The Laker/Lutz News

Jim Drumm

Zephyrhills passes budget, water rate hikes

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The budget for the city of Zephyrhills is now set.

On Sept. 25, the Zephyrhills City Council unanimously approved a $63.3 million for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, for Oct. 1.

A second reading of the millage and budget ordinances drew no public comment, during the regular meeting.

Budget by department:

The city of Zephyrhills budget for fiscal 2018 is $63.3 million. (File)

City Council: $3.53 million

Administration: $9.62 million

Utility Billing: $871,045

Finance: $378,000

Human Resources: $1.32 million

Planning: $421,084

Information Technology: $1.11 million

Equipment Maintenance: $257, 526

Police: $4.19 million

Dispatch: $589, 504

Fire: $2.91 million

Stormwater: $45,000

Building Services: $507, 446

Streets: $996, 097

Economic Development: $77,000

Library: $371, 701

Parks & Facilities: $850,506

The remaining monies necessary for the 2017-2018 budget comes from other funding sources, including state revenues, franchise fees, utility fees and grants.

That includes a loan of more than $7 million for the construction of the new City Hall, which has been carried over from last year. The loan amount will be paid on an annual basis from Penny for Pasco revenues.

The budget did not include capital funding for the anticipated Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Center. However, the architect fee of $50,000 is included in the 2018 budget, paid from park impact fees. The city staff has been working on the tennis center’s design, as well as building construction costs.

An early estimate of the building cost is $2.25 million, while court construction costs are anticipated to be $950,000, to be paid out of park impact fees by District of Abbot Station developer David Waronker. The city still needs to enter into a contract to take ownership of the site and payment of the park impact fees for court construction.

Some other highlights:

  • A 3 percent increase in salaries and benefits for all employees, at an additional cost of about $300,000
  • $245,000, up from $211,000, for worker’s compensation from the previous year
  • $275,000, up from $248,000, for retiree health
  • $770,000, up from $669,000, for casualty and property insurance
  • Police overtime is $95,000, up from $75,000, for shift overtime and training programs.
  • $115,000 is budgeted for animal control, up from $80,000, due to the increase in population
  • Fire overtime is $110,000, up from $100,000 last year
  • $880,000 is budgeted for the airport, which also will receive $2.3 million in grant funding for Taxiway B improvements.
  • $100,000 budgeted to the Utility budget for the engineering and design of a new water and sewer operations building
  • $43,000 budgeted for a stormwater assessment fee study

Elsewhere, the city council unanimously approved a second reading of an ordinance that raises water and sewer rates for Zephyrhills residents.

That means a 4 percent increase in water rates and an 8 percent increase in sewer rates for all customers each year, for a five-year period, beginning Jan. 1 and running through fiscal 2022.

Plans call for the added revenue to go toward utility operating expenses and $27 million in capital projects planned through fiscal 2022.

As an example, a customer in Zephyrhills using 3,000 gallons of water per month currently sees a bill of $40.03. With the January rate hike, the bill would rise to $43.14, an increase of $3.12. Users of 5,000 gallons per month would see their bills increase from $53.29 to 57.52, an increase of $4.23; while users of 7,500 gallons of water a month would see their bills increase from $73.12 to $78.75, an increase of $5.63.

A recent study conducted by Raftelis Finance Consultants, found that 79 percent of residential customers use 5,000 gallons or less a month.

The city’s last five-year rate hike, approved in 2012, called for a 10 percent hike for the first three years and 5 percent the final two years.

City manager Steve Spina received positive reviews on his annual performance evaluation from the city’s five council members, scoring a 4.62 (out of 5) on the evaluation. (File)

In other action, city manager Steve Spina received overwhelmingly positive reviews on his annual performance evaluation from the city’s five council members.

Spina was scored a 4.62 (out of 5) on the evaluation, which is used to measure the manager’s ability to respond to the needs of individual city council members, and compliance of financial and management duties required by the charter.

The form used for the evaluation is comprehensive and covers many aspects of the city manager’s duties and responsibilities.

Spina essentially was evaluated on personnel skills, relationship with elected officials, personal skills and status, policy execution, reporting, citizen relations, staffing, supervision and community visibility, and so on.

Councilman Ken Compton complimented Spina for serving the city for nearly three decades, for keeping millage rates low, and for leadership in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

Council vice president Lance Smith praised Spina for fostering a constructive work environment citywide.

“People aren’t afraid to come up to you even if they don’t agree with what you do, and I think that’s commendable,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, and after it’s all fleshed out, everybody still works together. That’s not easy to do, and I commend you for it.”

Council president Alan Knight, meanwhile, thanked Spina for navigating the city as it continues to grow.

“I can’t tell you how well you’ve gotten us during this ‘explosion.’ You’ve made everything absolutely perfect for us to be able to do some of the things we’ve done,” Knight said.

Last June, the council voted unanimously to increase Spina’s salary by 16 percent, to about $118,000, citing strong job performance as both the interim and permanent city manager after the ouster of former manager Jim Drumm in 2014.

Spina took the job following his own retirement from the position in 2011 after 15 years.

“I couldn’t do the job I do without department heads backing me and supporting me, and being so knowledgeable in their respective fields, and the employees at large,” Spina, addressing the council, said.

Published Oct. 4, 2017

 

 

 

Zephyrhills poised to name Spillman permanent fire chief

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Four months after being named the interim fire chief, the Zephyrhills City Council is set on Monday to make Daniel Spillman’s job at the head of the city’s fire rescue department permanent.

Spillman took over the department in June when Verne Riggall — under fire for how he had run the agency over a two-year period — resigned before city council members could vote on whether to terminate him.

Spillman interviewed for the permanent position Sept. 22, and competed against Capt. Ralph Velez and former Pasco County fire service officer Stephen Smith for the job, according to city documents. The three made their bids for the job in front of a selection committee that included Zephyrhills city manager Steve Spina, city human resources director Sandra Amerson, former fire captain Scott Winters, and Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce executive director Vonnie Mikkelsen.

Velez has been a captain with the fire department for more than seven years, according to an online social media profile, and also has served on the board of Main Street Zephyrhills Inc. between 2005 and 2011. Velez has spent 24 years total with the Zephyrhills fire department, according to published reports, and graduated from Zephyrhills High School in the early 1980s.

Smith spent six years as a training chief for Pasco County Fire Rescue, according to an online business profile, and retired from that job in 2010. He’s currently a charge paramedic and trainer in Manatee County, and has consulted with and worked as an expert legal witness for EDT Corp., for nearly 25 years.

Spillman joined the Zephyrhills fire department in September 2013 after spending more than a year as a fire chief in 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.

As city manager, Spina has the power to appoint and even remove the chiefs of both the fire and police department, as long as he has a simple majority approval from the city council.

Riggall worked in High Springs as the fire chief the same time now former Zephyrhills city manager Jim Drumm led that city’s administration. Drumm resigned his job in Zephyrhills less than two months before Riggall after realizing he didn’t have the council’s support to continue as city manager.

Before he left, however, Drumm already had considered investigating issues in the fire department under Riggall. Spina continued the investigation after he took over as interim city manager, and said there were problems in how Riggall staffed fire engines and emergency response vehicles. Some of the staffing records also showed there were not enough workers on hand to safely respond to necessary calls, Spina said, and even they didn’t have all the appropriate equipment they would need.

The fire department was suffering from low morale, as well, and Riggall reportedly did not keep regular office hours, Spina’s report at the time said. Instead showing up at non-traditional times so that he could work around his wife’s schedule.

The city council will make the final decision during its regular meeting Oct. 13 at 6 p.m., at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Zephyrhills ready to name Daniel Spillman interim fire chief

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Verne Riggall never gave the Zephyrhills City Council a chance to fire him.

The embattled fire chief resigned Friday, saying that “baseless attacks of a vocal and aggressive minority of members of the department” have made it impossible for him to do his job.

“There is nothing in this life, or any profession — particularly in the fire service — that is constant,” Riggall wrote in a resignation letter to the council. “Instead, technology and advances in science mean that traditions of the fire service at a subsequent time must be constantly re-evaluated and changed if necessary in light of the present.”

Riggall said he believed he did his best to promote policies within his department that would “safeguard the lives and safety of both firefighters and the citizens of this wonderful city.”

Interim city manager Steve Spina, however, disagreed. In a scathing review of Riggall’s two-year tenure, Spina cited issues that included inadequate staffing of first responder vehicles, low morale among the employes in the fire department, and a strange work schedule Riggall himself maintained, apparently worked around 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 in a memo to the council. “Most people will not try to contact the chief at 9 p.m., or on weekends.”

Spina put Riggall on paid leave June 2, and prepared a memo recommending the city council fire him and install Daniel Spillman as the assistant fire chief. The city council could do just that at Monday’s meeting.

Riggall was previously the fire chief in High Springs, where he worked closely with then city manager Jim Drumm. When Drumm came to Zephyrhills three years ago, Riggall followed a short time later after city officials there eliminated funding for the fire chief position.

Riggall was named the interim chief in 2011, and permanently earned the job in 2012. Drumm resigned in April after the city council indicated it would not renew his contract.

Zephyrhills council takes aim at fire chief

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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.

Drumm takes final stand as Zephyrhills city manager

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Jim Drumm likely saw the first cracks in his tenure as Zephyrhills city manager last July when councilmen Lance Smith and Ken Burgess both gave him low marks on their evaluations of his job performance.

Zephyrhills city manager Jim Drumm goes over some last-minute details with city finance director Stacie Poppell ahead of a special city council meeting last week where Drumm’s severance package was discussed. (Courtesy of Michael Hinman)
Zephyrhills city manager Jim Drumm goes over some last-minute details with city finance director Stacie Poppell ahead of a special city council meeting last week where Drumm’s severance package was discussed.
(Courtesy of Michael Hinman)

Drumm had communications issues, according to the evaluations, especially when it came to city employees and the public as a whole. He wasn’t getting out to meet enough people. The city’s relationship with Pasco County was troubled, at best.

Yet Drumm wasn’t worried about his job. While he knew there was room for improvement in his own job performance, he received high marks from the three other council members. And as far as Drumm was concerned, there were nowhere near the four votes required to remove him, if that’s what Smith and Burgess were aiming for.

That all changed, however, in March, when Drumm found himself fighting for his job — the voices of two councilmen suddenly gaining the power of the majority.

Despite three legal opinions against him, Drumm maintains his position that no matter what his contract says, the city’s charter — the constitution of the local government — requires four votes to remove him.

The security of that belief encouraged Drumm to move his family to Zephyrhills in the first place, where he spent $185,000 on a home in Silver Oaks. That was despite still owning a house he bought for $135,000 at the height of the housing boom in 2005 in his former town of High Springs.

“I came here with a commitment,” Drumm told reporters after a special council meeting last week. “I wanted to do a good job, and apparently I did. The issues are not very clear, and I’m just surprised. What I’m getting is, ‘We don’t want to terminate you. We just don’t want to renew you.’”

During that same meeting, called to negotiate a severance package for Drumm, only Councilman Kenneth Compton seemed willing to stand up for the embattled city manager. And that had obviously become an unpopular position, especially after Compton watched the one other council member who agreed with him, Jodi Wilkeson, lose re-election, most likely because of her support of Drumm.

Wilkeson quietly supported Compton’s efforts last week, except this time from the audience instead of the dais.

“We are looking at numbers, and to me, the numbers should reflect what has happened over the tenure of the city manager,” Compton said. “When the city manager walked in here, he walked into a million-dollar shortfall in the budget, and within a matter of months, he turned it into a surplus.”

The city at the time was looking at layoffs to make up the budget shortfall in 2011, but instead Drumm filled the city’s contingency funds, not to the $300,000 or $500,000 it once contained, but instead to $1.5 million — and kept it there.

“This is a separation, and it’s not a happy thing,” Compton said. “Something didn’t work out, but my suggestion is the numbers be looked at.”

Alan Knight, the former high school football coach and educator who beat Wilkeson for his council seat, wasn’t focused on numbers. Instead, it was the three-year contract Drumm signed in 2011 set to expire May 18.

“Looking back at my experience, when I was a school principal and given a two-year contract, that was it,” he said. “If I didn’t get renewed, I didn’t get all these other things.”

Those things Drumm asked for included 20 weeks of severance pay, money for nearly 400 hours of “comp time” — hours worked above and beyond a standard work week without any pay — and for the city to continue paying premiums on the health insurance for an additional five months.

The council balked on the 20 weeks of severance last week, offering just 13 instead. Yet, 20 weeks is a standard for city and county managers, the maximum set by state law, said Lynn Tipton, executive director of the Florida City and County Management Association, the state’s professional organization for municipal managers like Drumm.

“It is recommended in light of the many costs a manager incurs in transition,” she said. In best-case scenarios, the hiring process for a city manager from the time an ad is placed for the job to signing the contract is four months. But that can sometimes go six months or even longer.

“However, this is greatly complicated by election cycles,” Tipton said, adding that some municipalities might just hire an interim until after the next election.

Drumm said he would likely seek unemployment insurance, but $275 a week is a far cry from $1,730 weekly. But he could have other income opportunities as well while he waits to find a new city manager job.

“Some managers are fortunate to find interim work, teaching and consulting while they await the next management position,” Tipton said. “Others take part-time work where available.”

The severance package proposed by the council last week would cost the city $54,000, but only a portion of that would actually represent cash in Drumm’s pocket. The rest are taxes and other costs the city would have to pay to part ways with him.

Drumm was expected to step down from his position April 25 if he agreed to the lower separation terms offered by the city. He resigned on Friday, after reportedly agreeing to the severance package.

The council approved the revised severance package 4-1, with Compton voting no. Just before the vote, Drumm did suggest that the lower payout may not be enough of an incentive for him to sign any agreement not to sue the city over the debacle, but the council voted their package in anyway.

Published April 30, 2014

New city manager contract has guaranteed money

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The Zephyrhills City Council is expected to officially hire Steve Spina as its interim city manager Wednesday night, bringing back the long-time city leader after a three-year absence.

But while Jim Drumm had to fight for a severance package before resigning as city manager last week, Spina’s $48,000 will be guaranteed — even if the city finds and hires a full-time city manager before the six-month contract is up.

In a draft of the agreement provided to The Laker/Lutz News ahead of the meeting, Section 6 of Spina’s proposed contract would pay him $8,000 per month over a six-month period, and “in the event that the interim manager is terminated, requested to resign or a permanent city manager is hired, the city agrees (to) pay the interim manager for the remainder of the term.”

That could possibly leave very little legal wiggle room for city officials if the process to hire a replacement moves faster than expected, or the six-month stint with Spina simply doesn’t work out.

The salary section of Drumm’s three-year agreement paid him an annual base salary equivalent to just $7,500 per month, with no guaranteed money.

Spina also will not have some of the perks Drumm had — or even Spina had during his 15 years on the job before Drumm — including his own city vehicle.

Spina has not indicated whether he will throw his name into the mix in the city’s search for a permanent city manager, saying only that he was taking it “one day at a time.”

The special meeting to discuss the interim city manager agreement begins at 6 p.m., at City Hall, 5335 Eighth St., in Zephyrhills.

Steve Spina set to return as (interim) city manager

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The Zephyrhills City Council found its choice to take over the office of city manager. And as expected, it’s a familiar face.

But at least for now, Steve Spina’s return to his leadership role in Zephyrhills is a temporary one.

The council is set to meet Wednesday at 6 p.m. to hammer out a six-month contract that would make Spina the interim city manager effective May 1. It would be his first time on the job since retiring in 2011. He replaces his own successor, Jim Drumm, who resigned April 25 after two council members indicated they would not renew his contract.

“I’m excited at the opportunity,” Spina told The Laker/Lutz News on Tuesday. While it’s not clear what salary Spina would receive, published reports suggested his salary during the interim would be at the same level of the $97,000 annual scale he left with three years ago.

In March, Drumm said he felt the council was trying to entice Spina to return to his old job, and that he would even step aside to make room for Spina if that’s what the council wanted. Spina, however, told reporters he was not pursuing the job, and instead had applied for a position with Pasco County’s administration.

“I have great respect for Dr. Spina,” Drumm said from a prepared statement at the time. “I have not had his long tenure to compete with his knowledge and his many contacts. If it is not the intent of the city council to hire Dr. Spina, then I remained perplexed by the issues that warrant me to not continue working together to improve Zephyrhills.”

The job opportunity with the county did not pan out, however, and Spina became available to step back into Zephyrhills while the county conducts a search for a permanent replacement. Spina did not say if he would apply for the permanent position.

Spina first became city manager in 1996, working his way up through the city’s administration. He started his career in the city as a journalist, working as a reporter and later the editor of the Zephyrhills News following the death of longtime editor Bernie Wickstrom in 1987.

Zephyrhills council, Drumm disagree on severance package

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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.

Drumm outlines conditions to resign as city manager

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One of Charlie Proctor’s first duties as president of the Zephyrhills City Council is a somber one, by his own admission.

Wednesday, Proctor and the rest of the council will consider a resignation proposal from City Manager Jim Drumm, leaving a vacancy in the city’s top manager’s job for the second time in three years.

In an April 17 letter to Mayor Gene Whitfield and the rest of the council, Drumm maintains his position that the council can’t remove him without four out of five votes, but said he is willing to step down so that the city can move forward.

“This past month has been unsettling for me and my family,” Drumm said. “We came to Zephyrhills seeking stability, and now we have learned that with little notice, we are to leave. This greatly disappoints me.”

The call for change started in March when Drumm’s three-year contract, which expires next month, was up for renewal. Then city council president Lance Smith said he did not want to renew it, joined by fellow councilman Ken Burgess. Proctor, who at first supposed Drumm, later changed his position after what he said was a community mandate to make a change in the city manager’s post.

The question, however, was whether or not the city could part ways with Drumm, even if they didn’t have four votes to oust him. City officials sought three legal opinions, including one earlier this month spearheaded by now former councilwoman Jodi Wilkeson, which all agreed that Drumm could be asked to leave at the end of his contract, whether there were four votes to support it or not.

His contact, Drumm said, was in conflict with the city charter, and when there is a conflict, the charter should be the prevailing document — much like the U.S. Constitution, or Florida’s state constitution.

“We all, including me, have sworn to uphold them all in our oath of office,” Drumm said in his letter.

If accepted by the council, Drumm would receive all wages earned through his last day, reimbursement of all accrued vacation leave, and 20 percent of his accrued sick leave. He also would receive 20 weeks of severance — at a cost of nearly $35,000 — and city-paid premium payments of his health insurance for the next five months.

In return, Drumm will step down and not pursue any legal action against the city.

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

All on-the-job training for Zephyrhills’ newest councilman

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Zephyrhills doesn’t waste time when it comes to elections.

Jodi Wilkeson
Jodi Wilkeson

Last Monday, less than a week after the election, Alan Knight was installed as the new city councilman following his victory over one-time council president Jodi Wilkeson. And there isn’t even time for Knight to catch his breath.

Moments after the swearing in, Knight was asked to consider two board appointments, donating vehicles to a local college, who should build a new skate park, and, according to the agenda, decide the fate of City Manager Jim Drumm.

Being a council member is not as easy as some make it look, and there’s a steep learning curve that Knight, a former high school principal and football coach, will have to endure, Wilkeson said after the election.

“I know that he’ll do a fine job,” she said. “But there’s still so much to learn once he gets up there.”

Wilkeson was first elected to the council in 2008, and described her loss last week as disappointing.

“I worked as hard as I could, and I can’t imagine another thing I could’ve done to garner more votes,” she said. “I do think I was hurt a little bit by Mr. Knight’s name recognition. He’s impacted the lives of just a tremendous amount of people.”

Yet, it’s the Drumm situation that may be affected the most from the election. Wilkeson essentially delayed the council’s attempt to remove Drumm from the city manager position last month by asking for a third legal opinion on whether the council can do that without a supermajority.

Her perceived support of the embattled city manager may have cost her votes as well, Wilkeson conceded.

“I just feel that it’s imperative that we treat him fairly,” she said. “He didn’t make any really egregious missteps, and he helped get us out of a million-dollar deficit. He had exactly the skills we needed at the time.”

Drumm “did a fine job,” Wilkeson said, but is a bit introverted, which may have worked against him in terms of relationships.

As for Wilkeson’s political future, she’s not sure what might happen next, but she isn’t ruling anything out.

“I never say never,” Wilkeson said. “If a group of concerned citizens came to me and said they wanted me to run again and they would support me, I would consider it. I enjoy being involved in the community and bringing my training and education to the table for the benefit of the city. But I don’t have any aspirations right now.”

Incoming St. Leo commissioner says there’s no interest to dissolve town

Ray Davis says the rumor mill in St. Leo has it all wrong.

Donna DeWitt
Donna DeWitt

Although he’s the third Lake Jovita resident to be elected to the small town’s commission — ousting longtime commissioner Donna DeWitt — he’s focused on making sure his neighborhood is no longer a part of St. Leo, one way or the other. However, Davis says he has no intention of dissolving the Town of St. Leo itself to make that happen.

Yet, how he can help de-annexation along as a commissioner is unclear. The town attorney has cited past legal opinions she says forbids St. Leo from de-annexing the small portion of the Lake Jovita subdivision inside its town limits. Any area that can be annexed by a municipality, based typically on population, cannot be de-annexed, according to the state attorney general’s interpretation of the law.

Because of that, the decision to allow Lake Jovita to de-annex lies with the legislature, in a bill introduced last March by state Rep. Amanda Murphy, D-New Port Richey. It passed its final committee on Friday, and should soon be heading to the House floor.

“They call me ‘Plan B,’” Davis said following the election. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

Davis did not want to speculate on what would happen if the state didn’t open the door for de-annexation. When asked if he would vote to dissolve the town itself in that instance, Davis was non-committal.

“I think it’s wise not to make a statement based on speculation, and I don’t think that’s the smart thing to do,” Davis said.

DeWitt, who expects to get her job back when Lake Jovita is de-annexed and three positions suddenly open on the commission, prays there’s a town to come back to.

“Hopefully, they won’t do anything drastic until they can get de-annexed out of the town,” she said.

Many projects have been put on hold while the Lake Jovita issue has remained hot in recent months, including a request by the Iafrates family to annex 179 acres of land on St. Leo’s south side. Although it’s not directly related to the Lake Jovita issue, commissioners decided to delay that prospect until the de-annexation question is resolved.

Despite the legal opinion, Davis maintains the commission still has the power to vote a de-annexation. The only reason why it didn’t happen before, he said, was because Lake Jovita didn’t have a majority on the commission until this past election.

DeWitt’s support of the de-annexation did not become known until after he had filed to run, Davis added.

“We didn’t know that, and we had only heard that through hearsay,” he said. “Now we’re just waiting to see what happens.”

Published April 16, 2014