The city of North Port has decided to pay a former city employee $60,000 in damages as part of a federal lawsuit. Steve Uebelacker, a former captain of criminal investigations, sued the city for wrongful termination. North Port City Manager Peter Lear said that settling may have the least expensive way to finalize the lawsuit. Uebelacker had been with the city since 2014 when he was hired as an internal affairs investigator. He was hired by North Port Police Chief Kevin Vespia, but the relationship between the two went south and Uebelacker was fired for what Vespa called “a management style that did not fit with the organization.” The two held a meeting in February of last year, which had differing accounts of the details. Vespia gave a one-year notice of his plan to retire as North Port Police Chief, effective the end of next month.
