WPB City Understaffed

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Shortly after Keith James won his first election as mayor, and before he was sworn in WPB employees began resigning from their job. It’s important to understand they worked with Keith James for 8 years as a City Commissioner and they knew him well.

I noticed more and more people absent and I placed a PRR (Public Records Request) for how many employees left the job, and was shocked when I received a response. The number was 275, and sense the report was issued more left.

Then the city started firing people, and more employees disappeared. Two employees that shocked me was Chief Financial Officer Mark Parks who was escorted out of City Hall by security guards at the start of the city budget meetings. Can’t place this one on James but on his newly appointed City Administrator, Faye Johnson. When I snooped around I was told it was a power grab, and James did nothing to prevent it.

Ms. Brooks, a woman of color, who worked in the City Commission office was terminated after 38 years of service to the commissioners and city. The timing of her firing came in February, the month we celebrate Black History Month. James gets the credit for her dismissal.

Here is where the story is leading.

Hurricane season: June to November:

One of the city’s suggestions is to have residents prune back trees and leave refuse for the city to collect, while warning residents not to trim if a hurricane is predicted. Makes sense to me.

The city gives Oak trees to residents to plant and many take advantage of the free giveaway. Well these pretty little trees grow into monstrous trees in a matter of a few years, as one has done in my development, and grew tall enough to block the street light making it a dangerous area. I contacted the city, explained the situation and asked the city to trim the tree back.  Please double click picture to enlarge.

The tree is planted in the swale (area between the sidewalk and street) which is city property. The city trimmed the section around the street light and nothing more.

I complained. The city sent Mr.Greg Mihalko, a Certified Arborist to speak to me. He said the tree had a good canopy, was healthy, and the city would not trim it back.

The picture with the story is the tree in question and I ask readers to notice how the tree stretches across the road and sidewalk. Picture was taken a month ago, and with the rain upon us the tree has grown even more.

Across the road is an elderly couple (90’s) and we quite often see the city ambulances and firetrucks at the house tending to them. If the tree or large branches come down blocking the street it will hamper the fire dept. effort to reach them. If the branch over the sidewalk comes down and kills someone, what then?

The city, before James and Johnson, always aided residents with trimming back trees in the swale. What happened? I found out. The city always had a 3 member crew and trucks to service all of WPB, and they are down to one crew. Crew is made up of 3-4 employees. Think about that.

And if residents want to remove a tree, think twice. The city now fines people who remove a tree. Look what a business was fined for removing 3 trees on Clematis St.

Please double click picture to enlarge.

 

 

IA Department. (Internal Audit)
The IA dept. is responsible for auditing all city dept. looking for fraud, waste and abuse. If they find something it is presented to the Mayor, City Administrator and City Commissioners for correction.

I attended the IA meeting May 25, 2023 and learned that the city’s external auditors (Plante Moran) would not renew their contract due to lack of staff and the city is sending out RFP (Request for Proposals) for a replacement.

At the meeting I questioned how many employee’s the IA had and was concerned that Plante Moran would not renew it’s contract.

To be fully staffed the internal audit dept. needs 7-8 employees. They have 2. Beverly Mahasso, Chief Internal Auditor, and 1 Senior Staff Member, Muhammad Ramjohn.

MIA 5-6 employee’s. I was upset and questioned if the City Commissioners were aware, and if they were, why wasn’t something done about the situation.

The IA dept. is the only dept. that the City Commissioners oversee, and for 8 years that included City Commissioner Keith James.

For the IA to perform an audit they request information and documentation from the dept. being audited. It was time for the CRA audit.

Jon Ward was the director of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency and when he was approached he stated the Internal Auditor had no right to audit his department. Really? Tax payer dollars, and the IA has no right to audit. Red flags all over the place. CRA has many millions in their budget that needs to be accounted for.

In Oct. 2019 Mr. Ward handed his resignation to Mayor James.

The IA completed part 1 & 2 of the CRA audit and reported they are working on part 3

June 12, 2023 City Commission meeting the IA dept. submitted 2 reports to the commission and it was time to use my 3 minutes to speak up. I mentioned what you have read above and also questioned if enough money was in the budget to support the IA staff.

City Administrator, Faye Johnson stated there was enough money in the budget, the problem was having people apply for positions.

That makes sense. The city has a terrible history concerning how they treat their employees and people talk, the word gets out concerning the firing of good employees, how many resigned learning James was elected and how utterly vindictive he is. Ms. Johnson’s reputation isn’t much better.

The end