Can this Broward town commission vote its mayor out? A judge will decide

For months, the question on the minds of the people of Pembroke Park has been if the mayor actually lives in the Broward town. Now, the question is whether the town council can vote to remove him from office.

Broward Judge Shari Africk-Olefson told lawyers representing the town and Mayor Geoffrey Jacobs to submit their arguments after a court hearing Wednesday morning. The hearing came a month after the judge blocked Pembroke Park commissioners from holding a special meeting on Feb. 10 to consider removing Jacobs from office due to suspicion that he does not live within town limits in violation of the town’s charter.

“Disputes like this can impact the functioning or dysfunctioning of an entire town and many, many, many people. So we will expedite any further hearings,” Africk-Olefson said at the hearing.

If the judge rules in favor of Pembroke Park, a town south of Hollywood, the town commission can vote to boot Jacobs as mayor. If the judge rules in favor of Jacobs, he can keep his job. Town officials would then have to bring Jacobs to court to ask a judge to remove him from office.

Michael Pizzi, Jacobs’ attorney, argued that Florida law states that if a municipal government wishes to remove its mayor, for any reason, it must go to a judge to handle it.

“No city has the authority to take a political vote to overturn the will of the people and remove a duly elected mayor in a democracy at a council meeting without going in front of a judge first,” Pizzi told the Herald. “It was clear today that the town just either doesn’t know the law or doesn’t want to follow it.”

Michael Garcia, the town’s lawyer, argued that the judge did not have the authority to stop Pembroke Park from holding the Feb. 10 meeting. If the meeting went on as planned, commissioners could have voted in favor of or against removing Jacobs. If Jacobs was removed by the commission, Garcia said, then a judge could determine whether it was correct in doing so.

“When Congress wants to remove one of its members, the courts don’t get involved because there’s a process internally for them to remove each other and sanction each other. It’s the same thing,” Garcia said. “This is a legislative process, so the court should not be involved at this point. Once he gets removed, then I think he can go to court and ask the court to determine if it was right or wrong.”

The Pembroke Park town charter says that if a commissioner fails to meet certain qualifications, like living within town limits, the commissioner “shall forfeit his or her office.” The charter also says the commission “may determine its own rule of procedure and may punish its own members for misconduct.”

“When you put those two together, the commission can remove him because he forfeited his right,” Garcia said.

While Wednesday’s hearing only weighed whether town commissioners are allowed to vote the mayor out, the major question at the center of this small town controversy still remains: Does Jacobs live in Pembroke Park or in Fort Pierce, a city 100 miles away?

A Local 10 News investigation published found that Jacobs claimed several homestead and other tax exemptions on a home in St. Lucie County that require permanent residence, saving him upwards of $500,000 in tax assessments. Town officials moved to hold a special meeting to vote on removing Jacobs as mayor, but Pizzi secured a temporary injunction from the judge to cancel the meeting just 20 minutes before it started.

At a Feb. 10 press conference, several reporters pressed Pizzi on where the mayor lives. He said Jacobs “absolutely, 100% lives in Pembroke Park” while his wife and children live in Fort Pierce.

Pembroke Park Clerk Commissioner Bill Hodgkins also addressed reporters.

“As far as I’m concerned and from I could see, Mr. Jacobs moved out of town a year ago without anybody being informed of the fact,” Hodgkins said. “We continue to pay him as a mayor and as a commissioner [...] $70,000 for a year, and he probably wasn’t entitled to it. I’m gonna let the lawyers figure that one out. It’s a sticky situation for the town.”