3 February 15-21, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ BROWARD FORGIVE & FORGET? BROWARD COUNTY AWARDS $29 MILLION CONTRACT TO BUILDER BEHIND FIU BRIDGE COLLAPSE. BY ALEX DELUCA A politically connected con- struction company that was partly responsible for the fatal Florida International Univer- sity bridge collapse in 2018 has won yet another lucrative contract cour- tesy of a South Florida county. On February 6, Broward County commis- sioners voted unanimously to ratify a $29 mil- lion contract with Magnum Construction Management (MCM), formerly known as Munilla Construction Management, for im- provements at the Fort Lauderdale-Holly- wood International Airport’s baggage-processing area. The project entails Magnum overseeing multiple subcontractors for demolition, con- crete installation, electrical, plumbing, and air-conditioning work at the airport. The contract includes a $24.7 million base price and $4.3 million in allowances. Munilla Construction was the main con- struction-management firm behind the buildout of the 950-ton pedestrian bridge at Florida International University that col- lapsed in March 2018, killing a worker and five people in vehicles crushed on the street below. Months after Munilla Construction filed for bankruptcy protection, the National Transportation Safety Board determined in an October 2019 report that the company bore responsibility for the bridge collapse alongside several other contractors and entities. The board found that Munilla, the Florida Department of Transportation, and the university had failed to halt construction and close down the area underneath the bridge after dangerous cracks appeared in the structure. The root cause of the bridge failure was at- tributed to design errors and miscalculations by engineer FIGG Bridge Group. Munilla Construction had more than a dozen safety violations under its belt from the Occupational Safety and Health Administra- tion for projects in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Texas in the five years leading up to the bridge collapse. Back in 2015, Broward County awarded Munilla Construction a $128 million contract for a terminal expansion at the Fort Lauder- dale airport. As previously reported by New Times, just days before the bridge collapse, the company was sued in Miami-Dade court by a TSA em- ployee at the Broward airport who accused the company of “shoddy work” in building a “makeshift bridge,” which allegedly broke under his weight in 2016. (A spokesperson for the company later argued that the “makeshift bridge” was actually a plywood pathway and that the case was a simple slip-and-fall at a construction site.) “They built this makeshift bridge in the area where all the employees work, and it was poorly done,” Tesha Allison, a lawyer repre- senting the worker, previously told New Times. “He fell and hurt himself really badly.” The company was founded in 1983 by the Munilla family, and in the decades that fol- lowed, it grew into one of the most promi- nent construction firms in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, with hundreds of em- ployees. Still run by the Munilla family, MCM has long been politically connected in South Florida. In 2017, Munilla executives donated roughly $25,000 to Miami-Dade County commissioners. Former Miami-Dade Mayor and current U.S. Representative Carlos Gimé- nez’s wife, Lourdes, is also a cousin to Mu- nilla family siblings, and both of the former mayor’s sons worked or lobbied for the com- pany. In 2019, Giménez and his wife were seen on a trip to Chicago with the company’s current vice president Pedro Munilla. Along with various government and military contracts with the Department of Defense, including a $66 million contract to erect a school on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the South Florida-based firm previously contracted with Miami-Dade County for the Miami International Airport expansion, which county commissioners controversially voted to extend in 2019 after the bridge collapse. In a 2021 media release announcing a change in ownership structure, the company said that it was “poised to make a comeback” under the direction of its newly appointed president, Daniel Munilla, who helped usher the firm through its reorganization. “The company maintains that while its No. 1 priority is safety in all they do, the lead- ership is investing in new technology and op- erational procedures to ensure their personnel have the tools needed to succeed,” MCM said. The company stated that in the aftermath of the tragedy, it continued to work on proj- ects, including a bridge restoration on A1A and a Turnpike extension in Homestead. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Munilla Construction Management oversaw the FIU bridge construction project that ended in a deadly collapse on March 15, 2018. Photo by Andres Beregovich ▼ FLORIDA “TAR-BABY MATERIAL” FIRED WORKER SUES TRULIEVE FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION. BY ALEX DELUCA A former Trulieve employee has sued the cannabis giant, claiming it fired him in retaliation for raising concerns over anti-Black prejudice in the workplace. In a federal lawsuit filed on January 26, John Sullivan claims his store manager regularly made racist comments toward employees — in- cluding telling Black workers not to touch the counters because they would “make them dirty” and calling Sullivan “tar-baby material.” Sullivan, who was hired as a patient consul- tant at Trulieve’s Lake City dispensary in August 2021, says the manager also referred to certain Black people as “the good ones and not the poor ones.” After he routinely protested the treatment, Sullivan alleges, the company transferred him to another facility and re-assigned him to a job as a cannabis plant trimmer. Then, in July 2022, he was fired, according to the complaint. The lawsuit seeks a trial by jury. The com- plaint notes that Sullivan has a mixed-race back- ground with darker skin. Neither Trulieve nor Sullivan’s attorney have responded to New Times’ request for comment. Trulieve is by far Florida’s largest medical marijuana operator, with more than twice as many dispensaries as Curaleaf, its nearest com- petitor as measured by volume of flower sold. Floridians legalized medical marijuana through a ballot initiative in November 2016, with 71 percent of voters supporting the measure, which far surpassed the 60 percent super-majority it needed to pass. The lawsuit was filed against the backdrop of a cannabis industry that extends few op- portunities to people of color. In 2022, Black entrepreneurs made up less than two percent of the nation’s marijuana business owners. Trulieve has touted its diversity program as a means to buck the trend. The company says the program focuses on finding minority-run cannabis suppliers, sponsoring expungement workshops for people with marijuana convictions, and working with advocacy groups such as Minorities 4 Medical Marijuana. In April 2023, Trulieve settled a lawsuit with a Black former manager who accused the canna- bis operator of paying her and other Black work- ers less than white employees. According to MJBizDaily, the company reached a settlement with the ex-manager, Brooke Bennett, who worked at the company’s St. Petersburg call cen- ter from August 2018 to 2022. The Lake City dispensary, where Sullivan worked, opened in 2020 as the company’s 72nd store nationwide and was the first to open in Co- lumbia County. Located in the small city be- tween Tallahassee and Jacksonville, the dispensary operates in a shopping center on U.S. Highway 90 beside a Panera Bread. [email protected] THE LAWSUIT WAS FILED AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF A CANNABIS INDUSTRY THAT EXTENDS FEW OPPORTUNITIES TO PEOPLE OF COLOR.
