Coral Gables: Did Anyone Think Twice?

Elaine de Valle reported in the Sunday Miami Herald that…

Former Coral Gables City Manager David Brown — who retired early under pressure after a scathing public corruption police report and sexual harassment claims from the mayor’s secretary — may have built himself an extra parachute days earlier.

Brown, who had been city manager since 2001, made an unauthorized change to the city rules and regulations that gives parting employees the following year’s worth of accrued sick and vacation time at the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. The change gave him an additional $25,400 to his last check that city officials are now saying he didn’t deserve.

And now the city wants a refund.

May one speculate whether someone in the City gave this payment a second thought before making the actual payment of more than $25,000. Managers and staff apparently liked the new rule written by the outgoing city manager and must have crossed their fingers that he would get away with the excess payment. The senior human resource and finance managers especially would seem to be open to questioning by the Commissioners. It would seem that are few “lessons learned” from the experience of ex-City Manager Brown’s management culture.