News

By Rich Pollack

For the second time in two years, Highland Beach is looking for a new town manager.
At the Aug. 30 meeting, Town Manager Beverly Brown, who had been under fire for what some commissioners viewed as a lack of timely and accurate communication, submitted a letter announcing her intention to retire as of Dec. 2.
In the letter, Brown, 70, said the advanced notice will give the opportunity to find a replacement and also time for her to help bring the new manager up to speed on key issues.
    “This also provides time for me to share a guideline of approved projects on the books and communicate the history of the policies and procedures now in place with the new manager,” Brown wrote. “If additional time is required, I would be willing to provide whatever services are needed on a consultant basis.”
    Brown, who has a current salary of $130,400, asked that commissioners allow her to be compensated for all accumulated leave time to date — about 10 weeks — and also requested that she be given the opportunity to purchase her iPad.
At least one commissioner, however, asked Brown to reconsider, and encouraged other members of the commission to join him.
“I don’t think she really wants to leave,” said Commissioner Lou Stern, adding that he thinks Brown felt pressured to leave following comments from other commissioners who expressed a lack of confidence in her ability.  
In an earlier August meeting, Brown took heat from commissioners for not communicating better after she received a letter from a Fraternal Order of Police representative explaining that civilian town employees were in the planning stages of forming a union.
Brown received the letter on a Monday, but did not tell commissioners about it until the following day, when the commission held its monthly meeting. Both Brown and Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said they thought a copy of the letter had been sent directly to the commissioners.
“We need more transparency between the town manager and the town clerk and the commission,” Commissioner Carl Feldman said during that earlier meeting. “I don’t want to have a vote of no confidence, but I will acknowledge [a vote] if the aforementioned issues are not corrected. I’ve worked with three town managers in the past 15 years and I don’t want to hire a fourth one. But I will have to vote yes if that’s what’s required.”
Brown, who started with the city in 2007, later defended herself.
“I think I’ve done a good job,” Brown said several days after the earlier meeting. “We have a staff that works well together, we’ve cut the budget and we have department heads who have stepped up to be sure residents never felt the reduction in staff.”
Town Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker said she was “shocked” by the actions of both Brown and Torcivia.
“I supported you and trusted you,” she told Brown during the earlier meeting. “At this point, I have to tell you I’ve lost my confidence and trust in the town manager.”
During discussions of the union letter, Zelniker asked Brown why commissioners weren’t notified that employees were ready to organize prior to their meeting with union representatives.
“If staff members are unhappy, have you ever brought that up to the commission?” Zelniker asked.
Brown told Zelniker she had no idea that employees were planning to form a union.
“We need you to communicate with us,” Zelniker said.
    Vice Mayor Bill Weitz, later in that meeting, also expressed concerns.
“I really have lost confidence in our senior staff to allow our commission to do its job,” he said.
Brown was serving as town clerk in January 2015 when she was named interim town manager following the mutually agreed-upon departure of former Town Manager Kathleen Weiser. Brown was promoted to the position permanently in April of that year.
Brown said she was under the impression that commissioners knew employees were unhappy prior to the letter being sent out by the union representative.
“It’s been brought up before,” she said. “Employees have said they don’t know where they stand and what will happen to the benefits they’ve been receiving for years.”