It's All About Leverage

And City Manager, Julio Avael, has used it to his advantage. Avael, it appears, will leave in August and get paid through November under a deal that the City has made to get him to remove his name from the list of applicants for the City Manager's Job.

As we recall, Avael was already likely to leave in November. Under the sweet new deal, he gets out in August but still gets paid through November. The new deal is also a concession that the City is not likely to find sufficient evidence to terminate Avael for cause before August.

What does the City get? On the face of the deal, not much, unless it is vital to the City to have Avael gone -- more vital than simply not having to reject him for the new Manager's job. But if the City Fathers have a hidden agenda regarding the new Manager's appointment, then maybe they got a lot more than they are willing to acknowledge. Since not much goes on in Key West politics that doesn't involve a hidden agenda, one has got to suspect such an agenda here.