Councilwoman Dawn Pardo is facing a challenger for her seat on the Riviera Beach City Council for the first time in years.
SPECIAL SECTION: City In Turmoil
Julie Botel entered the race after Pardo joined council members Terence Davis and Lynne Hubbard in the controversial vote to fire city manager Jonathan Evans on Sept. 20.
“I think they fired him inappropriately,” Botel said. “I think the reasons that have been given for his firing are not truthful.”
After months of uproar by the community and a recall effort against Pardo, Davis, and Hubbard, Pardo said she does not believe the firing of Evans will play a role in the election.
“Absolutely not,” Pardo said Tuesday evening. “Especially on Singer Island because the residents over here understand why I fired him.”
While she said the firing of the last city manager won’t be an important issue in the election, the hiring of a new one is top priority for her.
“The most important issue right now is hiring a competent city manager to run our city,” Pardo said. “And if all goes as scheduled we should have a city manager in place by the end of February.”
Singer Island resident Lori Rainaldi said she’s hoping council will wait with the hiring of a new city manager.
“I’m concerned that they want to make the decision in February as opposed to after the election,” Rainaldi said.
Chairwoman KaShamba Miller-Anderson, who is also running for re-election, said she wants to wait after the election to hire a new city manager.
Pardon also addressed questions during Tuesday’s candidate forum about transparency in government.
“The comments about secret meetings and secret deals, if that’s going on someone needs to be running down to the State Attorney, because that is illegal,” Pardo said.
On Sept. 28, WPTV reported about a secret meeting at Hurst Chapel. Sources told WPTV the meeting was to discuss ways to keep Evans out of office.
“I can tell you that I’ve never been part of that,” Pardo said. “And I’d be hard pressed to think that any of my council people would have been part of that.”
In attendance of the Hurst Chapel meeting were council members Terence Davis, and Lynne Hubbard, who both voted to fire Evans, as well as Police Chief Clarence Williams.