CareerSource CEO’s firing now being questioned
By Fallon Silcox, Reporter
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 21, 2018, 8:52 AM EDT
PINELLAS —
The future of Executive Director of CareerSource Pinellas Edward Peachy is now up for discussion once again.
CareerSource Hillsborough and CareerSource Tampa Bay have already voted to fire Peachy, who is accused of claiming more job placements than there actualy were. Now, CareerSource Pinellas will decide whether to fire him.
Peachy was actually fired once before, but a board member questioned it, so now the board will have to decided where his future lies with the agency.
State and federal investigations are currently underway against the former CEO of CareerSource Hillsborough and Executive Director of CareerSource Tampa Bay.
Peachey was voted out of his position by the board of the organization on Feb. 26, 2018 by a 6-1 vote.
Peachy was first suspended without pay by CareerSource Tampa Bay on Feb. 2 during an investigation into the agency possibly reporting more people placed into new jobs than it actually had.
Members of the CareerSource Pinellas Board voted to form a committee to investigate the matter days later.
On Feb. 21, members of the Hillsborough County Commission voted to demand Peachey resign or face being fired. However, the commission did not have the power to actually fire Peachey.
That power lay with CareerSource Tampa Bay’s board members, who voted to terminate Peachey without cause on Monday.
Hillsborough County Commission chair Sandy Murman was the only commissioner to vote against the measure. Her objection stemmed from Peachey receiving a severance package.
Now, CareerSource Pinellas’ board will decide whether to fire him, and whether he should receive any sort of severance pay.
Vice Chair and Pinellas County Commissioner, Patricia Gerard, said at this point, restoring trust in the organization is a top priority.
“Trust in the organization is zero at this point. We have a public trust to carry out. These are tax payer dollars and I hear nothing on the outside of that organization that tells me people want him back, or frankly, that they want the organization to continue operating like it has been,” Gerard said.
Moving forward, she says the board has a lot of work to do with restructuring the entire organization as they wait to hear back from the federal and state investigations.
