Coral Gables city manager will name Ed Hudak police chief

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The deal’s been cut and it looks like Coral Gables City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark will be forced to name Interim Chief Ed Hudak the city’s permanent top cop after all.

There’s been too much backlash on her plan to restructure the police department and name two chiefs who would report to her new assistant city manager in charge of public safety. There are more than 600 resident signatures on a petition to name Hudak the chief permanently. Hundreds of phone calls and emails have poured into City Hall on his behalf.

Ladra is sure the legal opinion from the city attorney didn’t hurt. He said late Monday that the city charter clearly gives “exclusive” powers to only one police chief, a position that cannot be split in two.

And then there are the votes on the commission. Swanson-Rivenbark knows how to count, and she knew she didn’t have the three votes needed.

A Sunshine meeting scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled by Commissioner Vince Lago because he said the two issues are being addressed and can be discussed, instead, at the Sept. 8 meeting next week.

“The first topic was the proposed alignment of executive staff at the police department. The City Manager plans to meet with Interim Chief Hudak this week to discuss several issues of concern she would need addressed by him,” wrote City Attorney Craig Leen in an email to the mayor and commission.

“If these issues are resolved in a manner satisfactory to the City Manager, she would appoint Mr. Hudak as Police Chief under her authority in Section 21 of the City Charter. At that point, the City Manager and Police Chief would address staff alignment to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the department.”

It’s more like Cathy needs to save face. Swanson-Rivenbark realized that there was just complete and overwhelming support for Hudak throughout the city and didn’t want to waste her political muscle fighting that unwinnable battle. But she has to pretend that there are personnel procedures she wants to change and other issues — these are not things that should have been deal breakers — so she can name Hudak chief once he resolves them.

In other words, she changed her mind because he bent his will to hers. Otherwise it looks like what it is — that she really doesn’t have that much power.

The second topic that would have been addressed at the Sunshine meeting was the internal affairs audit report that revealed a secret and illegal IA investigation into communications last year between then-Major Hudak and Commissioner Lago. Attorney Israel  Reyes, the former judge who did the audit, will meet Wednesday morning with Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez, the city’s new director of public safety, to discuss the report.

The audit report is also being placed as a City Attorney Item on the agenda for the September 8 commission meeting.

Lago said he just wants to know why he wasn’t immediately told about the rogue and illegal Internal Affairs investigation into his relationship with Hudak, an investigation ordered by then Chief Dennis Weiner last year, quite possibly under the direction of former City Manager Pat Salerno. The city got the audit July 21. But nobody told Lago anything about it and he got it from a resident just last week — more than a month later.

In fact, instead of informing Lago that he had been secretly and illegally investigated, the new director of public safety tapped that investigator — Police Lt. Rene Tastet — as his personal assistant.

“I found out about it via a constituent that delivered me the audit a week ago prior to commission,” Lago told Ladra Tuesday night. “In regards to why I wasn’t immediately told, is the reason why the item has been placed on the agenda.

“I want to hear from Mr. Fernandez.”

  Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, Ed Hudak, Gables politics, Vince Lago