Beware- WPB is Hiring
January 7, 2022
My comments in italic.
Mark A. Parks, Jr. CFO (Chief Financial Officer) MBA (Master of Business Administration) CGFO (Certified Government Finance Officer) CPA (Certified Public Accountant)
Chief Financial Officer City of West Palm Beach Feb 2015 – Aug 2021 6 years 7 month, employed by the city.
What does a city CFO do? Chief Financial Officer (CFO) DEFINITION: “The Chief Financial Officer serves under the administrative direction of the city administrator. The CFO is responsible for planning, organizing, and directing budgeting, accounting, auditing and financial reporting functions of the city.”
Former Mayor Jeri Muoio was responsible for bringing Mr. Parks to the City in Feb. 2015 where he was our CFO for over 6 years, always presented the annual, balanced budget to the Commissioners, and never once did it on the backs of City Employees. Things change:
West Palm Beach places its CFO on administrative leave as budget process begins.
8/3/2021 “West Palm Beach’s chief financial officer has been place on administrative leave pending a management and operational review, leaving the city without its top accounting expert as the annual budget process kicks into high gear”.
“Multiple sources told The Palm Beach Post that the CFO, Mark A. Parks Jr., was escorted by security out of City Hall on Tuesday.”
“The city is crafting its fiscal year 2022 budget, a process where, in most municipal governments, the chief financial officer is heavily involved.”
Mr. Parks was never placed on administrative leave, you don’t have security walk you out the door unless you’ve been fired. See text from Johnson to City Commissioners, as she misled the City Commissioners once again. Double click text to enlarge.
I never witnessed Mr. Parks give a presentation on the 2022 budget, but Ms. Johnson was front and center with her ideas to have a balanced budget on the backs of city employee, with lay offs and furloughs until commissioners and residents spoke up.
“An earlier iteration of the budget called for 30% cuts to the Mandel Public Library and the Parks and Recreation Department. That meant the library would lose 12.5 full-time positions and 12 “on-call” pages. parks stood to lose 36 full-time workers. Members of the public, citing the importance of those public resources, urged the city to back off those cuts.” .
“Under a new proposal, presented to commissioners Monday by City Administrator Faye Johnson, the library instead would lose one full-timer and seven pages, while the parks department would loose about 11 full-timers and five on-call part-timers.”
“But other cuts would have to be spread among various city departments to make up for that, Johnson said. In all, 48 positions would have to go, including five layoffs and 43 vacant positions that would go unfilled.”
“She said the administration might have to come back to the commission for more cuts part-way through the fiscal year, if the budget crunch worsens.” With James and Johnson in charge it will worsen.
The City found another way around the layoffs and furloughs when I learned 275 employees resigned their positions, knowing they had bonuses due between $2,500.00 & $3,800.00 from the Federal Government. When I questioned a few former employees, the response I received was working for the city had become hostile, another said toxic working conditions.
Dr. Philip C. Harris Assistant to the City Administrator: Reads in part.
Assists the City Administrator in the annual budget preparation and presentation Here is what City Commissioners and residents didn’t know, and what Mayor James and City Administrator Johnson did to insure Mr. Harris was hired. James declared a “STATE OF EMERGENCY” so Commissioners wouldn’t vote on his employment and salary, a shoo-in for Harris.
“STATE OF EMERGENCY When normal operations of City departments are suspended or interrupted due to a declaration by the Mayor that a state of emergency exists, all employees will be deemed critical by the City. For the preparation and/or continuation of emergency operations or for special work detail, employees deemed necessary shall be required to work. This is a condition of employment.”
Dr Harris The City’s pay scale salary for level GM17. “Min. $121,330.00 Mid. $151,663.00 Max. $181,995.00. Harris receives a starting salary of $152,000.” (Mid. Level)
Monday, May 24, 2021 “West Palm Beach Mayor Keith A. James is pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Philip C. Harris for the position of Assistant to the City Administrator.”
“Dr. Harris holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication degree from the University of South Florida and a Master and Doctor of Business Administration degree from Argosy University.”
“On February 27, 2019, the US Department of Education stated that they were cutting off federal funding to Argosy University. According to Inside Higher Education, “The Education Department said that the roughly 8,800 students enrolled at Argosy campuses could seek to transfer their credits elsewhere or apply for loan cancellation in the event their campus shuts down.”
All Argosy campuses were officially closed on March 8, 2019″
There are 3 job openings according to the recent Organizational Chart.
WPB Organizational Chart 12-13-2021
WPB Utilities Director, Poonam Kalkat’s last day was 12/3/2021 when her position was sacrificed over the City’s contaminated drinking water, that residents learned 8 days after the fact.
Chief Financial Officer, Mark Parks Jr. last day was 8/3/2021 when he was escorted from City Hall per orders of Faye Johnson. In my opinion Mr. Parks was removed either because he disagreed with Johnson’s idea of how to balance the budget or room was needed for Harris.
Director of Human Resources, Jose-Luis Rodriguez was promoted to Assistant City Administrator, which left his former position open.
The end