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Fred, a City Hall resident and Seminole's top bureaucat, hasn't worn out his welcome after 11 years.
By MAUREEN BYRNE
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 8, 2001
SEMINOLE -- Fred could be considered one fat bureaucrat.
He doesn't do much around City Hall anymore. He wanders the building, meandering into employees' offices, taking frequent naps during work hours.
He's been at City Hall for more than a decade. And most of the staff think he's ready for retirement.
Fred would not grant an interview -- every reporter's worst nightmare.
So Fred's story must be told through others.
The orange ball of fur first showed up at City Hall about 11 years ago. Bob Kane, a building inspector for the city, found the year-old stray hanging out by a chicken coop behind City Hall.
"We kind of adopted the cat," said Mel Rackett, a superintendent in the Public Works Department.
The guys in the department started feeding and bathing Fred. The attention was enough to make the feline want to stay.
But as the story goes, Fred apparently thought he had to earn his keep. According to administrative assistant Barbara Nickse, he caught some mice (rumor has it that he bagged 20) and lined them up in the public works garage for everyone to see the following morning.
"He was a good mouser," Rackett said.
But those days are gone.
"He's gotten fat and lazy," Rackett said. "He used to be out carousing around, and I imagine he is a daddy. But he's probably in semiretirement now."
Call it full-fledged retirement. Just about all the 15-pound cat does now is eat and sleep. Occasionally, he'll swat a toy ball around.
"He is nowhere near the cat he was," Rackett said. "Now he's big, fat Fred."
Even Fred's veterinarian says he is overweight.
"To all the kind caregivers who look after Fred," wrote Dr. Dianne Steele in a letter dated Jan. 25. "As Fred gets to be an older cat, it becomes more critical that his weight be managed more closely. We have the age of Fred at about 12 years now, and his weight has always been somewhat on the heavy side."
Steele recommended Fred eat low-calorie food and be fed only a certain amount at scheduled times. Only one can of food divided into three daily meals. Absolutely no treats.
Other than his weight problem, Fred appears to be in good health and has a lot of people looking out for him. Certain employees pitch in for his food, litter and vet visits.
At night, Fred sleeps in the garage, where there is a litter box, some dry cat food and a bowl of water. Food is left out for him on Saturdays and Sundays, and a city employee stops by on three-day weekends to check on him.
"He's City Hall kitty," said Nickse. "We look for him Monday morning to make sure he survived the weekend."
Joan Angelopoulos, an account specialist in the Finance Department, is Fred's primary caretaker. Her fellow staff members call her Fred's adopted mother.
"When she was gone on vacation, I thought we'd go crazy," said Human Resources Director Pat Mickunas. "He was crying and carrying on."
Since Angelopoulos was hired in 1998, Fred began spending more and more days inside. Days of chasing mice were replaced by days of long naps.
"We just decided it was time for Fred to hang in here more," said Angelopoulos, who has opened her home to five stray cats. "You know, it's like retirement."
"The guys in the garage think we made him a wimp," Nickse said.
They may have a case.
"Where's Fred?" Angelopoulos quickly asked Nickse on Tuesday afternoon. "He hasn't eaten."
Angelopoulos had just returned to City Hall from a meeting at the recreation complex. And it was past Fred's dinner time.
Fred knew it, too. While waiting for Angelopoulos, he roamed the halls. He stared out a glass lobby door looking for her.
"He's pretty spoiled," Mickunas said. "He's been here a long time."
But his status may have declined somewhat. "He lost his office because it turned into a storage closet," Angelopoulos said.
But he has a soft blanket to sleep on in Angelopoulos' office. And he gets daily combings.
Not all city employees are Fred fans. Some, of course, are really dog people. And others are allergic to him.
Superintendent Kane, considered Fred's adoptive father, says Fred has lived a good life. No illnesses. And only a few scrapes here and there from a few scuffles.
"And he's the only cat I know who has a 10-acre park to run in," he said.
Since December, though, City Hall Park has been filled with construction workers, tractors and bulldozers. The park is undergoing a massive renovation and is scheduled to reopen in June.
"He's probably just as anxious for the new park as the citizens are," said City Clerk Lynne Keane.
But from the looks of it, Fred won't be a big park user.
"They pamper him," Kane said of the women who work in City Hall. "If I got treated like that inside, I wouldn't want to go outside either."
- Staff writer Maureen Byrne can be reached at 445-4163 or at byrne@sptimes.com.