DORAL, Fla. – Dozens of residents came to Doral City Hall on Wednesday to support City Manager Barbie Hernandez.
“Taking away her job and her livelihood is not fair and you do not deserve this,” said Doral resident Bradley Caban.
In a memo to the mayor and fellow city council members, Councilwoman Digna Cabral accused Hernandez of failing to “work collaboratively” with the entire council and failing to perform her duties. It then goes on to outline what she calls:
“…several questionable decisions by the City Manager that demonstrates a lack of judgment on her part and a clear conflict of interest. The marriage between our City Manager and School Board Member Daniel Espino has proved to be problematic…”
Cabral alleged that the city’s public affairs department, supervised by Hernandez, “recorded, produced, and promoted several videos” for Espino, that the Doral Police Department has been used to support Espino’s activities, “including those that are campaign related and political in nature,” and claims Hernandez “promoted her husband’s business by giving away alcoholic drinks from his brewery at a city comedy event.”
Read the memo:
The relationship between Hernandez, Espino and Doral Mayor Christi Fraga has been questioned before.
Back in November of 2022, Espino was appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and subsequently sworn in hours after Fraga vacated the school board seat so she could run in a mayoral run-off.
In fact, the day he was sworn in, Espino acknowledged the role Fraga played in his appointment.
“I was approached by outgoing school board member Christi Fraga,” he said at the time.
Less than a month later, Fraga hired Espino’s wife to be Doral city manager for an annual salary of almost $240,000.
Fraga broke down on the dais Wednesday, hoping to convince the council to allow the city manager that she had appointed to stay in her position, but, in the end, her efforts were not enough to convince three of the five council members.
“I listened to the residents and that’s what I’m here for, to serve my community, and that’s what I did,” said Cabral.
Added Fraga: “I recognize that if there was an issue with perception, we could have changed it.”
Hernandez did speak in her own defense.
“I understand that this is just differences, that’s all it is,” she said. “I just want to clear my name. I have done nothing wrong.”
Hernandez’s response to memo: