By Mary Hladky
Mayor Susan Haynie will now be able to vote on matters involving James and Marta Batmasian, the city’s largest commercial landowners, without being dogged by questions about whether such votes violate state and county ethics rules.
Haynie announced at the Dec. 12 Boca Raton City Council meeting that her husband, Neil, has ended his business relationship with the master association of Tivoli Park, a 1,600-unit apartment complex in Deerfield Beach.
The Palm Beach Post reported on Nov. 5 that Community Reliance, a property management firm started by Haynie and her husband, has been paid $12,000 a year since 2010 by the master association. Susan Haynie left the company last year.
The Batmasians own 80 percent of the Tivoli Park units, and five of the six Tivoli board members work for the Batmasians’ company, Investments Limited, The Post reported.
The article raised the question of whether Haynie had a conflict of interest in voting on matters involving the Batmasians and should recuse herself. Haynie has cast at least 12 votes on matters involving the Batmasians, according to The Post.
Haynie is now a candidate for the Palm Beach County Commission seat being vacated by term-limited Steven Abrams, a former Boca Raton mayor. Haynie has repeatedly denied she acted improperly. She requested an advisory opinion from the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics in 2013 on whether she could vote and was told she could.
But the opinion was narrowly written and was based on a specific instance in which James Batmasian was neither the applicant nor the developer of a project coming to the City Council for approval.
“I truly believe that I have always held myself to the highest standards of ethical behavior and remain steadfast in my belief that I have followed the law in accordance with that advisory opinion,” Haynie said at the Dec. 12 meeting. “Hopefully that will put this matter to rest.”
Now that Neil Haynie has terminated his company’s contract with the Tivoli Park master association, no ethical cloud hangs over his wife if she votes on matters involving the Batmasians. Even though Susan Haynie is no longer involved with Community Reliance, the county’s ethics code prohibits an official from casting a vote that benefits a spouse or relative.
But her past votes likely will remain under scrutiny.
The ethics commission’s executive director, Mark Bannon, has neither confirmed nor denied that the commission is investigating Haynie.
Yet, a commission investigator in November filed a public records request with the city asking for copies of Haynie’s and Boca Raton City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser’s emails between January and December 2013 that contain certain keywords. The investigator also requested all site approval plans from January 2013 until November 2017 containing many of the same keywords. Those keywords include Batmasian and Investments Limited.
Al Zucaro, publisher of the BocaWatch blog and a Haynie adversary, has filed complaints with the Florida Commission on Ethics and the county’s ethics commission.
The Florida ethics commission, like Palm Beach County’s, will not say if an investigation is underway.
Zucaro’s original state complaint seeks an investigation on grounds that Haynie did not disclose her ownership of Community Reliance or her income from it in financial disclosure forms that elected city officials are required to file annually. He updated his complaint in November after The Post published its story.
His county complaint raises the financial disclosure issue and contends Haynie had a clear conflict of interest.
Contacted after Haynie announced her husband had ended the contract with the master association, Zucaro said that “does not put the matter to rest.”
“The matter is not about today. The matter is about the last seven years that she has taken votes on behalf of issues she should not have taken votes on,” he said.
Zucaro denied that he filed the complaints because Haynie defeated him in March’s mayoral election.
“This is purely bad governance,” he said.
Haynie made her announcement after Bannon, at the invitation of city officials, delivered an ethics tutorial to council members without mentioning the mayor.
Council members, who agreed in November that they needed to be more transparent on ethics matters, unanimously approved an ordinance aimed at keeping themselves and the public informed when ethics issues are raised.
The ordinance requires notifying other council members and the public when one of them requests an ethics opinion, when any additional communication about the request takes place and when an ethics opinion is issued. It also does not allow the hiring of outside attorneys advising the city on ethics issues if they have had recent involvement with a city election campaign or made campaign contributions.
Investments Limited is known primarily for its property portfolio, but it also has been a developer.
The company recently submitted plans for redevelopment of two portions of its Royal Palm Place, a 14-acre downtown destination featuring retail and restaurants.
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