RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Riviera Beach city staff acknowledge a consultant helped advise candidates to register for the ballot with a debit card rather than a check.
The decision led to five candidates, including one current city council member, being removed from the ballot by a district judge.
WPTV News journalist Ethan Stein first reported the woman’s existence last week after three candidates said she participated in the meeting where they registered for the ballot.
Acting City Clerk Debrah Hall said the consultant was Debra Buff, the former city clerk for Belle Glade and former president for the Florida City Clerk’s Association. She said Buff advised her to accept debit cards.
According to tax filings, Buff was at one time the President of the Florida Association of City Clerks.
Even though she is the supervisor of elections for the City, Hall said she didn’t hire Buff.
City Manager Jonathan Evans said there was a discussion within city administration to hire “additional support” for the acting clerk during registration to ensure there were no problems. He said he a recommendation from Buff from an outside legal firm.
“When the qualifying period begin there was a conversation that we needed to provide additional support for the city clerk’s office,” Evans said. “City administration reached out to Mrs. Goddeau from Glen Torciavia’s legal firm and asked if there was any persons with experience with municipal elections that can assist as a staff augmentation tool to ensure that invariably it was a zero fail mission.”
Before the admission, which evolved after Council member Dr. Glen Spirits asked questions about the employee, acting City Clerk Debrah Hall said she had no comment about an employee. City Manager Jonathan Evans, Assistant City Manager Deidre Jacobs and a city spokesperson would not acknowledging or denying her existence after WPTV asked reported questions over the last week.
Both Jacobs and Evans declined to answer WPTV’s attempts to ask questions after the meetings, with Jacobs requesting a police escort. A city spokesperson didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Evans said he was unsure if there was a contract. But, Riviera Beach Finance Director Randy Sherman told WPTV’s Ethan Stein that he had no documents showing the woman was ever paid by the city or a contract with the city’s files. But, he said the woman could have been acting as a volunteer.
Council member Dr. Glen Spiritis said the city manager’s office shouldn’t interfere in elections. He recommended administration didn’t make this omission in the future.
“I don’t know how we found this person. I suggest we don’t do this again,” Spirits said. “Again, we pay the clerk to know the laws pertaining to elections that’s why she’s the supervisor of elections and is her own entity. She isn’t supposed to be interfered with by anyone whether it be the city manager [or] the deputy city manager.”
Before staff acknowledged the Buff’s role, six candidates for Riviera Beach said a woman was helping the city clerk register candidates for the ballot. 4 of the 6 candidates said the woman was advising candidates to register for the ballot with a debit card.
Cedrick Thomas, who is running for election in District 3, said the city clerk introduced him to a consultant identifying herself as a former city clerk. He said she explained her role was to ensure the election process ran smoothly after past mistakes.
“The consultants role what I was told was to make sure that you know this goes smoothly and that everything was conducted properly because they’ve had some hiccups in the past,” Thomas said. “They wanted to make sure the there was an extra person there to just make sure that everything went well.”
He said the woman told him he could register for the ballot with a debit card. But, Thomas said he knew this information was incorrect due to his past experience in politics and team he hired to help him get on the ballot.
“I knew that’s not how I interpret the statute,” he said. “…It was news to me [paying with a debit card]. I have done it [register] before so laws could change, but I wasn’t comfortable doing that.”
Douglas Lawson, who is a current city council member and was removed from the ballot, said the woman was a paid city consultant. He said the woman was the reason he paid with a debit card rather than a check like previous times registering for the ballot.
“We did have consultants and advisors that would accept debit cards for the city,” he said. “…She was a representative from belle glade that came in as a consultant paid by the city.”
Council member Shirley Lanier told WPTV’s Ethan Stein she believed the woman was acting as a “volunteer” but didn’t speak in a meeting where she registered for the ballot.
Council member Tradrick McCoy said the woman was in their meeting, but didn’t speak. He said the woman was a paid consultant designated by city administration.
WPTV was unable to reach Buff for this story after repeated attempts at contact.
