- November 1, 2024
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The Flagler County government has rehired Sally Sherman as deputy county administrator of Flagler County.
Sherman had worked for the county for nine years before retiring as deputy county administrator on Feb. 28. She had returned March through a Christian staffing firm, JMI solutions, with a new title — senior special projects coordinator.
"She's ... one of the most knowledgeable people on the staff, and like many other people in the county government, she’s one of those people we want to keep. ... We didn’t want to lose her talent."
— GREG HANSEN, County Commission chairman
Sherman was rehired by the county Sept. 19, less than seven months after her official retirement. By law, she couldn't have been rehired much earlier: A 2009 state law bars state employees from retiring on the Florida Retirement System and then returning to work in Florida Retirement System jobs within six months of their retirement date.
It was intended, lawmakers said at the time, to incentivize employers that might have been inclined to rehire a retiree back to the same position not to do so. But it is not uncommon for Florida Retirement System employees to retire, wait out the six months and then return to state jobs. When they do so, under Florida law, they cannot build a second retirement in the Florida Retirement System.
County Commissioner Donald O'Brien had concerns about the process.
"I do disagree with the whole DROP process, have for a long time," he said. "The whole program, to me, it stifles mobility of employees around the state. If you get employees that keep coming back and wanting to double-dip, how do we get younger people to move up, when people at the top are stifling positions at the top?. ... I don’t agree with the whole process, but that’s not my decision to make."
He said that Coffey's hiring decisions would impact O'Brien's evaluation of Coffey's performance and that Coffey had revealed early on that he'd planned to rehire Sherman.
"The whole program, to me, it stifles mobility of employees around the state. If you get employees that keep coming back and wanting to double-dip, how do we get younger people to move up, when people at the top are stifling positions at the top?"
— DONALD O'BRIEN, county commissioner
"Craig (Coffey) did tell us he was going to do that, and from when he started this process, I knew that’s what his plan was, so no surprises there," O'Brien said. "He told us he was going to hold the position open in the hope that when she was eligible to come back fulltime, he was hoping to rehire her."
O'Brien said he was "a little surprised at the tone" of a county government press release on Sherman's rehiring, finding it "defensive in nature."
The county's press release took issue with earlier news coverage about Sherman's work with JMI, stating, "Though reported as a large pay increase and tremendous new expense, neither characterization provides a complete picture."
In the press release, Coffey was quoted as saying, "Those who have worked with her love her and were excited that she applied to come back to work for Flagler County. ... In my more than 30 years of experience, I have never seen anyone work harder than Ms. Sherman. When combined with her education, and experience in Flagler County, selecting her was a no-brainer.”
Commission Chairman Greg Hansen did not object to the rehiring process, and noted that it is common for employees on the Florida Retirement System to retire, then return to work in Florida Retirement System jobs.
"It's not against the law, and she’s not the only person that does it," he said. "There’s many people in the state or county government who do the same thing."
Sherman, he said, is "one of the most knowledgeable people on the staff, and like many other people in the county government, she’s one of those people we want to keep. ... We didn’t want to lose her talent."
When Sherman left direct employment with the county in February and returned as a consultant through JMI, she was able to receive her Florida Retirement System Deferred Retirement Option Program payout and start receiving her state pension, while Flagler County continued paying her through JMI for her work. The county also paid an additional fee paid to JMI.
"[County Administrator Craig Coffey] told us he was going to hold the position open in the hope that when she was eligible to come back fulltime, he was hoping to rehire her."
— DONALD O'BRIEN, county commissioner
Before her Feb. 28 retirement as deputy county administrator, Sherman was paid $136,468.80 a year. But benefits, travel and training that took the total annual cost of her position up to about $170,000, according to County Administrator Craig Coffey.
For the slightly more than half a year that Sherman was employed by JMI, additional costs took the total cost of her position up to the equivalent of about $190,000 annually, according to Coffey. She received the equivalent of approximately $149,000 annually as salary, with the remainder going to JMI.
“If I went to the rehire the DCA position with someone with the same years of experience, much less with her institutional knowledge of the County, the $19,000 would evaporate,” Coffey said in a written statement at the time. “Additionally, I would still have to train the individual and bring them up to speed on everything Flagler County.”
At the time, Coffey said the county was keeping her former position of deputy county administrator open, with no immediate plans to fill it.
Coffey said that because Sherman would not be able to re-enter the Florida Retirement System, Sherman’s return through JMI did not constitute “double-dipping."
"Currently, you have other employees legally working in Flagler County and around the state on a second retirement in FRS, which was also legal at the time," Coffey wrote. "Several years ago, the state law changed, which prevented employees from retiring and coming back into the system (spirit of the law) starting a second FRS retirement system."
The Sept. 19 county government press release on Sherman's rehiring by the county states that having someone other than Sherman fill the deputy county administrator position would have caused problems.
"There would have been a major organizational disruption and diminished returns – if not additional costs – to bring a different candidate up to speed who does not have the institutional knowledge of Flagler County that Sherman has," the news release states.
Sherman is returning to the deputy county administrator position at her previous salary, according to the news release, and cannot re-enter the Florida Retirement System.
The news release adds that of the county's more than 750 government employees, "a number of these individuals who have retired from the state system – here or elsewhere in Florida – continue to hold public positions in Flagler County government."
“This makes sense if you think about it,” Human Resources Director Joe Mayer said in the county press release. “These are some of the most talented individuals in local government and someone you want working for you. Sally Sherman is a classic example of this.”
