Like clockwork, North Miami city officials rallied their troops and came out swinging against a city employee who had the chutzpah to blow the whistle on fraud and corruption.

In a letter from attorneys for the now-fired Assistant Budget Director Terry Henley, who claims that he was fired in retaliation for objecting to the fraudulent budget pushed through by City Manager Larry Spring and Deputy Duke Sorey pushed through.

In response, City Attorney Jeff Cazeau responded to William R. Amlong, Esq. by accusing the employee of retaliating against the city because he was “written up on three (3) separate occasions and finally terminated” and that this client “is merely a disgruntled ex-employee attempting to save his job.”  Mr. Cazeau also claimed that “Mr. Henley’s termination was due to poor work performance.”

Oh, really?

Apparently, Mr. Henley’s work performance was so “poor,” that he was “punished” by being given “progressively more responsible positions with the City” over the last five years.  Not to mention the raises that go with them.

In fact, three years ago, Terry Henley was promoted from Budget Administrator to Assistant Budget Director.  In the last five years his performance evaluations resulted almost all “above average” ratings and one “satisfactory.”

Yet, Jeff Cazeaus would have the Mayor and Council believe that this employee, who had never been “written up” until two months ago when he persisted in calling Spring and Sorey out for their deceptive budget, was terminated for “poor work performance.”

Explain that one, Mr. Cazeau.

We’ll wait.

Laughably, Jeff Cazeau assured Mr. Amlong that “the City will conduct a thorough investigation of the claims in your letter.”

We know all too well how those North Miami “thorough investigations” pan out.

Especially in its Police Department.

At the same time the City Attorney sent his letter vigorously defending Spring and Sorey, City Manager Larry Spring prepared the predictable hit piece on Terry Henley, which he sent to the Mayor and Council.

In his slanderous memo, Spring charged Mr. Henley with “poor and substandard” work, claiming that he hired a lawyer to go “public with false information designed to discredit the City’s efforts to fix his professional shortcomings.”

Gee, that tactic sounds so familiar.

Maybe because this is not the first time the City Manager defamed a city employee to justify a firing.

Remember when Spring disgraced himself by publicly trashing former Police Chief Gary Eugene and Commander Emile Hollant in a Memo to North Miami Community Council he distributed at a Community Forum on June 21, 2017?

No surprises there.

Apparently, city officials can dish it out, but they sure as heck can’t take it!

In his letter, Jeff Cazeau told Mr. Henley’s attorney that his client’s demand for 20 weeks of severance pay was “unlawful.”  According to Florida Statute 215.425(2)(b), he’s correct about that since “the severance pay represents the settlement of an employment dispute.”

However, that exact same Florida Statute also states, “The settlement may not include provisions that limit the ability of any party to the settlement to discuss the dispute or settlement.”

And yet, in his letter to Mr. Cazeau, Mr. Amlong wrote:

Mr. Sorey handed Mr. Henley a separation agreement that included a confidentiality provision that read:

EMPLOYEE agrees that he will not criticize, denigrate, or disparage CITY other (sic) as set forth herein. To that end, EMPLOYEE will not make any comments or statements to the press, CITY’s current or former employees, any individual or entity with whom the CITY has a relationship, or any other person if such comment or statement could be likely to adversely affect the conduct of the business of the CITY, or any of the plans, prospects, or business reputation of the CITY.

In other words, “Here’s your hush-money.  Now shut the hell up and go away quietly!”

(We’re also laughing at the part about the “reputation of the city,” as if it could possibly be any worse.)

Interestingly, while Florida law allows non-contracted employees (such as Terry Henley) the right to receive six (6) weeks of severance pay, Florida Statute 215.425(4)(a)(1) requires that the agreements with contracted government employees (such as Larry Spring) include a “severance pay provided may not exceed an amount greater than 20 weeks of compensation.”

Accordingly, the Employment Agreement between the City of North Miami and Larry M. Spring, Jr. dated October 10, 2017 allows for a severance pay of  twenty (20) weeks if he’s fired without cause.  It also states that once he receives notice of his firing, he still has thirty (30) days to request a public hearing to state his case before his termination is effective.

Terry Henley received no such courtesy.

As Mr. Amlong wrote in his letter, “When Mr. Henley refused to accept the money in exchange for his silence, and attempted to return to work, police officers were called to escort him from City Hall.”

Then he was immediately fired.

Nice!

In North Miami, no good deed goes unpunished.

For over a year, Assistant Budget Director Terry Henley tried to warn City Manager Larry Spring and Duputy Duke Sorey that their budget was defective and unsustainable.

In return for trying to save the city from financial disaster, he was given his walking papers.

Larry Spring, Duke Sorey and all their loyal sycophants have done, and will continue to do, everything in their power to protect the status quo.  They have a vested interest in covering up for their own incompetence in order to protect their exorbitant salaries and golden parachute severance packages.

No matter how many city employees they have to destroy in the process.

And speaking of exorbitant salaries, we’ll leave you with this parting thought:

According to his contract, in addition to his annual $240,000 salary, Larry Spring also gets, a $9,000 car allowance, a $2,400 cell phone allowance, a $9,600 general expense allowance, and a $24,000 retirement contribution – totaling $285,000 a year.

In addition, Larry Spring’s contract includes “health, dental and life insurance coverage for the CITY MANAGER and his family on the same basis as provided to other nonclassified Administrative Staff of the CITY.”

The City Manager AND HIS FAMILY?

SWEET!

When we last checked the cost of health insurance for city employees in January 2016, we were told that then-Assistant Chief Larry Juriga’s monthly individual health insurance policy were $788.77.

At that same rate, the cost of Larry Spring’s health insurance would be $9,465.24, and that’s not even including his family coverage.

However, as we all know, health insurance premiums have more than doubled since 2013 and continue to skyrocket every year, so we can assume it’s a lot more than that.

(Note:  We have made a public records request for the exact dollar amount of Spring’s health insurance and will post an update when we receive a response.)

In any event, the stench of fraud, corruption, collusion and cover up still hangs in the air over North Miami City Hall.

And yet another city employee becomes collateral damage in an attempt to sweep it all under the rug.

The Mayor himself said it best at the July 10, 2018 Council Meeting when, out of eight sanitation companies, only one was willing to bid for the lucrative North Miami contract.

Watch:

“What?  We are so bad a municipality that no company wants to conduct business with us?  THIS IS INSULTING!  This is insulting for you guys to present this to us.  Eight companies come here.  The city on the move!  The City of North Miami!  The fifth largest city!  They don’t want to conduct business with us?  We are that bad?  WE ARE THAT CROOKED?  We are that non-transparent?  That’s why they don’t want to do business with us?  That’s insulting!

As they say in a court of law, “Asked and answered.”

The only solution to this very real problem is to commission an independent, third party audit of the City’s finances, including its budget and all enterprise funds.

Fortunately, Councilman Scott Galvin is already on the case.

In a newsletter Mr. Galvin distributed today, he pledged to “get to the truth.”  When asked by the Miami Herald if he would support a thorough investigation, he said, “Bring in the third party audit.  Let’s do it.”

North Miami residents deserve better.

Stephanie