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If you want a front-row seat in seeing how effectively politicians can be at shooting themselves in the foot, tune in to watch the City of Doral’s Special Council Meeting on Jan, 31, 2024, as three council members voted to fire City Manager Barbie Hernandez. Viewer discretion is advised – it’s pitiful.
That’s because, the only thing that was more apparent at that meeting than how much the Doral community loves Barbie Hernandez was how much Barbie Hernandez loves Doral.
More than 200 people packed the chambers. And a whopping 32 people spoke during the public comment period, including Jewish and Christian clergy, business leaders, a Special Olympics leader and her participant son, and a collection of residents spanning the diversity of the Doral community. All of them spoke about the positive impact Hernandez had on them, their families, their businesses, and Doral’s progress.
If you knew nothing about Barbie Hernandez, watching the meeting where she was fired might make you think she’s a saint. But even saints can get dragged down into the ugly pits of small-town politics.
When Councilmembers Digna Cabral, Oscar Puig-Corve, and Maureen Porras ganged up to terminate Hernandez as Doral’s City Manager, they didn’t just shoot themselves in the foot, they took a Louisville Slugger to the knees of Doral’s residents and businesses who depend on the city’s leadership to act in the best interest of the public.
The commission ousted Hernandez on a 3-2 vote despite a seeming consensus that she was doing a terrific job. Even those who voted to fire her couldn’t come up with any real reasons, but that didn’t stop Commissioner Digna Cabral from tearing a page out of the fake-news playbook to justify the move.
Here’s the backstory. When Barbie Hernandez was hired as Doral’s city manager, her husband, Danny Espino, was already seated as Doral’s representative to the Miami-Dade County School Board. Cabral’s accusations that she somehow abused her power to help him are a joke! The facts reveal an entirely different story.
Despite an opinion by Miami-Dade Ethics Commission Executive Director Jose Arrojo demonstrating that Hernandez had acted appropriately, Cabral, Puig-Corve, and Porras decided to feign outrage and ignore the facts.
Here’s the kicker. The Doral council had voted previously 5-0 to provide Espino a district office within city hall – and, of course, as a city manager, Barbie Hernandez didn’t have a vote.
As city manager, she tasked someone else with dealing with all issues involving her husband’s school board office because she is ethical and wanted to ensure there was never to be an appearance of a conflict.
Here’s where the drama starts to unfold. As municipalities do from time to time, Doral regularly produces videos for the public to learn about services, programs, and features offered by their local seat of government. In one such video, Espino was featured as part of a back-to-school overview. If Cabral thinks it is inappropriate to have the school board member who represents the city in a back-to-school video, she must think it is inappropriate to have the chief of police in one about public safety too!
Cabral also objected to Espino’s brewery sponsoring a city event and giving out free drinks at the event, something they had been doing well before he was on the school board and before his wife was the city manager.
Cabral’s reasons for firing Barbie Hernandez weren’t about doing what was best for the city – they were about nitpicking at things Barbie and her husband did that were clearly in the best interests of Doral and its residents.
Barbie Hernandez poured her heart and soul into Doral for 14 years, including the past year as the city’s top administrator. She deserved better, but more importantly – the residents of Doral deserve better!
Mayor Christi Fraga and Councilman Rafael Pineyro proved to be wise leaders as they fought to keep a terrific manager in place to oversee city operations. As this egregious act to remove Hernandez came as a result of a 3-to-2 vote – I’d say it’s time for voters to turn the tables by finding at least one additional candidate in the next election cycle who shares their vision.
If the Doral council were wise, they’d beg Barbie Hernandez to return to the job instead of searching for someone new. Some might say she’d be crazy to give them another chance, but given how much she clearly loves the Doral, she might just be crazy enough to do it.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING LINK:
