From the perspective of education and work history, Mayor Hayward’s hiring of Tamara Fountain as his Communications Administrator, at a salary above the market, doesn’t make sense.
But it does if she was hired to help him win a second term.
In other words, Hayward brought in Fountain to fine-tune his image and craft city communications for his personal benefit.
Fountain’s prior work experience was managing “all aspects of multiple political campaigns,†according to her resume.
Prior to Hayward hiring her as a city vendor to provide “Communication Services†in November 2012, Fountain ran two campaigns. Judge Mary Polson paid her $23,000 from 11/27/11 to 4/26/12 for a circuit judge race where Polson had no opposition.
Then Fountain moved over to help Judge Terry Ketchel who had a race against Thomas Murphy. Ketchel paid Fountain $10,000. Ketchel, an incumbent, won easily.
Fountain was a campaign manager, though only one for less than a year. Her two campaigns required little expertise.
Then Fountain arrived at City Hall. Her Contract with the city of Pensacola, under her company TWF LLC, was for $60,000.
From 11/27/11 to 7/29/12, Fountain made $33,000 working on two campaigns. The city contract, for vague services and no timetable, was nearly double what she made the prior eight months.
On July 1, 2013, Fountain moved from vendor to employee. She was hired as Communications Administrator, with no experience in marketing, public relations, media or public administration. She was not required to submit a resume or go through a background check. The position was not advertised. Her starting salary: $84,988.80–a salary more than the Escambia County’s Public Information Manager’s, who had 25 years experience in the field.
Two weeks later, Mayor Ashton Hayward pre-files for a second term and begins collecting contributions.
As the Mayor’s campaign heats up, Fountain is given a 17-percent raise, increasing her salary to $100,006—$20,000 more than her county counterpart. There is no explanation or job performance evaluation in her personnel folder to justify the raise.
However, the paperwork is odd. The form, PF-501 Recommendation for Personnel Action (TF raise), has an effective date of Jan. 1, 2014, but the mayor did not sign it until March 7, 2014. Human Resources Administrator Edward Sisson did not approve it until March 11, 2014.
Three days after the PF-501 was signed by the mayor, Inweekly finds out that the mayor has hired Data Targeting to help with his campaign, the same political firm used by Judge Ketchel in his 2012 campaign.
In August, Colleen Castille is told her services are no longer needed. Fountain becomes Chief Operations Officer. Her Initiatives Coordinator, Eric Olson, is promoted to Assistant City Administrator. Fountain is paid an additional $700 a week to help share City Administrator duties. Those stipends don’t end until March 31, 2015.
No national search is done to replace Castille.
In March 2015, Olson is made City Administrator. His salary is $133,000, $3K more that his predecessors, Bill Reynolds and Castille. Fountain is given a $15,000 raise, increasing her salary to $114,982.
With no more campaigns to run, Fountain is given control of Pensacola Energy, Port of Pensacola and Pensacola International Airport. She keeps control of Constituent Services, Technology Services and Human Resources—in other words, public records, websites, social media, personnel and access to all employees’ emails.
We have heard Mayor Hayward may call a press conference today or tomorrow. He will either defend his leadership team or announce changes.
Either way, there are some questions that must be answered, and another press release won’t suffice.