NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – North Miami city councilmembers met Tuesday evening to consider firing City Manager Rasha Cameau, but not before a number of residents showed up to city hall with megaphones and signs to demand officials keep her in office.
Ultimately, Cameau was fired after the commission voted 3-1 in favor.
“I’ve been a public servant for over 20 years and I will be there to serve the public again,” she said following the vote.
Councilmembers got an earful from residents in support of the city manager. They accuse the councilmembers who want to fire her of their own personal power play.
“Rasha Cameau, in the last year, did more than people have done in the last 10 years,” resident Eileen Bicaba said into a megaphone.
Cameau is being credited for reversing a city in financial decline, steering a multi-million dollar, long-stalled water supply project and holding staff accountable while raising morale.
“She has cleaned house and that’s the problem,” Bicaba told Local 10 News. “There’s a lot of ‘friends and family.’ There’s this whole thing.”
Councilwoman Kassandra Timothe is behind the motion to oust Cameau. At least one other appears to support the motion.
“This is for me, personally, I’ve had issues that I’ve brought up,” Timothe said in April.
The motion came as such a surprise that some are questioning the councilmembers’ motives — reasons that are missing from the motion to terminate.
They suggest possible Sunshine Law violations among commissioners meddling in Cameau’s staff decisions.
Also, the manager had objected to the vice mayor’s request for $100,000 to organize of a festival.
“You want to spend money that is not in the budget, that wasn’t accounted for,” a resident in support of Cameau said.
Residents, taking a fresh look at where their money is spent, have found thousands in councilmembers’ travel expenses and wonder what they get for that.
The city manager, prior to the meeting, declined to talk publicly. That’s expected.
Residents have already asked the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to investigate and whatever happens, North Miami residents have found a reason to get newly engaged in their city and to watch their taxpayers’ money.