'Grave Concerns' About Manatee County Administrator Shared By Clerk

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — After learning that Manatee County commissioners will consider extending County Administrator Scott Hopes’ contract at their Tuesday meeting, the county clerk shared a letter outlining her “grave concerns” about his job performance over the past year.

The letter, which was sent to commissioners Friday and obtained by Patch, “describes issues that I have been monitoring and I felt that you should have this information before you take up this item (about his contract) on Tuesday,” Angel Colonneso, Manatee County clerk of the circuit court and comptroller, wrote. (Read her full letter below.)

She criticized him for his "lack of transparency" when it comes to responding to public records and said his "lack of communication" slows down county projects. The clerk claims that Hopes, who receives a monthly car allowance from the county, also exclusively drives a county-owned Chevrolet Tahoe despite receiving a monthly car allowance.

Patch has reached out to Hopes for comment on the clerk’s letter. He has not responded yet, but this story will be updated when he does.

Initially, he was hired as acting county administrator April 1, 2021, to replace Cheri Coryea, who was pressured by commissioners to step down from the position in February 2021.

Commissioners voted 5-2 to hire Hopes permanently for the role with a salary just under $207,000 on May 25, 2021. Reggie Bellamy and George Kruse voted against his appointment.

Now, commissioners will consider extending his contract to Sept. 30, 2024, with a base salary of $230,000.

In her letter, Colonneso warned commissioners of “repeated troubling events that continue to happen involving your county administrator of which you may not be aware.”

She wrote, “It has become such a concern that it is necessary and my duty as the clerk and comptroller to memorialize these issues and bring them to your attention. It has become so prevalent that it became necessary for me to monitor the situation.”

Among her issues with Hopes, the clerk highlighted a lack of communication and transparency, the impacts of his reorganization, and fiscal accountability.

“I have grave concerns on the efficient operation and transparency in government to our citizens. Given my observations, these matters and those yet to be discovered, could create a significant cost to the taxpayers that are unquantifiable at this time,” Colonneso wrote.

Many of the issues she’s concerned about happened in recent months, she added. She’s also referred some of these issues to the Manatee County inspector general.

‘Lack of Transparency’

Colonneso told commissioners that Hopes recently “admonished me for my promptness in responding to a public records request and stated that I need to ‘coordinate with him’” first.

She wrote in her letter that “he explained that he was having a ‘situation’ in a department and that I ‘released a public record without telling him.’ He went on to tell me that in doing so, I ‘could have brought down an entire county department.’ I told him none of this had anything to do with a lawful public records request. I also reminded him that the record in question was a record of my office, not a county record.”

‘Lack of Communication’

The clerk’s office works also closely with the county on a daily basis regarding shared technology and projects, but communication from Hopes “has been very limited,” Colonneso added.

“Over the past year we have experienced a significant disconnect in communication and a delay in the knowledge of new projects initiated by the county until some of these projects are near completion,” she wrote. “It is a common best practice to include all stakeholders in the discovery phase of a project in order to successfully implement change. There has been minimal coordination with my office from the county on multiple projects initiated at the administrator's direction.”

Projects that have been impacted by the county administrator’s “lack of communication” include a new Kronos Timekeeping System, a data migration project and upgrades to the county’s OnBase records management system, an e-travel project, and the use of e-agendas and e-minutes, the clerk said.

Reorganization

Colonneso also wrote that while reorganizing should be expected with a management change, “the reorganization by this county administrator has been taking place at an unprecedented rate. Changes in processes and reporting structures can create significant risks with respect to internal controls, such as segregation of duties. It can impact the culture of the workplace by creating uncertainty among staff and management.”

Fiscal Accountability

Colonneso also said that Hopes asked her office to create a retirement account for Deputy County Administrator Robert Reinshuttle, which is a matter that commissioners would need to authorize.

She also claims that the county administrator exclusively drives a $46,000 Chevrolet Tahoe that was recently purchased by Manatee County and labeled as a ‘pool’ vehicle.

“This is in addition to his $450 per month car allowance included in his pay as stipulated in his contract,” she wrote. “This may be an item that you were not aware of but may want to consider since the vehicle was purchased subsequent to his contract. In light of the recent increase in the cost of fuel, I would suggest taking a look at this item. Most importantly there are also tax ramifications for such use of a county vehicle.”

Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge responds

In a statement released Saturday, Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge, chair of the Manatee County Board of Commissioners, wrote, “I will not sit idly by while an elected official abuses the status of her office to attack one of our county employees. The clerk’s letter is strategic and politically motivated.”

He also claimed that “recently, light has been shed on Miss Colonnesso’s (sic) actions as clerk which resulted in the loss of millions of taxpayer dollars. Miss Colonnesso has chosen not to face the music and take responsibility for her own actions. Instead, she has taken a page from the Joe Biden playbook and is pointing a finger at others to distract from her failures. This political stunt attempts to undermine the sovereignty of our Board of County Commissioners. Manatee County taxpayers deserve better from their clerk.”

Colonesso released a public response to Van Ostenbridge’s statement Sunday.

“You were not specific in your statement. Since we have excellent external audits and have received 30+ consecutive years of awards for our financial reporting, I am going to assume, that you were speaking about the investments from March of this year, about which we have informed your county administrator,” she wrote. “In the first quarter of this year, the Florida Local Government Investment Trust (FLGIT) Short Term Bond Fund within our portfolio incurred a loss of $1.5 million. This was due to the nature of the fund which is based on net asset value per share given the current market. This is .1 (percent) of the total portfolio that my office oversees.”

The investment fund’s financial losses were a result of “the economic downtown that has taken place this year,” which is “unprecedented and the likes of which has not been seen in 100 years,” she added. “This was not unique to Manatee County.”

To prevent further losses, her office immediately sold their shares in the FLGIT fund and reinvested the money in another fund based on expectations that its rates would rise, which they have, Colonesso wrote. As of April 30, the year-to-date interest earned through these funds was $550,000 and are projected to earn $3 million by the end of the fiscal year.

Because of the economic climate, earlier this year the clerk’s office repurposed a position to create a treasury manager role and also has a contract pending with an investment advisor, she said.

During her seven years as clerk, she said her office has made about $70 million on investments, Colenesso added.

She also claimed that since Van Ostenbridge took office in November 2020, she invited him three times to meet with her office to understand their roles.

“To date, you are the only commissioner not to respond and even meet with us to find out what we do and how we operate and manage your $1.5 billion budget. I think that the importance of the issues that I have raised may make more sense to you if you would meet my team,” she wrote.

Patch has reached out to other Manatee County commissioners — Vanessa Baugh, Reggie Bellamy, George Kruse, James Satcher, Misty Servia and Carol Whitmore — for comment about the clerk’s letter. This article will be updated if they respond.

Read Manatee County Clerk and Comptroller Angel Colonesso's letter to county commissioners about County Administrator Scott Hope below: