CULLUM is the man who on January 31, 2019 asked me to "step outside" when I publicly questioned the purchase of 91-93 Coquina Avenue, a/k/a "FREEMAN's FOLLY," a putative flood control expenditure about which he lied to Mayor Nancy Shaver and Commissioners.
CULLUM never apologized.
City Manager JOHN PATRICK REGAN, P.E. then had the effrontery to tell me that I needed to "reset my relationship" with CULLUM.
Looks like REGAN's the one who has "reset [his] relationship" with CULLUM, removing him from a Director's chair.
CULLUM, REGAN and FREEMAN all recently skated on state ethics charges.
CULLUM's response, printed in the St. Augustine Record on October 31, 2019, was to retaliate by publicly disparaging the complainant, Susan W. Rathbone, for filing a "frivolous" complaint. I asked the City to produce any documents supporting his view. None were produced.
CULLUM's pay has been reduced be nearly $25,000 annually.
His new title is "Chief Resiliency Officer."
Perhaps it will come with a "charisma bypass," ethics classes and customer service training.
CULLUM has two engineering degrees from UF. Only about 5% of U.S. engineers have Master's degrees.
CULLUM has ability, but lacks ethics and candor.
He also seems to lack social skills -- not an uncommon trait among engineers, in my experience.
Footnote: When I was in Houston, appearing before a USDOL Administrative Law Judge, trying the first environmental whistleblower case ever tried against that NASA Johnson Space Center, learned Martin Marietta lawyers tried to portray the problem as my engineer client's alleged lack of social graces, rather than Martin Marietta's retaliation for whistleblowing about a too-high touch temperatures on a devilishly clever but potentially dangerous biomedical engineering device used in the Space Shuttle for drying astronaut blood samples.
So I questioned my client's supervisor, an engineer who has immigrated from Turkey, whose four-syllable Turkish surname the ethnocentric, hopelessly provincial Baker & Botts defense lawyer refused to try to pronounce.
I pronounced the supervisor's name correctly, first time, every time, repeatedly, and built a rapport.
Then I got his candid one-word admission about the reputation of engineers for social skills.
I said, "Dr. Yalcinkaya, from your earliest days in engineering school in Turkey until your studies in America until now, have you ever heard a term used to describe engineers?"
He did not even answer "yes" or "no."
Instead, he said firmly, quickly and without any sign of hesitation,"Nerds!"
I thanked Dr. Yalcinkaya profusely. I had no further questions and I sat down.
City puts focus on resiliency
Former St. Augustine Public Works Director Mike Cullum has been named the city’s chief resiliency officer. He’ll oversee special projects related to sea level rise and flooding. The city’s former Mobility Program Manager Reuben Franklin Jr. is now the city’s public works director. [PETER WILLOTT/THE RECORD]
By Sheldon Gardner
Posted Nov 4, 2019 at 5:19 PM
St. Augustine Record
The city of St. Augustine has shifted a few key leadership roles, including creating a chief resiliency officer to focus on sea level rise and flooding issues.
Mike Cullum, who had been the public works director, is now the chief resiliency officer.
The problems associated with sea level rise and flooding have gotten more attention from government officials at the state level, with Julia Nesheiwat becoming the state’s first chief resilience officer.
The city of St. Augustine also has been investing resources in strengthening infrastructure against flooding and planning for sea level rise.
City Manager John Regan said he realized within the past couple of months that the city needed to create a different position to focus on the issue.
“It really needed its own independent person in charge of it,” he said.
Cullum, who will report to Regan, will lead major efforts on flood reduction, such as flood improvements focused on Lake Maria Sanchez and at 91 and 93 Coquina Avenue.
“Also, he’s working on long-term legislative strategies to create funding for bigger solutions to sea level rise though Congress and the state of Florida,” Regan said.
Cullum said that he’ll work with city departments to make projects more resistant to flooding.
Cullum worked for the St. Johns River Water Management District for more than 20 years and at one point was the lead technical person on sea level rise for the district, he said.
He became public works director in 2018.
Mayor Tracy Upchurch said he thinks creating the role is a positive step and will give the city a point person to work on these issues.
“It illustrates how seriously the city takes this,” he said.
Upchurch recently attended a summit of Florida mayors in Washington, D.C., hosted by the American Flood Coalition, an event that focused on sea level rise.
Alec Bogdanoff, Florida resilience manager for the American Flood Coalition, named some other local governments that have a resiliency officer or something similar, such as Miami and Palm Beach County.
“The reality is that sea level rise is something that touches across many departments in municipalities, so identifying a chief resiliency officer allows them to have a point person who coordinates across all facets of the city,” Bogdanoff said.
The department changes have also meant salary changes, though there’s been no overall budget increase for the city, Regan said.
Culllum’s pay has been reduced from $112,250 to $87,500 a year along with the role change, said Donna Hayes, the city’s human resources manager.
Reuben Franklin Jr., the former mobility program manager, is the new public works director.
Over the past couple of years, Franklin has set up a work plan that can be spread among engineers in public works, and the city doesn’t plan to hire another mobility manager, Regan said.
“The past two years Reuben has done a really good job of getting organized,” Regan said.
Franklin said mobility will still be a major focus for the city. One of the top projects underway is a redesign of King Street.
Franklin’s salary is increasing from $91,559 to $95,000.
The city is also splitting off its utility work from Public Works and creating a Utility Department. Public Works will cover street and ground maintenance, and mobility and parking operations, according to the city.
Todd Grant, former deputy public works director, is now the Utility Department director. His salary is increasing from $86,284 to $95,000.
The city plans to create an engineering manager position that can be filled from within existing ranks instead of having a deputy public works director.
“Every so often you have to adjust the organization hierarchy (to support what you’re doing),” Regan said.
No comments:
Post a Comment