Fernandina Beach City Commission appoints Jennifer Gooding new city clerk

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm

Jennifer Gooding
Jennifer Gooding

Reporter-News Analyst

It looks like the City of Fernandina Beach will have a new city clerk effective June 1, assuming that Fernandina Beach City Commission (FBCC) will approve a contract during a special meeting scheduled for May 30.  After several weeks of discussion over filling the vacant city clerk position with a clerk pro tem, the FBCC reversed direction at its May 21, 2013 meeting and moved to hire senior city planner Jennifer Gooding as the new city clerk.  Commissioner Pat Gass made the motion, seconded by Vice Mayor Charlie Corbett.  Despite upwards of 20 applicants for the position, the FBCC opted to hire Gooding, who was not an applicant under the vacancy announcement.   There was no public interview process for Gooding or any of the applicants.

Tammi Bach
City Attorney Tammi Bach

At their previous meeting (click here) the FBCC had named Gooding to the Pro Tem position, anticipating that a way could be found for her to continue some of her current planning responsibilities while assuming the role of interim city clerk.  There was also concern that she be able to revert to her planning position should she not be selected to fill the job on a permanent basis later in the fiscal year.  After researching the matter, City Attorney Tammi Bach told the FBCC that there was no way that Gooding could retain status as a city employee while encumbering a charter officer position.  The three city charter employees (manager, attorney and clerk) are direct reports to the FBCC and are employed via contracts the terms of which are outside the normal employment contracts of other city employees, who report to a charter officer.  Charter officers are “at will” employees, meaning that they serve at the pleasure of the FBCC and can be terminated without cause, provided that conditions specified in their individual contracts are honored.  City employees have greater job protections than charter officers.

City Manager Joe Gerrity had previously advised the FBCC that even if a legal way could be found to place Gooding in the pro tem position, such a situation would adversely impact the operation of the city’s planning activities.  He also expressed concerns that it would not be fair to Gooding to ask her to give up the security of a city position for a temporary appointment that might or might not eventually be made permanent.Pelican 2013-05-07

The final hiring decision, made on a 4-1 vote with Commissioner Ed Boner dissenting, followed FBCC discussion over the various problems with filling the position.    Mayor Sarah Pelican said, “It all boils down to a matter of dollars and cents.  We have to do this [hiring Gooding as clerk] to resolve the conflict between planning duties and the duties of the clerk.”  Pelican had initially suggested that Gooding be named clerk pro tem.  Pelican reminded commissioners that she had asked them to bring forth additional names from among existing city staff for consideration, but they had not been able to identify anyone else.  Her decision to limit applicants to city staff was seemingly rooted in budgetary concerns that bringing in someone from outside the city might cause an employee elsewhere in the city to lose a job.  Other commissioners shared this reasoning.

Vice Mayor Charlie Corbett agreed with Pelican, adding that by making this a final, not a temporary, hire the FBCC was untying the city manager’s hands with respect to making staffing decisions to cover planning work.

Commissioner Ed Boner, the lone dissenter.
Commissioner Ed Boner, the lone dissenter.

Commissioner Ed Boner expressed uneasiness with proceeding in this manner.  He said that he had looked through the applicant pool for the position and found several interesting and experienced candidates.  He said that while he could support appointing Gooding as a clerk pro tem, he believed that the hiring process for the permanent position should be transparent.  “I think it’s moving too quickly,” he said.  “Let’s go through the process.”

Commissioner Arlene Filkoff said, We’ve not handled this well. We’ve been quite unfair to a city employee [Kim Briley, the Deputy City Clerk].  We’ve been boxed in by budgetary concerns.  We need to move forward on behalf of the city and stop this slow water dripping torture [of keeping both the Planning Department and the Clerk’s Office unsettled].”

Mayor Pelican agreed with Filkoff, saying that the FBCC is where it is and needs to act.

Boner was not swayed.  He expressed concerns that he never really met any of the applicants.  He said, “The City Clerk is supposed to be neutral.  Where will we be in a year?”

Filkoff reminded her fellow commissioners, “We are doing this with our eyes wide open.  We will need money for [Gooding’s] training.  Since one of the reasons we are acting is to relieve workload in the Clerk’s Office, we had better not talk about cutting a position from that office to help the budget next year.”

Boner continued to express his concern about the messaging sent by a non-competitive appointment.  He voted against the motion, which passed with 4 affirmative votes.

The FBCC will meet in a special session on May 30, 2013 to ratify an employment with Gooding that will be crafted by Gooding and City Attorney Bach.  Bach reminded commissioners that at their previous meeting they had authorized a 6% increase in salary for Gooding in the pro tem position.  It was the consensus of the FBCC to continue to extend that offer, allow her to carry over leave she had earned as an employee, and come to some agreement on severance pay, which is limited by law to no more than 20 weeks.  A training requirement will also be included in the contract.

During approximately 10 years of employment with the city, Gooding has served successfully in several positions:  grants administrator, airport manager and most recently as senior planner.  In that position she has staffed the city’s Board of Adjustment and administered the Community Development Block Grant to serve the city’s Southside neighborhood.  City Manager Gerrity has consistently characterized her performance as excellent.

May 22, 2013 3:25 p.m.