A local mayor is under fire from his own colleagues on the city commission. 

North Miami Beach City Hall is a tension-filled place these days, as commissioners are basically accusing Mayor Michael Joseph of abusing his power. They decided to spend $50,000 on an investigation of the mayor’s behavior. The commission discussed the report at its meeting on Tuesday night. 

“All in favor say aye, aye, OK, passes unanimously,” Joseph said as he joined the commissioners in voting to send the scathing investigative report about him to the State Attorney’s Office. 

“I’m looking forward to due process, I’m looking forward to real fact-finding, real investigations, and the truth to finally come out,” Joseph said in an interview with NBC6’s Hatzel Vela, explaining why he voted to forward the report to prosecutors. 

“What is in this report unveils very wrong things that are going on here, and that’s very concerning to all of us,” city commissioner Jay Chernoff said during the meeting. 

“This is not about politics, this is about responsibility,” Commissioner Lynn Su added.

The city commission, earlier this month, hired a law firm to investigate the mayor after numerous complaints about his behavior from city employees. The firm delivered a 32-page interim report alleging “numerous allegations of alleged improper conduct and administrative interference by Mayor Joseph.”

“It was clearly rushed, unsubstantiated, unproven,” Joseph said. 

The mayor called the report a “smear campaign,” saying no one bothered to ask him for his side of the allegations. 

“It’s clearly erroneous, it’s not fact-based, it’s not something that has been fleshed out or has any due process, and I’m looking forward to clearing my name,” Joseph said.

The report is based on city employees who spoke anonymously to the law firm’s investigators. 

“We have 400 employees, and only nine employees were interviewed, and then that substantiated this report, and that cost $50,000,” Joseph said. 

“Also want to clearly state to staff that I am very proud of them for speaking up and please know that the commission has your backs,” Vice Mayor Fortuna Smukler said during the meeting. 

The report is not a criminal indictment, but now that the city commission voted to send it on to the State Attorney’s Office and to the State Ethics Commission, those agencies will decide if any action against the mayor is warranted.