Jesse Scheckner
After a contentious discussion, the Coral Gables Commission rejected member Melissa Castro’s proposal to repeal a recent decision to permanently move back the city’s General Election from April to November without an OK from voters.
Mayor Vice Lago, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara then voted to censure Castro for not conferring with them before seeking a legal opinion from Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has warned Miami against a similar move.
Commissioner Javier Fernandez, who in May voted against rescheduling the city’s elections — a change that shortened his and Castro’s terms by five months — was absent.
Lago, Anderson and Lara declined to take up Castro’s measure Tuesday after each Commission member opined on the issue and heard brief public comments.
Castro argued the trio acted in an “unethical and unconstitutional” manner when they approved Lago’s ordinance May 20 to shift the next General Election from April 2027 to November 2026 to align with federal races.
Like Uthmeier did in his communications with Miami, which last week delayed its next election by a year, Castro cited strictures in the Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter that supersede Florida Statutes and require a voter referendum for election date changes.
She said repealing Lago’s ordinance would keep Coral Gables from attracting negative attention from state leaders, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has backed Uthmeier’s threat of legal action against Miami over its election date change.
“This is me throwing a lifeline to some of the Commissioners here. It’s me trying to help you guys (because) I don’t want us to go against the state,” she said.
“Let’s put it on the ballot. Let’s make it fair and transparent. It’s not a big deal. If you are sure that people are going to vote for November, what is the issue with putting it on the ballot?”
Proponents of rescheduling municipal elections to coincide with federal races argue, correctly, that it will save local governments money while boosting turnout.
But taking shortcuts that draw fire from the state could backfire and make things even pricier, Castro said, pointing to $244,000 the city spent defending its single-use plastics ban and $185,000 is spent to defend itself in a court battle with residents over the placement of a Wawa.
“If the whole purpose of changing the election to November is to save $200,000, I think you need to think again that this is the road you want to take,” she said.
Lago said it was “deeply troubling” to learn Castro contacted Uthmeier’s Office without first discussing it with her City Commission peers. Doing so sent a message that the Commission isn’t unified in cause, he said, adding that a similar assessment state leaders held about the body prior to Lara’s victory in April — which shifted power at City Hall away from Castro and Fernandez — resulted in Coral Gables going from receiving $3 million in state appropriations to none.
He pointed to other decisions Castro and Fernandez supported, including big self-given pay raises and the hiring and firing of a City Manager without a transparent process, that conveyed an image of disarray and unprofessionalism to which Castro’s most recent action contributed.
“As elected officials, we each have a responsibility to respect protocol and maintain the integrity of our processes,” he said. “When individual Commissioners act without coordination or authorization, it not only undermines our credibility as a governing body; it creates confusion for our state partners and risks damaging important relationships.”
Lara, who won with more than 55% of the vote April 22, noted that one of the positions that distinguished him from his opponent was his support for moving the election. Voters’ support of him, he said, implies their support for the city’s decision to reschedule.
Lago said polling he had conducted found 75% voter support for the change.
Resident Maria Cruz, speaking in favor of Castro’s item, asked why, if there was so much support for changing the election, that petitions to effectuate the change could never get enough signatures.
“(This is) daddy knows best,” she said, referring to the City Commission’s unilateral decision. “We don’t care what the people want or do not want. We don’t want to hear it.”
Resident Claudia Miro, a veteran government and political professional who endorsed Lara after running against him for the City Commission, was the only other resident who spoke on Castro’s proposal. She called Castro’s demand for voter input “the height of hypocrisy,” considering that she, Fernandez and ex-Commissioner Kirk Menendez didn’t do the same when they increased their salaries in September 2023.
Anderson moved to censure Castro for “trying to sabotage” the City Commission by rushing to get the state involved. She said Castro first asked for an opinion from City Attorney Christina Suárez on June 14, asking for an answer by June 26.
“And you got it,” Anderson said. Suárez’s opinion stated that Coral Gables could make the change without a referendum.
But Castro sent her letter to Uthmeier on June 23 “without consulting with any member on this Commission” beforehand — something she could have done by waiting until the next regular meeting or scheduling a special meeting.
Anderson pointed out that Castro also omitted relevant information and got some “critical facts” wrong, including writing 2027 instead of 2026 when referring to the date change, which suggested that the Commission was seeking to extend, not reduce, current terms.
Castro said it was a typo.
Anderson shot back, “Big typo.”
