Politics

Port Richey council treads in sticky area

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published August 27, 2007

Port Richey Mayor Richard Rober says he and the City Council have been working hard not to do goofy things.

Work harder.

After ordering a still-to-be-reconciled spending cut without advice from the city manager, the council now stands to compound a dubious personnel decision from a year ago.

Tuesday evening, the council is scheduled to consider naming an interim city manager after Jerry Calhoun departs for a new job in Iraq. The recommendation from Calhoun, with the stated blessing from the mayor, is to give the job to part-time city attorney James V. Mathieu.

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be problematic, but normal circumstances are rare in Port Richey government. Mathieu is the live-in boyfriend of council member Nancy Britton.

A council majority, with Britton abstaining, regrettably selected him as attorney two months after Britton's election last year. The council ignored the potential for conflicting interests while professing a renewed effort to restore public faith in the city government.

Nobody has questioned Mathieu's competency as attorney. Still, this arrangement raises concerns, and the council would be unwise to expand on it and consolidate authority in a person living with one of his bosses.

Mathieu will be both legal adviser and day-to-day manager at City Hall, responsible for overseeing all employees before heading home to his domestic arrangement with Britton. It's a relationship that is too close for comfort. It invites a potential repeat of past abuses by former council members who interjected themselves in the daily operations of the city government.

If Rober is sincere about avoiding the embarrassing episodes that have plagued this city in the not-so-distant past, he and the rest of the council can name City Clerk Shirley Dresch as interim manager while the council seeks a permanent replacement for Calhoun. Dresch has served that role in the past while Mathieu has not.

Picking the experienced hand never seems goofy to us, particularly if giving the cold shoulder to Calhoun's recommendation achieves the mayor's goal of avoiding hot water.

[Last modified August 27, 2007, 07:00:18]