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Alan
Silva
is
not
exactly
a
household
name
in
South
Florida.
But
to
many
people
with
inside
knowledge
of
Fort
Lauderdale
city
government,
Silva
is
an
unsung
gay
hero.
As
the
city
struggled
with
a
financial
crisis
in
late
2003,
Silva
volunteered
his
services
for
a
10-month
period.
He
served
as
acting
city
manager
without
taking
a
penny
of
pay
from
the
city’s
coffers.
During
his
tenure,
which
ended
in
August
2004,
Silva
turned
a
potential
$15
million
city
budget
deficit
into
a
$4.8
million
surplus,
he
and
others
said.
So
when
a
position
recently
opened
up
on
the
city’s
Audit
Advisory
Board,
many
people
thought
Silva
was
a
cinch
for
the
job.
After
all,
he
was
the
one
who
recommended
that
the
commission
create
such
a
board.
Dean
Trantalis,
Fort
Lauderdale’s
gay
vice
mayor,
thought
Silva
was
the
right
man
for
the
job.
At
the
March
1
city
commission
meeting,
Trantalis
nominated
Silva
for
the
advisory
board.
But
when
the
current
city
manager,
George
Gretsas,
objected
to
Silva’s
nomination,
Trantalis
withdrew
it.
Silva
said
he
had
no
reason
to
believe
the
objections
are
because
he
is
gay.
Trantalis
said
he
agreed
to
rescind
Silva’s
nomination
“out
of
deference
to
the
new
city
manager.”
Trantalis
said
there
are
“philosophical
differences
between
Gretsas
and
Silva
that
have
nothing
to
do
with
Silva’s
sexual
orientation.”
He
declined
to
say
exactly
what
those
“philosophical
differences”
are.
Gretsas
did
not
return
two
phone
calls
.
His
secretary
said
he
was
not
available.
But
David
Herbert,
public
information
officer
for
the
city,
spoke
on
his
behalf.
Herbert
confirmed
that
Gretsas
and
Silva
have
significant
differences
in
“priorities,
management
style
and
philosophy.
They
simply
have
different
perspectives
regarding
the
vision
of
the
city
and
its
operation
and
management.”
But
Silva
said
he
was
surprised
by
that
categorization.
“I
don’t
think
I’m
philosophically
incompatible,”
he
said.
“I
worked
with
[Gretsas]
in
the
months
that
he
was
manager
designate.
I
did
what
he
wanted.”
Furthermore,
said
Silva,
divergent
outlooks
should
be
welcomed
on
an
advisory
board.
“The
whole
idea
of
an
advisory
board
is
to
get
different
points
of
view,”
he
said.
Michael
Albetta,
president
of
the
GLBT
Democratic
Caucus
and
past
president
of
the
Dolphin
Democrats,
a
local
gay
and
lesbian
Democratic
club,
said
the
city
was
worse
off
for
not
employing
Silva’s
talents.
“The
great
work
that
Alan
Silva
did
is
not
being
recognized,”
Albetta
said.
“He
put
the
city
back
on
the
track
of
financial
recovery.
It’s
another
example
of
a
gay
person
being
passed
over.”
Albetta
got
to
know
Silva
from
his
work
with
the
Dolphin
Democrats.
Silva
currently
serves
as
secretary
for
the
Dolphins.
Before
retiring,
Silva
worked
as
a
director
of
human
resources
for
the
U.S.
Agency
for
International
Development,
focusing
on
humanitarian
assistance
to
the
former
Soviet
Union
and
Eastern
Europe.
Silva
said
Fort
Lauderdale
“was
broke”
when
he
took
over
as
city
manager
partly
because
officials
had
paid
the
previous
city
manager,
Floyd
Johnson,
more
the
$300,000
for
him
to
leave
the
job.
Silva
said
he
turned
the
city’s
budget
crisis
around
by
cutting
the
workforce
by
8
percent,
furloughing
workers
and
reducing
the
amount
spent
on
overtime
from
$7.5
million
to
$3.5
million.
“We
ended
up
with
a
surplus
of
$4.8
million,”
he
said.
Silva
said
he
urged
the
city
commission
to
create
the
Audit
Advisory
Board
because
“we
should
have
a
group
of
citizens
who
look
at
the
books.”
Silva
said
he
envisioned
executives,
CPAs
and
former
government
officials
sitting
on
the
audit
board.
The
commission
recently
voted
to
approve
the
board.
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