Commissioners were notified late this afternoon that both of Escambia County Clerk of the Court Pam Childers' motions for summary judgment in the Escambia County 401(a) lawsuit were denied by Circuit Court Judge William Stone.
Denied.
These motions have been before the court for several months and this is a huge loss for the clerk and a big win for Escambia County--- and paves the way for this case to move forward to trial.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I do not take the 401(a)--I take the FRS pension plan, which I joined when I was on the school board beginning in 2006. So I have no "dog in the hunt" as it relates to the 401(a) plan issue. But what I do have is a philosophical disagreement with the politicization and subsequent weaponization of this issue by the clerk via her unilateral decision to summarily stop paying these amounts---after she paid them, business as usual, for years and years. Suddenly, coincidentally after rumors and hearsay that someone allegedly called her an unflattering name---then suddenly this plan, in her opinion, was/is ILLEGAL!! This plan is not illegal, her legal opinions were weak and this situation is purely political and an attempted power game, so far as I can tell.
Read both of the orders from Judge Stone below...
11 comments:
Nothing about this is a big win for Escambia County. The only winners here are Steven Barry, Robert Bender, Lumon May, and above all your ego. Overwhelmingly citizens of this county are against this plan but you four have plowed ahead.
I think what voters care about more is getting back to the issues and finally moving on from this HR foolishness. Not for nothing, but many successful organizations offer a more robust benefits package to senior employees in or to entice and retain top quality leadership. If we want to keep beating this dead horse and caring about issues that don’t affect our daily lives I don’t think we can complain much about nothing else getting done around here. Ask district 2 how that’s worked out. But that’s fine by me too, I’m in district 1 and don’t mind benefiting from the fact our district has a commissioner who can actually get things done and not just complain. And if the Clerk doesn’t like how the commission is performing maybe she should run for commissioner instead? If not, maybe she should just do her job.
@Anonymous
Some citizens are always against local politicians being paid or having benefits, but that typically is unfulfilled wannabes who lack the courage, will and most likely intellect to handle the job. So please, run against one of these people and pledge you won’t take a salary (as it’s part time) or health care or a retirement. We need good people to lead our communities and choice is good for democracy. So please, by all means, participate by running. There are 3 commission positions that are open to election. Just do it, as Nike says.
I have no issue with my commissioner- my roads get paved, I have good drainage, and street lights, I’ve got no reason to run. And if you want only wealthy elites who don’t care about the people to be elected, your idea about not paying anything sounds like a great way to do it!
So basically she could probably stop the lawsuit now by agreeing to start the payments again while getting personally sued for financial damages, or she can wait and get personally sued for more later.
Why would she care how much taxpayer money she pisses away? She is bonded and is making a nice fat retirement out of BOTH the City and the County.
I wonder, though, if a clerical "mistake" is ever so egregious that it violates the terms of the bond? If there were ever a case, this might surely be it.
Madam Clerk’s courageous resistance against some of the malfeasance exhibited by our County Commission is nothing less than inspiring.
Most Escambia citizens don’t receive a pension, but Commissioner Barry receives a generous public pension of approximately 11%. Mr. Barry wanted more - much more.
Apparently, Mr. Barry, who moonlights as a personal financial advisor, regrets his previous decision to participate in the FRS. There are only two pension options, but Mr. Barry apparently regrets his choice.
Mr. Barry scapegoated Escambia County staff. Scapegoating others for his own poor decisions is commonplace for Mr. Barry.
Mr. Barry switched pension plans and then attempted to fleece the citizens out of an additional $226,700 retroactively. But Mr. Barry’s malfeasance did not stop there.
Mr. Barry attempted to discover the identity of a private citizen who had made an anonymous public records request. Barry used Attorney Rogers to demand that citizen’s I.P. address from the Escambia I.T. Director, Bart Siders. My understanding is that Mr. Siders resigned rather than reveal that citizen’s identity. So Mr. Barry’s malfeasance cost an outstanding staff member his job.
Former Administrator, Janice Gilley, was also terminated by Mr. Barry and Mr. Barry’s unethical allies on the Commission. Ms. Gilley had attempted to solicit an opinion from the Florida Attorney General. Ms. Gilley could not, in good conscience, condone Mr. Barry’s blatant malfeasance.
Thank goodness that Ms. Childers has refused to condone the dishonorable actions of Commissioner Barry. We still have some public servants with integrity.
Our commissioners are harassing, Ms. Childers. While the commissioners are suing Madam Clerk for REFUSING to fully fund their extravagant pensions; the commissioners’ appointees on the TDC, paradoxically, have been harassing Ms. Childers for NOT refusing to pay tourism expenses approved by the Commission.
Escambia County politics is frequently bewildering.
I’m disappointed in Commissioner Jeff Bergosh for clearly taking the low road in this scandal. Jeff has the talent to be a positive change agent in Escambia County, but he frequently opts for mediocrity.
@9:52,
"Some citizens are always against local politicians being paid or having benefits, but that typically is unfulfilled wannabes who lack the courage, will and most likely intellect to handle the job."
I disagree with this. Most of the (intelligent) people I know take no issue with politicians being paid for their elected position. They (myself included) take issue with politicians/elected officials being paid excessive amounts for a PART-TIME job. And benefits for part-time workers should either be extended to ALL or received by none.
It's ridiculous to assume I have to possess the desire to BE a Commissioner to have complaints about them, individually or as a Board.
I agree with you, Alice, that the system is horrendously unfair. As are all benefits packages geared towards the executives and administrative higher-ups, and it's a huge problem in this country period, in every sector.
We've been on both ends of it in our household with executive packages; some companies have gifted huge benefits at comparatively little cost to what the lower tier salaries had to spend, while others have expected executives to cost share a huge amount of money to offset the benefit cost for lower salaried workers. The extremes in different benefits systems reflect the dangerous extremes of our political system, with one end being fascist returns for a relative few, and the other a socialist taking of way too many hard earned dollars from 80- to 100-hour work weeks with no semblance of "off." (We've never had a vacation where work check-ins weren't mandatory, de jure or de facto, and there is no such thing as a work-free weekend for most executives any more. Half day on Saturdays and Sundays are about as good as it gets, if you're an executive dealing globally with other cultures' ideas of weekend down time. Ain't no such thing in India.)
This benefits system is reflective of a loss of a healthy moderation in *anything* in this country these days. It's all bottom on the top; top on the bottom. Earn way too much; or have way too much taken.
Here's a big problem though: people complaining about that are complaining to the wrong governmental body. To the best of my understanding--somebody *please* disabuse me of the notion if I'm wrong--a change to make a 401a available to all employees would have to happen on a STATE level. Good luck getting enough local delegations to care about that...they're too busy solidifying their autocracy in Tallahassee and working the system for their own self-enrichment.
(con.)
What drives me around the bend is that people are making these highly emotional determinations and throwing support behind wild folk fantasies that are inconsistent with the LAW. We are losing our rule of law quickly enough in this state without throwing our hands in the air and saying "I don't care if it's legal. I don't like it. GEAUX PAAAAAAAM!!"
Pam Childers is a *liar* who talks out of both sides of her mouth, and her disinformation tactics are incredibly damaging to this County and community. She did *not* stop the board from enacting a retroactive benefit (which I spoke against publicly from the podium). THE BOARD STOPPED THEMSELVES from doing that, by sending it for a legal opinion as to whether it would actually even be legal. *After* they had already made that determination, putting the brakes on letting the thing run emotionally out of control, she came in with her pre-orchestrated song and dance, the PNJ started working the angle that she had stopped them from doing something, and that rolled into her bullshit that she has the legal right to take their money.
I know for a *fact* that there have been people in the County HR department who have doled out financial advice when commissioners and employees have filled out forms. Guess what? That's *illegal*, and there is good reason for it. Do I agree with the emotional claw back response when two commissioners realized they had been mislead in their options? Absolutely not. Did people lose their common sense somewhat when they recognized that they were led away from that option? Yes.
What I don't understand--I honestly don't get--is whether the people howling over this percentage actually understand that IT'S A ONE TIME PAY OUT. I would *much* rather pay once for a commissioner leaving office than have to dole out tax dollars for the rest of Doug's life, and Wendy's after him. Why is nobody considering that?
Do you know why the 401A for senior level employees finally made it to the agenda? BECAUSE SHE WAS THREATENING TO CUT OFF THEIR BENEFITS ALSO. There was *no* reason for that item to even be on the agenda. But she got what she wanted, which was her buddy Kohler's ill-informed and ludicrous hyssy fit long on emotions and politicking and short on facts. (To my recollection, nobody on the BCC mentioned publicly that they were taking it on the chin so senior administration didn't have to have their money STOLEN from them by the clerk.)
That's what she's doing, Alice. She is stealing people's money and pretending that it's reform. And at some point she is probably going to get hit with whopping, multiple, *personal* lawsuits over it. And if she gets a bad ruling upholding her actions? Think about the implications. Any clerk in any county in Florida can just start not paying for anything they don't want to pay for. Sheer financial chaos, in other words.
Of course, she doesn't appear to have thought all that out completely--what happens if she loses this case? Because in addition to being a liar and double talker, she's also not the brightest light on the porch. And if the connotation of "bitch" isn't the nasty and horrible meaning of a female dog, and instead just means the general, modern understanding of a nasty woman who lashes out at people unnecessarily--you know, the term women use for other mean women all the time--then guess what? IMHO she deserves to have a photo of her pretty head under the dictionary definition of the second connotation, to boot. Because she is, in my opinion, damn mean, a horrible bully, runs a nepotistic office, and lashes out at people in a very unprofessional manner. If she were a man, I believe the applicable term would be "asshole."
Commissioner Bergosh, do you remember blasting a certain Escambia County firefighter on a phone call back in 2021? Some things just shouldn’t be said out loud, you never know who could hear it or record it!
I hope you consult an attorney first before proceeding. It sounds like you’re close to admitting to a 3rd degree felony, friend.
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