Accused of abuse of power, city manager will address allegations for the first time
As Miami’s city government continues to tackle issues from keeping street corners clear of illegally discarded junk to preparing for impacts of sea level rise, uncertainty at the highest levels of leadership dominates City Hall.
At the center of the city’s latest maelstrom is City Manager Emilio González, the top administrator, who controls a $1 billion budget and oversees a 4,000-person workforce. From the police force to garbage pickup to potholes to stormwater drainage, the day-to-day responsibilities of Miami’s municipal government fall on González and his administration.
The city manager hasn’t responded to allegations that he falsified documents in order to secure a permit for a backyard deck at his home or that he used his position to fast-track approval of the permit — accusations hurled at a December commission meeting by a longtime critic, Commissioner Joe Carollo. González was absent from the December meeting because he was with his wife, who was ill.
González is expected to address the issue publicly for the first time at Thursday’s commission meeting.
After a motion to fire González failed by one vote at the Dec. 12 meeting, commissioners unanimously voted to send the allegations to the city’s auditor general.
The issue stirred unrest through the holidays. Mayor Francis Suarez vetoed the action, saying it would be improper for the auditor, who reports directly to the commission, to investigate allegations made by a commissioner. On Christmas Eve, City Attorney Victoria Mendez issued a legal opinion saying Suarez lacked the authority to veto that vote.
Suarez, who said he does not oppose an outside agency investigating the accusations, maintains that the city attorney’s argument invalidating his veto is legally flawed, pointing to case law and the city charter. The disagreement could lead to the mayor filing a lawsuit against his own city.
A retired U.S. Army colonel and former director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services appointed by George W. Bush, González finds himself facing accusations of impropriety while dealing with a sometimes dysfunctional commission. The commission has not been able to make some key decisions in recent months, its strident personalities mired in conflict and its elected mayor having limited powers.
González is no stranger to the tumult of municipal government. Before being confirmed as Miami city manager in January 2018, he served as Miami International Airport’s director for five years. He left that post days after Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez stripped him of his authority to oversee airport concessions. His tenure included fights with influential MIA leaseholders — scuffles he readily acknowledged at the time.
“I may have pissed some people off while I was here,” he told the Herald in his last days as airport director. “But if you don’t piss people off, you’re not doing your job.”
The comments at the December meeting signal that now González has agitated some of his bosses in city government as well. The city manager has had to balance the needs of five distinct districts with their often mercurial representatives and a citywide mayor while trying to avoid the often parochial nature of city government.
The push-and-pull between politicians can threaten to shorten tenures of administrators, particularly in an environment as historically contentious as Miami City Hall. According to the International City/County Management Association, the average tenure for top municipal managers is 7.3 years. González is about to complete two years on the job.
Carollo, who cast the lone vote against González’s appointment in January 2018, has complained that his office has not been briefed on some issues before commission meetings and his questions and directives for the administration have gone unanswered, a gripe echoed by Commissioner Manolo Reyes.
González’s supporters, including Suarez, would point to highlights of González’s two years at the helm: stable city finances, a historically low property tax rate, a growing reserve fund, the highest bond rating in city history and a popular trolley system that continues to attract more riders.
Under González’s administration, Miami’s police department has reported progress in some areas and struggled in others. In early 2019, the department reported the lowest homicide rate in decades for the previous year, and the overall number of police officers on the street has increased. Incidents of police misconduct have made headlines, from use of force to mishandling body-worn cameras to mismanagement of the department’s off-duty work program.
One of the city manager’s top priorities upon his appointment: settling a $200 million debt owed to the city’s police and fire pension fund. That matter was settled in October 2018 at a cost of $53.5 million, with $37 million in upfront payments and annual payments of $2 million-$3 million for several years. According to a city fiscal analysis, Miami’s taxpayers could have been on the hook for $486 million in back pay and pensions for cops and firefighters.
On Wednesday, Suarez rattled off several of these accomplishments in a positive assessment of González’s tenure, adding the $20 million settlement of a lawsuit over a long-delayed hotel project on city-owned Watson Island — a case that administrators feared could have cost the city more that $100 million if Miami lost the trial.
At each turn, Suarez said, his chosen manager has acted professionally.
“He’s acted with integrity,” Suarez said.
González’s leadership style favors handling the big picture over the daily bread-and-butter functions of government. He typically delegates the city’s day-to-day operations to his deputies.
González prefers participating in high-level conversations on large-scale items: the proposal to build a $1 billion commercial and soccer stadium complex on the city’s only golf course, the spending plan for dollars borrowed under the voter-approved Miami Forever general obligation bond, and the city’s love-hate relationship with Ultra Music Festival.
The city manager likes to post selfies on Twitter with foreign dignitaries, Tallahassee politicians and other bigwigs, often touting his promotion of city interests. His critics call this needless self-promotion.
González’s management style has led to criticism, even from commissioners who consider his administration effective.
“I do believe everyone has different management styles,” Commissioner Ken Russell said during the Dec. 12 meeting where González’s performance was discussed. “The management style of our current city manager has, at times, been frustrating.”
Still, Russell has cautioned that any appraisal of González’s performance should be considered only after the accusations against him are addressed. On Wednesday, Russell said whether it be the city’s auditor general or an outside agency, the questions around the permit for work on his house need to be answered.
“The more substantive issue is the allegation that he committed fraud, and we need to dispense with that accusation before anything,” Russell told the Herald.
Then, he said, González “certainly deserves to be heard, and he certainly deserves to have his day.”
