City Of Doral Names Merrett Stierheim New Interim Manager
DORAL (CBSMiami) – The City of Doral has a new City Manager and he is someone with a very familiar name.
Merrett R. Stierheim was unanimously approved by the City of Doral Council to be hired as the new City Manager.
The vote took place at a Special Meeting held on December 4th, the first official meeting with a new Council that included recently elected Mayor, Luigi Boria.
Mr. Stierheim, a 45-year veteran in the public sector, first served as Manager of Miami-Dade County from 1976 to 1986 and successfully supervised a $5 billion countywide infrastructure expansion including the construction of Miami Metro Zoo, the downtown library and cultural complex, the Government Center, several regional parks, libraries, water, sewer and solid waste facilities, and the county's mass transit system - Metrorail and Metromover.
He also dealt with a number of events with national repercussions when the community assimilated more than 160,000 refugees from Cuba (the Mariel Exodus) and Haiti.
In 1980, he helped restore law and order after severe civil disturbances and joined community leaders to address the social inequities that sparked the disturbances. Many of those programs are still in place today.
Mr. Stierheim also served as interim City Manager of the City of Miami in 1996 where he led a recovery effort, enlisting over forty pro-bono private and public sector executives in thirteen task forces and presented a financial recovery plan to the City.
In 1998 he was asked to return to Miami-Dade County to manage a scandal-ridden, demoralized county government with a $4.5 billion budget, 28,000 employees, and 42 departments, including Miami International Airport, the Port of Miami, transportation, water and sewer, health and human services, police and fire. He worked in that capacity until 2001.
Mr. Stierheim was named Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools in October 2001 where he served until June 30, 2004. Among other public sector positions, he also served as interim Town Manager of Miami Lakes in 2001.
His private sector experiences include CEO of the Women's Tennis Association (1986-1989), and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (1990-1996).
