Manolo Reyes to the rescue; Miami commissioner wants more transparency

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Rumors of Manolo Reyes’ impending death are vastly exaggerated. The Miami commissioner was diagnosed with leukemia last year, but has apparently responded well to treatment and is on the mend.

And – after what he’s seen the city go through in the last couple of months — he’s also on a transparency and accountability tear.

Reyes was on the radio Tuesday morning with Ninoska Perez Castellon. He then attended a briefing for Thursday’s meeting – albeit on Microsoft Teams — with staff, the city manager and the city attorney. He’s going to be on morning Spanish-language radio Wednesday morning – twice on two shows. Then he’s meeting with the city manager, who is going commissioner by commissioner to explain why WLRN published a story about his wife selling office furniture to the city (more on that later).

Read related: Manolo Reyes listens to residents and gives up the Coconut Grove addition

And he’s expected to go in person to Thursday’s commission meeting, where he has four items on the agenda that should make Commissioner Joe Carollo’s head spin.

First off, Reyes wants the city to hire an outside auditing firm to perform a forensic audit of all he Community Redevelopment Agencies and any board where electeds are chair – like Carollo is at the Bayfront Park Trust. Maybe Reyes has heard las malas lenguas who say he uses the Trust as a personal piggy bank and that City Manager Art Noriega isn’t the only one giving his wife city business (more on that later

Forensic audits by outside entities is a great idea. 

But Reyes wants more. He wants a charter amendment question on the August ballot that asks voters if they want to replace the city auditor – a commission employee who hasn’t even done the COVID gift card audit – with an Inspector General that has subpoena power. It would be similar to the county IG, which may or may not be a great idea.

Then there is the item where he proposes moving the District 1 boundaries back to where they were, which would affect a number of properties, including the home owned Commissioner Miguel Gabela, whose own motion was vetoed by the mayor.

Read related: Absentee Miami Mayor Francis Suarez issues Christmas Eve veto on D1 lines

It’s unclear if there will be enough votes for to overturn the veto, but it’s moot. Because the Reyes redistricting item is likely to pass 3-1 – because Gabela should do the right thing and recuse himself or otherwise abstain from voting. It will be more difficult for Mayor Francis Suarez to veto that. His veto is based on the fact that the law prohibits electes from benefitting financially from their votes. Gabela, whose home was cut out of District 1 right before the election but after he had begun campaigning, had to move into one of his rental properties in order to still qualify for the race. His motion last month to move his house back into the district would mean that he could rent the home he lives in now, again.

Now, that’s not necessarily why he made the motion. He is rightfully indignant about the fact that his home was intentionally cut out of the district to benefit former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who was arrested in September, suspended by the governor and then lost the race for the seat in November. It’s only fair to right the wrong that was committed. That whole section of former District 1 anshould be returned to District 1.

But Gabela went about the wrong way, at his first meeting and with too much passion. Carollo pushed his buttons until Gabela demanded his house be put back in the district.

He should withdraw his own item on the district boundaries and support Reyes’ version.

And he should withdraw the veto override motion, too. Because he may not have the votes.

  Joe Carollo, Manolo Reyes