Fort Lauderdale fallout: Former city manager fires back at ethics watchdog over misconduct claims

As the top boss at Fort Lauderdale City Hall, Greg Chavarria made friends and enemies.

One of those enemies sent a tip to the Inspector General claiming Chavarria wasn’t living in town, as required by the city charter.

The Broward Office of the Inspector General released a preliminary report on May 30 saying it used SunPass records to show Chavarria did not live in Fort Lauderdale until September 2023. That was 14 months after he took over as city manager.

Chavarria has since resigned, making his exit on June 1. He announced plans in early April to resign from his $291,000-a-year job in 60 days, citing personal reasons.

In the report, investigators with the Inspector General’s Office accused Chavarria of engaging in criminal misconduct when he changed his address with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to that of a condo unit they say was not his legal residence.

Chavarria is now firing back at the Inspector General’s Office, claiming they got it wrong.

His attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, sent a blistering letter this week to Inspector General Carol J. Breece claiming the report was filled with inaccuracies and false allegations that have “tarnished” Chavarria’s reputation.

“Their claim that he didn’t live in the city of Fort Lauderdale during the entire term is false,” Eiglarsh said in an email to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

He declined to address the issue of the SunPass records, saying his client would provide evidence at the Inspector General’s request.

“If we believe that the OIG is sincere about correcting the record and/or learning the full truth, we will work with them to provide additional evidence,” he said by email.

Eiglarsh also objected to the fact that Chavarria received the preliminary report on the same day as the city – standard operating procedure for the Office of the Inspector General.

“We take exception to the release of the report before affording us the opportunity to correct the record and to provide evidence to them,” he said by email. “Fundamental due process requires a person accused of a crime to be afforded the opportunity to properly defend themselves before being crucified publicly.”

Breece declined to comment, saying the Inspector General’s Office doesn’t comment until the parties have a chance to respond and the report becomes final.

“I take great exception to the fact that your office published your report without first sending it to me for review with my client for accuracy,” Eiglarsh wrote in a letter to the Inspector General dated June 3.

His letter honed in on just a few of what he called “the many inaccuracies” contained in the report.

“The allegation that Mr. Chavarria did not appear to reside at East Point Towers is thoroughly false,” his letter states. “Mr. Chavarria registered both of his children in public schools in Fort Lauderdale and routinely dropped them off at school. Unfortunately, because both children struggled academically in their newly assigned schools and were victims of severe bullying, Mr. Chavarria and his wife were forced to make the difficult decision to withdraw them from the school and move them back to their prior school, outside the city limits.”

Chavarria’s attorney also took issue with this line from the Inspector General’s report: “And most telling, Mr. Chavarria never sought reimbursement for moving expenses from the city.”

But the reason Chavarria did not seek reimbursement for his moving expenses was because his employment contract required him to hold the position for two years before he qualified for the reimbursement, Eiglarsh wrote in his response to the Inspector General.

Both the city and Chavarria were given 30 days to respond to the Inspector General’s preliminary report. The deadline: 4:30 p.m. on July 1.

The prospect of sending a letter of response to the Inspector General sparked a spirited debate on the dais between Mayor Dean Trantalis and Commissioner John Herbst Tuesday night.

Trantalis, a Chavarria ally, said he plans to write his own response and welcomed other commissioners to do the same.

Herbst, a Chavarria critic, argued that Acting City Manager Susan Grant should send a response explaining how Fort Lauderdale plans to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

The commission plans to conduct a nationwide search for a new city manager.

But the hire won’t be made until after city elections on Nov. 5.

Herbst moved to fire Chavarria as soon as he joined the commission two years ago, but didn’t have the votes.

On Tuesday, Herbst said he didn’t want to focus on Chavarria. But, he noted, the Inspector General’s report had identified lapses in the city’s internal control structure.

“My recommendation is that we need to reply to the (Inspector General) and lay out a program of enhancements to our internal controls,” Herbst said. “My suggestion is that it require an annual certification from those individuals that are required to live here by charter, verified by the city auditor. I think that’s part of fraud, waste and abuse and it falls within his wheelhouse. I think we can’t let this go without providing a response from the city to go along with the report.”

In response, Trantalis said he doesn’t think it makes sense to require the city manager to live in town.

“Right now we’re doing a nationwide search for a city manager,” he said. “Let’s say we find someone from Seattle that wants to be city manager of Fort Lauderdale. Obviously on day one, they’re not going to be able to live here. So we’ll give them a little bit of time to make changes in their lives. And sometimes those transitions don’t always work out.”

Trantalis argued the charter should eliminate the residency requirement.

“I think that from time to time we need to understand that trying to encourage the best people to work for our city, the commission itself needs to make adjustments in order to ensure that the talent remains with us,” he said. “I think the talent is more important than the residency. And I think that whole idea of residency is anachronistic as a requirement.”

Changing the charter would need the approval of Fort Lauderdale voters. But with the deadline to send referendum items to the Broward Supervisor of Elections coming up on Monday, the city is running out of time to get it on the ballot for this November.

That means any changes to Fort Lauderdale’s charter likely won’t make it onto the ballot until 2026.

For now, the city is stuck with the charter it has, Herbst said.

“You cannot waive the charter,” he said. “You cannot simply decide that we’re not going to follow the charter because you find it inconvenient. So whoever we hire right now, by charter, by law, has to live in the city. It’s not optional, mayor. And if someone doesn’t want to live here, they don’t apply for the job.”

In the end, Trantalis advised the acting city manager not to send a response to the Inspector General, citing the lack of consensus.

Some might argue that the residency requirement is important and others might think it’s not a big deal, said Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University.

“That’s in the eye of the beholder,” Jarvis told the Sun Sentinel. “If you believe that a city manager can’t do his job unless living in the city, you’d want the OIG to go after someone who is not complying with the residency requirement. If you don’t think it’s important, you’re going to wonder why they’re wasting their time.”

In the case of elected officials, a political opponent might be the one to report someone for not living in town.

“But a city manager might have people who don’t like him too,” Jarvis said. “No one in public life can escape it. Anyone who has high visibility has enemies.”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan