Last night was another typical drama infused City of North Miami Beach “Special” Commission Meeting. The “special” part was conveniently left off the city’s flyers, so once again WakeUp NMB had to inform the public that this meeting was actually to begin selecting which City Manager applicants would advance to the next phase. This phase would send the top vote getters, chosen by the Mayor and Commissioners, for background checks. From a long list of applicants, the top five vote recipients were:
Marline Monestime (5)
Rasha Cameau (3)
Darvin Williams (3)
Hamid Nikvan (2)
Ricardo Mendez (2)
The first phase required each elected official to select three applicants for HR to review. With seven elected officials, the total should have been 21. Instead, we ended up with 22 submissions. The games began before the process even got going, and of course the Mayor denied that this was what they were instructed to do at a previous meeting or what was stated in the Interim City Manager’s memo.
WakeUp NMB requested the list of submissions before the meeting. No response. It was requested again during the meeting, again ignored, even when a couple of commissioners asked for it to be made public. True to form, the usual passive aggressive silence continued. Fortunately, the City finally responded to our President and emailed the list early last evening.
So how did we arrive at 22 names. Some commissioners submitted four and even five names, while one commissioner submitted only one.
And unsurprisingly, the Mayor and his sidekick Commissioner Fleurimond seemed to have only one real must-have choice among their combined four. To make matters worse, one of the Mayor’s selections wrote an application objective so inappropriate that it felt like an insult to the entire city:
“I was a captain of the men’s lacrosse team at Johns Hopkins University. I have had 5 knee surgeries in my career and am still the hardest working person you’ll ever meet. I need an opportunity.”
Another one of the Mayor’s selections had never served as a city manager and, when asked why they left a previous job within the last two years, the applicant wrote:
“Wanting more stability and calmer environment.”
Moving to North Miami Beach for stability and a calmer environment as a city manager is something we would almost feel obligated to warn them about ourselves.
Below are the submissions as provided:
Commissioner Jay Chernoff: Rasha Cameau – Darvin Williams – Scott Israel
Commissioner Fortuna Smukler: Rasha Cameau – Darvin Williams – Marline Monestime
Commissioner Lynn Su: Shane Corbin – Hamid Nikvan – Ricardo Mendez
Commissioner Daniela Jean: Kerrith Fiddler – Frank Fernandez – Darvin Williams – Hamid Nikvan – Marline Monestime
Commissioner Phyllis Smith: Rasha Cameau – Marline Monestime – Jordan Leonard – Ricardo Mendez
Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond: Marline Monestime
Mayor Michael Joseph: Perla Tavera – Alec Billings – Marline Monestime
The meeting adjourned without setting a date for interviews or even reading the final five names into the record. Transparency and accountability are always the last things on Mayor Joseph’s mind. After enough complaints from the audience, the list was finally read out loud. WakeUp NMB will be requesting the resumes and applications for the following five finalists:
• Marline Monestime
• Rasha Cameau
• Darvin Williams
• Hamid Nikvan
• Ricardo Mendez
Interestingly, during public comment the Mayor left the dais right after North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme and Miami Gardens Councilwoman Linda Julien arrived. Word is that they came to congratulate one of the candidates on their appointment as city manager. We suppose the Mayor had to let them know his plan did not succeed to hire a manager last night, and they quickly left.
This is why we have been saying that if the Mayor starts pushing a particular candidate, that is the moment that closer scrutiny becomes absolutely necessary.
The City Manager position is too important to be treated like a political prize. WakeUp NMB will closely watch the next phase and continue demanding transparency, fairness and professionalism. As always, we will keep shining the light on local government. Our residents deserve nothing less.
