Miami Shores appoints former zoning and planning member to council
Miami Shores Village Council appointed a longtime attorney and former village Planning and Zoning Board member to fill a council seat left vacant after a councilwoman stepped down earlier this month.
Timothy Crutchfield, the new council member, is an attorney at North Miami-based law firm Mintz Truppman, P.A., where he specializes in legal issues involving insurance, personal injury, wrongful death and windstorm and hurricane damage. He served on the Miami Shores Planning and Zoning Board from 1999 to 2005.
He described himself as a “pragmatic liberal” who is progressive on social issues, but fiscally conservative. “I will try to make sure that we maintain a healthy balance book, and that we’re cautious about our financial aspects and protect the financial strength of the village as we move forward,” he said at the meeting on Wednesday.
Crutchfield fills the vacancy created when council member Katia Saint Fleur resigned Dec. 6. He will be in office for the remainder of Saint Fleur’s term, but said he has no plans to run in the election on April 11.
“There’s a lot to get done and work on trying to achieve what we can do. And I think it’s just an opportunity for me to support and help the community and move forward on this,” he said.
Crutchfield’s appointment comes just weeks after the village council voted to approve its comprehensive plan during a first reading of the document. The plan has caused division among residents and some village council members over increasing the population from potential multifamily housing in a largely single-family home community.
Separately, Miami Shores Councilwoman Crystal Wagar and four other Florida politicians filed a lawsuit challenging a state law that will go into effect Saturday. The law extends the period of time that certain elected officials are prohibited from lobbying after leaving office from two to six years.
The Constitutional Prohibition Against Lobbying by a Public Officer implements a constitutional amendment that voters approved in 2018 that prohibits lobbying by certain public officials while in office. To avoid having to wait six years before working for a lobbying firm, the official would have to resign before the law goes into effect this weekend.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami on Dec. 21, challenges the state law on the basis of the First Amendment, and names the Florida Commission on Ethics, Florida state Attorney General Ashley Moody and Florida state CFO Jimmy Patronis. The lawsuit asks the court to find the new law unconstitutional and enforce a preliminary and permanent injunction.
Wagar accepted a job on Dec. 9 as a lobbyist at Southern Group and the lawsuit says, “she intends to continue with those activities after December 31, 2022. However, the new revisions to the Florida Constitution will not permit Ms. Wagar to continue with her work for Southern Group and remain on the Miami Shores Village Council.”
Updates to clarify the provisions in the new lobbying law.
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 at 5:03 PM.
