• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • About Us
  • Videos
  • Online E-Editions
  • Social Media
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
  • Advertising
  • Local Jobs
  • Puzzles & Games
  • Circulation Request

The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Lutz since 1964 and Pasco since 1981.
Proud to be independently owned.

  • Home
  • News
    • Land O’ Lakes
    • Lutz
    • Wesley Chapel/New Tampa
    • Zephyrhills/East Pasco
    • Business Digest
    • Senior Parks
    • Nature Notes
    • Featured Stories
    • Photos of the Week
  • Sports
    • Land O’ Lakes
    • Lutz
    • Wesley Chapel/New Tampa
    • Zephyrhills and East Pasco
    • Check This Out
  • Education
  • Pets/Wildlife
  • Health
    • Health Events
    • Health News
  • What’s Happening
  • Closer Look
  • Homes
  • Obits

Linda Boan

Zephyrhills council takes aim at fire chief

June 6, 2014 By Michael Hinman

Update: Published reports state that Verne Riggall resigned as the Zephyrhills fire chief on Friday, leaving the city council with the job of appointing an interim chief Monday night.

Zephyrhills Fire Chief Verne Riggall followed his former city manager, Jim Drumm, from High Springs. But he might soon be following him out as well.

Steve Spina, who replaced Drumm on an interim basis as Zephyrhills city manager, wants the city council to remove Riggall from his job as the city’s top firefighter. And that decision could come as early as the council’s meeting Monday night.

“There is a clear lack of coordination and communication in Zephyrhills Fire Rescue, and a lack of support and respect for the chief from the personnel I interviewed,” Spina said in a memo to the council. “This chief is not bringing people together in a way that is critical in ensuring the proper response of emergency personnel, and the provision of timely and adequately equipped rescue vehicles. There is a clear sense of dysfunction and morale issues that impacts the day-to-day operations, and I believe hampers the ability to provide top notch fire rescue services.”

Riggall was named the city’s fire chief in 2012, a year after resigning from a similar job in High Springs after finding his position was being eliminated from the city budget. Drumm had already left his job there as city manager, and moved to Zephyrhills. Riggall followed soon after, first stepping in as an interim, and six months later, offered the job permanently.

That vote in April 2013 had everyone patting each other on the back, according to published reports. A group of firefighters had even attended the council meeting, cheering Riggall on. Then council president Kent Compton said Riggall’s credentials were “decades in the making.”

But a lot has changed in a year. Drumm resigned this past April after learning he would not have enough votes on the council to renew his contract. And before he left, Drumm was starting an investigation of Riggall, who some said had lost the confidence of his firefighters.

Many of those issues were spelled out in Spina’s memo. One of the biggest concerns was how Riggall was staffing fire engines and emergency response vehicles. Some of the staffing records showed that there were not enough personnel on hand to safely respond to necessary calls, and even they didn’t have all the appropriate equipment they would need.

If a problem had arose, Riggall said a backup unit or one from Pasco County could help, but relying on such help was problematic, Spina said.

Another issue involved the hours Riggall worked. His shift would sometimes include late nights and weekends — something he reportedly said was to better accommodate his wife’s schedule.

“Department heads should be available during the day to respond to city council, the public, staff and the city manager and other department heads,” Spina wrote. “Most people will not try to contact the chief at 9 p.m., or on weekends.”

Spina said when he asked Riggall how he would correct these issues, he was told that Riggall would “try to improve communications.”

In a second memo to the council ahead of Monday’s meeting, Spina outlined his investigation, which also included interviews with fire union representative Michael Richards, Lt. Kerry Barnett and City Clerk Linda Boan, along with “several other” fire department employees.

Riggall was placed on paid leave June 2.

Spina is asking the city council to fire Riggall, which only requires three of the five council members to agree. If that does happen, Spina has also recommended an interim fire chief: Daniel Spillman.

Spillman, according to Spina, joined the city’s fire department last September after spending more than a year as fire chief with Escambia County. He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and a master’s degree from City University in Bellevue, Washington, according to his resume.

Monday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Filed Under: Updates Tagged With: Bellevue, City University, Daniel Spillman, Eighth Street, Escambia County, Florida International University, HIgh Springs, Jim Drumm, Kent Compton, Kerry Barnett, Linda Boan, Michael Richards, Pasco County, Steve Spina, Verne Riggall, Washington, Zephyrhills, Zephyrhills City Hall, Zephyrhills Fire Rescue

Zephyrhills cancels fire station meeting Tuesday

May 27, 2014 By Michael Hinman

A meeting set up to talk about potential cost overruns at Zephyrhills Fire Rescue Station No. 2 Tuesday night has been cancelled.

The city council will instead take up the nearly $250,000 in overruns in a massive renovation project at the fire station during its regular June 9 meeting, City Clerk Linda Boan said.

In a memo to the council, acting city manager Steve Spina said that he had hoped to have more information about those cost overruns at the May 27 meeting, but getting that information is taking a little longer than anticipated. Spina has proposed holding a workshop to go over some of the details of the changes ahead of that meeting, but it’s not clear when and if that would be scheduled.

Renovations for the 54-year-old building were expected to cost just over $1 million, but could now reach as high as $1.3 million. When workers there started demolishing parts of the original fire station, they found a structure much different than they had anticipated. Some of the building was not even constructed to existing code at the time, an architect involved with the project told the city council earlier this month, and his being help up mostly by weak walls.

Some of the issues being worked out include wall scans to find out what other problems might exist behind the drywall, Spina said, as well as some changes to how the electrical systems will be fixed.

The city council’s next meeting is slated for 6 p.m. on June 9 at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Filed Under: Updates Tagged With: Eighth Street, Linda Boan, Steve Spina, Zephyrhills City Hall, Zephyrhills Fire Rescue Station No. 2

Zephyrhills council, Drumm disagree on severance package

April 24, 2014 By Michael Hinman

They struggled over the difference between employees who are paid by the hour, and those who work on salary. They at times seemed confused about why they were negotiating a settlement in the first place. And they even started to replace someone before he even had a chance to offer his resignation.

But one thing that seemed quite clear from Wednesday night’s special meeting of the Zephyrhills City Council is that both elected officials and embattled city manager Jim Drumm are likely miles apart from negotiating a separation agreement.

Drumm, dressed in a shirt sporting the official Zephyrhills logo, took on what he later described as an emotionally difficult task of presenting his proposal to resign from the job he’s held for the last three years. He asked for 20 weeks of severance pay at a cost of $35,000, all wages earned through his last day on the job — including nearly 400 extra hours, or “comp time” he never redeemed — reimbursement of his accrued vacation days and 20 percent of his sick days, and for the city’s continued payment of its share of his family’s health insurance premium for the next five months.

Instead, the council offered 13 weeks of severance pay, all his wages through his last day on the job, just 40 hours of comp time, his accrued vacation and 20 percent of his sick days, and the city’s commitment to pay its share of Drumm’s health insurance for the next three months. In return, they wanted Drumm’s agreement to not take the city to court over what he has suggested could be a wrongful termination, based on interpretation of the state’s contract laws and the Zephyrhills city charter.

In all, the total package would cost the city a little more than $54,000 to part ways with Drumm, only a portion of that money as cash for Drumm, but possibly not enough to get the city manager to agree.

“I’m being asked to sign a release for $6,000,” Drumm told the council, citing the difference between what the city offered and what he says his existing contract would give him if he simply resigned and walked away, while still reserving the right to sue the city in the future.

Although Drumm said he would need time to review the city’s offer before he could resign, new council president Charlie Proctor jumped into a discussion about who would replace Drumm as an interim city manager. However, Proctor was stopped cold after City Clerk Linda Boan shouted out that Drumm hadn’t even resigned yet.

One of the major sticking points of Drumm’s proposal was his request to be paid for all his accrued comp time. Salaried employees are not paid by the hour, and thus do not accrue overtime. However, they are still compensated for their extra hours, typically with time off that wouldn’t cost them vacation or sick time.

Under the city’s policy, however, hourly employees can accrue comp time up to just 40 hours. After that, they have to be paid for extra hours worked, typically at a wage 50 percent higher than normal. That way, said city finance director Stacie Poppell, if the employee does leave his or her job, the city is not stuck with a large comp bill to reimburse all at one time.

Drumm should be held to the same standard, newly elected councilman Alan Knight said, despite the city manager’s protest he was not an hourly employee, and had not been compensated for any extra time.

“I know that we are all struggling with this, but my initial feelings are there should be no comp time,” Knight said, adding that if the city just allowed the contract to expire next month, there wouldn’t even be a severance package outside of unused vacation time.

Knight also questioned why Drumm chose 20 weeks of extra reimbursement instead of the 13 called for in his contract. The city manager cited his belief when he signed the contract in 2011 that while 20 weeks was the standard for people in his position, he agreed to the lower amount because he believed it would take four votes to remove him from his job.

Once it appeared only two votes could remove him, Drumm said he deserved the extra weeks when what he was led to believe was true was indeed not true.

Councilman Lance Smith suggested Drumm didn’t need the extra weeks of severance pay, especially since he was paid well.

“I understand that (city manager jobs) are hard jobs to find,” Smith said. “But last year, you made over $90,000. And that is a good wage.”

Drumm, however, said it takes municipalities months to go through the process of hiring a city manager, and even if he started that process immediately after leaving Zephyrhills with some other city, his severance would run out long before he could be hired.

“I don’t just go to another job,” Drumm said. “I have to pick up my entire household and move to another community.  I’m not in any position to change my whole career.”

Drumm could have the option of collecting unemployment, but even then, he would struggle to pay bills as his income would drop from a gross of $1,730 a week to about $270.

The council wants Drumm to resign by Friday, but that would depend on both sides agreeing to a severance package. Drumm was non-committal to what the city offered Wednesday night, but said he would have it reviewed by an attorney right away.

The final vote on the severance package was 4-1, with Councilman Kenneth Compton voting against.

Filed Under: Updates Tagged With: Alan Knight, Charlie Proctor, Jim Drumm, Kenneth Compton, Lance Smith, Linda Boan, Zephyrhills

Primary Sidebar

All the Way Health and Acupuncture

Twisted Sprocket Cafe

Foodie Friday Gallery

Search

Sponsored Content

A New Look For 2021 From Tampa Surgical Arts

January 12, 2021 By Kelli Carmack

Tampa Surgical Arts offers cosmetic treatments that give patients confidence and makes them look years younger. Two of … [Read More...] about A New Look For 2021 From Tampa Surgical Arts

More Posts from this Category

Archives

What’s Happening

01/25/2021 – Fizzy bath bomb

The Land O’ Lakes Library, 2818 Collier Parkway, will offer an adult fizzy bath bomb craft, through curbside pickup only. The kit will include lavender Epsom salt, citric acid, a reusable mold, instructions and more. Pickup is from Jan. 25 through Jan. 30. Registration is required through the calendar feature on the library’s website, or by calling 813-929-1214. … [Read More...] about 01/25/2021 – Fizzy bath bomb

01/25/2021 – Lego building

Mr. John from Bricks 4 Kidz will show participants how to become a Lego Master Builder with an online class that teaches various building methods and techniques. The program will be presented on Jan. 25 at 4:30 p.m., for ages 5 to 12. Registration is through the calendar feature at HCPLC.org. … [Read More...] about 01/25/2021 – Lego building

01/26/2021 – Crystal snowflakes

The Pasco County Library Cooperative will present Virtual STEM Studio: Crystal Snowflakes on Jan. 26 at 4:30 p.m., for grades four to seven. Learn how to create your own crystals with just saltwater. Follow along with the video on the Regency Park Library’s Facebook page. No library card is needed. … [Read More...] about 01/26/2021 – Crystal snowflakes

01/27/2021 – Into the Interstellar

The Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative will present “Into the Interstellar Unknown” on Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m. Natalia Guerreo will present the latest news from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Guerrero works at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research on the MIT-led NASA TESS Mission. The program is for teens and adults. Registration is through the calendar feature at HCPLC.org. … [Read More...] about 01/27/2021 – Into the Interstellar

01/27/2021 – Zentangles

The Pasco County Library Cooperative will host “Stroke of Genius” on Jan. 27. This virtual craft includes an instructional slide show on how to draw Zentangles. View the post, available all day, on the South Holiday Library’s Facebook page. … [Read More...] about 01/27/2021 – Zentangles

01/29/2021 – One Book, One Night

The Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative will host “One Book, One Night” on Jan. 29 at 6:30 p.m., for teens and adults. Participants can start online as the beginning excerpt of the book “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, is read in English, Spanish and French. For information and to register, visit the calendar feature at HCPLC.org. … [Read More...] about 01/29/2021 – One Book, One Night

More of What's Happening

Follow us on Twitter

The Laker/Lutz NewsFollow

The Laker/Lutz News
LakerLutzNewsThe Laker/Lutz News@LakerLutzNews·
10h

Pasco commissioners clash on apartment request. https://buff.ly/362w8fp

Reply on Twitter 1353749764500815872Retweet on Twitter 1353749764500815872Like on Twitter 1353749764500815872Twitter 1353749764500815872
LakerLutzNewsThe Laker/Lutz News@LakerLutzNews·
24 Jan

This week in SPORTS: All-Pasco County girls fall awards announced. https://buff.ly/3o8W8vR

Reply on Twitter 1353387133688401920Retweet on Twitter 1353387133688401920Like on Twitter 1353387133688401920Twitter 1353387133688401920
LakerLutzNewsThe Laker/Lutz News@LakerLutzNews·
23 Jan

NAMI/Pasco addresses growing need for its services. https://buff.ly/3o8TztJ

Reply on Twitter 1353024813019836416Retweet on Twitter 1353024813019836416Like on Twitter 1353024813019836416Twitter 1353024813019836416
Load More...

 

 

Where to pick up The Laker and Lutz News

Top Stories

NAMI/Pasco addresses growing need for its services

Pasco commissioners clash on apartment request

Burgess discusses pandemic response

Vaccine demand continues to outpace supply

Input from law enforcement welcome in planning efforts

Zephyrhills CRA has full plate to start new year

City of Zephyrhills gives employee service awards

Pasco allocates funds for new central office design

Don’t forget: This year’s Kumquat Festival is set for March 27

Hillsborough County’s Sunshine Line helps seniors get around

The Big Shred IV helps people dispose of documents

Pasco’s building boom creates a backlog in permits

Enjoying entertainment, and sampling syrup

Secondary Sidebar

More Stories

Check out our other stories for the week

NAMI/Pasco addresses growing need for its services

Pasco commissioners clash on apartment request

Burgess discusses pandemic response

Vaccine demand continues to outpace supply

Input from law enforcement welcome in planning efforts

Zephyrhills CRA has full plate to start new year

City of Zephyrhills gives employee service awards

Pasco allocates funds for new central office design

Don’t forget: This year’s Kumquat Festival is set for March 27

Hillsborough County’s Sunshine Line helps seniors get around

The Big Shred IV helps people dispose of documents

Pasco’s building boom creates a backlog in permits

Enjoying entertainment, and sampling syrup

Sports Stories

All-Pasco County girls fall awards announced

Banner soccer season

Local runner claims national title

Pasco County athletes compete in 2020 Florida Senior Games

South Pasco cheer program wins national titles

Copyright © 2021 Community News Publications Inc.

   