Century split over interim city manager

In a vote of 4 to 1 Monday night, Vernon Prather was approved to be Century's Interim City Manager until Dec. 1, 2020, with Councilman James Smith voicing concern about the money involved.

The contract calls for 30 hours a week at a salary of $40 an hour,, or $1200 a week, with no benefits and $600 a month for vehicle allowance.

Former Interim City Manager Buz Eddy said Prather would work for the town as a 1099 employee, a contractor, which reduces the town's liability and expenses. He said periodic evaluation is part of the contract, but Eddy said that the council will be evaluating Prather at every council meeting.

“Feedback from the council will be crucial,” said Eddy.

“How can we account for him working 30 hours?,” asked Councilman James Smith. “So he'll be working 10 hours less than a full time job and he's still making ridiculous amounts, where we could be having three more employees to work that will help take care of the stuff we are stuck with. We're giving it to one guy and we're still going to be stuck.”

Smith also questioned the $600 vehicle allowance, and told the council he thinks the town is still getting robbed.

“I don't like it. I've got a huge problem with it. We do not need a city manager, especially for this price” said Smith. “This is Century. How are we going to support this budget? It doesn't make sense to me.”

Smith said he is not comfortable with the proposal, emphasizing that the grand jury findings were only a recommendation.

Prather had been making $35 an hour for 25 hours a week working for the town, but he said he routinely works 30 hours and turns in for 25 hours.

“You're taking away peoples' livelihood because you're trying to mini-mafia people,” said Smith. “You guys want to do things completely the wrong way. Here we are already trying to get out of a hole, and here he comes and wants like $100,000 to do what we need, but no he can't.”

Eddy said that if the council had chosen a candidate from the pool of applications for city manager submitted in July, if the applicant pool would have been decent enough to pick from, the town would be paying a lot more than that.

“I feel like Mr. Prather's strengths are what he brings to our gas, water and waster water departments, more so than what he brings as an interim city manager,” said Councilwoman Ann Brooks. “I think we really need him to head our gas and water and waste water departments, given all the problems we have there, I would really be very concerned about going forward and tackling the problems we have without someone with his qualifications leading us.”

Councilman Luis Gomez addressed Councilman Smith's concerns.

“I've been on this council almost three years, there's a lot of stuff that has been neglected in this town.” said Gomez. “We have a grand jury that tried to destroy us, but it actually helped us. It's bigger than the people at this table, so we called in people who are more familiar with it. We don't even have a city manager position, the citizens of Century will determine that when they do this new charter, but we do have flaws we discover new, and we need to tackle these problems. What do you think we need to do?”

Smith said to get rid of the city manager role, citing that the gas department has not moved forward since he has asked for reports in past meetings.

Prather said he began in July, and since, many meters, residential and commercial, have been replaced.

He talked about the financial impact of the prison and the audits of past records are in need of evaluation. Eddy said being short-staffed in the town has not helped the situation. Smith then suggested hiring three people to help instead of hiring Prather as a city manager.

Brooks asked CPA Robert Hudson about the salary of the former gas superintendent, Wally Kellett.

Hudson said Kellett got $45,000 plus $600 a month to write reports, a vehicle and other benefits, like retirement, insurance, coming to about $65,000.

Discussion about who is qualified to do what is needed to move the town forward, from the asset management plan to grant writing, prompted Councilwoman Sandra McMurray Jackson to remind the council what Prather can bring to the town.

“We've had people come and go, that we thought were qualified,” said Jackson. “You have to pay. If you take the cheap route out, you get just what you get. Everything is trial and error. We've learned from our mistakes, you can hire 20 people, but if they can't do what needs to be done here, we are still right back where we started from. This man not only has the educational background, but he has the work experience. Work experience is very important. Therefore, we can continue to talk about this, Vernon is what we have. We're going to take what we've got and work with it. Then, there may come a point in time, where if we need the workers, hire them, but they are not qualified to be in his position.” Jackson emphasized that he has the work experience to benefit Century in it's progress.

“Nobody wants to come to Century to do anything because of the publicity and the arguing at the table,'” added Jackson. “We've got to give him a chance. We've already given everyone else a chance. So give him a chance. We are trying to solve and correct problems. We need to give this man a chance, the opportunity to help us get from point A to point B.”

In a motion made by Gomez and seconded by Jackson. The motion carried, except for Councilman Smith, who voted no.

In other business, the council:

-Approved Town Planner Debbie Nickles' recommendation that she prepare an Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) and EAR-based amendments, including glitch amendments to the Future Land Use Map since adoption of the town's comprehensive plan, for a fee of $2,500 from planning funds.

-Tabled the mayor's signing of a contract between Escarosa and the town to set up in Century City Hall until the town attorney can review the agreement and change the language

-Approved Florida Rural Water Association (FRWA) request to perform a water and wastewater rate study free to the town that will include the prison, which was not included in the last rate study.

-Approved FRWA to perform and present to the council an Asset Management Plan for the town's water system, including fire hydrants, to repair and maintain the system, as required to apply for and receive future grants and loans.