While ten out of 42,000 North Miami Beach residents showed up for a demonstration demanding better public safety, four out of seven Council Members decided that the City Attorney must go.
I see we all have our priorities straight.
Considering that on average ten percent of registered voters bother to voice their opinions at the polls, I shouldn’t be surprised that gunfire in the streets of NMB elicits nothing but yawns.
The bigger shock, however, is that last night Darcee Siegel got fired. The details are still sketchy, but the word is that Marlen Martell made the motion, G̶e̶o̶r̶g̶e̶ ̶V̶a̶l̶l̶e̶j̶o̶ L’il Frantzie P seconded, and Tony DeFillipo and L̶’̶i̶l̶ ̶F̶r̶a̶n̶t̶z̶i̶e̶ ̶P̶ George Vallejo went along. Phyllis Smith, Barbara Kramer and Beth Spiegel (who stormed out of the room after the head count) voted against the motion.
No one on the dais had a clue what the Assistant City Attorney’s name was, but she got the job anyway.
Hey, Dotie Joseph:
After they stabbed her in the back, the City Council told Darcee:
As soon as I find out all the dirt about this latest dust up at City Hall, you’ll be the first to know.
Still scratching my head over this one.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
(Updated: 10:21 AM)
It was actually seconded by Pierre who did so “for discussion,” then promptly walked to the “lunchroom.” In Martell’s motion, she precluded it with trying to give City Manager Garcia a cooperative team.
Spiegel was the first to speak and asked where did this come from and gave Darcy her vote of confidence after saying this was not the right time due to the major litigation going on with Braha Dixie and the pension issues. She also accused a conspiracy with the City Manager to have this happen.
Smith also defended Darcy and explained that Darcy was always there when she called whether it was 7:30 in the morning or 11 at night. In fact when she tried to call CM Garcia to let her know she was running a few minutes late for Council Conference, she didn’t answer, but Darcy did.
Martell brought up 2 items, Former City Manager Bonner’s pension situation and Marina Palms. I can’t remember any thing else she said at this time.
Pierre and DeFillipo remained silent. Vallejo than spoke, and even after showing shock when the motion was made, he said after Martell brought up Marina Palms, he remembered that Siegel violated the City Charter by hiring outside council w/o City Council approval. He then said even though he doesn’t know how the other council members would vote, he was going to support her motion.
They went through a second round of discussion with Spiegel again reiterating about the pending litigation, and Darcy having 7 bosses. While every council member thinks they deserve a yes to every request, it doesn’t happen and they should not let personal feelings make this decision. Almost every litigation Darcy has handled resulted in the City coming out on the better side than it could have. When she has attended League of Cities’ meetings, Darcy has a very good reputation and the League of Cities has actually consulted with her in reference to many different legal issues. Other cities would jump at the chance of having Darcy as their City Attorney. Smith also reiterated her support for Darcy with several points. Finally Kramer had something to say as well. (by this time I can’t recall except she had a few questions as well). Finally, Mayor Vallejo called for a vote by a show of hands. Martell, Vallejo, and DeFillipo raised theirs. Pierre said he needed a moment and looked like he was agonizing and prayed over his decision, Vallejo said it was time to vote and he raised his hand to join the other three. Darcy was done and Spiegel immediately made a motion to adjourn, which Vallejo denied saying they had to appoint an acting City Attorney. None of the council knew the Asst. City Attorney names and Darcy had to help them and let then know Dotie had the longest tenure at approx. 18 months (Be advised you misstated Asst. City Manager above) and they decided to appoint her at that point. Since Spiegel had walked out at that time and Smith followed her saying she was going to the bathroom, it was a 5-0 vote to appoint.
FYI, I saw DeFillipo in the hall immediately after adjournment and asked what happened, he said tough meeting. That was the fastest I had ever seen him leave after a meeting as he was gone when I got downstairs just minutes later.
The question is where does the city go from here? Has there been friction between the City Attorney and City Manager? I never saw it and this totally surprised me as well.
I fixed the CM/CA typo as soon as I could. I also corrected who seconded the motion. Thanks for the detailed version!
I don’t know if anybody cares about what happens in NMB anymore either..
But, I care!
(I honestly believe you do too!)
And, if I Had to name one OTHER person? Darcy would be THAT person!
If anybody told me that the entire Council sprouted wings & flew to Pluto.. I’d believe them & say bon voyage.
But to hear any reason for Darcy to Leave (other then her own good sense) has to be the WTF question of the CENTURY!
Peter, I have my theories on why this happened, but until I do further research, I’m keeping them to myself. All I can say right now is, “WTF?”
Priorities?
Almost 2 hours of yabbing on a variance for house in Eastern shores to go 6 feet higher. THAT issue brought out the movers and shakers en masse, and Council played to cameras.
When a tree falls in ES, the Council hears it.
Geez Megeez.
That is sad, but true.
Who cares who the city attorney is? Or if someone answers Smith’s phone calls (from what i Know of her, her calls would go right into voice mail if she ever called me).
Please, please just make our streets safer and lower my freaking taxes!
Some nicer parks and more code enforcement would be nice, too.
But maybe that’s too much to ask.
Good luck with that.
You should care who your city is, that’s who. Your city attorney is the front line of defense for frivolous lawsuits and bad decisions that determine how the city doles out your tax dollars. Your city attorney defends cases that would otherwise be settled or potentially pay out huge of sums of money. Seriously, you care about your safety and tax dollars and you’re that short sighted? Your safety is also directly tied into city ordinances that are reviewed by your city attorney before being brought to council.
Jeez, they walk amongst us, and vote too.
WOW, unfortunately, I think the City Council made the worst, by far the worst decision to let Ms Siegel go, she is a consummate professional, is very HIGHLY respected in the local government city attorney circles. Why is that so many city officials have left lately? Community Redevelopment Agency quit, Sharri Kamili, Public Works/Public operations left, Comm Dev Director Mr. Erik Reil left and the These folks are all Dept Heads. This is not cleaning house, these are new employees who see the writing on the wall, the City Council wall (maybe an Eastern Shores Wall)
North Miami Beach has so much potential, please, this is not the track to take. I wish NMB the best, we deserve better.
I am so sorry to hear what happened to Darcee. She is the consummate professional and was a huge asset to NMB. It is our loss.