DEVELOPING STORY: In the first council meeting for a new council member, without any real public notice, the Miami Lakes Council narrowly voted Tuesday to offer former Mayor Michael Pizzi, who was arrested in 2013 on federal bribery charges in an FBI sting, a $1.7 million settlement for legal fees incurred during the criminal trial.

Las malas lenguas had told Ladra weeks ago after the runoff election that this would happen.

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The runoff in the special election to fill a vacancy on the Miami Lakes Town Council was won by attorney Bryan Morera, but one could say that three council members also won Tuesday.

Morera, who took 57 percent against Esther Colon‘s 43 percent, had been endorsed and/or supported by council members Marilyn Ruano, Luis Collazo and Josh Dieguez. Both he and Colon, the former manager of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea who beat the supposed mayoral’s favorite candidate to get into the runoff, are longtime town activists who have served on a bunch of committees and the all important Blasting Advisory Board, which addresses the issue of the quarry blasting, which is probably the biggest issue in Miami Lakes (maybe tied with the 170th Street bridge and the taxing districts).

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