INDIAN ROCKS BEACH -- John Coffey, Indian Rocks Beach city manager, announced at the City Commission meeting Tuesday night that he had applied for a job at another, unidentified city.
Terms of his contract with the city required that disclosure and the commission immediately set about approving language for advertising an open position should Coffey land somewhere else.
Coffey has been under fire for weeks, culminating May 3 with stinging evaluation in which two commissioners sharply criticized him, another found fault and only one gave him a modicum of support.
The upshot of that was to have an assistant city attorney compile the listed inadequacies of Coffey and report back to the commission with suggested remedial action.
So, even with Coffey's announcement Tuesday night, his status is questionable in view of possible further action, including dismissal, by the commission.
That out of the way, most of the commission's three hour and 45 minute meeting was taken up with a discussion of prioritizing subjects that the commission must deal with, an exercise that has gone on for years in a city that seems, at times, to have more business than it can handle.
Also on tap was a presentation from a health insurance carrier who outlined several oppositions. The value in that was to give Mary Karayianes, city finance officer, some guidelines in constructing the upcoming budget.
The commission also went through and made recommendations on job descriptions and classifications for employees in the planning, building and code enforcement divisions.
A discussion was held on the city's web site and its future. So far, that site has been developed by Commissioner Jeremiah Carmody who, over a six month span, put a lot of effort and about $4,000 into its development.
Carmody said he was not billing the city for the expenses because, he said, it was never his intent to do so. But he was persuaded to accept from the city a tax deduction certificate so there would be some reimbursement.