Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
September 16, 2015 12:18 p.m.
The September 16, 2015 Regular Meeting of the Fernandina Beach City Commission (FBCC) was technically the last regular meeting for departing City Manager Joe Gerrity, who announced his resignation last spring to be effective the end of the fiscal year. But once again Fernandina Beach Commissioner Pat Gass and Vice Mayor Johnny Miller demonstrated an unwillingness to accept Gerrity’s resignation and the will of the other three City Commissioners that Gerrity’s decision be honored. Gerrity sat in silence for the most part as Gass and Miller thwarted an attempt to name Deputy Manager Marshall McCrary as City Manager Pro Tem in favor of keeping Gerrity on until a new city manager could be appointed. Gerrity also sat back in silence as Gass launched a series of questions directed toward Mayor Ed Boner at the end of the meeting, questioning Boner’s change of heart with respect to Gerrity’s performance.
Commissioner Robin Lentz was absent from the meeting. The vote to appoint McCrary as City Manager Pro Tem failed on a 2-2 vote. City Attorney Tammi Bach said that the matter will return for further consideration at the September 22, 2015 Special Meeting, when all commissioners are scheduled to be present.
Gass is seeking re-election to a second 3-year term on the FBCC; Miller is in the running for mayor in the upcoming straw poll vote, along with Commissioner Robin Lentz. Boner is not seeking re-election. Both commissioners Robin Lentz and Tim Poynter are about to complete the first year of their 3-year terms.
City Manager Pro Tem
Commissioner Pat Gass was first out of the gate to announce that she would not be voting to approve Resolution 2015-133, which would have approved the appointment of Deputy City Manager Marshall McCrary to the position of City Manager Pro Tem for any intervening period between the departure of current city manager Joe Gerrity and the reporting of his yet-to-be hired replacement. Gass said that she hoped there would not be a new city manager and “that somehow we will pull a rabbit out of our hat and keep Joe.”
Vice Mayor Johnny Miller asked, “Joe, is that even a possibility? Would you be willing to stay on?”
Gerrity replied, “You know, that’s really a difficult question for me to answer. … You know, I want to do what the majority of this commission wants, and whatever that is is fine.”
Gass asked Gerrity, “Would you be willing to stay on if you were offered a contract?”
Gerrity replied, “You know, if that were the case I would certainly consider it. But I don’t feel like that is going to happen here.”
“Okay,” Gass said. “Never give up though. Hope springs eternal.”
Commissioner Tim Poynter moved to approve the resolution appointing McCrary as City Manager Pro Tem; Mayor Ed Boner, after receiving no second from the other commissioners, stepped down to second Poynter’s motion. The motion failed on a 2-2 vote, with Gass and Miller voting against it.
City Attorney Tammi Bach said the matter would be placed on the agenda for the September 22 Special Meeting.
Mayor Boner inquired if such a resolution was needed since the city has a deputy manager who acts in the absence of the city manager. Bach said that there was a specific provision in the charter requiring the FBCC to make such an appointment.
Gass continues lobbying for Gerrity’s continued service
Toward the end of the meeting under “Commissioner Comments” Commissioner Pat Gass renewed her efforts to convince commissioners to retain Gerrity as city manager. She apologized for bringing her comments to the meeting, but claimed that because of Sunshine Law requirements, she was unable to ask such questions privately of other commissioners. She directed her questions and comments specifically to Mayor Ed Boner.
Following Vice Mayor Johnny Miller’s expression of gratitude to Gerrity for his service and contributions to the city, Gass began her remarks. “What I have to say is a little different,” she said. She said that although she understood the benefits of “Government in the Sunshine,” she felt that in some ways elected officials have their hands tied behind their backs. She reminded audience members that she couldn’t talk to other commissioners privately about matters that might be voted upon at some time. “So I’ve not been able to ask this question of anyone,” she said, turning her attention toward the mayor. “But Ed, I have a question I’d like you to answer, and this is the only place I can ask you this question. … Why do you not support keeping Joe Gerrity as the city manager? You gave him high praises at his job, you voted for a 4 percent raise to his salary. You had nothing but glowing words to say until November [2014]. What did he do that would warrant his not having your support any more? I just don’t understand.” She chuckled and added, “I’ve had many people ask me this.”
Boner responded. “I think,” he said, “I’ll keep this short. I think that you have to recognize when a manager can be a manager and the need to have very strong support from the commission.”
“And Joe,” Boner said as he turned toward Gerrity, “there’s a limit to how much detail I can go into the reasons that I felt it was time for you to leave.”
Gerrity said, “You don’t have to address me. Commissioner Gass asked the question.”
“Well,” Boner said, redirecting his attention toward Gass, “I think that when you look at the support someone has in that position, when you have two people that don’t support him [Commissioners Robin Lentz and Tim Poynter], you’re going to be ineffective. Because every single elections becomes about ‘are you keeping Joe or not?’ There’s a lot more to it and I won’t say it publicly.”
“Well so,” Gass went on, “in our selection process for the [new] city manager, if the person only gets three votes, then you don’t think we should keep them because they don’t have the strong support of the commission? That would be the same scenario.”
Boner replied, “Well I think there is a time when you have to look at, if you have two people who make a point of standing in the way of hiring a new city manager. The same way you might have two people standing in the way of hiring an interim manager in the necessity of running the city.”
Gass objected to Boner’s assessment, saying, “That’s not what we are doing over here. We’re trying to keep the best applicant for the job.” She said that had she had the opportunity to discuss the matter with Boner privately, what she would have raised was that of all the applicants for the city manager position, “None of the applicants are as good as what we’ve got. And in the best interest of the city, I just don’t understand your position at all.”
Boner said, “I don’t think you have to understand me.”
“Oh, I don’t,” she said, “I’d just love to have something to say to everyone who keeps asking me. They keep wondering if you would ever change your mind.”
“Actually,” Boner retorted, “since you are making it personal about Joe, every single [city manager] finalist we have – if you’ve looked at the resume—would be superior.”
“Sure,” Gass said, as she laughed.
“I think you are not reading the resumes,” Boner said.
“Well, I had to ask, and I’m sorry it had to be here,” Gass said. “Government in the Sunshine said it had to be here.”
“I don’t believe in publicly evaluating people,” Boner replied. “And I’ve received very few comments [from the public].”
“I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in you,” Gass said. “I have nothing else tonight.”
Commissioner Tim Poynter weighs in
After thanking members of the community for showing up for his monthly town meetings and encouraging future participation, Poynter turned toward Gerrity and said, “I’d like to wish Joe the very best in his future endeavors. “I think we are doing ourselves a disservice,” Poynter said, “by saying to all the people who have applied for the position of city manager that they don’t stack up to anybody. I have patiently listened to these comments and heard from other people. This is not a personal thing for me with Joe. It’s what I believe …”
Gass interrupted in a side comment saying, “It’s what you campaigned on.” Poynter stopped in mid sentence and looked at her saying, “Really?”
She replied with a chuckle,”Really.”
Poynter continued, “I believe that there are times in every city when it’s time to look for another leader, and that’s what the city manager is. He is the CEO of the city. I think it’s that time. And I would like at this point that this commission respect Joe and the fact that he has resigned. And the reason that he resigned was that he had two commissioners who weren’t supportive of him any more. I would like for this commission to accept that and to now look for a good candidate, be open minded to that, and do the best searching we can do. We are blessed to have some very good candidates.”
Mayor Boner ended the meeting after asking Gerrity for updates on several outstanding matters: property acquisition, railroad issues, and car event at the airport.
Boner apologized to Gerrity for earlier comments, voicing his agreement with Poynter that in order to do the job of city manager, the incumbent needs to have a strong majority of support among the commissioners. “I’ve enjoyed working with you … I think you’ve been very gracious in looking at what’s best for the city.”
With that, Boner gaveled the meeting closed at 7:20 p.m.
Editor’s Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne’s many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.
Sometimes learning is it’s own best reward.
Let us pray….