Until St. Johns County Commissioners voted 5-0 on November 19, 2019 to fire MICHAEL DAVID WANCHICK as County Administrator, I was the only person to call for it, based on WANCHICK's documented misogynist, sexist behavior reported in the Roper Report.
Ex contractu, the firing cost more than $161,000.
Firing Sheriff DAVID SHOAR's crony as County Administrator, priceless.
Worth every penny.
Next time, draft a better contract.
We need a national search and vetting by our community at an open public meeting where qualified candidates make presentations.
Ask questions, demand answers, expect democracy.
Wanchick firing costs St. Johns County more than $161K
By Sheldon Gardner
Posted at 4:44 PM
St. Augustine Record
Firing Michael Wanchick early came with a cost.
St. Johns County commissioners fired him in November after Commissioner Jeremiah Blocker criticized Wanchick’s handling of a private construction project using Mickler’s Landing Beachfront Park project.
Blocker said, beyond just the Mickler’s Landing issue, he had lost confidence in Wanchick’s leadership.
The Commission appointed Hunter Conrad, former county clerk of court and comptroller, as his interim replacement.
The county owes Wanchick 20 weeks of severance pay because he wasn’t fired for misconduct, according to Wanchick’s contract. But that’s not all.
The contract also calls for payment of accrued vacation and sick leave and continuing insurance coverage for Wanchick and his family for 20 weeks.
The cost for the severance pay plus the accrued sick and vacation time is $161,080.29, according to St. Johns County’s response to a public records request by The Record.
The county expects to pay Wanchick before the end of the year.
The cost of his insurance coverage wasn’t available as of Friday afternoon.
Wanchick had 320 vacation hours worth $36,531.32 and 291 sick hours worth $33,220.67. His 20 weeks of compensation, at his hourly rate of about $114.16, is worth $91,328.30.
Wanchick had been the county administrator since June 2007.
His salary was $237,453.58 at the time of his departure, according to the county.
His contract would have expired in January of 2021.
Commissioner Jeremiah Blocker said in an interview with The Record this week that Wanchick would have been able to cash out his leave upon finishing his contract.
Blocker said he believed there were systematic issues that weren’t being addressed.
“Ultimately the leader at the top is responsible ... and I would not have done anything differently,” he said.
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