VERO BEACH — A week rife with vocal disagreements between Councilman Brian Heady and top Vero staff took a more heated turn Wednesday when City Manager Jim Gabbard issued a memo stating that Heady had violated the Vero Beach City Charter relating to council-employee relations.The Feb. 17 memo from Gabbard — which Heady admits he first saw in news reports online — was in response to an escalating exchange of correspondence with Heady, which began several weeks ago, addressing the councilman’s desire to view the original Orlando Utilities Contract city council members had reviewed during one-hour private meetings with city staffers and consultants. Heady had repeatedly asked Gabbard and City Attorney Charles Vitunac to produce the original document, which Heady said should have been secured for the public record. Gabbard has publicly insisted that Heady has been provided with the only document available to the city.”Clearly Mr. Gabbard and Mr. Vitunac don’t appreciate being asked questions that they don’t want to answer pertaining to their jobs,” Heady said.On Tuesday, both Heady and Gabbard addressed the Indian River Board of County Commissioners. Heady described his inability to obtain the document in question from the staff and Gabbard then refuted Heady’s statements, saying that he had already given Heady the contract. Gabbard alleged that Heady had made false statements during his comments to commissioners. That afternoon, Heady issued a memo to Gabbard asking him to clarify statements made at the county meeting.”Please supply to me in writing, prior to tonight’s City Council meeting, a list of statements that you referred to being made by myself during today’s County Commission meeting that you said were inaccurate,” Heady wrote.Gabbard wrote back saying that he had only received Heady’s request at 4 p.m. and he was busy getting ready for a 6 p.m. city council meeting.”I did not have time to respond to your request prior to the meeting. At this time, I have not prepared a document that describes your bizarre conduct at the County Commission meeting. However, you were at the meeting and witnessed my comments first hand,” Gabbard responded.
“If you need a reminder of the untruthful statements you made, I suggest that you review the meeting,” he continued.Heady responded on Wednesday, asking again for Gabbard to tell him exactly what was inaccurate in his statements and demanding a written response.”I want to insure that at the end of the day the public is furnished with the accurate information they need to make informed decisions as to how their business is being conducted by elected and appointed officials on the public payroll,” Heady wrote. “The problem we face in this example is I believe you made your remarks to discredit me rather than to correct me. I would like to think there is room here for my thinking to be wrong. Unfortunately I believe I am correct. My remarks to the Commission were correct and I am correct in thinking you were much less than truthful in your remarks to the County Commission. If I am accurate, it presents a serious problem.””I don’t expect your cooperation in supplying to me a written response, I demand it. I will not wait years. You can refuse if you wish, but I think your refusal is at your own peril,” Heady concluded, adding that Gabbard’s statements were damaging to his credibility.Gabbard wrote back, in a memo which Heady first saw in news reports, that his demand that Gabbard respond constitutes a violation of the city charter.”I received your memo dated February 17, 2010, a copy of this memo is attached. Your demand under threat of retribution is a violation of Section 2.06 of the Charter of the City of Vero Beach which prohibits Councilmembers from issuing orders to Charter officers,” Gabbard wrote.
“Due to the fact that you have additionally threatened me with termination at the next City Council meeting, I will make comments at that time.”Upon reading the final memo, Heady said he was baffled by the allegations.”I really don’t have a clue what he’s talking about. He says I threatened him. I don’t know when and where he’s talking about,” Heady said in response to the release of the memos. “He appears before the County Commission and says that a City Council member is lying. I don’t care if it was me or any other City Council member, I would want to know what was said that wasn’t truthful. I think that’s a reasonable request from one of his employers to ask him to explain himself. That’s not a threat, it’s just a statement of fact.”Heady said he wanted to find out how to broach the topic of possibly terminating the City Manager and City Attorney and, due to the Sunshine Act, the only way to properly do this was to ask for the topic to be placed on a city council agenda to discuss with other members.
“As far as threatening to fire him, what I asked to place on the agenda was the termination and/or resignation of the City Manager and/or the City Attorney,” Heady said. “A council member wants to discuss that and I think, at any time, that’s a legitimate discussion. Are there parameters under which the council can call for the resignation of the City Manager and what are those parameters and what are the costs?”It is unclear what the penalty would be should Heady be found in violation of the city charter, or even who would make that determination. Florida Statutes dictate several scenarios — some legal and some practical — which would give the Governor the authority to remove a municipal elected official. Those include but are not limited to a felony crime, breach of duty or continued inability to fulfill the duties of the office.The Vero Beach City Council meets next at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 2 in council chambers at City Hall.
