North Miami Beach mayoral candidate Ray Marin wants you to believe that he was the best Mayor in the history of the city, and that his administration was scandal-free.
In his most recent campaign email to NMB voters, Marin wrote:
As stated once before. No scandals of elected officials during my time. No arrests or charges of elected officials during my time. A stable senior staff, rather than one that was changed as though they were our socks. Never a mention or thought that NMB was corrupt, let alone the second (2nd) most corrupt City in all of Miami-Dade County.
I am proud of the achievements I brought to the residents of our City. So should you be. We did these things working together as a collegial team and without selfish interests.
The facts, however, tell a different story.
The Scandal
Despite his claim that he “built and opened a brand new ‘reverse osmosis’ water plant, one that in just a few short years my opponent and his colleagues ‘ran to failure’,” the truth is that Ray Marin’s administration was such a disaster, the North Miami Beach utility was destined for failure.
Under former Mayor Ray Marin’s watch, in June of 2008, he and his colleagues plucked the terminally incompetent Kelvin Baker from Public Services and appointed him as interim City Manager, and as permanent City Manager three months later. In August of 2008, with Ray’s blessing, Baker promoted Martin King to take his place as Director of Public Services. King then went on to embezzle over $2.2 million from the city in what has become the biggest heist of public funds in the history of North Miami Beach, and possibly all of Miami-Dade County.
On May 14, 2010, Martin King resigned after suspicions arose that he approved purchase orders for materials that were never delivered.
On September 13, 2010, in Manhole mystery: 254 tunnels missing in North Miami Beach, the Sun Sentinel reported:
Over a four-year period, the city contracted with a construction company to build 254 manholes — access tunnels to utility pipes 8 to 10 feet below street level.
No one — not the city public services department, the City Council or residents — appears to know when, where, or if the manholes, part of a $2.2 million project, were ever built.
And:
The city does not know if over 22,500 feet — more than four miles — of water pipes and sewer pipes it paid for were ever laid. Or if 142 valves used to shut off flow to water pipes were ever installed.
The money for the project was paid to construction firm Jackson Land Development, based in Pompano Beach. Company officials did not return calls seeking comment.
The mystery of the missing work arose after the city hired an engineering firm to examine the spending of Martin King, the city’s public services director who oversaw the water and sewer work now being questioned.
And:
King’s case casts a spotlight on lax oversight in North Miami Beach and the ability of city employees to sign off on projects without a supervisor’s approval.
The most recent breakdowns are underscored in a 15-page audit of the city’s public services department by the Fort Lauderdale engineering firm Chen & Associates. The audit — which the city provided to The Miami Herald after originally denying a public-records request for weeks — detailed several problems: missing spreadsheets, duplicate purchase orders, no record of where the work was performed.
The report asked hard questions about the $782,000 the city spent on installing manholes from 2006 to 2010.
After a five month investigation, during which even more tax dollars were discovered to have been stolen, on February 16, 2011 Marty King was arrested, and charged with racketeering, money laundering, and grand theft third degree, to which he pleaded guilty in a Change of Plea and Plea Agreement he made with the Miami State Attorney’s Office.
On March 29, 2011, Marty King was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay back $2.3 million in restitution. CBS Miami reported that, “King moved about $2.3 million to a company owned by his wife over the course of 12 years. It was money that was supposed to be used to purchase hundreds of manholes, which remained uninstalled.” King’s wife, Rita, was not criminally charged.
Remember, Ray Marin was first elected to the City Council in 1989. He successfully ran for Mayor in May of 2005, and was “retired” by voters in May of 2009. For 12 long years, under Ray Marin’s watch, Marty King robbed the city and its utility blind by embezzling millions of dollars from the public coffers. Little wonder the water utility couldn’t come up with the money to upgrade or replace its crumbling infrastructure.
But Ray will tell you there were absolutely no scandals while he was in office.
As you can see, he’s lying.
The Mismanagement
You may have heard that the water utility will now be billing customers monthly instead of quarterly. The latest concern is that the bills will now include a monthly base charge of approximately $10.00 per meter, and that customers will now be paying $10.00 a month instead of $10.00 a quarter, thus paying approximately $80.00 more a year more for water.
Ray Marin and some of the other candidates are ranting and raving about this alleged “rip-off” of utility customers, and that the windfall will be “lining the pockets of a private company.”
As usual, the truth tells a different story.
And, as usual, Ray doesn’t want you to know the truth.
Prior to 1969, water customers were billed on a monthly basis, then it was changed to a quarterly billing. Chapter XIX, Article II, Sec. 19-11.3(a)(1) of the North Miami Beach City Charter states, “There shall be a minimum charge per billing unit of nine dollars and seventy-eight cents ($9.78) for single-family and eleven dollars and thirty-two cents ($11.32) for multi-family and nonresidential meters.” Utility customers were paying nearly $10.00 per month for the use of their meters.
During Ray Marin’s term on the dais in 1992, in yet another example of mismanagement of his administration, North Miami Beach officials dropped the ball and neglected to account for this $9.78 per month, per quarter meter charge, and only billed $9.78 per quarter.
As a result, the City of North Miami Beach lost revenue of $78.24 per customer, per year for 26 years and counting! To date, this asinine mistake has cost taxpayers approximately $110 million in lost revenue to the water utility.
Ironically, because of the colossal mismanagement of the water utility and general infrastructure of the city by Ray Marin’s administration, that lost revenue could have nearly paid for the $120 million now needed for capital improvements.
Even more ironically, that mistake was caught by the professionals at Jacobs as they unraveled decades of screw-ups at the water utility – the very company Ray would like to fire so he can put his incompetent cronies back in charge.
Not only did Jacobs discover this mistake, it became incumbent on the current administration – especially the courageous Anthony DeFillipo – to do the right thing and fix this 26-year mistake, even though they were fully aware that their challengers would take cheap shots at them during the election.
But that’s not even the worst of it. You might need more than just popcorn for this one!
The Incompetence
In 2008, while Ray Marin was Mayor, the water utility purchased a massive generator for the sum of $1,000,000.00.
There’s just one problem.
THIS GENERATOR IS ILLEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES!
In fact, there’s a warning bolted right to the generator itself!
In essence, the North Miami Beach water utility is the proud owner of a ONE MILLION DOLLAR PAPERWEIGHT!
And one that has never been used.
We’re awfully suspicious that at the time this useless generator was purchased, Marty King was the Director of Public Services while he was embezzling $2.2 million.
It makes you wonder if this purchase was only the result of sheer incompetence or something more sinister. Some criminality, perhaps? Did someone else line their pockets over this fraudulent purchase?
Just asking.
This election season has brought so many lies and so much hysteria about the water utility to the forefront.
Well, here’s a piece of good news that has yet to be publicized.
In a November 1, 2018 press release, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that North Miami Beach is in line to receive a $62 million in matching federal funds to go towards the $126 million estimated cost of the Regional Potable Water Improvements project under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA).
According to the EPA, “The purpose of North Miami Beach Water’s Regional Potable Water Improvements project is to improve overall reliability of the water supply, treatment and distribution systems and reduce the frequency of pressure drops in the water distribution system and main breaks.”
How weird is it that no one at City Hall has even breathed a word about this news?
Hmmm.
The same way city officials are deliberately staying mum about the non-existent water rate increase, it appears that they are also keeping this announcement under wraps until after the votes are tallied on Tuesday.
Makes you wonder which of those city officials are playing politics in an attempt to influence the election.
Just saying.
It should be clear by now that a vote for Ray Marin is a vote to bring North Miami Beach back to the dark ages of the NMB Good Old Boys Club.
Where the shades are always drawn, deals are made behind closed doors, and the sun never shines.
On November 6, 2018 …
Help Ray Marin stay “retired” and …
PLEASE VOTE RESPONSIBLY!
Stephanie
