By Dessalines Ferdinand
After leading the City of North Miami Beach Commission with a 4-3 majority for almost four years, Haitian-American Commissioners received another blow Tuesday night when the commissioners voted 3-1 to remove their colleague Michael Joseph from his seat after he failed to attend commission meetings for more than 120 days, which is in violation of the city charter.
Last November, another Haitian-American Commissioner, Paule Villard, lost her reelection bid in a runoff race to a former, longtime NMB councilman, Jay Chernoff. The removal of Commissioner Joseph lowered the number of the Haitian-American representation in the Commission to two, thus diminishing their power of voting in block.
Many well-known figures in the Haitian community voiced their support for Michael Joseph, including four elected officials of North Miami (Mayor Alix Desulme, Vice Mayor Marie Estimé-Irvin, Councilwoman Kassandra Timothe, and Councilman Frantz Pierre Charles), Florida State Representative Dotie Joseph; and Veronique Malebranche, President Elect of the Haitian Lawyers Association.
On the other side, several residents at the hearing also voiced their frustration with the three Haitian-American commissioners who, for months, refused to attend commission meetings in protest of allegations surrounding Mayor DeFillipo’s residency. The three were questioning whether the mayor lived in the town of Davie, instead of North Miami Beach as required by the city’s charter. DeFillipo has repeatedly denied that allegation. A Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge ordered Joseph, Jean and Fleurimond to attend the March meeting.
At one point during the meeting, a female resident heavily criticized the conduct of the four Haitian-American North Miami elected officials who came to support Joseph. “Don’t come here to interfere in the city’s business. Why don’t you go fix what are wrong in your own city,” she said.
City business in North Miami Beach has been at a standstill for months when the three Haitian-American commissioners (Michael Joseph – Daniela Jean -McKenzie ) boycotted the meetings. On March 8, a judge was asked to remove Joseph from office. The now-former Commissioner Joseph did not attend the meeting because of illness. Commissioner Jay Chernoff, who filed a lawsuit against Joseph claiming he did not attend any city commission meetings for the past 120 days, recused himself from taking part in the vote. McKenzie Fleurimond was prevented from sitting at the dais because his name was later added to the lawsuit.
Mayor Anthony DeFillipo, Commissioners Phyllis Smith and Fortuna Smukler voted to oust Joseph. Commissioner Daniela Jean was the sole nay vote.
“It’s not a great day,” Mayor Anthony DeFillipo said during the commission meeting that lasted more than four hours. “It’s nothing nice to do. It’s very unfortunate.”
Interim City Attorney John Herin referred the city commission to Section 7.7 of the city charter to guide the members about the procedure to replace ousted Commissioner Michael Joseph. In this particular case, a special election for his vacant seat should be held no less than 35 days and no more than 65 days from his removal. Chances are that another Haitian-American will replace Joseph. However, the Haitian-American community would still hold a minority at the dais.
The Haitian-American community of South Florida has taken great strides in the past couple of decades at improving representation in elected offices. It’s an unfortunate turn of events that Michael Joseph was removed, but we, as a people, must not waiver in our determination to bring our values to the greater South Florida region. As long as we remain steadfast and true to the guiding light that is our faith, in God, in our homeland, and in our adopted or native America, we can hold our heads high and continue striving forth as stewards of this and future generations. Let us all participate in the next election to replace Michael Joseph, and we at Le Floridien, thank him for his service and look forward to what he does next to serve our wonderful Haitian-American community of Florida.
