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A $300,000 end to county battle

The agreement with ex-administrator Rick Dodge closes a long-running dispute over his firing.

By WILL VAN SANT
Published January 26, 2006

CLEARWATER - Pinellas County will pay former administrator Rick Dodge $300,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit, ending a venomous legal battle that dragged on for almost three years.

County Commissioner Calvin Harris revealed the amount Wednesday against the wishes of Pinellas' top attorney Susan Churuti, who refused to reveal settlement details.

Harris was the only elected official who would talk about the specifics, which the Commission approved Tuesday after a quick review and no discussion.

The settlement ends a memorable ride for Dodge, 61, a leader in St. Petersburg's successful effort to bring Major League Baseball to Tampa Bay.

As a city administrator for 20 years, Dodge helped revive St. Petersburg's drive for a team after a string of setbacks. He did so while sparring with Tampa, which was competing for a team.

In 1997, Dodge was still riding that success when he accepted a job with Pinellas as an assistant county administrator.

About five years later he was fired.

Dodge, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, contended he was dismissed for refusing to keep quiet about fraud in a welfare-to-work program.

County officials countered it was his go-it-alone style that led to his firing.

Dodge fought back with two lawsuits, one against Lockheed Martin IMS Corp., which the county hired to get residents with few job skills working, and another against Pinellas.

Dodge said tips prompted him to look into Lockheed Martin's performance and in court pleadings charged that the company double-billed the county and inflated the numbers of people in its programs.

In his whistleblower lawsuit, filed in 2003, Dodge alleged that Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt fired him because of his zeal to reveal the fraud and because he pushed for an audit of Lockheed Martin, which the county decided against.

Lockheed Martin settled its lawsuit with Dodge in 2004, but the terms of the agreement were not made public.

In July, the county asked for a fresh start on the case shortly after court-ordered arbitration, suggesting Pinellas attorneys were not satisfied with the results.

Before the commission voted to approve the settlement Tuesday, County Attorney Churuti told board members that its contents were exempt from Florida's public records law and should not be released.

The exemption Churuti cited allows government attorneys to keep private documents that reveal strategies, theories and impressions about a case that could give adversaries an edge.

Asked how the exemption could apply to a settlement already reviewed and approved by both sides, Churuti said: "If you could read it, you would know. But that's the part I can't talk about."

Alison Steele, an attorney for the St. Petersburg Times, said Churuti badly misread the law. Governments can't agree to settlements that demand public money be paid and not release the terms, she said.

[Last modified January 26, 2006, 01:01:17]