07-19-89SpMtg JULY 19, 1989
A Special Meeting of the City Commission of the City of Delray
Beach, Florida, was called to order by Mayor Doak S. Campbell in the
Commission Chambers at City Hall at 8:55 A.M., Wednesday, July 19, 1989.
Roll call showed:
Present - Commissioner Patricia Brainerd
Commissioner Mary McCarty
Commissioner Jimmy Weatherspoon
Mayor Doak S. Campbell
Absent - Commissioner William Andrews
Also present were - City Manager Walter O. Barry and
City Attorney Herbert W.A. Thiele.
Mayor Campbell called the meeting to order and announced that
this meeting has been called for the purpose of considering (1) City
Manager's Contract.
1. Mayor Campbell advised that a lot has been transpiring over the
past several months and there have been serious concerns, at least on
his part, upon the performance of the City Manager with regard to
several actions, many of them having been covered in the newspaper. He
stated he has also been concerned with the relationships that the
Manager has been having in City Hall, the esprit of City Hall, the
responsibility of dealing with the staff properly and with members of
the public. He plans to go into this in more detail at a later time.
Mayor Campbell stated that the most important element in a relationship
that a City Manager must have is the confidence and trust in his employ-
ers, that is, the Commission; if that should ever break down, for
whatever the reason, then you do not have a smooth running efficient
City government and it is not in the interest of all the citizens. That
is a grave responsibility that they as elected officials have to bear
and he has, first and foremost, his conscience and primary responsibili-
ty to the v0ters in exercising that conscience to the best of his
ability. With that in mind he would entertain, if the Commission should
so desire, a motion on the floor.
Mr. Weatherspoon stated based on what the Mayor has said, his
concern and for the benefit of the public, who may see the exterior of a
building and it looks well; however, as a Commissioner he has to look at
the external City Manager as well as the internal City Manager. His
decision will be based on his analysis of the internal Mr. Barry as well
as the external, which most of the public sees.
Mr. Weatherspoon moved for the dismissal of Mr. Barry and the
appointment of Mr. Robert Barcinski as the Acting or Interim City
Manager, seconded by Ms. Brainerd. Upon roll call the Commission voted
as follows: Ms. Brainerd - Yes; Ms. McCarty - No; Mr. Weatherspoon -
Yes; Mayor Campbell - Yes. Said motion passed with a 3 to 1 vote.
Before roll call the following discussion was had:
Ms. McCarty stated she is concerned about a number of things.
First of all that this meeting was called on an emergency nature with 12
hours notice in an attempt, she believed, to put one over on the public.
She is concerned there has been no public discussion with regard to
dissatisfaction with the City Manager; four months ago the Commission
gave him a satisfactory performance appraisal and salary increases to go
with it. Ms. McCarty advised that nothing has been discussed with the
Commission of any specifics regarding the City Manager's performance and
it leads her to believe that some sort of Sunshine Law violation may be
involved. She stated she also resents this being done without any
regard to Commissioner Andrews who is out of town; with an issue this
important she believed a full compliment of the Commission should be
present. She added that the City is going into budget discussions, they
have a bond issue on the horizon and a School Board meeting in twelve
days; she believed the credibility of the Commission is at stake and
they need to handle this professionally.
Ms. McCarty made a substitute motion to postpone until a full
compliment of the Commission could be present and discussion had. The
motion FAILED for lack of a second.
The City Attorney advised he had been asked by Commissioner
Andrews, who called him early this morning, to read a statement: "My
Fellow Commissioners and Mayor Campbell. It is my understanding that
this meeting is called for the singular purpose of firing our City
Manager. I regret that you are taking action of this significance in my
absence when no apparent emergency exists. In the interest of fairness
and due deliberation I urge you to delay any action until next Tuesday
at the earliest. All of you were aware that I had previous obligations
this date in San Francisco and could not attend this meeting. Our
abilities to work together on major issues should be respected. In
light of our upcoming deliberations with the School Board, our upcoming
budgetary meetings and the work we have to do on the Bond Issue, I feel
that this issue is ill timed at best. Sincerely, William F. Andrews,
City Commissioner."
Mr. Weatherspoon commented for the record, with regard to the
comment made by Ms. McCarty relative to the alleged Sunshine Law viola-
tions, that he could excuse the public for not knowing what is happening
internally within the Administration; however, the Commissioners deal
with Mr. Barry and the Administration on a day to day basis and they
know of some of these internal problems. This is a matter of making a
judgment based on some of the things that have transpired, not a matter
of Sunshine violations.
At this point the roll was called to the motion.
Mayor Campbell declared the meeting adjourned at 9:05 A.M.
ATTE S T:
MAYOR
The undersigned is the City Clerk of the City of Delray Beach
and that the information provided herein is the minutes of the meeting
of said City Commission of July 19, 1989, which minutes were formally
approved and adopted by the City Commission on
City ' Clerk
NOTE TO READER:
If the minutes that you have received are not completed as indicated
above, then this means that these are not the official minutes of City
Commission. They will become the official minutes only after they have
been reviewed and approved which may involve some amendments, additions,
or deletions to the minutes as set forth above.
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