PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – There is new drama in Pembroke Park Town Hall as the town clerk has quit under duress, blaming it on one particular commissioner.
That commissioner is Geoffrey Jacobs.
Recommended Videos
During the meeting, it was Jacobs who postponed discussion on an agenda item he introduced, provocatively titled “Ongoing blackmail and misconduct involving the mayor and town clerk.”
Mayor Ashira Mohammed addressed the title of the item.
“Statements that are being put on the agenda are malicious and slanderous,” she said.
This comes after Town Clerk Marlen Martell sent a resignation letter last week, which read, in part:
“Unfortunately commissioner jacobs has made multiple unfounded accusations. He is obsessed with having me terminated. He has placed formal complaints against me and asked the past four interim town managers to terminate me. I cannot continue to overlook his constant badgering, harassment, unprofessional behavior, and desire to humiliate and break me. Per the advice of my physician, I submit my letter of resignation.”
When asked to comment after the meeting, Jacobs directed Local 10 News to his attorney.
“You know who my attorney is,” he said. “Contact my legal counsel.”
Jacobs, also the former mayor of Pembroke Park, has consistently butted heads with the current mayor, leading to an awkward scene in November in which the police chief of the town searched the mayor for a firearm in the commission room, That came after Jacobs called law enforcement to say he believed the mayor was armed and he was scared for his life.
Jacobs faced criminal charges for the incident, which have since been dropped. He’s now requesting the town cover those legal fees, over $26,000.
Commissioner William Hodgkins opposed covering those fees Wednesday night.
“We shouldn’t have to pay somebody’s legal fees with it has nothing to do with the town,” said Hodgkins. “It didn’t have a thing to do with the town. It didn’t have a thing to do with the town. He was just trying to embarrass somebody, basically.”
A vote on whether the town will cover his legal fees could happen at the next commission meeting.
Jacobs is also now suing the mayor and former police chief for millions of dollars in a defamation suit.