While defending her performance, Sharon Dent says she will not extend her stay beyond September 2005.
By BILL VARIAN
Published May 1, 2004
TAMPA - With the county's transit agency fighting audits and investigations into allegations of budget irregularities, HARTline's executive director announced Friday she won't seek a renewal of her contract when it expires next year.
Sharon Dent said neither the investigations, nor a call for a no-confidence vote by one of her board members, had anything to do with the announcement. Rather, she said, it was mainly a time for a change after what will be 14 years at the helm when she leaves in September 2005.
"I've achieved the goals I set out for myself here," said Dent, citing improved bus ridership, construction of the first line of a streetcar and transit center downtown and planning for light rail. "We're at a junction point where it's a good transition point."
She said that four years ago she timed the date when her contract was last renegotiated to coincide with when her daughter finishes school.
The announcement came during her public evaluation before a committee of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit board of directors Friday. Dent received generally high marks in the review from all but two members of the committee.
She even earned a $17,500 one-time bonus that was tied to gains in bus ridership of 9 percent during the past year. But then board members declined to back giving Dent a merit pay raise to her current salary of $133,598.
Board member Steve Polzin, a public transportation professor at the University of South Florida, said that on Monday during the board's regular meeting he would move for the board to consider a no-confidence vote in Dent. Polzin said afterward that he may reconsider, given Dent's announcement.
Polzin, like some of the other board members, had given Dent low marks in the area of leadership and image. He was alone in also giving her low marks in budget management and efficiency.
He noted that a majority of Hillsborough commissioners recently gave the agency a no-confidence vote, and that HARTline has faced serious financial questions in recent months.
"There is a question about whether this board and this administration is in tune with the will of the community," Polzin said. "I think it would be appropriate for the board to be on record."
The agency has been under fire since a former employee raised allegations about what he contends are spending and bidding irregularities. The former planner, John Dausman, has sued the agency saying he was fired for raising the concerns, though Dent has said he was dismissed for improperly touching a co-worker.
His contentions include:
HARTline improperly awarded a contract for streetcar work, and after he pointed it out the job was properly awarded at substantial savings;
The agency sat on bills due to the city of Tampa;
Contracts were broken into pieces to avoid bidding requirements;
The agency used money meant for buses on the streetcar.
Commissioners deployed Internal Performance Auditor Kathleen Matthews to investigate and she found some of the allegations had merit. Now auditors with the county's Clerk of the Circuit Court are having a look.
Dent has pointed out that some of the problems were picked up by their own internal audits and corrected, and said no improper spending or bid irregularities took place.
Her tenure is long by industry standards, where she says, typically top administrators for transit agencies last about three years. Before coming to Tampa, Dent served as deputy director of the transit system in Phoenix for 12 years.
She said her long tenure at both places should tell people that she is not running from challenges.
"The hallmark of my career is that I do not jump around," Dent said.
Dent, 56, has weathered years of contentious battles with the county over the way the agency spends its money or plans bus routes. HARTline is also the focus of criticism for commissioners and community activists who oppose plans for rail.
Hillsborough Commissioner Jan Platt, as chairwoman of the evaluation committee gave Dent high marks, said those political concerns are at the heart of why she is criticized.
"Sharon has become a lightning rod for those who don't like rail and don't like a streetcar," Platt said. "That's unfortunate, because we would not have the bus system we have today, or the streetcar, or a federally approved plan for rail without her."
Dent asked board members to consider beginning a search for her replacement. She said she would also be seeking to renegotiate her a contract in a way that would give the board flexibility to have Dent leave before or after her contract ends, depending on when they find a replacement.
In return, she said she likely will seek some form of guaranteed severance. She said the amount will depend on what board members ask of her.
