VERO BEACH — At the conclusion of a special call meeting held earlier this week to discuss the city budget, members of the Vero Beach City Council reported the highlights of annual written reviews that they completed for City Manager Jim O’Connor, City Clerk Tammy Vock and City Attorney Wayne Coment.
Overall, the council had high praise for the three charter officers, sprinkled with only mild, constructive criticism.
O’Connor went first, drawing much admiration from Mayor Craig Fletcher.
“All in all, Jim, it has been a pleasure to work with you,” Fletcher said. “Seldom have I seen, had the pleasure of working with a more professional person.”
Councilman Dick Winger thanked O’Connor for the weekly sit-downs on Fridays during which they go over issues, council agenda packets and Winger’s many probes for greater detail.
“It’s useful to me,” Winger said. “I’m not sure Jim enjoys it.”
Up next was Coment, who fared favorably as well, with Fletcher pointing out marked improvements since Coment took over after the departure of the city’s former counsel, Charles Vitunac, in 2011.
“Your credibility of your office has taken a major step forward in the past couple of years,” Fletcher said.
Councilwoman Pilar Turner emphasized that she expects Coment to keep a close eye on the activities and billing statements from outside attorneys and Coment responded that it’s tough to do so in cases where he is not intimately familiar with what those attorneys, such as the transactional attorneys on the sale of the electric utility to Florida Power and Light, are doing on a day-to-day basis.
Councilman Dick Winger and Coment discussed Coment’s role with regard to keeping the city out of costly litigation, as Winger said he could tolerate a matter going to trial if he thought it necessary to protect the citizens of Vero Beach.
“One of our principal jobs as legal counsel is to keep you out of court,” Coment responded.
Councilman Jay Kramer expressed appreciation for candid advice from Coment and the fielding of sometimes unusual legal questions and suggestions.
“I’ve always said a good attorney is one who tells you what you should know and not always what you want to hear,” Kramer said.
Fletcher noted that Coment on occasion is called to keep the council members out of legal trouble for their actions on the dais.
“I know you’ve come into my office a couple of times and said ‘Fletcher, we need to talk’,” he said.
Concluding with City Clerk Tammy Vock’s review, Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll pointed out that Vock is not only respected locally, but also revered by her peers in the government community across the state.
Winger said he gave Vock all fives, the highest rating, on her written review.
Fletcher described Vock as “the face of the city” and said, “On records, there is just no one better.”
“She has a way of being kind to you when you’re going down the wrong path,” Fletcher said.
Turner commented that Vock should strive to set goals for her job and her department that are objective and measurable.
Kramer pointed out the interaction that Vock has with all the council members on a daily basis and the diplomacy she must employ to do her job.
“Lots of issues, lots of things have come and gone. I can imagine the number of years that you’ve put up with people like us,” Kramer said.
Fletcher echoed that, saying “balancing five political egos is not an easy thing and you do it well.”
Should the current version of the city budget be approved, all three charter officers are set to receive 4.62 percent increases in October, as would all city employees earning more than $70,000 per year. Salaries of top-paid employees were cut by 5 percent in 2011 to offset the ending of the general employee furloughs. The raises for those earning more than $70,000 is being advocated by staff as a “restoration” of that previous cut.
The first public hearing of the city’s proposed 2013-14 budget is scheduled for Sept. 3.
