The political winds in North Miami Beach have quickly changed. A judge’s order sending boycotting commissioners back to City Hall for their March 22 commission meeting resulted in a cavalcade of votes that came with finally having a quorum for the first time since November 2022.
Despite getting back to business, lawsuits between warring commissioners are still raging and the mayor’s future on the dais is unsettled but safe for now, but the controlling majority cohort is still out to make their colleagues who skipped meetings pay the ultimate price.
(Johania Charles for The Biscayne Times)
Tensions ran high at the North Miami Beach City Commission meeting Tuesday night, March 21, where an overflow crowd had to be accommodated outside the chamber.
Before the litigation update, if you’re trying to keep score, here’s a review of who’s in and who’s out.
Leadership Changes
Arthur “Duke” Sorey III and Hans Ottinot – now former North Miami Beach city manager and city attorney, respectively – are out. Michael Joseph is also out as vice mayor but is holding on to his seat pending litigation.
(North Miami Beach)
Arthur “Duke” Sorey III, Former NMB City Manager
Ottinot resigned just days before the meeting to avoid the public firing suffered by Sorey, who was asked to leave chambers after a vote passed to have him sacked. He was lucky to depart with 20 weeks’ severance pay that the mayor wanted to deny him by proposing termination with cause. Sorey defended himself against accusations of misconduct before departing.
In are Interim City Manager Mark Antonio and Interim City Attorney John Herin Jr.; Commissioner Jay Chernoff is the new vice mayor.
Antonio, a former Hallandale city manager, expressed no desire to stay on long term. The commission will review applications for the position on a rolling basis. Herin is a former Fort Myers Beach town attorney who practices law in Miami at Fox Rothschild LLP and previously served as city attorney for Marathon, Doral and Tamarac.
(Hans Ottinot Law)
Hans Ottinot, Former NMB Interim City Attorney
Lost on no one is that Sorey, Ottinot and Joseph are Black, while Antonio, Herin and Chernoff are white.
All the recent leadership changes took place during a grueling six-hour meeting under the glare of television cameras and an overflowing crowd that included the director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust and a regional director from Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office, according to published reports.
Separately, just a few days prior at a Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board (CRB) meeting, news was shared about a rise in fears of antisemitism following the murder of an Orthodox Jewish robbery victim in the wee hours of Feb. 17 in North Miami Beach.
“There are police departments who are concerned and are calling and saying, ‘Hey, just a heads-up, there’s this tension we’re constantly hearing that ‘It’s the Black community that’s trying to take out the Jewish community.’ That’s where we are now,” said Shirley Plantin, CRB director.
(Hallandale Beach)
Mark Antonio, NMB Interim City Manager
Who Holds the Cards
Chernoff is pursuing litigation to get fellow Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond as well as Joseph thrown out of office for violating the city charter, which states that if a commissioner fails to attend meetings for a period of 120 days, their seat will automatically become vacant.
Joseph had been absent since the Dec. 20, 2022, meeting, which means the clock would have run out for him on April 19, had he failed to show for the March meeting. Chernoff, however, seems to have begun his clock earlier. Joseph was Chernoff’s initial target, but he then added Fleurimond to his efforts.
Fleurimond and Commissioner Daniela Jean missed two meetings a piece, but Jean has been left out, for now.
(FoxRothschild.com)
John Herin Jr., NMB Interim City Attorney
“I believe that the judge will see that both lawsuits against myself and against Commissioner Joseph are lawsuits that have no standing or no ground, especially my situation because I did attend the December meeting,” Fleurimond told The Miami Times in an interview.
At a hearing Tuesday, March 28, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Peter Lopez appeared to be leaning in favor of acting commissioners. Although Lopez made it clear that he disagreed with the legal argument against Joseph and Fleurimond, he agreed to schedule an evidentiary hearing after the city names new legal counsel in its case pertaining to the mayor’s residency. Thirty days was provided to make those changes following the departure of Ottinot, assuming the case isn’t withdrawn by Herin.
“I am trusting that my colleagues will do the right thing and allow the court to make a decision on Mr. DeFillipo’s case, otherwise, it would show a complete disregard for the city charter,” said Fleurimond.
(Facebook)
Michael Joseph, Former NMB Vice Mayor
Meanwhile, the mayor’s grip on power appears to be solid for now.
A trial date to settle DeFilippo’s residency question is unknown, but his pretrial deposition is public. In it, he claims his wife and children are living in a Davie home without him, although he admits to spending as much time there as possible.
If DeFillipo is deemed to be living outside North Miami Beach, he will be in violation of the city charter and no longer able to serve as mayor. He claims to be living alone in a condominium located within the city limits.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office also is investigating the mayor for potential voter fraud.
(North Miami Beach)
Jay Chernoff, NMB Vice Mayor
The current upheaval was predicted in November, when returning commission veterans Chernoff and Phyllis Smith won elections on an anti-corruption platform. Chernoff’s defeat of incumbent Commissioner Paule Villard in a runoff immediately shifted the balance on the commission from its first Black majority – achieved in 2020 – back into DeFilippo’s corner.
Members of the CRB are discussing putting together a group of less than a dozen influential North Miami Beach citizens to create open dialogue as a way of diffusing long-simmering tensions have now escalated.
The next city commission meeting is April 18.
Biscayne Times staff writers Johania Charles and Samantha Morell contributed to this report.
Emily Cardenas is the executive editor of Biscayne Times and The Miami Times newspaper. She previously worked as a producer at WTXF in Philadelphia and at WSCV, WFOR and WPLG in Miami.