Broward Inspector General slams ‘gross management’ of Wilton Manors parking contract

Two former City of Wilton Manors finance directors engaged in “gross mismanagement” in their handling of the city’s parking contract with Lanier Parking Meter Services, according to the Broward Office of the Inspector General.

That included not adequately verifying revenue Lanier reported, not properly reconciling revenue Lanier reported against deposits made into the city’s parking bank account, reimbursing Lanier for unsupported employee wages,  and reimbursing Lanier for unauthorized expenses.

But whether that translates to a loss for taxpayers is simply not known, investigators said.

“We cannot know, given the mismanagement of this contract, whether the vendor’s collections and remittances to the city should have been higher, that is, whether the city actually lost any money,” Inspector General Carol J. Breece told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

In addition, the city paid at least $108,093 to the vendor that they should not have, and without verification, it remains a questionable expenditure.

A spokesperson for Lanier Parking Meter Services at the Georgia headquarters could not be reached for comment by phone or email Friday.

The two former city employees could not be reached for comment. Robert Mays became the finance director in December 2011 through his retirement in September 2019. Pennie Zuercher, hired as the new finance director after Mays retired, took over as the contract manager until she retired in December.

The investigation by the office of Broward Inspector General released Thursday showed that the former employees failed to sufficiently scrutinize Lanier’s invoices from April 1, 2019, through June 30, 2022, which was the period investigators reviewed.

According to the investigation, the failure to properly manage the Lanier contract also resulted in “questionable expenditures” of at least $108,093; investigators said the employees improperly approved $77,589 in reimbursements to Lanier for inadequately documented employee wages and another $30,503 for expenses the contract did not authorize.

The city had paid the employee wages “without requesting or reviewing any supporting documentation,” according to the investigation.

Related Articles

• Local News | Inspector general says North Lauderdale was overbilled millions in trash and recycling costs
• Local News | Inspector general stands by claim that ex-city manager violated Fort Lauderdale charter
• Local News | Broward’s ethics czar blasts city for withholding public information

In a letter Wednesday to Breece, Wilton Manors City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson said that while investigation showed the city did not adequately manage the parking contract, “it was documented in the report that there was no misconduct by any city employee. Further, there were no findings that the city overpaid the vendor or paid for services that were not received.”

She noted that the city was cooperative throughout the four-year investigation “and initiated corrective actions as issues arose during the investigation, demonstrating the city’s willingness to improve its processes and prevent future violations.”

Among the improvements: The city has established a process to perform “monthly reconciliation of revenues to the parking bank account and document-related reconciliations procedures.”

Because both previous finance directors testified to the “extremely time-consuming nature of tracking numerous small daily transactions and the competing priorities for time and attention,” the city will add a Senior Accountant position to the Finance Department staff to do the work.

The Inspector General’s report showed that during the investigation, “city staff began to address the issues we were raising by attempting to reconcile Lanier’s reports of city revenue that Lanier collected with the city’s parking bank account. But the attempt emphasized city staff’s failure to appreciate the purpose of ensuring that Lanier was reporting accurate figures, as the city reconciled only a fraction of Lanier’s reported revenue to the city’s parking account.”

Lanier provides overall management of the city’s on-and off-street parking. The contract expires March 31, 2026.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com . Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash