After DeSantis order, Miami-Dade commissioners reluctantly allow packed chambers again

After conducting the public’s business in relative isolation for more than a year, Miami-Dade County commissioners on Tuesday looked out onto a full auditorium for the first time since early 2020, the result of an order one day earlier by Gov. Ron DeSantis ending local COVID-19 restrictions.

“I have got to respect the governor’s order,” said Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz, the Republican and DeSantis ally who had set the COVID rules barring the public from the galley of the commission chambers. “We’re working through it as well as possible.”

Restaurant dining rooms in Miami-Dade were last closed in August, and bars and nightclubs reopened in September. But the suddenly crowded Miami-Dade meeting captured how the DeSantis order could reopen one of the last spaces with COVID rules restricting public access: government meetings.

During Tuesday’s commission meeting, lobbyists and companies pursuing county contracts filled most of the seats in the chambers, all of them wearing masks. The sight was a throwback to the days before the coronavirus pandemic, when rows of people sitting shoulder-to-shoulder was typical for procurement battles in Miami-Dade.

Then COVID-19 emerged last year, and Miami-Dade moved its meetings online. The change lasted through November, when DeSantis lifted his waiver of quorum rules requiring in-person proceedings. After that, seats in the second-floor chambers were reserved for county employees while the public was at first relegated to a noisy speaking area in the first-floor lobby, sharing space with the entrance to the Government Center Metrorail station.

When Diaz became chairman in January, he loosened the rules and allowed members of the public to enter the chambers to speak on legislation before being ushered back out to watch from the lobby. That robbed advocates of a common tactic for commissioners’ items: filling the chambers with supporters, often wearing matching T-shirts to emphasize support for their positions.

“They didn’t see us when we were downstairs,” said Dorothy Alfaro, owner of an electrical firm and a frequent advocate for opening county contracts to small businesses. “They didn’t see us when we were on Zoom.”

Even before the DeSantis order, some municipalities had moved further than Miami-Dade in allowing the public to attend government meetings again. The city of Miami’s commission chambers on Dinner Key have been open to the public since November, though with some seats declared off limits to increase space between attendees.

During twice monthly meetings, people have been allowed to address commissioners from either a lectern inside the chamber or through a Zoom call from a laptop in the lobby. Outside, seats are available under a tent with a projector.

Ken Russell, acting chairman of the Miami City Commission, said he’s not ready to let DeSantis end spacing rules. “Social distancing within City Hall is an internal policy which we can continue out of safety regardless of the state of emergency,” he said.

Other municipalities, however, have kept their chambers closed to the public.

In Coral Gables, the DeSantis order under review

In Coral Gables, online-only meetings continue, to mixed reviews. “The fact that we are muted until someone unmutes us ... it’s just a very awkward process of communicating,” said Sue Kawalerski, president of the Coral Gables Neighbors Association. “There’s no opportunity for rebuttals, so you just have to make your statement and hope they unmute you.”

Vince Lago, the city’s new mayor, said Tuesday he wasn’t sure whether the DeSantis order would force the city to rethink plans not to reopen City Hall to the public until June 14. “We are currently evaluating the governor’s order and will make a determination shortly if we will change that date,” he said.

Like the Gables, Key Biscayne has held “hybrid” village council meetings since last fall, with the public not allowed inside. The village recently came under fire when the council refused to let a journalist in to cover a meeting regarding the hiring of a new village manager.

Two statewide groups — the Florida First Amendment Foundation and Florida’s Society of Professional Journalists — sent letters to the village council slamming their decision.

After the incident, Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey said the council may change its policy on letting journalists attend “hybrid” meetings.

“This is all about safety. This is not my desired way to run meetings,” he said last week of the hybrid meeting setup. “We want people to be there and to interact. Right now, safety of staff, safety of council has to be a priority ... nobody wants this to be over more than I do.”

After the DeSantis order, Davey said the meetings will reopen to the public but with limited seating and asking people to wear masks. “I’m assuming that local governments can still require people to wear clothing to attend,” Davey said, “but the governor may take that authority away from us next week.”

Some cities, like Florida City, never took advantage of the virtual opportunity the emergency order provided. Others had moved meetings to a larger location to accommodate crowds. The Miami-Dade County School Board took up this model, holding its meetings in its downtown auditorium with board members on stage and members of the public spaced out.

‘They are not following CDC guidelines’

For the Miami-Dade County Commission, spacing rules were gone Tuesday and all seats available. That was a red flag for Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease professor at Florida International University professor who helped shape county COVID rules at the start of the pandemic as an adviser to then-mayor Carlos Gimenez.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends people at events stay six feet away from each other.

“They are not following CDC guidelines and that is unfortunate,” Marty said when shown a photo from Tuesday’s meeting. “As people get closer and the amount of time gets longer, the risk increases.”

Diaz, the chairman, said he was forced to rethink chamber rules overnight after the DeSantis order. “I would have preferred a little more time,” he said.

He also said he’s treating the prior mask rules as requests of the public as Miami-Dade examines its options under the governor’s order. “I won’t mandate them,” he said. “I probably could. But why get into that?”

Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 4, 2021 at 4:28 PM.