Miami fires manager of Little Haiti Cultural Center for second time in six years
Miami City Manager Art Noriega has fired Sandy Dorsainvil, the manager of the Little Haiti Cultural Center.
The dismissal — the second time in six years that a top administrator has fired Dorsainvil — ends what has been a tumultuous relationship between the city government and the director of a cultural hub that hosts the Caribbean Marketplace, a fine art gallery and a theater.
Noriega signed her termination letter May 27, catching Dorsainvil by surprise because she had decided to resign weeks earlier amid tensions with city management. Internal emails show Dorsainvil had verbally resigned May 10 during an “emotional” meeting with management, but she later tried to rescind her comments after consulting with her employee union. After more disagreement with the city, Dorsainvil decided to maintain her resignation.
The night before she was fired, the center had held a farewell for Dorsainvil at the opening of an art exhibit, Bèl Fanm. She was let go less than a week before her last day.
In his letter, Noriega wrote that Dorsainvil was insubordinate and broke several city rules leading up a five-day suspension in mid-May, during which he said she violated policies again by sending emails from her work account. The city manager wrote that in April and May, Dorsainvil had improperly signed off on a city contract and violated city purchasing policies when she spent $2,000 on an electronic billboard to promote Haitian Heritage Month without necessary approvals.
On Thursday, Dorsainvil told the Miami Herald she acknowledges that paperwork should’ve been done correctly and city processes should’ve been followed, but the cultural center was too understaffed for her to get work done without breaking some rules.
“I know I’m not perfect,” Dorsainvil said. “But what I can say with 100% certainty is the errors that occurred were because I am one person. I did not have the staff to accomplish what they wanted accomplished the way they wanted it done.”
Dorsainvil said she does not plan to contest her firing. She had managed the cultural center since May 2013, with a break after the first time she was fired.
In April 2016, Dorsainvil was suddenly fired when her boss suspected she was embezzling money. Her firing caused an uproar among her supporters in Miami’s Haitian community, and it led some commissioners to unsuccessfully push for the firing of Daniel Alfonso, the city manager at the time.
A three-year inquiry led to no charges after investigators found no evidence that Dorsainvil had stolen or diverted any money from the facility. She was later reinstated.
The latest firing came a week after controversy over a planned musical performance by former Haitian President Michel Martelly, also known as “Sweet Micky,” at the cultural center. Activists in Miami’s Haitian community decried Martelly and planned to protest the May 25 event. Martelly has faced accusations of corruption since leaving office, and his political party has been blamed for political unrest and increasing gang violence in Haiti.
Miami police barred Martelly from performing, citing safety concerns. In 2018, Dorsainvil defended a decision to invite Martelly to perform in Little Haiti.
Noriega’s letter did not mention Martelly, and Dorsainvil said she didn’t think her dismissal had anything to do with the concert. She suggested that she and the city did not see eye to eye on how to properly support the cultural center.
“The goal is not for the center to succeed. I don’t know what the goal is, but all of the dots don’t align,” Dorsainvil said. “If you want a public facility to succeed, you give it the staff it needs, the resources it needs.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
