Things May/May Not be What they Seem.

Here is an update to the Crystal River City Manager Saga..

Over the weekend, I have had several people reach out to me regarding this. I will never reveal sources unless 1) its a public record document or 2) they tell me that I can name them.

In this instance, they will remain anonymous. How does all that work? I get a tip or something from someone who wants to remain anonymous. I can then use that information to research what I was told. I will NEVER post anything that is simply rumor... Trust me.. I have lots of rumors. I could fill an entire page with shocking rumors, but if I do not have proof, I will not post them.

Or I will hint at a rumor, but stating fact.

So for instance. Today, assuming Ms Curts is fired, the City Charter states that Troy Slatterly, who is designated as the assistant city manager, will take over the city manager position, unless the council decides to appoint someone else. We will see if he is tabbed or if they appoint someone else.

See how that works.

So for me, even if the source remains anonymous, the facts will be provided to prove what I was told... Therefore, it does not matter who the source was, as the facts are not disputable.

This is where we have a problem in Crystal River with this whole ordeal... it is ALL anonymous and I have not seen any proof of what is being said... yet.. I say yet because it may be there but has not been sent to me... yet.

I took a drive up to the City Hall office and spoke with the city clerk. I asked for copies of any letters that were included in Ms Curts' personnel file. For those not aware, personnel files of government employees are public record. They are subject to redaction (social security numbers, bank account numbers, employee ID numbers, drug test results and so on), but you can ask for anyone's file and read what is in there.

I did not care about the mundane stuff... I just wanted to know if anyone wrote any letter, report or anything, good or bad, that ended up in the personnel file. Why? Because their HR manual states (highlighted the emphasis).

If there is discussion with an employee about their behavior, it is to be documented.. whether written or oral.

Here are things that are considered reasons for discipline. There are 38 different items, I will list a few that will apply here, as you will see in a bit.

1. Incompetence or continued rendering of unsatisfactory service after documented instruction and/or counseling.
2. Gross neglect of duty or specific serious failure to perform assigned duties.
3. Insubordination or the refusal to comply with written or verbal orders, directive or instructions of a supervisor by word, act or deed.
4. (12) Conviction, or entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, of a felony or of a misdemeanor charge directly related to the employee’s job duties.
5. (17) Utilization of official position for unauthorized personal gain.
6. (19) Giving false and misleading statements about oneself, another employee, or any other individual or situation.

As mentioned, according to the HR manual, if an employee provides a reason for discipline and that issue is discussed with them, then there should be documentation of that in their personnel file.

Ms Curts has exactly ZERO documented discussions. Taking that, one would believe she has been the model employee.

The evaluations say otherwise.

I reached out to Mayor Joe Meek over the weekend. I asked him why he did not provide Ms Curts with an evaluation, as the council members had done. Honestly, the Chronicle tells the story pretty well, so read about it there. I will add bits and pieces to it.

For those that cant access it... basically he said that he had a meeting with her on Friday and provided his thoughts to her. Expressed that it best that the city move on.

Now here we are.

In his responses to me over the weekend, he expressed that he spoke multiple times confidentially with the majority of the senior staff. He recognized that there is too much drama between her and other council members. That resulted in his decision that the city does not have a health organization and that change is needed.

He went on to say that since there are 2 council members that have substantial issues with her and staff that have informed him of issues, that things need to change. He mentioned that he has spoken to her about is several times, but that it continues.

In subsequent emails, a common theme appeared... issues with council members and staff.

Ok... let's unpack it.

As mentioned, if he spoke to Ms Curts about any of these issues, why is that not detailed in her personnel file, as the HR manual states is required? Again, ZERO letters are in there.

But someone who has a say in her employment, has spoken with her about it, but did not put it in her file? One would think that would be important to put in there, particularly for someone who has a severance package that will pay several thousands of dollars if they are fired without cause. I would think it would be important to have that conversation documented... aside from the HR policy requiring it.

Why is the mayor having conversations with senior staff? He mentioned he has spoken to them multiple times confidentially. Where does he get that authority?

The City Charter does not authorize him to have any discussions with staff, let alone handle complaints about their boss. There is an exception in Section 3.08(c) which states:

Interference with administration. Except for the purpose of official inquiries and investigations, the Mayor, the Council or its members shall deal with City Officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the Manager solely through the Manager, and neither the Council nor its members shall give orders to any such Officer or employee, either publicly or privately.

But the key word there is "official". That requires the council to take action to make the inquiry or investigation "official". I do not see where the council made that official decision.

So how can he be having those conversations with senior staff?

Side note... the HR policy does not state how employees are to report issues with their collogues or their boss(es). I reached out to ask for that process, but have yet to receive it. How are employees supposed to make complaints and who are they supposed to complain to? If it involves the city manager, do they just pick their favorite council person or mayor and go there?

Keep in mind, Mr Baber "resigned" due, in part, to complaints against him by staff as well. There needs to be a policy on this. Hope it is addressed tonight.

Further, he mentioned issues with council members... and mentioned this several times. Although he did not name them, I presume he is talking about Ms Frink and Mr Ensing, as those are the two with the bad evaluations.

"We have an extremely divided Council with regards to our City Manager.  I have seen what happens when Councils and Commissions have such deep division when it comes to the employment of the administrator or manager."

His goal is to move the city forward by removing the person who is having problems with the council members.

"Our Council and City Manager must be unified in working on the people’s business. Unfortunately,  this is not the current situation, and it’s my opinion that it would be in the best interest of both Ms. Curts and the City Council to move in a different direction."

"...every Council member should have the belief the manager is working in good faith. That is not the case here for a multitude of reasons"

This raises questions. If there are two council members unhappy with the situation for their reasons and two that are happy with it, then regardless of what happens, someone will be unhappy.

So fire the city manager to appease the two who dislike her?

Is it possible the problem is the city council members, one of which did not hire her?

And moving forward, they hire a new city manager... a new election happens and now two members are not happy with that new city manager... is it time for a replacement?

That appears to be the trend here.. Good luck attracting qualified candidates.

I get the city manager position works at the will of the council and can be fired at any moment, but it has to be more than people simply not liking her.

I questioned if it could be a staff issue as this is now the second city manager who has left/been fired in recent years due in large part to how their staff felt about them. The response:

"Yes, there’s a multitude of issues, some of it has to do with staff.  whoever the manager is has got to get that under control. It was similar with Baber, however, he had his own issues. Audra unfortunately cannot seem to get it under control either, but I can go into detail about that."

I assume he meant he CAN'T go into detail about that, which raises more questions than it answers. What is so bad that he cannot detail it? That is not transparency. Maybe he discusses it tonight in public.

Moving to the council.

Ms Frink and Mr Ensing had very similar reviews. You can go back to yesterday's article and see those.

But a couple of things.

From Ms Frink

Apparently, she too is having conversations with staff members about the city manager. Again, without official action and direction, this is not allowed. But similar problem as Mayor Meek.

This is by far the biggest allegation on all of this. Ms Frink claims there is potential violations of Florida law. HUGE deal and termination 100% deemed appropriate if found to be correct.

However.

That was sent to Ms Curts from the attorney from the city, Robert Batsel in a letter dated April 18, 2025.

As you can see, he cleared her of the polling issue, assuming she did not share the opinions of other council members with the others. I did not see any evidence of that submitted.

Ms Frink goes on to discuss the anonymous email that was sent to the city council members. I go over this in my previous article.

I was forwarded another email that was sent over the weekend. The person asked not to be identified, so I blacked out the name and phone number as well as the email address. It was NOT sent from a public email, otherwise, I would share it in full here as it would be public record.

This email goes against the other anonymous emails that were sent... so which one is accurate? Do city council members make decisions based on anonymous emails? And again, how do they verify that if they are unable to talk to staff per the City Charter?

Mr Ensing has similar evaluation comments.

Again, staff members having issues with city manager. Also businesses and others that come to the city have expressed issues.

This one relates to the city letters that were sent out regarding work being done without permits and threatening legal action on the citizens. This is after the hurricanes last year. A letter was attached in Ms Frink's evaluation

My understanding is that in order to keep FEMA funds following the hurricanes, the city needed to document the work that was taking place. This was under the NFIP Handbook, although I have not had time to dive into this.

A few people reached out to me and expressed concern about these letters. One even told me they moved out of Crystal River, in part, because of them. Certainly not popular with the residents.

This talks about behind the scenes issues. Remember, yesterday I mentioned Mr Holmes bringing up the Charter in a meeting and mentioning specific things he wanted to discuss about it.. those things related to the behavior of council members.

So now two council members think things are happening behind the scenes, but neither have proof of it.

More mentions of staff issues.

And more behind the scenes stuff.

Now mind you, all of this is presented in evaluations with ZERO proof. Do I think they met with staff and discussed these issues? Absolutely.... but again, why no mention prior to this? Why no letters in the personnel file? Why not discuss this openly at a meeting, unless all this happened all at one time just before the evaluations were being done.

And what happens if the next person is hired and staff has an issue with them? Same cycle all over?

This whole thing reeks of he said, she said. It reeks of behind the scenes happenings that no one is talking about. Numerous people have alluded to this in conversations with me.

What those things are? I guess time will tell.

Tonight at 5:30 is going to be an interesting City Council meeting.