Support the fight to enforce Sunshine law in North Miami

My name is Eileen Bicaba. I filed a lawsuit against North Miami council members Kassandra Timothe, Mary Estimé-Irvin and Pierre Frantz Charles for allegedly violating Florida Sunshine law during the firing of Rasha Cameau. Along with 2 other individuals I also filed with the State attorney’s office that the same three council members allegedly violated North Miami City charter.

As seen on channel 10 , residents of North Miami filled City hall in support of the City Manager, Rasha Cameau and protested against her firing. The money raised here will pay for legal fees and any other expenses related to the marketing, fundraising and the lawsuit.

Many individuals have contacted me wishing to take action but fear reprisals. Please see the Gofundme information on anonymous donations .

The city of North Miami is emerging from a $14 million deficit and has a culture of hiring friends and family instead of the most qualified individuals. City Manager Rasha Cameau, who had only been in office for a year, was working to clean up the City's financial deficits and mismanagement that she inherited from the City Council and previous City Managers. She was also removing employees who were not performing to standards.

On April 9, 2024, City of North Miami Council members Kassandra Timothe, Mary Estimé-Irvin and Pierre Frantz Charles voted to fire City Manager Rasha Cameau. The City attorney, Jeff Cazeau, advised that a list of reasons for dismissal must be cited in a resolution 30 days before such removal, but no such list has yet been made public. The decision was made during that council meeting to present the resolution on May 14, 2024. The three council members then instructed City attorney Jeff Cazeau to hire outside attorney Hans Ottinot to represent them in the firing.

But then, on Friday, May 3, 2024, the three council members called a special meeting for May 7, 2024, to suspend Mrs Cameau, but scheduled it at 5:30 PM while most of the public was at work, to replace Mrs Cameau. Anna-Bo Emmanuel, the current Executive Director of the CRA was appointed to act as City Manager with no discussion during the May 7th meeting. On June 4th there was a public hearing and the final firing.

Three Documents explain what occurred:

All three documents relay major performance issues in the Public works department. Ms. Cameau scheduled an appointment with the Director of Public Works, Mr. Pierre-Louis to discuss the performance issues outlined in the “Public Works Performance Issues” memo. Within minutes of making the appointment, Mr. Pierre-Louis sent a text message to Councilman Charles asking to speak to him; then there was a phone call. After that, Council members Kassandra Timothe, Mary Estimé-Irvin and Pierre Frantz Charles had two 3rd party individuals contact Ms. Cameau to intervene on behalf of Mr. Pierre-Louis. One even went to Ms. Cameau’s home. Mrs. Cameau also objected to a $100,000 Event Request by Mary Estimé-Irvin for a festival.

Three residents filed a complaint with the State attorney’s office for charter violation .

Documents from the public hearing can be downloaded here