Adding the Missing Pieces to the Puzzle for Context

Here's the context and the missing puzzle pieces to Thursday's  political stunt that turned what should have been a congenial, Christmas themed final BCC meeting of the year  into one of the worst spectacles any of us have seen in decades on a public dais.

Since the absolutely cringeworthy disaster of a BCC meeting last Thursday "happened"--I have been inundated with well wishes and curious questions from friends, supporters, and family alike--the jist of which has been "What the heck was that all about."  

The public is genuinely puzzled by that embarrasing, unprofessional, rustic, inartful, and utterly bush-league display at public forum and subsequently at the commissioner's forum at the follow-on regular meeting.  In answering an intelligent, reasoned comment to an earlier blog post--I felt it might be instructive to put a stand-alone post up with my answer to that poster's comment and request for the basis for that attack----in order to add some real, factual context that today's front-page hit piece conveniently left out.  

And to add the missing pieces to the puzzle.

Thursday's meeting spectacle was a calculated, coordinated hit on me by one commissioner, his secretary (who's currently running a shadow campaign for my seat), and one citizen (who himself is a rabid acolyte of disgraced formercounty commissioner Doug Underhill and ally of Stroberger and Kohler). 

Three people.  

Out of 340,000 citizens in Escambia County.  

Ho hum. 

Meanwhile the D2 commissioner, Mike Kohler, is very well aware (as is most of the 4th floor) that County Employee Steve Stroberger is running for my seat,  because Steve Stroberger himself (Kohler's Secretary) has widely made it known he intends to run against me for the D1 commission seat; he's been making the rounds on the fourth floor, he's asked attorneys in the County Attorney's office if he "really has to resign to sign up to run against Jeff Bergosh", to which he was told, "Yes."  I'm also told Stroberger has made inquiries of local campaign check writers downtown about their level of potential support for his candidacy, to which I'm told he received a tepid, flaccid response.  

I've heard anecdotally Stroberger had a lunch in the IPC with Clerk of the Court Pam Childers who was encouraging Steve to run against me.  "You can do it, Steve!" was the flavor I'm told.  Good for him!  He should immediately sign up and run against me.  I welcome that!

So yes, he's currently making feeble attempts at running a shadow campaign for D1 commissioner--Encouraged, condoned, and with complete support from his boss "Pious" Mike Kohler.  Perhaps Kohler should demand an investigation of that?? Last time I checked---- you must register at the SOE's office to start fundraising and campaigning for office?  I wonder if the new "paragon of virtue," "Pious" Mike Kohler will be so discriminating, demanding, and hypercritical about what's happening in his own office currently?  Probably not.  

Meanwhile, "Pious" Mike speaks for himself only, not for the board, with his outrageous, embarrassing spectacle of a "demand" for an investigation.  

One administrative employee said to me, after that spectacle, that he was personally embarrassed for the county and had never seen such a disgusting stunt pulled in a public meeting by a sitting board member or a board employee in decades.  Decades.   Others have expressed the same disgust. 

So here are the FACTS that are the missing "puzzle pieces":  

First off:  D2 Secretary Steve Stroberger speaks for himself only, not for the county and not for the Republican Executive Committee or the Republican Party--when for his personal political expediency only he blabbers and stammers at the podium with outlandish allegations which are baseless followed by calls for my removal from office.  It's all an attempt at a political hit, designed to gin up a hatchet piece in the PNJ which they knew would follow, to potentially score a right cross to my face politically, metaphorically speaking, in the court of public opinion.  (Interesting only PNJ did a piece on this, no WEAR story as of today, no NorthEscambia story,  and No Rick's Blog story.  It seems to me these other, legitimate local news sources--- by their not covering this mess--- are telling the PNJ, overtly, "Quiet, the adults are talking")

So it's an orchestrated attack by Kohler, Stroberger, one citizen and the PNJ.  Nothing more.   

That's what this is, was, and will probably be up until August 20th.  So be it.  

Meanwhile, I continue to find it fascinating that suddenly "pious" Mike Kohler (Has a ring to it, "Pious"

The Deposition (s) of Ed Spainhower

These two redacted depositions, attached to this post, are a must read for anyone who truly wants to know how badly the county, under inept and indecisive leadership at the time, failed miserably to provide due process to paramedic and former Escambia EMS employee Matt Selover.

This one deposition (in two volumes), probably moreso than any other one I have read related to this case (and I have now read each of them) illustrates the reason the county eventually was forced to settle.  The county HR department totally botched the investigation, tried to do a 180 reversal of the investigative  findings after holding the report open for 7 months, and allowed for materials to be included in a "final" that were biased, suspect, and unreliable---- requested by one party to the complaint-- and written a full 7 months after the conduct at issue happened.  Unpersuasive--this would have never stood up to a trial.  It looks exactly like what I thought it was all along:  A conspiracy, and an "after the fact" attempt to arrange facts for certain employees to escape any ramifications for actions outside their scope--while totally reversing what was presented as the "final" investigatory findings to fit a politically motivated outcome.

And of course once the 100% contradictory report was presented to Selover 7 months after the first one was in the can--he was told he did not have any appeal mechanism.  It was wrong.  It would have been a disastrous loser in court.

These two volumes here and  here  are the deposition of County HR Investigator Ed Sapainhower, who was questioned by J.J. Talbott in regards to his handling of the harrassment complaint that Matt Selover filed against medical director Rayme Edler.  It is devastating, the degree to which the county's own policies on timelines for completing an investigation were totally abandoned.

Yes, by July 1st of 2019---Spainhower had completed his preliminary report.  But 7 months later--the findings were "updated" and completely reversed--once new staff and a new administrator and her mentor took over the process and apparently wanted a different outcome.

The last 30 pages of volume I of the deposition chronicle, in agonizing detail, what happened and why Selover was not provided this report for months, and months, and months.  It's actually quite infuriating.

Distrubingly--this transcript and the questions and answers it brings forward, show that a rushed one-day "finalization" of the report (where the conclusions were totally reversed) happened once a new HR director was brought in to "clean up the mess."

No wonder the lawyers for the insurance company were so desperate to have the county settle this suit.  

Of course it is/was convenient for folks that handled this turkey to start blaming those of us who were asking questions, demanding answers, speaking out and inquiring as to why policy was not being followed.

The disgusting attempts at blame shifting by the insurance company lawyers and their ally the bean-counting "adjuster" (who was totally simpatico with the former HR director) are feckless--they knew I would never be called to testify in any trial that might have happened--as I was not an expert witness, nor was I a fact witness.  My knowledge of the issues of the case were all second-hand, hearsay; Yet these insurance folks and the press sure were quick to try to foist blame on me...Their accusations ring hollow and are as flat as a belly flop from the high dive. 

For those of us who have actually  followed this debacle all the way through---these two volumes (Particularly Volume 1 pages 86-141) detail the precise reasons this case had to be settled. 

Sloppy, botched work by former county leadership  and an egregious failure by HR and the administrator's office in following board policy.  That's what caused this.  And NOTHING else.

Sadly--it didn't have to happen. 

Thankfully--most that were involved in this debacle are no longer in positions of leadership anywhere in this county.

46 Days......

Beginning Thursday at midnight, Escambia County will have neither a permanent Administrator nor  a permanent Assistant Administrator on staff.  This condition may continue for 46 days until our newly-selected, permanent County Administrator Janice Gilley officially begins her employment with the county....

Starting this Friday, both Interim County Administrator Amy Lovoy and Assistant County Administrator Matt Coughlin will be gone.

They both submitted 90 days notice initially, but both have indicated they will be leaving ahead of the full 90 days time frame they initially gave the BCC for their departure (s) from county employment.  And coincidentally this actual departure date is this Friday--for both of these employees.

This is completely up to them, at their prerogative.  Best of luck to both of them.

But this early departure leaves us with an exacerbated leadership vacuum that MUST be filled.

Because it will be 46 days from Friday, the last days for Amy Lovoy and Matt Coughlin----until June 24th--- the  first day of potential employment for our newly selected County Administrator, Janice Gilley.

46 days.

That's not an insignificant period of time given all the issues we have before us in Escambia County currently.

I've not yet been formally notified of who will be interim Administrator and interim Assistant Administrator as of this coming Friday--and this is an important data point that I need.  I have heard rumors, the press has speculated, but nothing official has been passed to the board so far as I can tell.

Therefore I have made an official request for this information.

Additionally, I have asked for an updated organizational chart with the updated names, email addresses, and phone numbers of all permanent and interim department heads written-in---including the interim .Administrator and interim Assistant Administrator.

Thursday will come and go very quickly--yet the mission of Escambia County will continue past Friday.  We need to be able to route our issues to the appropriate staff members in order to do our jobs effectively for the citizens of  Escambia County.

Because the mission of Escambia County is not, has never been, and will never be "mission failure" no matter who says this on their way out the door as they quit.

To accede to such a flawed characterization would be to kick every hard working, dedicated member

10 of My Questions for our County Administrator Finalists.......

We will be interviewing at least 7-8 candidates for the next County Administrator job.  I am going to ask some tough questions and I am going to demand answers to them for my vote.  Here are 10 I'll be asking.......

I'll be polite----but I won't be bashful.

I will ask tough questions of the 6-8 finalist that will be interviewed for our administrator position.

Because I know this position is critical.  This is the "Quarterback" position on the football team.

This is the manager of the "restaurant" taxpayers have invested their futures in.....

This position will be the "face" of our county

This  position runs our county and  our operation.  This is a stressful, mostly thankless, high-paying job that operates in the sunshine but that also deals with a lot of political pressure from 5 separate "bosses."

So we need this position filled ASAP but we need to get the RIGHT PERSON in this seat.

Right now there is a tremendous "leadership vacuum" in Escambia County, and filling the administrator position is the first step in correcting this condition.

So we have our list, we will do group interviews, and then we will do individual, one-on-one interviews with each of the finalists.  This is the point where I will make my final decision on my selection of the next administrator.  ( I am one-fifth of the  vote that will hire Jack Brown's successor)

Here are ten of the most important questions I will ask, and I will PRESS for REAL answers...

1.  Knowing this job will be high-visibility and high-pressure--why do you want this job?

2.  If you are the eventual selectee and you agree to terms to come to work for us--how many hours per week will you be willing to work on our (multiple) pressing issues (budget, labor union negotiations, fire service, pay issues, tax issues, ECAT issues, BCC personality issues, internal employee issues, etc. etc. etc.)?

3.  How will you handle Elected Board Members that want to micromanage you and tell you, for instance, what to do, how to do it, and /or which employees you need to discipline/terminate?

4.  How will you handle Elected Board Members that berate staff publicly at the dais?

5.  How will you handle Elected Board Members that try to thwart the will and the lawful votes of the elected BODY as a whole?

6.  Are you willing to tell an elected member of the BCC "NO" if unreasonable requests are made?

7.  Will you bring plans, ideas, initiatives forward to address the pressing issues this board faces

Dealing Appropriately with Speakers That Violate Board Policy...

Should a member of the audience be able to usurp our meetings,  utilizing antics and shenanigans that are disruptive, divisive, and antagonistic?

…..I think not, and it is for that reason that I’m astonished by what transpired and what was allowed to occur at last night’s school board meeting.  I spoke to the board’s attorney, secretary, and to the superintendent of schools about what was coming.  This was not a surprise, yet it still was allowed to occur.  Astonishing…..

Because it was my turn in the rotation to select a guest to bring the pre-meeting prayer, I selected a Rabbi from Pensacola’s Temple Beth-El.  Rabbi Joel Fleecop was delivering a very respectful prayer to those of us assembled for the meeting, and he was rudely interrupted by a member of the audience who began chanting and praying loudly on a rug right next to the podium.

A member of the audience that spoke subsequently chastised the Chair for not stopping this loud and distracting stunt; the speaker said that because of the chanting, he could not hear the Rabbi’s prayer.

Nothing was done to stop this chanting, which was the first disappointment of the night.

Later, when this individual who had interrupted the invited Rabbi had his three minutes to speak, he came right out and started insulting me and my invited guest, deridingly referring to the Rabbi with an anti-Semitic barb, calling him a “Token-Jew”

nothing was done to derail this man and his ad hominem attacks.  

When this member of the audience insulted me, insinuating that I “used” my guest as a prop, I maintained my bearing, fully expecting some leadership from the dais and the chair to shut down this personal attack against me. 

Didn’t happen.

We have a rule against addressing board members other than the Chair, and this infraction was not addressed.

We also have a rule against personal attacks, which also went unenforced.  

A total loss of control.  

Very disappointing.  

It is one thing for this individual that loves disrupting our meetings to try to push the envelope—I half expect him to do so.

The big disappointment is that he was allowed to do so in blatant contravention to board rules of decorum-----that I did not expect.

So when this person got finished insulting me, my guest, and then he decided to start reciting a