GAINESVILLE - Bob Hughes, commissioner of the Florida High School Athletic Association, says his contract is clear: The association was required to buy him a car that he can take with him when he leaves.
He used that reasoning in adding a $35,000 line item to the current budget, which he used to purchase a 2003 Ford F150 4x4 truck. But the contract wording, at least in the opinion of one board member and a University of Florida law professor, leaves some doubt.
The contract says the FHSAA "shall provide Employee with an Employer owned or leased four (4) door automobile appropriate for the Employee to fulfill his responsibilities and duties hereunder."
It goes on to state that "if Employee remains employed for the full term of this contract (Jan. 14, 2005), at the end of the employment term, Employer shall transfer to the Employee title to the Employer's vehicle the Employee is then driving, provided the vehicle has been owned by the Employer for at least (12) months."
Former board member Randy Merrill, an attorney from Naples, was vice chair of the finance committee when he publicly questioned FHSAA attorney Leonard Ireland about the item when the budget was introduced for initial approval. "I said, "What is this for?' " Merrill said. "(Hughes) said, "My contract requires you to buy me a car.' "
Hughes didn't have his contract with him, but Merrill read it later and said his opinion was that Hughes would not be entitled to have a car purchased for him if one was already being leased for his use, as was the case with a 2004 Dodge Intrepid.
"But by the time I dig up the contract and read it, I'm off the board," Merrill said. "So I start calling board members. I say, "He lied to us. You remember that?' Most of them said, "No, I don't.' This is terrible."
Ireland vehemently maintains the language of the contract entitles Hughes to have a car purchased for him and said any reading to the contrary is an ignorant one. "That's just dumber than damn dirt," Ireland said. "I don't think anybody with one iota of half-sense would misread that. ... There is no question in my mind that's what the contract says. Anybody who tells you otherwise has an agenda."
Asked to review the wording by the Times, Joseph W. Little, a University of Florida law professor who has taught courses in contract law, agreed with Merrill's reading, that the contract does not mandate the FHSAA buy a car for Hughes.
"The employer has the discretion as to whether to lease a car or buy one for him," Little said. "So if it has leased a vehicle for him, it would seem to owe him no obligation. It's plainly an imperfectly drafted provision."
Ireland, who handled the extension for the board, said the "intent and purpose" of the contract was to give Hughes a car upon his exit from office. "If (board members) didn't know it was in the contract and they approved it, then it's obvious they didn't do their homework," Ireland said.
