A divided village council was on full display inside Founders Park Community Center on the evening of July 6. The point of immense contention surrounded the future of Village Manager Ted Yates, specifically whether the council would elect not to renew his employment with his contract expiring at the end of July.
A six-hour-plus meeting didn’t yield a decision from the dais on Yates’ contract, as a council majority voted to conclude the session at 11:45 p.m. Several items on a 19-tab agenda weren’t considered by time the council shut the books and left the building. Councilman Henry Rosenthal is requesting a special call meeting for Monday, July 17 to discuss the manager’s contract and an agreement with Island Disposal Company to haul trash beginning Jan. 1, 2024.
Before the council was a resolution put forth by Councilman Henry Rosenthal, seeking a nonrenewal of a contract with Yates, who was hired by a previous council via a 5-0 vote in May 2022. A former Twinsburg, Ohio mayor, Yates’ first day began later that summer in August after he packed his belongings, sold his Ohio home and embarked on a new beginning with his wife, Sharon. He’s since bought a home all while ingraining himself into the community.
Attached to the resolution on a nonrenewal of Yates’ contract was a memorandum that detailed seven questions posed by council members Rosenthal and Elizabeth Jolin to Alison Smith, counsel for the village, regarding the employment agreement. A majority of those questions surrounded the implications of not renewing the contract with Yates, who’s been the subject of public ridicule over his recent firing of planning director Dan Gulizio. Both Jolin and Rosenthal were critical of Yates’ decision in the days and weeks after Gulizio was let go.
Discussion over the village manager brought some tense moments and displays of divide between members on the dais. Vice Mayor Sharon Mahoney pointed comments toward Mayor Buddy Pinder and Councilman Mark Gregg that they’re kept in the loop on village matters more than other council members.
“This has been a cake walk for you guys. It hasn’t been a cake walk for me, Henry or Elizabeth (Jolin). We have been treated differently and that bothers me,” Mahoney said. “I don’t know why you guys get phone calls, you’re in the loop. We’re not, and that bothers me big time.”
Mahoney, who won a seat last November, went on to say that new council members sought some kind of an orientation and never got it.
“I don’t even know the staff,” she said. “We didn’t get the opportunity to be treated like (Pinder and Gregg) got treated.”
Gregg was part of the previous council that hired Yates. Pinder and Rosenthal were also on the dais. Gregg said Pinder and he had the chance to personally know Yates before he was hired.
“You (Pinder) and I took Ted on the boat before he was hired. We did a circumnavigation of the village. We bonded with Ted and maybe that’s why there is the perception that’s there,” Gregg said, adding that he never meant to alienate anyone.
Gregg added that he’s had moments with Yates where voices were raised. “It wasn’t the golden boy thing like you think it was,” he said. We’ve had some bumps in the road. But Ted’s a professional. I think he’s the first professional manager we’ve ever had.”
Mahoney said she ran for office to make a difference, and everything she tried to do has been met with resistance.
“It makes zero sense to me,” Mahoney said. “I don’t want to be in this position. I hate the fact that this council has a line down it.”
Gregg believed the resolution for a nonrenewal of Yates’ contract was “all or nothing.” He issued a different proposal that would keep Yates but institute a professional improvement program to solve some of the issues between the village manager and council. Gregg said it’s a remedy that does not “bring out the guillotine” that government agencies and corporations can implement if there’s an issue with an executive or employee.
“Give Ted a fair chance. He hasn’t even been here a year,” Gregg said. “He is not perfect and I’m not trying to make that argument. I don’t think it’s right to sever our relationship with him without a fair opportunity to provide constructive criticism, to provide standards for performance and measure that over a period of time, call it probation, and then we come back.”
Gregg’s proposal didn’t garner approval from the dais following discussion that got heated at times. Rosenthal said he didn’t think a program for Yates will change much because “he’s past that point.” Rosenthal also told the dais and public that before Yates fired Gulizio, Rosenthal told Yates that “If I had to choose between you and Dan, I’m choosing Dan.”
“Somebody has to pull this thing together, and I just don’t think he’s prepared for that job,” Rosenthal said. “I really don’t. I wish I could say something nicer, I really do. I just don’t think as we go down the road together that anything’s going to change.”
Jolin said the dais hasn’t conducted a review process like other employers provide to recommend improvement and monitor progress. Jolin wrote a review for Yates, and she said she didn’t get the sense it was taken seriously.
“In my opinion it was a fair review which would require improvement in performance,” she said. “The issues I brought forward are not personal. They’re professional.”
Jolin said it’s critical to recognize the role the dais plays in the severe dysfunction that she identifies on a management level.
“He was employed under a different set of council people who had a different agenda for the town. We had an election and now we have a new set of people who are elected by our community to choose a path for this community,” she said. “This group is a disruption of the status quo. If we can’t recognize that as a council, we will continue to be divided.”
Pinder said he’s worked to bring unity to the village since he was elected to the council in 2020. Pinder disagreed with Jolin’s statements and said that she came on the dais divided.
“There’s a force in our community that does not want what we want. They want what they want,” Pinder said. “When I got on here Maria Bassett was the acting manager. We hired Mr. Oravec. He resigned from here and I’m going to say something: There’s a certain group in our community. … Mr Oravec could not take it any more.”
Yates took a moment to issue some comment following the back-and-forth between the council and a number of public commenters speaking for and against the nonrenewal. Yates said he conducted a lot of research to prepare for the village manager’s role. Before his entry into the village, Yates served as a mayor in the Ohio city of Twinsburg from January 2015 to July 1, 2022.
“It wasn’t like this where I came from. I knew this was different,” Yates said. “I had councilmen who disagreed but they rose above, they shared a vision and got work done. It actually functioned better when they don’t disagree because that’s what makes the system work.”
Yates said the job’s been very difficult and noted that this council is more divided than anyone that’s been seated before. It’s something staff and residents are noticing, he said.
“I had challenges building relationships with each council member. I’ve had rough roads with every single person sitting up here,” he said.
Yates added that many people have reached out to him in support. He sent a text back to those supporters stating that “I love this town, I want to be part of the future of this town and I think with more time I can bring the council together and bring the community together. I have to bring you guys together if you’re ever going to have a productive future in Islamorada.”
Several members from the public took to the podium to announce their support for Yates. By the direction of Pinder, commenters against Yates’ renewal spoke first, followed by supporters of Yates. Among the supporters were Pastor Tony Hammon, who has served on the Local Planning Agency for several years. He told the dais he wasn’t sure if the village could survive any more village managers. He also said he surveyed village staff to find that morale inside the administrative building is better than it’s ever been.
“I believe there’s a more redemptive path. There’s a path that doesn’t involve malicious payback which I see happening here,” Hammon said. “I believe that Mr. Yates has functioned with great integrity, even by refusing to publicly air for terminating his employee. And that’s what he was hired to do.”
Craig McBay, president of the Islamorada Chamber of Commerce, said the board of directors met on July 5 to discuss the nonrenewal of Yates’ contract. McBay said the chamber board believed the resolution would not be in the best interest of the village.
“The village needs continuity and stability to move us forward. This resolution will not accomplish any of these issues,” McBay said.
Joe Wischmeier, of Plantation Key, said many inconsistencies since Yates’ reign as village manager led to dissension among certain council members during meetings. He said there was also dissension among staff members which led to the firing of Guilizo.
“He (Yates) did not even consult with council members to let them know of his plans to fire him,” Wischmeier said. “While he did not have to, it would have been considerate since he (Gulizio) was a high ranking official and not in the best interest of the village to let him go.”
Van Cadenhead said any issues with Yates should have been addressed by the council. He criticized the dais for failing to conduct a six-month review of the village manager.
“That’s a failure of all five of you,” he said.
Robert Moser, of Lower Matecumbe, may have said it best among all public commenters speaking on the village manager situation and all the division and dysfunction seen and heard on the dais that evening.
“This meeting sucks,” he said.
