Photo by KELLY FARRELL

Staff

Serving as Interim City Manager through mid-May, Parks and Recreation Director Dana Souza packed to move from his office in City Hall back to his trailer in Mackle Park. Souza has since formally resigned from the position as of Thursday morning and plans to have to pack a box once again as his last day will be in one month.

MARCO ISLAND — The City of Marco Island is about to experience what many feel is a great loss.

The resignation of Parks and Recreation Director Dana Souza has Islanders talking not only about the loss of Souza, but also about what prompted him to leave.

Souza confirmed he would be departing the city he loves for a new start in Greenville, SC.

“I’ve never been welcomed into a community the way I was welcomed in Marco. I feel that same warmth I felt when I first came here,” Souza said as he began informing friends and coworkers of his decision Wednesday.

He added that he is looking forward to working for the larger Greenville parks and recreation department.

“In the short time I had to get to know Greenville’s City Manager, Jim Bourey, I gained a tremendous amount of respect for him. It will be a completely different experience than Marco Island,” Souza said.

He added that he will stay in Marco Island for one month to provide a transition plan, and added, “I don’t want to leave anything a mess for anyone … ”

City Manager Steve Thompson said: “Dana is a great guy and he did a great job, but it is his choice to move on to other opportunities.”

While it’s not on Monday’s City Council agenda, the dynamics that caused Souza to leave may become the top issue.

Chairman Bill Trotter said he did not believe Souza's decision to leave was initiated by Thompson and said it was likely just a career move.

“(Souza) will be a great loss to the city … It’s sort of between him and Steve Thompson. I certainly hoped the city could hold on to him,” Chairman Bill Trotter said.

Trotter praised Souza’s performance as interim city manager, his strong connection with the community, his work ethic and effective development and management of the city’s parks and recreation department.

The City Charter states that the city manager is responsible for all personnel issues. City Council is only empowered to dismiss one city staffer, the city manager, and it would require approval by four councilors.

Former Councilor Terri DiSciullo and Councilor Frank Recker are among those who said they believe the loss of Souza is a poor reflection of the city manager.

“My concern is Monday’s meeting is going to be ghastly for Dana ... This can taint him for future jobs ... I worry this isn’t the approach (Council) should take in approaching an evaluation,” Thompson said.

Souza was put in a “predicament” after dealing with difficult issues while serving as interim city manager, Recker said.

“(Souza) was a strong interim city manager who laid down the law and people weren’t happy with that,” DiSciullo said.

While Souza was exiting the position of interim city manager, he drafted a “transition report” for Thompson to review. Souza raised several financial and staff concerns in this transition report.

“I believe there are management and oversight issues in (the finance) department. I believe these issues could include management apathy, a practice of cleaning up project account overruns versus managing project accounts, unauthorized moving of expenditures from account to account and misleading City Council when asking for contract approvals,” Souza wrote to Thompson.

Souza provided examples, including a request made in May by Public Works Director Rony Joel for a $9 million transfer from the 2009 budget to the 2008 budget. It was for a water project council approved in April. Council had not been advised that the project was not funded in the current year’s budget.

Souza said he also learned $600,000 was transferred from the general fund to the utility fund for the North Collier Boulevard project without council approval.

Souza told Thompson in the report that he found the North Collier Boulevard project was nearly $800,000 over budget.

Subsequently, a report released Monday by Finance Director Bill Harrison and Joel states the approximate $40 million Collier Boulevard reconstruction project was under budget by about $2.5 million.

“I didn’t find any violation of city policy or intent to deceive the City Council,” Thompson said Thursday regarding the concerns Souza raised in the report.

Thompson added that the “key difference was the finance director and utilities director were following direction of a previous city manager and I have no problem with that. The only thing we could have done better was communication with council.”

When Thompson was interviewed for the city manager position, councilors asked if he would support a new assistant city manager position, which Souza may fill in the future.

DiSciulo and Recker recalled that Thompson said he agreed to such a condition, particularly as it would allow for a smooth transition in the absence of the city manager.

Thompson however said that was “absolutely not the case. I would not make a commitment but I’d be open to it in the future and we were moving down the path of doing so.”

Only the city manager can create new staff positions, according to the City Charter.

Souza said the lack of movement up to assistant city manager played no part in his decision to seek employment outside the City of Marco Island.

During the budget process it was proposed that a new position of human resources director could be added and that the position could evolve into the assistant city manager position, Thompson said, adding that the proposal was later abandoned.

“I can’t even confirm that was ever in the plans,” Souza said Wednesday evening regarding his move into an assistant position.

Thompson suggested to council in a July 23 e-mail that he would prefer “water cooler and backyard cookout types of discussions” be the only communication between City Councilors and city employees. He included the reasoning that employees may not understand council’s inability to keep promises to staff.

Of Souza, Thompson said Tuesday that the director had never been reprimanded.

“ … We discussed your interest in moving on to a role as assistant city manager and I am interested in helping you do so,” Thompson wrote in a July 21 memo to Souza.

What followed were recommendations of what Souza needed to do in order for that to possibly happen, including completing his undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Thompson also wrote that Souza inappropriately considered guidance from utilities’ employees as being equal to public input.

Do not “forget the value of other directors within the city,” Thompson told Souza.

Thompson wrote to Souza in July that both he and Souza wanted to “hold staff accountable” for mistakes, adding “this effort cannot be possible for you if there is an underlying perception that you or I have a self-serving agenda or have alliances other than with the entire organization.”

Souza responded the same day.

“I need to state clearly that I have a deep commitment to the citizens of Marco Island … That is where my alliance rests,” he wrote.

Souza said he took offense to the accusation of having a “self-serving agenda.” He also wrote that he and Thompson “had no meaningful discussions about the intent to establish an assistant city manager position.”

Souza further rebutted any lack of respect of other directors’ input and suggested, despite his efforts, he was left out of meetings between Thompson and other department heads about issues that affected parks and recreation operations.

Souza rebutted allegations that he had contact with councilors regarding city matters and that since he returned to the position of the parks and recreation director he has “not focused any attention on these conflicts,” which arose while he served as interim city manager.

DiSciullo, a member of the Island Parks and Recreation Foundation, said that she is close friends with Souza and while it may be inappropriate for Souza to discuss issues with the current City Council, he may talk to his friends.

“This city will be losing a valued director due to the inaction of the current city manager … ,” DiSciullo said.

Councilor Chuck Kiester said he desired Souza become assistant city manager.

“(Souza) did more to help heal the wounds among our residents during his short term (as interim city manager) than anyone has done, past and present,” Kiester said.

Recker said he believes the loss of Souza will require at least a review of Thompson’s management style and performance.

“(Thompson) has a big bulldozer coming at him and I don’t feel sorry for him,” Recker said.

DiSciullo recommended “council do whatever it has to do to keep Dana.”

Thompson however said Souza’s acceptance of a career move “is a clear cut issue despite the passion people have for Dana.”

Souza has been in parks and recreation 25 years. He was instrumental in creating and staffing the parks and recreation department when it was incepted.

“I’ve had a fabulous time on Marco Island. This will be the hardest move I’ve ever had to make,” Souza said.

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