Steve Spratt Resigns

Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt resigned this afternoon, effective Sept. 30. Here's the link to the breaking news. The county government had been criticized in a recent grand jury report concerning the Jim Smith land deal.

So much for our speculation in today's weekly live chat as to whether he would stay through the county budget process or even longer. More on Mr. Spratt soon.

Comments

[Tom]

Did Steve get to keep his $90,000 per year pension?

That would be quite a nice consolation prize for taking the heat for the commission's decision.

[Judge]

So, the all knowing, obnoxious, perfect, holier than thou Howard Troxler finally has his pound of flesh.

[Lorraine]

Hallelujah............whatever the price, it's worth it that he is GONE........

[Senor T]

Steve was a tough Dude.

The Times has destroyed Pinellas County.

I think Commissioner Harris should be the next Administrator, he seems really smart.

[Booger]

Hey Steve; make sure you check behind you credenza before you leave. Jake Stowers forgot to and all kinds of stuff was found in his office. You remember that don’t you? You criminals went through great pains to cover that too.

And Senor T,

Harris was one of the seven criminals who voted unanimously to approve the deal… then claimed ignorance and made Churuti the fall gal “publicly” – then allowed Spratt to escape public scrutiny and bow out without going through the humiliation that Churuti did… and keep his pension and benefits – just like Miami-Dade did when he came here. Oh, perhaps you didn’t know that even though you and I paid for his benefits, Spratt continued to receive them from Miami-Dade in the form of a monthly check. Need I go on?

I say 2-down, 7-to-go. It’s time to flip every pancake on that griddle and clean this town up.

[Lorraine]

Dear Booger (QUITE A TAG!),

I'd love for you to share a bit more about what was under Jake's credenza.....is THAT why he's been serving the agonizing duty of sitting on the Environmental Science Forum for free after retirement?? His penance to keep the found items out of the public eye? Most interesting........

[Booger]

For starters, it had to do with several important documents involving the Golden Lantern MHP debacle. You may remember that a developer bought the property out from under the tenants of the park, and tried to squelch the resident’s resistance by manipulating many of the tenants with a pay-off much greater than the State offers. Being lower than average income folks, many took the bait and even made purchases prematurely, based on the promise.

Then, the BOCC tried to circumvent the Comprehensive Plan to allow for High-Density Condos on the property. Unfortunately, the area is within the 100-year flood plain and the zoning change could not happen. The BOCC/CPA tried to circumvent the process (sound familiar) and do it anyway claiming the need for affordable housing (condos @ 200K?)

A persistent resident of the MHP (who also happen to be related to infamous land use attorney Tim Johnson who skipped out of state after making his millions off the backs of taxpayers in Pinellas, with help from the BOCC and staff)… fought the whole deal in court. That resident actually won his case while sitting in jail.

Now, the developer is backing out of the deal, the owner has allowed the MHP to deteriorate to near deplorable condition, the resident’s pay-off isn’t coming, the owner is allowing companies to go into the park a scrap vacant homes, and the county is trying to bully them out anyway. It’s an on-going saga that hasn’t received much coverage since the initial hoopla.

That’s only one of many. This Smith deal is only the tip of the iceberg. And the BOCC is hoping the Spratt and Churuti career offerings will stop the digging.

[jean]

Interesting comments about Stowers--praised by the Times when he retired as Mr. Environmentalist, previously known as the "developer's best friend." As for Tim Johnson, he made millions off the country and led the anti-public access charge for his cable clients for years. Who will the county bring in for the interim--Iorio's husband, the return of Fred Marquis, whatever will they do?

[Bob]

The bill for this fiasco keeps rising.

$225K for the property instead of a free utility easement.
$100K severance to Churuti,
$225K severance to Spratt,
Plus, cost of investigation, grand jury, and search for new administrator and county attorney - PRICELESS.

All the commissioners responsible for and accountable for the levy of taxes and the spending of the public's money - STILL THERE.

Bob Stewart keeps saying maybe Commissioner’s should resign, why doesn’t he?

[None of the Above]

I think it's time for a circular firing squad with Jim Smith in the middle and the ring composed of the seven dwarfs.

As in everything else related to this fiasco however, they'd probably all miss.

[Andy G]

I congratulate the Times writers for their exceptionally high pay. I can think of no other reason why they would consistently wink at the exhorbitant salaries being paid to high ranking county muckity mucks. This at a time when governments are supposedly tightening their belts. This guy was paid almost a quarter of a million dollars annually in a county with median income around $50K. PLUS he enjoyed all the perks of government employment including generous vacation and holiday time, expense account, good medical insurance AND a pension, PLUS I hear he got severance greater than what many working folks have been able to save for their entire retirement.

[Lorraine]

Friend Booger,

Smith Deal, Crossbar Ranch Deal with contingent property owned by environmental "Jake the Snake" Stowers who I've heard practically ran the "hunting on preservation lands" business, Pinellas County Utilites, A.K.A. Pickens (a story unto himself), gross overage in the "emergency fund" "slush fund" for Pinellas while we're "Pickens" for funding FOR GOOD STUFF..............I'm ALL EARS.

Lorraine

[PC Citizen]

Where is the Governer in this? Why has he not intervened and either suspend or oust Jim Smith and all the County Commissioners on this. Our Penny for Pinellas pays Jim Smith for his property, Our Commissioner take responsibility for their role in this, but yet don't bother to resign, We're in budget cuts where layoffs have been just recently completed in Pinellas, but yet Churuti gets fired & get severance pay & Sprat resigns and get servance pay.....what is wrong with this picture?????? The layoff employees didn't get that offered to them....why not? If you take a standard position in the County, if they got fired, NOTHING would be given to them. Like I said, where is the Governer in all this mess? Didn't he intervene with the local government in Inglis, Florida not too long ago because of their corruption? Well hello, Gov Crist, we're a little bit more south than Inglis...come on down!

[Dale Lissner]

All the kings horses and all the kings men....and the walls come tumbling down.

Now finsh the task with dumping Smith and isolating/vote out the "magnificent seven" commissioners.

Need more heat? Check out Google. www.stopaccidentalcalls" and "Misuse and Abuse of the Cell Phone Button Guard Pilot"

Pinellas Communications 911 staff sank the $20k taxpayer pilot to reduce "unintentional 911 calls by striking the auto dial 9" Why? The simple minded bureaucratic bean counters log the # of distress 911 calls to justify their staff and overtime $.. They pulled every trick in the book to downplay the 15,000 accidental calls that were stopped by... the "65 cent little button guard. Which were to be given "free" to the public to apply the "peel and stick" around the 9 button.

Respectfully, Dale Lissner dir SACC

[Ric]

Let me see if I got this straight… Jim Smith griped, moaned, threatened, and whined the county out of $225,000. Susan Churuti was fired and will be paid 6 months of her annual salary. She will walk away with a cool $96,507.50. Steve Spratt resigned and will get a severance package in the amount of $223,476.00. According to my simple math, this has cost the county 54 million four hundred ninety eight thousand three hundred fifty (54,498,350) “Pennies for Pinellas” and there was no crime? If I walked up and slapped these crooks, I would be the one to go to jail. Can someone explain this to me?