Despite more than an hour of positive public comment from more than 30 residents, Fort Lauderdale city commissioners denied their city manager a 3% raise.
The vote came during a meeting that ended in a shouting match laced with curse words and dramatics that have become common as tensions between two apparent commission factions boiled over.
Chavarria started in July 2022 and his first yearly performance review had been delayed until Tuesday night's meeting. He kicked off the item by listing several of his accomplishments, including the city’s response to historic April flooding, hiring a new police and fire chief, and an ongoing major overhaul of the city’s stormwater drainage system. Chavarria manages a support staff of more than 2,800 full time employees and an annual budget of $985 million.
This was followed by public comment from business owners, members of civic associations and other residents — who all had something good to say about Chavarria.
"I would like to applaud [the] city manager and his ability to carry out the responsibilities in a fair and equitable manner while political theater is occurring around him," said Michael Albetta, who is the President of the Lakewood Civic Association and Second Vice President of the Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations.
But the tone changed when commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman kicked off the debate on the dais. She said she had spoken with Chavarria and shared some of her concerns — one of which being an apparent favoritism in his treatment of commissioners.
Commissioner John Herbst followed and also said that he spoke with Chavarria about his concerns prior to the meeting.
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“There are some things that I think he has done well during the past year, there are some other areas where he has not met my expectations,” Herbst said, taking it a step further than Beasley Pittman by saying he did not want to give Chavarria the raise. “My evaluation is that he did not perform to my level.”
The 3% raise is what other city charter members, like the city clerk and auditor, have received in the past. Chavarria’s current salary is about $290,000.
Commissioner Warren Sturman praised Chavarria’s response to the historic April floods that brought the city to a halt. But he echoed his colleagues' statements that he felt Chavarria’s attention was skewed towards only certain members of the commission.
"The city manager has to work for the entire commission," he said. "He needs consensus and direction from all five of us. For the last year, I've heard concerns from a couple of the members that it's not equal response to all five members."
A challenging year
Meanwhile Commissioner Steve Glassman and Mayor Dean Trantalis tried to steer the conversation back towards Chavarria’s positive record over the past year and a half.
“This has been an incredibly challenging year. What Greg had to face this year was quite astounding,” Glassman said. “When I think about a raise to me, It's really a no brainer. He deserves a raise. In fact, if I could, I would recommend more than 3%.”
“Trying to jockey the needs of the people as well as the expectations of this commission is certainly going to be challenging for any individual who serves in the role of city manager. I think he's done an unbelievable job,” added Mayor Trantalis.
After the resolution to give Chavarria a raise failed, Commissioner Glassman shouted “shame” into his microphone. Several members of the audience shouted it at the commissioners who voted "no."
Commissioner Herbst asked to censure Glassman, but Trantalis broke it up and moved the meeting on.
Later, towards the end of the meeting, Sturman reprimanded Glassman, alleging that the commissioner cursed at his staff. When Glassman denied it, Herbst jumped in saying that he spoke with the staffer who he said had been "verbally abused" by Glassman and proceeded to repeat the curses allegedly used. Again, Trantalis stepped in to break up the discussion and adjourned the meeting.
Recently the commission split 3-2 on another contentious issue: whether the city should tell the county they prefer a tunnel but wouldn't mind a bridge for the New River Crossing. Glassman and Trantalis were on the losing end of that vote as well. "You are showing that you are not representing your residents. You are showing that you're saying to your constituents, 'Screw you. I don't care. I'm going to ruin your downtown,'" Glassman said to Sturman after the vote last month.
