By Jim McCarthy and Mandy Miles
The board of the College of the Florida Keys, with six new members appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis this year, is continuing to seek termination of President Jonathan Gueverra’s contract.
At recent meetings, new members criticized Gueverra over the governor’s vetoes of state funding to upgrade the college’s air conditioning system the past two budget cycles. Some also believed Gueverra was being disrespectful and insubordinate at recent meetings, as some members pressed for more clarity and information on his contract renewal last year. At a June 30 meeting, board chair Alexandria Suarez said Gueverra had called her a “liar” at a meeting the month before. Board member Michael Downer said he, too, believed Gueverra had called Suarez a liar and was being disrespectful.
Gueverra denied calling Suarez a liar, and an audio recording of the May 26 meeting obtained by Keys Weekly confirmed that Gueverra did not explicitly call the chairwoman a liar during the course of the exchange over his contract. But Gueverra did refute some of Suarez’s recollections.
By the conclusion of the June 30 meeting, the board had agreed to consult with the Key West law firm Smith Hawks PL to explore possible termination of the president who’s led the college since 2012. The motion was made by vice chair Peter Batty, and seconded by Andrew Dulcey, who had just been sworn in as a trustee at the beginning of that meeting.
Comments from Suarez and Downer suggested Gueverra’s insubordination stemming from the May 26 meeting were grounds to potentially end his contract. The audio recording of the May meeting included tense exchanges over Gueverra’s contract among Suarez, Downer and Gueverra.
The contract discussion had started at an April 28 meeting, when Suarez, by then the new chairwoman, questioned Gueverra’s three-year contract. Specifically, Suarez wondered why it had been renewed a year early in July 2025.
Suarez, who was appointed to the board in 2023 by Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the contract otherwise would have expired in 2026 and allowed the new board to consider its renewal.
Gueverra said the former board had voted to extend his contract at a regular meeting that Suarez did not attend.
Discussions of the contract continued at the May 26 meeting, as Suarez and Downer continued their push for more information. Gueverra said he wasn’t sure what else the board wanted to hear, reiterating that the extension was standard business.
The answer didn’t satisfy Suarez and Downer.
“What happened to the old contract? … What are the circumstances why it was renewed a year in advance? Am I mistaken?” Suarez said.
“I’m puzzled why you’re puzzled,” Downer said to Gueverra. “Because we had a very specific conversation about getting more detail about why the renewal was accelerated and all the details leading up to the new renewal.”
Gueverra said the chairwoman put his contract on the agenda, to which Suarez replied the item was placed on the agenda so Gueverra could come back with more facts and circumstances that had led to the early renewal. Gueverra replied the contract was not renewed early.
Downer disagreed.
“I mean, am I missing something? The contract was renewed early,” he said.
Suarez said she remembered when she joined the board in May 2023 that discussions regarding the renewal were for three years. She said she looked back at the meeting minutes and was expecting a contract renewal would be coming to the current board for consideration.
“Then I saw in meeting minutes from last year … I wanna say it was April or July, that the contract was renewed a year in advance, which is what led me to question what was the reason behind renewing it a year in advance, prematurely.”
“The process seems odd,” Downer added. “We said can you come back and clarify what happened? What I’m disappointed about is you don’t seem to remember that conversation.”
Gueverra replied that the conversation the board raised at the April 28 meeting revolved around why he even had a contract. Suarez interjected that the board asked why it was renewed a year early.
“The contract was not renewed a year early,” Gueverra reiterated. “You interpret it as being renewed early. I said to you that the board extended my contract by a year, in fact.”
“Is it terminating this year? Or did they just extend a year for an additional year after?” Suarez asked.
“It’s the same question asked at the last meeting. It was answered then,” Gueverra said.
“It was not,” Downer said. “Dr. G, you’re not going to win this one. It’s a very simple request. I just would like to understand the details leading up to renewal. Because I don’t understand it, and it seems odd, it seems the renewal was done a year earlier. There may be a perfect explanation for it, let’s understand what happened. Now you’re saying you answered the question; well, you haven’t to me to my satisfaction.”
Per the April 29, 2025 meeting minutes, then-chair Kevin Madok asked the board for authority to negotiate another contract for Gueverra. It came after Madok gave an overview and summary of the board’s evaluation on Gueverra. Per the meeting minutes, “The ratings were very high … positive comments … the college is financially prudent … he is responsive and innovative … he is involved in the community.”
When it came to moving forward with negotiating a contract, Suarez said she “had to think about it.” Then-trustee Richard Weinstein recommended the board move to renew Gueverra’s contract, with Madok negotiating and bringing it back to the board for review and approval.
At the July 2025 meeting, Madok added Gueverra’s three-year contract renewal as an additional item to the agenda. A motion was made by then-trustee Mike Puto and seconded by Weinstein. Voting in favor were Madok, Puto, Weinstein, then-vice chair Sheldon Suga and then-trustee Dan Leben. Suarez was absent from the meeting.
The Keys Weekly spoke this week with Madok, who emphatically denied any intent by the former board to protect Gueverra’s job by extending his contract early.
“As I recall, it was done to align that contract with other timelines, contracts and project schedules at the college,” Madok said, adding that the former board had no reason to believe Gueverra’s contract would be in jeopardy. “Not at all. It wasn’t done to protect anyone. There was no need. Back then, everything was fine with the board. We had no idea what was coming with the governor’s new appointments.”
DeSantis replaced Madok with a new board appointee in January with no explanation.
Gueverra’s contract extension continues his employment at the college through June 2028. Suarez and other board members still couldn’t understand why it had already been extended.
“We’re talking about a specific issue. It doesn’t seem like you’re willing to help us understand the issue,” Downer said.
Discussions became even more tense as Gueverra said Suarez had called the attorney general’s office about his contract. Suarez denied making the call.
“In fact if we want to go there, I think you called the AG saying I missed meetings,” Suarez said.
“I did not,” Gueverra said. “It was not my place.”
“And what did I call the AG for?” Suarez said.
“We’re not going to get into that,” Gueverra replied.
“I’ve got nothing to hide,” Suarez said. “I prefer transparency. I love the Sunshine law. We’re just trying to understand this. If you’re going to accuse me of calling the AG for something, at least tell me what you think it is I called about.”
“I don’t have to explain why you did that,” Gueverra said. “You know why you did that.”
“I think it’s all public record,” Suarez said. “I don’t need to call the AG on you, President Gueverra.”
“You called the AG to inquire about my contract,” Gueverra said.
“I did not,” Suarez replied.
Suarez’s lack of attendance at college board meetings, though, did require Madok to intervene in July 2024. Suarez missed seven of 12 board meetings between June 2023 and July 2024, according to college attendance records.
“Alexandria is confused,” Madok told the Keys Weekly in a July 14 phone call. “She’s conflating two different things. No one, neither I nor Dr. G, called the attorney general about her attendance. I did, however, notify the governor in writing, only because state law required me to do so. The chair of a college board is required to inform the governor if one of his appointees misses three meetings in a year. I would never have put a fellow board member in that position if the law didn’t require it. But no. No one called the attorney general about Ms. Suarez.”
The back-and-forth concluded with board members seeking Gueverra’s current contract, as well as the one prior to the extension. The Keys Weekly filed a records request for the contracts, but hadn’t received them by press time.
Suarez added that she wondered if the contract was renewed early by the previous board after its members had become aware of the governor’s veto of college funding, and “wanted to ensure the president would remain.”
“Thinking from a chair’s perspective, is that in the best interest of the college?” Suarez said. “It just denied a new board the benefit of actually rehiring you.”
One board member asked if there’s a clause in Gueverra’s previous contract allowing it to be renewed any time. Gueverra said there were no specifics on when it could be renewed, but that the contracts span three years.
The CFK board of trustees will have an organizational meeting on Tuesday, July 28 at 2 p.m. at the Middle Keys Center, 350 Sombrero Beach Road.
