FORT PIERCE — City Attorney Sara Hedges won’t have her contract renewed, the City Commission decided in a 3-2 vote June 8.
By the same 3-2 vote, the commission declined to accept Hedges’ resignation, which would have continued her employment through the end of the year. Her current contract expires Sept. 11.
The commission had until June 13 to officially notify Hedges her contract would not be renewed. Without that 90-day-notice, her contract would have renewed automatically for another year.
At a May 18 meeting, commissioners had already rejected, again by a 3-2 vote, renewing her contract, but it still would have automatically renewed if formal notice of intent not to renew was not given by June 13. Now that the vote has taken place, notice will be given, City Manager Richard Chess told commissioners.
Hedges and the city still could reach a separation agreement before Sept. 11 that could alter her departure timeline. Conversations between Hedges and Human Resources staff will continue, Chess said.
Commissioners have no timeline for finding Hedges’ replacement, and her the annual performance review, scheduled for the June 8 meeting, was largely brushed over as commissioners had already voted to let her contract expire.
The commissioners who voted to notify Hedges of her nonrenewal — Chris Dzadovsky, Arnold Gaines and Curtis Johnson — declined to go into detail about complaints with Hedges, instead citing unclear duties of the City Attorney’s Office that may have led to her stepping into the duties of the city manager.
As in past votes, Mayor Linda Hudson and Commissioner Michael Broderick backed Hedges. The two also voted to accept her resignation.
Broderick has called the push to let Hedges’ contract end a “witch trial,” and said June 8 that the issues with unclear duties for the charter officers — the city manager, city attorney and city clerk — had nothing to do with Hedges’ job performance. Those issues, Broderick said, have to do with the way the city charter is written, and he said they will remain even after Hedges is gone.
After the votes, Hudson advocated for Hedges’ performance review to be largely skipped, explaining it would not be proper for commissioners to damage her ability to seek future employment elsewhere. The commissioners agreed, with Johnson chiming in only to thank Hedges for her time at the city.
Hedges has been a city employee nearly five years and city attorney nearly three years.
Performance reviews were given for Chess and City Clerk Linda Cox.
Hedges did not comment on the votes at the June 8 meeting and recused herself from the portions of the meeting where her employment was discussed, before returning for her performance review.
While details from the commissioners on specific complaints against Hedges are slim, at least one significant issue is well known.
On April 28, the city received a pre-lawsuit notice of intent from attorneys representing city Finance Director and CFO Johnna Morris.
The notice laid out a number of allegations against the city, and singled out Hedges for allegedly having committed “unlawful conduct.”
The letter alleges that Hedges recommended firing Morris after the city received a wage garnishment order for a personal debt that Morris owes. A final judgment against Morris was obtained by JP Morgan Chase Bank on Jan. 8 for $14,343.61. Morris, who is paid $180,000 annually, was to have $1,321.19 garnished from her total earnings of $6,870.44 each pay period, according to court records related to the final judgment.
However, concerns were later raised that terminating an employee because of a wage garnishment, as Hedges allegedly sought to do, may violate the Consumer Credit Protection Act, which protects workers who are indebted. The consequences of breaking that law could be a fine up to $1,000 and one year in prison.
An apparent dispute with Chess centered around allegations, made by Dzadovsky, that Hedges had prevented Chess from consulting an outside attorney about the situation.
Morris is now back at work, after serving a brief suspension.
The notice of intent specifically demanded discipline against Hedges “up to and including termination.”
Wicker Perlis is TCPalm’s Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at Wicker.Perlis@TCPalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Fort Pierce won’t renew contract with City Attorney Sara Hedges
Reporting by Wicker Perlis, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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By Wicker Perlis, Treasure Coast Newspapers | USA TODAY Network
