|
Miami
Taking Off
DDA director quits
By Ben Torter
 |
|
The Downtown Development Authority is looking for
Dana Nottingham’s replacement. |
A
few weeks after the city of
Miami released an audit detailing overcompensation and
other “questionable” spending by the Downtown
Development Authority, the agency’s embattled executive
director, Dana Nottingham, called it quits.
But
Nottingham
doesn’t want to leave empty-handed, and is discussing a
favorable financial separation package with board
members.
“I am informing you of my desire to immediately commence
discussions with the board about the possibility of my
terminating employment without compromising any of my
rights and privileges,” he wrote in a Jan. 24
resignation letter to Miami Commissioner and DDA
Chairman Joe Sanchez.
One of those “privileges” could be a severance package
worth nine months of his salary. With incentives and
perks,
Nottingham is paid about $220,000 per year.
The board met with
Nottingham
Monday morning to discuss his departure at the DDA’s
29th floor conference room in the Wachovia Financial
Center at 200 S. Biscayne Blvd.
The roost offers a bird’s-eye-view of downtown
Miami,
the territory over which the DDA reigns.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to serve you,”
Nottingham told board members, some of whom sipped
coffee and orange juice and nibbled on pastelitos.
“I have invested a piece of my life working with the
organization to make downtown Miami the best that it can
be. I believe in
Miami
and in downtown’s future, and hope I will have the
opportunity to continue to support the board’s efforts.”
The DDA’s main mission is to “make downtown
Miami
the most livable urban center in the nation and
strengthen its position as the international center for
commerce, culture and tourism.”
But filthy streets, empty shops and throngs of
zombie-eyed homeless folks are still ubiquitous in
downtown
Miami, and have many questioning the DDA’s
effectiveness.
Macy’s Florida Chairman Julie Greiner created a media
firestorm for the DDA when she raised these issues in a
scathingly critical speech of the state of downtown
Miami’s
infrastructure, and questioned whether the area was even
safe for her workers.
The final blow for
Nottingham
was the audit by Miami Auditor General Victor Igwe,
which found that DDA workers had bad accounting
practices as well as a penchant for globe-trotting, odd
purchases such as iPods and excessively expensive
offices.
The DDA also had a habit of overpaying employees.
Technology & Information Systems Manager Richard
Whittaker received almost $19,000 more than records show
he earned.
Nottingham
was even overpaid $12,120. He claimed not to have
noticed the extra money in his account. Once it was
brought to his attention, he paid it back, a move Miami
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff saw as an admission of guilt.
Still, board members had nothing but kind words for
Nottingham.
Vice Chairman Neisen Kasdin summed up the public face of
the board when he said, “I think he’s absolutely
conducted himself in the best interest of this agency.”
The board must now find a new executive director and
direction for the troubled agency. Sanchez tasked board
members Jay Solowsky, Loretta Cockrum and Alvin West
with hammering out the terms of
Nottingham’s departure.
Sanchez also appointed some board members — Sanchez
himself, West, Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, Tony
Alonso, Jorge Gonzalez, Nitin Motwani and Scott Robins —
to a transition committee to deal with organizational
changes. Sanchez also appointed board members to a
search committee to find a new executive director. They
include Kasdin, Cockrum, Solowsky, Jose Goyanes and
Oscar Rodriguez.
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, a vocal critic of
Nottingham, was pleased he is leaving.
“I think it could be viewed as a new day in the DDA,”
Sarnoff said.
Additionally, Sarnoff told Sanchez that the DDA should
move into a storefront and be transformed into a
“one-stop shop” to work with the Community Redevelopment
Agency, the neighborhood enhancement team, and where
citizens could, among other things, procure building
permits. Some advantages of combining agencies, he said,
would be avoiding overlap of responsibilities and saving
on rent.
Sanchez did not return repeated phone calls for comment.
The board will meet again on Friday, Feb. 8.
“I look forward to the DDA coming off the 29th floor and
landing in a ground-floor space,” Sarnoff said.
Comments? E-mail
ben@miamisunpost.com
|
.jpg)
