Hillsborough offers Kleman 4 more years

However, the contract offer slashes the amount the county administrator would be paid if he is ever fired.

By BILL VARIAN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 20, 2001

TAMPA -- Hillsborough County commissioners offered County Administrator Dan Kleman a four-year contract extension Wednesday, a day after Kleman became a finalist to fill the top administrator job in Pinellas County.

But Wednesday's offer was not without a catch. The Hillsborough commission slashed the terms of his current severance package.

Kleman said afterward that he would have to read the terms of the extension before making a decision.

"I would like the opportunity to review the language that is proposed," he said.

The 4-3 vote came after commissioners took comments from about two dozen people, all but one urging commissioners to extend the contract for four years. Kleman sat blinking as speaker after speaker praised him for bringing stability and professionalism to Hillsborough County's government.

They included business leaders, Hillsborough Sheriff Cal Henderson and residents who seldom appear before commissioners.

"He has been professional, fair and honest, which is all I can ask," Henderson said.

Wimauma Civic Association past president Anna Yuninger posed a question: Why would a farmer trade his reliable workhorse for a new one with no knowledge of the land or the farmer?

"Could it be bad judgment by the farmers or the farmerettes?" Yuninger asked.

From the start of their debate, all but two commissioners expressed support for extending the contract for four years, as proposed by Commissioner Tom Scott. But the debate shifted when Commissioner Stacey Easterling zeroed in on severance.

Kleman's current contract entitles him to full pay and benefits for the remainder of his contract term if he is fired. He is paid about $152,000 annually. His current contract also guarantees at least six months of full pay, as long as he is not released for committing a crime or other offense involving moral turpitude.

"Is this par for the course?" Easterling asked, before proposing cutting those terms to one year. That touched off a nearly hourlong debate, with Commissioner Chris Hart and Chairwoman Pat Frank arguing to reduce the terms.

Commissioner Jan Platt countered the severance is what gives a contract its heft. And Scott defended his proposal that Kleman's contract terms should remain the same.

"Anybody knows when you have a good leader, or a good quarterback or a good coach, you do everything you can to keep him," Scott said. "You do everything you can to keep a winning team together."

Commissioners at one point discussed tabling the discussion as their debate drew longer and a stacked agenda stared at them. But an obviously uncomfortable Kleman urged them to press on.

"This isn't much fun," he said. "I would encourage the board to wrestle this rascal to the ground, one way or the other."

Commissioners struck a middle ground. A majority voted to extend Kleman's contract four years, but agreed only to pay him half his pay and benefits for the remainder of his contract if he is fired. For instance, if he is fired after one year, he would get 18 months' pay, not three years'.

Commissioners Scott, Platt and Jim Norman, who supported a four-year term and full severance benefits, opposed the modified extension.

The approved motion didn't make it clear whether Kleman is guaranteed six months of severance should he be fired with less than six months remaining on the contract. Easterling, who floated the proposal, said the detail was overlooked and would be hashed out this morning.

Nor was Kleman given a deadline for accepting or denying the offer.

Kleman has been the Hillsborough administrator for seven years. With doubts about his contract swirling, he applied recently to fill the Pinellas administrator job left open when Fred Marquis retired after 22 years.

Kleman is one of five finalists for that job, the only candidate selected unanimously by the Pinellas commissioners to be a finalist.

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