As we all know by now, the four criminal North Miami Beach Commissioners, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean, conspired to hire North Miami’s corrupt former Deputy City Manager, Arthur “Duke” Sorey, for the sole purpose of doing their bidding.

Before darkening the doorstep of NMB City Hall, Duke Sorey was single-handedly responsible for causing North Miami to go from a $4.1 million surplus to a $14.6 million dollar deficit in less than four years.  At the direction of his four corrupt bosses, he now plans to do the same exact thing in North Miami Beach.

Upon his arrival, Duke also instituted his trademark Friends & Family Plan by promptly firing those city employees with high ethical standards and who would most likely cause him problems by blowing the whistle on his corrupt actions, and replacing them with his cronies and co-conspirators, and immediately increased the City’s payroll by $633,448.14.

Seizing the moment, McKenzie Fleurimond apparently saw an opportunity to put Duke’s Friends & Family Plan into action for himself.

At the August 17, 2021 City Commission Meeting, McKenzie feverishly pushed legislation to lease “surplus property” worth $257,180 to (surprise, surprise) the Haitian American Nurses Association (HANA) for five years at a whopping $10.00 a year — but not before spending more than $91,450 of your hard-earned tax dollars, according to Duke Sorey’s Estimate, to renovate the building.

And that’s just for starters.

If the City of North Miami Beach were to lease this property to any other company or organization, several realtors we spoke to estimated that it would rent for about $3,000 a month, or $36,000 a year.

Instead, McKenzie Fleurimond actually believes that the City’s residents would somehow benefit by spending nearly $100,000 in return for … a whole $10 a year.

Or, for the price of Duke’s ritual budget season breakfast.

Considering that McKenzie already knew way before the meeting that his Resolution had the approval of his three co-conspirators, Michael Joseph, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean, he knew he’d have no problem shoving this one down the throat of the three non-criminal elected officials on the dais.  He also knew that their hand-picked henchmen, Duke Sorey and Interim City Attorney Hans Ottinot, would cover for them no matter what.

After all, Duke has already signed off on hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars for dozens of their personal vanity projects,

Such is the corrupt state of North Miami Beach now.

You can watch the entire two hour Clown Show beginning at minute 55:12 of the Meeting video.

What McKenzie hadn’t counted on was this blogger’s deep-dive into the the non-profit Haitian American Nurses Association of Florida, Inc. (HANA), including its tax returns for the years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, all of which points to an organization flush with plenty of money.  The total “Contributions and grants” HANA reported receiving for those four years alone was $992,561.

On its 2019 tax return, HANA, which is currently located at 666 N.E 125 Street, #238, North Miami FL 33161, reported spending $7,186 on “Occupancy” (page 10), or $598.83 per month.  (Although, during her presentation at the City Commission meeting, HANA’s President, Rose Valcin, admitted that they are currently paying $300 a month rent to the City of North Miami for their office space.)

In 2016 and 2017, HANA spent a total of $66,000 on “Medical missions,” but nothing in 2018 or 2019.

Also according to the 2019 return, HANA ended the year with net assets of $95,468 (page 1).

During the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, HANA reported spending a total of $559,728 (nearly 56.4% of its reported income) on “Professional fund raising services.”  It also spent $116,470 on “Travel,” $27,479 on “Awards,” and $56,018 on “Donations,” from the public money it received in “Contributions and grants.”

Obviously, this organization can afford to pay more than $10 a year on rent.

Another interesting fact to take note of is that on the tax returns, Marjorie Lozama is listed as the Principal Officer (box F near the top of page 1).

Marjorie is the wife of Jeff Lozama, who owns CMS International Group, Corp., a Florida corporation.  According to this company’s LinkedIn page, “CMS International Group, Corp is the largest, minority-owned glazing contractor in South Florida, specializing in the export and distribution of high-end, Miami-Dade certified, impact-resistant windows and doors in the South Florida area as well as the Caribbean and Latin America.”

Interestingly, the $91,450 Estimate that Duke prepared included the amount of $35,000.00 to “Replace existing windows with new impact windows.“

We can’t help but wonder if Jeff Lozama’s company will supply those expensive, and way overpriced, windows.

Another fun fact to know and tell is that, until his filing expired on December 31, 2020, Jeff Lozama’s company, CMS International Group, Corp., co-owned a fictitious name with Macaya Construction Group, LLC.  This company is owned by Jean-Pierre DesGrieux, who is licensed as a Certified General Contractor by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation.

We can’t help but wonder if Macaya Construction Group, LLC will be hired as the General Contractor for the renovation of the City property that HANA is leasing for a song.

Because Duke Sorey’s Friends & Family …

… Right out of the North Miami playbook!

We will, of course, be obtaining copies of all invoices by public records request in due course and keep you posted.

Potential conflict of interest aside, it would not be wise for the City to consider hirig this Certified General Contractor judging by the low rating it received last year on BuildZoom.com.

Even worse are the one-star reviews Macaya Construction Group, LLC received from two out of three customers.

But, hey!

This is Duke Sorey Country.

The Friends & Family Plan always trumps poor ratings and bad reviews.

The most egregious conflict of interest in this entire scheme is that McKenzie Fleurimond’s wife may benefit from the Resolution he was vigorously lobbying for.

McKenzie’s wife, Straussiana Fleurimond is licensed by the State of Florida as a Practical Nurse.

One hour into the discussion on his item, I texted McKenzie to mention the possible conflict of interest if his wife would benefit from the sweetheart deal HANA was getting from the City of North Miami Beach.

He refused to answer.

Apparently, McKenzie Fleurimond thinks that responding to a question from the media about a possible conflict of interest is just “foolishness.”

What isn’t “foolishness” is that during discussion of the Resolution at the Commission meeting McKenzie did not publicly disclose his wife’s relationship with HANA.

According to this June 19, 2020 post on the Facebook page of the Haitian American Nurses Association of Florida, Inc. (HANA), the organization thanked Straussiana Fleurimond for representing HANA.

We here at VotersOpinion believe that this potential conflict of interest has at the very at least the appearance of impropriety.

It’s bad enough that McKenzie’s Resolution to spend $100,000 to renovate a piece of property, only to give it away for nothing in return, is the biggest waste of money since Paule Villard’s illegal $100K gift card fiasco.

It’s even worse that, whether or not McKenzie’s wife stands to benefit from this Resolution, he did not fulfill his fiduciary obligation to publicly disclose her relationship with HANA.

Then again, this is the “new” North Miami Beach, where the four criminal Commissioners, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean, are disciples of the Duke Sorey School of Corrupt Governance.

And where honesty, ethics, accountability, and transparency are a thing of the past.

If North Miami Beach residents are serious about saving its City from financial disaster, it’s imperative that honest and ethical candidates step up to run against these four criminals in their next bids for re-election.

If not, you get the government you deserve.

Stephanie