Coral Gables Mayor’s Outbursts Edited out of Commission Meeting Video

Following a January 13 commission meeting, Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro went to watch the YouTube video recording to help craft a routine newsletter to residents. But, oddly, the recording was not immediately available. She contacted the city clerk, Billy Urquia, who told her that he was working on uploading the video.

“I write to him, ‘No edits, right?’,” she tells New Times. “I don’t know why I got that gut feeling like this was weird. Something was weird.”

When the video was finally uploaded, Castro says she noticed it had been edited at least twice, removing parts of the meeting in which she had been speaking. Before both cuts, Castro was speaking when Mayor Vince Lago interjected, calling for a recess.

The city tells New Times that the edits only removed extended breaks. Castro and fellow Commissioner Ariel Fernandez want to know who authorized them, pointing out that commission meetings are never edited.

Four hours into the YouTube video, Lago and Castro went back and forth about the Florida Live Local Act, a workforce housing initiative. After the pair exchanged jabs, the mayor wanted to censure Castro for mentioning his family in her comments. As the commission debated the censure, Lago interrupted to call for a one-hour recess. Castro appeared to object, continuing to speak as Lago slammed the gavel.

The video immediately cut to a blur, returning to the deputy city attorney reading the rules of debate and the meeting procedures. During long recesses in previous commission meeting livestreams, the video typically cuts to a commercial break with text that states, “City Commission Meeting Will Resume Shortly.” For shorter five-minute breaks, the audio is muted while the camera remains on. For both the long and short breaks during the January 13 meeting, the video appeared to have been edited.

One camera, however, stationed on the city clerk’s desk, captured what was edited out of the recording.

“There’s no reason for any part of a discussion to be cut out of the city’s official reporting,” Fernandez tells New Times. “It should never have happened, and whoever was responsible for it should be held accountable because this is a black eye in the city. The fact that somebody from the staff, or the mayor, or whoever it was, gave instructions to cut the video. That is very concerning to me because this is a public forum. This is what the meeting is supposed to be about, and if we’re trying to protect the look of the mayor because he couldn’t sit there and have an adult discussion on the issue, then that’s not the role of city staff.”

In the video New Times obtained from the city clerk’s desk, the pair continued arguing, and Lago walked out of the commission chambers.

“You are out of control, and I won’t accept it,” Lago says as he storms off. The camera captured muffled audio until it cut to the next part of the meeting.

Additionally, at just under 4 hours and 25 minutes, the video depicts Lago ordering another recess, then abruptly cuts to a similar blur effect. The commission was discussing a resolution regarding a special election ballot question to change the city’s general election from April of odd-numbered years to coincide with the general election held in November of even-numbered years. Castro had offered an amendment to the item’s language, which Lago had rejected.

“I said no, I said no, but we’re moving on,” Lago says in the footage. “We’re moving on from that.”

Castro continues, “The attorney is correcting the record. I’m sorry.”

“You cannot run a meeting,” Lago responds. “Alright, guys, listen, another hour,” he continues, and slams the gravel down.

While the YouTube video blurs into the next segment immediately, the city clerk’s footage shows that Fernandez pushed back on having another recess. The commissioner continued speaking, although Lago once again exited the chambers.

“We don’t have another hour to give,” Fernandez, who was pushing to adjourn the meeting, says in the video. You can also hear someone say, “We have a quorum.”

Lago returned to the chambers a few minutes later, ordering the city attorney, city manager, and city clerk to meet him in his office, none of which is captured in the City of Coral Gables YouTube video.

Fernandez tells New Times that if at least two commissioners are still seated, the recording should continue and be made available to the public.

“We asked the city attorney if the motion to adjourn could move forward to which Commissioner Castro seconded, and the city attorney said the minute that the mayor gavels down the recess, we were in recess, and we could not take up the motion,” he says, “But all of this took place while we were sitting up there, so it should have been recorded.”

In an emailed statement to New Times, the city’s director of communications, Martha Pantin, said the video was not edited to remove any content, discussion, deliberation, or any portion of the public meeting.

“The meeting included multiple extended recesses, which is atypical,” Pantin said. “As is standard practice, when the City Commission is in recess, the meeting is no longer in session and is therefore not a public meeting. Those recess periods are not included in the archived Legistar video. Because the meeting resumed multiple times after hour-long recesses, the final posted video may appear different from meetings with shorter or fewer breaks. However, all portions of the meeting while the Commission was in session are included in full.”

Mayor Lago did not order the edits, she said.

Castro claims Lago called the recesses to silence her. During the meeting, Castro presented her anti-kickback legislation, which she says upset Lago. Her proposal would require the disclosure of post-approval business relationships, financial benefits, gifts, and campaign contributions connected to projects that would appear before the commission.

“This has been coming,” Castro says. “He’s been trying not to let me talk, like give me the floor. I mean, I’ve been asked to be recognized.”

A commission meeting recording has only been edited once before to prevent the release of a protected address, Fernandez recalls. Before becoming commissioner in 2023, he covered city commission meetings for the Gables Insider, a news outlet covering the affluent suburb. He says this is unprecedented.

“The role of the city staff is to document what took place at the meeting faithfully, whether it makes anybody look good, whether it makes me look good or look bad, it doesn’t matter,” Fernandez adds. “Because the point of this is to ensure that the public can trust what is taking place, and go back and say, ‘Hey, I disagree with what was said. I disagree with what took place. I agree with that procedure.’ Whatever it is, the public has the right to know what’s taking place.”