Another shameful episode in Fort Lauderdale | Steve Bousquet
When politicians take sides in a controversy, they offend one side or the other. It goes with the job.
Only rarely does a politician pull off the rare feat of offending both sides on an issue. It happened in Fort Lauderdale this week and it won’t soon be forgotten with an acrimonious city election on the horizon.
Slowly but surely, Commissioner Warren Sturman has lost faith in City Manager Greg Chavarria. His grievances include poor communication, massive last-minute dumps of agenda materials, the manager’s co-signing of a letter to the county (with Mayor Dean Trantalis) endorsing a tunnel under the New River even though the commission didn’t approve it or know about it, and his hiring of a pro-tunnel consultant (allowed by the city charter) but without vetting it with his bosses.
Rumors ran rampant that Sturman would be the crucial third vote to fire Chavarria, along with John Herbst and Pamela Beasley-Pittman. Instead, all three commissioners denied Chavarria a 3% raise in what was in effect a no confidence vote.
Chavarria survived thanks to a big show of support from nearly three dozen people, from civic association leaders to the Fraternal Order of Police president. They praised the manager as caring, humble, professional and a good listener. The cheering section included a developer with issues pending before the city. Chavarria now owes them all a debt of gratitude — an untenable position for a city administrator.
The orchestrated show of support for Chavarria achieved its desired result. Sturman lost his nerve and Chavarria kept his $290,000-a-year job.
But nobody is happy. The people who like Chavarria will be ticked off at Sturman for denying him a modest raise and Chavarria’s critics are livid that Sturman backed off and refused to fire him.
As for the manager, the handwriting is on the wall: He’s one more misstep from being fired, so he would be wise to polish his resume. As for Sturman, he has three opponents as he campaigns to keep a seat he won by 49 votes two years ago.
But as the clock approached midnight Tuesday, there was more ugliness to come.
After the 3-2 vote to reject a raise for Chavarria, Commissioner Steven Glassman, never a graceful loser on close votes, said: “Shame. Shame on you. Shame on you.”
Then, by his own account disgusted by the no-raise vote, Glassman walked off stage to “cool off,” faced Sturman’s aide, Jeri Pryor, and confirmed that he said to her: “F— your boss.”
A shaken Pryor burst into tears and left after she said she told Glassman: “You need to apologize.” As she recalls it, Glassman said: “I’m not apologizing. F— you and your boss.” Sturman claims he heard it, too.
Not true, Glassman told me — Pryor and Sturman are both lying. “It’s all fabricated,” Glassman said.
“The words that came out of my mouth were not directed at a person. They were directed at a situation,” Glassman said.
He admits to using the F-word, but claims he said the word “F—” as an expression of frustration to himself, then told Pryor: “Your boss,” referring to Sturman. Glassman said he was standing at a safe distance. Pryor said he wagged his finger in her face.
During the meeting, Sturman excoriated Glassman for his behavior, telling him: “You have no right to disrespect my staff.”
WATCH: Angry words between Fort Lauderdale commissioners over a colleague’s use of the F-word to a city employee.
“I think this is harassment,” Herbst said in an interview later. “I think it violates our bullying policy. I think she (Pryor) should file a police report.”
On Friday, Pryor, represented by attorney Barbra Stern, filed a formal complaint with the city, accusing Glassman of verbal harassment and volunteering to take a polygraph. “I’m so sick of working for a city that does this,” Pryor told me.
Personnel rules for general city employees list bullying and verbal harassment as major rules violations, subject to disciplinary action. The catch is that as an elected city official, Glassman is not considered a general city employee, so it may be up to the commission whether to punish him.
The investigation of what happened backstage is, for now, in the hands of City Attorney Tom Ansbro, who said he will interview the mayor and commissioners. That’s wrong, too. Even though Ansbro is a highly experienced attorney whose work for the city dates to the 1980s, he cannot independently investigate his bosses who supervise his work.
This is the very appearance of a conflict of interest. The city needs to hire an outside law firm to investigate and recommend solutions, including possible punishment of Glassman.
As this ugly episode shows clearly, city government in Fort Lauderdale has become dysfunctional. Taxpayers and voters do not have to tolerate this conduct — and they shouldn’t.
In an interview, I gave Glassman an opportunity to apologize, to voice regret, admit he was out of line for using highly inappropriate language to a city employee. Here’s what he said: “I don’t regret anything. What I’m being accused of is absurd. That’s not how I behave.”
Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com or (850) 567-2240 and follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @stevebousquet.