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St. Pete Beach discord deepens

Tension is high as city employees tiptoe around many issues. A hearing Monday focuses on one, the firing of one worker.

By JADE JACKSON LLOYD
Published February 13, 2005

ST. PETE BEACH - An investigation into why two departments can't get along, along with a probe into reasons a longtime City Hall employee was fired, has some city employees here shaken.

Peggy Saldana, permit technician, said morale around the office has been bad for a while. Lately, it has been unbearable.

She said relations between the building services department, where she works, and public works have deteriorated. She said the division of labor isn't equitable and certain workers take longer lunches than necessary and work fewer hours.

"If you have rules and regulations, you need to enforce them," she said. "Everybody's at each other's throat. It's awful. Nobody wants to come to work anymore."

"I'm having trouble sleeping," she added. "We have to worry about every little word we say."

A call to Scott Graubard, public works director and the subject of an internal investigation in mid 2004, was not returned Friday.

Bob Chambers, a consultant who has worked with City Manager Mike Bonfield previously, was hired to conduct the investigation, Bonfield said. Chambers started interviewing employees and department heads last Monday and should continue for about a month longer, Bonfield said.

He said the investigation stems from complaints by "just a number of employees" and the primary objective is "just to understand organizationally what has been going on."

"We've had issues with people in public works being concerned with people in building services and vice versa," he said Friday. Chambers will "talk to the individuals and get a handle on some of the issues and how we can resolve them."

Though the city employs Kara Schrader-Smith as a personnel officer, who generally handles the city's human resources work, Bonfield said an external person was needed to remedy this situation.

"We've had some discussion previously with the department directors," Bonfield said. "From my experience, sometimes you should just bring a third party in so people can feel more comfortable."

In June, Schrader-Smith led an investigation into whether Graubard made racist, sexist and religious statements in the workplace. At the time, Graubard professed his innocence and said the allegations stemmed from some unpopular changes he'd made since arriving in November 2002.

During the investigation, employees complained that it was not impartial because Schrader-Smith attends the Bible study Graubard leads, in the same suite of offices as that of the city manager.

In July, Graubard was cleared of the charges and the entire roster of city employees went through sensitivity training, as a result of the inquiry.

Steve Sarnoff, president of Communication Workers of America Local 3179, which represents city workers throughout Pinellas and Pasco counties, said the tension and morale problems present last year have worsened since that investigation.

"Since then, it's boiled and boiled and boiled," he said.

Sarnoff said he has heard "a lot of complaints about a lot of different things," including sexual harassment to "religious improprieties at work."

"There's a lot of improprieties going on at St. Pete Beach right now," he said. "I'm glad somebody's actually hearing things. We've been like a lone voice in the wilderness."

Saldana said the firing of a longtime worker exacerbated the morale problems. Saldana said she thinks Tabbron was fired because he made statements against Graubard last year.

A personnel review committee hearing is scheduled for Monday at 3:30 in City Hall, 155 Corey Ave., to explore why George "Jay" Tabbron, who worked as a municipal maintenance worker, was fired Jan. 21.

At 38, he had been with the city 18 years.

In a letter dated Jan. 21 from the city manager to Tabbron, Bonfield writes:

"You did not offer any valid excuse for not reporting your arrest as required and continued to work for approximately one month with the improper driver's license required for your job just as if the arrest had not occurred. We are all sorry for the difficulties you have encountered, but there is no excuse for this conduct."

Tabbron disagrees.

He says on Nov. 16, the day he was arrested for drunk driving, he'd just enrolled his father in hospice care in Kissimmee. Diagnosed with severe depression, he grew despondent over his father's failing health and drank too much. On the ride home, he was pulled over, arrested and jailed.

He lost his driver's license for 30 days, but the court allowed him to keep a restricted license for driving at work, he said during a Friday phone interview.

Tabbron was one of the city's employees required to maintain a commercial driver's license to do his job. He says he drove a pickup truck most days and rarely used the CDL vehicles.

"We only have three CDL vehicles that require CDL licenses and I don't hardly drive them," he said. "Very rare. I can do my job regardless of if I had a CDL or not."

Tabbron said while he takes responsibility for his actions, he feels the city's reaction was too harsh.

"No one was hurt," he said. "Didn't happen on the clock."

He said the city fired him for violating a newly instituted drug and alcohol policy he was not aware of.

Article 19, Section 13-B of the city's union agreement prohibits the illegal use of drugs and alcohol and states that if caught doing so, employees must notify their supervisors within 24 hours. The policy says failure to do so may result in termination.

"That's what they've got me on right now," Tabbron said. "The key word is "may.' "

Tabbron said he and other field employees were never told of the changes.

"Out in the field, we don't ride around with a book underneath our arm," he said. "After I was fired, the personnel director made a copy for everybody so they could have it."

After a predisciplinary hearing on Dec. 21, Tabbron was suspended without pay effective Dec. 22 pending completion of an investigation by Graubard, his boss. Tabbron was subsequently fired in January.

Tabbron said he's fighting the termination because he feels like other people, including the department director, have violated city policy as well. He said all will be revealed Monday.

"I'm kind of biting my tongue right now," Tabbron said. "Scott Graubard's violated the policy and I violated the policy. He knows it. He's got me backed into a corner and I have him backed into a corner. I can drop that bomb if I have to."

[Last modified February 13, 2005, 01:07:16]