El Portal elects new councilman after incumbent abruptly resigned two months ago
Financial stability. Permanent staffers in top village positions. Proper infrastructure in case of natural disasters.
Those are only a few of the issues facing El Portal, a small village of about 2,400 people outside of Miami Shores in Northeast Miami-Dade.
On Tuesday, residents went to the polls to choose a new council member in a special election, after a longtime council member abruptly resigned two months ago. Two political newcomers — Jennifer Ghersi, 36, and Anders Urbom, 39, vied for the seat left vacant by Werner Dreher, who was elected in 2018.
With only 153 total votes cast out of 1,598 registered voters, Urbom, who has worked in the hospitality industry for many years, came out on top with 56 percent of the votes (86 votes). Ghersi received 44 percent, or 67 votes.
Urbom, who will finish the rest of the two-year term, said his priority is to get a permanent police chief and focus on “long-term planning.” Cpl. Bernard Sharpe was appointed acting chief while the village searches for a new top cop.
“I am certainly glad to have won and am looking forward to working on the priorities of the village,” Urbom said Tuesday night.
The village is tied up in a legal dispute with the former interim Police Chief Ronnie Huffnagel, who was fired in early December. Huffnagel, a 20-year veteran, said she was fired after bringing to light the actions of Mayor Claudia Cubillos and Village Manager Christia Alou during Hurricane Irma. Huffnagel contended there was no police oversight of the debris-removal process after the storm, while the mayor said there was.
The dispute first became public last summer when El Portal took out a $1.25 million line of credit — about a third of its annual budget — to pay for debris removal after Hurricane Irma. The village said it needed the funds while it waited for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reimburse it.
But if FEMA does not reimburse the village by July 30, and the village can’t negotiate an extension, taxpayers would be liable for the $1.25 million plus interest.
Ghersi, who works in sales, said she ran because she cares about the community and wanted to make a difference.
This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 8:42 PM.
