If you ever wanted to know what local governments were like before Sunshine Laws were enacted, look no further than the City of North Miami.

Although Florida has been operating as an “open government” since 1909 when Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, entitled Public Records, was passed, apparently North Miami didn’t get the memo.

In 1967, Florida passed the “Government-in-the-Sunshine” Act, known as Chapter 286.

The “Sunshine Laws,” as they became generally known, were further strengthened by two Constitutional amendments passed in 1990 and 1992, guaranteeing the public’s right of access to information to all three branches of government.

North Miami didn’t get those memos, either.

Nevertheless, North Miami is not and has never been exempt from its legal obligation to operate “in the Sunshine.”  Judging by the actions of its current city manager, city clerk and city attorney, you’d never know it.  Stephen Johnson, The Hon. Michael A. Etienne, Esquire, and Regine Monestime, Esq., were all recruited and hired by former mayor/corruptocrat Andre Pierre during the “good old days” when he had a 3-2 majority vote on the city council.  Whatever Andre wanted, including the hiring of key employees, he could count on his crony colleagues Marie Steril and Jean Marcellus to back him up.  Councilmen Scott Galvin and Michael Blynn were always outvoted, not counting the times Blynn got confused and voted for things he was against.  And vice versa.

Because of the free rein Andre & Co. held over city matters, the public had no complaint desk to turn to when public records requests were denied or flat out ignored.  Pierre and his friends determined what you were told on a need to know basis.  As far as they were concerned, the less you knew, the better.

Now that Andre Pierre 2.0, a/k/a Lucie Coco Douce Tondreau, has been installed, there has been absolutely no change in the culture of the North Miami government.  City Hall is still an impenetrable fortress through which mere mortals may not pass.  The fact that Pierre’s appointed successor’s legitimacy is being questioned by a lawsuit, the Guardians at the Gate have only strengthened their resolve to keep the nosy public out and in the dark.

The current city council, specifically Scott Galvin and the newest member, Carol Keys, are not having any luck dealing with Andre’s Guardian Angels, either.  Mr. Galvin told me that city attorney Regine Monestime claims that she has an absolute right to hire Benedict P. Kuehne as “outside counsel” to defend the city in the lawsuit brought by Kevin Burns against Lucie Tondreau, the North Miami City Clerk and the North Miami Canvassing Board.  (The fourth defendant, Penelope Townsley, is the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections and, thus, is represented by a county attorney.)  Monestime claims that since “there is one motion naming all three entities,” it’s perfectly okay to hire one “outside counsel” to defend all three.

Regine Monestime’s ridiculous opinion is actually worse than the “Street Furniture” opinion that made North Miami Beach City Attorney Darcee Siegel infamous on these pages a couple of years ago (for which Darcee has already been forgiven by the Gadfly).

For one thing, and not to beat a dead horse already, Lucie Tondreau is being “sued in her individual, civilian capacity, for her actions taken prior to becoming the mayor,” as stated by councilwoman Keys in an email to the City Attorney.  Ms. Keys further stressed the “fact that the city has hired an attorney and is using the city legal department and resources to represent a civilian [is] outside the scope of city business.”  Ms. Keys has yet to receive a response from “Madam Attorney.”

In telephone conferences with the city attorney, Scott Galvin advised me that he has also unsuccessfully argued this point with Monestime, who has also refused to call “an Executive Session with the entire City Council for the City Attorney to tell us our strategy, as we have in other legal cases.”  She told him yesterday that such a meeting is not necessary.  She has also refused to acknowledge his request for a “one-on-one” meeting with him.

Monestime also told him she’d get back to him regarding the amount of money she has spent so far on this case.  He’s still waiting.

Folks, I don’t know about you, but I’m truly horrified by the audacity of the North Miami City Attorney!  All I can think of is, “HOW DARE SHE?”

I cannot even begin to imagine what would happen if Darcee treated any one of the NMB council members in such a fashion!

Actually, I can imagine.  She’d be fired in a heartbeat and escorted out of City Hall within the hour.

Of course, this would not happen in NMB because our City Attorney, City Clerk, and especially our City Manager, know who their bosses are.  All three are “at-will” employees, who can be terminated with or without cause at the whim of the Mayor and Council.  In North Miami Beach, the employees answer to their bosses, not the other way around.  As it should be.

But, in Andre Pierre’s and Lucie Tondreau’s North Miami, the Council serves at the pleasure of their “employees.”

And the public is treated like mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed bullshit.

Sunshine Laws be damned.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”