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County okays recall election

Redington Beach Commissioner Sam Maniotes will have five business days to quit or let the recall go on.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published July 16, 2006

REDINGTON BEACH - A special recall election will be allowed for Commissioner Sam Maniotes.

The county notified the town Thursday that enough valid voter signatures were collected to force the election.

State law requires the signatures of 15 percent of active voters to trigger a recall, which is 170 in Redington Beach, Acting Town Clerk Marie Hamilton said.

Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark verified 193 of the 205 signatures submitted to her Wednesday.

Among the complaints against Maniotes - which he has denied - the citizen recall petition charged him with neglect of duty, malfeasance and creating a hostile work environment for town employees.

The recall committee initially filed a similar petition against Commissioner Leslie Peck-Epstein but had to withdraw it because under state law, she cannot be recalled until this fall, when she will have completed one-fourth of her elected term.

The town now must formally notify Maniotes of the recall. He will then have five business days to decide whether to resign or to allow the recall election to go forward. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

The commission has a regular meeting scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Maniotes, as the town's finance commissioner, is expected to be at that meeting to recommend a proposed millage rate for the coming year.

Mayor Linda Wilson blasted Maniotes last week for not preparing a preliminary budget as a basis for next year's property tax rate. She tried to take over the town's budget committee but backed off when other commissioners said she was too critical of Maniotes, who earlier had called Wilson "hostile" and a "dictator."

Wilson said this kind of frequent diatribe at commission meetings, and voter anger with Maniotes in particular, are symptoms of a larger problem that could have serious future consequences for this small beach community.

"We are not getting anything done. It is just very frustrating," Wilson said. "This does not well serve the people of this town."

She said she is not getting the support of her fellow commissioners, who she said too often get bogged down in the minutia of decisionmaking and fail to see the "big picture."

One problem, Wilson said, is that commissioners too often "micromanage" the town's four employees, behavior that drove away a succession of town clerks and assistant clerks.

A serious consequence of not having a clerk, she said, is that it puts the town in danger of missing important deadlines.

Recently, the town missed a state-mandated deadline and was late applying for state revenue sharing funds.

This could have led to a serious budget shortfall for next year, Wilson said.

"This has got to stop," she said. "This is a small town. Its elected commissioners come and go. Our stability, our institutional memory has always been our employees."

Wilson said the town is "stigmatized" for not keeping its town clerks. Beverly Brown's resignation was only the latest in a long series during the past decade.

Of the more than 40 resumes received to replace Brown, only two from the Northeast have any kind of municipal experience.

Hamilton, who is a certified town clerk, also has applied for the permanent position.

Wilson listed important decisions that still need to be made regarding the town's stormwater drainage system, traffic and pedestrian safety, and other issues affecting residents' health, safety and living conditions.

"We have to stop going around in circles. We need to get to the point, make good decisions and get on to the next course of business," she said.

Meanwhile, she is thinking of getting a T-shirt made that reads "hostile dictator."

[Last modified July 15, 2006, 23:40:10]