# City of Largo leadership under fire



## mark handler (Oct 8, 2015)

Building inspector says he might file whistleblower suit after getting fired

http://www.tbnweekly.com/pubs/largo_leader/content_articles/100715_lle-01.txt

TBNWeekly.com - Oct. 7, 2015

By CHRIS GEORGE

Article published on Wednesday, O ct. 7, 2015

LARGO – After receiving his dismissal from the city Monday, Oct. 5, former Largo building inspector Glenn Hall said Wednesday that if officials fail to accept his appeal Oct. 9 then he will file a $1.9 million whistleblower suit with the state.

Building Official William Ondulich resigned last week following Hall’s complaint to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation that employees in the Building Division were approving construction plans without proper licenses.

Hall, who was put on administrative leave Sept. 22 for “refusing an order and threatening (his) supervisor,” according to Director of Community Development Carol Stricklin, denies the accusations and says the city fabricated the claims in order to justify his termination.

“If I show him (Assistant City Manager Henry Schubert) all the facts about what they are doing and he still wants to agree with it, then I have no recourse but to file a whistleblower suit,” Hall said. “And I’m going to ask for $1.9 million, because that’s what they took in plan revenue and that’s what they fired me for.”

Commission calls for look at leadership

The Largo Leader’s story about problems at the Building Division led to discussion about the future of Largo’s leadership during the City Commission meeting Tuesday.

Citing the report, several commissioners called for talks about accountability in the city’s leadership roles, while Mayor Woody Brown requested Schubert put together a report to shed light on mistakes and solutions at the department.

Commissioner Michael Smith went a step further, however, setting his sights on City Manager Norton “Mac” Craig.

“A few months back, Commissioner Fenger made a comment in her city manager review that city management is stale, and at this moment now, I feel at 100 percent in agreement with her,” Smith said. “I believe Mr. Craig has done a lot and I appreciate what Mr. Craig has done for Largo. However I feel it’s time for a new direction.”

Smith was referring to Commissioner Samantha Fenger’s July review that expressed concerns about Craig being too “ingrained in the system.”

Commissioner Curtis Holmes, who called for Craig’s ouster earlier this year, agreed with Smith’s

10/8/2015 Cityof Largo leadership under fire assessment during Tuesday’s meeting.

Craig, 79, still received 4.1 out of 5 from the seven-member commission during the review, getting

praise from several members.

“I’d like to have a candid discussion about leadership and management and customer service and chain of command and span of control and all of those things that are very uncomfortable to talk about. But I think we owe it to our citizens and ourselves to do that,” Commissioner John Carroll said. “Some of these issues are symptoms of something larger and I think we need to be able to talk about them.”

Fenger, Holmes, and fellow Commissioners Donna Holck and Jamie Robinson echoed Carroll’s thoughts, each seeking a discussion about the management of the department and city.

Craig, however, asked for them to wait until all the facts were in before making judgments.

“There’s more to the story then you read in the newspaper. I can’t go into either of two issues right now. One is a disciplinary action and it’s taking place and it’s not completed. And till it is, I’m just not at liberty to tell you what it’s about,” he said. “There are things in it that are incorrect. And sometime I’ll be able to tell you what they are, but right now, it’s not the time to do it.”

Following the meeting, Craig also said reports about examiners approving city plans without proper licenses were misleading because the previous building official, Ken Andrews, approved certain aspects of plans before passing them off to examiners.

Brown said he thought the “intent of the law was met” but actions have been taken to improve department procedures.

“I’ve been briefed pretty thoroughly on what happened, what didn’t happen and there certainly have been some mistakes that have been corrected,” Brown said following the meeting.

“The reason I asked for (Schubert) to look at it is because he doesn’t oversee that department and he’s very experienced and I think he would be able to take a fresh look at the way things are run and give us a report about what the flaws were in the system and this is how we will or have fixed them and this is what we need to do.”

Brown still thinks that the department’s good work outweighs its mistakes.

“I think there’s certainly some contractors who have some negative things to say about our building department, but there’s just as many that have glowing things to say about our building department,” he said. “And that’s something that we’ve really been consciously working on for the last five years.”

Smith said he doesn’t see where the work is paying off.

10/8/2015 Cityof Largo leadership under fireLargo Leader “This is something, before my time on the commission, I remember they’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars to make that department business friendly and here we are,” he said. “I’ve been here four years, it was before my time, and we’re back to square one where there’s issues.”


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