Flagler Commission Ratifies $195,000-a-Year, Open-Ended Contract with County Attorney Michael Rodriguez

The Flagler County Commission unanimously approved an open-ended contract with Michael Rodriguez, the county attorney replacing Al Hadeed starting Aug. 11. One commissioner had a few quibbles but there were no changes to document Rodriguez negotiated with the administration. The commission voted to hire Rodriguez on July 17. 

Until Aug. 11, Deputy County Attorney is the interim county attorney, since the county had to have a designee in that role. Moylan had initially been among the applicants for the main job, but withdrew. He says he intends to remain at the office in his current role. 

Rodriguez will be paid $195,000 a year plus a $500-a-month car allowance. Hadeed was hired in 2007 at a starting salary of $135,000. In inflation-adjusted dollars, that would be $215,000 today. The $195,000 at which Rodriguez is starting is the equivalent of $122,000 in 2007, or 11 percent less. But by the time he left, Hadeed was drawing an annual salary of $324,500, the administration confirmed this evening. County Administrator Heidi Petito said he “may have received a car allowance as well.” Hadeed said he did not.

Especially when benefits are included, the county is getting a significant saving in comparison with Hadeed’s compensation. Rodriguez will start with 20 days of personal time off, or PTO.

Hadeed was eligible for the same annual cost-of-living or inflation raises awarded county employees, and an annual 3 percent merit pay increase, unless commissioners scrapped the merit increase. They never did. The Rodriguez contract provides only for the cost-of-living raise that goes in effect every Oct. 1. 

Hadeed had accrued 767 hours in unused leave time. The county allows a payout for a maximum of 672 hours, so Hadeed had to forfeit the difference. Commissioner Kim Carney is looking for a cap of accrued time closer to the 300-day range in the future. She said St. Johns County has capped accrued time at 320 hours. That’s not in Rodriguez’s contract or in county policy for now, but the policy is being reviewed. 

Hadeed’s payout for his 672 accrued hours was $147,814, of which $104,000 was the salary portion.) 

Rodriguez is eligible for a severance equivalent to 20 weeks of pay, should he be fired for reasons other than misconduct. The County Commission will evaluate him once a year, though if it follows current practice, the public will seldom or never hear those evaluations publicly. Commissioners typically fill them out and file them away rather than make them a topic of discussion at commission meetings. 

The Rodriguez document originally started as a two-year contract. Rodriguez counter-offered with the open-ended wording. “Usually when you have a fixed term employment contract, you’re going to have the value of that contract–two years,” he told the commission. “So in theory, if I were to be terminated prior to that term expiring, there can be an argument that I’m entitled to the [remaining] value of that contract.” But that creates an inconsistency with state law, he said, since state law limits severance packages at 20 weeks’ pay. The contracts he reviewed, he said, were all open-ended, “especially since Florida is an at-will state and most county and city attorneys are at-will employees.” That means they can be fired any time, with cause or without cause. 

“Along those lines, I don’t plan on being county attorney for 25 years, because I have no plans on practicing law at the age of 78, I can assure you of that,” Rodriguez said. “I plan to be roaming the earth at 78 hopefully, knock on wood, not practicing law.” 

His quip at least revealed what had been unclear until now, since it’s not the sort of questions his employers may legally ask and he did not include it in his application: his age–53. On the other hand, he is succeeding a county attorney who was practicing at age 77, so it was not unreasonable for commissioners to wonder. 

Rodriguez may resign with four weeks’ notice. He will receive a cell phone and a vehicle allowance of $500 a month. The car allowance is given to both the county attorney and the county administrator. Commissioner Kim Carey raised questions about the allowance, which Salinas said has been customary, though in fact Hadeed did not have a car allowance when he started in 2007. 

“It doesn’t mean it has to be done,” Carney said. “Just like employees who have a union contract. I’m not in favor of the car allowance.” She did not explain what she meant by employees with union contracts, though many employees with union contracts in county government–namely, sheriff’s deputies–get to take their vehicles home and use them to and from work.  Carney, seeing no support for her opposition to the car allowance, nevertheless motioned to approve the contract. 

Rodriguez, who was in the audience, got his baptism-by-Youd during the workshop. Jane Gentile-Youd, the Hadeed nemesis who, between venom-soaked vituperations against him, spent the better part of this decade calling for Hadeed’s firing, invoked the scourge of the Old Dixie motel, or what’s left of it, to ask for Rodriguez to get on it. “I hope Mr. Rodriguez is able to foreclose on that property and that we can have that debris removed before somebody gets killed on Mr. Rodriguez’s contract,” she said by way of an ominous welcome. 

She complimented the contract, with some exceptions. She wanted him to start at $175,000. She didn’t like the line about “retaining outside counsel as necessary,” which gave her another opening for a sally against Hadeed. “I don’t think we should have any outside attorney without a super majority vote of the county commission, because that is going into our tax money,” she said, seemingly unaware of the routine among all local governments of contracting with “outside attorneys” when necessary. 

Hadeed was feted with a retirement party last week, when the commission also declared August 1 Al Hadeed Day. He worked on that day.

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