A READER RECENTLY CALLED TO ALERT US TO A SITUATION IN PALM BAY.

Research turned up two articles of concern.  Both basically reported the same information regarding what appears to be an “upheaval” in Palm Bay’s City Hall.

One article was written by Rick Neale at Florida Today on June 8, 2015 entitled “Leadership exodus strikes Palm Bay City Hall;” and the other was a June 15, 2015 post by Maureen Rupe, president, Partnership for a Sustainable Future entitled: “Palm Bay revives good ole boy network.”

There is a lot of heresay about what’s going on, but here are some facts, as reported by Mr. Neale and Ms. Rupe.

Mr. Neil wrote that according to Palm Bay Human Resources, since the November, 2014 City Council election, eight Palm Bay officials have either resigned or been terminated.  All combined, these eight city officials had provided 172 years of service to Palm Bay.

• Sue Hann resigned as City Manager effective April 15
• Chad Shoultz resigned as Deputy City Manager effective June 12
• Doug Muldoon resigned as police chief effective January 23
• Alice Passmore was terminated as City Clerk on April 14
• Tom Ford resigned as Bayfront Community Redevelopment Ageny administrator on June 1
• Heidi Lapin resigned as Parks and Recreation Director effective June 12
• Edyie McCall resigned as Business Development Administrator on effective February 27
• Bill Pehaim resigned as Housing and Neighborhood Development Services Director effective June 27

Did all these people really resign?  If so, why?  What will happen to Palm Bay now that it has lost a knowledge-base of 172 years.

Here’s an example, of someone the City lost, from their profile on LinkedIn:

Bill Pehaim

Palm Bay Neighborhood Development Specialist

October 1999 – June 2015 (15 years 9 months)120 Malabar Rd., S.E., Palm Bay, FL 32907

“Managed all CDBG and HOME federal statutory requirements from eligibility to performance measures. Co-ordinated efforts among multiple departments from bid proposal through activity execution/reporting. Specialized in developing partnerships among activity participants for the leveraging of federal funds. Interfaced with local, state and federal agencies in the execution of federal grant programs. Responsible for writing 5 year Strategic/Consolidated Plans, 1 year Action Plans, 1 year Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Reports, 5 year Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing, 5 year Environmental studies, 5 year Section 3 Plans and Section 108 CDBG loan applications.”

Greg Lynk is the new Palm Bay City Manager. The City Council approved his employment contract on April 21.

Mr. Lynk was quoted in an article in Florida Today on April 15 by Rick Neale.

“What attracted me to the job was the job description. The City Council was being a little creative, going outside the box,” Lynk said minutes after the vote.

“They were looking for someone (who was) maybe not a traditional city manager, county official. They were looking for someone with public and private experience,” he said.

On April 27, six days after having his employment contract approved, Mr. Lynk appointed David Isnardi as his Deputy City Manager.

Isnardi had served as Brevard County Commissioner Andy Anderson’s chief of staff since 2008. He is the husband of former City Councilwoman Kristine Isnardi.

Is all this worthy of an “alert?”  Could the new officials, and those who selected them some how be interrelated?  That was the nature of the alert.