Pembroke Park’s next interim town leader is likely to be let go before he even starts work after drawing some attention over being fired or resigning from past jobs.
Darryl LeTroy “Troy” Bell, of Pompano Beach, had been chosen in September to become the interim manager for a town that has faced turnover, with numerous staffers resigning in recent years amid political arguments and acrimony.
His $160,000 six-month contract, which included benefits such as a $500 monthly car allowance and 100% health, vision and dental insurance, was supposed to begin in December. The contract was to be approved by the town at a November meeting.
But after he already was chosen, people in the town started searching Google for information about him and shared it with leaders. “I was a little bit embarrassed,” confirmed Vice Mayor Eric Morrissette on Friday. “Things came up that would not have looked good if we had hired him.”
On Wednesday, during a public workshop, they changed their minds. “I would like to see this not go forward just due to some information that seems not fitting for the town,” Commissioner Bill Hodgkins said at the workshop.
“I’m going to go against my vote,” agreed Commissioner Musfika Kashem.
Now, they’ll need to officially vote against their choice before they’ve ever formally hired Bell by signing off on the negotiated contract. Said Hodgkins: “We’re going to keep looking for a candidate.”
Bell, who this year left a job in Muskegon Heights, Mich., told the South Florida Sun Sentinel earlier in October he was excited to start working with all the town commissioners despite the “perception” of the inner politics, and to “create some stability in the organization” since the last manager left.
“It would be exciting,” he said, adding that he would “dig into some of the challenges.”
He made an effort to keep his position, urging commissioners Wednesday not to make a decision lightly, and since he’d been selected for the role, “I’ve walked every single street in the town. I have put in the time.”
At the town commission workshop, the father of three said his family “has been on hold” and he is ready to get to work, and he is a “few months” from being vested in the state retirement system. He told elected officials the town’s background check showed no “criminal activity, unethical activity or anything that was immoral.”
The Florida City and County Management Association, an organization of practicing public administrators, earlier this year provided Pembroke Park a list of potential candidates — but noted that the town still would need to conduct its own background checks.
Some town leaders initially said they didn’t realize the scope of Bell’s work history, including past terminations, even though Bell noted a termination on his resume, and another contract that was not renewed.
“Honestly, I thought all candidates would have been vetted,” Morrissette recently said. “So it would be a surprise to me there had been no background checks.”
Bell’s four-page resume includes two dozen employers since 1992. Here are some of them from the past two decades.
How his water-district job ended
According to his resume, from March 1997 to July 2003, he worked at the South Florida Water Management District. His resume cites multiple positions at the agency.
But in a July 8, 2003, letter, the district said he would be “terminated” for misconduct. On his resume for the Pembroke Park job, Bell wrote that he “departed after 6 years to accept new position.”
Bell told the Sun Sentinel that he attributed his departure to a “leadership change,” and said the agency was being difficult because he was resigning.
‘He was terminated’
In mid-June 2006, Bell was hired by the Florida Division of Real Estate, serving as a top deputy who helped oversee the licensing of real-estate agents and appraisers, according to a July 29, 2006, news article published by the Tallahassee Democrat.
But a month later in 2006, acting on a tip, state officials concluded he concealed the circumstances under which his employment ended at the water management district. “He stated that he chose to leave his former position. That was not true,” a spokeswoman for Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation told the Tallahassee Democrat in 2006. “He was terminated.”
Bell was terminated from the state real estate division on July 17, 2006, for not disclosing the circumstances under which his prior job ended, the department said, according to the Tallahassee Democrat news article.
A spokesperson with the state’s DBPR told the Sun Sentinel that Bell was hired on June 16, 2006, as a deputy director of the Division of Real Estate, then dismissed a month later. But the spokesperson said the related records have since been destroyed. Bell said the 2006 news article was inaccurate, and the state knew the “circumstances” why he had left the water management district.
Bell didn’t include the Florida Division of Real Estate job on his Pembroke Park resume.
‘Not what was hoped for’
After working multiple jobs including leading a nonprofit organization, and being an assistant city manager in California, Bell relocated for a deputy city manager job in Walla Walla, Washington.
In 2016, Bell was terminated from his position after only four months on the job and as his probation period was expiring, according to the Union-Bulletin.com.
The city manager told the news organization at the time that “the alignment of (Bell’s) skills and job expectations were not what was hoped for,” but declined to provide more detail for the termination.
Pam Taylor, the Human Resources director in Wala Walla, recently told the Sun Sentinel that “we decided it wasn’t a good fit.”
She said during the six-month probation period “he did not meet the essential” functions of the job. “At any time during that month-trial service period, we can let someone go based on performance, we don’t need cause.”
Bell addressed his termination in Walla Walla, Washington, on his resume submitted to Pembroke Park: “Terminated by City Manager despite positive support from Mayor and Council member.” Bell told the Sun Sentinel that the city manager had been on leave for most of the four months caring for an ailing parent, and Bell had been left to run the city on his own.
“I did a heck of a job,” he said. “Why would you fire somebody when you’ve been gone for four months and you just come back?”
Work in Louisiana
For a subsequent job, a year later, in 2017, Bell was hired as a chief administrative officer in Baton Rouge. But he told the Sun Sentinel he never served.
He resigned a week after The Advocate newspaper published a news article on April 24, 2017, that scrutinized his academic credentials. The newspaper corrected the news article, saying Bell showed a copy of his 2012 diploma from Bernard M. Baruch College for a master of public administration degree, and the school told The Advocate he received the degree after it initially said Bell owed money and hadn’t completed coursework.
Still, Bell told the Sun Sentinel even though he had been selected for the job, “I rescinded my acceptance because the mayor wasn’t willing to fight the false accusations.” The Baton Rouge job is not listed on his Pembroke Park resume, he said, because he never worked there.
Vote not to renew in Michigan
In 2019, he was hired to be the city manager of Muskegon Heights, Mich.
In July 2020, the council placed him on a two-week suspension over issues regarding his pay, as well as an outside contract he signed, according to a Jan. 24, 2023, news article published by MLive.com. An internal investigation showed those concerns in 2022 were false and inaccurate, Bell told the Sun Sentinel. City officials couldn’t be reached for comment.
But in recent years, the city logged progress under Bell’s direction, initiating an infill housing program, developing a downtown redevelopment plan, beginning renovations on a downtown park and securing a $1 million environmental cleanup grant for a proposed mixed-use development, according to the MLive.com news article.
Still, the Muskegon Heights City Council voted 4-3 not to renew Bell’s contract in January, according to MLive.com. No reason was given for the decision. “It was just time for a change for the city,” council member Bonnie McGlothin told MLive.
The Muskegon Heights mayor lamented the decision. “It’s absolutely the worst decision that could have been made in the history of this city,” Mayor Water Watt told MLive in January, adding that the city has gone from “being on the verge of a breakthrough to the verge of a breakdown.” Watt recently couldn’t be reached for comment.
The job in Michigan is noted on Bell’s Pembroke Park resume. Bell said he chose to resign because the contract extension he wanted hadn’t been granted.
Drawing support
Bell has his supporters who have praised his ethics, integrity, enthusiasm, and highlight projects such as working to keep seniors from losing their homes, which were included in his resume package.
Judy Hayner, project director of the MuskegonCity Public Art Initiative in Michigan, said Bell developed “thoughtful” community programs for improvement.
“He handles himself professionally and (with) a bit of class,” she said. “I found him to be very responsive.”
Moving forward
If the final contract were to have been approved, Bell would have replaced Juan Carlos “J.C.” Jimenez, now city manager for the city of Miami Springs.
Pembroke Park’s acting manager, Aleem Ghany, said Thursday that the commission is likely to now hire a company to do a formal search for a permanent manager for them, and skip having a temporary one entirely.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash