BEIRUT BATHROOM BUNGLE!

An anonymous contributor submitted the following:
Background information: For a period of time Charlotte County Government employed Andy Stevens in two positions. First, he was in charge of the Parks and Natural Resources Division (the name has changed from time to time). For some reason the department ended up without a director for a period of time, so Stevens ended up as acting director of Charlotte County Community Services until Tommy Scott was finally hired to fill the position.

Tina Powell worked under Stevens as a Natural Resources Project Manager until Scott was hired as Director of the department and Stevens abruptly resigned for undisclosed reasons.

While Stevens was on the job, Powell took on the project to purchase and oversee the installation of a handicap accessible bathroom at the Preserve on Buck Creek (located off Placida Road). I do not know whether or not a permit was required or obtained for this project, nor the cost of the project. All I know is the bathroom structure and two tanks were delivered to the site and set in place where they rest today.

Please see the photographs of the bathroom and septic tanks as they appear today. The bathroom has never been open for use. It has never been hooked up to either or both of the tanks.

Why? Because the bathroom is located in a floodplain and needs to be elevated (put on stilts) in order to meet environmental codes. In order for the facility to be accessed by the handicapped, it then needs to have an unwieldy amount of ramping in order to meet ADA requirements for access. Oops – what happened?

The rumor was that the code changed. Feel free to check it out yourself. Whatever the real reason, this was Powell’s project, and it has been abandoned and neglected for over a year after delivery. Apparently the county decided it was better to cut their losses than to spend the money to bring the bathroom up to code. I wonder if they considered selling the bathroom and tanks.

So what did the county do? They promoted Powell to fill the position formerly held by Stevens, putting her in charge of the Parks and Natural Resources Division! Who made this decision? I would say Tommy Scott and Ray Sandrock. Was the position advertised? Were other candidates interviewed or considered for the position? Was Powell the most qualified candidate?

Does it sound crazy that rather than being fired, demoted, or put on probation for failing to successfully complete the bathroom project at the Buck Creek location, Powell was actually PROMOTED?