Rare is the case when someone is hired to save money — but that is exactly what will happen when Monroe County fills the recently posted position of deputy director of emergency management, County Administrator Tom Willi said.

 Willi said a “good portion” of the money used to fund emergency management comes from a state grant and “was always in the budget.” “It has specific staffing levels that have to be met,” he explained. “Staff is borderline but we’ve spent under the grant requirement and we could be subject to losing the grant.” The department has been functioning with a staff of five full-time employees since then-Senior Director Billy Wagner retired in November. Controversy erupted the past week when word spread that the director position, now held by Irene Toner, was being advertised in-house at the county. A job posted in-house at the county can be applied for only by current Monroe County employees. It’s been widely rumored that Marathon City Manager Mike Puto, whose job status with the city has been in question for some time due to job performance concerns, is interested in the position. Puto has an extensive emergency management background, including being a certified emergency manager. But Willi says that was never going to happen and that the job descriptions within the department are only being realigned. What was the senior director position held by Wagner will now have the description of director, and the director position will become deputy director. “We used to have a gentleman [Wagner] given a title that really doesn’t fit the model we use in the rest of the county,” Willi said, referring to his senior director slot. Willi said because their descriptions are changing, the county officially considers them new jobs with new titles. He said he was trying to be consistent with county guidelines by posting Toner’s job in-house. Willi said he has “taken a lot of criticism” for not posting a job before making a promotion in similar situations, such as director of community services. “Irene is probably the only person in the county that can do this job. I don’t make the policy, I have to abide by it,” he said. “Our two minority commissioners [Sylvia Murphy and George Neugent] are trying to find any fault with what the county does.... There’s no conspiracy here. I told [Toner] what we’re doing and she’s fine with it.”

Willi said he has been frustrated with what he calls certain commissioners’ lack of understanding regarding the hire and suggested “they should pull out some of these policies and refresh themselves on them.” Neugent said previously that several employees have contacted him complaining about the hire. One referred to it as “a slap in the face” considering the budget constraints and layoffs the county is enduring in other areas. Toner says the situation has been blown out of proportion and is “extremely unpleasant.” She added any insinuation she might leave her post mid-hurricane season is inaccurate. “I’m a professional, I would not do such a thing,” Toner said. “Emergency Management is very visible because we’re dealing with hurricanes all the time and any controversy relative to it and the staff, if it is not factual, is not helping anyone. Residents are depending on us to stay safe and something like this undermines their confidence.” Toner said she’s spoken with Willi and understands the position must be posted due to changes in the job description. “My problem is with outsiders throwing their 2 cents into this to create what’s been going on, and by outsiders I mean people that are not county employees,” she said. Neugent said Puto “insinuated to me that he didn’t want to get into the middle of this and he didn’t want to get a job at the expense of someone else’s job.”