County chief sets date to retire

Now it's official: Pinellas County Administrator Fred Marquis' last day in the office will be Aug. 31.

By EDIE GROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000

After 21 years, 11 months, two weeks and five days as Pinellas County's top gun, Fred Marquis will call it a career.

Marquis, Florida's longest-serving county administrator, will spend his last day at the office on Aug. 31. Technically he is retiring on Sept. 30, but he will spend that last month on vacation, popping in occasionally to see how the troops are managing.

He announced his impending retirement last year after voters narrowly approved a referendum that created four single-member commission districts and expanded the County Commission to seven members, a move he opposed.

But until this week, he refused to name an exact date for his departure, saying only that he would leave after the new budget was approved Aug. 29 and before the new commissioners were elected Nov. 7.

His silence provoked conjecture throughout the county courthouse about when -- or even if -- he would really retire. Even county commissioners professed not to know.

"I kept saying to administrators, "Has he said anything to you? Has he said anything to you?' " said Commissioner Sallie Parks, who is not seeking re-election this year. "We were all kind of speculating."

Parks guessed correctly when she told guests at a recent Clearwater Rotary meeting that she thought Marquis would make his exit Aug. 31. Marquis, 61, ended the speculation Wednesday when he hand-delivered a letter to each commissioner stating his intentions.

"I told them I'd get them through the budget," said Marquis, who will preside over budget hearings with commissioners on Aug. 22 and Aug. 29. "You can't get any closer than that."

When he leaves, Marquis takes with him 30 years of institutional memory and near legendary status, having lasted three times longer than the average county manager across the nation.

He first arrived in March 1970 as the assistant planning director. A document identifying endangered lands that he helped author two years later still serves as the blueprint for the county's conservation efforts.

While he was planning director, he played a key role in exposing a public corruption scandal in the mid-1970s in which three county commissioners were convicted of accepting payoffs from developers. The scandal came to light after a contractor told Marquis about having to put payments in a cigar box for the commissioners. Marquis took the information to the state attorney.

As county administrator, he lobbied heavily for the Penny for Pinellas sales tax and spared a few roads from over-commercialization through his scenic corridor program. As a U.S. Army Reserve general during the Persian Gulf War, Marquis had a phone installed in his county office that linked him directly to the Pentagon.

More recently, he oversaw a period of unprecedented solidarity among county commissioners.

In 3,377 votes between Sept. 9, 1997, and Aug. 31, 1999, commissioners voted unanimously more than 99 percent of the time. Some criticized the lack of debate as evidence of a lack of diversity on the board.

But commissioners credited Marquis with some of the peace, saying he rarely surprised them with issues and never pitted one side against another.

"I'm not happy he's leaving," said Commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd, who has served on the board 18 of the last 20 years. "I just feel like not only a capable administrator but a very dear friend is leaving, and I'm sad about it."

In his retirement letter, Marquis said he was impressed with the County Commission's stability over the years.

"The close bond and professionalism exhibited between the County Administrator's Office and the BCC has been the underlying factor in providing exceptional service to our county," he wrote.

Marquis' official retirement announcement was not unexpected, but some commissioners said they had hoped he would stay longer.

"It was kind of one of those no news is good news things. As long as it was just a concept of retirement, I was very happy," said Commissioner Calvin Harris. "Everything is much easier with him there. That's why we never talked about or pushed for a date."

Marquis said he will recommend that Assistant County Administrator Gay Lancaster be appointed the interim county manager during the Aug. 8 commission meeting. Commissioners seem likely to approve her appointment.

They plan to wait until the new seven-member board is in place before mounting a national search for Marquis' full-time replacement.

Several of his top administrators have a decade or more of experience with the county, leading most officials to expect a smooth, albeit sad, transition.

"We have a lot of depth overall so I'm comfortable we can keep the ship sailing straight until the new commission figures out what it wants," said Lancaster, who, like many others, had urged Marquis to change his mind. "I've been in there every day trying to talk him out of it. And I will continue to do so."

Marquis was the assistant county administrator on Sept. 12, 1978, when county commissioners appointed him interim county administrator.

After conducting a national search, commissioners offered him the full-time position the following year. Since then, he has worked for a total of 24 county commissioners, almost all of that time without a contract. Commissioners could have fired him at any meeting during the last 22 years without a severance package.

Commissioners created a bare-bones contract for him June 6, hoping it would attract talented managers to apply for his job later. Commissioners plan to spend about six months conducting a national search for a new administrator.

"It's the most important decision the County Commission can make," said Todd. "That person may be right here in Pinellas County, but I don't know that."

Meanwhile, Marquis said he plans to spend the next few months doing "normal vacation-type stuff" as well as trying to learn Spanish. He and his wife, Suzanne, also have volunteered to lead members of their church, Palm Harbor United Methodist, on missions to Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras and Jamaica, where they will help build clinics and schools.

County employees plan to throw him a farewell party in late August, but Marquis said he is not looking for fanfare.

"The last thing I want is a lot of publicity," he said. "I'd be very contented to just fade away."

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