OFFICIALS DISCUSS DRUG POLICY

A Worker's Cocaine Arrest Reveals Differences Of Interpretation About
The City's Hiring Policy

Punta Gorda - Nobody disputes that the deputy city clerk had cocaine
in her purse at City Hall one morning in July. Facing termination
under the city's zero tolerance drug policy, she resigned last month.
What's uncertain is whether she's allowed to return to work here.

The zero tolerance policy means an employee caught with drugs at City
Hall, or anywhere else, may face termination, but firing the employee
isn't required. City Manager Willard R. Beck said Friday he will issue
a memo next week that offers an interpretation of the city's hiring
policy, specifically regarding employee eligibility following a drug
arrest.

The discussion began earlier this week when Mary K. Kelly returned as
a temporary employee in the clerk's office. She said Friday that she
doesn't expect to be working in City Hall after this week because the
previous temp is supposed to come back. Sue Foster, the city clerk,
had lobbied to keep Kelly on staff after she was arrested and suspended.

Beck, however, balked for months at Foster's request. He planned to
fire Kelly, but she resigned.

Later, without telling Beck, Foster called the city's temp agency and
requested Kelly. Foster said she needed an experienced worker to fill
in while another temp left the state for a family emergency.

Beck wasn't pleased to see Kelly back at City Hall.

"It wouldn't make any sense to have a zero tolerance policy and then
turn around and rehire somebody," Beck said Friday in an interview.

It's a flexible policy, he acknowledged, but its intent is apparent:
There are no second chances.

"Our policy is very clear," Beck said Wednesday at the City Council
meeting. "It says that if an employee has a problem they need to
report it to a supervisor, come in, and we give them help. Mary Kelly
did not do that."

Kelly has acknowledged guilt. She avoided conviction through a
probation deal that involves community service and random drug
testing, and she entered rehabilitation following the arrest.

"I screwed up. I really did," she said Friday. "And I am sorry for
it."

Foster believes next year's City Council elections would unduly
challenge a new employee, so she wants to rehire Kelly.

The former deputy clerk, Foster has said, should be considered as any
other potential employee would be under the city's current eligibility
policy -- or lack thereof.

Foster said in a memo Thursday to council members that the city has no
written policy about eligibility. And, at this point, Kelly's drug
arrest shouldn't be considered.

"She was suspended. She resigned. To continue with that is the same
thing as trying someone for the same offense twice," Foster said
Wednesday at the council meeting. Kelly is "without question the most
qualified individual for this position," Foster wrote. The city
charter authorizes Beck to determine the eligibility of employees in
the clerk's office, City Attorney Robert H. Berntsson said.

Foster, in turn, has the final say on hiring within her office,
"provided such employee meets all policy requirements as determined by
the city manager," Berntsson said. The issue for Beck isn't a matter
of whether or not Kelly was convicted -- she wasn't -- but the mere
presence of cocaine on city property.

"It's immaterial whether she was found guilty. The issue is she had
cocaine on city property. Cocaine was on my job site. I can't run City
Hall with cocaine in it," he said.