Manatee County Scott Hopes scores another raise, CFO Jan Brewer resigns amid turmoil
Embattled Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes will receive another pay raise and extended contract despite ongoing turmoil in the county and outspoken attacks against his leadership.
Hours after Chief Financial Officer Jan Brewer resigned, county commissioners voted 4 to 3 to give Hopes a $10,000 raise to his base salary and extend his employment to September 2023.
The vote became a political hot potato after Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Angelina Colonneso sent a letter to County Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge on Friday admonishing Hopes in advance of his contract talks.
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Colonneso raised concerns over a lack of communication and transparency, issues surrounding the release of public records, fiscal accountability, and the impacts of hefty organizational changes under his administration.
But perhaps the most shocking revelation came when Commissioner Carol Whitmore said that one of the county's four deputy administrators, Chief Financial Officer Jan Brewer, submitted a letter of resignation Tuesday in the midst of budget preparation season.
A new Hopes contract
Commissioners approved a new contract with Hopes that extends his term to September 2023, and it will automatically renew annually unless terminated. The contract can be terminated within 30 days' notice by either party. There is no severance package included in the contract, except for any accrued leave Hopes has earned, County Attorney Bill Clague said.
His base salary increases to $215,000 per year, and the contract stipulates no additional salary increases can be awarded without board approval. Hopes also will receive the full amount of deferred compensation he is entitled to, Clague said.
Commissioners Whitmore, Misty Servia, and Reggie Bellamy expressed serious concern over the claims raised by Colonneso, and they called for an investigation. Servia made a motion to place Hopes on leave while an investigation was conducted, but the motion was defeated.
"Watching his management style with 2,000 employees has caused me concern," Whitmore said. "The salary (increase) is ridiculous. I told him the other day I would keep it the same, he hasn't done anything better than he did six months ago. So why would we give it when we have employees that need raises?"
Hopes protested because the new contract removed the $450 car allowance from his pay, which would have amounted to a pay decrease if his base salary remained the same.
"I have done my best to not say a single word since Friday," Hopes said. "I do not want a county vehicle, but the matter of the fact is many times I need a county vehicle. I only use it for county business, and when I take it home, it's usually because I'm fueling it myself."
"I have three boats, an airplane, two cars that I had before I ever got this job," He said. "But what you are doing in reducing the $5,400 a year car allowance and keeping the base salary the same, you are giving me less money than I was making before... I'm pretty uncomfortable with giving me a decrease in pay. Would I do it? Yes, I would do it. But I'm not so sure that's the way you would want to treat other employees."
After some procedurally questionable maneuvering, commissioners then voted 4 to 3 to raise his base salary to $215,000 to appease Hopes.
Brewer resigns after 10 years
Commissioners approved a new contract for Hopes hours after Brewer, who spearheads the county's budget management, submitted an official resignation letter.
Brewer has worked at Manatee County since March 2012 and has served as one of the county's four deputy administrators since August. She submitted a letter of resignation on Tuesday, citing concerns over Hopes.
She plans to vacate the position after June 8, the date of the county's first budget workshop session of the year.
"That is drastic in the middle of a budget season," Whitmore said during the discussion about Hopes. "She's the most powerful person with our money in the county... I don't know how we are going to do this with our CFO quitting."
In her resignation letter, Brewer cited some of Colonneso's findings and private concerns of her own as the reason for leaving the position.
Brewer wrote that she discovered last Tuesday that Hopes directed staff to withhold information from her that relates to employees. When she confronted Hopes, he told her he did not give the direction, but Brewer said it was his office that gave the direction to Human Resources two weeks before her discovery.
"He refused to bring in his staff member that gave the direction but instructed he would handle it," she wrote as a part of her resignation. "The department was given this direction two weeks prior to my discovery of the situation."
"While the matter is of a personnel nature, I cannot help but be concerned that other information is being maintained in this manner as well," she said. "I now find myself in staff meetings wondering who has been told to keep information from me and if they are doing this action because of the fear of losing their job."
Within days of discussing the matter with Hopes, Brewer said he scheduled a meeting for this week with all the leads from the same department that notified her of the directive, without notifying her even though she oversees them.
Brewer also cited Colonneso's fiscal accountability concerns in her resignation letter.
Colonneso criticized an effort to open a separate retirement account for Deputy Administrator Robert Reinshuttle, who was hired in June 2021, from VOYA, the county's deferred compensation provider; and the purchase of a $46,000 Chevrolet Tahoe that Colonneso said Hopes exclusively uses to travel to and from work.
Brewer said that she was not notified about the effort to contact VOYA and Hopes' company vehicle even though she is the CFO.
"The exclusion of the CFO from the conversations is not healthy for the organization," she wrote. "I had no input on or direction of the letter but yet I have been accused of being a part of it."
Colonneso responds to politically-charged weekend
Colonneso's letter has sparked political posturing over the weekend, with County Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge quickly dismissing her claims as politically motivated and criticizing her for losing millions of taxpayer dollars.
"Today, Angel Colonesso admitted to losing $1.5 million tax dollars in March," Van Ostenbridge told the Herald-Tribune on Monday. "This comes just days after casting suspicion and doubt about the performance of a county employee... I humbly suggest she get her own house in order to before casting stones."
The Manatee Concerned Citizens political group, which sends political attack emails and mailers, quickly followed suit and took the opportunity to criticize Colonneso over the loss of $1.5 million in funds. The group asked recipients to call for her resignation.
Colonneso's office oversees the county's portfolio of investments, and in the first quarter of this year, the county lost $1.5 million from its investment in the Florida Local Government Investment Trust Short Term Bond Fund.
In a letter sent to Van Ostenbridge on Sunday disputing his claims, however, Colonneso said that the amount represents only .1% of the investment portfolio that her office oversees and that the loss was not unique to Manatee County. She said that as of the end of April the total interest overall has been a net gain of $550,000 despite the loss, and is projecting about $3 million in earnings by the end of the year.
Colonesso approached commissioners during public comment over Hopes' contract, where she clarified that her letter did not indicate an investigation.
Although she did not address political attacks directed at her, she did say that in sending the letter she was fulfilling her duties as the county's comptroller.
"These things were not long-term things, these were things that came to my attention recently," Colonneso said. "This is not an investigation, I want to clarify to everybody. There are standards, there's audits, there is investigations, there's projects. At this time this is audit material, I would characterize that."
"I am handing it over to my inspector general to fully vet it like I always would," she said. "It is my obligation under the statute as comptroller to notify you of irregularities that may be or may not be, in your policies and procedures. That is all, that is where we are at right now."
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Manatee County Scott Hopes lands another raise, CFO Jan Brewer resigns
