County Will Not Move Forward with Investigation of Complaint

BRADENTON – It appeared Tuesday that the county would not be taking any action to investigate recent allegations of inappropriate conduct made against Mitchell Teitelbaum. Teitelbaum was confirmed by commissioners to the role of deputy county administrator on Nov. 29, the same day the alleged incident is said to have occurred. In a meeting Tuesday, commissioners stated that Mr. Teitelbaum was not an employee, so an investigation into the matter was not needed.

Through a public records request, TBT has obtained documentation that verified what multiple sources had shared with our publication in recent weeks–that Teitelbaum had been issued an employee ID number and a county swipe card, and had used the card to gain access to the "secured" 9th floor of the county administration building on Tuesday, Nov. 29 (the day of his confirmation to deputy county administrator), Friday, Dec. 2, and multiple times on Monday, Dec. 5.

During the BOCC regular meeting held on Tuesday, BOCC Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge raised the matter. Van Ostenbridge told the board that he was uncomfortable with the recent events that had reportedly taken place. He proposed the commission should vote to initiate a third-party inquiry.

"The first thing I want the inquiry to look into is whether there is merit to the complaint," said Van Ostenbridge on Tuesday.

Van Ostenbridge conceded that while it is not the role of the board to insert themselves into a sexual harassment complaint, he personally had concerns about how the complaint may have been handled. Van Ostenbridge said that if the accusation was proven to be "true" through an investigation, then the next step would be an inquiry into whether the complaint was handled appropriately.

Van Ostenbridge added, "If the accusations are proven to not be true, then I think appropriate actions should be taken in that scenario."

Van Ostenbridge said that it was the board’s responsibility to protect employees "on both sides" and that "cancel culture" should not be allowed to "thrive" in Manatee County Government.

Van Ostenbridge proposed that the board should select an outside firm to conduct the investigation as well as set the scope of the investigation. In order to ensure the integrity of the investigation, Van Ostenbridge said administrative staff and the county attorney should play no role in the investigation "whatsoever" and further suggested that Commissioner Amanda Ballard, who is an attorney and active member of the Florida Bar, should serve as the board’s liaison between the investigating firm and the board.

Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said that the matter was not one she wished to see addressed from the dais. Baugh also shared that it brought her concern to see the item added to the agenda after having read reporting over the weekend which quoted Mr. Teitelbaum as saying he personally had requested a third-party investigation into the accusations against him.

"All of a sudden, it is put on our agenda," said Baugh. "I don’t know how that came about and I don’t know that I feel it's appropriate," she added.

Baugh said that she was also surprised to see reports in the media that the school district had placed Mr. Teitelbaum on administrative leave.

"They’ve put him on leave until our investigation has been completed. We haven’t even said we were going to have one. Where is all this coming from?" Baugh asked rhetorically.

On Sunday, TBT reported that our publication had confirmed with the district that Teitelbaum had been placed on administrative leave. The district declined to comment further, offering no clarification as to why Teitelbaum was placed on leave or to what end. Based on the only information available to us, TBT’s staff reporter included, "The district is presumably waiting for the county to announce the results of an investigation into the allegationsÉ"

Sunday afternoon, after the story had been published, Mr. Teitelbaum reached out to TBT by phone to clarify that he was placed on paid administrative leave pending the results of an investigation. Teitelbaum told TBT that the action was a formality and procedural following the nature of the complaint filed against him at the county.

Baugh said Tuesday that additional quotes attributed to Teitelbaum in media reporting relating to current county employees also did not sit well with her. She stressed that she felt it is an obligation and responsibility of the board to protect employees from such treatment.

Commissioner Mike Rahn shared that he was concerned about proper procedures having been followed in response to the complaint, a sentiment that all commissioners seemed to agree upon.

According to the Manatee County Board of Commissioners Personnel Policy, Rules, and Procedure Manual, there is a set protocol for responding to such complaints. Section 12 of the manual includes steps on how to file a complaint and the role and responsibility of HR in response to such a complaint.

Subsection C, Procedures, line number three, instructs, "The Human Resources Department will be responsible for evaluating all complaints under this policy and making the determination on whether or not an internal investigation is warranted. In cases where such an investigation is determined to be warranted, the County Administrator will designate an appropriate person or persons who shall be responsible for conducting a prompt, thorough and objective investigation."

Baugh noted in her comments that she had specific concerns with the county government and how the allegations were handled. While referencing "staff being treated swiftly and incorrectly"–presumably referring to one staff member being placed on administrative leave following the written complaint lodged against Teitelbaum, while another employee was reassigned–Baugh said such actions left her concerned about potential legal ramifications.

Ultimately, commissioners decided not to initiate an investigation into the allegations, despite there currently being no investigation undertaken by the HR department. Their reasoning was that Teitelbaum was never an employee, and will not in the future be an employee, of the Manatee County Government.

"I don’t know what fruit we would be going after because this person wasn’t employed by Manatee County," said Commissioner James Satcher.

Public records obtained by TBT show, however, that Mr. Teitelbaum had been assigned an employee ID number. In addition, swipe data produced through a public record request shows that a county-issued employee access card assigned to Mr. Teitelbaum was issued on the day of his confirmation.

The access card was not deactivated until Dec. 16, three days after the written complaint was lodged against Teitelbaum. During Tuesday's meeting, it was also confirmed by the county attorney that on Dec. 13, Teitelbaum delivered a letter to the county officially withdrawing his acceptance of the deputy county administrator position–on the same day he requested his resignation with the school district be "tabled."

Teitelbaum's card swipe data shows he swiped to enter the "secure" location on the 9th floor and to enter an office on the 9th floor titled "Temp Office Hopes." Sources had confided in TBT that Mr. Teitelbaum had been assigned an office that Hopes himself had utilized previously while his main office underwent remodeling.

In a copy of the written complaint against Teitelbaum, the complainant stated that the alleged incident recorded in the complaint had occurred "outside of Teitelbaum’s office," seemingly confirming what some sources had reported to TBT.

Click here to view the record of an employee access card having been issued to Teitelbaum. Click here to view Teitelbaum's access card swipe data.

Although the board declined to take any action to initiate an investigation into the complaint and the circumstances of the administration's response, the board did vote to "unconfirm" Teitelbaum from the deputy administrator position.

Baugh's motion, restated by the attorney, read, "Based on the Dec. 13 letter received from Mr. Teitelbaum, I move to rescind his confirmation as a deputy county administrator." The motion was seconded by Commissioner Satcher. Van Ostenbridge, who categorized the motion as "useless," was the only commissioner to vote against the un-confirmation.

"This is a completely unnecessary vote that the board is taking after someone had an accusation made against them and the board refused to look into the merits of the accusation," said Van Ostenbridge.

"I asked for an inquiry and an investigation into this and the board said no," Van Ostenbridge continued, "It is concerning to me to see this board dive into the cancel culture and literally cancel a person while giving them zero due process."

Baugh reminded Van Ostenbridge that Teitelbaum had already declined the position, while explaining that the board would be rescinding its confirmation in order to free the county administrator to move forward with the role’s vacancy.

In regards to questions raised during Tuesday’s meeting about whether Mr. Teitelbaum had requested county administration to conduct a third-party investigation, after the meeting adjourned on Tuesday, Teitelbaum forwarded a copy of a Dec. 19 email to TBT. The email was addressed to Administrator Scott Hopes and cc-ed to Van Ostenbridge.

Please confirm the same.

Mitchell Teitelbaum, Esq.

Click the video below to replay the item discussion and vote during Tuesday's BOCC meeting.