City of Doral Council selects interim City Manager and City Attorney

DORAL, FL – On Tuesday, Feb. 20, during an emergency special council meeting, the City of Doral Council selected Interim City Manager Kathie Brooks and Interim City Attorney Joseph Geller of the law firm Greenspoon Marder LLP. 

With a majority vote, councilmembers Digna Cabral and Maureen Porras as well as Doral’s Vice Mayor, Oscar Puig-Corve, voted in favor of selecting them in replacement of former Interim City Manager Francisco Rios and City Manager Barbara Hernandez, recently removed from her position, and of Valerie Vicente, former City Attorney.

After the vote, several Doral residents expressed their concerns with the tense environment and rivalry among council members that lately has been seen during the city’s council meetings. Some said the disrespect while working as a team is evident, while others stated the dynamic between them is creating chaos, which ultimately is affecting the community. 

But the discontent from the residents lies also in the fact they feel their opinions around the decisions taken aren’t heard in the council meetings during the public comments section. In addition, they feel there isn’t enough clarity, respect towards the law and transparency in the city, which, in their opinion, threatens democracy.  

The new Interim City Manager has over 40 years of local government experience in the South Florida area, including her roles as Assistance City Manager, Interim City Manager and Budget and Performance Improvement Director for the City of Miami Beach, as well as other job positions within Miami-Dade County, more specifically in the Office of Performance Improvement, the Department of Solid Waste Management and the Miami-Dade Transit Agency.

Joseph S. Geller, on the other hand, has practiced law over 40 years, which include over 25 providing service as a municipal attorney to Florida municipalities and been hired as the principal attorney for six of them. Additionally, he served for four terms in the Florida House of Representatives, representing district 100, and as Mayor of the City of North Bay Village. 

Greenspoon Marder LLP has more than 240 attorneys practicing across 10 offices in Florida and 24 throughout the U.S. Also, it ranked among the American Lawyer’s Am Law 200; rated “AV Preeminent” by the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory; and “Best Law Firms” by U.S. News & World Report.