In a recent blog, Who will replace Phyllis Smith on the North Miami Beach City Commission? Here are the Choices, we told you about a defamatory campaign radio ad that Commissioner Michael Joseph, Commissioner Paule Villard, and candidate/North Miami employee Daniela Jean arranged to play on Haitian radio. The ad claims to have been paid for by “Citizens for North Miami Beach,” a fake political committee that is not registered with either the State of Florida or the City of North Miami Beach.
We do know that the shady character – and the funding – behind the defamatory ad is North Miami player/radio host Lesly Prudent, whose former position as CRA Director was created specifically for him by then-Mayor Andre Pierre under the North Miami Friends & Family Plan. His real job, however, was shilling for candidates on his radio show while on the city’s dime.
According to a September 29, 2012 Miami Herald article, CRA employee’s show creates interest, and questions, Prudent hosted an afternoon radio talk show “while drawing a full-time paycheck as a North Miami official.” At the same time, he was also making money selling advertising spots on his show to the City of North Miami.
Prudent also never submitted the required outside employment disclosure form to the city even though then-City Manager Stephen Johnson told the Herald that “no other city or CRA employees are allowed to work a second job during the city’s business hours.
Stephen Johnson also told the Herald that “he did not know the city contracted with Prudent for ad space” on his radio show, even though “conflict of interest and ethics rules laid out by North Miami prohibit employees from doing business with the city.”
Just ask Derrick Corker how that worked out for him.
In case you’re wondering how Lesly Prudent got away with flouting city employee policies, keep in mind that as Andre Pierre’s close personal friend, he was a member of the “protected class” under the Friends & Family Plan.
Once Andre Pierre was termed out of office, Prudent’s free ride came to a screeching halt when Stephen Johnson’s successor, Aleem Ghany, fired him for, among other things, “financial discrepancies” in his department’s accounting, according to the Miami Herald.
This is the same shady North Miami operative who Michael Joseph, Paule Villard, and Daniela Jean apparently want to hire as the City Manager for the City of North Miami Beach.
And they have a diabolical plan to do just that.
Paule Villard still has two years left on her term in office, so she’s got plenty of time to carry out their infernal mission. If Michael Joseph and McKenzie Fleurimond are re-elected, and they’re successful in getting Daniela on board, they will have four votes to fire City Manager Esmond Scott and hire Lesly Prudent to take his place.
North Miami Beach residents should be very concerned. If Lesly Prudent is hired as City Manager (or any other position for that matter), NMB will quickly become as corrupt as the City of North Miami – and just as broke.
As for the defamatory campaign radio ad, McKenzie Fleurimond initially denied having any knowledge about it.
Then he admitted he did know about it, but had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Even though his name was mentioned in the ad.
Whether or not McKenzie did consent to being endorsed by a non-existent political committee, and he claims he is not, is besides the point. He’s no innocent bystander.
it seems that he’s still aiding and abetting the infiltration of corrupt North Miami politics into the City of North Miami Beach.
Starting with, believe it or not, the city’s prized trolley system.
At a September 15, 2020 Commission Meeting, the Commission approved Resolution R2020-78 “to authorize the City Manager or designee to enter into an agreement with Pro Transportation, Inc. [sic], d/b/a ProKel Mobility for a three year contract, with two one year renewals [sic] options, for an annual estimated cost of $1,021,734.” The Resolution to approve Purchasing Supervisor Meghan Bennett’s bid recommendation was placed on the Consent Agenda and approved with no discussion.
Protransportation, Inc. was formed in 2015, and was purchased by Kelly Gonzalez, Jr. on January 17, 2020. Ten days later on January 27, 2020, Gonzalez filed with the State of Florida to do business as ProKel Mobility.
This fledgling company was one of four bidders who responded to an RFP for the city’s Trolley Operation and Maintenance issued on June 2, 2020. At the end of the bidding process, ProKel Mobility was ranked second behind Limousines of South Florida, Inc. (LSF), the city’s then-current vendor, which has been in business for 25 years since 1995.
It should be noted that Limousines of South Florida is the area’s largest transportation company, and has been NMB’s vendor for the last five years. It also currently operates trolley services (contracted route shuttle buses) for the municipalities of Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, Miami Springs, Miami Shores, South Miami, North Miami, Doral, Opa-locka, Sweetwater, Aventura, Surfside, Bay Harbor Islands, Pinecrest and Homestead. In addition, LSF operates three routes for Broward County Transit, and has operated shuttle services for numerous municipalities in Broward County.
ProKel Mobility, on the other hand, provided only six client references in its Proposal from private companies, and none from municipalities or any other public entity.
It is literally astounding that North Miami Beach management recommended ProKel over its higher ranked, and infinitely more qualified competitor.
ProKel also claimed that it “will perform all maintenance and operations and activities of its proposed North Miami garage located at 14831 West Dixie Hwy, North Miami, FL 33181.”
Upon further research, VotersOpinion discovered that this property is actually the location of “BBD Tire & Auto Specialists.”
The owner of this property is Hagop Chilingirian, and the business is owned by his company, GO-GO A/S. INC. GRP., a Florida corporation. There is no fictitious name registration with the State of Florida for “BBD Tire & Auto Specialists” on record.
More importantly, neither Mr. Chilingirian nor his company appear to have any connection to ProKel Mobility. He does, however, appear to have a successful auto repair business.
It’s totally unclear how ProKel could “perform all maintenance and operations and activities” of NMB’s trolley service at a location it neither owns nor operates.
But there’s nothing shady about that, right?
Mayor Tony DeFillipo, Commissioner Phyllis Smith, and Commissioner Fortuna Smukler brought the matter back at a September 24, 2020 Special Commission Meeting by making a motion for reconsideration (minute 56:30 of the meeting video). The reason for the reconsideration, as Phyllis Smith explained, was due to a shady bidding process, including the fact that the Number 1 ranking company wasn’t even notified that they had lost the bid.
“This is not how we do business in North Miami Beach,” Commissioner Smith said.
In other words, this is NOT North Miami!
Phyllis also wanted to know exactly where ProKel was located. “We were told it was in North Miami Beach and now I’m told it’s in North Miami. I would like somebody to verify that.”
Mayor DeFillipo was also concerned about why the bid for the operation and maintenance of the Number 1 trolley service in Miami-Dade County was awarded to a Number 2 ranked company which had only been in business for nine months.
But there’s nothing shady about that either, right?
The Mayor also objected to the proposed location of the trolley operation due to the fact that the North Miami property is an unsecured lot and unsuitable for the storage of the city’s five trolleys.
In response, Mr. Gonzalez provided a slide of ProKel’s “Alternative Option” secured lot located at 2020 NE 153 Street, located in the City of North Miami Beach.
This property is owned by 153 Warehousing, LLC, and consists of a 4-bay warehouse building in the industrial area of North Miami Beach.
According to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser, the structure on this property is a 17,500 square foot warehouse building built on a 20,000 square foot lot.
The owner, 153 Warehousing, LLC also owns the adjacent 20,000 square foot vacant lot, which is where we presume ProKel intends to store and service NMB’s five trolleys.
It is also worth noting that this second “Alternative Option” location was not provided in the Proposal submitted by ProKel to the City during the bidding process. It was revealed that he did mention this location in a subsequent oral presentation to management, but there was nothing in writing in the original documentation.
At hour 1:51:25 of the September 24, 2020 meeting video, Mayor DeFillipo specifically asked Mr. Gonzalez how many maintenance yards are required in the RFP. When Mr. Gonzalez responded there was only one, the Mayor asked him for the address, Mr. Gonzalez did not know.
The Mayor was aghast that the winning vendor of a major bid had no idea what was in his own proposal.
Since ProKel is not the owner of the “Alternative Option” property, but we assume merely a tenant at 2020 NE 153 Street, we also assume that NMB management entered into an Agreement with the actual owner of the property in order to guarantee the security of and sufficient insurance coverage for the city’s trolleys.
At least we hope so.
Phyllis Smith wrapped it up by again reiterating that she was embarrassed for the city about this disastrous bidding process.
Or, as is the case in North Miami, business as usual.
None of this is surprising consider the fact that ProKel’s registered lobbyist is … Andre Pierre!
In the end, however, four of the seven Commissioners voted not to reconsider the Resolution – Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, Paule Villard and Fortuna Smukler.
Commissioner Smukler told VotersOpinion that she is having second thoughts about her decision, but that it might be too late to do anything about it.
However, the top ranked bidder, Limousines of South Florida, already filed a lawsuit. So it’s not a done deal just yet.
For the time being, however, the operation of the city’s multi-million dollar trolley system is scheduled to be placed in the hands of a newly formed, inexperienced company.
And thus the infiltration of NMB city business by shady North Miami operatives was born.
If Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond has his way, it was only the beginning.
It has come to our attention that he is hosting a campaign fundraiser this Wednesday, October 28, 2020 at Chef Ivan’s Cookhouse, along with none other than Andre Pierre and Lesly Prudent, as well as North Miami Commissioner Alix Desulme.
Although McKenzie’s flyer conveniently leaves out any reference to the City of North Miami, those of us in the know have no doubt where the bulk of the donations will come from.
And although we here at VotersOpinion are huge supporters of Councilman Alix Desulme, we are less than thrilled about his direct involvement and participation in a North Miami Beach election. He should be concerned more with his own city’s multitude of problems, especially its massive deficit, which as of today is a whopping $9,024,493.
North Miami Beach does not need outside interference, especially from North Miami politicians and their surrogates.
If NMB residents are perfectly okay with their government being as shady, corrupt and broke as North Miami, then go ahead and re-elect Michael Joseph and McKenzie Fleurimond. And while you’re at it, make sure you vote for their clueless puppet/North Miami employee Daniela Jean, who is running for the seat being vacated by Phyllis Smith. And don’t complain when it all goes to hell.
But, if you want to keep North Miami Beach transparent, accountable, fiscally responsible and moving forward toward an even better future, please vote for their opponents, Antonio Ortega and Liliya Spektor, and any one of these three candidates for the open seat – Ketley Joachim, Margaret “Margie” Love, or Dianne Weiss Raulson.
Keep North Miami out of NMB!
PLEASE VOTE RESPONSIBLY!
Stephanie
With meetings on Zoom instead of in person, it is very hard to comment on upcoming legislation, especially the Consent Agenda as you have to have your comments emailed in advance to the City Clerk’s office before the agenda is finalized. This needs to stop ASAP.
Limousines of South Florida has been around for a long time before being acquired by the parent company of Transportation America along with Supershuttle many years ago. Besides the contracts you listed above, they also handle smaller routes for Miami Dade Transit like Route 210 Skylake loop. They also have in the past been associated with routes as well as some major corporations in Central Florida. They have the capability of subbing out vehicles when needed for maintenance as the City of NMB actually own the 5 trolleys, but LSF handles the M&R of them. I wonder how this other company will handle a major breakdown of a trolley without sacrificing service. Unless there was a major price difference, I don’t see why the #1 ranked bidder would not be the one recommended for the awarding of the bid. Maybe the Procurement Manager also needs to be investigated for possible kickbacks.
For transparency purposes, I worked for Supershuttle the sister company of LSF both before and after it’s acquisition by Transportation America.
In-person meetings will begin after November 1, 2020. I believe this directive came from the Governor’s office to all cities.
The next NMB commission meeting will take place in the auditorium with all social distancing protocols, etc. in place.
From what I recall there was substantial savings with the Prokel bid. Perhaps Stephanie has that amount to provide to you. The head scratcher is why not award the bid to the current transportation provider, then negotiate with them. If the negotiations don’t produce a better contract price, then the city could have gone to Prokel and hired them. I’m sure if LSF was given the opportunity, a more reasonable proposal might have been made.
NMB is proving to be horrible at negotiations. Just look at the 1.5 billion dollar Dezer project. What do you expect out of a stinkin trolley contract if the city gets nothing out of that deal? Oh wait, they got a police substation no one asked for, but now they’ll be under contract with for 30 years. Imagine that rent!
I heard them discuss it several times and honestly I can’t remember the figure. I do remember thinking it wasn’t all that substantial considering the quality of the vendor. I honestly can’t imagine that ProKel can compete with a major company like LSF in terms of quality, service and reliability alone. When I have time I’ll try to find the exact answer for you.
If the savings was that much, then Prokel should of been ranked ahead of LSF. When it comes to transportation, there is much more than just basic costs. You need to think about Safety, Driver Training (for procedures dealing with possible Terrorism, Accidents, Injuries, Emergency Medical Assistance, and other things that may occur when dealing with the general public. All drivers at Transportation America (LSF) have to go through this type of training before being placed on the road solo. Where is Prokel getting their drivers, how are they being trained, what kind of insurance do they have if something happens when (not if) a trolley gets into an accident? What kind of shared liability will the City have? Many additional factors over yearly cost that need to be taken into consideration and Prokel does not have the size and may have to go out of business when (not if) something major happens.
Thanks, TC. I, too, have a feeling things are not going to go so well. It’s not always about the money. There are a multitude of factors to consider when granting a contract for such an important service. It’s not as if the city is hiring a lawyer or an accountant, which are a dime a dozen in south Florida. This service has many moving parts, as you pointed out.
Interesting article, thanks for sharing. 14831 W. Dixie Hwy. is not within North Miami City limits, though. It’s unincorporated Dade.
You are (100%) correct. That lot is located in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, as evidenced by the link I provided in the column (https://miamidade.county-taxes.com/public/real_estate/parcels/3022200023680). In its Proposal, ProKel speceficially referred to this property as its “proposed North Miami garage.” Apparently, ProKel is not familiar with the crazy boundaries in that part of town, where the cities of NMB and North Miami snake around and between sections of unincorporated Dade. Even people who live in this area are not sure of their own municipality. In North Miami Beach, people are told to check the color of their garbage can in order to tell if they live within city or county boundaries. It’s a mess, but not as big a mess as NMB will be if Michael Joseph is re-elected. So there’s that.