North Miami Beach commissioner files lawsuit to kick colleague out over attendance
A North Miami Beach commissioner filed a lawsuit Thursday asking a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge to remove a fellow commissioner he says has not attended any City Commission meetings for the past 120 days.
The last time Commissioner and Vice Mayor Michael Joseph attended a commission meeting was October 18, 2022, the lawsuit from Commissioner Jay Chernoff states.
Chernoff’s attorney, Michael Pizzi, is also representing the city’s mayor, Anthony DeFillipo, against accusations that he doesn’t live in the city and should vacate his seat. Joseph has been a sharp critic of DeFillipo on the residency accusations.
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Under the city’s charter, if a commissioner has failed to attend a meeting in the past 120 days, they automatically vacate their seat. The city of North Miami Beach is also named in the lawsuit.
The city did not hold a November meeting. Joseph told the Miami Herald, and he did not attend the Dec. 22 meeting because he was ill. He added he planned to attend the January meeting, but was advised by City Attorney Hans Ottinot not to “because Mr. DeFillipo keeps disrupting meetings and showing up.”
“You can’t say the charter finds that I’ve vacated my seat, but don’t have an issue with regards to the mayor,” he told the Herald. “You can’t say there’s an issue for me, but not for him.”
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Joseph and two other commissioners, McKenzie Fleurimond and Daniela Jean, have not attended a meeting this year. Fleurimond and Jean were at the Dec. 22 meeting, but Jean left early due to illness and Fleurimond walked off the dais as the commissioners were voting on whether to fire Ottinot.
“This is a lawsuit about really abandoning your responsibilities to the people of the city,” Pizzi said at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
“We haven’t been able to have a quorum and have a meeting which is disgusting,” Chernoff said. “Hopefully this lawsuit will make Michael Joseph be removed and scare the other two to come to meetings.”
An email from Ottinot to Joseph said the 120-day mark had not been reached. “The public records indicate that the first meeting you failed to attend was the city commission meeting in December 2022. The 120 days are calculated from that date. December 20, 2022, was not 120 days ago,” Ottinot wrote Joseph in an email on Thursday afternoon, adding the interpretation was consistent with past precedent set by the city.
Joseph said the lawsuit is a distraction from the ongoing civil suit regarding DeFillipo’s residency. Initial concerns arose in November when a report compiled by Countywide Investigations said it appeared DeFillipo was living in Davie in Broward County.
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The city’s charter requires elected officials to live in the city and automatically vacate office if they move outside the city limits.
During the December meeting, Fleurimond walked off the dais and broke the quorum as the commission was taking up a proposal to fire city attorney Hans Ottinot, who had hired an outside firm to investigate DeFillipo’s residency. A resident had filed an ethics complaint regarding DeFillipo’s residency in December.
The issue escalated in January when Heise Suarez Melville, hired by Ottinot to investigate the matter, issued a legal opinion saying DeFillipo vacated his seat and a special meeting must be called to discuss his residency.
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DeFillipo has repeatedly denied the accusations, insisting he lives in North Miami Beach. He acknowledged to the Herald, through his attorney, that he served on the homeowners association for the Davie property.
Joseph said he requested a special meeting to discuss DeFillipo’s residency, but it has not been scheduled.
Whether he will attend the next City Commission meeting depends on if DeFillipo is on the dais, Joseph said. “As long as Mr. DeFillipo is not there, I have no problem attending the meeting. I just don’t want to be a party to a fraud.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 5:44 PM.
