Did you know that the City of North Miami actually has a “Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance?”  Neither did I.  Nor does North Miami’s mayor, Andre Pierre.  Apparently.

Had Monsieur Pierre bothered to check his own city’s Charter, he would have noted that Article XI, Sec. 2-310, spells out its Ordinance in glorious detail, citing:

“This article shall be applicable to all city personnel as defined below, and shall also constitute a standard of ethical conduct and behavior for all autonomous personnel, quasi-judicial personnel, advisory personnel and departmental personnel.”

Subsection (c) even more succinctly states:

“No person included in the terms defined in subsections 2-310(b)(1) through (6) and in subsection (b)(9) shall enter into any contract or transact any business in which that person or a member of the immediate family has a financial interest, direct or indirect with the City of North Miami or any person or agency acting for the City of North Miami, and any such contract, agreement or business engagement entered in violation of this subsection shall render the transaction voidable. Willful violation of this subsection shall constitute malfeasance in office and shall effect forfeiture of office or position.”

This Ordinance is further drummed into the collective intelligence of the North Miami’s “elite” by way of Article XVIII, Sec. 191, entitled “Personal interest in contracts of city,” which states:

“No member of the council or any officer or employee of the city shall have a financial interest, direct or indirect or by reason of ownership of stock in any corporation, in any contract or in the sale to the city, or to a contractor supplying the city, of any land or rights or interests in any land, material, supplies or services. Any wilful [sic] violation of this section shall constitute malfeasance in office, and any officer or employee of the city found guilty thereof shall thereby forfeit his office or position. Any violation of this section with the knowledge express or implied of the person or corporation contracting with the city shall render the contract voidable by the city manager or the council.”

Based on the above excerpts from the Charter of the City North Miami, it seems to me there’s been a whole lot of violating going on since Andre Pierre took office.  Considering that he still has nearly five months of his term to serve, I’m guessing he’ll have a whole lot more violating to do.

Andre’s not the only person in the City of North Miami who’s been conveniently ignoring this Ordinance.  As I reported in Honor Among Thieves, Public Works Director Aleem Ghany seems to have used his position to secure Bids for Friends and Family, most notably an $800,000.00 job at Biscayne Landing for Faustin Denis, Jr., the General Manager of IMECO, Inc., which company also managed to score a $99,000.00 sidewalk clean-up gig for North Miami as a precursor to a $$270,980.60 job entitled “Pioneer Boulevard Streetscape Improvement Project.”  As an aside, this would be the same Faustin J. Denis, Jr. who is scheduled to stand trial on February 4, 2013 on FOUR FELONY RACKETEERING CHARGES.  All that North Miami Taxpayer Money will sure come in handy when he gets his criminal attorney’s bill!

In North Miami, knowing the right people really pays off.  Literally.

Andre Pierre’s colleague, councilwoman Marie Steril, apparently hasn’t read the Charter, either.  Last summer she got caught also helping Friends and Family help themselves to North Miami Taxpayer Money.  First, she was able to obtain rent-free housing for six months for one of her good friends and fellow church members.  Then she was able to secure financing for her mother under a Neighborhood Stabilization Program run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Marie’s friend simply moved out of the North Miami home when she was good and ready, costing the taxpayers little more than chump change.  But in the case of Marie’s mother, the city is now being required by HUD to pay out a whopping $154,802.02 in penalties and fees because Madame Steril decided she didn’t have to comply with Federal Laws by disclosing her relationship to the buyer.  That buyer being chère vieille maman.  Aside from a completely incompetent staff headed up by Maxine Calloway, the city’s director of Community and Planning Development, who obviously doesn’t have the capacity to comprehend the North Miami City Charter, as an elected official of North Miami, Ms. Steril should have known better.

Then again, considering there will be ABSOLUTELY NO CONSEQUENCES to the councilwoman’s violation of the city’s Charter, she obviously does know better.  Marie “Antoinette” Steril keeps getting whatever she wants – silly little Ordinances be damned!  Considering this wasn’t the first time she’s violated the Conflict of Interest Ordinance (see here, here, and most recently, here), one wonders if she’s ever met an interest that doesn’t conflict with her own.  The interests she certainly does not look out for are those of the North Miami Taxpayers.  Let them eat cake!

As I reported to you on Christmas Eve in Feliz Noche Buena!, Andre Pierre is now under the gun for yet another Conflict of Interest with respect to a development deal in Haiti known as Petite Cayemite, and a development deal in North Miami known as (you guessed it!) Biscayne Landing.

Apparently, in PierreWorld, all Conflict of Interest roads that don’t lead to Haiti lead to Biscayne Landing.

Traveling right down that road with Hizzoner are the usual suspects, Michael Swerdlow and the Cherubin Brothers, who also have ties to both Petite Cayemite and Biscayne Landing.

None of whom obviously give a damn about the Charter of the City of North Miami.

As long as North Miami Taxpayer Money keeps rolling in, they don’t need no stinkin’ Charter.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”