The Port Richey City Council-approved resolution suspending City Manager Vince Lupo is deficient.
You read it here first. The resolution is weak. It's thin. Downright puny.
Failing to install "No Parking" signs?
Come on. That's small potatoes. But it is one of the dozen complaints lodged against the city manager by a 4-1 Council vote.
Conceivably, Lupo could argue his way back into his job after a public hearing. Of course, we haven't seen conceiving that far-fetched since Michael Jackson received a Father's Day card.
So, forgive Mayor Eloise Taylor and Council members Bill Bennett, Fred Miller and Greg Ross. They only had a couple of days to assemble their complaints against Lupo. The resolution, approved Wednesday, wasn't written until everyone learned Lupo hired an unlicensed building official despite his statement in an April 13 letter that he had carefully reviewed Bette Farmerie's credentials.
In his defense, Lupo put out a list of his achievements that included taking credit for everything from a Wal-Mart Supercenter, to playing host to the city's 75th anniversary party, to providing "a stable and secure working environment for city employees despite outside political interference."
I'm sure fired Police Chief Bill Downs and a couple of short-lived building officials can testify to the veracity of that last claim.
Frankly, we find both the resolution suspending Lupo and the city manager's own defense to be lacking. So, as a public service, here's a few other accomplishments/complaints each side can use.
Just six weeks after joining the city on a temporary basis in October 1996, Lupo and council members ignored a recent salary study and awarded more than $60,000 worth of unbudgeted raises to city employees. It allowed Lupo to buy immediate loyalty from city workers and begin building his fiefdom. A month after the raises, Lupo landed a permanent appointment to the manager's job.
Early in his tenure, Lupo stuck a tape recorder in front of gadfly John King during a conversation at city hall, then declined to provide him a copy of the tape. Lupo said the recorder and tape were his own, so the recording was not public. He also said he destroyed the tape. Later, he said the tape recorder malfunctioned and did not record the conversation.
Considering his past vacillating, we thought Lupo actually had a good idea last week when he said he would bring a court reporter to the council meeting to record a verbatim transcript. Unfortunately, the promised court reporter and attorney never materialized. You think Lupo was changing his story, yet again?
Lupo takes credit for construction of a new police station. He fails to mention it included insufficient security features and cannot be used to store evidence or house prisoners.
He fought environmental testing at a city's toddler playground built atop the former police firing range. He called the $40,000 worth of testing a waste of money and labeled the pair of former council members critical of how the city handled the controversy "Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber" and self-aggrandizing political losers.
One of the pair, Fred Miller, was elected to council last month.
Who's dumb now?
And since when is the well-being of children not worth a few environmental tests?
Lupo wanted to ban gadfly Delores Felske from City Hall and failed to stop the building department from prosecuting her a second time after the Code Enforcement Board ruled in her favor initially.
Lupo accepted an appointment to the board of Africare EnvironMed, a nonprofit operation headed by then Council member Dale Massad. Neither saw it as a conflict of interest, though Lupo left the board after bagging the big six safari animals in a 13-month period. So much for his humanitarian concern.
Our favorite quote: "That's not possible for someone to do that. It does not occur. It cannot occur."
That was Lupo in July 2000 talking to a Times staff writer about allegations then Acting Mayor Bob Leggiere had interfered with the day-to-day operations at the building department.
It was typical Lupo bunk. Investigative reports showed Lupo not only was cognizant of Leggiere's advocacy for cutting corners, he approved of it in at least one instance.
Lupo failed to tell the council an ordinance opening the city up to nearly round-the-clock, for-profit bingo came from a special interest, the owners of the Paradise of Port Richey off-shore casinos.
Ah, let's face it. This list could go on forever.
Just consider the meeting five days ago. Lupo asked to remain city manager through the upcoming budget cycle and dangled the possibility of a property tax cut in return.
Again he showed misplaced priorities. He should have promised a fair spending plan adequate for meeting the city's needs instead of making innocuous promises about the bottom line that haven't materialized in the past.
Why is it not surprising that even Lupo's swan song hit a sour note?
