Vince Lago tries to sneak election date change into strategic plan via committee

Mayor uses advisory council to push personal agenda

Coral Gables commissioners recently got two different versions of Mayor Vince Lago‘s 2023-2025 “strategic priorities plan” within weeks of each other, with one glaring difference: The second one did not have changing the date of the city’s elections from April to November, something that has already been rejected by the commission but which the mayor is pushing hard anyway on his own.

It just disappeared. Presto!

But the first version of the plan did. It was sent to commissioners, the city clerk, city manager, city attorney and commission aides by the mayor’s administrative assistant, Gabriela Valladares, on April 18, two days after the mayor pressed the commission to ratify a document that they had not even seen.

“It’s important to ratify what the board is doing,” Lago said in April, calling the plan “a visionary document” that he said he had the “honor of developing” when he got into office. “This strategic plan distinct from the city’s strategic outlines initiatives, specifically designed to synchronize with and and compliment broader city strategies.”

Well, what happens when they are conflicting strategies? Commissioner Ariel Fernandez wondered if the mayor’s strategic plan would supersede the commission’s.

“We have a strategic plan that we voted on as a commission. I appreciate the work that you all have done,” Fernandez said, directing himself at members of the council at the commission meeting. “But you are asking us to vote on something that wasn’t even attached to the agenda.

“We would be voting on a strategic plan that we have not even seen,” he said.

That wasn’t a coincidence. They hadn’t seen it because Lago knows that if they had, they would not have approved it with an election date change as one of the priorities. “Explore the possibility of moving election dates to general election years to increase voter turnout,” it said. It’s also not a coincidence that only Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, who carries Lago’s water, was the only one who said she had seen it.

Commissioner Melissa Castro questioned why there was a need for a “mayor’s strategic priority plan” when there is no strong mayor form of government. She even suggested just changing it to the commissioner’s strategic plan. “We all work together as a full commission, right?”

Lago was not interested.

“Again, we’re trying to do something good here. Let’s not politicize everything,” he said, although he is the one who is politicizing it and dividing the commission. “The idea is very simple. I’ve taken a step forward three years ago with the council and multiple people who wanted to engage on the efforts of bringing something good.”

Like it won’t work if it doesn’t have his name on it?

“Since its founding in 2021 the council has achieved significant milestones, including notable success in securing funding for the the city’s mobility app last year,” Lago said, adding that the board got $150,000 in funding for that, but forgetting to add that the money came from surplus funds in the city clerks office.

“The achievement not only enhanced our technological engagement but also set a precedent for how collaborative efforts between our council and the city can bring about tangible improvements ts to our community services.”

Lago said at the April 16 city commission meeting that the council “is committed to furthering the goals.” Which goals? The ones in the first version of the strategic plan, or the second version, which didn’t come out til later?

The item was eventually, after much resistance from the mayor, deferred to the next meeting, where Castro had every intention of proposing the sunsetting of the ad-hoc advisory council, which, according to the city’s own website, started working in August of 2022, so not even two years, not three years like the lying mayor said. He can’t help it. It’s pathological.

The second version of the plan was sent on Monday, the day before this week’s meeting, and it had only one change. The line about changing the elections was omitted. And only that line.

It’s not a coincidence that this new version was distributed the day before Tuesday’s meeting, where Commissioner Castro was sponsoring an ordinance to dissolve the mayor’s advisory council. The agenda package included a copy of the strategic priorities plan — the old version with the line about moving the elections. It was ammunition: The advisory council is being used to sidestep the commission and push the mayor’s agenda.

But Castro deferred the item after the new version was distributed instead. It was a switcheroo.

¡Que descaro! It should be criminal. And it’s become a habit with Lyin’ Lago. Remember the time he very dramatically and publicly signed an affidavit swearing to have no family members with a conflict of interest in Little Gables — but had coincidentally left off the part of the code where it says “siblings and half siblings,” because his brother was, indeed, once a lobbyist for a property owner there?

That wasn’t a coincidence either. Should we expect the mayor’s advisory council to next propose a measure to exclude siblings from the conflict of interests code?

Lago would want us to believe that this was a simple, honest mistake.

But one would have to forget the recent past. Because this is one of his priorities, perhaps his most pressing priority, even after the city commission voted against it last September. He’s written about it in an op-ed piece in the Miami Herald. He’s pushing petition signatures to put it on the ballot.

Again, Castro doesn’t think the advisory council is a bad idea, she just isn’t sure they should be taking orders from a mayor who is but one vote on the commission. It is a waste of their time, ain’t it? She wants to create a new board that would be appointed by all the commissioners and respond to all commissioners equally.

Currently, the seven board members are all appointed by Lago. They are:

Attorney and two-time losing commission candidate Alex Bucelo, who just turned in petition signatures to put a referendum on the ballot so that voters would have to approve commission salary increases, another Lago priority
Rudford Hamon, who works in zero trust networking, in online security
Real estate agent Jeffrey S. Kurzner
Management and marketing guru Sergio Leymarie, CEO of Citrus Growth Intelligence
Sean McGregor, who ran unsuccessfully for commission against Castro
Coral Gables Community Foundation President and CEO Mary Snow
Former Gables Mayor Dorothy Thomson

It used to have longtime activist Maria Cruz, when the mayor liked her, and Juan Carlos Diaz Padron, but neither were reappointed after they supported Fernandez in last year’s election against Lago’s preferred candidate, Bucelo. Most recently, Cruz mounted an unsuccessful recall effort against Lago.

Castro said she didn’t want to disrespect the current board and she told Ladra she met with Thomson between the first meeting April 16 and the last meeting Tuesday to assure her that she appreciated the former mayor’s hard work. In fact, Castro wants to make Thomson her appointment to a new commission advisory board. She told Lago at the April meeting that meant he would still have two of his current appointees pon the new board.

Lago suggested that they, instead, each start their own council. No, really. “I welcome that every single one of my colleagues start their own plan. I think it’s great. I will support you in that effort. I will find funding for whatever you want to do.”

He’s lying again. When has he been so amenable? When he’s trying to save his little grupito.

“We need to work as a commission as a whole and not be divided,” Castro shot back.

Anderson did her best to help her boss. “You’re trying to kill a good thing based on linguistics,” she said, adding, once more, how “disappointed I am with the constant infighting.” But how is Castro trying to kill anything when she wants to make it more inclusive? And Anderson is the one constantly infighting.

Then Anderson actually suggested sharing the advisory board. “If it bothers you so much to have the mayor’s name on it, then we can make it the mayor’s and commission’s advisory board and not lose the ability to have the ideas of community members who have volunteered their time and thoughtfully discussed matters and tried to offer some guidance to this commission on issues of concern.”

Commissioner Kirk Menendez immediately jumped on board. “I’m comfortable with that solution.” And that was before he read the plan with the election date change.

“I would like the commission to have the opportunity, I know the meetings are open, but to be more engaged in the process,” Menendez said. “I’d love for us equally to be engaged.”

Keyword: Equally.

Lago doesn’t love that. He probably le halo la oreja a Anderson despues.

“If you want to sunset this, something that I’ve worked on for four years,” Lago said, and now it’s four years when it’s not even two. “I go to the meetings. I meet with the board.

“The idea that everything has to be politicized and everything has to be destroyed just because you don’t have your fingerprints on it,” he said, and the mayor should look in the mirror. “This was started three years ago. If you’re unhappy with it, start a complimentary approach.”

We’re back to three years now. Lago just can’t help himself.

The item to sunset the mayor’s advisory council and create a new one for the entire commission will likely come up at the next meeting May 21st. An agenda was not available as of the publishing of this post.

Below, please find both versions of the mayor’s four-page 2023-2025 strategic plan.

Mayor Lago's 2023 – 2025 Strategic Priorities Plan by Political Cortadito on Scribd

Mayor's Strategic Plan by Political Cortadito on Scribd

Ariel Fernandez, Coral Gables politics, Melissa Castro, Vince Lago