The Tamarac City Commission voted 4-1 to fire their City Manager on Tuesday night. Mayor Michelle Jaye Gomez was the only no vote. Cernech was arrested last Friday on felony charges. He is accused of participating in a scheme to extort more than 3.4 million dollars from a Florida developer.
The once sought-after City Manager, who earned one of the highest salaries in the state, is now on house arrest with a GPS monitoring device.
Mayor Gomez said she wanted to negotiate a departure package for Cernech. The Mayor said when Robert Runcie, the Broward County School Board Superintendent, was in a similar position; he had the opportunity to negotiate a lucrative departure package. Residents gasped at the Mayor’s blatant disregard for corruption as she attempted to make one final push to pay off the City Manager, who she went down in flames to support.
Commissioner Placko was the most level-headed of all on the dais. She spoke of how tough the decision was for her and that she had to do the right thing for the employees who were not in high spirits.
After Mayor Gomez’s attempt to suspend the Manager failed by an almost unanimous vote, Commissioner Gelin made a motion to terminate the City Manager with cause. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bolton. It was here residents realized their Mayor would be the lone wolf to support a corrupt Manager charged with a serious crime, despite Commissioner Placko’s call for a unified decision.
Kathleen Gunn will now take over as interim Manager until the Commission decides on a permanent replacement.
