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Worker files grievance over LaBrakeBy CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD and JEFF TESTERMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- A city worker claims he was forced from his job by Steve LaBrake after refusing to waive a $300 late fee for a non-profit group now linked to a criminal investigation of LaBrake. In a written complaint filed with the city two weeks ago, permit technician Dean F. Hartman said an agent of the non-profit Tampa Hillsborough Action Plan approached him June 27 to submit plans for a warehouse office on N 22nd Street. The plans had been submitted before and rejected, Hartman said, and the city's code required a $300 fine be imposed because THAP had not resubmitted them within 45 days. Hartman said he knew THAP had been late with the plans once before, and that LaBrake, the city's housing chief, had waived the fee. When THAP asked the fine be waived a second time, Hartman said, he didn't feel right about doing that without authorization from LaBrake. He refused to accept the plans. "Usually fees like this are never waived," Hartman, 39, said Thursday. Two days later, Hartman said, he was transferred from his job at the city's construction service center, where he had worked for seven years, to the neighborhood improvement office. Hartman said THAP director Chet Luney filed a complaint against him. "According to Mr. LaBrake, there were several other complaints made about me," Hartman wrote in his complaint. "I was also told that (department managers) tried to talk Mr. LaBrake out of transferring me and he told them, "No way, he's gone.' " Hartman's personnel file shows no complaints. "(The transfer) was just not justified," Hartman said in an interview Thursday. "I've never been told of any complaints." He didn't take a pay cut, but he wants his old job. "I want to go back where I belong," he said. Neither LaBrake or Luney could be reached Thursday for comment. Both men are key players in a controversy involving a luxury South Tampa house being built by LaBrake's fiance and top aide, Lynne McCarter. THAP, which receives millions of dollars to build and refurbish low-income housing through LaBrake's department, paid $24,700 to have a block house moved from the South Tampa lot, thereby saving McCarter the costs of clearing the space for her new house. In a private deal, THAP also contracted to pay McCarter $18,750 to supply "gift bags" to first-time home buyers. The FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Tampa City Attorney's Office are investigating whether LaBrake and McCarter used their influence to have the South Tampa home built at a substantially discounted rate. Ryan Construction, which has received more than a million dollars in contracts from LaBrake's office over the years, is charging $120,000 to build a home that real estate experts say could be valued at $500,000. - Christopher Goffard can be reached at 813-226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
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