New Village Manager and I Apologize to Laura Cattabriga

North Miami Beach
Commissioner Marlen Martell

The commission voted 5-0 last night to offer North Miami Beach Commissioner Marlen Martell as the new North Bay Village Manager.   

Ms. Martell, who has an MPA from FIU, and a certification as a Certified Floodplains Manager from FEMA, is also a sitting commissioner in North Miami Beach.   This is her first job as a municipal manager although she has held several high level management positions around the county.  Her resume is posted here.

Ms. Martell was widely viewed as the popular choice as she has an existing relationship with the mayor, a long history with interim Village Attorney Norman C. Powell.  In 2011, as North Miami Beach Commissioner she voted Yes on a request to extend strip club hours to 6 AM.  Norman Powell was the attorney for the strip club owners at the time and I'm sure appreciated her support.

Ms. Martell has already been instructed to fire Police Chief Carlos Noriega and I'm certain she will comply in the next few weeks.

The Offense Was Public So The Apology Must Be Public:  An Apology From Me To Laura Cattabriga:

I don't trust people who say, "I'm the first to admit it when I'm wrong."  They are not.  Any reasonable person is the last to admit it when they are wrong and I am a reasonable person.   

I was wrong in posting unflattering pictures of Laura Cattabriga and I took them down.  

Surprising me, it was the mayor who pointed out that these pictures could be reasonably interpreted as shaming and I believe the word she used was "creepy."  

For what it's worth, I put them up as a satirical illustration of the commission "turning its back" on the public and hiding from transparency but looking at them after the meeting, I realized that the impression which the mayor explained was perfectly reasonable.   So I took them down and have reached out to Ms. Cattabriga to apologize.   

To be clear, I do not believe that Ms. Cattabriga appointment was legal and she should not have sought it or accepted it.   The removal of Dr. Hornsby was illegal, done deceptively by advertising the special meeting with the "sole purpose of discussion" and then forcing the forfeiture of office, completely ignoring the charter procedure for exactly this situation.  

So I will continue to hammer on the issue and I believe Ms. Cattabriga should step down and run in November, allowing the voters to make the decision.  That would be the dignified approach. 

Kevin Vericker

March 16, 2018