We’re old enough to remember former North Miami Assistant Budget Director Terry Henley’s testimony at his termination appeal hearing before the Personnel Board on January 24, 2019.
Under oath, he stated that Deputy City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey directed him to plug the budget hole with the “two million dollar Costco buyout of their lease” (page 27 of the Day 2 transcript).
Mr. Henley backed up his allegation that the city was “planning to balance its budget with Costco money” with actual proof in the form of Exhibits 21a, 21b, and 21c:
And just like the prestigious Distinguished Budget Presentation Award secured for North Miami by Terry Henley for the first time ever in 2013, we suspect Deputy Duke would call this nothing but “pretty pictures.”
Unfortunately for the Duke, however, this data was provided by the city’s own Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) installed by Tyler Technologies.
Yeah, facts are funny things.
We also remember Mr. Henley’s testimony that “the Costco money was used to balance the budget,” despite the fact that “the City Council was expressing some dissatisfaction with the Costco deal and said it did not want to use that money” (page 31 of the Day 2 transcript).
In fact, Mr. Henley’s attorney, William R. Amlong, asked him, “In about April of last year I believe the City Council was expressing some dissatisfaction with the Costco deal and said it did not want to use that money. Is that correct?”
Mr. Henley replied, “That’s correct.”
We direct your attention to the video of the April 24, 2018 Council Meeting. Discussion of the Costco money (Tab H – DISCUSSION REGARDING APPROPRIATING THE UPFRONT BASE RENT FOR COSTCO TO THE SUPER RESERVE) begins at minute 22:16.
At the beginning of the discussion, Councilman Philippe Bien-Aime directed City Manager Larry Spring to place the $1.9 million received from Costco into the reserve account.
After much discussion about whether or not the deal for the Costco lease should be renegotiated, at minute 35:40), Mr. Bien-Aime stated, “We should not keep the check.”
The Mayor and Council indicated agreement.
At minute 39:18, Mr. Bien-Aime asks Larry Spring, “Are you going to return the money?”
At minute 39:21, Mr. Spring responds, “Yes, I will return it.”
WATCH:
The testimony on Day 2 of Terry Henley’s appeal hearing before the Personnel Board continued.
Amlong: So what happened to the money?
Henley: Well, we have it and we used it.
Amlong: Did you spend it?
Henley: Yes, it was — it’s part of the operations budget. It was spent as — like I demonstrated on the last ERP report from the financial management system.
As we previously reported, on page 93 of the transcript, Mr. Amlong asked Mr. Henley if he reminded Larry Spring the money was to be sent back to Costco.
Mr. Henley replied, “Yeah, I reminded him because there was a meeting in April. It was an earlier meeting, a Council meeting, when they said to send it back. And at an internal meeting, a staff meeting, when everyone left, I said, ‘Hey, you can’t put that in the super reserve. We’re using that to balance the budget.’ And he said he didn’t know about it. And I’m not going to repeat what he said after that.”
And yet, when the Council asked Larry Spring if the Costco money was included in the budget, he flat out lied to them (page 94).
We now direct your attention to the video of the September 17, 2018 Second Budget Hearing. From minute 4:10 to minute 5:58, Councilman Philippe Bien-Aime brought up the $1.9 million Costco money once again.
Here is a verbatim transcription of that portion of the meeting:
Bien-Aime: And another thing in the budget, I think my last question, did you add two million dollars to the reserve, or you added a new [unintelligible] way to balance the budget?
Spring: No, no, no, no. The reserve, what’s in the reserve is what we’re …
Bien-Aime: I’m talking about the two million.
Spring: The two million, that’s what we’re statutorily, well, a portion of it is what we’re statutorily supposed to put there. The two million that’s there is the two million for Cagni Park.
Bien-Aime: That’s what you …
Spring: Yes. That’s what the two million is there for.
Bien-Aime: Okay. Meaning you used the two million from Costco to balance the budget, right?
Spring: No. That two million of reserve is going to be wire transferred to the escrow account to build Cagni Park. That is set aside money.
Bien-Aime: No, I’m not talking about that two million dollars. I’m talking about the two million from Costco.
Spring: No, I don’t have that money.
BA: Where is it?
Spring: It’s in a, uh, it’s in a bank account. [Nervous laugh] Going to be sent back. [Laughs again]
Bien-Aime: That’s what we need to know to make sure it’s not in the budget, right? You’re gonna send it back to them.
Spring: Maybe. [More laughter]
Bien-Aime: Yeah, but how long is it going to take?
Spring: What, to send the money back?
Bien-Aime: Yeah.
Scott Galvin: Like two seconds.
Spring: You know, um …
Bien-Aime: Yeah, but if the person says, “Okay, you keep my money for over a year [background laughter], and I need this amount of interest. What you going to do about that?
Spring: There’s, there’s. I’ll work it out with you if you’ll allow me.
Bien-Aime: Okay.
Spring: With the, with our lesser partners, who …
Bien-Aime: But we didn’t give you, we didn’t vote on it.
Spring: You didn’t vote on it.
Scott Galvin: And that money is not affecting tonight’s budget?
Spring: No, it’s not.
Bien-Aime: It’s not anywhere in the budget?
Spring: It’s not in the budget. It’s in the bank account.
WATCH:
Who’s laughing now, Mr. Spring?
During this entire exchange, the look on Terry Henley’s face, who is sitting next to Larry Spring, is PRICELESS!
He obviously knows that the City Manager is lying through his teeth.
But, who you gonna believe?
Larry Spring, or your lyin’ eyes?
Stephanie
1. Which the Mayor or one of the council members would have asked “what’s so funny?” or said “This is a serious matter this is the money of our residents.”
2. Bien Aime is the only one that is showing concern about the budget and the $2 million from Costco. He is not letting Larry get away with not giving him a direct answer about the $2million from Costco. This might be due to the fact that Ms. Laura Hill is his constituent and she was the first one other than Mr. Henley to realize that something fishy was going on with the Costco money. She obviously had not only inquired about it at the council meeting but directly to her councilman.
3. I wonder why at the council meeting where residents spoke about getting a 3rd party Forensic Audit Bien Aime didn’t have this same attitude towards Larry. Actually he said he looked over the 2018-2019 budget and found it to be fine but to satisfy the residents to have an audit done. “Not for me but for them” he said this at least a dozen times and in different ways. This lead me to believe that there might be something Larry and Duke had in Bien Aime that he wanted it to be cleared to them he was fine with the budget and didn’t feel an audit was needed. I believe the thing that they had on Bien Aime might be the allegations of sexual harassment by a city employee.
4. If the previous Police Chief was fired for lying, will The City Manager and Deputy City Manager also get fired? Mr. Henley got fired for not “doing his job.” Then the Deputy City manager and the Code Enforcer Manager also need to be fired for not doing their job.
5. Will the Mayor actually council since the Mayor is exiting and never did much to begin with, once again look the other way and act as if they have nothing to do with the mess and corruption in North Miami?
6. Isn’t Councilman Scott Galvin all about ethics? Will he finally do the right thing (remember he voted to hire Larry knowing about his last job) and realize that Duke has to go in order for the city to be Ethical.?
7. If Chief Larry Juriga got $250k for being called a red neck (he can never work outside of NM he might break down if were verbally abuse like the majority of cops do) how much you think Mr. Henley will get not being wrongfully fired actually the money will be to keep him from continuing to spill all beans.
8. Will residents once again insist on a forensic audit being that was done was clearly not an audit. Once again council ignores its residents/Bosses.
9. Looks like come May we need to clean house and vote in New People, especially those no way connected to Duke. Sorry Michael Etienne you are part of the Sorey’s Friends and Family plan as well as who you are endorsing to replace you as City Clerk.
All great questions.
Can we expect the Mayor and Council to answer any of them?
Don’t hold your breath.
Here’s one: How on earth are Larry Spring and Duke Sorey still on the North Miami payroll? This has to be one of life’s greatest mysteries.
Your reader above posted some interesting comments which is correct and for the record with our city administration and our current city council.
My advice and prayers for NoMi are:
1) Three major homeowner associations, Sunkist Grove, Keystone Point, and NoMi Neighbors, should schedule and conduct their own public and independent debates involving Mayor, City Council candidates running in their respective areas, and city clerk office before early voting starts and mail in ballots hit the mailboxes with our communities.
2) I sat next to Laura Hill and she said “Jim, this is serious and we need to look into this” but I was focusing on upcoming bond issue vote especially four days of early voting at NoMi Public Library and the release of our Comprehensive Financial Audit Report (CAFR) where we learned at the same meeting that the Mr. Spring’s first full fiscal year for supervising and managing our financial metrics resulted in the following outcomes in the CAFR on at the April 26, 2018 meeting:
http://www.northmiamifl.gov/docs/cafr_2017.pdf
On page 33 out of 249 pages of the 2016-2017 CAFR audit year ending on September 30, 2017 and reported on time within six months after the fiscal year ending on March 30, 2018. The following comment was disclosed on the April 24, 2018 meeting:
“At the close of the current fiscal year, the City’s governmental funds reported combined ending fund balances of $13.6 million, a decrease of $4.8 million in comparison to the prior year’s increase of $0.3million. The current year’s decrease was due primarily to overall increased expenditures in the general fund of $3.6 million which includes expenditures for special events (Mardi Gras $0.2 million) forgiveness of CRA debt of $0.3 million and expenditures for preparation for Hurricane Irma in September 2017.”
Laura Hill saw my face as I was like a little kid with a cheshire cat smile on early Xmas morning and I said “our early Merry Christmas present” to Ms. Hill!
For your reference, the final outcome of the general fund is disclosed on page 65 out of 248 pages of the attached above CAFR document: $ 4.8 Million Dollars Deficit.
3) Our city administration did improve in reducing the number of citations from previous year audit on pages 237-239 out of 249 pages where NoMi achieved only 2 audit citations under Mr. Spring’s supervision compare to 3 audit citations under Mr. Sorey’s supervision as interim city manager between October 2015 through February 2016 and Mr. Spring’s promotion from finance director to city manager in February 2016.
4) However, we have some serious oversight problems with our city … It starts with our city council based upon their outcomes in the following areas:
a) Florida Auditor General’s Office Report 2018-038 issued on November 21, 2017 with its famous 30 — YES 30 — audit citations over a period of 30 months starting in October 2012 and ending in March 2015 on page 2 out of 69 pages with its cast of elected (and acting) mayors, elected council members, and appointed city managers. In summary, Council Member Alix DeSulme and City Manager Larry Spring are two persons NOT LISTED in this audit report from the Florida Audit General.
https://flauditor.gov/pages/pdf_files/2018-038.pdf
For the cliff notes version for simple reading:
http://northmiamifl.gov/docs/Preliminary_List_Tentative_Audit_Findings_Recommendations_10102017.pdf
b) Early Retirement Incentive Plan was proposed by then city manager Stephen Johnson under Mayor Lucie Tondreau’s administration and adopted under Mayor Tondreau’s watch in fall 2013.
http://www.northmiamifl.gov/Docs/AgendasMinutes/TABT11122013.pdf
The cost savings and benefits were ignored after the appointment of Aleem Ghany as city manager in April 2014 and along with Mayor Tondreau’s removal by Governor Scott in May 2014. By rehiring former city employees as temporary employee consultants (TEC) at questionable rates and reclassify personnel back to their previous position before the ERIP along with nice pay raises, the city administration and city council just ignored the original intent of the ERIP and erased any cost savings to the city. This is why NoMi received this audit citation listed below:
Finding 12: Although the City Council contracted with an actuary to prepare a financial impact statement for use in evaluating the fiscal viability of implementing an early retirement incentive program (ERIP), the parameters specified to the actuary differed from those in the ERIP adopted by the City. Consequently, the usefulness of the financial impact statement was diminished and City records did not clearly demonstrate the basis upon which the City Council assessed the fiscal viability of the City-adopted ERIP or how implementation of the ERIP was in the City’s best interests.
Please read all of above attachments as they are FACTS and ACTUAL FIGURES … our taxpayers dollars not at work .. but they are misdirect toward non-governmental activities.
As I stated before on the record at our city council meetings, no one up on the dais is stealing and pocketing funds which is good for NoMi based upon their long history going back to the city’s founding days back in late 1920’s. However, our outcomes, performances, actual track records, and results are very poor and needs vast improvement. This is why major developers and creative private companies avoid NoMi at all costs and choose other cities like NMB, Hallandale Beach, Coconut Creek, and Delray Beach.
Finally, we should all give recognition and appreciation to Ms. Kienzle for keeping us honest and inform on local events in our community. In summary, she saves money for us on our tax bills with her service and “bulldog” dedication to good and progressive local governance. Remember, there is no difference between picking up the garbage, answering a police call within an acceptable response time, providing outstanding public drinking water (#7 best in the US), and/or keeping our parks and streets clean and safe with Republicans and/or Democrats.
Why I am writing this reply .. because I love my city … I love NoMi .. as it saved me as a little lost boy!
If this was a private business or even a public corporation Spring would’ve been out in a heartbeat. This is absolutely a Ripleys believe it or not.