North Miami Beach Showdown Over City Manager

Critics say the city manager is doing a poor job, but he called for a state investigation into council

Tuesday evening marked the the first council meeting since the North Miami Beach mayor and city manager called for a complete investigation into the city's council.

"It seems there are e-mails between council members and residents and impropriety," said Myron Rosner, North Miami Beach Mayor.

City Manager Kelvin Baker believes the council is trying to fire him and meeting behind closed doors to conduct city business.

"Consider this a written complaint concerning the conduct of certain city council members related to the Sunshine Law," Baker's letter to Rosner said.

Rosner then fired off a letter to the governor and state attorney calling for an investigation.

"The city of North Miami recently hosted an ethics training seminar which should have addressed these violations," the letter said, "but it was ovcious it was not effective."

North Miami Beach resident Stephanie Kienzie, though, says the mayor is simply grasping at straws, and that even though sources showed NBCMiami email traffic that indicates collusion between residents and council members outside meetings, Kienzie denies being part of any effort to cirucmvent the Sunshine Law.

Two council members admitted they were involved in the alleged collusion, but also said that they broke no laws and have done nothing wrong.

Residents, meanwhile, said the heart of the trouble is Baker's handling of a $4 million shortfall in the police departmenet pension fund, and critics say that Baker's own personal finacial troubles may affect his handling of the budget.

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