Letters obtained by NBC 6 on Wednesday reveal three Town of Surfside leaders resigned from their positions in the span of 24 hours.
Town Manager Andrew Hyatt submitted his resignation letter to Surfside leadership on Tuesday, and Assistant Town Manager Jason Greene and Police Chief Rogelio J. Torres Jr. submitted their resignations on Wednesday.
NBC 6 sat down with former Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett and former Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer to discuss the sudden wave of resignations.
“This is a resignation letter like a carjacking is borrowing someone’s car,” Salzhauer said.
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“It is a decapitation of the leadership of Surfside,” Burkett said.
It was not uncommon for Salzhauer and Burkett to be at odds when they served in the town government, but they now say they’re standing united.
They said the men were forced out directly, or indirectly, by Mayor Shlomo Danzinger.
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“The Mayor, Shlomo Danzinger, is the puppet master,” Salzhauer said. “He believes that this is a dictatorship, and he wants people who are going to jump very, very high when he says it.”
“They’re thinking that this is all pretty easy, ‘Listen, all we need to do is say yes, and bang, it happens,’” Burkett said. “But now we’ve got the blowback. Now we’re going to have the accountability.”
Hyatt’s resignation was announced by Danzinger at Tuesday’s commission meeting.
Danzinger said Hyatt resigned because of a family matter. However, there’s no mention of a family issue in Hyatt’s resignation letter.
The letter does include a request for 20 weeks of severance, 20 weeks of health insurance, and payment of unused vacation.
The letters from Greene and Torres also include requests for severance packages.
During Tuesday’s meeting, only commissioner Nelly Velasquez spoke out about Hyatt’s sudden resignation. She questioned whether the resignation qualified for a severance package.
“Andy was appointed during the previous commission, I thought he was a good addition to our town. I’m quite surprised at this,” Velasquez said during the meeting. “However, I do remember that in the contract, it says that he has to give a two-week notice. He can’t just resign like this and leave our town dumped like this. I don’t understand what’s going on here.”
Moments later, there was a vote and approval. Velasquez was the only "no" vote.
Burkett and Salzhauer said standard protocol was broken.
“When [Danzinger] brought that agreement into the commission, there was one elected official that asked a question,” Burkett said.
“Commissioner Velasquez was sitting up there and she was lied to,” Salzhauer said. “… The mayor sat there and said, ‘Oh, the manager resigned for family reasons,’ And then you have commissioner Velasquez going, ‘What? With no notice?’”
“He didn’t resign. He was told if he didn’t, he’d be fired,” Burkett said.
“… And he can’t say that because he doesn’t know that he has the votes to do that unless they have a public meeting,” Salzhauer said.
Both Salzhauer and Burkett said they’ve spoken directly with Hyatt about the matter.
Bukett said he was so disturbed by what he heard from the now-former town manager, he filed a complaint to Miami-Dade County’s ethics commission.
“… [Hyatt] told me that he was told he was being fired and was instructed to type a letter of resignation in front of the mayor, and two town attorneys, that the mayor subsequently brought into the meeting,” the complaint reads in part. “The manager knew that if he resigned, he would not be paid any severance and given he was not voluntarily resigning, it was decided that he should put a demand for being paid benefits in the resignation letter itself…”
NBC 6 asked if Burkett and Salzhauer were speaking out from a place of political motivation.
“Let me answer that, OK? I’m not a politician. This is not a stepping stone to anything. This is just trying to protect our slice of paradise,” Salzhauer said.
“This is a slice paradise like no other, and I’m really proud of what we accomplished,” Burkett said.
Danzinger issued a lengthy statement Thursday evening responding to the resignations, saying the goals and priorities of the town and elected officials were "not aligned."
"This commission has been focused on restoring decorum back to our town and the office of the elected officials. We are not responding to the press or frivolous accusations by residents and former elected officials," Danzinger's statement said in part. "We are trying to be considerate and respectful of our town's employees, both current and former, and maintain civility in order to protect the dignity of our town."
He also noted that during the previous administration, 12 administrators resigned or were separated by the town.
"Although we saw the resignation of three key town officials, I can assure you we have qualified people in place to ensure there is no disruption to town operations and ongoing town and commission projects," Danzinger said.
Hyatt has not responded to NBC 6's requests for comment.
