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T H E L E D G E R F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 8 , 2 0 1 3 W W W.T H E L E D G E R . C O M

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readers talk about the news

McKeel Superintendent Under Scrutiny

Maready was asked to work off-site for
one week as employees were interviewed.

THURSDAYS QUESTION:
Will you be attending a
Veterans Day event?

(416 RESPONSES)

27% YES

By MARY TOOTHMAN

73% NO

LAKELAND | The superintendent of The Schools of McKeel Academy was asked to

work off-site for one week
during an investigation into a
grievance against him, school
officials
confirmed
Thursday.
Harold Maready, top administrator of the charter
school system, was not in the
ofce for a week, said McKeel
Board Chair Taylor Caffey.
The superintendent was back
at his ofce Oct. 31.
Details on the grievance

Yes, Ill be at the Auburndale-Lake Alfred ceremony.

... Yes, the Lakeland
Concert Bands great patriotic concert. ... Yes, Blake
Academys breakfast for
veterans.

No, my husband is a veteran

but we are both in our mid70s and cannot drive well
anymore and we have no
family to take us. ... No, I
was in the Waves during
WWII but I am 92 now and
cannot get around like I
used to. ... No, but I will
watch it on TV.

TODAYS QUESTION: Do you

watch food labels for trans

fat content?

THE LEDGER

complaint, which was still

open Thursday, were not provided Thursday.
A conclusion into the matter
is expected as early as next
week, Caffey said.
The investigation process
involved inter v iew ing
employees, Caffey said. The
process was best handled
with Maready off-site, he said,
to ensure those who were interviewed felt comfortable.
We asked Mr. Maready to
remove himself from the
premises of the schools and
to work from a remote location so we could do a fair and

unbiased investigation,
he said. It is
done, and Im
waiting for the
report.
Maready
was not susMAREADY
pended a nd
his pay was
not cut, Caffey said. Hes
back on premises. He was out
just for the interview process,
approximately one week, but
he continued to do his duties
from that (remote) location.
Board member Seth McKeel
called the situation
unfortunate.
Apparently there are some
personality conicts and internal strife resulting from
some management decisions

the superintendent made,

McKeel said in an email
response. That is certainly
unfortunate and from what
l it t le I k now, a pet t y
distraction.
McKeel, who is a state representative, is in Tallahassee
this week for appropriation
committee meetings.
He said he hopes the schools
ca n stay foc used on
education.
They should all re-focus
their efforts on the business
of running the school and advancing student per formance, he said.
Caffey said care has been
taken to follow the grievance
process precisely.
We are trying to do things
the right way, he said.

MR. LAKELAND

STORY | A1

Call 291-4444 or 802-7920 by

5 p.m. When prompted, press 2
for a Yes response; press 3 for
a No response.
[ Polk Pulse gives readers a
chance to express opinions. It
is not a scientific poll. ]

fla. lottery
CASH 3
Thur. (day)
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PLAY 4
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MEGA MONEY
Nov. 5
11 13 17 27
Mega Ball
5
Nov. 5
Payoff Winners
4:4 Mega Ball $2 million
1
4:4
$1,150
15
3:4 Mega Ball
$410
92
3:4
$69
1,629
2:4 Mega Ball
$42
1,888
2:4
$3
37,825
1:4 Mega Ball
$5.50
14,199
Mega Ball
Quick Pick
31,074
FANTASY 5
Nov. 7
14 26 31 35 36
Nov. 6
Payoff
Winners
5:5
$116,206.29
2
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292
3:5
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9,666
2:5
Quick Pick 98,550
LOTTO WEDNESDAY
Nov. 6
20 25 29 30 36 37
Xtra
x2
Nov. 6
Payoff
Winners
6:6
Rollover
0
5:6
$10,247.50
14
4:6
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1,229
3:6
$5.50 26,933
LOTTO SATURDAY
Nov. 2
2 11 13 20 27 28
Xtra
x4
Nov. 2
Payoff Winners
6:6
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0
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75
4:6
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Estimated Lotto jackpot for 11/9/13:
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POWERBALL WEDNESDAY
Nov. 6
1 5 10 15 49
Powerball
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N/A
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Payoff Winners
0
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Rollover
5:5
$1 million
0
4:5 + PB
$10,000
3
4:5
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3:5 + PB
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3:5
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$4
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0
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Estimated Powerball jackpot
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MEGA MILLIONS
Nov. 5
2 11 42 64 74
Mega Ball
2
Megaplier
x5
Nov. 5
Payoff Winners
5:5 + MB
Rollover
0
5:5
$1 million
0
4:5 + MB
$5,000
2
4:5
$500
10
3:5 + MB
$50
79
3:5
$5
1,017
2:5 + MB
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$2
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Mega Ball
$1 36,824
Estimated Mega Millions
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2 hours a day lottery
24
iinformation:
www.theledger.com/lottery
www
th

ERNST PETERS | THE LEDGER

DR. JAMES MAMMEL of Watson Clinic walks down the runway after being named Mr. Lakeland on Thursday during the first Mr. Lakeland
contest sponsored by the Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center at The Lakeland Center.

TERMS INCLUDE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL, MAXIMUM SEVERANCE

Commission Approves Contract for City Manager

By KEVIN BOUFFARD
THE LEDGER

HAINES CITY | The City

Commission on Thursday
unanimously approved the
initial two-year contract for
new City Manager Jonathan
Evans at an annual $120,000
salary.
The new contract included
two signicant changes from
the proposal the commission
unofcially agreed to during
an Oct. 17 workshop.
At Evans request, the commission agreed to a contract
change obligating the city to
severance pay equal to 20
weeks of his salary if he is
fired without cause. Thats
equal to the maximum allowed under Florida law.
The original contract stated
Evans would get 20 weeks or
the maximum allowed by law,

whichever amount is less. In a

statement, Evans said he was
reluctant to have his fate determined by the Legislature.
The commission agreed to
take out the legislative clause.
If the Legislature were to reduce the maximum severance
pay, the city would be bound
by the contract, City Attorney
Fred Reilly said.
The draft contract called for
an initial two-year term beginning Sept. 19, when the commission unanimously voted to
hire Evans, with an automatic
one-year renewal on the anniversary date unless the commission gives a formal 90-day
notice of termination.
Evans subsequently asked
for an automatic two-year renewal on the anniversary
date.
In October, Vice Mayor Ron-

nie Cotton objected to an initial

two-year term, arguing the
contract should be renewed annually, but got no support from
the other four commissioners.
Cotton on Thursday raised
no objection to an automatic
two-year renewal, and no other commissioners commented
on the change before voting to
approve the contract.
After the meeting, Cotton
said he didnt raise the issue
because it appeared there was
a consensus to support the cont r ac t a mon g t he ot her
commissioners.
Evans, 33, will get the same
salary as his predecessor, Ken
Sauer, but the city will save on
his benet package.
Evans elected not to join the
municipal pension plan, which
would require a contribution
equal to 20 percent of his an-

nual salary.
Instead, the city will contribute 15 percent of his salary to
Evans IRA account, an annual $6,000 savings.
The city will make an initial
lump-sum payment to his IRA
of $15,237, equal to 15 percent
of his salary since he started
with the city in July 2012 until
he was hired as assistant city
manager.
Evans got the job after the
commission declined to renew
Sauers contract in May.
He was assistant city manager at the time with a $78,000
annual salary.
The commission appointed
Evans interim city manager at a
salary of $98,000 while it planned
to conduct a national search for
a new city manager. It abandoned the search in September
when it gave Evans the job.

Teen Faces
Charges
In Bomb
Threats
By MATTHEW PLEASANT
THE LEDGER

AUBURNDALE | Police
arrested an Auburndale
High School st udent
Wednesday on charges that
he made multiple bomb
threats, including one
through text messages sent
to a teacher.
William Daniel Tew, 17, of
2500 Lake Myrtle Drive in
Auburndale, faces charges
that include three counts of
fa lsely re por ting a
bomb, a second-degree
felony.
Tew made
the first
bomb threat
in August after a teacher TEW
handed out her
cellphone number to students to contact her if they
needed help with class work,
according to the Auburndale
Police Department arrest
report. That same day, the
teacher received texts warning of a bomb, threatening
her against reporting it and
telling her that Auburndale
High School is under
attack.
Officers discovered the
messages were sent from a
fake number using the application Pinger, which
spoofs phone numbers.
Two other reports of a
bomb at Auburndale High
School and the Lake Myrtle
Soccer Complex were sent
Oct. 17 to Heartland Crime
Stoppers. Police said ofcers
found evidence linking
Tews cellphone to the false
reports.
Police said that while
searching his phone, ofcers
also found saved audio recordings of prank phone
calls made Oct. 17 to Auburndale High School and
Stambaugh Middle School.
The calls were placed using
the application PrankDial,
which sends a pre-recorded
message from a blocked
phone number, and then rec or d s t he r e c i p i e n t s
response.
Secretaries at both schools
answered the calls and were
heard on the audio recordings, police said.
Tew told police he did not
know it was illegal to prank
call someone and he was
unaware the application recorded the phone call.
Police said Tew initially
denied making the threats,
but after ofcers arrested
him on campus, he admitted
to them.
Tew is being held in juvenile detention on three
counts of falsely reporting a
bomb, tampering with a
witness, illegal use of a device to intercept communications, and making stalking and harassing phone
calls.

Frostproof Officials Want Assurances on Water Project

By ANYA ZENTMEYER
LEDGER MEDIA GROUP

FROSTPROOF | The Southwest Florida Water Management District still has a lot to
clarify before the Frostproof
City Commission agrees to
move forward with plans for
a project to test water quality
and quantity in the Lower
Floridan Aquifer on cityowned property.
Commissioners responded
with questions and hesitation
when Swiftmud representatives
detailed the proposed site for
testing as well as a timeline for
the project, which is scheduled
to begin in the summer of 2014
and last until around 2020.
It is not the project that has
commissioners worried its
whether Frostproof will be
able to keep control of its water resources in the future.
What the city is looking for is
an agreement protecting those
rights. At a City Commission
meeting, Swiftmud ofcials
promised to draw up a memo-

randum of understanding to
submit to the city.
Right now, all Swiftmud is
looking for from Frostproof is
permission to use city property to begin the rst phases
of drilling an exploratory well,
said Danny Kushmer, the government affairs program manager for Swiftmuds Bartow
Service Ofce.
The proposed site is near the
citys public works storage
area, adjacent to Dunham and
Henderson baseball elds on
the south end of Wall Street
near Reedy Lake.
Were looking for just an
agreement or a license to go out
on to the property and drill, locate the wells on city property
and to give us access for the
duration of the project, said
George Schlutermann, a senior
hydrogeologist for Swiftmud.
For the sake of convenience
and any type of holds on the
project, were looking for a
ve-year agreement, he told
the commission.

The presentation in Frostproof comes on the heels of a

larger discussion between
Swiftmud and other cities in
Polk County as Central Florida
ofcials look to nd alternative
water sources aside from the
Upper Floridan Aquifer.
It is projected that Central
Florida will be pumping the
maximum amount permitted
from the Upper Floridian
Aquifer by 2035, and for some
municipalities along the U.S.
27 corridor, that date could be
even sooner.
The county is kind of spearheading this with the Polk
Southeast Welleld but long
term is to include all 17 municipalities and truly have a
regional entity in Polk County, Kushmer said.
If the exploratory well were
to create an avenue to a usable
system, Frostproof would have
a hand in creating the regional
entity, but the overall benets
to the city is something the
city would have to work out

with the regional entity should

it be created, Kushmer said.
The regional entity is what
makes Frostproof commissioners pause. They want a
more dened memorandum
of agreement to have their
city attorney review before
they agree to let Swiftmud use
city land.
A lot of our thinking is,
were a little tiny town with a
not terribly inuential population and we want to protect not
only our resources but our revenue and not have this resource sort of evaporate in
front of our very eyes because
weve somehow given it away
in this early agreement, said
Vice Mayor Diana Beihl.
Im not sure I am comfortable saying that the goal is for
this yet undefined entity to
take over the management of
what we own, which is the
land and the water that comes
out from it, she said.
City Attorney Mark Smith
said hell be looking for a lot

of things in the memorandum

Swiftmud is drawing up, but
focusing ma in ly on the
language.
Are they going to put language in this thing that requires the city of Frostproof at
some point to convey ownership to either Swiftmud or this
regional entity that they keep
talking about? Smith asked.
And then if there is going
to be a regional entity I want
to see if they dene who will
actually make up the regional
entity and what voting power,
if any, will Frostproof have in
it, he said.
Kushmer said, from Swiftmuds perspective, the biggest
goal with this project is gathering information and securing
a future public water supply.
So, as we look forward we
have a stake in creating a regional entity, he said. We
have seen through Tampa Bay
Water, through the Peace River Water Supply Authority,
that they work.