Dennis "Mitch" Maley
BRADENTON – At Tuesday's meeting, Manatee County Commissioners are set to vote on whether to retain County Administrator Scott Hopes at a salary increase of more than $23,000. The vote follows an explosive weekend in which the county clerk/comptroller and board chair feuded publicly on the matter and political operatives launched an attack campaign against the clerk.
On Friday,
TBT broke the news of Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Angel Colonneso sending the county commission
a letter detailing broad concerns over the chaos caused by rapid turnover and reorganization since Hopes took over as county administrator in late May of 2021, after the board reneged on its pledge to conduct a national search for the best-qualified candidate following a political coup of sorts, in which a new four-commissioner majority moved to fire Hopes’ predecessor, Cheri Coryea.
Colonneso also referenced serious fiscal concerns, including that the county seemed to be trying to "mirror“ what would have been its payment into the Florida Retirement System for Deputy County Administrator Rob Reishuttle into a deferred compensation account because he had already retired from a state position with FRS benefits. Colonneso said that such a policy decision could only be made by the board, which had never voted on the matter.
Reinshuttle was brought on by Hopes, who has expanded the number of deputies from two to four, each of whom has a base salary of $182,000. The board’s previous two experienced deputies left following the board’s sacking of Coryea. John Osborne headed to the private sector just before Hopes took over, and Karen Stewart put in for retirement shortly after. In all, 590 of the county’s just over 2,000 employees quit, retired, or were terminated since Hopes took over the role.
Board chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge, who led the push to hire Hopes, sent out a
politically-charged statement on Saturday, attempting to link Colonesso, a fellow Republican, to Democratic President Joe Biden, while accusing her of actions that "resulted in the loss of millions of taxpayer dollars“ and using the issue to draw attention away from the matter. Van Ostenbridge was apparently referring to one of the county’s investment funds, in which the comptroller opted to realize a loss when the market dipped so that the funds could be reinvested in investment vehicles that had more favorable outlooks.
"In the first quarter of this year, the Florida Local Government Investment Trust (FLGIT) Short Term Bond Fund within our portfolio incurred a loss of $1.5 million,“ wrote Colonneso in a response letter to the chair. "This was due to the nature of the fund which is based on net asset value per share given the current market. This is .1% of the total portfolio that my office oversees. As the investment analyst explained to your administrator during our meeting on May 19, 2022, the economic downturn that has taken place this year is unprecedented and the likes of which has not been seen in 100 years. This was not unique to Manatee County. In an effort to prevent further loss in this specific investment fund, we chose to take immediate action and sell the shares in this fund, recognize the loss and reinvest that money in another fund based upon the expectations that rates would rise, which they have. Our year-to-date interest as of April 30, 2022, now stands at $550,000 and we are projecting approximately $3 million in total interest earnings by the end of this fiscal year.“
Click
here to read the letter in full.
Colonneso also referenced the fact that even though Hopes’ current contract gives him a $450 monthly stipend in addition to his salary for driving his personal vehicle to and from work, he is apparently using a $46,000 Chevrolet Tahoe that was ostensibly purchased as a vehicle for the county pool after Hopes was hired but seems to be serving as his personal vehicle. Colonneso said that in addition to the conflict of getting compensated for use of the vehicle, the board should consider the cost of fueling a large SUV for such use, given record gas prices.
Hopes was originally hired at a $199,000 base salary, but that rose just months later when he gave every county employee,
including himself, a percentage-based cost of living adjustment that brought his pay to $206,752. The board was not aware of this until the story was reported by this publication. Hopes' new contract, if approved, would bring his base salary to $230,000, much more than any administrator in Manatee has ever made, despite Hopes being considerably less qualified than his predecessors. It would also replace the car allowance with a vehicle, presumably the Tahoe, and automatically renew each year, in perpetuity, unless the board took action. Hopes current contract expires June 1.
On Monday morning, Manatee County Concerned Citizens, an opaque and shadowy group that sends communications that seem aimed at
providing cover for the developer-sponsored candidates that dominate the board, sent out a misleading alert to county Republicans. The email read:
You've probably never heard of Angel Colonneso but here's 1.5 million reasons why you won't forget her.
As a fellow concerned citizen in Manatee County, we thought it of the utmost importance to let you know about a new scandal in which our County Clerk, Angel Colonneso decided to "day trade" with YOUR hard earned money - and lost $1.5 Million of it!
Colonneso, in the same letter, admitted to not hiring a certified financial advisor to oversee billions in Manatee County Taxpayer Funds. It's simply financial mismanagement at best and gross negligence at its worst.
Any elected official who admits to such a gaffe should resign immediately so we need your help.
Click here and tell Angel Colonneso to RESIGN:
The hyperlink opens the user's email and populates a draft with Colonneso’s address pre-filled and the following pre-written text:
Dear Madame Clerk,
I demand as a taxpayer that you resign today over your mismanagement and fiscally irresponsibility.
Thank You.
Initially, it seemed as though the group was tied to a political consulting firm used by developer PACs and the board majority that fired Coryea, as the address listed was traced to one of the firm’s partners. The day after that information was shared to a private Facebook group, however, Steve Vernon, Chair of the Manatee County Republican Party’s Executive Committee, claimed that he was behind the group and the address was changed to 824 Manatee Ave W, Bradenton, FL 34205, and remained so in Monday's email. However, as TBT has previously pointed out, that is the address for the downtown Bradenton branch of the U.S. Postal Service.
The meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. in the commission chambers and will be televised locally on Spectrum channel 644, Verizon channel 30 and Comcast channel 20, or can be streamed live or watched afterward, on-demand, via the county's
YouTube channel.
Comments
No comments on this item
Only paid subscribers can comment
Please log in to comment by clicking here.