Sources say Art Noriega could join the Inter Miami Freedom Park team
Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes tried last week to prohibit any city executive from taking a job for two years with any entity he negotiates a big deal with as the city’s top executive.
Reyes didn’t name names, but the obvious target of his failed motion is City Manager Art Noriega, who las malas lenguas say, will get a fat six-figure gig with the Inter Miami soccer people if/after he negotiates the sweetheart deal Miami Freedom Park lease on the city-owned Melreese golf course.
No wonder they’re getting such great terms!
Rules exists already for the electeds and the department heads, said City Attorney Victoria Mendez, referring to Article 5 of the city code, or the conflict of interests section (which Ladra is surprised even exists). As it reads currently, she said, department directors and/or their designees as well as any city employees on a selection committee who recommend a contract award of $500,000 or more are restricted from “receiving compensation or employment” from the contractor for two years after leaving the city. And it only applies to procurement, Mendez said.
Read related: Premature and postponed: Miami Freedom Park deal not ready for vote
Reyes wanted to amend it to add executives and real estate transactions.
And just who is negotiating the biggest real estate deal the city’s ever seen?
The Miami Freedom Park lease agreement was supposed to come before the Miami Commission last week after being rescheduled already once. It is now delayed until April. Mayor Francis Suarez had to pull it back because it’s just not ready. Outside counsel hired by the city at a cost to protect taxpayer interests — at a cost of $3 million so far — say there are too many issues that are unresolved. They counted 28. Among them are:
- The cash security deposit went from $8 million to $3.5 million and may be in the form of a letter of credit.
- A $12 construction escrow deposit was eliminated entirely.
- Rent is based on the lower of two appraisals.
- Appraisals are from 2018.
- Annual rent increase is capped at 4%.
- No penalty for late payment.
- Full rent does not begin until the stadium is completed and the per annum rent increases do not begin until the year after.
And there are a lot more very legal terms that are far better for the Jorge Mas and David Beckham team than they are for the city. Who in their right mind would agree to such terms, even to put it in draft form? Well, maybe someone who is angling for a juicy job with the other side.
“It’s not the people who are working on the contract. It’s the one who has the final recommendation on the contract,” Reyes explained, adding that it would bring more transparency and accountability to big decisions. He practically begged his colleagues and went to great pains to not name Noriega as the perfect example.
“Let’s say we are analyzing a contract for whatever, to manage the marinas or whatever,” he told his colleagues, using a project that is on hold for reference, “and there is an individual…he is or she is the main negotiator for how much we can get, how much the city is going to get, the terms and all of that. And that person recommends this management company and quits this job and goes to manage the marina. You think that’s right?”
Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — who basically got Noriega the city gig — withdrew his second to kill the motion. “I never have the assumption of nefarious motives of people,” The Dean said, and didn’t laugh out loud. “I don’t know if people are motivated by corruption.”
Yes, he does.
Said Reyes: “That’s not corruption. That’s business.”
That’s Miami.
The senior commissioner said he had seen it happen before — citing a senior administrator that left the city after negotiating the Hyatt development the first time around — and he just wanted to protect residents. “What I am doing is placing a condition of employment here that the city is first, that the city is more important than any of the benefits they can get from a city customer,” Reyes said.
“What we don’t want is a direct line between influencing a contract and getting a job.”
It’s happened at the county level, too. Recently, residents were up in arms about Jack Kardys involvement in the Plan Z privatization development of the Rickenbacker Causeway after helping craft the request for proposals as the Miami-Dade parks and rec director. Another example is Alice Bravo, the former county transportation director who violated the rules when she lobbied the commissioners on an airport contract last Fall. And way before that, former County Manager George Burgess went to work for Becker Poliakoff after leaving Miami-Dade.
Read related: Alice Bravo fined by Miami-Dade ethics board for lobbying on airport contract
But it’s not just about lobbying the commissioners. As the chief operations officer or development director at Miami Freedom Park, Noriega would have access to city employees for permitting and engineering.
Diaz de la Portilla complained loudly, adding that he doesn’t think it’s fair even to state legislators, who have to follow the two-year prohibition, either. He also said that it was easy to go around it by promising a job two years and one day after the administrator in question leaves the city.
“To limit people’s ability to make a living in a legitimate way, whether you can advocate, whether lobbying, no matter how good it sounds to the public, to me it’s not the right thing to do,” Diaz de la Portilla said.
“We are taking a category of people and limiting their employment after the fact. There’s an implication of guilty before proven innocent,” he said. “What if that person is the most competent person to do that particular job and they happen to be hired or somebody pursues them or recruits them because they have knowledge in that particular field. Why not?”
He said public employees “are giving up a lot of money when they could work for someone else for the private sector.”
When asked his opinion at the meeting, Noriega — who did not return calls and texts from Ladra — let out a soft sigh. He said that his position was excluded from the legislation that holds electeds to the two-year ban precisely because every contract or agreement that is worth $500K or more goes through his office.
“You would literally preclude me from working for anyone that has done any contract of any size here,” Noriega said.
He told the commission it would not be a problem for him, but that the next city manager could challenge it in court.
While Reyes didn’t get a second, Commissioner Joe Carollo said he wanted to talk to the city manager and city attorney to possibly bring something back to the dais.
“I want to see if we can word something that will protect the city.”
Commissioner wants to stop Miami city manager from selling out for a juicy job added by Ladra on
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Ladra, where’s the follow up on this story? I hear this is imminent.
[…] by former Herald journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Elaine de Valle in March that Inter Miami offered Noriega, the city manager, a job that would pay him a six-figure salary if the M…. As city manager, Noriega is one of Miami’s chief negotiators regarding the terms of the lease. […]
[…] by former Herald journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Elaine de Valle in March that Inter Miami offered Noriega, the city manager, a job that would pay him a six-figure salary if the M…. As city manager, Noriega is one of Miami’s chief negotiators regarding the terms of the lease. […]
[…] by former Herald journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Elaine de Valle in March that Inter Miami offered Noriega, the city manager, a job that would pay him a six-figure salary if the M…. As city manager, Noriega is one of Miami’s chief negotiators regarding the terms of the lease. […]
[…] by former Herald journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Elaine de Valle in March that Inter Miami offered Noriega, the city manager, a job that would pay him a six-figure salary if the M…. As city manager, Noriega is one of Miami’s chief negotiators regarding the terms of the lease. […]
[…] by former Herald journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Elaine de Valle in March that Inter Miami offered Noriega, the city manager, a job that would pay him a six-figure salary if the M…. As city manager, Noriega is one of Miami’s chief negotiators regarding the terms of the lease. […]
Art Noriega has always been out for himself… Always. Taxpayers? Just a source of funds for his lavish lifestyle. And by the way, educated citizens remember taxpayers are still paying $3 Billion for the Marlins Scam. Scam. Mas Scam worse?
Ladra, what’s the update here? I know his family and suddenly I am seeing a big increase on lavish splurges, and I am wondering what under the table deals might be happening here.
Who is looking out for the taxpayers?
Art Noriega wants to get a bribe for the awarding of contracts for demolishing Melreese Park AND he wants a piece of all the contracts to cover the site in concrete. Mayor Cava should step up and STOP this crime. And where are the Feds?
I used to live in Illinois, one of the supposedly most-corrupt states in the union. Chicago (and the rest of the state) deserve much of that reputation.
Miami (and really Florida as a whole) put Illinois to shame.
Sleaze, sleaze, sleaze, nonstop sleaze. It’s grotesque.
Demolition of Melreese Park and the City’s only golf course? You watch. Honest commissioners will vote NO for the developer drafted NO BID lease. HaHa. We know that means 4-5 votes for Mas and his tools Sarnoff and Suarez. The taxpayers always get screwed.
Our Employees are Working against The City of Miami just as they DID about The Orange Bowl Haven’t” WE LEARN YET” Pay To PLAY !
” Art Noriega has always been a slimeball. When he ran the Parking Authority for years he always overpaid himself AND he gave himself excessively large benefits”
All roads take us to a DA who is enabler , pure Cosa Nostra because she refuses to act on things she can act on so these self serving bunch just do what they want .
One of my jokes that I said at community board meeting where I live in Doral was that John Gotti was heard on an FBI tape saying –
” I wish I was Cuban so I could hold political office in Miami and steal with impunity ”
And yes I know my comedy bites plus most had no idea who John Gotti is so had to explain it , lol .
” Does the term Miami Mafia” mean anything to you. Art was absolutely correct!”
Yes but for a lot of the Cubans who came late 50s and 60s they took it as an insult because as you know Castro would call them that so the self serving , parasitic Commissioners seized the opportunity .
I call them the Cuban Politico Cosa Nostra and that does not offend anyone .
Art was on borrowed time even before that because he was bought in to act in the typical Miami charade as far as pretending and not doing much but he began to make actual changes and that is unacceptable in the Banana Republic , the extension of ALL of Latin America .
In my opinion most in the Miami Hispanic community Cuban or not want the illusion , the farce of change for the best but in truth they want same ole , same ole .
I would be shocked if the type of people who post here are even 20 percent of Miami , people regardless of party who want clean politicians , City Attorney, DA , officials .
Does the term Miami Mafia” mean anything to you. Art was absolutely correct!
The proposed lease is probably 600 pages that protect the speculators. AND the lease promotes stealing from the taxpayers. The lease could easily be amended to state that, “the proposed tenant and/or its affiliates agree NOT to hire any City employee or any City attorney who worked on negotiating the contract for a period of five years..”.
Tell “the pussy” city and county executive packages are loaded with end of service payouts, lifetime defined pensions, lifetime healthcare, cost-of-living adjustments, drop money golden parachute. no government executive need worry about making a living post retirement. The county set up the two-year window to stop this exact type of revolving door but left itself a loophole big enough to drive a cruise ship through
Speaking of cruise ships you forgot to include recently retired port director and current cruise ship executive Juan Kuryla on your list of where are they now.
Ladra,
Appreciate your reporting & keeping the rascals honest, particularly since no news outlet of any kind in SouFL does it. But sometimes, Mija….. your fury gets the best of you. For example, When would you have Inter begin to pay rent on Freedom Park? Before the stadium is completed and they can use it? Is beginning to pay Rent when they take possession such a scandal? Many of your other points are very valid, but seriously, you’re smarter than that. When should the annual rent increases begin? A year after occupancy seems right. Start any earlier, it wouldn’t be annual. Again, appreciate your reporting and keeping the corruption from these bastards bring front & center, but you can be more effective by directing your fury more precisely and surgically. The trick is to Balance the shotgun with a sniper’s accuracy.
Thank you for what you do,
An Avis reader.
*let’s not hold our breath
Bring “something that can protect the city”??? I have an idea. Let’s bring back ethics, morals, decency and respect. That should do it, but let’s not hold our with this band of bandits!
BTW, congratulations to Commissioner Reyes for finding his soul! Let’s hope he keeps it
This is easy to solve. The city rules could be amended to say the executive cannot work for the vendor except with express permission of the commission. Or they can put a provision in the soccer stadium contract that Inter Miami cannot hire any executive involved in negotiating that contract.
Reyes is right to be worried. Noriega, Sarnoff and Mas all have lousy reputations. Noriega needs to work for the taxpayers, for once.
Art Noriega has always been a slimeball. When he ran the Parking Authority for years he always overpaid himself AND he gave himself excessively large benefits. When Mayor Regalado and others wanted to put the Parking Authority under the control of the City then Noriega diverted taxpayer money to hire expensive attorneys to beat back the City. Everything about Mas and demolishing a park using a sweetheart lease stinks.