City Manager Vitas agrees to leave…with money

 

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

With stunning speed, city manager Bob Vitas has been ousted from his position by mutual agreement over a hiring dispute.

 

According to documents released Friday, Vitas has agreed to a separation agreement rather than face a vote of no confidence that City Commissioner Tony Yaniz said he would bring up at today’s special meeting. If a majority of commissioners voted against Vitas, firing him either with or without cause was the next step.

 

Rather than go through what could have been protracted litigation, a separation agreement was hammered out between the city and Vitas that would pay him $120,000 to cancel his contract, which expires June 15, 2015. Vitas has been Key West City Manager for the past two years.

 

According to a memo sent Friday by City Attorney Shawn Smith, the separation agreement, if approved by commissioners today, would pay Vitas for 18 weeks, including $64,176.84 in salary and $5,714.80 in benefits Vitas would earn in those 18 weeks. Vitas, like any city employee who retires, resigns or otherwise leaves his job, is also entitled to be paid for accrued and unused leave time, as well as a return of the money he paid into the city’s pension fund. All together, the payouts total $120,000.

 

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the separation agreement at today’s special meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. It is believed Vitas will not attend the meeting. A memo to commissioners from Smith, who has clashed with Vitas recently, outlined the risks of firing Vitas.

 

““Firing the manager without cause would result in extended and expensive litigation. It is in the city and community’s best interest to bring the current turmoil to an end in this fashion, and move forward in a much more positive and constructive effort,” Smith said in his memo.

 

Smith’s public condemnation of Vitas at the June 17 commission meeting over a hiring dispute put the wheels in motion for Vitas’ departure. The dispute began when Smith, who has been the city’s top lawyer since 2006, told commissioners that under the terms of his contract, they needed to tell him by Aug. 23 whether or not they intend to renew his contract, which expires in December. That prompted Commissioner Yaniz to ask Smith point blank whether he wanted to stay on as city attorney. In a surprising response, Smith said he was “not all that inclined” to stay on.

 

“I’ve watched the city spiral downward and it’s troubling and it hurts me,” he told city commissioners, choking back tears.

 

Smith did not go into detail on what he believes is causing the “spiral downward,” but other commissioners spoke heatedly about the difficulty Smith and Vitas have had in working together. The most recent example, they said, was the fact Vitas hired retiring Assistant City Manager David Fernandez back as a contract employee overseeing the utilities projects currently under the direction of Utilities Manager Jay Gewin. Gewin, who made $61,000 a year, is resigning effective July 3.

 

Vitas has signed a contract with Fernandez for almost double Gewin’s salary – the contract would pay Fernandez $113,000 a year for five years, with benefits – and did so without running that contract past Smith’s office. When Vitas defended the move by saying the city charter gives him the authority to hire, fire and promote employees, the usually controlled Smith accused Vitas of making a “bold-faced false statement to this commission.”

 

Commissioners are also scheduled at today’s special meeting to vote to void the contract with Fernandez because it was executed by the city manager “without authority” and also violates state budgeting law. A majority of the commissioners and Mayor Craig Cates said at the June 17 meeting they favored invalidating the contract. City Commissioner Teri Johnston was Vitas’ lone supporter, saying he had the authority to hire and fire city staff and that the commission had “micromanaged” Vitas since he took over.

 

If commissioners vote today to accept the separation agreement with Vitas, Shawn Smith would become interim city manager until a new top administrator can be hired.

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