Palm Beach County admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement, and the whistleblower has since found employment outside of Florida.
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Palm Beach County has agreed to pay the former deputy finance director of the county’s water authority $150,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging he was fired for exposing misconduct at the authority.
Craig Williams, who held his position in the department for nine years until July 2019, argued he faced a “well-documented hostile work environment” after reporting a discrepancy in drinking water and sewer charges for the Seacoast Utility Authority in August 2017. Seacoast serves several communities in the northern county.
Williams filed a whistleblower lawsuit claiming that department leadership failed to address his concerns, so he contacted County Administrator Verdenia Baker. His reports were subsequently reviewed by the Palm Beach County Inspector General’s Office, which identified Williams as a whistleblower and confirmed many of his claims.
As a whistleblower, Williams was protected from “adverse action” under the Florida Public Whistleblower’s Act.
The inspector general’s report found that then-department director James Stiles failed to obtain proper authorization to grant Seacoast a $582,446 credit after the company reserved additional drinking water and wastewater capacity in the department’s systems. Stiles needed approval from county commissioners but unilaterally approved the credit on his own, the lawsuit says.
Williams was then “barred from participating in department projects for which he was directly responsible,” the lawsuit says, and the county hired a “highly paid” financial consultant to take over his duties after he reported the discrepancy. He learned about projects only from county commission agendas.
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Williams also discovered another discrepancy: a bill that may have gone unpaid for water in more than 10 years, representing a potential loss of $3 million in potable water. According to the lawsuit, Williams was ordered to “cease the investigation.” He said his treatment at work had worsened and led to a “wrongful termination.”
In settling the lawsuit, the district did not admit any wrongdoing.
Gregory Sconzo, Williams’ attorney of Palm Beach Gardens, said his client was “pleased with the settlement, but it falls far short of compensation for the anguish and pain he endured while managing the Palm Beach County Water Authority.”
District attorneys admitted no wrongdoing as part of the $150,000 settlement
Sconzo noted that a subsequent investigation by the county inspector general concluded that Stiles did not have the authority to make the $582,000 loan without first obtaining approval from the county commission. The inspector general’s report became part of the lawsuit.
After the audit report was released, the water authority subsequently went before the county commission to obtain approval of the loan. The IG recommended that the authority improve its internal controls. All recommendations were implemented. Stiles has since retired.
Williams wrote a lengthy letter to Baker and several state legislators in March 2019 demanding an investigation into the lending. He was fired four months later. The lawsuit states that Williams had done “outstanding work” in his position as deputy finance director.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach PostPart of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at [email protected]. Support local journalism. Subscribe today.
