Women vs. men? In Riviera Beach, a council chair seat divides the sexes
Riviera Beach City Council members chose Douglas Lawson as chairman after a recent contentious debate of personal attacks and counterattacks that underscored the rancor and divisions still plaguing the city.
Lawson, 41, was first elected to the City Council in 2019 and was re-elected in 2022. He will serve as chairman until March of 2024.
City Council members typically vote to rotate the person serving as chair, giving everyone an opportunity to oversee meetings, recognize speakers and rule on points of order.
But the three women on the council — current chair KaShamba Miller-Anderson, Julia Botel and Shirley Lanier — have held the gavel in recent years and appeared poised to pass it back to Lanier, bypassing Lawson and Tradrick McCoy.
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Miller-Anderson, Botel and Lanier have frequently voted together on issues, and some who attended Wednesday's meeting expected that to play out again after Botel nominated Lanier to serve as chairman before Lawson and then McCoy nominated themselves for the position.
"We all know at the end of the day that it is already determined, that you guys have been shuffling the chair's seat, the vice chair's seat, back and forth between the three of you for the last three years," Ladi March Goldwire said to Miller-Anderson, Botel and Lanier. "You already know what the outcome is going to be before you start."
March Goldwire, a former building official in Riviera Beach who has been locked in legal battles with the city since her termination in 2019, called an earlier move to bypass Lawson "disgusting."
Process of choosing a chairman was questioned
The debate on who would be chosen became contentious from the start, as McCoy, who has filed a half dozen lawsuits against Riviera Beach, questioned whether council rules were followed when Botel nominated Lanier.
"There's no sense of us even playing out this chairperson and vice chair if this is the way it's gonna operate," he said. "It doesn't give anybody, at least me, any kind of confidence in this process."
Lawson also questioned the process.
Miller-Anderson was having none of it.
"Here's the thing, guys," she said. "I am not doing this tonight. I'm not. I am not doing this foolishness tonight."
As she spoke, a member of the audience interrupted the proceedings, talking loudly from the back of the room. Miller-Anderson threatened to have the person removed.
When McCoy again questioned the nominating process, Miller-Anderson told him: "I'm not playing this game with you."
"I'm not playing a game," McCoy said.
March Goldwire threw her support to McCoy, calling him "the only person who's going to go out and fight on behalf of the residents."
She added: "I would like to see people give consideration to Mr. McCoy for this chairmanship because it's unfair to see it dominated by you three women. Y'all been playing back and forth right in front of our face, and it's so, so very disrespectful."
Another person at the meeting, Cindy March, said she hoped council members chose McCoy or Lawson.
"I don't want to see Lanier because she doesn't know what decorum means, just like KaShamba Miller," March said.
Shirley Lanier's chairmanship was marked by acrimonious meetings
Lanier's chairmanship was occasionally marked by protracted, anger-filled meetings with the councilwoman snapping at colleagues if she believed they were out of order.
She has often had to contend with allegations made by members of the public that she has failed drug tests. March made that contention on Wednesday.
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In 2021, Palm Beach County government fired Lanier from her job as a health planner, citing repeated tardiness and absenteeism.
Lanier, 57, said she was the victim of a supervisor who targeted her because of her race, according to documents in her personnel file, which was obtained by The Palm Beach Post through a records request.
Lanier is Black; her supervisor was white.
On Wednesday, she touted a potential return to the chair.
"I have done nothing but work hard for this city," she said. "I don't have my hands in a whole lot of things. I make sure that I show up. I have missed one meeting in the four years I've been the chair. I do not do drugs. Ever since I have become the council person for District 3, my name has been disparaged. I think that comes with the territory, but I will not allow people to disparage my character with lies."
In nominating Lanier, Botel said she could not support McCoy or Lawson.
"Personally, I don't think Mr. McCoy has the temperament," she said. "He's shown that on a number of occasions where he has been belligerent toward not only myself, other members of council, even the mayor. And I don't think he has the emotional wherewithal to be in that role."
McCoy was sued by a former employee after the two got into a heated, profane argument that was captured on a police body camera.
The councilman's own lawsuits have, for some, added to the view of Riviera Beach as dysfunctional, but he has had success, most notably when his lawsuit forced the city to scrap a water rate increase. McCoy said the city had not given proper notice to residents of the rate hike.
As for Lawson, Botel said she couldn't back him for chair because he supported an effort by some Riviera Beach residents to recall her.
Last year, Botel, the only white council member in majority-Black Riviera Beach, angered many Black residents, who said she spread racist misinformation about a Singer Island beach party that was expected to draw a large Black crowd July 3.
Botel apologized, saying she should have verified information she was given by a police officer. She has refused to name that officer, saying she does not want to get the officer in trouble.
March Goldwire and others in Riviera Beach collected thousands of signatures in an effort to recall Botel, but Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Wendy Link said the recall petitions were invalid because they were submitted on a form that did not include the name of the city or the county, which must be included by law.
The recall effort exposed racial fissures in the city, and, on Wednesday, Botel made clear she remembers those who were prepared to see her tossed from office.
"Mr. Lawson has actively sought to have me recalled on spurious grounds that had no basis in reality," she said.
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Riviera Beach Mayor Ronnie Felder, who had no vote in the battle for the chair, asked council members to give either McCoy or Lawson a chance.
"I'm going to politely ask, respectfully, that you women allow these young men, give them their due and let them do what they've been called to do," the mayor said.
Felder's supplication was a stark departure from what is often the political norm — men holding power and women asking for a chance to lead.
Miller-Anderson rejected the notion that she and her female colleagues were lording their clout over the two men on the council.
"I don't think it's appropriate to say it's the women against the men," she said.
Miller-Anderson backed up that contention moments later when she cast the deciding vote to make Lawson chair.
"Thank you for the support," said Lawson, who added that he hoped to "move this city and this dais forward."
Lawson pledged "to be a partner to my colleagues and hopefully just continuing to heal, removing any issues or vendettas that have placed and moving the city in the direction the residents are asking for."
Wayne Washington is a journalist covering West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and race relations at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter @waynewashpbpost. Help support our work; subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Douglas Lawson chosen as chairman of Riviera Beach City Council
