News

City manager pressured to address corruption concerns

By John Pacenti 

The Delray Beach City Commission since the arrest of a Code Enforcement officer in October has detailed a parade of horribles at meetings when it has come to that division.

Mayor Tom Carney said there is a perception that Code Enforcement targets certain neighborhoods over others. 

Commissioner Rob Long said he learned officers are required to fill a quota of written complaints.

Commissioner Angela Burns said officers harass residents with frivolous matters, such as putting out trash cans.

And they have heard from residents and businesses who say they are fined even after remedying violations.

“We don’t know the scope of problems in the Code Enforcement Division but residents and business owners must have confidence that neighborhoods are not being arbitrarily targeted and that city employees are applying city rules fairly,” Carney wrote in his newsletter.

Vice Mayor Juli Casale has been the most vocal, pressing City Manager Terrence Moore for answers, asking him repeatedly in and outside of meetings if there is widespread corruption in the division. She has yet to get her answer.

In a Dec. 19 email to Moore, Casale said Moore failed to inform an internal investigator that $11,250 in liens were removed from a property owned by the second in command over the division. As a result, a 12-page report failed to address her essential question.

“My concern is this was not an actual investigation,” Casale wrote. 

Preferential treatment?
Casale met with Moore and Paul Weber, the city’s labor relations administrator who performed the investigation and wrote the Dec. 19 report to Moore.

“You felt the ‘investigation would be tainted’ had you given Mr. Weber this information,” Casale wrote to Moore in an email provided to The Coastal Star. “I was shocked that you would expect a thorough investigation without all the facts. But it seems you were not looking for a thorough investigation.”

The day after Casale sat down with Moore and Weber, the investigator interviewed Danise Cleckley, assistant neighborhood and community services director. Cleckley owns 624 SW Fourth St., the property whose liens for storing junk were relieved.

Weber, in an addendum report to Moore on Dec. 20, said three liens on the property were reduced to $100 in 2006. He said that the Clerk of Courts mistakenly dismissed only one of the liens at the time when all should have been dismissed.

City Attorney Lynn Gelin, however, in a Dec. 23 email obtained by The Coastal Star, pushed back on Weber’s conclusion.

“Sorry, Paul, my staff and I also reviewed this matter and I respectfully disagree with your conclusion concerning the liens,” Gelin wrote.

“While I am not aware of anyone accusing this employee of engaging in nefarious behavior — which, in my opinion, is a very strong allegation — the question is whether or not city policies and procedures were followed and whether or not the actions of this employee met the professional standards of the city.”

The purported data entry error should have been reviewed by the city’s code board, Gelin said.

Cleckley also faced a 2021 lawsuit claiming the home on Fourth Street was deeded to her by an owner who could not read or write. 

The case settled on Feb. 16 and Cleckley kept the property. The same day, the City Attorney’s Office was presented with documents that released the liens on the property, according to Casale’s email to Moore.

Cleckley told Weber when being interviewed that the owners of the home — Charles and Carrie Clinton — were her son’s godparents. She told Weber that her family stepped up to help pay outstanding property taxes so the home was not foreclosed upon. 

In an interview with The Coastal Star, Cleckley said she was unaware the city attorney alerted the commission to the liens.

“I didn’t know that someone was coming after me personally,” she said. “What I am saying is, it was a civil matter. We handled the civil matter.”

Division upheaval
The Code Enforcement Division started its public unraveling after police arrested Code Enforcement Officer Khatoya Markia Wesley on Oct. 3 for allegedly threatening two residents with code violations unless they paid her personally. Moore then fired Wesley.

Wesley’s attorney has denied any wrongdoing by his client and prosecutors have so far declined to file charges in the case.

Then the director overseeing the division, Sam Walthour, resigned in November, though he will remain in the position through January.  

And commission meetings in the last two months have been notable by the mayor, commissioner and residents painting the division as out of control.

Moore, in turn, has been adamant in commission meetings that he could get to the bottom of the issues with the division while Casale pressed him on answers. 

At the Dec. 17 commission meeting, Casale reminded Moore that it was in February when the accusations about Wesley first surfaced. 

“And you cannot tell us: Do we have a problem in this department? This mismanagement is — it’s unbelievable,” she said. “I cannot understand how you would come to this meeting without saying something to us about what’s going on.”

Carney admonished Casale for repeatedly criticizing the city manager on the issue, citing lack of decorum. “You can’t take the floor away from me for no reason,” Casale replied. “I am allowed to speak.”

After the arrest of Wesley, Gelin asked Palm Beach County’s Office of Inspector General to review the division but has yet to get an answer. The commission, tired of waiting, on Dec. 17 authorized a $22,000 independent investigation by the outside firm Calvin, Giordano & Associates.

Casale told The Coastal Star that, according to the contract, the firm’s mission is to optimize the performance of the department. “So, we are farther away from answers,” she said.

When asked for comment, Moore responded by email, putting faith in the external reviews.

“Delray Beach’s Human Resources Department recently conducted a thorough review of the city’s Code Enforcement Division,” he wrote.

“Their report highlights several opportunities for process and policy improvements. With the added expertise of Calvin, Giordano & Associates, alongside support from our internal team, I am confident we will identify possibilities for improvement and address any outstanding deficiencies within the division.”

Police stay mum
Commissioner Long suggested at the Dec. 10 meeting that the Police Department take over code enforcement, after he learned about the quota requirement for citations in a performance improvement plan.

“So we have a quota to violate people, which is the absolute opposite of how we should be running this department,” Long said. “I think the time for half measures is over.”

But the Police Department may have its own problem since prosecutors so far have declined to file official charges against Wesley.

When asked about the investigation, Police Chief Russ Mager said he refuses to speak to news reporters anymore. His public information officer did not respond to a question about whether there is an internal investigation into how the department handled the case against Wesley.

Despite the drama of it all, Carney says the city is moving in the right direction by having numerous eyes looking at the Code Enforcement Division.

“We look forward to the results of the audit and we trust that city officials will recommend any necessary reforms for commissioner approval,” he said.