Loxahatchee Groves council declines to fire town manager for cause, authorizes 40‑hour probe

The Town Council of the Town of Loxahatchee Groves voted on June 1 to reject a motion to terminate Town Manager Francine El Ramalia for cause and instead approved a capped investigation by special counsel Janica Simpson.

The move came after the council considered a motion that listed a series of alleged operational and ethical violations — including procurement irregularities, failures of payroll and personnel oversight, selective code enforcement and alleged interference with council directions — and cited section 13B of the town manager employment agreement and section 4 of the town charter as legal grounds for termination. The motion, which a council member read into the record, was seconded and opened for discussion but failed on a recorded 3‑2 vote.

Janica Simpson, the special counsel retained by the town, told the council that her earlier recommendation at a prior meeting had been driven by economic considerations and that settling had been the more economical option at that time. "My recommendation at the last town council meeting was that for economic reasons ... it would have been more economically feasible for the town to settle at that time," Simpson said. She added that documentation and eyewitness accounts exist and that a targeted investigation could be narrowed to issues most likely to sustain a with‑cause finding.

Council members debated whether to pursue with‑cause termination — which some argued could save taxpayer dollars if it avoided a severance payout and succeeded without litigation — or accept a payout or retirement offer to limit litigation risk. One council member stressed the need for accountability and said the council had established a formal, independent review process exactly to avoid politicization. "We established a formal process precisely so this would not become political or personal," that member said, urging the council to follow where the evidence led. Dissenting members repeatedly warned that prolonged litigation would be expensive and described continued probes as a "witch hunt."

Numbers discussed in the meeting included a 20‑week severance figure cited in the record as roughly $62,596 and various estimates for paying the manager through the contract term; council members and staff asked for clearer breakout of PTO hours and hourly rates, with staff citing a PTO balance in the meeting (represented in the materials as about 366.867 hours at $78.25 per hour, which participants used to estimate a PTO payout of about $28,777). Special counsel said she would narrow the list of issues and prepare a scope and budget for council review.

After the failed termination vote, Vice Mayor Sud moved to authorize Simpson to continue the investigation; council members amended and capped that authorization at 40 hours of work to allow Simpson time to perform an initial factual review and return with a plan and cost estimate. Simpson said her firm could handle the work internally and would circulate a memorandum and a proposed budget for the investigation.

The council also noted that, depending on investigative findings, the town could have obligations to report certain findings to other agencies; Simpson said that would be fact dependent and that she would research reporting obligations as part of her work. The investigation authorization passed on a recorded 3‑2 vote.

Special counsel will send a memorandum and a proposed work plan and budget to the council; the town has a regular council meeting scheduled for the following evening at 6 p.m. and staff announced a June 30 community meeting in Belle Glade on the county transportation master plan.

The council did not adopt a substantive personnel action at the special meeting; it rejected termination for cause and directed limited investigative work by the town's retained counsel.