Ousted Doral city manager hired by city of Miami

MIAMI – Less than two months after city councilmembers fired her, former Doral City Manager Barbie Hernandez has landed a new role.

The city of Miami announced in a news release Wednesday that City Manager Art Noriega has appointed her as assistant city manager of operations.

The news release touts Hernandez’s 21 years of government experience, including a stint as Miami’s parks and recreation director.

Doral councilmembers ousted Hernandez in a contentious 3-2 vote on Jan. 31 after claiming she made “several questionable decisions” and said her marriage to Miami-Dade School Board member Danny Espino was a “conflict of interest” and “proved to be problematic.”

A city councilmember claimed in a memo that the city’s public affairs department, supervised by Hernandez, “recorded, produced, and promoted several videos” for Espino, that the Doral Police Department was used to support Espino’s activities, “including those that are campaign related and political in nature,” and claimed Hernandez “promoted her husband’s business by giving away alcoholic drinks from his brewery at a city comedy event.”

Hernandez had plenty of supporters, however, including Doral Mayor Christi Fraga. Some public speakers decried her ouster as unfair.

Hernandez maintained she did nothing wrong and after the vote, Espino said the three councilmembers “put politics over our families.”

In her new position at Miami City Hall, “Mrs. Hernandez will oversee operations for the departments of Code Enforcement, General Services Administration, Human Services, Innovation and Technology, Parks and Recreation, and Solid Waste,” a city spokesperson told Local 10 News in a statement.