published: Friday, November 20, 2009

Polatty named Sebring P&Z director

By ED BALDRIDGE

ed.baldridge@newssun.com

SEBRING -- The Sebring City Council decided to hire ex-county planning director James M. "Jim" Polatty Jr. as the city planner during its regular meeting on Tuesday.

By a 4-1 margin, with councilman John Clark dissenting, Polatty was directed to start work Monday as the city's new planning and zoning director.

Councilman Clark voted no because he felt that "In the present economic climate I don't believe the city needed to fill this new position that will cost Sebring taxpayers about $90,000 per year including benefits."

Polatty's base salary was set at $65,000 for the position. The work load should be close to the same that he experienced in at the county.

Additionally, Polatty told the selection board during his interview that Sebring needed to streamline a lot of its processes and ordinances in order to capture more development from the county.

"We need to be more appealing to developers, and we need to make the timeline shorter from concept to inspection for most developers. I see that as one advantage we could have over the county's process," Polatty said earlier.

"It takes a long time, and the process is very confusing currently for developers who want to build in the county. We could capture a lot of business by making it simpler, and having someone on board to help developers through each step," he added during his interview.

"Sebring has been my home for the last 15 years. I will take great pride in working for this community. I have kids in school, and we attend church here. I am glad for the opportunity to work here," Polatty also told the selection committee.

In previous meetings, Sebring Mayor George Hensley told the council he felt this was a good time to hire a planner because there were a lot of qualified individuals out there looking for a spot like this and that the city "could really get a bargain right now."

According to Hensley, who was on the selection committee, almost 50 applicants applied for the position, but not all were qualified.

"That number was then short-listed to five. But, by that time two of the applicants had already found employment, leaving only three to interview," Hensley told council.

Local activist and Sebring resident Preston Colby expressed his opinion during the meeting about Polatty, and asked the council to do more extensive background checks before making the final decision about hiring.

Colby stated that his dealings with Polatty while at the county had been "contentious and acrimonious."

Colby currently has a lawsuit pending against Highlands County, which includes Polatty as a defendant.

The suit claims that Polatty was part of the destruction of public records, which according to an affidavit from former county employee Gary Lower, was part of a policy to destroy staff recommendations that did not fit with what was wanted at the commission level. If true, that would be a violation of state statutes.

Polatty retired as a U.S. Army sergeant and holds master's degrees in planning and public administration.