Judge rules North Miami council members violated city charter, not Sunshine Law

MIAMI — A judge has found three North Miami City Council members violated the city charter while trying to remove a former city manager, but ruled there was insufficient evidence to find they violated Florida’s Sunshine Law.

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The ruling on Wednesday followed a three-day trial involving council members Kassandra Timothe, Mary Estime-Irvin and Pierre Frantz-Charles.

The lawsuit, filed in June 2024 by North Miami resident Eileen Bicaba, accused the council members of privately coordinating city business outside a public meeting in an effort to remove former City Manager Rasha Cameau.

The Sunshine Law generally requires certain government business to be discussed in public and prohibits elected officials from privately conducting public business outside properly noticed meetings.

During the trial, Timothe was questioned about whether she had discussed a motion to terminate Cameau with an attorney before bringing it before the council.

“I don’t recall,” Timothe said while testifying.

She also denied having the three votes needed to pass the motion before the meeting.

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“You are asking me if I had three votes prior to the meeting. No,” she said.

Bicaba alleged the council members also interfered with Cameau’s management of city employees.

“We are alleging that they interfered with her ability to manage employees,” Bicaba said, adding that Cameau wanted to discipline the head of the public works department and that the council members tried to intervene through third parties.

The judge ultimately declined to find a Sunshine Law violation, saying there was not enough evidence.

The judge did, however, find a violation of Section 19 of the North Miami city charter. According to attorney David Reiner, the judge determined the council members conveyed a threat to Cameau that she would be terminated.

A violation of the city charter is a misdemeanor. Whether the matter will lead to additional legal action is up to the plaintiff, and there was no immediate word on whether she plans to pursue it.

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