The city of North Miami is currently looking for its fourth city manager in four years, leading some residents to believe the claim that “North Miami is where people’s careers go to die.”
Its city managers have come and gone in recent years for a multitude of reasons. The latest ousting, however, of Rasha Cameau – whom several residents have characterized as competent and responsible – has been met with considerable backlash, and for some it’s the final straw.
Cameau’s Ousting
Less than two months after North Miami councilmembers shocked the city by unexpectedly suggesting Cameau’s termination at an April 7 meeting, residents were eager to hear the now-former city manager publicly address her ousting at a hearing on last Tuesday.
Attorney Hans Ottinot blocked Rasha Cameau from presenting at a June 4 public hearing unless she submitted her presentation three days ahead.
Cameau, though, hardly spoke at all. She chose not to publicly give her prepared Powerpoint presentation once attorney Hans Ottinot, who was hired by the city to manage Cameau’s departure, told her that she must submit her presentation to the city three days ahead of time. Cameau instead handed councilmembers a copy of her presentation before they made their vote to finalize the termination at the special meeting June 4.
An obtained copy of that submission reveals a list of both financial and operational problems that Cameau discovered and aimed to tackle within her time as city manager. The issues identified within Cameau’s presentation include a budget deficit, police officer shortage, $2.3 million in pension theft, $19 million in water debts, missing documents and complaints, long inspections, failing infrastructure, low employee morale and more.
Former North Miami city manager Rasha Cameau being applauded by residents May 7 just before she was terminated by the city council.
Cameau’s presentation claims that the “city’s finances were in disarray,” special events were overbudgeted, and several departments were underperforming.
Notably, she wrote that “the CRA occupies over 60% of the city’s taxable base” and that 40% of its budget needed to be returned to the city to avoid liability.
“I did not try to ‘sabotage the CRA,’” Cameau wrote, referencing one of the allegations used to justify her termination. “I tried to save the city. The city did not get the 40% it needed but approximately 25%.”
Cameau listed the accomplishments she achieved in her year and three months as city manager, which include leaving the city with $2.5 million in reserves, identifying funds to acquire the Scott Galvin Community Center, opening a new impact fee account, securing an invitation to apply for a $200 million loan from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accelerating resident support and more.
Cameau wrote that her presentation and statement were meant simply to conclude her termination and to clarify what she called misstatements made against her.
North Miami Vice Mayor Mary Estimé-Irvin faces a potential recall.
“The only reason that I am here is because this is the first time that the council has chosen this termination method,” she wrote. “In the past, the council would negotiate a transition/separation agreement with the city manager and put it on the next council agenda … However, this time, the council opted to do it publicly; I can only surmise that it is to embarrass or humiliate me possibly.”
Recall by Any Means
When this publication reported on an ongoing effort to recall Vice Mayor Mary Estimé-Irvin last month, that effort was largely a vocal one. Since then, residents have put pen to paper and, most recently, are putting their money where their mouths are.
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.
Bicaba noted how much work and people power is required to lead a successful recall effort. According to Florida statute, anyone seeking to recall an elected official must twice obtain a set of signatures – once to trigger the recall process, effectively notifying Estimé-Irvin of the petition brought against her, and a second time to be verified by the county’s supervisor of elections before the question is put on a ballot.
Only 30 days can pass between the retrieval of both sets of signatures. The second must equal 15% of the voting population and should be submitted along with 10 cents for each name included.
In other words, it’s no simple feat.
A group of North Miami residents are accusing three councilmembers of violating the city's charter by interfering with staff hirings.
“We don’t want to start collecting signatures until we have a plan and enough money to pay people to collect all the signatures within 30 days,” said Bicaba.
Bicaba is taking all precautions to make sure that there is both an appetite and a will for a recall in her district, and that it is done correctly before pursuing it officially. That includes ensuring residents’ signatures are up to date on their voter’s registration in order to pass verification.
The recall effort follows the submission of a complaint with the state attorney’s office, detailing accusations against Estimé-Irvin and other members of the city council. An investigator has been assigned to the case, though Bicaba said she has not received any further updates.
Connecting the dots
Estimé-Irvin did not respond to this publication’s request for comment on the allegations made against her, which include “excessive spending on international and domestic travel unrelated to the people of North Miami,” “misuse of city credit cards” and “lack of progress on District 3 projects.”
Most notably, she is accused of interfering with the hiring and firing of city staff, a duty reserved for the city manager under North Miami’s charter. The “city staff” in question is former public works director Wisler Pierre-Louis, who was in hot water with Cameau before he resigned April 5.
In a memo dated April 26, Cameau outlined the events leading up to her termination, accusing staff members representing Districts 2, 3 and 4 of contacting her and asking her to “lay off” Pierre-Louis. The councilmembers for those districts – Kassandra Timothe, Estimé-Irvin and Pierre Frantz Charles, respectively – are all included in the complaint to the state attorney.
Anna-Bo Emmanuel, Interim North Miami City Manager
Since then, Anna-Bo Emmanuel – director of the North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) – was appointed interim city manager to replace Cameau. Emmanuel’s education and work experience fall largely under the categories of English and law, though she also has about two years of experience working for both the North Miami and Homestead CRAs.
Bicaba believes there could be a conflict of interest with Emmanuel taking on both roles of city manager and CRA director since – as Cameau noted – the CRA’s inflated budget is at direct odds with the city’s general fund needs.
“They want people that they can control and that they can manipulate,” said Bicaba. “They want yes-men, and that’s who they keep.”
