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Letter to the editor

Tarpon eyes leader's time off

City commissioners say she needs to be more accountable for the days she takes off.

By ELENA LESLEY, Times Staff Writer
Published December 18, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS - City Manager Ellen Posivach's use of time off has sparked a lot of discussion around City Hall in recent months.

So much so that she recently offered commissioners the chance to voice any concerns about her performance to the city attorney and acting administrative services director.

"I wanted to make sure that any lingering misunderstandings about anything got out on the table," she said.

But the sessions didn't clear up everything. While some commissioners have insisted that Posivach tell them when she's going out of town, the city manager said Monday she isn't convinced such notification is necessary.

"I work for the whole board, not any individual," said Posivach, who makes $122,910 annually and has been the city manager for nearly nine years. "I need to figure out what the whole board wants."

Commissioner Peter Dalacos - who said he searched City Hall for Posivach in October, only to find that she had left for a conference in New Orleans - said he thinks the city manager doesn't fully understand her obligations.

"I feel sometimes like Ellen doesn't realize that we're her bosses," he said, "and she has to report to us."

Dalacos is currently reviewing records of Posivach's accrued and expended vacation time - an undertaking prompted by the city manager's statement at a September commission meeting that she had taken time off without notifying the board.

"The whole thing has gotten very, very confused," Posivach said.

It started simply enough. Posivach had requested that she be allowed to roll over 14 of her 23 vacation days before she lost them when the fiscal year ended on Sept. 30. Mayor Beverley Billiris gave her that approval in late July, but then rescinded it Sept. 13 pending "verification of the accrued vacation time," according to a memo.

Posivach raised the issue at the Sept. 18 commission meeting, asking commissioners to approve the rollover and retroactively approve a rollover from the previous year that had been authorized by acting administrative services director and police chief Mark LeCouris. The city manager said she had learned that going to LeCouris, who is actually her subordinate, was not proper procedure and thus wanted commissioners to validate last year's misstep.

At the same meeting, Posivach said it had also come to her attention that there was no official method by which she could authorize compensatory time, or comp time, for herself.

During the three months she was lobbying on behalf of cities in Tallahassee, Posivach said she clocked at least 100 hours in driving time alone. She said she then took off three days in June as comp time.

Posivach told commissioners that if they were uncomfortable with her having taken those days as comp time, she could convert them to vacation days. At the same time, she suggested that the city consider looking into an official comp time policy with its attorneys.

While Dalacos wanted Posivach to convert the three days in June, the commission eventually agreed to keep those as comp time.

"The board felt it wasn't an intentional misappropriation," Billiris said.

At the same meeting, commissioners authorized a vacation rollover for this year and retroactively approved last year's rollover. Some also asked Posivach to alert them when she was out of the office for several days.

In an e-mail sent Nov. 5, Commissioner Chris Alahouzos emphasized this sentiment.

"When the city manager has a day of absence, Posivach needs to notify the (City Commission) through e-mail of the absence," he wrote.

Alahouzos also said that comp time did not fit with the nature of the city manager job.

"The city employee positions are not 40-hour-per-week jobs," he wrote. "Salaried employees are expected to work as long as it takes."

Discussions among attorneys, staff and commissioners yielded a general consensus on this point.

Comp time policies "are intended for employees with established work hours," City Attorney Jim Yacavone said. Upper-level managers such as Posivach "have the discretion to adjust their schedules as long as they get the job done."

For example, if the city manager stays late for a meeting one night, she may come to work midmorning the next day, he said.

In Billiris' opinion, such schedule adjustments should be made immediately: Managers shouldn't stock up "comp" hours and then take off a string of days months after the fact.

After talking to the city attorneys, Posivach said she realized she "never did anything wrong" in taking days off in June since she has "no set hours or days."

The only reason she waited to take the days - and didn't adjust her schedule while lobbying in Tallahassee - was she simply didn't have time any earlier.

"I've been bogged down in work," she said.

While the comp time issue has been largely resolved, Dalacos said he still plans to scrutinize Posivach's vacation records from the last few years. He said the idea that she circumvented the board did not sit well with him.

And he, and other commissioners, are still pushing for Posivach to be more accountable to the board about her days off.

"She takes off and doesn't tell us she's going to be gone," he said. "She may be the city manager, but she's still our employee."

Elena Lesley can be reached at elesley@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4167.

[Last modified December 17, 2007, 21:12:26]