Former Miami city manager calls for Noriega’s resignation amid conflict of interest accusations

Several of Miami City Manager Art Noriega’s predecessors expressed alarm Monday — with one calling on him to resign — after WLRN uncovered that a furniture company owned by his wife’s family had been awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in city contracts during Noriega’s time as city manager, raising ethics concerns and possibly violating state ethics laws.

Since 2020, when Noriega was appointed city manager, Pradere Manufacturing has provided office furniture and furniture assembly to the city — resulting in over $440,000 in contracts. The company is owned by Michelle Pradere-Noriega’s parents, but at least one recent city contract reviewed by WLRN named Noriega’s spouse as the salesperson.

“He has to resign,” Joe Arriola said during a call in to Actualidad Radio’s “Contacto Directo” Spanish-language morning show with Roberto Rodríguez Tejera and Juan Camilo Gómez. Another four ex-Miami city managers and WLRN reporter Danny Rivero participated in the show. All five former administrators called for an investigation, but only Arriola called for Noriega’s immediate resignation.

“But the problem is that in the city of Miami the mayor has to resign, a couple of descarados [shameless people] who are there have to resign,” said Arriola. Former city managers Jose Garcia Pedrosa, Danny Alfonso and Emilio Gonzalez also pointed to the “circus” at Miami City Hall as the bigger concern.

In a statement to the Miami Herald, Noriega said he has a “strong relationship” with Arriola, whom he has known for 20 years. “If he has any concerns regarding the performance of my job or this issue in particular, he should know I’m just a phone call away, at the very same phone number that I have always had and of which he has called numerous times in the past.”

The revelations of the city contracts are just the latest scandal for City Hall. Mayor Francis Suarez is currently under a state ethics investigation, and the FBI is investigating whether payments to the mayor from a local developer could constitute bribery. One sitting commissioner is facing a $63.5 million civil judgment, a former commissioner was arrested while still in office on corruption charges and the city’s top attorney is also facing allegations in court that she and her husband used “deceptive” acts to acquire and resell real estate.

Former City of Miami Chief of Police Art Acevedo told WLRN that Noriega recommended his wife’s family’s company to renovate the chief’s offices. An aide for newly elected Miami District 1 Commissioner Miguel Gabela said an employee from Miami’s General Services Administration pointed him to a catalog with offerings from the company after Gabela was sworn into office. Neither ended up doing business with the company.

Miami’s Director of Communications Kenia Fallat, who was a police spokeswoman while Acevedo was chief, called in at the beginning of the radio show and disputed the claims made by Acevedo. She said Acevedo was presented various companies as options to renovate his space and chose a more modern option.

“I’ve never seen him recommend his wife’s family’s furniture company,” Fallat said when asked if Noriega recommends the company to other people doing business in the City.

“I want to make very clear that there is no current investigation by the ethics commission,” Fallat added. But all five former city managers said that the revelations warrant an investigation, and WLRN reported that after its reporters contacted the county ethics commission for their story, the ethics commission began requesting records related to Pradere’s contracts with the city.

County ethics code prohibits family of government officials from contracting with their relative’s government.

The company has had contracts with the City since 2008 and has had other contracts with other local government offices, including the Miami Parking Authority, where Noriega was CEO before being appointed city manager. When Noriega started his term in 2020, the couple considered ending the relationship between the City and the furniture company, he told WLRN, but ultimately decided against it because a relationship already existed.

In a 2020 memo, Noriega recused himself from “any and all involvement, decision making and/or approvals between the city and the company.” On Wednesday, he admitted to WLRN that the contracts and invoices could provoke “suspicions” of impropriety, but maintained he did everything by the book.

Noriega’s office contracted his Pradere Manufacturing to remodel offices at City Hall and Miami Riverside Center in February and March of last year, resulting in over $37,000 in contracts for furniture and assembly during those two months. He told WLRN he did not participate in conversations with the company, but his executive assistant, Ofelia E. Gonzalez, was the direct contact listed.

During the radio show Monday, Fallat said that Noriega’s assistant is just one of many people that inputs information on the computer but said she does not make the decisions on purchases with the company.

Pradere Manufacturing lists Pradere-Noriega’s mother, father and sister as corporate officers. According to WLRN, the City also received invoices from Pradere Designer Workspaces, where Pradere-Noriega is listed as the company’s vice president of operations and an authorized officer, but all payments were made to Pradere Manufactoring.

Miami U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who served as Miami city manager under then-mayor Joe Carollo before his time as mayor of Miami-Dade, said the city must follow its protocols to investigate whether Noriega did anything illegal. “Then, it will be in the hands of the mayor and the commission.”

“There are many things in Miami right now that are not normal,” said Garcia-Pedrosa, who was city manager when the current mayor’s father, Xavier Suarez, was mayor. Under his administration, he said Noriega’s actions were “totally unacceptable, not normal and lacking in ethics and could even be illegal.”

Gonzalez, who was city manager before Noriega, said that while Noriega should be given a chance to explain himself, revelations about money going from the city to the company of Noriega’s in-laws was contributing to the “dark cloud” the city is under. “If the ethics commission rules against him, the correct thing to do is to resign.”

“The problem is the that the immorality and the corruption in the city of Miami is so big, that this feels like something small,” said Arriola. “It’s an embarrassment. Are we going to be so blind and so dumb to accept he didn’t know? Please.”