North Miami’s Management Bill: How Many Managers Does a City of 60,000 Residents Need?
A follow-up look at what taxpayers are being asked to pay for the people managing the city.
In the previous article, “The Feeding and Care of North Miami Electeds,” we focused on the compensation and benefits provided to North Miami’s elected officials. That raised an important follow up question: What does it cost North Miami taxpayers to fund the people who run the City?
Lets focus on City Management for a spell, shall we?
In May of 2025, North Miami’s elected officials hired Ms. Theresa Therilus as the newest City Manager, except she wasn’t exactly new. Ms. Therilus had previously served as the manager of North Miami in 2020 to 2023. In 2023, she resigned her position, allegedly, to go work for the county, though she ended up working as Chief Operating Officer for County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert. Theresa Therilus was rehired as North Miami City Manager in a controversial vote on May 13, 2025 with Council Members Kassandra Timothe, Mary Estime-Irvin and Pierre Charles carrying the hiring vote exclusively.
Manager Theresa Therilus’ subsequent hiring contract set her pay at a hefty $350,000 annual pay rate plus an assortment of lucrative, read: expensive, benefits. It’s the highest paying contract in North Miami’s history.
Ms. Therilus does not manage alone, however!
She is assisted by a deputy manager, John Lorfils who serves a dual role of Senior Assistant City Manager AND Economic Development and Strategic Initiatives Director. As per the 2025-2026 unclassified pay plan states, the position of Assistant manager pays a range between $189,187.65 to $264,861 annually. We at NoMiBlogs don’t know exactly how much Mr. Lorfils makes as we aren’t sure if he gets additional pay for the second title. Lets just conservatively say Mr. Lorfils makes the conservative end of the range at $189.187.65 for arguments, not including benefits.
Manager: $350,000 annually
Deputy City Manager: $189,187.65 annually
But Wait, There’s More!
In addition to the Manager and the Senior (Deputy?) Assistant Manager, there is also an Assistant City Manager, Katia Phillipeaux. Her pay, according to the above linked pay schedule, is also a range between $170,838.60 and $239,038.60. Again, we will be conservative and list her pay at $170,838.60, despite the real possibility that it could be more.
Manager: $350,000 annually
Deputy City Manager: $189,187.65 annually
Assistant City Manager: $170,838.35
But Wait, There’s Even More!
Manager Theresa Therilus’ ALSO has a Chief of Staff, Ms. Yama Paillere. The Chief of Staff executive position pays a range between $162,204 and $227,086.67. Again since it is a range provided by a salary classification sheet and not the actual salary, let’s be conservative and say it is $162,204, not including benefits.
Manager: $350,000 annually
Deputy City Manager: $189,187.65 annually
Assistant City Manager: $170,838.35
Manager Chief of Staff: $162,204.76
But Wait, There’s One More!
Lastly, Ms. Therilus wouldn’t be caught dead without a personal assistant! The Senior Executive Assistant, Marilu Nava Gunness, holds that precious title coming in at a range between $77,494.04 and $116,241.10. You know the drill!
Manager: $350,000 annually
Deputy City Manager: $189,187.65 annually
Assistant City Manager: $170,838.35
Manager Chief of Staff: $162,204.76
Senior Executive Assistant to City Manager: $77,494.04
_______________________
$949,725.08 Management salaries, using the most conservative salary figure available to us online.
That’s just what’s happening NOW.
Sorry to tell you, the story gets…worse and swampier
.
Unsatisfied with the current status quo the City of North Miami has recently advertised for yet another Deputy City Manager position.
Starting at $170,838.65, this position seeks to add to the already heavy “executive leadership team,” though it is unclear if it adds a second Deputy City Manager or if this position relieves Mr. Lorfils of that role, while he maintains his title of Economic Development & Strategic Initiatives Director. What we DO know, though, is that adding this new position will surely bring management salaries in North Miami to exceed $1M annually, even without the Cadillac plan of benefits they also enjoy. Don’t forget, the manager receives a city owned car, the insurance for it paid, a generous phone stipend, free health and dental insurance for herself and her dependents, minimum of 3% annual raise, 10% salary contribution to Florida Retirement System, as well as 96 hours of paid time off. The contract automatically renews after 4 years.
Wow, that must be nice.
While the newest position in the management office is still being officially considered, word on the street is that the fix is already in for the candidate they have in mind. Rumors are always rampant in North Miami, but NoMiBlogs has heard that Ms. Theresa Therilus’ old boss Oliver Gilbert has made a strong recommendation for a member of his own staff to come join the North Miami Management Family. We have not verified these rumors but as they say, time will tell! NoMi Blogs intends to file a public record request asking for the list of applicants- which we will post if and when the City Manager’s Office gets back to us.
At some point, taxpayers are entitled to ask whether adding another highly compensated layer of executive management actually produces better government or if the city is simply adding more people to manage the people who manage the people who manage the departments. Remember, North Miami is a city of 10×10 square miles. How much management and at what cost is enough? The City’s government exists to provide basic municipal services and to manage the resources of the residents who live there. It’s not a Fortune 500 company, it’s not a State Level Government, it’s not even a city of more than 100,000 people! While the population has actually decreased in the past decade, the cost of management has gone up significantly.
We would also be completely remiss if we didn’t mention the process, or lack thereof that went into hiring Manager Theresa Therilus. While the position WAS advertised, from our understanding, this article held an interesting snippet that we would like to highlight. At the North Miami Council Meeting held on May 13, 2025, Councilman Burns was quoted stating:
“The person you named never even bothered to fill out an application. I don’t think it’s fair to the residents,” Burns said, referencing a search with more than 90 applicants.”
Interesting! Further, it reports North Miami resident, Eileen Bicaba stating on record during the obligated Citizen’s Forum:
“The city received nearly 90 applications and did not interview a single person,” she said. “What is it you said when you fired Rasha Cameau? There was no process. Where is the process here?”
When this blogger looked more closely at the April 9, 2024 North Miami City Council Meeting when Councilwoman Kassandra Timothe brought up the issue of former Manager Rasha Cameau’s termination, herself and Councilwoman Mary Estime-Irvin brought up the deep troubles they had with not following the official process when they hired Rasha Cameau.
The same three councilmembers who pushed the former fired City Manager’s termination were the same three councilmembers who hired the new City Manager without following the official process. How interesting! You can (re) watch it at the -59:56 Council Reports section.