On Wednesday, the Board of County Commissioners voted 5-2 to approval an interlocal agreement with the ChildrenÃs Board of Hillsborough County in the amount of $148,117 for the contractual services of Donald L. Dixon.
Dixon is to serve as the Children’s Services Division Director of Family and Aging Services.
Dixon won’t have hiring and firing power and is not a county employee. Commissioner Kevin Beckner said he feels having outside eyes looking into Children’s Services is a great idea.
“However, I want it understood that the Children’s Board is loaning us Dixon’s services. I think hiring them as an independent contractor would have been a better idea.”
County Attorney, Renee Lee, said the decision to take this action was because of the expertise Dixon has shown in performing his tasks.
“This is much like a consultants contract.”
One of two commissioners who voted against the contract, Les Miller, said he felt there was work that needed to be done on the contract.
“There are some holes in it. I think there are problems with it, especially how it’s structured.”
Attorney Lee said an option would have been to contract directly with the Children’s Board and take out direct references to Dixon.
“We could allow the Children’s Board to appoint who they want.”
The second dissenting vote came from Commissioner Victor Crist, who also said he wasn’t happy with the way the contract was structured.
