It was beginning to look like North Miami’s dire financial troubles were slowly coming to an end.

The recently published Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) reflected an increase of $7 million in the total fund balance, as well as a $6.9 million increase in reserves (unassigned funds) over the previous year.

The City closed FY 2022 with a fund balance of $10.4 million and reserves of $3.1 million, but twelve months later the total fund balance increased to $17.4 million and the reserves ballooned to $10 million.

What makes this feat even more remarkable is that FY 2022’s artificial surplus was propped up by “the sale of capital assets and the recognition of right to use leases amounting to $20.6 million and the transfers in of $5.3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) Fund,” according to the City’s Fiscal Year 2022 ACFR.

That same excerpt from the FY 2023 ACFR needed no such caveat.

Even more startling is the comparison of the General Fund Budgetary Highlights from one year to the next.

North Miami ended FY 2022, with an Actual Deficit of $17,678,104.

The very next year, after Rasha Cameau took the helm and City Manager, North Miami ended FY 2023 with an Actual Surplus of $6,113,895!

The most glaring difference between the two successive years of financial reporting was due solely to the fact that Rasha Cameau, who was hired on March 3, 2023, literally pulled the City of North Miami out of the path of sure bankruptcy.  Less than seven months later, she turned what would have been another annual deficit into an actual surplus.

And she did it without being bailed out by the Federal Government.

But no good deed goes unpunished.

In return for her diligence, responsible spending, eliminating unnecessary departments, and all around professionalism, three unscrupulous North Miami Council members decided to fire her.

In Ousted manager reveals trouble in North Miami, The Miami Times reported on the June 4, 2023 Special Council Meeting, during which a Public Hearing was conducted to give Rasha Cameau the opportunity to discuss her unseemly termination.  She prepared a Powerpoint presentation for the Council and the public, but was prevented from doing so by corrupt “attorney,” Hans “Strip Mall Lawyer” Ottinot, who was hired by the equally corrupt Vice Mayor Mary “Deadbeat” Estimé-Irvin, to “to manage Cameau’s departure.”

This would be the same former North Miami Beach City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot whose track record of incompetent “legal” advice left the city in utter disarray, and who literally ran from the media when questioned about his impending and justified firing.

This is also the same current Tamarac City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot who has been wreaking havoc in that city by personally “representing” corrupt Commissioner Marlon Bolton, who brags that Hans “keeps me out of trouble.”

But, we digress.

In the Presentation that Hans refused to let the City Council see or hear, Rasha submitted a 41 page letter with exhibits, enumerating the sorry state of the City when she was first hired, and her accomplishments in fixing the mess during her fifteen month tenure as City Manager.

Obviously, the worst problem in North Miami was its dire financial situation.  Rasha noted:

Another major problem was the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).

This is especially troubling considering the person that the three conspiring Council members decided to appoint in Rasha’s place.  (But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves — more on that in a moment.)

The Presentation also listed the problems that needed addressing in several other City Departments, including Code Compliance, Building, Planning & Zoning, Parks & Recreation, Public Works, and P3 (Public Private Partnership).

In her short tenure as City Manager, Rasha Cameau took a failing City and steered it in the right direction.

In the end, Rasha Cameau’s successful management of the City of North Miami meant absolutely nothing to Mary Estimé-Irvin, Kassandra Timothe, and Pierre Frantz Charles, who all voted to fire her, and refused to publicly give a reason.

The three miscreants also ignored the pleas of approximately 35 residents who spoke on Rasha’s behalf at the May 7, 2024 Special Council Meeting hastily scheduled to “commence the process of removing the City Manager,” suspending her from duty, and appointing an interim.

Only five people, who stood to gain financially from taxpayer dollars or some other “incentive,” were in favor of firing the City Manager.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, the three Council members had already conspired behind closed doors to appoint CRA Director Anna-Bo Emmanuel as Interim City Manager.

The fact that Emmanuel’s name was being whispered throughout City Hall at least four days before the Special Meeting is just more proof that Sunshine Laws had been violated.

As usual.

But North Miami residents have finally had enough and they are determined to do something about it.

On April 29, 2024, residents Eileen Bicaba and Stefano Campini, joined by former resident Laura Hill, filed a complaint with the Miami State Attorney’s Office against Estimé-Irvin, Timothe, and Charles for violating the North Miami City Charter.

Bless their hearts for the effort, but we all know that State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle will most likely do absolutely nothing.  Even if she feigns going through the motions of “investigating” the allegations, she’ll close the case file as soon as she possibly can under the guise of “Nothing to see here, folks.  Move along.”

After all, the three respondents are members in good standing of the Protected Political Class in Miami-Dade County.

North Miami residents can’t even turn to Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who will also most likely do absolutely nothing.

Even if Kathy Rundle and Markenzy Lapointe weren’t compromised, racketeering is quite difficult to prove.

Or, as Nashville US Attorney Robert McGuire so astutely stated in a February 10, 2024 20/20 episode …

The best chance that North Miami residents will have to bring corrupt politicians to justice is in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court.

So on June 11, 2024, Eileen Bicaba filed a lawsuit against Kassandra Timothe, Mary Estimé-Irvin, and Pierre Frantz Charles, alleging violations of Florida’s Sunshine Law and the North Miami City Charter, specifically it’s Citizens’ Bill of Rights.

Do yourself a favor and read the 10-page Complaint for yourself.  It’s chock full of credible and verifiable evidence to back up the allegations against the three Defendants, including emails, telephone records, text messages, case law, and witness testimony.

It also should not surprise anyone that two of the usual suspects involved in the North Miami Circle of Corruption, ex-North Miami City Manager Larry Spring and Wisler Pierre-Louis, make a cameo appearance in the Complaint.

The Miami Times also reported on June 11, 2024, that the “effort to recall Vice Mayor Mary Estimé-Irvin” is heating up.  According to the article:

“District 3 resident Eileen Bicaba is leading the charge to raise $60,000 to recall Estimé-Irvin for alleged bad behavior, much of which is tied to the suspected reason behind Cameau’s termination May 7. The money, if raised, would be used for canvassing to secure at least 1,300 signatures in support of the recall, though under 900 is expected to reach the necessary threshold.”

If North Miami residents are interested in bringing honest and ethical government back to City Hall, please visit Support the fight to enforce Sunshine law in North Miami and donate whatever you can to the cause.

In the meantime, stock up on the popcorn now because this show promises to be a real blockbuster!

Stephanie