In case you missed it, Channel 10 reporter Glenna Milberg finally caught up with North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey to ask him about Ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard’s federally-funded Publix Gift Card Giveaway Campaign Event.

Needless to say, good ol’ Duke did what any professional City Manager would do when he’s being held accountable for his actions … HE RAN!

WATCH!

We’re not sure which is more embarrassing.

A City Manager who runs from the media …

Or one who’s caught on camera sporting red gangsta “dress” sneakers.

Regardless of the optics, any high-ranking public official who deliberately dodges questions from the media for three months has something to hide.

Any high-ranking public official who pretends to be on a cell phone call while scurrying like a rat to avoid answering questions from a reporter needs to be fired for cause.

According to the Channel 10 report, Ms. Milberg’s public records request revealed that only 1,157 out of 1,500 gift cards were distributed, leaving 343 unaccounted for.  At $150.00 apiece, that’s a grand total of $51,450.00.

On September 5, 2022, we also made a Public Records Request for the “Names and addresses of every resident recipient of the $150.00 Publix gift card as authorized by Resolution No. R2022-118 COVID Relief Gift Cards from ARPA Funds (Commissioner Paule Villard), which was passed by the usual four votes at the August 16, 2022 City Commission Meeting.”

The City finally responded on December 30, 2022 by producing two documents.

One lists the names and addresses of the 1,157 recipients during Paule’s three-day drive-through campaign event who received their cards in person, and the other document lists the 136 “homebound” recipients to whom cards were delivered.

By our calculations, we determined that 207 Publix gift cards, each worth $150.00, are unaccounted for, and are valued at $31,050.00.

Of course, we proceeded to make a Public Records Request for “the names and addresses of the recipients and/or the current whereabouts of the undistributed Publix gift cards.”

And we will proceed to wait some more.

It appears, however, that Ms. Milberg did not receive the “homebound” list of recipients from her Public Records Request, which is just more proof of just how incompetent Duke Sorey’s entire administration is from the top down.

As further proof of that incompetence, with a sprinkle of corruption mixed in, Ms. Milberg also reported, “After all of these months and after all of today, we got a memo copied to us from the city written today at 5:32, essentially saying this.  There is an IT problem that caused some glitches.  That the discrepancy is far less than their own records show here.  That there were fifteen duplicates and only three unaccounted for cards, and that 59 cards are actually left over, and they’re here, in an office, somewhere; however, we have not gotten any documentation of that.”

The memo entitled “Publix Gift Card Database Review” dated January 4, 2023 from former North Miami Senior Management Analyst/current North Miami Beach Chief of Staff Francisco L. Mendranda (total salary/benefits package $157,997) to Arthur H. Sorey III was obviously created hastily in response to unexpected pressure from the media.  As a result, it’s a hot mess of CYA BS.

For one thing, math, and apparently, spreadsheets, are difficult for Duke’s staff to figure out.

According to the memo, 1158 gift cards were were distributed during Paule’s campaign event.

While the last line of the City’s own spreadsheet is numbered “1158,” the first line numbered “1” is actually the column heading.

Since 1,158 minus 1 is 1,157, a total of 1,157 gift cards were distributed.

The memo also claimed that based on the “Homebound Database Findings,” 187 were either mailed or hand-delivered to homebound recipients, despite the fact that the City’s own spreadsheet provided by Public Records Request shows that only 137 were distributed to the homebound.

Not surprisingly, when the media was breathing down his neck, Duke miraculously conjured up an additional 50 recipients in an attempt to “balance” the fraudulent gift card books.

Sorta like how Duke has “balanced” fraudulent city budgets since 2016.

Then the “dog ate my homework” excuses came.

According to the “Publix Gift Card Database Review,” the 7.25 employees (according to Duke’s FY23 Adopted Budget) in the Information Technologies Department, headed by former North Miami IT Director/current North Miami Beach Chief Information Officer Ricardo Castillo (total salary/benefits package $199,079.00), “conducted a study on October 20, 2022,” and concluded that there was a “lack of cell phone reception” at Allen Park on Day 2 of Paule’s Publix Gift Card Giveaway Campaign Event, which resulted in “duplicate and lost entries in the system.”

For one thing, I can personally attest to the fact that there is no “lack of cell phone reception” whatsoever at Allen Park.  Having spent hundreds of hours on the baseball field while serving on the board of the North Miami Beach Little League for six years more than a decade before 5G technology was even invented, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt my ancient Nokia cell phone worked just fine.

Fast forward to last night, North Miami Beach resident Keith Myers also had something to say about the alleged “lack of cell phone reception.”

Since Duke couldn’t use the “lack of cell phone reception” excuse with the delivery of gift cards to the homebound, he ordered his Information Technologies Department to get even more creative.

So the geniuses on the fourth floor came up with this “explanation.”

The spreadsheet provided to us by the City clearly lists two homebound recipients who are indeed non-residents.  One of the recipients resides at 115 Sierra Drive, which is in unincorporated Miami-Dade, west of I-95, practically in Miami Gardens, and another residents at 2855 Leonard Drive, which is in the heart of Aventura.

How did the IT Department’s “database” not recognize those addresses as being outside NMB’s boundary?

Duke Sorey can’t even get his own North Miami Friends & Family hires to lie convincingly.

After all those “calculations,” Duke still had to account for an alleged 170 missing gift cards.  So he had his crack IT dude claim that 111 were distributed with turkeys and the remaining 59 were in a “secure” place guarded by “staff.”

Or, as Channel 10 reporter Glenna Milberg noted in her broadcast, “Fifty-nine cards are actually left over.  And they’re here.  In an office.  Somewhere.  However, we have not gotten any documentation of that.”

And one more thing.

Resolution No. R2022-118, effective August 16, 2022, clearly states, “WHEREAS, the City Commission has directed the City Manager to distribute the Publix Gift Cards no later than thirty (45) days (?) from the effective date of this Resolution.”

Yeah, we know.  Numbers are tricky.

Regardless of whether the uniquely incompetent City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot meant “30 days” or “45 days” when he prepared the Resolution, Duke Sorey deliberately missed the deadline.

In order to help Paule Villard’s re-election campaign, he delayed the gift card distribution until October 5, 2022, or fifty-one days later, to coincide with the date absentee ballots were being delivered to mailboxes for the November 8, 2022 municipal election.

If an alleged “111 gift cards were given to the Mayor and Commissioners” to give out with turkeys, then each of the seven elected officials would have received 15.857 gift cards.

Since a fraction of a gift card is not a thing, let’s assume that six of them received 16 and one received 15, for a total of 111 gift cards.

Since Mayor Anthony DeFillipo told us he only received 9 gift cards (even though he asked for 10), who really got the rest of the 111 gift cards?

Considering Duke not so secretly diverted as many City resources as he could Paule Villard’s re-election campaign, we pretty much don’t have to guess where those gift cards went.

Like everything else Duke Sorey has touched since he “secured the bag” at North Miami Beach City Hall on April 21, 2021, this latest Publix Gift Card stunt ended up being a complete disaster.

This fiasco is just another one of the many reasons Duke Sorey needs to be handed his walking papers immediately.

And we’re not done yet.

Stay tuned.

Stephanie