Finalist rejects Dade City job

The city manager position doesn't pay enough, Jim Gleason tells a commissioner.

By HELEN ANNE TRAVIS, Times Staff Writer
Published August 25, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Jim Gleason was the sole finalist for the Dade City city manager opening. [Handout]

DADE CITY - Jim Gleason had been on the job as city manager less than a year. So when one of his bosses on the Ocoee City Commission, Danny Howell, asked him to cover $600 he owed primarily from unauthorized use of a city-issued credit card, Gleason said yes.

"To keep the peace," the manager told the local papers.

That peace was short-lived. Before long, Gleason would be accusing commissioners of violating the Sunshine Law by conspiring to fire him. Howell would find himself the subject of embarrassing newspaper stories, one that said Ocoee police found him asleep in his car at a park, his pants around his ankles. Howell said he had taken a tranquilizer and was the victim of a practical joke.

Another story described Howell's wife throwing leftovers at Gleason at a Perkins restaurant.

"It was a learning experience," Gleason said Thursday. As he recalled those woolly days, he was the lone finalist for the opening as Dade City manager. By Friday afternoon, that all changed.

Gleason, 49, withdrew. While he talked openly with the Times on Friday morning about his days in Ocoee and his present job in Woodstock, Ga., he was unavailable after sending an e-mail to Dade City officials about 2 p.m. Friday.

He cited money as his reason for not taking the position, said Dade City Commissioner Steve Van Gorden.

On Gleason's resume, he said he made $107,583 as Woodstock City Manager. In e-mail exchanges between Gleason and Dade City officials, he said he would not take the position "if offered less than $95,000," the highest City Commissioners had said they would pay.

Van Gorden said he was disappointed that Gleason withdrew his application.

"Maybe we really need to look at the salary range," Van Gorden said. "It might be something we need to readdress."

His time in Ocoee, near Orlando, may have been a sore spot, but Gleason didn't try to hide it from Dade City Commissioners. He was fired on a 3-2 vote.

"We knew he was basically ousted there," Van Gorden said.

The Perkins incident occurred after a snide exchange between Gleason and Howell, according to news reports in the Orlando Sentinel.

Howell was leaving the restaurant when Gleason walked in.

"Let's go, it stinks in here," Howell said after Gleason's entrance.

"At least I have my pants on," Gleason said, according to published reports.

Gleason told the Times on Friday that he was concerned the Perkins incident might take away from all the successes he's had in his three years as city manager in Woodstock.

Woodstock officials who spoke to the Times praised Gleason. They said he was smart, professional and hard-working.

Bud Leonard, a Woodstock council member since 2006, said he knew Gleason and his wife wanted to move back to Florida to be closer to their two sons and his parents in Orlando, Gleason's hometown.

"I have already told Jim he can't leave, he's got to stay here," Leonard said.

Dade City commissioners will discuss the next step in filling the position at Tuesday's meeting.

Helen Anne Travis can be reached at 352 521-6518 or htravis@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 24, 2007, 21:47:48]