FORT PIERCE – After nearly four years working for the City of Fort Pierce, Camille Wallace will move into her third city hall position Friday, if only on an interim basis.
The Fort Pierce City Commission Tuesday approved a contract for Wallace to serve as interim city attorney for at least four to five months while a permanent hiring decision is made to replace current city counsel Sara Hedges.
And approval of a settlement agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) over boundary and unpermitted structure violations at Little Jim Bait and Tackle was pulled from Tuesday’s agenda at the request of City Manager Richard Chess. He gave no explanation for the delay that resulted in more than $16,000 in fines assessed against the city.
Under terms of her temporary contract, Wallace will earn a salary based on a $200,000-a-year pay and will be able to apply for the position in her own right should she choose. The contract approved Tuesday says Wallace will be granted an unpaid leave of absence from her job as deputy city manager, with the right to go back to that job after the interim appointment ends.
A Tallahassee recruiting firm has been hired by the city to find qualified applicants and to bring top recommendations for commissioners to narrow to finalists for local interviews.
Wallace may have some hiring of her own to do when she assumes her few interim office. Two other assistant city attorneys recently resigned, leaving a single paralegal in the office.
Wallace formerly was an assistant city attorney before being named deputy city attorney eight months ago.
Hedges, who was hired to the top attorney’s job three years ago after serving as a deputy city attorney, will be done when her contract expires Thursday. Officials have said her has no provisions for severance benefits.
Meanwhile, Salty Baitshack 3, Little Jim, current operator and leaseholder for the Hutchinson Island causeway restaurant/bar, has been accused of building structures over land owned by the state and doing so without required permits.
Tuesday’s published agenda had included an agreement where the city would pay more than $16,000 in FDEP fines, and a second action that would have had Salty Baitshack 3 reimburse the city for those costs.
Meanwhile, the current lease continues month-to-month while the city develops a new Request for Proposals for all prospective operators wishing to submit private proposals for the next long-term lease.