INDIANTOWN — A new Village Council majority swept into power during the August Primary, setting the stage for a shake-up in village government. During a Sept. 1 special meeting to debate wording for a data center resolution, the council later voted to fire Village Manager Taryn Kryzda.
Before they had a chance to do that, however, long-term Village Attorney Wade Vose resigned, admitting that he couldn’t effectively defend Indiantown against any potential lawsuits by property owners because he had advised the Council against a moratorium.
The Council majority’s actions closely mimicked those of the Stuart Commission majority, which fired its City Manager Michael Giardino on Aug. 24, who was hired in late March by the previous Commission majority. The new majority there consisting of Eula Clarke, Meritt Matheson and Campbell Rich is currently negotiating to rehire its former City Manager Michael Mortell who had been canned without cause last year by the former majority.
While both Rich and Matheson admitted to hatching their plan to rehire Mortell on the campaign trail, none of the three newly elected Indiantown Council members sworn-in on Aug. 27 acknowledged such interactions.
Their reactions and actions during both meetings hinted at such campaign trail collaboration, however.
During the onset of of the Aug.27 Village Council meeting, Councilman Anthony Dowling made a request of Mayor Phyllis Waters-Brown shortly after he, Janet Hernandez and Christa Miley took the oath of office.
“During the approval, additions and deletions to the agenda, I wanted to have staff to produce all personnel contracts for the Village of Indiantown staff and services,” he said. “I think it’s important that we get a general sense of all the administrative actions that are taking place currently and that have taken place in the last 60 days and that will plan to take place in the next 60 days.”
After staff agreed to add those items, the subsequent motions made by Councilwoman Hernandez – who was out of the country participating via Zoom – to table two items on the agenda until her return died for lack of seconds. Later on, she made a request echoing that of Dowling.
“I also wanted to request that Village personnel regulations be brought to the Council at the next meeting,” she said. “I’m requesting current organizational charts showing the staff structure, including each department position, supervisor relationships and reporting structures. The Village manager works for and reports to the Village Council as a body.”
While neither of the newly minted commissioners explained the reasoning behind their requests, later public comments revealed that some Indiantown residents believe staff have been working in the shadows on data center applications.
One of them was Eric Miller, who’s spearheading local data center opposition and believes Community Development Director Deanna Freeman is in cahoots with those applicants.
“When we speak about Ms. Freeman and her position, we have found an NDA,” he said in reference to a non-disclosure agreement. “The information you’ve been getting is erroneous. You currently have six [data centers] in progress. We have found the information on your website. I came here with a report for the both of you [Mayor Brown and Councilwoman Vernestine Williams-Palmer] and the other three people that were sitting up there in the beginning of this. I was called a liar. A lot of this has been staff-driven because there are interests in here that have NDAs.”
One of the other public speakers that night was Stuart-based Land Use Attorney Bob Raynes who represented the data center applicant Silver Fox 606 LLC.
“We’re a little dismayed to hear about a possible moratorium,” he said. “There are property rights that our client has and expectations that he had when the property came about. We also believe that Senate Bill 180 would prohibit such a moratorium. That’s our legal opinion. Be advised that we will be following this and do everything we possibly can to protect our client’s rights.”
After other public speakers insisted the new Council majority fulfill its moratorium campaign promise, Councilwoman Hernandez requested the special meeting Sept. 1 and the majority of her colleagues directed Vose to draft the resolution.
Mayor Waters-Brown cast the lone dissenting vote on Hernandez’ motion.
Most of that special meeting was taken up with comments by dozens of public speakers both for and against the resolution, including the attorney for Silver Fox Ethan Loeb and another applicant, Rory Greenberg, who both urged the Board to to hold more public meetings before passing the moratorium. Loeb even reminded two of the new Council members, Hernandez and Dowling, that they’d voted on the Village’s land development regulations that permit data centers in the Heavy Industrial Future Land Use during their first terms on the Board.
The pair ignored those pleas, making the motion and second respectively to pass the resolution in spite of Vose’s reminder that he had always warned the Council against potential violating Senate Bill 180, which has certain protections for data centers.
Vose then acknowledged he’d tendered his resignation.
Council Members Dowling, Hernandez and Miley all admitted they’d been working behind the scenes to find another attorney prior to the special meeting, although no one mentioned Vose’ resignation on Aug. 27.
Miley had contacted the Broward County-based law firm of Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Cole and Bierman after learning of its involvement with Senate Bill 180 litigation and invited one of its partners, Jamie Cole, to address the Council.
Afterward, the Board voted unanimously to hire the firm and appoint one of its partners, Janette Smith, as interim Village attorney.
That sudden turn of events fractured the Council majority, with most wanting to then postpone the resolution until Smith could evaluate the wording.
They then voted 1-4 on Hernandez’ original motion for approval, with only the motion-maker voting in favor.
Councilman Dowling then dropped his final bomb on the Board.
“I also think staff here needs to be on notice to follow the vision in which this new Council is heading,” he said. “Our Village manager has stated that she is in support [of data centers]. I don’t believe that is the vision of this current Council, so I would like to put forth a motion for a vote of no confidence.”
When that was followed by a long silence, Dowling repeated his motion in a louder tone.
“I’ll say it again,” he said. “I have a motion for a vote of no confidence for the Village manager.”
“Oh, I’ll second,” Hernandez then responded.
Earlier in the meeting Hernandez emphasized to the public that there might sometimes be a delay in her Internet responses.
Vose then recommended Dowling rephrase his motion if he actually wanted to end Kryzda’s contract, which he did.
Mayor Waters-Brown then made a comment.
“Are we ready for a vote or does anybody want to have discussion?” she asked.
Hernandez didn’t bat an eye.
“Can I just say effective immediately,” she responded.
When Councilwoman Williams-Palmer expressed concerns about not having an interim manager in place, Councilman Dowling said he’d already made a short-list and acknowledged that Giardino was in attendance at his request.
Both Williams-Palmer and Mayor Waters-Brown asked Dowling for more details but he refused to reveal who else he’d interviewed. He also wanted Kryzda fired immediately.
“Things are being approved quickly through the staff, and this vote derives from that process,” he said. “There were folks signing NDAs, and there were folks going on record to say that they support. But the majority of this Council I believe wants to go in a different direction.”
The Village Council then voted 3-2 to cancel Kryzda’s contract, with Waters-Brown and Williams-Palmer dissenting.