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He'll finish his career with the city's blessing

By PAUL SWIDER
Published September 11, 2005

ST. PETE BEACH - After more than 20 years at the Parks Division, much of it spent doing physical labor outdoors, Brad Fauth was performing routine work when an accident nearly took away his livelihood. Fortunately for him, the city has been kind, and he will still get to enjoy his retirement dream.

"The city has gone above and beyond the call to take care of me," said Fauth, 48. His new work in the city's library will carry him the next year and a half until he can retire with full benefits after 25 years. He almost didn't make it.

One morning in June 2003, Fauth was changing a light bulb on a decorative fixture about 8 feet in the air at Vina del Mar Park. As he worked the industrial bulb into place, a surge of current shot through his body, knocking him off his ladder. He landed on his feet, he said, but flat and suddenly. At the time, he thought little of it. He looked at the light bulb in his hands, saw that it was half melted from the shock, and decided that the fixture could wait for an electrician. He finished his shift that Friday and went home.

On the following Monday, he had a stiff neck, but otherwise felt okay. By Wednesday, he had lost feeling in his left arm, so he saw a doctor, who told him to take the rest of the week off and see how he felt. That was only the beginning.

Feeling no better, Fauth had an MRI to determine the cause of his discomfort. The fall had damaged two discs in his neck, the test showed. The herniated discs were pinching nerves. Unable to work, Fauth underwent months of therapy and steroid injections before doctors concluded he would need surgery.

In January 2004, Fauth had the discs removed and a plate screwed into his spine to hold it in place. By July, those screws were coming loose, so Fauth had another surgery to remove the plate. By then, his vertebrae had bonded permanently, so he didn't need a new plate. Still, he had difficulty doing the kind of heavy work his job required, and he also had limited range of motion in his neck and arms. For a time last year, the city had him work in the library while he recuperated.

Fauth tried to go back to his parks job, but it didn't work: he couldn't perform the necessary tasks. He was facing the possibility of losing his job and not being able to afford the kind of retirement he'd planned for two decades.

He still had two daughters in college, and his wife, a special education teacher, wasn't able to retire. He had planned for his retirement funds to help them move to her family homestead in Mississippi, but all that was in doubt while his health was failing him. He also discovered that another disc had ruptured, and surgery to repair it would eliminate his ability to move his neck.

After spending nearly his entire life in St. Pete Beach, Fauth knew the city and its residents, one of whom was City Manager Mike Bonfield. Fauth asked Bonfield if there was any arrangement they could create to let him finish his career with the city. Bonfield asked around: Library director Roberta Whipple said she was about to lose two part-time employees and could take Fauth on to replace them. She had been pleased with his work when he had helped before while on light-duty recuperating.

"He's just wonderful," Whipple said. "He picked up our system right away and actually started helping others when we shifted to a new computer system."

Whipple, who also grew up on the beach before serving 11 years with the library, said Fauth has helped her prepare city history research as well, and has used his ample knowledge of baseball to aid a "Baseball on the Beaches" display she developed.

Bonfield described the arrangement to the City Commission at a recent workshop to explain some changes in the library's payroll. He said the gesture would cost the city about $18,000 extra because Fauth's salary and benefits are about $1,000 more per month than those of the part-time employees he'll replace. Letting a loyal employee go for health reasons might create other expenses related to workers' compensation, so there could be an offset, Bonfield said. He also stressed that he thought it was "the right thing to do." For Fauth, this was music to his ears.

"It was a wise decision for both me and the city," Fauth said. "I'd say there's some loyalty involved."

In his new digs at the library, Fauth gets to talk with all the people in the city he's known for the last 30-some years. He was used to a different schedule, working 6 a.m. until 2 p.m., but now has to work nights and weekends. Still, he said he doesn't mind if it means getting the chance to close a career.

"I'll do whatever it takes," he said, "to finish out these last 18 months."

Fauth plans to retire in 2007 and move to a 106-acre, 110-year-old former plantation near Hattiesburg, Miss., where his wife grew up. Now all he has to worry about is how to repair damage to that estate from Hurricane Katrina.

[Last modified September 11, 2005, 01:12:04]