City Attorney Charlie Peppler has announced his resignation, effective April 30. The interim City Attorney position should be posted on Friday, March 31. Peppler was appointed to the position by former mayor Grover Robinson in July 2021.
Mayor D.C. Reeves said, in a written statement: “I have accepted the resignation of Mr. Peppler as City Attorney. I have a lot of respect for Charlie and his time spent representing Pensacola. I wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.”
In his resignation letter, Peppler said, “In line with your statement to me on March 2, 2023, that you desire “to go in a different direction” as to my being the City Attorney, I am resigning effective April 30, 2023.”
He added, “It has been my great honor and privilege to serve as City Attorney, and I will always cherish my time serving in that role.”
Two obvious questions for the press to ask Reeves. First, what is this “new” direction? Does he or she have a name? Second, does Peppler’s written employment contract (presumably agreed to with Robinson) really provide that he get 20 weeks severance pay if he “resigns”? Has anyone ever seen it? I presume it must be a public record that can be seen and read. The voter-approved Charter’s Section 4.02.(a)(6)(b) directs it to hire a legal advisor (a direction it has ignored for nearly nine years) but also grants it a constitutional power to hire “Other Staff” as provided in Section 4.02.(a)(6)(e). The Council should hire Peppler, maybe a Florida Bar board-certified City, County & Local Government Law expert like Deputy County Attorney Kristin Hual, and a few others using the (6)(e) authority.