Miami-Dade picked a new county commissioner on Tuesday, without a single vote cast

Former Miami Seaside Commissioner Micky Steinberg grew to become the primary 2022 candidate to win a county fee seat on Tuesday when the midday submitting deadline handed and she or he was the one particular person working to succeed term-limited Sally Heyman.

The county constitution considers an unopposed candidate elected, stated Suzy Trutie of Miami-Dade’s Elections Division, which means the Aug. 23 main poll won’t have a slot for the fee’s District 4 election. As an alternative, Steinberg, 45, successfully gained the race on Tuesday and is on monitor to take workplace in November with the opposite newly elected commissioners.

“Steinberg is elected unopposed,” Trutie stated shortly after 1 p.m.

Nineteen different candidates certified for his or her races on Tuesday, with Districts 2, 6, 8, 10 and 12 nonetheless up for election this 12 months.

Heyman endorsed Steinberg for her District 4 seat

Steinberg final held workplace within the fall of 2021, when time period limits required her to go away the Miami Seaside Metropolis Fee after eight years. Steinberg stated she expects her expertise in metropolis authorities to let her dive in shortly to county points throughout her first time period.

“I promise not take this second as a right,” she stated in an announcement after being declared the District 4 winner.

Steinberg is married to a former metropolis commissioner, Richard Steinberg. A mom of two, ages 12 and 10, she grew up within the resort metropolis. Miami Seaside’s mayor, Dan Gelber, lives in her childhood dwelling.

Steinberg, an actual property agent lined up endorsements from Gelber and different elected officers all through the coastal district, which incorporates most of Miami Seaside north of Lincoln Street, some mainland areas round Aventura and North Miami Seaside, and municipalities on the ocean, together with Sunny Isles Seaside and Surfside.

Heyman additionally backed Steinberg as her successor as time period limits require her to go away the fee after 20 years on the board.

“The message is: She’s delivered earlier than,” Heyman stated Tuesday. “Public service isn’t new to her.”

Steinberg raised greater than $600,000 for her marketing campaign and political committee, Miami-Dade Ahead, and has solely spent about $130,000, in keeping with the newest disclosure kind.

Whereas there gained’t be a District 4 election in August, Steinberg’s election gained’t turn out to be official till the ballots are counted for the opposite races.

That’s when Miami-Dade’s canvassing board will certify winners, and Florida’s Sunshine legal guidelines governing conferences with workplace holders will kick in for Steinberg and different commissioners-elect, in keeping with authorized opinions posted by the Florida Legal professional Normal. Any candidate that doesn’t obtain greater than 50% of the first vote will face a run-off in November.

Levine Cava and Steinberg are political allies

Like Heyman, Steinberg is a Democrat on an formally non-partisan board the place Democrats presently maintain a one-seat majority. She arrives as an ally to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, the primary Democrat to carry the place in 20 years.

They share a marketing campaign supervisor in political advisor Christian Ulvert. When Heyman introduced on the finish of Tuesday’s County Fee assembly that Steinberg had been elected, Levine Cava responded with a whoop.

In an interview outdoors of a Starbucks close to her household’s actual property workplaces on forty first Road in Miami Seaside, Steinberg mentioned some controversies and milestone choices that will await as soon as she and the 5 different newly elected commissioners take workplace on Nov. 22:

▪ City Improvement Boundary: The present fee has twice delayed a vote on increasing the City Improvement Boundary for a business mission in South Miami-Dade, sparking a struggle between environmental teams and builders over the road that divides the suburbs from farmland and the Everglades.

Whereas that debate could also be over earlier than Steinberg takes workplace, different initiatives proposed for outdoor the city space are ready within the planning wings for the subsequent fee. “I’m an environmental preservationist,” Steinberg stated. “I undoubtedly don’t assist unbridled development.”

▪ Miami Seaside monorail: The Levine Cava administration is scheduled to ahead a suggestion on the for-profit firm that desires to construct a monorail connecting mainland Miami with South Seaside, presently a $1.2 billion mission that’s exceeded preliminary value forecasts. “Clearly I consider in connectivity,” Steinberg stated. “It has to make sense for the taxpayer. Will probably be fascinating to see what the administration comes again with.”

▪ Sea-level rise: Miami Seaside raised streets and put in pumps throughout Steinberg’s time on town fee, however Miami-Dade County holds the largest checkbook in the case of storm-water administration, county street methods and the sewage infrastructure which are susceptible to rising seas and rain deluges throughout storms. “I believe the county ought to begin taking an even bigger function,” Steinberg stated. ”It’s a regional problem.”

This story was initially printed June 14, 2022 2:09 PM.