News

Actions

Riviera Beach City Council votes to terminate city manager with cause after water scandal

Posted at 11:52 PM, Sep 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-28 00:16:39-04

Effective immediately, Riviera Beach's City Manager Ruth Jones was fired with cause at Tuesday night's City Council meeting as a result of what she may have known about the bacteria in the city's water.

Jones has been criticized for knowing about issues with the city's drinking water and not informing the council including the way she handled a 10-thousand dollar fine placed on the city related to its water issues. 

She was suspended for 30 days without pay a few months ago after alleged knowledge of the circumstances with Utility Services came to light. 

RELATED: Riviera Beach city manager on the hot seat after water utility director fired

City Councilwoman Miller-Anderson made the motion to terminate Jones with cause after doing her own research of Jones' possible knowledge of the issues. Local residents also spoke out during the meeting calling for Jones to be fired. 

"The residents have been showing some signs of discomfort for quite some time now. Mrs. Jones is a great person. She as some great strengths. She has weaknesses just like everybody else, but his board has made the decision to move in a direction based upon a series of things that were stated on the record and that the residents lost faith in her," said Chair Terence Davis with the Riviera Beach City Council. 

Jones will have the opportunity to go before the council in a special hearing and argue against the cause of her termination.