BlogWood: MT Archives

Despite deprecatory draft, Dent’s in denial

HARTline Director Sharon Dent was ridden hard by some County Commissioners yesterday. Aparently, they’re starting to lose patience with Ms. Dent:

Hillsborough commissioners formally declared their lack of confidence in the head of the county's transit agency, in response to a critical report from their performance auditor.

While commissioners have no direct supervisory responsibility over the agency, their 5-2 no-confidence vote came with threats to yank county funding to the agency, and even replace some of their appointees to the board of Hillsborough Area Regional Transit.

"Unless that board takes immediate action and makes some changes," said commission Chairman Tom Scott, a past advocate for HARTline, "they can't expect support financially from me in the future."

The no-confidence vote will be sent in a formal notice to the HARTline board, some of whom were in the commission's chambers Wednesday for what amounted to a lengthy tongue-lashing. The two commissioners who voted against it were Jan Platt, who is a board member of HARTline, and Kathy Castor.

Platt argued that commissioners were jumping the gun in taking any action before the performance auditor has issued her final report, and before Clerk of Circuit Court Richard Ake undertakes a broader audit of the agency.

But other commissioners accused HARTline Executive Director Sharon Dent, the subject of the no-confidence vote, of denying allegations they felt are now proven true, and lying to them about whether money for buses went to pay Channelside streetcar expenses.

Hmmm... subsidizing a ride for wealthy tourists with funds meant to pay for service for people who rely on the bus to get to work and school and the store. Sounds like business as usual to me.

The Tribune gives more details:

Sharon Dent sat quietly in the audience as commissioners voted 5-2 to show their lack of support for her leadership of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority.

Commissioners have no direct power over Dent. HARTline is independent, and she said she has no plans to resign.

But after weathering more than a decade of ups and downs in a job that pays her about $125,000 a year, Dent said after the meeting that she takes the current situation seriously.

She announced she had asked the FBI to look into allegations that her administration hid or destroyed documents to keep them away from the county auditor, whose recent review of the agency has commissioners railing.
......

Commissioners complained that Dent has lied about how her agency spends its money, including during a meeting last fall in which she publicly stated no money meant for bus service was being used on Tampa's streetcar.

Because the county provides money to the bus agency for weekend and neighborhood service, commissioners asked County Auditor Kathleen Mathews to investigate HARTline spending.

Mathews reported Monday that she had found evidence contradicting Dent. Her review also revealed that HARTline broke its own purchasing procedures, paid for unfinished consulting work and held onto construction invoices for hundreds of days.

The report was released as a draft, without a formal response from HARTline, which upset some HARTline board members. Dent said her agency found fault with the auditor's work and will complete a response in the coming days.
......

Commissioners criticized a HARTline board member who called the county review a ``hatchet job'' and a streetcar board member who labeled the work a ``witch hunt.''

Then they took aim at Dent.
......

Storms, who also serves on the HARTline board, said Dent's call to the FBI was too little too late.

A former employee has said he brought spending irregularities to HARTline officials' attention a year ago, and Storms asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate two months ago.

Dent, Storms said, has been ``driving around with a body in her back seat for a year.''

Hmmm... I guess Sharon doesn’t ride the bus.