Pensacola Mayor Terminates City Administrator Reynolds

July 8, 2013

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward has terminated City Administrator William “Bill” Reynolds. The move came just a few days after the State Attorney’s Office found that Reynolds and Press Secretary Derek Cosson violated Florida’s public records laws.

The violations were non-criminal in nature. [Read more...]

Hayward issued the following statement Monday afternoon:

“Last week, I received the disappointing news from the State Attorney’s Office that Bill Reynolds chose to leak a confidential employee complaint. The wellbeing of the City’s hardworking employees is one of my top priorities. Mr. Reynolds’s actions violated this sacred responsibility. This is unacceptable to me.

“In January, I began the process of separating from my former Chief of Staff, John Asmar. After I started that process, we received an employee complaint. The employee’s concerns were addressed, and the employee chose to withdraw the complaint requesting that the complaint and resolution be kept confidential.  While Mr. Asmar was not asked to leave service over these allegations, my plans to end Mr. Asmar’s role with my administration were affirmed and accelerated.

“In addition to Mr. Reynolds’s breach of trust, the State Attorney’s Office also found that Mr. Reynolds and Derek Cosson withheld logos in their possession that had been requested through the public records request process. While these actions were unintentional, transparency is critical to the success of our city. To that end, I have revised the City of Pensacola’s Public Records Request Policy, purchased software that will help us to track and fill requests, and I have reached out to Barbara Peterson with the First Amendment Foundation to help with extensive training for our employees. It is my goal to reinforce excellence as a part of our culture when it comes to fulfilling public records requests, and I remain steadfast in my insistence on transparency in my administration.”

Editor’s note: Pensacola City Administrator William Reynolds is no relation to the NorthEscambia.com publisher of the same name.

Comments

5 Responses to “Pensacola Mayor Terminates City Administrator Reynolds”

  1. Bob on July 10th, 2013 12:23 pm

    Ashton Hayward should become Rick “the crook” Scotts lieutenant governor there like twins.

  2. Robert S. on July 9th, 2013 2:35 pm

    The July 4, 2013, edition of IN Independent News has a good article “The Upside of Corruption”.
    “Team Hayward Fails Transparency Test” by Rick Outzen.
    Found online at http://inweekly.net/wordpress/?p=15892

    Pretty much describes the situation surrounding this matter.

    Just sayin’

  3. kathy@frontier.net on July 9th, 2013 6:07 am

    You have to wonder who wrote the Ashton words it sure wasn’t him. He has turned out to be the biggest loser with the biggest loser staff.

  4. molino jim on July 8th, 2013 8:31 pm

    It’s odd that Bills name came up over lunch today. The feeling of the group was he had to go. As a Marine officer he should remember that truth, honesty and respect are part of the Marine Corps creed and once you have lost this you have lost it all. As an old former Marine I still believe in SEMPER FI. To bad Bill didn’t because he has done some good things for the city and ruined his reputation over something as dumb as this.

  5. 429SCJ on July 8th, 2013 8:06 pm

    Why not make all public records available on line as they are public?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News