A Times Editorial

Port Richey needs a quick answer to an old question

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 7, 2000

The ovation in Port Richey was short-lived.

Five weeks after council applause greeted three newly hired employees in the rejuvenated building department, the city has two vacancies to fill and a police inquiry into whether efforts to clean up Port Richey should extend beyond trash and illegal signs to include allegations of improper activity by its acting mayor.

Bob Leggiere, the city's acting mayor and an announced candidate for the permanent post to be filled in a September election, is accused of driving out Building Official Greg Schneider, who departed June 16 just two weeks into his new job. Schneider's resignation letter states Leggiere "interfered and undermined my authority and ability to perform the duties and functions as Building Official."

Leggiere says he did nothing wrong, and is confident an investigation by Police Chief William Downs will clear him. But, the initial spin from City Hall doesn't instill confidence other city officials want the matter aired publicly.

City Manager Vince Lupo said Schneider left for personal reasons, and council members bemoaned their inability to pay competitive salaries to city employees. Both are inaccurate. Schneider returned to his lower-paying job in Pinellas Park rather than work in the Port Richey environment and the reasons for his departure are clear in his resignation letter.

(Lupo and council members also should reread Schneider's resignation letter if they are truly committed to a professional building department aggressively enforcing city codes. Schneider's letter states there is inadequate staffing and support for the department.)

Schneider's accusations are reminiscent of the city's former method of operations when council members, serving as individual department commissioners, routinely butted heads with a professional staff that turned over frequently. Such nonsense was supposed to stop with the Charter revisions that created the city manager's post in the mid-1990s.

Lupo said it has. If so, why is he frequently interviewing candidates for city building official? Schneider is the second consecutive person to leave the job after a short period of time.

The investigation of whether Leggiere innocently filled in Schneider on the city's background, as the interim mayor maintains, or ran roughshod over the new building official, as the resignation letter states, should be expedited.

Leggiere shouldn't have to run for mayor with an ambiguous cloud of suspicion hanging over him. Likewise, other city residents should know if Leggiere is simply a poor communicator or, more seriously, a poor council member as they weigh whether to enter the mayoral race by the July 21 candidate filing deadline.

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