The Doral City Council unanimously voted to make Christine Fraga the new vice mayor Wednesday night, as Mayor Luigi Boria and City Manager Joe Carollo continued their public feud.
"I pledge to bring unity to this council and work with all of you like I have always," Fraga said after the vote.
Boria thanked Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera for her work in her nine months as vice mayor, and said he wanted her to finish a full year in position.
Rodriguez Aguilera said she appreciated that, but she said she did not want to continue serving as vice mayor at this time so she wouldn’t disrupt the traditional practice of electing a new vice mayor each November.
The council subsequently voted 5-0 to elect Fraga to the position.
Boria attempted to fire Carollo at the council's Oct. 9 meeting, but the group's members supported the city manager with a 3-2 vote of confidence.
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On Wednesday the mayor and city manager squabbled, with Boria asking Carollo to stop “making signs” to the city attorney.
Carollo said he wasn’t doing that.
“Mr. Mayor, why are you taking it out on me? Why are you taking it out on me?” he asked.
“Please, if you don’t refrain yourself, I’m going to have to ask the sergeant of here to get out of the council,” Boria said.
“Mr. Mayor, this is a democracy,” Carollo replied.
“I would like to ask you, this is out of order, I please request you to be silent during the meeting,” Boria said.
“I am silent, sir,” Carollo said.
“OK, thank you,” Boria said, but the two kept arguing before the council proceeded to its vice mayoral vote.
Later, Rodriguez Aguilera brought up how Boria had talked about a plot against him because the 2014 Miss USA pageant is no longer coming to Doral, even though he voted against it on Oct. 9.
“When I said this is a sabotage, I spoke about people in the city saying that I resigned to my position, which is a lie," Boria said. "You know, I haven’t resigned, I don’t expect to resign, I’m here because I was elected by the people, for the people, and I will be here until the people wants me to be here."
The political dysfunction has prompted the Doral Community Coalition to recently request that Gov. Rick Scott appoint a special prosecutor to investigate what is happening within the city government.
Fraga, the new vice mayor, agrees.
“I think that he needs to understand his position as mayor and understand that we are all here to work together, and unless he decides to move forward we’re not going to go anywhere,” she said.
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