FORT PIERCE\u2013Tuesday night\u2019s jam-packed Fort Pierce City Commission meeting agenda includes action to name current Deputy City Manager Camille Wallace as interim city attorney to temporarily replace Sara Hedges whose annual contract was not renewed earlier this year.<\/p>\n
It was a 3-2 commission vote Aug. 24 to offer Wallace the interim job, moving her on an interim basis from the city manager\u2019s office to the charter city attorney\u2019s position that reports directly to the city commission.<\/p>\n
Under terms of a proposed interim contract, Wallace will take a leave of absence from her deputy city manager post when she becomes interim city attorney, with a guarantee that she will be able to return to her current job after leaving the city attorney post in good stead.<\/p>\n
However, the agreement before commissioners Tuesday also allows Wallace to become a candidate for the city\u2019s chief legal job if she chooses to join the recruiting process.<\/p>\n
Wallace will see a 21 percent pay increase as interim city attorney, with her annual salary going from her current $165,000 as deputy city manager, to $200,000 in the interim post.<\/p>\n
The agreement also includes language that Wallace will be \u201cresponsible solely to the Commission in the performance of her duties and shall not be subject to the supervision, direction or control of the city manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioners had split over offering Wallace the interim job, with Mayor Linda Hudson and District 2 Commissioner Michael Broderick suggesting Wallace could not be truly independent of City Manager Richard Chess, given the possibility that she might go back to work for Chess if she eventually returns to the deputy job.<\/p>\n
District 1 Commissioners Arnold Gaines and Curtis Johnson Jr. and District 2 Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky said they felt independence could be achieved in the interim role, a position also supported by Chess.<\/p>\n
Wallace had been an assistant city attorney here before being named deputy city manager.<\/p>\n
Hedges\u2019 last day is Sept. 10, after the commission\u2019s majority voted against extending her annual contract, following a reported dispute over Hedges\u2019 handling of a city personnel matter.<\/p>\n
Also on the agenda for action is a proposed agreement to settle a lawsuit brought by resident Kevin Keene over the handling of city-owned waterfront property and requiring that the city give the current operator of Little Jim Bait and Tackle the right to match the highest competitive bid for a new operating lease on the North Hutchinson Island property.<\/p>\n
In addition, Keene sought to require a citywide ballot on any future sale or long-term lease of city-owned waterfront property.<\/p>\n
A judge had twice rejected Keene\u2019s plans and commissioners also said no.<\/p>\n
At its last meeting, the commission decided to offer a settlement where Keene dropped his action and the city would take no action to make Keene pay at least $3,600 in city legal expenses.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s meeting convenes at 5:05 p.m. in the commission chambers at Fort Pierce City Hall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE\u2013Tuesday night\u2019s jam-packed Fort Pierce City Commission meeting agenda includes action to name current Deputy City Manager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-390873","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\/390873","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=390873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}