Margate police chief retires amid scrutiny over text messages

Margate’s police chief announced his retirement late Thursday afternoon, the day after city commissioners agreed to dock his pay during a six-month probation period where he could’ve faced being fired in the end anyway.

In an email to the city manager obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Chief Joseph Galaska said he was retiring “on my own accord.”

“Under the current circumstances, my request to retire as soon as possible, and that I may be afforded to utilize accrued time until my request is approved, making my retirement effective immediately,” he wrote.

The city manager informed city commissioners by email minutes later that he would have the city’s attorney draft a “separation/retirement” agreement for their consideration.

In a Wednesday night meeting that ended in the early hours of Thursday, the chief was given six months to right his ship or risk being terminated.

The fallout comes after a city-commissioned investigation that reviewed some of the chief’s text messages. It concluded, “Chief Galaska’s conduct ultimately creates potential liability for the City in the future.” The investigation also found there is “concern regarding potential gender bias,” among other issues. Among the messages reviewed was one that said he would not promote a female lieutenant, or “I will never ever make her a major.”

Last week, the majority of Margate police officers in a union cast ballots expressing they have “no confidence” in Galaska’s ability to lead.

On Wednesday night, Galaska addressed the city commissioners, assuring them his record of hiring and promoting shows no bias against women. “I’d like to offer my sincere apologies I might have offended in previous text messages due to my poor choice of words,” he said.

Galaska told commissioners when he took over the agency — the last chief was fired — it was already riddled with problems and a “broken culture.”

“I was not handed the keys to a brand-new Mercedes. I was handed the keys to a lemon from a junkyard,” he told leaders referring to the police department.

But the report by attorney and investigator Ria Chattergoon showed “disturbing character flaws,” said Commissioner Joanne Simone at the city meeting, saying these weren’t the first formal complaints within the department against Galaska.

“The reputation of Margate is stained,” Simone said. “How does the department come back from this with this chief at the helm?”

Vice Mayor Arlene Schwartz called the texts “egregious” and showed “toxic issues.”

She said the chief’s public apology was three weeks late, and she called it an “outrage.” She has spoken to members of the department who have relayed to her concerns of “cronyism” and “infighting among upper management and a general lack of respect for the chain of command.”

“I know the department is broken,” she said. She said she was worried of a “mass exodus” unless there are changes.

Schwartz is the one who proposed Galaska’s deadline of six months to make “meaningful change” and warned if he is ultimately fired, she’d urge her colleagues to hire from outside the department to get somebody with “no alliances, no friendships.”

While ‘change’ within the department might be hard to define, Commissioner Anthony Caggiano said, “It’s like pornography: You know it when you see it.”

Still, “I can’t fire him over this,” Caggiano said. He also said people write “stupid” texts when they think they are talking to friends.

In December, Margate hired a law firm to conduct the third-party investigation regarding a lieutenant’s complaint against Galaska, in which a lieutenant alleged the chief’s texts inferred she engaged in a sex act with another former lieutenant “to advance her career,” the report says. The investigation states the woman and a former employee had a relationship more than 16 years ago, and the former employee did not have any supervisory authority over the female lieutenant.

Skirvin said at the meeting the female lieutenant who was the subject of the texts has been publicly humiliated.

Commissioner Antonio Arserio urged the commission to chose termination with no cause, saying another complaint was filed that same day. “I have a strong feeling we’re going to be up here again,” he warned.

Commissioners also agreed that during the six-month probation period, during the first month his pay would be docked by 75%, and the remaining five months he’d be docked 25%.

Even though that may be now moot, given the chief submitted his retirement, at least one commissioner said an investigation would continue anyway. The commission had agreed to pursue an investigation that looked further into what’s happened at the department.

The city needs to know if there are “other actors” and to “uncover what we can,” Commissioner Arserio said Thursday evening. It will be meaningful information for the next chief to fix the problems, he said.

“At the end of the day he’s doing the right thing,” Arserio said of the chief.

Rod Skirvin, president of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents the agency’s officers, told commissioners that more complaints were going to be filed. “The can of worms has been opened,” he said.

After news of the retirement Thursday, Skirvin said it was unclear if the complaints would still be filed.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash