Venice on the web
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City employee singled out for disciplinary write-up by utilities supervisors for supporting Marty Black
Council had already warned the supervisors not to take such actions; "Do these people not learn?" one city official wonders
-- John Patten, 01/31/04, revised 02/01/04
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

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73 to 1 odds
Out of the 73+ employees that participated in a petition to council in favor of the appointment of Marty Black as city manager, one employee has been singled out, verbally counseled and written up for her participation in the petition drive.

One.

The disciplinary write-up was handed out despite a specific warning that City Councilman John Simmonds issued publicly and on the record. At the January 27 council meeting, Simmonds stated that he had heard rumors that city workers were being disciplined for their participation in the creation and distribution of the petition. Simmonds went on to say that he hoped that cooler heads higher up the ladder would put a stop to any potential punishments.

During the two days following Simmonds' statements, city utilities worker Stacy McKenzie was given a verbal counseling and a cautionary write-up by utilities supervisor Chris Sharek. No other employee on the city's payroll was given any similar treatment, despite the massive participation of other city workers in the creation and distribution of the petition. Sharek has reportedly stated that he handed out the write-up under direct orders from Utilities Director John Lane. Other sources have stated that the order likely came from Lane's second in command, Patricia 'Pat' Wilson.

McKenzie had reportedly asked for signatures on the petition during a lunch break. Additionally, she reportedly faxed a copy of the petition to another city office from where she works in the utilities department, which would have cost the city nothing in phone charges and a total of one piece of normal copy paper in materials.

Sharek, Lane and Wilson were all present at the January 27 council meeting. While Lane and Wilson were in the audience when Simmonds spoke of his concerns on the matter, it is not known if Sharek was in the room during Simmonds' comments.

When first told about the existence of the write-up by Venice Florida! dot com, one city official wondered in disgust, "Do these people not learn?"

Possible retaliation due to McKenzie's involvement in the Foglietta case? Maybe, maybe not... but just in case...
The write-up, entitled "Discussion Summary" and signed by both McKenzie and Sharek, accuses McKenzie of

(1) Soliciting signatures for petitions while on city premises, but NOT during working hours (lunch);
(2) Misuse of city equipment (fax machine); however no written policy is in place against personal use.

Other than the write-up and accompanying verbal warning, no punishment has been proposed or taken against McKenzie. No other employees who participated in the signing and distribution of the petition were given any similar treatment.

In addition to discussing the petition, knowledgeable sources have stated that McKenzie was questioned about possible ties to this web site. Specifically, McKenzie was reportedly asked if she had leaked information to Venice Florida! dot com about the identity of a woman who dropped off a packet of documents critical of Marty Black to this web site (see Blacklash article). McKenzie reportedly denied any knowledge or involvement in any leaks to this site. The implication was abundantly clear: the write-up and accompanying conversation had little to do with the petition and everything to do with the control of information. Whether they had proof or not, McKenzie was suspected of being a media leak and the powers that be in the utilities department wanted a chance at clawing at her.

McKenzie is a material witness in the criminal battery case against former VHA Chairman Joseph Foglietta. Foglietta is currently facing a charge of battery in misdemeanor court, where he has just recently entered a plea of not guilty in the case. A pre-trial conference between Foglietta's attorney Robert Harrison and the State Attorney's Office is currently scheduled for March 02, 2004. McKenzie is one of two city employees who witnessed the Foglietta incident and made statements to police.

McKenzie, it turns out, was reportedly never asked about the Foglietta case during her disciplinary counseling. Nevertheless, when it was first learned that McKenzie had been singled out for possible punishment out of a pool of 73+ employees, I raised concerns with the city about the possibility of intimidation and witness tampering in the Foglietta case. In an e-mail sent in the evening hours of January 28 to Marty Black, I wrote in part:

"...It would be preferable if you or your office could inquire as to the status of any pending disciplinary matters against [McKenzie] with an eye towards the possibility that her treatment may be motivated as retaliatory due to statements that she has made to the police and to the State Attorney's Office."

The e-mail was also sent to John Simmonds, Pat Wilson, Stacy McKenzie, City Clerk Lori Stelzer (for archival purposes) and Herb Levine, president of the Venice Taxpayers League.

Levine's first comment after reading the e-mail was, "Wait a minute -- they wrote her up for sending a single fax for personal reasons and her boss gets away with charging a couple of thousand dollars worth of personal phone bills to the city? What's wrong with this picture?"

Levine was referring to admissions made by the city that Pat Wilson had been using her city-issued cell phone for personal long-distance calls.

Black responded early the next day that he was aware of the matter and was looking into it. He indicated that any disciplinary action taken against McKenzie in the matter will be rescinded. Black promised full disclosure in the resolution of this matter, stating that "the City will address the issue in a positive, open manner."

Black and the city are continuing to look into the matter as of this writing.

Why this all really happened -- the story behind the story
The political subterfuge in Venice has never been as down and dirty as it has been in the past few months. With the EPA criminal investigation getting closer and closer to home, with the departure of former City Manager George Hunt, and with a council that has given every indication that it is not happy with the utilities department as it is being presently run, John Lane and Pat Wilson have increasingly found themselves under tighter and tighter siege conditions. With Hunt's protection gone, the last person on earth that Wilson and Lane wanted to see ending up as his replacement was Marty Black. The idea that workers under their supervision would dare to undermine them by openly pleading with council to hire Black as city manager simply became unendurable.

Thus, the write-up of McKenzie was nothing less than a case of blindingly stupid job rage on the part of either Wilson or Lane or both, with Sharek willingly or unwillingly playing the part of the punisher.

Other signs of cracks in the protective walls were already evident in the week's events. At the same January 27 council meeting mentioned earlier, Wilson and her attorney, Mark Froman, made an open appeal to council to pick up the tab on legal fees that she and fellow utilities supervisors Shane Saputo and John Saputo incurred in fighting a disciplinary action that the city had taken against them last year. Wilson stated that Hunt had promised the reimbursement on several occasions and that he had been waiting for the right time to approach council with the request. Wilson wanted to be paid by Friday, January 30, which was, not coincidentally, Hunt's last day in office.

According to print news accounts, Hunt subsequently denied he had ever made such a promise. In sharp contrast to Hunt's subsequent denials, Wilson made repeated entreaties to council to call for Hunt and bring him into the council meeting to verify that what she was stating about his promises were true: "Mr. Hunt has asked to be summoned from his office if you have any questions or if you would like for him to go on record..." In fact, Wilson stated that her presentation that day was being made at Hunt's request. With Hunt just down the hall from council chambers, it is unlikely that Wilson was making any of this up.

Council barely blinked at Wilson's request to summon Hunt into the meeting. Hunt remained an absent figure, apparently exiled from the council meeting in its entirety, the last council meeting that would take place under his reign as city manager.

Mayor Calamaras offered some support, stating that reimbursement for legal expenses should be looked at, citing ethics complaints pending with the Florida Commission on Ethics against himself, Wilson and two other city officials.

At Simmonds' behest, City Attorney Bob Anderson then spoke up. Anderson stated that there was precedence for reimbursing employees for legal expenses but that each situation needed to be closely looked at on a case-by-case basis. Anderson warned that the city didn't want to get into a situation where they were using public funds for private purposes in violation of the Florida Constitution.

Anderson promised he would look at the cases and make a recommendation, but he said it wouldn't be as soon as Wilson and company wanted: "I took a look at it and it was submitted to [Hunt] in August of last year, so if it's gonna take me more than a couple of weeks, it's gonna take me more than a couple of weeks -- my plate is pretty full. It's waited this long, it can wait a little longer."

Which was not what Wilson wanted to hear. She wanted the funds before Hunt left office. A wait of several weeks to a couple of months for an answer meant the city was saying one thing: don't call us, we'll call you. Maybe.

Marty Black sat over this meeting in the city manager's chair, dispassionate and silent on the matter. Less than an hour before, a vote had been taken that resulted in his appointment as interim city manager with promises to make the appointment permanent within a few weeks. In the meantime, he was still the deputy city manager and he would still be under Hunt's authority for a few more days. This was Hunt's mess, not his, and although he would undoubtedly have to clean it up at a later date, this was clearly not the place or time for Black to say anything on the matter.

Ouch
And so a humiliated Pat Wilson left the council meeting feeling betrayed by council and Hunt. Someone would have to pay a price in some way. That someone ended up being Stacy McKenzie, an overall bad choice for a sacrificial lamb, especially on such thin grounds and with such a miserably lame disciplinary write-up.

McKenzie is reportedly one of the more beloved people on the city payroll. She's been described as quiet, unassuming and a hard worker. "All the guys watch over Stacy, they've all kind of adopted her," one source told Venice Florida! dot com. "She doesn't want to get messed up in all this political stuff, she mostly just wants to do her job and go home. All of the guys are pissed off that she's getting treated this way, that she got singled out for something that everyone was doing."

Aside from that and the fact that she is a witness in the Foglietta incident, there's one more reason that Lane, Wilson and Sharek may have bitten off more than they can chew by messing with McKenzie: she's the daughter of the city's deputy finance director, Joanne Lounsbury, one of the top administrative officials in the city. Lounsbury has always seemed to be fair and good-natured, but even a casual conversation with her leaves you with one impression -- this is not somebody you want to be on the bad side of, this is somebody you want to keep happy.

The odds are pretty good right now that Joanne Lounsbury is not happy.

Ouch.

This hurt is gonna leave a mark.