Treasure Island looks ahead to life without the city manager, saying the public works director is needed to shepherd the bridge project.
By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published May 16, 2004
TREASURE ISLAND - With a change in command at City Hall, commissioners want to be sure they keep the employee most critical to the bridge project - their engineer. Commissioners on Tuesday plan to offer Public Works Director Don Hambidge a contract with severance pay and annual bonuses while the bridge project is under way.
The city is awaiting permits and grant money before construction begins next year on the main, bascule drawbridge. Hambidge is key to the project because the city needs a licensed engineer on board to accept the $50-million federal construction grant it received.
Personnel director Fred Turner, meanwhile, is preparing a job description so the city can begin advertising the manager position vacancy. Commissioners may hire an executive search firm to help recruit a replacement for Chuck Coward. A handful of firms submitted proposals with the city as of Friday's noon deadline.
"Let's hire a new manager and get this bridge built," Commissioner Ed Gayton said Thursday.
Led by Gayton, commissioners on Tuesday offered Coward an $8,000 bonus at the end of each calendar year to reconsider his April 27 resignation.
But Coward said he had asked during private meetings with the commissioners that the bonus be paid in June.
The commission's vote, he said, was a signal of a flawed working relationship between the commission and the manager.
Coward, 61, plans to leave June 2.
"We were not even in the same book, let alone on the same page," said Mayor Mary Maloof, Coward's biggest fan. "At every turn, I think he was over it."
Gayton said Coward didn't mention when he wanted the bonus during their private session.
"I'm very, very disappointed in his comments at that (evening) meeting," Gayton said. In their private conversation, he said, "He led me to believe that everything was fine."
Coward's supporters said they were furious that commissioners didn't do more to keep the manager, at least until the bridge opens in 2007. More than 50 residents rallied before Tuesday night's commission meeting, carrying "Keep Chuck" signs.
"He has just done wonders," said Audrey Wells, who organized the rally. "Chuck needs to know how many people care about him."
Barbara VanEycken of Paradise Boulevard said Coward's departure is "another gaping wound" in a city still healing from a two-year battle over tall buildings on the beach.
"As sad and angry as I am that he (Coward) is leaving, I would not want to work with these commissioners, either," she said. "I can tell you this, the commission has not heard the end of this."
Maloof thanked Coward on Tuesday night for his service to the city and his work on the massive bridge replacement project, including his decision to hire Hambidge in 2000.
Hambidge, 57, said he was pleased with the proposed contract, which offers three months pay if he leaves the city before the bridge is complete and a $5,000 bonus each October for the three-year duration of the contract.
