Gov. Rick Scott's ordered housecleaning began at Workforce Central Florida on Thursday, as three top executives quit, along with seven of 30 volunteer board members.
CEO Gary Earl, Vice President of Communications Kim Sullivan and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Barry Neece all tendered their resignations.
Scott called the moves "a positive first step."
But one of the leaders Scott wanted removed, the senior vice president of public affairs, is staying on, said Larry Haber, chairman of the WCF board.
Speaking after an emergency meeting in Orlando, Haber said the board asked Public Affairs Vice President Larry Strickler to remain on the job.
"He's our liaison with local and state government, and we need him," Haber said.
Per Scott's recommendation, Alice Cobb, executive vice president and chief operating officer, was retained "for continuity purposes."
The governor, in a letter issued Wednesday, directed WCF to discharge its four-member senior staff within two weeks as a condition of keeping the agency's doors open.
"In recent years, the leadership of WCF has engaged in a series of activities that require this unprecedented, but necessary, action. Ongoing fiscal and compliance deficiencies have caused continuing concern about WCF's internal controls and its management," Scott wrote to Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, who sits on the Central Florida Area Workforce Investment Consortium, which appoints WCF board members, who direct local job initiatives.
Scott cited reports detailing that since 2006, nearly $5.3 million in reviewed expenditures were out of compliance with federal requirements.
Haber defended the agency and said the governor's concerns were ambiguous.
"From our perspective, it's not clear what's to be done. Everything we do is public and transparent. The state approves the budget already. It's not clear what they're looking for," said Haber, an entertainment law attorney who has served on WCF's all-volunteer board for the past 12 years.
"We have received no communication from the governor's office," he told Sunshine State News.
Haber described the mood at WCF as one of resignation -- literally.
"No money was misappropriated. There's been no criminal activity. People are saying if you want to keep attacking us, we'll just leave," Haber said.
"People are fed up. Nobody is putting up a fight. Seven board members resigned today, and there may be more."
Scott had also directed that a new board be appointed within two weeks.
"You will be contacted concerning the appointment of an interim president and CEO, who will serve until the consortium has sufficient time to seek a permanent replacement," the governor's letter to Jacobs stated.
Haber said the governor's office doesn't have the authority to make personnel changes, and added that he will stay on "as long as I'm wanted."
"I very strongly believe in the workforce system," he said.
The underlying issue, as Haber sees it, is control.
"We think the state is trying to get more involved. Our push-back is concern about the state taking over local decisions. We want to make sure local government is the clearing house for expenditures," he said.
Scott's Wednesday letter warned, "If, at the end of the [two-week] probation, WCF has not met certain requirements, the state will begin the decertification process."
Late Thursday, the governor issued a more conciliatory statement saying, Im encouraged with the developments today at Workforce Central Florida. The resignation of the executive committee, the executive director and the CFO is a positive first step toward fixing this troubled agency so that we can get on with the business of helping the unemployed in Central Florida."
I am grateful to Mayor Jacobs for her leadership in working with me as we continue our efforts to set this agency on the right course," Scott's statement continued. "I know that Mayor Jacobs and other members of the consortium will be meeting on Monday to decide on an interim executive director, and Im confident that under her able leadershipwe will continue to make progress.
For fiscal 2012, WCF received more than $30 million in federal funding through Workforce Florida for employment-related initiatives in the five-county Central Florida region.
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
