ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Mayor Ken Welch says finalizing a multi-party agreement to make the $6.5 billion redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District happen was no small task.

He told Spectrum News that's why bonuses totaling $250,000 were given to 17 staff members who worked on that effort.

What You Need To Know

  •  Mayor Ken Welch said bonus talks began in July and he was told he had the authority to issue them

  •  Welch confirmed the city's human resources director, Christopher Guella, was suspended as a result of the mistake

  •  The mayor said he and city staff relied on Guella to be their subject matter expert and let them know if the bonuses violated any regulations

"The bonuses, at about $15,000 each, were meant to acknowledge almost a year's worth of work — nights, weekends, holidays, you name it," Welch said.

The mayor said if that had come in the form of a pay raise, it would have fallen within all regulations. But City Administrator Rob Gerdes told city council members at Thursday afternoon's Committee of the Whole meeting that the one-time payments weren't in line with a state law on bonuses.

Welch said the payouts were first discussed in July with his chief of staff, Doyle Walsh, before council or the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners voted on agreements to move the project forward. 

"The first question that I asked when this was brought to me by Rob was, No. 1, do I have the authority, as mayor, to do this? Do I have the budget authority, and do we have the budget capacity to do that?" Welch said. "The answer to all three of those questions was, 'Yes.'"

Welch confirmed that Human Resources Director Christopher Guella was suspended for five days without pay as a result.

"Both Rob and myself, you know, depended on information from our subject matter expert that these bonuses were authorized, in line with all policies and regulations, and they were not," Welch said.

The city provided Spectrum News with an email from Guella to the mayor, which reads, in part: "As the City's Human Resources Director, I am ultimately responsible for employee compensation. While state law permits one-time payments, Human Resources' policies failed to comply with required elements. I should have consulted with the City Attorney's office but failed to do so. The City Attorney's office had no involvement with the payments nor did it have the opportunity to evaluate the process."

"He did the professional thing in acknowledging his role and his responsibility, and we're going to move forward," said Welch. "We're not going to crucify somebody for a mistake. It was a big mistake."

At Thursday's Committee of the Whole meeting, Gerdes told council members the bonuses and negative reaction to them caused morale issues with employees. Welch said based on conversations he's had, morale is good. He said his administration has always been employee-focused.

"From the day we came into office, we've always made sure that we rewarded our employees and the work they do," he said. "Got the SEIU contract signed, the fire contract signed, the PBA contract. All had significant increases built into those, as well."

Welch said city policies and procedures will be analyzed to make sure they comply with all regulations going forward.