Our public records request for copies of all communications including letters, emails, texts, and telephone logs between any principal, owner, and/or employee of Figgers Communication Inc. and any and all employees and elected officials of the City of North Miami Beach yielded some interesting results.
The most interesting of all is the alleged Completed Bid Waiver Form – Figgers Communications Inc., which was actually not completed at all.
For starters, there appears to be no attempt to fill out the form in its entirety.
The request for a Bid Waiver is supposed to be made by the head of the Department making the request.
As you can clearly see at the very top right hand corner, the lines where the Department Head’s name, signature, and date are supposed to be filled in are completely blank.
Furthermore, no box was checked in the section entitled, “Waiver of Bids Justification,” which was required.
Also, the Bid Waiver Request Form was not approved or dated by the Finance Director, which is also a requirement.
The Bid Waiver Request Form also includes this caveat:
More on that $50k limit in a minute.
And finally, the second page of the Bid Waiver Request Form is supposed to be completed and signed by the Chief Procurement Officer.
However, as you can see, all of this information was completely omitted from the form.
CORRECTION: This section was supposed to be completed and signed by the Director of the Department requesting the product or service for which a Bid Waiver is needed. The Chief Procurement Officer is only acting as a conduit between that Department Head and the City Manager. As you can clearly see, this no-bid contract was not requested by any Director at all, and therefore, appears to be at the demand of Michael Joseph!
The Bid Waiver process itself was also not in compliance with the city’s Charter and Code of Ordinances.
According to subsection Chapter III, Section 3-4.5 Exemptions from Bidding, including “Purchases for which formal bidding has been waived, as determined by the City Commission to be in the best interest of the City. Purchases of, and contracts for, supplies or services shall be exempt from competitive bidding/competitive proposals with a five-sevenths (5/7) affirmative vote of the City Commission declaring the waiver of competitive bidding/competitive proposals to be in the best interests of the City.”
There is no record of the City Commission ever voting to waive a competitive bid for “CITYWIDE TEXT MESSAGING SERVICES.”
At all.
Then again, considering that then-Interim City Manager Andrew “Andy” Plotkin ran interference for mayor Michael Joseph’s unethical and illegal actions when interviewed by Algo Law Firm, LLC during its investigation of corruption at City Hall, we are not surprised that he didn’t bring the Bid Waiver before the Commission for a vote.
Apparently, Andy Plotkin was instrumental in pushing through the Figgers Communications no-bid contract at the behest of Michael Joseph, who is deeply embroiled in a money laundering scandal with the now former (and disgraced) Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
In fact, the Interim Investigative Report prepared by Algo Law Firm, LLC specifically tied Michael Joseph to Freddie Figgers, the owner of Figgers Communication Inc., by indicating the following:
“Overlapping Concerns with Mayor Joseph and Figgers Communications:
A federal investigation involving Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick which included mention of Mayor Joseph and Freddie Figgers (CEO of Figgers Communications) illustrates potential ethical and legal dilemmas surrounding public trust and the procurement processes. There appears to be a complex relationship tying together the alleged coercive actions of Mayor Joseph listed above, the contracting practices with Figgers Communication, and the implications of their interactions concerning federal funding as alleged by United States House of Representatives Committee on Ethics December 16, 2025 report.”
To this day, both Michael Joseph and Freddie Figgers have both refused to comply with subpoenas issued by the U.S. House of Representatives.
What are they hiding?
Sources have also told us that Michael Joseph pressured Andy Plotkin to get this no-bid contract done because he claimed that Freddie Figgers was “instrumental” in getting Governor Ron DeSantis to veto legislation known as HB 11, which would have forced North Miami Beach to stop its 25% surcharge on water sold to customers outside the city.
If this is true, then Freddie Figgers is in violation of Florida Statute 11.045, which requires lobbyists to register to influence the legislation of a governmental body.
If Freddie Figgers, in fact, was lobbying the state legislature on behalf of the City of North Miami Beach, why wasn’t he listed as a registered lobbyist in either 2025 or 2026?
As we already reported, the Figgers Agreement is also in violation of Chapter III, Section 3-3.14 of the City’s Code of Ordinances, which states, “All contracts, when the sum is in excess of fifty thousand ($50,000.00) dollars, shall be awarded by the City Commission to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder meeting specifications.”
We told you that the term of this Agreement was from July 25, 2025 through September 30, 2026, for a total of fourteen (14) months and six (6) days.
The cost of this no-bid contract is $4,000 per month, or a grand total of $56,800 for the full term of fourteen months and six days. The fact that this no-bid contract cost taxpayers more than $50,000 is most definitely a violation.
When we made inquiries about this violation, we were told that this wasn’t a violation of the $50,000 the bid waiver limit was because the contract was split during two separate fiscal years:
- The period of July 25, 2025 through September 30, 2025 was during FY 2025, or a total of $8,800; and
- The period of October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026 was during FY 2026, or a total of $48,000.
Yeah, no.
Regardless of the city’s fiscal year fantasy, the face amount of the Figgers no-bid contract is $56,800, and that amount alone calls for a City Charter requirement of “a five-sevenths (5/7) affirmative vote of the City Commission.”
And that is exactly why then-Interim City Manager Andrew Plotkin and Chief Procurement Director Shereece George Deposoir did Michael Joseph’s bidding behind closed doors because they both knew full well that a Commission vote for this no-bid contract would never happen!
It’s also why then-Finance Director Tarik Rahmani refused to sign the Bid Waiver Request Form and grant his approval.
We are not surprised that Mr. Rahmani resigned two months ago from the City of North Miami Beach via a scathing email with the subject, “Statement for the Record – Resignation Following Compliance and Governance Concerns.”
Which brings us to our final thoughts …
Despite Andrew Plotkin’s obvious unethical and improper manipulations to get this illegal no-bid contract signed, sealed and delivered for Michael Joseph and his buddy, Freddie Figgers, for some inexplicable reason City Manager Darvin Williams chose Andy to be his Assistant City Manager.
Right?
At the April 21, 2026 City Commission Meeting, Commissioner Fortuna Smukler placed on the Agenda a discussion item entitled “15.2 Agreement between Figgers Communications, Inc and the City of North Miami Beach.”
According to the Minutes of the Meeting, “City Manager Darvin Willams and Chief Procurement Officer Shereece George Depusoir provided information. The Mayor and Commission discussed the item. City Attorney Joseph Geller stated he will review the contract.”
We’re sure good ol’ Joe will have a full report for everyone at Tuesday night’s City Commission Meeting.
North Miami Beach – still irredeemably corrupt as ever.
Stephanie
Now that this has been exposed publicly, will any of the commissioners finally comment, or will the silence continue?
And what about the new city manager? Residents should absolutely be paying attention. If he has not yet seen this article, perhaps he should. More importantly, perhaps he should ask his assistant city manager to explain how something like this was allowed to happen under his watch.
At some point, accountability has to mean something in North Miami Beach. This is no longer just about one official or one contract. It is about a pattern, a culture, and whether anyone in leadership is willing to address it honestly.
Now that Commissioner Smukler already brought up this shady no-bid contract, I hope she won’t let it drop. Maybe if her constituents start calling her to tell her they want answers, she will follow through.
Just saying.
Andrew Plotkin was a real disappointment as Interim City Manager. He did nothing to improve the lives of the residents or the City as a whole. He sold himself to the Mayor and certainly did his bidding. In exchange, the Mayor allowed him to set his salary at $245,000, an egregious number for a person who was never a City manager anywhere. And his lack of experience was evident in almost every decision he made. He gave his assistant city manager an undeserved $40,000 raise. Never once did he say “no” to the corrupt Mayor. I’m sorry to see the City Manager reward him for his bad behaviour by making him his assistant.
Agreed. This was not Darvin Williams’ finest decisions. I still support Mr. Williams, but I hope things don’t go downhill from here.
The real shame is that the Commission didn’t pick Rasha Cameau as City Manager. She takes no prisoners and plays no favorites. NMB needs a CM who will kick ass and stop playing politics. I hope Mr. Williams starts doing exactly that.
What decisions did Mr. Plotkin make? He was quiet at all the meetings I saw. Seems like a quiet man, in general. A lot happened under his watch with indecisions, it seems. Not the best pick for a Mayor like ours. You need a backbone to handle him. Now he’s the assistant manager? What?
He didn’t make any decision, at least not on his own. Andy Plotkin’s only job was to do Michael Joseph’s bidding, which is exactly how you ended up with this illegal no-bid contract for well over $50k and nothing to show for it. I’m told that the Figgers “communications system” isn’t even operational yet. What a scam!
The Figgers no-bid contract is similar to the Trolley no-bid contract voted on and approved by the same corrupt Commissioners. It’s time the State Attorney perp walks these scoundrels out of a Commission meeting when they least expect it.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Rundle to crack down on corruption. She’s the most corrupt politician in the county and she protects her base, especially Michael Joseph. He has special privileges.