Another elected office is suddenly going to be prematurely vacant soon: 
Miami Lakes Vice Mayor Tony Lama is expected to resign in July to move to Seattle for a plum job at Amazon dot com.
But the replacement will be an appointee until the next election in Miami Lakes, which is not until 2018.
Lama, first elected in 2012 and re-elected last November with 61 percent of the vote, will be the principal business development manager for the online giant, joining a former colleague who went to Amazon last year. Specifically, he will be working on the marketing and roll-out of new products and services. Something called “enterprise solutions.”
Let Ladra be the first to say wow.
“It’s an exciting opportunity,” Lama, 39, said Thursday. “It’s a good move for my family. It’s not so much about money. It’s an opportunity to work at a company that has been disruptive to so many industries and such a great 
place to work.”
His wife and four children, age 8 to college freshman, are excited about the chance to live in the mountains on the West Coast and be exposed to a different climate, both environmentally and socially. “It’s good for them to see the world from a whole different perspective,” said Lama, who has worked in the contact center software industry and discussed the move with his extended family and friends.
“I would have never guessed four months ago that I’d be contemplating a move outside of Florida and here I am,” Lama said. “These are exciting times with the technological changes in how businesses communicate with or deliver to consumers.”
Read related story: Graft in Miami Lakes: A tale of 2 council members, A and B
Lama’s last meeting will be in July — just in time for a newby successor to go through the budget process. He and his family will make the journey across the country over the summer, so the kids can start the new school year there.
According to the town charter, Mayor Manny Cid will then have 30 days to make a recommendation to the council, which 
would have to approve any nomination, to fill in the term until the next regularly scheduled election in Miami Lakes. That won’t be until the next countywide election, the August primary of 2018.
“It’s going to be a huge loss for the town,” Cid told Ladra. “Tony isn’t a guy to just be up there. He has put initiatives forward and he has thrown elbows when he has had to.”
Cid mentioned three big achievements right off the bat: the police contract, which became a model for other labor agreements in the Lakes and other municipalities; the Lakes Living app that allows residents to report a pothole with a phone pic; and Lama’s efforts to get a connection from 67th Avenue to the Gratigny Expressway as the main objectives that his collegue has accomplished.
Lama is to speak Thursday afternoon at the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization meeting to urge board to pass an amendment that would make the partial interchange at 67th Avenue a priority.
“He’s leaving us with a strong legacy,” Cid said.
But while it won’t be easy to replace him, Cid already has two or three people in mind for the recommendation. “We’re fortunate in Miami Lakes to have a deep, deep talent pool,” he said.
Let’s hope he considers Elizabeth Delgado, even if she is an ally of former Mayor Michael Pizzi. While she lost to Lama with only 39% of the vote last November, that still represents 4,930 Miami Lakes residents who put their confidence in her. That’s far more than seven councilmen.
And it might be nice to have a woman on the dais again.
Miami Lakes: Tony Lama takes Amazon job — in Seattle added by Ladra on
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