INDIAN ROCKS BEACH - Victor Wood, an Indian Rocks Beach citizen, has demanded an immediate investigation into the relocation expenses and compensatory time paid to Al Grieshaber, the city manager who left his job yesterday.
Wood, who was a candidate for mayor in last March's election, submitted his demand Friday to city hall, addressing it to the mayor and city commissioners.
Wood said that he asked that his demand be receipted, time stamped and dated because he had had no response to previous requests seeking information on salaries, wages and expenses paid to Grieshaber.
While Grieshaber departed the city this week to take a job at a place called Sun 'n Lake near Sebring, his activities and the questions raised by them are still resonating in the city.
One footnote to all the turmoil surrounding Grieshaber, who spent most of his time seeking another job while he was on the IRB payroll, is that he reportedly drove the IRB owned vehicle to Sun 'n Lake in October for a meeting there and then put in a request for mileage expense from Sun 'n Lake.
In addition to his own mileage request while having the free use of the IRB vehicle, Grieshaber requested from Sun 'n Lake mileage expense from his wife who came there from a different location.
The two missing words - with the exception of one commissioner - are "fiduciary duty" as applied to the elected officials of Indian Rocks Beach.
Only Commissioner Jose Coppen has raised questions on the more than $13,000 Grieshaber received for "moving expenses," a payment from the city that was in direct and blatant violation of his employment contract.
Amazingly, Andy Salzman, the city's lawyer, never protested the "relocation" payment which seems to have fit into a pattern of questionable activities by Salzman.
Wood raised the question earlier as to why commissioners never attempted to rectify the payments to Grieshaber.
Illegal or not, Grieshaber's record in Indian Rocks Beach raises major questions both as to his conduct and the conduct of four of the five commission members.
According to city records, Grieshaber has compiled 543.25 compensatory time hours. Compensatory time is credited in lieu of overtime pay.
The hours accumulated equal more than 13 ½ weeks. That means in the 11 months of Grieshaber's official employment (48 weeks) he had spent one quarter of that time supposedly putting in extra hours.
At the same time, Grieshaber never took one day of vacation time, although by virtue of the fact that he traveled from Citrus County to Manatee County and pretty much all over central Florida seeking another job, he had to take time away from his office at city hall.
So with so much travel time accumulated and so much time away from his office, the question arises as to just how the compensatory time (overtime) was accumulated.
These are the questions being asked by responsible people in Indian Rocks Beach. Many feel that four of the five commission members, as well as the city's lawyer, have been derelict in their duty in safeguarding taxpayer funds.