Coral Gables Mayor, commissioner clash in rush to roll back salaries, taxes

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The election in Coral Gables is over, but a new race has begun: Who can bring changes first?

In light of Tuesday’s runoff results, Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, sent an email Thursday that surprised everyone. He said he had asked the city clerk to put items on the agenda for the next scheduled meeting May 20 to do many of the things that his nemesis, Mayor Vince Lago,and Lago’s slate had campaigned on. Well, and a little more, also taking certain things to the voters.

“If this is what residents want, and I am the person saying I put residents first, then I need to react to this election and lead,” Fernandez told Ladra early Thursday.

But that was before Mayor Lago requested a special meeting for next week to discuss the three things that have been core to his campaign. He’ll be damned if Fernandez takes the wind out of his sails, aka credit for moving elections to November or for rolling back commission salaries. The other item is from his miserably failed petition (more on that later), which is to make any spending of the city’s reserve fund require a vote of the super majority.

Lago did not return a call and text to his phone. It’s standard. He just sent what looks like a form text telling me to contact him on his city cell phone, which he didn’t respond to either. But certainly Lago got Fernandez’s email, sent about 10 a.m. Thursday and titled “Your goals, our mission — let’s get it done together,” where Fernandez first commended the mayor, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Elect Richard Lara for their victories Tuesday.

Read related: Coral Gables electeds to be sworn in, will push for November elections

“I look forward to working with you over the next two years advancing the priorities set forth by our residents,” he said.

“Now that the election is over, it is time for us to work together on behalf of you, our residents, and put politics aside,” Fernandez wrote in the email. “You have sent us a clear message on several issues, and I HAVE HEARD YOU. Today, I renew my commitment to you to ensure your priorities are mine.”

Fernandez went further than the mayor did, asking for eight items to be put on the agenda for the next meeting, to:

• Roll back the raises commissioners gave themselves in 2023
• Create process for selection and dismissal of charter officers — the city manager, city attorney and city clerk — requiring a national search, requiring a 4/5th majority for hiring and firing of a charter officer and setting a formal timeline for the hiring process.
• Prepare next year’s budget with options for the Commission that will allow for a reduction of the millage rate by 1% or 2%, before our Budget workshop in July, in order to lower taxes for our residents.
• Put charter amendment to move elections to November on the ballot
• Put a charter amendment to make future salary increases require a public vote
• Put a charter amendment to put an Inspector General on the ballot
• Send the municipal budget to the Florida State Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) to make recommendations on elimination of government waste.
• Formulate a plan that to eliminate the $550 garbage fee.

“Over the coming weeks, I look forward to working with my colleagues on the issues that are important to you and building a Residents First government in our city,” Fernandez wrote in his email, inviting his colleagues to co-sponsor the items “in a show of unity to our residents.”

Apparently, Lago had a different idea.

Several sources at City Hall said Lago has called for a special meeting May 6 and he can do that without getting anyone else to sign on. Only the mayor and the city manager can do that. He may have seen Fernandez’s move on these items as a power grab or an attempt to change the narrative.

“Mayor Lago can take it as whatever,” Fernandez said. “This is an olive branch,”

Half of the items Fernandez asked the city clerk to put on the agenda are definitely taken from Lago’s playbook and seem to be an about-face for the commissioner.

Fernandez had approved and defended the commission salary raises — which had not increased in years and went from $36,488 a year to $65,000 — and voted against the tiny tax decrease that would have saved residents under $100 and given large property owners and developers tens of thousands in tax breaks.

“I did,” Fernandez told Political Cortadito. “And voters voted for the three candidates who said they would lower taxes.”

Read related: Kirk Menendez strikes back at Coral Gables Mayor ‘Lyin’ Vince Lago’

He said the last tax break was sprung on the city without much notice during the budget workshops. This would give the manager time to make the necessary adjustments, Fernandez said. “My goal is to make sure it doesn’t affect services.”

That’s also why he wants to enlist the state’s DOGE office to help identify efficiencies. “There may be things that we have not noticed,” Fernandez said.

He also led the on-the-spot hiring of Amos Rojas, without going through any search or process. He did it again when the commission appointed Alberto Parjus in January after Rojas resigned.

His change of thought comes from listening to the voters, Fernandez said. “Isn’t this the message people sent in the election? This is what the residents want. We have to deliver.”

Fernandez said he was always for taking the election change, the IG and other changes to the voters. “I was waiting for the charter review committee to make a recommendation,” he said Thursday. “We received a draft of their recommendation but they have not concluded their work.”

It was unknown Thursday if Lago intends to take these changes to the voters or implement them through a majority vote, which he has now thanks to the election of his handpicked candidate, Richard Lara.

Commissioner Fernandez said he hasn’t changed his mind on everything.

“I’m still going to stand my ground on development and the issues that residents care about,” Fernandez said. “I’m still going to push for sidewalk repairs, draining projects, infrastructure, historic preservation and City Hall restoration.”

Speaking of which, the special meeting next week might be at the old City Hall, which has been undergoing shoring and other construction work to make it more structurally sound. It’s almost like Lago doesn’t want anybody to be there.

  Ariel Fernandez, Vince Lago