Coral Gables commissioner, manager spar at City Commission meeting

January 27, 2024 admin Florida, Government, Local News, Miami, Politics

Coral Gables City Manager Peter Iglesias can count. Only because he knows he has three votes, can the manager lash out at Commissioner Ariel Fernandez like he did at Tuesday’s city commission meeting.

Se puso feo.

“You are the most disrespectful person,” the manager told him.

They were talking about the lease at Fritz & Franz Bierhaus, which got a last minute three-week grace period to provide a plan for their extension option (more on that later). It’s something Fernandez brought up because he didn’t believe the negotiations were handled properly and in good faith.

“We failed on this process again,” Fernandez said. “To be honest, it has looked bad on the city every single time we have had an issue with a tenant the last few years. Le Parq was mishandled. The country club was mishandled. Burger Bob’s was mishandled. And now we’re mishandling Fritz and Franz.

“We didn’t learn from the first three, and we’re at number four.”

Fernandez said that the change at Le Parq cafe has not been a positive one.

“This is what happens when we allow the manager to take over a process and say ‘I know what’s best,’” Fernandez said, and wouldn’t let anybody stop him.

“The manager said to me during my last agenda review with him, he only answers to three members of this commission. In other words, he doesn’t answer to commissioner Castro or to myself,” Fernandez said. “Mr. Manager, there was an election in April and we were elected and yes, we are your bosses. This entire body is the one that gives you instructions on what to do.

“So, I don’t know why you think you are 100% in charge here. You answer to the commission who answers to the residents. The people who sit in those chairs,” he said, and there was some applause.

“It looks really bad on us that we said on Aug. 3, ‘Hey, come here. Give us your proposal.’ And then on Sept. 27, we said, ‘You know what. We’re not even going to take your proposal.’”

Iglesias asked the mayor for the right to respond.

“Commissioner, I would say that I have never worked with a more disrespectful person than yourself,” he told Fernandez. “That was the third time you threw me out of a meeting for no issue, simply because you accuse me of siding with the mayor.

“I work for the commission. This commission is my board of directors, and they tell me to do something and I will do it,” Iglesias said. “But you intimidating and threatening me? That’s not going to work.”

“Then there’s the door,” Fernandez told him.

“I don’t need the door because you can’t throw me out of here,” the manager shot back.

That’s true. Fernandez tried already when he tried to terminate him last May. Only Castro backed him up. Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Kirk Menendez sided with Mayor Vince Lago to keep Iglesias.

But Fernandez has continued to have issues with him. Fernandez told Political Cortadito that Iglesias doesn’t return his calls or emails and that an assistant city manager responds instead.

“I do not trust you and I do not trust the work you are doing for the city,” Fernandez told the manager at the meeting. And that’s what it comes down to.

Of course, Lago had to get some kickin’ in while the kickin’ was good.

“Commissioner, commissioner,” he said, voice dripping with condescension. “You got here nine months ago. You said you were going to revolutionize City Hall and you haven’t passed one ordinance yet.

“The manager is an honest man. You may disagree with him but show some respect,” Lago said. “When you attack a man like that, when you do the things that you do, it shows weakness in your character.

“At the end of the day, you’ve been here nine months, you have the will of the commission to do what you please and not one ordinance have you passed,” the mayor repeated.

“Is that really necessary,” Commissioner Castro asked.

“Yes, it is.”

“I don’t think so. Stop it.”

But Lago is a bully. He wouldn’t stop yet.

“At the end of the day, you have very limited experience when it comes to contracts and business and real estate,” said Lago, who does have experience when it comes to contracts and business and real estate. Shady experience. Lago was one of the realtors who sold the 1505 Ponce building to Rishi Kapoor, the developer that the Miami Herald discovered was paying Miami Mayor and Lago BFF Francis Suarez $10,000 a month — for a grand total of at least $170K — while he was seeking permits.

Suarez is being investigated by the feds for potential bribery, because that’s what it was. Lago could be next. Maybe Fernandez doesn’t need that kind of experience.

Lago said negotiations with Fritz and Franz have been “exactly in line with protocol,” adding that the commission has had to come and clean up the other leases. “Seriously, what was happening at Burger Bob’s was not the best look for the city,” Lago said, giving reason to the people who think he’s got an inside deal for a fancy restaurant at the Fritz spot.

“There’s nothing wrong going on here.”

Iglesias told Political Cortadito that Fernandez is always accusing city staff of being inefficient or malfeasant and he was still reeling from the questions about the P-card purchases, something Fernandez brought to the dais publicly instead of inquiring with his office, when he lashed out.

“Why don’t you ask the question ahead of time? Ask the question, and you will get an answer,” Iglesias told Ladra. “We don’t have people going to Las Vegas on vacation.”

That statement is in reference to the investigation into and arrest of former Miami-Dade School Board Member Lubby Navarro, who spent almost $100,000 on her public dollar P-card on personal expenses for herself, her family and her former boyfriend — including a trip to Las Vegas for the then couple. Her arrest caused Fernandez to seek an update from the city about its own safeguards.

“This city is run very well. We have nothing to hide,” Iglesias told Ladra. Gables Procurement Officer Celeste Walker-Harmon “is by the book, which is the way I like it. She’s asks you for paperwork on two cents.

“But directors have to have a little bit of latitude,” the manager said regarding their approvals of things like a steam cleaner, lint rollers and Celsius fitness drinks. He said the audit would find a legitimate reason for each expense.

Plates and silverware? An employee purchased them for the 427 lunchroom so that they wouldn’t constantly need paper and plastic products, Iglesias said. “Having a nice lunchroom is great. Employees are more efficient. And we’re being eco sensitive.”

The $1,400 Havana Harry’s bill? A catered Christmas lunch approved by everyone all the way up the food chain to Iglesias. “We had 100s of people there,” he said.

The resumé folders are actually folders for field inspectors in the building department. The feminine napkins were ordered after a couple of female student interns had menstrual accidents. “That was really sad. That one really hurt,” Iglesias said.

However sad it was, the manager should have stayed quiet or told the commissioner that he was eager to do the audit and show him that every expense was justified. It shouldn’t bother him so much if Iglesias has nothing to hide.

“Peter was out of control. That was unacceptable behavior, 100 percent,” Commissioner Castro told Ladra Friday. She said the manager had not shut her out. “He talks to me. That’s his job. He’s cordial.”

Commissioner Menendez, who would be the third vote to remove the manager if it came to that, said it was “evident” there was friction between Iglesias and Fernandez.

“Even on the commission, you have different members of the commission year after year. Not all personalities are going to get along,” he said. “But we have to find a way to work together.

“It doesn’t mean we go on vacation together or go out to dinner. But we have a responsibility to the people of Coral Gables to get the work done,” Menendez said.

He hadn’t talked to the manager about the exchange when he spoke to Ladra Friday. But he said “I’m sure the opportunity will present itself” in the three weeks before the next meeting.

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