Attempt to fire county's special master fails

Brenda Garretson will remain special master for Collier County.

At today's Collier commission meeting County Commissioner Tom Henning made a motion to fire Garretson. That motion died when none of the other four commissioners seconded the motion.

The other commissioners said they thought Garretson was doing a good job, and shouldn't be fired.

Henning is angry at Garretson because she participated in a public workshop in January with the county's code enforcement department. He claims Garretson stepped over the line because she is supposed to be impartial.

The meeting with code enforcement staff demonstrates bias, Henning said.

A special master is a quasi-judicial official who isn't a judge but who hears certain disputes and then rules.

Henning originally called on the county to return all fines assessed by Garretson since the workshop occurred. On Tuesday he backed off that statement, but still said anyone who'd been fined by Garretson since the workshop should have the option of going back before a new special master and having the case reheard.

County staff insists Garretson did nothing wrong. The other commissioners agreed with staff on Tuesday.

"I think she's done a good job and I'd like her to continue," said Commissioner Donna Fiala.

Commissioner Jim Coletta said he's reviewed a transcript of the Jan. 20 workshop and didn't believe Garretson did anything wrong.

"I don't want untrained people losing case after case because of technical reasons," Coletta said.

Commissioner Fred Coyle said the training session Garretson conducted was good. He pointed out the commissioners sometimes do the same thing with their staff.

"We frequently give similar instructions to our own staff," Coyle said. "We tell them how we'd like to see things presented to us and how we'd like to see executive summary's written (for commission meetings)."

Code enforcement shouldn't do a workshop like this again unless they also invite the public, including lawyers who might represent people in front of Garretson, Coyle said.

After the issue was decided Joe Schmitt, community development and environmental services administrator, said the county would hold another workshop sometime in June or July that would be open to everyone.