- April 11, 2026
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While the Manatee County Commission discussed the renewal of County Administrator Charlie Bishop’s employment contract, one person was noticeably absent — Bishop.
Bishop sent his attorney, Robert Eschenfelder, to the April 7 commission meeting instead.
Commissioner Bob McCann said Bishop took leave that day and the day before, but he would have preferred Bishop be at the meeting. Without him present, there was no way to make changes to the contract.
Commission Chair Tal Siddique said Bishop’s absence made the discussion “more of a professional business interaction.”
Regardless, commissioners were in agreement that changes need to be made to the contract proposal Eschenfelder presented.
Commissioners chose to delay voting on the contract, instead agreeing to consider a revised contract some time before June 15.
Commissioner Jason Bearden called the contract “unbalanced” in favor of Bishop. He noted five areas of concern, which were discussed point by point:
Commissioners agreed that the county administrator’s termination should not require a supermajority vote.
“That has to change,” Commissioner George Kruse said. “I don’t think four people should be stuck working with one of their two employees (commissioners only hire the county administrator and county attorney) because three other people hold them hostage.”
Commissioner Bob McCann noted that Florida Statute states a simple majority vote is the only requirement to hire or fire a county administrator, so only a chartered county can require a supermajority vote. Manatee is not such a county.
Currently, Bishop’s raises are tied to staff raises, which are determined during the budget-formation process.
Bishop’s request was to receive the same annual raise as commissioners receive, which is tied to the county’s population. Bishop’s reasoning was that it would eliminate the conflict of setting his own raise as well as the raises of his employees. In the current contract, Bishop is paid just over $255,000 annually.
Bearden suggested a merit-based raise, and the rest of the board agreed. An annual review process will be incorporated into the contract, so Bishop’s raise will be determined by his performance moving forward.
McCann argued that a salaried employee should not receive overtime compensation, but Kruse noted that emergency overtime compensation was already written into Bishop’s contract, so to remove it would equate to a “reduction in overall compensation.”
The emergency overtime compensation was approved by the board Nov. 7, 2024, less than two weeks before McCann took office. The overtime was made retroactive back to 2023 to account for the three back-to-back hurricanes — Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
County Attorney Pamela D’Agostino clarified that Manatee County pays the overtime with the expectation that it will be reimbursed for that pay by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Commissioners were in agreement that Bishop’s request for unlimited vacation and sick pay accrual should be removed from the contract and stay consistent with the county's personnel manual, which caps such time off at 400 hours -- the equivalent of 10 work weeks.
“There’s a reason you give people vacation,” Kruse said. “You want people to take vacation because you don’t want people getting burned out.”
Eschenfelder expressed Bishop’s desire to retire within the next five years, so the thought behind this request was that this could be the last time the contract is reupped.
After agreeing that the requirement of a supermajority vote for termination would be removed from the contract, commissioners didn’t have a problem keeping the indefinite term in Bishop's renewal contract because they’ll still have the ability to fire him at will with a simple majority vote.
While commissioners could opt to not renew Bishop's contract, none of them expressed such a desire, so the contract should be finalized on or before June 15.
