A reader sent me an email asking me why we should care about what goes on in North Miami. I responded by telling him that if we are aware of the crap that’s going on with our neighbor to the south that maybe we can prevent it from happening in North Miami Beach. He understood. Completely.
Folks, if you thought our government was run poorly, let me tell you about an incident in North Miami that is so beyond ridiculous and so beyond credibility, you’ll swear I’m making it up. I assure you, I am not.
Sergeant Cristina Grant, an eighteen year veteran of the North Miami Police Department was so screwed over by the city, she had no choice but to finally file suit. She also won a hearing this morning before Judge Jorge E. Cueto, who tore City Attorney Jennifer Warren a new one for “serious improper actions,” and reserved sanctions against Warren and the City, which now face the possibility of having to pay Grant’s attorney’s fees. Sgt. Grant has also filed a complaint against Ms. Warren with the Florida Bar for various deceitful actions. Yeah, things are that crazy in North Miami.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself, so let me start at the beginning.
The City of North Miami offers employees the option to voluntarily participate in a deferred compensation plan, also known as a 457(b), sponsored by a company called ICMA Retirement Corporation. North Miami’s Police pension plan allows officers to contribute additional money into their pension plans for up to five years’ worth of service if they previously worked for another police department and they reach their tenth year of employment with the NMPD. After working for six years at another department, Sgt. Grant became employed by North Miami in 1994. On her tenth anniversary she requested to transfer five years’ worth of accumulated compensation from her ICMA 457(b) account into her pension account. That’s when she hit a brick wall.
The ICMA Retirement Corporation’s “Purchase of Prior Service Credit Packet,” a copy of which I can send you upon request, states, “If permitted by the plan allowing purchase or repayment, actively employed (or in-service) participants in a 457 deferred compensation, 403(b) deferred compensation, 403(b) tax sheltered annuity, or 401 defined contribution plan may request a direct or trustee-to-trustee transfer of their contributions to purchase prior service credit or repay a refund of employee contributions to a DB [defined benefit] plan.” It further states, “It is important for you to contact the plan administrator or the benefits office at your employer to determine whether your DB plan will permit you to purchase service credit or repay prior refunds.”
The contract between ICMA and the City of North Miami, called the “Plan and Trust Document,” allows for this type of transfer, as per section 6.12 Trustee-to-Trustee Transfer to Purchase Permissive Service Credit, which reads, “All or a portion of a Participant’s Account may be transferred directly to the trustee of a defined benefit governmental plan if such transfer is for the purchase of permissive services credit.”
No brainer, right? WRONG! When Sgt. Grant went to the Personnel Director, Rebecca Jones, to have her transfer documents signed, in her capacity of “on site administrator,” Jones’ sole job was to sign off on the paperwork and forward it to ICMA. That should have been the end of the story. However, Jones refused to process the paperwork because, as Grant was recently told by City Attorney Jennifer Warren, Rebecca Jones’ job as Personnel Director/Plan Administrator was more like a “parent-child relationship,” rather than the job description for Jones’ position, which is defined as a “non-discretionary, administrative function.”
In other words, Rebecca Jones took her degree in “Early Childhood Development” and felt this qualified her to act as the Mommy for the employees of North Miami instead of being a “non-discretionary administrator.” So many wayward children, so little time.
As Mommy In Chief, Rebecca Jones refused to allow Sgt. Grant to see the Plan and Trust Document between the City and ICMA, and outright refused to explain why she wouldn’t allow her to transfer her money to buy her qualified five years’ worth of time for her own pension plan. She actually told Sgt. Grant, “You can’t use that money for that!” By the same token, ICMA claimed it could not release the Plan and Trust Document to Grant without the City’s approval, which Jones wouldn’t give. Grant was stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place.
This went on for five years until an ICMA employee, repulsed by what the City of North Miami and Rebecca Jones were doing, surreptitiously passed a copy of the Plan and Trust Document to Sgt. Grant, who then had ammunition to fight fire with fire. She met with then City Manager Russell Benford, told her side of the story and was rewarded with a letter from Benford telling her that the City wasn’t liable for the screw up because Rebecca Jones didn’t “intentionally” mislead her. I smell bullshit. How about you?
Coincidentally, this took place during mayor Andre Pierre’s run for re-election in May, 2011, and all of his shenanigans were being covered extensively by the local media. As PBA police union representative, Sgt. Grant was interviewed by NBC 6 about his traffic stops as published in North Miami Mayor Accused of Abuse of Power, and his alleged threatening of police officers for daring to give him tickets for his bad driving habits. According to the article, “…[P]olice say, he gets pulled over a lot. About a dozen times during his year and a half in office, most frequently in his city of North Miami where officers complained to a union representative that Pierre sometimes says during traffic stops ‘do you know who I am?’”
On top of giving her interview, the PBA did not endorse Andre’s re-election, and within weeks of the news story, Grant found herself the target of an Internal Affairs investigation. As the union representative, she is allowed to give interviews regarding police matters. Despite the law, Pierre made it is business to make Sgt. Grant miserable. Grant was repeatedly passed up for promotion, and her supervisors told her that her career was being derailed because of Pierre. On top of that, in her capacity as union representative, St. Grant sat across from Rebecca Jones for two years negotiating contracts on behalf of police employees, constantly hitting brick walls with that task. In essence, Andre Pierre kept “punishing” Grant for daring to speak the truth.
Again, rock, meet hard place.
Sgt. Grant finally had no choice but to hire a lawyer to fight City Hall. Richard Schurr, a Coral Gables attorney who specializes in business, taxation, corporation litigation and has a background in finance, states, “The City is doing everything possible to avoid responsibility for this case. They have yet to file an Answer and have tried to prevent all discovery, including the deposition of the pension administrator and the ICMA representative.”
North Miami City Attorney Jennifer Warren has joined in the fun by telling outright lies and playing dirty tricks. When Mr. Schurr scheduled a deposition of an ICMA representative for June 19th, Warren had the chutzpah to cancel the deposition, even though it was not her deposition to cancel, by lying to ICMA that Shurr never served them with a subpoena. Unfortunately for Ms. Warren, her bogus claim was responded to by an email from attorney Richard Schurr, as follows:
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:12:15 -0400
Subject: Grant v. City of North Miami
From: rick@richardschurr.com
To: emcfarquhar@icmarc.org
CC: jwarren@northmiamifl.gov; diana@richardschurr.com; marti@richardschurr.comErica,
I was very disappointed to hear Ms. Warren, a member of the Bar, misrepresent to you this afternoon that ICMA was not served with a subpoena. See attached confirmation of service of said subpoena. I was also disappointed to have Ms. Warren claim that there is a Rule of Civil Procedure which allows her to cancel another party’s deposition. It appears that the City of North Miami will stop at nothing to cover up their misdeeds.Now that ICMA is to be deposed and the truth will come out, the City is scrambling to avoid the deposition, and in fact has acted illegally in sending out a Notice of Cancellation for a deposition set by another party. I will address the City’s actions in the appropriate forum, and at the appropriate time.I’d again like to point out that while ICMA considers the City of North Miami to be their client, it is in fact the police officers and employees of the City of North Miami, and other cities, who invest their money with ICMA, not the City itself. It is these officers that are the victims of the City’s actions.Finally, as I stated, I intend to move forward with tomorrow’s deposition.Thank you for your patience and assistance.Richard A. Schurr, P.A.100 Almeria Avenue, Ste 330Coral Gables, Florida 33134305.446.5627 (fax)
For good measure, Mr. Schurr attached a copy of the Affidavit of Service of Process, which proved that ICMA was served and which you can see by clicking here:
Affidavit of Service of Process on Antonio Villalonga
When the ICMA representative, Michael Veasey, was deposed, North Miami City Attorney Jennifer Warren withheld exhibits, failed to hand over documents, improperly scheduled hearings and just plain ignored all rules of Civil Procedure. Veasey’s deposition, of which I have a copy, reads like a North Miami version of Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine, during which Jennifer Warren, on cross examination, continually attempts to obfuscate the record. She repeatedly refers to “the Plan” without specifying whether she’s referring to the city’s Pension Plan or the ICMA Deferred Compensation Plan in order to confuse Mr. Veasey into claiming that “the Plan” doesn’t allow the transfer.
Clearly, Sgt. Grant has been getting the runaround. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why, either. If you dare to cross Andre Pierre and you just might get burned.
Grant’s right to transfer her money into her pension account is well documented by both witnesses and multiple contracts. The Internal Revenue Service passed the buyback provision into Federal law back in 2001. This provision was also allowed by the contract between the City of North Miami and ICMA Retirement Corporation since 2001. In addition, the City of North Miami has allowed police officers to buy back their time since 1988. This provision is in the police union contract, the Police Pension plan AND North Miami’s 1039 Ordinance. In essence, by denying Sgt. Grant the right to transfer money (or “buy back her time”) from her 457 account into her pension account, the city was in violation of Federal laws as well as its own laws and ordinances.
On top of that, when Sgt. Grant first requested to buy back her time, she was eligible to transfer a lump sum of $70,000.00. As a result of the stalling tactics and accrued interest on that money, the cost of her buy back is now estimated to be close to $200,000.00. Should Grant’s lawsuit prevail, which it most likely will, the taxpayers of North Miami will be on the hook for the difference.
As such, North Miami’s history of wasteful spending of taxpayer money continues. Mayor Pierre, City Manager Stephen Johnson and their hired guns are spending heaven knows how much money defending a lawsuit against a losing case in which the city clearly screwed up. Just how much the residents of North Miami are going to be on the hook for as the city litigates to cover City Hall’s ass is anyone’s guess. I bet it’s going to be a lot more than they bargained for.
The epilogue to this story is that for her botched representation and slaying at this morning’s hearing before Judge Cueto, Jennifer Warren was removed from the case by her boss, City Attorney Regine Monestime, who will be either handling it personally or hiring outside council, thereby costing taxpayers even more money. Nice!
Folks, I could not make this up even if I wanted to. The corruption in the Chicago of the South continues.
And that, my friends, is why we care about what happens in North Miami.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
Our city of North Miami always seems to farm out our legal work leaving us to wonder what our actual City Atty does for us and why we pay them? Who’s Jennifer Warren, and when did she become our city atty? Was wondering when you would get to the atty that was recently hired as the North Miami City Atty Regine Monestime. Any relation? Probably. Andre Pierre has been jerking our Police department around for some time. It’s a wonder we have a police dept. Thank God we have the Swerdlow millions but at this rate, with the criminal 3-2 it sure won’t last very long! Thanks again Stephanie
Rebecca Jones also thinks she’s a bank loan officer! Just ask all the employees who’ve tried to take loans from their ICMA account that she DENIED. Who ever heard of a personnel director making employees bring in their credit card statements for her to review? Can you say “liability’? That’s what Becky Jones would do if you tried to take a hardship loan.Last I heard that’s ICMA’s job.
The long list of everything Becky’s done to North Miami’s employee’s is going to come out in trial. I hope Cristy takes them to the cleaners.
What a mess! And where is City Manager Russell Benford now? Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez hired Benford to be his Deputy Mayor despite Benford’s long disgraceful record at North Miami. Shame!
In reading this article, I have to wonder if this is why, after living in the city of North Miami for 20 years, I am seeing fewer and fewer Police patroling the streets. Is the Mayor using taxpayers money to fund personal lawsuits against city employees rather than paying our Police Officers to do their jobs. It is rediculous that I cannot leave anything on my front porch without it being stolen, due to lack of Police survalance.
What does the city atty do? It looks like the city atty really dropped the bomb on this one. Now we have to pay to hire outside counsil to represent this case. What is really going on? Is this where taxpayers money is going? Does anyone else agree that it is time to hire a new city atty? You know, maybe hire someone who can really do the job that they are being paid to do.
P.S.
This is shame North Miami!
Rebecca Jones, or Sasquatch, as she’s called in city gall is an incompetent ass. It’s time she’s fired. No actually it’s long overdue. Hopefully Stephen Johnson will wake up and realize she’s a cancer in the city.
I cant believe that Raymond expects Stephen Johnson will make a decision PERIOD. much less a good one. He did not get that job because he makes intelligent, well thought out decisions. He got it because of two reasons, #2 being that he will do what he’s told because he cant make his own decisions. Ill let you decide what the #1 reason is.
That entire sewer will never be clean, i worked there for a few minutes, I left and my career (and pay & benefits) grows everyday. I cant believe that the city employees even show up anymore. They take a pay cut and then city hall sends cash to Haiti? How did the voters let that happen?
I hope this sgt’s lawsuit makes them have to sell their manhole covers on ebay to pay. Thats the only chance of some clean rainwater getting into the sewer. Great story, ive never seen anyone actually shine some light on this corruption.
The n. miami government is actually run from the Haiti model, its crazy that they are doing this stuff and NO higher government agency has interviened.
I hear Steve Johnson is unavailable for comment as he is away at “I’m Not Qualified” University” earning his PhD.
Johnson is, in my opinion, dirtier than she is.
Fat cats in city hall who line their pockets pay attention. You think no one is watching as you spend taxpayer money that the city doesn’t have protecting Hatian dignitaries? I can’t wait for the day when black FBI Tahoes roll up to city hall and next thing you see is a line of handcuffed bureaucrats on a one way Con-Air red-eye flight to Leavenworth USP where the climate is as different from balmy Port-au-Prince North (AKA North Miami) as it gets.
This is just the latest gaffe in the long string of questionable and incompetent actions taken by the bumbling leadership the City now has. Does anyone know what they are doing? Is anyone ever held accountable? Isn’t Becky Jones, as the Department head, supposed to know how the plans work?? Why anyone would want to be a police officer there is beyond me. I hear Hollywood and Pembroke Pines are hiring.
😆 That must be Jennifer Warren in the picture up top. Could never figure out that fugly skunk stripe in her hair now we know. She wants to be Lily Munster! 😆
Thanks Dartagnon now every time I see her I’ll be thinking of the Munsters here I thought she just had really really sucky taste. Them Goodwill threads and the oversized shoes. All along I been thinking it was some Halloween costume.
Oh wait, it is. she’s impersonating a real attorney year round!
This is not surprising to anyone that has worked at the City of North Miami..
It is also worth noting that Jennifer Warren used to work in Personnel under Rebecca Jones.. the Personnel Department at North Miami has a LONG history of inappropriateness.. test scores, rankings and sensative personal information leaked…Preferential treatment of employees… Massively unprofessional!
You’re correct and Jennifer Warren received plenty of special treatment while she worked directly under Rebecca Jones. She let Jennifer work her schedule around classes when she was going to law school and made accommodations for her that other people wouldn’t get. Becky Jones then got her hired as a city attorney when she graduated. Jennifer owes her for a job she otherwise would never have gotten as a snot nosed inexperienced attorney. Now the city’s paying for it and it shows! Jennifer is loyal to her because she’s been brainwashed by Becky Jones all these years to be just like her.
The charge of “corrupt” carries with it a suggestion of active collusion in abuse of governmental discretion. This is corruption in reality, give it whatever other name you wish.
If the City is smart, it will settle at mediation to avoid a further smear of its unethical practice, corrupt City’s official and Mayor. The City should avoid a trial and resolve this lawsuit.
I personally know Richard Schurr and he will kick the City’s ass!
Did a quick search on Sgt. Grants lawyer and found out that he represented Burger King Corp, banks lot of big companies and he’s some 2011 Florida Elite Lawyer winner. 😯
But I’m sure Jennifer Warren is just as good 🙄
If I believed I was being screwed over, I’d hire the best attorney I could find. I assume that if Mr. Schurr didn’t think Sgt. Grant had a good case, he would never have taken it on.
I agree 100% Steph.
I should have used a bigger sarcasm font as in:
But I’m sure Jennifer Warren is just as good-NOT! 🙄
She has done a bang up job of ruining her reputation as a lawyer by lying as much as she has in this case and to a Judge too. And a Florida Bar complaint against her within fifteen minutes of graduating from law school. Way to go Jennifer!
Thanks for clearing that up. I wasn’t quite sure what you meant. 😆
I believe, in the private sector, that if one cost one’s employer thousands of dollars, and one puts one’s lack of job knowledge on display for all to see, that one would soon find oneself unemployed. But here is what I forsee happening–Sgt Grant will win her lawsuit or the City will settle out of court, and NOTHING will happen to the people who cost the taxpayers all that money. What a disaster.
If you have ever had a similar experience fighting city hall and corrupt or insulting government employees who are supposed to be working for our collective good, you know how frustrating, time consuming and expensive this can be. We are all behind Cristy and hope she can extract justice out of those who have constantly been getting away with abusing their power over us. Good luck and don’t stop there, take it all the way in the name of all of those they have been sc…. for such a long time.
JC
collusion.. Noun:
1.Secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, esp. in order to cheat or deceive others.
yep.. check.. and “abuse of governmental discretion”.. i think that is a big, “yes indeed”
Lordy Lordy Lord!!! Becky Becky Becky!!! What have you done!!!????!!!! If you had taken the time to shave those hairy legs of yorn, you may have been able to think a little bit (not much!) clearer!!!! I hope this is the end of a disastrous era.
And Jennifer Warren. What was she thinking??? What a rookie!! I hope Cristy’s cause brings down North Miami’s evil empire.
Shame Shame Shame on North Miami. Wasn’t New Jersey’s nick-name “The Arm Pit of America”? I do believe North Miami has taken the “OTHER” arm pit title. After all, there are two pits, right?
ROFLMAO! I knew a guy named Harry Pitts in high school. Any relation?
Congrats Stephanie,
You finally found a legitimate story about NM to write about. NOW you should look in the mirror and find out why NMB has for SO many years hired incompetent city managers and Park Directors, and well as built parks that are designed for 18th century use.
Kenneth, Kenneth, Kenneth. Just because you don’t agree with something I write doesn’t make it any less legitimate. If my column is too “illegitimate” for you, please feel free to cancel your subscription and I’ll give you a full refund.
(WTF?)
As for NMB, I have no idea why you’re asking ME to look in the mirror. I have no control who the city hires or fires. Or why. I just call it as I see it. If you have issues, I suggest you contact your elected representatives and kvetch to one of them.
Or, maybe he should start his own blog… 🙄
his own blog? lol.. cant wait for that 🙄
Just when I think hizzoner & company couldn’t crawl any lower, he/they do. What amazes me is that he/they are still in business.
Typical Politicans. Their brain matter consists of diareaha..
Transfer the Sgt.’s money already. N. Miami, Another banana republic. What a clown that mayor is…”do you know who I am”.
I am appalled at the level of corruption in No Miami. How is it possible that politicians as corrupt as these are returned to office? Just remember what can come about when good people do NOTHING. Good for Sgt. Grant who has the guts to put herself on the line and fight this injustice. Hopefully her willingness to stand up to what is legal and right will not only benefit her, but have a positive impact in the lives of other public servants who are trying to serve honorably and with integrity.
Hey genius! A google search on your name hits right on this article and so does the combination “Jennifer Warren bar complaint”. I think it’s gonna turn out abso-freaking-luteley AWESOME for you when you’re looking for a job after Regine Monestime cans your @$$ for being a liability to the city. Law firms aren’t exactly looking for lawyers with bar complaints and a history of lying to judges.
Aaaaah the internet…..it’s a thing of beauty aint it?
Google is a wonderful thing.
Anyone REALLY surprised the ignorant, nepotistic, corrupt, low-life North Miami governement would do this? Just remember: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Sgt. Grant had the backbone to take action. It’s time for others to speak up and step up – or kiss your money AND your rights good-bye..
You said it perfectly! I choose NOT to “do nothing.” My sole aim for even having this website is to ferret out fraud, corruption and injustice. When I heard about Sgt. Grant’s fight against a corrupt government, I just had to do something. I certainly hope justice will prevail.