Hialeah council votes to request special election date, elects new council president and vice president

The Hialeah City Council voted May 27 to ask the Miami‑Dade Supervisor of Elections to place a special election for a temporary council vacancy on the Nov. 4 ballot, and the council elected Councilmember Eric Rodriguez as council president and Councilmember Carlos Zogby as vice president.

Council members debated for more than an hour whether to appoint an interim council member or to send the vacancy to a special election. Councilmember Carlos Zogby moved to request an ordinance bringing the special‑election dates back to the council for consideration, asking specifically that the city ask the county to place the vacancy on the Nov. 4 primary ballot; the motion passed after a roll call. City Attorney Rafael advised the council that any change to election dates would require an ordinance and the concurrence of the county elections office. "You would need to have an…