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Sarasota News Leader November 23, 2012 He explained that if a bonded employee steals cash, an insurance policy covers the loss and the incident is reported to the police. A bond- ing company will also cover the loss, but it will pursue the employee to regain the lost money. "The premiums are more like a service fee, to cover the overhead and expenses and profit," said Wagner. Another difference between bonds and in- surance is the level of background check that takes place before each can be secured. "They dig into his credit and his wife's credit. It's much more personal," said Wagner of a bond. A PERILOUS MOTION Every year, the Sarasota City Commission must authorize the level of bond it will re- quire of the three city officials who must have a bond — the city manager, the city finance director and the city auditor and clerk. This year's resolution came up on Monday, Nov. 19. Kurt Hoverter, the city HR director, said the rates for the coming year for $100,000 in bond coverage would be $444 for City Manager Tom Barwin, $507 for Finance Director Chris Lyons and $9,350 for City Auditor and Clerk Pam Na- dalini. In other words, Nadalini's bond was 20 times more expensive than Barwin's. The city will be paying almost $10,000 for a one-year bond of $100,000. "What affects the rate is up to individual fac- tors," said Hoverter. Using Wagner's "overhead, expenses and prof- it factors," it appears the bonding company anticipates much higher expenses from Nad- alini's bond. The amount was too much for Commissioner Turner. "For nearly three years, she refused to Page 19 address her bonding problems, causing each one of us to violate our oath of office," he said. Upon taking office, commissioners swear to uphold not only the federal and Florida con- stitutions but also the Charter of the City of Sarasota. Knowing a charter official is violat- ing the charter and not taking action is itself a violation of the charter. Ironically, it is Na- dalini who administered the oath to the five current city commissioners, knowing she was in violation of a specific charter provision. Turner went on: "Now we have quantitative evidence her integrity is one-twentieth that of Mr. Barwin and Mr. Lyons. Her unknown personal activities clearly disqualify her from office," he said. Turner then made a motion to terminate Nad- alini "for cause." For the past several months, Nadalini has re- fused to answer or has ducked the question of why she could not get a bond — and she has not commented on why the bond finally secured for her is so much more expensive. Turner's motion hung in the air, as the oth- er four commissioners looked down at their desks. "Motion dies for lack of a second," said Mayor Suzanne Atwell. Not only did Nadalini survive another scrape, but she also could bask in the knowledge that Turner announced last week he would not run for re-election to the commission. In three years, the city auditor and clerk has ousted a city manager, absorbed a major city department into her bureaucratic empire and outlasted her only critic on the commission. And at last she has a bond. %