The boom is about to be lowered on the City of Opa-locka, and no one can say they didn’t see it coming.

In Opa-locka’s ‘shell game’ masked millions in debt, the Miami Herald revealed that for years the city has been run Robin Hood-style – by stealing from one fund to pay the debts of another.  This Ponzi-like scheme, which is now being investigated by both the FBI and the SEC, has finally caught up with the city.

Not one mention, however, is made of the former city manager, who brought his very special brand of creative budgeting from North Miami Beach, where he effectively depleted that city’s water department reserves to balance the budget for years.  Opa-locka’s current financial disaster has Kelvin Baker written all over it.

The Miami Herald may not have named Baker as the culprit, but in column after column after column after column about Opa-locka, I specifically pointed a finger at Kelvin as being at the main cause of the city’s current financial problems.  Not that the Mayor and Commission paid any attention.  Despite my warnings from the very beginning, the Mayor and Commissioners were only too happy to hire the man who single-handedly ruined the City of North Miami Beach water utility’s AA Fitch rating and who oversaw that city’s biggest heist of tax dollars by an employee in the history of NMB.

One could say that Opa-locka got what it deserved.  This is a city that is no stranger to corruption.

As far back as 1976, in its fall term the Grand Jury’s investigation of Opa-locka revealed “a widespread pattern of blatant mismanagement of the city government and pubic funds entrusted to it, corruption and venal politics.”

The report includes findings that the city officials approved deals without following proper bidding procedures, awarded contracts to questionable firms, awarded payments under illegal contracts, and had “improper contact with City employees.”

The Grand Jury also found corruption involved in “the construction of the Opa-locka Public Works Building, the renovation of the Opa-Locka Public Safety Building and the operation of the City’s Water and Sewer Department and Police Department.”

Some things never change.

Indictments were eventually handed down against the sitting mayor, a commissioner, three police officers and a “political crony” who was heavily involved in Opa-locka’s rampant corruption.

Interestingly, the Grand Jury singled out the city’s police department, listing specific examples of corruption eerily reminiscent of the same problems currently plaguing the North Miami Police Department.  This could explain why former NMPD officers Jeffrey Key and Peter Cruz fit in so well at the Opa-locka Police Department when they were recruited by Kelvin Baker in March of 2013.

The Grand Jury cited examples of corruption that included a Commissioner who interfered with police business after his friend was arrested, another Commissioner who frequently met with members of a “clique” within the department outside the city to conduct police business, and a political crony described as “a confidante” of some of the Commissioners and who had “the run of the police department with access to all areas at his pleasure.”

Boy, does that sound familiar, eh?  Right down to the political crony-slash-lobbyist currently allowed to run rampant at the North Miami Police Department and City Hall.

Meanwhile, Opa-locka is now in the cross hairs of two federal agencies.

The Miami Herald article reiterated Opa-locka’s problems, including its $8 million budget hole, deliberate misappropriation of funds, loss of county funding, and illegal spending of the police department’s forfeiture money.

Furthermore, the Herald reported, “”Just last week, a local Harley Davidson dealership refused to return a police motorcycle that was brought in for servicing because the city had not paid the lease since May — this, in a city with one of the highest crime rates in Miami-Dade.”

The article also revealed even more troubling matters, such as the fact that Opa-locka actually leases SUVs for each of the Commissioners at a cost of “more than $50,000 a year.”

In addition, Commissioner Luis Santiago, who is currently under investigation for campaign finance fraud, came “under fire after calling for $300 Christmas bonuses for all employees earning less than $30,000 a year — just two months after the phone lines to City Hall were shut off because the bill wasn’t paid.”

Despite the complete irresponsibility and sheer idiocy of the current Mayor and Commission, keep in mind that these problems didn’t happen overnight.  Until five months ago, the person who ran Opa-locka for three years was none other than Kelvin Baker.  While Opa-locka has always been beset with one scandal after another, it was under Baker’s watch that the state of the city’s finances jumped on the fast track to financial collapse.

In January, the city decided to buy an $8 million dollar building designed to be their new Town Hall, but hid the city’s “gaping budget deficits” to investors.  Because almost half the financing was attained through public bonds, this failure to disclose deficiencies alerted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which launched its own investigation.

But, most troubling of all is the manner in which “year after year, city officials unlawfully plugged budget holes by shifting millions reserved for roads and police to make it appear the city could pay its bills, such as payroll costs at city hall,” the Herald reported.  They took $800,000.00 of county surtax money and also violated federal law by illegally tapping into the police department’s forfeiture fund, draining it of $340,000.00.  “To this day, city officials cannot provide a breakdown of how the surtax and forfeiture funds were spent,” according to the Herald.

All of these problems were initiated while Kelvin Baker was the City Manager of Opa-locka.  No one should have been surprised.  This type of “management” is exactly  his style.

While at the City of North Miami Beach, not only did Baker deplete the North Miami Beach water department’s reserves, but (like he did in Opa-locka) he also misspent over $175,000.00 of the NMBPD’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund, which the city was forced to repay out of its general fund.

Local media may not have yet connected the dots, but I’m guessing it’s just a matter of time before the feds figure out that Kelvin Baker is responsible for most, if not all of Opa-locka’s current financial problems.

Meanwhile, the City of Lauderdale Lakes recently put out the welcome mat for Kelvin Baker and gave him the moon.

Just watch what happens there.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”