When the Martin County Commission fired Duncan Ballantyne from his $147,250 a year job as county administrator on St. Patrick’s Day, a pot of gold awaited the seasoned bureaucrat.

For starters, Ballantyne remained on the county payroll for a month after he cleaned out his office because he was entitled to a 30-day notice of his termination.

Since his official last day on April 23, Ballantyne has collected a total of $84,451 as a result of the severance package he negotiated when he was hired in the fall of 2005, county records show. And his initial severance period doesn’t end until Aug. 23.

Ballantyne’s severance package is not unusual for local government managers and attorneys on the Treasure Coast. In fact, 13 local government managers and attorneys in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties are entitled to severance pay for six months, or longer, if they are fired without cause. (more…)

In these tight times, pay cuts and layoffs are affecting all ranks of school district employees from office staff to administrators.

But during the 2007-08 fiscal year, more than 61 Treasure Coast school district administrators earned more than $100,000. Now, some of these top earners are bracing for budget cuts.

Treasure Coast school superintendents made top dollar with Indian River County Schools Superintendent Harry La Cava taking home the biggest paycheck at $192,750.

However, for the 2009-10 fiscal year, La Cava is volunteering to take a 10 percent cut from his base salary, which equals about $17,500.

“If everybody is taking some kind of hit, we’re right in the mix of it,” La Cava said.

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Deshawn Norwood

Deshawn M. Norwood, 21, was arrested by Sewall’s Point police after the red 1998 Chevy he was riding in was pulled over shortly before 3 a.m. on Sunday.

Police had stopped the four-door car because one of its headlights was out, Sewall’s Point police Chief Eric Cerniglia said. After police noticed that Norwood, who was sitting in the back seat, was making furtive movements, they asked him and the two others in the car to get out, Cerniglia said. In the back, police noticed a loaded AK-47 type assault rifle where Norwood had been, Cerniglia said.

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STUART — A jailed Jensen Beach pastor accused of bilking investors out of more than $8 million in fraudulent real estate schemes will act as his own attorney at his trial set for March 23, a judge ruled Thursday.

Rodney McGill and his wife, Shalonda McGill, were arrested in September, and charged with racketeering, first-degree grand theft, obtaining a mortgage by false representation and other counts.

But if McGill gets his way, his trial won’t take place in Martin County — a point he repeated to Circuit Judge Sherwood Bauer.
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