On March 13, 2023, ex-City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey sent a Memo to the Mayor and Commission in response to their directives given at the January 19, 2023 workshop.

One of the items addressed in this Memo, at the request of Commissioner Phyllis Smith, was a review of the Purchasing Card (P Card) Policy “to ensure all charges made by the Mayor and Commission and Senior Staff are in compliance with the City’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s).”  Commissioner Smith also asked the Manager to “find abuse of inappropriate purchases on P-cards and obtain a process to get the “City” reimbursed, if possible.”

Attached to Duke’s Memo is a March 10, 2023 Memo from the now-former Chief Procurement Officer, Phillip Ford, a/k/a Duke’s Personal Clothier, who attempted to blame “The Finance Department,” and specifically Chief Financial Officer Marcia Fennell, for everything he did wrong since the day he was hired on January 6, 2022.  He claimed that “there has been a lack of timely P-Card reconciliations completed by the Finance Department, with direct oversight by the Chief Financial Officer, Marcia Fennell.”

Except he would be wrong.

Like his ex-boss, Phillip Ford refused to accept any responsibility for anything, and especially for aiding and abetting the egregious P Card abuse that took place under his watch.

The City’s Procurement Policy & Procedure manual clearly states that the Department Head is to “designate representatives responsible for authorizing charges,” and the Department Representatives then “review the monthly statement with the cardholder” and “sign the monthly statement authorizing charges.”

It is not the responsibility of the Chief Financial Officer to do the job of each Department Representative by making sure that the P Card charges are compliant with the policy.  The Finance Department’s only responsibility is to “confirm that all charges are authorized by Department Representative(s).”

In fact, Marcia Fennell spelled it out perfectly in her March 23, 2023 email to Phillip Ford when she had to remind him that, “Direct overview of all Accounting related issues was the responsibility of the Finance Director, Agnew Jean-Pierre.”

You will recall that Agnew Jean-Pierre was yet another Friends & Family hire of Duke Sorey, and who was the author of a fraudulent “affidavit” designed to protect ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard from the still unresolved issue of her $1,000.00 PayPal charge to JMS Catering that she charged on her taxpayer-funded P Card on March 29, 2022, the invoice for which appears to have gone missing!

Despite the denial and finger pointing by ex-Chief Procurement Officer Phillip Ford, the P-Card buck stopped at his desk.

The Procurement Policy & Procedure manual is called that for a reason.  It specifically states, “When a cardholder is unsure of the legitimacy of a P-Card purchase they are to contact the P-Card Administrator or Chief Procurement Officer for clarification of use prior to the purchase.”

In her email to Phillip Ford, Marcia Fennell threw it right back at him when she wrote:

There has been consistent disregard for the accounting process and a severe lack of co-operation by all parties as you are well aware due to the numerous emails and meetings regarding this subject. Though reminders are sent out; telephone calls made and even onsite visits to individual card users; the Finance department’s requests are ignored, thus hampering the completion of the process in a timely manner. Repeated requests to de-activate cards for incomplete and improper documentation are also ignored and results in the override of the request by your division and the City Manager’s office on a constant basis.

In the past 23 months, we have seen the disintegration and continued disregard of the program where restrictions are lifted by the Administrator to accommodate prohibited purchases and the severe lack of supporting documentation.

We are not surprised by all of this incompetence.  It’s common knowledge in North Miami, where Duke Sorey spent the previous six years of his “career” as a Deputy City Manager and two-time Interim City Manager, that he never hired anyone he perceived as being smarter than himself so he’d never be upstaged.

As we all know by now, that bar is pretty damn low.

All of which brings us to yet one more reason that Duke Sorey should have been FIRED FOR CAUSE and humiliated out of City Hall by a police escort — the egregious and fraudulent spending by the use of taxpayer-funded Purchasing Cards (P Cards).

Not only did Duke authorize over a hundred thousand dollars of charges that had absolutely no public purpose for the benefit of North Miami Beach residents, but he actually encouraged the spending.

Duke’s Memo included itemized lists of P Card transactions for the elected officials, as well as his own, his now-former Assistant Manager Gedel “Beelzebub” Merzius, Assistant Manager Kemarr Brown, his now-former Senior Advisor (a/k/a Catering Director) Athalie Edwards, Executive Assistant Ashley Francois, former Media Public Information Specialist Jasmine Rivera, Chief of Staff Francisco Medranda, and former Chief of Staff Willis Howard (a/k/a ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard’s taxpayer-funded Campaign Manager).

We’ll start with ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard, who wasn’t even the worst offender in terms of her own P Card spending.

In less than two years, from January 1, 2020 through her final purchase on October 3, 2022, Paule’s total was $24,630.54.  Only 33 of her 97 charges could even remotely be considered as a public purpose benefiting North Miami Beach residents.

Of those charges, only $5,201.63 could be considered valid for a public purpose, unless you consider three completely unnecessary trips to Dallas for a P3 Conference, to New Orleans allegedly “for an onsite demonstration of a new all-in-one emergency call management solution, APEX,” and to Denver allegedly to tour the South Adams County Ennis Water Softening Facility, but really to present the Denver County Mayor with a Proclamation for being the “second African American to hold the position.”

It should be noted that not one of those three taxpayer-funded vacations resulted in any capital improvements for the City of North Miami Beach.

It should also be noted that in addition to the $24,630.54 Paule charged on her taxpayer-funded P Card, several public officials also used their own P Cards for Paule’s benefit, as follows:

Arthur Sorey:

• 4/5/22 – Gas for meeting with Paule Villard in Sunrise, Florida $91.04

Ashley Francois:

• 8/24/22 – Travel Guard for trip to Denver $32.51
• 8/24/22 – Flight to Denver $500.20
• 8/24/22 – Preferred seating on flight to Denver $28.00
• 8/24/22 – Preferred zone on flight to Denver $28.00
• 8/24/22 – Hotel in Denver $743.10

Athalie Edwards:

• 12/17/21 – Soccer tournament youth gift card giveaway $3,008.00

Francisco Medranda:

• 9/21/21 – International Day of Peace lunch $606.95
• 5/20/22 – “Dear NMB Friend” postcards $440.00
• 7/23/22 – Business meeting (LOL) with Villard and Fleurimond $35.00
• 7/23/22 – Business meeting with Villard and Fleurimond $65.00
• 9/8/22 – Shoe box donations supply $77.80

Gedel “Beelzebub” Merzius:

• 2/1/22 – Thanksgiving Street Event (11/20/21) $500.00
• 2/1/22 – Thanksgiving Street Event (11/20/21) $600.00
• 7/29/22 – Birthday flowers for Paule Villard $54.54
• 8/16/22 – Commission meeting food purchase for Paule and guest (Guest? WTF?) $126.83

Gregory Williams:

• 1/8/20 – Cancellation of League Action Days for $25.00
• 1/13/20 – Trip to West Palm Beach for National Haitian American Elected Officials Network (NHAEON) Conference $879.80
• 6/24/20 – Business cards $74.95
• 1/21/21 – NHAEON Virtual Conference Retreat $200.00
• 3/22/21 – Business cards $94.95
• 4/13/21 – Shirt stitching $20.00

Kemarr Brown:

• 7/9/22 – Hotel stay in New Orleans for Villard $417.36

The total of these charges add another $8,599.03 to Paule’s already outrageous personal charges of $24,630.54, for a grand total of $33,229.57!

This amount does not include charges made by Parks & Rec Director Andrew Plotkin, former Chief Procurement Officer Phillip Ford, or former Public Affairs Manager Phillip Tavernier, since Duke never directed the Finance Department to prepare itemized lists for their P Card spending.

This is unfortunate because we know that there were a lot of expenditures on behalf of Paule that were funneled through these departments in an effort to hide them from prying eyes.  Nevertheless, we are working on obtaining this information and will update the totals when we do.

Criminal Commissioner Michael Joseph, on the other hand, did the least amount of damage with his taxpayer-funded P Card.  This is not to say that all of it was for a public purpose for the benefit of North Miami Beach residents.  In fact, like his former co-conspirator, Paule Villard, most of those charges were for his own personal benefit.

From November 5, 2019 through October 2, 2022, Michael personally charged on his own card a total of $22,229.44.  A total of 79 charges out of 108 had absolutely no public purpose for the benefit of North Miami Beach residents.

It must also be noted that Michael charged $354.15 on his taxpayer-funded P Card for “Flowers for McGregor family.”

If the name McGregor sounds familiar, it should.  You will recall that Harville McGregor, a paid campaign worker of Michael’s, allegedly authored the December 20, 2022 email to City officials and media, copying them with an Ethics Complaint he allegedly filed, falsely accusing the Mayor of “hiding his residency.”

And by allegedly, we mean ghostwritten by Michael Joseph.

As it turns out, a relative of McGregor’s passed away in September of 2022, so Michael whipped out his taxpayer-funded P Card and sent flowers to the funeral — COURTESY OF NORTH MIAMI BEACH TAXPAYERS!

Apparently, Harville McGregor is not some random resident, but a member in good standing of Michael Joseph’s “Anonymous” Surrogate Army, recruited to do his dirty work for him.

We strongly suggest that you demand from Michael reimbursement of this expense (among many others), since it has absolutely no public purpose for the benefit of North Miami Beach residents.

For some reason the City’s spreadsheet did not include Michael’s charges from October 5, 2022 through February 4, 2023, which totaled $1,315.04, according to his P Card statements for the months ending January 4, 2023 and February 4, 2023, and which increases his total P Card charges to $25,277.78.

These employees also charged expenditures on behalf of Michael, as follows:

These $2,460.88 in charges plus Michael’s personal total of $25,277.78 equals a grand total of $27,738.66!

Big Spender McKenzie Fleurimond whipped out his taxpayer-funded P Card 171 times and charged up a storm to the tune of $33,778.90.  Only about 100 of those charges were for a public purpose benefiting the residents of North Miami Beach.  And even that number is a stretch.

Adding insult to injury, the “Senior Staff” also charged the following items on his behalf:

Arthur Sorey:

• 8/2/22 – Food for meeting with McKenzie, Sorey and Staff $151.21
• 8/5/22 – Food for department head staff and McKenzie $305.27

Ashley Francois:

• 8/24/22 – Travel Guard for Denver trip for $35.03
• 8/24/22 – Preferred seating to Denver for $18.00
• 8/24/22 – Flight to Denver for $538.90
• 8/24/22 – Preferred seating (Return flight?) Denver for $18.00
• 8/31/22 – Hotel in Denver for $460.68

Athalie Edwards:

• 2/23/22 – Fleurimond’s lunch meeting (more food?) $56.00

Francisco Medranda:

• 1/8/22 – Food for Soup & Champaign debriefing (Debriefing? WTF?) $75.75
• 7/23/22 – Business meeting with Paule and McKenzie $35.00 (already added in Paule’s total, so not added in McKenzie’s)

Gregory Williams:

• 1/10/20 – Registration and flight for Fleurimond and “Mayo” (Who’s Mayo?) Dade Days $1,226.55
• 1/13/20 – Airfare to NHAEON conference $879.80
• 3/30/21 – Flowers for Shirleem Lasieur (Flowers AGAIN?) $213.94

Kemarr Brown:

• July 9, 2022 – Hotel stay in New Orleans for Fleurimond $417.36

Add these charges of $4,396.39 to McKenzie’s personal taxpayer-funded spending spree of $33,778.90 and you have a grand total of $38,175.29!

Then there’s the self-anointed “Princess,” Daniela Jean, who spent more time jet-setting around the country than she did legislating, charged a total of $27,217.61 over 124 charges, only 66 of which could be considered as a public purpose for the benefit of North Miami Beach residents.

Not a bad score for the former low-level office grunt from the Risk Management Department in North Miami.

Daniela’s taxpayer-funded damage is only enhanced by the insane amount of money charged on her behalf by the following employees:

Arthur Sorey:

• 3/18/22 – Flowers for Daniela “La Princessa” Jean’s birthday $64.90

Ashley Francois:

• 8/24/22 – Travel Guard trip to Denver for $32.51
• 8/24/21 – Preferred seating trip to Denver for $18.00
• 8/24/22 – Flight to Denver $500.20
• 8/24/ 22 – Preferred seating trip to Denver (Return flight) $18.00
• 8/31/22 – Hotel in Denver $691.02

Athalie Edwards:

• 9/25/21 – Balloons for Night at the Ballet event $24.00
• 2/1/22 – Food for Night of Excellence to honor black women in media event $605.80
• 2/1/22 – Food for Night of Excellence to honor black women in media event $500.00
• 8/31/22 – Flight change charge for trip to Denver $223.00

Francisco Medranda:

• 9/24/21 – Poster for Night at the Ballet $210.00
• 12/10/21 – Signage for Small Business Workshop $995.00
• 1/27/22 – Shop Local tote bags $211.26
• 1/31/22 – Children’s Bike Raffle $286.00
• 3/2/22 – Shop Local pop up banner $771.00
• 3/31/22 – Litter pick up tool for Earth Day $493.20
• 7/10/22 – Hand crank radio for emergency distribution event $853.50
• 7/1/22 – Hand crank radio Set 2 for emergency distribution event $853.50
• 7/14/22 – LED flashlights for emergency distribution event $1,037.50
• 7/16/22 – Hand crank radio for emergency distribution event $319.84
• 7/17/22 – Hand crank radio for emergency distribution event $606.80
• 7/22/22 – Future of Water Summit $515.24
• 8/22/22 – Promotional items for Rock the Vote event (Promoting who exactly?) $2,000.00
• 10/15/22 – Teen Chat lunch $399.70
• 10/24/22 – Teen Chat Heat Game $928.00
• 10/24/22 – Teen Chat Dinner $156.60
• 10/24/22 – Teen Chat Dinner $149.04

Gedel Merzius:

• 5/12/22 – Patties on the Plaza for Haitian Heritage Month $169.00
• 7/6/22 – Pizza for Public Works party $59.39

Gregory Williams:

• 12/17/20 – Business Cards $124.95
• 1/28/21 – NHAEON Virtual Conference $150.00
• 1/29/21 – Florida League of Cities $99.00
• 2/9/21 – Delivery fee for Official Seal (HUH?) $10.00
• 2/10/21 – Flyer for Book Giveaway $244.00
• 4/1/21 – Annual Membership Dues (no organization mentioned) $125.00
• 4/29/21 – Music Award for Jazz event $58.75
• 4/29/21 – Flyers for Jazz event (1/2) $105.00 (the other half was for the Mayor’s State of the City Address)

Willis Howard:

• 11/17/21 – Silk laminated business cards (Silk laminated? SERIOUSLY?) $469.85

The total amount of your tax dollars charged by and on behalf of Daniela by “Senior Staff” was $15,077.75.  Added to Daniela’s own P Card expenses of $27,217.61, the grand total of money spent on Princess Daniela was an unconscionable $42,295.36!

If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!

Now let’s take a look at how Mayor Anthony DeFillipo used his P Card.

From January 1, 2020 to through 10/31/22, the Mayor used his P Card 37 times, for a total of $5,846.68.  He has not used it since that date through at least March 4, 2023, the most recent statements we have in our possession.  Not surprisingly, all of his P Card charges were for a public purpose for the benefit of North Miami Beach residents.

The following employees used their own P Cards for items purchased on behalf of the Mayor:

Arthur Sorey:

• 1/6/22 – Flight to Washington, DC for the United States Conference of Mayors $387.20
• 1/10/22 – Mayor’s registration for U.S. Conference of Mayors $1,500.00
• 1/10/22 – Mayor’s plane seating fee for U.S. Conference of Mayors $103.29
• 1/10/22 – Additional airfare for Mayor’s trip to DC $31.42

Gedel Merzius:

• 12/17/21 – Mayor’s holiday gift card giveaway $1,000.00

Gregory Williams:

• 11/13/20 – Ticket change to U.S. Conference of Mayors $253.20
• 7/10/20 – 6 shirts for Mayor $181.21
• 12/9/20 – Cake for Mayor’s birthday (Reimbursed) $31.00
• 4/29/21 – Flyers for Mayor’s State of the City Address (1/2) $105.00 (the other half was for Daniela’s Jazz event)

Francisco Medranda:

• 2/21/21 – Mayor’s holiday gift card giveaway $5,000.00 (5 x $1,000.00)
• 9/14/22 – Mayor’s registration for the Smart City conference $109.50
• 10/8/22 – Mayor’s luncheon for Breast Cancer Awareness $787.67
• 12/1/22 – Supplies for swearing in and Mayor’s toy drive $71.30
• 12/9/22 – Mayor’s Gift card giveaway and holiday party movie $2,508.00
• 12/13/22 – Mayor’s toy drive $1,109.97
• 12/15/22 – Supplies for Mayor’s toy drive and holiday party movie $11.99
• 12/15/22 – Supplies for Mayor’s toy drive and holiday party movie $309.78

The total charges by City officials on behalf of the Mayor is $11,348.33.  When added to the Mayor’s personal P Card charges of $5,846.68, the grand total is $17,195.01.

Or only 40.65% of the cost of the care and feeding of Daniela Jean, the most junior member of the City Commission.

And finally, let’s review Commissioner Fortuna Smukler’s P Card charges.

Fortuna used her P Card 55 times between July 14, 2021 and December 21, 2022 for a total of $10,844.78.  Additional charges on her P Card statements ending February 4, 2023 and March 4, 2023 totaling $190.91 bring the total she personally charged to $11,035.69.

As expected, Fortuna only used her taxpayer-funded P Card for a public purpose to benefit the residents of North Miami Beach.

Only one City official used his P Card on Fortuna’s behalf:

Gregory Williams:

• 2/11/21 – Pedometers for Tuesday Strides $293.73

Including the purchase by Gregory Williams, Commissioner Fortuna Smukler’s grand total of P Card expenditures is $11,138.51.

But the story is not over.

The Award for the Most Fiscally Responsible Commissioner goes to former Commissioner Barbara Kramer.

As usual, Duke Sorey didn’t even think about Barbara when he directed the Finance Department to prepare itemized lists for their P Card spending.

In fact, he never thought of her at all.

As we see it, so much the better, because Duke Sorey wasn’t even worthy of breathing the same air as Barbara Kramer, much less being in her presence.

Nevertheless, Barbara’s Purchasing Card history wasn’t necessary since we happen to know that she rarely, if ever, used her taxpayer-funded credit card.

In fact, in at least the last year of her term, she never used it at all.

There will never be another Barbara Kramer on the North Miami Beach City Commission.  She is a true public servant in every sense of the word, and her legacy will stand the test of time.

It should also be noted that neither Fortuna Smukler nor Barbara Kramer received taxpayer-funded flowers for their respective birthdays.

Just saying.

As for the abominable spending by Paule, Michael, McKenzie, and especially Daniela, none of this would have happened without the approval and blessing of Duke Sorey.

Which is exactly why the four Criminal Commissioners hired him in the first place.

And which is exactly why he should have been fired for cause.

In Part 2, we’ll tell you all about Duke’s abusive spending habits, courtesy of North Miami Beach taxpayers.

Stephanie