Collier attorney: Judge’s ruling against ordinance allowing for reconsidered contracts ‘fundamentally incorrect’

Coyle said he doesn't see why the county would need to change the ordinance -- it just lays out an administrative process that lets the board reconsider important decisions.

The problem is how the county tried to use the ordinance to ignore the terms of a contract that had already been signed, he said.

"It does not and should not give board members the authority to unilaterally change something that has been negotiated, signed and approved," Coyle said. "We could leave the ordinance as it is and just be more careful in the way we deal with employees."

The county doesn't need an ordinance to get itself out of a contract, said Joe Stewart, a Naples attorney representing Curry.

"Everybody has the right to breach their own contract," he said. "But you have to live up to the legal consequences. The county has the right to revisit any legislation but they can't go back on their written word and their promises in the contract."

Multiple attempts to reach commissioners Georgia Hiller, Tim Nance and Tom Henning, who voted to rescind Curry's contract extension, were unsuccessful.

Curry was hired to a three-year deal in 2010 to manage Collier's airports in Marco Island, Everglades City and Immokalee. In November 2012, commissioners extended his contract through September 2015, giving Curry a 4 percent pay raise. But shortly after the extension was approved, Nance was elected, swinging the majority of commissioners against Curry's favor.

Two months after the new contract was signed, Nance, Hiller and Henning voted to rescind it, although the county continued to pay Curry the higher salary.

Curry sued the county seeking $70,935 in severance that was guaranteed under the new contract as well as about $50,000 in lost pay and benefits from the time he was terminated with the county in September until he was hired in January to manage the city of Tallahassee's airport.

Hardt hasn't yet determined the amount in legal fees the county owes Curry.

Those fees would grow, should the county lose an appeal.

Collier's liability insurer, The Princeton Excess and Surplus Lines Insurance Co., won't cover the claims because they arose from a contract dispute, said county spokesman Mike Sheffield. The same is true for claims filed by another former county administrator, Penny Phillippi, whose contract was also terminated early by the three-commissioner majority.

Phillippi, also represented by Stewart, was paid $88,570 a year to be the county's executive director of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency. She is seeking her salary and benefits from Jan. 22, 2013, when her contract was rescinded, until she finds another job.

Any losses from both cases will come straight from the county's coffers.

Curry's $50,000 claim for lost pay and benefits is still working its way toward trial because Hardt couldn't decide that issue in his summary judgment ruling.

"I'm concerned that we keep hearing from all the commissioners about how frugal they are and how they don't want to waste taxpayer dollars," Fiala said. "Well, this is wasteful."

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