Dumpster Diving

Last week, after a Pembroke Park Commission workshop, Levy said that the letter reflected the late mayor's intentions but that the town would not change its trash-hauling contract because no commissioner made a motion to ratify the letter. "We're going to let sleeping dogs lie," he said.

In addition to his job managing Pembroke Park, Levy is a member of the Plantation City Council. In that capacity, Levy received several thousand dollars in campaign contributions from All Service and related companies and lobbyists during his reelection campaign in 2005, when Ferguson was still at the company's controls.

Ferguson did not return calls for comment. Public Waste Service executive Michael Savino hung up the phone after a reporter introduced himself. Neither he nor company manager Nicholas Cascione returned messages.

Ferguson's former employers are more forthcoming. "There are a few things here that are suspect," All Service spokesman Will Flower says. "How does John Ferguson have this letter when we don't have it and the city doesn't have it?"

Flower stops short of calling the Lyons letter a forgery, saying only that if Pembroke Park had tried to ratify the letter, it would have prompted All Service to sue. In that case, Flower says with a chuckle, "I would look forward to Mr. Ferguson's deposition."