Is Miami city manager’s furniture saga under ethics review? Here’s what we know

Miami City Manager Art Noriega on Monday told colleagues in an email that he had “engaged” with the county ethics commission about matters pertaining to the potential conflict of interest involving the city’s business with Pradere Manufacturing, a furniture vendor owned by his in-laws that employs his wife. He said the matter was “under review.”

But what exactly did he mean by that?

City spokeswoman Kenia Fallat told the Miami Herald that Noriega had no further comment on the situation. And the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust does not publicly confirm or deny the existence of what’s called a “matter under initial review” or a “preliminary investigation” until reaching a conclusion. But a person familiar with the matter told the Herald that the Ethics Commission has opened a preliminary investigation into the situation, which could lead to a potential enforcement action.

In an email to commissioners and the mayor, Noriega on Monday shared a presentation and data, which he later retracted, regarding the city’s purchases with Pradere Manufacturing. The email was a much-anticipated response to concerns about impropriety and a potential conflict of interest after Herald news partner WLRN in January reported that the city had contracts worth over $440,000 with Pradere. The city manager took the opportunity to say that he had “engaged” the Ethics Commission “in alignment with our commitment to ethical governance.”

READ MORE: Miami city manager walks back data on furniture spending. Now he won’t answer questions

However, Jose Arrojo, director of the Ethics Commission, told the Herald on Wednesday that he does not recall ever meeting with or speaking to Noriega about the matter. Arrojo did say that Fallat, the head of communications for the city, called him in January “on behalf of Noriega seeking ethics guidance and wanting to come in and speak.” At the time, Arrojo told her that while he appreciated the city manager wanting to come in to speak, he could not give guidance for something that already happened, which is standard practice for the Ethics Commission.

A person seeking an ethics opinion about a potential conflict of interest must do so before engaging in the type of conduct that could be a conflict, Arrojo said.

After speaking with Fallat, Arrojo on Jan. 18 followed up with Noriega in an email explaining why the Ethics Commission could not offer an opinion after the fact, correspondence that was shared Wednesday by Local 10’s Christina Boomer Vazquez on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Noriega did not proactively reach out to the Ethics Commission about the matter after he became city manager in 2020. Instead, he sent a memo to commissioners and Mayor Francis Suarez disclosing that his wife was the chief operating officer at Pradere, “a company that has done business with the city since 2008.” He also wrote that he would recuse himself from “any and all involvement/decision making and/or approvals between the City and the company.”

In WLRN’s initial Jan. 4 story, Noriega said that he made a “decision of choice” not to seek an Ethics Commission opinion because he believed the memo was sufficient.

READ MORE: Former Miami city manager calls for Noriega’s resignation amid conflict of interest accusations

In addition to providing opinions for elected officials proactively seeking ethical guidance, the Ethics Commission also investigates alleged impropriety. An ethics investigation begins with a review of an allegation of a potential ethics violation to determine legal sufficiency — in other words, would the alleged activity be a violation of the law if it were true?

If an allegation is found legally sufficient, a preliminary investigation is conducted. The process is highly confidential until the preliminary investigation is completed, and as such, investigators cannot publicly confirm whether a situation is being probed as a “matter under initial review” or a “preliminary investigation.” Noriega could request that an investigation become public at any point, however.

Although Arrojo could not confirm or deny whether the matter is under initial review or preliminary investigation, a request was made via NextRequest, the city’s online public records portal, on Dec. 28 from “COE,” a common acronym for the Commission of Ethics, for any public records related to the Pradere company and its subsidiaries from December 2020 through the date of the request.

When asked if the request was made by someone at his office, Arrojo said he had “no reason to doubt the accuracy” but said he couldn’t speak to why his office would have asked for the records. WLRN previously reported that the Ethics Commission began requesting records after being contacted by WLRN journalists ahead of the initial Jan. 4 story.

If Noriega were to come in to speak to the ethics commission, whatever he said could be used in a matter under initial review or a preliminary investigation, Arrojo said.

“If he wants to come in and talk about past conduct, then everything is fair game. And if you admit to something that you did, that you shouldn’t have done, then it’s fair game,” he said.

Noriega’s statement Monday that the matter is “currently under review” by the Ethics Commission would seem to suggest that one of the confidential processes is underway. But Noriega, who touted transparency and accountability in the email he sent Monday, said through Fallat, the city spokesperson, that he had no further comment in response to a reporter’s questions Wednesday. On Tuesday, the city manager canceled a previously scheduled interview with another Herald reporter after walking back the data and presentation his office released. No timeline was given for when accurate data would be released or when he would answer questions from reporters.

City Commissioner Manolo Reyes said Tuesday that he had been waiting for an opinion from the Ethics Commission before weighing in on the issue. Arrojo said he reached out to Reyes’ office Wednesday morning to say that one “would not be forthcoming.”

Speaking to the Herald later, Reyes said he still would like to wait until Noriega delivers his full presentation and for guidance from the Ethics Commission, if there will be a determination after a hypothetical review or investigation.

Reyes said he was most concerned with whether the city manager or his wife profited from the city’s furniture purchases.

New city policy on ethics

Also in his presentation and email Monday, Noriega said he was “pleased to introduce a new administrative policy,” dated March 11, that requires city employees’ conflicts of interest to be discussed at the “next available” city commission meeting and submitted to the Ethics Commission. Additionally, whenever an opinion is given, the city attorney would provide the decision to the commission, according to the policy.

Arrojo said the policy does not materially change the way conflicts of interest are already supposed to be handled in Miami-Dade County.

“Most, if not virtually everything, in the administrative order is already required or prohibited by the county ethics code,” said Arrojo.

What isn’t part of county code, he said, is the public discussion and the dissemination of the ethics opinions by the city attorney. Usually, he said, opinions stay between the employee and the commission, unless it involves someone such as an elected official or department director.

Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.