Dettra raised allegations of politics and use of money

Although county administration remains reticent, some information is being released to local St. Johns County reporters at Historic City News in last week’s administrative leave of the 31 year-old General Manager of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.

In the matter of Ryan Richard Dettra, “The County is in the fact-finding stage and has no updates at this time,” said Public Affairs Specialist Karen Pan in the Office of the County Administrator.

Last week, the county office did confirm that Dettra had been placed on administrative leave with full pay from his $70,875 a year position by Parks and Recreation Director Troy Blevins.

Historic City News was told on Friday, “You are correct that Ryan Dettra was placed today on paid administrative leave. I apologize that I cannot provide further details.”

Earlier today, we received a copy to an e-mail concerning the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall that was sent Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 11:20 a.m. from Facilities Maintenance Manager, Gene T. Burns, to Mike Dalton and was copied to Gabe Pellicer and Mike Rubin.

Pellicer forwarded the e-mail to Ryan Dettra and his supervisor, Troy Blevins.

At 2:59 p.m. that afternoon, Dettra sent a somewhat accusatory response to Gabe Pellicer, Troy Blevins, Gene Burns, Mike Rubin. Dettra sent a copy of the e-mail to Assistant County Administrator Jerry Cameron, County Administrator Michael Wanchick and newspaper reporter Margo Pope.

We will update our readers as this matter progresses.

— Original Message—-
From: Gene Burns
Sent Tuesday, June 08, 2010 11:20 AM
To: Mike Dalton
Cc: Gabe Pellicer, Mike Rubin
Subject: Cornerstone / Ponte Vedra Concert Hall

Mike:

I reviewed the list of items you were requested to obtain quotes on involving the above project. The items by my review are items that should be included into the prime contract.

By incorporating these items into the project there should be no significant effect on the completion date or associated inspections.

Please forward the requests to Construction Services.

Gene T. Burns
Facilities Maintenance Manager

—Original Message—-
From: Gabe Pellicer
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 11:21 AM
To: Troy Blevins; Ryan Dettra
Subject: FW: Cornerstone / Ponte Vedra Concert Hall

From: Ryan Dettra
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 201 0 2:59 PM
To: Gabe Pellicer; Troy Blevins; Gene Bums; Mike Rubin
Cc Michael Wanchick; Jerry Cameron; ‘margo.pope@staugustine.com’
Subject: RE: Cornerstone / Ponte Vedra Concert Hall

Hi Gene, Mike, Michael & Jerry

The Ponte Vedra Concert Hall Project started in March 2009. It originally went out to bid to continual contractors

Bush Construction won and was not the lowest bidder. The project was then put out to bid again. Bush was awarded over $30,000 for compensation and unusable interior design documents. No work was performed by Bush Construction, and the plans presented were not adequate for the scope of the job. It delayed the project at lease 6 months

Construction Services put it out to bid and changed the scope of work to abide by any and every code possible before discussions of the buildings change of use and options to work within code were presented to those in charge of managing the venue.

This cost’s tax payer money…. The project went from a few county working on it to several employees to several departments and a steadily rising intangible and tangible price tag.

Michael Wanchick asks the question “how can we save money” at town hall meetings. But it is apparent that this question is 100% political. It is under his guidance that we find ourselves losing $824.18-1346.24 per day in potential revenue. It is under his guidance that we have a project that has tripled in cost. It is under his direction that we are spending tax payer dollars to solicit private funding through our friends of the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall Board. The only things we have heard directly from Michael are negative.

This project doesn’t have to do with politics… this isn’t a Gene Burns & Mike Rubin versus Troy Blevins. This isn’t… how does Michael Wanchick avoid the press during budget cutbacks to preserve his own image. It’s a question of how do we do the right things for the community and utilize our resources to keep costs down.

This project is utilizes a building on prime AlA Ponte Vedra property that the county owns, sitting unused. Ponte Vedra is an area of the county that produces a large portion of the revenue for the county’s bed tax dollars and has no culture or tourism related facilities besides privately owned golf attractions and golf courses. The benefit to the community and St. Johns county as an arts and cultural destination is enormous.

Its time we stop the bleeding and for this project and figure out how to finish it so the building can be used and start producing revenue and earning cultural capital Any personal differences should be resolved. Michael, Troy, Gene, Mike or Jerry need to understand that we are all working for the same thing; to provide the best possible product at the lowest price. Our product is St. Johns county and all departments and county admin need to learn to work together to make this a better place to live. In tough economic times we have to figure out how to make the most out of the least.

I urge everyone to work together with the same mission in mind. We need Mike, Michael, Jerry, and Gene’s assistance to finish the first phase with a very limited amount of money so we can get in the facility and start producing cultural events.

Ryan Dettra I General Manager
Cultural Events Division, St. Johns County 1340 AlA South St. Augustine, FL 32080