Will the Coral Gables city manager be fired? It could come down to a swing vote

Ten months after an election shakeup in Coral Gables upended power dynamics on the City Commission, officials will vote Tuesday on a proposal to fire City Manager Peter Iglesias.

The decision to oust or keep Iglesias could come down to the vote of one person: Commissioner Kirk Menendez.

But Menendez, who has cast the tiebreaker vote at multiple commission meetings in the past year, is keeping his cards close to his chest. Speaking to the Miami Herald on Monday, he said won’t make a decision until hearing from residents.

“I’m coming to tomorrow’s meeting to listen to all sides,” Menendez said. “I usually make decisions the day of. I don’t go in with any particular path.”

Second firing attempt

Commissioner Ariel Fernandez is leading the charge to fire Iglesias — for the second time since Fernandez’s election in April.

The last attempt Fernandez made was in May. That proposal failed 3-2, with only Fernandez and Commissioner Melissa Castro voting to fire Iglesias.

But power dynamics in the City Beautiful have shifted since then, weakening Mayor Vince Lago’s ability to influence his colleagues on the dais, including Menendez, who had historically aligned with the mayor, having joined him in endorsing a pair of candidates who ultimately lost to Fernandez and Castro last year.

Since then, Fernandez and Castro have strengthened an alliance that has, on occasion, courted Menendez as a swing vote, like when the five-person commission voted against moving city elections to even-numbered years and when it approved major salary increases for commissioners.

READ MORE: ‘Absolute anarchy’: Coral Gables Commission censures mayor, blocks salary reductions

Menendez then made a public rebuke of Lago in October, when he led the charge to censure the mayor after Lago made insulting comments about Menendez, Fernandez and Castro to Spanish-language media outlets, including that his colleagues “reached into residents’ pockets” and that they “live off their wives.”

At the time, Menendez said he moved to censure the mayor because “we can’t allow this type of poison to really damage the amazing community that we are, so I thought it was important to draw a line.”

Castro told the Herald that she wants to hear what residents have to say before making a decision about Iglesias on Tuesday.

“I see things that I don’t think are appropriate, and I would like the city to take a different direction,” she said, later adding: “Sometimes things get really bad before they get good.”

‘A direct and public insubordination’

When Fernandez argued for Iglesias’ termination in May, he pointed to a series of infrastructure issues that he said the city manager was responsible for.

But this time around, the crux of Fernandez’s proposal is an allegation that the city manager has refused to follow the will of the commission.

In a memo circulated Feb. 5, Fernandez referenced comments Iglesias made at the previous City Commission meeting, when Iglesias expressed opposition to renewing the city’s lease with Fritz & Franz, the popular German bierhaus.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is not going to happen,” Iglesias told the commissioners about the lease renewal. “If the commission wishes for that to happen, the commission can go ahead and do it.”

In his memo, Fernandez described those comments as “a direct and public insubordination of this body.”

“It’s something that has been escalating for the last few months,” Fernandez told the Herald. “We can’t have a city manager who refuses to take the direction of the commission.”

Iglesias disputed Fernandez’s characterization.

“As I stated on the record at our last City Commission meeting, I work for the Commission, they are my board of directors,” he said in a statement to the Herald. “I follow the directives and implement the policies set forth by the Commission.”

Iglesias, an engineer by trade, was hired by the city of Coral Gables in 2016. He became the city manager in 2018 and earns a salary of $282,824.

The subject of Fernandez’s memo is “city manager succession.” It proposes that Assistant City Manager Alberto Parjus replace Iglesias. Fernandez wrote that Parjus’ “knowledge and experience present this Commission with an opportunity to promote an extremely qualified candidate from within.”

Through a city spokesperson, Parjus declined to share his opinion on the proposal, calling it a “speculative statement.” He began working for the city in February of 2022, and his salary is $206,551.

Where the other commissioners stand

Lago and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson previously voted against firing Iglesias, and both have defended him on the dais, with Lago in May calling the city manager a “just, honest man.”

“This is a man that calls it black and white, balls and strikes,” Lago said at the time.

Asked Monday about how he plans to vote, Lago said “no comment” as he walked briskly away from a reporter at a groundbreaking event for a new city fire station. He then gave a thumbs-up gesture when asked if he is satisfied with the city manager’s performance.

Anderson also declined to give a clear answer on Monday. She told the Herald to look back at previous meetings. In May, she called Iglesias honest and trustworthy.

“He’s always told me that he will follow whatever our direction is,” Anderson said at the time. “I’ve found him to be very apolitical on these items. Yes, we may disagree. He is difficult, but that does come with someone that is highly skilled.”

Menendez on Monday said he has a “good working relationship with Mr. Iglesias.”

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a voice — one voice of five,” Menendez said. “It’s not about me. In fact, I didn’t anticipate being, perhaps, a key vote on this and other issues.”