While Miami Beach hunts for new city manager, five city employees want interim role
Until the city of Miami Beach finds a replacement for outgoing City Manager Jimmy Morales, a commission-appointed interim manager will serve as the city’s top administrator.
Five senior-level city employees have expressed interest in the temporary position. They are City Attorney Raul Aguila, Code Compliance Director Hernan Cardeno, Public Works Director Roy Coley, Fire Chief Virgilio Fernandez and Assistant City Manager Mark Taxis. The City Commission will make its selection during a meeting Wednesday.
Morales, who is leaving the city after more than seven years, will join the administration of Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava as the county’s chief operations officer.
Friday will be his last day at work. When he submitted his resignation in October, Morales told the City Commission that he would stay on board until February to ensure a “smooth transition.”
His accelerated exit surprised some commissioners, who must now select an interim manager as the city negotiates a contract with a search firm to find a permanent successor. The firm, Ralph Andersen & Associates, requested $48,500 to conduct the search.
“We had a great schedule but our city manager was apparently too desirable to the new county mayor,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said during Friday’s commission before congratulating him.
“Obviously we didn’t plan for any of this. Names [of candidates] are coming out now and not earlier because we didn’t really know we had this problem until earlier in the week,” Gelber later said.
The interim city manager will assume the emergency powers granted to Morales by the commission during the state of emergency he declared amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 12, Morales has used his unilateral decision-making authority to impose curfews, business closures and alcohol-sale restrictions. City code authorizes the manager to wield his emergency authority for a 72-hour period, but the commission has regularly extended Morales’ powers.
Miami Beach’s form of government gives commissioners the authority to vote on policy decisions, but the city manager is responsible for carrying the laws out and running the city. Morales has endorsed Fernandez and Taxis, both of whom report directly to him.
“Obviously in an interim type of situation you want the smoothest transition,” he said Friday. “I think either one of those would be a solid appointment.”
Most commissioners agree that the interim city manager should not be considered for the permanent position. Assistant city managers Eric Carpenter and Alina Tejeda Hudak, and Chief Financial Officer John Woodruff, have said they will apply to replace Morales. Morales’ current base salary is $305,736.
The city expects to finalize a contract with the search firm this week, a spokeswoman said. City leaders expect the process to last about six months. Before Morales became city manager in 2013, interim City Manager Kathie Brooks served for about eight months.
“This could last many, many months to select the permanent person, so I’d like to have an interim person promise not to be considered for the permanent role,” Commissioner Ricky Arriola said at Friday’s meeting.
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