The Miami Lakes Town Council may choose its next town manager at Tuesday’s meeting. And Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has his pick.
Gimenez sent an email to Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid and the council members urging them to support veteran firefighter Ed Pidermann, a former city of Miami Deputy Fire Chief and one-time fire union president, for the job.
Not like anyone asked him. Que pinta Gimenez metiendo la cuchara aqui? The self-appointed king is interfering in a process th
at has been painstakingly transparent, with a selection committee of citizens has had more than a dozen public meetings since they were formed almost nine months ago after Town Manager Alex Rey announced his retirement in 2019. They reviewed almost 60 resumes, interviewed dozens of wannabes and came up with a shortlist of five hopefuls.
There was even a “meet and greet” for those five candidates catered by Anacapri Restaurant at the community center and attended by about 100 residents who were encouraged to give feedback to the mayor and council members, who make the final decision.
Councilman Nelson Rodriguez (photo right) will move at Tuesday’s meeting (6:30 p.m. starting time) that they accept the recommendation from 
the citizens committee and hire former North Miami Beach city manager Ana Garcia.
“The meet and greet with residents went overwhelmingly in her favor,” Rodriguez said, adding that he has had many residents support Garcia, photographed here, while Pidermann’s support is limited to his neighbors.
“She is a real talent. She’s the most qualified,” Rodriguez said.
Garcia, who recently returned to her native Cuba as one of the passengers on the first cruise ship in 50 years, was city manager in North Miami Beach for five years. She was pressured to leave earlier this year by Commissioner Phyllis Smith, who pushed her out saying the manager wasted city funds, especially with regards to public utilities and the water plan. Others, however, say that it was because the commissioners found out about her application to Miami Lakes.
The other three candidates in the shortlist are California Manager Howard Brown, Bay Harbor Island Assistant Town Manager Juan Jimenez (who withdrew), and Miami Lakes’ Chief Financial Officer Ismael Diaz.
But Ladra has been hearing for weeks that Gimenez, through his lacky Josh Dieguez — who coasted into Frank Mingo‘s seat without anyone noticing — has been pushing for weeks to get his buddy Pidermann the position. On Monday, he sent the email.
“It has come to my attention that the question of who will be your next town manager of Miami Lakes may be debated and voted on at your meeting on Tuesday,” Gimenez wrote. “One of the finalists for this position is somebody I have known for over 30 years… and I wholeheartedly endorse him as the new manager of your great town.”
No me digas.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez has new role as rainmaker — soliciting for 10 PACs
Knowing full well that Pidermann lacks the town manager experience that the citizen committee wanted — and Ladra 
believes the town charter calls for — Gimenez goes on to blow up his colleague’s experience in training, handling 911 calls, as emergency management director and even serving as public information officer, managing the media.
“Mr. Pidermann has also achieved many academic successes,” Gimenez wrote, citing six, count ’em, six degrees.
“I would also like to attest to Eddy’s work ethic and integrity,” Gimenez said, not realizing that this means nada because of his own lack of the aforementioned. “He is known to be ready to respond to the need of our customers, day and night. His integrity is impeccable and without question.
“I believe Eddy will easily and successfully transfer the skill and abilities that he has developed over the past 33 years to the role of town manager of Miami Lakes,” the mayor ended.
Said Rodriguez: “I’ve known Ed Pidermann for 35 years as well. But Ed has never been a manager of a city and I’m concerned about the learning curve.”
In truth, Pidermann wouldn’t even have made it into the top five if the selection committee had averaged out the two scores, one from the paper qualifications and the second from the interview. The only reason he is on the shortlist is because he interviewed so well, but he would have been off the list if they had averaged the score from the other criteria, which he did not meet.
And that’s because Pidermann is a nice guy. Everybody loves him. He is a firefighter, after all.
But what we don’t love is the Gimenez interference and those references to “our customers” he made. One might think he means Miami Lakes residents, but he could also mean the clients of his lobbying relatives, now that it’s not just one son but a family business. Our customers?
Miami Lakes might be where they are ready to expand their influence.
Read related: Add another son to Carlos Gimenez’s lobbying clan
If this were a genuine letter of recommendation, wouldn’t it be in the package that the committee got when they first considered Pidermann rather than a last minute hail Mary political posturing by the county mayor asking for a favor of some municipal electeds who depend on the county for so much? The answer is yes. This is practically extortion.
That’s why Dieguez — good little minion that he is — has 
introduced a competing item for Tuesday’s meeting — to throw the whole selection committee process out and start over. He wants to ensure that if it’s not Pidermann, his boss (read: Carlos Gimenez) gets to pick someone for that juicy position.
Seems like a real political maneuver if after nine months that the committee has worked on this very openly, spending about $20,000 during the process to vet the candidates and making a choice based on criteria that they determined early on, the whole process is thrown out because Gimenez didn’t get his guy.
Ladra hears Dieguez doesn’t have the votes. And that Nelson does have the support of other council members who want to respect the hard work and independent voice of the citizen committee they appointed.
Gimenez will have to stick to Hialeah, for now.
Carlos Gimenez pushes pal in Miami Lakes manager selection added by Ladra on
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