Jax EPA Cheif Seibold forced out by Brown Administration

[Noone]

The 'firing' of Vince Seibold has been particularly disturbing to me and follows a very unsettling pattern. 

Vince was very passionate about his job, was well qualified, worked well with community leaders and was simply giving his (expert) opinion based on a direct question from the very public commission (during a noticed, public meeting of that body no less) that oversees the regulation of the very department being combined into environmental services (public works).  In essence, the concern is that Environmental Services (and the public commission) provides a checks and balance system to Public Works and the combined organization could in effect water down the capability of this board in relation to protecting our environmental assets.  The members of that governing body were concerned about how this effects that system of checks and balances.  On the surface, this seems to be a very valid question and one that required clarification from the very director whose department (of which that board oversees) is being affected.

I'm sorry, but firing someone for not keeping their mouth shut during a public meeting when asked a direct question flies in the face of what an open, participatory government is about.  I'm all for eliminating inefficiencies and unecessary steps/processes/etc... but if you are going to have a governing board such as this, they should be allowed to ask questions of public officials and expect answers, and those government officials should be required to answer honestly without fear of reprisal.

+1

+2

[Noone]

Had another post deleted. I hope that everyone votes for the return of Vince. The man is a Spark.

[ChriswUfGator]

I wonder if there is statute of limitations on a resignation letter.  I would think that if you were rehired, or retained, that it would then become null and void.

That's what struck me reading this too, the letter was a technicality/formality related to the administration switchover, by reaffirming his employment after the new administration took office I suspect they waived their apparent argument that they can now a year or two later say "a-ha, you quit, we owe you nothing." Frankly, the whole thing seems ridiculous. If he has an employment contract I'd imagine its still binding.

[sheclown]

Interesting that a year later a woman is placed in this position who clearly is not following the EPA guidelines during demolition activities and furthermore is in violation of HUD regulations while at her current job as head of code enforcement.

Why ?

[strider]

Ex-environmental chief Seibold settles with Jacksonville over 'whistle-blower' lawsuit
Posted: October 20, 2014 - 8:15pm  |  Updated: October 20, 2014 - 8:41pm
JView this story on the All-Access Members site
By Steve Patterson
The former chief of Jacksonville’s Environmental Quality Division has settled a lawsuit he filed last year claiming the city broke Florida’s “whistle-blower” law by dismissing him.

The city paid Vince Seibold $50,000 in the settlement, and both sides said they acted in good faith when they argued their sides of a dispute about whether Seibold was wrongly fired for expressing concerns about a reorganization plan Mayor Alvin Brown’s office drafted.

An agreement that both sides signed said they “desire to compromise … rather than incur the expense and uncertainty” of going to trial.

Seibold’s lawyer, Tad Delegal, filed paperwork last week to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning the case can’t be filed again.

Settling the case was more about finding closure than about weaknesses in the suit, Delegal said.

“I think it was a good case,” he said. “He just wants this behind him and to get on with his career. ... I think he wants to be known more for his work than his lawsuit.”

Seibold worked for Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection from 1989 through 2007, when he was applied for the Jacksonville job and was appointed by then-Mayor John Peyton.

When Brown was elected in 2011, Seibold submitted a letter that’s required of appointees, saying he was willing to resign but hoped Brown would let him stay on.

He was still in his appointed role in 2013, when he told a member of the city’s Environmental Protection Board there were concerns that the reorganization could create a conflict of interest by moving the environmental division into the Public Works Department, whose work the division sometimes regulated.

When the city began checking Seibold’s comments in 2013, he received a letter saying the mayor’s administration had received his 2011 resignation and “acknowledges that you have resigned effective today.”

The lawsuit argued the city “only claimed that it had accepted Seibold’s letter of resignation to disguise the fact it had terminated Seibold for his whistle-blowing.”

The city disputed that, saying the facts Seibold’s suit spelled out “fails to provide sufficient ultimate facts” for the concerns Seibold raised to ever amount to whistle-blowing, which is defined by state law.

The city had asked Circuit Judge Jack Schemer in January to dismiss the suit, although the judge never did, leaving the case headed for trial until the two sides signed off on the settlement last month.

 

Steve Patterson: (904) 359-4263

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2014-10-20/story/ex-environmental-chief-seibold-settles-jacksonville-over-whistle-blower

[Know Growth]

It's basically...well.....Jacksonville.And perhaps,anywhere. Let's focus down right here.

Amazing Steve Patterson still with FTU. Good retention of Institutional Knowledge. Who knows what Binyamin Applebaum could have produced had he remained with FTU

I recall when incoming Peyton, attending long standing scheduled Mayor's meeting with Enviros,obviously under duress....asked "What have we (the enviro people) done for the positive?"

Arrogant.Blatantly Stupid.After all,he "won"- a reflection of the public. Period.

I returned a month or so or whatever it was and replied: "My Organization put 47 Million Dollars in to Gate bank account. Guanna WMA/State Park." (***)
And there was a long docket afterwards,including the establishment of a Northeast Florida field office- largely in part to Delaney era related pressures and events, the NEFWF office placed thankfully,not in Duval County.Although at the time I was upset with no Jax presence.

Resigned from those stupid COJ meetings,and even the Organization.

FTU literally built over McCoys Creek ,certain Haunting debilitation for those in the Know.. Binyamin departure was easier.

(***) Florida Wildlife Federation  Conservation And Recreation Lands Program;State of Florida-Northeast Fllorida's first CARL project.FWF signature also on Talbot State Park,Jennings State Forest. Et Al. KG served on the board over a span of time,including upper level board/Vice Chair position.Jacksonville experience was cause to skip it. Thanks to others,Northeast Office more thick skinned.masterfully capable.