Fired Opa-locka city manager might get his job back — if he agrees to drop a lawsuit
Less than three months after Opa-locka elected officials voted to fire City Manager John Pate, he may be staging an unlikely comeback.
After the firing, Pate filed a lawsuit claiming the mayor and vice mayor had unlawfully plotted his ouster. A condition for getting his job back would be dropping that whistleblower lawsuit, according to a resolution made public Monday.
If the city commission approves a proposal Tuesday evening to fire Interim Manager James Wright and rehire Pate, the proposal by Commissioner Chris Davis would require “full dismissal” of the lawsuit against the city.
“That would have to be cleared up,” Davis said.
Davis was the lone commissioner who opposed Pate’s firing in January.
He said he understands that if his colleagues who voted to fire Pate months earlier support his reinstatement Tuesday, it could raise questions about their motivations — namely, whether they are enticed by the promise of Pate dropping his allegations against them.
But Davis said he simply thinks Pate is still the “best fit” for the city.
“I would hope the lawsuit can be dropped and we can just kind of move on from all of this in a way that’s productive for the residents,” he said.
Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, said the proposal isn’t “scandalous” on its face.
“It’s done all the time,” Jarvis said. “Parties often agree that as part of a settlement, a lawsuit filed will be dropped.”
Jarvis said that the various parties involved should be transparent about the deal.
“The optics are terrible,” he said. “The city and Pate have an obligation at some press conference to explain themselves.”
Davis told the Miami Herald on Monday that he and other commissioners have been troubled by Wright’s performance as interim manager, saying the former Opa-locka police chief hasn’t been sufficiently responsive or transparent with elected officials. He said he believes other elected officials share his concerns.
Wright could not be reached for comment. Nor could the city’s mayor, Veronica Williams, who stepped into her role after former Mayor Matthew Pigatt resigned abruptly in November amid a public feud with Pate.
Pate declined to comment Monday on the proposal to reinstate him.
His attorney, Michael Pizzi, said in a statement, “it has always been one of Mr. Pate’s goals to continue to finish the job he started as City Manager in Opa Locka.”
Pizzi said if the city commission votes to reinstate Pate on Tuesday, “I’ll put in a call to the city lawyers to see if we can bring about a resolution to the litigation.”
In his wrongful termination lawsuit against the city, Pate said that Williams and Vice Mayor John Taylor had spoken by phone, in violation of Florida’s Sunshine Law, to “discuss and plan” his firing — though it wasn’t immediately clear how he would have known about such a conversation.
Pate also said Taylor initiated the firing because Pate had refused to give favorable treatment to Taylor’s brother, an Opa-locka police officer who was found at fault in an accident while driving a city vehicle.
Opa-locka has a history of corruption and has been under state financial oversight for five years. Controversies have persisted, such as a recent incident in which an Opa-locka police captain allegedly fired a Taser stun gun at a fellow cop.
Pate was hired in 2019 to bring stability to a city with one of the highest poverty rates in Florida. He had previously served as the city manager and police chief of University Park, Illinois, and was a finalist for police chief roles in Fort Lauderdale and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during his tenure in Opa-locka.
“I felt he was unjustly fired,” said Davis, the city commissioner. “We just need to reinstate the guy.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2022 at 8:37 PM.
