Apparently, Dan Andrews has been fired from the Sebring Chamber due to poor accounting practices.  Three hour meeting ended at 7:30 tonight with Dan being terminated.

Makes you wonder why the employee’s paychecks were bouncing and the power was disconnected.

Sad when people think of themselves first before the good of a community.

The meeting was five hours long.

Yep.  Sorry.  Five hours.

If people thought of others in the manner they thought of themselves, many unfortunate events could be avoided and our community at large would be the benefit of this thought process. Just think, he is now part of the leadership of our good City!

According to the newspaper, only 10% of the City of Sebring voters bothered to vote in the past election. What a pity. What an absolutely pathetic low turnout in the City Commission election.

Been_There_Done_That - 24 April 2008 05:39 AM

According to the newspaper, only 10% of the City of Sebring voters bothered to vote in the past election. What a pity. What an absolutely pathetic low turnout in the City Commission election.

Very pathetic indeed.  That tells me that the public does not regard the City Commission as a supportive body.  Some city commissions are the “heart” of the community.  Oh well.  Mr. Andrews needs to resign.  If he’s sloppy with the Chambers finances I wonder how sloppy he would be in helping the city?

Dan should have immediately met with the press and either defended himself or appologized for any wrong doing he was guilty of. If Dan has any self respect at all he should immediately resign as
Councilman and save our community the embarassment of forcing him from the City Council

In small towns, its not what you know but who you know. He’s a good ol homegrown boy, cut him some slack!

Cut him some slack for what?  Doing a sloppy job?  Just because he’s a homegrown boy, we should overlook his inadequicies?  I don’t think so.

He’s a good ol homegrown boy, cut him some slack! I think the Chamber cut him some slack when they cut him loose. That same small town atmosphere here is what probably got him into hot water in the first place. Where else can you not perform up to standards on your job and have it make front page news?

I feel the Chamber body has been nothing less than honorable in the message they’ve sent out in the press towards Mr. Andrews. That is the beauty of a small town. He is a local “home grown” boy. Had he been anyone else he’d have been flogged at the Courthouse steps at high noon!

This whole scenario is sad to say the least. May the Chamber re-bound from this public relations nightmare and take what has occured as a lesson learned and move forward. For Mr. Andrews, I have no first hand knowledge of his offense. But I am sure he himself has a lot of explaining to do. Not the least of it to himself. It’s unfortunate that the most memorable thing he has done now in his service with the Chamber, is what he did in the end.

Pickles, you are right on, we should expect more from home grown, they should know right from wrong and live to a higher standard then some of the examples we have seen lately.

In a corporate setting, you have corporate standards and ethics.  Those corporate standards are the same standards that are expected from any corporation in the State of Florida.

If he was operating a home based business, nobody would care if his accounting was sloppy.  The corporate setting is much different.  He was expected to do a job and didn’t fulfill that expectation and from what I read, even refused to perform some of those expectations.

I suppose if we should cut him a break, we should call Tallahassee division of Corporations and let them know that “homegrown boys” from Sebring are exempt from performing standard accounting practices. 

Unfortunately, there’s this “veil of implied corrpution” looming over the Chamber at the moment.  It’s going to take someone very special to fix the reputation that Dan screwed up.

ILovePickles - 22 April 2008 10:23 PM

Apparently, Dan Andrews has been fired from the Sebring Chamber due to poor accounting practices.  Three hour meeting ended at 7:30 tonight with Dan being terminated.

Makes you wonder why the employee’s paychecks were bouncing and the power was disconnected.

Sad when people think of themselves first before the good of a community.

Pickles - I was wondering where you got the info above about paychecks bouncing and the electricity shut off.  Did I miss a newspaper article or is that maybe a rumor you overheard?

If Mr. Andrews plans on continuing his public service he might want to think about doing some damage control.  The original article about his firing brings up questions about his professional competence.  Maybe there is more to the story than what we have heard.

I definitely would like to hear Mr. Andrews side of the story.  Maybe a follow up article is in the works?  Inquiring minds want to know!  Well at least I do.

gritshifter - 25 April 2008 01:30 PM

ILovePickles - 22 April 2008 10:23 PM

Apparently, Dan Andrews has been fired from the Sebring Chamber due to poor accounting practices.  Three hour meeting ended at 7:30 tonight with Dan being terminated.

Makes you wonder why the employee’s paychecks were bouncing and the power was disconnected.

Sad when people think of themselves first before the good of a community.

Pickles - I was wondering where you got the info above about paychecks bouncing and the electricity shut off.  Did I miss a newspaper article or is that maybe a rumor you overheard?

If Mr. Andrews plans on continuing his public service he might want to think about doing some damage control.  The original article about his firing brings up questions about his professional competence.  Maybe there is more to the story than what we have heard.

I definitely would like to hear Mr. Andrews side of the story.  Maybe a follow up article is in the works?  Inquiring minds want to know!  Well at least I do.

Kevin Shutt at the News-Sun -

Power was shut off at the chamber’s U.S. 27 office and paychecks bounced. Golf clubs allegedly disappeared and more than $5,000 in credit card charges allegedly were unaccounted for.

http://www.newssun.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=4196&TM=53665.25

It seems to be abvious that Susan Jones and Dr. Stevens covered up this mess
caused by Dan Andrews so the public would not have the information to
interfere with getting Dan elected to the Sebring City Council. We need a
recall on this election as it was not an honest one.

Not only should anyone involved in a cover up be fired, the county should stop funding the Chamber until all of the mess is sorted out, and the guilty are punished appropriately. The longer Mr Andrews remains silent, the more speculation will occur. The allegations suggest something far more serious than being overwhelmed at the fast growth of the organization.

Anyone who can’t set priorities to pay salaries and pay utility bills should NOT be serving in government. What are these people hiding?