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Century Hires Vernon Prather As Interim City Manager; Councilman Says He’s Not Their Savior
December 17, 2019
Over strong objections for one council member, the Century town council voted 4-1 Monday night to hire Vernon Prather as interim town manager.
“All the sudden he’s now wanting to be our savior. No thanks, I don’t need you,” council member James Smith told Prather during a Monday night council meeting before casting dissenting vote.
Prather began working for the town on a consulting basis as part of a $35 an hour package deal when now Interim City Manager Buz Eddy came on board in July. Prather later moved into the position of interim gas department manager.
The town advertised for a city manager but had only five applicants, including Prather. Eddy did not apply, telling the town council that he would stick around until a replacement could be hired. Eddy then recommended that the applications be scrapped and Prather be hired as interim city manager under an 11 month contract that begins January 1.
“You are trying to mini-mafia people,” Smith said Monday night. “You guys want to do things completely the wrong way.
Prather will be paid $40 an hour for 30 hours per week, or $1,200 per week as an independent contractor. He will have complete control over his work schedule and hours worked. If he exceeds 30 hours per week, he will not be paid overtime but will be allowed to take comp time off at his discretion. He will also receive a $600 per month vehicle allowance, but will not receive employee benefits such as vacation, retirement or insurance.
“We are still getting robbed, and I don’t like it. I got a huge problem with it,” Smith said.” We do not need a city manager, especially for this price. This is Century. How in the world are we going to support this budget? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Let’s get three more employees. Let’s hire three more people in the town of Century to help move Century forward…I’m not comfortable with this at all. For anybody to sit here and think it is ok, it’s a problem.”
Council president Ann Brooks said the town needs Prather right now, especially to oversee their gas, water and wastewater systems.
Prather served Gulf Breeze in various positions from 2006 to 2017, including director of public services, operations consultant and assistant city manager. He also hold wastewater and water system certifications.
Council member Sandra McMurray Jackson said she believes Prather will be worth his high price tag.
“You have to pay. If you take the cheap route out, you are going to get just what you get. Everything is costly now,” Jackson said. “You can hire 20 people but if they can’t do what needs to be done here, we are still right back where we started from. This man has not only the education background, he has the work experience that is very important, very important…Vernon is what we have. We gonna take what we have and we are going to work with it.”
The council will have the right to suspend Prather with full pay and benefits at anytime if the council and Prather mutually agree, or if the council votes to suspend him for just cause after he’s been given 10 days notice.
If the council terminates Prather before the expiration of the contract, they will owe him a lump sum cash payment of six weeks salary. Prather can be terminated for cause including criminal conviction. If Prather resigns, he will provide 45 days advance notice, unless all parties agree otherwise.
Pictured top: Vernon Prather addresses the Century Town Council Monday night. Pictured top inset; Councilman James Smith. Pictured lower inset: Council member Sandra McMurray Jackson. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
26 Responses to “Century Hires Vernon Prather As Interim City Manager; Councilman Says He’s Not Their Savior”
Vernon Prather is a great Christian man with a great family who also happens to be extremely knowledgeable. I feel confident that he will do a good job and help to lead Century in the right direction. Together we all should pray for Vernon, his leadership, the council and the whole town of Century.
To “He’s not not making much” please come to a council meeting and voice your opinion directly to me. There are plenty of things behind a keyboard, please make yourself available.
AND to “Shaking my head” get your facts straight before you make yourself sound ridiculous, I was sworn in Jan. 2019. And you kept up with what’s going on you would know I’m opposed to having Vern.
Mid 60K for that job is not much ! He’s not doing it for the money.
If he’s good, how much money will he save 1 Million ?
To hire two $18 an hour employees will not solve the problems I’ve been reading about.
Give this person a chance to solve these issues. He has the education and experience, and in my opinion willing to help at a reasonable salary.
Best of luck Century righting your Ship !
Sitting behind a desk does not qualify you to me a manager.
I have the same paper I have accumulated all my 40 years as this person does.
It does not make me a manager
That is the problem with Century..too many people sitting behind desks with an abundance of stupidity is what is wrong with Century
Keep stacking the desk and hire 100 more arm chair managers and you will hold true to your miserable form
You cant fix stupid…and the so called leadership shines in that area
Seems to me like your paying two people for one job. Next election vote for a mayor that is able to run the city
Explain to me how a town that couldn’t pay it’s current employees and is millions in debt can afford this?
missed some eppisodes, what season are we on?
Vernon Prather does have a significant knowledge of water and wastewater operations. Century needs that. With commenting on the terms of his contract, past decisions of the Town, etc., I think it imperative that Century hire VP or someone like him.
To hire Mr Prather seems to one of the best decisions the council has made. They recognize their shortcoming and the grand jury report was good feed back. If they keep operating the utilities at a loss there can be consequences.
Think of the $$$$ lost in the gas department. I would rather it go into a qualified person’s salary to turn that around. Plus get the other utilities up to par.
People don’t realize the elected positions here pay very little and the qualification are no more than pay a small fee and get a few votes.
Is doesn’t hurt to have one councilman question it however, in this case he is probably wrong imo.
if the mayor and council were doing their job there would be no need for consultants. that’s the problem. NO qualified leadership.
REGARDING:
“The council will have the right to suspend Prather with full pay and benefits at anytime if the council and Prather mutually agree, or if the council votes to suspend him for just cause after he’s been given 10 days notice.”
MUTUALLY agree. Otherwise he can’t be suspended.
Sounds like the money is his no matter what.
David for Mutual Assured Happiness
REGARDING:
“We are still getting robbed, and I don’t like it. I got a huge problem with it,”
If you ask some to take your money and they agree, they are not robbing you.
(It MIGHT not be the best deal in the world, but you were not robbed if you made the offer.)
David for money well spent
It seems that some of the Century residents are never happy. This man has experience which hopefully will help out the town. It is going to be a long haul, there is no quick fix. It would be nice to hear more support, Ms. Sandra is right on. It still comes back to “If you think you can do better then run for office”! At that point, put up or shut up, because it will be your neck on the chopping block. Be ready because the Piranha are ready to take you down.
“You are trying to mini-mafia people,” Smith said Monday night. You guys want to do things completely the wrong way”.
I don’t know if their way is the right way or not, but it is obvious that Century’s way and the way they have been doing business, is completely the wrong way!
I understand everyone’s concern over money but let’s consider the fact that Century is where it is now because of the lack of talent. We’re putting people who don’t have experience in planning, problem solving, and resourcefulness. Only experience can bring about these things not training. Just think of this as penalty for not hiring the right people for the job for decades.
Yes you can hire more people with the same amount of money….I doubt it can be stretched to 3 people……but they won’t be managerial level employees and management is what is desperately needed. I already see some improvements….let’s just wait and see.
IF HE’S NOT DOING THIS FOR THE MONEY THEN WHY ALL THE EXTRA EXPENSES, FUEL AND SUCH, A SNAKE THAT DOESN’T HAVE DIAMONDS ON ITS BACK IS STILL A SNAKE
THERE IS ONLY ONE CREDENTIAL THAT MATTERS IN ESCAMBIA COUNTY…
GOOD OLE BOY
IF YOU ARE A GOOD OLE BOY THEN YOU ARE JUST QUALIFIED TO DO EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING YOU WANT…EDUCATION BE DAMNED
when is Hawkins going to do his job??????????????????
Century is like a hobo
You can put a $500.00 suit on it
Its still a hobo
64K a year with severance is no CEO job with a golden parachute,sounds like they are paying for what they need. Sometimes you have to pay the money to get the results. 64K, he’s not doing it for the money, he’s done this work for gulf breeze, so what’s the problem? Sit down James Smith, you are part of the problem, go stick your head in the sand and hush.
I agree with Mr. Smith…Century is not financially able to pay this…again we have been taken advantage of when will this stop.
Let me get this straight, so if Prather quits he owes the town nothing. But if the town terminates him, the town pays him six weeks of his salary? SHM. $64,000 isn’t bad money for part-time (11 months @ 30 hrs/wk). $6,600 of it being non-taxable as an allowance.
This place is completely out of control. Of course the council members want to hire him, it will take some of the focus off of them for a while. At this point they will do anything to have someone to place blame on. His salary will not come out of thier pockets so they do not care what it cost. If that had ever once been a concern the city would not be in this mess now. It is possible he can make a difference with his experience but the real problem still remains. Nothing will change until we get rid of the current administration.
It’s very difficult to get people with the proper education and experience to work in a small town like Century. It is what it is.
Vernon will do a good job. He knows what he is doing.
Maybe Mr. Smith should resign from Council. He has done nothing to help fix the problems Century has. He was and has been there while all this has been going on and now he decides he doesn’t like Prather?
They are having trouble finding people to take the position in light of all the recent problems the Town has. The people of Century can fix many of these problems at the ballot box.