Much to our surprise, a deluge of documents from our public records requests, some from as far back as March 6, 2022, was finally delivered a couple days ago.

While we always like to say that it’s better late than never, there is no excuse at all for a government agency to delay public records requests for longer than a full term pregnancy.

Not surprising, however, is the fact that City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey was withholding these documents from us until AFTER the November election to keep us from finding out how much money he paid for Ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard’s self-promotional vanity projects and, of course, her campaign expenses.

Now that she’s finally gone, and Duke has lost his guaranteed four-Criminal vote on the dais, he’s run out of excuses to keep hiding those invoices.

Nevertheless, there are still a ton of public records we haven’t received yet, such as all the invoices for Paule’s May 2022 Haitian Heritage Month events (which City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey is holding hostage for a ransom of $135.36), her taxpayer-funded vacation to Haiti with North Miami Beach Assistant Police Chief Ervens Ford, the cost of her pink campaign-like tent, and her P Card statements for November 4, 2022 and December 4, 2022.

We’re confident, though, that those public records will be forthcoming in the not too distant future.

What we did finally receive are the final (we hope) invoices for her “Unsung Heroes/Quintessential Women” event held March 31, 2022, which was nothing more than an extravagant party for her close personal friends and family members for the purpose of “honoring” 24 of her fellow Haitian-American women, while throwing in one token white Jew, one token Asian, one black Hispanic, and four African Americans, under the pretense of “diversity.”

Considering that only 2 of the 31 “honored” women are actual North Miami Beach residents, we can only guess which “community” she was referring to.

Paule’s grand climax of her self-promotional party was the presentation of a “Quintessential Woman Award”  to — HERSELF!

WATCH!

After reviewing all the invoices, we calculated that the grand total cost of Paule’s Party was $28,872.36!

Including the still unresolved issue of Paule’s $1,000.00 PayPal charge to to JMS Catering that she charged on her taxpayer-funded P Card on March 29, 2022, the invoice for which appears to have gone missing!

North Miami Beach resident Keith Myers discovered what appears to be a fraudulent “affidavit” included in his Public Records Request PRR-2022-334, that was unsigned by Paule and illegally submitted by Duke Sorey Friends & Family employee Agnew Jean-Pierre, the alleged “Finance Director.”

Agnew was hired by Duke on March 22, 2022 at an annual salary of $150,000.00.  Five months later, according to Duke’s Proposed FY23 Budget Expenses, Agnew’s salary was increased to $155,295.  But that’s just the starting point.

North Miami Beach taxpayers are also footing the bill for Agnew’s perks:

• Auto allowance $3,001
• Cell allowance $1200
• Taxes (FICA and Withholding) $9,114 and $2,242, respectively
• Retirement $15,530
• Health insurance $8,909
• Life insurance $841
• Accidental death and dismemberment policy $63

Agnew Jean-Pierre’s total employment package is a whopping $196,195!

And, yet, he has no idea how affidavits work.

According to a December 29, 2022 email from North Miami Beach resident Keith Myers, “An Affidavit by definition is a sworn statement, and in this case, it is a sworn statement between Paule Villard and the City of North Miami Beach. The finance director cannot simply sign an Affidavit on behalf of a Commissioner and have it mean anything, they can only sign it as a witness that they have received and approved of the Affidavit. It carries no value without Paule Villard’s signature. It is akin to signing your own paycheck… 8 months after payday and only after the IRS demands an audit.”

For good measure, Keith added, “I believe the creation of this document is by its very nature fraudulent and if the finance director feels that it is appropriate to create this, I have to wonder what other documents were fabricated by the Finance Director. I feel that this one offense alone justifies the need for a complete forensic audit of the City of North Miami Beach.”

Is anyone surprised by this criminality?  I know we’re not.

Hopefully, a forensic audit of the City’s finances, which should take place in the next few months, will culminate in a criminal indictment or two.

Just saying.

But, WAIT!

THERE’S MORE!

As part of her Quintessential Family and Friends Who Happen to Be Women celebration, Paule arranged for a yacht ride on March 13, 2022 for women in her “community.”

We have no idea if North Miami Beach taxpayers paid the rental bill to Sea Noire Yachts for this yacht ride.

We do, however, know that you paid for nine hours of overtime to Sargeant at Arms Officer Jerry Hamilton, at $63.91 per hour, on March 13, 2022, who attended in his official capacity as Paule’s personal chauffeur and bodyguard.

At minute 19:42, Officer Hamilton, once again, extends a hand to help the self-anointed Queen of NMB up a step on the deck.

WATCH!

We finally figured out the meaning of Paule’s cryptic message to Officer Hamilton on March 12, 2022, the day before the yacht ride, after spending the afternoon chauffeuring her on a personal shopping trip in Broward County.

After he walked her to the door of her house she called out, “Thank you so much for everything. Bye, bye, good night. Tomorrow, right? Tomorrow, Jerry? I’ll call you to let you know what time tomorrow.”

The good news for North Miami Beach residents is that the days of uncontrollable spending and ostentatious parties on taxpayer dime ended with Paule’s glorious defeat at the polls on November 22, 2022.

But none of this outrageous government waste happened in a vacuum.

The blame lies squarely on the worst and most corrupt City Manager in the history of North Miami Beach … ARTHUR “DUKE” SOREY!

Just add this debacle to the long list of reasons Duke Sorey must be FIRED FOR CAUSE!

Stephanie