Election or appointment? Miami commissioners to decide future of District 2 seat

Miami commissioners will meet Saturday to decide if they should appoint a new commissioner to represent District 2 or hold a special election.

The seat was recently vacated by Ken Russell, who was required by state law to resign before the end of his term because he ran for Congress in 2022. He lost in the August primary.

Now commissioners Alex Díaz de la Portilla, Joe Carollo, Manolo Reyes and Christine King are set to discuss the matter at a public meeting at 11 a.m. Saturday at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive.

The four commissioners have the right to appoint anyone who meets the qualifications for representing District 2. If they choose to appoint, a majority of commissioners would have to agree on the appointment. In 2020, when the District 5 seat needed to be filled, commissioners cast secret ballots from a list of names of people who had applied. They cast multiple ballots until one candidate won at least three votes.

Reyes and King have both said in interviews they favor holding a special election, and Carollo and Díaz de la Portilla are more inclined to make an appointment because a special election would be too costly to fill a seat that is up for election again in November. Officials have estimated an election in early March would cost the city about $330,000.

Under the city charter, commissioners have until Sunday to make a decision. If they can’t come to a consensus, a special election must be held. A 2-2 split means a special election could be likely.

At least one former public official with a checkered past is lobbying to get an appointment.

Martin Zilber, a former Miami-Dade judge who resigned in May 2021 as he faced discipline for skipping work and making his staff run personal errands for him, met with Reyes on Thursday to ask for his support in getting appointed.

“It was a good exchange, and I told him what my position was,” Reyes told the Miami Herald. “I’m not gonna put a price on democracy. That’s what most residents of that district want, an election.”

Reyes said Zilber is the only person who has met with him to ask for his vote in an appointment.

At the time Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission had recommended a 60-day suspension and a $30,000 fine, but the Florida Supreme Court wanted a more severe punishment that could have led to his removal from the bench. Instead, Zilber resigned.

The state commission found Zilber was absent from the courthouse without telling his superiors and left work early. He also made staffers drive him around, pick up Art Basel tickets for him, do online shopping for him and assemble a scrapbook of his achievements. The inquiry also found he berated a pregnant staffer, commenting on the “inconvenient timing of her pregnancy” and having her wheel his chair up “several floors to the courtroom and then lift it onto the dais prior to hearings.”

At the time, Zilber accepted responsibility for his behavior. He did not respond to the Herald’s interview requests this week.

For months, the city has been accepting applications for District 2 residents who want to be considered for an appointment. As of early Saturday, 17 people had applied by submitting notarized affidavits, financial disclosures and resumes. Zilber and two others submitted their applications late Friday afternoon.

The 14 applicants are:

▪ James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance

▪ Javier Gonzalez, real estate agent and previous District 2 candidate in 2019

▪ June Savage, real estate agent and previous candidate for Miami Beach mayor in 2017

▪ Kathy Parks Suarez, auto salesperson

▪ Lior Halabi, digital marketing professional

▪ Lorenzo Palomares, attorney

▪ Marcelo Fernandes, real estate broker and contractor and former Coconut Grove Village Council member

▪ Mario Vuksanovic, a former homeless outreach worker for the city

▪ Michael Castro, property manager

▪ Michael Goggins, wealth management professional

▪ Sabina Covo, Hispanic media spokesperson for Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

▪ Laura Carolina Sala, public affairs and communications director for Ladies Empowerment and Action Program

▪ Renita Ross Samuels-Dixon, Coconut Grove Village council member

▪ Jorge Suarez-Menendez, plastic surgeon

▪ Michael Hepburn, nonprofit executive

▪ Hector Silva Jr., real estate agent

▪ Martin Zilber, attorney and retired judge

Goggins, Halabi, Savage and Hepburn have all also declared their intentions to run for District 2 in the November election, and they’ve all opened campaign accounts.

Multiple community leaders from Coconut Grove recently told Miami Herald news partner WLRN that they want to select the next commissioner in a special election. According to the city clerk’s office, an election would have to be held between Feb. 20 and Feb. 27.