Today’s special meeting of the Escambia County Commission was filled with shouting, accusations and finger-pointing. In the end, the only decision made was to delay the vote for the next county administrator.
Commissioner Grover Robinson took much of the abuse from Commissioners Gene Valentino and Wilson Robertson. The overall goal was to persuade the “swing vote”, Commissioner Lumon May, to select interim County Administrator Larry Newsom, Robertson and Valentino’s top choice outside the finalists, or Robinson’s top pick, Jack Brown, Taylor County, Fla. administrator.
Yesterday, the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) had rejected a motion for Newsom by a 2-3 vote.
Valentino opened the meeting with a statement that he had switched his top pick from Brown to Myrtle Beach, SC attorney John Weaver. Brown was Robinson’s top pick among the five finalists, Weaver was Robertson’s. He said that he would like to keep Newsom under consideration and have the BCC delay the vote for two weeks so that all the commissioners could interview Newsom as they did the five finalists. He wanted to put Newsom on “equal footing with the other finalists.”
Wilson Robertson said that Newsom was his preference for the job, followed by Weaver. Robinson reiterated his support for Brown.
That left the two first-term commissioners, Steven Barry and Lumon May, to weigh in.
Barry said the he liked Weaver and Brown, but chose Brown because of his experience in the state of Florida. Chairman May wouldn’t commit on Newsom, Brown or Weaver. He said his choice was Albert Penska.
Then when Robinson appeared ready to make a motion for Brown, the meeting turned ugly.
Valentino was given the floor and argued again for “parity and balance’ for Newsom and to give the interim administrator two weeks to make his case with the commissioners. He said that to not consider Newsom for the job would be a “slap in the face to Larry.”
May responded that he did not want to open the process for only one person (Newsom). Barry rejected the implication to not consider Newsom was a reflection of the interim’s talents.
“This is not a job interview for Larry Newsom,” said Barry. “I will not support delaying this two weeks.”
Robertson came to the defense of Newsom and Gene. “I can’t believe you wouldn’t consider an assistant to be moved up.”
He said that Newsom didn’t apply because his boss, late George Touart, had done so. “It would be a fool and an ungrateful person to put his name in the hate knowing his boss wanted the job.”
Then Wilson took a “shot” at Grover, saying he would not support Brown because: “I don’t want two FAC members running this county.”
FAC is the Florida Association of Counties. Robinson is the incoming president. Brown serves on the FAC Board of Directors.
Robinson said that he felt two commissioners (Wilson and Gene) were trying to impose their will on the county. “Larry has already been asked to push projects forward that he disagrees with.”
Wilson then accused Robinson of personally recruiting Brown for the county administrator position. He said that Brown had applied after the deadline for applications, hinting that he had been given preferential treatment.
County Human Resources Director Tom Turner was called to the podium. He said that Brown had applied after the original deadline last July, but that the consultant, The Waters Consulting Group, had reopened the process. He didn’t have the specifics of their deadlines.
When Robinson tried to read an email from the consultant to him and Turner about the deadlines, Valentino shouted him down.
He told Chairman May, “Tell him (Grover) to shut up.” When Robinson tried to continue, Valentino added, I’m not interested with your answer, I want the truth.”
Here is the email that Robinson eventually read into the record:
From: Andrea Sims >
Date: February 10, 2014, 4:58:52 PM CST
To: “Grover C. Robinson” >
Cc: “Thomas G. Turner” >
Subject: ConfirmationCommissioner Robinson,
This is to confirm that all 5 final candidates submitted their materials to our firm in a timely manner and are in good standing as finalists. We are continuing to complete the references, there will be an additional media check closer to the timing of the final interview, currently scheduled on Thursday, March 13th.
The updated media checks and references will be handed to Tom Turner the week of the final interviews. Let me know if you have any further questions.
Best regards, I look forward to seeing you all in March.
Andrea
Andrea Battle Sims
Senior Consultant
The email didn’t satisfy Valentino and May appeared to waiver, saying that he was worried not that having a firm validation of that Brown got his application in on time put a cloud over any BCC vote.
Robinson suggested that Turner call Ms. Sims during the meeting, but the chairman rejected that idea. Turner did say that he had no doubts that the Waters process was good.
Robinson was visibly upset: “I can’t believe that, at the 11th hour, 59th minute, we would disqualify someone.” He felt under attack from Robertson and Valentino.
“This is the wrong way we’re doing business,” he said, “We knock people when we don’t get our way.”
Robinson did make a motion to offer the job to Jack Brown, but later withdrew it when he became clear that May preferred delaying the matter two weeks to give Turner time to get confirmation on the deadlines.
In the end, the BCC voted 5-0 to delay the vote until the April 3 regular meeting.