Voters in Opa-Locka overwhelmingly passed term limits with 73% of
the vote last week, restricting commissioners to two four-year terms — and unlike most term limit measures, this one goes retroactive.
But Commissioner Timothy Holmes, who has been in office for 20 years, or five terms — and could very well be the poster child for the movement that fueled the term limit drive — was sworn into office Monday.
See? He won last week, too. And one has to wonder if any of the 1,800 people who voted for the term limits are the same 1,100 or so who voted for Holmes. You know there was some overlap!
Now, the group who sought the charter amendment to begin with has retained attorney Benedict Kuehne to challenge Holmes elected status.
They tried to stop the swearing-in on Monday afternoon — which was hastily moved up from Wednesday’s commission meeting — but Holmes and Mayor Myra Taylor were sworn in. They were the only ones there. The two sitting commissioners and vice mayor did not attend. Ladra was told that even commissioner Terence Pinder, who was elected with the second highest number of votes last week, did not attend the swearing in out of protest. Pinder could not be reached but Norwood told Ladra he would likely be sworn in on Wednesday, as previously scheduled.
“I believe they decided to move it up because of he canvassing board on Wednesday. There is an effort to get him sworn in before any sort of injunction was filed,” Norwood said.
Holmes knew very well that there was a possibility that his election
would be in direct conflict with the charter amendment. That is why he tried to amend the language and strike the retroactive portion of the legislation. That move failed when his colleagues voted it against it. He then spent money advertising against the term limit charter amendment, said Christopher Norwood, a lobbyist who represents Citizens on a Mission for Change, the group that got the charter amendment on the ballot.
“Commissioner Holmes is now attempting to be sworn in against the will of the people,” Norwood told Ladra. The note came with a letter from Kuehne’s firm, in which the noted attorney — who recently bailed former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi out of a tremendo lío — asks the city clerk to not certify the election results and “refrain from” swearing in Holmes until a judge can rule on the matter, which Norwood calls a “charter crisis.”
“The clear and obvious result of the successful passage of Charter Amendment Question 1 is that Mr. Holmes is legally and constitutionally ineligible to hold office as Commissioner. He has already completed service of eight consecutive years as a Commissioner,” Kuehne wrote.
“Pursuant to the retroactive application of the Charter Amendment, Mr. Holmes is not qualified to hold continued office,” he added. “It is my clients’ intention to seek a judicial remedy to implement the overwhelming will of the Opa-Locka electors. Accordingly, I intend to timely and quickly initiate the requested judicial remedy by Monday, November 10, 2014.
“The City of Opa-Locka should take no action in furtherance of the General Election vote involving Timothy Holmes until resolution of this matter by the courts.”
Looks like action is on the horizon: Holmes’ first commission meeting is Wednesday.
Re-elected Opa-Locka commissioner vs new term limits added by Ladra on
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