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He’s Back: County Hires George Touart As Interim County Administrator
November 2, 2012
Former county administrator George Touart is back — the Escambia County Commission voted Thursday night to hire Touart as interim county administrator
“This would be nothing less than temporary until we could find a qualified, permanent, top shelf, class act replacement,” Commissioner Gene Valentino said as he made a motion to bring Touart in to to temporarily fill the position vacated when the commission voted to fire Randy Oliver last month.
District 5 Commissioner Kevin White, who did not seek re-election and will be off the board in about two weeks, seconded the motion for discussion purposes. But White said he wanted the job.
“I was going to throw my name in the hat tonight,” White said, eliciting laughter from some of his fellow commissioners. “Seriously, I brought my resume, he said.”
Touart’s return to Escambia County government will be effective December 1 and he will remain until the board hires a permanent county administrator, a process estimated to take about six to 12 months. His employment will be at will, meaning that he can be terminated at any time. A regional search for a permanent administrator will begin in January.
“It’s a patch on the tire; it should not be construed as part of some longer term scheme,” Valentino said.
“It still have a problem with us making a decision on this when in two and a half weeks you are going to have two new board members in here,” White said.
Grover Robinson said he wants to have a new county administrator in place by March when work begins on next year’s budget.
The move to hire Touart at a $130,000 annual salary passed in a 3-2 vote Thursday night, with Commissioners Grover Robinson IV and Marie Young voting against. Touart will also receive a $500 monthly car allowance and “other benefits commensurate with county employment.”
“At least somebody could have made a motion for me,” White said.
Touart served as county administrator for five years, resigning amid ethics questions in 2007. All formal ethics complaints against him were dismissed.
Comments
51 Responses to “He’s Back: County Hires George Touart As Interim County Administrator”
I must retract and correct myself on my earlier statement “what integrity remains”.
Integrity is something that is measured at %100 or ZERO, there is no grey area.
You either have it or you do not. VOTE!
I do not know what favor Mr Valentino may owe Mr Touart or what Mr Touart may know concerning Mr Valentino, but to throw what integrity remains out the window, even for a friend you are indebted to.
“Love is blind, friendship closes it’s eyes”, BUT NOT THE VOTER’S !
Unflappable,
Funny! It has possibilities!
“Escambia County … the Upside Your Head of Florida!” lol
Or In your face …
“What’s the deal on the people need to calm down and shut up, that the BCC and especially GV know what is best for us?”
Exactly! That is the comment that I got from others also!
We apparently don’t ‘know’ everything?? Can’t wait to hear the explanation …
Get all of the commisioners out. Touart already screwed this job up once.
Well, Well, Well……only surprise is Touart did not have WD there to support him.
Maybe this is what Pensacola mayor ashton howard means about “the Upside of Florida” which is about as dumb a slogan as it gets. Every time we think there may be logical, law abiding and honest persons in public office here comes the “Upside yo haid” slap from those who we should be able to trust.
Know how to tell when GV is not telling the truth? His lips are moving.
What’s the deal on the people need to calm down and shut up, that the BCC and especially GV know what is best for us?
Kevin do not feel rejected as I am sure at the end of the road, that the gates will open wide and you will be recieved with reaching arms.
From the sounds of that vote, you are sure to have company.
Joe,
NO!!! It is never right *to do wrong* to do right! That is how everyone justifies their lack of integrity!!!
I don’t care what higher plans they have for Touart.
Making deals to get what they want by using someone who lies and was bad for the county is the wrong way to get things done. (And it appears that some of their motivation may be the millions in BP money that they want to control, but even if it was just to right every wrong in the county administration, it still stinks!!!)
The problem with Oliver was probably that he couldn’t be controlled. They have to get rid of those type of people, apparently. There was nothing that explained the suddenness of his removal …at least not to the public. There is something there, too, and I wish the press would pursue that.
Escambia County has become a county that is run by crocked politicians who only look out for their crocked buddies and spend their time trying to find a way to give the people who live in the county as much grief as they can…we need to put them all out of office. Touart should not be allowed in that position just to get his retirement…he shouldn’t have been doing illegal things and could have kept his job and enjoyed the retirement money. We need to start a petition to have him removed from this so called “temporary” position.
We have to do more than just comment. People need to show up and tell the BCC what they think of this decision.
The BCC will meet 2 times before December 1st when Touart begins:
Committee of the Whole Thursday, November 8, 2012 – 9:00am
BCC Regular Meeting Thursday, November 15, 2012 – 5:30pm
They discuss and plan *a lot* of what they will say for the evening meeting at the morning Agenda Review meeting at 9 am, so that is an important meeting to attend also on Nov. 15th
Unreal.
There are a lot of short memories in this County.
Can anyone in this county really allow this travesty to continue?
Our District 5 representative is a disgrace., as usual. Pandering for a job that he doesn’t qualify for while voting against a qualified rival.
This County is a cesspool. At least the folks in the smart area of the County have elected representatives with integrity.
Up here we keep putting losers in. And will because they are “conservative.” Stupid damn password that people keep buying.
This makes me sick! Maybe Hayward was right
This is Beruit. This sleeze better not be employed
Long or the governor will be removing some
Crooked commissioners. They all belong in Jail.
They did it so he can receive his retirement. Escambia County Citizens should impeach all that voted for this before it can happen. Not fiscally or morally smart.
Wow . George is back. Has it not occurred to the citizens of this county that perhaps the problem lies not with the county administrator but the commissioners themselves? How many administrators have we been through in the last 5 years? And how many fire chiefs will we go through before they find one they like (ie will let them run him over) ? Kudos to Grover and Marie for voting against this nonsense and shame on Valentino for wanting to bring George back. I wonder if he called George when they were getting ready to get rid of Oliver or if George called him and offered?
So who else is the E-SCAM-bia County Board of County Clowns going to hire next?
W.D. Childers
Mike Whitehead
Ron McNesby
Mark Claybaugh (Touart’s peeping tom bubby)
Forrest Gibbs (back in as Equestrian Center Manager)
Hiring Touart proves they will hire anyone for anything if the kickbacks are good enough.
Does this mean that Mr. White will got a job with the county after all?
I don’t care how talented the man is, if he is untruthful, then we don’t need him!
Our neighborhood has direct experience with his lies. Most in the county administration (including White and Valentino) told us they knew that Touart was the obstacle to getting the illegal clay pit stopped. They told us to our face.
So what changed???!!!
Touart repeatedly had a chance to do the right thing and did not but then when he ran for office later in District 2, he told the whoppers again to make himself look better.
He said he tried to help us when he actually never met once with the neighborhood!
Mr. Oliver, on the other hand, met with the neighbors directly when there was a different problem and tried to assemble the staff needed to answer our questions.
There has never been a good explanation as to why Oliver was fired.
And we didn’t need to pay an extra $130, 000 plus a $500/month car allowance for Touart to do the job that Larry Newsom was already doing and willing to keep doing until a new administrator is picked.
Does this even make fiscal sense???!!
Working under the scrutiny of the media will always show warts and shortcomings.
George T has his warts but he is also a capable and competent County Administrator. Under his watch, budgets were balanced and countywide problems were addressed and corrected. Remember, unlike most of us, a county administrator reports to five separate bosses and the wants of those bosses need to address their district challenges. No charge leveled against him has ever been sustained. If he does well, everyone will see it. If he does not everyone will see that as well.
Just one mans opinion.
I’m just sure that good ole’ George will make Cody fill in that big hole in the ground. Doesn’t the county require that they be fenced off to keep kids from being injured while playing in a clay pit? Don’t tell me that they’ve neglected to enforce that code as well as the one not allowing clay pits in residential areas.
No, the “catfish pond” lies dormant and unfinished after they were stopped from mining clay. It’s just a hole in the ground, basically.
Guess all the road Construction Contracts will be going to Roads Inc. again. Did they ever finish that Fish Pond in Cantonment ??
I can’t believe this is happening. Why put someone in who can’t handle the county budget escept to please the downtown crowd and the beaches. It was like the rest of the county didn’t exsist Mr. district One. We had a man who balanced the budget and reduced our taxes and look what we get to replace him. I feel all these board members who voted for this clown to return should be the next to leave. Why not wait for the new commisioners to have a vote in it? Why jump right in there and do buddy picking? I have about had enough of this kind of mess. We need another investigating from the State of Florida. You certtainly arenot following the will of the people.
It just go’s to show everyone that Escambia County needs to get rid of the WHOLE board and put in place no blood!. Unbelivable!!!!!!!!!!!!
I absolutely can not believe that they hired him back.
When will we EVER get past the climate of corruption in this county?
I find it very strange that Kevin White became the third vote to oust the administrator only after being dropped from the Forrest Gibbs/equestrian center lawsuit. Then again, thats not strange at all.
How long will it take Morgan to say he’s not going to go through George for his request??? I bet he’s already called some one on the board to let them know he’s not dealing with the new fill in…
Valentino, Robertson, and White = Childers, Bass, and Junior – Folks, they ain’t done yet – Look for Valentino to bring his and George’s old buddy Rod Powell back on board and put him in charge of the Restore committee! These clowns sit up there with a straight face and try to act like this wasn’t prearranged; problem is they are terrible actors…..and sadly for White, he is nothing more than a spineless pawn. When he leaves office the people he sold his vote to won’t give him the time of day.
If we truly want to impact this action then we all need to email the commissioners and PACK THE BOARD ROOM! Packing the Board Room is all these people respond to.
Don’t know why you’re sorry.
When charges are dismissed it usually indicates one of two situations. Either the evidence trail was so confusing that the charges couldn’t be proved, or too many people would have gotten messy when the “stuff” started rolling down hill. Innocent would be a distant third.
Okay…ha-ha-ha…that’s real funny! Now, bring out the real County Administrator…..there is another one, isn’t there? This is a joke, right?
How about Willie Junior?
I’m sorry but Touart did do some good things for our county. All charges were dismissed which means just that – DISMISSED. It seems you are all ready to jump in and come up with every negative comment you can think of but get real you can cut anyone to pieces for any reason and the rest of “us” will jump on the band wagon without weighing out the pros and cons. I am not so sure any of you have the experience to take the job, and I do believe we all have some of those cons on the list. I appreciate the fact that he has experience. Good, bad, indifferent, he can do a better job right now than any of us (or our county commissioners).
…gotta spend money to get the quality person they are seeking…and putting up with the public and the board…this mentality of the public and their elected representatives trying to get the best person for the money…is not working out well isnt it?
So which people with nothing to do with this now will have to loose their jobs???
Think about it. You believe this was the only injustice being planned?
You all quit complaining about good ole boy’s, jealousy gets the best of people Merica
I was wrong in my first comment about this. We are all being short sighted. Put George in for six months and a day so he can get his retirement, hire White as his assistant, after the six and a day George can retire and White can move up to the number one spot. Why do I keep hearing the sound of the music from “the Dukes of Hazard” in the back ground—Just good old boys. Welcome to Escambia County and 1900’s.
We have no one to blame but ourselves. Without our vote these entities are null.
We should have our heads examined. It would certainly be interesting to review the psychological profile for the typical voter/supporter of this cabal.
This is a terrible idea for a number of reasons. However, it isn’t the worst idea on the planet– hiring Kevin White would have been.
Well once again the county commission screws the citizens if Escambia. Gee I wonder how long it will take before OLD GEORGE VOTES FOR THE COMMISSIONERS to get a PAY RAISE? Yep I see 150k raise and all other employees like the sheriffs office, roads, public works etc not being able to get a raise again. To he’ll with the crime on the street… Look what OUR county commissioners are doing right in the open. To H-E-L-L with them I will make it my mission to make sure the 3 that voted that old crook back in office to see that they do not get re-elected.
Why don’t we bring back W D too! ! ! These good ole boys need to GO! They work for us as Clint Eastwood said recently. If they don’t do the job GET RID OF THEM ! !
District 1 voters can send a clear message to Wilson Robertson next Wednesday morning. Vote him out of office! A petition to hold a recall election on the other two may be in order. We held a special election when Scarborough bailed on his obligations to us, why not now??
A blatant slap in the face to every citizen of Escambia County! This was obiviously the plan the entire time and its all to set themselves and their GOBs up for the Restore money… Crooks!
This may give Touart his tenure that is needed for his county retirement. As a constituent of Escambia County, I am embarrassed by Commissioners Valentino and Robertson.
YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING. Gene why have you sold out? I had a world of respect for you up to this point, just show poor judgement on my part. This just proves that Escambia County will never move forward. On top of that White wants the job also. He saw the hand writing on the wall and elected not to run because he could not win again— now he’s trying his best to get back into the public trough. We must truly be going backwards. Why anyone from “outside the circle” would want this job is beyond me.
I live in Valentino’s district and reluctantly voted for him last election…. Not ever again!!! Touart, are you kidding me! Roads, Inc must be celebrating this one!
Ridiculous!! SHHH!!! Just move him around…noone will ever know. If District 5 votes Barry…Get ready, because him and Kevin White are best buds!!! We could have the good ole boys club in full swing….they would just be voted to different positions. Worthless bunch of people!
And the clique goes own. Escambia county must be in a race with Okalossa county to see which one can out sorry the other. Hiring touart is as STUPID as it gets.
Now if we can get whitehead back, the good ole boys will roam free again. This thing, valentino needs to go back to California. We have enough home grown idiots to screw the tax payers.
And the clique goes own. Escambia county must be in a race with Okalossa county to see which one can out sorry the other. Hiring touart is as STUPID as it gets.
It amazes me that they would even consider rehiring him How the constituents feel does not matter. Escambiamom is right about the retirement, he can do his time and collect and we get to pay on him the rest of his life. Good ole’ boy network is back in business. I am glad Grove and Marie Young did not support this. The rest need to be voted out.
Touart may have been cleared of any wrong doing, but the idea that he was even investigated should be enough to nix this idea. The Commisioners let him “resign” last time. Now they rehire him. Total bull. Now if only they can get Whitehead back in as tax collector. The he can take advantage of double dipping which apparently is a big deal to him.
Citizens of Escambia County should be highly offended with this insult on our intelligence. Because obviously the majority of the Commisioners think we are a bunch of morons and they are on a higher level than us. Call you commisioner and let them know your opinion on this.
We need to clean house again in Escambia County!
The idiocy surrounding Escambia politics never ceases to amaze me, but must admit I was a tad surprised by this. Certainly some underhanded stuff going on I’m sure to allow Touart to get his retirement and rob the citizens of more tax dollars. All legal of course and since ethics don’t mean anything anymore. . .well as the previous comment said, You should all be ashamed of yourselves! But alas apparently there is no shame anymore. Thanks to the 2 that voted against this ridiculous nonsense of hiring Touart.
Thank goodness no one seconded a motion to put Kevin White in there! And I hope they find someone else quickly!!!
Here we go again! Good old boy politics at it’s best. The commissioner’s must think we are stupid. Ethics apparently are not a consideration when someone is hired. It is time to make them accountable.
UGHHH! Unbelievable!
Vote out the three that put him back in a position to abuse the county’s citizens! Do we not remember how much this man has cost the county in legal fees and wasted time?
Mr. Valentino, you should be ashamed of yourself! You remember what he did to my neighborhood (Catfish pond) and you told us to our faces that you knew what he was about! Never mind all the other stuff he’s done.
And George will get in his extra 6 months that he needs so that he can draw from the retirement trough with the rest of them.
Not surprised by White agreeing at all!
Ughh! All we need is Whitehead to get elected to make it even stupider.
Politics in Escambia County is ridiculous! We are going backward!
If he can be terminated at any time, maybe a protest will make them think twice about this decision. Does anybody really care any more? Anyone even remember? These people make me sick.
Hoping Packy Mitchell gets elected and will stay away from all this mess and represent the citizens!
…shaking my head …
Smells like another good ‘ol boy deal to get him that retirement check for life after working a couple months. I think he resigned under the ethics questions a little bit shy of retirement in 2007. What’s the scoop on that anybody?