Sanford leaders reject Lee resignation
A decision by the Sanford City Commission on Monday to reject the resignation of embattled police Chief Bill Lee — just a month after it voted “no confidence” in him — left critics of the Police Department’s handling of the Trayvon Martin shooting disappointed and angry.
Lee offered his resignation to City Manager Norton Bonaparte just hours before a City Commission meeting Monday afternoon. Bonaparte told commissioners that the resignation of the chief, who last month stepped aside temporarily, would help the city “move forward” after weeks of racial tension and heated rallies.
But by a 3-2 vote, the commission decided not to accept Lee’s resignation, which would have included severance pay. Mayor Jeff Triplett, who in March had voted with the majority in expressing “no confidence” in Lee, said he wanted to wait for the city to complete an internal re- view of the way the Police Department investigated the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon.
“Is this something that can wait?” Triplett asked Bonaparte. “I’m not ready to have him [Lee] come back and run the Police Department yet. But I’m not ready for this either. I’d rather
wait for the investigation.”
Triplett was joined by Commissioners Patty Mahany and Randy Jones in rejecting Lee’s resignation.
“I just don’t agree with this at all,” said Oscar Redden, a Sanford resident who has strongly criticized Lee and the Police Department for not quickly arresting shooter George Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense. “I don’t want to see him come back. And I don’t think he’s going to come back. This just delays things.”
Zimmerman, a Neighborhood Watch volunteer who shot the unarmed Trayvon in a Sanford gated community Feb. 26, was later charged by a special prosecutor with second-degree murder. He was released early Monday from the Seminole County jail on $150,000 bail.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Trayvon’s family, described the vote as a step in the wrong direction.
“Sanford residents deserve quality leadership in law enforcement whowill handle investigations fairly for all people,” Crump said. “If Chief Bill Lee recognized that his resignation would help start the healing process in Sanford, city leadership should have accepted it in an effort to move the city forward.”
Allie Braswell, president and CEO of the Central Florida Urban League, also said he was disappointed in the City Commission’s move. Lee’s departure would help Sanford repair its image, he said.
“I thought it would have been a move in the right direction.”
Lee did not attend the meeting and could not be reached for comment Monday. He was hired as police chief in April 2011 at a salary of $102,000 and remains on paid leave.
Commissioners Velma Williams and Mark Mccarty voted to accept Lee’s resignation.
“I don’t think the healing process can begin until he’s gone,” Williams said. “I think this just delays the inevitable.”
Mccarty said he was shocked by Monday’s outcome. “I know he [Bonaparte] needed to do something,” Mccarty said. “I think he was just pressured by a lot of people to force Lee out.”
Bonaparte told commissioners that he heavily weighed the commission’s no-confidence vote and felt there would be “no healing” unless Lee resigned. He said that he and Lee agreed to a separation agreement of up to four months’ severance pay, subject to the commission’s approval.
Bonaparte would not comment further on his role in Lee’s resignation. But Mahany said that Lee felt he had no choice. “The chief did not want to resign but felt he had to,” she said. “This was basically forced.”
Mahany, who during the meeting spoke passionately in support of Lee, called him “the chief that would take a bullet for everyone in this room. I am just devastated by this.”
About three dozen people wearing white shirts reading “We support Bill Lee” came to the commission meeting. Among them was C.J. Blancett, a former police investigator and founder of United Sanford Alliance, a group that has rallied to reinstate Lee. “This was the right move by the commission,” she said.
The city said Capt. Darren Scott, who was appointed acting chief after Lee stepped aside, will remain in his current role while Sanford searches for an interim chief. Bonaparte told commissioners Monday that he expects to hire an interim chief from outside the department by next week. Disney’s Fort Wilderness campground were the final units to get it.
The research “helped us prioritize our thinking,” said Mark Rucker, vice president of lodging for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
Other results varied by segment. For guests in Disney’s “value” hotels — the lowest of its three price categories, followed by “moderate” and “deluxe” — mini- refrigerators proved particularly important. Disney World is nowaddingthemin all of its 8,500 value hotel rooms; the work should be completed by the end of the spring.
“That was probably the one that surprised me,” said Kevin Myers, Disney World’s vice president of resort operations. “I think there’s a convenience factor. And even if you don’t use it, it’s the idea that it’s there.”
Extra beds tested particularly well among Disney’s mid-markethotel guests. The puzzle there, Rucker said, was to devise something other than aconventional rollout cot, which might clash with a room’s theme.
Disney ultimately had its Imagineers, the company’s creative engineers, build customized armoires that open to reveal a hidden mattress. The first of those are now being installed in a wing of Disney’s Port Orleans Resort; Disney says it is “evaluating” whether to add them to other moderate hotels, as well.
Disney declined to identify all 32 items it tested in its research because only some will ultimately be added to its rooms.
Smith predicted Disney will have little difficulty recouping whatever moneyit spends onroomamenities.
Travelers, he said, tend to assign values to “free” roomextras, such as continental breakfasts or Wi-fi access, when choosing between competing hotels. And though a minifridge might be worth only an extra $5 a night to one person, it might be worth an extra $10 or $20 a night to others — say, a budget-conscious family visiting theme parks with young children.
“You start to look at things like that, and a mini-fridge pays for itself in a week,” Smith said.