about my county st johns county florida

I am very curious about why Commissioner Joseph raised the issue of how many votes it takes to oust a County Administrator at the same time the Commissioners were voting on the current Administrator contract.  That seems like an odd topic to raise then.

If you didn’t have a chance to hear the BoCC agenda items at the March 19 meeting, Commissioner Joseph asked why Florida statute 125.73 says that an Administrator can be removed by a 3-2 vote of the Commissioners, while the St Johns County ordinance 2010-47 requires a super-majority, or 4-1.  The County Ordinance 2010-47 was enacted in 2010, and pre-dates any of the current Commissioners.  It reads, “The County Administrator shall be appointed, and may be terminated with or without cause (after a hearing, if such be requested by the County Administrator), by a vote of a majority plus one of the membership of the Board of County Commissioners.”

After an explanation by the interim County Attorney, she expressed her concern that “if the will of the people changes the entire Board, I don’t see why they can’t change who is running the County.”

The interim County attorney responded that it is possible to make that change, but it needs a 4-1 vote.

The Commissioner continued to press for background information about how, when and why St Johns County ordinance 2010-47 came to be, and the Clerk of Court, Brandon Patty agreed to research that question and bring it back to the Commissioners.

I find it very strange that the question was posed within the context of approving the current Administrator’s contract.

What could possibly be so pressing to need to discuss how to oust an Administrator at the same time the contract is being approved?

Now that I have asked that question, let me offer another question. Commissioners change.  That is the nature of the job.  What must provide stability in a large and complex county is staff leadership.  Why would a new Board want to oust an Administrator because they don’t think the same about politics?