Florida city takes back job offer to Becker County Administrator Pat Oman

Oman was to start as Fort Meade city manager on Jan. 21, but it turns out he never actually signed the contract.

Becker County Administrator Pat Oman, at left, during his public performance evaluation on Dec. 19. At center is Commissioner Richard Vareberg, and Commissioner Barry Nelson is on the right.
Nathan Bowe / Detroit Lakes Tribune

DETROIT LAKES — The Fort Meade, Florida, City Commission has rescinded its job offer to Becker County Administrator Pat Oman, according to a Thursday story in the Lakeland Ledger newspaper, which covers Fort Meade.

Oman was slated to start as Fort Meade city manager on Jan. 21, after his contract was approved there on a 4-0 vote on Dec. 21. He returned a message on his work voicemail on Thursday to say that he had no comment on the Fort Meade action.

But according to the Ledger story, Oman never actually signed the contract — in spite of what Oman told a Ledger reporter in December, and what the interim city manager told the Detroit Lakes Tribune the same month.

Recent elections brought a new three-person block to power on the five-member Fort Meade City Commission, which voted 3-2 on Tuesday to rescind the three-year contract with Oman, who would have started at $125,000 a year.

The three members of the new majority block had earlier voiced displeasure that the city commission — with one position vacant and one member a lame duck — proceeded with the hiring process for a city manager before the two new members took office.

Oman’s two supporters on the city commission in Fort Meade said Oman had delayed signing the contract because he had not yet found a place to live in Fort Meade, which is required by the city charter.

But his detractors were not happy that Oman failed to sign the contract, with one saying it showed a lack of good faith on his part, and worrying that he was “playing” the city in hopes of a better job offer elsewhere, according to the Ledger story. That commission member noted that an exception could easily have been made to give Oman more time to find lodging in the city.

The city charter in Fort Meade only allows an interim city manager to serve for five months, and that deadline is Jan. 21, so the city commission is now scrambling to hire a temporary city manager.

When Becker County Commissioner Barry Nelson asked Oman on Jan. 2 about whether he was taking the Fort Meade job, Oman wouldn’t say . “I’m not going to talk to you about my private life,” he told the Becker County commissioners.

The Becker County Board is set to finish Oman’s annual performance evaluation — which he made open to the public — at its regular meeting on Feb. 6.