Ahead of the special Coral Gables City Commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 6 that will address many hotly debated recent issues, including, notably, commissioner raises and the scheduling of city elections, Commissioner Ariel Fernandez addressed what some have perceived as his policy reversals on several of those issues.

Even before the Mayor Vince Lago called for the special meeting, Fernandez sent out a memo setting forth big changes from his previous positions, leading to criticisms that he was capitulating on many issues he had previously championed.

“You have sent us a clear message on several issues, and I HAVE HEARD YOU. Today, I renew my commitment to you to ensure your priorities are mine,” Fernandez wrote in the April memo.

Specifically, Fernandez has reversed course of his decision to vote against a property tax rate, commission raises, and the creation of an inspector general. He is also proposing a process to for hiring/firing of charter positions, after he himself has led the charge on changing the city manager two times in the last year or so.

While Fernandez acknowledges that the election caused him to rethink his positions on several issues, he said many of the perceived changes did not represent “much of a change on my stance.”

The main issue that the commissioner said he heard from residents during the election concerned property taxes, so he committed to lowering taxes for residents, something he opposed during the previous budget cycle. Fernandez said it wasn’t the tax cuts he was opposed to last year, but the way they were proposed by the mayor, which did not give city officials enough time to incorporate their effect.

“(City administrators) had worked on the budget for months, and they were being told where to cut late in the process. Starting this budget cycle, I want them to factor in the budget cuts so they can do it without affecting services,” he explained.

The commissioner added that he was attempting to be responsive to residents’ economic concerns, something that also explained his proposed resolution to eliminate the $550 garbage fee and another to send the city’s municipal budget to the Florida State Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE).

On the issue of DOGE, the commissioner was not altogether convincing. Although he lauded the City Commission for approving “tight” budget in recent years, he did not adequately explain why he thought the state DOGE would be able to find waste, abuse and fraud where city officials could not, except to say “I’m always in favor of getting more eyes on the city budget.”

“Maybe they could find money that is being spent on things it shouldn’t be, on projects that should not be getting funded,” he added.

When asked whether he would be in favor of the level and kind of cuts that have come out of the federal and state DOGE, Fernandez said they “were completely different animals.” Why would they then be appropriate to recommend cuts in the City Beautiful, he was pushed. “A new set of eyes can take a look and give recommendations on how to improve things without affecting services,” he explained, giving the example of Burger Bob (Birdie Bistro) renovations, which went way over budget. It wasn’t clear whether Fernandez meant that the renovations should have been done or not.

On several other issues, including the change of city elections to coincide with November general elections and whether to create an office of Inspector General, the commissioner said his original stance was to wait for a recommendation from the Charter Review Committee, which doesn’t explain why he proposed and would support these items going to a referendum is the committee is still drafting its recommendations.

On one of the most controversial decisions made in the last couple of years, commission raises – which the commissioner approved and defended – Fernandez is now proposing an ordinance to rescind the pay increase and a resolution requiring a vote by residents to any changes to compensation in the future.

“We already changed the process so there would be a special meeting whenever there was a compensation change proposed moving forward. They have been playing politics for two years without a plan to move forward,” Fernandez said, although it wasn’t clear why he felt more action needed to be taken if changes had been made, or why he was the one to propose it.

Finally, on the issue of the city manager changes, Fernandez, who led the charge on the last two changes, said he has heard over the last few months that residents would prefer a process, since there is none set. “Other cities do have a process, and I stand by my decision on the past city managers,” he said.

“I’m willing to (propose one), there never was a proposal set by colleagues,” he said, without saying why he did not propose a process in the past two years.