Former Gables commissioner is denied for city board appointment. Here’s why
After one of her city board appointees was ousted last month, Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro named her new pick for one of the city’s most important advisory boards.
But her decision to appoint former Gables commissioner and recent mayoral candidate Kirk Menendez to fill the seat on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board was blocked Wednesday by three of the other four members of the City Commission.
Mayor Vince Lago, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara cited various concerns in rejecting Castro’s motion to appoint Menendez, including his 2023 vote to raise the salaries of himself and other commissioners and ongoing scrutiny of the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center Association, where Menendez is president. Menendez, who served a four-year term as a city commissioner starting in 2021, lost the mayoral race earlier this year to Lago, the incumbent.
During the campaign, Lago criticized Menendez’s handling of the independent organization associated with the city-owned youth center. Commissioners recently directed the city attorney to request the organization’s financial statements and other documents.
Menendez has defended himself and the organization and denied any wrongdoing. In a letter late last month, the organization provided the city with several publicly available documents but said that as a private nonprofit, it has no obligation to provide other requested documents.
Menendez, a former ally of Lago and Anderson, in 2023 began casting more votes with Castro and another then-newcomer, Ariel Fernandez, the origin of the current division on the five-member City Commission. After Menendez lost the mayoral race to Lago this past April, Castro and Fernandez, who previously were on the majority, are now often on the losing side of votes. Fernandez was the only commissioner other than Castro to support Menendez’s planning board appointment.
Castro’s attempt to appoint Menendez to the planning board came after her previous appointee, Sue Kawalerski, was removed last month in a 3-1 vote by city commissioners. Fernandez was absent the day of the vote.
Lago, Anderson and Lara, who all voted for Kawalerski’s removal, said they booted her off the board for displaying unprofessional and inappropriate behavior, including how she spoke to Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado in a recent summer meeting. Kawalerski, in a newsletter ahead of the removal vote, said commissioners were using her as a “scapegoat for their neglect of duty and obligation to protect and fight for the city and the residents.”
In Coral Gables, each city commissioner is allowed to appoint one person to the Planning and Zoning Board, which reviews upcoming developments and makes recommendations on potential zoning changes. Castro described the rejection of Menendez’s appointment as retaliation and an attempt to silence her. She also noted that the commission two months ago unanimously approved Menendez to once again be part of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Menendez said this is his ninth time serving on the parks board.
“Never before in our city’s history has a former city commissioner been denied the opportunity to serve on a board,” Castro told the Miami Herald in a statement after the meeting. Menendez made similar remarks to the Herald, saying that he voted on “many development projects as a commissioner in the past” and believes he’s “more than qualified” to serve on the planning board.
Lara, who has been friends with Menendez for years, told the Herald after the meeting that he voted against the appointment because commissioners should appoint people “free from any current controversies” to reduce the risk of instability.
“Until we clear the various allegations and we get to the bottom of the questions that have been raised, both by the commission and residents, regarding Mr. Menendez, my vote was ‘no’ and will remain so under these circumstances,” Lara said.
Menendez, who dropped into Wednesday’s commission meeting to defend himself, said the various concerns about his appointment were a pretext.
“The concern for some is not that I’m going to be influenced by developers — the concern for some is that I’m not going to be influenced by developers,” Menendez said.
He also dropped new information while speaking to the commission: Menendez said he had canceled a coffee meeting with a resident in 2023 after learning there was a rumor that the person planned to offer him $100,000 to get him to vote for moving the city’s elections, a hotly debated idea in the Gables.
Lago immediately ordered the city attorney to notify the state attorney general’s office and the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission about the situation, criticizing Menendez for not notifying authorities at the time.
Election dates are still a major topic of discussion in the Gables. The city holds elections in April of odd-numbered years. In September 2023, Menendez voted, alongside Castro and Fernandez, against moving elections to November in even-numbered years.
Earlier this year, Lago, Anderson and Lara did vote to move elections to November in even years. But after seeing the recent court decisions related to the city of Miami’s own election date change, Gables commissioners changed course. Coral Gables is now planning to hold a special vote-by-mail election in April 2026 that will ask voters to weigh in on a series of topics, including if they want to move elections.
