Diggs defends MDEAT against whistleblower complaints
By Samantha Morell Miami Times Staff Writer
On June 27, 2023
Tries justifying delay in producing public documents.
Plagued by accusations of mismanagement in recent weeks, the Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust (MDEAT) held an emergency board meeting Tuesday morning to clear the air.
Executive director William “Bill” Diggs addressed complaints exposed in a Miami Times article two weeks ago and an accompanying opinion piece published last week. Despite coming under fire for misuse of taxpayer funds, derogatory statements and a lack of transparency, Diggs maintains that the organization has done nothing wrong.
Most primarily, he defended his track record of producing upscale, private events that he believes bring in investment opportunities for Black people who have basic wealth and would like to maintain it.
“We’re trying to work at the top of the market and also at the bottom of the market,” Diggs said. “Even today, the goal of this organization is to increase economic participation and the viability of Black businesses and Black families and Black communities, so we’re not just a poor people’s agency.”
Diggs did not publicly address human resources and personnel issues except to assert that MDEAT reserves the right to fire probationary employees, such as Vincent Burnett, who blew the whistle on the reported allegations.
Meanwhile, the public records request that will either corroborate or deny those allegations is yet to be satisfied. Diggs says that the request is far more elaborate than the Times suspects, insisting it will result in thousands of emails that must be searched, partially redacted and printed for a fee, although the Times would gladly receive digital files to lessen the workload.
On May 30, the Times requested the following: MDEAT board packages from June 2022 to May 2023; any county correspondence/notes regarding the MDEAT disparity study; a list of applicants for MDEAT’s rehabilitation assistance program (RAP), including the number of applicants who received underwriting commitment letters and total RAP loans funded for the 2022-23 fiscal year; invoices for the MDEAT Speaker Series with respect to venue and speaker fees from August 2022 to May 2023; board ballots, invoices and the scope of services for a $500,000 loan contract with the Black Business Investment Fund; invoices, contracts and a scope of services since May 2022 for $1.5 million in BAC infrastructure funding; sign-in sheets and any follow-up correspondence from Jazz In The Gardens Housing Hub participants; homeownership assistance program reports from October 2022 to April 2023; a list of pending satisfaction mortgages in need of recording with the clerk’s office with a Feb. 28 payoff date; and any documents detailing the results of investigations into MDEAT personnel complaints filed with the county’s Fair Employment Practices department, including complaints filed against Housing Administrator Edwin Miller and Diggs himself.
On June 15, Roshawn Harris, MDEAT’s departmental administrative coordinator, informed the Times via email that the request would take an additional 30 days to be completed.
The request was allegedly delayed two weeks because MDEAT’s assigned county attorney was on vacation. Diggs said the attorney is his primary and preferred point of contact for such matters, although it is regular practice for Miami-Dade County to assign a substitute attorney when one is away.
As for the accusations of misogynistic and derogatory comments made by Miller, Diggs said he was unaware of such occurrences, but that Miller’s behavior is currently being investigated.
This piece was republished from the Miami Times.