By Anne Geggis
Allegations that Delray Beach’s city manager fondled the leg of the city’s fire chief as the two drove to an art exhibit in August 2022 has spurred a city investigation, according to a letter that surfaced despite the city saying it is exempt from disclosure.
City Manager Terrence Moore and Chief Keith Tomey could not be reached for comment to discuss the contents of the letter from Tomey’s attorney, which The Palm Beach Post posted online without identifying its source.
The letter said Moore “began to rub the inside of Tomey’s left thigh up to the groin area,” as he drove the two to the Arts Garage to view an exhibit of works by city employees.
Despite Tomey’s recoil from that touch the first time, Moore did the same thing on the way back to the office, prompting Tomey to say, “stop it,” the letter says.
After that, the letter alleges, Moore retaliated against Tomey in a series of incidents over the last two years.
City commissioners received the letter detailing the unwanted touching and resulting retaliation days before the March 19 municipal election. The day after the election, which saw a new commission majority elected, departing Mayor Shelly Petrolia called a special commission meeting to authorize the city’s lawyer to appoint a special investigator to look into the alleged incidents and retaliation.
The city has hired Brooke Ehrlich, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer, to investigate the matter.
The letter that prompted the commission to act with all due haste was exempt from public disclosure, according to City Attorney Lynn Gelin.
The letter contends that Gelin received a report of the incident around the art show — an exhibit that included artwork by Moore and “risque” nudes done by Moore’s assistant — immediately after it happened.
Report on chief
On March 28, the Post published an article identifying what prompted the meeting and who was involved. It was published online soon after a report about how Tomey’s department allowed on-duty personnel to participate in a November 2023 charity softball event was completed and available for public inspection.
The city’s report investigating the charity softball game noted that Tomey, a 33-year fire service employee, received marginal ratings for accountability in his 2023 performance evaluation and called it “poor decision-making” on Tomey’s part that allowed firefighters to participate in the game while on duty.
Although the decision did not violate any specific city policies, it resulted in injury to one of the players, a worker’s compensation claim and compromised fire operations, according to the city report.
The letter with allegations against Moore that the commissioners received on March 15 also alleged that the city’s investigation into the charity softball game is just one part of the retaliation Tomey suffered for rebuffing Moore’s advances in the car.
The letter also says Tomey was experiencing retaliation for rebuffing Moore when Moore suspended him for five days following a car accident that Tomey was involved in and neglected to report to Moore.
“My client received a five-day suspension without pay for reasons that he does not understand except his belief that it is retaliatory,” says the letter from Isidro Garcia, a West Palm Beach attorney.
The letter also says that in 2022 Moore called Tomey in for a meeting at which Moore was “very upset” about Tomey promoting a Delray Beach fire captain to division chief of logistics. Moore asked him to demote the new division chief but Tomey refused, it says.
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