Apopka's Anderson collects nearly $350,000 in unused sick, vacation time

[Baitball Blogger]

The city of Apopka on Wednesday paid former Chief Administrative Officer Richard Anderson $346,665 in unused vacation time, personal days and sick leave as part of his retirement package.

The payout did not include Anderson's two city pensions — one as fire chief and the other as a city administrator. It came a week after Mayor Joe Kilsheimer and the City Council approved a new two-year personal-services contract with Anderson that will pay him $528,000 plus expenses to serve as a consultant and the city's lobbyist in Tallahassee and Washington.

snip


Anderson's employment agreement with the city, which guaranteed the payouts, was signed in June 2011 by Land and former City Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher but never presented to the City Council, according to Arrowsmith and a review of City Council minutes.

Kilsheimer said the agreement was reviewed by new City Attorney Cliff Shepard, who decided it was legally binding.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-apopka-richard-anderson-pay-20140925-story.html

I guess there isn't a clause in Apopka's City Charter stating that the power of the city is in the hands of the Commission.

[onethatcares]

1. well,

I could see paying him $528K if he could be in Tallahassee and Washington at the same time on the same day at the same minute and hour, but the question is still,

WHERE THE HELL DOES APOPKA COME UP WITH $500K TO PAY A LOBBYIST AND FOR WHAT?

[Baitball Blogger]

2. It's not difficult to do the math if you know the main factors.

I see similarities in what is happening in Apopka that occurred in Winter Springs in the late nineties. We had the same local lawyers embedded in our community, as the ones who are influencing Apopka's future. It begins by pumping up the salary for the City Manager, since he will be the front man for the city's projects.

Without knowing anything about Apopka, I can guess that there are large projects looming in the near future.

If Apopka follows the same pattern, next you'll see a slothing off of ethical practices as the city seeks to network through public-private partnerships. The CM will reach out to the private sector and will discuss public business in meetings held by private organizations, giving those people an advantage over everyone else in the city. They're going to get more than a sneak preview. To curry support for the city's programs, the squeaky wheels will be vetted out to determine if they can be turned.

In order to be successful with the big projects, a lot of small indiscretions are likely to occur as the city works to earn their trust and support. For example, expect due diligence practices to take a hit as programs sail through the city council meeting without proper legal research, or without proper duly noticed meetings. It will be two years after the fact before you see the correlation between "mistakes" made by the city to the benefit of their most ardent supporters--who may have been community activists in their past lives.

Look to the County meetings to find where commissioners who serve on the County boards might cross paths with some interesting people, like their own city attorneys who are there to represent private clients. This is where it will get interesting, especially if the city attorney shows no resolve to correct the commissioners lack of ethical standards at the local level.

It has happened before, and it can happen again because no one was severely reprimanded for the improprieties that occurred in Winter Springs.