Smooth Operator

"Derrick knew that sooner or later we were going to nail him. We just don't go for that sort of stupid stuff. Opa-locka has too many needs to have corrupt people making decisions."

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WFOR-TV (Channel 4) broke the news first, in December 2000. Opa-locka police, the station's reporter said, were investigating whether Miller gave a girl rides in his city car, gave her money, and gave her at least a kiss.

For Miller this was the second public allegation of sexual impropriety since he was elected to the commission. In early 1999 Opa-locka commission secretary Sandra Doughlin informed the city's personnel director that Miller had been making unwanted sexual advances for six years. She never told anyone, she said, until he was elected to the city commission. "On or about December 14, 1998, I let Commissioner Miller know that the relationship has changed and that he was now one of my bosses and that his comments were making me uncomfortable," Doughlin wrote in her complaint. Miller, she said, was particularly enamored of her lips. He also wanted to suck her toes.

Although Doughlin's complaint was supposed to be handled confidentially, she learned it had been discussed with other city staffers. "I never wanted this matter to be made public," she wrote in a February 11, 1999, letter to the city commission. "However, in light of the fact that it is no longer confidential, I have no other alternative than to make you all aware of this matter."

Miller's colleagues on the city commission told Doughlin that whatever the merits of her complaint, they were the wrong people to address because, as an entity, the commission was legally powerless to intervene in the matter. Doughlin still works for the city, now in the personnel department. Last week she said she is contemplating litigation but declined to comment further.

Yolanda Mercado: "My father's family lives up in Tampa. After he died we went to do some rosary up there and left Jenny behind at her friend's. I found out that Derrick had went looking for my daughter to see if she would drop the charges or whatever."

Jenny: "He came over to my friend's house and said, “Well, your mom got me on the news and everything. She got me in the newspaper. He said, can you sign a ... I forget what it's called, a ... an affidavit. At that time I was mad at my mom so I said, “Yeah, I'll do it.' He was telling me what to say. He told me to say the only reason he was giving me the money was to get my hair done and stuff like that, and for my grandfather's flowers. But it wasn't for that. He told me to tell his lawyer that I never gave him a kiss, that we never kissed."

Jenny, in an affidavit provided to the Miami Herald by Derrick Miller: "I have never had sexual relations with Derrick Miller [and he] has never touched me or asked me to do anything.... My mother asked me if I was having sex with Derrick Miller. I told her no. She kept asking, and I finally told her I kissed him. That was not true, and I only told her that to make her mad. My mother said to me, “You should be more intelligent and sue Derrick Miller for $10,000.'"

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On December 13, 2000, in the wake of the reports on television and in the Herald, Miller showed up at the Opa-locka City Commission chambers planning, he said at the time, to resign his position. That didn't happen. Instead Miller was one of a majority of three commissioners who voted to suspend Tony Robinson as city manager. None of the three who voted to remove Robinson publicly explained his or her decision. The manager was relieved of his duties. Within the month the commission charged Robinson with eleven counts of wrongdoing, including insubordination and abuse of power. "It was politics more than anything else," says Mayor Alvin Miller. "Anytime you suspend a city manager before even addressing why you are suspending him -- bottom line, that's politics."

Despite the suspension Mayor Miller stood behind his manager. "I was fighting to have Mr. Robinson remain city manager for two reasons. Number one: He was, in my opinion, a disciplinarian who likes to tackle corruption. Number two: I felt we needed a type of stability. With all the city managers Opa-locka has had in the past five years, if you're on the outside, why would you want to come in and invest in our city?"

On January 5, 2001, the commission held a special hearing on Robinson's professional fate. More than 70 pro-Robinson supporters packed the Persian-themed city hall chambers. Included among the supporters was state Sen. Daryl Jones. "I hold him in the highest regard. He has tremendous integrity, and he seeks always to do his best at whatever he does," Jones told the commission.

Robinson was fired anyway.