Miami City Attorney Victoria Méndez is removed amid City Hall controversy
Miami City Attorney Victoria Méndez was removed from her position Thursday, a demotion that comes amid controversy and criticism over her performance near the end of her 20-year career at City Hall.
In a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Joe Carollo voting no, the City Commission voted to relegate Méndez to a transitional role immediately and name her chief deputy, John A. Greco, as the interim city attorney while a selection committee continues a search for City Hall’s next top legal officer.
Greco is out of the country on vacation until April 22, so until then, Deputy City Attorney George Wysong will serve as acting city attorney.
Méndez will be allowed to remain as an attorney in the city’s legal department, with an instruction to help with the transition for the next city attorney.
Commissioners also instructed the city’s human-resources department to propose a candidate by April 19 so the commission can select a new permanent city attorney at the April 25 meeting.
In January, Méndez had been given a short contract extension that allowed her to stay on until June while the city searched for her successor. Commissioner Damian Pardo spearheaded her demotion Thursday.
Méndez was stripped of her power at a time when she faces mounting scrutiny over allegations that she used her position to coordinate a house-flipping scheme with her husband. She is being sued over the allegations and the Florida Bar has also opened an inquiry.
Her decision-making has also been questioned.
Based on legal advice from Méndez, according to City Manager Art Noriega, the commission passed a tax rate in late September with only four sitting members on the board. Weeks earlier, Commissioner Alex
Díaz de la Portilla was removed from office after he was arrested on corruption charges.
State regulators had warned the city that its vote on the tax rate with only four commissioners would be invalid.
The commission later had to hold an emergency meeting in December to vote on the tax rate.
Méndez grew emotional as she gave a brief farewell speech after Thursday’s vote.
“I want to thank God, my family and the city of Miami, my interdepartmental colleagues and especially my city-attorney family for the 20-plus years they have allowed me to serve this wonderful city where I was born in Allapattah, raised in Flagami and lived in Flagami for 44 years,” she said.