By John Pacenti
Delray Beach City Manager Terrence Moore appeared visibly upset as commissioners failed to approve his request to hire a private firm to investigate his embattled Code Enforcement Division.
The city had already asked Palm Beach County’s Office of Inspector General to investigate the division following the Oct. 3 arrest of Khatoya Markia Wesley. The code enforcement officer was accused of threatening two residents with code violations unless they paid her personally. The State Attorney’s Office on Nov. 7 declined to file charges in the case.
The OIG has yet to respond to the city, so Moore asked the commission to approve up to a $25,000 expenditure to hire Calvin, Giordano & Associates — a firm with other contracts with the city.
The commission deadlocked 2-2 on Nov. 19 with Commissioner Rob Long absent. Mayor Tom Carney, who favored the measure, said he would bring it back for reconsideration at the Dec. 10 commission meeting.
“I need to get to work beginning tomorrow,” an irritated Moore said. “My interest is not engaging back and forth at the commission level.”
Moore said he was heading upstairs after the meeting to “change the program so that we can get down to business.”
Then, on Nov. 24, the person who oversees code enforcement resigned. Sam Walthour, director of Neighborhood and Community Services, had been with the city since September 2020. He will remain on staff for the next two months, according to an email from Moore to the commissioners, as the city seeks to find a replacement.
Moore tried to dampen the ongoing controversy at the Nov. 4 meeting.
Assistant City Manager Jeff Oris talked about the scope of the 17-employee division and how an internal review was being commenced.
Vice Mayor Juli Casale told Moore she was not impressed. “We thought you were going to come back and tell us how you are making sure that this isn’t just one person who had a problem,” she said.
Casale has also questioned Moore as to why Wesley was suspended with pay for several months while police investigated the complaints about her. She was eventually fired.
Then came the Nov. 19 proposal to hire the outside firm. Commissioner Tom Markert said he had reservations.
“I was concerned about the selection of the firm that we chose, because they’re already a million-dollar vendor, right? They’re already on the inside. They’re already part of this. I’m concerned about our internal staff choosing them,” Markert said.
Commissioner Angela Burns, who voted to hire the firm, said she has heard of code enforcement officers threatening residents with littering citations for putting out items for trash pickup.
After the meeting, Casale said from the start it has been difficult to get answers to simple questions from Moore about the Code Enforcement Division. She is certain the OIG will take on the investigation.
“Hiring an outside firm to look at efficiencies, at this point in time, makes it appear as though someone is trying to circumvent any potential OIG investigation,” she said.
Delray Beach police conducted an extensive investigation into Wesley, including triangulating text messages and pay apps. State Attorney Dave Aronberg’s office decided not to file charges to prosecute Wesley for the four felonies and dropped the case. However, prosecutors still have 180 days after her arrest to file a formal complaint.
The investigation of Wesley occurred after a whistleblower complaint filed from within the department said she asked for money from John “The Ribman” Jules, who sold barbecue ribs out of the home he rented on Sunset Avenue.
Attorney Brian Pakett, who represented Wesley, said his client never accepted any money or food from Jules and, in fact, was trying to help him.
“Regarding her doing her job, she acted throughout her time with the city in a very ethical manner,” Pakett said. “We maintain she did nothing wrong.”
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