Residents getting screwed - AGAIN Last Tuesday, I had the opportunity to visit with Pompano’s City Manager Keith Chadwell, to discuss a host of areas of interest along with his self-evaluation of his first six months on the job. The meeting was cordial with both open and frank discussions, and I felt confident in asking specific difficult questions – with respect, of course. I told Chadwell that many residents were unsure of who he was and what he had been doing. In his short tenure, Chadwell has accumulated both supporters and critics. Most residents I talked with have given Chadwell high marks from what they can see of his personality and conversations at City Commission meetings, but few readily admit to either knowing or understanding the man. I asked him questions like, “What have you done? From what I can see, you hire, promote and delegate – and there seems to be no track record of accomplishments or failures.” I told him that one observation – and criticism – is, “that he listens and then either delegates the problem to someone else or (apparently) sets it aside hoping it will take care of itself. “For example, you delegated preparation of the budget, the AirPark negotiations with the FAA, and the contract negotiations with the Firefighters’ Union. The City retained the services of former City Manager C. William Hargett, who led the way on all of these.” Chadwell said this was the first time he ever took over a job where the previous administrator was still in the same town – so Chadwell rationalized that Hargett was most familiar with the problems and since he was still in the city, who better to work with the FAA? I don’t know. I guess it sounds reasonable. He told me he also had the philosophy that no CEO should sit at any bargaining table with union leaders. Well – that’s his management style – and again I guess it sounds reasonable. As to the budget – it had mostly been accomplished before he came on board and Hargett had already been involved with the process. How much more reasonable could that be? Chadwell’s rhetoric was solid and instantaneous. No hesitation in his voice and committed to being frank. I told him that residents had some mixed thoughts; as most believe he is charming and energetic and has the confidence of his employees, while others contend Chadwell lacks follow through because he doesn’t return telephone calls or e-mails. Chadwell had an answer for everything. To be honest, Chadwell was calm and assured, but somewhere during the interview, I wasn’t all that impressed with his answers because they seemed canned and well rehearsed. His words were carefully chosen in reply to my questions but I came away from the meeting unsure about his candor. Especially with one issue. When I left his office, I had the feeling that I had just interviewed former President Bill Clinton – you know, it depends on what the word “is” is? And while shaking his finger said, “I never had sex with that woman.” During the Chadwell interview, one pressing issue I wanted to discuss was the pending uncertain status of the Chamber of Commerce and its failure to fulfill its contractual agreement to rehabilitate and lease, for 30 years, the city acquired building on SW 2nd Street. This issue has been pending for three years. The Chamber has consistently shown an unwillingness to honor their word and complete the contract. This had been a sweetheart deal negotiated by Chamber officials and former City Manager Hargett. But something went awry and the Chamber wanted out and demanded their money returned from an established escrow account. It has seemed that the Chamber and Hargett entered into an unholy deal and the residents were going to get screwed, although some have placed their faith in Chadwell to make changes to the screwing agenda. Realizing the deal was dead; I had discussions with Mayor Lamar Fisher. Fisher claimed he believed a contract is a contract and the terms would be strictly adhered to and if not, there would be liquidating damages sought. During the interview, Chadwell told me, looking me directly in the eye, that he would make a decision by the end of March 2008 regarding the Chamber matter. End of March? I asked why it would take so long. He seemed irritated with my inquiry and replied, “Because I am studying the matter and don’t want to make any rash decisions.” I took his response at face value, but red flags were raised by his tone and attitude about me questioning his timing. I am not a rookie and am fully confident in my judgment. Something didn’t sound right. His being uptight and seemingly procrastinating on an issue which has been plaguing Pompano Beach for at least three years induced me to look for more information. Could his obfuscation mean that he might have already taken things into his own hands, but didn’t want to disclose it? If he really was procrastinating, was it because the issue was that complicated (I didn’t think so) or could it be from arrogance or ignorance? I needed answers. I have learned two things in reporting – both came from people in Washington, DC – from people wiser than me. Ronald Reagan said, “Trust, but verify.” Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein (who broke the Watergate scandal) said, “Follow the money trail.” I needed to follow that advice. I was thinking about it that night. I awoke around 3 o’clock in the morning and wrote a Freedom of Information request to Sandra King (Pompano’s Public Information Officer) for any and all correspondence between the Chamber and any city official, whether by US mail or E-mail – also asking for the same between all city officials and the Chamber, or just between themselves. King honored my FOI request and within 30 hours I had the documents. From those documents, I learned that there had already been behind-the-scenes negotiations, and they seemed to be coming to a head. Something didn’t compute. I discovered that on December 20th, Chadwell received a communication from Gordon B. Linn, City Attorney, wherein Linn complied with request from Chadwell to prepare a Termination Agreement and a draft of a city ordinance calling for a termination agreement between the City of Pompano Beach and the Greater Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce, Inc., providing for severability; providing an effective date. That was nearly three weeks before my meeting with Chadwell. Digging further I discovered that on December 18th, Chadwell had E-mailed Brian Donovan, the new assistant to the city manager, saying he needed to have the balance in the Chamber of Commerce building sale account ASAP. Donovan notified Chadwell on December 19th that the remaining balance was $429,739; explaining that $20,261 was spent as follows: $10,000 for Architectural drawings, $4,241 for Zoning Calculations/Commercial heat load-energy calculations and $6,020 for construction documents and subsoil investigation. Both Chadwell and Donovan notified Linn via E-mail of the balances owing to the Chamber on the same day. Things started moving instantly. On December 20th, Linn prepared a draft of the ordinance – not yet numbered – for the City Commissioners to consider passing. I believe Chadwell had given Linn the terms and provisions, but I could not find written proof in the records. Besides the numerous ‘whereas’ clauses, the ordinance has three sections: Section 1 calls for a Termination Agreement between the City of Pompano Beach and the Greater Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce, “a copy of which will be attached hereto and incorporated herein”; Section 2 says that the proper City officials are hereby authorized to execute said Agreement; and Section 3 is the usual “severability clause” (if any provision of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the Ordinance). The Ordinance will become effective upon passage. The termination agreement, to be attached to the ordinance, calls for the city to release and pay to the Chamber of Commerce the entire sum of $429,739 being held in escrow, within 30 days from the effective date of the termination agreement. In addition the Chamber will vacate their Atlantic Boulevard offices within 30 days from the date of the termination agreement. I wonder if we can trust them to do that? On December 27, 2007, Linn wrote a letter to Bob Harpest, Chairman of the Board of the Chamber notifying him that the City Manager had requested that he prepare a termination agreement for that Master Agreement which the City and the Chamber entered into in January 2005. Linn enclosed a copy of the proposed Termination Agreement for Harpest’s review; reminding him (Harpest) that if he wanted to discuss any of the terms or conditions of the agreement to contact the City Manager directly. Linn closed his letter requesting if the agreement is acceptable as written, “please so advise.” So the residents of Pompano Beach are going to get screwed again. After reviewing the documents, I contacted Mayor Fisher in Orlando, Florida on a business trip. He claimed to be shocked. He said he knew nothing of this proposed ordinance or that any deal had been worked out. “This is a City Commission contract that was entered into in January 2005 and I expect the City Commission to discuss this in open session, with transparency and come to a consensus,” Fisher said. City Commissioner Charlotte Burrie was reached shortly thereafter and expressed the same shock. “I am surprised – I discussed this matter with Keith as to what we might want to do. Yes, I said it might be easiest to let them out of the contract, say good-bye and just let them go. But technically and legally, I felt they should pay something to get out of the contract." “I was also under the total assumption this would come before the City Commission for open discussion before the community residents. I was unaware of any request to the City Attorney to prepare anything – especially an Ordinance or a Termination Agreement. That’s not how things are done from my viewpoint,” Burrie said. Perhaps, but that’s how Pompano has been doing things for more than a decade. We thought that with Burrie ousting Susan Foster and with Fisher moved up to mayor, and a new city manager, things would change. It’s starting to look like politics as usual – tell the people and the press what they want to hear – and then just do whatever special interests want. Sometimes I think we’d be better off with a benevolent dictator. If he screws up, we just assassinate him. For what it’s worth, Mary Beth Fleck, the Public Relations specialist representing the Chamber of Commerce, has resigned. She was hired just prior to Anne Dufresne resigning as CEO at the Chamber. She had a difficult job trying to get a positive message out to the news media about the Pompano Beach Chamber. Yeah, maybe it was an impossible job. This has been a tumultuous three months at the Chamber and Fleck wanted out. Her job reminds me of a story Cervantes wrote.