Personnel records indicate Zachary Bentley received his ISA certification two years after being hired as an Assistant Urban Forester without the requisite experience and certifications.
This story raises a lot of questions, and they deserve honest answers.
If someone lied about their qualifications to get a City job, that's a serious issue. Most employers would consider falsifying a job application or résumé grounds for termination, especially if the person got the job because of those false statements.
But this isn't just about one employee. It's also about the people who hired him and continued to promote him.
The article says Human Resources questioned whether he met the minimum qualifications before he was hired. If that's true, why was he hired anyway? Who made that decision? Were the City's hiring requirements waived, and if so, where is the documentation?
The allegation that City Manager Brian Barroso said he "couldn't fire him because he is family" is equally troubling. Florida has a nepotism law (Section 112.3135, Florida Statutes) that prohibits public officials from appointing, employing, promoting, or advocating for certain relatives. Whether that law applies here depends on the exact family relationship, but regardless, no one wants to hear that family ties might influence personnel decisions at City Hall.
The people of Key West deserve a full, independent investigation—not just into whether one employee was qualified, but into how this happened in the first place. If mistakes were made, everyone involved should be held accountable, whether they're an employee, a department director, or the city manager.
Public trust depends on people knowing that everyone plays by the same rules.
I tried for a long time to get the Citizen to be more investigative on things like this. They wouldn’t do it. Always a softball article generally in favor of whatever was happening in city hall. Then I saw the payments the city makes to Citizen for noticing and other official postings. Florida no longer requires it but I believe those payments are what’s keeping Citizen afloat today - their subscription rates continue to fall. The result appears to me to be journalism that isn’t honest and doesn’t follow wherever the story goes.
This is why independent journalists like Ted and Above The Fold need to be supported. This story would have never appeared in the Citizen. It still won’t. Watch.
This story raises a lot of questions, and they deserve honest answers.
If someone lied about their qualifications to get a City job, that's a serious issue. Most employers would consider falsifying a job application or résumé grounds for termination, especially if the person got the job because of those false statements.
But this isn't just about one employee. It's also about the people who hired him and continued to promote him.
The article says Human Resources questioned whether he met the minimum qualifications before he was hired. If that's true, why was he hired anyway? Who made that decision? Were the City's hiring requirements waived, and if so, where is the documentation?
The allegation that City Manager Brian Barroso said he "couldn't fire him because he is family" is equally troubling. Florida has a nepotism law (Section 112.3135, Florida Statutes) that prohibits public officials from appointing, employing, promoting, or advocating for certain relatives. Whether that law applies here depends on the exact family relationship, but regardless, no one wants to hear that family ties might influence personnel decisions at City Hall.
The people of Key West deserve a full, independent investigation—not just into whether one employee was qualified, but into how this happened in the first place. If mistakes were made, everyone involved should be held accountable, whether they're an employee, a department director, or the city manager.
Public trust depends on people knowing that everyone plays by the same rules.
Nepotism at its best. Now I’m thinking of all the issues with trees here in Key West…
The story needs to be on the front page of the Citizen. Unbelievable!
I tried for a long time to get the Citizen to be more investigative on things like this. They wouldn’t do it. Always a softball article generally in favor of whatever was happening in city hall. Then I saw the payments the city makes to Citizen for noticing and other official postings. Florida no longer requires it but I believe those payments are what’s keeping Citizen afloat today - their subscription rates continue to fall. The result appears to me to be journalism that isn’t honest and doesn’t follow wherever the story goes.
This is why independent journalists like Ted and Above The Fold need to be supported. This story would have never appeared in the Citizen. It still won’t. Watch.
Thank you for continuing to shed light on city corruption.