North Miami Beach is back!

If last night’s Commission meeting is any indication that all is finally well with the universe, you just know the best is yet to come.

Right outta the box, Commissioner Jay Chernoff saved North Miami Beach residents $92,307.69 by rescinding his previous vote to fire ex-City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey without cause — and then making a motion to fire that useless piece of human garbage FOR CAUSE!

At the previous Commission meeting held March 21, 2023, Jay made the mistake of letting Duke off the hook for all of his unethical, corrupt, and illegal acts during the hellish twenty-three months as the City’s CEO by siding with the three of the original four Criminal Commissioners who hired that demon from hell as the City Manager on April 20, 2021.  His excuse was that it would cost taxpayers more money if Duke sued the City for being fired.

Luckily, Jay came to his senses, and since he was on the prevailing side of that disastrous decision, he had the opportunity to correct his mistake.

In response to Jay’s motion, Criminal Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond made a fool of himself once again by trying to protect Duke’s undeserved payout.  As usual, he had no idea what he was talking about when he warned of the “millions of dollars” it will cost the City to fight the inevitable lawsuit coming down the pike.

McKenzie brought up the case of a former Hallandale Beach City Manager, Daniel Rosemond, who filed a lawsuit against that City for wrongful termination and won a $4.4 million jury verdict.

The City of Hallandale Beach immediately filed an appeal which is currently ongoing.

The problem for McKenzie, however, is that the charge to fire Mr. Rosemond was led by former Hallandale Beach Commissioner Keith London, who was “your basic scum of the earth lowlife,” according to VotersOpinion, almost all Hallandale Beach employees, and an overwhelming majority of voters who sent him packing.

According to his Complaint, Daniel Rosemond claimed he was fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle on London’s “violations of the City Charter and Florida’s Sunshine Law.”

While we truly feel for the residents of Hallandale Beach should the City lose its appeal and have to pay out $4.4 million of their hard-earned tax dollars, we have no reason to doubt Mr. Rosemond’s allegations or the absolute hell he endured at the hand of Keith London.  He probably deserves all that money for his pain and suffering.

However, the two situations couldn’t be more different.

Daniel Rosemond most likely has a legitimate case against his former employer in that he was not the perpetrator of corruption, but the victim.

Duke Sorey, on the other hand is the “Keith London” of North Miami Beach.

Duke has violated the City Charter and state law so many times, it’s hard to keep track.

But we did.

And we have the receipts.

If Duke is stupid enough to sue the City of North Miami Beach, we will do everything in our power to make sure he loses in Court and is ordered to reimburse the City for legal fees and costs.

And we will have so much fun doing it.

We only wish we’d been a fly on the wall last night wherever Duke was when he realized that the check he’s been anxiously waiting for is not in the mail.

In any event, Duke finally got what he deserved, McKenzie got sufficiently smacked, and the Mayor and Commission moved on to conduct the People’s Business.

Aside from sticking it to Duke, the Mayor and Commission finally got stuff done that’s been in the pipeline for the four months that McKenzie, Michael Joseph, and Daniela Jean have refused to come to meetings.

Despite a Court Order requiring “all Members of the City of North Miami Beach Commission to attend City Commission Meetings,” Daniela was a no-show. and Michael kept walking off the dais, barely showing his face before leaving for good less than halfway through the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, City Clerk Andrise Bernard announced that Daniela Jean had an “excused absence.”  When Michael walked out for the last time, she announced that he left because he “wasn’t feeling well.”

More good stuff was accomplished in last night’s long overdue six and a half hour Commission meeting than has been done in the last two and a half years.  It was so good, in fact, that sleep was hard to come by from all the excitement.

We will go into more detail in the next blog, especially all about McKenzie’s frenzied attempts to pretend he hasn’t been the direct cause of all the insanity since he shoved ex-City “Attorney” Hans down the throats of the Commission in February of 2021, and especially since he deliberately broke quorum on December 20, 2022 to keep Hans from getting fired.

For now, however, you’ll have to settle for the highlights of the meeting so we can get some much needed rest.

• The Mayor and Commission hired Michael Pizzi, Esq. to investigate the corruption and misappropriation of your money by Duke Sorey and ex-City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot, and report his findings.
• The City Attorney will file a motion to dismiss the Counter Suit that Hans illegally filed against Mayor Anthony DeFillipo.
• There will be a hearing by the Mayor and Commission on Michael Joseph’s violation of the Charter by refusing to attend meetings for 120 days, and vote on whether or not he will be permanently removed from the dais.
• The Mayor and Commission finally passed on the first reading Ordinance No. 2023-01, a/k/a the Kramer Act, requiring the Commissioners to remain in their seats during meetings and giving the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust the authority to enforce it.
• The Mayor and Commission passed Resolution No. R2023-06 to rename NE 151 Street as Irv David Boulevard.  (Please read all about this wonderful man in the Resolution!)
• The Interim City Manager’s Employment Agreement was passed unanimously.
• And finally, the Mayor and Commission unanimously voted to hire Mario A. Diaz, MPA, as the new permanent City Manager, and who deserves an entire blog all about him (stay tuned, it’s coming).

After last night’s meeting, we finally have hope for the future of North Miami Beach.

The last two and a half years of debauchery, demoralization, and destruction have finally come to an end.

North Miami Beach residents, your patience, perseverance, and hard work to get Phyllis Smith and Jay Chernoff elected have paid off tremendously, and you are finally are getting the government you deserve.

Congratulate yourselves and CELEBRATE!

Stephanie