Hillsborough Commission rejects assault weapons ban

MITCH PERRY

18 hours ago

Commissioner Les Miller‘s proposal to have Hillsborough County ban assault weapons died Wednesday after failing to pick up a second vote from the County Commission.

The five-member board did come out to support a measure extending the waiting period to buy a firearm in the county from three days to five, as well as voting to advance new penalties for people who make threats on social media to schools.

But Miller sought to end so-called “weapons of war” that drew the media’s attention to the meeting. It was his response to the Parkland Valentine’s Day massacre, where 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 14 students and three teachers using an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

AR-15s were the same weapon used to slaughter innocents in other recent American mass shootings.

Miller’s proposal flew in the face of a 2011 Florida law that fines any local official who knowingly violates a state ban on local gun restrictions up to $5,000.

The same rule also gives the Governor power to remove from office anyone flouting the law.

“It could very well cost me in the long run, but if it does it does, it does. I had to make a stance,” Miller said. “I had to come forward to say what was on my mind. I held back too long. I probably should have said this a long time ago.”

After the board rejected the assault weapons ban, Miller immediately made another proposal to have the board vote to repeal the state statute penalizing local officials for enacting gun control measures. That measure also died by failing to get a second commissioner to move it forward.

Undaunted, Miller came back with a third proposal: To extend the waiting period to buy a firearm in Hillsborough County from three to five days. He acknowledged that it was more modest in scope than his other proposals, but said that an additional two days might be able to indicate if a person has mental problems or warrants for their arrest.

It initially got pushback from commissioners Stacy White and Sandy Murman.

White indicated (through a question to county attorney Chip Fletcher) that there was a five-day waiting period in Broward County, the site of last month’s horrific act, and said it wouldn’t have prevented it from happening.

Murman also initially objected, saying that the Florida Legislature was still debating gun policy this week that might make the county’s decision moot. With commissioners Ken Hagan and Pat Kemp not in attendance, she said she didn’t believe it was right to vote on such an important issue without the full board weighing in.

“These are really sensitive issues that need every single one of our members’ attention, ” Murman said.

Commissioner Victor Crist said he saw both sides of the issue, but indicated that the problem was bad people using guns, not guns themselves.

“We want to take the guns out of the hands of those who would abuse the privilege of owning and using one,” he said, adding, “but do we also want to take the guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens who want to protect themselves?”

Crist, Murman and Al Higginbotham then moved to support Miller’s proposal on a 4-1 vote. White was the only dissenter.

Miller wasn’t done. He then made his fourth proposal, calling on staff to draft an ordinance to make it a misdemeanor on anyone who makes a threat on social media against any Hillsborough county school or day care facility.

Murman said she wanted to enhance the provision to extend to government facilities and made a substitute motion for county staff to meet with local law enforcement, the state attorney and chief judge of the courts to make recommendations on any policies regarding people who make threats on social media.

White said he was thinking along the same lines as Murman, but said he would support the proposal, adding that it didn’t preclude staff from getting feedback from those officials in crafting such an ordinance.

While Murman’s substitute motion failed, Miller’s measure passed 5-0.

Crist then proposed that county staff prepare a resolution calling for the Legislature to make any killing on a school campus a capital offense, which the board unanimously approved.

Before the commissioners debated the measures, several members of the public weighed in on Miller’s proposal to ban assault weapons.

“Nothing is going be a perfect fix, but we need to start somewhere. And somewhere is here. And now,” said Jackie Clemons Plisken.

“Show the moral courage to do the right thing, not the party-line thing or the NRA thing, but the human and compassionate thing,” said Hillsborough County Democratic Party chair Ione Townsend. “Do the thing you would be proud of when your children and grandchildren ask you what did you do to keep me safe?

But for Phil Walters, it was a behavioral issue. Legislators should not blame guns for mass shootings like the one in Parkland last month, he said.

“Y’all talking about possibly doing something to pre-empt state law,” Walters said of Miller’s proposal. “I hope our county attorney advised you all on that. Our society functions because of laws.”

Lawyer: Eckerd Connects’ board had right to close meeting amid foster care crisis

By Mark Douglas

Published: March 1, 2018, 6:47 pm

Updated: March 1, 2018, 6:55 pm

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Eckerd Connects expects a $4 million deficit in foster care funds for Hillsborough County this year, but today they hired one of Tallahassee’s most prominent lawyers to respond to our 8 On Your Side “Rides to Nowhere” investigation.

On Wednesday, we questioned the closing of Eckerd’s parent board of directors meeting to our cameras and the public in light of the growing foster care crisis in Hillsborough County.  On Thursday, attorney Barry Richard, who represented George W. Bush in the 2000 Presidential race hanging chad dispute that decided the election, sent a letter to our lawyers insisting Eckerd’s parent board has nothing to do with managing foster care or other taxpayer-funded business and is therefore exempt from Florida’s Sunshine Law.

Richard says “division boards” that directly manage foster care in Pinellas and Hillsborough are open to the public and subject to Florida’s open meetings law.

“Matters relating to the Florida contract are not discussed at the parent company board meetings,” Richard wrote.

Richard insists that “a separate division of Eckerd” run by a “division board” is in charge of Hillsborough foster care. That troubled foster care system is now the subject of a DCF review, an Inspector General investigation, and an abuse investigation by the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office.

In January, our “Rides to Nowhere” investigation documented foster kids spending their days held in caseworkers’ cars at a Wawa gas station on Waters Ave instead of attending school, therapy or going to a foster home.

Eckerd first received word of that practice through an anonymous tip in November, but it was still going on when we staked out the Wawa in January.

Richard insists Eckerd is under no obligation to open its “parent board” meeting to the public saying no public business—foster care or otherwise—is discussed at those meetings. The private nonprofit organization received a total of  $184,566,920—equivalent to 96% of its total funding—from government sources according to the most recent IRS report in 2016.

On Tuesday, the DCF urged Eckerd to open its “parent board” meeting and on Wednesday, so did Governor Rick Scott.  On Thursday, Hillsborough Commissioner and foster care advocate Sandy Murman told Eight on Your Side Eckerd should open all of its meetings for the sake of transparency and public perception in light of the foster care failures in Hillsborough.

“I think transparency and accountability is number one priority,” Murman said. “You should open your doors and let people help you in your decision making and not close people out. I think it breeds suspicion.”

In his letter, Richard praises 8 On Your Side for some of our reporting. “To its credit, WFLA-TV initially brought to light deficiencies in the manner in which Eckerd’s subcontractor, Youth and Family Alternatives, was performing its responsibilities. Upon learning of the deficiencies, Eckerd promptly fired the subcontractor and took steps to correct the deficiencies,” Richard wrote. He ends his letter with a warning. “I urge you to counsel your client to prudently monitor Mr. Douglas’ reports…”

Tampa Bay jobs chief Edward Peachey’s firing upended

Mark Puente

Zachary T. SampsonTimes staff writer

Published: March 6, 2018

Updated: March 6, 2018 at 11:03 AM

Edward Peachey is back –– for now.

The decisions to fire Pinellas and Hillsborough counties’ jobs chief have been temporarily put on hold over the threat of a lawsuit, thrusting the agencies into further disarray amid state and federal investigations.

The executive committees of CareerSource Pinellas and CareerSource Tampa in Hillsborough, both of which Peachey served as president and CEO, voted to remove him last week over allegations that the agencies have inflated their job placement numbers in reports to the state. But members of both committees have invoked a rule to require a vote by the full board of each agency to decide Peachey’s fate.

In Pinellas board member Lenne’ Nicklaus has sought the vote by the full board. In Hillsborough, County Commissioner Sandra Murman made a similar request.

The Pinellas board is set to meet March 21 and Hillsborough is set to meet March 22.

“I feel that if we’re getting sued, I want the whole board to be a part of that,” Nicklaus said Monday. “I don’t want it to be just the executive board making that decision.”

Murman, in Hillsborough, was disappointed her fellow executive committee members voted to give Peachey severance despite the allegations swirling around the agency. She too felt like the decision should go up for a wider vote.

“It needs to go to the full board so everyone is held accountable,” said Murman, who still supports Peachey’s firing.

Pinellas board chair Jack Geller said he respected Nicklaus’ decision to seek a full board vote but was in “total shock” because she supported the firing last week

“She voted for it at the meeting,” Geller said.

Peachey now is still on paid leave in Pinellas and on unpaid leave in Hillsborough until a final decision is made. He had been suspended by both boards before the committees voted to fire him.

Nicklaus said she has not spoken to Peachey but would like to hear from him, not his attorney, about numerous allegations of mismanagement and what a state inspector general has called possible criminal activity.

“I think he should speak to the board and address some of the issues and explain it because we have not heard from him,” Nicklaus said. She said she still stands by voting to fire him.

Last week, another Pinellas board member, Kim Marston, exercised a similar option to void the executive committee’s decision to give Peachey up to five months pay in a settlement in Pinellas. The Hillsborough board also voted for a similar severance package.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity is reviewing whether Peachy would be subject to a state law that limits public employees to six weeks of severance.

Both agencies receive millions in tax dollars each year to train and connect people to work. Last month, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the jobs centers took credit for finding work for thousands of people who did not seek help from the centers.

Current and former employees have said Peachey also had a romantic relationship with a top administrator, Haley Loeun, whose pay rose dramatically as three of her relatives joined the agencies. Louen was fired two weeks ago.

The state DEO launched an investigation in January when the Times asked questions about CareerSource hiring figures. The U.S. Department of Labor and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have since joined the inquiry.

Amid CareerSource controversy, allegations of a love affair, big raises and family favoritism at the top

Mark Puente

Zachary T. SampsonTimes staff writer

Published: February 16, 2018

Updated: February 16, 2018 at 02:34 PM

The anonymous letter described a possible love affair at the top of the local jobs center.

President and CEO Edward Peachey was in a romantic relationship with top administrator Haley Loeun, it said.

It described how Loeun was seen at a conference coming out of Peachey’s hotel room at 2:30 a.m, and how they often acted like a couple inside the office — drinking out of the same soda cans and “touching … in front of staff.”

The three-page letter also outlined issues with other staffers and the condition of the building.

“We are just asking for HELP!!!” stated the letter, which arrived at a county commissioner’s office earlier this month. “There needs to be more oversight.”

Peachey would not talk about the relationship. Loeun, the business services director, denied to the Tampa Bay Times that they were romantically involved.

“I have a professional relationship with him and consider him a close friend; he is respected by me and numerous other employees,” she wrote in an email.

What’s not in question is that Peachey has signed off on four substantial raises for Loeun in four years, as she rose to the highest levels of CareerSource Pinellas and CareerSource Tampa Bay, payroll records show. Her salary ballooned from $47,554 in 2013 to $130,000 last year, making her the agencies’ second highest paid administrator, behind only Peachey.

Also not in dispute: Peachey approved the hiring of three of Loeun’s relatives since 2014. Loeun even gave one of them a performance evaluation.

Peachey told the Times that all hires go “through the same process.”

“I approved the hiring of everyone,” he said. “But I do not conduct the interviews, and I do not make the decisions.”

The two job centers already face local, state and federal investigations into whether they exaggerated reports of how many people they helped find jobs. Now, Peachey and Loeun’s close ties, and the hiring of her relatives, have agency board members questioning whether the two leaders have unfairly rewarded people based on personal connections.

Sandy Murman, the Hillsborough County commissioner and agency board member who received the letter, said that kind of behavior would be “totally improper in the workplace.” Murman found the letter to be credible, even though it was anonymous.

“For me a huge issue is that if other employees are watching this going on, what are they thinking?” she said.

• • •

Peachey, 54, has led the Pinellas County jobs center since 2003 and took over the Hillsborough County agency in 2010, tasked with cleaning it up after a spending scandal. The agencies are two of the state’s 24 CareerSource programs, which receive millions in tax dollars each year to help train and place people in jobs.

Loeun, 41, joined the Pinellas career center in 2004, according to her personnel file. The year before she had graduated from Troy State University with a degree in business administration. Loeun was a recruiter for several years, connecting job seekers to employers, and later became a program coordinator.

In 2013, Peachey approved her promotion to director of economic services and increased her pay from $47,554 to $80,000.

The next year, he signed off on another raise from $80,000 to $95,000, the personnel file shows.

In June 2016, he bumped her salary to $110,000.

Last year, HR director Alice Cobb recommended in a letter to Peachey that Loeun’s base pay be bumped to $130,000, saying Loeun had consolidated the business services staff at the agencies in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, increasing her job responsibilities.

After bonuses and cashing in paid time off, Loeun grossed $179,822 in 2017, according to the payroll records.

In recent years, Peachey has repeatedly given her positive performance reviews.

In a letter offering her a raise, he wrote that she had “consistently exceeded expectations” and praised her for “diligence and dedication.”

Loeun “has a knack for making good business decisions,” according to a review signed by Peachey in December 2016, and “is a great team builder.”

• • •

In her time at the center, Loeun said, she and Peachey have become close but not romantic.

More than a dozen staffers said Peachey and Loeun are always together and are often seen coming and going from the office.

Geoff Newton, a recruiter who left the agency in 2017, said Loeun and Peachey’s romantic relationship “was no secret.”

“We were all aware of it,” he said.

Three of Peachey’s St. Petersburg neighbors told the Times that Loeun was frequently at Peachey’s home. They said they often see Peachey and Loeun in the yard with a dog and two children. Loeun is a mother of two from a previous marriage, according to court records. One neighbor identified her by name.

In 2015, Loeun went through a divorce. Her ex-husband told the Times he has long suspected she left him for Peachey.

“What more can I say?” said David Loeun. “They’re still together.”

• • •

As Loeun rose to the top, three of her relatives got jobs at CareerSource.

Voter records and the CareerSource payroll connect Loeun and her three relatives — Earl Alcover, Huey Nguyen, and Howard Nguyen — to the same address on Merrimoor Boulevard in Seminole. It’s also the same address Loeun listed in her 2015 divorce case.

The anonymous letter sent to Murman described Alcover as Loeun’s brother-in-law. Current and former CareerSource employees described Huey Nguyen as Loeun’s sister and Howard Nguyen as her brother. Loeun, however, would not confirm exactly how she is related to them.

Alcover was hired in 2014 as a resource specialist. Peachey wrote him an offer letter dated the same day as his application. Loeun later promoted him to business services recruiter, according to an email in his personnel file.

Alcover’s wife is Hieu Nguyen, according to his job application. She lists her address in voter records as the same Merrimoor Boulevard home in Seminole that Loeun lists as her address in CareerSource payroll records.

Alcover, 30, earned $56,250 last year, the payroll records show. He previously worked as an assembler at a medical technology company in Largo until 2013, according to the application. Before working at CareerSource, he was a busser and server assistant at Olive Garden. The resume included with his application listed an associate of arts degree from St. Petersburg College, but a spokeswoman for the school says he never graduated.

In 2015, Huey Nguyen, 45, joined the agency. She is now the coordinator of YouthBuild, a CareerSource program to help at-risk teens learn the construction trade. She earned $69,300 last year, records show. She declined to comment when reached at her office.

Nguyen did not fill out a line in her job application about whether she had relatives at CareerSource.

Last May, Howard Nguyen, 28, started working at CareerSource as an intern. He was later hired as an IT specialist and earned $20,195 working part of the year, records show.

In a brief phone call with a Times reporter, Howard Nguyen confirmed that Loeun, Huey Nguyen and Alcover were his relatives. He then hung up, saying he could not talk to a reporter. On his application, he checked “no” for the question about whether he had relatives who worked for CareerSource.

More than a dozen current and former employees have called or emailed the Times complaining about how the agency hired Loeun’s relatives.

The anonymous letter sent to the Hillsborough commissioner stated that Loeun’s relatives had “almost taken over” CareerSource.

• • •

Loeun isn’t the only one with relatives in the CareerSource offices.

Lindsey Cobb, 35, the daughter of human resource director Alice Cobb, joined the agency in 2015. She is now a placement specialist, earning $49,681 in 2017, up $10,000 from the year before, according to CareerSource records. She previously worked as an administrative assistant at the Florida Reptile Room, according to her job application.

The women list adjacent Plant City address on payroll records. Lindsey Cobb described Alice Cobb as her mother in her application and listed her as an emergency contact. Neither responded to requests for comment.

The elder Cobb joined the local CareerSource offices after she was ousted as the chief operating officer at the job placements center in Orlando amid a spending scandal.

The CareerSource employee manual is open-ended about family ties in the office.

“Relatives of employees and non-related members of the same household will be considered for employment on an equal basis with other applicants for those positions where neither relative would be directly or indirectly supervising or checking the work of the other,” the policy states.

Ultimately, according to the manual,the president and CEO should review any promotions, transfers and hiring offers to people with relatives in the office or who live with someone from the agency.

Board members who oversee the two local CareerSource agencies said they were concerned about the family ties.

Several told the Times they did not know about Peachey and Loeun’s close relationship, or that CareerSource had hired three of Loeun’s relatives.

“It is under investigation,” CareerSource Pinellas chairman Jack Geller said about the family ties. “The appropriate action will be taken when it’s decided.”

Pinellas County Commissioner and former CareerSource board member Ken Welch said the relationship “fits into a pattern of unacceptable behavior.”

“Whether they have a written policy or not, it brings up obvious questions of conflict of interest, and to me it merits further investigation,” he said.

Murman, the Hillsborough commissioner, said CareerSource should have strict anti-nepotism policies and was especially bothered by the family connections.

“That’s just not appropriate,” she said. “That could lead to all kinds of issues of credibility and fraud — who knows?”

Times senior researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Contact Zachary T. Sampson at zsampson@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8804. Contact Mark Puente at mpuente@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2996.

Editor’s notebook: Returning mentors passionate about connecting, getting insight

By Alexis Muellner  – Editor, Tampa Bay Business Journal

Feb 16, 2018, 3:00am

I spent the bulk of our annual Mentoring Monday event talking to participants to learn what the event meant to them. I went searching for common themes that could be useful to readers and especially leaders looking to help their teams be successful, retain strong people and help women grow their careers.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman has been at all five local Mentoring Monday events and believes it’s her responsibility to reach out and help women she meets become successful. To help, she taps her own relationships.

“I connect them to help them get the job they are dreaming about,” she said, saying at each event she experiences consistent post-event follow-up with four to five women, opening doors to real opportunities.

This was the fourth year for New Market Partners CEO Joy Randels. Like Murman, she gets satisfaction from making a connection after the event with at least one woman to someone in the business community who can help them professionally.

“You have to learn to live vicariously through the success of others,” she said. “Once you become a manager of people and you are not the one just living on the front lines, it cannot be about you anymore.”

Mentor, author and speaker Debbie Lundberg utilizes the event to learn what the job force is missing.

“I remember that from last year that many of the women I talked to all have these skills that they could not necessarily market,” she said. To find the skills they can sell, she asks mentees, what are they most proud of? “They need to utilize skills they have, No.1, as a confidence builder, and No. 2, learn how to position those skills and third, know how to bring it all together.”

USF Health’s Director of Community Relations Joanne Sullivan is a returning mentor and sees her role as helping women get excited about goals, and to be a good listener.

EDUCATION

“The best advice I got from a mentor was to stop talking so much,” she said. “It’s not about you, it’s about them and it’s amazing what happens to you when you stop thinking about yourself.”

For Polk State College’s CIO and VP of Strategic Innovation Naomi Boyer, there isn’t a mentee that she works with who isn’t also a mentor to her. “I work alongside with them and then I have the chance to communicate and relate to them so it’s a learning process.”

Alexandra McKeever, business development representative at Datavision, was a mentee this year. Because she’s new to the IT world, she sought advice on building the right relationships.

“I’m looking to know the best way to make connections and see which ones made [the mentors] successful and what they might change if they could do it all again.”

For Conversa Managing Partner Arlene DiBenigno, the event is all about giving back.

“We have a responsibility. To whom much is given, much is expected,” she said.

Editorial: Ousted CareerSource leader does not deserve severance

Published: February 28, 2018

Updated: February 28, 2018 at 06:04 PM

The CEO of CareerSource Pinellas and CareerSource Tampa Bay deserved to be fired for practices that sparked multiple investigations and destroyed public trust in the job placement agencies. Yet the CareerSource board members also foolishly decided Edward Peachey is entitled to five months of severance pay. Firing Peachey while awarding him a generous parting gift fails to recognize the jeopardy he has put these public agencies in and the erosion of public trust in their mission.

Peachey was at the helm for years as the agencies reported placing people in jobs who never sought CareerSource help. A Tampa Bay Times investigation found that CareerSource asked local companies for the names of all their new hires — not just CareerSource clients — and took credit for “matching” those people in jobs. Those inflated figures have sparked investigations by local, state and federal agencies that award CareerSource millions of public dollars to help people find jobs.

In addition, the Times found that Peachey promoted a woman with whom he appeared to have a close personal relationship and signed off on hiring three of her relatives. Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has accused CareerSource of forging his signature on documents and reporting placing people in Sheriff’s Office jobs that don’t exist.

So there was plenty of justification for the CareerSource Tampa Bay board in Hillsborough to cut ties with Peachey when it met Monday, followed by the Pinellas board on Wednesday. But it was dumbfounding when a majority of members on both boards voted to pay Peachey five months of his roughly $290,000 annual salary if he agreed not to sue. The board members argued, unconvincingly, that severance was appropriate because the investigations have not proven Peachey did anything wrong. If the boards are so concerned about being fair to Peachey, why not at least wait until the investigations are complete before deciding to write him a check?

Credit Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman at CareerSource Tampa Bay, Pinellas Commission chair Ken Welch and CareerSource Pinellas board chair Jack Geller for opposing the severance payments. Said Geller, “Mr. Peachey’s actions created a toxic workplace and low morale.” It’s also instructive that Peachey’s attorney, Marion Hale, has portrayed her client as the victim of a “vendetta” and a “witch hunt,” chalked up the faulty placement figures to a coding error, criticized the Times’ reporting and filed multiple public records requests for unrelated information regarding Welch. Screaming foul and attacking is a familiar strategy when the facts are not favorable to your side.

Taxpayers may yet get a reprieve if the state Department of Economic Opportunity determines Peachey is a public employee and entitled to a maximum of only six weeks severance pay, voiding the boards’ decisions. Even so, that would not restore public trust in the board members who failed to provide adequate oversight of Peachey’s management and then provided him an awfully soft landing when they finally shoved him out.

Random drug testing, better mental health services sought for first responders after Times investigation

Steve Contorno

Published: February 28, 2018

Updated: February 28, 2018 at 07:47 AM

TAMPA — Hillsborough County commissioners want a full review of the mental health services available to first responders after the Tampa Bay Times discovered a history of drug and alcohol abuse in the fire rescue department.

Commissioners also said they support Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Jones’ push for stricter drug testing in ongoing contract negotiations with the fire union.

“There’s an expectation that we see those policies strengthened,” Commissioner Stacy White said.

Calling the Times’ report “surprising” and “tragic,” Commissioner Sandy Murman suggested that the county expand mental health programs for first responders. The county could pay any additional costs with a local tax meant for indigent care, Murman said.

She expects the Hillsborough health care advisory board to take up the issue immediately.

“Our goal is to keep residents safe, and these are the key people that we need for public safety. We need to help these guys,” Murman said. “Let’s start from scratch and build this up.”

A six-month investigation by the Times, published last week, uncovered dozens of drug- and alcohol-related incidents among county fire rescue workers since 2010. In 2016, an off-duty fire medic died of a drug overdose, and another overdosed while at work. One employee stole morphine from an ambulance and replaced it with saline; police found materials to evade a drug test, including powdered urine, in the home of a firefighter investigated in the death of his son.

About 20 employees failed a drug test or were arrested for drunken driving.

Job-related stress was often a factor, according to interviews with former employees and family, investigations and medical and discipline records. Experts said post-traumatic stress among first responders is as high as veterans returning from combat.

The Times also found that Hillsborough’s drug testing policies lag behind departments of a similar size across the state.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue has roughly 1,200 employees in 43 stations servicing the county’s unincorporated communities.

Most large departments drug test employees randomly throughout the year. Hillsborough, the third-largest department in Florida, does not. Instead, up to half the department is tested twice a year, always in January or July.

In many other departments, an accident involving a first responder can trigger a drug test. That’s not the case in Hillsborough, which had at least 20 vehicle accidents since 2011.

“I was taken aback that there wasn’t random drug testing of firefighters,” Commissioner Pat Kemp said. “It seems important. It seems like a best practice.”

The county and its union representation, the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2294, tentatively agreed to a new contract that would for the first time explicitly ban the use of illegal drugs outside work hours. It also would initiate random drug testing — five employees, every other week.

Union members still need to vote on the contract, and they so far have not set a time to do so. If it is approved, the county commission will vote on the contract; if rejected, the two sides go back to the bargaining table.

Union President Derrik Ryan did not respond to multiple requests for comment throughout the reporting of the Times investigation.

On Monday, the union executive board released a statement saying it “does not condone or promote the use of illegal drugs, the abuse of prescription drugs or any substance abuse in any manner or form” and criticized the Times report as sensational.

The existing contract does not include testing for alcohol, a change first added in 2014. The county commission approved that contract, but now some commissioners say that should be reviewed.

“For someone who is a first responder, I think that would important,” said Commissioner Al Higginbotham.

Higginbotham said he thinks the department’s issues are isolated to “a small group of people” and date back to previous chiefs and former union representation. He is optimistic that the rank-and-file will approve of the new direction laid out by Jones.

“I would think they would look at not only themselves but society in general and say we have issues that we need to address,” he said, “and they will make the responsible, compassionate decision to help fellow union members, as they’re helping people in need of first responders who are sharp on the job.”

Contact Steve Contorno at scontorno@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3433. Follow @scontorno.

CareerSource Tampa Bay votes to fire CEO Edward Peachey

Mark Puente

Zachary T. Sampson Times staff writer

Published: February 26, 2018

Updated: February 26, 2018 at 08:55 PM

TAMPA — The man tasked for years with helping Tampa Bay residents find work lost one of his own jobs on Monday.

Board members of CareerSource Tampa Bay voted 6-1 on Monday to fire president and CEO Edward Peachey as they grapple with multiple investigations into whether the agency inflated its hiring numbers to the state.

Sister agency CareerSource Pinellas, which Peachey also ran, will consider taking the same action on Wednesday.

The executive committee vote by CareerSource Tampa Bay, which serves Hillsborough County, allows Peachey to collect severance pay for five months if he agrees not to sue the agency. He will also receive back pay for the past three weeks that he has been on unpaid suspension.

Board members said it was fair to offer Peachey the parachute since it so far has not been shown he has done anything wrong, while acknowledging that keeping him on would be a distraction.

But Hillsborough Commissioner Sandy Murman — the lone no vote — said Peachey doesn’t deserve severance while state and federal investigations into the agencies are ongoing. She urged committee members to consider the seriousness of the allegations hovering over both centers.

“Honestly, today, how can you approve severance?” Murman said after the vote. “There could be fraudulent acts. It was totally improper.”

Any severance money would come from private donations and fees the agencies charges companies to sponsor job fairs, officials said.

The CareerSource agencies receive millions in tax dollars each year to help people find jobs, working with companies to place them. Earlier this month, the Tampa Bay Times reported that both centers have taken credit for finding jobs for thousands of people who had not sought their assistance.

The state Department of Economic Opportunity launched an investigation last month when the Times started asking questions about the hiring figures. The U.S. Department of Labor and Florida Department of Law Enforcement have since initiated their own investigations.

Before Monday’s committee vote, Peachey’s attorney, Marion Hale, told board members the move to fire her client was “outrageous.”

She said that the state DEO, which receives job placement figures from the state’s 24 CareerSource centers, has not previously taken any issue with how the local offices report their figures. She dismissed any problems as “coding issues” that don’t involve Peachey.

The committee, she said, was only acting in response to “lies,” “gossip” and “rumors” spread by the media.

“You know the stories are false,” Hale said. “Mr. Peachey served admirably for years.”

Board member John Kearney, an executive with Advanced Training Systems, keyed in on that line of argument in pushing for Peachey’s dismissal, but with severance.

“I hope that nobody else in this room is attacked by the media,” he said. “It can go on and on.”

Earlier Monday, the DEO inspector general sent a letter in response to a request for guidance from the Hillsborough and Pinellas CareerSource boards. It underscored how seriously the state is taking the allegations.

It highlighted how the agencies have taken credit for placing people in jobs based on hiring lists they got from employers that included people not referred to them by CareerSource.

“It appears that many of these individuals were not seeking employment — they had found employment,” wrote James E. Landsberg, inspector general for the DEO. “It also appears that the employers were not considering whether to hire many of the individuals — the employers had already hired them.”

In the letter, Landsberg said the department reviewed the allegations being reported and sent the information to law enforcement because it “raised reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.”

The letter also urged the local CareerSource agencies not to now alter records in a statewide network as the criminal investigation continues. It says any altering of records is “not permissible until further notice.”

CareerSource attorney Charles Harris said the DEO letter “raises doubts” that the centers could take any credit for placements from hiring lists. But he said he was not absolutely sure.

Harris said Peachey, who took home $288,865 in 2017 in salary and benefits, is paid by CareerSource Pinellas but the Hillsborough board reimburses half of his total salary through a shared services agreement. He said the two centers cannot find a “fully executed copy” of that agreement.

Peachey, 54, has led the Pinellas center since 2003. He took over the Hillsborough agency in 2010 after a spending scandal forced out the former leader.

After the meeting, Hillsborough board chair Dick Peck said he has no problem paying Peachey a severance. Asked what he would tell jobseekers across the county, Peck replied, “Come on down to any CareerSource (office). We have great opportunities.”

Moments later, Peck told reporters that he had changed the locks on Peachey’s office and that Peachey had left. Peachey then emerged from a closed office.

“You got to leave, bud,” Peck told Peachey. “I need the key.”

Peachey did not respond and went into another office.

Embattled CareerSource Tampa Bay CEO is out in Hillsborough

NOLA LALEYE

Feb 26, 2018, 4:30pm

The executive committee of the workforce board of Hillsborough County voted 6 to 1 on Monday to fire Ed Peachey, news outlets reported.

Peachey will leave his post as numerous investigations continue into how the agency reported job placement numbers. Peachey also has been CEO of CareerSource Pinellas and its board is slated to consider a similar action Wednesday.

Peachey’s continued affiliation with the agencies was proving to be a distraction, board members said in a Tampa Bay Times report.

Peachey is slated to receive five months’ severance and will be paid $125 an hour while he cooperates with federal investigations, the report said. Hillsborough Commissioner Sandy Murman cast the lone dissenting vote, expressing a concern over the severance package.

In a WFLA report, the board’s lawyer said there was risk to deny Peachy severance, even if the board fires him “with cause.”

Peachey’s attorney sent CareerSource board members a letter Friday saying Peachey had been bullied by the press and public officials.

“Mr. Peachey has withstood this assault on his reputation without lashing out at those who have falsely accused him, but the time for silence has ended,” Johnson Pope attorney Marion Hale wrote to the committee Friday. “He has done nothing wrong.”