Fagan will be missed in county government, on school board

Editorial

The issue: County parks and recreation manager's position eliminated.

Everybody likes Pat Fagan.

That's a statement often made when folks talk about the county's longtime parks and recreation manager, who's also a member of the school board.

Fagan probably hasn't felt that kind of love in the past week or so.

On Tuesday, the 33-year county employee's job was eliminated by a 5-0 vote of county commissioners.

We're confident commissioners still like Fagan, but eliminating his job made the most sense when you're facing a $115,000 budget reduction. With benefits, Fagan cleared about $114,000 a year.

It also makes sense when there are two other managers in the parks department who can take over whatever tasks Fagan had been responsible for.

Serving double duty on the school board with an additional $33,000 government salary, Fagan's county job was an easy target, a quick fix that didn't leave him without a source of income even though Fagan says he'll resign his seat on the school board after his last day on the job with the county. He'll also walk away with more than $20,000 in compensated absences cash.

Fagan says he can't support his family on a school board member's salary, and he can't access his state retirement pension as long as he serves on the board.

In essence, Fagan lost two jobs this week.

That's unfortunate. He's been a leader on the school board during tough financial times. He's helped improve public education in Hernando County. He's also been on the frontline of dramatically expanding the parks system in Hernando County and then having to shrink a large department that politicians find much easier to cut than public safety.

Serving on the school board only enlarged the target on his back.

And it was probably time for him to say adios, even tough he would have liked to stick around until August when he reaches Social Security retirement age.

That would have been nice.

Unfortunately, the financial options for county government are just a hair right of zero. Deep cuts have to be made in every department to help fill an expected $5.2 million budget deficit that looms next Oct. 1. Unlike the federal government, the county owns no printing presses, and dipping more into reserves could find the county in an emergency position without enough cash to get through it.

These are tough economic times. Just ask the thousands of Hernando Countians who've been without a job for the past year or two. They find little sympathy for county employees whose cushy jobs have been eliminated, especially when they have two.

We did find the separation agreement drawn up by the county to be somewhat silly. If Fagan signs it, which he says he won't, the county would allow him three months of COBRA insurance benefits for him and his family.

The agreement, if he signs it, stipulates that Fagan would:

Waive his rights to file an age discriminations lawsuit against the county.

That he could never be hired by the county again.

And that he couldn't say anything bad about the county or its employees.

That's like poking your finger in the eye of someone who's spent their entire career working for you as you kick them out the back door. We can understand Fagan's job being eliminated. We can't understand why he would give up all his rights to be sent packing.

He deserves better. That's no way to treat a longtime department manager with a spotless work record.

Yes, Pat Fagan will be missed leading the county parks and recreation department. He'll be missed on the school board.

But we're confident we haven't seen the last of Pat Fagan. Commissioners likely produced a credible challenger in 2012 for a job that pays twice as much as a school board member.

Thank you, Pat Fagan, for your service to the community.