In Opa-locka, a ‘war’ between mayor and manager is complicating the city’s recovery
An escalating power struggle between the mayor and city manager of Opa-locka has burst into public view, exposing internal strife in a city that has been fighting for its financial life since 2016.
In recent months, City Manager John Pate has accused Mayor Matthew Pigatt of tampering with the city’s police chief search and joining with a nonprofit deep in debt to the city to file a complaint against him with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Pigatt has raised concerns about Pate’s conduct and accused the manager of withholding basic information about crucial city business. He’s suggested that Pate — who has applied for jobs elsewhere — is laying the groundwork to sue the city.
Things have grown so tense that Pate stripped Pigatt of his administrative privileges on the city’s Zoom video conferencing account, and both have said they are no longer comfortable meeting one-on-one with the other. In emails copied to the entire commission, Pate has reminded Pigatt that it’s the manager who runs city operations, not the mayor.
“It seems like this situation has been brewing for months now, the war between you and the manager,” Commissioner John Taylor told Pigatt during a March 4 virtual commission meeting. “If we’re gonna move forward, then we’ve got to work together.”
Pigatt and Pate are both part of a new, young crop of leaders in Opa-locka who have been working to stabilize the northwest Miami-Dade city. Opa-locka has been under state financial oversight for almost five years after nearly going bankrupt amid widespread corruption. Multiple city officials were indicted.
Amid the chaos, Pigatt, 34, won a commission seat in 2016, pledging reform and transparency. He became mayor in 2018 on a similar platform, defeating legacy politicians as four newcomers joined the five-member commission.
Pate, 37, was hired in late 2019, bringing an outsider’s perspective to City Hall after four years running village operations in University Park, Illinois. Pate received a four-year contract, with Pigatt’s support.
Since then, Opa-locka has been catching up on overdue financial audits, submitting a five-year plan to the state, and reviewing its operations to address a list of 99 findings of mismanagement laid out by Florida’s auditor general in a scathing 2019 report.
But behind the scenes, the relationship between Pigatt and Pate has become increasingly strained. The tensions, according to emails obtained by the Miami Herald and public statements by both officials, stem from disagreements over their respective authority within the city’s strong-manager form of government.
The manager is the city’s CEO, making hiring and firing decisions and overseeing day-to-day operations. The mayor is the highest-ranking member of the city commission, which makes policy and sets the budget.
Pate claims Pigatt has improperly tried to influence the city’s operations and politicized decisions that should be apolitical.
“Early on in my career here, all I did was try to protect you from ethics violations,” Pate said to Pigatt during the March 4 commission meeting. “I told you I felt you placed me in a hostile work environment on multiple occasions.”
But Pigatt says he has simply asked tough questions to ensure the city moves forward. He says the manager has stonewalled him in seeking basic information.
“I got elected when this city was not right on many levels,” Pigatt said. “It was because of people not asking questions, people not holding management accountable.”
One example of the feud played out in January, when Pigatt made a public records request for a report about the city’s search for a new police chief, a role that opened up last summer when Pate fired Chief James Dobson.
Pate replied to the mayor’s request in an email, saying he saw it as a “bullying tactic” by the mayor to ensure his favored candidate was considered.
“The final selection to pick the Chief of Police is mine and mine alone,” Pate wrote on Jan. 4. “I will also copy the entire City Commission on this email, so they realize that a perceived ethics violations may be occurring.”
Pigatt responded to Pate the next day, denying that he was trying to sway the process. Pigatt said he had been asking “for months” for updates on the search.
“To date, despite multiple requests, you have refused to provide basic information,” Pigatt wrote. “As a resident, let alone City official, it is extremely disappointing I have to submit a public records request for information that should have been provided just to keep the citizens informed.”
A local nonprofit’s role adds to tension
The latest twist in the feud between Pate and Pigatt involves two unlikely third parties: the Opa-locka Community Development Corporation, which provides crucial affordable housing in a city where 41% of residents live in poverty, and the ACLU, which is dedicated to defending civil liberties.
On March 3, a cooperating attorney with the Greater Miami Chapter of the ACLU, Kevin Fitzmaurice, emailed a woman who had contacted the mayor and manager about her ideas to improve the operations of the city’s building department. Fitzmaurice said “the mayor and a local CDC” had raised concerns that the woman was being prevented from communicating with the city government, and “passed along this issue to the ACLU.”
The attorney appeared to be referring to an email exchange in late February involving the woman, the city manager and the mayor, in which Pate emphasized that the mayor should be kept out of their conversations to avoid any ethical issues.
“As you may be aware, Opa-locka’s form of government is strong Manager, weak Mayor as the Mayor is only one vote on the City Commission and is only recognized as the ceremonial head of the city,” Pate wrote on Feb. 22.
After receiving the email from the ACLU, the woman forwarded it to Pate and an assistant city manager, telling them she had “no idea” what it was about.
Pate then shared the email with the mayor and city commissioners, denying that he prevented the woman from communicating with the city and saying he had met with her. The incident, he added, was “a great example of the division being caused by the Mayor and the CDC.”
At the city commission meeting last week, Pigatt denied reaching out to the ACLU and said “people within the Opa-locka CDC” had “made their own inquiries.”
Benjamin Waxman, an ACLU Miami Chapter board member and attorney, said in a statement that information about who reached out to the organization “is a confidential communication that we are not permitted to reveal.” (Fitzmaurice’s email became a public record once it was shared with city officials.)
The Community Development Corporation’s longtime president and CEO, Willie Logan, is a fixture in Opa-locka. He was the city’s mayor from 1980 to 1982 and a state representative from 1982 to 2000.
But Opa-locka and the nonprofit have been on shaky ground lately: On Feb. 16, Pate sent a letter threatening to evict the nonprofit from a city-owned building, known as Town Center One, claiming the nonprofit owes the city $300,000 in rent dating back to 2019.
The nonprofit disputes the figure and recently met with Pate to try to resolve the matter, but the two sides are still at odds. Logan is set to address it publicly at a city commission meeting Wednesday.
“I find it mighty strange in timing, where your name and the CDC is connecting and they owe us $300,000,” Pate said to Pigatt during the March 4 commission meeting, adding that a personal relationship between Pigatt and Logan may be playing a role.
Pigatt said there was nothing untoward going on, and emphasized that the manager is solely responsible for any issues related to the CDC’s lease.
Logan did not respond to a request for comment.
Nikisha Williams, the nonprofit’s chief operating officer, referred questions about the ACLU matter to Logan. As for the lease, she said she’s “hopeful that we’ll work it out at the end of the day.”
No solution in sight
It’s not clear if, or how, the tensions between Pate and Pigatt might be resolved.
Pate emailed Pigatt on Jan. 6 to suggest a mediation session led by former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara Jordan, “to address issues that directly affect our professional relationship and the progress of the Great City of Opa-locka.”
In response, Pigatt said it would be more appropriate to discuss the matter publicly at a commission meeting. Last week, he said the matter would be added to the agenda of a March 31 workshop about the commission’s priorities for the city.
It’s also not clear whether the feud might affect Pate’s tenure in the city. Pate was a finalist in recent months for the police chief jobs in Fort Lauderdale and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, though other candidates won out.
At last week’s commission meeting, Pigatt suggested Pate may be preparing to sue the city after he finds work elsewhere. Pate bristled at the comment.
“You just made an allegation that I’m trying to set the city up for litigation and look for another job,” Pate replied. “I’m done with you, Mr. Mayor. I have nothing else to say.”
Vice Mayor Veronica Williams, who was first elected in November, tried to play something of a mediator role during the meeting. It was Williams who first brought up the issue publicly, saying she was troubled by the situation.
But so far, nothing has been resolved.
“Right now,” Williams said, “it does feel like both of you are in some type of wrong.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 10:45 AM.
