The City of Riviera Beach has responded to a lawsuit, demanding the reasons for the firing of former city manager Jonathan Evans be revealed.
The judge had given the city a deadline of Wednesday at noon to respond. But instead of outlining the reasons as to why Evans was fired, the city filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
In his lawsuit, Tradrick McCoy named the city, city clerk Claudene Anthony, and city councilman Terence Davis.
Attorney’s for the city argued in their motion to dismiss that Anthony and Davis are not proper parties to the lawsuit.
“I think that’s simply incorrect,” Lawyer Deanne Shullman said, who specializes in public records. “All officers acting in their official capacity are custodians of records.”
The second argument the city made is that McCoy did not provide the city with a reasonable amount of time.
“That’s a new thing in Florida law that really only went into effect earlier this year and it really is only important on the issue of attorney fees,” Shullman said.
McCoy doesn’t have an attorney. He’s representing himself
“So it’s simply not applicable here where the requester doesn’t have an attorney,” Shullman said.
McCoy also received a letter from the city clerk, saying they are “unaware of the items of misfeasance that were laid out in the September 20 city council meeting.”
McCoy has until Friday to respond to the motion to dismiss.
In another surprise move, the Riviera Beach Human Resources Director, Bruce Davis, suddenly resigned, giving no explanation. Sources said he was a supporter of Evans.
Davis said he did not want to comment at this point.
There was a lot more security measures in place at the Marina Event Center on Wednesday evening for the next city council meeting, including a higher law enforcement presence and a metal detector.
Sources said it’s because the three city council members who fired Evans have gotten threats.
Councilman Davis has promised to reveal the reasons behind the firing during the council meeting.