Mary Sue Rich visits council
A prior councilmember of 24 years visited city council Tuesday night to give thanks and deliver special criticism for new councilmembers.
Mary Sue Rich [Photograph by Meagan Gumpert/OS]
During her address to the council, she thanked the council for the beautiful mural painted on Ocala’s oldest community center, the E.D. Crosky Recreation Center, located at 1510 N.W. 4th St., in Ocala. The colorful mural, painted by Cosby Hayes, pays tribute to the venue’s important historic role as an anchor of the community.
Rich then delivered her criticism.
“I’m here to lodge a complaint,” said Rich. “I’m here to complain about two council members: Mr. Mansfield and Ms. Dreyer. You haven’t been on council two months, and already you complain about getting rid of Sandra Wilson. I don’t think that’s right.”
She went on to explain how it took her more than two months of being elected to the city council “to find out what was going on.” Rich acknowledged that while every council member has every right to speak during council comments, she cautioned that the council should “have a reason to speak.”
“I think she’s doing a great job. And if she does something that is illegal, fire her. She can be fired. But you got to have a reason to fire. As long as she’s doing a great job, you all need to leave her alone,” Rich said.
“It’s eight months before her contract is up and already you are talking about looking for a new city manager. I sat on this council for 24 years and we looked, and we got, and they left, and they stole, and they did everything else. Sandra is doing a great job and I think you all need to leave her alone,” she added.
Mansfield and Dryer did not respond to Rich during the Feb. 15 meeting comments.
Rich’s complaint against Mansfield and Dryer follows comments the new council members made during the last city council meeting on Feb. 2 where they suggested that council start searching for a new city manager, particularly someone from outside the community.
“I respect Sandra, but my feeling on the City Council is…I believe we need to have somebody who is outside of the community,” said Mansfield during that Feb. 2 meeting. “I think they have to be the conduit between us and the City of Ocala.”
“Sometimes, it seems like, again, it’s my perception, but it seems like the tail is wagging the dog,” he added. “It seems like sometimes the city itself is running, trying to bring stuff in front of us, saying ‘Hey, we just want you to vote on this. Don’t ask too many questions. We just want to vote on this.’ That’s really how I feel.”
Wilson’s contract is up on October 31, 2022, unless city council extends it another two years. She had originally been appointed to the role on an interim basis after John Zobler abruptly resigned in 2019; and was officially hired over former Fire Chief Shane Alexander and Assistant City Manager Bill Kauffman on June 2, 2020.
Alexander would later be fired by Wilson a year later for significant city policy violations as well as undermining city council and the city manager. This firing became a hot topic during the city elections and both Mansfield and Dreyer campaigned to ask tough questions about city management decisions.
Mansfield, who holds an active Certified General Contractor license for Construction Business since 2004, and is president of Cullison-Wright Construction, said on Feb. 2 that he’s not trying to fire Wilson.
“I think she’s been a great employee,” said Mansfield. “But everything that is brought before us has to do with like building, engineering or civil…or something like that—and I think that expertise has to be there.”
State records indicate that Wilson herself has maintained an active license as a general contractor since 2006.
Councilmember Kristen Dreyer said she was also was open to start the search for a city manager and told Wilson during that meeting that Dreyer felt “a certain level of disconnect I think in the times that we’ve spoken about what’s going on and what’s coming before us,” said Dreyer to Wilson. “That is something of great concern to me because despite having an amazing staff, they can’t be running the show. They still need you to drive the vision and lead them.”
Council Chair Ire Bethea and councilmember Jay Musleh both expressed doubt in response to Mansfield and Dryer’s comments about starting a search for a new city manager.
“We tried that with Ricky Horst, who I think was a pretty good city manager. The problem was I don’t think he really wanted to live in Ocala, which is what you get with an outsider. All of a sudden, they move to Ocala and realize their family is in Utah or Wisconsin or Washington or wherever, and they decide they want to go back,” said Musleh during that Feb. 2 meeting.
Musleh added, “Yes, you can fire her or him at any time, at any meeting,” speaking of the city manager position. “But I would be cautious. Any new city manager you get, they’re going to look how you treated the past city manager.”
According to the City Manager’s contract, in the event the Council does not reappoint the Manager or provide at least a 90-day notice, the city would have to pay Wilson a lump sum cash payment equal to 20 weeks compensation as “severance,” to include benefits and perquisites such as retirement contribution, deferred compensation payments and car allowance.
The contract also goes on to state that the Manager shall be credited with three months of administrative leave that will be paid out in the event the Manager is terminated without cause at any time and all life, health, dental and disability insurance, and all other Employer-provided benefits, shall continue in force and coverage, at the city’s expense, for a 20-week severance period or until similar coverage is provided to Manager by a subsequent employer.
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