Tag Archives: P3

Campaign Advisers For Mayor Dean Trantalis Now Lobbyists For Second Company Seeking To Build Fort Lauderdale Water Plant

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Blake Macdiarmid, Steven Glassman and Dean Trantalis

Earlier this month, REDBROWARD exposed the roles Mayor Dean Trantalis’s campaign advisers were playing in the plans to privately build a new water treatment plant in Fort Lauderdale. During a January press conference discussing the City’s failing sewer system, Trantalis discussed plans to replace the aging Fiveash plant. Trantalis states, “several international players in the water industry have expressed an interest in a fast-tracked public-private solution that can bring more efficiency, more stable cost, guaranteed maintenance and higher water quality.” Trantalis said “we’ll see” if it is the right solution for Fort Lauderdale.

During a summer 2019 trip to Israel, Dean Trantalis met with five major Israeli investment groups for “discussions involving partnerships for major infrastructure and public works projects in Fort Lauderdale.” When detailing the finds of his trip during an October 2019 meeting of the Infrastructure Taskforce Committee (ITC), Trantalis said, “he “met with Israeli companies, Poseidon and Suez, both companies want to forward a P3 proposal regarding the water plant.”

When asked about the P3 process by a committee member, Trantalis said, “that at this it isn’t known specifically how the process of using a P3 approach will work with competitive job bidding.”

According to official meeting logs, on December 2, 2019 Mayor Dean Trantalis met with a Poseidon Water lobbyist, Stephanie Toothaker at Doc B’s restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. Toothaker registered as a Poseidon Water lobbyist on November 19, 2019. One day later, Eric Johnson of Johnson Solutions registered as a Poseidon Water lobbyist. Then, on December 2, 2019, (the same day Toothaker met with Trantalis, Sorensen and Moraitis), James MacDiarmid of Layline Solutions registered as a lobbyist for Poseidon Water.

Published reports state Eric Johnson (via Johnson Strategies) represents Dean Trantalis. In his 2018 run for Mayor, Trantalis paid Johnson Campaigns $6,600 for consulting. According to State of Florida records, Johnson Campaigns is owned by Eric Johnson. City of Fort Lauderdale records show Johnson represents several clients.

While these same records show James MacDiarmid only represents one client, he is no stranger to City Hall. State records show Layline Solutions LLC was formed by twenty-one year Ian MacDiarmid in March 2019. The State records list a Miami Beach address as Layline Solutions’ place of business.

Official voter registration records show Ian MacDiarmid’s father, James Blake MacDiarmid, is registered to vote at the same Miami Beach address.

During the 2018 campaign, Blake MacDiarmid was a paid consultant for Commissioner Heather Moraitis. On November 14, 2017 Moraitis paid $10,000 to Blake MacDiarmid Inc (at the same Miami Beach address) for “professional fees.”

On his website, MacDiarmid, the self-proclaimed “mayoral whisperer,” claims to be an adviser to Dean Trantalis, Steve Glassman, Ben Sorensen and Heather Moraitis.

BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

Now, official records show Toothaker, Johnson and MacDiarmid are registered lobbyists for Poseidon’s competition.

On Friday February 21, 2020, Stephanie Toothaker, Eric Johnson and James Blake MacDiarmid registered as lobbyists for Fort Lauderdale Water LLC at 461 From Road, Suite 400 in Paramus, New Jersey.

On February 19, 2020, Eric Johnson of Johnson Strategies registered as a lobbyist for Suez at 461 From Road Suite 400 in Paramus, New Jersey. On February 21st, Toothaker also registered as a lobbyist for Suez.

In March 2018, the Press & Journal reported how one Pennsylvania town regrets allowing Suez to control its water service. Residents of Middletown received news of an 11.5% surcharge added to water bills. “The change is not a rate hike. It is a surcharge to make up for water usage in the last three years that fell below a target in the 50-year lease with Suez.”

Middletown Council President Damon Suglia said the council in 2014 “really put this town in a long-term bind” with the lease.

“Suez knew those numbers (regarding water usage) were not realistic for us to reach in a town of our size,” Suglia said. “The borough is landlocked” and cannot grow beyond its current borders.

“Because we made an upfront payment and our investors invested in that upfront payment, there has to be a level of confidence that there is going to be adequate revenues to support the debt service and the recovery of that investment,” Kevin Chandler, vice president of Suez’s North Division told the Press & Journal.

Kevin Chandler is listed as the principal for Fort Lauderdale Water LLC.

Does Mayor Dean Trantalis care that Kevin Chandler and Suez put their investors ahead of water customers?

Does Mayor Dean Trantalis even care about Fort Lauderdale Water customers?

What happened to Poseidon Water? Did they pull out of plans to build the replacement water treatment plant?

Why did Trantalis campaign advisers switch allegiances from Poseidon to Suez/Fort Lauderdale Water? Are they lobbying for both companies?

How do Dean Trantalis campaign advisers keep getting hired by these multinational corporations seeking to build P3 projects in Fort Lauderdale?

Why did Mayor Dean Trantalis specifically mention Poseidon and Suez during the ITC meeting last year?

Doesn’t Fort Lauderdale deserve answers?

Dean Trantalis
Eric Johnson’s Johnson Strategies website lists The City of Fort Lauderdale as a a client.

Lobbyist For Company Seeking To Build Broward/Fort Lauderdale Government Center Is Commissioner Ben Sorensen’s Campaign Consultant Too

In June 2019, as Broward County and Fort Lauderdale leaders met to discuss a new shared campus to replace the aging Fort Lauderdale City Hall and Broward Government Center, a private group presented a proposal “to design, build and own the joint governmental center and lease it back to the county and city….” According to The Sun-Sentinel, the unsolicited bid from “Civic Unity Partners” stated the public private partnership (P3) would be headed by AECOM, a multinational engineering firm, as well as Fengate Capital. County and City officials agreed to a staff review of the AECOM proposal even though the public was not allowed to view the details of the bid. But all leaders were not sold on the AECOM proposal.

“I don’t know why we’re in such a rush that we would entertain an unsolicited proposal,” Broward County Commissioner Tim Ryan said.

At the December 2019 meeting of County and City officials, details of the AECOM were still secret. “Without describing the unsolicited bid in detail, AECOM Vice President Mark Blanchard told commissioners that the company’s proposal would ‘accommodate everything you need.‘”

According to published reports, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis favored the hiring of a design consultant before moving forward with the AECOM proposal. “We don’t know what we don’t know,” Trantalis said. [AECOM] “may try to sell us a Cadillac, and we may only need a Chevrolet.”

After hiring a consultant, Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Ben Sorensen chimed in on the proposal. “Sorenson suggested another joint meeting of city and county commissioners in early January to amend an intra-local agreement prohibiting them from considering confidential details of the unsolicited AECOM proposal.”

AECOM LOBBYIST IS TRANTALIS & SORENSEN CAMPAIGN CONSULTANT

City of Fort Lauderdale lobbyist meeting logs show representatives of AECOM and its partners first met with Mayor Dean Trantalis one month after they presented their proposal to build the Joint Government Center Campus. On July 29, 2019 Mayor Dean Trantalis met with Fengate Capital lobbyist Eric Johnson (of Johnson Strategies) at Fort Lauderdale City Hall. These same records show Eric Johnson registered as the Fengate Capital lobbyist on July 26, 2019.

On January 6, 2020, Johnson and other AECOM lobbyists met with Dean Trantalis and Commissioner Steven M. Glassman at City Hall.

Two days later, Eric Johnson and the AECOM team met at City Hall to discuss the Joint Government Center Campus with Commissioner Ben Sorensen. City records show Eric Johnson registered as the AECOM lobbyist on December 3, 2019.

City of Fort Lauderdale campaign records show on January 16, 2020, Ben Sorensen’s campaign paid $5,000 to Johnson Strategies for consulting services.

Sorensen is not the only Fort Lauderdale official with Eric Johnson on his campaign team.

DEAN TRANTALIS’ POSEIDON ADVENTURE

Earlier this month, REDBROWARD revealed Mayor Dean Trantalis’ campaign advisers were lobbying on behalf of public private partnership (P3) to replace a water treatment plant.

Last month, Mayor Trantalis said, Fort Lauderdale “simply need a new plant,” to replace the aging Fiveash facility. Trantalis stated, “several international players in the water industry have expressed an interest in a fast-tracked public-private solution that can bring more efficiency, more stable cost, guaranteed maintenance and higher water quality.” He said “we’ll see” if it is the right solution for Fort Lauderdale.

In June 2019 Trantalis took a $34,000 taxpayer-funded trip to Israel. According to the Sun-Sentinel, Trantalis’ entourage included city manager Chris Lagerbloom, Trantalis’ chief of staff Scott Wyman, Police Capt. Bill Schultz and Director of Sustainable Development Anthony Fajardo.

According to the Westside Gazette, Dean Trantalis met with five major Israeli investment groups for “discussions involving partnerships for major infrastructure and public works projects in Fort Lauderdale.” While in Israel, Trantalis took a field trip to the Hadera desalination plant. After returning to Fort Lauderdale, Trantalis wrote about his trip to Israel in a Sun-Sentinel editorial. He wrote, “a critical aspect of the trip was our visit to the Hadera water desalination plant. The builder/operator of the plant has been pursuing public-private partnerships around the globe and provided insights about long-term water solutions.”

At the October 2019 meeting of the City Infrastructure Taskforce Committee, Trantalis said he “met with Israeli companies, Poseidon and Suez, both companies want to forward a P3 proposal regarding the water plant.”

When asked to give more detail on the P3 process, Trantalis said:

“The Mayor expressed when the private sector gets involved projects get done much quicker. He used Lockhart Stadium as an example. He expressed that the water, wastewater and water plant systems were more complicated…but he would like to explore the P3 approach to the projects as well.”

In December 2, 2019 Mayor Dean Trantalis met with a Poseidon Water lobbyist. Trantalis had a noon lunch with attorney Stephanie Toothaker at Doc B’s restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. According to the lobbyist meeting logs, Toothaker met with Commissioner Ben Soresensen at the neighboring Kelley Uustal (KU) law firm later that day to discuss Poseidon Water.

Just one month earlier, Toothaker and Eric Johnson of Johnson Solutions registered as a Poseidon Water lobbyists. Then, on December 2, 2019, (the same day Toothaker met with Trantalis, Sorensen and Moraitis), James MacDiarmid of Layline Solutions registered as a lobbyist for Poseidon Water.

James Blake MacDiarmid is no stranger at Fort Lauderdale City Hall. During the 2018 campaign, Blake MacDiarmid was a paid consultant for Commissioner Heather Moraitis. On his (now “under construction”) website, MacDiarmid, the self-proclaimed “mayoral whisperer,” claims to be an adviser to Dean Trantalis, Steve Glassman, Ben Sorensen and Heather Moraitis.

Pictures from the January 9th Infrastructure Update meeting show MacDiarmid seated in the front row. The night before, MacDiarmid and Trantalis Chief of Staff Scott Wyman sat together at the Board of Adjustment meeting hearing the AIDS Healthcare Foundation appeal.

Is it just a coincidence these campaign advisers and consultants keep getting hired to lobby on behalf of companies seeking big deals with the City of Fort Lauderdale?

How did AECOM and Poseidon Water hear about Eric Johnson and Blake MacDiarmid?

Why are Mayor Dean Trantalis and Commissioner Ben Sorensen so eager to enter public private partnership deals with companies located outside the State of Florida? Don’t they like local companies?

Is anyone at City Hall looking out for the best interests of average residents?

Do they even care?

REDBROWARD asked Trantalis and Sorensen for comment. We will update story if they respond.

Mayor Dean Trantalis