Linda Cox will serve another year as Fort Pierce city clerk after the City Commission voted to renew her employment agreement, with Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky casting the lone dissenting vote.
Dzadovsky said his opposition was not related to Cox’s performance. Instead, he raised concerns about language in the employment agreement that he believes could conflict with the authority outlined in the city charter.
"I do not believe the city should continue an employment agreement that may be interpreted as granting authority beyond the charter that which it actually provides. This is not about placing the clerk under the city manager. I'm not proposing that," he said. "This is about recognizing the independence within the officer's assigned responsibility. It does not mean isolation from the rest of the city."
Dzadovsky said he wants the city manager, city attorney and clerk to work more collaboratively while maintaining the clerk's independence. He said he would not support continuing the agreement without changes to its language.
He also argued that allowing the contract to automatically renew would preserve language he believes raises questions about how authority and accountability are divided among the city's charter officers.
"What non-renewal does prevent is the existing language from continuing automatically simply because we failed to act before the deadline. If we allow automatic renewal, we will have affirmatively preserved the language that we know raises serious questions about the allocation of authority, administrative coordination, and accountability," he said.
Mayor Linda Hudson disagreed with Dzadovsky's position.
"I'm going to have to tell you that I couldn't disagree more," Hudson said.
Hudson said the separation between the city's charter officers serves a purpose, particularly when it comes to elections.
"She is in charge of elections. And that office is in charge of elections. That office cannot be in any way influenced by anything else in the city in terms of the elections," she said.
Commissioner Michael Broderick also said the clerk's responsibilities should remain independent from the other areas of city government.
"The charter should not be modified in any capacity. Her responsibilities to this commission need to be independent. She needs to report directly to this commission. And her staff need to report directly to her," he said.
Dzadovsky disputed the idea that the charter establishes the three charter officers as equal, autonomous branches of government.
"That's determinative language and to me provides additional power. It doesn't call them three autonomous branches of government," he said. "The idea that I'm trying to get across is if we get back to the language, instead of having the thought process that we are a silo and saying, well, you can't talk to me, you can't do this. My thought process is for everybody to work together to work for this commission. Most importantly, work for the taxpayers."
Commissioner Curtis Johnson said the city's charter may warrant a review but did not support making changes to Cox's contract before such a review.
"It's the chicken or the egg here," he said. "I'm not in light of regressing back to a charter that, quite frankly, probably needs to be reviewed and brought up to date, as opposed to move her contract back."
The commission ultimately renewed Cox's contract for another year, with Dzadovsky casting the only dissenting vote.
No vote or discussion was held on a formal review of the city charter.