The Pahokee City Commission met on Feb. 10 for its regular meeting. The meeting once again turned ugly and unprofessional as it has so many times before. The meeting dissolved into a spectacle during general public comment toward the end of the meeting.

The embarrassment began when Mr. Bussey (husband of the Interim Manager Bussey) began to berate Mayor Babb and Commissioner Cowan-Williams. He was single-handed responsible for the escalation in tensions and humiliation had by all. Ultimately, the Interim Manager was responsible for another Pahokee meeting turning into a circus. It has become a pattern with Interim Bussey’s immediate family members and/or supporters attacking the Mayor, Commissioners, and even the City Attorney. It is now abundantly clear, Tammy Bussey is comfortable with using her family members and supporters as her attack dogs at public meetings. This is very concerning as she is supposed to be above the fray. As Chief Executive Officer, Bussey’s job is to help in the conducting of professional, productive, and meaningful government business meetings. In this aspect, she has failed considerably. It’s crazy how Tammy Bussey’s family use the city microphone. It makes her look bad.

It is baffling that some commissioners and some in the public seek to diminish the fact that the sitting Interim Manager does not possess the direct city management experience and education explicitly requested in the city’s own job posting. The Interim Manager and Permanent Manager job postings/job descriptions are the same. Those, such as I, that point this out, are demonized. We simply are wanting Pahokee to choose the most qualified, experienced, and seasoned individual, who will move the city forward and bring back funding. Pahokee’s condition necessitates that it does not have an on-the-job-trainee as Interim or Permanent Manager. The city’s precarious position with other funding agencies, government partners, and regulatory authorities are such that Pahokee must have an Interim and/or Permanent Municipal Manager with years of proven government experience under their belt. One observation, under this Interim Manager and current Commission make up, the city has endless discussions on having discussions. They seek endless workshops on insignificant matters.

Finally, outgoing Finance Director Joseph R. Martin resigned his position. In his exit interview questionnaire dated Jan. 23, 2026, he stated he decided to leave the city “due to violation of the internal controls by the Interim City Manager.” In a separate email screen grab, Martin wrote, “It is an obvious internal controls violations since I did tell you that risks associated with debit cards are too high. In addition, it not recommended to give unauthorized users direct access to the City funds in using debit cards vs. Credit Cards. By doing that you are exposing the City to fraud and waste as well as delaying the recovery of stolen funds.” To my shock, not one commission member brought up the Former Finance Director’s exit interview, or his allegation. No one asked for a report or response from Interim Bussey. These items must be seriously investigated by the Commission and outside agencies. True leadership is asking tough questions and seeking truth. If this current Commission wants to separate themselves from the prior version of Bohlen, Perez, Gonzalez, and Thompson, they are doing a bad job. The Commission does not seem willing to distinguish themselves separate from the chaos and catastrophe that we saw under previous daises. The City of Pahokee Commission and public must undertake serious introspection to correct the course it is on.

Sincerely,