Sometime ago, the Lee County Sheriff Office elected to terminate the retirement health benefits of employees that were hired after October 1, 2010, do to the cost of these retirement health benefits becoming costly to the agency.

Recently, Sheriff Carmine Marceno elected to have the Civil Service Board adjust this policy and make an exception to those that “achieved the rank of Chief or above on or after October 1, 2010 the member will be eligible for this benefit upon separation.”

At the time this adjustment was made (FY2024) Sheriff Carmine Marceno had learned that he was under investigation by the FBI. The only personnel that benefitted from this policy change were Sheriff Carmine Marceno and Undersheriff John Holloway and any new Sheriff or Undersheriff.  

It is questionable whether this was legally permissible as it relates to adjustment of a policy that addresses the health benefits of only two employees (Sheriff Carmine Marceno and Undersheriff John Holloway) and that this policy was introduced by the two employees (Sheriff Marceno and Undersheriff John Holloway) that created a benefit from their actions.

The legal question is this: 

Can Sheriff Carmine Marceno and Undersheriff John Holloway introduce and adjust the retirement health benefits for themselves legally and eliminate all the other employees from receiving this benefit? It seems this was a self-serving action by Sheriff Marceno and Undersheriff John Holloway that provided them with a benefit and eliminated others from receiving this same benefit.