Treasure Island commission removes Tammy Vasquez as vice mayor; she calls it retaliation

The Treasure Island City Commission has stripped Commissioner Tammy Vasquez of her title as vice mayor, replacing her with Commissioner Arden Dickey in a 4-1 vote at its Oct. 6 meeting. Vasquez, who cast the lone dissenting vote, has publicly called the move retaliation for her formal complaint against City Manager Charlie Van Zant, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The vote capped a months-long dispute in the Pinellas County beach city over Van Zant's leadership, a dispute that has split the five-member commission and ended, in September, with a majority voting to drop the city's pursuit of an outside investigation into the manager.

How the vote happened

The change in leadership was not on the published agenda. It came up at the end of the Oct. 6 meeting, during the portion reserved for commissioner comments, the Times reported.

Commissioner Chris Clark moved that the commission consider choosing a different vice mayor, and Dickey seconded. Clark argued that the commission had a vice mayor and a city manager who, in his view, cannot work together, and he said he was not going to assign blame for that. Turning to Mayor John Doctor, Clark raised the possibility of something happening to the mayor and said he did not know how the city would function in that situation.

Vasquez responded that it would not be a problem, saying professionalism comes into play and that she would do her duty as sworn if she ever had to step in.

Dickey said he had thought about the issue before the meeting and had seen, in the past month alone, behavior from the vice mayor that he considered not appropriate for that position. He listed the qualities he looks for in a vice mayor, including consistency, leadership, professionalism, sound judgment, factual statements and a willingness to work with the mayor, the other commissioners and the city manager, and told Vasquez she had not shown that willingness.

Vasquez asked how Dickey came to have notes in front of him if he had not known the motion was coming. Dickey said he did have notes, but not about the vice mayor question. Vasquez said she had never had a problem working with the mayor and believed the two had worked well together for the past year and a half, but told her colleagues that if three of them felt she had not done her job, they should do what they needed to do.

Clark then nominated Dickey, who represents District 4, as vice mayor. The motion passed 4-1. Vasquez asked whether the item should have been placed on an agenda so the public could weigh in; no one answered, according to the Times.

One resident, Scott McKinney, objected during the meeting, telling commissioners that some of Vasquez's complaints had been referred for investigation and that removing her from the post under those circumstances amounted to retaliation.

Vasquez's response

In a Facebook post the day after the vote, Vasquez wrote that she personally viewed her removal as retaliation for continuing to ask questions and push for transparency, the Times reported. She wrote that the vote did not happen in a vacuum, arguing that an independent investigation should have been allowed to follow the facts, and that three commissioners had instead voted to halt that process before witnesses were interviewed, evidence was examined or findings were issued.

Those same three commissioners, she wrote, then voted to remove her as vice mayor. "That sequence of events matters," she wrote.

Vasquez, who represents District 1, also wrote that one of her original concerns involved the treatment of women in city leadership and that the vote did nothing to ease those concerns. She said the issue was whether elected officials can ask hard questions about public money, management and accountability without fear of retaliation, and that the commission had not taken away her seat, her voice or her responsibility to the residents who elected her. A title, she wrote, does not determine whether she does that job.

The dispute with the city manager

The conflict dates to the summer. At the commission's Aug. 4 meeting, Vasquez accused Van Zant of workplace misconduct, blocking commissioners' inquiries, fiscal mismanagement and creating a hostile work environment, and asked human resources to investigate, according to the Tampa Bay Times. With only four members present, the commission deadlocked 2-2 on a motion to place Van Zant on administrative leave, so no action was taken.

Vasquez filed a formal grievance on Aug. 5 citing concerns about Van Zant's fiscal judgment, communication, workplace conduct and leadership, and asked for an outside investigation, the Times reported. After consulting the city attorney and the city's insurance carrier, human resources referred her written complaint to the carrier, which assigned an outside attorney. The carrier declined to pursue most of the allegations, treating them as internal city matters, and narrowed the review to whether Van Zant had engaged in discriminatory or inappropriate conduct toward Vasquez because of her sex.

Van Zant has disputed Vasquez's allegations, according to local reports.

September vote to end the inquiry

At the Sept. 10 meeting, Clark said that, with Van Zant's authorization, he had interviewed nine senior city employees, five men and four women, and that none reported witnessing the kind of behavior Vasquez described. Doctor and Dickey said they had separately spoken with the manager's direct reports and reached the same conclusion. Clark urged the city to withdraw its request and ask the carrier to wrap up the inquiry quickly, arguing that fairness had to apply to Van Zant as well.

The commission voted 3-1 to end its pursuit of an outside investigation, with Clark, Dickey and Doctor in favor and Commissioner Arthur Czyszczon opposed. Vasquez abstained because she was a party to the matter. Czyszczon, who voted with the majority to replace Vasquez as vice mayor, has had his own complaints about Van Zant's responsiveness, including unanswered emails.

Van Zant's standing with the commission had already been tested this year. In May, Czyszczon moved to end the manager's contract, citing a lack of confidence. The commission instead extended Van Zant's contract by 14 months, with Vasquez, Doctor, Dickey and Clark voting in favor, according to the Times.

What's next

Vasquez keeps her District 1 seat and her vote on the commission, and Dickey now holds the vice mayor's title. Her questions about whether the leadership change should have been noticed on an agenda for public comment went unanswered at the meeting, and it is not clear whether any commissioner will revisit the process. The narrowed review by the insurance carrier's attorney was the last formal inquiry into her complaint; the commission's September vote asked that it be concluded.