Miami City Commission

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The Miami City Commission is the city council of Miami, Florida. It is the unicameral legislative branch of the government of Miami. Since Miami has a council-manager form of government, the council and the city manager (whom they appoint) have more statutory power than the mayor of Miami.

Overview

The mayor of Miami is the city's executive and is directly elected; the mayor appoints a city manager to act as Miami's chief administrative officer.

Five city commissioners are also elected from single-member districts of which they are residents. City commissioners also must be qualified voters. The City Commission holds regular meetings in Miami City Hall, located at 3500 Pan American Drive in the neighborhood of Coconut Grove. The Commission has the power to pass ordinances, adopt regulations, and exercise other powers. All city commission offices and that of the mayor are nonpartisan.[citation needed]

History

The current iteration of the Miami City Commission was created in 1921, after the residents of Miami voted to enact a new city charter that included its establishment. The new charter switched the city to a council-manager form of government, with voters electing a five-member city council and a mayor. An election was held thereafter to elect the first commission. The winners of the first election were all presidents of different local banks, leading to the commission to initially carry the nickname of "Banker's Commission".[1]

Originally, all members of the City Commission were elected at-large. In the mid-1990s, reforms began to be explored to instead elect its members from single-member districts.[2][3] This effort was successfully pursued in 1997, being approved by the city voters that September. Despite some debate about potentially enlarging the size of the commission, this was not pursued and its membership remained five.[4]

In 2024, Miami voters passed a referendum which amended the city's term limits to create a lifetime prohibition on city commissioners serving more than two full terms. Before this, term limits had only prohibited more than two consecutive terms of service, allowing additional non-consecutive terms.[5] For much of the commission's history, there had been no term limits.

Current members

  • Miguel Angel Gabela - Commissioner, district 1 (Republican)
  • Damián Pardo - Commissioner, district 2 (Democrat)
  • Rolando Escalona - Commissioner, district 3
  • Ralph "Rafael" Rosado - Commissioner, district 4 (Republican)
  • Christine King - Commissioner, district 5 (Democrat)

Former members

At-large seat 1

At-large seat 2

At-large seat 3

At-large seat 4

  • Manolo Reboso
  • Armando Lacasa
  • Miriam Alonso (1989–1993)
  • Willy Gort (1993–1997) –redistricted to ___ district in 1997

At-large seat 5

  • Edward T. Graham
  • Theodore Gibson
  • Miller Dawkins (1987–1996)
  • Richard Dunn (1996–1997)
  • Humberto Hernandez Jr. (1997)
  • Thelma Gibson (1997) –redistricted to 3rd district in 1997

District 1

District 2

  • J. L. Plummer (1997–1999) –redistricted in 1997 from 1st seat
  • Johnny Winton (2000–2006)
  • Marc Sarnoff (2006–2015)
  • Ken Russell (2015–2022)
  • Sabina Covo (2023)[6]
  • Damian Pardo (2023–present)[7]

District 3

District 4

  • Tomás Regalado (1997–2009) –redistricted in 1997 from 2nd seat
  • Francis Suarez (2009–2017)
  • Manolo Reyes (2017–2025)
  • Rafael Rosado (2025-)

District 5

Chair position

The council features a chairperson role, held either by a commissioner or the mayor themselves.[9]

Those who have held the position have included:

Former vice mayor position

The City Commission was previously led by a "vice mayor", elected from among the members of the council on a rotating basis. The vice mayor would serve as acting mayor in the instance of mayoral vacancy.

The post was created in 1958 by the Commission, and was also meant to serve as an official who could assist the mayor in meeting social and public relations obligations.[11] The vice mayor was also tasked with setting policies for the city manager to implement.[12]

Vice mayors

The following table chronologically lists the tenures of individuals as vice mayor: (#) denotes different instances of a commissioner serving as vice mayor

More information Vice Mayors of Miami, Name ...
Vice Mayors of Miami
Name Tenure Seat
held		 Mayor at time
George DuBreuil1958–1960[11][13] Robert King High
Henry L. Balaban1961–1962[14]
David T. Kennedy1963[15]
Sidney Aronovitz1964[16]
Alice Wainwright1965[17]
Stephen P. Clark[a]1966–1967[19][18]
Irwin Christie1967–1969[20] Stephen P. Clark
M. Athalie Range1970[21]
J. L. Plummer (1)1971[22] 3rd[22] David T. Kennedy
Edward T. Graham1972[22] 5th[22]
Theodore Gibson (1)1973[22] 5th[22]
Maurice Ferré (interim)
David T. Kennedy
Manolo Reboso1974[23] 4th[23] Maurice Ferré
J. L. Plummer (2)1975[23] 3rd[23]
Rose Gordon1976[23] 2nd[23]
Theodore Gibson (2)1977[23] 5th[23]
Manolo Reboso (2)1978[23] 4th[23]
J. L. Plummer (3)1979[23] 3rd[23]
Armando Lacasa1980[23] 4th[23]
Theodore Gibson (3)1981[23] 5th[23]
Joe Carollo (1)1982[23] 2nd[23]
J. L. Plummer (4)1983[23] 3rd[23]
Demetrio Perez Jr.1984[23] 4th[23]
Joe Carollo (2)1985[23] 2nd[23]
Miller Dawkins (1)1986[23] 5th[23] Xavier Suarez
Rosario Kennedy1988[23] 4th[23]
Victor De Yurre (1)1989[24] 2nd[25]
Miller Dawkins (2)1990[26] 5th[27]
J. L. Plummer (5)1991[27] 3rd[27]
Miriam Alonso1992[27] 4th[28]
Victor De Yurre (2)1993[28] 2nd[22]
Miller Dawkins (3)1994[22] 5th[22] Stephen P. Clark
J. L. Plummer (6)1995[22] 3rd[22]
Willy Gort[b]1996[22] 4th[22] Stephen P. Clark; himself (acting); Joe Carollo
Tomás Regalado1997[22] Francis Suarez; Joe Carollo
Humberto Hernandez Jr.1998[29] Joe Carollo
Arthur Teele1998[30] 5th
Close

Notes

  1. [a]
    became acting mayor in September 1967 after death in office of Mayor Robert King High[18]
  2. [b]
    became acting mayor after death in office of Mayor Stephen P. Clark

References

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