Carollo’s code gripes spark corruption questions, create rifts in Miami’s government
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo’s intense focus on the city’s code compliance department has the city’s top administrators worried they are being used to target certain businesses for enforcement. Meanwhile, his remarks have caused public corruption investigators to turn their attention to City Hall.
Top administrators are questioning whether they should be sending code inspectors and cops to a list of properties provided by Carollo, who since his election in 2017 has raised concerns over violations at properties owned by Bill Fuller, a co-owner of Ball & Chain, and his business associates.
Among those concerned: Police Chief Jorge Colina, who challenged Carollo’s pointed questions at the Feb. 14 meeting when the commissioner spent hours leading an inquisition into the history of code violations of multiple Little Havana properties. Carollo laid out the basis for his accusations that city staffers are willfully turning a blind eye to code violations.
Colina reiterated his reservations in an email to City Manager Emilio Gonzalez last week, sent in response to a request from City Attorney Victoria Mendez for new inspections of several properties discussed at the commission meeting. Colina said police coordinate checks of bars based on established criteria, not at the direction of an elected official. Elected officials are not supposed to give direct orders to municipal employees under city laws that are meant to protect public servants from political interference.
“The concern is that this request, through the city attorney, may amount to an unsanctioned and unlawful exercise of powers beyond the limits of his legislative power as a city commissioner to intentionally cause harm to a business owner,” Colina wrote. “Furthermore this is selective enforcement against the business owner’s properties using city ordinance. This may be deemed an indirect usurpation of the administration’s powers to interfere with the operations and procedures of various departments, including the Miami police department.”
Carollo, taken aback by the chief’s comments, told the Miami Herald he was “amazed about any pushback to a request to look at properties with code issues.
“The police chief acted in the most unprofessional manner of any police chief in modern times,” Carollo said.
The commissioner was particularly incensed because the direction to follow up on the list of properties came from multiple commissioners. On Feb. 14, Commissioner Keon Hardemon made the motion that led to the city attorney’s request, acknowledging that the request included multiple properties and asking the city to file an injunction to shut down any properties issues that had “life safety” issues.
Carollo’s allegations have also piqued the interest of Miami-Dade’s top corruption prosecutor, according to emails obtained by the Miami Herald. Tim VanderGiesen, a veteran assistant state attorney who heads the public corruption unit, told administrators that he watched the Feb. 14 discussion on code compliance and requested records related to that discussion, including a copy of Carollo’s presentation. VanderGiesen also requested an email that Carollo’s chief of staff, Richard Blom, sent the day before the meeting, asking the administration to have certain city staffers present for the code discussion.
The focus of the state attorney’s interest is unclear.
“We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any ongoing investigation,” said Ed Griffith, spokesman for the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office.
But the inquiry may have to do with a statement Carollo made in the middle of the lengthy Feb. 14 hearing. At one point, Carollo said a young couple he knew who wanted to open a business in Wynwood were having trouble navigating the city’s permitting process. He said they had to hire an expeditor, someone who is paid to run paperwork around the multiple city departments, and had to give the expeditor extra money to pay off city inspectors.
“They not only had to pay the expeditor, but they had to pay money to the expeditor so he could bribe some of our inspectors, and get that done quickly,” Carollo said that night. “Otherwise, they weren’t going to open.”
When asked if he’d spoken to authorities about the bribery comments, Carollo declined to comment. He said he does not know the identity of the inspectors who allegedly took bribes, and he declined to name the business owners, saying only that he believed they were honest people in a tough spot.
“I have no reason to doubt them,” he said.
The brouhaha escalated at the Feb. 14 commission meeting. Carollo got into a shouting match with Fuller, who stormed into the chamber to refute the commissioner’s claims. Fuller has sued Carollo in federal court alleging that Carollo is crusading against his business as political retaliation for Fuller’s support of one of Carollo’s opponents in the 2017 municipal election.
Commissioners agreed to discuss creation of a task force to investigate the performance of the code compliance department, which employs 58 inspectors to handle all of the city of Miami. They also directed the city administration to look into any possible “life-safety issues” at properties such as Los Altos, a Fuller-owned lounge above a Mexican restaurant on Calle Ocho, which was cited for code violations in November.
The fallout from that meeting has reverberated through Miami’s halls of power and left senior city decision-makers such as Colina concerned that they are being asked to target Fuller-owned properties. About a week after the meeting, Mendez emailed several top city administrators asking them to conduct new site inspections and to review all city records for multiple properties discussed on Feb. 14. Of 11 properties Mendez listed, seven are owned by Fuller and his affiliates or associated with Fuller-owned businesses.
Mendez asked for checks on permits, licenses, waivers and other city documents to compare the current state of the properties with what has been permitted. Her email mentions another discussion scheduled for Thursday’s commission at Carollo’s request.
“There’s a code enforcement discussion and I would like to be ready with any updates,” she wrote.
Deputy City Manager Joe Napoli also voiced his worries to Gonzalez in response to Mendez’s request.
“I am concerned that what the City Attorney is directing our staff to do is beyond what was directed by the Commission and can be interpreted as targeting businesses,” he emailed his boss.
Zerry Ihekwaba, another assistant city manager, echoed Napoli in another email.
“We ought to be enforcing the Code citywide and not just targets,” he wrote.
Carollo has called on the city to shut down repeat code violators. Administrators have resisted this approach, arguing that property owners are entitled to due process when they are cited for code violations. That process allows owners to go before a city board to ask for leniency and time to fix the problems.
Carollo said he believes Fuller’s properties can still be shut down even as he goes through due process, pointing to a number of issues he’s found on multiple Fuller properties, some of which go back years. The commissioner said Gonzalez has the power to shut down properties with repeat offenses.
“It’s been very frustrating,” Carollo said. “The manager is the one who has the authority.”
The commissioner contends that properties with significant code violations that can endanger people’s lives should at least be shut down. At the Feb. 14 meeting, Carollo compared promotional photographs of the lounge to plans submitted to the city while raising questions about Los Altos’ capacity, the arrangement of interior furniture in the building and whether the lounge’s electrical connections were up to code.
Even with concerns among city employees, inspectors have checked some of the properties since Feb. 14. On Wednesday, assistant city manager Fernando Casamayor said the city went to Los Altos and found some problems.
“My understanding is they’ve been addressed,” he said.
Casamayor said no businesses have been shut down because of the recent inspections.
The tension will likely set the tone for Thursday’s discussion on code compliance. Commissioners are also expected to vote on creating a task force to investigate.
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 6:15 AM.
