Article IV, Sec. 4.2 of the North Miami Beach Charter, entitled Election and Term of Commission Members, clearly states who is eligible to run for office and how long they are entitled to serve if elected. In general, each member of the City Commission may serve for a total of two consecutive four-year terms.
Paragraph B of Sec. 4.2 clearly states that “no person may serve as Commissioner or Mayor or any combination thereof for more than two consecutive four-year terms, not including time served as a member of the Commission as a result of having filled a vacancy in the Commission pursuant to Section 4.5 of the North Miami Beach City Charter so long as such time served in filling a vacancy does not exceed 50% of that subject term. Service by a Commission member in excess of 50% of any term of office (including those terms provided for in Charter Section 4.1) shall be considered a full term for purposes of the term limit provisions in this section.”
In the event of a vacancy on the dais due to “death, withdrawal, or removal” of an elected official, Chapter VII, Section 7-7 of the Code of Ordinances spells out the procedure by which that vacancy is filled.
While subparagraph b. authorizes the commissioners (previously called the city council) to fill the vacancy by a vote, subparagraph c. explicitly states “that should any vacancy occur more than one (1) year prior to the next general election, the council shall have no power to fill the same; it shall be filled by a special election to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term.”
In the spring of 2018, the North Miami Beach Commission unexpectedly had not one, but two vacancies on the dais when both Mayor George Vallejo and Commissioner Marlen Martell resigned. Since both seats were up for election in November of that year, the commissioners were tasked with the responsibility of filling those vacancies for the next seven months. Commissioner Beth Spiegel was chosen to fill the mayoral seat, and Fortuna Smukler and Ingrid Forbes were chosen to fill Beth Spiegel’s and Marlen Martell’s seats.
On November 6, 2018, the North Miami Beach municipal election was held, and Anthony DeFillipo, who stepped down as Commissioner to run for Mayor, won his race. Fortuna Smukler won the vacated seat she was occupying at the time, and Michael Joseph and McKenzie Fleurimond each won the previously vacated seats with two years remaining on their respective terms.
The newly elected officials were all sworn in at a Special Meeting held on November 27, 2018.
Keep that date in mind.
Fast forward two years when both Michael and McKenzie ran for re-election in the city’s municipal election on November 3, 2020.
The newly elected officials were all sworn in at a Special Meeting held on November 30, 2020.
Now for the math.
As we all know, a year consists of 365 days except for leap years, which have 366 days.
A typical two-year term consists of 730 days, but a two-year term that includes a leap year would consist of 731 days. In essence, the maximum number of a two-year term would be no more than 731 days.
From the time Michael and McKenzie were first sworn in on November 27, 2018 until they were sworn in for their second term on November 30, 2020, they each had served a total of 734 days.
According to the Charter for the City of North Miami Beach, they each served “in excess of 50% of any term of office,” which was “considered a full term for purposes of the term limit provisions.”
Accordingly, by the time the next North Miami Beach election rolled around on November 5, 2024, both Michael Joseph and McKenzie Fleurimond had already served two full terms of office, and neither were eligible to run again.
And yet, here we are.
The time to challenge their eligibility to run in the 2024 election would have been during the Qualifying Dates from August 12 to August 19, 2024.
And yet, not one person did.
We are told that Evan Piper, who was allegedly defending his mayoral seat, was advised by more than one person to file an official challenge to Michael Joseph’s candidacy.
For some unfathomable reason, Evan refused to do so — in the same way he refused to aggressively campaign by going after all of Michael’s ethical and legal violations.
Not long after he unsurprisingly lost his seat, we heard he was thinking about suing to overturn the election and had to be advised that once an election is certified, the results are legally binding.
Lots of words come to mind, “putz” being one of them.
Needless to say, Michael Joseph is the mayor of North Miami Beach, literally by default because no one in the city — not even the then-sitting Mayor — cared enough to challenge his candidacy.
It’s a damn shame that Evan Piper didn’t have the cojones that Beth Spiegel obviously had.
We’re old enough to remember the 2013 municipal election when Miramar resident Yvenoline Dargenson carpetbagged all the way from Broward County to North Miami Beach to run against Commissioner Beth Spiegel. Beth was having none of that! She filed a lawsuit against her in an attempt to prevent her from running.
In a hearing on May 20, 2013 (one day before the election), although the Judge found “evidence to contradict the candidate’s residency,” he decided to order the election to take place, but the results were not to be certified “until further order of the court.”
It was a beautiful thing, and we couldn’t help but gloat.
In the end, Beth won by a landslide!
But, as usual, we digress.
In any event, no one should be surprised that Michael Joseph has violated his own city’s Charter.
We can just add this to the very long list of crimes and misdemeanors committed by the Devil on the Dais, including but not limited to the allegations named in an Investigative Report submitted to the Commission on February 16, 2026 by Algo Law Firm, LLC.
The very same allegations that earned Michael Joseph a Resolution of Censure to be awarded to him by a majority of his colleagues on the dais at this Thursday’s Commission Meeting.
Unfortunately for Michael Watchers, Section 6 of the proposed Resolution states, “Nothing herein shall be construed as removal from office, which may occur only pursuant to lawful mechanisms including recall, suspension upon formal charges, or other processes provided by law.”
But unfortunately for Michael Joseph, we are back and we’re in it for the long haul.
We plan to do everything in our power to wipe that smug grin from his face and have him legally removed from office.
Stephanie
MJ is very sneaky. I’m almost certain that he knows he overstayed the mayor position in the city of NMB. But do you think he’s going to recognize it? That reminds to be seen…
Oh, he knows for sure! It’s just that he’s gotten away with so many crimes and ethical violations, he thinks he’s untouchable.
Sooner or later, his chickens will come home to roost. And I want to be there to watch.
With hot, buttered popcorn in hand.
With his involvement with Cherfilus-McCormick’s laundering of taxpayer money, it looks like Mayor Joseph will finally get the Sergeant-At-Arms he has been demanding since becoming Mayor. Unfortunately for him, the police escort will not be provided by NMB Police Officers. His escort will be provided by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Public Corruption Unit and the State Attorney, and the FBI will oversee his arrest. That should take that smarmy grin off his face.
Mayor Joseph: Make sure whoever will be picking you up from Bond Court (assuming you can make bail) has a towel to cover your face to shield you from the TV cameras.
That is exactly the happy ending I’ve been hoping for all these years!
Stephanie, how is this possible? How is it that everywhere we turn, another issue surfaces that reflects poorly on this man, yet he remains in office? For years, through your reporting, we’ve known that Michael Joseph is a rotten egg, and still, here we are. And the stench only seems to be getting worse.
Lastly, how do we find out whether the so-called Manchurian candidate is related to him? We already know she is aligned with him because she essentially declared her support for Michael Joseph during a committee meeting she attended. It is hard to imagine anyone being that unaware as to say something like that as if it were a positive, but she did. And in a way, it turned out to be helpful, because for those who heard it, that was all they needed to hear to never consider her. They never saw her before anyway, and no one is too keen with surprise appearances.
There is definitely a connection, but I don’t want to show all my cards so early in the game. Be patient.
Love that you’re back, pulling back the curtain, and exposing the Mayor for who he truly is, a fraud. Keep up the good work, NMB needs you. Wish we didn’t, but we do!
It really is a shame that NMB corruption needs to be exposed. Unfortunately, you have been dealing with the same crooks in office since 2018 with no end in sight. Even when you get rid of Michael, McKenzie, and even Daniela, there are more of their co-conspirators in line ready to take their places, and steal the election, if necessary. I will do the best I can to hold them all accountable, but the residents really need to get more involved. They need to volunteer to run for office, be poll watchers, and even speak up at meetings, even though the ones who need to hear the residents don’t listen and don’t care. Most importantly, you all need to start filing complaints with the State Attorneys’ Office, the local and state ethics commissions, and in Michael’s case, The Florida Bar. If the residents of NMB don’t take care of business, you will continue to be governed by people who are stupid, greedy, and power hungry. That’s exactly how you got someone like Paule Villard, and if you’re not vigilant you will get her again, and probably someone worse, like Linda Joseph Noel (God forbid!).