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A father-and-son talk, but first: a legally required notice to the public

@doug_hanks

Xavier Suarez plans to have a serious talk with his son, Francis, on Thursday. Which he thinks might be illegal if the public wasn't invited to attend. 

The elder Suarez serves as a Miami-Dade County commissioner. The younger Suarez serves as a Miami city commissioner. They both sit on a cross-jurisdictional transportation board. State sunshine laws bars private meetings by elected officials when discussing official business, so the Suarezes posted a notice for their 2 p.m. meeting at Miami City Hall to discuss a few transportation ideas.

A Sunshine Meeting between the Honorable Francis Suarez, Vice Chairman of the Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Governing Board, Commissioner, City of Miami, and the Honorable Xavier L. Suarez, MPO Board Member, Miami-Dade County Commissioner, District 7, is scheduled to discuss creating an underground connection from Miami Intermodal Center to Douglas Station and waterborne transportation along the riverwalk. 

The elder Suarez said this is the first "sunshine notice" for a meeting with his son. Are the two really that strict about not discussing public matters when they talk on the phone or gather for family events?  

"We avoid talking about anything that is likely to come up before the MPO," Xavier Suarez said. "We do our best not to."

Said the younger Suarez: "We talk all the time about the things we can talk about." 

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