Venice on the web
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Search engines trip Hunt in job search
Mayor of Treasure Island discovers Hunt's past on the web after getting a glowing report from research consultant
-- John Patten, 07/16/04
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

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A strange string of stories from this week's St. Petersburg Times emerged about former Venice city manager George Hunt.

On July 11th, the paper reported that Hunt was one of five finalists for the job of city manager of Treasure Island, Florida. The finalists were researched and selected by hired consultant Tom Freijo of The Mercer Group.

Coincidentally, Stanley Hawthorne also made the final cut. You might remember Hawthorne from his participation in a failed attempt to bring harmony back to the city's utilities department two years ago. Hawthorne was hired by Hunt back in August of 2002 to act as an outside consultant in an attempt to salvage employee relations in the aftermath of a botched investigation into abusive employee treatment. Hawthorne made a number of recommendations, however his presence turned out to be window dressing as the utilities department continued to be mired in controversy long after Hawthorne departed.

Based on Freijo's research, the Times initially described Hunt in near-glowing terms:

George Hunt, 51, has more than 20 years of experience in public administration. He has served as the city manager of Venice since 1991. Hunt has a bachelor's degree in political science from Western Illinois University in Macomb. Hunt's current annual salary is $113,500. According to Mercer's records, Hunt said that he had just finished the refitting of four bridges in Venice, an experience that he says will help with Treasure Island's bridge projects.
-- St. Pete Times, 07/11/04

That would change in a few days. By July 14th, the paper's headline and lead paragraph in their city manager search story focused on Hunt's habit of bringing a firearm into Venice's city hall. Hunt is quoted in the paper as stating "I had a weapon in my drawer because I was threatened three or four times... It was for my personal safety. The council knew about it. They didn't have [an] objection to it."

The only threat documented in the local press here was an account in the Gondolier from December of 2001 in which Deputy Police Chief Dan McGoogan related a story about a "...former city worker, who [was] known to own guns, called Hunt an obscenity and said he would get what's coming to him. The threat was not carried out, however" (Venice Gondolier, 12/27/01).

The St. Pete Times went on to mention Hunt's run-ins with the EPA and the FBI and the recently filed whistleblower lawsuit against the city by three utilities employees. The hired consultant, according to the paper, knew none of this and was apparently taken by surprise:

Tom Freijo of the Mercer Group, the consultant whom Treasure Island paid more than $15,000 for its city manager recommendations, said he was unaware that Hunt kept a handgun in his office desk, though the habit had been reported at length in the Sarasota Herald- Tribune. In a written report provided to Treasure Island commissioners, Freijo also neglected to mention either the EPA investigation or the fact that Hunt was unemployed.
-- St. Pete Times, 07/14/04

So how did Treasure Island discover Hunt's background? Mayor Mary Maloof did a web search on Hunt (Hunt on Google ||| Hunt on Yahoo), something that the paid consultant had apparently never thought to do. "All of the research I did led me to believe that Mr. Hunt had done nothing wrong," Freijo is quoted as stating. "He has been convicted of nothing."

On Thursday, July 15, the Times reported that the search was over. The paper stated that Treasure Island had settled on Ralph Stone, a Treasure Island resident who is employed by Clearwater as one of several assistant city managers. Hunt was passed over due to "undesirable baggage," according to the Times.

Contacted by phone earlier today, Maloof refused to discuss the now-completed hiring process with Venice Florida! dot com, nor would she talk about her reactions to her web discoveries: "We're through with the process and we're happy with the results. I really don't want to talk about Mr. Hunt except to say that he seemed like a very nice man and that he did well in his interview."

John Patten is the editor and publisher of Venice Florida! dot com and had previously worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.