After a week of silence from the three city council members who voted to fire Riviera Beach City Manager Jonathan Evans, council members Terence Davis and Lynne Hubbard said they would reveal their reasons during next week’s council meeting.
“I make my comments at the next meeting,” Hubbard said on Wednesday.
That contradicts what Councilwoman Dawn Pardo told NewsChannel 5, which is that she cannot comment because of an active lawsuit against the city regarding the firing of Evans.
“I was going to wait (to reveal the reasons) until a public hearing,” Pardo said on Wednesday. “But, as I said, a lawsuit was filed today and our city attorney told us not to comment on the city manager.”
NewsChannel 5 confirmed that the city attorney did tell all council members not to comment on the firing of Evans since the lawsuit was filed.
Tradrick McCoy filed the lawsuit and said he did it to learn the truth behind Evans’ termination.
“You (the council members) make these decision arbitrarily and you state that you have these documents to support the termination, that is information that needs to be immediately made available,” McCoy said.
Davis said numerous times that he has documentation that backs up his reasons to fire Evans, but he has not disclosed them.
“At this point, I don’t believe that these documents exist,” McCoy said. “I don’t believe that there are documentation that would support the termination of the city manager.”
McCoy said his lawsuit is not about Evans, it’s about following proper protocol which he believes the three city council members did not.
He also said that he does not believe the city council members would have willingly provided their reasons without his lawsuit.
In an email provided to NewsChannel 5, Councilwoman Pardo explained to a resident why she voted to fire Evans.
“I supported their (Hubbard and Davis) motion based largely upon the feedback I had been receiving from a number of resident (…), including a group of well respected ministers,” Pardo said in the email.
She did not elaborate which ministers or what their reasoning was. She also did not explain what her concerns were.
McCoy and many others in the community are still waiting for answers.