Did a Florida Keys city break state law over attorney’s $185,000 severance? Probe underway
Monroe County’s State Attorney’s Office is investigating a Florida Keys city council for possible criminal open-meeting laws violations regarding a nearly $185,000 separation agreement negotiated behind closed doors and then approved as an unannounced item without discussion during a meeting in May.
State Attorney Dennis Ward confirmed the investigation to the Miami Herald/FLKeysNews.com this week.
“We got a complaint, and we’re looking into Sunshine Law and public records stuff,” Ward said, referring to Florida’s Government in Sunshine law that prohibits elected officials from discussing matters that come before them outside of a publicly noticed meeting.
Roget Bryan announced his resignation at the end of a six-hour regularlyscheduled May 12 Islamorada Village Council meeting, delivering a prepared statement citing “external political dynamics” and alleging “personal attacks on my name, my character, reputation, integrity and, most egregiously, my family.”
His $184,555 separation agreement was placed on the meeting’s agenda after it began as “Tab X” with no explanation as to what it entailed nor prior public notice. Four of the five council members present voted in favor of the agreement six hours later with no discussion other than praising and thanking Bryan for his service.
“This is kind of a delicate moment, a sensitive moment, but Roget, you’ve served honorably,” Councilman Mark Gregg said, adding, “The best is yet to come, and the world is your oyster. So, I hope you find another pearl as you go forward. Good luck to you.”
Gregg was joined by Mayor Pete Bacheler, and councilmen Buddy Pinder and Henry Rosenthal in approving the agreement. Councilman David Webb did not attend the meeting.
The separation package includes 20 weeks of Bryan’s $160,012 annual salary, retirement contributions, accrued vacation and sick time, as well as $20,000 of the $30,000 the village was paying him additionally to act on its behalf in Tallahassee during the state legislative session.
Bryan became Islamorada’s first in-house attorney in the village’s short history when he was hired in 2013.
The Village Council voted during its June meeting to contract with law firm Weiss Serota to act as its interim counsel at a “discounted government rate” of $250 an hour.
Bryan’s legal secretary, Eileen Rodriguez, was also given a separation agreement of $21,325, but the decision to do so was made by acting Village Manager Maria Bassett, not the council, Bassett said.
“Eileen Rodriguez was not terminated; she resigned,” Bassett said in an email Friday.
Both agreements, which went into effect May 20, raised the concern of a local community activist group called the Islamorada Community Alliance.
“Is there something the taxpayers of Islamorada need to know about why this handsome severance package was offered to Mr. Bryan? What “external political dynamics” caused this, and perhaps both May 20th departures,” the ICA wrote in its June newsletter. “If the Council won’t talk, and the departing employees won’t talk, how can we know what’s wrong so we can improve things in the future? Don’t we all deserve an answer?
Village Hall at Founders Park in Islamorada was overflowing with people interested in hearing other items at the beginning of the meeting, but by the time Bryan’s separation agreement came up, the room was almost empty except for the four council members and staff.
Robert Jarvis, professor at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Law, said the lack of public notice alone on such an important matter gives rise to the possibility of Sunshine Law violations.
“You have to notice the public on something like this because the public may want to come forward and say this guy was a terrible town attorney and should get nothing, he should pay us, or, a member of the public may want to come forward and say this was the greatest attorney in the history of this city and we should give him a million dollars because he saved us so much money during this time. You have no idea what the public might say,” Jarvis said. “Even the most disinterested resident would become very interested if the package was unduly rich. I don’t see how any of this passes muster.”
At the May 12 meeting, Bryan said he spoke with the council members individually about his resignation and separation agreement. He also said the council members spoke with a “special external counsel on this matter who’s been able to brief you and guide you through the process. I did want to make that clear.”
However, it’s not clear when those meetings took place and how much time elapsed between those discussions and the May 12 meeting.
None of the four councilmen who voted on Bryan’s separation agreement returned requests for comment, and Bassett said they “are not required to provide a response.”
“You know that as a former employer of any individual, the Village is not advised to nor obligated to discuss or divulge personnel-related matters outside of confirming dates of employment and position held of the former employee,” Bassett said.
Bryan and Rodriguez did not respond to questions regarding their resignations and separation agreements.
Jarvis said that Bryan’s briefing the council members ahead of their vote doesn’t preclude a Sunshine violation.
“If they got into substantive discussions, and especially if there was either another council member who was there or a council member who was briefed said, ‘Let me call Joe and see what he thinks about it,’ it could very quickly get into a
Sunshine violation,” he said.
Ward said his investigators have interviewed several witnesses, including Rodriguez.
“I think we talked to everybody else involved. We talked to the woman who was supposedly Roget’s secretary. We talked to her. We can talk to all the other people, but we’ll see what happens. I don’t know where it will go or where it will lead,” he said.
Rodriguez’s separation agreement includes 12 weeks of her $64,300 annual salary plus benefits.
Bassett deferred to language in the agreement when asked if it was customary for resigning village employees to be given separation agreements. The language states, “this Agreement is based upon the unique facts and circumstances of this particular case and does not establish any precedent, pattern or evidence of past practice for the resolution, disposition or determination of any other matter.”
Jarvis said from the details available to the public, Ward’s office could have a solid Sunshine violation case against the village council.
“I don’t see how the council could have taken this decision without having any sort of discussion, and that leads me to believe that they must have talked about this among themselves ahead of time,” Jarvis said. “It just doesn’t make any sense that you’re having your city attorney leaving, you’re figuring out what the separation, or severance package is going to look like, and nobody had anything to either say or change or asking questions about it. That’s a problem.”
David Goodhue: 305-923-9728, @DavidGoodhue