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Minutes 02-26-79MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL CI~f COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 267 1979 AT 7:00 P.M. P~SE~ Edward F. Harmening~ Mayor Betty Riscoe~ Vies Mayor David Roberts~ Councilman Norman F. Strnad, Councilman Annette P. Tinker, Acting. City Manager Tereesa Padgett, City Clerk James W. Vance, City Attorney Mayor Harmening welcomed everyone and called the meetinc to order at 7:00 P. M. He announced it was a Special Meeting tailed in accordance with Section 56 of the City Char~er. He also announced if anyone was present' for the Board of Adjustment meeting scheduled in the Council Chambers, they are presently meeting in the down- stairs conference room. Mayor Harmening stated: "I called this meetin~ as your Mayor because I feel that I can no longer remain silent about the condi- tion of our City. TrOut community has a reputation for political conflict. Last Pall~ we were subjected to the most vicious political campaign in our hi,cry, Our citizens were exposed to a barrage of half-truths, Snnuendo~s{ and distortions of fact. The election results were, mn my opinion, clear. The voters had spoken and I felt it was my responsibility to cooperate with the new Council members. ttBoynton Beach was in a sound position financially and we had good department heads to superv%se the Cityts business. Iffelt the City would survive. After two months of the present administration, ! wonder if it can? ~The recruitment of a competent city manaqer for our City has become a farce. As of February 16th~ we had r~eeived 75=resumes from applicants ffrom 22 states for this position. In~-wo workshop meetings we stadied these resumes and selected seven people for interviews. One excellent man declined the interview. I know that he felt he could not work with this Council, Another man was unable to come for an interview for reasons of his own. A third man was snow bound. Mr. Strnad and Mrs. Riscoe shed ~erocodile tears~ over our discourtesy in not affording this man -another opportunity for an interview. At the workshop meeting the night before, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Roberts and t had all expressed the opinion that we were not very interested in hiring this man. Why did Mr. Strnad want to fly him in from South Carolina at tax- payers~ expense when he should have known that he did not have the interesE of the majority of the Council? "The Vice Mayor made mueh of tke fact that we wanted a man wi th Florida experience and that we had received very few resumes from Florida. The truth of the matter is that the position was advertised in the January 9th issue of Datagram, t~e of~ieial newsletter of the Florida League of Cities. On January ~9th~ the position was published in the International City Managers~ News- letter, a national publication. Of the 75 resumes we had received by February 16th, twenty-eight were from Florida and many others had Florida experience. MINUTES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL F~ETING BOYNTON BEA~Z~ FLORIDA PEBRUARY 26~ 1979 '~n our workshop sessions, the Vice Mayor has only shown interest in one candidate. She thought he was HANDSOME! She has been quoted as saying she wants a 'WHITE STALLION'. Now she may be interested in a handsome twhite stallion~, whatever that means --'and I do ~Dnder -- but I feel that the taxpayers are only seeking a competent administrator. "When it became apparent that the majority of the Council members were about to appoint a highly qualified man last Tues- day night, the Vice Mayor unleased a scurrilous attack on the applicant. Her charges were rife with innuendoes and obviously only intended to discredit the applicant. Extensive checking by the press ~erned up nothing to substantiate her claims. "When this man~ Mr. Baxter, was selected for his FIRST inter- view, vi ealled his previous employers to seek background informa- tion on him and learned nothinc- to his discredit. I received VERY favorable reports on his ~bilities and was fully aware that he had resigned because of political differences. The Vice Mayor could and should have done the same. '~tm afraid the Vice Mayor,s attack on Mr. Denver Baxter will make it impossible to get a qualified person from thfssstate and perhaps from any other. City managers have a network of eom- munication among themselves. "If we eliminated every city manager applicant who resigned or was discharged because he had political problems~ it would probably be years before the position was filled. Maybe this is what the Vice Mayor wants. "The first action of this Council was the appointment of a disgruntled secretary to the position of acting city manaeer. I went alon~ with this in the interest of harmony and hoped~ for the best. "For the past two months, this woman has engaged in a witch- hunt. Thmee department heads are PRIME targets on the acting city manager's hit list, along with several other employees. At least two other department heads feel very insecure. "The department heads have served the City w~tl. Two of those under attack are LONG STANDING employees. They have all endeavored to have good relationships with their fellow employ- ecs and the citizens they serve and have never been party to rancor or vindictiveness. The loyalty of these department heads and the caliber of their efforts have eontmibuted greatly to and for the City. "~ think that such people are subjected to all sorts of barbs, innuendoes, and unwarranted remarks, and threats of insecur- ity is unbelievable -- but regrettably true. -2- MINUTES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEET±NG FEBRUARY 26, 1979 BOYYTON BEA~ FLORIDA 'T~qe City is in a state of turmoil. It is impossible for people to work effectively under the present conditions. 'TThe responsibility of an acting city manager is that of a fcaretaker'. Unfortunately, Mrs. Tinker has overstepped her bounds in this regard. '~t is my firm belief that two of our newly eleoted Council members plan to keep Mrs. Tinker as acting city manager at least until she has completed her hatchet job ,and possibly indefinitely. '~Z thinkfuq~tner~ attempts to recruit a permanent city manager would be ineffective at this time and under these conditions~ TT?erhaps if Mrs. Tinker is not available to do her dirty work~ the two members of the Council who are 'dragging their feet' will show sinoere interest in recruiting a professional manager. "Z strongly feel that the two Council members on my left, ~ese self~proclaimed paragons of virtue~ keepers of the publdn purse~ and authorities on ~good government' are only bent on the ~truction of this City at the citizens' expense. "~ feel sure that the Vioe Mayor and 'Bo~s Bob' know exactly what they.are up to. I hope that Councilman Norman Strnad is only misguided~ "Meanw~hi!e, the games oontinue and the City suffers. T~% have called this meeting to consider the possibility of replacing Mrs. Tinker as acting manager. I fee! it is impera- tive to have someone else in this position. If it is the wish of the majority of this Council~ this shall be done. 'TI wish to assure the employees and the publio that if this action is taken~ the new acting miry manager will conduct the day to day business of the City in suoh a manner as to bring the employees together and bring credit to the City. There will be no personnel changes wi~aout the consent of a majority of the Councit~ wi~a one exception. Mrs. Ti_nker will return to he~ previous position at the water plant as a Secre&ary III. T'We must do our ~TMOST to get ~qe City moving again. this time, the Chair will entertain a motion.TT Mr. Roberts stated he would like to say a few words. He doesnnot have as many details, but would like to add a few items which have upset him. As he recalls~ this started out with a private inves- tigation of one of tke Council members with a woman in the Build- ing Department,~at ~hich time Bud Howell was called on to produce -3- MINUTES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 26, 1979 certain building permits. The Council never received a report or were advised of the outcome of this meeting or what happened. He could not find a copy of this particular item discussed with Bud Howell. He does ha~e some of the facts surrounding this, but it should have been rep~r~ted back to the Council. We do have a witness to the actions by an attorney. Mr. RoberTs clarified that the fact is the Council who sets policy is not doing that, but the policy is being set by the Acting City Manager by intmoduci~g ardinan~es and resolutions withoutallowing Council the opportunity to discuss them. She also requested a review of the salaries and then switched to a review of the budget which was adopted six months ago. Mr. Roberts stated the last items are a continuation of snipping at the former City Manager which we should not be wastinc time on. ~ne recent memos concern his statements of January 2. He can't help but look back to what the previous Council accomplished with civility and dignity despite our share of disagreements and we still maintained one of the lowest tax millage~ in the CounTy. Our three new Council members promised to serve in the best inter- est of the people and he offered his assistance if they want it. Well, there have been rumors and actions taifYed with vindictive- ness and based on what has passed, appointments have already been made or announced and he hopes these people that we just talked about who have been appointed will not perpetuate the philosophy he has mentioned. It could sabotage the normal operatio~ of the Ci~f~ create a poor image and scare off any new businesses coming into the City. We should also strive to be progressive and still try to maintain our low ~ mill tax rate. ~aerefore, he sincerely hopes we can work together to~ard that end and divert our engrgies for the good of Boynton and not for i~s degradation. He wonders if that's too much to hope for. Mr. Roberts continued that there is no doubt now there is a ven- detta towards various employees which is greater than her obli- gations to the City. Some me~s were passed out to various department heads. He referred to a memo sen~ to the City Clerk and told how this gave competition to TV soap opera~. Some of the items referred to in this memo happened twelve years ago wbich are not relevant to the issue and illustrates there is a ease of vendetta. In the meantime, some of the men who were involved in this item who were supposed to have been .witnesses to this persecution have denied the claim. He contacted Mr. Robert Griffith~ an esteemed well-known attorney~ to check the credibility of this story, Mr. Griffith said he would sign an affidavit that there is no truth in these allegations and the conduct as pre- sented in the memo by Mrs. Tinker. Mr. Roberts referred to there being another memo sent to the Building Department clai~ng there was a party going on, women knitting, etc. and he would like to know how much time she has spent in this particular department or the Russian KGB group doing the investigation. MINUTES - SPECIAL CI~Ty COUNCIL MEETING BOYNTON BEACH~ FLORIDA FEBRUARY 26~ 1979 Mr. R~berts continued that Mayor Harmening has just summarized some of the problems and ther~ is no need to continue. We can get bogged down .with these people feeding their egos. There is an item pending zdght now. Perhaps someone has to answer to some of these other problems. Mr. Strnad stated that he has never heard such a lot of ball in his life. This is really something! He thinks the best way to take attention from what is b~ng brought out is to make~nuendoes and cause the attention to be placed in another direetion. If anyone would care to go to the City Manager's office and find out the accnsations that are b.eing made are true and not a vendettas they would be very welcome. We were elected to see if we could get this City back into line. ~wo people sitting here, who are holdover Councilmen~ do not want these things to come to ~light because it will show their ineff~ci6ney from last year. One particular item he came across was Resolution No. 78-HHH. These two Councilmen signed it, but it was never presented to the Fire Chief or to the Personnel Department and it changed tko whole appointment and promotion in the Fire Department. Nobody knows where it oame from and someone must nor have been doing their job properly. He is disappointed to hear these accusations made. He thinks we have ~itting as the Acting City Manager a very qualified person who knows exactly what she is doing and never falters one moment when answering questions pertainin~ to this City government. When we get the proper person in here to be the City Manager~ he is fully in accord to appoint sueh a person. He hopes these people come to light within the next few weeks because we have had many more applications smnce the last review. At the time of the last review, he was seriously ill and must admit he did not properly go through indepth each application and screen it. However, since he has been feeling better, he went through every one of the 75 applications and has found very qualified persons He does not think there is any reason to jump at anyone because they presented themselves w~ll when ~hey are just looking to oust our Actin~ City Manager. Mrs. kiscoe stated: "At the January 29, 1979, womkshop meeting to weed out applioants for City Manager, Mayor Harmenin~ referred to the application submitted by Mr. Francis T. Kain. Mayor Harmening, Councilman Roberts and Councilman Johnson were all impressed w~th Mr. Kain~s resume. It was later revealed in the press that Mr. Kain did not submit his resume. At the following workshop meeting, Mayor Harmening stated he had submitted the resume for Mr. Kain when asked by a reporter. No further explan~ tion was given. However~ a check of the long distance calls made on the city phone for the month of December 1978 showed several calls made to Mr. Kain's office in Por~ Lauderdate by former city attorney Gene Moore. One can only surmise what kind of deal was going on. -5- MINUTES - SPECIAL CITT COUNCIL MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 26, 1979 'TThe next hutabaloo over the selection was w~th a Mr. Denver Baxter. This man did not even measure up to the minimum qualifi- -cations we advertised for the position. Furthermore~ in his first application received by the City oF January 15~ 19797 he stated that he was still employed by the city of Winter Garden. This was nor true as he had been suspended for 30 days in December 1978 and while under suspension resigned his position. His second resume of Pebm~uary 16, 1979~ stated he apparently left the~ploy of the city of Winter Garden in December 1978. No reason was given nor was the suspension mentioned. A request for a police background check by me, a normal routine, was termed by Mayor Harmening to be ~estapo tactics. Mr. Baxter subsequently took another job elsewhere. I must interject at this point that the term Gestapo was First used at a workshop meeting by Councilman Johnson regarding another potential candidate. Mr. Johnson also requested a police background check on this candidate~ but his request was not considered to be gestapo t~ctics. ?~Another potential candidate who was scheduled to be inter- viewed was denied the opportunity by some of my fair-minded fello~ Councilmen when the candidate.was snowed--in in South Carolina. '~ayor Harmening and Councilman Johnson have now accused myself and another Councilman of dragging our feet in the selec- tion of a City Manager. To date~ we have interviewed exactly four (4) potential candidates. We have been in office just under two months. A check of the delays encountered in the past with the hiring of a City Manager shows that since 1964, the shortest time period between City ~anagers has been three months. "It becomes readily apparent that Mayor Harmening and Council- men Roberts and Johnson are most anxious to bring on board a new City Manager regardless of the qualifications of the individual. Their inteRt is nor to give the C/ty the best possible man or woman for the job~ but simply to eliminate the present interim City Manager. '~The policies and practices of Mayor Harmening.a~ereminis- cent of the ward politics at its lowest level as practiced in a northeastern U. S. city. T~Mayor Harmening has been extremely critical of the actine City Manager in the news media. He has even stated the purpos~ of this meeting was to fire Mrs. Tinker. Why? Without even the benefit of an explanation or consultation oF all other Council members? In fact, I did not learn oF th~s Special Meeting until a reporter called me at home and informed me. I would like to inform the Mayor that Section 54 of the City Charter states that the duties of runnin~ the City fall upon the Mayor AND COUNCIL. Recent events make i~ readily apparent that the Mayor is trying to run this City his own way without consultin~ with other Coun- cil members and in apparent violation oF the S~nshine Law. -6- MtNTdTES - SPECIAL CITY COUJ~CIL MEETING BOYNTON BEACH~ FLORIDA FEBRItBL~y 26, 1979 t'I also must call attention to the Mayor of Section 49B of the City Charter which states that the Cit~ Manager shall admini- ster eaeh department, office and agency of the City with the exception of the Council and City Attorney. IT IS THE ABSOLUTE DUL~f OF A CITY MANAGER TO MAKE INQUIRIES INTO THOSE DEPARi~MENTS WHEN THERE IS REASON TO BELIEVE THAT DEPARTMENT IS NOT BEING PROPERLY RUN IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CITY. The memos the Mayor alludes to are simply the proper manner in whieh a begin- ning inquiry should be made. If complaints are received by a City Manager f~om the citizens, then the City Manager is obli- gated to investigate such complaints, or the City Manager would be derelict in his duties. It would be more appropriate if the Mayor was really ~interested in his City and its citizens to attempt to find out if there is any validity to the complaints instead of tmyinq to defend them by firing the City Manager. Is myself, have heard from several sources of some of the problems involving the Police Department. I have it from my husband, who was present in Mrs. Padgett's office and witnessed Mrs. Padgett~s attacks on eertain members of her office. The City Manager's memos to the Building Department speak for themselves. The previous City Manager may have allowed things to be done by a handshake~ but the proper proeedure is to put it in writin~ and spell it out. T~ must also remind the Mayor that Mr. Strnad and myself weme eleeted to this Council by-an overwhelming majority of the votems for the simple reason that they wanted a change, If they do not receive the change they voted for, there will surely be additional changes come the next election. The Mayor is also making allegations that I and Mr. Stmnad put pressure on Mr. Johnson to the point of making him resign. I would like to have Mm. Johnson submit a statement telling the truth as to who actually put pressure on him. There has been NO CONTACT between myself and Mr. Johnson~ but can the Mayor say the same? Who was it that called Mm. Johnson into the City Clerk's office and read the memo to him from M ms. Tinker to Mrs. Padgett and attempted to coerce his Vote to fire Mrs. Tinker? If you will be trsthfnl with the people~ Mm. Mayor, maybe they will forgive you for your simple mistakes,t~ Mayor Hammening announced that at this point, perhaps it would be in order to make a m~cion to remove th'e Acting City Manager, Mrs. Tinker requested the oppomtunity to explain her point of view and Mayor Harmening replied she could have a few moments. Mrs. Tinker stated in view of the fact she is still the Acting City Managem~ she would like to know why she never received a notice of this meeting? She is supposed to be present at every City Council meeting and did not meceive a notine of this meet- ing. Mayor Harmening replied that he would assume a notiee was put into her box and Mrs. Tinker replied that it was not as she had three secretaries eheeking the box all day. Mayor Harmening remarked that maybe they conveniently lost it. A gentleman in the audience asked if this was all the secretaries had to do and Mrs. Tinker replied negatively, but they have plenty of work and declared the man out of order. -7- MINUTES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING BOYNTON BEA~H~ FLORIDA FEBRUARY 26~ 1979 Mrs. Tinker continued that in reference to Mayor Harmeninq's statement that she has spent two months on a witch hunt oS a vendetta and only accomplished these four memos is ludicrous. She then showed evidence of the amoun~ of work which has been ~3nducted in the City Manager?s office during the period she has been on board. She showed copies of speed let%ers which were sent to department heads lookin~ for input. Mrs. Tinker stated that as far as vendetta, she wants it strictly understood they are using the term incorrectly. Vendetta is a fe~d between two groups. She isnot feuding, but ignores them eom- pletely. Mrs. Tinker then referred to the memos and stated Mr. Howell received a memo when she learned we had an operation completely and absolutely illegal from the beginning to end. She would have been derelict in her duties if she had not pursued it. There was no contract and no list of the towin~ companies. Mrs. Tinker stated in reference to the memo to Chief Huddleston, it was brought to her attention we did have an officer conduct- ing an investigation with the State Attorney,s office and had a car at the Banana Boat Lounge. Mrs. Tinker stated in reference to the memo to Mr. Howell regard- ing conduct, she questioned why they had to travel im pairs and had an inspector sitting in the office most of the day. She also heard from many builders and contractors that they had to wait while the girls were just standing around. Then~ last week, she received a personnel authorization from Mr. Howell statin~ he was to leave on a conference yesterday and it would take plac~ for three days and he would return ~o his office on Thursday morning. This was ~or a Building 0fficials~ conference in Orlando. She asked for backup material and found out it was approved by the former City Manager on December 7. She later learned he was going to be acoom~anied by one inspector in his department and de~ied that request for the additional S268. She felt since he was an inspector and it was a Building 0ffici~ls? conference, she did-not think it was necessary to spend the tax- payers~ ~ney to send a friend along for company. Mrs. Tinker stated with reference to her most recent memo, she did not expect any one of the gentlemen mentioned to remember the incident. It was 12 years ago and it was humiliating and embarrassing to her. It does stand our in her mind because she was the one to look like a fool. She might also point out the soap opera that Mr. Roberts refers to was extremely important to her because it concerned the illness of her mother who had her second stroke and she had a difficult time getting time off. She was questioned like a criminal. To go back twelve years may seem like a long time, hut having gone through this for a good number of years, there is absolutely no communication between her and the City Clerk. -8- MINUTES - SPEC/AL C/TY COUNCIL MEETING BOYNTON BEA~6, FLORIDA FEBRUARy 26, 1979 Mrs. Tinker stated that none of the memos were publimized by her. She did what she thought to be her duty. She asked for explana- tions. Today's paper stated Mrs. Padgett disliked the City's name and her name being dmug through the mud, but she was asked for a report by Vime Mayor P/smoe and gave her a report and for- warded a mourtesy copy to Mrs. Padgett only. She did nor release this memo. It was released to Mayor Harmening by Mrs. Padgett~ who called on Councilman Johnson for his support in firing her tonight. Mayor Harmening has mentioned all the inmidents and reports, hut she has not made one of them. As she told the re- porters today, the public remomds are one thing, but it is not necessary for her to mall the reporters to advise them that she asked for an explanation ~om ~ny department head or to release any information concerning personnel matters. This meeting tonight was broughtabout by Mayor Harmening for one speeific purpose - to dismiss her. In her own defense, she is doing the best job she man. She would have been derelict if she had not investigated these complaints. She has not done any digging to eontinu-e a witch hunt or anything else. Her memos are the truth and not fiction. Mrs. Tinker stated as far as resolutions and ordinanmes, she has not onme asked Mr. Vanme to prepare a resolution or ordinanme withou~ being directed to do so by a Council member. Part of her job is to follow the directions of the City Council. Mrs. Tinker stated if they would like to pursue this further, she would like to. She is not spending all her time on these hatmhet jobs~ but this is work done by the City Manager's office. Mayor Marmening has never been in the City Manager's office nor inquired of the work and Mr. Roberts has been in twice. Mayor Harmening replied that she sounds very good, but the City employees do not share her views. Mrs. Tinker remarked that those are favorite City ~mployees and Mayor Hammening replied that possibly one or two might side with her. Mayor Harmening asked if someone would eare to make a motion to dismiss Mrs. Tinker and appoint someone else. Mr. Roberts re- plied that it would be an exercise in futility. Mayor Harmening asked if anyone wanted to make a motion to keep Mrs. Tinker. Mayor Harmening ~then referred to receiving an important meme today regarding the resignation of one of the Council members and asked Mr. Vance if this could be included on the agenda and Mr. Varec replied affirmatively with the unanimous consent of the members tonight. Mayor Harmening requested m motion to waive notice and include this item on the agenda and Mr. Roberts replied thMt he theught it would be a good idea ~hile the Council is present. Mr. Vance clarified that the only amtion which could be taken tonight would be the declaration of a vacancy on the Council. -9- M!AK/TES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING BOYNTON BEACf~, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 26, 1979 Mrs. Riscoe referred to past Special Meetings and stated the only action taken was on the items published on the notice and in this particular case~ it was listed as Firing of the City Manager. Mayor Harmening corrected that it listed Discussion of the Office of City Manager. He added th'at if the Council wishes~ they can add anything they like and Mm. Vance has agreed~ but it take unanimous approval. Mm. Roberts moved to waive notice and include on the agenda the resiqr~tion of Councilman Ron Johnson. Mayor Harmeninc turned the gavel over to Vice Mayor Riseoe to second the moti6n. Mrs. Risooe requested a roll call vote and Mr. Roberts ~eptied this was not necessary as a vote just had to be taken whether to include th/s item. The man has sen~ in a resignation and 'it should be accepted. Mrs. Riscoe replied that she would not vote to put it on the agenda. Mr. Roberts then withdrew the motion. Mrs. Riscoe stated that we have a City Charter which we are supposed to live up to. A Special Meeting is called for a par- ticu!ar reason. This was n~ on the agenda. This item can be included on the agenda for the next Regular meeting on March 6. Mm. Roberts referred to the CiTy Attorney bein~ the parliamen- tarian and stated this has happened before. Mrs. Riscoe replied th'at she would not vote for it. Mr. Stmnad asked if there was any reason why it could not be on the agenda for the next meeting and Mr. Vance replied that it will automatically be on the agenda for the next meeting. Mayor Harmening announced that since we seem to have come to no valid action for the purpose of the Special Meeting and it Jo'_not the wi/f[ of the Council to take up any other business no matter how pertinent it may be~ we may as well adjourn the meeting. Mr, Roberts moved to adjourn, seconded by ~rs. ~iscoe. Motion carried 4~0 and the meeting was properly adjourned at 7:40 P.M. ATTEST: (One T~pe) CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA J ~ayo r / ~ ~ ~ Vice Mayor Councilman