CORAL GABLES
activists for the recall effort dropped off petition signatures that, if verified by the MiamiDade County Elections Department, would move the process one step closer to a special election. The recall group accuses Lago of “misfeasance and malfeasance” related to his business dealings, based partly on his ties to embattled developer Rishi Kapoor.
ACCUSATIONS
Tuesday marked the first City Commission meeting since the effort to recall the mayor was launched in mid-March. Commissioners argued about the recall in the middle of the publiccomment period.
Lago accused Fernandez, Menendez and Commissioner Melissa Castro of assisting — even inadvertently — in the recall effort. Fernandez and Castro defeated two candidates who had support from Lago and other members of the city’s political establishment last April. In recent months, Menendez has joined the pair in contentious 3-2 votes against Lago and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson.
“Everything here is, on a daily basis, throw as much mud against the wall against me in an effort to bring me down,” Lago said. “That’s number one. Number two.
You are — all three of you — assisting in the effort to tear me down, to spread rumors about me, to spread lies about me.”
Lago said he wasn’t going to allow his position as mayor “to be tarnished by the continued attacks and attacks and attacks and attacks — unfounded attacks.”
During the back-andforth, one resident yelled out from the chambers, “You should all be ashamed of yourselves,” calling the commission “pathetic” as she and others left the meeting.
Anderson accused her colleagues of creating a “circus.”
The Miami Herald reported last week that End the Corruption, the political committee behind the recall, raised $50,000 in the first quarter of 2024, concealing the individual donors behind three Tallahasseebased entities.
Lago has repeatedly accused out-of-town developers of funding the recall but declined to provide specifics when pressed by the Herald about whom, exactly, he was referring to.
Fernandez accused Lago of sending out text messages and a letter to residents “attacking” his colleagues — an assertion that the mayor did not deny.
“It’s not attacking,” Lago said. “It’s the truth.”
As the back-and-forth continued, a resident who had an agenda item with a set start time approached the podium and interrupted the exchange.
“Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor. I’m here for a 10:30 appointment,” the resident said. “I’d like to get to my agenda item.”
The commission instructed city staff to come back to the next meeting with financial estimates for a citywide forensic audit.
Lago said Tuesday that “while isolated cases of dishonest behavior among a small minority of employees have been observed during my tenure,” there is not “widespread corruption” in the city. He said a forensic audit would clear the city of any such allegations while also helping employee morale.
Anderson agreed, saying the purpose of the audit is to “restore the integrity of the employees.”
“No one here has tried to steal money from our city coffers based on the prior policy,” Anderson said.
‘QUESTIONABLE CHARGES’
Lago seemingly took a victory lap at the outcome of the Amazon audit, but Fernandez said he is “not comfortable with these results.”
“I think it would be a big positive for the city if we find no public corruption in this,” he said. “That would be great. But there are questionable charges.”
Fernandez referred to $12,000 in Amazon gift cards purchased in December as a point of concern. But Finance Director Diana Gomez said the gift cards were reimbursed by the city’s insurance company as a credit for staff training.
The audit report included 69 pages of Amazon charges worth tens of thousands of dollars. The items included office supplies; mattresses and mattress covers for the police department “to be utilized during mobilizations and extended operations” ($313.72); an air purifier for the publicworks department ($459.98); and Halloween decor, including pumpkins (more than $900).
Fernandez also expressed concern about the purchase of a clothing steamer, which was purportedly used for tablecloths. But the event that the steamer was purchased for, Fernandez claimed, did not have tablecloths.
Gomez said it’s up to department directors to approve spending for their employees, and that during the audit, her office sent purchase records back to department directors twice “to make sure that they had a valid business purpose” for each purchase. However, Gomez said she is only able to go off the information that the department directors provide to her.
“Don’t take my word for saying there’s no misuse,” Gomez said. “I’m saying, based on the information that was provided to finance ... there’s nothing in here that tells us that there’s any misuse of city funds.”
Fernandez emphasized that the audit was limited to Amazon purchases. “There’s tons of other things that have been paid for with our p-cards, which I am now asking questions about,” he said.
While Fernandez and Lago disagree on many contentious issues, Fernandez said he supports the mayor’s proposal for a full forensic audit.
“There has to be a better way to do it,” Fernandez said of the city’s spending.