John Wilkes Termination - Rather write an original post, I am going to post here the statement I read to the press yesterday afternoon, November 2, as follows:
City Manager’s Statement Regarding the Employment of Mr. John Wilkes
November 2, 2006
Effective at the end of business tomorrow, November 3, the employment contract between the City of Sarasota and John Wilkes, Executive Director of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, will be terminated. As you are no doubt aware, recent internal audits, conducted independently from the operation of the City Manager’s Agency, detailed a number of discrepancies in reporting and misuses of resources by Mr. Wilkes on such things as vehicle mileage records, outside employment, and travel and entertainment expense reimbursements. While some have argued that each of these things should be considered “minor”, in their sum total they represent a consistent pattern of disregard for the most fundamental responsibility of a public official, which is the proper stewardship of the public assets with which we are entrusted.
Mr. Wilkes’ contribution to the Van Wezel and its successes is noted and much appreciated by the Sarasota community. The many supporters who have spoken out in support of Mr. Wilkes in recent weeks have given clear voice to that appreciation. Personally, I wish Mr. Wilkes well as he moves on to the next chapter in his career. There is no level of past success, however, that relieves the individual from the simple standards of accountability that come with the role of public servant.
Beginning Monday November 6 Mr. John Wesley White, former Sarasota County Administrator, will assume the role of Acting Executive Director of the Van Wezel, to serve until a search process is completed for a permanent Executive Director. Mr. White, who is present today for this conference, is a nationally known and respected public administrator, and also a Senior Fellow of the International City/County Management Association. His presence will bring stability and leadership to the transition process.
In closing, I want to emphasize one point in particular. Much has been both written and said recently that the issues that have led to today’s action are a function of the inappropriate application of artificially strict bureaucratic rules and regulations to an entity that requires a different type of oversight to operate. Let me be perfectly clear on this point: The poor judgements and inattentive follow-up that ultimately led to today’s action were in no instance born of some special necessity of the Hall as a creative organization, and the record is clear in that regard.
End of statement.
I will only add for the benefit of those who have chosen to personalize these issues that there is no credible motive for anyone in my administration or at City Hall in general to seek to damage the Van Wezel, or to treat Mr. Wilkes unfairly. Such a suggestion is understandable in the heat of the moment, but patently untrue, and further completely unsupported by any evidence whatsoever.
City Manager’s Statement Regarding the Employment of Mr. John Wilkes
November 2, 2006
Effective at the end of business tomorrow, November 3, the employment contract between the City of Sarasota and John Wilkes, Executive Director of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, will be terminated. As you are no doubt aware, recent internal audits, conducted independently from the operation of the City Manager’s Agency, detailed a number of discrepancies in reporting and misuses of resources by Mr. Wilkes on such things as vehicle mileage records, outside employment, and travel and entertainment expense reimbursements. While some have argued that each of these things should be considered “minor”, in their sum total they represent a consistent pattern of disregard for the most fundamental responsibility of a public official, which is the proper stewardship of the public assets with which we are entrusted.
Mr. Wilkes’ contribution to the Van Wezel and its successes is noted and much appreciated by the Sarasota community. The many supporters who have spoken out in support of Mr. Wilkes in recent weeks have given clear voice to that appreciation. Personally, I wish Mr. Wilkes well as he moves on to the next chapter in his career. There is no level of past success, however, that relieves the individual from the simple standards of accountability that come with the role of public servant.
Beginning Monday November 6 Mr. John Wesley White, former Sarasota County Administrator, will assume the role of Acting Executive Director of the Van Wezel, to serve until a search process is completed for a permanent Executive Director. Mr. White, who is present today for this conference, is a nationally known and respected public administrator, and also a Senior Fellow of the International City/County Management Association. His presence will bring stability and leadership to the transition process.
In closing, I want to emphasize one point in particular. Much has been both written and said recently that the issues that have led to today’s action are a function of the inappropriate application of artificially strict bureaucratic rules and regulations to an entity that requires a different type of oversight to operate. Let me be perfectly clear on this point: The poor judgements and inattentive follow-up that ultimately led to today’s action were in no instance born of some special necessity of the Hall as a creative organization, and the record is clear in that regard.
End of statement.
I will only add for the benefit of those who have chosen to personalize these issues that there is no credible motive for anyone in my administration or at City Hall in general to seek to damage the Van Wezel, or to treat Mr. Wilkes unfairly. Such a suggestion is understandable in the heat of the moment, but patently untrue, and further completely unsupported by any evidence whatsoever.
posted by Michael McNees at 4:49 PM
21 Comments:
It appears everyone at city hall tried to give Mr.Wilkes time to explain his actions. Actions that seem to be a pattern of misuse the auditor found. While Mr. Wilkes stated in the paper today that he answered questions, possibly within those answeres is the true problem. One cannot just talk their way out of actions that are by all standards wrong. I personally do not know Mr. Wilkes and that should not be even part of the issue. Mr. Wilkes should not be dragging the community into his problems and calling on the foundation board to rally behind him. Protection of the trust we expect of the city is the most important part of government and the city commission's job.
John Wilkes seems to be on a mission to "get back" at the city at any expense. This is just wrong. I go to the purple building once in awhile and I will continue with or without Wilkes. I go for the shows, the arts, the experience and the entertainment. Last time I looked that did not happen just because of Mr. Wilkes but the entire city and foundation. Shame on those trying to do that damage. Shame on Mr. Wilkes. Shame on the board who is bought into telling this community to look the other way and not deal with his mishandling of the hall. My appologies if the paper is telling the wrong story and I doubt this would be happening without good reason.
I am completely disgusted at the Van Wezel Foundation board. How dare they accuse the city managers office for dragging the Wilkes issue through the papers and creating a witch hunt? How can they say the punishment to Wilkes did not fit the crime?
Apparently, they are projecting.
The Van Wezel Foundation has done everything to put the Van Wezel at risk by trying to protect John Wilkes. They are the ones running to the papers and TV cameras telling the whole public that the sky is falling. If the Van Wezel sees a dip in donations it will be because people will have a hard time trusting the foundation. How can you trust a foundation that looks the other way to bad behavior and leadership?
On TV this morning a Foundation board member states he does not know all the facts but clearly the punishment does not fit the crime. It appears the foundation needs to have a reality check on their moral code. If the foundation is run by a group of people that think personality should be more important than someone’s honesty or criminal actions then we need to re-evaluate what foundations we allow to be partners with the city on venues such as the Van Wezel.
But then again, this is a community that throws parties for individuals like the Griffins that went to jail for the Riscorp rip off. Is this what our city has come to?
Thank you Mr. McNees for seeing our city run organization needs to be respectable and trustworthy.
Walt (and others), I have had some of those same thoughts. Nobody has advanced a plausible motive for either the internal audit staff or I to wage a personal vendetta. Some have suggested I am jealous of Mr. Wilkes compensation, although if that is the case I can't imagine why I authorized it in the first place - that was my decision as well.
Yesterday I asked a gentleman who called to express his displeasure (not a foundation member, to my knowledge) if he believed there should be two sets of rules, one for the line-level employees and one for the people at the top of the organizational pyramid. Essentially he said yes, if that boss is doing a good enough job certain things that might get a laborer or clerical employee fired should be overlooked. Frankly I am stunned that influential people are proposing such a set of standards for the operation of a public agency.
It is stunning to read some of the comments trying to excuse Wilkes' behavior and deliberate actions. Will his answers to your questions be made public? I'm certainly curious to know whether he claimed ignorance of the rules that prohibited him being reimbursed for entertainment expenses or had some other reason for asking the city to pay for his theater tickets.
Also, where do the Van Wezel finances stand now? Is the hall on track to require a million dollar subsidy for this year?
Also, I hope the city will contact some of the very talented local people in the community with experience in entertainment booking as consultants since the interim director has no experience in that regard.
I am confused over something another comment brought up. The paper said Mr. Wilkes inherited the Hall with a 1.3 Million dollars deficit. They also reported the hall has approximately a $900,000. deficit this year. Why do people keep saying he brought into the black? What is the truth?
bburke - It is true that the budgeted General Fund subsidy of the Hall this year is about $900K. That's not necessarily operating loss, it also represents the city's subsidy of the local arts community as reflected in discounted hall rentals for people like the Symphony, which is of course a large part of why the Van Wezel was built originally.
There was one year, about 3 years ago now, when at year end the VW was slightly in the black.
Dear Mr. McNees:
If I hear it once, I hear it a million times that you deserve a medal for what you have to put up with. You do thing right and you get hammered by your bosses. What a slap in the face for them to run and vote to think about making the Van Wezel not for profit just to appease the Foundation. If any one of them say they do not support your actions or imply your actions were anything but being a good manager, they should not be a commissioner. But then again we do have a commissioner that used the City Auditors vehicle for personal use. I guess some of the commission feel there are different standards for different people. Why was the Auditor allowed to get away with this? He too should be fired. But then again, that is a state issue and not the problem of the city manager.
You are doing a fine job, only wish you had some more intellegent people backing you. Also, Atkins seems to be the only one who does not fall at the Foundations feet. He is a good man too and thank god, not totally bougtht into the politics of it all.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I haven't said it for a while on this blog, but the commissioners earn the right, by being elected, to make the decisions that they do, and I don't second-guess them here. In this case, they have been extremely supportive of the fact that decisions related to the Executive Director were my responsibility to make, and were also very open and helpful in conversation about the issues, but with no effort whatsoever to influence the outcome. Essentially they showed, as a group, great respect for the boundaries drawn by the City Charter. That is greatly appreciated.
I should also add in response to something stated above, on behalf of the City Auditor, that he has clearly stated he did not loan his vehicle out for personal use.
srqblogger - Reasonable people might disagree over whether the judgement call I made last week was the correct one, i.e. whether the punishment precisely fit the offense - in fact some do. But for anyone to suggest the decision was without basis, was arbitrary, or was personally motivated is to completely deny some well documented, confirmed, and very straightforward facts.
The only other thing I want to say is in response to the question of whether the Van Wezel will now "crumble", which is the truly absurd word the H-T used in an on-line survey question. I find the suggestion of such a thing to be an insult to the rest of the hard-working staff who truly keep the Hall going. Do we need to be especially aware of our stewardship responsibility during this time? Certainly. But the Executive Director is not the VWPAH any more than I am the city government. To suggest otherwise seems a bit hysterical.
It's not a matter of whether or not he was committing actions illegal to justify his termination- it's a matter of accountability. The buck stops with him when it came to the Van Wezel, as far as the city was concerned. Anything that his staff did, he was accountable for. He knew this going in.
There is buzz about that The Van Wezel may become a non-profit company. I would highly recommend Burton Wolfe, of the Players Theatre, as the new CEO. Burton has been a staple for the Player's Theatre for seven years, and he has turned it from being in the red to the black. Before the Player's, he worked for both the UN and UNICEF, and has devoted a large amount of his career to international exchanges and multicultural events. Indeed, with the Van Wezel set to extend itself into an entire art district within the next few years, I imagine Mr. Wolfe would be the perfect choice.
What exactly does the Foundation do? Do they have an office? What do they contribute to the Van Wezel? Or how much? I am just wondering because they seem to feel they deserve a huge amount of press time and attention.
I guess I'll have to wait until the next post to get an answer to my questions.
srqcomment - It's not my intention to post a listing of all of the decision information on this blog. I believe I answered your financial question - is there something else I missed?
So I see that you have selected John Wesley White as the successor to John Wilkes. Maybe you should have done your homework BEFORE making this move. John left govt for a reason. CHECK IT OUT.
Oh, by the way, did he arrive at work his first day in a taxi? Most of his past transportation was provided by the local taxi company -- because he couldnt get a license. Nice choice Mike!
Try again, maybe you will be successful with another candidate instead of the County's sloppy seconds!
Good luck - you will need it!
Had you your own advice and done your homework, you'd have learned that Mr. White has not been hired as successor to the Executive Director, only to serve in an acting capacity until a successor is selected. In that I did my homework, and verified that Mr. White was an ideal candidate for that job.
Frankly I think your post crosses the line into a personal attack, but I'm leaving it up to provide an answer.
I think the story that was proposed to the community was not a truthfull one. Sarasota Herald does not report the news, they supply and full gosip that will catch and fuel readers imaginations. The issue of John Wilkes is at an unfair advantage and is unfortunate. He has rightly served the sarasota community for many years and all they have done is bash him. I am glad that Sarasota is compiled of many upper class individuals because McNees is wasting your tax dollars.
I makes me sad to think that everyone, including the man who run our city, are as full blow ignorant as they sound on this blog. I also think it's funny that neither of my blogs will be posted because I will not stup to the level of what seems to be uneducated people.
Beinvolved - The only things the newpaper didn't publish were how much opportunity Mr. Wilkes had to correct his issues, of which he declined to take advantage, and the ridiculous and personal nature of the political hissy-fit certain members of the VW Foundation board pitched because things didn't go their way.
BTW, you may be involved, but are apparently unaware that I haven't worked for the City of Sarasota for almost nine months. Beautiful fall day here in the mountains of Idaho though!
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