Will Commissioner Charles Smith continue to pursue center director’s resignation?

The Palmetto Youth Center has complied with a request from Manatee County Commissioner Charles Smith to turn over information regarding its county-funded contractual requirements, as well as other information. The documents show the center is probably meeting its obligations, according to county officials.

“I don’t think there are any issues,” said Deputy County Administrator Cheri Coryea.

“What we are doing now is checking information with requests that were submitted that we paid for year to date,” Coryea said. “I’ve given my staff until next Wednesday to see if there are any discrepancies or any red flags. I can say that everything they submitted is complete, and again, I don’t think there are any issues, but I won’t know that until the review by staff is complete.”

Smith has called for Palmetto Youth Center Director Reggie Bellamy’s resignation, citing several concerns and claims that turned out to be inaccurate. Those contentions include that the center had lost its football program to Lincoln Academy.

On Feb. 13, Bellamy complied with a request from Smith to appear before the commission. Smith denied his actions were politically motivated when rumors began to spread — prior to Smith calling for Bellamy’s resignation — that Bellamy intended to challenge Smith in the 2018 election. Bellamy has filed to run against Smith for the county commission.

The Palmetto Youth Center board of directors continues to support Bellamy, said Kim Riker, board chair.

“We still support Reggie 100 percent,” Riker said Friday. “I haven’t talked to the board yet about where we go from here because we still don’t have a meeting until March. I don’t know what Mr. Smith will do at this point, so we’ll wait to see what happens. But I do know the numbers were there, and Mr. Smith didn’t have those numbers when he was quoted whatever he quoted, but we knew all along what we are doing is right and we were going to be OK.”

The documents show the youth center has met its financial and other requirements for two county-funded programs, Teen Hype and Foundation for Excellence. In total, the county funds over $396,000 for youth center programming that Smith had concerns weren’t taking place. There are 20 employees dedicated to the FFE program and nine employees dedicated to the Teen Hype program.

Smith also asked to see how much Bellamy makes at the center, which is $60,000, and whether he was putting in enough time to the center given his other jobs as a student support specialist at Buffalo Middle School School and as the Palmetto High School basketball head coach.

A statement from the center included in the documents reads, “Mr. Bellamy works a minimum of 37 hours per week and often exceeds that number.”

The statement goes on to read, “There has been exceptional change and growth within programs, facilities and finances within the short two and a half years” Bellamy has been director.

Smith also expressed concerns that Bellamy isn’t doing enough in the community to attract additional funding for programs and activities.

The documents show Bellamy works with 21 businesses and agencies in the community, including Tropicana, Bealls, Strength in Action, the Kiwanis Club and the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Bellamy has declined to comment on Smith’s call for him to resign. Smith did not return two requests for comment Friday on whether he will pursue further action. On Feb. 13, he said that if his concerns were alleviated, he would drop the subject.

This story was originally published February 23, 2018 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Will Commissioner Charles Smith continue to pursue center director’s resignation?."