INDIAN ROCKS BEACH - The long "will he, won't he" saga of Al Grieshaber, IRB's city manager, has at last been resolved.
Grieshaber notified members of the City Commission Friday that he has resigned. This constitutes the 60-day notice and presumably he will leave office before mid-January.
At the same time, the City Commission will launch a search for his successor.
Grieshaber has obtained a job with a community near Sebring called Sun 'n Lake which represents success in his year-long quest for a job.
Oh, he had a job in Indian Rocks Beach, but IRB was apparently used merely as a home base for a job search by Grieshaber that encompassed most of central Florida.
He has been on medical leave for several weeks and was due back Monday when the commission had hoped to get a clear read on just what his status was.
Reports of the job at Sun 'n Lake were pretty much public knowledge, the newsletter of that community announcing without any ambiguity that he had been hired there.
The only place that seemed to be in doubt or not know what was going on was Indian Rocks Beach.
While Grieshaber was traveling all over central Florida, from Citrus County to Bradenton trying to hustle up a job, most of the members of the City Commission played the "see no, hear no, hear no" role of these activities.
One member, Jose Coppen, seemed to have a clear view of what was happening and urged the commission to take action, to get a new manager lined up because the city was surely going to become just a part of Grieshaber's lengthy resume.
Grieshaber took over the city manager job on a temporary basis in August, 2005, when John Coffey, embroiled in all kinds of inside-city hall machinations over personnel was forced out.
In December the commission decided to make Grieshaber permanent, a circumstance that Grieshaber, it turned out, did not reciprocate.
Protracted contract negotiations dragged on for weeks with Grieshaber wanting big bucks and all kinds of additional goodies, overlooking the fact, perhaps, that Indian Rocks Beach is just a little town.
But come February and he was hired.
The ink was not dry on that signed contract before Grieshaber was out and about looking for another job.
The ethics of city managers, according to their own code, is to remain in place for at least two years after being hired. City managers have standards set down by their own group (ICMA - International City Managers Association) and, in fact, it is a requirement in Indian Rocks Beach that a manager belong to the ICMA.
Grieshaber was not a member of the group, a violation, ab initio, in his hiring. If the mayor and commission did not know that Grieshaber did not qualify on this score, the city's lawyer, Andy Salzman, certainly should have known, it seems.
But even when this inadequacy was brought to the attention of officials, it was shrugged off, brushed aside. It left some wondering what special magic Grieshaber had woven in the city.
It has been several years - since Tom Brobeil left - that Indian Rocks Beach has had a solid city manager.
No other manager in memory had so blatantly been a seeker of a job elsewhere than Grieshaber. He sought - and was turned down - in Citrus County (twice), Minneola, St. Cloud, Safety Harbor, Manatee County and Tavares.