Politically speaking, Pompano Beach is a deeply troubled place these days.
Gridlock is as predictable as low tide. City Hall is perpetually divided into two frustrating factions of three members each. A Mother’s Day resolution would fail here on a tie vote.
Outwardly, the city appears to be thriving. Signs of growth are everywhere. A new downtown is slowly taking shape. The city gets favorable national press for its upbeat vibe and its business-friendly culture. But at City Hall, it’s a very different story.
Nothing is too trivial to stretch into a full-blown controversy.
Mike Stocker/Sun Sentinel
Steve Bousquet is a Sun Sentinel columnist who began reporting in Broward County in 1981.
It took well over a year, but the City Commission on Tuesday evaluated the performance of the longtime city manager, Greg Harrison, who perpetually maneuvers back and forth between the fighting factions.
Harrison, who earns almost $400,000 after nearly a decade here, told his six bosses he didn’t want a pay raise — perhaps hoping that would defuse controversy. It didn’t.
Sure enough, the commission deadlocked 3-3 over Harrison’s performance. In any other city, that would be a major job security issue, but not in Pompano. Harrison is secure, because there isn’t a fourth vote to fire him.
Residents came forth to praise Harrison, such as the Rev. Robert Stanley, senior pastor of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, which has a large Black congregation.
“Mr. Harrison has always been professional. He’s always been a man of integrity,” the pastor said. “We want him to know that we love him. We respect him.”
Current and former city workers raved at length about what a great leader Harrison is (and the manager told me he asked no one to testify).
Mayor Rex Hardin called Harrison “exceptionally effective,” and commissioners Rhonda Sigerson-Eaton and Darlene Smith praised him too. The trio of Vice Mayor Alison Fournier, Audrey Fesik and Beverly Perkins kept faulting Harrison for poor communication — even though he insisted they are the problem for refusing his weekly standing offers of face-to-face meetings.
At one point, Fesik held the floor for 20 minutes of criticism of the manager.
“If you have a problem with the way we’re communicating, then please, please, talk to us,” the manager pleaded.
To bolster his case, Harrison passed around a list showing the increase in the values of property owned by commissioners as a sign of how well the city is doing.
According to the data, Fournier’s 10 properties have more than doubled in value in the past eight years, to $4.5 million. Fesik’s property values grew by 90%.
All of it was public information, lifted straight from the Broward property appraiser website, but it struck Harrison’s critics as irrelevant — and intrusive.
“You took something professional, and you turned it personal, and that is offensive to me,” Fesik said, noting that two of her family’s three properties on the list were in her husband’s name and not hers.
“We tried to be respectful and positive,” Fournier told the manager. “What we were handed … is some ridiculous list.” She said the growth in property value is a reflection of “market dynamics” across South Florida, not the result of any city policies.
For one resident, it was all too much to bear.
“You all just shot yourself in the foot,” Jocelyn Jackson told commissioners for overreacting to Harrison’s list. “We can’t go on like this as residents. It’s heartbreaking. It’s stressful … We are the show for other cities, of mockery, of foolishness. It’s sad.”
Only Mayor Hardin will not face voters in November.
All five commission seats are up. All five incumbents are running. All have opposition.
Chances are at least one of them will be defeated. By most accounts, Fesik has the steepest uphill climb to victory, against a well-funded, hard-working challenger, real estate agent Keriann Worley.
Fesik, whose ubiquitous social media presence is the talk of the town, was a surprise winner two years ago, defeating her own cousin, former Commissioner Andrea McGee.
Pompano is a political oddity in another sense: Unlike most cities, the commissioners serve two-year terms, and they all run at once. That should produce political upheaval, which may be what this city needs.
For a few weeks, Pompano may be quieter than usual, as city leaders take the customary August hiatus. But it can’t last.
An election is coming, and only the voters can fix this mess — at the ballot box in November.
Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at (850) 567-2240 or at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com.