Albert Tresvant

Biography Tresvant was born in Brunswick, Georgia. When he was five, his mother died and he moved to Liberty City neighborhood of Miami where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother. In January 1972, Tresvant was nominated by commissioner Bert T. Goodson to fill a vacancy on the City Commission and unanimously appointed due to his record of civic involvement and the commission's desire to have minority representation. His appointment followed on riots that occurred in 1971 after a white police officer shot a black man. At the time, Opa-locka was roughly 35-40% Black In April 1972, after serving the 3 months of his predecessor's term, Tresvant won a seat on the City Commission finishing third (656 votes) after Ronald Pierson (831 votes) and Lawrence Bowers (672 votes). His term was for two years (In Opa-Locka, elections to the 5-member City Commission are held every two years; the top two vote getters are elected to 4-year terms with the first serving a 2-year term as mayor and then a 2-year term as commissioner; the second serving a 2-year term as deputy mayor and then a 2-year term as commissioner; and the third vote-getter serving a 2-year term as commissioner).

In the 1974 election, Tresvant tied for first place with Kenton Wells; they decided to split the two-year mayoral term with Wells serving the first year and Tresvant's term beginning in 1975. He was sworn in on April 18, 1975. He also worked to hire more Black police officers inheriting a department where only 3 out of 28 officers were Black. and developed infrastructure. In the April 1976 general election, Candido Giardino was elected as mayor (Tresvant was unable to run due to his remaining two-year term on the City Commission).

In June 1977, he was suspended as commissioner by Governor Rubin Askew over corruption allegations. In July 1977, he was found guilty of conspiracy, soliciting bribes and accepting unlawful compensation in connection with a city building contract along with then mayor Candido Giardino (the Rev. Willie R. Young was elected mayor in April 1978); the sentence was overturned and a new trial ordered by Circuit Court Judge Wilkie Ferguson after one juror failed to disclose a past criminal conviction and another juror complained that Tresvant had followed her into the parking lot during the trial. The Third District Court of Appeal reinstated the conviction. and a son. He died on July 25, 2004.