After a tumultuous run marked by ambitious city-building, a development renaissance, heated opposition and an FBI probe, Jonathan Evans‘ time as Riviera Beach city manager is coming to an end.
The Riviera Beach City Council voted 3-2 in a special meeting late Monday to give Evans notice that his four-year contract would not be renewed when it expires July 13.
Council Member Bruce Guyton led the charge with the support of Fercella Davis Panier and Glen Spiritis. Council Chair Shirley Lanier and KaShamba Miller-Anderson supported Evans.
After voting on the contract, Guyton sought to terminate Evans immediately, forcing a brief meeting delay and a second round of public comment.
After Evans himself suggested negotiating a mutual separation agreement, Guyton backed off and made a motion to have the city attorney negotiate with Evans on such an agreement by noon Friday. That motion passed 3-2 as well.
READ MORE: Why special City Council meeting was canceled in Riviera Beach
Under state law, Evans can get no more than 20 weeks of severance pay, City Attorney Dawn Wynn told the council. His contract has about 11 weeks left.
The council did not say who would fill in for Evans, and Evans suggested he could appoint an interim manager for the council to consider at its next meeting, May 6. No one took action on that suggestion so when the discussions ended, Evans had one question for the council:
“Just for clarity, do I come to work tomorrow?”
Lanier told him yes.
Some residents stood up for Evans
Evans is no stranger to being fired.
In 2019, the city hired Evans for the second time and paid him a $190,000 legal settlement for firing him in 2017, just six months into his first stint as city manager.
The city gave him a four-year, $220,000-a-year contract in 2022.
Residents battled in the audience throughout the night over whether the city was making the right move.
Doretta Paulk apologized to her neighbors for urging them to elect Guyton when he won his seat in 2024.
“I apologize … for helping you get in that seat,” she told Guyton. “Because you came with an agenda to dismiss Mr. Evans. And shame on you. Shame on you.”
Annette Dragon urged the council to reconsider.
“We’re in the dark ages again in Riviera Beach,” she said. “Who’s going to fill his place? Think about this people: We need a good city manager and Jonathan Evans is that.”
Before the second vote, Miller-Anderson expressed her disappointment in Guyton’s move against Evans after what she described as substantial progress for Riviera Beach.
“Mr. Guyton, I certainly endorsed you,” she said. “What I didn’t foresee is that the person I was supporting was going to totally dismantle everything we had going on for the last several years.”
Despite lengthy council discussion over procedure, Evans’ detractors on the council never spelled out their reasons for ending his contract.
Development comes to Riviera Beach
Under Evans, city residents voted to support three bond issues totaling $115 million to rebuild the police station, a fire station and parks. The city selected Sonnenblick Development for a nearly half-billion-dollar project to rebuild City Hall in exchange for control of 40 acres straddling Blue Heron Boulevard, the gateway to Singer Island.
It also held a competition to bring stores and residential development to its Marina Village east of Broadway, investments expected to be valued in the hundreds of millions, but abruptly canceled a meeting to select a builder after the FBI delivered subpoenas seeking information about the project from Council Members Guyton and Lanier and Mayor Doug Lawson.
As waterfront residential construction boomed throughout Palm Beach County, Riviera Beach has attracted its share, with Related Group of Miami building the eight-story Residences at Marina Village east of Broadway and pursuing twin 20-story towers with 418 apartments on a neighboring parcel.
On the west side of Broadway, the council has approved a four-tower, 508-unit condo project by developer Jeffrey Sobel, and the city recently broke ground on the 54-unit Villa L’Onz.
This year, the council committed to raise water rates to pay for a $400 million water plant and system upgrade.
But criticism of Evans’ relations with employees, detailed in a July 2024 report compiled by then-Mayor Ronnie Felder, and concerns about the quality of city drinking water festered, particularly after water testing violations drew a $1.2 million fine in November 2024 from the Florida Department of Health.
After the employee report came out, Evans held a precarious 3-2 majority on the City Council, with the support of members Miller-Anderson, Lanier and Spiritis, who replaced Evans supporter Julie Botel as the Singer Island representative in 2024.
On Monday, he lost Spiritis.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
