Time was when an Administrator such as Hillsborough County’s Pat Bean could play out the string. A 64-year-old civil servant who did no harm during the good times. Her contract formally expires at the end of 2011. She has worked for the county for 33 years, the last six as Administrator.
The times, however, haven’t been good for a while now. In fact, the times are so challenging for a county with 5,000 employees and a $3-billion budget that there’s no place for anything other than sophisticated, out-of-the-box, regional thinking. The timing couldn’t be worse to be saddled with a vision-challenged, Peter Principled bureaucrat with a ham-handed approach to budget deficits as county Administrator.
The Commission, as we’ve seen and heard, has been growing increasingly disgruntled.
Recall that less than three months ago, the County Commission – in a fit of frustration and pique – had called into question Bean’s priorities, judgment, vision, initiative, leadership and innovation instincts. It was obviously a lot more than those ill-advised pay raises, as disturbing as they were.
In lieu of a firing, where the taxpayers would have to ante up Bean’s annual salary ($224,000), they upbraided her, treated her like an intern – and told her to come back with a list of goals and measurable objectives. They also adjusted her evaluations from annual to quarterly.
When she finally submitted her list – late – it was glaringly shy of specifics. Her “Road To Our Future” term paper was, in effect, a re-stating of the present challenges facing Hillsborough County. The Commissioners needed a perceptive, action-oriented solutions-partner, not a clueless subordinate awaiting marching orders. They were not pleased.
They were more than displeased when allegations recently surfaced about Bean being involved in questionable internal records e-mail searches. Bean indicated she did, indeed, make some regrettable requests, but claimed to have thought better after the fact and consequently never actually read one.
Commissioner Mark Sharpe summarized the snooping fiasco and Bean’s incredulous response appropriately. “She’s saying she didn’t inhale,” said Sharpe.
Frankly, if this didn’t finally fan the flames for firing – six-figure termination severance notwithstanding – you’d have to wonder who else might be smoking on the job.
Commission Chairman Ken Hagan, referring to Bean’s part in a “toxic and dysfunctional” culture, was moved to address an “open letter to the community” urging Bean (along with County Attorney Renee Lee and internal performance auditor Jim Barnes) to pre-empt a firing by resigning.
That would be doing the right thing, which is, of course, problematic. Recall that Bean had ample opportunity previously — when the issue was sheer incompetence. Now she has morphed into an ongoing, unwelcome distraction, one that already has resulted in the postponement of something critically important: a session on the transit referendum.
However it happens, Bean must resign herself to the reality that she can no longer be Hillsborough County’s Administrator. Sometimes you add by subtracting when investing in the future.