Who didn’t see this coming?

As a parting gift to the City of North Miami, the former Deputy Manager, Arthur “Duke” Sorey, left his Deputy Manager job in North Miami with a $14.6 million deficit and a budget-busting $1,361,615 empty field of dreams formally known as the Red Garden.

During his six-year tenure as Deputy Manager, interspersed by two stints as Interim Manager, Duke Sorey’s crowning “achievements” include his fraudulent budgets, deficit budgets, hiring friends and family, firing whistle-blowers, contracting high priced consultants, furloughing working class employees, and the constant withholding of public records.

And now, despite being explicitly warned about Duke’s shady history at the City of North Miami, four Criminal Commissioners in North Miami Beach conspired to hire him precisely for those reasons.  And so on April 20, 2021, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean, joined by Fortuna Smukler voted 5-2 to hire the most incompetent City Manager in all of South Florida at an outrageous $240,000.00 a year.

Less than two months later at the June 15, 2021 City Commission Meeting, the four Criminal Commissioners voted to give Duke a raise!

Under the terms of the April 20, 2021 Employment Contract, Duke Sorey’s total annual compensation package is approximately $377,537.

Under the terms of his First Amendment to Duke Sorey’s Employment Contract, his new annual compensation package will be approximately $405,037, or AN ADDITIONAL $27,500 A YEAR!

Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean may be corrupt, but they’re not stupid.

Well, except for Paule, of course, who has the IQ of room temperature.

They knew that Duke would make sure he’d share the wealth in more ways than one.

After all, earlier that same meeting, they were able to give themselves another raise for their “medical, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits,” even though on September 29, 2019 they had already passed a Resolution giving themselves an annual raise which was expressly designated to cover the cost of health benefits!

Essentially, they began double dipping by paying themselves TWICE for their health insurance premiums.

With Duke’s blessing, of course.

But no one has scored bigger than Duke by the sweet deals he’s arranged, like replacing the City’s workforce with his personal North Miami Friends & Family members, who are “ethnically correct,” paying them a hell of a lot more, and increasing the City’s payroll by $620,747.19. from the minute he was hired through the end of FY2020-21, and an additional $1,524,634.20 during the first 10 months and 9 days of the current fiscal year, or a total of $2,145,381.39.

Keep in mind that’s just base salary.  It does not include the benefits packages these new employees receive or the overtime hours they are being forced to work, especially during all of Paule Villard’s taxpayer-funded campaign events.

In January, Duke dropped $1,803,578.86 on a piece of property, formerly known as the “Singer Building,” which is located at 16501 NE 15th Avenue, for the purpose of “renovating the property into a senior facility for residents,” according to the February 15, 2021 Minutes of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board Meeting.

We have no way of knowing how much Duke has spent “renovating” the building, because a public records request yielded only a $2,950.00 invoice from People’s Choice Pressure Cleaning, Inc., and nothing else.

Not that we’re surprised because Duke’s been deliberately withholding as many public records from us as he can get away with.

At the February 2021 CRA meeting, the Board voted to reimburse the City $1.2 million from CRA funds.

Don’t be surprised if this “reimbursement” turns out to be less than Kosher.

Just saying.

In any event, it’s common knowledge that the real reason the Singer Building was purchased was to have a larger venue for Paule to hold taxpayer-funded campaign rallies under the guise of “senior luncheons” and other events.

Then there was Duke’s shady Washington Park deal when he spent $726,383.99 of your tax dollars at closing on three parcels of property with a combined market value of $297,516, after already forgiving unpaid code violation liens owed by the seller totaling $1,812,450.

This Red Garden-like scheme set North Miami Beach taxpayers back a grand total of $2,241,327.99 that they’ll never get back.

We can’t help but wonder how much of that almost $429K profit the seller made off with ended up under a kitchen table somewhere in Miramar with no one the wiser.

Just saying.

We can’t even begin to calculate the vast amount of money Duke has been spending on Paule Villard’s re-election campaign under the guise of “gift cards for food insecurity” and “community outreach,” since most of those costs are secretly being funneled through the Public Affairs and Parks & Rec Departments, some of which we have already uncovered, but we have more digging to do.

So how does Duke plan to pay for all his obscene overspending once the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds finally run out?

He’s going to do it the North Miami Way — sell large chunks of City land at discount prices to Friends & Family in order to balance the budget.

North Miami may be fresh out of public parcels to put on the market, but North Miami Beach is just getting started.

And what better way for Duke to kick off his fire sale than to offer to the highest bidder the opportunity to bulldoze 10.06 acres of lush green space and tennis courts and build yet another massive high-rise development that will cast a shadow over the Ancient Spanish Monastery.

The historic cloisters were first constructed in Spain in 1141, and was originally called “The Monastery of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels.”  In 1174 it was renamed St. Bernard of Clairvaux.  William Randolph Hearst purchased it in 1925, who dismantled the buildings and shipped all the stones in 11,000 wooden crates to the United States, only to be stored in a warehouse in Brooklyn for 26 years.  In 1952 it was finally rebuilt in its present location in North Miami Beach, where it has an active congregation as an Episcopal Church.

The rich history of the Ancient Spanish Monastery, its adjacent green space, and the beautiful clay tennis courts mean absolutely nothing to Duke Sorey, whose only concern is bringing in enough revenue to give Paule Villard whatever she needs to buy enough votes to stay in office.  After all, if he loses that all-important fourth vote, he can kiss his overpaid job goodbye.

Imagine Commissioner Barbara Kramer’s surprise when she received an email on July 26, 2022 from Ashley Francois, the Executive Assistant to Duke Sorey with the mysterious message:

Subject: SAVE THE DATE: Pre-Solicitation Launch Event

When: Thursday, August 25, 2022 6:00 PM-8:00 PM.

Where: Arthur Snyder Tennis Center – 16851 W Dixie HWY, NMB, FL 33160

 

On July 30, 2022, Barbara responded with an email asking Ashley for more information on this event since she didn’t understand the reason for it.

On August 2, 2022, Ashley replied and attached “a memo regarding Arthur Snyder Pre-Solicitation Launch Event.”  This grammatically incorrect memo begins, “At the direction of Mayor & Commission in February’s Commission meeting. [sic] The Administration is actively working on finalizing a request for information (RFI)/intent to negotiate (ITN) to solicit interest in the redevelopment of the Arthur Snyder Tennis Center, 10.06-acre property owned by the City (site) that is currently zoned Community Facility.”

At this point, Barbara was even more confused since she had absolutely no recollection of anything of the sort being discussed, much less voted on, “in February’s Commission meeting.”

As she suspected, neither the Agenda nor the Minutes of the February 15, 2022 meeting mentioned even one word about redeveloping the tennis center.

Barbara then reviewed the Minutes of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board Meeting on February 15, 2022, which she did not attend, in case that was the meeting the memo was referring to.  Not one word was mentioned in those Minutes either.

By this time, Barbara was getting really annoyed.  On August 2, 2022, she sent an email asking for clarification, and also for the dates of the meetings where public discussions took place and the presentation prepared for the “Pre-Solicitation Launch Event.”

When Barbara didn’t receive any response by 5:21 PM that same day, she was getting even more angry and more impatient.  She sent another email to Duke and Andrise, again asking where in the February Commission Meeting this matter was discussed.

That was on August 2, 2022.  Barbara has still not received a response.

And I bet all of you thought that only your public records requests were being deliberately ignored.  Imagine the frustration of an elected official who can’t get information or documents from her own City!

What’s also interesting is that Mayor Anthony DeFillipo was also completely in the dark by this “Pre-Solicitation Launch Event.”

We have no idea if Commissioner Fortuna Smukler knew anything about it, but we do know that the four Criminal Commissioners, especially McKenzie Fleurimond, have been involved from its inception.

It’s bad enough that none of this had been made public to the residents of North Miami Beach — until now, that is — but what we did find out is beyond shady.

Here’s what we know.

The August 25, 2022 Pre-Solicitation Launch Event is a private meeting being hosted by the North Miami Beach CRA “to showcase the development possibilities of the site to investors, developers, and interested parties…”

So much for Government in the Sunshine.

We also know that a CRA Board Meeting is scheduled for on August 16, 2022 at 4:00 PM, the Agenda for which is not published on the City’s website.

In fact, no CRA Agenda’s have been posted since the June 21, 2022 Meeting.

We, however, just happened to get our hands on a copy of the Agenda, and now you have it, too.  Just click here >>> August 2022 CRA Board Meeting Package

As you will see, there is a reason Duke Sorey did not want you to see this Agenda.

We direct your attention to item 6 on the Agenda innocuously entitled, “Approval of Clarke Smart Solutions Agreement,” the description of which reads:

“A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF THE CITY OF NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO ENTER TO AN AGREEMENT WITH CLARKE SMART SOLUTIONS FOR THE PROVISION OF EVENT PLANNING AND PRODUCTION SERVICES IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $94,000; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.”

Hidden on page 19 of the Agenda package is a 2-page CRA RESOLUTION NO. 2022-07, which authorizes the CRA Board “to enter into an agreement with Clarke Smart Solutions (“Clarke”) for the provisions of event planning and productions services for the Pre-Solicitation Launch Event for the Development of the Judge Arthur Snyder Tennis Center and Daniel Dieffenbach Park.”

The Resolution also states that, “the Pre-Solicitation Launch Event is an invitation only event for interested and experienced developers with a proven track record of undertaking and successfully completing mixed-use developments.”

Wait, WHAT?

Duke seems to have forgotten that the City of North Miami Beach is a public government agency, not a private corporation.

Holding a private invitation only event is not only a violation of Chapter 286.011 of the Florida Statutes, it’s also a violation of 5 U.S.C. § 552b, enacted by the Federal Government, known as the Government in the Sunshine Act of 1976.

According to the U.S. General Services Administration, only “advisory committee meetings may be closed or partially closed to the public,” such as:

• Those including discussions of classified information;
• Reviews of proprietary data submitted in support of federal grant applications; and
• Deliberations involving considerations of personnel privacy.

Not surprisingly, however, Duke is breaking the law.

But here’s the shadiest part of all.

The Resolution states that, “Clarke [Smart Solutions] has a proven track record of more than 20 years of planning and production of events in the South Florida area;” and “Clarke has submitted a proposal, attached hereto as Exhibit “A” for the CRA’s consideration;” and “the CRA authorizes the Executive Director to enter into an agreement with Clarke Smart Solutions in an amount not to exceed $94,000.”

Wait, WHAT?

First of all, there is no Exhibit “A” attached to the Resolution, so what is Clarke Smart Solutions proposing anyway?

Second of all, why would a “mixed-use development” have a need for an event planner?

And finally, what are North Miami Beach taxpayers getting in return for NINETY FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS?

We can’t answer those questions, but we can, and we will, tell you about Clarke Smart Solutions, and specifically why Duke chose this company in the first place.

You can read all about it in tomorrow’s installment of Duke Sorey’s shady Red Garden-style of “management,” Part 2.

Stephanie