The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found probable cause that a civilian employee at the Miami Beach Police Department exploited his position and violated the outside employment sections of the county’s conflict of interest code.
Clifford Sparks, the former supervisor of the Crime Analysis Unit, was found to have used his position to facilitate an introduction between lifelong friend and business partner Richard Jerome, owner of Crime Suppression Technologies, and the police department “with the goal of developing a software program for MBPD’s record management system, creating a potential financial benefit for himself,” said a statement from the Ethics Commission last month.
A complaint was filed by the city of Miami Beach Inspector General Joseph Centorino and after a joint investigation with the COE, Sparks admitted to using his subordinates to test CST software during work hours and basically reporting to Jerome, not the chief, “devoting between 15-20 hours per week, including city work hours, in furtherance of CST’s software development,” the statement reads.
He not only worked on the project himself, he also ordered equipment on the city dime to test the project and ordered subordinate employees to test equipment related to that project while on city time.
Sparks also failed to file forms disclosing outside employment and the nature of work being done during two tax years, as required by the county’s Conflict of Interest Code.
For all of this, Sparks — whose last known salary at the city of Miami Beach was $106,000 a year — was fined $1,500 and given a “letter of instruction,” which basically says “don’t do it again.”
The whole investigation began in February when four female civilian employees of the crime analysis unit came to the city’s Office of the Inspector General to file complaints against Sparks, a former police officer who was their supervisor. They accused him of  sexual harassment and misuse of city resources in connection with private business activity.
Some called it his “get rich quick” scheme.

“During the initial and several subsequent meetings with the OIG, the complainants provided details on both matters, including personal observations and experiences, as well as documents such as texts, departmental purchase records, photographs and related material,” wrote Inspector General Joseph Centorino in his report.

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The Miami-Dade Commission on Tuesday will consider purchasing a warehouse property on Northwest 25th Street for $17 million in order to provide future parking and/or a staging area for future construction at Miami International Airport.
The seller has already provided the four tenants at the property — including a luxury car rental business — with a notice of termination of their leases and will reportedly pay for the demolition of existing buildings within six months of purchase, according to a county memo prepared by Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morales.
“The Property is east of MIA and is intended to be utilized by the Aviation Department for any compatible land use such as parking, or as a lay down yard (i.e., construction staging area), which is a designated area where materials and equipment can be stored and used in connection with a construction project, ensuring the project begins on time and managed more efficiently,” Morales says in his memo, adding that the zoning (industrial-heavy manufacturing) allows for the proposed uses, “including surface and/or structured parking.”
Miami-Dade Aviation has several big projects in the pipeline, including the $400 million cargo facility and the $270 million redesign of the Central Terminal — the first $40 million phase of which coming — and there is already limited space on the airport campus to stage the construction.
Read related: Miami-Dade could give design of $270 mil MIA project without a second look
“The acquisition of this Property will allow the Miami-Dade Aviation Department to utilize the land for parking or as a construction staging area to better organize and facilitate the implementation of its capital improvement portfolio. The Property could also be used for any compatible land use that meets MIA’s demand for global air travel and air freight cargo or for operational purposes,” Morales wrote.
Two state-certifieid appraisers provided appraisals of the property came in at $17 million and $17.2 million, but Miami-Dade Property Appraiser records show that the three parcels at 3901 and 3975 Northwest 25th Street and 3900 Northwest 26th Street, have a combined market value of $11.9 million. The larger parcel has a market value of $10.5 million and the two smaller parcels, which are now used for surface parking, are a combined $1.4 million.

It wouldn’t be the first time the county (read: taxpayers) pay a higher value for a property. Recently, the commission voted to purchase the La Quinta Hotel on U.S. 1 to use as housing for senior homeless, paying $14 million, or $4 million over the appraised value. Commissioners Daniella Cohen Higgins and Rene Garcia voted against it.
The seller of these three parcels has disclosed that there is some contamination on the 150,000 square foot property, Morales said. An initial report by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department’s civil environment engineering division reported no immediate areas of concern, based on the proposed uses. But the county can conduct a more thorough environmental study, he added.
In the memo, Morales says the company is based in Delaware — which is always a red flag — but Florida Department of Corporation records show it is based in Denver, with an address at a co-working, shared office space. MIA at 25th Street is apparently a partner company with Prologis, the largest industrial property owner in South Florida, which is listed as one of the tenants at the Denver address.
District 6 Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera proposed the item on the agenda. Several attempts to reach him Monday were unsuccessful.
 
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With more than 56% of the vote, Miami Lakes Commissoner Josh Dieguez changed his title to mayor last week, beating Vice Mayor Tony Fernandez in a runoff where almost 19% of the registered voters turned out. He will replace Mayor Manny Cid, who was termed out and lost a bid to unseat Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava without the need for a runoff.
In the Nov. 5 election, neither won the majority and some observers say it was because a plantidate Yuniett Gonzalez, a political newbie who had previously given to the Dieguez campaign, got 11%, just enough to force the runoff. As usual, political shenanigans paid off.
Read related: Miami Lakes plantidate forces mayoral runoff: Josh Dieguez vs Tony Fernandez
Dieguez, 35, also just ran a better campaign. An attorney, he is a former member of the rock blasting task force and his messages on public safety, fiscal transparency, traffic mitigation, flooding and infrastructure support, and protecting green spaces were more focused. Fernandez, a business owner, had a simpler message of “people over politics” and keeping the village status quo, which just fell flat.
“I did my best,” Fernandez told the Miami Laker. “It wasn’t in the cards, but you know, on to bigger and better challenges.”
Bigger and better challenges? Good luck with that. Maybe the voters were right.
“It feels great to be the mayor of the town I grew up in,” Dieguez was quoted as saying. “It’s a real honor and a dream come true. I’m looking forward to use that time to focus on the things that make Miami Lakes special and will focus on infrastructure and constituent services.”
The race was pretty even when it comes to campaign funding. According to campaign finance reports, Dieguez raised $85,000 to Fernandez’s $81,000 and spent $74,500 to his $66,000 during the campaign.
 
 
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The hand-wringing process of replacing or rebuilding the Miami-Dade County garbage incinerator that burned down in Doral in February of last year has been long and messy.
It was supposed to be decided in September. Then they put it off until after the election. In November, they put it off to this Tuesday. But the mayor has already requested a 90-day deferral of the matter — after the future president weighed in. We haven’t seen her memo explaining her reasons yet.
Let’s review the events of the last few days.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, whose staff previously recommended, based on a paid study, unused county land across the Urban Development Boundary and close to the city of Miramar — which threatened to sue — seemed to have changed course last weekend and recommended the county rebuild the waste-to-energy plant right where it burned down. It’s the cheapest, fastest option.
Miramar celebrated. Doral booed.
Last week, president elect Donald Trump, who owns the Trump National Doral golf resort, one of the city’s biggest properties, apparently weighed in through his son, Eric Trump, who had lunch with Commissioner Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez and the family’s local lobbyist, Felix Lasarte last week, according to the Miami Herald. Bermudez, the former Doral mayor, who has been leading the fight against the Doral location.
Read related: To keep a new Miami-Dade garbage incinerator away, get ready to pay
Bermudez told Juan Camilo Gómez at Actualidad Radio Monday morning that he had also talked to developer Armando Codina, a habitual political campaign contributor who built Downtown Doral and was also concerned.
Doral’s current Mayor Christi Fraga is over the moon.
“This deferral for an additional 90 days is a clear testament to the power of our collective action,” she wrote in an email blast Sunday. “The united efforts of our community, including input from community leaders and organizations like Trump National Doral, have put significant pressure on the county mayor to reconsider her recommendation and proposal. This demonstrates our city’s strength and determination to protect the health, quality of life, and future of all who live, work, and enjoy Doral.”

The city had planned to bus residents to the commission meeting Tuesday to object to the $1.5 billion plant being rebuilt there.
County commissioners had previously asked both the cities of Doral and Miramar what is was worth to them to keep the incinerator away. They basically tried to create a bidding NIMBY war.
It’s weird to see the Trumps on the same side as people like former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell, a onetime Democrat candidate for Congress who now advocates for the Sierra Club, and environmental activists that have asked the county to be more creative and think beyond burning garbage. Principally, they want Miami-Dade residents — who produce at least twice as much trash as anywhere in the country — to recycle more, reduce their waste and, get this, compost.
In November, Commissioner Eileen Higgins successfully passed a resolution to phase out the use of single-use plastics and styrofoam in all future county contracts and county-run concessions.
Higgins had an item about composting on Tuesday’s agenda, but it has been withdrawn. A report from the Department of Regulatory Resources (RER) and Solid Waste Management (DSWM) identified some immediate actions the county could take to advance and promote composting, but warned about possible contamination of the Biscayne Aquifier.
Still, there are things that can be addressed right away.

A zoning code amendment to exempt commercial composting operations on farms from requiring public hearings, to streamline the approval process
An Environmental Quality Control Board (EQCB) Class Variance Order to provide for administrative approvals for composting operations on properties without public water or sewer systems
An evaluation of how composting projects would compete with existing solid waste management systems

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Broward prosecutors on Wednesday announced that they had dropped the public corruption charges against former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, arrested in September of last year, basically because they couldn’t make the case.
‘This case fails to meet the legal standards for prosecution,” wrote Broward Assistant State Attorney Kayla Bramnick in her close-out memo. “The evidence does not demonstrate corrupt intent, unlawful benefits, or falsification of records. Witness testimony is unreliable, and lawful actions have been misconstrued as criminal.
“Substantial follow-up investigation and depositions have occurred that revealed the foundation of this entire investigation was misguided and buttressed by unverified information. In a purely circumstantial case, as opposed to a case with direct evidence, the State is required to present competent evidence inconsistent with the Defendant’s theory of defense. Here, the State does not possess competent evidence to present to a jury that would allow them to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence beyond a reasonable doubt, particularly the hypothesis that each of these acts were suspicious but legal.”
Suspicious?
Central to the decision, according to the Bramnick memo, is the standing of a prior proposal to use the public space at Biscayne Park for a Miami-Dade Public School project — which was not the point.
What does one thing have to do with the other?
It’s totally irrelevant if the plan to build the MDCPS iPrep Academy was dead in the water or not when Diaz de la Portilla decided to sponsor the item that gave a licensing agreement to The Centner Academy to build a $10 million sports complex that would be for use by their students only some of the time and for the public one third of the time — but maybe for a fee. The school plan has nothing to do with the $245,000 given to ADLP’s political action committee through a newly-formed Delaware company. The school plan had nothing to do with the 57 days that Diaz de la Portilla stayed at the East Hotel in downtown Miami, racking up $30,000 in expenses paid for by the attorney for the owners of the Centner Academy, or, more likely, the owners of the Centner Academy through their attorney, William Riley, who was also arrested.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla arrested on corruption, pay-for-play park deal
And, in fact, it wasn’t dead until Diaz de la Portilla became involved. When the Centner’s owners talked to former Commissioner Ken Russell, who was the Omni CRA chair before ADLP, there was still a path for both the private school and the public school board to work together. In fact, when Russell voted for the Centner’s sports dome, he said he wanted the conversation to include the school board and their needs.

But still, that plan had nothing to do with the scheme that Diaz de la Portilla Riley planned, which led to the 11 felony charges against the commissioner, including bribery and money laundering. Prosecutors don’t file felony charges against an elected without plenty of probable cause (read: evidence) because they know the case will be followed and scrutinized by the press. Suddenly the evidence was weak?
ADLP’s main attorney, Ben Kuehne, issued a statement on Wednesday that sounds like sermon.
“Today is a day of Celebration for the return to Justice and Fairness in our court system with the decision of the Broward County State Attorney to Drop all charges against Alex Diaz de la Portilla,” Kuehne wrote. His caps, not mine.
“This is a day of complete Vindication for Alex, who did not do anything wrong. We thank the Broward State Attorney’s Office for its thoughtful and correct decision that ends the weaponized use of prosecutorial power in this case.
“When this case was first brought at a time chosen for election interference, Alex Diaz de la Portilla promised the community that he had done nothing wrong. Today is a clear demonstration of the fulfillment of his promise.
“As the Broward State Attorney’s Office confirmed in its detailed Close-Out Memo: ‘The evidence does not demonstrate corrupt intent, unlawful benefits, or falsification of records. Witness testimony is unreliable and lawful actions have been misconstrued.’”
Read related: Private Centner Academy gets to run Miami public park for $10 million
Kuehne further expressed ADLP’s thanks to God and “those in the community who continued to express their unwavering support.” Then he said Alex had recently quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., saying, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”
Doesn’t sound at all like him. That’s all Ben.

Kuehne, as always, took the opportunity to pat himself on the back, saying that Diaz de la Portilla recognized the efforts of his legal team, which also included Michael T. Davis, and Johan Dos Santos of Kuehne Davis Law, P.A., Jonathan K. Osborne and Miguel Diaz de la Portilla of Gunster, Richard J. Diaz, and Susy Ribero-Ayala.
He should have included Bramnick, whose close out memo sounds more like the office worked hard to find reasons why not to prosecute, instead of the other way around. In fact, it kinda sounds like Kuehne wrote it based off the depositions taken by the defense.
“While these allegations raise serious concerns, a thorough review of the evidence that has been discovered through extensive follow-up investigation and depositions reveal significant weaknesses in the case,” Bramnick wrote in the memo. “Witness testimony proved inconsistent and critical elements of the crimes charged cannot be supported by the evidence.”
Testimony from three key witnesses “was undermined during depositions,” she wrote, throwing them under the bus:

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As expected, a plantidate in the Miami Lakes mayoral race has forced a runoff between Commissioner Josh Dieguez and Vice Mayor Tony Fernandez, who came out of Tuesday’s first round with 47% and 42%, respectively. Yuniett Gonzalez, a political newbie who had donated to Dieguez before jumping in the race — not a good sign for a candidate — got 11%.

We can expect Gonzalez to endorse Dieguez any day now, hoping to throw her 1,793 votes his way. There were only 731 votes difference between Dieguez and Fernandez in Tuesday’s results.

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