Three commissioners opposed him on firefighters and tax rate, too
Did ya feel it? The Earth shifted in Coral Gables Wednesday when Mayor Vince Lago lost his grip on power and the majority vote.
Lago lost on his proposed charter amendment to move the city’s election from April to November. He lost his fight with the firefighters’ union. And he lost his attempt to lower the tax rate. In the process, he threw his friend, Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, under the bus and pushed all the right buttons for Commissioner Kirk Menendez to cross to the other side.
Most importantly, Lago’s increasingly entitled attitude changed the commission dynamics, creating a new potential majority without him.
He just couldn’t help himself. His arrogance and narcissism ended up pissing off Kirk, who said that when he voted for the November election at first reading, he did it with the stipulation that it would not come back for second reading until October. “So our residents would have the opportunity to ask questions,” he said Wednesday.
Read related: Coral Gables moves quickly to move city elections from April to November
“The stipulation that garnered my initial support was completely disregarded when the item was placed on this agenda. This rush to action denies our residents the right and opportunity to be truly heard in a matter of great importance,” Menendez said. “[Since this] says no to our residents, no to our history and no to the basic democratic principle of government for the people, by the people and of the people, my vote is no.”
And the Earth shook.
Already, newly-elected commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez had expressed their opposition. Fernandez said he was initially for an August election date but was moved toward keeping the April election after residents said that’s what they wanted. Castro brought printed emails, and read some of them. She had many more against the change than in favor.
Ladra was also initially in favor of a November change. Made sense. It would increase participation at a savings of about $100,000 to $150,000 a year (depending if there are runoffs) and make it more convenient for the working moms with 2.5 kids and a way-too-long to-do list. But then there were the arguments that it would make the city election more partisan, more open to outside special interests, more vulnerable to greedy developers and out of reach for grass roots candidates like the ones that were just elected. Hmmmmm.
The biggest turn-off? Lago’s insistence: The op-ed piece, the email blast with the video, the phone calls. His desperate attempts to have Alex Bucelo and Ivette Arango O’Doski elected in April is one of the main reasons they lost.
The timing was also odd. It seems rushed. Why now?
It also seemed a bit disingenuous to have former Mayor Jim Cason and former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers — former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli just wrote a letter — endorse the November election when none of them sought that when they were on the dais.
“Are we all now saying that over 100 years of election history our elections are illegitimate because they were in April and we had a low turnout,” asked Karelia Martinez Carbonell, president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables. “Elections are what they are and people exercise their right to vote or not to vote.”
Others also thought this stinks and the timing was fishy.
“Why didn’t they want to increase participation when they were winning? It doesn’t look good when we want to change our elections after you lose an election,” said Eladio Cancio. “The mayor, you Mr. Lago, you lost the election. I got your phone calls at home. ‘I am your mayor. I want you to vote for the people who lost.’
“A thousand citizens are against you and you choose to ignore them. Yet you come and say we should have more participation. Nonsense. Nonsense! You just lost so you want to change the rules,” Cancio said.
“You lost. Be a man!”
Better yet, be a smart man. Putting this item on the agenda was really dumb. All Lago had to do was respect Anderson and Menendez and he could have kept that majority for two years, frustrating Fernandez and Castro like he wants. But his ego got the best of him.
Later in the meeting, Lago also lost Rhonda Anderson, who voted against him on the millage rate after all her grandstanding — probably because it needed a 4/5th vote and she wanted to go home — and the city manager, who said he stood by the budget he prepared with the same millage or tax rate, with no reduction, so it will result in a tax increase for properties whose values increased (read: everyone).
But Menendez, who proved that he is the independent swing vote we all hoped he would be, also voted against the mayor on the firefighters contract, which was ratified after a three-year battle. The new contract will expire in three years. Lago asked city staff if they were okay with it. Turns out, they recommended it. The mayor apparently wanted to find a reason to send it back. But a motion was made to accept it and it passed 3-2, with Lago on the 2 side again.
He voted in favor of the current millage rate and budget because Lago’s tax cut would have resulted in the suspension or cancellation of several capital improvement projects, including Phillips Park and Burger Bob’s, which Menendez was not willing to give up.
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Castro and Fernandez said the $219 in annual savings for the average homeowner was not worth what the city would lose. Castro also pointed out that the tax cut would mostly benefit people with multimillion homes. The commission wants the city manager’s office to come up with a way that the city can provide a “tax refund” in the form of some relief grant.
Fernandez also had some ideas for the budget and presented his own version. His plan triples funding for sidewalk repairs, fully funds Phillips Park and Burger Bob’s, fully funds the Biltmore Way tree canopy and a temporary parking facility with 10 pickleball courts. He suggests using some of the money that the Gables has in reserves, like they did in Miami Lakes.
Lago scoffed.
“You are recommended to have six months, call it for winter, call it a rainy day, catastrophe,” the mayor said. “Manny Cid is a good guy, a good person. We are having coffee this week.” But the strategy isn’t smart, he said.
A second public hearing for the $258 million budget will begin at 5:01 p.m. Sept. 26 at City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way.
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