On the second try, Opa-Locka Commissioner Luis Santiago was successful Tuesday in firing City Manager Steve Shiver, 
who was hired less than three months ago to deal with the city’s financial mess.
Santiago had tried to fire Shiver in October — for another reason, an alleged bribe he made to a vendor — but was unable to get a single colleague to vote with him. On Tuesday, he got Mayor Myra Taylor and Vice Mayor Timothy Holmes.
It would be the second firing is as many months: Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi was let go as city attorney at the end of September.
The commission appointed Assistant City Manager David Chiverton as interim city manager, a role Chiverton has served before.
Taylor said Shiver had violated the city’s charter by revealing the city’s financial problems to the state without first consulting her and members of the commission. “I cannot work with the city manager,” she told the 100 or so people who were able to go to a 11:20 a.m. meeting on a Tuesday.
Shiver left the dais immediately and then cleaned out his office — but not before telling journalists there that folks would soon see what Taylor has put him through, whatever that means.
Read related story: In Opa-Locka: Steve Shiver is in; Michael Pizzi is out
He told Ladra 15 minutes before the meeting started that he had a responsibility to report the city’s $8 million deficit to the state. “The required reporting to the state should have been a year ago,” Shiver said, and hinted again at coming revelations. “There is so much more to this than you know… But, soon, everyone will see.”
What would Taylor have done/said if he had consulted her first? Would she have instructed him not to report the $8 million deficit to the state? Several sources told Ladra she was concerned by the way the news scared residents and, possibly, some development investors. Makes one wonder what else she doesn’t want everybody to know.
Chiverton has been with the city since 2011 and has acted as interim manager before.
“I’ve known him for years. He has great experience working with people in the community,” said Miami lobbyist Christopher Norwood, who has represented a group of Opa-Locka activists in the past.
“He is a really nice guy and ran a non-profit in Miami’s Liberty City called Focal for many years. We funded it when I was with The Children’s Trust,” Norwood said. “He also worked, at one point, with Weed and Seed. He is very well respected.”
Easy come, easy go? Opa-Locka commission fires Steve Shiver added by Ladra on
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