By Jane Smith
Delray Beach’s outside counsel responded to fired City Manager Mark Lauzier’s demand for $500,000 in severance and damages with an April 15 letter that read: “Mr. Lauzier’s claims are wholly without merit.”
Even so, the letter gave him an opportunity to clear his name before the City Commission. As of press time, he had not responded.
Lauzier, who was fired unanimously by city commissioners on March 1, had attorney Isidro Garcia of West Palm Beach send an April 5 letter to Mayor Shelly Petrolia.
The letter alleges that Lauzier was fired during a “sham hearing” that was not properly noticed, was based on a “fraudulent audit” and that his rights were violated.
The letter also said the firing might have been done in retaliation for Lauzier’s disallowing the city to pay for the airline ticket of Petrolia’s son to accompany her to Tallahassee.
Lauzier is seeking a total of $500,000, including $279,200 of benefits consisting of 20 weeks of pay at his last salary, COBRA health insurance payments for one year, and earned leave, sick and vacation days.
The Lauzier letter alleged that the March 1 meeting was not properly noticed. The City Charter requires a 72-hour notice period from the time the meeting is called and the vote to terminate.
City Attorney Lynn Gelin delayed the start of the March 1 meeting by 15 minutes to satisfy the 72-hour requirement.
The audit was a report made by the city’s new internal auditor, Julia Davidyan. Voters approved the auditor’s position in March 2016, but she was not hired until August 2018.
In February, she wrote “Concerns at the Top,” a report documenting several concerns about Lauzier that she had observed.
Davidyan presented her findings to city commissioners individually and to the City Commission on March 1, consistent with the City Charter, attorney Brett Schneider wrote to Garcia.
Schneider’s response also states that Lauzier’s rights were not violated under the 14th Amendment because he was given sufficient opportunity to clear his name at the March 1 meeting. Schneider also said the city is willing to allow Lauzier to appear before the commission for “the specific purpose of clearing his name.”
As to the whistleblower charge, Schneider wrote: “Mayor Petrolia was specifically told that she could purchase tickets and other items for her husband/son using the city’s credit card, provided she reimbursed the city for said charges (which she did).”
Petrolia traveled to Tallahassee for Palm Beach County Days on March 5 and 6, the opening days of the Florida legislative session. Her 15-year-old son, Anthony, accompanied her because he was going to be a legislative page for that opening week. Her husband also is named Anthony.
Despite the city’s position that Lauzier was not wrongfully terminated, Schneider also wrote that the city is willing to participate in pre-lawsuit mediation with Lauzier.
Delray Beach is suggesting that professional employment mediator Jeff Grubman or Robyn Hankins lead the mediation effort, Schneider wrote.
Lauzier made $244,000 annually as the city manager. He was Delray Beach’s highest-paid employee.
In another Lauzier-related situation, city staff met with India Adams, fired from her position as assistant city manager in early March.
Adams has hired attorney Carrie Robinson of Boca Raton to ask for 90 days’ severance pay as well as payment for her unused vacation and sick time. Adams was an assistant city manager whom Lauzier recruited from his former office in Tacoma, Wash.
The city’s outside counsel sent an April 23 letter to Adams’ attorney stating the city’s position that Adams “was terminated for official misconduct and/or for reasons that make severance pay unavailable.”
Reasons cited include: falsifying a salary memo for Vince Roberts in order to receive authorization to pay him significantly more than the minimum pay for that position; abusing her leave privilege by taking at least 80 hours off without using her accrued leave hours, and influencing the assistant director of the Neighborhood and Community Services Department to hire her brother for a paid summer internship.
Even so, the city is willing to negotiate a severance settlement that is mutually agreeable, according to the letter.
When Adams first came to the city in January 2018, she was an assistant to the city manager. Her salary was $82,350, plus benefits. On Aug. 1, Lauzier promoted Adams to be assistant city manager, raising her salary to $120,000.
Comments