Deposition: Mayor used his influence with permitting, parking
For months, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has been hinting that Commissioner Melissa Castro — who Ladra swears he has a big crush on — was doing something wrong because she has a permit expediting business that does work in The City Beautiful.
But on Wednesday, the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust reversed an earlier opinion — sought by the commissioner immediately after she was elected in an upset last year — and cleared Castro from any conflict of interest.
Lago might not be so lucky.
The opinion, still in draft form, could be a problem for the mayor, who apparently helped a property owner with permitting and getting a handicap parking spot in front of the building that Lago sold to them on Ponce De Leon Boulevard.
It’s been a long time coming. The Ethics Commission has had a number of meetings about this after Castro asked for an official opinion on how to proceed with her company last April. This week, the commission decided that “an official and his or her private company employees may represent clients engaging with the official’s city, as long as the contacts or representation are limited to ministerial matters or simple informational requests.”
Read related: Coral Gables activist forms PAC to recall former friend, Mayor Vince Lago
Castro said that her staff basically fills out paperwork. Much of it is done online. She does not intervene on behalf of any clients. She and her staff simply tell people the rules and help them follow said rules.
“It’s nice that I don’t have to shut my business down,” Castro told Ladra Wednesday.
But, wait, the opinion goes on.
“If the contacts or representation involve advocacy on the part of the official or the employees and requires responsive decision-making or discretionary action by a city official, board member, or employee, then a prohibited conflict of interest may be found,” the Ethics Commission states.
Keyword: Advocacy.
Sooooo… does that include Lago introducing a property owner client to whom he sold an office building — making a six-figure commission — to city employees in the permitting department and an architect who “was liked by everybody in permitting?” Would it include pressuring Parking Director Kevin Kenney to secure a handicap parking spot in front of the building? Isn’t that a perfect, textbook example of “responsive decision-making or discretionary action by a city official,” providing a conflict of interest?
Or just plain ol’ abuse of power?
According to testimony provided by Adriana Fernandez in 2021 as part of a complicated civil lawsuit over the commission on the sale of a building at 3251 Ponce De Leon — a lawsuit which led to a felony stalking case against one of the mayor’s business partners, friends and appointment to the city’s Waterways Advisory Committee — Lago went out of his way and used his city palanca to help her and her husband after he sold them the same commercial property years earlier .
“He introduced us to the architect to use,” said Fernandez, who owns All In One Investment Properties with husband Eddy Fernandez, who testified in the deposition posted below that Lago made a $115,000 commission on the sale of the building.
“The city of Coral Gables, he mentioned how the architect was liked by everybody in permitting there, so he was a good choice to use,” Adriana Fernandez said in her depo, also posted below in its entirety. These are just some of the good pages.
“He brought us to the Coral Gables court, and he introduced us to the individuals there, everybody in the permitting department and the architectural department,” Adriana Fernandez said, under oath. “He introduced us to all the commissioners there, [told them] that we had just purchased the property on there, on Ponce.
“He walked us over to the fire station to ask if we had any questions. That’s the relationship we had with him,” she said.
He walked them over to the fire station. That’s certainly more than Castro has ever done.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago gets another ethics hit in $$ from developer
Asked if Lago continued to “have a hands-on role with helping you” with the property after she purchased it, Fernandez said yes. Yes, he did.
“When it was questions in regards to rehab, he assisted when need be, which was one of the conversations he had with my husband, that he would assist and make it a smooth transaction for us,” she said.
Particularly with parking, it appears.
“Vince Lago helped us with Kevin Kenney, who is from the city of Coral Gables, get a handicap spot in the front of our office,” Fernandez says on page 36 of the deposition. “Vince Lago did assist us, handheld us pretty much, to be able to get the city to put a handicap parking for us in the front of the building on Ponce De Leon, which I am sure it’s still there if you drive by it.”
When asked “how exactly Vince Lago helped you obtain the handicap spot in front of the building,” Fernandez was specific.
“There’s emails that were provided by us and by Vince where you will see that he advises the city commissioner’s office assistant to help with Kevin Kenney, to help us get a parking lot — a parking spot there for a handicap spot. That’s it.”
That’s it? That’s it!
Yes, Ladra has made a public records request for those emails.
The Ethics Commission should self-initiate an investigation into that before they can’t anymore under the new law that the legislature passed this year banning them from starting an inquiry without a complaint from someone with first-hand knowledge. Or does Ladra need to file a complaint?
It also seems unethical — ironic, but also unethical — that Lago, his lackeys and his anonymous surrogates have been blasting Castro and sort of hounding her about what they have framed as an investigation, when it was really a clarification sought by the commissioner herself in April of last year, right after being elected in a campaign where she promised transparency. There was never a complaint.
“My decision to seek this opinion was driven by a deep commitment, first and foremost, to stopping even the perception of corruption and serving my community with integrity and accountability,” Castro told Ladra Thursday. “I firmly believe that public officials have a responsibility to operate with transparency and uphold the public trust.
“From the moment I took office, I made it clear that I would leave no stone unturned in ensuring my actions align with the highest ethical standards,” Castro said. “However, I consistently encountered opposition. I’ve stayed silent to avoid further chaos during our commission meetings, but the political attacks against me have been relentless, primarily coming from one particular public official who can’t seem to look at me directly.”
Right? Ladra noticed that, too.
“It’s no secret who this individual is,” Castro said, without naming the mayor once by name. “He believed forcing me to sell my business would lead to my resignation. He hasn’t been satisfied with publicly humiliating me, he has also targeted my private life and business. He clearly underestimated my work ethic and dedication to our community.
“The moral of this story is to keep doing what is right and God will ensure that everything falls into place.”
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has more city business than we thought
Lago, as usual, did not return a phone call and two text messages which included details, as he asks for in outgoing message, about what the call was about. He knows Ladra is writing about the deposition and chose not to comment or provide his recollection or side of the story. When asked in October about the pending opinion about Castro and her business, Lago who works for a construction firm, told the Miami Herald: “All I do is pay for a permit. I’m not in the business of influence.”
But that’s obviously not what he told the Fernandezes.
The mayor is going to be súper disappointed with this opinion. He was hoping that Castro, a single mom who took over her mom’s business after the mother tragically died two years ago, would quit public office and he could install a pocket vote to regain the majority. This is why he had attorney Matt Sarelson file an ethics complaint even after Castro requested the Ethics Commission input. That complaint was dismissed because it was legally insufficient. Lago also hired attorney Ben Kuehne to argue against Castro at the COE.
Their first draft opinion last Fall said that Castro would probably violate the county ethics code if she got a benefit as an elected, i.e. was paid by clients in exchange for construction permits that she procured from the city because of her position. But her attorney, David Winker, was successful in arguing to the Ethics Commission that Castro simply provides a ministerial service in connection with a property right.
“But as soon as an elected official veers into discretionary decisions by city officials, that is when ethical violations occur,” Winker told Ladra.
And that is precisely what Lago did with the Fernandez property.
Getting a permit has changed. It used to be that companies would send employees — mostly voluptuous women in tight-fitting clothes — to municipal building departments to wait for hours and flirt with the inspectors et al. What they called “walk-throughs” aren’t even done anymore. Nowadays, most of the permit process is handled online. The city even has a program where users can track their permit requests, which is a service MED Expediters provides. It’s a program anyone can use. Castro is not getting any special treatment. She is only helping clients apply for what the government allows by right.
She was not seeking any favors or exceptions from the city as a commissioner.
Attorney Kuehne, best known for representing political hoodlums like Miami Commissioners Joe Carollo and Alex Diaz de la Portilla, presented the Ethics Commission at a February meeting with some emails from Castro to city staff that he framed as a smoking gun. He questioned whether a city commissioner with a permitting business should ask questions about the permitting department. Florida Politics posted the emails (see for yourselves) in their story on the February meeting. All they show is that Castro has tried to improve the process in the permitting department, not that she has benefitted from it in any way. In fact, in one email, she suggests that the city return to a policy by which expediters are not allowed behind the counter. Isn’t that against her self interest?
Castro has also worked to improve the code enforcement and other city departments. She is on a mission to improve employee morale. But Kuehne didn’t include those emails because they don’t fit the narrative. And Ladra can’t wait to send him the handicap parking emails from Lago to city staff. How will he defend those at the Ethics Commission? Hmmm?
As an expediter, isn’t Castro in a position to provide a user’s point of view? Don’t we often aim to elect accountants who can figure out what’s really going on with the budget and attorneys who know how to pass laws so they aren’t challenged? Aren’t teachers the best candidates for the school board? How many cops are running for sheriff?
Former Ethics Commission Executive Director Robert Meyers, now an attorney who represents several municipalities, said authorities can’t just assume that an elected is receiving a benefit and that a ruling against Castro could have repercussions with many other electeds who have day jobs.
“If you take a real expansive view of this, there’s a possibility that a lot of elected officials will no longer be able to interact at all with any city official or city staff on any matter,” he said.
That might be a good practice for Lago.
Ethics opinion clears Melissa Castro but could hurt Vince Lago in Coral Gables added by Ladra on
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