Doral council rejects five-month preapproved leave for vice mayor; grants one excused meeting

Vice Mayor Maria Porras asked the Doral City Council on Aug. 13 to preapprove a parental leave spanning November 2025 through March 2026, prompting an extended debate about the council’s charter obligations and precedent for elected officials.

Porras said she was notifying the council of an expected due date of Dec. 25 and requested the absences be excused. “I would like a preapproved absence or an excused absence for December and virtual participation with voting abilities for November, January, February, and March,” she said.

Council members raised legal and policy questions. City Attorney (name provided in the meeting record) explained the charter’s forfeiture-by-absence rules and the ordinance that defines excused versus unexcused absences. The attorney said the charter bars more than four unexcused absences in a year and that medical conditions can be treated as excused under ordinance standards.

Councilwoman Nicole Reynoso opposed preapproving the full five months and urged consistency with employee benefits, which provide four weeks of paid parental leave and FMLA protections. “Parental leave is only four weeks,” Reynoso said, and argued that granting five months to an elected official would send a difficult message to full-time employees.

Councilwoman Dina Cabral and Councilman Rafael Pinedo also voiced concern about setting a precedent of long, preapproved absences for members of a part-time governing body that meets roughly once a month. Cabral questioned whether prolonged absence would leave residents without full representation.

Pinedo and other members emphasized support for working parents while noting the council has options to accommodate participation remotely or on a case-by-case basis. Pinedo asked staff to explore changes to employee parental-leave policy in a separate effort.

A motion to preapprove five months of excused absences failed. After further discussion, the council approved a narrower motion to preapprove one excused council meeting (the December meeting) and to consider any additional absences individually as they occur. The motion passed on a roll-call vote.

The council’s action leaves other months subject to later approval or to the charter’s medical-excuse provisions. The city attorney advised that medical conditions would be automatically excused under the ordinance; otherwise, excusals will be decided by the council when requested.

Next steps: Vice Mayor Porras will notify the mayor which month she will take as the preapproved excused absence; additional requests will be considered case by case.