here - Satellite Beach

Internet Research
Armando Martinez
(Note: Articles Appear in Reverse Chronological Order)
Tab 8
FLAGLER LIVE
JANUARY 25, 2011
Bunnell Manager Armando Martinez Forced To Give Up Cop Shield, But Not Extra $7,500
Pay
Bunnell City Manager Armando Martinez will no longer be a law enforcement officer, as he
had been for the last two years as city manager — a contractual arrangement that enabled him to
earn an extra $7,500 on top of his base $90,000 salary. But Martinez is keeping the extra $7,500
a year.
The Florida Constitution forbids government employees from being public officers in two
different jobs at the same time. An article in the News-Journal earlier this month pointed out
what appeared to be Martinez’s—or the city’s—constitutional violation, compelling City
Attorney Sid Nowell to explore the issue. Martinez argued at the time that he was a police
officer but not a public officer.
Skirting the constitutional language, Nowell and Martinez insisted that there was no law
forbidding the dual positions, but both conceded that they were on legally safer ground if
Martinez gave up his shield and became a civilian. Nowell said Attorney General’s opinions
made clear that the two jobs were incompatible within the purview of a single employee. “My
bottom line is, if someone challenged and questioned whether or not the city manager position
constituted a public officer, more likely than not, that would be the determination,” Nowell said.
“I spoke to Mr. Martinez and I said, I couldn’t in could faith advise him that as a city manager
he was not a public officer.”
On Monday, the Bunnell City Commission accepted Martinez’s resignation as a police officer.
But the commission increased his base salary by $7,500, essentially nullifying that saving to the
city. (The city will realize an eventual saving of some $5,000 that it would no longer have to pay
in workers’ compensation costs attached to Martinez’s former law enforcement designation.)
“I don’t want the city and I don’t want me to be in the gray,” Martinez said. “I want us and I
want me to be in the black and white. So even though it isn’t law, and it’s not challenged, why
stay on the gray?” He said that because of his service to the city, and the work he’d done through
the Bunnell Police Department, he asked the city to roll over his $7,500 pay to his regular salary.
Earlier in the meeting, Martinez and Police Chief Arthur Jones had choreographed an elaborate
award ceremony for several Bunnell police officers for various acts of valor while on duty. The
ceremony softened Martinez’s request to the commission, even though there never was a doubt
that he would not lose the $7,500. The commission voted 4-1 in favor of the new package, with
Commissioner Elbert Tucker in dissent.
One commissioner’s biggest concern was that there would be one less armed man in the room.
Civilians are not allowed to carry guns in public buildings. Police officers are. Martinez carried
his. “That’s what I have a problem with because I just don’t understand why people would
Page 54 of 104