A father and daughter serve on Medley’s council. Could a husband and wife be next?
The sudden resignation of a newly elected councilwoman in the tiny industrial town of Medley has set off a Tuesday special election that could lead to the first instance of spouses serving on the same municipal council in Florida.
Three candidates are seeking the seat vacated by Councilwoman Yesenia Martinez, who resigned her seat without public explanation about a month after her November victory. Hoping to replace her: Griselia Digiacomo, Lily Stefano and Karina Pacheco.
Digiacomo and Stefano have both served previously on the Medley Town Council, as recently as last year. Digiacomo lost her seat in November to Martinez, and Stefano resigned her position to run unsuccessfully against Mayor Roberto Martell.
Pacheco has never served — but her husband has.
If she wins, she and Vice Mayor Ivan Pacheco would become the first known spouses to serve together on the same municipal council in Florida.
Pacheco insists, as she did when she first ran unsuccessfully in 2018 and again in November, that she and her husband will have no problem following the state’s Sunshine Law, which bars council members from discussing town business outside publicly noticed meetings.
“We are very clear that, at home, we are a couple. Outside, we are going to be coworkers,” Karina Pacheco told the Miami Herald. “We have to be clear that we have to respect the law.”
If Pacheco wins the March 2 special election — held in a town of around 700 voters — Medley’s town council will become a full-on family affair. In November, Lizelh Ayala defeated Karina Pacheco and one other candidate to join her father, Edgar Ayala, on the five-person board.
Digiacomo declined to comment on the possibility of a husband-wife duo on the council. But Stefano said it concerns her.
“What are you gonna talk about [at home] if it’s not about work or your everyday situation?” Stefano said. “That worries me a little bit more than the father-daughter situation.”
In October, the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust provided an opinion to Lizelh Ayala on the issue of family members serving on the same council, saying there was nothing in the town’s municipal code, county ethics code or state law preventing it.
“Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that the simultaneous service of a husband and wife or relatives on such a board is likely to create a questionable appearance that would lead some observers to believe that violations of the Sunshine Law were occurring,” the opinion said.
The candidates
▪ Digiacomo, 53, served for 13 years on the council, from 2007 to 2020. In the November election, she finished third behind Martinez and Ivan Pacheco in a six-person race for two seats. Digiacomo said that, if she returns to the council, she would prioritize improvement of roads in the town, which largely consists of freight-shipping warehouses northwest of Miami International Airport. “It’s very hard for us to get any kind of federal or state funding [for roads],” Digiacomo said. “We have to fight very hard to get any kind of help.” She also said COVID-19 vaccine access for seniors is a priority. “That will be my main focus: to get everyone in the town who wants to get vaccinated, vaccinated,” she said.
▪ Pacheco, 45, said she has an eight-year history of helping Medley residents, mostly seniors, get the services they need. That’s not in a professional capacity, she said, but as a volunteer. “They need somebody to be close to them, helping,” Pacheco said. “They are really happy when somebody can solve their problems.” Pacheco, who works with first-graders at a private school in Hialeah, said she would bring a perspective to the council that is independent from her husband’s. “I have my own character,” she said. “He knows that he has to respect me.”
▪ Stefano, 56, has twice challenged Martell for mayor, serving a term on the town council in between. She is also executive director of the Santana Moss Foundation, named for the Miami-born former NFL star who started the charity. The nonprofit is based in Medley and runs a weekly grocery program for residents. “Without being a council member, I have provided assistance to residents on a constant basis,” Stefano said. She said the town needs to balance infrastructure needs, its commercial sector, and the needs of about 1,100 residents. “You need to find a happy medium between all three to make everything work,” she said.
How to vote
In-person voting for the special election is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, at the Medley Municipal Services Facility at 7777 Northwest 72nd Ave..
Mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 1:35 PM.
