Residents in the City of Miami Gardens are rallying against a proposed resolution seeking to extend council term limits from two four-year terms to three, introduced by Councilwoman Katrina Wilson at last week’s meeting.
Miami Gardens' city charter, established by the city's founders, limits elected officials to two terms to encourage fresh leadership. Wilson initially introduced the proposal for a third term in June 2024, but it faced strong opposition from residents and the city’s Charter Review Committee, which ultimately rejected it.
Tensions in City Hall
The proposal that Wilson reintroduced at last week’s meeting would authorize city officials to draft ballot language for a charter amendment to be put before voters at a special election this year. Tensions quickly escalated following the councilwoman’s remarks.
Wilson, who was first elected in 2018 and is now in her second term after winning re-election in 2022, believes an additional term would allow elected officials more time to complete projects and policies without frequent leadership turnover.
“I've learned and seen that it takes a lot of time to get things done,” Wilson told The Miami Times after the meeting. “When you have turnover so quickly, oftentimes, projects that are started remain unfinished because the person who’s elected is now gone.”
Dozens of residents opposed the resolution, however, arguing that the city's charter should remain as is.
“When you took this position, you knew it was two terms, and now you want three,” said Janice Coakley, a long-time resident of Miami Gardens.
Despite public opposition, Wilson said that residents who can't attend and voice their views at meetings should still have the right to vote on the proposal. She emphasized that the decision to allow councilmembers a third term would ultimately be up to the voters.
“I’m not suggesting that you’re wrong in your position at all; I’m not suggesting that the third term means that I think that I should have a third term,” Wilson said, addressing the residents. “We can’t decide in this dais to get a third term, yet the misrepresentation of the people is that we are trying to vote ourselves a third term.”
A particularly heated exchange took place when Wilson publicly criticized resident Karen Hunter-Jackson for having “ugly politics,” sparking a confrontation between the councilwoman and the former council candidate.
“Why are you calling me out by name and making this personal?” asked Hunter-Jackson, who ran for seat 5 during last year’s election and lost.
The tensions ultimately led to chaos in the council chambers, with the sergeant-at-arms attempting to restore order and police being called in to assist. Vice Mayor Robert L. Stephens III, who chaired the meeting in Mayor Rodney Harris’ absence, ended up calling a recess due to the outburst. The meeting did not continue after Stephens’ call, leaving the resolution up in the air.
The dispute nevertheless continued outside the chamber doors. Many people were concerned that the ongoing disagreement would harm the city's public image, particularly as Miami Gardens strives to overcome outdated and damaging stereotypes in recent years.
Resident concerns
Coakley and others argued that extending the term limits would undermine Miami Gardens' founding principles and waste taxpayer money. A special election could cost up to $200,000.
“When your term is finished, you need to leave and let somebody else continue or start their own project,” Coakley told The Miami Times.
Coakley also raised concerns about local priorities, suggesting that the funds for a special election would be better spent on community needs such as education and services for seniors.
Dr. James Davis, a Miami Gardens native, echoed Coakley’s sentiments, voicing his doubts over the proposal’s fairness.
“You're saying that people who may want to run for office have to wait almost 20 years to do so. That’s not fair to them,” Davis said. “Our founders, Mayor Shirley Gibson, I don't think she would be pleased if she was still alive to know that there are individuals who are pushing their personal agenda only because they want to remain in office.”
READ MORE: New development project set to bring economic boost downtown Opa-locka
Hunter-Jackson told The Miami Times that the reasons behind the resolution weren’t valid enough.
“Dr. Martin Luther King would have loved to see his dreams come to fruition, and so would the biblical Moses. He didn't get to enter the promised land because they realized that their mission was greater than them, but it was about the people,” Hunter-Jackson said. “My question to them as a body is, is their work about the people? Is the work greater than them, or is it about them?”
She said that she had previously suggested that the council hold a meeting with residents before putting the item on the agenda.
“If indeed you wanted to see how the residents felt about a possible third term, there's a ‘Meet Me Monday’ — how about a town hall meeting? How about a public hearing?” she said. “It cost you nothing, so was your intent really to find out what the residents felt about this, or was it using the opportunity of a special election?”
Wilson said that she had previously discussed the charter review during her "Meet Me Mondays.” She also said she addressed it at a Charter Revision Committee meeting, though the audience is not allowed to provide any input there.
“One of the ways that I could get a discussion with them is to put it on the agenda,” Wilson told The Miami Times.
‘Attacking my integrity’
Despite pulling the item after the initial controversy last summer, Wilson said the pushback she faced from residents became overwhelming.
“Every meeting after that, residents came out saying they didn’t want a third term,” she said. "So, I pulled it. But they kept showing up and saying the same thing. I started feeling like I was being bullied."
“It's one thing to advocate for what you believe in, but it's another thing for people to begin to make you feel uneasy about voicing your concern,” she added.
She said she felt that residents were attacking her integrity.
“I sat there for two and a half hours while they expressed themselves. But when it was my time, they started booming. They started getting up... they were bullying me."
Wilson, who herself clapped and chanted amid residents in the hallway following the meeting, said that she is not proud of the behavior she and the residents exhibited. Nevertheless, she said she’d like to remind everyone that she is also a human being.
Whether the third-term item will be brought back to the agenda is a matter that Wilson herself says she’s currently unsure of. She also mentioned that the $200,000 price tag would only apply if a special election were held. Alternatively, including the question on the 2026 general election ballot would only cost up to $6,000. If the council decides to go with the latter, then those members whose terms end next year — including herself — would not be up for reelection.
For now, Miami Gardens residents are determined to have their voices heard.
“City of Miami Gardens, the mayor, and the council need to wake up and listen to the residents,” Coakley said.
This story was produced by The Miami Times, one of the oldest Black-owned newspapers in the country, as part of a content sharing partnership with the WLRN newsroom. Read more at miamitimesonline.com.
