Doral’s city council signed off on spending nearly a million dollars on furniture for the new city hall building, currently under construction.

The 4-1 vote at Wednesday’s meeting came after an earlier vote was deferred after a councilmember and residents objected to the initial amount budgeted for the new furniture, which was originally presented to the council as not to exceed $1.5 million.

Councilmen Pete Cabrera , who objected to the furniture purchase at the earlier January meeting and who blasted city officials in an email questioning the plan, was the sole dissenting vote.

“I cannot be supportive of making a decision under these circumstances,” Cabrera said Wednesday. In an email sent on Jan. 10, Cabrera criticized the furniture purchase, asking why the furniture from the current city hall could not be repurposed and noting that while the city administration would be occupying a greater square footage, it would not be increasing its staff.

“We must stop this wasteful spending in our city,” Cabrera said in his email.

The email sparked a debate between Cabrera and Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez, who took issue with Cabrera’s notion that the council was not being transparent.

“I will be the first to defend his right to disagree, but I cannot, as chair of the meeting, agree with unsubstantiated accusations against fellow council members,” Bermudez said in an interview with the Herald after the Jan. 11 meeting.The cost approved at Wednesday’s meeting: $990,780 to Pradere Furniture, whose bid was about 20 percent less than other firms seeking the contract through the Federal General Services Administration. which allows municipalities to pick from a list of pre-approved vendors. Cabrera said he would have preferred to allow local firms to submit their bids directly the city, a prospect the city manager said would take too long.

The city held a workshop on the issue and the city manager took at least one concerned resident on a tour of the 62,630-square-foot city hall/government center, expected to be move-in ready by July.

Maria Palacio of Doral, who called the figure “outrageous” at the last council meeting got a tour of the new building.

She told council Wednesday she now understood why furniture needed to be purchased to fit with the building’s new open-space design.

The council also decided to keep the chairs from private offices and conference rooms, including the council chambers, saving the city almost $180,000. The amount does not include money to buy equipment for the new Wellness Center.

The new city hall at 8401 NW 53rd Terr. includes a cultural arts facility and the wellness center, according to Assistant City Manager Mark Taxis. In addition, there will be 4,000 square feet of leasable space and 2,000 square feet for future growth.

“Once you deduct the added spaces, we’re really very similar in size to what we have with some space to grow,” Taxis said.

City hall’s current furniture, which is about eight years old, will either go to the new buildings for Doral Police Department or Public Works. Construction has not begun on either project.

Soler-McKinley said she encouraged councilmembers to meet with her to address their concerns about the furniture purchase, “so that we can explain why we’re doing something, what the mechanics is, so that they have a level of comfort on what we’re doing and what they’re voting on,” she told the Herald .

Cabrera said he wasn’t willing to do so.

“I want it in writing or a public meeting. I’m willing to ask specific questions but must have all the information,” Cabrera said in an interview. “I want the public to see all the information that I’m seeing.”

Nonetheless, the city manager said she was eager to meet the move-in deadline for the city’s new official home.

“I’m excited to go get furniture, to move forward,” Soler-McKinley said.