Bradenton Beach Mayor Jack Clarke called the city’s Aug. 11 budget workshop to order and the clerk read the roll. All the commissioners were seated at the dais.
But Clarke refused to entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. He abruptly halted the meeting.
City treasurer Sheila Dalton was absent, and Clarke would not proceed.
Dalton, who did not report to work Aug. 11, resigned in a letter she left at work Aug. 10, giving two weeks’ notice. In it she said her experiences during the past six months convinced her to resign because “I am simply not ruthless enough for this city.”
Rather than allow her to serve out the two weeks, Clarke limited her work to one day, Aug. 12.
Dalton, 51, was hired by commissioners in February 2014 as city treasurer/finance director, following a recommendation from the city auditor to separate the city clerk and treasurer positions. Former city clerk Nora Idso had held both positions simultaneously before she left the job for medical leave in 2013. She died June 9, 2014.
Dalton’s salary when she resigned was $55,825.
In March 2014, an independent financial audit of revealed serious accounting deficiencies in the city’s 2012-13 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
A year later, with Dalton overseeing finances, the situation was brighter. Christopher, Smith, Leonard, Bristow & Stanell, a Bradenton-based CPA firm, revealed its audit of city finances for the previous fiscal year during a Feb. 17 special commission meeting.
The firm looked at a sample of financial transactions dated Oct. 1, 2013-Sept. 30, 2014. It found no need for any adjustments to the information provided by the city, compared to 24 adjustments for misstatements found in the audit before Dalton came on board. The financial statements are accurate now, Randy Dillingham, a principal with the firm, told commissioners.
“This is a clean, unmodified opinion; that’s the highest level of opinion that we can give,” Dillingham said. “We think any risk of misstatements is very low … that’s exactly what you want.”
Power struggle
Dalton was hired at a time of turmoil at city hall, which was followed by more turbulence as city employees took sides in the power struggle between then-Mayor Bill Shearon and then-Vice Mayor Clarke.
At the time Dalton was hired, the city also hired a full-time clerk, who was quickly criticized and dismissed at the suggestion of Clarke in spite of acclaim from Shearon. Clarke’s criticism focused on the purchase of software designed to resolve issues with new computer systems, software that was later put to work for the city after a recommendation by Police Chief Sam Speciale.
After firing clerk Jamie Anderson, the city struggled to find a qualified clerk.
Some employees reportedly campaigned for Clarke before the May 19 recall election, in which Clarke won the mayor’s seat by 13 votes.
“I have been employed with the city for over a year now and I do not see myself working for a city which does not share the same beliefs that I do,” Dalton wrote in her resignation letter. “I had hoped that because I was enjoying my work so much that perhaps a compromise between the city’s ethics and my own could be reached. However, I see now that this is not possible.”
Diminished role
Dalton was a department head reporting to commissioners until early June, when Clarke promoted acting clerk Terri Sanclemente to city clerk and placed her over the finance and building departments.
Commissioners approved Sanclemente’s promotion, but they did not approve putting her above Dalton on the city’s organizational chart. It was seen by some as a move to give Sanclemente, at the start of her tenure as clerk, the same authority and responsibility Idso held when she resigned.
Sanclemente was touted as “the new Nora” at city hall as recently as an Aug. 11 special meeting when commissioners talked about her role during their review of the charter review committee’s recommendations to the commission.
Some city hall watchers believe many important decisions are made not by the mayor or commissioners, but rather when Speciale meets with the city clerk, first Idso, now Sanclemente, behind closed doors, including during the run-up to the recall election.
Dalton said in an email she witnessed Speciale and Sanclemente meeting after hours at city hall. Shortly thereafter, Sanclemente announced the transfer of Dalton’s assistant, Audra Lanzaro, from the finance department to the clerk’s office. This move made finance a one-person department at a time when 2015-16 budget discussions were ramping up. It was at this time that Dalton began reporting to Sanclemente.
Support for Clarke’s move to elevate the clerk above the treasurer was not universal. Commissioner Janie Robertson, who was on vacation when Clarke and the commission promoted Sanclemente, attempted Aug. 6 to engage commissioners in a discussion about upholding the ordinance that created the treasurer position. However, no discussion was held because no commissioner seconded her motion.
Instead, commissioners asked city attorney Ricinda Perry to render a legal opinion on Robertson’s suggestion and her documentation, which included the ordinance Perry wrote on the separation of offices.
A certified public accountant from Ohio, Dalton did not transfer her license to Florida. But she is preparing to reactivate her CPA. In the letter, she pledged to complete her city workload in two weeks, but she also lacked confidence the city would look for an adequate replacement.
“According to current practice, I suspect my replacement will be nothing more than a bookkeeper, so city spending will not be monitored and it will go back to being business as usual before I arrived,” she wrote. “Most people resist change and yet it is the only thing that brings progress.”
The city began advertising the treasurer position Aug. 11, using the same job description that attracted Dalton last year. But the online job description does not reflect the actual powers and responsibilities of the position in effect when Dalton resigned.
Despite the “major problem with ethics and values” she said she experienced working at city hall, Dalton still wanted to thank Clarke and the commissioners for her opportunity to serve Bradenton Beach.
Robertson said Dalton performed “near impeccable work” for the city and used the phrases “high quality” and “extremely ethical” to describe her.
Shearon, who is renewing his challenge to Clarke in the Nov. 3 election, said Dalton welcomed the challenge of working at city hall and exceeded his expectations for her. He said one of the reasons he was recalled is that some city employees did not like being held accountable for their actions. Holding employees accountable was part of Dalton’s job and Shearon said she addressed that task tactfully.
Efforts to reach Clarke Aug. 13 by phone were unsuccessful. Commissioners agreed to postpone the budget workshop, which now has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19.
To view resignation letters please click the links below
http://www.islander.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BB-s.dalton-resignation-1.pdf
http://www.islander.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/bb-s.dalton-resignation-2.pdf
Bradenton Beach is a joke… the Mayor, Police Chief and City CLerk are quick to point fingers in every direction but their own. It is obvious the City Clerk is highly under qualified for that position and being well overpaid with taxpayers money. Why I ask?? Could it be beause she supported the power hungry newly elected Mayor?? Seems obvious to me. It is time for the people of Bradenton Beach to become tired of the misuse of their hard earned tax dollars and demand some accountablity from these elected officials and department heads that they seem to trust so much. There is a commissioner who is screaming to anyone who will listen the wrong doing that is going on in that city. But no other elected official will back her up. You should be asking why?? If they have nothing to hide why don’t they prove her wrong. I’ll tell you why.. because she is 100% right! Wake up Bradenton Beach, you have a beautiful city, do not let other people’s greed spoil it for you all.