Mayor Julio Robaina

Mayor Julio Robaina has a vision for Hialeah, and the strength, as well as commitment to achieve it. As an active real estate and mortgage broker for over 20 years and president of the Northwestern Dade Association of Realtors, he has managed to be successful without ever losing focus or his passion for the community as a public servant.

In 1997, Mayor Robaina was elected Councilman for the City of Hialeah for a four year term. Subsequently, he was unanimously elected President of the Council by his peers in 2000. During his term as Councilman, he was named Chairman of the City of Hialeah Charter Review Board and served as the Council’s Representative on the City of Hialeah Elected Officials Retirement Board. As a result of his deep commitment to his people and love for the City of Hialeah, he was re-elected without opposition in 2001 for another four year term. After thirty years of residing in Hialeah, Julio Robaina was elected Mayor of the City of Hialeah with overwhelming support from the community in 2005.

Mayor Robaina’s community based focus stretches from a local to a regional scope in an effort to improve the lives of all Floridians. Moreover, his leadership continued to flourish in 2003 when he was elected President of the Miami-Dade League of Cities and in 2004 as President of the Gold Coast League of Cities. His highest honor as a municipal leader was attained in 2005 when elected officials from over 400 municipalities across the state of Florida unanimously confirmed their support for his presidency of the Florida League of Cities, an organization that is recognized as one of the largest municipal leagues in the nation. Through the Florida League of Cities, Mayor Robaina accomplished numerous achievements through his involvement in several boards within the league. For instance, he serves as Chair of the Florida Municipal Investment Trust, International Relations Committee, and Nominating Committee consisting of seven largest cities in the state of Florida to share ideas on how to improve their respective cities. Recently, he also had the honor of being appointed by the current President of the Florida League of Cities, Mayor Frank Ortis, as “President’s Appointee” to the Florida Municipal Investment Trust.

In 2005, he was appointed to the State of Florida Century Commission by former Florida House of Representatives Speaker, Allan Bense to review and establish a sustainable growth pattern for the State of Florida. Additionally, Mayor Robaina is a graduate of the Leadership Florida Class XXV.

During his first few months in office, Mayor Robaina fulfilled numerous aspirations. He secured more than $6.025 million in state funding, the highest ever appropriated in the state budget to the City of Hialeah. He placed himself at the forefront of educational programming by establishing the Mayor’s Education Advisory Board. Additionally, he successfully led the effort along with the Florida Legislature and the Florida Board of Education to obtain the authority to grant Municipal School Charters. Also, he initiated the Partnership to Advance School Success program (PASS), the after school tutoring program “Tutoring in the Parks”, and Reading Corners at various Hialeah recreational facilities in order to instill academic values for life long educational success.

Mayor Robaina has been leading the south Florida movement of Generation Engage, a local civic-engagement which recently hosted an interactive iChat video conference with former Secretary of the State, Colin Powell at a local college. Mayor Robaina took the opportunity to address participants on the significance of becoming more involved with our community. Furthermore, he created the City of Hialeah Scholarship Fund for students who choose to continue their education in a post-secondary school.

Mayor Robaina is diligently integrating the community’s elderly population by expanding existing adult and special populations programs, as well as amenities and building new facilities throughout Hialeah.

Mayor Robaina, as a member of the Board of Directors of Hands in Action (Manos en Accion, Inc.), an organization that focuses on helping to break the horrific cycle of child abuse, is diligently working and committed to assist this community-based organization succeed in reaching their goals. Additionally, Mayor Robaina is an actively involved executive member of the Hialeah Hospital Governing Board.

His enthusiasm and support for the arts is also evident as he implemented several new cultural initiatives. Mayor Robaina inaugurated the city’s first art in public spaces sculpture “The Beat” and he collaborated with Perez Celis, a renowned artist to create a masterpiece painting on the façade of a four story building. Additionally, he hosted “Art on Palm,” an event that exposed thousands to culturally enriching art exhibits.

While revitalizing and encouraging new business development and growth potential in the area, Mayor Robaina is working closely with the Beacon Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and Hialeah-Dade Development on various new projects including the development of the new annexation area and the reconstruction of Hialeah’s in-fill areas. Furthermore, Mayor Robaina is an acting board member of the Beacon Council where the Mayor engages in discussions of economic development for the purpose of attracting new businesses to our community.

On November 2nd, 2007, Mayor Robaina had the honor of being named “Public Official of the Year” by the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, recognized as one of the largest Hispanic Chambers in the State of Florida.

As Mayor Julio Robaina heads into the future, he remains steadfast in his commitment to the people of Hialeah and will continue to build on the foundation that his dedication has established over the first part of his term.