Riviera Beach councilman again sues city, saying it has not redrawn district lines
RIVIERA BEACH — City Councilman Tradrick McCoy has filed suit against the city of Riviera Beach, alleging it has ignored a requirement to redraw district lines despite decades of population growth.
It is an extraordinary move for an elected official to sue the city he or she represents; cities often hire outside legal counsel — at taxpayer's expense — to defend against lawsuits. But McCoy's suit is the second he has filed against Riviera Beach in 18 months.
Separately, McCoy also is accusing City Manager Jonathan Evans of using the COVID-19 pandemic to pad his salary.
In October of 2020, McCoy sued the city's water utility for approving a 30% rate increase over five years during the coronavirus pandemic. McCoy, who as a city council member serves on the utility's board, argued the city failed to give the public legal notice of the increase.
That suit was settled in March, with the city agreeing to scrap the proposed rate increase, acknowledging that it did not provide residents with sufficient notice of a potential increase and committing to paying the $751 in legal fees McCoy incurred in bringing the lawsuit.
McCoy said the lawsuit will save taxpayers millions over the next five years.
Suit: Riviera voting districts 'illegally malapportioned'
Now, McCoy is suing to get the city to redraw district lines that were crafted using 1975 population figures.
McCoy's suit, filed March 28, quotes from the city's charter, which states that Riviera Beach's City Council must "confirm, modify or change the district by January 1, 1985, and every ten years thereafter. Each district shall be as nearly as practicable equal in population and the districts must not vary more than eight percent in population at the time of creating said districts or the adjustment thereof every ten years.”
From 1980 to 2020, Riviera Beach's population grew by nearly 42%.
"This data confirmed that population shifts during the last decade have rendered the City of Riviera Beach voting districts illegally malapportioned," McCoy's suit says.
McCoy, who won his bid for re-election last month despite fallout from a profane outburst toward a since-fired city employee, blames Evans for the city's inaction on its district lines.
McCoy argues in the suit that it was Evans' "responsibility as City Manager to direct staff to reapportion the districts and then bring said recommendations to the City Council for review and subsequent approval."
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McCoy's suit adds: "There were never any discussions by the City Manager Jonathan Evans nor any recommendations proffered to the city council as required by the charter."
Evans would not comment on McCoy's suit, adhering to the city's policy of not commenting on pending litigation.
The city manager, however, has sought direction from city council members on redrawing district lines. In a Nov. 14, 2020, memo to city council members, Evans notes the charter language about redrawing district lines to keep the populations of those districts as balanced as possible.
"Unfortunately, this practice has not occurred and has been contentious for multiple reasons pursuant my conversations with the clerk," Evans wrote. "Staff would like direction from the board as to how to proceed with regard to this practice, especially as prescribed by the charter."
With McCoy absent from the meeting, city council members told Evans they want more information about the population of the districts. They did not direct him to redraw the district lines.
McCoy said Evans needs no direction from the city council.
"It appears that City Manager Jonathan Evans is improperly looking for direction from the city council to do something that he is already mandated to do by state law and by city charter," McCoy argues in his suit. "It also appears the City Manager Jonathan Evans' reluctance to comply with his duties under the city charter is due to him personally benefiting from the current composition of the city council."
The complicated matter of Riviera Beach's city manager and his salary
In September of 2017, previous Riviera Beach City Council members voted to remove Evans from office after a brief, six-month tenure.
Evans sued and eventually negotiated a settlement with the city in which he was awarded $190,000 and a declaration that he had not been fired. He agreed not to reapply to the city in the future.
City residents, however, were angered by Evans' dismissal. His treatment — and the possibility that he could somehow be lured back — were factors in the electoral wave that swept out of office all of those who had voted to terminate him.
Newly elected city council members voted to begin negotiations to re-hire Evans. But two of those new members — Douglas Lawson and McCoy — objected.
Lawson said he wanted more than one candidate considered. McCoy said the process was rushed and that Evans, who sought a salary of $220,000, was asking for too much money.
Lawson and McCoy's colleagues on the council disagreed, and Evans was eventually re-hired.
None of that contentious history is laid out in McCoy's legal filing.
Councilman: City manager ignoring his responsibilities
Instead, he argues Evans is ignoring his responsibilities and that other council members are "facilitating the manager in the dereliction of his duties" by giving him added responsibilities "when Jonathan Evans can't handle his chartered duty of bringing a redistricting plan to the council."
Separately from his lawsuit, McCoy said his concerns about Evans' pay are ongoing. He said the city manager changed compensation rules during the pandemic and took home $340,000 in compensation.
"In 2020, the manager without the council's authority created and implemented a pandemic pay policy that was not a part of his employment agreement, where he converted his own pay to an hourly rate and paid himself double pay at the hourly rate," McCoy wrote in an email to The Palm Beach Post.
The city's public information officer, Nicole Rodriguez, said: "During the pandemic, the base salary for Mr. Evans was $206,000. Today, his base salary is $220,667."
City employees received additional pay and benefits during the height of the pandemic, from March 2020 to August 2020.
That additional compensation was, Rodriguez said, "modeled after the FEMA-approved disaster pay policies" aimed at protecting the health and safety of employees and the community as well as to compensate employees who took on additional duties during the pandemic.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Riviera Beach City Councilman Tradrick McCoy has again sued the city
