Why would Coral Gables administrators go against their own police chief’s recommendation to terminate a major who spied on a resident during a commission meeting — taking a picture of the woman’s text messages and then arguing with her — and try to sweep the whole thing under the rug and let the officer retire instead?

The only reason is that they’re complicit.

That’s why Coral Gables Police Maj. Theresa Molina, who took a cellphone picture or pictures of a resident as she texted a commissioner last September, has been suspended with pay since, collecting more than $80,000 sitting at home doing nothing while the city has conducted, basically, a sham of an internal affairs investigation.

That’s why the city’s cover up, er, I mean investigation has been so, um, lackluster, failing to interview Commissioner Vince Lago, who was the elected that Maria Cruz was texting, other witnesses who were there or even City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark or Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez, who Molina immediately reported her actions to and for whom we all suspect Molina was spying in the first place.

That’s why Swanson-Rivenbark’s recommendation to the city commissioners is for Molina to be allowed to retire –not today, not tomorrow, not retroactive to September, but in November so as to maximize her pension benefits. She doesn’t have to actually come in and work because she can use accrued sick and vacation time.

Are you kidding me?

So this is why Swanson-Rivenbark — who did not return several calls and emails while on vacation last week — has been dragging her feet in the first place, presenting a recommendation that is 88 pages, with attachments, on a Thursday before Memorial Day weekend. And only because Lago put a discussion item on the agenda about it. Otherwise, Ladra suspects we’d still be waiting for the city manager’s word. See? By waiting, they get closer to the November retirement date that allows Molina to use the rule of 70, which means she can get her pension right away — and at 75% of the average of her highest paid three years (which by the way, includes this year). But if she were fired today, she would have to wait until she was 62 and only collect 60 percent.

So, basically, Molina is rewarded for what she did. They might as well have given her a medal.

Read related story: Gables Police major suspended for spying on resident

Let’s quickly recap what she did for those who forgot or were too busy with the crazy presidential race to pay attention last year:

During a September commission meeting, Molina — a 23-year veteran who was acting chief for a short stint in 2014 — took cellphone photos of text messages that resident Maria Cruz, in the audience with concerns about police shortages, was sending to Commissioner Lago. She was asking him to recognize her and let her speak. After Cruz spoke about the 30-some police vacancies and her issue with the city’s fix — a program where civilian employees and security guards patrol North Gables in fancy golf carts as “eyes and ears” of real police officers — she told Molina to stop watching her.

“Stop texting the commissioners,” Molina actually had the audacity to retort.

Cruz felt like she was back in Castro’s Cuba. Lago was outraged that any resident would be discouraged from texting him. City Attorney Craig Leen even chimed in, telling Cruz she had every right to text anyone she wanted. For more details about what happened that day, go to the related story.

Molina was suspended with pay while IA investigated. Chief Ed Hudak recommended May 1 that she be fired. It took this long because the major who was suspended with pay and was supposed to be home during that time was too busy to be interviewed. Seriously. The final word is Swanson’s, according to the city charter, although really the final word is the city commission’s. Many people expected her to go against Hudak’s recommendation since the city manager’s office has done nothing but undermine the chief since Frank Fernandez was brought onboard (go ahead and send Ladra a cease and desist letter). Hudak did not return several calls from Ladra either.

Read related story: City uses legal muscle to gag Coral Gables activist

Molina’s attorneys have claimed varying defenses. Early on, even before she was interviewed and before the chief’s recommendation, they said he would retaliate against her for five internal affairs investigations she opened on him during the tenure of the three former chiefs. Later, they switched gears and said that this 23-year veteran who was once the top cop for a short while and also headed internal affairs for a bit didn’t know what she was doing was wrong.

Which brings us back to what she was she doing. Or, more specifically, for whom?

Because, c’mon, you don’t think Molina was taking a picture of the resident’s text messages for her own jollies, do you? For her photo gallery? What? She needed new wallpaper? No, of course not. She took the picture for her bosses. For some reason. It was a police-related item she wanted to talk about. She immediately went to show Fernandez, the director of public safety, who instructed her to show Swanson-Rivenbark the photo. Even her attorneys admit this in their first letter.

Is this why neither the city manager nor her right hand man were interviewed for the investigation? Is this why Frank Fernandez provided a written memo, not even a sworn statement? Since when do internal affairs investigators allow a witness to say how he will provide testimony or be interviewed? Since it’s the investigator’s boss, the man he reports to who is saying how he’ll provide testimony? 

Because Ladra believes the city were the ones spying — Molina is just a peon — and that’s why the investigation was so shabby and that’s why Swanson-Rivenbark doesn’t want to fire her. That’s why she’s helping her retire with the maximum pension benefits.

Read related story: Gables city attorney: There can only be one police chief

Lago isn’t going to let it go without some heated reprimands. He is not happy with the investigation or the city manager’s memo, which he said was “embarassing” because it relied on irrelevent justifications by comparing this incident to past sins that Swanson said were worse — trolling for prostitutes, beating your pregnant wife — and on Molina’s 23 years of service, which have not been spotless. 

“We need to break the cycle of the poor examples of the past, which are no excuse,” Lago said. “This behavior is wrong, it is unacceptable, and we need to set a positive example and ensure that the residents are represented. We are here to serve them and we will not compromise on the substance of any wrong, inappropriate behavior.”

More than one source has said that another outside law enforcement agency — the FBI? The SAO? — is looking into the matter. And that is good because this one is really laughable. There are still so many unanswered questions, the main one being what, or who, was Molina spying for? Without an independent investigation, how do we know that the city managers were not involved? And how do we know that this is the only time a city employee has spied on residents — or, dare I say, commissioners — for top administrators? That should have been what Swanson-Rivenbark did from the start if she truly wanted us to believe that it would be objective and transparent.

That would certainly satisfy Maria Cruz, the resident who was spied on who is outraged with this ending.

“This investigation is a farce,” Cruz, in a screenshot here from WPLG-Local 10, told Ladra Friday. “From the beginning I objected to Frank Fernandez having anything to do with the investigation, both he and Cathy. Shouldn’t part of that investigation be why did she [Molina] go to him? Shouldn’t part of the investigation be why did he tell her to go to Cathy Swanson? What did they tell her?

“Their fingerprints are all over this whole thing,” she added. 

Here’s a suggestion for Gables commissioners. Make a deal with Molina. Accept her retirement terms. But only if she spills the beans on what the others knew and when. 

Oh, and maybe make her return the $80,000 she’s gotten paid to be on vacation.

Shhhhh. The city of Coral Gables wants you to shut up.

If you’re a pesky citizen who asks too many questions, like North Gables activist and onetime commission candidate Ariel Fernandez, you get a weak ‘cease and desist’ letter from a fancy outside attorney (more on that later). If you’re an employee of the City Beautiful who talks to activists like Fernandez or city commissioners, giving them unfiltered information about city services or, maybe, police shortages or, um, theft of alarm fees, you could get fired.

And forget meetings in the afternoons so that more residents who have to work during the day can go and give commissioners their two cents on land use or development issues or the police shortages. Three of five commissioners have quashed that idea.

Maybe it should be called the City Bashful.

Information is so bottled up in Coral Gables that, as the Miami Herald just reported, there were no tweets or Facebook updates on the police department’s accounts during the recent shooting at the Village of Merrick Park. A policy change last year routes all tweets and Facebook posts through the red tape morass of the city manager’s office for approval — which sort of goes against the grain of the immediacy of police twitter alerts.

It seems that City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark wants to control all the information getting out -bnd keep as much of it from getting out as possible. Even to commissioners, who were shocked to learn this month that a former employee had been arrested in March for stealing $85,000 from the city by diverting false alarm fee checks to her own bank account.

Swanson-Rivenbark also sent an email out earlier this month as “an important reminder to all department directors that each of you are to communicate to our office and to the city commission through your assigned assistant city manger with the exception of finance, internal audit and communications, which reports directly to me.

“The reporting encompasses all written and verbal communication,” she wrote, careful to say that they should, of course, provide information when asked. She doesn’t want to get accused of being a Pat Salerno (ooops, too late).

Read related story: Coral Gables picks Cathy Swanson as top administrator

“In the event that a city commissioner reaches out directly to you for information, please provide the information to them and inforn your assistant city manager so our office may be kept informed and ensure proper follow-through,” she wrote ominously. Define proper follow-through, Ladra says.

“This includes attendance at meetings involving a city commissioner,” the city manager continued.

So now department directors must also report on commissioners’ attenance at meetings? Like a chivato?

“The purpose of this established reporting structure is to ensure the highest level of efficiencies, coordination and timely implementation.” Swanson-Rivenbark wrote. But that seems like a stretch. The twitter policy certainly isn’t more efficient or timely. More likely, this ensures that commissioners are kept in the dark and the manager is the only one who really knows what is going on — including whatever any of the commissioners know or said.

And Ladra suspects that it is meant to have a chilling effect. When she says, “In the event that a city commissioner reaches out directly to you for information,” it sounds an awful lot like, “Yeah, right. What would they be doing going to you? We will suspect you went to them no matter what.”

Ladra wonders if the commissioners have noticed any sudden stopgap in information after the May 4 email where Swanson-Rivenbark also asks department directors to share the policy with staff and confirm receipt of the email “so I know each of you are aware of the appropriate protocol.”

So, it sounds like a gag order and smells like a gag order and walks and talks like a gag order, but the city manager calls it protocol.

Read related story: Gables City Attorney says ‘There can only be one police chief’

This email comes on the heels of a letter sent by an outside counsel to Ariel Fernandez after he sent a series of emails to Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez (no relation) about the police shortages and public safety, copying Swanson-Rivenbark and other city employees and commissioners. The letter from former Miami-Dade Judge Israel Reyes tells Fernandez that his words are “potentially libelous” because he is making inaccurate assertions (more on that later). But most of the assertions that Fernandez made in his emails, even the ones cited in the Reyes letter — which is not a formal cease and desist but has the same threatening tone and intends to have the same chilling effect — was information provided to him, in most cases, by city employees. Some of it might have been inaccurate. But some of it was not (like the police chief being undermined by the city manager’s office). And there is no doubt in Ladra’s mind that this is the kind of thing Swanson-Rivenbark wants to nip in the bud. 

It’s also protocol for all city commission meetings to be held at 9 a.m. — and don’t expect that to change anytime soon to make them more accessible to more people. Commissioner Vince Lago asked the city clerk to poll his colleagues to see if they would be willing to begin meetings at 5 p.m. once a month, or every other meeting, to give more residents the opportunity to partipate in the democratic process through municipal government. But it got shot down by three of the voting members on the commission.

According to a May 15 memo from City Clerk Walter Foeman, two members of the commission opposed the 5 p.m. start time for the second meeting of the month. “Another member of the commission said she preferred meetings to start at  9 a.m.,” Foeman wrote, and we can assume that is Commissioner Pat Keon, the only she on the dais now. “Another commissioner said that both times worked for him; and the requesting party voted yes, to have the meetings begin at 5 p.m.”

Ladra’s sources say that newly elected Commissioner Mike Mena was the one who didn’t care one way or another and that Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli and Commissioner Frank Quesada were against it. Keon said it would be too hard on staff, who had to report the next day at 8 a.m. But a lot of other small cities have night meetings and it would definitely increase the number of people who could participate.

Ahhh. There it is, ladies and gents. Ladra cannot help but think that the true intention of not having meetings at 5 p.m. is to thwart participation. And it’s a pattern.

Because if you live or work in Coral Gables, the city administration and three of the electeds don’t want to hear from you.

So, shhhhhhh.

Former Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes Fauli will have that word “former” removed from his identification after he is sworn in as the new mayor again.

Valdes-Fauli beat Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick in the mayoral race Tuesday, 51 to 49, after Mayor Jim Cason said he would not run for a fourth term. As expected, it was a tight race and a slim victory — by a scant 187 votes. And it’s almost all absentee ballots.

Only 15 people more voted for him than for her on election day. The other 172 additional votes he got were via AB.

A total of 8,415 people voted in the mayoral election Tuesday (there was a drop off of about 200 an 300 in the two commission races), which is on the high end of a typical turnout.

Read related story: Coral Gables candidates will spend more than $1 million

“I always said I was going to need 4,000 votes. I just needed a little more,” Slesnick told Ladra late Tuesday night after several people had left her campaign party.

She said her business partner will be happy to have her back at work full time, but that she will stay involved in Gables issues. “I never stopped being involved,” she said, and she wasn’t talking about Valdes-Fauli but she may as well have been since he disappeared for 13 years until endorsing Cason two years ago and then getting rewarded with a charter review committee seat.

“We had a great turnout today and we ran a really good campaign. They were all volunteers except for one person. Everybody else was volunteer from start to finish,” she said. “I ran a very clean campaign and I’m very proud and I don’t know anything I could have done differently.”

With all due respect and my apologies for not writing enough about the race or earlier, maybe she could have gone a little negative? Valdes-Fauli sure did. And it seemed to work for him.

The former mayor waged war in this campaign, which was more of a grudge match for Valdes-Fauli, who lost his seat in 2001 in a bitter defeat to former Mayor Don Slesnick, the commissioner’s husband. Jeannett was cast as not much more than a shill for her husband, whose administration was mired in scandal and financial chaos, which was sort of the case but certainly not Don Slesnick’s fault.

Read related story: Mucho mailers mean to mislead in Coral Gables election

“I’m sorry he had to take the brundt of the campaign madness,” the good wife said. 

But Valdes-Fauli got his licks in on her, too. Using innocuous votes against her, saying she voted for the Paseo project when, in fact, it had already been approved and she was voting for subsequent measures, some of which downsized the project. She did her job. Another cast her as “Speedy Slesnick” because she voted against a feel-good measure to lower speed limits to 25 MPH on some streets whe her point is that what the city needs is police officers to enforce the already pretty good 30 MPH limit. 

The worst attack, however, was the whisper campaign about Slesnick being anti-Hispanic or anti-Cuban, which is a ridiculous and, frankly, insulting card to pull. It becomes especially injuring when it is pulled by a Castro apologist who recently visited the island, had some eye-opening experience and now advocates for closer relations with the Cuban regime. Que descaro!

We’ll know more in coming days about the demographics of the vote, but I bet that a lot of Hispanics were targetted and came out.

Read related story: Coral Gables mayoral race takes a nasty, ethnic turn

This victory is not just a victory for Valdes-Fauli — and for Sergio Pino, one of the developers that funded his campaign (with at least $10,000). This is a victory also for Commissioners Frank Quesada and Vince Lago, who endorsed the former mayor and will now have a third vote to push their agenda through.

And if people were concerned about over development before, they can just kiss the old Gables good bye, because it’s not about to get any better for the next two years. It doesn’t really matter anymore that Commissioner Pat Keon got re-elected or if Marlin Ebbert pulls out an upset and beats Mike Mena in a runoff (more on that later).

A majority is three votes. They have preserved that with Tuesday’s vote.

One of the great truths of politics is that the devil is in the details. It’s true of almost everything. but it is especially true in politics. Another thing that is becoming clear is that the details are in the committees.

Is it me, or are the Miami-Dade County committee meetings getting more interesting?

This week, we have discussion at the committee level about millions of dollars in contracts, discussions about sea level rise and the cooling canals at Turkey Point, $26 million in new vehicles for solid waste, $2.3 million for road improvements in Doral and the purchase of environmentally sensitive lands in South Dade, just for starters.

We all have to start paying more attention.

Please keep the information about your meetings, campaign events, speakers and what not coming. It’s a lot of work to find out about these things if you don’t tell Ladra — or is that the idea? Well, sorry to spoil it for ya.

MONDAY — March 13

All day — Last day to register to vote for the April 11 election in Coral Gables. You can register online with Miami-Dade Elections here, but if it is your first time registering, you must print out the form and deliver it to the Miami-Dade Elections Department in Doral by 5 p.m.

TUESDAY — March 14

9 a.m. — Coral Gables Commissioners will talk about a recommendation from the city’s school and community relations committee (committees are doing it for themselves!) urging the City Beautiful to “purchase” a classroom at West Lab Elementary School for $4.2 million, ensuring that at least 180 students from kindergarten to eighth grade can attend the school. They will also discuss and could give a preliminary vote to swapping its public safety building — where the police and fire headquarters are located at 2801 Salzedo — to another building in the downtown that will be redeveloped with a parking garage (that’s at 10 a.m. time certain). There will also be a discussion on the Cocoplum bridge project, a report on abandoned properties and an update on the proposed plans for “the Plaza of Coral Gables,” formerly known as “Mediterranean Village.” Commissioner Vince Lago will also ask his colleagues to consider a citywide ban on the distribution of single-use plastic retail bags, which he says contribute to litter and cause environmental problems. The meeting at City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way, will be followed by closed executive sessions with the city attorney on a couple of different lawsuits, including one filed by Starbucks against the city.

9:30 a.m. — The Miami-Dade County Commission’s Infrastructure and Utilities Committee will consider spending $26.5 million on new vehicle leases for the solid waste department and $19.4 million on equipment and products for the information technologies department. They could also spend $1.4 million on air conditioning for the water and sewer department and $60,000 to buy 10 acres of environmentally sensitive lands in Cutler Bay. Also on the agenda for the meeting in commission chambers at County Hall, 111 NW First Street: The January and February monthly reports from Mayor Carlos Gimenez on the ongoing water and sewer projects.

6 p.m. — Retired Coral Gables Police officer Randy Hoff is running for city commissioner and has a cocktail reception fundraiser Tuesday night at George’s on Sunset, 1549 Sunset Drive. Hoff is running for the empty seat vacated by Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick’s move to the mayoral race and he is facing thee other candidates, including Marlin Ebbert, who ran against Vince Lago in 2013. Hoff has spent more than $14,500 of the $24,000 he raised through Feb. 28, so drop a little something in the bucket. Consider it a tip for his 30 years of police service.

WEDNESDAY — March 15

6:30 p.m. — The kick off fundraiser for David Borrero, who is running for a Sweetwater commission seat, starts at 6:30 p.m. at 109 Burger Joint, a popular eatery for some FIU students at 646 SW 109th Ave. The host committee is topped by former Doral Councilwoman Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera and includes such notable young Republicans as Jessica Fernandez, Armando Ibarra, Maria Wadsworth, Juan Fiol, Jose Mallea and Eric Diaz-Padron. Borrero, who worked on the campaign of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, is running against incumbent Eduardo Suarez — who was appointed in 2015 to fill out the term of Orlando Lopez, who ran for mayor –and Isidro Ruiz, who is one of Lopez’s campaign volunteers. Sweetwater needs some real candidates to straighten that city out. Is Borrero a start?

THURSDAY — March 16

9:30 a.m. — Because mass transit and traffic solutions have become the main subject at every other commission meeting — and MPO meeting, and MDX meeting and CITT meeting — the Miami-Dade Commission’s Transportation and Public Works Committee will be heavy on trains this week. In addition to the reconstruction of the Florida East Coast railroad crossing and traffic control devices at NE 16th Avenue and approximately 131st Street, the committee will also consider the refurbishment or installation of four railroad crossings, at North River Drive, NW 46th and 62nd streets and 22nd Avenue and Ali Baba Avenue in Opa-Locka, with the county paying the annual maintenance of each. Maybe this is a good time to talk about the future development along that rail line? The committee may also approve a $2.3 million contract to Gannett for road improvements in Doral, on Northwest 25th Street from 87th to 117th avenues in Doral, which is Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz‘s district. The meeting is in commission chambers at County Hall, 111 NW First Street.

1:30 p.m. — The Miami-Dade Commission Economic Development and Tourism Committee will consider giving the politically-connected Munilla Construction Management company a one year extension and $6 million more for renovations and repairs at Miami International Airport (specifically something called the e Satellite and the “Federal Inspection Services,” which sounds like Customs. This is not the first time Munilla gets a bump in their contract as far as dollars and time (more on that later). The committee may also approve a five-year, $5.5 million contract with Ricondo & Associates for “aviation planning and master planning services,” which certainly seems like something we should be able to do in-house. They will also get updates on Florida Power & Light’s cooling canals by Turkey Point and the county’s efforts to address sea level rise. Commissioner Rebeca Sosa wants to discuss the Beacon Council’s use of public funds of the county’s business tax revenues. They could also instruct the mayor to look into “best practices” (read: regulations) for hosts with AirBnB and other such home-sharing services, which have come under fire lately (Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado wants to ban the practice in residential neighborhoods). This committee takes over the commission chambers from the last committee.

6:30 p.m. — Learn about how local government works from a panel of real experts at this event sponsored by the Downtown Democrats Club. The horses with mouths here are former Pinecrest Mayor and former State Rep. Cindy Lerner, Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso and Miami Beach Assistant City Manager Susie Torriente. It’s $5 for Downtown Dem members and $15 for non members for the two-hour lesson at the Miami Center for Architecture & Design, 100 NE 1st Ave. Two hours of inside info! This should be good.

Coral Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick is going to ask her colleagues Tuesday to put the future of a controversial sculpture of flowers on Segovia Street in the hands of voters, with a referendum on the April ballot to relocate the $1 million work of art to almost any place else.

But it’s an uphill battle. Commissioners already voted earlier this month to reject a petition by area residents who are upset not only at the aesthetic they say is incompatible with that part of the City Beautiful, but also with the process by which it was put there, with no public input. Petitioners gathered more than 1,500 signatures, way short of the 6,000 that are required by city ordinance for a citizen petition to make it on the ballot. The vote was 4-1, with only Slesnick supporting the citizen-driven action.

“I may not even get a second,” Slesnick told Ladra. But she’s going for it anyway. 

One thing is for sure: Such a measure on the ballot would certainly not hurt her mayoral campaign. People driven to vote on that question would likely vote for Slesnick over former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli. Slesnick told Ladra that was not her motivation.

“I’m doing it because I believe people ought to have a say. There was a different city manager who ran things his way. It was done in a closed process,” the commissioner said, adding that there was little to no public input on the selection and placement of the sculpture. The selection was made during the reign of former City Manager Pat Salerno, who was pressured to resign after he was caught lying to commissioners.

“I want things out in the open. What’s wrong with letting the people of Coral Gables vote on whether or not they want it moved? I’m for listening to the people,” Slesnick said. “I’ve gotten more mail on this issue than any other issue in the Gables, except maybe the Paseo development.”

Well, wait… didn’t she lose that fight?

City staffers have repeatedly said that there were a number of public hearings before Passion, the sculpture by Alice Aycock, chosen from 180 applicants, was approved unanimously at a November 2014 meeting purchased and placed on the traffic circle a block west from City Hall on Biltmore Way in July. It wasn’t installed overnight, they say. But residents said they were caught unaware and are overwhelmingly against it. They say it is distracting to drivers and not in keeping with the historic Mediterranean vibe of the area. Some don’t like the artwork itself. Most say they like it fine, just not there.

Other locations that have been brought up, and which admittedly seem more compatible, are Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Ponce Circle Park and, more recently, Country Club Prado.  Ladra likes Ponce Circle Park because it looks like it would look really spectacular from the high up in the highrises that surround it.

Obviously, commissioners don’t want to have to move it (and everybody knows that is how the vote will turn out right?). Mayor Jim Cason has said that he believes such a move would hurt the city’s Art in Public Places program. That’s why they rejected the petition when they could have certainly voted to make an exception and accept it.

But 6,000 for a citizen petition seems excessive in the Gables, where the last election drew 7,800 voters and Mayor Cason was elected by fewer people (4,424).  Even Commissioner Frank Quesada, who won with 73% of the vote, was elected by 5,305 people, almost 700 fewer than the required magic number. In 2013, both commissioners Patricia Keon and Vince Lago were elected with just over half the required petition signatures.

Ladra believes this number of roughly 6,000 — or a little more than since it’s 20% of the registered voters — was set in stone during or after the truck ban petition put the parking of pick up trucks on the ballot. And it seems like the number is high. Should it take twice as many people to get a question on the ballot as it does to elect someone?

And here’s the thing: It’s going to be on the ballot one way or  another — either in the transparent form as a referendum or as a campaign issue for Slesnick. Because the active residents who collected the signatures can use all that energy to help Slesnick win the mayoral race. And who do you think the 1,500 signors are going to vote for?

Certainly Lago and Keon, who may both face opposition in their re-election, could avoid negative mailers that say they refused to let the people decide by just letting the people vote. What do they have to lose?

But if they vote no Tuesday, they could lose their seats.

North Miami Beach voters approved term limits and made several important changes to their charter Tuesday that will simplify and streamline the way the city operates. 

They approved the updating of language and removal of obsolete code and changed the council’s ability — or, rather, the commission’s ability, because voters changed the name of the governing body, too — to hire and fire the city manager and allow them to hire a law firm rather than a city attorney (is somebody’s job in jeopardy?). 

The only proposed change of 10 they didn’t approve was a reduction in quorum from five to the majority four.

Political blogger Stepanie Kienzle, of VotersOpinion.com, knows way more about North Miami Beach politics than Ladra and called these changes no-brainers. But we really applaud the move to change the election day in the city from May to November. Not only does it save the city money in setting up a special election, but it also increases voter participation quite a bit.

Only entrenched incumbents with questionable motives would oppose this because it is in their best interest to keep turnout low. It’s easier to control a smaller number of people.

But North Miami Beach electeds had uh, maybe an ulterior reason to support this particular measure. They got a consolation prize with this change — 18 additional months tacked on to their terms. Because, for the same participation reason, the city chose to change the year of the election from odd numbered years to even numbered years that coincide with presidential and gubernatorial elections.

It’s like a free bonus mini-term.

Mayor George Vallejo must be jumping for joy at City Hall. His term would have ended in May, 2019. But now his term is extended until the next presidential election! It’s like he was elected yesterday, too! Ditto for Commissioners Marlene Martell, Frantz Pierre and Phyllis Smith.  

The other three commissioners, then, might be doing backflips. Up for re-election this coming May — that’s six months from now — Anthony DeFillipo, Barbara Kramer and Beth Spiegel are now in office at least through November of 2018. Yes, 2018!

Well, you know what? Voters determined it was a small price to pay. They approved the change by 53%. Well, that was only 6,456 people, you might say. Because it was only slightly more than half the 12,192 who voted Tuesday.

But that’s still a whole lot more than the 1,591 people who voted in the municipal election last year. Which is the whole point, isn’t it?

Now, if we can only get voters in other cities to do the same. It is concerning how many municipalities have these off year, off month suppression special elections. 

South Miami and Golden Beach have them in February. Hialeah Gardens does it in March. Coral Gables, Miami Shores, Miami Springs and Bay Harbor Islands have elections in April. North Miami Beach abandoned May but there are still elections in North Miami and Sweetwater that month. Virginia Gardens waits until September, when 157 people voted last year. And Homestead has its primary in October. Happy Halloween!

It’s like we belong to an election of the month club.

Most of these cities have terribly low turnout for their important local races, the results of which can impact our immediate quality of life more than state or national races. In Coral Gables, for example, there were 30,663 registered voters last year. But only 7,804 voted in the election. That comes to 25% of the electorate.

Ladra challenges electeds in these cities to make the change that North Miami Beach made. I specifically call on Coral Gables Commissioner Vince Lago, South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard and Miami Springs Mayor Zavier Garcia. Go on. I dare you guys. All you have to do is put it to the voters in your city.

And maybe you’ll get a little extra bonus time on your term for your efforts.