The city commission meeting Thursday turned into a shouting match between commissioners Miguel “Mike” Gabela and Manolo Reyes basically because of the contentious fight on the self-serving lifetime pensions for electeds that Gabela has championed twice before changing his mind, also twice.

Gabela said he stood by the principle of his idea, which was to make it fair across the board. When the pension was suspended in 2009 at the height of the city’s financial woes, it cut off future commissioners but current commissioners at the time were grandfathered in. “It should be either all or none,” Gabela said, even though those electeds were vested in an existing pension program and had defined benefits that could not be removed without risking legal action.

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If there was ever something that should go to a referendum for voter approval, it is pensions for our electeds. And Miami city commissioners should go to the ballot if they want to reward their behavior and “hard work” with lucrative lifetime retirement benefits.

It’s not too late. The deadline for municipalities to submit a question to the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections for the November ballot is July 26.

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At first blush, it may seem like Thursday’s Miami City Commission meeting is a sleeper, especially compared to recent meetings. Nothing on LED billboards. Nothing on redistricting.

But a closer look at the agenda reveals a bunch of items that have the potential to blow up.

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If there ever was a municipality that needs an independent inspector general, it is the city of Miami.

One commissioner who was suspended after his September arrest on 11 felony charges, including bribery and money laundering, in connection with is vote to give away a public park. Another former commissioner is being investigated for promising a city job in exchange for an endorsement. The mayor is embroiled in an FBI investigation over other bribery allegations in “consulting” payments made by a developer who was seeking permits and concessions from the city at the time. And the city manager has given incomplete accounts of the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of office furniture that the city has purchased from his wife’s family business.

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City attorney’s future, manager’s excuses on agenda

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Rumors of Manolo Reyes’ impending death are vastly exaggerated. The Miami commissioner was diagnosed with leukemia last year, but has apparently responded well to treatment and is on the mend.

And – after what he’s seen the city go through in the last couple of months — he’s also on a transparency and accountability tear.

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