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Century Extends Interim Town Manager’s Contract For Another Year
December 23, 2020
The Town of Century has extended their contract with interim Town Manager Vernon Prather by a year.
His employment agreement was in effect until December 1 and then went to a month to month basis. Monday night, the town council voted to extend it by a year, retroactive to December 1.
Council member Luis Gomez expressed concerns that he had approached Prather, Mayor Henry Hawkins and other town staffers for several months about the expiring contract, but no one would listen or place it on a council agenda.
“It seemed to me like it was blatant disregard,” Gomez said.
“My problem is you are looking over me,” he added. “I am part of this council.”
Each town council meeting includes a dedicated time for a council member comments, and council members can bring anything to the table for discussion or a vote during the meet. Gomez made no mention of Prather’s contract during council meetings during the last several months, until this past Monday night.
Most council members and Hawkins agreed that Prather had done an exceptional job over the past year, and council member Sandra McMurray Jackson recommended that his contract be extended by 90 days because a new mayor and two new council members take office in early January.
“We can’t afford to start anew right now. We have so many things hanging in the balance right now,” council member Brenda Spencer said. “Let’s just work together and get it done.”
Spencer made a motion to extended the contract by one year, with a performance review by the council at least every quarter.
Prather is paid $40 an hour for 30 hours per week, or $1,200 per week ($62,400 yearly). He has complete control over his work schedule and hours worked. If he exceeds 30 hours per week, he is not be paid overtime but will us allowed to take comp time off at his discretion. He also receives a $600 per month vehicle allowance, but does not receive employee benefits such as vacation, retirement or insurance.
Prather began working for the town on a consulting basis as part of a $35 an hour package deal when Buz Eddy came on board in July 2019 following a scathing grand jury report on town operations.
Prather served Gulf Breeze in various positions from 2006 to 2017, including director of public services, operations consultant and assistant city manager, while Eddy retired as Gulf Breeze city manager in 2017 after 25 years on the job. Prather holds wastewater and water certifications in addition his on the job experience.
The Century Charter Review Committee was working on a revised charter that might have created a mayor-town manager form of government. Their efforts to have a revised charter on the 2020 ballot were sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pictured: Century interim town manager Vernon Prather addresses the Century Town Council in December 2019. NorthEscambia.com file photos.
Comments
4 Responses to “Century Extends Interim Town Manager’s Contract For Another Year”
The obvious issue is that right now it looks as if the town has two chief executive officers. The Town Charter gives that “constitutional” duty to the Mayor. I presume the Town Manager’s contract gives him at least some chief executive officer duties – openly in conflict with the Charter – because that was what I heard discussed at a meeting in late 2019 and I recall reading, on this website I think, that the Town Manager was going to be the town’s chief executive officer.
The new Mayor, Town Manager and new Council President to sit down in January and come up with a proposed charter amendment that has two parts. They do not need anyone’s permission to meet to come up with a proposal. In the end, the decision as to what to send to voters is in the hands of only the Town Council unless a private citizen wants to propose changes as state law allows to be done.
The first change would be to reassign the Mayor’s chief executive officer duties to the Town Manager. Because the Town Manager is more accountable, the Town Council could give the Town Manager more authority. The Town Council could also require that the Town Manager be a town resident as a condition of appointment, for starters ending the need for a car allowance because Century is very, very small.
The second change would be to redefine the Mayor’s duties that can be done at any time in a mayor’s term of office. The Florida Attorney General addressed this specific issue in 2003. The Mayor should be made a voting member of the Town Council and its Presiding Officer. This immediately makes the Mayor subject to recall from office by voters and more clearly subject to Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law the Mayor no longer able to meet privately with council members to pressure them. The position of Council President would be abolished. The size of the new Town Council could be kept at six positions if that’s what voters want. If kept at six, that makes a stronger case for removing the Mayor’s veto power.
Century is a nice place with nice people and lots of potential but it needs to organize for success making clear who does what and holding them accountable. By the way, if the sign out front of the Town Hall still reads – “City Hall” – and if Century is still so broke it cannot fix the sign, as Mayor McCall told me in 2009 – one cheap option is as part of any charger amendment vote to to ahead and amend the Charter to change the place from the Town of Century to the City of Century, there being no legal difference between a city and town in Florida.
Century is fortunate to have Vernon on board. He is an effective manager with tons of experience. Kudos to Ms Spencer and Mr Gomez for the foresight to keep some continuity on the team.
Anyone else notice there’s no daily headline of mismanagement in Century?
Seems he is doing the job he was hired to do. Why not offer him the position full time?
Come on Council, you can’t be that dumb. Oh wait, yes you can. We have proof. Just look at the mess he’s had to clean up.
What a complete sham.