Palm Beach County may be about to choose an administrator the way Florida Atlantic University chose a president—prioritizing politics over competence.
Until last week, the fix seemed to be in for Clerk and Comptroller Joseph Abruzzo to succeed Verdenia Baker as the CEO of county government. Indeed, the county chapter of the NAACP warned of an ambush last month to fire Baker—the county’s first Black administrator—well before her announced retirement on May 31, and install Abruzzo.
That ambush didn’t happen, but four of the seven county commissioners then proposed a compressed timetable for applications. This was after the commission majority refused to conduct a national search. Commissioner Marci Woodward, who represents Boca Raton and Delray Beach, opposed the fast-tracking.
Last week, however, things changed, at least for now. As the Palm Beach Post reported, Commissioner Joel Flores—who had been part of that majority—backed off. Flores said of the compressed schedule, “There is no way this will work.”
Candidates now have until April 28 to apply. A commission-appointed task force will review the applicants and make recommendations to the commission.
Let’s compare this “search” with FAU’s “search.” University trustees chose former State Rep. Adam Hasner, who had no experience in higher education, over two other finalists who each had three decades’ worth. Similarly, Abruzzo has no experience in county government administration. Though clerks are elected separately, they are primarily record-keepers.
Two commissioners, Bobby Powell and Maria Sachs, wanted to drop the requirement that the next administrator have government experience. Sachs said, “To me, the only qualification you need is American citizenship and an interest.” Powell proposed the tight timetable.
With FAU, the outcome was clear once Hasner became a finalist. Through his appointed trustees, Gov. Ron DeSantis has installed several former GOP legislators at universities. Hasner’s former employer, Boca Raton-based GEO Group, has been one of the governor’s biggest political patrons.
With Abruzzo, there’s also a political trail.
News reports confirm what sources had told me: the push for Abruzzo comes from Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. He owns Related Ross, the development firm that just failed to secure the bid for Boca Raton’s downtown project.
Ross wants to build a second hotel for the county’s convention center. The company opposed Baker’s decision to seek bids for the project. Ross’ former partners are fighting with Baker over the price of county land for a mixed-use project in downtown West Palm Beach. Ross Related CEO Ken Himmel told the Post, “Watch what happens after” Baker’s retirement. “Things are really going to open up.”
Abruzzo became clerk in an ambush that actually happened. In 2020, former Clerk Sharon Bock was set to retire and was backing the office’s CEO to succeed her. No one else had filed to run. One day before qualifying ended, Abruzzo filed. He had support from many of the county’s top Democrats, among them Woodward’s predecessor, Robert Weinroth, who has since switched parties. Chessman dropped out, and Abruzzo only had to defeat a token write-in candidate.
Delray Beach residents may remember Abruzzo from his time in the Senate. He didn’t represent Delray Beach, but he worked for a law firm seeking to secure for another firm the space that became Arts Garage. After the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency gave Arts Garage money, Abruzzo got the senator who did represent Delray Beach to order a state audit of the agency. That senator said he had not known the back story.
At the center of this effort is the political consulting firm Cornerstone Solutions. Related Ross and Abruzzo are clients. Cornerstone clients—among them Mayor Keith James—dominate politics in West Palm Beach, where Related Ross has many projects. Another Cornerstone client is Maria Sachs. Former County Commissioner Mack Bernard, who works for Cornerstone, reportedly crafted the hurry-up timetable. Bernard and Powell are longtime allies.
News coverage, including editorials in the Post and South Florida Sun Sentinel, may have stalled the rush to put a $9 billion budget and 6,500 employees under the control of an unqualified person. Of course, similar news coverage did not prevent Hasner’s hiring.
I’ll have more as the story develops.
Boca adds another deputy city manager
Boca Raton has a fourth deputy city manager.
Jorge Camejo was downtown director before leaving in 2009 after nearly three decades with Boca Raton. Since then, he has held a similar job in Hollywood as director of that city’s community redevelopment agency.
Not surprisingly, in this return engagement, Camejo will oversee Boca Raton’s community redevelopment agency. It has responsibility for downtown redevelopment. Though it has a separate budget, it is part of the city. The mayor and city council members serve as the agency’s board.
City Manager George Brown told me Monday that he brought back Camejo because the order governing that downtown plan expires in 2028. The CRA itself is set to go out of business. Camejo, Brown said, will supervise the city takeover of the agency’s functions and finances. The city also will have to update those downtown development rules.
Camejo’s hiring could lead to new speculation about Brown’s own plans. He is 74. When Brown took over from Leif Ahnell 15 months ago, council members saw him as a transitional figure. Ahnell had held the job for 25 years.
With Camejo, Brown said, “I am functionally replacing myself,” referring to the lineup when he was one of two deputies under Ahnell and there also was an assistant city manager. But the new lineup is one position above that at the second-highest level of management.
One reasonably can assume that Brown’s successor will be one of those four deputies—the others being Chrissy Gibson, Andy Lukasik and James Zervis. Ahnell was an internal hire. So was the recent appointment of City Attorney Joshua Koehler.
How Rob Long’s Legislature bid will affect Delray Commission
Delray Beach City Commissioner Rob Long’s decision to run for the Florida Legislature will make for an interesting city election next March.
Having won in 2023, Long could have run for a second, three-year term. Instead, he has filed to succeed Democrat Joe Casello in House District 90, which includes Delray Beach and West Delray. Casello is running for the county commission.
Long told me that he wants to “help my city from Tallahassee by fighting” the many attempts to undercut home rule. In recent years, the Legislature has pre-empted more and more regulation to the state, even on local issues. When Key West voters regulated cruise ship operations, Tallahassee essentially overturned those votes.
Commissioner Angela Burns, who also won her seat two years ago, has filed for a new term. No one has filed for Long’s seat, but the jockeying may have started.
Long defeated Commissioner Juli Casale in 2023. Casale returned to the commission last year, running as a slate with Mayor Tom Carney and Commissioner Thomas Markert. Casale belongs to the political faction aligned with former Mayor Shelly Petrolia that surely will field a candidate.
Long, though, is “working on a succession plan.” It likely would mean finding a candidate acceptable to the other factions—including Carney’s—and seeking to head off any other candidate who might draw anti-Casale support. Casale won her two races with minority support in crowded fields.
Whatever marriage of convenience linked Carney and Casale last year is over. There’s even talk of Casale challenging Carney when he runs for re-election in 2027.
Further division in Delray politics
That political division was on display last week during the commission’s organizational meeting.
At these annual gatherings, the commission chooses the ceremonial position of vice mayor. The job’s only responsibility of running the meeting kicks in if the mayor is absent.
Casale has been vice mayor. She nominated Markert. Long nominated himself, noting that the commission has operated on a rotation system, and he is next in seniority. Burns was vice mayor before Casale. Though Carney ran with Casale and Markert, he voted for Long.
Boca taps Marc Wigder to run CRA meetimngs
During Boca Raton’s organizational meeting Monday, the council voted to have Councilmember Marc Wigder run the community redevelopment agency meetings. Councilmember Fran Nachlas had run them for the past year. Someone other than the current mayor has run the meetings since the agency was created in 1980.
New bill could loosen regulations on sober houses
Casale did use the organizational meeting to warn about a bill in the Legislature and its potential impact on the city.
Senate Bill 954 and its companion bill in the House would loosen local regulation of recovery residences, more commonly known as sober houses. They proliferated in Delray Beach after the 2008-09 real estate crash. Bad operators bought houses on the cheap, fleeced insurers and dumped addicts onto the streets.
Regulation helped drive out those bad operators. This is an example of the pre-emption Long spoke about. SB 954 was scheduled for its first committee hearing Monday.
