Last month in They spent how much on what? NMB City Officials Gone Wild, Part 1, we reported on the questionable charges made by the five desk-jockeys in City Manager Duke Sorey’s regime, who spent a combined total of $90,594.68 during the nine-month period from September 5, 2021 through June 4, 2022, or an average of $10,660 per month.

If you spent over $10K on your credit card every single month without worrying about paying it back, how fast would you have bill collectors at your door?

Yet, these unelected bureaucrats simply whip out their taxpayer-funded Purchasing Cards (P Cards) without even thinking twice about wasting your money on their personal wish lists.

We also promised that we’d review all 59 Bank of America P Card statements in the entire City of North Miami Beach for the period of April 5, 2022 through May 4, 2022 and reveal our findings.

The batch we received included the statements showing the the spending habits of 58 City employees in one month, and a consolidated statement reflecting a total amount of P Card charges due for that month in the amount of $131,232.49.

Yes, folks, you read that right.

Fifty-eight City employees charged a total of $131,232.49 on their taxpayer-funded P Cards in one month without blinking an eye.

At that rate, these employees could potentially spend $1,574,789.88, or $196,848.74 each, of your money in a single year.

While you are struggling to pay for your groceries, medicine, healthcare premiums, gasoline, rent or mortgage, real estate taxes, and all your other needs for your families, your City government is literally flushing your hard-earned tax dollars down the toilet on “free” lunches, office decor, vanity projects, and of course, Paule Villard’s campaign for re-election.

If you’re not furious, you’re not paying attention.

We’ve flagged 12 of the 58 P Card statements that we believe contain highly questionable, or just plain unusual, charges, which we urge you to review for yourselves and come to your own conclusions.

Here are the charges we find unusual, to say the least.

Athalie Edwards, hired by Duke on May 24, 2021 as a Senior Management Analyst for $88,000/year, charged $8,357.14 on her taxpayer-funded P Card in one month.  Eight of those charges were for an overabundance of food purchases from Domino’s, Chic-Fil-A, Panera Bread, La Granja, Fatboy Wings, and Olive Garden, for a total of $2,256.14.  Who ate all that food in one month?  She also charged $2,006.00 at Miss Mini Donuts and $1,500.00 at Snow Caps Miami, which may have been for one of the city’s many “special events.”  Athalie also charged $195.00 for a hotel room in Orlando on April 7, 2022, which is odd since no one in Duke’s administration traveled to Orlando in April.  She also charged $900.00 to Univision Management Co., with no explanation.

Dwight Jackson, Parks Superintendant, salary $74,646, charged party rental items from Imperial Party Rentals for $792.99 and Golden Moments & Events for $743.60.  These charges may very well be legitimate, but considering all the money the City is spending on taxpayer-funded campaign events for Paule’s re-election which are secretly being funneled through Parks & Rec, we can’t help but be suspicious.

Debbie Widlan, position and salary unknown, a/k/a The Amazon Queen, charged $3,694.82 for forty-five (45) purchases at Amazon.com.  In one month.  We can’t help but wonder how much of those goods were used for Paule Villard’s taxpayer-funded re-election campaign.

Eugene Baer, Facilities Manager-Public Works, salary $79,960, charged $749.20 to the North Miami Beach Building Department.  What did he buy from the Building Department, and why did he charge it on his P Card?

Harvette Smith, Police Chief, salary $176,001, charged a total of $1,406.07 in four separate charges to the AC Hotel by Marriott in Aventura.  There could be a perfectly legitimate reason for these expenditures, but inquiring minds want to know.

Joann Milord, hired by Duke on August 2, 2021 as the CRA Director, salary $116,481, apparently thinks it’s okay to spend your tax dollars on food for herself and/or her staff.  During the month of April she spent a total of $165.19 during four trips to Publix, $51.52 at Miami Squeeze Juice Bar, $112.14 at Houston’s, $79.18 at Paule’s favorite restaurant, Family Cuisine, and $53.96 at Kabobji Middle Eastern Restaurant.  She also charged $42.79 to have her car washed at Sparkling Image in Aventura.  Someone who’s making six figures can afford to pay for her own car wash.  Why are NMB taxpayers footing the bill?

Meghan C. Bennett, Purchasing Supervisor, salary $101,204, charged what appears to be three $25.00 gift cards for Mr. Chow, the Outback, and The Gift Card Shop.  Who were they purchased for and why?

Quavis King, Recreation Manager, salary $79,960, charged a total of $3,194.06, including $370.00 at Camille’s Floral Designs on April 7, 2022 and $478.85 at JR Roses Wholesale Flowers on April 20, 2022.  We can’t imagine why he needed all those flowers, can you?  He also charged $933.99 at Dollar Tree, $853.68 at Amazon, and $557.54 at 4Imprint, where most of Paule Villard’s taxpayer-funded personalized promotional items are purchased.  We can’t help but wonder what this charge was for.

Roberta Gilmore, Utilities Customer Service Supervisor, salary $50,111, charged $458.80 for a plane ticket to Phoenix on May 2, 2022.  Why did she go to Phoenix and why did you pay for her trip?

Stuart Nichols, Police Major, salary $138,523, made some odd random charges on his P Card including, $180.51 at Publix, $115.00 at Cao Bakery, $64.00 at Space Music in North Miami, and $194.74 at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Aventura.  He also charged two airline tickets, one for Chief Smith and one for himself, for a trip to Houston on May 16, 2022.  We have no idea why they went to Houston, and we assume it was for a legitimate reason; however, the tickets cost $1,105.20 each, which should raise eyebrows.  Did they fly first-class?  If so, that’s highly inappropriate on taxpayer dime.

Do any of these public employees entrusted with a taxpayer-funded Purchasing Card understand they are working for a government agency and not a Fortune 500 corporation where they can write off lunches and airline tickets as business expenses?

Do they not realize they have a responsibility to spend public money wisely?

What’s wrong with them anyway?

No wonder public trust has eroded.

Nevertheless, we saved the best for last.

And by best, we mean the P Card statements with the sketchiest charges of them all.

We’ll start with Elisabeth Pierre, Administrative Assistant III, salary $53,229, charged $4,453.58 on her P Card in April for a mixed-bag of stuff.  The thing that stands out is her shopping spree on April 14, 2022, which began with a $50.52 purchase at Walmart in Miami Gardens, and proceeded to the City of Miami, more than 10 miles from her job at City Hall, where she spent another $174.91 at Walmart, $56.40 at Winn-Dixie,  $260.82 at Vary’s Cash & Carry, a grocery store located at 1160 NW 22 Street in Miami, and a $728.45 purchase at Four Star Poultry & Provision, another grocery company located in the same vicinity at 2180 NW 13 Ave.

We can’t imagine why Ms. Pierre needed to buy $1,214.70 worth of groceries.

All on the same day.

Purchased in a city, far away from North Miami Beach.

Could it be that these groceries were not meant to be taken to NMB City Hall, but to a completely different location?

To perhaps somewhere in downtown Miami?

Like maybe an office building located at 100 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33132?

Which just happens to be the the location of AA Office & Concierge Services.

Where, for a fee, you can rent a virtual office, and other services, far from the prying eyes of the taxpaying residents of North Miami Beach.

Well, now that we mention it, how ironic is it that Duke’s newest Chief of Staff and North Miami transplant, Francisco Medranda, just so happened to charge on his taxpayer-funded P Card the amount of $4,120 to AA Office & Concierge Services.

Francisco also just happened to charge $809.31 to 4Imprint, Paule’s go-to shop for all her personalized, taxpayer-funded campaign materials.

Just saying.

I have known Francisco Medranda for many years since he worked for the City of North Miami, and I can tell you he is a highly qualified and extremely professional public employee.  I believe he is truly an asset to the City of North Miami Beach.

Francisco would never have made this charge on his P Card without a directive from his boss, Duke Sorey.  Unfortunately, unless it’s something illegal, Francisco will do as he’s asked because he is a professional.  Sadly, his talents are wasted working under Duke.

While we did make a public records request for “the invoices and all supporting documents, i.e., memos, leases, subleases, and emails, for the $4,120.00 charged to AA Office & Concierge on the Purchasing Card by Francisco Medranda on April 4, 2022,” we don’t expect to receive a response any time soon.

We do, however, encourage you to make your own public records request for invoices of any of the charges we mentioned above, or any others that you feel are worth investigating.

You can fill out a hand-dandy online request form by clicking here:  North Miami Beach Public Records Request

You’ll probably get a response more quickly since you’re not Stephanie Kienzle.

Happy digging.

Stephanie