Situation in Crystal River is ripe for a good rebellion

By JEFF WEBB

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 23, 2000

Founding father Thomas Jefferson once said, "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing."

That might be impractical, oversimplified advice in today's sprawling democracy, but the sentiment expressed by the principal author of the Declaration of Independence is timeless. People need to become intolerant with the established order of things from time to time, and take it upon themselves to bend government to their will.

If Jefferson was living in Crystal River now, I bet he'd be leading the charge for change, but all for the sake of stability.

Once again, the City Council appears poised to live down to its reputation as one of the most unfriendly places in Florida for a city manager to survive. Three of the council's five members recently decided not to extend City Manager David Sallee's contract, which will expire in June 2001. Sallee was hired in June 1999 and had wanted the council to give him a vote of confidence and a little extra job security by extending his contract an additional year to June 2002.

Council members Paula Wheeler and Alex Ilnyckyj moved to extend Sallee's contract, but Councilmen Ray Wallace, Mike Gudis and Joe Chrietzberg formed their usual alliance and blocked the effort. They said they thought it was premature to extend the contract until they evaluate Sallee's job performance later this year.

On the surface, that seems like a good reason. But chances are it wouldn't have mattered if Wheeler and Ilnyckyj had made a motion to fire Sallee on the spot; the like-minded trio of Chrietzberg, Wallace and Gudis probably would have opposed it. Like their disagreeable predecessors for most of the past decade, this group of council members has become a dysfunctional family of elected officials who base too many decisions on personalities, not performance or potential.

Sallee is the eighth city manager Crystal River has had in the past 11 years. Every time the council loses one, either by firing one or scaring one into resigning, it becomes more difficult to find a replacement. Because they are so specialized, good public administrators are limited in number. Word travels fast in small circles, and any applicant worth his or her salt will research the city's past hires to see how other city managers have fared. Your speculation is as good as mine as to what conclusions they reach when they learn of Crystal River's revolving door.

Sallee says the council has forced him into the unenviable position of looking for another job. He says it usually takes up to a year to find a new job, and because his contract here is good for only one more year, he'll have to test the market.

That's a shame, and not just because Sallee is a competent, professional city manager who has achieved some measure of success. (He recently secured $4.3-million in grant money to replace 515 failing septic tanks with central sewer service, and morale among city employees is better than it has been since Roger Baltz had the job.) The bigger concern should be that Sallee's departure would return the city to its perpetual state of uncertainty.

A few people around the city have recognized that need to stop the churn. I've received a handful of telephone calls from people over the past eight to 10 days who have expressed great concern that the council is not supporting Sallee. Most of these folks are apolitical, inasmuch they do not usually show up at council meetings or on campaign contribution lists. They're just ordinary folks who would like to see Sallee, and by extension, the city, protected from the agendas of some council members and other powers that be.

Unfortunately, most of the people who called me also expressed fear about publicly speaking out in favor of Sallee, or against those who are unhappy with Sallee's performance. Only a couple have been brave enough to go on the record.(See related letter to the editor on this page.)

That's the real shame: people afraid, literally, to say what's on their mind for fear of retribution. That's the kind of atmosphere in which tyrants thrive, to borrow a revolutionary term.

Until the people of Crystal River begin to care enough about their community -- their neighbors, families and livelihoods -- to take a greater interest in their government and stand up for what they believe is right, they are destined to be puppets of a few self-appointed string-pullers who believe they have an empirical right to impose their will on others.

What Jefferson said about the need for occasional revolution was in reference to Shays' Rebellion. A few years earlier he had written ". . . The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

I certainly am not advocating spilling blood in Crystal River. And you can make up your own wisecrack about the form and availability of manure there.

But where, oh where, are the rebels? The revolution can't start without them.

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