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Letter to the editor

Can manager handle it all?

Safety Harbor officials wonder whether their city manager, also a referee, is too busy.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published July 8, 2007

Billy Beckett, a college football official is up to be hired as Safety Harbor's new City Manager.
	[Handout Photo]

SAFETY HARBOR - Some argue that Billy Beckett has three part-time jobs:

He is a college football referee.

He is an Arena Football referee.

And he is city manager of Safety Harbor.

At least two city commissioners wonder if he is spreading himself too thin.

Since Beckett, 58, started work Oct. 23, he has missed about one out of three Fridays.

When he returns from a vacation to Japan on July 17, he will have missed nearly 30 days of work, including just under three sick days and all his vacation and personal leave, according to the city's personnel department.

College football season is right around the corner, and Beckett has no more annual leave.

"Do we have a full-time city manager? I don't know," said Mayor Andy Steingold, who is starting to notice Beckett's frequent absences. "No one has complained, but my suspicion is aroused."

Vice Mayor Kathleen Earle brought up the matter with Beckett privately Monday.

"He does not feel there is a problem," she said. "My position is this: If the commission is concerned, they should have an open and straightforward conversation with Mr. Beckett. ... I think it's a real concern."

Beckett said last week he doesn't "have clearly defined hours," and that he puts in more then 40 hours per week.

"If somebody wants to call me a part-time city manager, so be it," he said. "I know how many hours I put in. If the commission is really upset, we should sit down and talk."

During Beckett's hiring process last year, commissioners said they didn't mind that he worked as a college football referee, and they understood that he would be gone on many Fridays during the fall season.

But more recently Steingold and Earle were surprised when told that Beckett had been an Arena Football referee for seven years.

Beckett said he told commissioners then that he was also an Arena Football League referee. And the St. Petersburg Times reported the fact in September.

But none of the four commissioners contacted by the Times remembers his disclosing that fact during his interview process. They said they remember him telling them that a few months after he was hired. They thought it was a new job.

By officiating for both college and arena football games, Beckett is a nearly a year-round referee. The arena football season runs from late March to late July. College football season runs from late August to early January.

Beckett, who has spent most of his 30-year career in local Georgia government, replaced former city manager Wayne Logan, who made about $94,000 a year. Beckett makes $120,000 per year.

Beckett said he was up front about both his college and arena football refereeing jobs with commissioners before he was hired.

"I told them officiating was an outlet for me," Beckett said, adding that it is also his passion. "Andy (Steingold) assured me that it wasn't a problem."

He said that not all his time away from his desk is devoted to the sport, however. He visits his wife and sons, who are still living in Peachtree City, Ga., because she is having trouble finding a job in the Tampa Bay area.

City Commissioner James McCormick was one of Beckett's biggest supporters during the hiring phase, but even he is having second thoughts.

"My concern is, I have trouble getting in touch with him," he said. "Every time I call, he's not in the office. He could be out and about."

On the flip side, McCormick said he has noticed a great improvement in employee morale since Beckett came on board. He said Beckett has empowered the staff.

"Which is worse, that I can't get in touch with him or happier employees?" McCormick said.

And the commission's newest member, City Commissioner Joseph Ayoub, doesn't see a problem with Beckett's schedule.

"Any time I've called he's always been available to me," he said.

City Attorney Alan Zimmet said there is "nothing in his contract about his performing the duties and functions as city manager on Fridays, " and that Beckett's time away from the office is "not a breach of his agreement" with the city.

"His main duty is Section One," said Zimmet, referring to Beckett's contract.

That reads: City Hereby agrees to employ Billy P. Beckett as City Manager, to perform the functions and duties specified in the City Charter, and to perform such other legally permissible and proper duties and functions as the Commission shall from time to time assign.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at (727) 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 7, 2007, 20:28:01]