Key West elected officials on Thursday, April 24 terminated the employment contract of twice-indicted city attorney Ron Ramsingh without cause. The next day, Code Compliance director Jim Young, who was also indicted, submitted his retirement paperwork. Building official Raj Ramsingh, who is indicted on eight felony charges, is awaiting an employment pre-determination hearing at city hall this week. He has been on paid administrative leave since the initial indictments were announced on April 15.
The city commission’s April 24 without-cause termination vote for Ron Ramsingh, meaning no specific examples of wrongdoing were cited, entitles the attorney to a $221,000 payout — roughly equivalent to a year’s salary.
By refusing to terminate Ramsingh’s contract with cause, by specifying city policies Ramsingh violated, the attorney is entitled to 20 weeks pay, plus all accrued leave and benefits.
Termination without cause was the outcome Ron Ramsingh requested of the commissioners in a handwritten letter he submitted to them through attorneys 90 minutes before the termination meeting.
“I write to you humbly requesting that you consider and approve a termination of my employment contract without cause. I am hopeful that if it is the will of the commission, this can be accomplished with as little vitriol as possible. Sadly, there has been a shift in our town and gone are the days of thoughtful, learned, peaceful, but spirited debate. It has been replaced with shouting, keyboard warriors and people who love to use our beloved motto, ‘One Human Family,’ as a sword and a shield. People who think that if they have the bumper sticker and a Conch Republic license plate, then they are a true local…That’s not it at all. Being a true local of Key West is a state of mind. It is a state of caring about your neighbor on a cellular level. It’s about service above self and thinking about the greater good of this special little life raft of an island 150 miles out to sea….Should you decide to terminate me without cause, please do so quickly to spare further hurt in my family to hear and read these comments, and frankly, death threats. Key West should move on and it will be with love for everyone working at 1300 White St. that I wish you well.”
Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez and Commissioner Sam Kaufman were steadfast in voting repeatedly to terminate Ramsingh for cause, emphasizing that Ramsingh had violated two specific city regulations.
“From my perspective, termination for cause is more than justified,” Kaufman said at the April 24 meeting. “It’s the right thing to do. These are very serious violations involving breach of public trust, conflicts of interest, destroying evidence and withholding information from some commissioners.”
The two offenses listed in the city’s employee policies manual, which Kaufman and Henriquez both cited in their reasons for voting to terminate with cause, are offense numbers 9 and 12.
Offense 9 is: “Unlawful or improper conduct or indecency either on or off the job which would affect the employee’s relationship to the job, their coworkers, or the employee’s or City’s reputation or good will in the community.”
Offense 12 is: “ Deliberate falsification or mishandling of personal, personnel, financial, or City records, including employment applications, accident reports, work records, purchase orders, attendance records, revenue receipts, or any other report, record, or document.”
Ron Ramsingh has been indicted on four felony charges — official misconduct for allegedly “interfering with the reporting of a felony committed by his brother,” the indictment states; plus obstructing justice by tampering with evidence, and unlawful collection and distribution of electronic communications.
What about the other 2 indicted officials?
In addition to attorney Ron Ramsingh, a grand jury recently indicted his brother, Raj Ramsingh, the city’s chief building official, and Jim Young, the city’s code compliance director.
Raj Ramsingh faces eight felony charges — seven counts of official misconduct for allegedly falsifying building permits and one count of obstructing justice by tampering with evidence in deleting or altering text messages from his city-owned cell phone that were subpoenaed as part of the ongoing investigation.
Raj Ramsingh and Jim Young were placed on paid administrative leave when the indictments were announced on April 15. Raj Ramsingh is scheduled to have a pre-determination hearing at city hall this coming week, Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez said on Saturday.
Code Compliance director Jim Young, who is 68, submitted his retirement paperwork to the city on Friday, April 25, Henriquez said.
The Keys Weekly has requested the personnel files for all three employees.
Young and both Ramsinghs have pre-trial hearings scheduled for July 31 in front of Judge Mark Jones, according to online court records. All have retained legal counsel.
How did we get here?
The indictments and ongoing investigation stem from the contentious firing of former city manager Al Childress in June 2024, within days of Childress taking disciplinary action against building official Raj Ramsingh.
A review of the city’s planning and building departments by outside consultants, known as the Corradino Report, had revealed that Raj Ramsingh allegedly had made a practice of improperly issuing permits, variances and approvals for projects that were never seen or reviewed by the city’s planning department, which is responsible for such approvals.
Shortly after Childress took disciplinary action against Raj Ramsingh, according to the indictments, Ron Ramsingh began an orchestrated effort to oust Childress.
The state attorney’s review of text messages among city officials obtained through public record requests “appeared to indicate city attorney Ronald Ramsingh was orchestrating an effort among commissioners Jimmy Weekley, Lissette Cuervo, Clayton Lopez and Billy Wardlow to either force Albert Childress to voluntarily resign from his position or call a special meeting of the Key West City Commission and vote to terminate his employment contract without cause by a majority vote,” state attorney investigator Tom Walker wrote in his application for a search warrant for cell phone records.
“This effort to oust Albert Childress was attributed to an outside, independent report he had commissioned which focused on issues within the Building Department of which Rajindar (Raj) Ramsingh is the Chief Building Official and the brother of Ronald Ramsingh,” Walker writes. “In totality, there is probable cause to believe the foundation of this effort was an attempt by Ronald Ramsingh to shield his brother Rajindhar Ramsingh, who is the City of Key West Chief Building Official, from being disciplined by Albert Childress and allow for him to continue in a long practice of improper acts as they pertain to the permitting process,” investigator Walker writes in his application for a search warrant for the Ramsinghs’ cell phone records.
