FGC President Lawrence Barrett Remains the Highest Paid Public Employee in Columbia County & the 5-County FGC Footprint & More
June 17, 2025 2:00 pm | 4 min read
Columbia Ccounty Observer photos and graphic
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – FGC President Lawrence Barrett remains the highest paid public employee in Columbia County & the 5-County FGC footprint and more.
Last Thursday, June 12, Dr. Barrett was awarded a 5-year contract. While humble about his pay, there appeared to be more to this year’s contract than met the eye, which had the College President going from 1-year automatic renewals contract to an initial 5-year contract and then 1-year automatic renewals.
Contract Discussions Were Different This
Year:
The April Tepedino Surprise – A Strategic
Governance Issue
What do we have to do to retain the College president – A sudden urgency. Was anybody talking the whole truth?
With President Barrett’s 2023 contract being renewed on a year-to-year autopilot, this year’s April College Board of Trustees (BOT or Board) meeting had a big surprise.
Related article: Florida Gateway College President Gets a Perfect Evaluation – Then a New Forver Contract.
At the end of the meeting, after Board Chairman Lindsey Lander asked for “topics for future meetings,” Trustee Miguel Tepedino seized the moment to raise a strategic governance issue: how to retain and support President Barrett, whose leadership is credited by the Governor's Board for the success of the college.
Governor's Trustee Suzanne Norris had been on
the Board for 26 years. She was glad to "lock
in" Dr. Barrett for the next five years.
(Columbia County Observer photo)
Trustee Tepedino asked: “What do we need to be doing to make sure that we ensure your happiness – this college and the leadership? …, it looks easy, right? ‘cause we're up here, and things go very quickly, but it's hours and hours of grinding it out.”
Trustee Tepedino continued: ‘I feel like, you
know, being totally transparent, I feel like
you've had – you know – there have been some
moments where, you know, as a leader – you know
– we kind of put you in the firing line, and you
take a lot of the shots for us, and then we sit
back here, and we're like, 'everything's going
great.'”
“I just wanna make sure that whatever we need to do – to kind of – you know – have this college offer whatever it is that's the best for you and your position and your family and your life; that we either maintain that or we look at what things we need to be doing because, you know, everybody asks for a raise all the time. I don't mean that about you guys, but at my office, that's how it seems to work … and you don't ask for anything ….”
Trustee Tepedino concluded, “I just want to put that out there… I don't wanna take you for granted.”
President Barrett’s response was brief, “I don't wanna take the staff for granted. It's all about them, not me.”
FGC Board Chairman Lindsey Landser runs an
intelligent meeting. However, one of the
trustees is a blurters and just speak out
without being recognized. (photo: Columbia
County Observer)
Board President Lindsey Lander said, “I think we all echo that sentiment. I thank you for saying that.”
President Barrett’s contract calls for contract review of his base salary and other compensation and benefits annually at the April Board meeting. There was no mention of the president’s contract review on the April agenda.
May BOT Meeting: Pres. Barrett Contract Review Still Not on the Agenda. Attorney Logan Reviews President’s Evaluations
Attorney Logan reviewed President Barrett's evaluations. The BOT rates the Pres. on a scale of 1-5. Pres. Barrett received all 5s with the exception of two 4.8s.
President Barrett mentioned that he wanted to continue his contract for five years with a five-year contract.
Dr. Barrett did not ask for any extraordinary raise, requesting only “to get what any of the other employees get and no more than that.” Dr. Barrett added, “I would like a little something at the end, but we'll talk about that at the end. Not monetarily, but just something from -unintelligible.”
As he did at the April meeting, Trustee Tepedino weighed in again:
"I want to make it very clear, you're not asking for more than what you want to make for the next five years? … This is the time when a contract is being reviewed, whatever it is that we need to do to ensure your continued success as an individual, your family, that we take care of you… I appreciate you saying, “Hey, I don't want to ask for more money than we're giving the other administrative people.”… But I also want to make sure whatever those little things are, that ensure you to feel like you are being taken care of by this school and this board, we want to make sure we do it.”
The Board did not to mention any dollar amounts.
Thursday, June 12, Budget and Contract Time:
FGC's budget, a hair under $30 million
The Board approved a 2025-26 budget of just under $30 mil. President Barrett’s contract was on the agenda – sort of: “Personnel Matter-President’s Contract (Potential Action Requested).”
With Dr. Barrett's contract due to ratchet in on July 1, 2025 (a 5-year contract), it was unclear why Attorney Logan was asking for "Potential Action" or what potential action was.
Dr. Barrett's contract was not part of the agenda material to which the public was privy, and it is not clear why it was not.
Attorney Megan Logan decided not to add Pres.
Barrett's contract to the evening's agenda
material available to the public. (photo:
Columbia County Observer)
Attorney Logan introduced the item, “The Board tasked me with reviewing his contract, updating his contract, a copy of that is available in your folders. The significant terms of that. It's a five-year contract, beginning July 1 and ranging until 2030."
No one mentioned ten cents of the dollar amount in Dr. Barrett's contract.
Dr. Barrett’s base pay is $301,600. When he began in 2015, his base pay was $200k. Base pay is used to calculate the Board’s 10% yearly contributions to Dr. Barrett’s retirement plan and another 10% toward a tax-free annuity.
Dr. Barrett also gets a new all-tax payer expenses paid car for his business and personal use.
With its benefits, President Barrett’s contract is estimated to cost Florida taxpayers over $450,000 in its first year.
Only two Board members commented on Dr. Barrett’s contract. Trustee Tepedino added to his previous comments, "If it was [sic] me, I'd ask for more."
President Barrett said, "I never expected t make this much money.
Trustee Suzanne Norris said,
“It’s really important that we lock in our leadership for the next five years… We’re happy that you decided to hang in there with us.”
Dr. Barrett said, “Six months ago, I wasn't sure I wanted another five years. Now I'm repositioned, and I'm re-energized, and we got a lot of work to do in the next five years.”
Representative Chuck Brannan, a member of the Board, ended the meeting on a light note, telling President Barrett, “They can DOGE your salary now.”
Dr. Barrett quipped, “That’s what I’m anticipating.”
Florida Representative Chuck Brannan brought a
bit of humor to the situation.
Epilogue
The Governor’s Board passed Dr. Barrett’s new 5-year contract unanimously. Still, nobody mentioned the amount.
Was Dr. Barrett ready to take a powder to parts unknown? Your reporter asked Trustee Tepedino what he knew. There was no resonse.
