Petition calls for recall of 3 Pahokee commissioners

Posted 10/21/20

Five city residents have banded together and begun a petition drive that requires 304 registered voters’ signatures in order to put a recall election on an upcoming ballot to oust the mayor, vice mayor and one other city commissioner.

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Petition calls for recall of 3 Pahokee commissioners

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PAHOKEE — Five city residents have banded together and begun a petition drive that requires 304 registered voters’ signatures in order to put a recall election on an upcoming ballot to oust the mayor, vice mayor and one other city commissioner.

Pahokee Mayor Keith W. Babb Jr., Vice Mayor Clara Murvin and Commissioner Benny L. Everett III are the targets of the recall. They have, by a margin of one vote, managed to keep City Manager Chandler Williamson on the city’s payroll through the past year despite three negative reports from the Palm Beach County Inspector General’s Office (regarding several aspects of his management of the city, including questionable or unsubstantiated travel expenses and an improper $150,000 payment to a contractor).

According to Everglades Reserve Holdings LLC’s managing partner Robert Lambert, the petition started being circulated last week under Section 2-31 of the Pahokee Code of Ordinances, and the organizers will have 60 days from the date they present the petition to the Pahokee City Commission to get the necessary signatures. Under the code, 10 percent of registered Pahokee voters will need to sign it; the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office says there are 3,032 in the city, so 304 is that number.

Mr. Lambert’s company holds a signed sublease contract to develop the city-leased marina, campground, restaurant and outbuildings on Lake Okeechobee’s shore, which was approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the cabinet last December (the state owns the land and has a long-term lease with the city on it).

The City of Pahokee, however, spurned that contract over this past summer after three years of working toward state approval and an agreeable deal with ERN. The commission, by another 3-2 vote, in which the mentioned commissioners prevailed, declined to proceed with ERH.

Mr. Lambert and ERH contend that the city was given roughly $2.3 million in state grant money to rehabilitate the marina and grounds, but that the money was misspent or diverted to other projects. They say the marina, campground and restaurant are uninsurable in their present condition and upgrades were not completed as agreed or planned.

The petition lists the reasons the citizens are seeking to recall the three commissioners:
• Malfeasance in office and neglect of duty to provide oversight of Williamson;
• Allowing questionable spending by Williamson, including the $150,000 paid to TechnoMarine;
• Failure to obey Florida Statute 872.02 at the city-owned Port Mayaca Memorial Gardens cemetery;
• Knowingly permitting discharges of untreated human sewage into Lake Okeechobee for years in violation of federal and state laws;
• Failure to maintain the marina sewage pump-out system;

• Failing to comply with the Florida Government-in-the-Sunshine laws by conducting private meetings with two or more commissioners, without the knowledge of the other two commissioners; and,
• Failure to ensure that the city responds in a timely manner to formal Freedom of Information Act requests for information.

Lambert said that he has pending FOIA requests with the city, as does City Commissioner Regina Bohlen and several citizens — which have received no responses.

Once the petitions against Babb, Everett and Murvin are submitted to the Pahokee City Commission bearing at least the required number of signatures, they will be forwarded to the county elections office for signature verification. Then city commissioners can review that office’s response and consult with the city attorney for further actions required.

petition, voters, recall election, ballot, mayor, vice mayor and city commissioner

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