When Eric Menger, Vero Beach’s longtime airport director, announced recently he plans to retire in June, he said it was so he can spend more time with his six grandchildren, five of whom live in other states.
But the move came immediately after a harsh, determined public attack by Vero Beach City Council member Joe Graves, who questioned Menger’s handling of public money and called for him to be fired, and I can’t help suspecting that egregious assault contributed to Menger’s decision to part ways with the city he has served for 29 years.
On the one hand, I believe Menger when he says he is retiring for personal reasons because, in my six-plus years writing columns for Vero Beach 32963, I’ve found him to be a truthful, straight-shooting and accountable public official – exactly what you’d expect from a Naval Academy graduate and former Navy pilot who has served both his country and community with honor and distinction.
I believe him because I have spoken with people who have worked with him for many years who say Menger, who turns 61 this month, has been talking about retiring – and his reasons for wanting to do so – for months.
But as a newspaperman, I can’t help but believe that what happened during the Vero Beach City Council’s March 17 meeting contributed to Menger’s decision, or at least to the timing of his announcement.
And if that’s the case – if the uncalled-for, over-the-top cheap shot taken by rookie councilman Graves sped up his departure – I don’t blame Menger for walking away.
He deserved better.
Certainly, Menger didn’t deserve to be publicly attacked and treated as if he were some sort of criminal who cooked the books in an attempt to slip something past the City Council.
But there was Graves last month accusing Menger of breaking the law and asking that the airport director be dismissed after decades of stellar service managing the airport.
And why?
Because Menger failed to get a second approval from the City Council before spending $152,000 for sod as part of a $3.3 million taxiway project that the council previously had approved in total. (The taxiway project, by the way, came in more than $1 million under budget.)
But allow me to explain: City ordinance requires City Council approval of any expenditures of more than $50,000, and Menger received such approval for the entire project, which included the $152,000 for sod.
As the taxiway project proceeded, the sod part had to be postponed because the city hadn’t yet received the Florida Department of Transportation funding needed to pay for it. So Menger removed it, filing a change order with his boss, City Manager Monte Falls.
When the state funding came in, Menger moved forward with the sod purchase, but he did so without first getting the previously approved $152,000 expenditure reapproved.
Ray Neville, another first-year councilman, said he found the process confusing and chalked up Menger’s technical error to an honest mistake – which is what it was.
The city manager saw it the same way.
“I didn’t see anything there that would lead me to believe there was any nefarious activity,” Falls told the council members. “I think it was done in haste to keep the project moving.”
Besides, Falls said he already had discussed the matter with Menger and the airport staff and explained how the process should’ve been handled. He said he was confident such an error wouldn’t happen again.
For his part, Menger accepted full responsibility for the “administrative error,” and said he was working with Falls and City Finance Director Cindy Lawson to implement further grant-administration training to prevent any future problems.
“We’ve done many, many millions of dollars in projects at the airport,” Menger told the council. “This is the only time in my recollection that we’ve had this issue.”
But Graves refused to let it go.
Instead, he rambled on about Menger playing “fast and loose with the rules” and his own “lost confidence” in the airport director, at times sounding more like a prosecutor than a councilman.
“That was a bit of a shock,” Menger said last week, when asked about Graves’ attack. “We’re all human. People make mistakes. I really wish he had come and talked to me.”
If he had?
“I’d still be retiring,” Menger replied, choosing to make a classy exit by refusing to say whether Graves’ criticism nudged him toward the door.
I expected no less.
“Eric ran that airport beautifully,” said Vero Beach Airport Commission Chairman Barb Drndak, who plans to step down when Menger leaves. “People have no idea how difficult that job is, juggling Federal Aviation Administration and Florida Department of Transportation rules along with city ordinances, which require the airport to operate as a self-sustaining business.
“This city is going to miss him.”
