The resignation of City Manager Alberto Parjus after just four months on the job brings Coral Gables to a crossroads. When Deputy City Manager José “Joe” Gómez steps into the role on May 23, he will become the fourth person to serve as the city’s chief executive in just 15 months. That kind of turnover may be expected in volatile corporate boardrooms. It should not be the norm in one of Florida’s most admired municipalities.
For a city that prides itself on careful planning, elegant streetscapes and a rich civic tradition, the recent chaos at the top is striking. Consider this: Before the last four city managers, the four who preceded them—H.C. “Jack” Eads, David Brown, Pat Salerno and Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark—served a combined 30 years.
From 1988 to 2022, Coral Gables averaged one city manager every 7.2 years. Since last year, it will have had four. This isn’t a governance model. It’s a revolving door.
To be clear, there is talent on staff. Of the last eight city managers, five were promoted from within. Even Swanson-Rivenbark, hired from outside, had deep prior experience in Coral Gables and was widely seen as having been groomed for the top job by then-manager Eads. A national search may not be necessary. But what is necessary is a commitment to stability, long-term planning, and the depoliticization of the city’s top executive post.
The prospect of bringing back former City Manager Peter Iglesias has already surfaced. Iglesias, who served from 2018 until his dismissal by three commissioners last year, would bring experience.
But timing matters. By his own admission, Iglesias is not a budget technician. And with the next fiscal cycle already taking shape, the city may want to think carefully before reappointing a manager who is less fluent in financials than his predecessor. Parjus, for all the brevity of his tenure, was a “numbers guy.”
The City Commission should also take this opportunity to reflect. The recent turbulence at City Hall has not happened in a vacuum. Commissioners have clashed publicly and privately, and residents have taken notice. If the next city manager—whether Gómez, Iglesias, or someone else—is to succeed, they will need not only the tools and experience, but also the political space to lead.
That will require restraint from elected officials, a clear delineation between policy and administration, and a recommitment to the principles of good governance. Coral Gables is not a political playground. It is a city with more than 50,000 residents, a legacy of careful growth, and a civic culture worth preserving.
If the revolving door is to stop its dizzying spinning (after at least a little more with probably one more city manager after Gómez), stability must be prioritized—and protected.
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I have an IDEA: Let the developers bring their own man to manage the city. After all they have all their candidates in place now!
What Municipal Service in Coral Gables runs so well that it leads you to believe Iglesias deserves his job back? not Permitting. not Solid Waste. not the Citizen’s App not Parks & Rec not the upkeep of City Hall. So, which one? CG is far from s modern model of governance worth imitating. I do agree the last year and a half has been a comedy. but the administrative history of CG is not a point of pride.
Believe in the adage you can never go home
It is not the same. Turn the page and find a viable out of town candidate who is not beholden to anyone
The revolving door of City Managers has been a direct result of KFC and Cruz leading a lynch mob against Iglesias. They started that fire…
I expect and hope that Mayor Lago and Vice-Mayor Anderson will have the City engage an independent executive search firm to find a new City Manager per File 2024-7074 sponsored by Mayor Lago. Per Miami Today (2/27/2024), Mayor Lago was quoted as follows: “the best way to do this is to use a national search firm and go in a way that is transparent . . . And it’s an open process where everybody can have a bite of the apple and is the best candidate for the city.” He also stated “the best way to move forward as a community to build consensus around a City Manager is not for having one person pick the City Manager, it is for it to be done by an outside agency.”
Both Mayor Lago and Vice-Mayor Anderson advocated for a broader search for a City Manager successor arguing it is a necessary step in ensuring the best possible leadership for Coral Gables. Hoodline (1/16/2025 by Carlos Mendez).
In Mayor Lago’s preferred publication, Coral Gables Magazine, he and Vice-Mayor Anderson recommended a search be conducted to build consensus (2/12/2025). Vice-Mayor Anderson stated that “we have a process we should follow to have the best results for our residence.” (Coral Gables Magazine 2/7/2025)
Consistent with what I said at the Commission meeting on February 27, 2024, and in agreement with Mayor Lago and Vice-Mayor Anderson, the City should choose a new City Manager through an independent search process to ensure that we have the best person serving as our new City Manager for the next 10 years – not simply the next person up.