Venice on the web
A semi-regular column

This week on The George Hunt Show:
Meet me at the corner of John Ln and Wilson Way
A flustered George tries to tighten the belt on spending while that wacky pollution control gang sneaks an unauthorized invoice for fake street signs into purchasing; hilarity ensues

-- John Patten, 05/25/03, revised 05/27/03
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

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Related:
Resident says street signs are demoralizing
Venice Gondolier Sun, 05/28/03
Street signs to ignore
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 05/28/03

Write-ups written off
On Wednesday, May 21, the city's risk manager, Jane O'Connor, met with Pollution Control head John Lane, Mike Temple of the Tampa branch of the workers' AFSCME union, and the workers and supervisors of the city's pollution control division. At issue was the ongoing dissension among the rank and file. Numerous personnel disciplinary write-ups and subsequent grievances filed by workers were disposed of as unwarranted, approximately 30 of them according to one witness: "You tear up the write-up, and there's no grievance about the write-up."

The write-ups and grievances were all relating to events that have happened since last year's ill-famed city investigation into charges of abuse aimed at pollution supervisors Pat Wilson, John Saputo, Shane Saputo and John Brennan.

As an example of how petty the disciplinary actions have become of late: one employee was given a disciplinary write-up solely for filing a prior grievance, and the subsequent disciplinary write-up was reportedly documented as such. That particular write-up has gained near-legendary status over the past months within city circles as a glaring example of City Manager George Hunt's failure to make any effective positive changes in the beleaguered department since last year's troubles. It also was one of the first write-ups to get tossed at Wednesday's meeting.

It's the Wilson Way or the...
Meanwhile, that wacky pollution control gang has let Venice citizens and the pollution control workers know in no uncertain terms who really owns the division. In an expensive and unauthorized variant of vanity license plates, street signs were ordered from a city vendor with the words 'John Ln' (for division head John Lane), 'Wilson Way' (for supervisor Pat Wilson) and Hypo Road (a reference to chemicals used in waste processing).

The street signs were installed earlier this month along unnamed access roads within the fenced-in pollution control grounds at the Eastside Water Treatment facility, which is located near the intersection of Jacaranda Blvd. and I-75.

The pollution control division ordered the street signs, at least five of them, from the city's street sign vendor. The bill was submitted to purchasing for payment, tucked in with other 'landscaping' purchases, and was subsequently denied for payment. According to sources, a memo from purchasing directed the supervisor(s?) responsible for ordering the signs to pay the bill for the signs out of their own pockets as the city wasn't about to. Venice Florida! dot com is attempting to obtain a copy of that memo and the invoice.

Hunt reportedly received a copy of the memo. No disciplinary action is being considered at this time for the unauthorized purchase or the attempt to sneak it through purchasing for payment, nor is there any investigation underway on the incident.

According to sources, a benevolent pollution control vendor has agreed to pay the bill as a 'gift' to the citizens of Venice. As to who paid for the poles (not cheap) and the installation of the signs, well, take a guess. Just a wild one.

For at least a few workers in the pollution control division, the signs are totems of ownership, a painful reminder of who is really in charge.

Who is really in charge? Hint: as evidenced by the existence of the signs, it isn't council or George Hunt. Hunt has thrown in the towel on trying to control the unruly division. Under mounting pressure from an ongoing EPA criminal investigation that has been kept deliberately low on the public radar, is talking about privatizing the department. The official reasons given by Hunt for privatization (and dutifully reported as such in the local papers) have been economic issues.

This comes at a time when Hunt is spending $12,000 for marketing materials to try to push a $10 million bond issue before the voters. As additional incentive, Hunt is adding major hype to the bond issue by announcing hiring freezes, budget cuts and other drastic measures to try to stop newly anticipated fiscal hemorrhaging.

Can you say PR fiasco?

Hilarity ensues.