Arrested Development

(Correction below) Let's start with one definition of "arrested."  According to Dictionary.com, the third definition is "verb (used with object) ... to check the course of; stop; slow down: to arrest progress."

If you want to see arrested development, then just look at our causeway, littered with vacant lots and stalled projects.   

Now why this is the case has never really been clear.  While the rest of Miami-Dade worries about too much development, these lots have been sitting vacant for the better part of a decade, waiting for something to happen.  

Last September, in response to developer pressure, the commission passed a first reading of an omnibus ordinance to the Unified Land Development Code which addressed a broad number of the developers' issues and concerns.   It was passed by the commission at the time with minimal discussion and no public input.   

Completely unrelated, developer donations began flowing into the failed Laura Cattabriga Campaign.  

Anyway, progress on this was arrested and the second reading is now on five months later, following the elections.  There have been several open meetings discussing the changes and substantial rewrites of the ordinance.  It's complicated as heck and I'm not going to break it down here because I'm not your mommy but if you want to review it, you can see the detail here.  

In stark contrast to the previous administration, this commission is first having a public meeting, Thursday at 5 PM, at Village Hall for a discussion item to dig into the details.   You can see that agenda here.  

This is a big ordinance and I expect that the commission meeting following the P&Z will have some very significant amending to do to make it work, but that it's open and being explained bodes well for a successful outcome.  

And I won't be there as I have other commitments on Thursday but for all the Facebook warriors and the people concerned about un-arresting the developments, it matters to attend both meetings.  

Another Definition of Arrest: 

The main definition, the one we usually associate with the word is "verb (used with object) to seize (a person) by legal authority or warrant; take into custody:  The police arrested the burglar."

Sure enough, it wouldn't be a week in North Bay Village without some news on the subject.  

It seem Ron Book, our Village Lobbyist, was arrested following an incident with his Lamborghini on 595 the other day.  The Miami Herald reports:  "Well-connected state government lobbyist Ron Book, father of state Sen. Lauren Book, was booked into Broward County Jail Sunday night on DUI charges." and that "The [arrest] report says Book couldn’t complete the field sobriety tests and refused to give a breath sample at the Broward County DUI Center."

So there's that.  

Book was appointed North Bay Village lobbyist by the previous commission which bypassed the RFP process required in our charter and replaced Fausto Gomez, our longtime lobbyist, who had brought in some serious cash for Village projects over the years.   Ron Book of course is famous, well, for being famous and some think the Village was lucky to get him.  

Probably failed mayoral candidate Laura Cattabriga felt that way as Book promptly donated $2,000 to her failing campaign through two of his corporate entities, according to her campaign reports.  

North Bay Village hasn't heard from or seen Ron Book, besides paying him monthly, since the appointment which is an unusual thing.  Most lobbyists make it a point to update the administration on legislative agendas that might bring benefit to the municipality.  At least that's what Gomez did.  That's probably why they fired him although the commission did not explain their reasoning at the time. 

(Correction 2.27.2109:   to Ron Book Payments - It seems North Bay Village never actually executed the contract with Ron Book and has not been paying him.  That explains why there have been no updates.  Also, it raises the question of why and how we went through a full legislative session without anyone representing us in Tallahassee.  It seems that the previous commission, Mayor Crazy Eyes Kreps, Laura CattaKreps, Andreana Jackson and Mary Kramer's Husband voted to fire Gomez and hire Book but legal and admin just never really go it organized.)  

   

Book joins the list of North Bay Village contractors who have been arrested while working for us and I'm sure we will hear a glorious defense of how this is trivial and not related at all to his job performance.  

We'll see if Book's arrest arrests (3rd definition "impedes progress") the ability of the Village to gain some influence in Tallahassee.  

In other legal news, the Velken matter continues to simmer.  

According to several sources, the State Attorney's Office has opened an investigation in addition to the Florida Retirement System case (2019.74) inquiring as to how the Village approved a third party payment to former Village Police Chief/Manager Lewis Velken, without even a contract.   I have been told that Isis Perez is the lead on this case and that the public corruption investigators are involved.   

So our commission has their hands full.   

It will matter to be there on Thursday at 5 PM then for the second meeting at 7:30 PM as the big issue of how development will be managed on the Causeway needs to hear from the residents, not just the people who will make money off the projects.  

Kevin Vericker

February 26, 2019

Legal Amnesia

 I've been too hard on Norman C. Powell, Village Attorney for North Bay Village. 

After former Village manager, Marlen Martell, testified under oath that Powell was aware and had at least tacitly approved the extra legal payments to Stephanie Leon PA to help Lewis Velken around the FRS rules the Velken matter, he told the Miami Herald 

“That’s a complete fabrication,” Powell said. Powell told the Miami Herald that Velken made the employment arrangement without his knowledge or approval.

I've decided to take a new attitude about Powell's statements.

The old Blogger would have been all scoldy and curmudgeonly claiming that Powell was deliberately hiding the truth but the New Blogger is all woke now and completely sympathizes with the frequent memory lapses of this very accomplished attorney. 

My revelation came after reflecting on his run-in with the TSA, where in his rush to a Christian Retreat, he completely forgot to properly pack his emotional support pistol and was, according again to the Miami Herald, arrested at the airport. 

Then he forgot to tell the commission.

But then former Mayor Connie Leon-Kreps said he did tell her and that it was cool.

Old Blogger implied that this was an unlikely scenario. 

And that's when I woke and thought of another possibility. 

Maybe Norman's got a serious memory problem.

We've either all been there or we are all going there.  You know the moments we used to laugh about when our parents would stand in the middle of the kitchen and say, "Now what did I come in here for?" or when you're talking pleasantly with someone and you completely blank on their name. 

Norman's problem seems to be he's such a busy guy that he completely forgot that when he organized Velken's proposed but never executed contract as Village Manager, he knew about the 3rd party arrangement.

In September.

Of 2018.    

Fortunately, he wrote it down.

Email from September 5 between Norman Powell, North Bay Village Attorney, and David Miller, the then North Bay Village Labor Attorney. 

From: David Miller

Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2018 11:19 AM

To: Norman Powell <NPowell@nbvillage.com>

Subject: RE: contracts

Good morning, Norman, Please see my questions below, thanks,       David C. Miller | Bryant Miller Olive

1 SE 3rd Avenue, Suite 2200 | Miami, FL 33131      (305) 374-7349 (O) | (305) 790-4404 (C)dmiller@bmolaw.com | www.bmolaw.com       Add to address book | View professional biography   NOTICE: This email message is intended only for the addressee and may contain confidential information that is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not review, use, disseminate, or copy this message. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or by telephone and delete this message.

  From: Norman Powell [mailto:NPowell@nbvillage.com]

Sent: Tuesday, September 4, 2018 4:25 PM

To: David Miller <dmiller@bmolaw.com>

Subject: RE: contracts

Importance: High

Good Afternoon David,

Attached is the Manager’s Agreement, including some minor revisions:

1.       The annual salary increased to $147,000.00. There is a $22,000.00 payment due Mr. Velken’s recruitment/temp firm. Should we put that in the Agreement as a separate item or just increase his salary. The name of the firm is Stephanie Leon, P.A. , 6625 Miami Lakes Drive #339, Miami Lakes, Florida 33014.

I’m not really understanding this. Is the payment to the recruiter a deduction from his salary? And does it recur every year? If this is simply a fee due to the recruiter based on a percentage of his salary, then it seems it would be better to be paid directly to her. If we increase his salary under those circumstances, wouldn’t we just owe her more? And if it is a deduction from his salary, I think we’ll need to put something in the contract by which he explicitly agrees to that deduction. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

2.       His retirement will begin February 1, 2019 so that there is no issues with his current retirement.

I’m not sure what that means. Does that mean he wants to opt out of FRS as far as his Village employment goes?

3.       He is currently using a Village vehicle and will just keep using it.

OK

Norman C. Powell, Esq.,

Village Attorney

Law Offices of Norman C. Powell

1666 J.F. Kennedy Causeway, Suite 420

North Bay Village, Florida 33141

Telephone: 786-275-6923

Facsimile: 786-348-0167

E-mail: npowell@nbvillage.com

So you see.  

1.)  He did know about Stephanie Leon, PA although he called her a "recruitment/temp firm."

2.)  Powell apparently did realize that paying Velken through a third party was a way around the FRS rules when he claims that the retirement date is February 2019. 

3.)  I forgot what the third thing is.  

Anyway, it's lucky that there are written records so this stuff can be addressed.

I'm certain with this reminder Norman C. Powell will review all his written documentation and provide a full report of what he knew and when he knew it to his employers, the Commission, by next Thursday.  I expect that David Miller, then our labor attorney, will do the same.

I'm sure of this because it is the ethical and honorable thing to do.

Commissoner from Treasure Island
Andreana Jackson

But this does leave Andreana Jackson in a bit of a pickle.  

You see, at the same meeting where she undoubtedly by accident said that Marlen Martell fabricated an employment agreement regarding Lewis Velken and tried very hard to find out what the finance department knew and when she also reported about a conversation she had with Lewis Velken.

Jackson stated that she had talked with Velken over the weekend and he had told her that Powell did not know about the arrangement to pay him through a third party.

And maybe Velken didn't know that Powell knew.  Maybe.  Although in sworn testimony, Martell says he did know.

Anyway, Jackson is facing a quandary.   Although she may have believed Velken, it's now clear that at least by September 4, 2018, Norman Powell was aware of the Stephanie Leon PA payment scheme and failed to inform the commission. 

Andreana Jackson owes Norman Powell an apology.  She inadvertently and relying on third parties stated something about Powell that is provably false.   It's probably not a good idea to rely on someone under investigation for your main information.

Last September, when Andreana Jackson led the mob against long-time Village Clerk Yvonne Hamilton, Jackson stated she need a clerk she could trust, and by implication that was not Hamilton.

Now that she has this information, I hope she will apply the same standard to the Village Attorney, although perhaps without the attacks on him.  After all, Jackson just wants to get to the bottom of this and move along.

Kevin Vericker
February 22, 2019

The Commission Takes Charge

Sunrise North Bay Village

The Bright

In an open, collaborative meeting on Tuesday night, the North Bay Village Commission took charge of the administration chaos.   

The big issue was the departure of Lewis Velken, the interim Village Manager, who is enveloped in a scandal alleging that he was paid through a third party to get around Florida Retirement System payment rules.   

Velken had served as police chief then village manager since April of last year but had been paid through a third party, Stephanie Leon PA, a real estate agency.  The circumstances of the arrangement are murky, with then Village Manager Marlen Martell explaining in sworn testimony that the arrangement was made with the participation of the Village Attorney Norman C. Powell. who denies all knowledge.  

The Herald article here is probably the clearest explanation.   

So with that background, I approached the commission meeting expecting it would be a replay of the last two meetings where the popular attempts to move the village forward were throttled by the ghosts of the past.  I was mostly wrong!  

First The Awards And The Proclamation

There was moving awards ceremony for people whose contributions to the community were ignored by the previous dais, a proclamation recognizing Black History Month read by Vice Mayor Marvin Wilmoth, and then moving quickly into the agenda, a resolution put forward by Commissioner Julianna Strout to support the Workforce Inclusiveness Act to support protections for LGBT workers in Florida and later expanded to also support the Workforce Competitiveness Act which covers public accommodation.   In a great move, the other four members of the dais agreed to cosponsor Commissioner Strout's Resolution.   It was a nice moment.  

Then they got to the serious business of hiring an interim village manager.  There were three strong candidates to choose from and  they unanimously selected the best, in my opinion.  Ralph Rosado, Phd. who runs an important consulting company in Miami-Dade and who has direct experience in municipal management.  He's also familiar with North Bay Village and has a sterling reputation.  

For the most part, the commission moved the agenda items to next month to give the Village Manager time to familiarize himself with the issues.   

Rosado started yesterday.  

The Murky

How Can We Miss You When You Won't Go Away?

During Good & Welfare, former mayor Connie Leon-Kreps took to the podium to ramble for a bit about how she was not popular as mayor, and she didn't have any support, and so on.  

Clearly she was working up to something and then it came.  

As regards the Velken matter, where she signed the checks for Stephanie Leon PA believing for some reason that the police chief/village manager was now an outsourced position to a staffing agency she never heard of, she is completely innocent and was completely misled.  Kreps attributes her deep unpopularity to her having asked questions, many questions, while she was mayor, but in this instance, she never asked a question, like, "Hey.  This is new.  When did we outsource the police and the village manager?"  

So there's that.  

Then she went into a full throated defense of Norman C. Powell.  Much like her previous outrage when the Herald reported on Norman C. Powell being cited by the TSA when he attempted to bring his emotional support pistol on a flight with him to a Christian retreat, her oration sounded lawyerly, citing precedents and other things.   It just didn't sound like her.  

But then Crazy Eyes came roaring out and said unequivocally that the previous attorney, Robert Switkes, knew and approved of people in the village being paid for no show jobs and that she "wonders" if Norman Powell were a different race, would he be facing the same questions?  

She offered a benediction to the newly elected commissioners "Don't Trust The People Who Elected You.  You shouldn't listen to them."   

Then she stomped back to her sitting place next to her second favorite strip club lobbyist and  glared at the rest of the meeting, while cackling at her own remarks about everything she heard.  

I really think we have upgraded since our last mayor.  

There's a lot to get done and there will continue to be a lot of fallout from the venal incompetence and self interest of the Kreps era but it was great to see the leadership of Julianna Strout, Brent Latham, and Marvin Wilmoth take form.   

I think their hardest get along challenge will be three bright young leaders bumping into each other's enthusiasms and visions.  They'll work it out.  All our problems should be that!  

This has success written all over it.   

Kevin Vericker

February 14, 2019 

Considering The Velken Matter

The North Bay Village Commission faces a stark choice on Tuesday night.  

The Commission has to decide if the Village is run for the convenience of people making money from the taxpayers or for the benefit of the residents.  

Given the Commission's record of ignoring the legal and ethical requirements of employment practices in favor of cronyism, tomorrow night does not look hopeful.  

Here's one of the two matters under discussion.  

Our Village Manager, Lewis Velken, is paid through a third party, Stephanie Leon PA, of Miami Lakes.   

This makes him a contractor, not a village employee.  A contractor relationship is very different from an employee.  A contractor is not a temporary employee.  

According to the IRS definition of a contractor if a worker is paid a fee for a work product, and the organization does not significantly direct how and where the work is done, that's a valid contractor.  

On the other hand, if there is no defined work product and the hiring organization significantly controls how, where and when the work will be done, that's an employee.  

See the IRS explanation at this link.  

Velken is in place to work, as police chief and then as village manager.  There is no beginning, middle or end.  

Velken is an employee by all common definitions, yet someone else is paid for his work.  

This means that the Village is at risk of facing audits, fines and penalties from the IRS.   

The complaint about the the situation has already been filed with the IRS and it is unlikely that they will understand the arrangement as a contractor.   

Why and how was this done?  

According to a deposition by former Village Manager Marlen Martell in the Noriega case, the payment arrangement was done casually and to solve the "problem" that Velken faced with the Florida Retirement System rules which would otherwise have required Velken to repay his pension benefits and suspend further payments until such time as he fully retired.  

There may not even be a written contract to make these payments.

In her deposition, Martell describes the timeline, the decision to pay off the books, and the involvement of the Village attorney.   

• April 16, 2018 was the first time Velken's name appears as candidate for police chief after the preferred candidate, John Buhrmaster, unexpectedly turned down the position.  
  
  
• April 18, 2018, less than 48 hours later, was when Velken was selected and sworn in as police chief.  

There may have been no background check.  

Martell says there was but according to one source, the investigator only verified employment.  

In the background check I got through Public Records, serious things are missing from what the village gathered on Velken, such as his name change from Luis Velasquez, his address in California, the results of his internal affairs investigations.  They simply are not there.  

Still this payment arrangement went into effect at that time.   

According to Martell, Village Attorney Powell and Velken were quite clear that the purpose of the contractor arrangement was to evade the FRS rule which requires an employee who retired and then takes a job with another FRS agency to suspend their pension and pay back the Deferred Retirement Option Payment, in Velken's case several hundred thousand dollars, or face stiff penalties including criminal investigations and possible loss of pension.   

The rules are very clear and unambiguous.  They read as follows:

You must meet the definition of termination by remaining unemployed by any FRS-participating employers for the first six calendar months of your retirement or the first six months after your DROP termination date. If you return to work during this six calendar month period, you will void your retirement and must repay all benefits received, including your DROP accumulation payout. 

Click here for the rules.

This is not kosher that the village manager, the village attorney and the police chief find that the clear, unambiguous laws would inconvenience the police chief and agree to evade them.  

What's just as puzzling is that neither Martell and later Velken understood that before entering into an informal, unwritten agreement to pay >$10,000 per month ($130,000 per year) to a vendor for any reason, the commission must approve.    

Further, the first payment was July 11, nearly three months after Velken started work.  It shows this on the register. That's odd.  

By July, Martell had been fired, and Velken was appointed interim police chief.   I made a public records request (ignored) for his compensation as he was asserting that his compensation was $40,000 less than Noriega's.  None was forthcoming nor was the amount questioned as the budget was rushed through.  

Since then, after August, Stephanie Leon has received payment each month for "Velken Labor Services"   Again, check the payment report starting on page 106.  These payments were unquestioned until January of this year.  

The issues:

Was Velken a valid police chief?

The presumption is that law enforcement authority comes from either the employer of record (e.g. the police department) or deputization.   It seems odd because Velken  was presented as a cop, but the law is clear.  A civilian contractor without special deputization cannot carry a badge, a gun and direct police matters but he did all of these things.     

From an HR point of view, any disciplines, promotions or other internal actions are questionable and from a legal point of view, any arrests or investigations that he was involved with can be challenged.   

This needs to be investigated and addressed.  

Why did Velken arrange a third party payment?

There's no question he did.  It's clearly laid out in Martell's deposition under oath and several sources confirm that conversations have been held with Velken and no one is denying that the motivation was to avoid FRS penalties.  

The FRS Inspector General is investigating this as a fraud case.  OIG Case # 2019.74   

• The FDLE have according to what I have been told opened an investigation.   
  
  
• The IRS has accepted and filed a complaint about fraudulent representation as a contractor and possible money laundering.  

The implications of a fraud finding are bad for the village.  We may be subject to penalties and fines from the IRS.  The FRS can go after the village to collect the moneys owed as well as go after Velken, who risks losing his pension.   Technically, the FRS could remove the village from the FRS system incurring millions in obligations.  

Who knew and when?

According to Martell, Powell knew, Velken knew and former mayor Kreps knew as she was signing the checks.   And now everybody knows.   

What the commission is probably hearing.  

This part is speculation .   Obviously neither the Village Attorney nor the labor attorney speak to me.  But I bet, I think, they are probably saying:  

• "Don't worry.  It's legal.  It's just the usual malcontents (Vericker) who are making a big deal out of this.  It's done all the time."  
  
  
• "Worry.  So the best bet is to regularize Velken's employment in March so it all goes away and hope no one notices.   After all, Velken could sue us." 
  
  
• "And most importantly, it was somehow Bert Wrains' fault."   (Yep.  I've heard that.)

Now, each of these is wrong.  

• It is not done all the time and it's not legal.  There is not a single other city in Florida that pays their police chief through a third party.  The few who contract out Village Manager services do so based on legislation passed by their commissions. 
  
  Among the people who are concerned are the IRS, the FDLE and the FRS.   
  
  
• Regularizing the employment, that is hiring Velken as of March 1,  may mean that FRS penalties do not apply to the new job but does not remove the fraud investigations or what happened over the last year.
  
  
• Bert Wrains, our finance director, should not be the scapegoat in this mess.  He neither arranged it nor approved it.  

So what to do now?

• It is incumbent on the commission to protect the village, not the employee. 
• Velken should be suspended until the investigations are done.  Then and only then should he be reconsidered in light of his actions.   
  
  
• Powell cannot be the legal advisor on this. He is named in sworn testimony as participating in the questionable actions and we need competent independent legal advice.  
  
  
• Our Labor Attorney Weiss Serota needs to participate in the meeting to give a full, open opinion on what happened and how to proceed.   
  
  
• Finally, I would warn the mayor and the vice mayor that given the nature of this arrangement (never passed by the commission, no existing contract, the acknowledged motivations, and the uncertainty of validity of the appointment), neither of them should sign checks for Stephanie Leon.  Given the situation, there could be criminal consequences.

This commission has shown a reluctance to take action so far, mostly out of an understandable but misguided concern that action would be a continuation of the insane behavior of the last commission.  

In fact, the voters want the damage fixed and the village focused.  The Commissioners have an absolute obligation to get this matter resolved for the benefit of the Village and not to protect a single employee for the consequences of his actions.  

Kevin Vericker

February 4, 2019