The fate of Miami Lakes’ bureaucracy now lies in the hands of residents after the Town Council set an election date for voters to amend the city’s charter or keep it in tact.
The May 17 mail-in ballot election will determine if residents want to shake up their government based on the suggested changes made by the Miami Lakes Charter Revision Commission, which submitted its final report and election cycle to council members last week.
About 17,000 registered voters would be asked to change certain charter provisions or retain it through a paper ballot and subsequently mail in their votes.
At a March 16 special meeting, council members, on a 5-1 vote, accepted the proposed amendments and the commission’s choice for the May special election despite some residents’ entreaties to select November to give them enough time to scrutinize the possible changes.
Mayor Michael Pizzi cast the sole dissenting vote and Councilmember Tony Lama was traveling on business.
According to some residents, the proposed charter changes will polarize the town, as they believed it was politically motivated against the mayor and his reelection bid in November, but other residents said a new document on how the bureaucracy should be run would root out corruption, nixed the bickering among lawmakers and bring the town more in line with a council-manager form of government.
If residents reinstate the proposed run-off elections, they would change the course of the town's November election in which candidates would need at least 51 percent of the votes to avoid a two-week showdown to be declared the winner.
So far, 12 candidates are running for mayor and two council seats.
Some residents embrace bringing back a run-off election because they want the winners to be elected by a majority, while others say it would cost the financially vulnerable town more money with the addition of the mayor’s lawsuits against Miami Lakes.
At the special meeting, some residents appeared lukewarm over the opportunity to vote on any charter changes and questioned the timing of the meeting and election, saying the proposed amendments attached to the agenda weren’t made available on the town’s website until less than 24 hours before the meeting.
They said they needed more time to review the committee’s proposals and urged council members to choose the ballot for November and for a better voter turn out.
“It was not posted on the website until late night and it’s over 60 pages long,” he said. “Is this what you call transparency?”
But Nancy Rogers said a mail-in ballot works better for her in comparison to the November election at the polls.
She said she likes to scrutinize the amendments and a mail-in ballot gives her enough time to make a decision.
“If I want to do a little research, I would have time with the mail-in ballot,” she said.
David Bennett, who chaired the Miami Lakes Charter Revision Commission, said a November election may cause “ballot fatigue” considering the rash of questions and constitution amendments for voters to decide on during the presidential election.
“A mail-in ballot gives residents time to read and understand the questions,” he said.
The proposed charter amendment to require the entire Town Council pick Miami Lakes’ next town manager and city attorney with public input instead of the mayor didn’t sit well with some residents as well.
Pizzi tried to convince his colleagues to pick November for the charter amendments vote, meaning the run-off election wouldn't take effect until 2018 if residents approve to bring it back.
“If former Mayor Wayne Slaton was sitting there, a lot of these items wouldn’t be in front of this commission,” he said.
Pizzi tried to convince his colleagues to pick November for the charter amendments vote, meaning the run-off election wouldn’t take effect until 2018 if residents approve to bring it back.
Pizzi, Councilmembers Ceasar Mestre and Manny Cid and Slaton are running for mayor in November.
But council members shot down his request despite a seven-minute speech that included advice from Joseph Centorino, executive director for Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, on voting against the resolution since residents “didn’t receive adequate notice of the meeting and the agenda under the Citizens Bill of Rights.”
Miami Lakes included the declaration of rights in the town charter 10 years ago.
“Hardworking average citizens who put their kids to bed and work from 9 to 5 the next day were not able to get the agenda package in time to read it before the meeting,” he said. “Mr. Centorino said it could be problematic with the agenda not being out in time doesn’t comply with the Citizens Bill of Rights in terms of making the agenda available in advance.”
Town Attorney Raul Gastesi confuted Pizzi and Centorino’s notion that the meeting was not advertised in a timely manner.
“The date of the meeting was set a week in advance,” Gastesi said. “There is no notice problem here.”
Mestre accused Pizzi of delaying the process and conceivably devising a scheme using rhetoric to get residents to speak in favor or against legislation that benefits him.
“You’re very good at setting things up for council members to vote a certain way,” Mestre said.
A complete guide to the mail-in ballot and all the charter questions will be included in the April 15 circulation of The Miami Laker.