(A monthly feature focusing on the history of the Miami Lakes community.)
Did You Know that Merrett Stierheim was Miami Lakes’ first town manager in 2001.
Following incorporation on December 4, 2000 and the subsequent inaugural town election in February 2001, the new but inexperienced Town Council needed a town manager to run the day-to-day operations and help make a smooth transition from Miami-Dade County services to a full-fledged town, which encompasses 6.5 square miles.
Mayor Wayne Slaton, the catalyst for the incorporation movement that commenced in 1995, picked Stierheim on an interim basis to the delight of council members and residents, who were familiar with his reputation first as a county manager for ten years, and later was labeled the white knight of sullied bureaucracies in the 1990s for erasing a $68 million budget deficit for the city of Miami rocked by a series of scandals.
In the meantime, Miami Lakes hired a professional search firm to find a permanent town manager from a field of well-qualified candidates capable of resuming the task Stierheim started.
After he was appointed town manager, Stierheim didn't waste any time in getting the new start-up government up and running.
He hand picked government consultants Diana M. Gonzalez and Jorge Duyos to help the town with its asset inventory and building transition to identify and cataloging of all the assets within Miami Lakes’ boundaries.
The program also determined the assets the town has within its corporate limits to incorporate in the town’s first budget to estimate the property tax revenues that town would be generating to run the bureaucracy.
Stierheim also created the Miami Lakes Plan, a two-phase proposal to work with council members and residents to craft out the town’s vision, which included a mission statement, critical success factors and strategic goals.
The second part of the plan developed a business proposal to create a rapport between the town and Miami Lakes’ business owners.
The efforts culminated in the town’s first Strategic Plan, in which residents and business owners gave their own input on what the town should look like for the next five years.
Following the results of the Strategic Plan, Stierheim said Miami Lakes should begin operating some of its own municipal services by the new fiscal year, October 1, 2001.
Based on Stierheim's recommendation, the Town Council approved the town's new seal, which was created by Miami Lakes resident and architect, Felicia Salazar.
During Miami Lakes’ first budget hearings, lawmakers approved Stierheim’s proposal to abolish the special taxing districts for street lights and parks, which now allows residents on the west side of town to use the picnic and beach parks and tot-lots.
Miami Lakes residents living on the east side were paying $1.2 million a year to use and maintain the parks before the special taxing districts were dissolved.
Stierheim led the way for Miami Lakes gaining ownership and funding for Miami Lakes Park and Royal Oaks Park, initially a tot-lot before the town turned it into a full-fledged park and recreation facility.
Stierheim also helped the town take over its own building department activities and zoning issues from the county, and he managed Miami-Dade police services until the town and county agreed on a permanent contract in November 2001.
A town manager screening committee, led by Stierheim, publicly interviewed a host of candidates for the permanent job, including Dennis White, who Slaton chose as the new town manager because of his experience with start-up governments.
Following his stint in Miami Lakes, Stierheim was named superintendent of Miami-Dade Public Schools and before then was asked to come out of retirement and nurse Miami-Dade County back to fiscal health, managing a $4.5 billion budget with 28,000 employees, and 42 departments, including Miami International Airport, the Port of Miami, transportation, water and sewer, health and human services, police and fire rescue.
In 2004, Steirheim joined Wetherington, Klein and Hubbart as a mediator. He shares office space with attorney Hugo Black, Jr., son of the former United States Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black.
In 2012, the city of Doral hired Stierheim as the new city manager.
Stierheim currently lives in Pinecrest with his wife Judy Cannon.