By Terry Witt – Spotlight on Levy County Government

The turmoil in Bronson Town Hall grew worse Thursday with Town Clerk Pam Whitehead deciding to leave today, several days ahead of her announced resignation date of June 12.

Bronson is operating without a town clerk or deputy clerk. On the bright side, former deputy clerk Susie Robinson was back in Town Hall Thursday to temporarily resume her former duties.

Whitehead said her resignation had nothing to do with the recent audit report that found the 2017 town budget was overspent by $222,000. She said she had been thinking about leaving for some time.

She said the announced resignation date of June 12 falls in the middle of a pay period and she decided it was best to leave today. She said she has no future job lined up. She wants to take some time off. Town employees get Friday off.
Mayor Bruce Greenlee said he was aware Whitehead was leaving today. He said the town council will meet in special session Tuesday to discuss staff’s number one choice for deputy clerk and to speak with temporary employment agencies about the type of candidates they want for clerk.

The special session is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Dogan Cobb Municipal Center. The meeting is open to the public. Town staff members were assigned to interview deputy clerk applicants. The applicants were not interviewed by the council nor were the applications given to the press.

The audit of the 2017 town budget found that the spending plan was overspent by $222,000. Whitehead administered the budget for the town council as the city’s top administrator.

Greenlee said the 2017 budget wasn’t overspent by $222,000. He said Whitehead failed to properly assign budget amendments to the correct locations in the budget, resulting in the appearance of an overspent budget.

“The biggest thing was her lack of experience in accounting and not putting budget amendments in the right spots,” he said.

Greenlee said he has quite a bit of budgeting experience as a government administrator, but he was sick for three months and hospitalized for much of that time and his absence didn’t help matters.

“I put it squarely on my shoulders,” Greenlee said.

He said the council needs to carefully select their next clerk to assure it hires someone who has some background in accounting.

“You can’t just put anyone in as clerk. They need to have certain qualifications,” he said.

Greenlee said he didn’t want to select a clerk from the group of people that applied for deputy clerk. He said the town needs a group of people who specifically applied for the clerk’s position. Those people are more likely to have qualifications to handle the job.

That’s part of the reason the council is meeting with the temporary employment agencies. The council wants to be certain Walstaff and Express Employment know exactly what the town is looking for in the next clerk.

He said the town will post an advertisement for clerk applicants and ask the temporary employment agencies for candidates as well. Sometimes temporary employees work into a full-time job.

Whitehead’s departure comes at a time of the year when the town is beginning to build its budget for 2018.

Greenlee said the town may have to hire someone with an accounting background to help the town get through the remainder of the current budget. The budget must be adopted by Sept. 30. Mandatory public hearings must be scheduled before the budget can be approved by the council.

Town of Bronson – Posted June 7, 2018