Northpinellas: Woman ired by Oldsmar runs for office

OLDSMAR -- Deborah Chapman is running for a seat on the Oldsmar City Council, in part, she says, because she wants to improve the city's recreation programs for children.

If elected, Chapman, a 41-year-old homemaker, would help oversee a city administration that fired her about five years ago because officials said she had failed to do her job as Oldsmar's recreation leader and did not turn in money collected from children until after someone asked about it.

Chapman said last week that she expected questions about her dismissal in March 1996 to come up when she filed to run for Seat 2 on the council and had a ready answer. She said she was "set up" by city officials.

"I honestly really believe that I had very strong ideas about the direction of where the city needs to go and that didn't make me a team player and that probably had a lot to do with it," Chapman said.

Chapman's personnel file indicates she was fired from her 20-hour-a-week position as Oldsmar's recreation leader for "incompetency or inefficiency." City officials wrote in letters to her at that time that Chapman, who was paid $7.65 an hour, failed to turn in money she had collected at the door during a city-sponsored Valentine's Day event for teens.

According to city records, "monies were collected from the children" at an event on Saturday, Feb. 17, 1996, but no money was submitted to the city until after Chapman was questioned five days later. Chapman said last week that the amount of money in question was about $40.

At a pre-termination hearing on Feb. 26, 1996, "no evidence was presented . . . which would indicate that a valid reason existed for your lack of knowledge regarding the receipt of funds and the subsequent failure to submit them to the city," according to a letter signed by Craig Reed, who at the time was the city's Parks and Recreation director.

She was placed on administrative leave and fired a few days later for "incompetency or inefficiency in the performance of assigned duties in the position," according to her personnel file.

In a letter included in her personnel file, Chapman wrote to City Manager Bruce Haddock that although she may have violated city procedures, she did not steal the event's proceeds.

"It is fair to say I have not followed the chain of command," Chapman wrote in the letter dated Feb. 27, 1996. "It is fair to say that I haven't always been a team player. But it is most certainly cruel to say that I am a thief."

On Thursday, Chapman said it was common for her to collect fees from children attending the city functions she had organized. Some of those events, including the one in question, occurred on weekends, which meant she would not turn the money in until the following work week.

"(The money) didn't get turned in for a week and they had a cow over it," Chapman said. "It wasn't like I was trying to embezzle anything. It was just a matter of circumstance."

Haddock said Wednesday that he did not recall the specifics of Chapman's firing and said her personnel file contained an accurate account of what happened.

Marnie Burns, Oldsmar's director of administrative services and assistant city manager, spoke to Chapman before she was fired and recalled on Thursday that Chapman had "misunderstood city policy" regarding the collection of money.

"We just felt she wasn't performing her assigned duties, and we felt it was important to have a city employee behave responsibly," Burns said.

Chapman said at the Valentine's Day teen night, about 60 kids showed up and paid the $1 entrance fee. Since more kids showed up than expected, the soda ran out and Chapman sent a volunteer to purchase more drinks using the proceeds.

After the event, Chapman said about $40 was left from the proceeds. She packed the decorations, music and other items she had used for the event, along with the money, in her car, went home and didn't think twice about having the cash.

The next thing she knew, she said, city department heads were questioning her about the money and why she had not yet submitted it to the city.

"They said "You broke this rule, this rule and this rule and you are out of here,' " Chapman said. "I did nothing wrong."

When asked why she did not challenge her dismissal, Chapman said doing so would have just hurt Oldsmar.

"What would that do for the city of Oldsmar?" Chapman said. "That wouldn't benefit my community other than carry on a grudge that is going to do what? Destroy me. Destroy them. Who cares? I'm not that type of person."

Sharon Scerbo took her son, Chad, who was about 12 at the time, to the functions organized by Chapman and would occasionally help chaperone the events. She said she thinks the city is run by a clique that used a "technicality" to get rid of Chapman.

"I would give my right arm that she didn't take one cent from that," said Scerbo, who has lived in the city for more than 15 years. "The city of Oldsmar embellished on a fine line. I think it was falsely induced."

Chapman, who moved to the city in 1967, has volunteered for community events for as long as she can remember. She was a Girl Scout leader in the mid 1980s and was president of the PTA for the Oldsmar Elementary School in 1990.

"I've always been involved with community service," she said. "I was raised that way."

In March 1994, she entered into a contract where she was paid $7.50 an hour to be the city's spring camp director. In October 1995, she became a regular part-time employee working 20 hours a week as a recreation leader.

She said city officials gave her little support when it came to planning programs for the children and insisted that she charge for the events. Chapman said she disagreed with the practice of charging teens to attend events.

Haddock and Burns said they seemed to recall that the city did charge the teens a small fee for the events.

Chapman is running against Marcelo Caruso and Jean Jorgenson for the seat held by Ed Richards, who is leaving the council because of term limits. Chapman, Caruso and Jorgenson have already qualified to have their names appear on the ballot for the March 13 city election.

Chapman said she has not stopped volunteering for teen events held by the city and would like the city to sponsor more events for children. She said her firing has not dampened her desire to help the city.

"I have nothing to hide in that issue because in my opinion, I did nothing wrong," she said. "It was just one of those wonderful railroad jobs. But that's okay; I still love my city."

-- Staff writer Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or at comquioco@sptimes.com.

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