Drama captivated the Sept. 4 meeting of the Bradenton Beach City Commission.
As per usual, the meeting started off with an opportunity for public comment, and Gulf Drive South property owner Patrick Shomo approached the podium and shared concerns about the need for expediency in revising the land development code.
“It’s taking entirely too long,” Shomo said, and urged Mayor Bill Shearon to “give the planning and zoning board a month until the first reading.”
Shearon acknowledged, “It’s been a long, tedious process,” and, in a harbinger of the spectacle to come, referenced the excessive workloads of city planner Alan Garrett and building official Steve Gilbert.
The mayor invited Shomo to meet with him to share his concerns and ideas.
City clerk Gia Lancaster, who started working for the city Aug. 25, had submitted a comment card and followed Shomo to the podium.
Visibly upset, Lancaster said she was “shocked and dismayed,” saying she was there “to answer any questions.” Lancaster never referenced any particular accusations, but rambled about “my personal life being my personal life,” and having “only a penny in my pocket.”
She deposited a handful of change on the desk in front of temporary clerk Terri Sanclemente.
She then asked the commissioners, who appeared stupefied by the remarks, for a vote of confidence, after which she abruptly left the chambers and headed to her vehicle in the city parking lot.
A recess was quickly called, and city attorney Ricinda Perry, Commissioner Jan Vosburgh, Shearon and the mayor’s partner Tjet Martin, who was in the gallery, followed Lancaster to the parking lot.
As the group attempted to console her, Lancaster could be heard to say, “People have been talking about me all day” and “Everyone treats me like s—.”
Lancaster eventually was persuaded to go back inside city hall, where she remained behind closed doors for the duration of the meeting. Perry relinquished her post to attend to Lancaster until she was called upon to give her report.
After the meeting adjourned, Shearon said that Lancaster had been in meetings with Perry and city treasurer Sheila Dalton during the day to discuss “a strategy to prioritize what needs to be done.”
He said he did not know specifically what had triggered her outburst.
The mayor referenced a backlog of public records requests, adding, “She doesn’t even know how to use the computer yet.
“We are very backed up and there is a lot of pressure,” Shearon said.
The mayor also indicated that because Lancaster was out of the office, she had not yet received her paycheck. It was provided to her that evening.
Shearon contributed an outburst of his own to the meeting.
Perry’s report included a mention of the need to update the city’s employee manual, during which she suggested retaining outside counsel or seeking assistance from students at Stetson University School of Law to help expedite the process.
In the discussion that ensued, Vice Mayor Jack Clarke expressed a need for better communication about this and other issues.
Again citing the backlog of work in a number of departments, staff stress and a general lack of time and resources, Shearon said, “Jiminy Christmas! Sorry people! We don’t have it.”
The mayor also referenced his recurring frustration with the failure of the commissioners to bring up these concerns at work sessions.
“I’m sorry, but you’ve had opportunity to have these discussions,” he said. “I hate to beat a horse to death, but this one has been beaten until its glue.”
Shortly after, Vosburgh excused herself, saying, “I don’t like to be at a meeting where the mayor is so angry.”
The meeting adjourned after a brief report from the mayor on his recent activities.
The Islander learned Lancaster visited Manatee Memorial Hospital’s emergency room Sept. 4 and was discharged to a psychiatric facility, according to an emergency room staff member.
The mayor said Sept. 8, he has retained both an employment-labor law expert, and Mark Barneby, public records and city government expert of Blalock Walters Attorneys at Law in Bradenton, to help address some of the ongoing problems at city hall.