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Commission offers Cottrell city manager job
By HARLAN WEIKLE
Article published on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/081507_bee-02.jpg) |
| Photo by HARLAN WEIKLE |
| Interim city manager Steve Cottrell, left, listens as IRB Mayor Bill Ockunzzi details his concerns over the contract about to be awarded Cottrell as new city manager. |
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INDIAN ROCKS BEACH – The man who just three weeks ago questioned why anyone would put their career in the hands of five elected officials, appears to have done just that.
In a surprise move at Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting, four commissioners forced an end to the seemingly endless search for a new city manager by uniting in their support of the man who has been at the city’s helm as interim city manager since April.
Over the strenuous objections of Mayor Bill Ockunzzi, the commission voted 4-1 to accept with a few revisions the contract which has been the object of negotiations between City Attorney Andy Salzman and Cottrell.
After saying several weeks ago that he was no longer interested in accepting the job, Cottrell once again opened the door during the July 23 commission meeting when he answered a question from Commissioner Jose Coppen, who asked if Cottrell felt the details of the city’s contract negotiations were too constrictive.
Cottrell replied that the terms of the contract were a small part of his concern. He later added he would reconsider his decision if, following the budget process, he felt the commission was, “willing to listen to my professional advice; then I think we could sit down and talk.”
The terms referred to by Coppen at that meeting include several stipulations, including a severance pay package. The commission wanted six months severance reduced to three months, but agreed to six.
Cottrell said that he had recently learned his wife’s term contract with a local firm was not going to be renewed and because the couple have two children in college in Florida it seemed wiser to continue to pursue the IRB position rather than look to other options.
“Sometimes the grass is not always greener,” he said.
Ockunzzi said that earlier in the day Tuesday he had received a call from Cottrell informing him that the other four commissioners wanted to hire him.
“I don’t like the process,” Ockunzzi said, adding, “I object to getting a phone call and being told that four other commissioners want something.”
Ockunzzi went on to say that while he believed there were no “shade meetings” involved, he felt it was not a proper way to handle the public’s business.
The mayor also pointed out several concerns he had with the scope of the contract being offered to Cottrell saying, “There are lots of penalties if the city defaults on this contract, but very few if the city manager decides to leave.”
Ockunzzi called attention to the provision for a lump sum payment upon termination of all accrued sick leave, and the fact that unlike any other city employees, the contract with Cottrell made provision for 100 percent insurance coverage, not only for the city manager, but for his dependents as well.
Then there was the matter of a starting contribution to the city manager’s retirement account of 15 percent, the usual rate is 10 percent.
Commissioner Terry Wollin asked, “It’s not an illegal process if we decide to do this tonight?”
To which Salzman replied, “No, it is not.”
Commissioner Bert Valery told the commission, “We’ve been real fortunate that Steve stepped in when he did, I’d like to see Steve our full time man tomorrow.”
Cottrell will sign a two-year contract earning a salary of $95,500 a year. After the meeting he said that he had received a “very direct” phone call the previous week from a commissioner urging him to accept the job. He declined to say from which commissioner that call came but said, “Although it was a difficult decision, I’m now looking forward to the job.”
Overnight tent ban backfires
Other city business included revisiting last month’s decision to prohibit leaving tents and volleyball nets between the seawall and the dune area and overnight west of the dune area without a permit. The ordinance, which was designed to abate the growing practice of camping on the beach, had just the opposite effect.
City building official John Mortellite said that the day after the announcement of the new rule his office was swamped with folks seeking the free permit.
According to Mortellite, “People thought they had hit the lottery.”
Seems people thought the permit allowing tents overnight meant that they could also sleep in them, Mortellite explained. This was not the intention of the commission.
The ordinance will be back without the requirement for a permit allowing tents overnight and stipulating they are subject to removal if a complaint is filed.
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Article published on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007
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