By Anne Geggis
A special investigator found no evidence that Delray Beach City Manager Terrence Moore inappropriately touched Fire Chief Keith Tomey during an August 2022 outing to a city art exhibit, nor that he later retaliated against Tomey for refusing the advances.
The third-party investigator was unable to prove or deny whether Moore fondled the leg of Tomey as the two drove to and from an art exhibit on Aug. 3, 2022, according to a report the City Commission heard at a special meeting April 30. And no evidence showed that Tomey had been retaliated against for refusing Moore’s alleged advances, reported Brooke Ehrlich, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer the city hired in March to investigate the matter.
Tomey could not be reached for comment following the special commission meeting. Ehrlich provided a verbal, executive summary to commissioners. The official report wasn’t going to be made publicly available for a few days while undergoing redaction, City Attorney Lynn Gelin said. [Update: A few days after the City Commission received the report, The Coastal Star's request to get a copy of the redacted report was refused because of the personal nature of the report.]
The investigation included interviews with nine people, Ehrlich told commissioners.
“While the investigation found no substantiated claims, it is essential to underscore the city’s unwavering commitment to upholding its policies and values,” a statement from the city released after the meeting says. “The city maintains strict standards of conduct, does not tolerate actions that compromise these principles or the safety of our staff, and recognizes the importance of supporting all employees.”
After the special meeting, Mayor Tom Carney said he would confine his comments to the city’s news release.
“The city of Delray Beach prioritizes the well-being of its employees and takes all allegations seriously,” the release quotes Carney as saying. “After a thorough investigation, no wrongdoings were uncovered.”
The investigation started after the city received a letter from Tomey’s attorney detailing the alleged unwanted touching and claimed 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 Gelin to appoint a special investigator to look into the allegations.
The letter from Tomey’s attorney said Moore “began to rub the inside of Tomey’s left thigh” and touched the groin area as he drove the two to the Arts Garage to view an exhibit of works by city employees, Ehrlich recounted.
Despite Tomey’s objections to the first touch, Tomey said that Moore did the same thing on the way back to the office, Ehrlich said, recapping the details of the complaint.
Ehrlich told the commission that Tomey, a 33-year city employee, had reported the incident verbally to the city attorney and others after it happened, but hadn’t filed a formal report on it.
Ehrlich said that Tomey was claiming three incidents of retaliation. First was Tomey’s decision to promote a fire captain. She said that Tomey claimed the promotion was questioned and criticized by Moore as a result of Tomey’s rebuffing Moore’s advances.
Next, Tomey went through a five-day suspension for a car accident that Tomey did not immediately report to Moore.
And finally, Tomey’s role in having on-duty firefighters participate in a softball tournament came under a microscope because Tomey had rejected the city manager’s advances, according to Tomey’s allegations that Ehrlich recounted.
The results of the softball report, finding that Tomey had exercised poor judgment, became public record a few days after Tomey’s allegations against Moore came to light.
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