Once upon a time when North Miami Beach had a real City Manager, the cost of special events was reasonable.
Esmond Scott was first appointed as Interim City Manager on July 10, 2018. He prepared his first budget as permanent City Manager for Fiscal Year 2019-2020.
As part of that budget, Esmond planned a Proposed FY 2020 Special Events Schedule.
In addition to events for seniors and youth, citizen outreach, community partnerships, and other programs, he also included funds for holiday events, multicultural events, as well as “recognized occasions/customs.”
Unfortunately, not even halfway through the fiscal year, Esmond was forced out resigned on February 22, 2021 when four Criminal Commissioners, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean, decided that fiscal responsibility wasn’t their cup of tea.
They also knew that then-North Miami Deputy Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey, who nearly bankrupted that City, would be the perfect choice to help them pillage North Miami Beach for every last dime.
Duke was hired on April 20, 2021, and the looting began in earnest.
He started with spending as much as he could on events geared mainly to the black and Haitian communities while skimping on (or altogether ignoring) events that celebrated other cultures.
Esmond’s budget for Haitian Heritage Month of $15,000.00 was soon forgotten as Duke proceeded to throw away $57,808.38 on a non-stop, month-long party in May 2021.
This year, Duke went all out again!
Our Public Records Request for “copies of all invoices for goods and services, as well as police and employee overtime, on all events for the month of May, 2022,” was only partially fulfilled. The rest of the documents are being held hostage by Duke unless we pay a ransom of $135.36.
The expenditures (so far) that the City did provide is as follows:
- Police overtime of $27,452.00.
- Parks and Rec Overtime of $4,244.63.
- Library Special Programs Expenditures of $1,952.73.
- And a list of Special Events for the month of May 2022, all totaling $34,522.79.
According to the records we did manage to receive, a total of $68,172.15 was spent on Special Events in May 2022.
Nevertheless, of this amount, $56,268.55 was spent on Haitian Heritage Month alone.
And that’s not counting the expenditures that Duke won’t release unless we pay the extortion fee of $135.36.
By comparison, the City spent only $15,497.00 on Hispanic Heritage Month.
Keep in mind that this year Criminal Commissioner Daniela Jean hijacked this single event from then-Commissioner Barbara Kramer’s Multi-Cultural Committee, which had always held amazing events for all cultural occasions.
Once again, we must point out that Hispanics represent almost 40% of the population of North Miami Beach, while Haitians represent 19%, or roughly half that amount.
Yet, Duke Sorey spent more than four times the amount on Haitian Heritage Month than he did on Hispanic Heritage Month, which reveals his real priorities when it comes to serving the City’s residents.
Last year, in response to a public records request for the cost of all events held during the month of June 2021, we were supplied with a spreadsheet and several invoices.
As you can see, Paule Villard’s first illegal $100,000 gift card giveaway, which was never budgeted, also required an additional $8,890.99 in police and employee overtime.
Paule also hosted a “Father’s Day Celebration” — five days after Father’s Day, which was Sunday, June 20, 2021, but on Friday, June 25, 2021, and then a “Father’s Day Drive-Thru Food Distribution,” the next day, to coincide with the date Father’s Day is celebrated in Haiti.
Worse, at a total cost of $7,392.33, she spent more than twice the $3,750.00 that was budgeted for the event.
She pulled out all the stops by ordering $2,000 worth of food from Ivan’s Cookhouse for “75-80 People,” when only 28 people attended, according to the Fathers Day Sign in Sheet we received.
We’d love to know who ate all that food.
Hopefully, the police personnel and employees who worked $4,766.52 worth of overtime to help Paule celebrate Haitian Father’s Day, and who probably outnumbered the guests, were able to partake of the feast.
But, Duke and the Criminals were just getting started.
The employee overtime cost of $1,356.18 for Michael Joseph’s Juneteenth 2021 event was just the tip of the iceberg.
According to the invoices, and a contract between the City of North Miami Beach and the Black Professionals Network, Inc. that we “accidentally” received by a separate public records request, the actual cost of this event, which Esmond had budgeted for $10,000, was an additional $34,315.80, for a grand total of $35,671.98!
This amount included:
$28,500.00 to the Black Professionals Network, Inc.
$5,000.00 to Diamond Strategy Consulting, LLC, for “Host/Emcee Juneteenth Celebration Media Relations.”
This a company that was formed by Jawan T. Strader on July 14, 2020 and dissolved on September 23, 2022 for non-filing of its 2022 Annual Report.
Seems legit.
And another $815.80 on coffee and donuts from Circle House Coffee.
As usual, Duke Sorey broke the bank by spending more than three times the $10,000.00 that Esmond Scott had already budgeted for Juneteenth 2021.
As usual, he didn’t care.
We’d love to tell you how much he spent on Juneteenth this year, but once again Duke is holding our public records request hostage, this time for $169.20 even though we had previously paid $19.20 for these records.
In exchange for $19.20 we received 20 documents, most of which were related to the City’s summer camp program for the kids, but not a single document relating to the Juneteenth 2022 event, despite the fact that we specifically asked for those documents in several emails to the City Clerk.
Upon browsing through the City’s archives, however, we happened to stumble on a check written on June 10, 2022 to the Black Professionals Network, Inc. in the amount of $50,000.00 — almost twice what Duke paid this organization last year to put on the exact same event!
Remember, this $50K payment doesn’t even include the cost for a “Host/Emcee” or coffee and donuts, so it’s anyone’s guess how much North Miami Beach taxpayers shelled out for this one event. We’re guessing at least another $5,000 to $10,000, including police and employee overtime.
But, since we don’t negotiate with terrorists, and we refuse to pay the $169.20 ransom for the documents, we won’t find out the whole story until Duke is gone and we appeal to his replacement, with whom we expect to have a much better relationship.
If for no other reason than that he or she won’t be Duke.
In the meantime, we’ll leave you with some food for thought.
In August of this year, Duke traveled to Cartegena, Colombia to celebrate his engagement, and to apparently produce this adorable little video, which was posted on the Instagram page of the Black Professionals Network.
View this post on Instagram
After being paid a total of $78,500.00 of North Miami Beach residents’ hard-earned tax dollars, it’s the very least this City vendor could do to help Duke celebrate his nuptials, right?
This outrageous overspending is just one of the many reasons Duke Sorey needs to be fired — like yesterday.
Buckle up, ’cause we’re just getting started.
Stephanie
The spending! I’ve never heard of anything like this. We are a city, this is our money being spent like nobody’s business. Who needs these events with lavish budgets?
If anything, they ought to find sponsors so the citizens aren’t paying for this.
And what do the officials that we elected have to say? Maybe they could answer us here.
LOL You can’t make this stuff up!
Did you notice who came out of the side door right before Commissioner Fleurmond returned to the dais to perform his little stunt? Yup, the Gangster Duke.
I did not notice that, but I did hear that someone in Duke’s corner convinced McKenzie to get his fat ass back in his seat.
His second walk out was just as planned as the first. Michael Joseph recruited a lackey to file a complaint claiming that the Mayor did not reside in NMB (which was a lie), and he conspired with McKenzie to use it as an excuse to break quorum.
The Criminals are trying to hold the City hostage by refusing to do their jobs. If they keep it up, there will be consequences. Just saying.
Word on the street is that Duke wants an exit deal. This is no game show and if it was it should be called no deal. As Stephanie has tirelessly pointed out he’s blown the budget among everything else he’s done to make city hall a culture of corruption. Where he’s stealing from Peter to pay Paul is anyone’s guess until he’s gone. What kind of deal anyway? He needs to be fired. That should have happened weeks ago, but his culprits walked out of a meeting preventing it. Fire him, audit the city and then go after any licence he holds to be a city manager.
I heard the same “rumor” that he’s trying to cut a deal.
I say, “NO DEAL!”
He has a contract, which calls for the State-mandated 20 weeks pay, and also 20 weeks health insurance. That’s it. PERIOD!
Duke Sorey is lucky if the Commissioners don’t fire him for cause and get the bupkes he deserves! It’s not like there isn’t plenty of cause to nail him with.
He’s also lucky I’m not a Commissioner because that’s the path I’d push for regardless of how much it would cost to fight the inevitable lawsuit he’d bring. It couldn’t possibly be more than the MILLIONS of dollars he’s already blown through, including the once healthy reserves of $29 million. I guarantee that money is gone. The only thing that saved his ass was the $20 million-plus in ARPA funds the City received over the last two years.
And, yes, Paule. ARPA funds ARE tax dollars, you freaking moron!
Oh, and also, the City needs to conduct a forensic audit immediately. There’s no way of finding out where all the money went without a deep, deep dive into the books.
Trust me, there will be blood.
I am dumbfounded why the Miami Dade Inspector Generals Office has not conducted an audit as of yet. This type of fraud is right up their ally. http://Www.miamidadeig.org
I’ve already contacted the Miami-Dade IG and was told this agency only only investigates public corruption by County employees. The Broward IG investigates public officials regardless of the City. That’s what they need in Miami-Dade County.
I’d guess that you are correct that the payments from the City are connected to the personal video in Colombia.
No golden parachute. No car, no severance. Time to put this bad choice in the rear view mirror. Horrible choice in the first place.
He needs to be fired FOR CAUSE. I don’t know if the Commissioners are going to do this, but they absolutely should. He’s not worth the money he’s already received, much less one penny more!
Hello Stephanie A Very Happy and Healthy New Year to You
Can you please show the report from loca 10.com news of 01/05/2023
Do you have any idea what is going to happen to commissioner Fleurimond for walking out
on last meeting. thank you
Meet cute, LMAO
I had a laugh when I read that, too.
I’ve read enough in this blog over the past several months, along with the embedded city records corroborating the facts, to have no hesitation in recommending to the City Commission to Terminate With Cause Arthur Sorey’s employment. While there are numerous examples of “for cause” termination, only three are needed to make the case:
1. Exceeded by $57,000 the $10,000 spending limit imposed by the City Commission for the Tennis Court Charette
2, Failed to do due diligence on the proposal to develop the City’s tennis court property, thus wasting $67,000 of taxpayer funds.
3. Purchased a $75,000 city car for himself in violation of his Commission-set $50,000 spending authorization, Exceeding the $50,000 limit in purchasing his car without Commission approval, violates city policy.
4. Failed to oversee employee spending using City credit cards. Purchases were made by numerous city employees that violated city credit card policy. Many purchases were made for personal consumption or use. All purchases were manager-approved for payment using taxpayer funds, including a substantial payment to the Democrat Party by a Commissioner who used his City credit card to make the donation.
The above “for Cause” examples are all that are needed to terminate the current City Manager For Cause. Furthermore, the City Commission should direct the new City Attorney to seek reimbursement from the Manager for all unauthorized expenditures.
The City Manager’s outrageous behavior and reckless egregious spending should make him a prime example of how not to run a City.
With respect to the $67,000 you referred to, $10K of that money was approved by the CRA for him to expend on the Charette. At the meeting, Michael Joseph quietly “reminded” Duke that as City Manager he still had another $50K to spend from the General Fund without having to bring it before the Commission, which he proceeded to do. He did, however, exceed his $50K expense by at least $7,000, so that’s “for cause” right there.
Ditto with the vehicle, which actually cost $65,045 with the fleet discount the city gets. The rumor that it was an armored vehicle appears to be just a rumor, but I don’t trust that I’ve received all the documents (there’s a story about that which is forthcoming). In any event, he still exceeded his $50K spending limit by $15,045. The purchase of this second vehicle should have been approved by the Mayor and Commission. The truth is, Duke knew at the time he had a 4-Criminal vote to approve it so he just didn’t bother.
The P Card spending is so outrageous that it’s beyond comprehension — and that’s reflected on the P Card statements for only one month! Every single one of those statements need to be reviewed since Duke was first hired, which is why a forensic audit should be the first order of business for the next meeting. After the firing of Duke and Hans, of course.
The corruption at City Hall runs deeper than most people can even begin to imagine. The only way to expose all of it is through a forensic audit, then indictments should immediately follow.
You are so on point. Where is KFR? Is anybody home?
The residents here shouldn’t be the laughing stock of South Florida again. Maybe the Governor needs to step inside this circus show. Our money, OURS, is being used and abused. We want it back!
Steph you are correct that bipolar Michael Joseph reminded Sorey of his $50,000 spending authority without Commission approval. However, Sorey is not authorized to spend any funds over the limit set by the City Commission on any venue, purchase, or contract. The Commission limited him to spend no more than $10,000 on the tennis court charette. Sorey’s defense that Joseph told him to do it doesn’t hold water. No single commissioner can circumvent the vote of the entire /Commission. Joseph gave the city commission a gift with his advice to Sorey to “spend the $50k” thus giving the City Commission another reason to fire Sorey for cause and a reason to thank Commissioner Joseph for his usual effed up words of wisdom that he is so famous for,
The Commission did not limit his spending to $10,000 — the CRA did. When the Commissioners are sitting on the CRA Board, they are acting in their capacity as CRA Board members, not Commissioners.
The psychotic Michael Joseph reminded Sorey that he can waste another $50K at his discretion without a COMMISSION vote, not a CRA Board vote, which is a completely separate entity.
Unfortunately, that additional $50K was not in violation of the City’s Charter or Code; however, Duke’s spending of $57K is a direct violation since he exceeded his $50K, and yes, it’s just one more reason (among many) that the Commission can employ to fire him for cause. I just don’t know if they have the cojones to do it.