There were questions and accusations. Tempers flared and voices were raised as discussion ensued over the sequence of events which led four Islamorada council members to approve a separation agreement with Village Manager Rob Cole at a Jan. 7 meeting at the Founders Park Community Center.
Before the vote, Cole read a letter announcing his resignation from a post he was unanimously selected to by a previous council just last February. A former manager in Scarsdale, New York, Cole said he decided to resign as village manager subject to the terms and conditions in the separation agreement, which was initially put on the consent agenda but later pulled by Islamorada Councilman Steve Friedman for discussion. Items on the consent agenda can be handled and implemented without any discussion among the council and public. The item was pulled and a lengthy, heated discussion began.
“This was a difficult choice for me to make,” Cole said as he read his letter to the council and public. “But it is the right one for me and my family.”
Per the separation agreement, Cole will receive severance pay totaling north of $100,000 between base compensation, housing allowance, vacation leave payout, 401k contributions and health insurance benefits.
Cole will technically stay employed by the village until Feb. 28. However, he began administrative leave on Jan. 8 and will no longer be reporting physically to the village administrative building to perform village manager duties. Council members will need to act to appoint an interim village manager; no decision was made at the meeting’s conclusion. A discussion is expected at a Jan. 9 meeting of the council.
Many public commenters commended Cole for his work with the village, crediting him in keeping the residents up-to-date on various matters through his weekly newsletter.
They also blasted the council for the lack of integrity and representation over the matter.
“It comes to a point where I don’t want to live in this community any more. The whole thing is heartbreaking to me,” said Betsy Bullard.
Beth Kamenstein said Cole was one of the more dynamic village managers Islamorada has seen.
“This action gives the appearance of a coordinated effort to make profound changes without our input,” she said.
“There’s nothing wrong with Mr. Cole. He’s been an exemplary employee,” said Van Cadenhead.
Cole’s selection came after the council elected not to renew the contract of then-manager Ted Yates; the vote was 3-2 during a July 2023 meeting. Between Yates’ departure and Cole’s arrival, the village used the services of three Monroe County department heads who performed the day-to-day duties as village manager.
Some public commenters believed the council was planning to bring Yates back as manager following Cole’s resignation. Yates is currently suing the village for the way he was let go by the council. An executive session was scheduled for Jan. 9 between the council and the village attorneys.
Mayor Sharon Mahoney, who voted not to renew Yates’ contract, shut down the rumor.
“Do you really think I’d bring back Ted Yates? Absolutely no way,” Mahoney said. “I’m insulted that you think I’d go back on a decision I stood with Henry (Rosenthal) and Elizabeth (Jolin) on.”
Councilman sheds light on the matter
Before the separation agreement was approved via a 4-1 vote, the lone “no” vote, Friedman, attempted to provide the public with some transparency by speaking for roughly 17 minutes as to how Cole’s resignation and the separation all transpired. Friedman, who pulled the issue off the consent agenda, said he was troubled in how the matter of severing Cole’s relationship with the village came about. Friedman said he knew Cole “liked his job and was not seeking to resign.”
Friedman said the matter first came to him on Dec. 18 via phone call from Village Attorney John Quick. Friedman said the call was in relation to an email Quick sent the day before to council members concerning a written complaint made by a village employee against Cole. Friedman said he was having IT issues setting up his village email account and didn’t receive or review Quick’s email with the employee’s complaint attached. Friedman said Quick gave him a brief summary of the email. Friedman also said that Quick was “conducting a poll” of the council members to see whether they were in favor of offering Cole a severance package in return for his resignation.
At the time, Friedman said, he understood Cole was doing his job well. Friedman said he had no knowledge then and has no knowledge now of any conduct by Cole that would have “justified coercing him to resign in return for several weeks of severance.” Friedman said he wasn’t in favor of the proposal offering Cole severance when it was initially presented by the village attorney. Rather, Friedman wanted to keep Cole.
“I told him (Quick) I was not in favor of such action because I knew no basis to suggest that Rob be forced out of his position and because I believe every employee in the village is entitled to due process to address the merit or lack of merit to a complaint against them before being disciplined, terminated or coerced,” Friedman said.
“At the time of the call on Dec. 18, I had no knowledge or evidence (and) still have no knowledge or evidence that would justify criticizing Rob’s job performance, much less a request for his resignation in return for a severance package,” Friedman continued. “Consequently, I was extremely uncomfortable with John’s request to state whether I was in favor of making such an offer.”
Friedman told Quick he was aware Cole responded to a rumor circulating throughout the village that he had some responsibility for the decision made in Tallahassee to cancel funding for a new Islamorada Fire Rescue boat. A total of $300,000 in state funds was included in the legislatively approved budget last session. To the surprise of many local officials, however, those funds ended up being vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Rep. Lauren Mello, of Naples, sponsored the appropriation for a fireboat in Islamorada. She came before the council in December and stated that it was “vetoed at the local level.”
In his comments, Friedman said, Cole submitted a detailed and factual response refuting the rumor in an email provided to council members on Dec. 12. Friedman said that email disspelled the idea that he had anything to do with the fireboat funds being canceled.
Friedman said on its face, the employee complaint did not appear to come anywhere near justifying a severance package. No details were provided as to the employee complaint during Friedman’s comments and throughout the duration of the meeting.
Friedman said Quick told him that he was the last council member and that his vote against severing ties with Cole was “in the minority.”
“I asked if the minority was 3-2 or 4-1. John told me it was 4-1,” Friedman said regarding the call he had with Quick. “At no time since our initial phone conversation on Dec. 18 or to this day did John provide me with options or legal recommendations beyond asking me for my vote in favor or against offering Rob severance in return for his resignation,” Friedman said.
Friedman said the matter surrounding Cole and discussion over a severance package should have been addressed among the full council at a public meeting. Friedman said he told Quick if severance was offered, it should be for the maximum amount, which would be 20 weeks’ pay. In a subsequent phone call with attorney Alison Smith on Dec. 19, Friedman said he was informed that a decision was apparently made to offer Cole six weeks’ severance.
“I asked how the other four council members could possibly have come up with the same number of weeks of severance offer without speaking to one another,” Friedman said. “Alison told me she could not say because discussing her conversations with other council members would violate Sunshine law.
“In an email to John, I asked the following question: is it possible that the decision to offer an employee severance on behalf of the council without any prior discussion among the council members based on each council member’s conversation with you as an intermediary might violate the Sunshine law?” Friedman continued. “John responded to me in an email on Dec. 20 informing me that he did not serve as an intermediary because he did not convey any discussion between the council members.”
Friedman said he attempted to call a special meeting on Dec. 20 for a discussion on matters related to the village manager’s employment and to discuss making a request to the village attorney to provide legal counsel with proposed alternative procedures to address, investigate and attempt to resolve the village manager complaints. There was no support, however, from other council members for Friedman’s desire for a special meeting.
“The village has terminated nearly 20 different village managers in 20 years. Is the council to terminate village managers simply because a village employee may lodge a complaint that has not been investigated, much less verified, and for which the village manager has not been afforded an opportunity to respond?” Friedman said.
He concluded by saying what occurred was “totally unacceptable.” Friedman proceeded to ask fellow council members whose idea it was to ask the village attorney to “poll the question of severance for Cole,” what were the reasons for wanting to sever the relationship, why they thought it was prudent to force Cole to resign and what was the plan for a replacement.
Council members, village attorney respond
Quick appeared visibly upset as Friedman spoke about the event, to the point where he interrupted Friedman’s remarks by stating that he never polled any council members in relation to the matter.
“Council member Friedman, you specifically asked me to tell you what each of the other council members told me, and I told you I cannot do that because that would violate Sunshine,” Quick said. “There is no polling going on. I do not know what the purpose of this statement is. Manager Cole has tendered his resignation. There is a severance before you. All the statements you are reading are incorrect.”
Quick said a lot of what Friedman stated didn’t even warrant a response.
“It’s woven with so many inaccuracies and factual misleading statements. The fact that you would use my name and insinuate on two occasions that I may have invented this out of thin air is absurd and reckless and, honestly, likely defamatory,” Quick said in response. “I would not throw away my career for you, council member Friedman, I assure you. I have worked too darn hard to get to where I am.”
Mahoney, too, said Friedman had many facts wrong.
Councilwoman Deb GIllis, who was elected back to the council last November, briefly explained her decision to separate from Cole. She said her decision wasn’t based on the one employee complaint Friedman was referring to. She said she didn’t speak to other council members.
“I didn’t break Sunshine,” she said. “I didn’t talk to anyone except the lawyers.”
Councilman Buddy Pinder said he wanted to give Cole a shot when Mark Gregg voiced support for him as manager in February 2023. Pinder said he heard from employees who “were going to quit.” He also said the sheriff’s office “had issues here.”
“We can’t tell them how to micromanage the sheriff’s office,” Pinder said.
Friedman said he was trying to figure out who came up with the idea for severance “out of the blue.”
“Mr. Quick very clearly said that he didn’t come up with it. So one of the council members must have suggested that to the attorney,” Friedman said.
Mahoney said she didn’t know, while Gillis, Pinder and Vice Mayor Don Horton said that they didn’t come up with it.
A section to the separation agreement states the village, its elected officials and agents cannot publish, request or cause another to make or publish any statement, verbal or in writing, that is defamatory or disparaging of Cole. They also can’t interfere with him obtaining new employment. Cole agrees he will not publish any statement that defames or disparages the village, its employees and council members.
