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Editorial: An argument for Redmond Jones
Op-Ed · June 01, 2017
Just like every other government body, the City of West Branch has no money, at all, outside of what it takes from you in the form of taxes, fines, fees and the occasional donation.
So when it decided to hire Redmond Jones II to the city administrator post at a salary of $90,000, of course we wanted to know if the council made a good decision.
The controversy regarding Jones’ departure from the city of Groveland, Fla., after a closer look, seems more tied to that time, that place and that city council and less tied to Jones personally.
So we agree that the West Branch City Council hired a good candidate.
In summary, Jones first discovered some irregularities in how the contracted building inspection company was charging fees. The council agreed to a measure of change, but a majority would not re-bid the contract of a long-time, local business, which caused a conflict with the minority. Second, a police chief arrangement with the city finance director on how to pay for hotel rooms, which was not put in place by Jones, seems like weak justification for his termination.
What first caught our attention was the 3-2 vote to terminate. Despite all the drama and controversy, two Groveland city council members still supported Jones. After the building inspection company audit, after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation and after Jones filed his own lawsuit, two members of the council still believed in this city administrator.
An Orlando Sentinel story dated Oct. 11 states that one council member said a “dark cloud” rests on the city council, a local pastor called the city council’s accusations a “sham,” and four council members turned in anonymous performance evaluations on Jones. Clearly, this does not pass the smell test.
Second was an argument by one of the opponents, that Jones just wanted more power, so Jones sought to bring building inspections in-house. The council member may truly believe that, but the argument seems weak when Jones points out that the company held the city contract for years with no one ever putting it out for competitive bids. Building-inspection revenues have been increasing significantly as Groveland experiences a housing boom, so Jones argued that the city could save a lot of money by hiring its own inspectors. Jones’ argument, which favors saving taxpayer dollars, certainly carries more weight.
As far as the police chief’s hotel bills, that had been going on for two years before staff even brought it to Jones’ attention. The police chief got permission to use a city credit card to pay for the rooms and the finance officer garnished his wages to repay the city. The garnishments did not keep up, and over time, fell behind by between $400 to $1,300, depending on who calculated the numbers. With a general fund budget of $10 million, and Jones not involved in setting up the arrangement, we could not see much benefit for Jones to keep it quiet, so the cover-up allegation falls short. Further, Jones states that he reprimanded the police chief for not bringing it to his attention.
We note that the city council promoted the same financial officer to fill Jones’ seat after Jones’ termination, further undermining the argument against Jones.
In other words, both circumstances sound like a part of partisan politics: Trying to make weak arguments appear strong by manufacturing strong emotions, like, in this case, outrage.
After all that we read about the controversy and after what we heard from Jones, we reach this conclusion: He’s coming from a tense situation, there were no apparently significant right or wrong choices here, just a difference in preferences and priorities.
We cannot say whether Jones, during his time in West Branch, will do a good job or not. We cannot predict the future.
However, we do know that when our reporter talked to him about the controversies, Jones’ spoke freely and without hesitation. His version of the story had significant details, good arguments that ring of truth that suggests an honest person, or, at least, an honest point of view.
Jones will get a new start here in West Branch. And, as this newspaper has for more than 140 years, the Times will continue to report on the happenings of the city and its leaders, analyzing their most significant actions and, on occasion, sharing our opinion on how the city spends your tax dollars.
Jones, talking with our reporter, said he wants a transparent government. The prior city administrator, Matt Muckler, set that bar very high, and, again, the Times will continue making requests for information, which will test that level of transparency.
We wish the West Branch City Council and City Administrator Redmond Jones II the very best in their efforts to strengthen and grow the community.
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