BRADENTON – Cheri Coryea’s two-year tenure as county administrator ended Tuesday evening after the Manatee County Commission approved a $204,000 separation agreement earlier that day.
Deputy County Administrator Karen Stewart will serve as acting county administrator until no later than March 23. By then, or before then, the commission expects to appoint someone else to serve as acting county administrator while the search for a permanent county administrator is conducted.
During Tuesday’s meeting, county commissioners voted 6-1 to accept the separation agreement negotiated by Coryea’s attorney and County Attorney Bill Clague. Clague noted the separation agreement is not a termination and is not a resignation. The agreement also ended Coryea’s 30-year tenure as a county employee.
The separation agreement calls for the county to pay Coryea a lump sum payment of approximately $204,000, minus taxes. Per the agreement, Coryea will receive 20 weeks of regular pay as established by her $192,000 annual salary. She will also receive 400 hours of paid leave (vacation time), 500 hours of sick leave pay and 197 hours of compensatory time pay.
Commissioner Carol Whitmore supported the separation agreement after she unsuccessfully proposed Coryea’s vacation pay be increased to 1,000 hours. Bellamy voted against the separation agreement as originally proposed. He said he could not support any motion that resulted in Coryea vacating her administrator’s position.
Before the 6-1 vote occurred, the commission rejected by a 4-3 vote Bellamy’s motion to discontinue the separation discussion and give Coryea one year to prove that she can move the county forward in a manner that satisfied the current commission.
Commissioners Vanessa Baugh, Kevin Van Ostenbridge, George Kruse and James Satcher opposed Bellamy’s motion. Bellamy and commissioners Misty Servia and Carol Whitmore supported Bellamy’s motion. Van Ostenbridge then made the motion to accept the separation agreement that now ends the commission majority’s previous efforts to terminate Coryea.
Previous termination efforts
In November, Van Ostenbridge proposed terminating Coryea for carrying out the previous commission’s directive to purchase a 161-acre property referred to as the Lena Road property for slightly more than $30 million. Van Ostenbridge, Kruse and Satcher – who were not in office when the property was purchased last fall – believe the county overpaid for that property. Coryea was then put on notice that her termination would be discussed and voted on in December.
Before that December discussion occurred, Kruse had a change of heart and asked the commission to rescind the termination notice and give Coryea a chance to prove herself to the newly-reconfigured commission.
On Jan. 26, Kruse had another change of heart and he made a motion to again put Coryea on termination notice. Kruse made said he was making that motion in part because Coryea, at Commissioner Carol Whitmore’s request, arranged a one-on-one meeting between he and Whitmore to discuss affordable housing. That one-on-one meeting took place in a conference room on Jan. 22 and was also attended by Coryea and two other staff members and was recorded. During the Jan. 26 meeting, Clague said the Kruse-Whitmore meeting was conducted in compliance with the Florida Government in the Sunshine Law.
Although he willingly participated in the Jan. 22 meeting with Whitmore, Kruse then expressed remorse for doing so in response to the public backlash that followed in regard to how that meeting was publicly noticed and conducted.
Before making his motion to again put Coryea on termination notice, Kruse also acknowledged his own extramarital affair and suggested Whitmore might “blackmail” him due to her knowledge of his affair and her reported receipt of a photograph of Kruse and the other woman. Whitmore and her attorney, Brett McIntosh, vehemently denied Kruse’s unproven accusation of blackmail.
Baugh, Satcher and Van Ostenbridge supported Kruse’s motion to put Coryea on termination notice, which then resulted in the mutually-agreed-upon separation agreement instead.
Hines rejected
After approving the separation agreement, the commission engaged in another lengthy discussion regarding the appointment of an acting county administrator.
The commission ultimately voted 4-3 in opposition to hiring Venice-based attorney and former Sarasota County Commissioner Charles Hines to serve as acting county administrator.
Baugh, Kruse, Satcher and Van Ostenbridge expressed their respect for Hines, but voted not to appoint him as acting county administrator.
To varying degrees, Baugh, Kruse, Satcher and Van Ostenbridge expressed concerns about the contract terms Clague negotiated with Hines. The proposed contract offered the same $192,000 salary Coryea received, called for a minimum contract length of eight months and included a housing allowance that Clague said was necessary because state statute requires county administrators to live in the county they serve.
Bellamy, Servia and Whitmore voted in favor of Hines serving as the acting county administrator.
Before the commission voted on hiring Hines, school board member Dr. Scott Hopes made his own pitch for the acting county administrator’s position, which at one point he said he would do for free and without a contract.
Van Ostenbridge and Satcher mentioned Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance President and CEO Dom DiMaio as another potential candidate. Satcher also mentioned Rick Mills as a possible candidate. Mills is the former superintendent of the School District of Manatee County.
Van Ostenbridge said he prefers Hopes, but then said, “Dom DiMaio’s beating down my door. I’ve talked to Dom a couple times as well. DiMaio’s not here, but he seems pretty interested the way he blows my phone up.”
During public comment, Carol Felts expressed concerns about DiMaio’s connections with developer Carlos Beruff. She also opposed Hopes serving as acting county administrator.
As the commission struggled to appoint Coryea’s temporary successor, Clague stressed the need to have someone in that position that day because there are certain duties only the county administrator or acting county administrator can perform. Those duties include presenting the annual county budget and presenting for commission approval a candidate to replace Deputy County Administrator John Osborne.
Osborne left his county position on Feb. 16 – one day before Coryea’s termination was originally scheduled to be discussed and voted on. At the request of Clague and Coryea’s attorney, that meeting was then delayed until Feb. 23 to allow for time for the attorneys to negotiate the separation agreement.
Stewart appointed
After another short recess, the commission voted 6-1 in favor of appointing Stewart to serve as acting county administrator until no later than March 23. Whitmore cast the lone opposition vote to that motion.
Whitmore and Servia expressed concerns about Stewart being too busy with her current responsibilities to take on the additional duties of acting county administrator, even on a short-term basis.
One of Stewart’s current responsibilities as deputy county administrator is to oversee the distribution of the federal CARES Act funds that provide financial assistance to individuals and businesses who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was noted that Stewart is not interested in serving as acting county administrator for an extended period of time or in serving as the next county administrator. Clague noted that Stewart would not be vacating her deputy county administrator’s position and will continue in that role once a new acting county administrator is appointed.
As a final action, the commission voted 7-0 to direct Clague to draft a proposed contract and an accompanying resolution for the appointment and hiring of an acting county administrator. Clague will present the proposed contract no later than the commission’s March 4 land use meeting, at which the commission expects to vote on whether to approve the proposed contract terms.
Van Ostenbridge said if the contract terms are approved on March 4, he anticipates a new acting county administrator to be appointed and hired according to those non-negotiable contract terms as early as the commission’s regular meeting on March 9.
The meeting ended a short time later with Coryea performing her final public act as county administrator. Surrounded by several department directors, and choked with emotion at times, Coryea presented the annual county administrator’s report for 2020. While doing so, she praised and thanked those staff members for all the assistance and support they provided her.
Coryea then returned to her office and worked until 9:30 p.m. before leaving the county administration building for the final time.
