News

Vote is tricky one for partners

One is a council member; the other is up for interim Port Richey city manager.

By JODIE TILLMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published August 28, 2007

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PORT RICHEY - Should City Council member Dale Massad get to vote tonight on whether to appoint his real estate partner as the interim city manager?

That's an issue the city attorney could help clarify - if he weren't the real estate partner in question.

James Mathieu, the city's part-time attorney, and Massad jointly purchased the waterfront home in June. The two men borrowed $210,000, and both of their names appear on the mortgage, according to county records.

The plan, said Massad, is to renovate the home and resell it.

With City Manager Jerry Calhoun slated to leave next month for a new job advising local government officials in Iraq, Mathieu is in line to become the interim city manager. Mathieu has Calhoun's recommendation and Mayor Richard Rober's stated support.

But he also has entanglements with another council member. He is the live-in boyfriend of council member Nancy Britton, who declined to say Monday evening whether she would vote on appointing Mathieu as interim city manager.

"I'll figure it out when the time comes," said Britton, who recused herself from the June 2006 vote making Mathieu city attorney.

Massad said he may sit out tonight's vote for appearance's sake, even though he doesn't think the real estate venture has any bearing on either of their municipal duties.

After making telephone inquiries to the Florida Ethics Commission last week, Massad on Monday sent an e-mail to the commission, seeking a recommendation about the vote. If the commission attorneys say it's okay, he said, he'll vote. If not, he won't.

"I don't see any conflict, but everybody wants to make an issue of no issue," said Massad, who said he believes Mathieu is the best choice to temporarily replace Calhoun.

Dan Carlton, the ethics commission's staff attorney, said he wasn't sure he had enough time to research the issue and provide an answer before tonight's meeting. He declined to elaborate on his initial reaction to the arrangement, saying he didn't know enough of the facts.

The Massad/Mathieu house, which is nearly 50 years old, is at 8513 Damen Lane, which is off Bay Boulevard.

Massad has owned the property since April 2005, when he and Dan McMullen bought it for $250,000 as an investment. McMullen, the former state legislator and descendent of the McMullen pioneer family of Pinellas County, loaned Massad his half - $125,000 - which Massad agreed to repay with interest, according to county records.

After McMullen died last December, Massad said, McMullen's widow said she didn't want anything to do with the house. Massad said he couldn't financially handle the project alone, and he was talking about it with friends, including Mathieu, who expressed an interest. The two men got a $210,000 mortgage, which they used to pay off what Massad owed McMullen and to buy his half of the property, said Massad. Britton notarized a June 22 quit-claim deed used in the transaction.

Now Massad and Mathieu are doing most of the renovation work themselves, with an eye toward getting it sold. They are 50-50 partners, he said.

The mayor, Rober, said he knew nothing about Mathieu and Massad owning property together. "I was not aware of that," he said Monday. "It's giving me a little bit of pause."

He said the council could put off naming an interim city manager until it has a definitive answer from the ethics commission. But that's not something he especially wants to do. "All the department heads are carrying the load," he said.

Jodie Tillman can be reached at 727 869-6247 or jtillman@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 28, 2007, 07:50:56]

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