North Miami Councilwoman Marie Steril just can’t stay out of trouble.  Or the news.  She’s certainly in the hot seat again!

The Miami Herald just published an article, North Miami council member’s friend got free rent in city owned house.  According to the article,

“Under the federally funded Neighborhood Stabilization Program, or NSP, the city rehabilitates foreclosed and abandoned homes and sells them to first-time buyers.

Tom Calderon, who now works for another city, said Steril met with him and her friend Martine Saint-Aime in Steril’s City Hall office to discuss getting Saint-Aime one of the NSP homes.

Saint-Aime ended up moving into one of the homes, but she did not qualify for a mortgage to purchase the property. She lived in the house for about six months without paying rent.”

I suppose I should be surprised, but I’m not.  It’s not as if I expect Ms. Steril to be on the right side of the great ethical divide.

Back in August of 2011, Councilwoman Steril was accused of “steering a $5 million contract to a company run by her friends.”  The Miami Herald ran that article on August 2nd, but unfortunately it’s not online anymore so I can’t post the link.  Email me if you’d like a copy.  The article stated that at a council meeting in April, 2011, she voted to award a bidding contract to Kaufman Lynn Construction of Boca Raton for an improvement project in the city’s Claude Pepper Park.  According to Mayor Andre Pierre’s nephew/campaign manager Ricard Brutus, who got busted for soliciting bribes, Ms. Steril’s good friend and campaign consultant, Maxo Sinal “would make money off the contract.”  By sheer coincidence, Mr. Sinal was “hired by Kaufman Lynn to serve as the community liaison on the project.”  Ironically, a man named Jeff Cazeau, who claims to have recommended Mr. Sinal to Kaufman Lynn, was also Mayor Pierre’s campaign consultant.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

Way back in December of 2011, I started writing about the shenanigans in North Miami City Hall when I dubbed that city the Chicago of the South.  Marie Steril got my attention when “she allegedly rigged a $5 million dollar city bid for a friend.”

And the hits kept coming.

In February, 2012, I noted in OMG! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!, that Marie Steril received a total of $2,000.00 in “campaign donations” from principles of Waste Pro, the private sanitation company that she just happened to vote for to take over the city’s garbage pick-up.  This was in addition to the total of $2,500.00 in “campaign donations” that Mayor Andre Pierre also received from Waste Pro, the company for which he also voted.

As I explained in Back Scratch Fever, “According to Florida Law, it’s perfectly legal to donate to your favorite candidate’s campaign even if you stand to benefit financially by getting that candidate elected or re-elected.  Go figure.”  Well, they might not be illegal, but they certainly do raise eyebrows.

Marie Steril also voted to approve City Manager Stephen Johnson’s contract, despite the fact that the severance package the Mayor had drawn up was illegal.  And she knew it.  She just didn’t care.

In March, 2012, I wrote about North Miami.  Again.  This time the council was about to vote on the land/development deal known as Biscayne Landings, and I reported, “The Miami Herald article referred to also mentioned that North Miami councilwoman Marie Steril has to recuse herself from voting in matters regarding Biscayne Landings (specifically with developer Michael Swerdlow) because, and I hope you’re sitting down, the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust told her she had to.  In a report released March 1, 2012, the Commission’s report stated “because of [Swerdlow’s] recent contributions to her non-profit organization.  Councilwoman Marie Steril is the executive director of The Family Corners, Inc., which provides charitable work in Miami-Dade County and in Haiti. Swerdlow recently contributed $6,000 to the organization … Ethics Commissioners strongly recommended the councilwoman abstain from the issue since the donation indirectly benefited her and could be viewed as influencing her vote.”

Surprisingly, Marie Steril abstained from voting on this issue.

That time, anyway.

The council voted down the proposal that night, but as the Miami Herald reported in N. Miami changes mind, reopens talks with Developer in Biscayne Landing, at the April 10, 2012 council meeting, Ms. Steril forgot she was supposed to recuse herself and voted FOR moving negotiations forward.

Her momentary ethical awakening had passed.  I guess it was a temporary condition.

If all of these things weren’t bad enough, Ms. Steril seems to have gotten herself into yet another pickle.  Again.  Her friend and fellow church member, Martine Saint-Aime, had mooched off the city’s taxpayers for six months.  Ms. Saint-Aime allegedly contracted to purchase the city owned home, and the city agreed to give her early occupancy while she waited to close.  What a sweet deal!  According to the Herald, former North Miami employee Tom Calderon said that “no other buyers were allowed to move into a city for-sale home before they actually purchased the property.”  He was quoted as saying, “That’s not how it works.  It’s because she was Marie’s friend.”

Must be nice to have friends in low places.

Ms. Saint-Aime was scheduled to close on April 30, 2010, but the deal fell through.  The city notified her she had to vacate the premises by June 30, 2010, but she didn’t leave until August of 2010.  In the meantime, another buyer, who contracted to purchase the property, eventually filed a complaint with HUD stating that the city wouldn’t sell her the property “because a non-qualifying tenant will not vacate the property.”

Councilwoman Marie Steril is also under fire for not disclosing that her mother also was able to qualify for one of North Miami’s city owned properties last year.  The Miami Herald’s article stated, “According to HUD rules, elected officials must disclose any family ties to individuals who will benefit from the city-run program and obtain an opinion from the city attorney. Steril did neither.”

In a normal world, the likes of North Miami Councilwoman Marie Steril would never be voted into office once, much less twice.  But in the Chicago of the South, public displays of unethical behavior are just part of the job description.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”