Northpinellas: Official quits over e-mail flap

CLEARWATER -- A top-ranking city administrator resigned under pressure and an assistant city manager was reprimanded the day after it was disclosed the two men swapped e-mails at work containing off-color jokes and conversations about their private storage business.

Interim City Manager Bill Horne gave Planning and Development Administrator John Asmar a written reprimand for sending inappropriate e-mails on the city computer system Tuesday afternoon. Then, he said, he asked Asmar to resign.

"In light of all the things that have happened, I felt it was important for him to consider seeking other professional opportunities," said Horne, who declined to elaborate.

Asmar's two-year tenure improved the planning department, Horne said. But there were controversies: an investigation of the department's morale, an audit of whether Asmar ran a personal business at work and a dispute over refunds of some building fees Asmar collected against the city's legal advice.

Asmar, who oversees a department with 72 employees and makes a base salary of $85,800 yearly, faxed a resignation letter to the St. Petersburg Times later Tuesday afternoon. The resignation is effective Friday. Asmar did not return a call for comment.

"While there have been accusations regarding my professional conduct . . . the city has publicly concluded that these allegations were unfounded," Asmar wrote. "Nevertheless, I believe that due to the political climate here in the city of Clearwater, it is best for me to resign my employment and actively seek my next professional challenge."

Horne also disciplined his top deputy, Assistant City Manager Garry Brumback. But he did not fire Brumback, who simply received the same written rebuke Horne gave to Asmar saying the e-mails were "a display of poor judgment."

Horne told Brumback no further misuse of city e-mail would be tolerated.

"It was Garry's first mistake, to my knowledge, as an employee of the city," Horne said. "And when you administer punishment, you have to look at the individual and look at all of the factors that are related to it."

This spring, Horne sent a staff e-mail warning employees not to send jokes by e-mail, particularly when the humor could offend classes of people like minorities or women.

But Brumback forwarded several off-color jokes to other city administrators via city e-mail as recently as July, a recent St. Petersburg Times review found.

One of the e-mails in question, sent from Asmar to Brumback late last year, and then to another employee, included a photo of two obese black women in thong bikinis with the caption, "Does this suit make my butt look BIG?"

"I received and read the letter of admonishment, and I'll comply," Brumback said. "I'm embarrassed that I put Bill in this position and I'll never do it again. I also sent an e-mail to staff saying that this is not the right example to set."

The Times requested a year of e-mails from the men after a recent city audit found that Asmar made personal calls about his private Orlando-area storage business from his city office and cellular telephones. Brumback was also an investor in the business.

City officials gave the men the chance to remove personal e-mail from the records, because City Attorney Pam Akin has deemed that such "personal" records aren't public records.

But Brumback's files contained seven messages related to the storage business and at least 10 jokes, some with sexual innuendo.

Brumback and Asmar spoke with the commissioners about the e-mails Monday and Tuesday.

Commissioner J.B. Johnson said Brumback apologized profusely. But in his conversation with Asmar, Johnson said, Asmar blamed the controversy on the Times being "out to get him."

"It's inexcusable, the way I see it," Johnson said. "You cannot have blemishes coming from one person or two people that could hurt the city."

Mayor Brian Aungst and Commissioner Bob Clark said they supported Horne's decisions about discipline for the two administrators.

"That's just totally inappropriate, and we're just not going to put up with that stuff," Aungst said.

Commissioner Ed Hooper said the city may need to again review its policy on computer use -- recently revised in September -- or make it more clear to employees.

Commissioner Ed Hart thinks the city should quickly change its policy and allow no personal use of city computers.

Current policy allows department directors -- the same ones who circulated some of the jokes found by the Times -- to use their discretion in allowing "incidental" personal use.

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