The Peter Principle. How Did This Post Ever Get This Long?

If you don't know what the Peter Principle is, it's this.  A person has a job, and does it well.  S/he gets promoted to another position that requires more ability, and carries more responsibility.  S/he does well there, too.  The success, and the promotions, continue.  At some point, the person gets promoted to a position so demanding, and carrying so much responsibility, that the person doesn't do well any more.  The person's abilities have been exceeded by the requirements of the position.  The person has reached their level of incompetence.  That's the Peter Priniciple: being promoted to your level of incompetence.

After a struggle, our new Commission was installed by some time in February.  Early in that first meeting, which included sitting Commissioners Tudor and Samaria, and now including new Commissioners O'Halpin, Kennedy, and Ross, attention was paid to the matter of the manager.  No one, except Will Tudor, was happy with the job Krishan Manners did as manager.  Ginny O'Halpin revealed that she had privately spoken to our Public Works manager, David Hernandez, asked David if he would be willing to serve as interim manager, he said he would be willing, and Ginny therefore proposed to fire Krishan.  The details of the discussion and firing of Krishan, which occurred at that meeting, are not important to this story, but the conclusion was that Krishan was in fact fired, and David Hernandez's agreement to act as interim manager was accepted.  It's now three months later, and David is still the interim/acting manager.  And no search for a "permanent manager" has begun.

As an aside, I should say that the Village either has or doesn't have a manager problem.  We have one, in the sense that since 2006, we have had five managers, and three interim managers.  So in the manager department, we've had noteworthy turnover.  We're not, for example, like Miami Shores, which has had one manager for decades, and he's been reconfirmed by a long succession of Commissions.  On the other hand, it's not uncommon for managers to get overturned by new governing bodies, and that's not always a reflection on the manager.  Along the same lines, new managers somehow very commonly decide there should be turnover in the people they themselves hire and fire, like in the position of police chief.  So it's a little unclear how we should understand the manager turnover we've experienced.  The only glaring example that it might be in some sense our fault is the sudden and completely unexplained (I'm told I'm not at liberty to repeat the explanation given to me in confidence by a witness) resignation of Sharon Ragoonan very early in her tenure as Village manager.

But back to David Hernandez.  Very many Village residents were relieved when we finally hired a Public Works director.  And no one had anything but praise for David's performance, as Public Works director.*  David had extensive relevant prior experience, he understood the task, and he appeared to carry it out well.  David is very self-assured.  And if you know David or have seen him present anything, you don't need me to tell you that.

Two Commissioners -- Betsy Wise and Jenny Johnson-Sardella -- resigned, one soon after the other, and we had to replace them.  We had to scramble to have an election, and who ran was a bit up for grabs.  Mac Kennedy ran.  For me, that was a no-brainer, because I know Mac, I know about his passion for the Village, and his passion to accomplish things, and it was unquestionable that I could support him wholeheartedly.  Ginny O'Halpin ran.  I knew Ginny a little, and I knew her late husband a little.  Ginny is a very nice and charming person, and she had a resume that had something to do with public service, up in New York for a whole career.  And she'd served very short term on two Village ad hoc groups.  We needed two people, there were two people, neither one of them seemed remotely likely to be a Tracy Truppman stooge, and I was satisfied.  But then, we had a third candidate.  Rafael Ciordia was a stealth candidate.  He had lived here for several years, was invisible, Village-wise, appeared to have one connection, which was Tracy's stooge, manager Krishan Manners, and eventually began publicly to parrot precise Tracy material.  So for me, Rafael was out, and the other two were in.  Which is apparently what the voters thought, too.  And Tracy apparently thought the same thing I thought, which was that Ginny would not be her stooge, and she would therefore not control a majority of the Commission.  So Tracy, too, jumped ship.  We now needed one more Commissioner, and only one person ran: Roxy Ross.  Our new Commission was Dan Samaria, Will Tudor, Ginny O'Halpin, Mac Kennedy, and Roxy Ross.  The concept of who should be the mayor was a bit quirky, but there seemed to be agreement it should be Ginny.  So Ginny, who really did have a pretty low Village profile, reached out in what I can only call desperation to someone of whom she knew who could step in once she succeeded, which it seemed clear she would, in firing Krishan.  So David Hernandez felt a tap on his shoulder.  And the rest of the Commissioners were either too relieved (to be able to punish Krishan for his own and other people's sins), or off balance, since the Krishan firing was abrupt, to ask important questions about David.  Ginny made an offer to David, David made an offer to the Village, and everyone accepted each others' offers.

So, precipitously, and out of desperation, David Hernandez became our interim/acting Village manager.  With no questions asked.  If we wanted anyone who wasn't Krishan, or anyone who wouldn't continue to assault Dan Samaria, we got that from David.  We also got someone who tried to steady Ginny, who very clearly had trouble running a meeting.  Although we got more help from our interim Village attorney, so we really didn't need David for that.

In the meantime, there were issues, and problems, and clocks that were ticking.  One clock that was ticking increasingly loudly was from CITT.  CITT had been communicating with us for some time, letting us know we appeared to be out of compliance about something, and by December, due dates and ultimatums were starting to be issued.  Under the reign of Tracy Truppman, and her pet, Krishan Manners, we simply ignored all of these communications.  And they were coming from the CITT Executive Director, Javier Betancourt.  They weren't form letters coming from a computer or a secretary.  This content was part of the December 19, 2019 letter from Mr Betancourt: "the Village of Biscayne Park is at risk of having Surtax funds withheld [the Village won't get any more] or recaptured [we'll have to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars: close to $1M].  As discussed in our meeting of October 1, 2019, in order to avoid the withholding and/or recapture of these funds, it is imperative that you provide a detailed response to the measures you are taking to remedy the issues stated in the audit by January 31, 2020."  And then, there was a scolding about documents requested and never received by the previous due date, which was November 1.

On February 25, 2020, Interim Manager David Hernandez received a not dissimilar letter from Mr Betancourt, and there was an acknowledgement that the January 31 deadline had come and gone, without satisfaction of the demand for documentation.  So, "The failure of the Village of Biscayne Park to provide the requested information in a timely manner leaves this office with no other option but to begin withholding the Village's Surtax funds.  Please be advised that the withholding of Surtax funds will take effect immediately and continue until all findings and issues are completely resolved...It is imperative," Betancourt added, "that the Village respond, in full, to the findings of the municipal audit and this correspondence by April 1, 2020.  If the Village of Biscayne Park fails to respond by said date, this office will commence in the recapturing of the municipality's Surtax funds."

Public records requested from the Village have been altered in that the circulation has been redacted, but Mr Betancourt appears to have gotten David Hernandez's attention, and David responded by e-mail on March 2.  David pleaded that he had just entered the job, and needed more time, and he asked for an extension of the April 1 deadline to May 31.  A few hours later on the same date, Mr Betancourt responded very sympathetically, agreeing to the extension.

So now, David had a problem.  He had to find whatever CITT wanted, and the clock was reset, but still ticking.  Enter Chuck Ross.  As Chuck got increasing wind of this matter, which he was already doing under the former regime, he did a Chuck thing.  Chuck -- CPA, auditor (who got "100%" in his accounting school municipal accounting course) -- offered to help.  He approached David, and asked the entry-level question, which was what David had unearthed (almost literally) so far.  Nothing, David told Chuck.  He couldn't find any documentation.  So Chuck --  CPA, auditor (who got "100%" in his accounting school municipal accounting course) -- offered to take a look himself.  To which David agreed.  There are lots of boxes of various Village records, and they're in a storage room in the recreation center.  They have various markings.  Chuck was on his own.  David didn't offer to help or keep company, and he didn't tell Chuck about the other two Village residents (I'm not at liberty to name them) who also offered to help.

But Chuck is Chuck, and a task is a task.  Chuck found secret sources of possibly relevant documents, like boxes mysteriously marked "CITT."  Who would think to look there for CITT-related records?  Apparently, David didn't.  Chuck found lots of stuff.  And he couldn't make his way to all the boxes.  Chuck estimates today that he found "maybe 1/4" of what is needed, with confidence that more is there.  And he turned it all over to David.

David has responded to Chuck's hard work, generosity, and selflessness in two ways.  The first is that he told Chuck that some unnamed Village resident had spied Chuck entering the recreation center, and complained about it (which is not true and could not remotely be true), and Chuck was no longer welcome to come into the recreation center or to view any more Village records.  Even though they're public records.  The second response David made to what Chuck presented to him was to place an item on the Village Commission agenda for the May 19 meeting, in which David reports with seeming pride that he, who initially couldn't find anything, suddenly found a trove of relevant documents, and he did it all by himself.

Now, it's possible to end this story here, and recognize that David is really full of himself, that he can be a dope sometimes, that he's unappreciative and disrespectful, but that he's gotten us a stay of execution until 5/31, and that maybe he'll use what Chuck gave him to bail us out of the huge mess the former Commission and manager got us into.  And of course, David is the "interim/acting" manager, and it should be very high on our agenda, as it always has been at times like this, to find a "permanent" manager.  But the story doesn't quite end there.  Because in the meantime...

It took the Village Commission and management way too long finally to get around to having virtual Commission meetings.  The pathetic interim offerings were public service spots from Ginny O'Halpin, David, and Luis Cabrera, our police chief.  It wasn't until April 22 that our Village Commission and management finally figured out what all of our surrounding municipalities already knew, which was how to have a meeting on ZOOM.  They had another one on May 5.  But on May 1, there was another PSA, and this time, it was David Hernandez essentially talking about what a success he was, and reassuring listeners that he would stay in the saddle, and continue to be the Village manager.  (Commissioner) Roxy Ross interpreted this display as David's promoting himself for the permanent position of manager, even though we weren't formally looking for one yet (although we very much should have been), and she wrote to him about it the same day.  Roxy added the following language to her communication to David (and to the Village attorney): "While I am grateful for all your efforts as Interim Manager in this health crisis, if you continued (sic) to disseminate your advertisement, you will force my hand to communicate your very serious shortcomings for the full position of Village Manager."  David responded to her a few minutes later, saying "Thanks for your opinion ????????"  Roxy offered David a little bit more insight about his communication style in an e-mail the next day.

If we remember that David is full of himself and disrespectful, it will come as no surprise that he wrote to the Commission on May 5 to complain about what he proposed was an "alarming" Roxy Ross e-mail that was "breaching on violating the Ethics rules."  (As an aside, most of David's written products have peculiar usages and misspellings, and what appear to be typographical errors, and those include formal communications he makes not only to the Commission, but to people like Javier Betancourt.)  David further accuses Roxy of issuing "threats, harassment, and disparaging comments."  Commissioner Roxy Ross is, of course, one of David's five direct employers.  After some paragraphs of further rant, and before the last two paragraphs of rant, David appears to reassure that he is not, in fact, lobbying for the position of permanent manager, and he reiterates that he only agreed to the interim position.  Frankly, as the criteria for consideration of a Village manager have not yet been formalized, I myself don't know if David would qualify anyway.  Maybe he doesn't know, either.  All that is clear is that there appears to be deflection both from David and from some on the Commission from beginning the process to find a permanent manager, and that process should have begun at least two months ago.

So, there sits David Hernandez.  He himself talks about his "impeccable record" and his "slew of recommendation letters."  Roxy Ross, and I, and no doubt many of us are grateful for his having agreed to provide what seemed to us to be emergency help when we were desperate.  And maybe it's our own fault, for having been hasty, or too enthusiastic, but we have elevated him to a position in which his communication skills and his temperament become conspicuous problems.  He had successfully managed various levels that relied on his competence.  And then, we promoted him.



*There's an important Dan Keys story that I heard very recently, and that creates possible grave concern about David Hernandez.  This post is already long enough, and maybe someone more directly involved will discuss the David Hernandez-Dan Keys matter in a comment.  Suffice it to say that I was wrong a year or two ago when I imagined the dramatically unceremonious dismissal of Dan Keys from the P&P Board represented Tracy Truppman's initiative.