Created 2010-05-14 00:10
BY PETER GUINTA
ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH -- The chairwoman of Anastasia Mosquito Control District's board of directors said Thursday night that the district's plan to move its headquarters inland is "dead."
Chairwoman Jeanne Moeller said, "I am the swing vote on this project, and I will not vote to move it forward,"
So years of planning and hundreds of thousands of tax dollars that were spent to move its vulnerable base station at 500 Old Beach Road to 18.5 inland acres off State Road 16 are apparently wasted.
Board members Col. Ron Radford and Vivian Browning had supported the move out of the hurricane zone. John Sundeman and Janice Bequette didn't.
Moeller waffled.
But last month, she took a decided turn against and voted to put the project on hold.
Part of the reason she declared it dead on Thursday was her receipt of documents from an unnamed source Saturday that initiated a lack of trust in district staff, especially for Assistant Director Priscilla Greene.
Greene, a West Point graduate, was hired in March 2008 to help Director Rui-de Xue run the district.
Under Moeller's urging, the board voted 4-1 Thursday night to fire Greene and eliminate her position.
She accused Greene of signing a contract with a telephone company without telling the board and signing and mailing a $76,970 check to an engineering consultant to pay for Department of Environmental Protection and St. Johns River Water Management District permits for the new headquarters.
"She is not to sign contracts," Moeller said. "Only the board may sign contracts. I have concerns about staff transparency, integrity and honesty."
The district needs those permits to build its headquarters.
Greene stayed calm and silent before her accuser, but finally said, "I don't know about any motion last month about stopping the project. That money had been approved by the board."
On Thursday, Moeller cleared up any doubt about where she stood about the move and about Greene.
"I want (Greene) reprimanded or terminated. This is absolutely appalling," she said.
Just moments before, Green had given the board a report illustrating the deficiencies of its current base station.
Her report included photos of deteriorating sections of the headquarters building, roof leaks, rusting beams, a settling foundation, a 1960 backup generator, structural cracks in buildings, leaking skylights and a deteriorating beam in the chemical tank area.
Julieann Klein, a certified public accountant for Lombardo, Spradley & Klein, Daytona Beach, told the board that upgrading the current compound would cost $1.3 million. To rebuild the current base station would cost $2 million and to build near State Road 16 would cost $2.7 million.
Board member Vivian Browning, the lone vote for Greene, said board inaction has wasted years.
"We're fiddling while Rome burns," she said. To Sundeman, she said, "You're basically picking apart reports and asking for more information. We need a secure storage area for information. Right now our personnel and accounting records are in a shed outside. And have we determined if we have an extended ability to operate off site? I don't think we do."
Sundeman called the report "a propaganda slide show. We're not getting a true picture here."
He made the motion to terminate Greene, saying, "We have a right to terminate her at any time." That motion was seconded by Moeller, who said, "We can't have people who handle our money keep things from this board."
Upon advice of board attorney Douglas Wyckoff, the board will issue Greene a letter saying that she has the chance to have a hearing before her termination.
But the board learned that even if Greene convinces them not to terminate, her job has already been eliminated.
Browning criticized the board's internal backbiting.
"The 'gotcha' factor around her is ridiculous," she said. "Nobody should be treated as (Greene) was treated here tonight."
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