Time for a new city manager
To the editor:
Cape Coral offered Roberto Hernandez a three-year deal for the position of city manager that started at $236,000 a year, according to Maureen Buice, Public Information specialist for Cape Coral. He will also get another $7,800 a year for a car allowance and $7,500 for moving expenses. He is now getting $245,735 a year PLUS almost $8,000 car allowance. A big raise for a man I perceive as under qualified for the job. He hasn’t spent more than three years in any job I consider remotely similar. One needs to ask why. If he performed well, the municipalities would have kept him at any cost.
Roberto “Rob” Hernandez joined the City of Cape Coral as the City Manager on Aug. 12, 2020. He served as deputy city manager of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from April 2019 until being hired by Cape Coral City Council-less than 1.5 years in that job. He also served as city manager in liberal bastion Savannah, Georgia, from Sept. 2, 2016 through April 2019 less than 2.5 years in that job. In Fort Lauderdale, he worked there from April 2019 until our “illustrious” City Council in Cape Coral hired him in August of 2020 — less than 1.5 years in that job.
An article cited below on his hiring in Savannah, says that “After three years stops in Fulton County, Coral Springs, Florida and Broward County, Florida, Hernandez hopes to stay a while.”
The news article states “‘This next move in my professional career I hope will be my last move. I intend to be in Savannah for a long time,’ said Hernandez.” Source: https://www.wtoc.com/story/32967840/roberto-hernandez-named-new-savannah-city-manager/
WOW. So 2.5 years is long? My guess is he underperformed like he is doing right here in Cape Coral and being the highest paid employee of the city. He has done little to nothing to improve the infrastructure necessary for the massive amount of building going on. Our roads are clogged, our parks are not being properly cared for, yet more parks are being approved. Why? So they too can be neglected and unsafe?
He angered the citizens of Cape Coral by trying to force a shutter mandate down our throats without getting input from property owners. He essentially told our seasonal owners, who are a very large portion of our tax base, to put their homes at risk or pay outrageous costs to try to get someone to put up and take down storm shutters to comply with his insane proposal (my opinion.) He even used a regulation from another municipality to try to justify his actions. Only one major problem. He apparently is incapable of properly researching anything. He didn’t even realize he (or maybe he did) used a superseded regulation that agreed what HE, in his liberal views, wanted. To force residents to bow to his ridiculous demands. He wouldn’t event admit the real reason he tried to implement this regulation. He doesn’t like the way storm shutters look. Well, too bad. Don’t like it, Roberto? LEAVE. It’ll save the Cape Coral taxpayers a lot of money.
And let us not forget he cannot apparently meet deadlines as evidenced by last week’s Breeze article regarding the new tax rates for the city. Even our unelected mayor told him “Either you don’t want us to have information or you’re trying to manipulate the direction we go in.” A typical liberal move — do what you want and neglect what anyone else may want.
Cape Coral has always been a conservative city and having people like Hernadez, who has no appreciation for the history of this city as evidenced by some of the hideous projects he has supported-again, my opinion. To have high rise condos in the downtown area of Cape Coral simply do not fit in and the roads are not adequate for the increased traffic that will be associated with them. To want to shut down the Yacht Club for two years and forever change it from a park for all Cape Coral residents to a place that will be unaffordable for many in our community to enjoy.
Time for the voters of Cape Coral to have a say in who gets hired as City Manager. To me it is obvious the council is incapable of handling it. I find it ludicrous that this man is being paid almost $100,000 more than our police and fire chiefs who keep us safe everyday.
Time for this city manager to go. He is way overpaid and has done little to nothing to improve the functioning of Cape Coral. In fact, it has been the opposite and his tenure has been a total waste of taxpayer dollars.
Marie Kavanaugh
Cape Coral