HALLANDALE BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor Bill Julian was not at a city hall meeting, Wednesday night, meant to address allegations that he secured, from a developer, the donation of a van for a food bank charity in exchange for a favorable vote.
After hours of passionate public comment at the Hallandale Beach Commission Chambers, the question of what comes next remains unanswered.
A city staffer read a statement from Julian, “Let me be absolutely clear: I have never sought to use my public office for personal gain of any kind, ever, and I am completely confident that any independent investigation of my words or deeds will bear that to be true.”
Julian appeared to confirm the allegations against him in an accidental voicemail recording, in which he said, “What I did was I voted against an extra $25,000. We are already gonna get $25,000. I didn’t want to (inaudible) for more because what they don’t know is they’re buying the food bank a new van, but I couldn’t tell everybody.”
After the voicemail recording came out, Hallandale Beach commissioners Keith London and Michele Lazaro called for Julian’s resignation. It resulted in an altercation between the commissioners.
“Stick a sock in it,” Julian told them at the time.
“Stick a sock in it? You should’ve done that, you should’ve done that,” Lazaro responded.
The commissioners were escorted out of that meeting. Later Julian said, “I’ve been ordered not to make comments right now.”
London believes the Governor’s officer should step in and investigate. “It was a circus here tonight,” London said. “How do you get to the bottom of it? You require people to talk under oath. You subpoena people to come here and give testimony. That’s why it’s in the charter, for exact incidents like this.”
Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper has said she is concerned by the situation. “Anything that happens in my city, is a great concern, anything that’s good, anything that’s bad,” she said.
London said, in two weeks, he will try again to bring an investigation forward.
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