Manatee County administrator's proposed contract raises concerns

After requesting unlimited leave accrual, automatic salary increases, a $500 monthly car allowance, an indefinite contract term, and a supermajority vote to be terminated without cause, Manatee County Administrator Charlie Bishop will stick to his current contract for another six months. 

Bishop’s contract was due to expire in August. Commissioners unanimously approved the six-month extension at the April 21 meeting. 

The decision came after commissioners were critical of several aspects of the contract Bishop’s attorney presented during the April 7 meeting. Commissioners requested the contract be revised and then brought back for a vote. 

In the meantime, Manatee County residents supplied plenty of feedback leading up to the meeting as to why commissioners should not grant Bishop’s contract requests. Commissioner Bob McCann added a motion to the April 21 meeting agenda for Bishop’s current contract to be extended. 

McCann noted that extending the contract through the end of the calendar year would “ensure that the seated board following the upcoming election cycle has the authority to negotiate and vote on a long-term agreement.” 

“Spare us this whole thing of this should wait for the next board,” Commissioner George Kruse said. “Shortly after a new board got elected in 2020, that board voted to replace the county administrator (Cheri Coryea), and we got lambasted. We got accused of predetermining to fire the county administrator before we got on the board.” 

Kruse was not speaking directly to McCann. He was addressing residents. 

“It sounds like the public is predetermining whether or not to prepare to fire somebody on the spot the minute a board theoretically changes over, which is the same thing we were accused of, but only because you have a different opinion of the administrator,” he said. 

Commission Chair Tal Siddique echoed Kruse’s sentiment and stated that normal county business shouldn’t be turned into pointless political battles. He commended Bishop for his institutional knowledge.

Kruse is confident the board will want to negotiate a long-term contract with Bishop when the extension expires. He did, however, acquiesce that signing a new contract before an election is not in the best interest of the public or the board.

Emergency overtime compensation 

While Bishop’s proposed contract was nixed for the time being, there’s still one issue within his current contract where McCann’s legal interpretation differs from that of the County Attorney Pamela D’Agostino — emergency overtime compensation. 

D’Agostino said the expectation is that the Federal Emergency Management Administration will reimburse Manatee County for Bishop’s emergency overtime wages. 

However, McCann said FEMA rules are specific. Either a county policy or Bishop’s contract would have needed to be in place prior to the disaster to qualify for a reimbursement. 

Bishop’s initial contract when hired as county administrator in September 2023 didn’t include emergency overtime compensation. 

On Oct. 17, 2024, the prior board directed D’Agostino to prepare an amendment to Bishop’s contract that “would authorize payment of compensation to Mr. Bishop for emergency work retroactive to August 8, 2023.” 

That amendment was approved on a consent agenda during the Nov. 7, 2024 land use meeting, just under two weeks before the new board members, including McCann, were sworn into office. 

By McCann’s account, the retroactive nature of the clause would preclude Manatee County from a FEMA reimbursement for any overtime paid to Bishop during Hurricane Idalia in 2023 and Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in 2024. 

Furthermore, when former county administrator Scott Hopes took emergency compensation for Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole in 2022, he was charged with grand theft because there was no policy in place to do so. 

The state’s probable cause affidavit, dated Feb. 8, 2024, states that “extra compensation for overtime during emergency events” is a “privilege explicitly extended to only exempt employees below the rank of director.” 

That information was pulled from Manatee County’s Emergency Operations and Pay Procedures, effective July 31, 2020. The procedures were updated May 23, 2024 to include deputy county administrators, department directors and contracted employees. 

The document now reads, “Such employees shall receive as additional compensation the equivalent of their hourly rate of pay for each such hour or portion thereof (of duties performed outside their normally scheduled work shift).” 

Hopes attempted to have the grand theft charge dismissed in October 2025, but withdrew his Motion to Dismiss the following month. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 30. 

Bishop’s current contract will now expire Feb. 8, 2027, six months from its current expiration date.