Even before Neptune Beach named its new city manager last week, his predecessor was suing over being fired, saying he was victimized for reporting possible fraud and financial wrongdoing.
Stefen Wynn, who was dismissed in January, filed a largely unnoticed whistleblower lawsuit last month arguing he suffered retaliation that’s forbidden under Florida law.
Wynn “disclosed violations of rules, regulations and laws, and/or malfeasance, misfeasance … or gross misconduct,” the suit argues, and “was the victim of retaliatory actions” that included his firing.
“This is a textbook example of the kind of case envisioned by the Legislature” when it protected public employees from retaliation for reporting problems, said Wynn’s attorney, Marie Mattox.
The Tallahassee-based lawyer said she handles a lot of whistleblower claims and that Wynn’s case stands out because, to her, the facts seem clearly on her client’s side.
“This would be one of those Whistleblower 101 things not to do,” Mattox said of the firing.
Neptune Beach officials haven’t responded yet to the lawsuit, but retained an outside counsel, Jacksonville-based employment and local government attorney Susan Erdelyi.
Mayor Elaine Brown declined comment because the case is ongoing.
The suit says that in October, Wynn “detailed fraud in [the] defendant’s budgetary process including overspending by defendant’s police department,” although a letter Wynn sent the City Council that month said he had reported “areas that I believed...
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