Lauderdale Lakes City Manager Kelvin Baker is packing up his traveling circus and hitting the road.

In Lauderdale Lakes city manager resigns in dispute with commission,  the Sun Sentinel just reported that “Baker announced his resignation at the end of the Lauderdale Lakes commission meeting on Tuesday. Commissioners adjourned without discussing Baker’s action.”

The article notes that Baker has been “battling with commissioners recently over the city’s budget and employee hires.”  Despite those disagreements, Commissioner Beverly Williams asked him to reconsider.

Beverly Hawkins-Williams is the commissioner who once said she didn’t “have a vision” for all the gas stations in Lauderdale Lakes.  She was also the only one on the dais who was leery of hiring Baker in the first place even though she eventually consented.

Kelvin Baker’s battle with the Lauderdale Lakes commission is hardly recent.  In fact, it’s been going on all year long.  On January 27, 2016, the Sun Sentinel reported in Lauderdale Lakes seeks $2 million budget reduction  that, “Baker put together a proposal earlier in January to take $2.8 million out of several reserve accounts to pay for numerous planned capital improvement projects, which would have pushed the overall budget over $38 million, but it didn’t pass muster with commissioners.”

Today’s article about last night’s commission offers few details, but does note that updates will be forthcoming.

Sources told me, however, that the commission was concerned with Baker’s hiring of individuals for non-budgeted positions, and also with the potential fallout from the current Opa-locka scandal.

Kelvin Baker was the city manager for Opa-locka for three years from July of 2012 until August of last year.  It’s highly unlikely he’ll escape unscathed in the ongoing investigation and pending grand jury hearings.

As always, I will follow this breaking story and report back any future updates.

Stephanie