Election day in the Village of El Portal will be nonexistent – and drama free – due to the fact that not a single one of the candidates has a challenger for their respective seats.
As we reported in SHOCKER! El Portal Mayor Claudia Cubillos will step down in November!, Vice Mayor/Mayor-Elect Omarr Nickerson, Councilperson Anders Urbom and Councilperson Luis Pirela are all running unopposed.
We’ve already proven on numerous occasions that Claudia is a serial liar. And, as you’re about to see, she is bound and determined to lie to the bitter end.
At minute 42:17 in the video of the August 4, 2020 Special Meeting of the El Portal Village Council, she brought up the occupational licenses, and said, “Hey, I own a business here. And I, for one, and actually I called on another note, ’cause I wanted to know when was the last time I paid the business tax. And, so I did and I, I, my business did, but it’s not just me, and every little thing, and for my business it’s $53.00 a year. Um, so I went ahead and I made sure I was all up to date with that.”
WATCH!
Except she lied.
On August 5, 2020, the day after that meeting, we made a public records request for “copies of all business licenses for Start Young Finish Strong, LLC, d/b/a Ms. Claudia’s Village Academy from January 1, 2011 through the present date.”
And we waited.
We followed up by emails on September 2, 2020 and again on September 30, 2020, to inquire about our request.
On October 2, 2020, we finally received the documentation we requested.
Although Ms. Claudia’s Village Academy began doing business on April 21, 2011, Claudia didn’t pay a business license fee until March 11, 2015.
It wasn’t until September 25, 2020, a month and ten days after we made our public records request, that Claudia paid $807.32.
We emailed Village Manager Christia Alou for clarification as to what years these payments were for, and we received the following response:
We’re not really sure what that even means, but we do know that on the date Mayor Claudia Cubillos publicly announced that she “was all up to date” with her business license fees …
SHE FLAT OUT LIED!
Again!
But, wait. THERE’S MORE!
We subsequently found out that the reason our public records request took so long to fulfill is that the Building Department Coordinator, Miriam Herrera, who normally handled business licenses, was caught in the middle of some drama with the Village Manager. On September 14, 2020, Ms. Herrera was pushed to the brink and sent this email to Ms. Alou:
In response, Village Manager Alou emailed her back, “I am sorry things did not work out for you at the Village of El Portal. You will be contacted by Office Administrator Abril with exiting information and to coordinate the return of Village of El Portal property. I hope you are recovering, and I wish you the best in future endeavors”
Ms. Herrera was not done yet.
The next day, she sent an email to Ms. Alou, telling her that she did not leave willingly, but that she was “left with no other choice.”
More specifically, Ms. Herrera wrote, “I was given a verbal directive by you and asked to do things which in my opinion are unethical procedures as it came to a particular business license and public record request.”
Well, isn’t that interesting?
While we don’t know for sure exactly what “verbal directive” the Village Manager gave to the now-former Building Department Coordinator, or what “unethical procedures” she was asked to do, we do know that at the time Ms. Herrera resigned on September 14, 2020, Mayor Claudia Cubillos had not paid any business license fees for five years, despite publicly claiming on August 5, 2020 that she “was all up to date with that.”
Since Claudia’s reign of terror term as Mayor will finally be over on November 3, 2020, it’s not worth our time to file a complaint against her with the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. Sooner or later, Claudia will get exactly what she deserves.
As will her lying little sidekick, Vimari Roman, who’s also stepping down from the dais at the end of her term next month.
El Portal residents should be more concerned with the alleged “unethical procedures” Village Manager Christia Alou may be directing her employees to commit. Hopefully, Ms. Herrera will be seeking legal remedy so that the truth will eventually be revealed.
El Portal residents deserve better.
Stephanie
For someone to go so far out of their way to hide seemingly minor negligence of personal responsibility, I wonder what they’re actually trying to hide!
I’m sure she’s hiding plenty. Politicians like her learn to cover their tracks well.
When your opening statement refers to “El Portal” and their “Election Day will be non-existent”…is this a warning sign that with alleged Gov’t. “helpfulness” using experienced and manipulative “POLITICIANS” in the background (including an Attorney and a “former” fired (2005-2006) El Portal Village Clerk/ presently (+/-) 12 yr. (BHI) Town Councilman), Bay Harbor Islands will be next to have a “non-existent” Town Election?
*Note: (BHI) Council refuses “VOTING” Term Limits and an Elected Town Mayor!
I like to thank you for putting this out there. I’m an El Portal resident and I have had issues at the Village regarding my Blue prints and fees that I paid to get a digital copy back in 2016. The blue prints were lost by the Village and the Village still has not provided me with a refund and a copy of the blue prints.
Lit’s been 5 years of trying to get this issue resolve. the village manager Ms. Alou contacted me to make an appt to have someone come over to my home to take all measurements to re-do prints back in August-Sept and as of today I have not heard from Ms Alou.
Maybe you can help find a solution to my Problem or let me know who to contact
Lucia