APOPKA, Fla. — Richard Anderson got a sweet deal when he retired as city manager of Apopka.
"I felt it was obviously very lucrative for him," Commissioner Bill Arrowsmith says.
As a city consultant and lobbyist, earning $22,000 a month, or $264,000 a year, he's required to turn in monthly reports detailing what he's done to earn the money. Even a city commissioner who supported the contract couldn't tell us if the city has received anything in exchange for that high salary, funded with taxpayers' money.
"To date, we, I would say we probably have not," Arrowsmith says.
9-Investigates requested copies of the required monthly reports. City leaders provided us with six. Anderson was hired in his new role 16 months ago.
The reports 9 Investigates did receive outline meetings Anderson has attended related to downtown redevelopment, Florida Hospital, Kelly Park Crossings and what Anderson noted as "additional efforts on behalf of the city."
"The reports obviously have been vague, up until now," Anderson said, "but as I said when you're in negotiations, only some things you can pass out, so you don't interrupt the negotiations."
So, with such an important role in getting major projects off the ground, 9 Investigates wondered if the city is concerned, at all, about Anderson's new job as interim city manager of Belle Isle.
"He works for us full-time," Commissioner Laurence Ady says. "He doesn't come here a couple of hours and take off, works here every day."
Anderson will earn $7,500 a month from Belle Isle taxpayers. Although, the day 9 Investigates reporter Daralene Jones stopped by City Hall, this week, she was told, the lobbyist and consultant was in Tallahassee.
And she learned there is nothing Apopka can do about Anderson’s new job, because of the terms they agreed to in his contract, which doesn't end until September.
"Part of his agreement with the city is that he can represent other people," Arrowsmith says.
We're told Anderson will present details on a proposed development he's been negotiating for Apopka during a meeting tomorrow.
The mayor of Belle Isle said the League of Cities recommended that the city hire someone who isn't interested in the job, permanently, for the interim city manager.
And that's why Anderson was selected. He will assist in the city's search for a permanent city manager.