Untouchables

Commissioner Jerry Gemskie has wasted no time, now that he has won his second (and final, due to term limits) term as a city commissioner. His move to double the city manager’s severance pay shows that he intends to spend the term making sure it is as difficult as possible for any future commission to take any actions that run counter to Commissioner Gemskie’s All American vision of Kissimmee.

It was not for any market pressure or competitive reason that Commissioner Gemskie proposed the contract change. As he stated at the meeting, and was quoted in the Osceola News-Gazette, he did it to prevent a “rogue” future commission majority from taking any action against City Manager Mark Durbin by making it more expensive to do so. We surmise that in Jerry’s world, “rogue” refers to anyone who does not subscribe to his policies or beliefs.

Now, the “Fire Mark Durbin” message was such a loser in the 2006 election that it hardly came up in the 2008 election. But apparently Jerry’s keen sense of what is going on in the community has told him that just around the corner are “rogues” or perhaps “commission ninjas” waiting to pounce and throw Mark Durbin from the 5th floor observation deck.

We also note that the commission can only do simple math, doling out severance packages in 90-day increments. Perhaps they need to get back out to the real world, where corporations tend to give out severance packages based on the amount of time the individual was employed by the corporation. Even a package that contained 2 weeks of base, plus a week of severance for each year of service, would have totaled 22 weeks this year for Mr. Durbin, 4 weeks (1 month) less than the half-year package they just approved. But hey, it’s only funny money that they never intend for any “rogues” to spend, right Commissioners?