Another year and another village manager is leaving Islamorada Village Hall. This departure, however, is different from the previous two manager exits.
A council in deep dysfunction and divided on a future vision chose to take a new path with its village manager, voting 3-2 during a July 17 special call meeting not to renew the employment contract of Ted Yates. Roughly four hours of heated discussions and intense questioning, shouting among council members and the gallery, as well as gavel pounding and head shaking culminated in a call to question to end debate by Elizabeth Jolin. It was supported by Vice Mayor Sharon Mahoney and Councilman Henry Rosenthal.
Jolin, Mahoney and Rosenthal followed up by voting “yes” on a resolution brought forth by Rosenthal to not renew Yates’ contract another year beginning Aug. 1. Mayor Buddy Pinder and Councilman Mark Gregg voted against the measure.
Yates was hired by a previous council via unanimous vote in May 2022, after then-village manager Greg Oravec resigned earlier that year — spending only six months on the job — after citing “the political dynamics that go with the job.” Finance Director Maria Bassett served as interim manager from Oravec’s resignation to Yates’ hiring. Oravec was hired in July 2021 following the resignation of then-village manager Seth Lawless due to health reasons in August 2020. Bassett served as interim manager between Lawless’ resignation and Oravec’s hiring.
With Yates’ contract expiring July 31, the dais had to either renew the contract for another year by taking no action or not renew per a resolution. The council majority chose the latter.
The contract, which detailed a $200,000 salary, $4,000 housing allowance, health insurance and other benefits, was written by Rosenthal, who ultimately voted “yes” to hire Yates in 2022. The previous council’s manager selection saw four members preferring Yates over three other finalists. Rosenthal’s No. 1 choice was Ted Blackburn, a former village mayor and councilman, followed by Yates.
Yates’ first day was Aug. 1, 2022 after he packed his belongings and concluded his career in Twinsburg, Ohio to lead the staff in Islamorada. Less than a year later, Yates was outed following some public ridicule over the firing of Dan Gulizio, then director of development services and planning, on May 30. Rosenthal said he had a conversation with Yates a couple weeks before Gulizio was terminated. Before he left the room, Rosenthal acknowledged the rumors circulating and told Yates, “I want you to know one thing, when it comes down to me choosing you or Dan, I’m going with Dan.”
Yates told the dais and public that Rosenthal told him that if he got rid of Gulizio that he’d pursue termination of him as village manager. Yates acknowledged that parting with Gulizio was an administrative decision based on what he felt was best for the village. Yates said there was an effort to conduct a special call meeting on Memorial Day to terminate him.
“Just like me, you want the facts. You sat here tonight and said you have some secret something about me,” Yates said to Rosenthal. “The difference between Dan’s situation and how I said I’m not going to talk about Dan’s situation (is) because he wasn’t in the room. I’m in the room. You want to talk about what you have on me, what you’ve been told about me, I’m happy to discuss those.”
Before the final vote, Gregg asked Jolin, Rosenthal and Mahoney why they didn’t want to retain Yates, whether the decision had anything to do with Yates firing Gulizio and what their plan was if Yates wasn’t going to be renewed. Jolin said she appreciated the questions but didn’t appreciate the tone in which it was said.
“The issue is tab 7 (Yates contract nonrenewal) and I did fill out an evaluation for Yates. It’s public record. I won’t elaborate on your question tonight,” Jolin replied.
Jolin conducted a written review that was critical of Yates’ performance. She noted during a July 6 meeting that it wasn’t taken seriously.
“I take this very seriously,” Jolin said. “There’s an opportunity here. If the contract is not renewed, Yates has the opportunity to reapply and we have an opportunity as council to improve our procedures and protocols, but also improve the hiring process and the accountability process.”
Mahoney said her decision had nothing to do with Gulizio’s firing.
“Do I think he (Gulizio) was a perfect fit? Not really,” she said. “But I was willing to work with him. My problem with Ted is that you have made my nine months miserable, and I’ve told you that. We’ve had problems on everything I’ve done.”
Action taken by the dais during the special call meeting was met with groans from many residents in the gallery supporting Yates and wearing “Team Ted” stickers. The meeting mirrored a gathering just 11 days earlier, when council members, supporters and opponents of Yates fought over a proposal before the council to forgo a second year with Yates and begin a third village manager search in three years.
“Ladies and gentleman, there’s a word called decorum. I would beg you to do that because this is not fun,” Islamorada resident Andy Newman implored to the council during one of two public comment periods.
Resident Jamie Engel hoped that each council member reflected on the July 6 meeting and would extend an apology to the public. Jolin followed up by issuing an apology for her participation in what she called “bad behavior.” Gregg and Pinder also issued brief apologies for the dysfunction on full display on July 6. But not long after that, the fighting, the dysfunction and the clear divide within the community and among the dais returned to the council chambers.
Earlier in the meeting, Pinder asked John Quick, attorney with Weiss Serota who represents the village, for clarification on Yates’ role as village manager and his abilities to hire and fire staff. The question came in light of the public ridicule Yates faced since firing Gulizio in late May and specifically what led to it all. Quick said it’s in the manager’s realm since the development services and planning director falls under his purview. Without getting into details publicly, Quick said they advised the village that there was nothing illegal with Gulizio’s termination.
Councilman Mark Gregg told the dais the decision is not whether a man in Yates loses a job, but whether a community divides itself. Gregg said it reminded him of a statement echoed by Abraham Lincoln that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”
“And that’s where we’re headed if we do the wrong thing,” Gregg said, adding that the council had an opportunity to heal and come together and press the reset button. Before the dais reached the resolution regarding the nonrenewal, he issued a motion to extend Yates’ contract for one more year in hopes to “maintain unity.” Pinder seconded the motion, but it wasn’t met with support from fellow council members. Jolin said she didn’t appreciate what she called “gotcha moments” by Gregg and blind-siding the council by his understanding of how the agenda works.
“With all due respect, and that is one thing I’m sure we can work on as a council as we move forward to work together,” Jolin said.
Gregg didn’t believe his motion was not meant to blind-side anyone. Gregg previously tried to get the council to support a professional improvement plan to remedy any issues between the council and Yates. The council majority didn’t support that idea.
“This is for the benefit of the community and to help us move in the right direction,” Gregg said.
Yates said the last couple of weeks have been difficult for the council, himself and the community. Yates said coming to Islamorada wasn’t a career decision. He said he was in a great role in his former Ohio community.
“I looked at this as an opportunity, a life decision to move somewhere that I only dreamed about moving to. And this was a really unique opportunity to live, work and play,” he said. “This is a really special place and it’s sad we’re sitting here having these discussions to really just set this community backwards.”
Yates added that he’s discussed term lengths and whether they need to be staggered with council members. He said it’s really difficult to get anything done in four years, let alone two years.
“It’s ironic that that same discussion really doesn’t come back to me,” I think one of the letters we got is when ‘a coach takes over a football team they don’t expect to win the Super Bowl that same year,’” he said.
FORMER COUNCILWOMAN PUBLICLY ANNOUNCES ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST ROSENTHAL
Former councilwoman Deb Gillis took to the podium during the public comment portion, pleading with the council to put their differences aside. But she also publicly announced an ethics complaint she submitted to the Florida Ethics Commission in Tallahassee against Rosenthal. According to Gillis, the complaint stems from Rosenthal allegedley commingling his role as councilman and his personal business for financial gain. Gillis said instead of following procedures of the village, Rosenthal “tried to bypass the system and told staff members to do things and make amendments that would enhance his land deal.” Rosenthal was reportedly trying to purchase an Island Community Church building for an entertainment venue, Gregg said. Rosenthal was working with Gulizio until he was fired, according to Yates.
Later on, Gregg asked Rosenthal whether he threatened Yates’ job. Gregg stated that such an action is a violation of Florida law 838 regarding corruption by threat against a public servant. Rosenthal replied that he’s never threatened anyone in his life.
“I don’t want to litigate all this stuff at this meeting. I preferred maybe a friend of Dan over Ted. … that was it,” Rosenthal said.
Gregg then turned to Yates and asked whether Rosenthal threatened his job if he terminated Gulizio.
“It was a threat to my job that if I got rid of Dan, you’d pursue terminating me, which you absolutely did following termination,” Yates said. “There was a joint effort on Memorial Day to terminate me immediately. But again, it didn’t affect my decision because my decision has never been because I was getting threatened or pressured by any council members.”
Yates added that he’s tried to reach out to Rosenthal with no success. In his comments, Rosenthal took issue with Yates over his failure to answer why he terminated Gulizio. Yates replied that it wasn’t fair to Gulizio.
