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Riviera Beach council upholds suspension of chief financial officer after closed-session incident
Summary
Mayor suspended the city’s chief financial officer after a closed-session confrontation; the council voted to uphold the three‑day suspension and directed the manager to meet with the finance director on return.
The Riviera Beach City Council on Sept. 17 upheld a three‑day suspension of the city’s chief financial officer following an incident the mayor described as a breach of professional conduct during a closed session.
Mayor Douglas Lawson read a written statement to the council explaining that he had witnessed the CFO openly defy a direction from the city manager and engage in a public argument with outside counsel during a closed labor-session meeting. That conduct, the mayor said, violated the city’s recently adopted bill of rights and standards for leadership.
"This action was not taken lightly," the mayor said, asking the council to support the suspension to preserve public trust and professional standards.
A motion to uphold the suspension was made and seconded; the council voted unanimously to uphold the suspension. Staff clarified that the CFO’s three days of suspension had been unpaid; if the council had voted not to uphold the suspension, pay would have been restored for those dates.
City Manager Jonathan Evans said he will meet with the finance director upon the employee’s return to work to discuss corrective steps and expectations. The council requested training on the bill of rights and a reiteration of conduct expectations for staff.
Several council members and members of the public spoke in support of the finance department’s work and urged fairness; the council’s action addressed conduct and process rather than finance department performance.
