By Mike Lednovich
Fernandina Beach City Manager Ty Ross verbally resigned Friday morning effective immediately in the wake of controversy following his Oct. 29 alcohol-related biking accident and his subsequent failure to report the incident to city commissioners.
City Attorney Tammi Bach said she met with Ross at 9 a.m. Friday and he submitted a verbal resignation effective at the close of business Friday.
Bach said she negotiated six weeks of severance as part of the agreement of Ross’ departure. Ross assumed the duties of city manager on Oct. 16. Just two weeks later on a Sunday, Ross admitted he had too much to drink downtown and attempted to ride his bicycle to a house he was renting. He crashed in the dark around 7:30 p.m., and witnesses called police about a man lying in the grass and rolling around.
Fernandina Beach police responded and found Ross disoriented and incoherent. After officers notified their supervisor, reporting that a man identified as the city manager was drunk and had crashed his bicycle, officers then drove Ross home. He was not given a sobriety test.
Ross never reported the incident to commissioners, but the accident was revealed when the Observer made a public records request on Nov. 28 for police reports and body camera footage.
Ross issued a public apology on Nov. 30 and said the accident was the result of “over-drinking.”
A special meeting of the city commission originally set to discuss possible disciplinary actions for Ross’ behavior is set for next Tuesday. Bach said the special meeting agenda will be changed for commissioners to discuss Ross’ severance agreement.
She said the commission will formally vote on the severance at its Jan. 2 meeting.
“There isn’t enough time to properly notice the public on the terms of severance. In order to accomplish that we’ll have the severance on the Jan. 2 agenda. The exact details are being worked out with City Clerk Caroline Best,” Bach said.
Under Ross’ contract, severance was specified as 90 days with 30 days of notice required.
“He (Ross) wanted the 90 days, but we talked and settled on six weeks,” Bach said.
City commissioners were notified of Ross’ resignation by Bach.
“We need to come together and move forward,” said Commissioner Chip Ross.
Speakers at the Dec. 5 city commission meeting called for Ross to resign citing his lack of judgment in abusing alcohol and his failure to alert his bosses — the city commissioners — of the incident. They also questioned how police handled the incident since Ross had appointed Chief Jeffrey Tambasco from interim to full time chief on his third day on the city manager job.
Tambasco has asked the State Attorney to review his department’s handling of the Oct. 29 alcohol-related bicycle accident involving City Manager Ross.
Ross answered the critics at that meeting saying: “What I want to talk about is what’s happened over the past five weeks. I’ve sought professional help for myself. I learned through talking to professionals that I was using maladaptive coping strategies. Social lubrications in settings where I was trying to make friends and be funny. And I overdid it and I goofed,” Ross said. “I thought I was being responsible by not driving a motorized vehicle and by riding my bicycle. That didn’t work out for me and I apologize. I never intended for this to come to your attention and again it happened on the weekend. We can talk about on the job, off the job.”
Ross was hired in September after a six-month search by executive search firm Colin-Baenziger. He was one of four finalists for the job.
Bach said she didn’t know the next steps to find a permanent city manager since city commissioners had just been notified of Ross’ resignation. She said Deputy City Manager Charlie George would be running the city on Monday.
Mayor Bradley Bean refused to comment on Ross’ resignation. Other commissioners had not responded to requests for comment.
The circus continues ……
Verbal? I read the employment contract recently. If I recall correctly, I think Section 13 requires an advanced written resignation. Scratching my head on this.
My understanding is that the city attorney is working on a draft written agreement that will be presented at the Tuesday special meeting of the city commission.
Thank you for the information.
Why is Ross getting any severance pay? He resigned. He wasn’t fired.
Standard contract language; the powerful and elite always take care of themselves. Golden parachutes, fat severance packages, etc. Where there’s money, people will take a slice of it, if they can.
Not sure that the Fernandina Beach City Manager’s job falls in the category of Elite status, but that is just me.
To be part of the elite you need to be one of those guys who flies in their private jet to Davos. A very small amount of people basically own the earth. They own mining, shipping, banking, agriculture, pharmaceuticals across the globe. The same people who own Pepsi also own Coca -Cola. The 1% is a metaphor. It is something more like the 0.0001% There are a handful a international mega corporations that control nearly every aspect of our lives. They have boards where the largest shareholders call the shots. The board members of Wells Fargo, Blackrock, Vanguard – those are the “elite.”
https://www.bitchute.com/video/FqaM6eyVp30b/
If being a millionaire makes you elite then there are lot of firemen, policemen, and government workers who are “elite.” And here and there you might actually find an entrepreneur that had a measure of success. But they are hardly the “elite.”
Some people think the Bible says “The love of money is the root of all evil.” But that is not what is says. There is nothing wrong with wanting money. It allows for food, shelter, and the ability to help others. What the Bible really says is “The love of power is the root of all evil.”
There are those in the world who seek power for the sake of power itself. Much of the elite is probably like that.
Jimi Hendrix is quoted as saying: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace”. The truth doesn’t get any plainer than that.
Under the strict application of the contract you are correct. The proposed settlement — about $25,000 in severance — is a compromise solution to a very throny and delicate situation.
What’s “thorny or delicate” about a simple resignation. 25K WOW!
If he were fired, I’d agree with the comment but he wasn’t.
It’s delicate because we’re talking about the future well being of a person dealing with personal issues. We all wish Ty Ross well in his physical and mental health recovery as he expressed at the Dec. 5 city commission meeting.
Exactly right MIKE. I was worried about him from the start of this entire fiasco. Family distant and no support. He appeared distraught and depressed: a recipe for disaster. I hope this parting helps him. The possible ending was not something I wanted to think about
Point well taken Mike.
I just talked to Mr. Ross last week and he told me he was hoping the city commission would keep him on. My guess is that he got word that a majority of city commissioners were going to either fire him or ask for his resignation, he saw the writing on the wall, and he went ahead and resigned first. Better for his résumé to resign than to get fired. Still, it makes one wonder if the city commissioners were breaking sunshine laws by discussing political matters outside of city commission meetings. Personnel matters can be discussed in close session, but still must be at official, agendized, publicly-noticed meetings, and not on the phone or in emails or out on the golf course. Just wondering.
Moving on…….he did the right thing.
I do not like to speculate so am in park position for now. I do think, however, that Ty Ross is probably a high achiever who hit a wall. It happens all the time. I wish him well.
Mr. Ross did the right thing. He was hired, he signed a contract with the City..,BOTH parties are obligated to the terms of the contract whatever they may be. We are now in a world of many, many unprecedented events happening every day in multitudes of arenas..we have to learn to adjust and deal with those circumstances as they arise.
Any word about FBPD chief repercussion for his involvement with hiding the incident?
This is something that keeps nudging me. There are so many unknowns. I am not sure he hid it.
The only way to know would be to ask all officers individually if they were ordered to keep quiet.
The police chief should be a gentleman and do the same thing, how is he to be trusted when he also concealed the event. What else has happened or may that he hides from us?
I see comments regarding the FB Chief of Police….there wasn’t a crime committed so what were the police supposed to do? Mr. Ross should have told the Commissioners and gotten out in front of this. It’s not the responsibility of the Police Chief to “rat” out the City Manager. Good grief. They gave the man a ride home like anyone would have done in this case.
uhhhh “Chief”??? Yes he had some responsibility