 TALLAHASSEE PRESSURING WATER MANAGER TO RESIGN Palm Beach Post -- Tuesday, June 12, 2001 By: Robert P. King and Jim Ash Palm, Beach Post Staff Writers South Florida's top water manager is on the verge of losing his job after months of internal turmoil at the agency in charge of restoring the Everglades, preventing floods and protecting the region from drought. Frank Finch, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, declared Monday that he has no intention of leaving. But Gov. Jeb Bush's environmental protection secretary, David Struhs, said he has asked Finch to resign to halt sliding morale and a growing perception that the Everglades restoration is adrift. The final decision on Finch's fate is up to the district's nine board members -- all appointed by Bush. The "most likely probability," board Chairman Nicolas Gutierrez said, is that Finch will either step down or be fired, possibly as soon as today. The board also could take up the issue at meetings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, said Gutierrez, who has expressed unhappiness with Finch's work. The newest shake-up in the 1,800-employee district comes after months of dissension that have split its board and some of the senior staff into rival camps. Some employees have found themselves fired, rehired or left in limbo during the squabbling. Perhaps coincidentally, last month the district had Finch's office swept for hidden microphones. Finch, the former environmental chief of the U.S. Army who receives $150,092 a year, said he's done nothing to deserve being fired. He said he declined when Struhs asked him late last week to step down. "Anything's possible, but right now I'm going to hang tough," said Finch, 53. He declined to discuss his job performance in detail. Finch's critics on the board - among them, Gutierrez and former Chairman Mike Collins -- call him aloof, an ineffective communicator who has mishandled decisions on the drought, allowed employee morale to slide, and failed to carry out Bush's minority-hiring program for state agencies. They also have criticized his military-style chain of command, which they say has discouraged some employees from speaking directly to district leaders. Finch's supporters say he's doing the job the board hired him to do less than two years ago -- despite constant meddling from some board members. "As far as I'm concerned, he has lived up to the scope and task of what he has to do," said another board member, Jerry Fernandez of Miami, during an interview last month. Like almost all recent Finch supporters on the board, Fernandez could not be reached for comment Monday. Another, Hugh English of LaBelle, declined to discuss the issue. The district's recent squabbles include a sometimes public power struggle among board members regarding Finch and his one-time chief of staff, district head lobbyist James Blount. Finch took steps toward firing Blount last month before meeting resistance from some board members and the governor's office. Blount said Monday that he wasn't involved in any attempt to undermine Finch. He also declined to assess Finch's performance. But Blount said he is unlikely to stay at the district, at least "as it is currently managed." In the midst of that behind-the-scenes dispute, the district paid a Satellite Beach company $2,450 to sweep the offices of Finch and other top executives for hidden microphones on May 11. Finch said Monday that he knew nothing about that sweep or why it was done. No bugs were found. During a job review in September, five board members gave him an A or A-plus for management and accountability, and he received four A's and A-minuses for leadership. As recently as last month, Finch enjoyed the support of a slim 5-4 majority on the board. But that was before Bush's staff weighed in. Struhs said he called for Finch's resignation after conversations with board members and district employees convinced him that the district has problems with morale and Finch's management style. "One thing that became clear to me is that Frank, rightly or wrongly, had become a polarizing figure among board members," Struhs said Monday. "I came to the conclusion on all those fronts that the performance was lacking and that the institution would be better off with a change in leadership." If Finch does leave, Struhs has already suggested a replacement: Henry Dean, who has been executive director for 17 years at the St. Johns River Water Management District. That district -- the state's third largest -- is based in Palatka, near St. Augustine, and has taken on tricky restoration projects in the Indian River Lagoon and Lake Apopka. Struhs also has encouraged Kirby Green, a former deputy secretary in his own department, to consider replacing Dean at the St. Johns district. Green lost his $115,323-a-year job last month when Struhs replaced him with Allan Bedwell, a friend who had done consulting work with Struhs in private industry. Struhs said he was not trying to micromanage the districts, but he noted that state law gives him "general supervisory authority" over all five of Florida's water management districts. Struhs has been more assertive than most of his predecessors in exercising that power. Struhs also said he's still waiting for an answer from Finch: "I've asked him to resign; I don't know where he is on that." Struhs said he is particularly concerned about growing criticism that the district is falling behind in the $7.8 billion Everglades restoration program, a joint federal-state project in which the district is the state's chief manager. District employees have acknowledged that parts of the four-decade-long project are behind their original 1999 schedule, but they insist it's not a serious problem. But some supporters of the Everglades project say the mammoth plan -- the world's largest environmental restoration -- makes this a bad time for another round of water district fratricide. So does the current drought, the worst in South Florida's history. "The people of America are watching to see if the Everglades restoration effort is going to get off to a firm start," said Nat Reed of Hobe Sound, a former district board member, during a recent interview about the power struggle. "This is not the moment to have a fractured South Florida Water Management District board and staff." Added Shannon Estenoz, South Florida director of the World Wildlife Fund: "I'm very worried about any shake-ups at the district. This is a time when we need a lot of decisiveness and leadership and fast action." Bush had just appointed his first six members to the board in 1999 when they summarily fired then-Executive Director Sam Poole, an environmental lawyer who had held the job for four years. At the time, Bush appointees said Poole had been a polarizing figure and that the district needed a fresh start to take on the Everglades project successfully. Now the district may need yet another new beginning. Friends of Finch were saddened to learn of his possible exit. "He's a good man who tried to do his best, and it's a tough job," said Joe Schweigart, the district deputy executive director in charge of carrying out the restoration. "Just look back and see how many people in the last 10 years have been eaten up by the job." Copyright (c) 2001, The Palm Beach Post |