Communication breakdown led to termination
By Teresa Sargeant
Reporter
Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson told the Apopka Chief that he fired the city administrator because of a pattern of poor communication culminating with an unreported letter from the state Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Nelson terminated Apopka city administrator Jacob Smith on Friday, nine months after he started the job.
“I’m his boss, and you’d think he would communicate with me, but yeah, so in four weeks since his daughter got married, he’d been to see me in my office once,” Nelson said in a Monday phone interview.
A Tuesday, March 18, letter from Governor Ron DeSantis’s office—reviewed by the Chief—explained that the Executive Office of the Governor (EOG) has set up an EOG DOGE Team “which will use advanced technology to identify, review, and report on unnecessary spending within county and municipal governments and recommend legislative reforms to promote efficiency, maximize productivity, and eliminate waste in state and local government.”
To that effect, the EOG DOGE Team is requesting municipalities to submit financial solvency reviews to the office no later than April 8, which was three weeks after the letter was sent. The letter requested confirmation about whether the municipality has any financial emergency or distress such as inability to pay loans or debts, uncontested outstanding claims from creditors over 90 days old and more.
“If we do not receive a response from you within 45 days, it will be presumed that your municipality is in possible statutory violation and in need of assistance,” states the letter, which was signed by “the EOG DOGE Team.”
According to the mayor, Smith received that correspondence and never told him about it.
“He got two emails, one from the governor’s office and one from the League of Cities about this DOGE requirement, that was it. I was done,” Nelson said.
Nelson said he himself didn’t really try reaching out to Smith during the four weeks of limited communication. He cited an open-door policy and said all the other department heads communicate with him about their departments.
“I’ve had numerous conversations with every department head other than him,” Nelson said. “Every couple days, I’m having conversations with department heads. So why is he different?”
As for submitting the DOGE financial solvency review, Nelson said either himself or city finance director Blanche Sherman will take care of the DOGE financial solvency review.
Smith began employment with the city of Apopka in June 2024. Had he stayed under contract with the city for an entire year, the city would have to pay the employment headhunter 40 percent of Smith’s yearly $170,000 base salary plus benefits, or about $68,000. Nelson said avoiding paying the headhunter was not the reason for terminating Smith’s contract.
Smith said in an interview with The Apopka Chief that Nelson never gave a reason for the termination, but only walked into Smith’s office last Friday, told him that he “was done” and Smith saw all of his city devices were deactivated.
Smith said that communication with the mayor was good until the winter, when he said the mayor began giving him “the cold shoulder.” Smith said he had visited the mayor’s office two to three times a day, but “a lot of times he wasn’t there.” He said Nelson did not respond to messages left with his secretary.
Smith said he hasn’t been in touch with Nelson for the past four weeks because he was out of town for his daughter’s wedding and then came down with an illness.
Smith said he never received any communication from DOGE or about DOGE.
“It was just great working for Apopka,” Smith said. “I have no ill feelings towards anybody. And I was shocked. But everybody kind of expects that this is what would happen.”
Vice Mayor Diane Velazquez said she was surprised to hear about the termination because she was not aware of Smith doing anything inappropriate.
Upon hearing Nelson’s rationale, Velazquez said it was interesting he gave the Chief that information but nobody else. She said she was in constant communication with the city administrator no matter who was in that position. Velazquez said she always emailed Smith or copied him on the emails she would send.
“I had a good relationship with him, so if the mayor is saying that he hasn’t had any communication with the administrator, that was something that I was unaware of,” Velazquez said.
When asked if Smith informed Velazquez about the March 18 letter about DOGE, she said Smith never told her.
“He did not,” she said. “I don’t recall him discussing that letter.”
The Apopka Chief is an award-winning weekly newspaper serving the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923.
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