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Agency defends hiring aide with blemished resume

The Management Services Department official left a Washington job after an underling took bribes.

By JONI JAMES
Published December 10, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - A Florida state agency that has spent the past year under legislative scrutiny has hired an executive forced out of his last government job because his deputy took bribes.

The Department of Management Services hired former District of Columbia property management director Tim Dimond this week as its director of facilities management. He will oversee 330 employees and the management and leasing of all state offices and buildings. His annual salary is $100,000.

Dimond resigned his Washington job in June 2003, a month after an auditor called for him to be fired, saying he failed to properly oversee a deputy director accused of taking bribes from developers.

Michael Lorusso pleaded guilty last year to taking bribes in exchange for awarding leasing contracts to a prominent local developer. Management Services Secretary Tom Lewis said he was fully aware of Dimond's background and discussed it with Gov. Jeb Bush's staff before he offered Dimond a job.

Dimond has spent the past two years working as a senior vice president for Coldwell Banker Commercial in Tysons Corner, Va., and has worked in the commercial property management industry for 18 years. He is a graduate of Barry University in Miami.

"It was discussed up front, from the very beginning," Lewis said. "We had very candid conversations with him where he said he believed he had hired someone who lied to him and misled him . . . and in the end he did the right thing, he took responsibility for the performance of his employees and resigned."

Dimond's hire came after an extensive national search over nine months, Lewis said. "I believe we have hired the best person for the job."

Dimond could not be reached for comment Friday.

The decision drew new ire from one of the department's sharpest critics, state Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon, who spent the last legislative session pushing for more supervision of state contracts.

"The secretary, as far as I'm concerned, has not shown very good decisionmaking," Argenziano said Friday. "At a time when DMS is being scrutinized by the legislative process is not the time to hire someone accused of misfeasance."

Argenziano, whose district includes Tallahassee and the many state employees there, led more than a half-dozen hearings this spring over bungled state contracts, including the problem-ridden launch of the state's privatized personnel services project, known as People First.

More recently, Argenziano, who heads the Senate Government Oversight and Productivity Committee, has taken aim at the agency's contract with Staubach Co.-North Florida, a division of the real estate company owned by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Bush family supporter Roger Staubach.

Legislative auditors charged last month that the department had overstated the $76-million it expected in savings from its contract with Staubach, which represents the state in all its lease agreements. The company is paid through a 4 percent commission on the leases, which so far, has totaled about $12-million.

Lewis, a former Walt Disney World vice president who took over the department in March, has stood by the savings estimate. He said legislative auditors were overestimating some future costs, including real estate taxes.

Information from the Washington Post was used in this report. Joni James can be reached at 850 224-7263 or jjames@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 10, 2005, 00:50:10]