Mayor Charged With Felonies, Withdraws From Commission Race

By: Michael Demyan

On Tuesday night, Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie was booked into Palm Beach County Jail after she was charged with three counts of official misconduct, perjury in an official proceeding, misuse of public office, corrupt misuse of public office and failure to disclose a voting conflict, according to the arrest report.

Haynie was later released on a $12,000 bond.

That same night, Mayor Haynie sent a letter to the elections supervisor and withdrew from the County Commissioner race. When asked about the withdraw, Haynie’s campaign manager said that Haynie “wants to focus on the charges and clearing her name.”

Although Haynie has withdrawn from the commission race, she has not resigned as mayor, the office she was re-elected to in 2017.

Boca Raton City Council members first learned of Haynie’s arrest during their scheduled meeting that night. Haynie had previously told City Manager Leif Ahnell that she would not be attending because “she was ill.”

During a brief discussion on how to move forward, Councilwoman Andrea O’Rourke brought up the possibility of removing her from office, but was informed that they had no power to do so.

Governor Rick Scott has that ability, however, and his office released the following statement last night upon hearing the news: “The Governor expects all elected officials to serve Floridians in an ethical manner. Our office will review this as soon as we receive more information from law enforcement.”

Gov. Scott has recently suspended Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper a day after she was arrested on three felony charges back in January.

“This is extremely upsetting,” O’Rourke said during the meeting. “When this first came into the spotlight months and months ago, I had asked for open discussion of this. I was hoping against hope that our mayor would share information with us and show good judgment and show leadership so we had some sort of direction.”

Haynie’s attorney, Leonard Feuer stated last night his client is innocent with a release to the press: “Mrs. Haynie wholeheartedly and completely denies the allegations which we plan to fight in court to the fullest extent.”

Haynie failed to disclose income that she and her husband earned while she was in office, including payments from Jim Batmassian’s company, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The affidavit continues to state that the investigation revealed that the association at Tivoli Park, a condominium owned by Batmasian, hired Community Reliance LLC, a company owned by Niel and Susan Haynie, and paid the company at least $12,000 per year to manage the property. Haynie told ethics investigators in a sworn statement that her husband had not been paid, but Batmasian’s wife, Marta, claimed that he had.

Detective Diana Burfield wrote in the affidavit that Haynie voted on four occasions during 2016 and 2017 while being compensated by the people benefitting from the outcomes of the vote.

“Haynie and her husband, through the companies they operated, received a total of $77,843.13 in 2016 and $36,835.39 in 2017. This income was undisclosed,” added Burnfield.

While discussing the charges against the mayor, Deputy Mayor Scott Singer noted that public trust is important to maintain with the community.

“We have already taken steps to further that when some reports about this investigation first opened up months ago,” he said. “We will continue to work on that. In the meantime, we will press forward with continuing to serve the residents as best as we can.”

Councilwoman Monica Mayotte added to that, saying that this situation is “disturbing” to deal with as a new member of the Boca Raton City Council.

“I feel bad for the residents, because I think that public trust has been broken again and we need to deal with this head on and get to the bottom of this and understand what we need to do as a community and a body and a city so this can’t happen again,” she said.

In a statement, Communications Manager Chrissy Gibson said that the charges against the mayor will not be affecting normal operations.

“We can only acknowledge the current situation and let residents know that this recent information regarding the Mayor, while concerning and upsetting, and still unfolding, will not affect the day to day operations of the City. We will respond to new information as it is received and take appropriate actions at that time.”

This story will be updated throughout the day as we learn new information.