Miami Lakes residents will see 14 town charter questions on their November ballot – including one on lowering the number of town councilors.
Proposed changes to the questions were unanimously approved by the Miami Lakes Town Council on July 14.
At the meeting the town council members discussed the order the questions should appear on the ballot, as well as a voter guide to help residents navigate them.
“Just making sure we do our best to educate our residents and what this means,” Councilmember Ray Garcia said.
He said the goal was to make sure that the residents have enough information.
Mayor Josh Dieguez asked for certain questions to be placed further up the ballot to ensure that residents did not skip anything.
“There are some that are more important than others,” Dieguez said.
Dieguez asked that question two, three, five, 12, 14 and seven be placed higher on the ballot. Councilmember Steven Herzberg also wanted to suggested item eight be added to the list of higher-up items.
Question two pertains to the annual vice mayor election, three requires having council members resign to run, question five deals with filling council vacancies, 12 requires recall petitions adhere to state law and 14 deals with the early voting period.
Dieguez wants to avoid voter fatigue – voters filling out their ballot without reading the ballot language closely.
Garcia agreed with Dieguez that the questions pertaining to seats should be up at the front of the ballot, along with when a run-off election would happen.
In the current charter, a run-off election must be held 21 days after the general election. Under the proposed change, it would happen on the second Tuesday in December.
The council agreed with the change, citing low turnout in previous elections due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Then there’s the language for question six, regarding reducing the number of town councilors from six to four. Vice-Mayor Bryan Morera asked for the language be changed to clarify that seats five and six would exist until 2030, instead of the end of the current term in 2026. Morera is the seat six councilor and is currently running unopposed in the 2026 election.
Item eight deals with the town clerk reporting to the council. The town clerk currently reports to the town manager, but under the change would report to the council.
“It makes sense for the charter officer to report to the town council,” Herzberg said.
Morera agreed with Herzberg that the clerk should fall under the council.
Charter officers in the Town of Miami Lakes are the town manager, the town clerk and the town attorney.
“It rightfully belongs to us as representatives of the people,” Morera said.