
"I don't have anything to lose," Schnitzler said of his lawsuit. "She has already ruined my business."
Since the Times story, Schnitzler has laid off workers, lost most of his clients and been forced to fire his grandfather as a consultant, he said. Schnitzler said the city staff told two homeowners not to sign contracts awarded to his company, but one of those homeowners said Friday that wasn't the case. The other could not be reached.
"That is not what happened," said Dywain Blue, who said he decided on his own to pick a different contractor.
Blue said he read about Schnitzler's company last month. Two days later, he said, Schnitzler appeared at his door and asked to put a permit box in his yard.
"I told him, "Do not put a permit box in my yard because we may not do business with you," Blue said. But later that day, Blue said he found the permit box on a pole in his yard.
"I didn't appreciate that," Blue said. "I don't want to do business with people like that."
- Times Staff Writer David Karp can be reached at 813 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com
