Thursday’s resignation of North Miami Beach City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot has also resulted in the withdrawal of his illegally hired “counsel,” Sham Lawyer Luis E. Suarez.
Suarez purported to represent the City in two separate lawsuits filed by Mayor Anthony DeFillipo and Commissioner Jay Chernoff, even though Hans had no authority to hire outside counsel without the approval of the City Commission.
As you can clearly see, Article III, Sec. 3.3.2 of the City Charter states, “The City Commission may, at the request of the City Attorney, retain other counsel in any matter in which the City of North Miami Beach has an interest, and pay the compensation of such counsel.”
It does not say that Hans Ottinot can secretly hire outside counsel and hide it from the four elected officials who make up the majority of the City Commission.”
It also does not say that Hans Ottinot can authorize Sham Lawyer Suarez to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to try to remove a duly elected Mayor from office based on an opinion, yet protect a derelict Commissioner from being removed based on facts.
And finally, the City Charter does not say that North Miami Beach taxpayers are supposed to pay for illegally hired Sham Lawyers.
Hans Ottinot is solely responsible for these unauthorized expenditures, and the City’s stakeholders should demand a refund.
Just saying.
The attempt to remove Tony DeFillipo was nothing but an elaborate scheme created and executed by politically motivated con artists after the November 22, 2022 runoff election resulted in the glorious end of a corrupt majority that has been running North Miami Beach into financial ruin for the last two years.
The main culprit behind this conspiracy is Criminal Commissioner Michael Joseph, whose blinding hatred of Tony (and former Commissioner Barbara Kramer) began as far back as 2016 when he failed to get appointed to a vacancy on the City Commission. He has been seething with fury ever since.
So Michael summoned help from former North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre, whose legally questionable antics have narrowly escaped prosecution for over a decade, and Andre’s personal henchman, Lesly Prudent, who have both been suckling off the North Miami Beach government teat for the last two years.
Michael then recruited his go-to master manipulator, Hector Roos, who has been aiding and abetting Michael’s unethical and illegal acts, and who is on record as “paying” for the so-called “investigation” into the Mayor’s residency.
If Michael had succeeded in ousting Tony, he would have become the acting Mayor since he currently holds the temporary rotating title of “Vice Mayor.” This is a title that he was supposed to cede to Commissioner Jay Chernoff at the December 20, 2022 meeting. Instead, Michael refused to attend that meeting.
As we all know by now, the meeting came to a halt when Daniela Jean left pretending to be sick, and McKenzie Fleurimond deliberately walked out for the purpose of breaking a quorum so that Hans Ottinot wouldn’t be fired.
Since the same three bad actors have refused to attend another meeting, at the express direction of Hans Ottinot, Michael has extended his “Vice Mayor” position from four to seven months, the same way the ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard pretended to hold that title for an additional five months and beyond.
In any event, Michael’s evil plot was foiled on March 5, 2023 when the Honorable Valerie R. Manno Schurr issued an Order Granting Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion to Compel Commissioners Attendance at Commission Meeting, stating that the “Court finds that this matter duly qualifies as an emergency matter requiring prompt judicial determination,” and also the Court “Orders and Directs all members, including individual commissioners, of the City of North Miami Beach Commission to attend the publicly noticed March 21, 2023 City Commission Meeting, commencing at 6:00 pm.”
Knowing full well that the jig is up, City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot scrambled to resign Thursday, and his nasty little attack dog, Sham Attorney Luis E. Suarez, withdrew from both lawsuits the very next day.
Good riddance to both!
Hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars later, no one has been able to prove that Mayor Anthony DeFillipo does not live in the City of North Miami Beach.
The only things Michael Joseph & Co. have proven are that (a) Tony bought his wife a 1.2 million dollar home, and (b) Michael is still consumed with envy and rage.
It will certainly be interesting — and very popcorn-worthy — to see what happens next.
Clearly Hans has decided to cut and run before Tuesday night’s Commission meeting in order to avoid any more self-inflicted public humiliation.
Then again, running is what Hans does best.
@flubbermound Corrupt #NorthMiamiBeach Lawyer runs from the truth #SorryHans ♬ Bad Boys (Theme From Cops) – Inner Circle
The Mayor and Commission’s first order of business will be to appoint a new Interim City Attorney, preferably a real one this time.
City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey will be fired, preferably for cause.
A new Interim City Manager will be appointed, preferably a respectable one this time.
The Mayor and Commission have the option of voting to remove Michael Joseph from his seat, or they could choose to wait until the Judge in Commissioner Jay Chernoff’s lawsuit against him issues his Court Order.
Either way, Michael has indisputably violated Article II, Sec. 2.5 of the City Charter which states, “If any Commissioner has failed to attend a meeting of the City Commission for a period of one hundred and twenty (120) days, the seat of such Commissioner shall automatically become vacant.”
If the lawsuit continues, Michael will have to find a new lawyer to represent him.
He’ll also have to reach into his own pocket to pay for his defense since Hans won’t be around to waste your money funding Michael Joseph’s corruption any longer.
Since Tony’s lawsuit, which was filed solely to attain a quorum for Commission meetings, will have achieved its goal, it’s unclear at this time what direction this case will take.
The City’s unauthorized “counter-suit,” however, will most likely be dropped since it was illegally initiated to begin with.
Besides, Sham Lawyer Luis E. Suarez already dropped out and will not be able to collect another penny of your tax dollars on his frivolous case.
In any event, Tuesday night’s Commission meeting promises to be unforgettable to say the least.
Stephanie
And to think, all of this anguish, massive corruption, massive spending of the taxpayers’ dollars, the time lost in government competition with other governments, all of that wasted human resources, all it took was one election. Congratulations NMB for righting your city. You are admired.
One election and four $60K paychecks that Hans Ottinot should never have received. He personally prevented Commission meetings from taking place while only working for the three derelict Commissioners against the City’s best interests. He should be forced to repay every last cent.
How fitting that the last picture of Ace Ventura is in North Miami Beach at the Ancient Spanish Monastery.
That’s actually Vizcaya, but it looks a lot like the Monastery.
This film also has a North Miami connection in that filming also took place at Greenwich Studios.
Same cesspool though. LOL!
UPDATE! The very knowledgeable Barbara Kramer enlightened me that this scene was, in fact, filmed at the Ancient Spanish Monastery. Weird that there is no mention of this on any of the film locations websites.
Anyway, here’s the famous Monastery Arch, which, as you can see is the same one pictured in the meme above.
Thank you, Barbara!
LOL For that reason alone I would love for Barbara Kramer to replace Tony Soprano, err, I mean Defillipo as Mayor when his time is up.
Bless you for your diligence in uncovering the malfeasance of these officials. For the uninformed this blog is a great wrap up of the entire convoluted NMB City ongoing circus. The citizens of NMB owe you huge debt of gratitude!
Thank you so much!
There is one other part of Michael Joseph ‘s plan that will fall apart on Tuesday. Michael needed to be Vice Mayor for his coop to be successful, think of it as his way to fast track his ascension to mayor… Become acting mayor by removing Tony and use it as a springboard to become mayor. On Tuesday, the first order must to to strip Michael Joseph of that title and pass it to the next seat in the rotation… Jay
The Agenda does have an item appointing Jay Chernoff to his rightful place as Vice Mayor.
Also, if Michael is still on the Commission when the opportunity comes around again, the Mayor and Commission may choose not to approve his appointment. Same goes for McKenzie and Daniela. Commissioners who can’t be bothered to show up for meetings don’t deserve to hold the title.
Again, just saying.
I wonder if the circle goes unbroken? Does Jay get his full 3 months after they were stolen by Michael Joseph?
Jay’s term will not be shortened. He will have his full four months from his start date.
If you remember when Jorge Vallejo resigned/was removed from the Mayor’s office for his corruption, it was up to the Council to appoint his temporary replacement until such time a new Mayor could be elected. I don’t recall if Beth was the Vice Mayor at the time or not, but any resident who would qualify could have been appointed with a majority vote. The majority of the Council decided on Beth, which some felt gave her the inside track to be elected, but after her close friend and city activist passed away, without actually having time for himself, she decided to pull out of the race leaving Tony the only strong candidate left in the race.
The reason they were able to appoint replacement Commissioners is because there was less than a year to the next election. Chapter VII, Sec. 7-7 of the City Charter states, however, that “should any vacancy occur more than one (1) year prior to the next general election, the council shall have no power to fill the same; it shall be filled by a special election to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term, to be held not less than thirty-five (35) days nor more than sixty (60) days after such vacancy has occurred or as soon thereafter as Miami-Dade County Election procedures allow. When a vacancy is filled by the City Council, it shall be done in such manner as shall be provided by the rules of the Council, or as provided by separate ordinance.”
If Michael is ousted, there will have to be a special election because the next one isn’t until November of 2024.
Unless there has been a change to the Charter, The siting Vice Mayor does not automatically become Mayor if the Mayor is removed. When a former Mayor was removed, the Commissioners were asked to submit letters of interest in the seat, Now Mayor DeFillipo and then Commissioner Beth Spiegel submitted letters to the Clerk and there was a vote of the sitting Commissioners as to who would be Mayor…..Commissioner Spiegel became the Interim Mayor until the next election could be held.
As usual, Michael “Mike” Joseph is using the North Miami precedent because he and his co-conspirators have been trying to remake NMB into NoMi’s image.
When former NM Mayor Lucie Tondreau was arrested, Philippe Bien-Aime was the Vice Mayor, and he automatically ascended to the throne, despite the fact that he was the least qualified person in all of North Miami to hold office, much less the mayoral seat. With the help of certain political operatives (i.e., the same ones now infiltrating NMB), Philippe’s reign of terror set the tone for massive corruption, sexual harassment, gargantuan increases in salary and discretionary fund spending, and a general disregard for ethical governance.
Philippe won the seat in the next election, and then won it back in May 2021. He never finished his term, however, because he stepped down to run for county commissioner and lost by a landslide last November.
When Philippe stepped down, Alix Desulme was Vice Mayor (which used to be a rotating position but was conveniently changed at an opportune time, Sunshine Laws be damned), so Alix ascended and was chosen as Mayor by a Council vote. His swearing in ceremony was an inauguration befitting royalty … because North Miami.
NMB was headed in the same direction, with the exact same players at the helm on the 4th floor, until November 22, 2022’s runoff election changed everything.
And that is the real reason Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Daniela Jean, Duke Sorey, and even Hans Ottinot, were so desperate to come up with a grand scheme to fix what THEY viewed as a problem. A single lost vote on the dais caused their house of cards to fall.
They have been exposed as frauds, thieves, and charlatans, and March 21, 2023 will be their Judgment Day.