Mount Dora City Council votes to suspend city manager with pay and benefits

MOUNT DORA — The Mount Dora City Council on Monday voted 5-2 to suspend City Manager Patrick Comiskey with pay and benefits. The 10-point motion brought forward by council member Doug Bryant also relayed they council’s intent to remove Comiskey from his position.

During the meeting, Bryant described Comiskey as his friend who has his respect as well as the respect of other community members. “But this isn’t about friendship. It’s not about personal respect,” Bryant said. “But it’s about where we find ourselves, where we are now.”

“I believe that we’re at the point where either the coach has to go, or the team has to go,” said council member Nate Walker prior to the vote to suspend Comiskey. “And I believe, in my opinion according to the investigator and the recommendation, that it’s time that we find a new coach.”

More: Mount Dora approves new attorneys two months after counsel’s resignation

The action came two weeks after attorney Lindsay Greene, a labor specialist with Orlando-based DSK Law, submitted a 60-page report dated Jan. 8 to the city.

The investigation included 1,800 pages of records and testimony under oath from 20 current and former city  employees, according to the city’s lawyer, Patrick Brackins of the Maitland-based law firm of Shepard, Smith, Kohlmyer & Hand P.A.

In the report’s summary, Greene recommended the termination of Comiskey based on her determination that his conduct was in violation of multiple city policies. The list of offenses included performing assigned duties with wanton or willful neglect, incompetency or inefficiency, as well as making false claims or statements during an internal investigation.

The council initiated the DSK Law investigation last August to address an employee’s charges against Comiskey under Florida’s Whistle-blower's Act. The report concluded that Comiskey’s conduct was not in violation of this act or federal and state civil rights acts.

City charter assures due process

Brackins clarified that the council did not vote to terminate the city manager, nor could they vote on that action at Monday’s meeting. As stated in the city charter, the manager is entitled to due process of law.

After the vote to suspend, Comiskey immediately requested a hearing — also referred to as a “name clearing” — to defend himself. A special meeting to accommodate his request is scheduled at city hall on Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m.

Comiskey addressed the council in a 10-page letter with 11 exhibits dated Jan. 22. Now circulating on the Nextdoor social media app, the document provides an in-depth preview of his defense. Comiskey objects to the DSK Law report’s allegations against him as well as the methodology of the investigation.

In the letter’s introduction, Comiskey described the Greene report as “nothing more than a biased, lengthy and repetitive airing of petty grievances which any employee may have against their boss.”

Comiskey’s letter offered detailed line-by-line rebuttals and different perspectives on the issues stated by individuals and “double hearsays” as recounted from Greene’s interviews of city personnel.

Depending on the outcome of the February hearing, the council may then set a date for a meeting to vote on termination. If the council determines that Comiskey has demonstrated “willful and wanton misconduct,” he would not receive severance from the city if fired in accordance with his contract.

The city also directed Brackins to pursue conversations with Comiskey’s legal representative in a timeframe concurrent with the due process procedure. The intent would be for him to inquire if Comiskey would be receptive to an agreement culminating in his resignation that would involve a severance package.

Public points fingers at city disfunction

Seven people spoke during the public comment to offer their personal views on the evening’s proceedings.

“We’ve had seven city managers in the last 18 years — that’s only two and a half years for each manager,” said Mount Dora resident Charlie Sanz in defense of the city manager. “How could these continually short cycles not have created a lack of cohesion in our government? Makes me wonder if it’s a problem with the city manager or with our city council who hires the city manager."

“We taxpayers take offense at the $156,000 spent on yet another biased investigation in order to quench our mayor’s continued hissy fit about a difference of opinion and style,” said Sands in taking aim at Mayor Crissy Stile.

“Council is responsible — largely responsible — for everything that has happened and what has brought us here today,” said Joe Lewis, a business owner in Mount Dora.

Two speakers also offered personal opinions but from a city employee perspective. Each received applause afterward from a section of the room populated by city personnel.

“I come to you out of great concern for our employees,” said Tara Halcomb, who described herself as a Mount Dora resident since 1990 and an employee of the city for more than 16 years.

“Since Mr. Comiskey became city manager in November of 2021, we’ve had a disproportionate number of department heads and direct reports to the city manager resign,” said Holcomb, who then named ten employees who resigned.

The city manager has been an on-going controversy

Monday night’s decision came eight months after a council meeting on May 16, 2023, when Stile requested that an item be added to the agenda in order to address her concerns about the city manager. She started the discussion by asking Comiskey if he would offer to resign, which he declined.

“I am talking about disrespect for our employees, I am talking about uninformed decisions, poor decisions,” said Stile while detailing issues with Comiskey. “I’m talking about not being engaged with what is happening within this city, and the all-around unprofessional nature of our city manager."

Council members’ comments in response indicated that they were unwilling to make a move to terminate the manager that evening. Some praised the manager’s work performance. They then sought to establish a process to mediate the situation and garner employee comments.

During the subsequent four months spanning nearly 10 meetings, the city council grappled with several failed attempts to oust Comiskey as well as had on-going discussions regarding ways to proceed forward to resolve management issues.

At one juncture, the council tasked the city’s Human Resources Department to survey personnel that directly reported to Comiskey. Stile called an emergency special meeting of the council for June 15 to discuss the survey results prepared by the department. No action on the city manager was taken by the council at this meeting.

Other actions

During the nearly two-hour meeting this past Monday, one of several points of contention among council members was whether or not the DSK Law report went beyond the original assignment given to them.

Early in the discussion, council member John Cataldo offered the first motion which attempted to accept Greene’s conclusion that Comiskey did not violate whistle-blower or civil rights acts and to reject the other findings. His reasoning was that the council did not authorize investigations beyond the employee complaint.

“None of the people who enjoyed working with Mr. Comiskey were ever able to comment,” said Cataldo to explain why he also thought that the DSK Law report was biased.

“Half of the survey showed employees that enjoyed working with him and half were not,” he said referring to the HR department’s survey.

Council member Dennis Dawson viewed the DSK Law report as imbalanced describing it as “more or less a hammer looking for a nail.” “It’s amazing the disfunction within city hall,” said Dawson. “See things that were happening for years – long before Patrick was here.”

Council member Cal Rolfson said that the council was in consensus to allow Greene to report on anything she saw beyond the initial whistle-blower complaint. “This was an investigation. There was no attempt to make it fair or balanced,” Rolfson said. “It was supposed to elicit facts from those who wished to.”

“Biggest regret that I have is that eight months have elapsed,” Bryant said. “And during that eight months that’s elapsed, we have now gone through a complete — maybe not a complete, but nearly complete — evolution of where we were then to where we are now.”

“We have given repeated lip service time and time again as to what is our greatest asset within the city and that’s our directors down through rank-and-file,” he said.

“And there is no question in my mind at this point in time that Mr. Comiskey has lost that leadership respect and – as much as it pains me to say this — I think we have to think about options,” Bryant said. “And those options include other motions other than what’s been offered here before us right now,”

The motion to accept only part of the investigative report failed with a 5-2 vote.

The DSK Law report also recommended the termination of Merry Lovern who serves as the executive assistant to the city manager. Greene described violations of city policy that were similar to those she cited for Comiskey. The council only has authority over the contractual employment of the positions of city manager and attorney. They do not have the authority to address the employment of Lovern or any other city personnel.

In another action, the council voted to appoint city Planning Director Vince Sandersfeld as acting city manager and Electric Utility Director Steve Langley as acting assistant city manager. Any action that they would take on Lovern would be subject to city policy.

Before voting on Comiskey’s suspension, Rolfson detailed 10 instances cited in the DSK Law report that pointed to individual misconduct by Comiskey and Lovern, which he characterized as an “us against the world” mindset.

Among the examples brought forward by Rolfson, Comiskey was quoted by another employee as saying, “I don’t care how many employees quit. Merry and I will rebuild this city from the ground up.” In another instance, a surveyed employee cited Lovern as saying, “If anyone goes around me, I will break their hands.”

“I believe that the chaos has to stop here and now,” Rolfson said.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Mount Dora City Council votes to suspend city manager