Greg Hansen Calls Ending Heidi Petito’s Tenure ‘Criminal’ as Adam Mengel Is Appointed Interim at County

After months of tension and occasional acrimony, Heidi Petito’s five-year tenure as Flagler County’s administrator ended this morning in a whimper–Commissioner Andy Dance called it “another odd ending process”–as the County Commission appointed Adam Mengel interim administrator effective Saturday, April 11. Mengel has been the county’s planning director since 2006, a position retitled growth management director in 2019. 

With one exception–Commissioner Pam Richardson chose to remain silent–even two of the commissioners who wanted her gone paid tribute to her, while Commissioner Greg Hansen called the termination “criminal,” and Commissioner Andy Dance offered the most detailed defense of her tenure. 

“As I look at some of the finances, it is important to note the progress to our AA-plus rating, which is reflective of our efforts to build up our reserve fund,” Dance said, describing the importance of reserves on many levels. “A long-way process of saying thank you, because there’s a lot of things that go unnoticed. But the employees will miss your leadership. And again, thank you for for your time with the county and best of luck.” 

Mengel’s annualized salary will be $194,602. His contract expires Sept. 30 absent the appointment of a new administrator, or earlier commission action to end the term. (See his contract here.)

Petito remains on the job through Friday. She was at her usual desk in the commission chamber this morning for the commission meeting, as she will be at 1 p.m. when the commission reconvenes for a workshop, which includes a discussion on the search for a new administrator. 

A majority of the commissioners let Petito know through her last evaluations in December that, according to them, she was no longer meeting expectations and was no longer wanted as administrator. In January Petito survived an attempt by Commissioner Kim Carney to fire her as Commission Chair Leann Pennington sought a softer landing for her. 

In February Petito announced she was resigning, but with an offer to stay until July 14, and to be allowed to resign with a severance package. Commissioners agreed, only to again, a week later, raise the possibility of releasing her sooner, prompting a scolding from Petito. All along Petito had been exploring her next moves away from the county, discussing possible jobs with both the school district and the Clerk of Court, as FlaglerLive reported on March 18, among others. 

By then Petito had issued a memo to the commissioners naming Mengel as a potential interim administrator and strongly hinting that the commissioners should appoint him and release her. The report of Petito’s talks with Clerk of Court Tom Bexley–and Bexley’s stated intention to hire her immediately if he could, and if she was agreeable–accelerated Petito’s departure, and resulted in today’s commission action. 

The item was originally placed on the consent portion of today’s agenda–the portion where numerous, routine items are voted on together, without discussion. Before today’s meeting, the item was moved to the business portion of the agenda, though it provoked little discussion. Carney was curious about the seeming “duplication” of Mengel’s services with Petito’s between April 6 and April 11. 

“You’re approving it today. It goes into effect on Saturday the 11th, so I am here through the 10th to continue this week with Adam,” Petito told her. All documents, Carney said, refer to the effective date as the 6th, which would mean that the two administrators would be paid at the higher level for those overlapping days. The motion Commissioner Greg Hansen made was for Mengel’s appointment to take effect on Saturday. 

The item drew no public comment. 

“We most likely won’t be meeting with Mrs. Petito again,” Carney said just before the vote. “I’d just like to thank you for your service and your leadership throughout these past five years at the administrative level, and then followed by many, many years at other levels, with the county, and I think you’re not going to be going too far away. But I wish you luck in your future endeavors with the county or with where we are. Thank you, Heidi.”

Hansen said he is the longest serving commissioner currently. Gov. Rick Scott appointed him in 2017 in place of the late Frank Meeker. Last August he said he would not run again. Since 2017, he served with county administrators Craig Coffey, who was pushed out in 2019, Interim Administrator Sally Sherman for a few weeks, then Jerry Cameron, then Petito. 

“I’ve sat through three county administrators, and Miss Petito is by far the best and that I’ve served with,” Hansen said. “It’s criminal that we’re letting her go at this point. She had a lot to do with the success of this county and the success we’ve had in maintaining our reserve fund and adequately funding our ridiculously hard budget. We never have enough money. So she makes it work. And thank you, Heidi, thank you very much.”

The county’s reserves had been depleted under Coffey and Cameron, and stood at $9 million in 2019. Petito increased the reserves to $46 million. 

“You could tell when you stepped in what dire straits the county was in,” Pennington said, a veiled reference to the Cameron years. “It’s very evident, particularly what we’ve gone through recently with the CFO, just getting all the information from Brian and staff that you walked into a mess.” Pennington was referring to Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia’s scattershot    and malicious attack against the county’s finances on March 26, which, ironically, was attended by two of the men who oversaw the “mess” Pennington was referring to: Cameron and then-Commissioner Joe Mullins. 

“You’ve left it a lot better than what you came into,” Pennington told Petito, “so we appreciate it. Thank you, and we’ll see you again around the county.”

The motion was approved unanimously, with Richardson’s “aye” the only word she spoke on the item.