FORT PIERCE \u2014 A City Commission vote to hire a search firm for Fort Pierce\u2019s next city attorney reopened divisions over the Commission\u2019s decision not to renew City Attorney Sarah Hedges\u2019 contract.<\/p>\n
During its July 20 meeting, the Commission voted 3-1 to hire S. Ren\u00e9e Narloch & Associates to conduct the search, but the discussion quickly returned to the controversy that began in April over the roles of the city\u2019s charter officers.<\/p>\n
That dispute started April 20, when Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky questioned whether Hedges had exceeded the advisory role of the city attorney by directing City Manager Richard Chase not to seek advice from outside counsel and by requesting the suspension of Finance Director Johnna Morris over a wage garnishment issue. Morris was later reinstated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city attorney role \u2014 in my opinion \u2014 is advisory in nature and does not carry independent authority over administrative or operational decisions,\u201d Dzadovsky said during the April meeting. \u201cThe city manager is the decision-maker for this city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The disagreement eventually led to formal agenda items and, on June 8, a 3-2 vote not to renew Hedges\u2019 annual contract. Mayor Linda Hudson and Commissioner Michael Broderick opposed the move, noting Hedges had already submitted her resignation effective Dec. 31. The majority instead allowed her contract to expire Sept. 15.<\/p>\n
Hedges, who was promoted to city attorney in September 2023, had received positive performance evaluations before the dispute.<\/p>\n
At the July 20 meeting, Human Resources Director Jared Sorensen presented proposals from three executive search firms.<\/p>\n
Colin Baenziger & Associates submitted a proposal of $34,500 with a projected 12-week timeline. GovHR USA\/MGT proposed $28,000 but added $1,200 for each onsite visit, bringing the estimated total to $31,600. S. Ren\u00e9e Narloch & Associates proposed $30,950, including three onsite visits or virtual meetings and a projected 16-week search.<\/p>\n
Sorensen recommended Narloch & Associates.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Arnold Gaines asked about the firm\u2019s timeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s 16 weeks,\u201d Sorensen replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood luck with that,\u201d Broderick responded.<\/p>\n
Dzadovsky noted that the timetable could be shortened if a qualified candidate is identified sooner.<\/p>\n
Sorensen agreed and raised another issue \u2014 whether the city should appoint an interim attorney while the search is underway.<\/p>\n
Dzadovsky said that should remain an option.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe there\u2019s an opportunity for an interim attorney, whether it\u2019s for the final outcome or a transition period,\u201d he said. \u201cI think Ms. Narloch could also be looking for someone to be an interim in the same vein.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broderick opposed both the search and the possibility of hiring an interim attorney.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t agree with any of this decision \u2014 everybody\u2019s aware of that,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the first downstroke of $31,000 that the city\u2019s going to incur in costs, among damages and other things of this nature. This is going to become a very costly ordeal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority,\u201d Dzadovsky interjected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority\u2019s going to own these decisions moving forward,\u201d Broderick replied.<\/p>\n
Although Gaines supported not renewing Hedges\u2019 contract, he questioned whether bringing in an interim attorney made sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not having an interim and then come back in,\u201d Gaines said. \u201cThat\u2019d be three attorneys in four or five months. I think we let the search team do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hudson expressed concern that the city could be without legal representation after Hedges\u2019 contract expires Sept. 15 if the search extends into the fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be without a city attorney for three months,\u201d Hudson said. \u201cI\u2019m very concerned about that because a lot of work comes out of that office.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discussion then shifted back to the reasons for the Commission\u2019s earlier decision.<\/p>\n
Broderick argued that what began as a disagreement over charter authority evolved into criticism of Hedges herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis original issue with Ms. Hedges was in theory a charter conflict between the city manager\u2019s office and the city attorney\u2019s office,\u201d Broderick said. \u201cThe charter is the real issue here, but then it shifted to a personality attack on Ms. Hedges and her quality of work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dzadovsky disagreed, saying the contract review simply followed the initial dispute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation occurred when there was a conflict between two charter officers \u2014 I brought that forward,\u201d he said. \u201cIt then transformed into looking at the contracts. The reason why it got brought up was not to fire her. This was simply moving in a direction in which the Commission majority voted not to renew the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hudson said the underlying disagreement over charter responsibilities remains unresolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis did start out as a charter dispute,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we all need to be clear on what our charter says so we can follow the charter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Commission ultimately approved the contract with S. Ren\u00e9e Narloch & Associates on a 3-1 vote, with Broderick dissenting. Commissioner Curtis Johnson Jr. was absent.<\/p>\n
Hometown News submitted a public records request July 24 seeking documents related to the charter officer roles and responsibilities but had not received a response by press time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE \u2014 A City Commission vote to hire a search firm for Fort Pierce\u2019s next city attorney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-352844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}