By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago on Dec. 9 called for the city to formally define how media credentials are issued for city-sponsored events, arguing that access should be limited to what he described as legitimate media outlets.

“We need to be very thoughtful and careful how we curate media credentials,” Lago said. “Media credentials has (sic.) to be legitimate media credentials. It cannot be blogs. It cannot be anonymous blogs. It cannot be anything. It has to be legit.”

Lago made the comments at the end of the commission meeting while referencing recent questions surrounding the city’s Centennial Orchestra event Dec. 7, which was held as part of Coral Gables’ 100th anniversary celebrations. He said the event was intended to celebrate the centennial and that ticket prices had been reduced for city employees.

“I paid full price. I wrote a memo on it and I sent [it] up,” Lago said, adding that some attendees had questioned whether he had paid for his ticket. “So I wanted to make sure that that privilege was given to residents — to employees.”

During his remarks, Lago did not reference the Coral Gables Gazette by name. The Gazette did cover the Centennial Orchestra event, though that coverage was not mentioned by the mayor in his comments.

Lago drew a distinction between what he considers traditional media outlets and other platforms, saying credentials should not be extended to what he characterized as pay-for-play blogs.

“If it’s the (Miami) Herald, the (South Florida) Sun Sentinel, you know, to me, I don’t have an issue with that,” Lago said. “That’s perfectly fine. We want them there. We want them to exhibit the beauty of the City of Coral Gables and the great things we’re doing, but not pay-for-play blogs.”

He asked for the commission’s support in directing staff to prepare a formal resolution defining media credentials for city events and requested that the item be placed on the agenda for a future commission meeting.

“I would hope that the support of the commission and I ask you to please in the next commission meeting that we have a detailed resolution that details what media credentials are for city events,” Lago said.

City to equip fire inspectors with cameras

In other news, Lago announced progress on an initiative to equip Coral Gables fire inspectors with cameras during inspections, framing the move as a transparency measure similar to the use of body cameras by police.

“I’m happy that the city manager and I have been working on cameras for our fire department inspectors,” Lago said. “I think it’s critically important to be as transparent as possible and I think that when those inspections are ongoing, we need to make sure there’s cameras just like we have for the police.”

Lago said he expected the matter to appear on a future commission agenda so it could be addressed formally, describing the initiative as a way for Coral Gables to set a high standard among municipalities.

“It can be something that again sets the bar high, sets a standard high and we are the benchmark in regards to all municipalities,” he said.

City Manager Peter Iglesias confirmed that the cameras have already been approved and are in the process of being acquired.

“Yes, they’ve been approved,” Iglesias said. “We are purchasing them to use them already.”

Lago seeks permitting system update after software review

Lago requested that the commission receive a detailed update next month on the city’s permitting system, including findings from a review of the software and steps taken to address alleged vulnerabilities.

“And the final item that I’d like to have in the next agenda, please, on January 13th, is a recap and update of our permitting system,” Lago said. “Where are we with the study? Where are we with the implementation?”

Lago said the review of the system had uncovered issues that he described as back doors and unauthorized access.

“We’ve shut down a lot of back doors that were being used by certain people to have access to systems that they should not have had access to,” he said.

He also alleged that what he described as “Trojan horses” had existed within the permitting software, allowing access to the department when it should not have been permitted.

“I think people are going to be very interested to find out certain Trojan horses that were inside and they were accessing the permitting department when they shouldn’t have been accessing the permitting department,” Lago said.

The mayor asked for an update from consultant Jorge Duyos and on the city’s progress toward improving permitting operations.

“I want to know where Jorge Duyos is at and where we are in regards to delivering world-class permitting services,” Lago said. “To me, that’s critically important.”