Ethics board cautions Coral Gables commissioner against doing business in the city

A Coral Gables commissioner whose business helps clients secure building permits should no longer accept work within the city, according to a draft opinion that has Miami-Dade’s ethics commission more broadly considering elected officials’ business contacts with their own cities.

In the Sept. 28 draft opinion, the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust determined that Commissioner Melissa Castro would likely run afoul of the county ethics code if she benefits financially — directly or indirectly — from fees charged to her clients for permitting services performed in the Gables by her company, M.E.D. Expeditors.

Unless there is a change to the company’s ownership structure, it should avoid representing permitting clients in the city while Castro is in office, wrote Jose Arrojo, executive director of the ethics commission, in the draft opinion.

Castro, who took over M.E.D. Expeditors after her mother’s death in 2020, said in an email that she plans to “fully adhere to the opinion’s recommendations.” But she said it will have a significant impact on her business because it is based in Coral Gables and does about 40% of its work there.

“It’s a big deal,” she said.

The review, which Castro requested following her election in April, now has the ethics commission considering “a formal opinion regarding prohibitions on elected officials’ outside employment when the employment involves contacts with the official’s city.” The agency expects to take up the issue at its next meeting, it said in a press release this week.

In Miami-Dade, where most cities consider politicians to be part-time employees, the extent to which elected officials’ business interests intersect with the cities they were elected to represent has already been under scrutiny this year.

The ethics commission is one of several agencies looking at Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s consulting for an embattled developer seeking permits for a real estate project in Coconut Grove. That developer, Rishi Kapoor, also rented retail space from Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago while pushing to build a Gables high rise. (Both mayors say they’ve conducted their private businesses legally and ethically. Lago recused himself from votes on Kapoor’s projects.)

READ MORE: Mayor for Hire: Francis Suarez’s wealth boomed while he promoted Miami as tech capital

Arrojo said in an email that public officials are not automatically barred from doing business in their city, but that they are prohibited from “representing third parties before their city board, subordinate boards, or staff.”

He added that elected officials cannot receive compensation from third parties — directly or indirectly — if the compensation is “related to matters where the third parties are seeking a benefit from the city.”

In Coral Gables, Lago is also the 33% owner of a company called BDI Construction, which has done about five projects in the city since Lago first joined the City Commission, the mayor said in an interview Friday. Lago said he was not concerned about the new draft opinion, saying it wouldn’t apply to him because his construction company isn’t exerting influence on the processes at City Hall.

“All I do is pay for a permit,” Lago said. “I’m not in the business of influence. Expediting and lobbying are in the business of influence.”

Coral Gables commissioners and the mayor are considered part-time officials. They recently voted 3 to 2 to pass controversial pay raises for themselves, with Castro on the winning side and Lago arguing against the raises.

READ MORE: Coral Gables city commissioners give themselves 78% raises and $8,400 car allowances

Castro said her support for the raises was “absolutely unrelated” to the impending ethics opinion and the possibility that it could affect her business. In June, the commissioner received an earlier iteration of a draft opinion that said she should limit her interactions with city staff in her capacity as the owner of M.E.D. Expeditors — but not that the company should avoid doing business in the city.

She said she learned about the Sept. 28 opinion — issued two days after commissioners voted on raises — from the Miami Herald.

Castro said she had been “diligently following the rules and conditions” of the June version.

“I ran because I was unhappy with the direction the City was heading in,” Castro said. “As soon as I took office, one of my first steps was to seek this ethics opinion because I did not want any conflicts of interest or ethical concerns to arise.”

Miami Herald staff writers Joey Flechas and Sarah Blaskey contributed reporting.