Alex Fernandez is part of a new generation of leadership emerging in the Miami Beach political scene. Passionate about public service, Fernandez works in the Miami Beach Office of the Mayor & Commission as a Deputy to Commissioner Deede Weithorn. Recently he was appointed by Weithorn to serve on the Miami Beach Charter Review Board, which convenes every ten years tasked to review and propose revisions to the City’s governing document.
As Weithorn’s right hand man, Fernandez enjoys employing his talents to help residents solve their City-related problems, using his creativity to propose legislative initiatives to the Commissioner, and applying his knowledge of municipal and county government to serve as Weithorn’s representative on boards such as the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, the League of Cities, and others.
“There is no other job I’d rather be doing,” says Fernandez, “It’s a privilege to be Commissioner Weithorn’s partner in public service.”
Fernandez has been active in public service for well over a decade. Miami- Dade County Commission Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa gave him his first job in public service. He quickly caught the attention of County Commissioners Joe A. Martinez and Bruno Barreiro for whom Fernandez subsequently worked for as the Coordinator of the County Commission’s office of Media and Protocol.
Passionate about Miami Beach’s future, Fernandez ran for the City Commission in 2009 after working for Miami Beach Mayor Matti Herrera Bower.
As Weithorn’s representative on the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, Fernandez encouraged the Trust to pursue a memorandum of understanding with Mount Sinai to offer homeless patients free assistance within the continuum of care before being discharged and released onto the street. Recently, he was successful in encouraging Miami Beach to join a committee which seeks to end on-street feeding of homeless individuals.
“Men are largely affected by circumstances, and therefore many have made one of their great aims in life the improvement of man’s external conditions — his society,” reads a quote within Ethics, Problem Solving, and Discourse on Living which lays on top of Fernandez’s desk at City Hall.
“I believe that public service is a vocation,” Fernandez asserts, “I was born with the desire to serve others and thus this job is not merely a job, it is a passion.”
As of late, he has been burning the midnight oil studying Miami Beach’s Charter, comparing it to the governing documents of other cities and bringing forth recommendations pertaining to ethics, citizens’ rights, and zoning improvements to the Charter Review Board.
“I never shy away from working,” says Fernandez, “as a matter of fact, I’m always seeking ways to perform my public service duties as I go about my daily life.”
Prior to working for the City of Miami Beach, Fernandez was a Spanish radio and television political affairs commentator. He has hosted programs on Univision Radio Network, Azteca America, Telemiami, PAXCC, WDNA 88.9 FM, among others.
His interest and experience in communications and government affairs led him to help spearhead the Chamber Gazette, the official newspaper of the County Commission published in English, Spanish, and Creole with distribution throughout the thirteen districts in Miami- Dade.
Fernandez believes that his early involvement in media and journalism have assisted him in being a better public servant.
“To properly perform the expected duties one must be honest and properly prepared with exhaustive research,” says Fernandez in comparing public service to journalism.
Though he does not aspire to run for public office again, Fernandez sees public service as part of his future and through his dedicated service to the City of Miami Beach and its residents he hopes to skew the judgment of those skeptical about their government.
