After DeSantis order, Miami-Dade commissioners reluctantly allow a packed chamber again
After conducting the public’s business in relative isolation for more than a year, Miami-Dade County commissioners on Tuesday looked out onto a full auditorium for the first time since early 2020, the result of an order one day earlier by Gov. Ron DeSantis ending local COVID-19 restrictions.
“I have got to respect the governor’s order,” said Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz, the Republican and DeSantis ally who had set the COVID rules barring the public from the chamber. “We’re working through it as well as possible.”
During Tuesday’s commission meeting, lobbyists and companies pursuing county contracts filled most of the seats and wore masks.
When COVID-19 emerged last year, MiamiDade moved its meetings online. The change lasted through November, when DeSantis lifted his waiver of quorum rules requiring in-person proceedings. After that, seats were reserved for county employees while the public was at first relegated to a noisy speaking area in the firstfloor lobby, sharing space with the entrance to the Government Center Metrorail station.
When Diaz became chairman in January, he allowed members of the public to enter the chamber to speak on legislation before being ushered back out to watch from the lobby. That robbed advocates of a common tactic for commissioners’ items: filling the chambers with supporters, often wearing matching T-shirts to emphasize support for their positions.
“They didn’t see us when we were downstairs,” said Dorothy Alfaro, owner of an electrical firm and a frequent advocate for opening county contracts to small businesses. “They didn’t see us when we were on Zoom.”
Even before the DeSantis order, some municipalities had moved further than Miami-Dade in allowing the public to attend government meetings again. The city of Miami’s commission chambers on Dinner Key have been open to the public since November, though with some seats declared off limits to increase space between attendees.
Other municipalities, however, have kept their chambers closed to the public.
For the Miami-Dade County Commission, spacing rules were gone Tuesday and all seats available. That was a red flag for Dr. Aileen Marty, an FIU infectious-disease professor who helped shape the county’s COVID rules at the start of the pandemic.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends people stay six feet away from each other at events.
“They are not following CDC guidelines and that is unfortunate,” Marty said when shown a photo from Tuesday’s meeting. “As people get closer and the amount of time gets longer, the risk increases.”
Whe it comes to masks, Diaz said he’s treating the prior rules as requests of the public as Miami-Dade examines its options under the governor’s order. “I won’t mandate them,” he said. “I probably could.
But why get into that?”