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By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published June 16, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - The Department of Environmental Protection is investigating a common practice in the agency's Park Service to use state workers rather than commercial movers to help employees relocate when their jobs require them to change residences.
Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille confirmed on Thursday that employees of the Florida Park Service recently moved an employee who was promoted to Tallahassee.
"It's a practice that has been allowed in the park service for many years," Castille said. "We're looking to change that.''
She described it as an informal practice - nothing in writing - that reflected the close, familylike relationship among park employees, who often live in the parks they manage.
"The parks service people really see themselves as a family,'' Castille said.
The most recent move seems to involve an employee who rose through the ranks of the park service and is taking an administrative position in Tallahassee, not another park. The park service has about 1,000 employees and manages about 150 parks in the state.
State officials would not release the name of the employee who moved to Tallahassee.
It's not clear who ordered employees to move their colleague's household items while on department time. Department managers learned about the situation from an anonymous tip on May 27, according to a memo Castille sent to the internal inspector.
Department spokesman Anthony De Luise stressed that the case is still an "ongoing investigation."
"If there's any wrongdoing, the department will take quick and appropriate action," De Luise said.
Castille said using state workers as movers costs taxpayers less money than hiring a moving company. But, if workers are injured while moving furniture, it could expose the state to liability.
Currently, the agency's written policy on moving expenses does include the use of a "state-owned vehicle" that can be allowed in a move. There's no mention of using state workers.
--Staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.
[Last modified June 16, 2006, 04:21:49]
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