Efforts to save money contributed to Riviera Beach’s water quality law breaches

According to the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General, staff members felt under pressure to restore polluted water wells to service for one reason: financial gain. According to Stuart Robinson, an investigator with the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General, a former utility worker informed him that Compliance Manager Dr. Anthony Williams underperformed water quality tests because he was motivated to save money. Williams read a portion of the transcript of his interview with Robinson during the meeting on Tuesday. “I believe that they had a lot that was out of service, mostly due to the well’s circumstances.

Whenever they lose a well, I suppose, they have to open up the interconnect and other things, which makes it more expensive for the city to get water from Seacoast utilities.” Robinson was quoted by Williams. The amount of money that the city of Riviera Beach spent on purchasing water from outside sources is unknown. According to WPTV, the city has paid experts $1.2 million to restore the city’s utility, and this contract could be extended for even more money.

John Carey, the Palm Beach County Inspector General, stated that he is certain the evidence demonstrates that the municipal administration was unaware of the issues in the utility district. Additionally, he stated that local officials should be held accountable for their inaction when it is beyond of their authority. Carey stated, “We follow the evidence.” “That’s where we came to Mr. Low based on the evidence.” Senior municipal utility district employees broke reporting regulations, according to the Office of Inspector General, both via poor management and occasionally intentional acts intended to avoid providing correct water status reports.

For instance, former Utility District Manager Michael Low once claimed that since employees felt frightened following an incident that prevented them from following the correct testing procedures, the city chose not to retest the samples that tested positive for E. coli. Nevertheless, the Riviera Beach Police Department’s suggestions were found by the Inspector General’s office, and they did not advise staff members to forego appropriate testing procedures. Mayor Ronnie Felder and council members Dr. Glen Spirits and Tradrick McCoy contended that city management had authority over senior employees like Low. They questioned their responsibility, but Carey clarified that their job was to identify potential misconduct rather than a managerial choice.

“It’s a management board issue what the board wants to do for the manager,” Carey stated. According to Councilwoman Shirley Lanier, the research demonstrated that the former Executive Director, not the municipal government, was to blame for the different problems. “I appreciate that you seem to have done your research on who is at fault,” Lanier remarked.