That move strongly boosts the likelihood Commissioner Natacha Seijas, who also is facing a recall, will appear on the same ballot with Alvarez, a scenario many believe she prefers to avoid.
After the meeting was scuttled, Commissioner Joe A. Martinez, whose term as chairman begins Jan. 1, , said he likely will seek to hold a special meeting during the week of Jan. 10 to hash out details of a recall election for both Alvarez and Seijas.
``The meeting would be to consider all the people under recall,'' Martinez said.
The recall campaigns were triggered primarily by a controversial county budget that raised the property tax rate while giving raises to most county employees.
On Wednesday morning, six of 13 commissioners appeared on the dais, one short of the minimum required. They were: Chairman Dennis C. Moss and Commissioners Martinez, Seijas, Barbara J. Jordan, Bruno A. Barreiro and Lynda Bell.
Last week, seven commissioners signed a memo calling for the meeting, but one of them, Commissioner Jose ``Pepe'' Diaz, noted at the time that he couldn't attend.
Commissioner Carlos A. Gimenez, who opposed holding a meeting Wednesday, in part because it wouldn't have addressed Seijas's recall, said he intentionally stayed away. ``I wasn't going to be the commissioner to make the quorum when I was opposed to holding the meeting,'' Gimenez said.
The political jockeying began last week after Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin announced the recall drive against the mayor -- led by Miami billionaire businessman Norman Braman -- had garnered 95,499 valid signatures, far more than the 51,992 needed to call an election.
Two days later, on Dec. 23, Ruvin announced that sufficient petitions had been submitted to set a recall election for Seijas, whose District 13 includes Hialeah, as well.
NO STEPS TAKEN
Despite the certification of Seijas's petitions, commissioners didn't take steps to broaden Wednesday's agenda to include a discussion of her election, too.
``It is unfathomable that the Dec. 29th special meeting agenda has not been updated to discuss both special elections at one time,'' Vanessa Brito, chairman of Miami Voice, the political action committee that is leading the effort to recall Seijas, wrote in a letter to commissioners Monday.
Gimenez, in a memo to fellow commissioners Monday, said not considering Seijas's recall along with the mayor's could result in separate elections and unnecessary costs. ``We need to have one recall election,'' he said in an interview Wednesday.
The commission is supposed to set a recall election between 45 and 90 days after the clerk's certification that a recall vote is warranted.
Once election preparations get under way, it becomes increasingly difficult for the supervisor of elections to revise a ballot because of the processes involved and various deadlines for matters such as absentee ballots and early voting.
Lester Sola, the supervisor of elections, has indicated that normally 60 days are needed to set a countywide election. Brito said she was ``pleased'' Wednesday's meeting was canceled. ``Natacha Seijas and the mayor should be on the same ballot,'' she said.
CALLED QUICKLY
For his part, Chairman Moss said he called for the meeting Wednesday to quickly meet the board's obligation to set an election for the mayor after the clerk of courts said enough signatures had been gathered.
``You're damned if you do and damned if you don't,'' added Jordan, who said proper notice was provided for the special meeting and the panel was acting responsibly.
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