There is an old saying in politics: follow the money.
In North Miami, the words are always the same:
Friends and Family Strikes Again!
Never beating those allegations, NoMi!
And this latest scoop isn’t helpful to that end because when a sitting Councilwoman also sits on the board of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and her child’s father (aka baby daddy), receives a $12,850 CRA contract- the public has every right to ask how that happened.
The contract in question was awarded to Connec Group, Inc. on or about March 6, 2024, for consulting and community outreach services associated with the NW 7th Avenue Biz Boost Grant Program.
The registered agent for Connec Gro
up, Inc. is Cryston Lewis, a man who has been identified as the father of Councilwoman Timothe’s child and, based on public statements, her partner.
A recent complaint, sent to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, The Miami-Dade Ethics Department, as well as the Florida Department on Ethics, cites a March 6, 2024 contract between the North Miami CRA (NMCRA) and Connec Group, Inc., which was to have lasted from March 6-September 30, 2024. The terms of the contract stated that Connec Group was supposed to provide “community outreach,” in exchange for $12,850.00.
While the amount of the contract isn’t exactly the Pentagon Budget, it IS public money and when a company doing business with a public agency is owned by the father of a baby of a sitting member of that agency’s governing board, it is reasonable for taxpayers to ask how that deal came about. That is not an accusation, that is oversight.
The Question Isn’t Simply, “Is this Nepotism?”
Here is where things get interesting. The word nepotism gets thrown around pretty casually and often in North Miami. But Florida law has a specific definition of who qualifies as the “relative” for purposes of its anti-nepotism provisions. Whether the relationship between Timothe and Lewis falls within the applicable legal definitions is something the authorities will need to decide, which is why an investigation was requested. Florida’s ethics laws are layered into the way governments are obligated to conduct their business, and many of those layers are found in State Ethics obligations, Miami-Dade County Ethics as well as even in the North Miami ethics standards, believe it or not.
At the heart of all of the various ethics obligations is the question: Did Kassandra Timothe secure a special privilege or benefit to herself or others by securing this contract to her baby daddy’s contracting firm?
The complaint also asks other interesting questions:
- How did the NMCRA know about Connec Group, Inc.’s services?
- How did Connec Group, Inc., know about the opportunity of this contract?
- Did other consultants know and have an opportunity to submit their interest in this contract?
- Did Councilwoman Kassandra Timothe disclose her relationship with Cryston Lewis?
- Did Councilwoman Kassandra Timothe obtain any legal or ethics advice as a consequence of this Connec Group, Inc./NMCRA contract?
- Why is this business located at the Greater North Miami Chamber of Commerce?
We at NoMiBlogs are very interested in the answers to these valid questions. If everything was handled properly, wonderful. Produce the records. If Timothe disclosed the relationship, recused herself when appropriate, never participated in the procurement and Connec Group, Inc. won the contract through a legitimate process, then the public deserves to know that.
If the records show something different?
Then the appropriate authorities need to deal with that. But what North Miami taxpayers should not be expected to do is to blindly trust a process that hasn’t been explained. $12,850.00 may not sound like much in the world of government, or even North Miami, spending.
But public trust? That is priceless.
It’s also at an all time low for Councilwoman Kassandra Timothe who is up for election on November 3rd, 2026.
Once the government starts mixing public contracts with private relationships, the burden shouldn’t be on taxpayers to look the other way. It should be on the Government Agencies to turn on the lights.
The question isn’t whether there is something to hide.
The question is whether anyone is willing to let the public see it.
Government Agencies on Accountability, are you there? It’s me, Taxpayer.