CORAL GABLES, FL – Just days after a resounding political defeat for the candidates aligned with Commissioner Ariel Fernández in the April 2025 elections, Fernández appears to be reversing course on several of the most controversial policies he once championed. On Thursday morning, the embattled commissioner circulated an email announcing a slew of agenda items for the upcoming City Commission meeting—many of which directly contradict positions he has publicly supported, proposed, defended, and voted for over the past two years.
Among the proposals: slashing the very commission salary increases Fernández once pushed through, reducing the city’s millage rate, eliminating the $550 garbage fee he helped sustain, and supporting a citywide vote to move elections to November—a move he previously opposed. He also called for the establishment of an Office of Inspector General, despite having repeatedly rejected such oversight in the past. Perhaps most strikingly, he now seeks to overhaul the process for hiring and firing charter officers, a system he used to facilitate the removal of three city managers in under a year.
The timing of the about-face raises serious questions. In the weeks leading up to the election, rumors circulated in Coral Gables that Fernández was serving as campaign manager for at least two of the three losing candidates, including fellow Commissioner Kirk Menendez. Voters delivered a clear mandate in reelecting Mayor Vince Lago and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, and electing newcomer Richard Lara, widely seen as a repudiation of the commission’s recent dysfunction.
Former Mayor Jim Cason did not mince words in responding to Fernández’s abrupt reversal. “It’s an attempt at damage control, but the newly elected officials will propose and vote on most of what they proposed on May 6th,” he said. “Their ship sails first, and he missed the boat.”
The question facing Coral Gables residents now is whether this shift reflects a genuine change of heart or an act of self-preservation. “While Commissioner Fernández has a right to admit he was wrong and made mistakes that have costed the city dearly, his actions come across as politically expeditious and disingenuous,” said long-time Coral Gables resident Gonzalo Sanabria, who has been at odds with Fernandez and has been threatened with legal action by him. “You don’t get credit for pulling the fire alarm when you’re the one who lit the match.”
With political pressure mounting and credibility waning, Ariel Fernández finds himself at a crossroads. Whether the public views his sudden reform push as an act of integrity or political survival remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the voters of Coral Gables are paying close attention.
