Lauderhill seeks investigation of commissioner’s use of city car

Lauderhill elected officials requested what will be the third recent investigation into Commissioner Denise Grant, this time regarding travel reimbursements for an official trip to Tallahassee in 2022.

Grant, who is running for mayor, was the subject of two investigations in 2023: A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation related to reimbursement documents and an investigation by an outside law firm into allegations of workplace harassment that coincided with the FDLE investigation.

The FDLE investigation focused on reimbursement requests Grant submitted after an official trip she took to Tallahassee in March 2023. She was accused of attempting to be reimbursed for an already-paid cost of her hotel room during the trip, which totaled over $800, by altering a hotel invoice and was accused of requesting $567 in mileage reimbursement for driving a personal car, though she drove a city-owned car, according to the investigation report. City employees are only allowed mileage reimbursements for personal cars.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, which reviewed the case, declined to bring any charges because they would not be able to prove Grant knew she was driving a city-owned car and not the private car of the person she asked to borrow it from and to whom the car was assigned, Deputy City Manager Kennie Hobbs, according to a close-out memo signed this April.

A separate accusation against Grant surfaced at a workshop meeting June 17 that she did not attend. Commissioners said it was previously unknown to them.

City Attorney Angel Petti Rosenberg said at the meeting that Grant used the same city car at issue in the FDLE investigation to drive to Tallahassee in 2022, submitted documents for mileage reimbursement for traveling in a private car and that she was paid the reimbursement for that trip.

Grant was paid $507.36 for mileage reimbursement related to the 2022 trip, according to documents obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel through a public records request.

The commissioners and the city attorney also discussed at the Monday meeting how to clarify city policies that arose during the FDLE investigation — the vehicle-use policy, the travel policy and a code provision related to commissioners’ benefits. They’re now making it undoubtedly clear that an elected official cannot drive any city-owned car, among other changes.

“Commissioner Grant is deeply disappointed with the City Commission’s wasteful expenditure of scarce public dollars. She will continue to focus on the best interests of the community as she seeks support for her mayoral candidacy,” her attorneys Michael T. David and Benedict P. Kuehne said Thursday in a statement to the Sun Sentinel.

Grant was first elected to the commission in 2018. If she becomes mayor, she proposes, in part, to bring new businesses to the city, support creating an “entertainment district,” invest more money for the police department and create a program for youth to interact with officers and work to lower the millage rate, her mayoral campaign website says.

During her time in office, she created a meal delivery program for seniors during the COVID pandemic and multiple other community programs, including a parks program for residents to participate in maintenance and projects and “Unity in the Community,” to connect the police department with residents and hear any safety concerns, among other programs, her website says.

2022 Tallahassee trip

Records obtained by the Sun Sentinel show that Grant emailed Deputy City Clerk Nadia Chin on Feb. 7, 2022, with a subject line of “Trip to Tallahassee.” The records showed she attended Broward Days, a nonpartisan event that hosts workshops and events and where local elected officials, businesses, nonprofits and community leaders meet with state lawmakers.

“453.4 miles one way, therefore 906.8 to and from. The total cost is $453.40.

Please process check. Thx,” Grant wrote to Chin in the email.

Included in the records obtained by the Sun Sentinel was a check request form dated Feb. 8, 2022, for $507.36 to be payable to Grant, with mileage reimbursement listed as the purpose. Chin signed the form on the “director approval” line.

Another travel expense reimbursement form said Grant traveled in a personal vehicle, requesting $507.36 for reimbursement of 906 miles at 56 cents per mile. A separate travel authorization form listed an amount of $247.43 next to the use of a private vehicle.

Grant received a check, dated Feb. 10, 2022, for $507.36 for mileage reimbursement, the public records showed.

Vice Mayor Lawrence “Jabbow” Martin, who is also running for mayor against Grant, asked the city attorney whether there were any other travel records submitted for the same city car before the March 2023 trip that FDLE investigated. Petti Rosenberg said Grant requested to use the same car in February 2022 for another business trip to Tallahassee and was given permission by the deputy city manager to use it, but said “there’s still a question regarding the reimbursement on that trip as well, though” because the request for mileage reimbursement said she used a personal car.

Mayor Ken Thurston told the Sun Sentinel after the meeting that commissioners did not know before Monday about Grant’s alleged 2022 reimbursement request. Commissioners agreed to hire an outside law firm to investigate the 2022 accusation.

“I’m concerned when I heard that there was money paid for the city vehicle to go to Tallahassee … That one slipped past us,” Thurston said at the meeting. “So now, there is the question of what else has slipped past us? So, I would like to see an investigation of all the matters pertaining to Grant’s use of the city vehicle.”

Lauderhill commissioner won’t face charges after FDLE probe of reimbursement requests

Alleged harassment investigation

Commissioner Melissa Dunn and Thurston at Monday’s meeting referenced a previous outside investigation involving Grant last year, related to allegations of harassment as the FDLE investigation was ongoing. After that investigation last year, the commission ordered training for all city commissioners, implemented a bullying policy and code of conduct for public officials with penalties and publicly reprimanded Grant in January 2024, according to the reprimand resolution.

“I don’t want to come back here again ’cause it just triggered for me that this is our second go-around because of actions taken knowingly or unknowingly, alleged or deliberate, by one member of this commission …” Dunn said Monday.

After FDLE began its investigation in May 2023, two city employees made formal complaints against Grant in October that year, alleging she was increasingly creating a hostile work environment. The majority of city commissioners voted after the complaints to have an outside investigator review.

Grant’s aide, Stephanie Crooks, sent a request to be transferred from her role and a written complaint to City Clerk Andrea Anderson, City Manager Desorae Giles-Smith and Human Resources Director Ercilia Krempler on Oct. 9, 2023, claiming that Grant’s “hostility has become increasingly worse during the week of October 1-5th, 2023.” Crooks was interviewed by FDLE in May 2023, the FDLE report shows.

Crooks described Grant yelling at her during phone calls, “relentless” phone calls during Crooks’ time off work, feeling like she “was being watched” by Grant at work and in one instance said Grant accused Crooks of recording a conversation they had in Grant’s office, according to Crooks’s emailed complaint.

Ria Chattergoon, the independent attorney who investigated the claims, wrote in her report that Crooks said in July or August 2023, she went to Grant’s home to pick something up and while there, Grant “interrogated her and asked her if she was wearing a wire,” Chattergoon’s report said.

“Ms. Crooks stated that she went into the garage of the home with Commissioner Grant and
unbuttoned her shirt to prove to Commissioner Grant that she was not wearing a wire,” Chattergoon wrote.

Chattergoon wrote in her conclusion that after Grant learned Crooks participated in the FDLE investigation, Grant started to remove Crooks from emails and discussion, which kept her from properly doing her job and “began speaking to her in a hostile manner.” Grant also requested training for Crooks, which Chattergoon wrote was “questionable” and that Grant had not previously expressed any concerns with Crooks’ work performance.

Chattergoon determined that Grant’s alleged behaviors did not constitute harassment or a hostile work environment but noted that Grant’s issues with Crooks “revealed a clear timeline and/or chain of retaliatory events beginning around the FDLE investigation” and after Crooks had an interview with the FDLE investigator. Chattergoon agreed with the city manager’s and city clerk’s decision to transfer Crooks to another department.

Grant was entitled to submit a rebuttal after the investigation but did not, according to the city’s reprimand resolution.

Chattergoon at a December 2023 commission meeting said there was no evidence of a hostile work environment under Florida law, which is based on things like race, religion, age or disability.

“The facts show that Commissioner Grant likes her job. She does a good job. I want to put that out there. I want to make that clear for the record. I did not find that hostile work environment was apparent here,” Chattergoon said.

The attorney said she did, however, find “a level of unprofessionalism, a level of what some would call bullying” and that she was concerned there “could have been a potential whistleblower complaint.”

Dunn at Monday’s meeting said she believed Grant’s public reprimand didn’t “really have an impact” and questioned what more could be done.

Thurston told the Sun Sentinel that depending on the results of the investigation commissioners requested Monday, they could refer it to the governor for action.

Policy changes

Changes to the city’s policies will make it clear that no elected official can drive a city car, “for no business at all,” Thurston told the Sun Sentinel on Monday. The current policies refer to “city employees,” which city commissioners are not.

Each elected official currently has $8,000 specifically for travel expenses, Thurston said.

In 2021, the commissioners voted to increase their budgets for personal use, including travel, and Grant was the only elected official who opposed, the Sun Sentinel previously reported.

“I just didn’t see the need to increase it to that amount,” Grant told the Sun Sentinel at the time. “There was no reason to justify that increase.”

With some of the new proposed changes, there will be a log-in system for the city cars to make it clear who has the key to any car and where it is, Petti Rosenberg said. The city will also ensure every car has technology called automatic vehicle location to track them and state a clear definition of what is considered a personal car.

Petti Rosenberg said at the meeting that most of the city cars have the technology, but the car in question did not. City Manager Giles-Smith said they are auditing the cars to see which ones do not have the tracking technology.

Perri Rosenberg gave commissioners drafts of the proposed changes, which they’ll review and will be placed on the July 8 commission meeting agenda.