We all know that Port Director Bill Johnson wants the Beacon Council job, but the lengths that the Mayor has gone to get the post for him are a bit much. The Mayor even had a hand in dumping Frank Nero. Apparently he was mad at Frank for his stand against gambling casino's downtown. Lynda Bell did the actual dirty work.
I wrote May 7th about the Assistant Port Director Juan Kuryla turning down a Port Director position at Jacksonville in wait of Johnson's move to Beacon.
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| Juan Kuryla |
Well now I heard a rumor that Kuryla, The Seaport Director Designee, (a position created by Gimenez) is making an unheard of salary, more than the Miami Dade County Medical Examiner--- even more than the current Seaport Director. Gimenez did this to keep him so Bill Johnson can take the Beacon Council slot. So much for the search the Beacon Council is conducting. It appears to be a sham. Someone tell the medical examiner he is making less than this guy, he will have a cow.
Kuryla was offered $300,000 by Jacksonville. He was making about $175,000 before the job offer. Bill Johnson is being paid a salary about $268,000.
I did find Juan's salary online.
I was told you have to take the “gross pay last paycheck” and multiply it by 26 (the number of checks received a year). That would bring his current salary to $290,000. So he is getting a $120,000 increase?? Could this be true? Over $30,000 more than Bill Johnson.
The mayor created this NEW position of Seaport Director Designee (is he also still the Dep. Dir. of the Seaport) just for Kuryla to make this deal happen - and to prevent him from going to Jacksonville. An orchestrated plan? It sounds set in stone. What happened to searches when openings come up? Why is filling jobs so incestuous at the County?
Can anyone confirm or add to this??? Is our Strong Mayor becoming "Imperial" controlling too much. I don't like that he is raising money for Commissioners who do his bidding, like Lynda Bell. He should not be in the fundraising business for County Commissioners.
37 comments:
Gimenez is trying to be the imperial mayor. That is a good description. He is no longer the man I voted for and supported.
Juan isn't even a good candidate. They should conduct a search if Bill is leaving.
for 3rd world Miami-Dade ( hell the entire US is 3rd world now ) that's some excellent money. fiddle some more, Giminez, soon you will be on par with Miriam Alonso and the manatee hater who shall not be named.
Carlos Gimenez has broken many campaign promises. Gimenez makes the taxpayers overpay many of his friends. Bill Johnson, Juan Kuryla, Jack Osterholt... They are all massively overpaid... And the benefits? OMG. Defined benefit pensions! ... Gimenez is participating in the screwing of the taxpayers.
Gimenez is a hugh disappointment.
I have seen Juan to be immature. He uses sarcasm, snickering and ridicule. Johnson uses intimidation...
Does he have real leadership, I have never seen it. Without Johnson this guy Juan might be lost.
Carlos Gimenez is just another power hungry dope.
Gimenez is the anti-Alvarez in this respect: Alvarez cultivated no power base. He was strong mayor but at the whim of the crazies on the county commission. Through stories like EOM puts out there, what we can see is that Gimenez is more Penelas-like: stroking the guys with the money and making sure that the top department people are loyal. He cultivates Bell, because she jumped into the vacuum left when Seijas was recalled by voters. He cultivates Bell, because the money people are all anxious to develop out in her district. So he's aiming for reelection or advancement. Hardly news.
Johnson is in drop program so he has to leave. He wanted salary equal to what Tampa gave to their new port director who left Jacksonville to build his pension.
When the mayor refused to match the Tampa offer (hence why opening in Jacksonville) mayor would not go along with giving Johnson a $350,000 salary for fear of political fall out . The only option, Johnson retires with his pension probably in excess of $200.000 or close to it. He then gets Beacon job which will pay at least $200,000 he has a great payday. Juan then moves in making more than Johnson.
No wonder he is smiling. That ain't chump change.
What happens if the second rate search firm hired by Beacon doesn't pick Johnson? Does the whole deal unravel? Why doesn't Johnson go take the Jacksonville job?
It is about time that hard-working County employees got some recognition, specifically those like Kuryla who have worked their way up the career ladder. I have worked with Kuryla and know for a fact the type of employee he is. He is dedicated to his job. There will always be haters making nasty comments. I haven't seen any of them putting in the hours he does. Envy....that's all it is.
Back in the 18th century, in France, all their heads would be on pikes.
Juan is an excellent leader! PortMiami is very lucky to have him! He is one the hardest working man I know.
Poor Juan, he only made $170,000 to travel around the world with his wife on the taxpayer's back as his wife is over at airport it didn't seem right having her report to her hubby when she worked for port, of course the beacon council "search" is a sham...it's been bill's all along, god knows he has been lobbying for it...and as for Gimenez what a piece of s***, do as I say not as I do mayor, he's a control freak who rolls his eyes as he speaks because he feels everyone is beneath his intelligence level....but it was ok to give this guy a $130,000 raise while he nickel and dimes the rest of the county employees...what a schmuck and another one who jet setted around spain on the taxpayer's dime with all his fat lobbyist friends....
Juan is a hard worker!!! He has earned respect and recognition in the Maritime Industry worldwide! PortMiami continues to thrive as the Cruise Capital of the World and Cargo Gateway of the Americas thanks to the hard work and dedication of professionals like Juan.
The Beacon Council should have been abolished years ago. What a waste of the taxpayers money. Sort of like the Downtown Development Authority, CRA's and many other useless black holes making the taxpayers tax dollars disappear.
Miami Dade is lucky to have both Public Administrative Professionals in our community. That's why both public and private sector organizations try to recruit them. We should appreciate their talent. Richard L. Coral Gables. An open minded community minded voter and citizen
Neither the Port nor MIA depend on taxpayer money, they are both self sustained and contribute to dade county. The directors of those departments have specialized jobs that not too many people can do. If Jacksonville was willing to pay Kuryla that much money, then he is worth every penny. I guess Johnson paid his dues and also has a lot of experience in international trade and bringing new businesses to dade county. Come on fellow readers, let's separate those who really contribute to the economy from those who abuse the system. That's the problem with dade county people don't look at the business aspect of government operations. But as someone else said--haters will be haters.
Juan Kuryla's heart and soul are at the port. If all the directors were as dedicated to their departments as he is, dade county would be totally different.
I would love to work for Juan Kuryla and be part of his team that will bring the port to a whole new level of success, integrity, and business like thinking. That's what dade county needs, business thinkers.
Could someone please explain how Bill Johnson or Juan Juryla earn their money? What do they actually do?
it's amazing how people complain about some county employees getting paid without actually knowing them or what they do. airports and ports are competitive - why do you think Miguel Southwell got plucked by ATL when he didn't get the MIA job. Why would Jacksonville, a port with zero cruise presence and not even half the revenues of Port of Miami offer Kuryla more than 300K. Tampa has a Port Director making even more and his port's revenues don't come close either. As for Johnson - do any of you know that the Port was losing a million a month before he took over? Don't look at MIA and the Port as your typical county stuff - realize that it is a competitive environment and that if you want them to succeed that the salary has to be there. it doesn't come from taxpayer rolls anyway.
Kuryla and Johnson are quite free to leave the public trough. They never will. Why work when you can make massive bucks coasting?
Doesn't Kuryla's wife work for him at the Seaport in some unnecessary "government affairs" job? How much is she pulling in? The seaport is a cesspool of nepotism and Kuryla is the poster boy.
A $170k pay raise?! How sick. This is another disgusting display of cronyism by Carlos Gimenez. Every department director and deputy mayor hired by Gimenez has been appointed without a job advertisement, job interview, or competition. That is known in the fields of public administration and business administration as a worst practice. The public deserves the best possible people in government jobs which can only be obtained by a legitimate competitive recruitment process.
I don't think anyone is more disappointed in Gimenez than me. I actually believed in him in when he first ran in 2010. Count me in as someone who was fooled.
Gimenez is a typical Miami fire union member. He spends 98% of his time trying to make more money and benefits for himself and other firefighters and 2% looking out for the taxpayers.
Why doesn’t anybody criticize Carlos Migoya’s salary? He makes $590,000 a year plus bonuses, he received $160,000 last year and will receive twice as much this year. He also receives an expense allowance plus car allowance. Car allowance to get to work? The regular workers don’t get car allowance. Why should he?
My point is Kuryla’s salary comes out of the million dollar businesses he brings to the port whereas Migoya’s hefty salary comes out of the more than $300 million dollars JMH receives from taxpayers money. Kuryla should get paid as much as Migoya, after all Kuryla has to work harder to ensure the port’s contribution to Dade County’s economy keeps growing and Migoya can continue benefiting from it.
The only outsider among Gimenez department directors is the new airport director ... a guy who has never had a job in the aviation field. No search or interviews on that one either.
someone above said the port of miami receives no taxpayer funds? who is paying for the tunnel to the port? is the port of miami still the "cruise capital"? port everglades seems awfully busy..and for those stating that Tampa and Jax pay their port directors more, then instead of saying miami should match, shouldn't we be saying they are all overpaid positions? people are frustrated because the majority of floridians do not make anywhere near that kind of money; my own very poor city of north miami pays the city manager over 200K ; the city attorney over 200K, that's disgusting and cruel when so many ( majority even perhaps? ) north miami residents are hovering near poverty. When citizens see a number like 300K per year in a state that just passed a law prohibiting local governments from passing ordinances for a "living wage" -- well, welcome to Bizarro land..
If you want someone to run a port - you will have to pay for it. if the majority of floridians don't make that $$$ perhaps, maybe, possibly it's because they aren't qualified. just my guess. I don't know the cruise numbers ... I will look them up but I doubt everglades is on top.
Has anyone bothered looking at this guys background??? He has bankruptcy filings and my understanding there was some issues in Dubia.
Anyone conduct background checks in the County before increasing someone's pay - especially at that level at a major port??
It's true, as the Belgians claim, "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys". But that being said - retiring at $200,000 for a governmental position is the kind of overreach that will bankrupt Miami-Dade County as surely as pension overpayments have bankrupted other cities and counties. These pension obligations are simply not sustainable - when are you going to wake up?
Kuryla is about to become Mayor Gs Dennis Morales, the errant top aid to ousted mayor Alvarez who got a hefty payraise while all other employees got cuts. Kuryla's background includes reassignment from his Public Works post to a remote field location because of improprieties, personal bankruptcy, coworker love affair leading to divorce, shady dealings with potential port vendors and clients resulting in Inspector General investigation, inability to show up for work before 10am, aggressive behavior toward law enforcement at traffic stops and other unstable episodes. He is favored by this administration and commission because of his ability to cater to their needs, including numerous junkets to foreign locations using a Port Budget loophole. The Port budget also includes a $5million line item for payment in a legal judgment against the County for a judges ruling that the Port of Miami has a way of doling certain business permits illegally protecting incumbents -- ``creating a handful of entrenched privileged companies". The judge said evidence showed other ``established, qualified, competent and trustworthy,'' companies were denied permits even as some incumbents who didn't use their permits received automatic renewals. This is a rare surfacing of the hidden backchannel network that exists in the County for every major expenditure where privileged insiders are awarded business while those who are not tied into the system of lobbyists, commissioner aides and certain County staff are denied. Kuryla is person most responsible for this lawsuit due to his ability to manipulate the formal selection process.
Wow! That last post was a doozy! Thanks anon!
The Imperial Mayor has a reputation for hiring and retaining assistants and department directors who can reel in big campaign contributions in exchange for contracts at the Airport, Seaport and Transit. The IG should investigate the inept and unqualified Yesella Llort fop massive cover-up at Transit and Anne Syrcle Lee at the Airport. Numerous overseas trips and junkets are financed, numerous friends of friends are hired without any kind of process. Anne Lee hired the hated and recalled Natasha's daughter at the Airport as a $100K/yr Chief and shelters incompitenent chronies who were fired. The woman is a gossip monger and the worst kind of poison - a character assasin who bad mounths the former Airport Director Abreu who hired her also without competition and her current director who inhertied her.
regarding the last post, the IG will never investigate anything related to a commissioner, like niece Llort, the IG works for the commissioners. The IGs job is to give the appearance that there is oversight, with occasional busts that have no connection to commissioners. The hidden backchannels of deals, friends and family benefits, etc etc is off limits to the IG.
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