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E-mails scold two Dade City administrators

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published April 26, 2006

DADE CITY - Two weeks before taking office, newly elected city Commissioner Camille Hernandez is questioning the skills of the city's top administrators.

"Where is the talent running the City?" Hernandez wrote to City Manager Harold Sample on Monday.

In the e-mail, Hernandez called Sample's management style "extremely concerning" and said City Attorney Karla Owens has failed to explain her reasoning behind a legal opinion.

The three have been engaged in a sometimes-tense e-mail exchange since last week, when Hernandez questioned whether Florida's Government-in-the-Sunshine (open meetings) Law applies to her before she is sworn in May 9. She won election earlier this month, unseating Commissioner Bill Dennis.

Hernandez initially asserted that she was free to communicate with other commissioners before taking office - a position Sample and Owens disagreed with. After reading two attorney general opinions on the topic, Hernandez came to agree that she was bound by the law, which prohibits elected officials from discussing public business outside public meetings.

The commissioner-elect's e-mail Monday chastised Sample for how he responded to her Sunshine Law question, in which he told her that compliance was her responsibility and not a city issue.

"Your words are exclusionary and from a cultural organizational perspective they are divisive. Recall that in my campaign, I said that this commission was exclusionary. If as our chief executive officer this is the esteem you afford a first term commissioner, I can only imagine how you must treat city employees," Hernandez wrote.

"Your management style is extremely concerning. The consequence of which reduces my orientation to city government to self discovery. Shame on you."

Hernandez could not be reached Tuesday and did not respond to written questions from the St. Petersburg Times. But her e-mail seems to indicate she has little faith in Sample's ability to lead the city.

She wrote: "Here is the fundamental question, Mr. Sample. If after almost a quarter century in management/executive positions in governmental service, you find no value in management style that is supportive and inclusionary, the real question is will you ever? This is extremely concerning."

Sample, city manager since mid 2003, refused to comment on the e-mail Tuesday.

Hernandez also wrote she was disappointed that Owens consulted the state Attorney General's Office for advice on the Sunshine Law question because Hernandez was interested in understanding how Owens herself interpreted the law.

"It was disappointing then, but it is concerning now," Hernandez wrote. "This places the Dade City Commission at a disadvantage in the conduct of the people's business."

She wrote 308 words of "imaginary counsel" on how she thought Owens should have handled her questions, including suggesting an orientation for Hernandez at City Hall.

Owens declined to comment on the e-mail.

Hernandez also questioned how quickly the news media obtained her e-mails to Sample and Owens. The Times requested copies of all correspondence between Sample, Owens and Hernandez, which are public records.

She urged Sample to post her e-mails on the city's Web site, "as I intend to conduct the people's business under the full spectrum of Sunshine," Hernandez wrote.

[Last modified April 26, 2006, 01:22:18]