SURFSIDE, Fla. – A commission meeting in the Town of Surfside got extremely heated on Tuesday night.
It came hours after residents received a controversial parody email that, at first glance, appeared to come from the mayor.
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At the meeting, former mayor Charles Burkett was also in attendance. He accused the current mayor, Shlomo Danzinger, of breaking the law in regard to the abrupt resignation of several town employees last month. In less than 24 hours, Surfside lost its town manager, assistant manager and police chief.
Burkett, who gave a 15 minute presentation, said threats were made before the resignations took place.
“The mayor walked into the manager’s office and told Mr. Hyatt you need to resign,” Burkett said.
He believes Danzinger violated the law in telling former Town Manager Andrew Hyatt to resign.
“It’s about employees being forced out Soprano-style sort of method of business,” Burkett said.
Commissioner Fred Landsman said he is frustrated by the accusation there was a Sunshine Law violation while Commissioner Nelly Vasquez made a motion to remove the dispairment clause to allow the three employees to speak.
There was no second to the motion from the commission.
Another point of contention at the meeting was a parody email that was sent to Danzinger’s town email list.
The email said, in part:
“While you were distracted making holiday plans, I was able to oust our exceptional and professional Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, and Police Chief, all in a record-breaking 24 hours.”
Surfside police said they looked into the email but the State Attorney’s Office determined that at this time the email is not criminal.