The North Miami Mayor and Council are so desperate for voters to approve their $120 million dollar General Obligation Bond, (a/k/a GO Bond!) they’re doing everything they can to sell their vanity project to the residents.  City officials have dispatched a small army of snake oil salesmen to convince voters that the only way you can save North Miami from economic disaster is to vote for this bond.

The fact that this impending doom was created by the very same city officials pushing this massive debt on residents is apparently beside the point.  Nevertheless, the GO Bond campaign is in full swing.

Wancito Francius, a former (and unsuccessful) District 3 candidate, recently claimed on Haitian radio (Alex Saint Surin, 1700 AM) that money from the GO Bond will be set aside to help residents pay for their electric bills.

Wait, what?

We emailed Mr. Francius asking him to confirm whether or not he said this on the radio, and whether or not it was true.

Mr. Francius wrote back (and we quote), “All my are live on Facebook, nonetheless,I was say if we have to vote for a bond, most have something back for example hep the community pay their bills like electrify etc. I don’t get pay to talk, I still have my freedom. I will answer your question tomorrow night on Radio mega from 9:00 to 10:00 pm. Thank you.”

Huh?

Obviously, we had absolutely no intention of wasting an hour of our time listening to Wancito Francius.  And as far as we’re concerned, he already answered the question.

We’re unclear where he got the idea that GO Bond money will “hep the community pay their bills,” but that item is certainly not mentioned anywhere in the proposed GO Bond’s four areas of focus.

We also never accused him of any “pay for play” scheme, even though he apparently felt compelled to defend an imaginary accusation that he’s paid “to talk.”

City officials, however, are most certainly paying quite a few other people “to talk” on their behalf.  They’ve even contracted with six radio stations to run “public service announcements” in order to hawk the bond.

On April 1, 2018, the City of North Miami entered into one (1) year Professional Services (Consulting) Agreements with:

1. Good Morning Haiti, LLC, the parent company for Radio Mega, for “ten minutes segments per month,” at a rate of $400.00 per month.
2. PBN Media Info Plus, for “3 min live info on 1700 AM weekly,” at a rate of $450.00 per month.
3. Atenne L’independence, Inc. (which does not exist as a Florida corporation, so WTF?), for “air commercial spots Saturday morning on 1320am” and “ten minutes for live presentation by a representative of” North Miami, at a rate of $350.00 per month.
4. Zafe Pa Nou, Inc., “where the city will talk for 10 minutes once a month” and “15 minutes on 1320 AM WLQY,” at a rate of $500.00 per month.
5. The Business Corner, LLC., for “radio advertising, 15 minutes per month,” and “Two free PSA’s a month,” at a rate of $500.00 per month.
6. Radio Kalbas, LLC, for “5 minutes twice a month: Live Or Recording By the City Of North Miami Representatives,” at a rate of $400.00 per month.

It’s no coincidence that all six of these agreements were executed on April 1, 2018 — exactly one month before the May 1, 2018 special election.  These Professional Services cost taxpayers $2,600.00 per month.  If they remain in effect for the entire twelve months, the total price tag will be $31,200.00.

Considering that each agreement gives the City of North Miami the right to terminate by giving the consultant thirty (30) days written notice, chances are they’ll be cancelled soon after the election.

For now, however, City officials are pulling out all the stops to promote the General Obligation Bond “education.”

At the April 10, 2018 meeting (minute 21:53), the first real item of business on the Agenda was entitled “GO Bond Information.”

Deputy City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey launched into a four minute presentation, directly advocating and promoting this proposed hot mess of a bond.

He recapped all the Taxpayer Funded Propaganda Events, a/k/a “GO Bond Educational Highlights,” in order to “deliver the educational message to the stakeholders in the community … the people that residents look up to.”

He further explained that the city had to arm these “stakeholders” with “the correct information … so they can share with individuals, and telling individuals what the message are [sic].  Basically they’re trainings [sic] for these individuals to educate them on how to discuss the bond and what we’re doing.”

In other words, “North Miami voters don’t know what’s best for them — but we sure do!”

In order to push this bond through, the City of North Miami is spending (or will spend) $108,350.00 of your tax dollars on its “GO Bond Educational Campaign.”

At least, that’s the amount the “Duke” anticipates spending out of the $110,000.00 campaign budget that the Mayor and Council approved.

This doesn’t even begin to cover the HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAR price tag for the special election they rushed to schedule on May 1, 2018 … instead of waiting only three more months  until August, when the county will hold its regular statewide primary election, at less than half the cost.

Just saying.

Regardless of whether or not Wancito Francius, or these other “stakeholders,” are paid or unpaid GO Bond pushers, the real question is this:  Do you honestly believe North Miami city officials will spend ONE HUNDRED TWENTY MILLION of your tax dollars wisely?

If you said “yes,” or if you even had to think about it, you haven’t been paying attention.

Ask your Mayor and Council how they spent the $20 million they received in 2014 from Oleta Partners when they sold 50 acres of Biscayne Landfill, er, we mean, Biscayne Landing.

Then ask them how they spent the $22 million dollars they received less than a year later from the Soffer and LeFrak families for another 55 acres for the purpose of redeveloping the 183-acre site formerly known as Biscayne Landing and now called SoLē Mia.

Despite all the millions raked in from the former toxic wasteland known as the Munisport Landfill, the City of North Miami has literally run out of money.

What a shock!

Considering that this Mayor and Council “needs” over $1.1 million a year alone just for the care, feeding and maintenance of a five member government, imagine how fast they’ll blow through 120 million dollars.  With only 3 full-time employees (three Constituent Services Coordinators), this is one of the city’s smallest of its 17 departments.

Yet, it costs more to run the Mayor and Council’s office than it does to run the entire North Miami Public Library, which has 9 full-time employees, and more than twice the budget for the Purchasing Department, which has 4 full-time employees.

The positions of Mayor and Council are supposed to be  part-time jobs.

The annual base salary alone for the Mayor is $59,880.00.  He also receives $10,000.00 for travel and $17,640.00 for auto, phone and other expenses.  In addition, the City pays $540.00 for his tablet data plan, $10,527.18 for his health insurance, $7,765.69 for his Social Security taxes, $27,245.40 to his retirement account, and $6,270.00 for mayors’ conferences, bringing the Mayor’s total compensation package to $139,868.27.

The City also pays the Mayor’s part-time (29 hours per week) Constituent Service Aide an annual salary of $23,992.28, who also has a discretionary fund of $7,000.00 at his disposal.

In total, taxpayers are shelling out an outrageous $170,860.00 to keep a part-time Mayor in his seat.

The price tag for three of the four part-time Council members is $138,586.00 each, and one costs $140,386.00 due to a slightly higher group insurance expense, or a total of $556,144.00.

The remaining $413,542.00 of the Mayor and Council’s $1,140,546.00 budget goes toward typical office expenses, such as “Keys to the City, black velvet presentation boxes for keys to the City, engraved plates, lapel pins, special photographs, certificate paper, certificate holders, proclamation envelopes, Government-in-the-Sunshine manuals, fax toner cartridges, refreshments and paper products for meetings, special event cakes, etc.,” general office supplies, copier, postage, expenses for leagues of cities conferences, car and cell phone allowances, and $7,686.00 a year “debt service” on the bond for “Pension Obligation” that voters passed in 2010 which they’re still paying for.

Imagine that!

But, hey.  Go ahead and vote to give them ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILLION of your dollars for them to flush down the toilets in the brand new City Hall they plan to build for themselves – a vanity project they actually believe will only cost $29 million.

City officials thought it was so clever to refer to the General Obligation Bond as the GO Bond.

They even spent taxpayer money to make these self-promotional campaign signs to plant all over the city.

We decided to come up with a few clever acronyms and campaign signs of our own:

The GOYW Bond

The SUYM Bond

The BOCH Bond

In response to the Pro-GO Bond brigade, we also created something for North Miami residents to use.

The GTFO Bond

‘Nuff said for now.

To be continued…

Stephanie