Bill Hargett goes home only once a week, but it’s not because he’s sleeping at City Hall.
Hargett’s home is 110 miles away in Naples, where his wife lives in the house they have been unable to sell since he took the city’s top job last September.
He drives back there on weekends after spending weekdays living out of a suitcase at a waterfront hotel, where he gets a bargain rate of $25 a night in exchange for a promise to shift rooms whenever a tourist wants the one he’s in.
“He is just a head on a pillow for the night,” said Charles Seitz, president of the Sands Harbor Hotel & Marina in Pompano Beach, where Hargett stays during the week.
But the city’s charter and Hargett’s own contract require that he be something more than a head on a pillow here.
The charter requires the city manager to reside in the city, and Hargett’s employment agreement said he had to buy or lease a residence there, though it stated that he would not be required to maintain a residence in Pompano Beach during his first year on the job. His first year ends today.
Hargett says that, technically, he does reside in the city, at the Sands Harbor. He says the reason he hasn’t moved is that his house is still on the market, with a current asking price of $227,900.
He refuses to talk further about his residence, saying only that he has complied with the terms of his contract.
“My contract speaks for itself,” Hargett said.
But Hargett’s situation has angered some residents and city officials.
“It bothers me,” said June King Poitier, a community activist in Collier City. “Everybody who works for the city of Pompano Beach should live in the city of Pompano Beach.”
City Commissioner Emma Lou Olson says her only criticism of Hargett is that he hasn’t moved to the city yet.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s just got a place to hang his hat right now,” Olson said. “He doesn’t have to live high and mighty. He could come over here and live in an apartment. I’m not going to vote for a raise as long as he’s living like he is.”
The fact is that Hargett is not the only top city official, and certainly not the only city employee, who lives outside Pompano Beach. Only one of the city’s five highest paid officials – acting Police Chief Larry deFuria – lives there.
City Attorney Gordon Linn lives in Deerfield Beach, City Clerk Mary Chambers lives in Oakland Park and Fire Chief Jim Bentley lives in Boynton Beach.
Earlier this year, commissioners passed an ordinance requiring the top appointed officials to live in the city, but the current officeholders were allowed to maintain their existing addresses.
Poitier said Hargett should not be faulted for taking advantage of his contract.
“He’s just doing what they allow him to do,” Poitier said. “It’s the commission’s fault for allowing him to do it.”
Others think Hargett should be allowed some leeway, considering the rigors of selling a house and moving from one city to another.
“I think that if a man in his position is trying, that’s good enough,” said George Brummer, a Palm-Aire resident. “Frankly, it doesn’t bother me whether he lives in Pompano or not.”
Some commissioners are not that bothered about it, either, saying Hargett should get an extension so he can sell his house. City Commissioner Pat Larkins said he “would look favorably on some kind of extension,” and Mayor Bill Griffin agrees.
Griffin thinks Hargett also is in line for a raise, though Hargett already has received an 8 percent pay increase over his $93,000 starting salary. His current salary, bumped up by quarterly and semi-annual increases, is $100,601.49.
“I think he’s done not just a good job, but an exceptional job,” Griffin said.
Other commissioners plan to use his raise as a carrot to get him to move.
“He can have his raise when he moves here,” Commissioner George Melcher said.
Hargett lives a fairly nomadic life during the week, said Seitz, who is also chairman-elect of the Greater Pompano Chamber of Commerce.
Seitz said Hargett has been living there primarily in the off-season, that the $25 nightly rate he pays is the hotel’s wholesale summer rate and that Hargett has agreed to take any room. Seitz said one other hotel guest pays the same rate.
“If you ask us, $25 a night is better than nothing,” Seitz said.
Seitz said Hargett commuted back to Naples on a nightly basis for the first few months of his job, then began staying at the Sands, though he didn’t always get a room.
“There were several weeks during the season when we couldn’t get him anything,” Seitz said. “Whenever I get a full house, he’s bumped.”
While Hargett refused to talk about the status of his house sale in Naples, people who have talked to him lately say he told them he has found a buyer.
Dorothy Jones, a Collier City resident, said: “He told me last week he thought he had it sold. He’s really planning on moving over here.”
