After a contentious, hours-long special meeting last night, Lake Worth Beach commissioners voted to remove the city manager.
Despite favorable performance reviews from the mayor and at least one commissioner, Lake Worth Beach City Manager Carmen Davis has been removed from her post.
After two years on the job, Davis’ ouster came in a 3-2 vote by the city commission. Vice Mayor Christopher McCoy, Commissioner Reinaldo Díaz and Commissioner Kim Stokes voted to fire Davis – citing, in part, poor management and internal staff communication issues.
The vote appeared to catch some residents by surprise, including Mayor Betty Resch. Public comment appeared split by the decision.
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“The morale of the employees right now is hard,” Resch said during the 3-hour long meeting. “If their leader in one quick motion can be chopped away, what does it mean to the stability of this city?”
"There's been a target on your back for quite some time,” Reschs told Davies moments before she walked out of the chamber. "And tonight is an example of the fruition of that target."
Mayor Resch, including one member of the public, requested six months for another evaluation. But Vice Mayor McVoy, and other critics, stood by the vote to terminate Davis.
“Three out of five that are saying the person in question is below satisfactory,” McVoy followed. “That’s probably not the best situation for the city.”
Davis was hired in the fall of 2021 after nearly a decade running a bigger county in the state of Mississippi. She replaced the previous Lake Worth Beach city manager, Michael Bornstein, who had resigned.
The city's public works director, Jamie Brown, is expected to serve as interim city manager — the third person to occupy the role in three years.
