Delray Beach: Leadership timeline

2013

Jan. 3 David Harden retires after 22 years as city manager. Douglas Smith, assistant city manager, becomes interim city manager.
Outgoing mayor Woodie McDuffie resigns after running unsuccessfully for county Supervisor of Elections. Vice Mayor Tom Carney becomes acting mayor.
Commissioners are Angie Gray, Al Jacquet and Adam Frankel. Christina Morrison is appointed to the commission.
Brian Shutt is city attorney.
March 12 Voters elect Cary Glickstein as mayor and Shelly Petrolia as commissioner. Frankel is re-elected without opposition. Gray and Jacquet remain commissioners.
April 1 Louie Chapman Jr., ex-town manager of Bloomfield, Connecticut, becomes city manager starting at $160,000.

2014

Jan. 3 Shutt leaves his position as city attorney to work in the private sector. Terrill Pyburn, assistant city attorney, becomes interim city attorney.
March 12 Jordana Jarjura defeats Gray for a commission seat. Jacquet is re-elected. Commission seats now have three-year terms.
May 13 Commissioners suspend Chapman for 90 days after he ordered $60,000 worth of garbage carts four months before commissioners had approved the request.
Assistant City Manager Bob Barcinski fills in for one month before his planned retirement on June 14, and then Assistant City Manager Terry Stewart takes over.
Commissioners attempt to fire Chapman for cause, but vote fails because at the time the commission needed four votes.
June 17 Pyburn takes city attorney position in Coconut Creek.
July 1 Assistant City Attorney Janice Rustin steps in as acting city attorney.
July 9 Noel Pfeffer, former Broward County deputy attorney, becomes city attorney at a starting salary of $149,500.
July 15 Chapman resigns as city manager and receives about $73,000 in severance pay. Rustin negotiated the settlement and both parties sign a mutual release of liabilities.
Aug. 26 Voters approve a charter change reducing to three the number of commissioners needed to remove the city manager.

2015

Jan. 5 Don Cooper becomes city manager, starting at $170,000. Glickstein is mayor. Commissioners are Frankel, Jacquet, Jarjura and Petrolia.
March Mitch Katz replaces Frankel, who is term-limited.
August Cooper outlines purchasing problems in a memo that says the County Inspector General and State’s Attorney offices are investigating. Six employees receive reprimands. The purchasing manager retires in June before the investigation is finished. Three department heads, overseeing police, fire and finance departments, are docked a day’s pay.

2016

February Former city employees Orlando Serrano, Cesar Irizarry and Harold Bellinger are arrested on charges they ordered products that the city paid for but did not receive. Serrano pleads guilty and is sentenced to 12 months in the county jail. Irizarry pleads guilty to grand theft and is sentenced to three years’ probation. Bellinger dies before his case goes to trial.
June 24 Pfeffer resigns and goes into private practice. Assistant City Attorney Rustin is name interim city attorney.
Nov. 1 Jacquet leaves the commission after being elected state representative. The commission is deadlocked when trying to appoint his replacement.
Commissioners agree to hire Max Lohman’s firm as the city attorney at $300,000 annually. Glickstein is mayor. Commissioners are Jarjura, Katz and Petrolia.
Dec. 30 Cooper resigns as city manager for family health reasons. Fire Chief Neal de Jesus becomes interim city manager.

2017

March 14 Jim Chard and Shirley Johnson are elected to the City Commission with Glickstein as mayor. Commissioners Katz and Petrolia remain.
Nov. 6 Mark Lauzier, former assistant city manager in Tacoma, Washington, becomes city manager, starting at $235,000.
Dec. 7 Lauzier changes the city charter to have his direct hires and department heads be exempt from the policy and procedures for hiring employees and doesn’t notify anyone, as required in the city charter.

2018

March 13 City voters elect Petrolia as mayor, Bill Bathurst as commissioner to fill the two years of Chard’s term (who resigned to run for mayor), and Ryan Boylston. Frankel is re-elected to the commission. Johnson remains a commissioner.
Aug. 1 India Adams, hired in January as an assistant to the city manager, receives promotion to assistant city manager.
Aug. 27 Julia Davidyan starts as internal auditor. She reports directly to the commission.
Nov. 6 Max Lohman resigns as city attorney after a heated exchange with Mayor Petrolia.
Nov. 13 Deputy City Attorney Lynn Gelin becomes interim city attorney.

2019

Jan. 15 Lauzier receives a 4 percent raise, retroactive to the Nov. 6 anniversary of his hiring.
Jan. 30 Lauzier institutes partial hiring freeze at Executive Team Leadership Meeting.
Feb. 5 Lauzier introduces Susan Grant as assistant city manager at the City Commission meeting. She starts Feb. 19.
Gelin becomes city attorney.
March 1 Lauzier is fired with cause.
— Compiled by Jane Smith

SOURCES: Archives of The Coastal Star, City of Delray Beach and South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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