News

By Dan Moffett

    The manager and attorney for South Palm Beach are pleading with the Town Council to renew their contracts and end months of delays, false starts and postponed negotiations.
    Town Attorney Brad Biggs and the council started talking about working out a new arrangement in early 2016. Council members said they wanted to evaluate his performance and redefine his job description. But that hasn’t happened.
    “Basically, I just have a letter with the town saying I’m willing to provide legal services,” Biggs said. “There isn’t really a contract.”
    Town Manager Bob Vitas was supposed to have a review completed in October as required by the town charter. The council postponed that and hasn’t revisited it.
    “It’s put me in an awkward spot,” Vitas said. “I shouldn’t be treated that way.”
    Both Biggs and Vitas allow that the last year has been about as challenging as any in the council’s history — with the deaths of two highly regarded councilmen, Woody Gorbach and Joe Flagello, illness and big projects such as beach stabilization and Town Hall renovation to consider.
    Mayor Bonnie Fischer had to cancel the July town meeting for lack of a quorum because Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb was out of state, Councilwomen Stella Jordan was ill, and the seat left open by Flagello’s death hasn’t been filled.
    As if that hasn’t been turmoil enough, the town is still fighting its way through a ransomware attack in June that paralyzed the administration’s computer systems and corrupted its website.
    Vitas said the town’s technical support contractor has been able to undo much of the damage, and no ransom was paid. But still, some documents are lost probably forever, employees are frustrated and so are residents who try to go online to keep up with the town’s business.
    “It’s been a very difficult year for the town,” Fischer has said more than once.
    The mayor said some promising candidates have expressed interest in the empty council seat and she hopes to fill it soon. Fischer said the council also intends to resolve matters with Vitas and Biggs.
    “I can’t believe that we’ve waited since May of last year” to deal with the town attorney’s agreement, Vitas said. “But I realize a lot of things have been out of our control.”
    Biggs, who has been South Palm Beach’s attorney for seven years, is charging the town $170 per hour, and $195 per hour for litigation services. He has offered to change to a retainer arrangement and work some days out of Town Hall to improve his accessibility to officials.
    “I really would like some action,” Biggs said.
    Vitas, who was hired in October 2015 and earns $103,000 a year, told the council he deserves a new contract that includes a merit raise, car allowance and benefit contributions — perks that his predecessors have received.
    “I want to be treated equitably with past managers,” he told the council. “I’m not going to beg. … I gave you the results. I’ve showed you the proof is in the pudding.”