Something must have been in the air Tuesday night at the North Miami Beach Committee meeting.

As we already told you, carpetbagging “candidate” Linda Joseph rudely rolled her eyes up after one of her opponents gave a graceful speech about community unity.

As fate would have it, at the very same meeting, beginning at 10:32:53 pm, Commissioner Fortuna Smukler was finally able to bring up the city’s shady no-bid contract with Figgers Communication Inc. that Michael Joseph finagled by pressuring the former Interim City Manager into doing his bidding.

During this discussion, Commissioner Smukler asked City Manager Darvin Williams, who also holds the unofficial title of Clean Up Crew Director, for an update.

Mr. Williams responded he reached out to the management at Figgers “to try to get some clarification on the services that they are contracted to provide [and] seeing that there had been little progress in the city on that particular item, I requested on several occasions to get a meeting with a member of their team and staff.”

He did not get a response.

City Manger Williams further explained that especially considering “the exorbitant above-market rate of the contract” he wanted to first see if there was “something unique” with their product or service that would justify the cost.

Again, he got no response.

Keep in mind that, according to its contract, Figgers was being paid a total of $4,000.00 a month beginning in August 2025, yet to date the city has not received any of their services at all.

Mr. Williams then stated that the city sent a termination letter to Figgers, which the company simply ignored and “continued to send invoices,” which the city did not pay.

At that point, the termination letter was sent again “and that was the last of the engagement.”

Commissioner Smukler then asked, “So now we paid them and they did not provide any services to us?” to which Mr. Williams replied, “That would be accurate.”

After a brief discussion about asking for a refund since no services were ever provided, Mr. Williams said he will discuss the matter with the City “Attorney” to see “if there’s an opportunity for us to recoup dollars from a litigation standpoint.”

We’re sure Joe will get right on it.

Commissioner Phyllis Smith then asked if the contract was ever procured, to which the Manager explained that there was a “Waiver.”

As we already told you, this alleged Completed Bid Waiver Form – Figgers Communications Inc. was never even completed properly in the first place.

Commissioner Lynn Su then began questioning Mr. Williams, who was NOT the City Manager at the time this shady “Waiver” was implemented.  He told her that under the city’s procurement policies, the Manager is allowed to waive bids under “certain circumstances.”

When Ms. Su pressed the Manager to name a couple of circumstances, he invited the Chief Procurement Officer, Shereece George Depusoir, “to provide that listing.”

Watch this exchange with Ms. Depusoir, who appeared to be extremely uncomfortable during the two minutes she was in the hot seat, as she tried to explain to Commissioner Su the procurement process and why some bids are able to be waived.

WATCH!

It was clear she was no longer needed when Michael called on Commissioner Su to bring up her discussion item.  Ms. Depusoir turned and walked away from the podium toward the back of the Chamber.

Then this happened.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The moral of this story is two-fold.

• Don’t dis your boss’s boss in public; and
• The internet is FOREVER!

Stephanie