By Jane Musgrave
Hired in November to work the same magic in Boynton Beach as he did decades ago to revitalize Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, Community Redevelopment Agency Director Chris Brown resigned in April after an investigation found he verbally and physically accosted his staff.
Boynton Beach city commissioners, who also serve as the board of the CRA, made no comments about Brown’s abrupt departure or the incident that led to it. At a meeting on April 14, they simply accepted his resignation, terminated the $400,000-a-year contract with Brown’s company and turned his duties over to City Manager Dan Dugger indefinitely.
Brown’s departure continues the revolving door in the CRA’s C-suite that began in 2021 when Michael Simon left after five years at the helm. The CRA hired Thuy Shutt to replace Simon, then fired her in 2023 and named Tim Tack interim director, a position he held until Brown's hiring.
Brown's departure also comes as the CRA is juggling various multimillion-dollar projects, including the redevelopment of the recently purchased Inn at Boynton Beach property and other sites along Boynton Beach Boulevard, the expansion of Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park along the Intracoastal Waterway, and the rebuilding of the city’s perpetually sagging downtown. It was talking about floating a $30 million bond issue to buy more land.
Brown’s resignation came five days after top CRA staff complained that he repeatedly dropped the f-bomb and used other obscenities to express his frustrations with their work.
Tack, now the assistant CRA director, said Brown entered his office on April 9 and called him a “f***ing loser.”
“You need to man up and take f***ing control, you have been the g**damn executive director for two years,” Brown told Tack, according to an investigation by employment law attorney David Gobeo. Brown then poked Tack in the chest with both hands.
When Finance Director Vicki Hill entered Tack’s office to try to calm Brown, he told her, “This is a f***ing private conversation,” and pushed her from the office, Gobeo wrote.
In a four-page report he sent commissioners on April 14, Gobeo concluded that Brown’s conduct violated CRA policy and caused employees to fear for their safety. Discipline, including termination, was warranted, he wrote.
On the same day, Brown submitted his resignation. Instead of addressing the allegations, he blasted the organization, saying its finances were in shambles, and called the work environment “hostile.”
He claimed the agency lacked important financial controls. He said he was repeatedly denied key reports, such as accounts payable, and was rebuffed when he tried to create “a clearer, more understandable budget.”
The agency, he claimed, has lost millions by keeping $30 million in a low interest-bearing checking account instead of investing it in a state fund where it would earn more money.
He said his company, Redevelopment Management Associates, had built a good reputation for helping revitalize cities across the state since he formed it in 2009 after leaving his job as executive director of Delray Beach’s CRA.
“We cannot, however, continue to operate effectively under circumstances marked by hostility, withheld information, and misrepresented facts,” he said. “For the protection of public resources and the long-term success of Boynton Beach’s redevelopment goals, it is best that we part ways.”
Neither Brown nor Dugger returned phone calls seeking comment.
However, it appears the city took his claims seriously. Dugger dispatched Alan Lawson, the city’s chief financial officer, to review the CRA’s books.
During a preliminary analysis, Lawson said he found serious lapses in some of the CRA’s internal controls, particularly the use of a credit card that allows employees to make business-related purchases without going through the purchase order process.
The CRA doesn’t have policies that establish spending limits for the so-called p-cards or to prohibit the use of the cards for such items as gift cards or alcohol. It doesn’t have a system to track how many cards are circulating among staff, he told the CRA board at a meeting on April 21.
Lawson said he planned to spend two weeks auditing the books to “identify, document, and quantify any irregularities” and put controls in place to eliminate the chance for fraud in the future.
The task won’t be easy, he said. Normally, such audits take three months. He said he was planning to complete his work in 10 days. “I’m not going to be getting any sleep in the next two weeks,” he said.
Commissioner Mack McCray balked at Lawson’s use of the word “fraud.” Lawson agreed the word could be misconstrued and agreed to substitute the word “risk.”
He said a similar exercise was done to ensure city finances were in order. Commissioners agreed the process was routine.
“We’re just instilling policies for the way tax money is treated to make the CRA the same as the city,” Commissioner Thomas Turkin said. “It’s important to have guidelines in place.”
From the start, the selection of Brown’s firm to run the CRA wasn’t fully embraced by commissioners. It was an unprecedented move for the city, which had always simply hired someone to run the agency. But after two years of looking, their search turned up no one.
At a meeting in November to finalize Brown’s contract, Commissioner Aimee Kelley voiced concern about the $400,000 a year the firm was charging — far more than the city manager’s $273,000 annual paycheck.
Commissioners also balked at Brown’s request to be allowed to spend up to $75,000 without their OK. Instead, they said he could spend $10,000.
Dugger sought to allay their concerns. The city was getting the advantages of the firm’s extensive knowledge about redevelopment through its work for other cities, such as Pompano Beach, he said.
He likened it to hiring an outside law firm instead of hiring an in-house attorney.
“What we’re missing now is trust and the only way we gain trust is through time,” he said.
Ultimately, the decision to hire Brown was unanimous. To show his city spirit, Brown donned a baseball cap with Boynton’s logo on it.
“Welcome aboard,” Mayor Rebecca Shelton said. “We’re going to work you to death.”
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