Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo loses control of Bayfront Park agency embroiled in lawsuit

Two former employees of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, a city agency at the center of a federal lawsuit filed by the commissioner, accused him of using agency funds to enrich himself, his wife, and friends. The Miami City Commission voted Thursday to remove Commissioner Carollo from his position as chairman of the Bayfront Park Management Trust. He will be replaced by Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela, who was elected to lead the board that oversees Bayfront Park and Maurice Ferré Park in downtown. By organizing events like the Ultra Music Festival, the agency makes money. Gabela was joined in voting for Carollo’s dismissal by Commissioners Damian Pardo and Manolo Reyes. Commissioner Christine King voted against it, as did Carollo. The vote puts an end to Carollo’s eight-year tenure as the Trust’s chairman.

His chairmanship has exacerbated tensions between him and downtown residents in recent years, who claim that Carollo has abused his position of authority within the agency to clog valuable green space with pointless and garish installations. However, the commissioner and others who support him contend that he has utilized money to significantly enhance the two top parks in the downtown area. He hosted a ribbon-cutting event to celebrate the recently refurbished Mildred and Claude Pepper Fountain, which has music and lights, the night before Carollo was to be removed. On Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, fireworks from various vessels in Biscayne Bay are visible through the fountain at Bayfront Park as the new year begins.

For The Miami Herald, Lex Foderé However, a process server delivering court documents from the most recent case to Carollo marred her final public appearance as chairman of the Trust on Wednesday night. The ceremony started shortly after the interruption. Carollo was accompanied by members of the Trust board, Commissioner King, his wife, and Mayor Francis Suarez. He praised the fountain’s “state of the art equipment,” claiming that videos could be shown in it and that the water could shoot more than 100 feet into the air. Carollo stated, “We could have a party where everyone in Bayfront Park can hear it with the number of speakers that we have.” We would never do that, so don’t worry. We show consideration for our neighbors.

The fountain’s opening song, “Time to Say Goodbye,” or “Con te partirò,” which Andrea Bocelli made famous, was played after the ribbon was cut. Over Biscayne Bay, the full moon was visible in the background. Claims in a lawsuit Former Bayfront Park Management Trust executive director Jose Suarez and former finance director Jose Canto filed the whistleblower case. The workers said they were ejected from the agency in December and accused Carollo of retribution. They said that after Suarez and Canto started to challenge the Trust’s improper accounting procedures, Carollo and Trust board member Javier Baños—who also serves as Carollo’s personal accountant—“set out to discredit and force the departures of Suarez and Canto.”

Carollo has called the accusations “outrageous” and denied them. Canto stated that he “emphatically” rejects the allegations made in the complaint. As they set out to correct the ship in an agency that they claimed lacked a proper accounting system, requirements for expenses to be supported by a contract or invoice policy, and a policy or procedure to ensure vendors were chosen through a competitive bidding process, Suarez and Canto allegedly made “unsettling discoveries,” according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs specifically accused Carollo of funding the purchase of a “suspicious” mobile veterinary truck, keeping cash parking payments in an easily accessible “money room” that was vulnerable to theft, and paying a TV station run by “close personal friends” to broadcast the Trust’s annual New Year’s Eve event. According to Suarez and Canto, Carollo need to be removed from her position as chair of the Trust. Suarez, a former chief of staff at Carollo, stated during a news conference the day after the case was filed that the Bayfront Park Management Trust is in “what I would call a state of turmoil.”