Sanders to pay $5K to settle case

Ex-commissioner reaches deal to close ethics investigation

HALLANDALE BEACH – Anthony Sanders, a former Hallandale Beach commissioner who resigned last year amid accusations of financial misconduct, will pay a $5,000 fine to settle a year-long ethics investigation by the Broward Inspector General.

Sanders said Monday he was glad the case had finally been resolved.

“I don’t really have too much to add,” he said. “It’s over and

I’m ready to move on.”

Sanders admitted to violating Broward County’s ethics code on four occasions and agreed to pay a $5,000 fine after reaching an agreement with the Inspector General.

He stepped down in August 2017 after the Inspector General’s Office accused him of using his position as an elected official to award nearly $1 million to a nonprofit that made payments of about $38,700 to his family and the church he founded.

The cozy relationship — Sanders’ wife was the organization’s executive director at one point — violated several ethics laws, the Inspector General said.

Sanders, a pastor at Higher Vision Ministries in Hallandale Beach, voted on the payouts without disclosing his conflicts to the city commission; he also failed to file forms disclosing his connection to the church.

Over the course of several years, Hallandale Beach funded the nonprofit directly through $202,000 in grants and indirectly through the

city’s community benefit program.

Hallandale Beach has since conducted its own internal review of the benefit program and is looking into the possibility of legal action, a city official said Monday.

When first accused, Sanders predicted he would be vindicated but said he could no longer put up with the drama of city politics in Hallandale, where he’d served on the commission for nine years.

“It’s too toxic, too volatile,” he said of the infighting that dominates commission meetings.

“Everyone’s out to get you. It’s just not worth it to me, for a city commission seat.”

State law requires elected officials to abstain from voting on matters that present a conflict of interest and would benefit them or one of their immediate family members.

For frequently recurring conflicts, the public official must refrain from the activity or terminate the conflicting relationship.

Sanders