News

By Mary Hladky

In a move orchestrated by Mayor Scott Singer, longtime City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser will be out of her job on Oct. 31, 10 months before her desired retirement date.

She will be paid for those months she now won’t be working, receiving a total payout of $437,046.

Frieser, hired as city attorney in 1999, was required to step down on Aug. 31, 2025, under terms of Boca Raton’s retirement program, and she had submitted a “separation of employment agreement” for that date.

Singer, however, wanted her out this month on Aug. 31 and asked that the matter be placed on the City Council’s July 23 agenda for a vote.

Eventually Singer asked Frieser at the meeting if she would agree to an Oct. 31 departure. She did, and the council voted 4-1 to go along, with Andy Thomson dissenting.

Singer’s only stated reason was that, since Frieser was due to retire, he wanted to begin a smooth transition to hiring a new city attorney. “I don’t feel it is necessary to talk about details or do anything to reflect on the city attorney’s service,” he said.

Singer offered no rebuke of her job performance and praised her service. “I have enjoyed working with the city attorney for more than a decade now,” he said. “I have great respect for your talents.”

He declined to answer questions from The Coastal Star about specific problems he has with the way she does her job. Frieser declined comment on her speeded-up departure.

The City Council’s discussion created an unseemly spectacle, as members haggled over the most appropriate departure date while Frieser sat next to them on the dais. At one point, Singer sought her advice, with Frieser asking if he actually wanted it. He said he did.

Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker and Council member Fran Nachlas expressed strong dismay about how the matter was being handled.

“I apologize for what we have put you through,” Drucker told Frieser at the end of the meeting. “I believe you were treated very poorly and unfairly today. Karma is a bitch. I wish you the best.”

While council members did not cite any shortcomings in how Frieser performed her job, there were signs in her June job evaluation that Singer and Thomson saw room for improvement, even as the council gave her a good evaluation consistent with those she had received in the past.

Thomson, a lawyer, said then that he had spoken with Frieser about ways to improve her office.

“You and I have been working through this in the last few months,” he said, adding that it might be possible to report details during the July 23 meeting.
“You have been open-minded to the suggestions I have made,” he said. “I appreciate the openness you have.”

Those suggestions included making the City Attorney’s Office practices consistent with those of other cities in becoming involved in matters at an early stage. He also cited process issues such as how quickly the office handled matters and reported back to city staff and the council, he said after that meeting.

Singer said he had communicated to Frieser “some points of departure this past year,” adding that “some areas of improvement” were needed, particularly with communication on litigation matters.

“We had the unfortunate news of litigation that came up this past year where we got an adverse opinion,” he said.

Singer did not cite the case, but it might have involved one brought by the owner of an undeveloped beachfront parcel.

On Feb. 1, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Donald Hafele ruled that the city “unlawfully withheld and illegally delayed” turning over 42 documents that were damning to the city.

Hafele said he was not suggesting that the city purposely withheld records and said he had no issue with what he called the city’s “substantial efforts” to produce information.

“However, the court finds that whomever it was, be it the city attorney, be it the clerk, be it the elected officials themselves, that the production (of the records) was late, untimely, led to the filing of this lawsuit and the non-production was prejudicial to the plaintiff and its business pursuits,” he wrote in his 37-page opinion.

The main focus of the council’s discussion on July 23 was the separation agreement.

It was drafted by Frieser and reviewed by another in-house attorney and other city employees. It was essentially identical to the separation agreement she had drafted for former

City Manager Leif Ahnell, who retired on Dec. 31, 2023. At the time, no council member questioned that agreement.

Because Frieser had drafted the document for herself, Thomson said it should be reviewed by an outside, objective lawyer. “I think it is the prudent thing to do to have another set of eyes on it,” he said.

Only Council member Marc Wigder supported that. Others saw no need since it was a very simple document, and closely followed the Ahnell document template.

Nachlas said scrutiny of the document was “unfair” since a similar one had been scrutinized and approved by outside counsel in the past.

Frieser’s salary is $327,591. The separation agreement states that if she left on Aug. 31, she would be entitled to $547,995 in salary and benefits, including her pension, vacation time and sick leave that she would have received had she remained in her position until Aug. 31, 2025. If she leaves on Oct. 31, that will be reduced by about $110,000.

Ahnell, who retired three months earlier than he had to leave under the city’s retirement program, received $143,205.

While those amounts might seem generous, the payout parameters were set in a 2011 City Council resolution that subsequent councils have not revisited.

“If we want to change our practices going forward, we can do that,” Drucker said. “I don’t understand the urgency. I don’t understand why we are not doing what we did with Ahnell.”

None of the council members questioned the payout Frieser would receive.

Singer dismissed Thomson’s request, saying he saw no need for an outside review.

The motion Singer proposed and the council agreed to called for Frieser’s employment to end on Oct. 31 and directed City Manager George Brown to hire an executive search firm to help find her replacement.

“I sincerely regret that anyone might be disturbed or feel there is unfairness there,” Singer said. “I continue to value Ms. Frieser’s service to the city.”