Will Fort Pierce Benefit from Recor's $6,000 course?

The City Manager says he'll stay in Fort Pierce to justify the commission's approval of his $6,000 two-week course to learn how to be a better city manager.

Recor says he learned from mistakes, wants to stay as Fort Pierce city manager

By Laurie K. Blandford

Friday, March 9, 2012

FORT PIERCE — City Manager David Recor, who nearly was fired last year and then put his name in the running for another job, said he's staying in Fort Pierce.

Recor withdrew his name this week from the list of six candidates chosen as finalists for a city manager position in Palm Beach County. He said it was to show commitment to his current job and give closure to worries he might leave shortly after city commissioners agreed to spend more than $6,000 of taxpayer money on training that would enhance his professional credentials.

"I do not intend to use the (institute) as a steppingstone to something else," Recor said on Tuesday. "I am happy in my current position."

He also said he's learned from his mistakes.

Mayor Bob Benton said he's glad Recor decided to withdraw from Boynton Beach's list of finalists and hopes the other commissioners have confidence in Recor.

"I'm glad things are working out because I have confidence in him," Benton said.

Commissioner Tom Perona said in an email he expects a 100 percent commitment from the city manager because it's the only way a local government can be effective.

Boynton Beach officials confirmed that Recor's name was withdrawn from consideration.

Recor said he always planned to withdraw his name from the running but was waiting to hear from Boynton Beach officials, who contacted him Monday afternoon about signing disclosure forms as a finalist for the position.

In September, Commissioner Eddie Becht asked for a vote of no confidence in Recor to be placed on the commission's agenda and then changed the agenda item to a vote on terminating Recor's contract, but commissioners voted 3-2 in October to keep Recor. Neither Becht nor Commissioner Rufus Alexander could be reached for comment this week.

Recor said when Boynton Beach reached out to him in October to apply for the city manager position, he agreed.

"We hit a bump in the road here in Fort Pierce, and my future was uncertain," Recor said. "Now, six months later, we're in a much different place."

Recor said he's staying because it's an exciting time in Fort Pierce, with progress on the city's strategic planning initiatives and construction on the city marina project.

He also received unanimous support from commissioners last month to attend the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia's Colgate Darden School of Business in July and was accepted two weeks ago. In addition to the initial $6,000, Recor said he would use nearly $600 for his flight, mileage and meals from the remaining $2,000 designated for travel, education and conferences in the City Manager's Office budget.

Recor said the institute is a highly competitive learning opportunity with senior executives from across the nation. He said he's motivated by a challenge and driven by sense of accomplishment, and he plans to develop the city into a high-performance local government organization.

"Every day, my job as city manager here in Fort Pierce presents me with a new and exciting challenge, and that's what keeps me coming to work," Recor said. "Until my job gets boring (or) until there's not another challenge for me, I'm going to want to be the city manager in Fort Pierce."

Recor said he was flattered to be approached in February last year by Fort Lauderdale to apply for its city manager position and he considered it a compliment to have been selected as one of 12 finalists for that job. Recor said Boynton Beach recruited him because he had been recruited by Fort Lauderdale.

"That really not only put me on the radar for a lot of other executive recruiters, but it put Fort Pierce on the radar," Recor said.

Recor said staying in the city and taking himself off the job market wouldn't hurt him professionally because he faces constant challenges in the city.

Recor said he has demonstrated he can respond to constructive feedback from commissioners, referring to his plea to commissioners during the city's final budget hearing in September to raise the city's property tax rate to bring in the same amount of revenue as the city brought in the previous year — despite commissioners making it clear they wanted to keep the rate the same.

Recor said he learned from the experience and was reminded of his role — city managers provide information, options and alternatives while commissioners decide policy.

"It's never easy to admit when you make a mistake, but the first step in learning and growing and improving so you don't make the same mistake again is to acknowledge that you've made a mistake," Recor said. "I am not perfect, but the commission as a whole and I as city manager have moved forward over the last six months in a positive and productive manner."

Commissioner Reggie Sessions said he has confidence in Recor and hoped "this hardship might have strengthened him and matured him somehow." The average person would have "run for the hills," Sessions said.

"Even though this has been a rocky road for him and, I guess you could say, a lack of job security given the recent sequence of events, he's never given up."

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/mar/09/recor-says-he-learned-from-mistakes-wants-to-as/

Educating Recor

The commission approved city manager Recor's travel request for $6,000 to attend a two week seminar in Charlottesville, VA on the consent agenda February 6, 2012. The Commission should have aired his request, as well as Perona's, but did nothing but silently approve it.

Our view

No justifying Recor trip

■ Commissioners should not have OK’d city manager’s management course

An argument could be made to justify the expenditure of $2,500 in taxpayer money to send Fort Pierce Commissioner Tom Perona to the four-day American Public Power Association conference in Seattle in June.

Perona is the Fort Pierce Commission’s liaison with Florida Municipal Power Agency, the city’s electric utility provider. He previously attended association conferences as a board member of the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority.

Perona said sharing ideas with policy makers and utility professionals from across the nation at the conference will give the city “a perspective outside ourown littlefishbowl andkeepsus in linewith the latest utility trends, systems and solutions.”

Information obtained by the city commissioner could be of assistance to his fellow commissioners as they deal with utility system issues.

The $2,500 authorized for the trip by his fellow commissioners includes registration, airfare, hotel, mileage, parking and meals. Perona said he plans to pay 25 percent of the total cost.

Still, Seattle is a pretty long distance to travel to get whatever information is obtained.

Meanwhile, the approval by the Fort Pierce Commission to spend $6,000 to send City Manager David Recor to a two-week management course at the University of Virginia in July can in no way be justified.

And, that may not be the only cost to the taxpayers. The $6,000 to attend the Senior Executive Institute at the Darden School of Business includes registration, lodging, weekday meals and instruction material. It does not cover travel or weekend meals. Recor said he plans to pay for those items through his departmental travel and education budget, which does not require approval from commissioners. His total travel and education budget is $8,000.

Recor justified his attendance at the conference saying, “As the (city) continues to provide quality services with fewer and fewer resources, I hope to return with new tools and ideas to help craft a healthy, flexible, continuously improving, learning government organization and to be prepared to interact effectively and collaborate with our citizenry.”

It’s not just the cost of the course that’s galling, it’s the timing.

Recor has made no secret of his desire to leave the city manager’s position. Even now he’s being considered for a similar job inBoyntonBeach. And it was just a few months ago that Recor survived on a 3-2 vote a proposal to terminate his employment with the city of Fort Pierce.

Attending the management course in Virginia may look good on Recor’s resume, but would seem to do very little for the taxpayers footing the bill, especially if he leaves the city.

The public and city commissioners should demand that Recor reimburse the city for his trip to Virginia if he leaves city employment within two years. Otherwise, the money has been wasted.

And the fact that commissioners approved Recor’s application and expenses for the course indicates a lack of sensitivity to public opinion about the frugal use of taxpayer money, especially at a time the city (and its manager) is pleading poverty over declining property tax revenues.

Do commissioners want City Manager Recor to remain?

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/oct/16/editorial-if-fort-pierce-commissioners-have-lost/

Editorial: If Fort Pierce commissioners have lost faith in city manager, relationship should be severed

If Fort Pierce commissioners have lost faith in David Recor, delays in severing relationship would serve no good

editorial board

Sunday, October 16, 2011

If Fort Pierce city commissioners can picture David Recor as city manager three to five years from now and want him in that position, they should formally establish expectations for him and move on. If they do not, they should sever relations now.

Commissioner Eddie Becht had called for a vote of no confidence in Recor for Monday night.

According to the agenda for the meeting, however, commissioners are to discuss termination of Recor's contract and possible discussion on an interim city manager.

In a letter to the editor, Becht wrote, "I made a decision that Fort Pierce needed new leadership approximately three or more months ago, based on many factors. It was the result of my disagreement with many of City Manager David Recor's management decisions over the years. This is not about one thing he did or did not do, but many things."

Becht said he delayed proposing a vote on Recor until after the city budget was adopted. The budget was adopted Sept. 26 and Becht informed Recor of his position the next day.

Recor, 44, became deputy city manager in May 2005 and city manager in October 2008. During those more than six years, Recor has come under criticism from various commissioners over his management style, his oversight of city departments and his relationship with the public.

One of his chief critics initially was Mayor Bob Benton, who now firmly supports Recor.

If Recor is terminated, the city would owe him about $127,000 in severance and benefits, according to city Finance Director Gloria Johnson. But, Benton said that the total cost to terminate Recor, to recruit a successor and pay expenses for the relocation of that individual could be $200,000 to $500,000 — "in the long run."

"Isn't it easier to give him (Recor) another chance?" Benton asked.

While financial implications must be considered by the city, there are greater considerations, including whether elected commissioners believe Recor is the best person to be the city's top administrator. If he's not, the long-term costs of not having the right leader could far outweigh any six-figure investment in hiring a successor.

A rift between commissioners and Recor seemed evident when the budget for the coming year was adopted despite pleas from Recor to raise the tax rate to account for a potential budget gap in the future.

"It's sad to say that we are no longer a city of excellence," Recor said before the vote. "For someone who has a lot of pride in our past accomplishments, it's frustrating (and) disappointing to watch the evolution."

Becht described Recor's presentation as scare tactics.

City commissioners unanimously rejected the city manager's plea for the higher tax rate.

At the most recent meeting of the City Commission, Benton, with Becht absent, called on commissioners to express their support for Recor to avoid the potential termination vote now under consideration for Monday. Commissioners present didn't respond.

"I was surprised I didn't get any feedback," Benton said in an interview last week.

So the showdown is set for Monday. Regardless of the outcome, it's difficult to see how anyone could find cause for celebration.