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Century Council President Says Job Applicant Is ‘Beautiful Woman’, But He Won’t Vote To Hire Her
May 20, 2021
Calling her a beautiful woman, the present of the Century Town Council told a job applicant that he would never hire her for an open positions despite her qualifications.
The town council has twice rejected the hiring of two employees as recommended by Mayor Ben Boutwell.
In March, the council refused to approve the employees hired by the mayor because he violated the town’s charter. The charter states that the mayor will present his employee selections to the town council to be approved or denied. The council can only vote yes or no on the mayor’s choice; the charter does not give the council any authority to hire anyone not recommended by the mayor.
In early May, Boutwell brought the same two employee choices back to the council, but a motion to hire them failed due to the lack of a second.
Cynthia Daniel, recommended by the mayor and rejected by the council for an entry level window citizens services clerk, addressed the council this week wanting to know the status of the job.
Council president Luis Gomez, Jr. said Daniel had actually submitted her resume and application in November, months before the positions were advertised. Town Clerk Kim Godwin said Daniel texted her to find out if she should reapply, and Godwin said she advised Daniel that her application was still on file and valid.
“Your application came in dated one day and the application process didn’t open until February 4. So whatever job your application applied for, in my mind, was not the job we were trying to fill,” Gomez told Daniel. He then inquired why someone with her work history would even want the job. According to her resume, Daniel has almost 20 years experience at an area bank as a bookkeeper, loan assistant, teller and accounts payable clerk, and holds an associate degree from Pensacola Junior College.
“With all of your experience you can get a job that pays more than that job (citizens service clerk) because that job is really just a $9 an hour job,” he said. “I just couldn’t see you with 20 years experience in banking coming to a $9 an hour job. Could you explain why would you even be interested in a $9 an hour job unless you were going to get more?”
Daniel explained that her most recently employer, Escambia County Bank in Flomaton, was acquired by another corporate bank, and she feared potential layoffs.
Gomez told her that she could try her luck with another council vote, but he would not vote to hire her.
“I wish you the most love and the most luck because you are a very intelligent woman with a lot of background,” he said. “I would hate to see you waste your time and talent at that window, because I know you can get $20 an hour easy … your resume was very impressive.”
Gomez said he regretted that Daniel was essentially caught in the rift between the council and mayor. “What I’m saying is I hate this beautiful woman is tied up in the middle of all this,” he said.
“I know you are a beautiful person. I would love to have lunch with you, even buy you lunch because I know you’re a beautiful person and probably have a beautiful family,” Gomez told Daniel. “But this is business. And please don’t take it personal.”
Pictured top: Cynthia Daniel addresses the Century Town Council. Pictured inset: Council President Luis Gomez, Jr. responds to Daniel. Pictured below: Cynthia Daniel’s job application with the town of Century was dated November 1, 2020. NorthEscambia.com redacted the street address from the image. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
51 Responses to “Century Council President Says Job Applicant Is ‘Beautiful Woman’, But He Won’t Vote To Hire Her”
Total discrimination against this woman on all levels.
Overqualified is often code for ‘too old’. Requiring or considering past salary history should be against the law when determining if a person should be hired or the amount of renumeration they should be paid. It is irrelevant to the work a prospective employer needs done – as it has no relationship with ability to do work. This is especially true when employers, as Century did, use language such as “description is not intended to be nor should it be construed as an all-inclusive list of responsibilities, skills or working conditions associated with the position”. Clearly only the employer knows the amount of work or nature of work they want. What employers like this usually are after is cheap labor who can be told to do “everything” later dreamt to be part of the role. Yet they have the audacity claim someone is overqualified so that they can keep the pay low and discriminate against prospective employees based upon conjecture of why they would want the job. Overqualified by but beautiful, comes off as: the only thing that will make the council happy is a young manipulatable person.
Gomez is an overblown egotistical ” Legend in his own mind “. He has some serious authoritarian issues and finds a way to constantly get into a pissing contests. He doesn’t care about Century. He only cares about being the popular kid in class. The council has gotten so redundant in their behavior and ideals its become boring at this point for the past several years its the same BS same Agendas different faces.
Don’t believe me? Hell, just take a trip back in time through the plethora of articles/blogs right here on this very website.
Even if the job notice said that applications were being accepted during a specific period of time starting on February 4, it seems unfair to penalize the job applicant, and especially if she was the only applicant and a Century resident too, because she relied on guidance from the Town Clerk. The town should put out another job notice, Ms. Daniel should apply again and then the council should vote. Council President Gomez’s comment that she is too qualified to work for Century is beyond shocking. They should be grateful that she wants to serve her community. By the way, there are lots of reasons to work for a municipal government even if the play is not so great. Municipalities offer a pension (Florida Retirement System) and health, dental and vision benefits for the employee and their family. I can see requiring Town Council approval on the hiring of a key employee. But it seems ridiculous to require the Town Council approval for every employee. The Town Council could adopt an ordinance specifying which hiring and firing decisions it wants to approve and letting the Mayor make all of the lesser ones like this one without their involvement. Another option is for any citizen to propose a charter amendment to end the Town Council’s involvement in the hiring process. A petition would only need 112 signatures that could probably be obtained in a day or two in Century. Voters then get to vote and could repeal the part of the Charter that gives the Town Council a veto over all town employee hiring, suspension and firing decisions.
Calling her a “beautiful woman” is unprofessional & demeaning. Reverse discrimination is shown by the entire council.
I’m with you Alan. She’s not the correct prototype for the job, so he’s not interested.
Sounds like discrimination, and sexual harressment,heck sue him and make him pay for those very STUPID comments.
Well wouldn’t it be awkward for Ms. Daniels if she were hired now? Her knowing that Gomez thinks she is beautiful! This is nothing more than a passive agressive attempt at belittling her due to her gender. What he basically has said to her is you may be qualified but all I see is a woman that I will not hire because you do not fit my own and personal qualifications for the job. Oh, and by the way I think you are beautiful. This being more of a pseudo comment as an attempt to make her feel uncomfortable.
As for the comment by Alan, You nailed it in your last sentence. Sad but it is true!
Don’t waste your time with Century even though your hopes is to help improve the entire council and the town. TY for beautiful woman but I think he meant it in a different way. Look what you are dealing with. Time the Governor stepped in since the County Commissioners does nothing & so called Representatives do nothing. Century needs help!
I wonder if Mr. Gomez’s chin bra is a fashion statement, or is he adhering to some CDC guidelines that he heard about at one of their secret meetings?
Gomez has always overrated himself. He is a major defect.
Ms. Cynthia, go to navy fed. C.U. and apply with them. U will more than likely get a decent paying job with them. Good luck and best wishes!
D.B.
To Alan from today at 8:44 a.m.
Loved ur last comment and it is probably so, so true! So sad! But, hopefully it is fate and a far better paying job for her to come along very soon!
over qualified, willing to work, so he doesn’t want her, BUT his chin is protected against Covid
Wonder what her husband thinks about Gomez’s comments.
Gomez should resign. The other members could call for his removal and avoid a lawsuit. He is out of line. Whether the applicant chooses to file the claim is up to her.
He is clearly in over his head and wrong and an embarrassment.
I don’t think the Governor DeSantis will remove him unless an ethics violation or EOCC is on record.
Just think– we could have good minds on the council but this is the people the electorate votes in.
This new administration should be supported,
How about you stop the stupid bickering and get the job done.
Beautiful woman? Well at least he has good eyesight & is not ashamed to flirt openly!
Beautiful woman? Well at least he has good eyesight & is not ashamed to flirt openly!
Gomez may well be VERY Afraid to have Ms. Daniel hired BECAUSE of her Very Good Credentials, “…bookkeeper, loan assistant, teller and accounts payable clerk, and holds an associate degree from Pensacola Junior College.”
Wonder if Gomez is concerned she might Uncover something that could cause a Big Problem for him…?
What are you hiding, Gomez???
Isn’t it “sexist” to refer to her using such terminology especially if you are a potential employer and would be her boss? Gomez, you are so wrong in so many ways.
WOW!!! It seems to me that this qualified lady Ms. Daniels would be a much better candidate for Council President and put Mr. Gomez at the service desk. Problem solved!
Another Century One Flew Over The CoCos Nest moment. You cant make this Stuff Up.
DID NOT REALIZE LOOKS WAS PART OF THE JOB??????????????????????????
@kane….on November 1st nobody knew who the mayor would be let alone know there will be a job opening in February….its not unusual for people to put in an application before there’s a job opening….there’s nothing fishy about that. Let’s not just make up a narrative!
Opportunities like this don’t come along every day. This applicant now has the opportunity to almost certainly be hired by filing a lawsuit, and Gomez will be forced to resign or face discriminatory and ethical charges. Looks like a win-win for Century!!
Century needs its own tv network.
I think they won’t let no one with that skills come in because they know something ain’t right going on up there anyway! They must be scared she will find out what it is!
Trickle down Corruption. Period
Okay soooo the Mayor tells his friend Cindy “hey there’s a job opening up soon nobody knows about it yet because it hasn’t been advertised so go put your app in now so you’re first in line and have a better chance of getting the job plus i’m the Mayor”
Then the council President says “hey Cindy the Mayor sent you and you’re grossly over qualified for the job and are currently employed so I’m not voting to give you this job”
And you all think it was the Council President who did something wrong here??? By turning down an over qualified fully employed individual over say someone who really needs a job??? Well apart from calling her “beautiful” which is a crime today so just like your hands make sure to keep your compliments to yourselves.
Well………..not a good look for the council. Hiring qualified people shouldn’t be this hard! We need over qualified people who will be able to take charge and put in some good office procedures. I think the problem has been we keep hiring off the streets and expect them to be one man department heads over night……
Obviously we all know the problem in Century…ego’s
Century is one nutty town. Wowzzers.
I was looking at properties in Century to relocate from Cantonment. After all the.bad news coming from their council and Mayor’s office just in the last few months, I believe is we all better look somewhere else.
Even if they were to hire Ms. Daniel, Gomez and the others would make her life a living hell to run her off! I would just get a lawyer. If, I were to win, I would not have to work! Just saying!
This has got to be a new all time low for the town of Century. I can not wrap my brain around Mr Gomez’s logic here. I swear I read these articles and cringe. It makes me sad being a former Blackcat to know my home town is so pathetically ran. Mrs Daniel I pray you get a job where your employer values your experience and doesn’t look at you as a potential “lunch date”. Mr Gomez please resign the town of Century deserves better!
Why would she want the job for $9/hour?
1. Minimum wage in Florida set to be $10 on 9/30/21, $11 on 9/30/22, $12 on 9/30/23, $13 on 9/30/24, $14 on 9/30/25, and $15 on 9/30/26. That is a 66% increase in wages in just over 5 years, or about a 13%/year guaranteed pay raise.
2. She lives in Century and her commute will be minimal, saving money and time on gas and travel getting back and forth to work in Pensacola. That in itself could be worth $1-2/hour.
3. Maybe Cindy has children and wants to be close to where they go to school in case she is needed or wants to watch them in a program or sports.
There are 3 good reasons right there.
Most likely, Cindy is smarter that Mr. Gomez, which he recognizes and doesn’t want in the cities accounting department.
Mr. Gomez is a petty man who, based on his comments, has no clue what he is doing and will most likely be the target of a lawsuit. If they hurry, they can have him removed from office in a short time.
But what Mr. Gomez is really having an issue with is Cindy is lacking the qualifying factor of eumelanin.
What a joke; petty 3rd world politics in Century. I wonder if someone might indeed call Gomez’s comment harassment? And perhaps she detrimentally relied on the city as to the job, assuming she left her earlier job….maybe a FL attorney could sort it out.
Luis Gomez doesn’t make any sense with his reasoning for not hiring Ms. Daniel. I’m so tired of people trying to exert their authority when they feel like they have some kind of power. I have always felt that saying a person is over qualified for a position is just a bunch of crap. That should be the applicant’s decision whether they want to work in a position that they may be over qualified for. Stop being petty and vote to hire Ms. Daniel. It shouldn’t matter that she may be over qualified, at least you know that she will be able to adequately do the job.
Just when you think Century’s leaders cannot get any more stupid, they out do themselves…
These people are rat bat crazy.
Excuse me Mr Gomez, but being the council president don’t make you God it has made you look and sound like an idiot in my opinion. This town would be very lucky to have Mrs. Daniels. This town needs to have someone that knows what they are doing, and what business is it of yours why she would take a lower paying job as long as she is qualified and she seems she’s well qualified.
The council is not going to hire anyone outside there circle because they might find out that they are taking all the money from the town plain and simple. They someone new in the office maybe Century would come back to life. As it now they don’t want anyone new in office they might discover who is taking the town’s money. Our town is a joke
Imagine if this was a white council member speaking to a black woman, telling her that she cant be hired for a position but your a beautiful woman, i would love to have lunch with you. I’m sure there would be a mob at city hall calling for HIS termination.
Mr. Gomez said “this is a business”. Sorry to tell him it is NOT a business it is a city government. Maybe if he would start running it like a city instead of a Walmart maybe they could move forward.
Century council is a bunch of morons. Need to all be removed and replaced with people that actually care and at the very least show up when they are supposed to.
unbelievable. this lady can own the town of century if she decides too. His remarks were totally out of order. she has the qualifications without a doubt. this is the sort of garbage the town has to put up with day in and day out. this cannot continue.
What does it matter when she put her application in? As long as it was still valid that’s all that matters. I know when I was younger I applied at different companies and it didn’t have to be for a specific opening at the time. Just put it on file in case something opened up.
And he won’t vote for her because she’s overqualified is what he’s saying? If she’s willing to work for the $9/hour and she’s the best candidate how does that make any sense?
It’s not like there’s that many $20+/hour jobs in Century or Flomaton. Maybe she doesn’t want to drive that far to work. With gas prices what they are you can burn through that higher pay pretty quickly to where it’s a wash compared to $9/hour.
But at the end when he says “This is business…don’t take it personal”, well to me it sounds like “I’m being petty with the mayor so I’m going to take this out on you, sorry”.
Well done Mr. Gomez, well done sir
Being over qualified for the job at the Town of Century, that’s an understatement. They should have snatched Cindy up! She is a wonderful person and an awesome employee! Sometimes the money isn’t everything, security and happiness counts as well!
A Blessing in disguise, Cindy!
Did you really try and slide a possible quid pro quo in front of everyone on a job applicant. If this how he acts with other employees I fear for the women of the town of century. “I will not vote for you” but “you are a beautiful person. I would love to have lunch with you, even buy you lunch because I know you’re a beautiful person”. Maybe after lunch he might vote for you lmao. After the hundreds of violations, good old boy conspiracies, infighting and a failing infrastructure the state needs to dismantle this ridiculous town and give it back to Escambia County.
Century Residents Deserve Better!
I listened to this council meeting through Zoom. The remarks by the President of the council were grossly inappropriate. A charge of sexual harassment would not be out of place. I have listened to the last two meetings through Zoom, and his statements about both applicants are unprofessional and slanderous. They both deserve legal recourse in this, and he should be removed from the council.
Was he asking her out? If she gives into him and goes to lunch, does she get the job? Hire a lawyer lady!
Beautiful woman? I’d like to have lunch with you, buy you lunch?
Can you say those things to a job applicant today? Isn’t that sexual harassment and bias? Sounds like she would make more by getting a lawyer and suing the town instead of working for it.