We’re old enough to remember when the City of North Miami Beach was run by actual professionals who understood the meaning of public service, cared about the residents’ needs, spent taxpayer money wisely, and knew how to speak intelligibly.

Well, that ship has sailed.

Commission meetings now consist of the moronic majority of elected officials smirking during public comment, legislating a plethora of costly self-promoting events, and assaulting the intelligence of everyone in the room with lies, stupid comments, and the grammar of preschoolers.

Ever since the day their amoral, unethical houseboy, City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey, took control of the City’s checkbook, their plundering of the coffers began in earnest.

For starters, we prepared a spreadsheet using a list of invoices paid in May, 2021 that Mayor Anthony DeFillipo had to literally wrest from Duke’s clutched fists.  In just one month the City spent an unprecedented $39,703.83 on “special events.”

The annual Mother’s Day Celebration, which was initiated by the late Councilwoman Jacqueline H. Smith over 20 years ago, and subsequently organized by former Commissioner Beth Speigel, once again came in well under its $5,000 budget at $4,054.24, thanks to Commissioner Fortuna Smukler, who is currently the liaison for the Commission on the Status of Women.

For some reason, this event wasn’t important enough for the City to post on its website calendar.

Paule Villard’s newly conceived Father’s Day Celebration is, however, already posted and scheduled for Friday, June 25, 2021 — five days after the actual holiday, but just in time to celebrate Haitian Father’s Day.  Is anyone surprised?

Fortuna needn’t have bothered being fiscally conscientious with her signature event considering the outrageous, non-budgeted extravagances committed by her free-spending colleagues, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean, a/k/a Team Apocalypse.

A total of $30,365.41, or three-quarters of the nearly $40,000 May expenditure, was spent on Haitian Heritage Month events, including $15,791.81 on police and employee overtime just for for the Haitian Heritage Culture Festival on May 29, 2021.

And those are only the expenses that we know of.

Apparently, Mayor DeFillipo did not receive all of the invoices for the month of May.  We will update this article if, and when, he ever does get his hands on them.  Don’t hold your breath in the meantime.

We know records were withheld because, for one thing, there were no invoices included for the actual “patties” being given away at Daniela Jean’s May 18, 2021 “Patties on the Plaza” event, which invited attendees to “Come grab a flaky and delicious Haitian pâté in celebration of Haitian Flag Day Drive-up.”

Daniela did, however, manage to spend $895.00 for … BALLOONS!

The invoices also conveniently did not include the cost of music by dISIP, the featured band that performed at the Haitian Heritage Culture Festival.

We’d love to tell you that these glaring omissions were simply an oversight on behalf of the City, but we know better.

With Duke Sorey’s history of micromanaging every City department in North Miami, we have no doubt he’s brought his infamous Leave No Paper Trail Policy with him to NMB.

In contrast to all the extravagant spending on Haitian events, only $850.00 was allocated to Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month by the City’s actual Multicultural Committee.

Worse, a paltry $85.37 was spent on a single event commemorating Jewish American Heritage Month.

Of course, this should surprise no one that Jewish residents are being completely ignored by Team Apocalypse since Michael Joseph thinks bringing too many Jews into North Miami Beach would “dilute the Haitian vote.”

If a month-long celebration of “Haitian culture” on taxpayer dime wasn’t enough carousing for them, Paule Villard intends to make sure the party never ends.

She has teamed up with Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime to “celebrate our Haitian Community” by hosting a Haitian-Only Homebuyer Education Workshop for Haitian Residents (in Creole) this Saturday, June 26, 2021.

Unfortunately for the dumb as dirt Paule Villard, by doing so she is in violation of both State and Federal laws.

We immediately advised the equally dumb as dirt City Manager Duke Sorey via email that:

The Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, i.e. Florida Statute 760.08, specifically prohibits Discrimination in places of public accommodation.  The subsection states:

“All persons are entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, handicap, familial status, or religion.”

Furthermore, Title II Of The Civil Rights Act (Public Accommodations), specifically 42 U.S.C. §2000a (a), states:

“All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.”

The City of North Miami Beach is a public governmental agency, and is subject to the Civil Rights laws of the State of Florida and the Federal government.

By hosting a Haitian-only event at a public community center, Paule Villard and the City of North Miami Beach are in violation of The Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 and Title II Of The Civil Rights Act of the United States.

In the meantime, we are hoping against hope that North Miami Beach City officials will stop being criminals.

We are, however, fully prepared to take action if they continue to break the law.

Just saying.

By now it should be obvious to everyone that Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean are not interested in serving the North Miami Beach community at large, but only their own “Haitian Community.”

If you dare point out their overt racism, Michael’s personal attack chihuahua, Stephen Hunter Johnson, will foam at the mouth, call you a racist, harass you on social media, and falsely accuse you of wearing blackface.

Which is exactly what they tried to do to this blogger.

Unfortunately for them, their incessant gaslighting and absurd race-baiting tactics have caused the exact opposite of their intended effect.

Meanwhile, in case anyone cares, June is Pride Month.

Unlike cities all over the country, North Miami Beach has not held one single event commemorating the LGBTQ community!

Not an acknowledgment, not a luncheon, not a parade, not a flag in sight!

We can’t help but wonder why.

Paule Villard spent $1,016.96 of your tax dollars on Haitian flags …

Yet NOT ONE DAMN DIME was spared for a Pride flag!

How disrespectful (and homophobic) is that?

Well, we here at VotersOpinion are damn proud our LGBTQ friends and relatives, and we celebrate with them them all year long!

Michael, McKenzie, Paule, and Daniela love to ransack your hard earned tax dollars and spend them on parties and vanity projects for the sole benefit of their own “community.”

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to giving their newly hired manservant, Duke Sorey, an undeserved raise of several thousand dollars, and giving themselves health insurance coverage at a cost of $9,721.68 to $10,269.58 (depending on whether you have to pay for their family’s policies) a year each which they are already being generously compensated for, these pissant tyrants have also plundered an additional $30,000 each from City coffers to hire their very own personal assistants!

Because heaven forbid these self-important buffoons should have to pull out their own chair, fetch their own water, or find their own parking space.

Seriously!

The looting of your treasury took place at the last Commission meeting on June 15, 2021, which we will dish in all its gory detail in our next installment of NMB “Pirates of the Caribbean,” Part 2.

Stay tuned.

Stephanie