AFTER A WILD EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE NORTH PORT CITY COMMISSION ON TUESDAY, COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED POLICE CHIEF TERRY LEWIS TO THE INTERIM CITY MANAGER POSITION AFTER ACCEPTING THE RESIGNATION OF THE INTERIM THAT WAS IN PLACE. DANNY SCHULT, WHO WAS TAPPED BY COMMISSIONERS AFTER THEY FIRED CITY MANAGER STEVE CROWELL EARLIER IN THE MONTH, WANTED A CONTRACT IN WRITING FOR SIX MONTHS WHICH INCLUDED AN AUTO ALLOWANCE, A 5% PAY RAISE AFTER SIX MONTHS, AND SEVERANCE PAY IF HE WAS FIRED. MONDAY NIGHT DURING THEIR REGULAR MEETING, COMMISSIONERS REJECTED THOSE DEMANDS, SO HE RESIGNED ON TUESDAY. THAT BROUGHT ABOUT THE MEETING WHERE NAMES WERE THROWN OUT, INCLUDING CURRENT FIRE CHIEF WILLIAM TAAFFEE, DIRECTOR OF GENERAL SERVICES SHERRY BORGSDORF, AND FORMER VENICE CITY MANAGER MARTY BLACK, BUT IN THE END, LEWIS WAS CHOSEN UNANIMOUSLY TO RUN THE CITY WHILE A NATIONAL SEARCH COMMITTEE COMES UP WITH A PERMANENT REPLACEMENT. LEWIS SAID HE DOES NOT NEED A CONTRACT AND WOULD WORK FOR HIS CHIEF’S SALARY OF $128,000 DOLLARS A YEAR. SCHULT HAS RETURNED TO HIS POSITION AS ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, AND POLICE CAPTAIN KEVIN VESPIA WILL RUN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IN LEWIS’S ABSENCE.
