Nov 05, 2024
As dust settles today on a spotlight election of a president, Miami-Dade voters have also elected five vital officials for the first time as constitutional officers, peeling off key elements of county hall as independent fiefdoms. Make no mistake: the election and the next two months mark a watershed in county history, a dividing line between the “before” and the “after” of how things work in Miami-Dade. We always knew who to complain to and who to rave about. But those lines are blurring. Now the county and those five newly elected leaders of spun-off areas of government have just two months before they take office Jan. 7 to agree how they will interact to keep serving us without any centralized control. It’s vital to the community’s well-being that all pieces of county government link together.  Negotiations begin today. This is no small potatoes. On Jan. 7 we will have a brand-new elected sheriff keeping order, a supervisor of elections making sure votes are well handled, a tax collector whose work will keep government funded, a property appraiser whose evaluations alter how much tax we pay, and a clerk and comptroller in a whole new job that includes county finances. None of those folks reports to commissioners, who have up to now overseen these areas. None reports to the mayor, who has ruled over all county department heads. Each of those five offices is now a kingdom within the kingdom. No rules are yet written, but those new kingdoms are not required to follow any county policies. Enter Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who the commission asked two and a half years ago to plan every step of the intricate transition to splinter the county with five new teams going their separate ways. The mayor last week outlined the path she will take as she negotiates with the five new offices how to divvy up government powers and services. With the votes counted and new leaders named, she has just two months to negotiate how each independently will relate to the county and the county services they will use. As soon as election results are certified, the mayor can draft agreements with the five offices and bring each one to the commission to certify before her Dec. 27 self-imposed deadline. The accords will spell out how county hall and each new separate officer will interrelate until Sept. 30, 2028. This rushed transition was triggered by a 2018 constitutional amendment approved by voters statewide that required these five officers be elected in each of Florida’s 67 counties.  The independence of each is tricky, but the largest visible impact in Miami-Dade is the election of a sheriff. The other 66 counties already had them. Miami-Dade voters did away with the job 50 years ago following corruption cases and put policing under the mayor. Now it’s on its own again. The agreements cover thousands of workers who on Jan. 7 will have new bosses and could face new rules and duties. The mayor has outlined terms for handling those employees – but only if each of the five newly chosen officials agrees in negotiations. The mayor seeks the same benefits as employees now get, including group health, wellness, life insurance and dental coverage; the same executive, leave, and longevity benefits and participation in the Florida Retirement System. It seeks the same pay levels and supplements for union and non-union employees and adherence to all current union contracts.  Will all five new officials agree? The mayor and commission are requesting, but will everyone concur? Also to be negotiated are the same service levels now being provided to the five new offices from seven county departments: procurement, information technology, personnel, communications to the public, and others. The sheriff would also face a separate accord with the parks department. Again, will any of the five new officers take on some duties internally or add staff to do the jobs? It’s impossible to say until negotiations begin. Then comes the big unknown: each new office will create its own budget. The easy way to grow a new small kingdom is to use more tax money to hire more people and do more things. The commission and mayor can’t make that decision. In theory, each of the five new silos is independent. How that will work is truly uncharted territory. Another bit of uncharted territory is what happens once someone fills each office. The charter amendment passed in 2018 to create these offices prohibits the mayor or commission from limiting the terms of the five who are elected. Though terms of the mayor and commissioners are all limited, the five constitutional officers can be reelected for a lifetime. County government is entering a whole new world. It’s going to take a while to shake out.  Meanwhile, Mayor Levine Cava has just two months to make the transition work, the equivalent of signing five peace treaties with five separate nations. If it’s all smooth, once her term ends we should nominate her to head the United Nations. Related Posts:A new sheriff in town will spotlight unfair county…Lines drawn in battle for Miami-Dade sheriff’s powersHere comes a sheriff we never asked for – fasten…Open the doors wide to citizens’ voices in charter reviewsElected Miami-Dade sheriff could move HQ out of MiamiThe post Miami-Dade is about to negotiate five vital peace treaties appeared first on Miami Today.
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