Former Venice city manager George Hunt is in hot water again, facing serious accusations from citizens and the press. This time around, the usual suspects -- this web site and the Venice Taxpayers League -- had nothing to do with it. Hunt is in this boiling pot on his own with nobody to blame but himself.

The following is a short but to-the-point editorial that was published earlier this month in the Barefoot Bay Tattler, a newspaper that serves the community of, obviously, Barefoot Bay, Florida where Hunt is currently employed as Community Manager. The editorial is clearly calling for Hunt's departure from the community.

It would seem that our former city manager, George Hunt, is quickly wearing out his welcome in Barefoot Bay and is doing so in a way that overshadows his ouster from Venice in 2004 -- despite Hunt's many failings here and his then-crumbling administration, no newspaper here ever called for his firing or resignation prior to his departure from Venice (Venice Florida! dot com did call for Hunt's termination on several occasions, however those calls were never echoed in the local newspapers).

Here, the Barefoot Bay Tattler, a small monthly publication, is taking a bolder stance than either the Venice Gondolier Sun or the Sarasota Herald-Tribune ever did. Indeed, the major newspaper that covers Barefoot Bay, TCPalm, seems totally oblivious to the ongoing controversy in Barefoot Bay.

Barefoot Bay is the state's largest manufactured home community, with some 4,950 homes. The community owns and runs its own golf course, two restaurants and a shopping center that the community leases to merchant stores. In short, Barefoot Bay is like a mini-city combined with a medium sized corporation.

A front page story that accompanies the editorial below noted that "...Hunt is still unable to produce the computerized financial reports" for the community. These financial reports, particularly the annual budget, have reportedly been in disarray since Hunt's arrival in Barefoot Bay almost two years ago and there have been no monthly financial reports* issued by Hunt since his arrival, this despite the requirement of those reports in the community's charter. An external audit by Barefoot Bay's attorneys is currently underway. A report is due from the attorneys at the end of April.

In other words, Hunt is in deep doo-doo. Deep. Very deep.

There is obviously a huge back story here, and Venice Florida! dot com has been following some of the events in Barefoot Bay. A story may be forthcoming on this web site about some of the more bizarre aspects of this tale, but for now we thought you'd like to read this.

The editorial below is being reprinted to this web site with the permission of the Barefoot Bay Tattler. The small newspaper does not have a web site.

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A word from your Tattler editor
In industry, when an employee behaves like George Hunt is behaving, he or she is fired. In Barefoot Bay the Trustees run around like Chicken Little and proclaim "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" and DO nothing.

George has fouled up the accounting system so badly it will be a wonder if the auditors and the legion of temporary help that is being brought in can rescue it. Then he misled the board about what happened. He hired a do-nothing kid for an "finance manager" or "director" as the fancy title may have been [the Tattler is referring to Dan Morgan, a former City of Venice intern]. He then hired a do-nothing Maintenance "director" who did nothing but purchase a ton of new woodworking equipment and an $8000 unauthorized tractor. George has openly interviewed for a job as City Manager in Fernandina Beach (he didn't get the job!). We wonder if he mentioned his performance with Barefoot Bay's accounting system.

George did a great job with the problems created by the hurricanes. Absolutely the best! What happened? Why this snafu with accounting? All he had to do is ask for help. There are dozens of Bay residents that are trained in accounting that would have been tickled pink to jump in and help. There are even a few of us who have an extensive background in computerized accounting that would have jumped at the chance to dive in and lend our expertise to help fix the problem.

George: This is no way to end your career at Barefoot Bay. We certainly wish you luck as you go on your way. If you stick with Truth and Honesty, you can't go wrong.

*Corrected text: the word annually was replaced with the word monthly. The annual financial reports were reportedly significantly delayed while there have been few to no monthly financial reports since Hunt's arrival.