WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A West Palm Beach code enforcement officer was placed on a 17-day suspension after the city suspected the employee stole more than 114 hours, according to documents WPTV obtained.
The records show Donald Williams was also given a “last chance notice” after the city’s investigation found he incorrectly clocked into and out of work, took extended lunch breaks and was not in his enforcement zone.
A spokesperson for the city said the employee is now acting as code enforcement supervisor as it goes through the hiring process for a permanent supervisor.
“The City of West Palm Beach does not comment on personnel matters,” said city spokesperson Kat Joy. “Code Officer Donald Williams is currently serving as acting Code Enforcement Supervisor as we go through the hiring process for a permanent supervisor. The City is actively recruiting for the supervisor position.”
According to the administrative review, Williams clocked in for 124 hours that were unearned. The review said a majority of those hours came from “clocking in” before starting work and leaving work before “clocking out” as a code enforcement officer focusing on rental license compliance and business openings across the city.
City investigators found this happened around 115 times from Aug. 1, 2024 to Jan. 31, 2025, which resulted in hours being stolen ranging from .1 to 4.23.
Williams didn’t respond to WPTV’s inquiry.
West Palm Beach
5 areas in this city lack code enforcement officer
City investigators said they also found Williams spent about five hours conducting non-work-related trips and another six hours at his house taking excessive breaks from his job across the city.
Williams' house is a less than five minutes from Hugh Booker’s house, who told WPTV’s he’s struggling to get code enforcement to take action against two plots of land: an abandoned construction site and an overgrown lot.
"It's frustrating because when I came here they were real strict with everything,” he said. “Now you go out there and look at that property and tell me if you'd like to live in a neighborhood like that.”
Booker said he’s even gone to city hall to get somebody’s attention, but nobody has done anything about either property. He said reviewing the city’s investigation was frustrating because it feels like code enforcement is ignoring his neighborhood.
"I tried so much to get somebody down here to do something that I don't bother anymore because you don't get any response," Booker said to WPTV’s Ethan Stein last week.
WPTV talked with Booker because we found records online showing multiple areas of West Palm Beach don’t have an assigned code enforcement officer. Those records show five out of 14 areas, about 35%, list the assigned code enforcement agent as vacant.
One week later, the city’s website said it assigned three more additional officers to areas.
The website said Williams is assigned to the city’s downtown area, from Okeechobee Boulevard to Banyan Boulevard. His assignment came after the city went nine months without a code enforcement officer in the area.
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