HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2002-10-10 MinutesMINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY COMMISSION OF MIAMI, FLORIDA
On the 10th day of October 2002, the City Commission of Miami, Florida, met at the
Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority, VIP Room, Miami Arena, 701 Arena Boulevard, Miami,
Florida.
The meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m. by Chairman Tomas Regalado with the
following members of the Commission found to be present:
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez (District 1)
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton (District 2) (9:40 a.m.)
Commissioner Joe Sanchez (District 3)
Chairman Tomas Regalado (District 4)
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. (District 5) (9:26 a.m.)
ALSO PRESENT:
Carlos Jimenez, City Manager
Alejandro Vilarello, City Attorney
Priscilla A. Thompson, City Clerk
Sylvia Scheider, Assistant City Clerk
1 October 10, 2002
1. COMMENCE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION TO DISCUSS PENDING LITIGATION
RELATED TO NATIONAL ADVERTISING CO. VS. CITY.
Note for the Record: The City Commission convened a City Commission meeting at 9:10 a.m.
on Thursday, October 10th, 2002, for the purpose of conducting an attorney-client executive
session to discuss pending litigation in the case of National Advertising Co. vs. City of Miami.
Said City Commission Meeting was held in the VIP Room at the Miami Arena, 701 Arena
Boulevard, Miami, Florida. The attorney-client session was convened in the Press Lounge at the
same location at 9:12 a.m.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION NO. 02-1101
A MOTION TO RECESS THE REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING IN
ORDER TO COMMENCE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION TO DISCUSS
PENDING LITIGATION RELATED TO NATIONAL ADVERTISING CO. VS.
CITY OF MIAMI PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED FOR 9:00 A.M. ON THIS
SAME DATE.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Note for the Record: The City Commission adjourned the attorney-client session at 10:13 a.m.
and reconvened the City Commission meeting. Said Commission Meeting was recessed at 10:14
a.m. and was reconvened at the Booker T. Washington High School Auditorium, 1200
Northwest 6th Avenue, at 10:30 a.m.
2 October 10, 2002
2. RESCHEDULE FIRST AND SECOND REGULAR CITY COMMISSION MEETINGS OF
NOVEMBER, ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 14 AND 28, 2002, TO BOTH
TAKE PLACE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2002, AT GUSMAN CENTER FOR
PERFORMING ARTS LOCATED AT 174 EAST FLAGLER STREET.
Chairman Regalado: This is a regular City Commission meeting, October 10th. If you'd be so
kind and take your seats -- Commissioner Teele will do the invocation. Commissioner Gonzalez,
pledge of allegiance, and then we have several announcements.
[An invocation was delivered by Commissioner Teele, after which, Commissioner Gonzalez led
those present in a pledge of allegiance to the flag.]
Chairman Regalado: We have several announcements. First of all, we'd like to thank the
principal and the staff of Booker T. Washington, for letting this Commission hold this meeting,
also, we will have, in a few minutes, the visit of the government class with Mrs. Sierra. The
students will be watching the City Commission meeting. We have, before we go yes, sir,
Commissioner Sanchez.
Commissioner Sanchez: I'd like to make a motion that we hold the Commission meetings here
every month.
Vice Chairman Winton: This facility's beautiful. I'll second the motion.
Chairman Regalado: Well, actually I was going to ask you whether you all agree on the next
Commission meeting, the next Commission meeting will be, not the next one, OK.
[BELL RINGS]
Vice Chairman Winton: Can we leave? All right, evacuate.
Chairman Regalado: That bell will be ringing at 11:05, 11:30, noon, 2, 2:30 and I guess until
classes over. Well, we need to decide on what are we going to do in October. One meetings or
two meetings? If you all want to consolidate, as we always do, the meeting of November and the
meeting of December, we need to do this now for the City Clerk and the City Manager to start
working. As requested by the City Commission, Mr. Art Noriega, the Executive Director from
Miami Parking Authority has sent us a letter offering the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts
for the City Commission meeting on Tuesday, November 19th, so if you all agree, we will have
the November -- the combined meeting of November on the 19th at the Gusman Center for the
Performing Arts in downtown Miami. Do we agree on that and do we have a motion?
Commissioner Gonzalez: So moved.
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
3 October 10, 2002
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1102
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI COMMISSION RESCHEDULING THE
FIRST AND SECOND REGULAR CITY COMMISSION MEETINGS OF
NOVEMBER, ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 14 AND 28,
2002, TO BOTH TAKE PLACE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2002,
COMMENCING AT 9 A.M., AT THE GUSMAN CENTER FOR THE
PERFORMING ARTS LOCATED AT 174 EAST FLAGLER STREET, MIAMI,
FLORIDA.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Chairman Regalado: The meeting of November will be on November 19th, 2002 at the Gusman
Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami. Now, Mr. Noriega, the manager needed to
clear and also the Sergeant of Arms of the City Commission, the parking issue. Is it possible that
the people that will be attending the City Commission (UNINTELLIGIBLE) residents will have
parking available at no cost on any parking of the city?
Art Noriega (Executive Director, Miami Parking Authority): Yeah, Yeah. We'll make that
available to them. Also --
Chairman Regalado: Your name, sir?
Mr. Noriega: Art Noriega, Miami Parking Authority. We'll make parking available to the
public for free and we'll also for in and around the theatre, we'll bag all the meters on Flagler so
that we can easy access for loading and unload for the Commissioners, as well as staff.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Thank you very much. Mr. Manager, is that OK with you?
4 October 10, 2002
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Yes, sir.
Chairman Regalado: On December, there is a, according to the calendar, the second meeting of
December will fall on the 26th, which is the day after Christmas, so that's out. The first meeting
of December is the 12th. Would you all want to do the December meeting, a combined meeting
on the 12th of December?
Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes.
Commissioner Teele: Yes.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Then we need to know, Mr. Manager, if we can use Dade County
Auditorium on Flagler and 29th Avenue. If it's not available, then we'll use the Manuel Artime
or the Coconut Grove Convention Center.
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir. I'll see if I can get you the answer to that question today before the end
of this particular session.
3. PROCLAMATION TO COMMUNITY AFFAIRS POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE.
Presentation made.
4. A MOTION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER, CITY ATTORNEY, AND SPECIAL
COUNSEL FOR THE CITY TO PROVIDE A NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY TO
ENTERTAIN SETTLEMENTS FROM PARTIES INVOLVED IN THE BILLBOARD
LITIGATION.
Chairman Regalado: The Manager has asked to pull CA -7. There are no vetoes from the Mayor,
so we go into the Consent Agenda.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, with regard to the Sunshine Law meeting, I would move
that the City Manager, City Attorney, and Special Counsel be instructed to provide a window of
not less than 20 days, with publication, and an opportunity and notice -- notice and opportunity
to entertain settlements from any parties in the billboard litigation, National, et al, and I would so
move.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion.
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
5 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: And we have a second. All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION NO. 02-1103
A MOTION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER, THE CITY ATTORNEY
AND SPECIAL COUNSEL TO PROVIDE NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY,
WITHIN A WINDOW OF NOT LESS THAN 20 DAYS, TO ENTERTAIN
SETTLEMENTS FROM ANY PARTY INVOLVED IN THE NATIONAL
ADVERTISING CO. VS. CITY OF MIAMI LITIGATION CASE
(BILLBOARDS).
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
5. CONSENT AGENDA
WITHDRAW PROPOSED RESOLUTION RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 00-609,
WHICH AUTHORIZED SALE OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT 27 SOUTHWEST NORTH
RIVER DRIVE TO ICARE BAY POINT SCHOOLS, INC.
MODIFY SETTLEMENT TERMS IN CASE OF PATRICIA ROBBINS, AS PERSONAL
REPRESENTATIVE OF ESTATE OF OTIS JAMES ROBBINS VS. CITY TO ALLOW FOR
MODIFICATION TO BE PRESENTED TO COURT TO PROVIDE UP TO $200,000
PROVIDED THAT COUNSEL FEES ARE NOT AMENDED FROM CURRENT AMOUNT
AGREED TO AND THAT ANY REMAINING BALANCE BE HELD IN TRUST FOR SOLE
SIBLING. (See #5.7 & 6).
Commissioner Teele: I would move the consent agenda.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
6 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. This is a public hearing. Any
members of the Board wish to pull or defer any items on the Consent Agenda? The Manager has
requested that CA -7 be pulled.
Commissioner Teele: So move, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Teele: That's amending the Consent Agenda to remove CA -7. So moved.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: Anybody from the public?
Commissioner Teele: That was just on the removal of CA -7.
Chairman Regalado: OK. On the removal, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, say
LL "
aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION NO. 02-1104
A MOTION TO WITHDRAW PROPOSED RESOLUTION RESCINDING
RESOLUTION NO. 00-609, IN ITS ENTIRETY, WHICH AUTHORIZED THE
SALE OF THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 27 SOUTHWEST NORTH RIVER
DRIVE, MIAMI, FLORIDA, TO ICARE BAY POINT SCHOOLS, INC.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Chairman Regalado: Anybody from the public who wishes to address the Board on the Consent
Agenda? Being none, we'll close the public hearing. Any comments --
7 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: In consultation with the City Attorney on CA -8, I would move that it be
modified to reflect -- to allow for the modification to be presented to the Court; to provide up to
($200,000), provided the counsel's fees are not amended from the current amount agreed to, and
that any remaining be held in trust for the sole sibling, who's a resident of the City of Miami, and
a particular resident of Overtown and, I might add, a student in this school. So moved.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second on CA -8 to amend the resolution. All in
favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION NO. 02-1105
A MOTION MODIFYING THE SETTLEMENT TERMS IN THE CASE OF
PATRICIA ROBBINS, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE
OF OTIS JAMES ROBBINS VS. CITY OF MIAMI TO REFLECT TO ALLOW
FOR A MODIFICATION TO BE PRESENTED TO THE COURT TO
PROVIDE UP TO $200,000 PROVIDED THAT COUNSEL FEES ARE NOT
AMENDED FROM THE CURRENT AMOUNT AGREED TO AND THAT
ANY REMAINING BALANCE BE HELD IN TRUST FOR THE SOLE
SIBLING.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Chairman Regalado: Anybody else who wishes to amend or make a comment on the Consent
Agenda? Being none, we move to vote on the Consent Agenda. We have a motion and a
second. All in favor, say "aye."
8 October 10, 2002
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Note for the Record: CODE SEC. 2-33 (J) STIPULATES THAT CONSENT AGENDA
ITEMS THAT ARE REMOVED FROM THE AGENDA PRIOR TO CITY COMMISSION
CONSIDERATION SHALL AUTOMATICALLY BE SCHEDULED AS A REGULAR
AGENDA ITEM AT THE NEXT REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETING OF THE CITY
COMMISSION.
THEREUPON, ON MOTION DULY MADE BY COMMISSIONER TEELE AND
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER GONZALEZ, THE CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS WERE
PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None
ABSENT: None
5.1 AUTHORIZE INCREASE IN ANNUAL CONTRACT AMOUNT WITH SECURITY
ENFORCEMENT PROTECTIVE AGENCY, $125,000, INCREASING CONTRACT FROM
$250,000 TO $325,000 FOR SECURITY GUARD SERVICES FOR DEPARTMENT OF
PURCHASING, FOR USE BY VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES UNDER
EXISTING INVITATION FOR BIDS NO. 99-00-030; ALLOCATE FUNDS FROM
BUDGETS OF USER DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES.
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1106
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING AN INCREASE
IN THE ANNUAL CONTRACT AMOUNT WITH THE SECURITY ENFORCEMENT
PROTECTIVE AGENCY, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $125,000, INCREASING
THE CONTRACT FROM $250,000 TO $325,000 FOR SECURITY GUARD SERVICES
FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PURCHASING, FOR USE BY VARIOUS
DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES, ON AN AS -NEEDED CONTRACT BASIS, UNDER
EXISTING INVITATION FOR BIDS NO. 99-00-030; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE
BUDGETS OF USER DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES, SUBJECT TO BUDGETARY
APPROVAL.
9 October 10, 2002
5.2 AUTHORIZE INCREASE IN CONTRACT WITH GARTNER CORPORATION, $115,000,
FROM $50,000 TO $165,000, FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH CONSULTING SERVICES, FOR DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY, ALLOCATE FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND AND VARIOUS CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM ACCOUNTS.
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1107
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING AN INCREASE
IN THE CONTRACT WITH GARTNER CORPORATION, IN THE AMOUNT OF
$115,000, FROM $50,000 TO $165,000, FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CONSULTING SERVICES FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND
ACCOUNT CODE NO. 001000.460101.6.335 AND VARIOUS CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM ACCOUNTS.
5.3 AMEND RESOLUTION NO. 01-735 TO REFLECT ANNUAL ALLOCATION OF
$127,625 AND TO CHANGE ACCOUNT FROM WHICH FUNDS ARE ALLOCATED FOR
PROCUREMENT OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING FOR DEPARTMENT OF FIRE -RESCUE
FROM BENNETT FIRE PRODUCTS.
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1108
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING RESOLUTION
NO. 01-735 TO REFLECT AN ANNUAL ALLOCATION OF $127,625 AND TO
CHANGE THE ACCOUNT FROM WHICH FUNDS ARE ALLOCATED FOR THE
PROCUREMENT OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FIRE -
RESCUE FROM BENNETT FIRE PRODUCTS; ALLOCATING FUNDS FOR THE
SECOND CONTRACT YEAR EFFECTIVE THROUGH AUGUST 7, 2003, FROM
ACCOUNT CODE NO. 105000.280502.6.075.
10 October 10, 2002
5.4 AUTHORIZE BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT TRUST TO EXECUTE
AGREEMENT BETWEEN UNIPRO GROUP AND BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT
TRUST FOR HOLIDAY VILLAGE EVENT AT BAYFRONT PARK.
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1109
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT TRUST ("TRUST") TO EXECUTE AN
AGREEMENT IN SUBSTANTIALLY ATTACHED FORM, BETWEEN
UNIPRO GROUP ("LICENSEE") AND BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT
TRUST ("TRUST") FOR A HOLIDAY VILLAGE EVENT AT BAYFRONT
PARK, FOR AN INITIAL PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS, WITH THE OPTION OF
EXTENDING THE TERM OF AGREEMENT FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE
ADDITIONAL YEARS, SUBJECT TO TRUST APPROVAL, PROVIDED
LICENSEE GIVES THE TRUST WRITTEN NOTICE OF ITS INTENTION TO
EXERCISE ITS OPTION AT LEAST NINE MONTHS IN ADVANCE OF THE
END OF THE TERM, IN ACCORDANCE WITH OTHER TERMS AND
CONDITIONS SET FORTH IN THE AGREEMENT, SUBJECT TO THE
LEASE BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA, DATED AUGUST 8, 1990.
5.5 AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO EXECUTE AMENDMENT TO EXISTING AGREEMENT
WITH FOUNDATION OF COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE AND LEADERSHIP, INC., FOR
PURPOSE OF EXTENDING CONTRACT PERIOD ONE YEAR FROM OCTOBER 1, 2002
TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2003, TO CONTINUE AFTER-SCHOOL COUNSELING AND
COMPUTER EDUCATIONAL SERVICES AT CITY'S MOORE PARK.
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1110
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S),
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AND AMENDMENT TO THE
EXISTING AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH
FOUNDATION OF COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE AND LEADERSHIP, INC., TO
EXTEND THE CONTRACT PERIOD FOR ONE YEAR, FROM OCTOBER 1, 2002
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 2003, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $115,452 FOR
AFTER-SCHOOL TUTORING, COUNSELING AND COMPUTER EDUCATIONAL
SERVICES FOR AT -RISK YOUTH AT THE CITY OF MIAMI'S MOORE PARK;
ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM NON -DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNT NO.
001000,921002.6.930 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 FOR SAID PURPOSE.
11 October 10, 2002
5.6 AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO EXECUTE AGREEMENT WITH BELAFONTE
TACOLCY CENTER, INC. FOR CONTINUED IMPLEMENTATION OF SPORTS
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AT TACOLCY PARK, $86,675.
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1111
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE
CITY ATTORNEY, WITH BELAFONTE TACOLCY CENTER, INC. FOR CONTINUED
IMPLEMENTATION OF A SPORTS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AT TACOLCY
PARK, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $86,675; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM
FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 BUDGET OF THE NON -DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNT, NO.
001000.921002.6.93.
5.7 AUTHORIZE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO PAY PATRICIA ROBBINS, $170,000, IN
COMPLETE SETTLEMENT OF ALL CLAIMS AGAINST CITY, FOR CASE PATRICIA
ROBBINS, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF ESTATE OF OTIS JAMES ROBBINS
VS. CITY; ALLOCATE FUNDS FROM SELF-INSURANCE AND INSURANCE TRUST
FUND (See #5, 6).
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1112
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO PAY PATRICIA ROBBINS, THE SUM OF
$170,000, IN FULL AND COMPLETE SETTLEMENT OF ANY AND ALL
CLAIMS AND DEMANDS AGAINST THE CITY OF MIAMI, FOR THE
CASE PATRICIA ROBBINS, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
ESTATE OF OTIS JAMES ROBBINS VS. CITY OF MIAMI, IN THE
CIRCUIT COURT OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, CASE NO. 00-6096 CA (08), UPON
EXECUTING A RELEASE FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI, ITS PRESENT AND
FORMER OFFICERS, AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES FROM ANY AND ALL
CLAIMS AND DEMANDS; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE SELF-
INSURANCE AND INSURANCE TRUST FUND, INDEX CODE
NO. 515001.624401.6.653.
12 October 10, 2002
5.8 ACCEPT BID OF RECHTIEN INTERNATIONAL FOR PURCHASE AND DELIVERY
OF TWO COMPLETE, HEAVY DUTY WATER TANK TRUCKS, $199,000 FOR
DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION TO BE UTILIZED BY
DEPARTMENTS OF SOLID WASTE AND PUBLIC WORKS; ALLOCATE FUNDS FROM
DEPARTMENT OF SOLID WASTE, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT, AND
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS HOMELAND DEFENSE BOND.
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1113
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ACCEPTING THE BID OF
RECHTIEN INTERNATIONAL FOR THE PURCHASE AND DELIVERY OF TWO (2)
COMPLETE, HEAVY DUTY WATER TANK TRUCKS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO
EXCEED $199,000 FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES
ADMINISTRATION TO BE UTILIZED BY THE DEPARTMENTS OF SOLID WASTE
AND PUBLIC WORKS; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF SOLID
WASTE, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT, ACCOUNT CODE NO.
353015.329401.6.840 AND THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS HOMELAND
DEFENSE BOND PROJECT, NO. 311714.
5.9 ACCEPT REPORT FROM CIVIL SERVICE BOARD
MOTION NO. 02-1114
A MOTION ACCEPTING A REPORT FROM THE CIVIL SERVICE BOARD.
5.10 ACCEPT REPORT FROM MANAGER REGARDING COMMISSION DIRECTIVES.
MOTION NO. 02-1115
A MOTION ACCEPTING A REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER
REGARDING COMMISSION DIRECTIVES.
6. BRIEF COMMENTS BY COMMISSIONER TEELE REGARDING CASE OF PATRICIA
ROBBINS VS. CITY. (See #5, 5,7)
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Regalado: Yes.
Commissioner Teele: May I make a statement? Mr. Chairman, some years ago, three or so
years ago, the City of Miami had the unfortunate circumstance of a young man, the late Mr. Otis
James Robins, who grew up on 3rd Avenue and 13th Street, in the apartments known as the St.
Johns Villa, who tragically drowned in a swimming pool on a Saturday afternoon, because of our
financial emergency. The reason that that is referenced is because we had to close our pools at
13 October 10, 2002
dawn -- at dusk, and so a swimming pool that would normally be open at night on a Saturday
was closed, and children do what they do. Young Otis is no longer with us. The settlement is —
that we've approved today is pursuant to state law, that provides for the father, who's a resident
of Atlanta, the mother, who's also a resident of Atlanta, and the aunt, who was, in fact, the
guardian, who lives in the City of Miami in Overtown, to receive the settlement. The person,
based upon my personal observation, who is most tragically affected by this tragedy, was a
sibling who was, at the time, I think about 14, 15 years old, and I wanted to thank the City
Attorney and Manager for recognizing that this young lady, who, I guess, will be 21 in the next
few days, is really the person who also, and I think, has also been tragically affected. They grew
up together. They living like many other children, with a grandmother and an aunt. They'd been
living here in Miami for over five years at the time, and I just want to express my appreciation to
the City Manager and City Attorney for facilitating what I think is a much more equitable
settlement than the court would have otherwise provided. Thank you, Mr. Attorney.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir.
7. DIRECT CITY CLERK TO MAKE ALL NECESSARY ARRANGEMENTS FOR A
SUNSHINE MEETING BETWEEN COMMISSIONERS SANCHEZ, GONZALEZ, AND
REGALADO AND ANY OTHER INTERESTED PERSONS, TO VISIT OLD FIRE STATION
NO. 14 LOCATED AT 141 N.W. 27 AVENUE, FOR POSSIBLE FUTURE CITY USE; CITY
ATTORNEY AND MANAGER TO ATTEND SAID MEETING.
Chairman Regalado: We have personal appearances. The Dade Heritage Trust.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sanchez: Before we do that, if I could have the opportunity to bring something
out of order. I am at this time directing Madam Clerk to make all necessary arrangements for a
meeting under the Sunshine Law reference -- public notice to be made. Commissioner Gonzalez
and myself will be visiting a City facility on 27th Avenue and I believe, it's SW 3rd Street. It
used to be an old fire station.
Chairman Regalado: Northwest. Northwest.
Commissioner Sanchez: Northwest?
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Northwest.
Commissioner Sanchez: Is it northwest?
Chairman Regalado: Northwest.
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir. Northwest.
14 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: Oh I'm sorry. Let the record be corrected. It's northwest. We will be
visiting the site for future City usage. We will advise you of the date and we just want to make
sure that we meet all necessary regulations to make sure we're not in violation of the Sunshine
Law.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Madam City Clerk --
Commissioner Sanchez: So moved.
Chairman Regalado: -- include myself.
Commissioner Sanchez: Everyone's welcome. Everyone's welcome to that meeting. Thank
you.
Vice Chairman Winton: So when are you doing this and what's -- when did you say you were
doing this?
Commissioner Sanchez: Excuse me?
Vice Chairman Winton: When did you say you were doing this?
Commissioner Sanchez: We've got to come up with a date that we're all available. That's why I
don't have a date right now.
Chairman Regalado: Do we need a motion for this?
Commissioner Sanchez: You can put it in the record -- we could put it in the record later on.
We all have to just look at our schedules and make sure that we're available; also, we need to
have the City Attorney or someone representing the City's office with us.
Chairman Regalado: Do we need a motion for this?
Vice Chairman Winton: Is there a proposed use?
Commissioner Sanchez: Right now it's an abandoned old fire station. It is my understanding
that there's been some talk about moving the West Little Havana NET (Neighborhood
Enhancement Teams) office to that area and we're also now looking into another possible site for
the Cuban Museum, so we want to go visit the site to see what so we could, you know,
discuss -- under the Sunshine Law --
Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah.
Commissioner Sanchez: -- to see what the usage is. It's an old abandoned facility and it's my
understanding it needs a lot of repairs. So we just want to basically go look at the facility.
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir.
15 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: And of course the City Manager will be also --
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir.
8. AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE AGREEMENT FOR
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES WITH HEISENBOTTLE ARCHITECTS, $67,500, FOR OLD
MIAMI HIGH BUNGALOW PROJECT.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Personal appearances. Dade Heritage Trust. Becky? Miss Becky
Roberts? This issue is regarding the old Miami High Bungalow project and it was deferred on
the last meeting of September 26th to this meeting. Good morning.
Richard Heisenbottle: Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Richard Heisenbottle.
I'm first Vice President of Dade Heritage Trust and I'm kind of substituting today for Becky
Madcove. I'm joined today by an advisor to Dade Heritage Trust, Arva Moore Parks, to talk to
you a little bit about the Save Old Miami High project. You're being asked today to approve and
accept a donation first from Dade Heritage Trust, a donation that was actually raised by the
Miami Alumni Association, led by community members such as Arthur Hertz, Lamar Louise
Curry and Senator Bob Graham. That donation is in the amount of $41,351. That donation is
certainly is made for purpose of relocating and preserving the old Miami High Bugalow and it's
continguent upon using that money for the purposes of preserving the bungalow, so should, for
some reason, the product not ultimately go forward, DHT (Dade Heritage Trust) would like the
money returned. But we certainly don't expect that that's the case. Now in addition to that,
you're going to, in front of you today is a resolution that would accept the donation from Kevin
Riley, the developer of the property that the bungalow currently sits on, that would also be used
to relocate and restore the bungalow, and that donation is in the amount of $35,000. Now, as
probably most of you know, the bungalow is intended, within the next four months, to be
relocated to Southside Park. I'd like to take a moment and have Arva Parks speak to you about
the importance of this historic structure and what it means to this community.
Arva Moore Parks: I think it's very apropos that we're in the first African --American High
School this morning, Booker T. Washington, that -- and when we talk about the first high school
for white children in Miami that was built in 1903. I think one of the lessons in this particular
structure is how small we really were in 1903, that this was the high school. I'm not sure it's
such a good idea that it took us eight years, in the case of white children, to even to have a high
school and about 25 years in the case of the African --Americans, but hopefully we're doing
better on educating our children today than we did in 1903. This is a unique little building. It is
cyprus, and I think that's why it survived and I think the wonderful thing about it is Miami High
gets ready to celebrate its 100th birthday, which we don't get too many of those in Miami, is that
we have a wonderful use for the building. It will be in the park and it would be used by children,
all kinds of children today, that's still in the Miami High (UNINTELLIGIBLE) pattern district. I
think the other thing that's so very pleasing is that I don't think I -- it's certainly in my years of
being in a war horse in preservation have I ever had the City of Miami so much a partner and a
part of everything that's happened on this project. Everybody from the City Manager to
certainly Commissioner Sanchez is an alumni of Miami High and all the staff. I feel like it's just
16 October 10, 2002
been exemplary in everything to do with this and I hope it's just the beginning of a continued
warm relationship is we try to call this like the snail darter of Miami's history, because we have
almost nothing in this community left from this era, so, thank you very much.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman, let me just say that I am so strongly in support of this
that I gave $250,000 out of my bond money to make this a reality. I think that everyone up here
has just really shown leadership by doing everything we can to preserve historic sites. This is
one of the historic sites of many that exist in my district and we put together -- basically, I just
copycatted a couple of the Commissioners here who put together a board to preserve history in
their community. This is one of our classical things that we have in our district. This project, to
be able to keep it for future -- because these things, once we turn down, we lose them forever,
forever. You can only see them in a painting, but you can't really compare a painting to reality
itself, so after all efforts -- and I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you
labored so hard to make this a reality, and it's not been an easy task -- but I just want to have the
honor to say that I would move this resolution to accept these in -- kind donations to make this a
reality, to take this bungalow, in the old Miami High school bungalow, and put it in a place
where it's going to be safe, where people are going to be able to visit, where it's going to serve a
great purpose for our community. So I would -- it's an honor for me to move this resolution.
Commissioner Teele: Second.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. Any more comments?
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, I would just like to understand, and Mrs. Parks I know you
didn't give your name for the record, but I think the record should reflect that the speaker was a
tremendous historian who's written several books -- Mrs. Arva Parks. Mrs. Parks,
Commissioner Sanchez, let me just understand, please. The lot that the building is going to go
to, is that going to be a municipal park or is that -- the language here speaks for the transfer of
this building to a municipal park.
Mr. Heisenbottle: It is a municipal park, it is Southside Park and the building will actually reside
right behind the fire station, if you remember how that park sits.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Sanchez --
Ms. Parks: I was just going to -- oh, excuse me.
Commissioner Teele: Let me tell you Mr. Heisenbottle, because you're here and -- one of the
issues I'm going to be bringing up is the old police precinct, which is a few blocks from here also
and you're working on that and you're doing a great job and Ms. Parks we want to get you to be
aware of that, but one of the issues that keeps coming up, Commissioner Sanchez, is this asset
management use agreement and we sort of had a four --hour meeting with the police -- retired
17 October 10, 2002
Chief Dickson and all those folks the other day and it's just a tale of unbelievable horror that's
evolving. You need to make sure that before you transfer that building, that you all determine
who owns that building, because let me give you some legal advice.
Ms. Parks: We know that.
Commissioner Teele: Not as a city attorney. Keep ownership of the building because otherwise
you're going to wind up with a document that's this thick regarding all kinds of things and I
think it's very important that you all think through and maybe meet with Mr. Heisenbottle
regarding what's going on with the police precinct and those agreements. We saw this before
with several of these use agreements and I think it's very important that you all have a clear,
unfettered use of this building and it doesn't turn into something that winds up -- then you put it
on our land and we have to give you approvals to put lights on it or to put fire hydrants next to it
or all of those things, so, I'm very interested in you all making sure that you preserve your
maximum flexibility in restoring the building and maintaining and using the building so that the
building does not necessarily -- we'd be happy to -- but it doesn't necessarily has to be owned by
the city to be there, and that's just what's not clear to me, you know?
Mr. Heisenbottle: Let me take a moment, Commissioner, and clarify, because I'm aware of
exactly what you spoke of relative to the black police precinct --
Commissioner Teele: And it's a bad story.
Mr. Heisenbottle: Chief Dickson and Otis Davis were in my office yesterday for about two
hours and, you know, they've recounted some of this to me and we can talk about that one
separately, but I'm sure that we'll also get that resolved. This project is a little bit --
Commissioner Teele: But the point is this -- these people are volunteers. Everybody involved in
this is a volunteer. You're paid, our staff is paid, but the people who have to deal with this are
volunteers, and I think it's extremely -- it just creates months of delays if we don't resolve these
issues on the front --end, and all that I'm trying to do is just alert you that however you all do this
moving, I'm not sure you want to give in feet to the City the building unless and until you've
completed everything and then you give it to us. Otherwise, we're going to wind up with our
charter provisions kicking in. In other words, on how we can dispose of and use property, and
I'm not blaming the staff per se. We just have a very unique charter provision regarding
disposition of land that is very restrictive.
Mr. Heisenbottle: This situation is a little bit differently, and let me just real briefly try to tell
you what we've worked out here. Officially this property will be, as soon as the tenants vacate
the property, it will be deeded to the City of Miami, and that's why our donations, the Alumni
Association donations and even Kavey Brickell Partners donation -- the Riley donation that we
spoke of -- are actually being given to the City and the City will manage the restoration process
in this case. Ultimately, this is going to be run and managed by the Parks Department, Albert
Ruder's people will use this on a day-to-day -- this building, on a day--to--day basis when we've
completed it, so it's a little bit different from some of those other projects that you and I both
know of where we've been, perhaps, a bit onerous on occasion with the volunteer user groups in
18 October 10, 2002
our developing those agreements. This one's a little different because in the end it is really used
by the City, by the Parks Department and not by one of the volunteer groups that we're talking
about.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. Mr. Chairman, I have a question.
Commissioner Teele: If I could just finish one thing. What is the total costs, the estimated cost
of the restoration? Because you just raised a very interesting question.
Mr. Heisenbottle: We have a --
Commissioner Teele: I know we're going to get it and we should get it and --
Mr. Heisenbottle: Let me add a few things to that. We have a hard construction budget estimate
of approximately $1,075,000.
Vice Chairman Winton: How big is the building?
Mr. Heisenbottle: It's a modest building John. It's about 75 feet by 45 feet in dimension. But
now, understand we're putting in new air conditioning systems and new lighting systems and
restoring the building to pristine, as --new condition. Now hopefully that number will come
down, but that number also includes relocation of the building from its current site to the park
site, which is in itself an expensive cost. Now --
Commissioner Teele: I put off Commissioner Gonzalez, who wanted to make a statement.
Mr. Heisenbottle: One --
Commissioner Teele: I want to just say one thing about this whole thing because it's going to
come up. I heard Commissioner Sanchez say he just allocated money from -- the allocation as I
read this is from the Citywide Historic Presevation account and I support that 100 percent, and
the reason that I'm putting this on the record is because I have been formulating with the City
Manager's office a request for $1.5 million for the City -owned police station, which I assume is
going to come up today or later on this month. But historic preservation is very expensive. But
the point that I want to associate myself with Commissioner Sanchez on is that these buildings
are very precious, and once they're destroyed they're lost forever, and I really do think that all of
us as a Commission should look at historic preservation projects in our district before there's a
rush -- because see this is an expenditure from that category as I read the resolution. Is that
correct?
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Yes.
Commissioner Teele: The resolution that's presented by Commissioner Sanchez is from the
citywide $5,000,000 --
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, it is.
19 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: -- Historic Preservation Fund.
Mr. Gimenez: Right. He had a portion of that dedicated for his district and to support this
project on the initial dedication of funds from the bond program.
Commissioner Teele: And I strongly support that and I just think that we need to move quickly
on our historic preservation projects. I intend to come forth this week or this month with $1.5
million for the police station, which is -- it's owned by the City, it's citywide and all that, but it's
a historic preservation project that is just languishing. Thank you, Commissioner Gonzalez. I
took from Commissioner Gonzalez and I want to restore his time. Thank you, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Thank you. I'm also willing to support this, but I have a few
questions. This building is located at another site. Is that correct?
Mr. Heisenbottle: Yes. It's located on a development site right now and the developer, under his
major use special --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Privately owned.
Mr. Heisenbottle: -- permit.
Commissioner Gonzalez: This building is privately owned now.
Mr. Heisenbottle: Yes.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. There's some tenants in that building now according to what I
just heard, correct?
(BELL RINGS)
Commissioner Gonzalez: And we are discussing here to move this building, this structure, to a
public park, right?
Mr. Heisenbottle: Correct.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Is it in order to call a public hearing for this building to be installing a
park? Because I want to see if the parks issues are consistent in every district.
Commissioner Sanchez: There isn't any --
Commissioner Gonzalez: What? If there's a position or not.
Ms. Parks: Can I answer something.
20 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: And it is a matter of using the public park. I just want to know if we
should have a public hearing? Because every time that I have tried to do something in my
district, in my parks, everybody seems to have a problem of not having a public hearing. I'm
just asking a simple question. Is a public hearing required to do this or it's not?
Ms. Parks: Can I answer something about the park idea?
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): I'm sorry.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Excuse me ma'am. I'm asking a question to this hearing time.
Mr. Vilarello: There is no necessary, by ordinance, requirement for a public hearing. However,
the policy -- the City Commission has established a policy of having public hearings when you
are impacting your public parks.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK.
Commissioner Teele: And I know that we have asked at least on three occasions, and
Commissioner Gonzalez is 100 percent right. If we're going to put anything, even a picture of
mom and apple pie and the American flag, in a public facility or on public land, the public
should be noticed, and that has been the policy, and I thought we had codified that in an
ordinance.
Commissioner Gonzalez: And let me tell you, my issue is very simple. I have two cases. I have
Sewell Park, which I'm trying to do a project in order to protect the community and protect the
park and protect the people that uses the park and I'm getting flack all over the place, and from
everywhere, ok? Public hearings, Waterfront Advisory Board, Park Advisory Board. I don't
know how many boards, ok, and I'm being bombarded in that project. I have Antonio Maceo
Park, which is a park that has been abandoned for the last 10, 12 years or 14 years. Once I
became a Commissioner I decided to start working that park. Now we have someone that wants
to take a piece of the land to make it a private road to a development and then, you know, that
has nothing been done and that was my statement at that hearing, OK? We are considering
giving a private person a piece of the park, which has never been done in the City of Miami. It
seems to me that now we're going to start doing this kind of things and then we wanted to call a
public hearing. Fine, we're going to have a public hearing on the 29th and then we'll see what
happens at the public hearing, but you know, what I want to say is that we have a consistency. I
mean, you know, whatever is going to apply to my district and to my constituents and to my
residents and to my taxpayers, should be as created equal. It's not that I have any problem
particularly with this project. I'm willing to support it --
Vice Chairman Winton: We should make a motion.
Commissioner Gonzalez: But we should establish a policy. I mean, if we're going to have a
policy, let's have a policy.
21 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: I agree with Commissioner Gonzalez and Commissioner Teele. We
ought to hold a public policy, you know? I feel no threat whatsoever to holding a public -- so,
we ought to set a date, hold a public hearing on the movement of this building that's going to be
donated to the City of Miami and the objective is to move a donated property, that's a historic
landmark into a park, and we ought to have a public hearing at our next Commission meeting.
So moved.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Because Johnny, let me be very simple. This building's going to be
donated to a park, ok, and apparently --
Vice Chairman Winton: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Gonzalez: -- according to Commissioner Sanchez, there is no opposition. But on
the other park a developer is talking about donating a building and there is an opposition of
everybody's is opposing that project there and we're going to have a meeting, you know? So, I
mean --
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, as you already know --
Commissioner Gonzalez: I'm willing to work with everybody. I, you know, I'm willing to
do whatever it takes to move projects along and to do things positive for the City, but let's state,
you know, with a policy.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman?
Commissioner Gonzalez: If we're going to have a policy, let's do a policy.
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, I've moved to --
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman?
Vice Chairman Winton: -- hold --
Chairman Regalado: Well let -- Commissioner Sanchez has requested --
Commissioner Sanchez: I mean, I don't want to confuse apples to oranges here. I'm all for a
public hearing. I mean, we can schedule for the next Commission meeting. But what we have in
front of us today is a resolution accepting donations to go to this project. So, if we could vote on
that and then I'll allow anyone to make a motion --
Vice Chairman Winton: I'll withdraw my motion and you can move your motion.
Chairman Regalado: Mr. City Attorney?
22 October 10, 2002
Mr. Vilarello: This resolution does more than that. It accepts the donations, it accepts the
building, the structure and once we accept that, it's going to be moved to a park as we designate.
So my recommendation is --
Commissioner Teele: But --
Commissioner Sanchez: I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what.
Commissioner Teele: But Joe all you got to do in my opinion is this. Move this resolution,
make an amendment subject to a public hearing related to the land use of the park. It allows you
to go ahead and take the money, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, but as it relates to the transfer of the
facility, it would be subject to and a public hearing and an affirmative vote by the Commission.
Commissioner Sanchez: So move.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Just the point of clarification. We do have a public hearing, time
certain, on the 29th of October for the Antonio Maseo project at 6:00 P.M, so it's either -- I think
that this public hearing will be easy on the old Miami High School --
Commissioner Sanchez: Can we do this before this -- well, Mr. Chairman --
Commissioner Teele: I'd like to hear from the attorney.
Commissioner Sanchez: I don't believe that we anticipate opposition. You never know. Maybe
half of Miami will come in opposition, I don't know. I doubt it, but I think that if we -- this will
probably be about 15 minutes or 10 minutes, if we could do it prior to the other public hearing.
Chairman Regalado: Well, I was going to say because I know that a lot of people will be
attending the 6 P.M. public hearing and we don't want to delay and make them wait, so if you all
agree, we'll do this --
Commissioner Teele: The attorney wants to rule on this.
Mr. Vilarello: Mr. Chairman, my recommendation is that you defer this item to the meeting on
the 29th. The resolution be placed on the agenda on the 29th and you advertise a public hearing at
that time and then consider this resolution.
Chairman Regalado: No, no. I'm talking about the time of the public hearing, because we, you
know, we are not going to make them wait or the people from the Maceo Park wait, so we have a
time certain at 6 P.M. and we don't know much time we'll use for that, so my question is, do you
have a CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) meeting on the 29th? We do have a CRA.
Ok. We have PZ items too, so my question is, and we have to understand that we're going to
make them come or make them go to the Artime. Do you want to do this time certain at 5 P.M.
on October 29th at the Manuel Artime Theatre?
23 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: This should be a simple issue. I mean --
Chairman Regalado: I'm just saying Joe, because then we get complicated.
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes. Yes.
Chairman Regalado: OK, fine. That's the only --
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman, I will take into consideration what the City Attorney
said. I don't want to put the cart before the horse. I'd rather have the public hearing and then on
that day, which I think it'll be minimal discussion if any. Then we will go ahead and vote on the
issue. I don't want to vote on it now subject to what the amendment was the resolution that
was put forth, so let's go ahead and retract that and then we'll have the public hearing and after
the public hearing, we'll vote on this.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Lori Billberry: May I ask a question, please? Lori Billberry, Asset Management. Is there any
way you would please consider allowing Mr. Heisenbottle to proceed in beginning the
construction documents? We're on a very tight timeframe with getting his work done in order to
th
be able to accomplish a move before January l I
Vice Chairman Winton: So what did you ask?
Commissioner Sanchez: I want to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Ms. Billberry: Mr. Heisenbottle was going to be authorized to do some work under this
resolution with a cap of $67,500 I believe was the amount, and we'd like to be able to allow him
to proceed with starting that so that way we don't get further behind. Mr. Riley is not willing to
extend this 120 --day deadline.
Chairman Regalado: But you heard the City Attorney.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. City Attorney?
Mr. Vilarello: At that point, at the public hearing if you should decide not to accept the
donation, not to accept the building, then you have committed to the architect.
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, but, you know, we've got to be real careful here, because this is
on private land that's going to be redeveloped and the developer will only have so much
patience, and I think they've already exhibited a tremendous amount of patience, so to hear our,
you know, the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and pretty soon the bulldozer's going to come, there's
not going to be any blah, blah, blah, blah, because the building's going to be gone, so we better
figure out how we take whatever steps we need to take today that assures that this doesn't get
bulldozed.
24 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes sir.
Commissioner Teele: I'm in total agreement with Commissioner Winton. I think we're making
this -- first of all, I think we're making this much more difficult than it is. I would respectfully
urge the maker of the motion, with all due respect and I agree with the advice of counsel, that we
bifurcate this issue that we accept the $35,000. We don't need to send that kind of signal to the
public. We've got a problem. We've got to think about accepting $35,000 and that we further
authorize the architect, the expenditure of funds from the architect; and let me just say why,
before you make the motion. Even the federal government -- and Joe, I want you to hear this --
even the federal government under the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant)
guidelines allow for the use of CD dollars, without regard to income -- you could do a historic
building for Donald Trump -- you don't have to own the building. Historic preservation is in the
overall public interest and whether we own the building or whether we don't, it's in our interest
to expend city funds for the preservation of that building, whether it goes on this site or some
other site, and so, Mr. Attorney, the area of historic preservation is a public policy issue that we
need to change our thinking, that rises above who owns the land, who's going to benefit. Even
the federal government guidelines recognize that you can use CDBG dollars for historic
preservation, unlike -- including public service -- any other category, as long as it's for historic
purpose, and so that's why I would urge you, if the attorney would agree, to bifurcate to, agree to
accept the donation to allow the authorization of funds, but not make a decision on the site.
Vice Chairman Winton: Second the motion.
Mr. Vilarello: Mr. Chairman, on the motion. This resolution has been agreed to by all the
parties involved. The City Commission has the right to change the terms of this resolution as
described in the motion. It may or may not be accepted by the parties involved.
Commissioner Sanchez: Wait, wait, wait.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. Then Commissioner Teele -- I'm sorry, Joe.
Commissioner Sanchez: There's a motion and a second, fine. But listen, I need to dilute this
issue, ok? I mean --
Vice Chairman Winton: But let me --
Commissioner Sanchez: I thought it wasn't going to be -- maybe a one minute debate. It's a
healthy debate --
Vice Chairman Winton: Hold on. Hold on. I mean, the City Attorney said look, if we move
forward in a way that there was a suggestion just a moment ago, there may be some liability
here. Well the liability is going to be in the neighborhood of $67,000. I'm willing, as a public
policy measure, to accept a $67,000 liability to move this thing forward, so therefore, I move
25 October 10, 2002
acceptance of the resolution that's on the table subject to what Commissioner Teele said, subject
to a public hearing that allows the transfer of this property to a specific park. Then there is a
liability that we may be out, because we're going to allow expenditure of the funds, of up to
$67,000 or $70,000 and that's a liability I'm willing to accept, so I move that motion.
Mr. Vilarello: Mr. Chairman, as I understand the motion, it is different than the motion on the
floor, it would be to bifurcate this issue that to go ahead and incur the expenses associated with
the architect, subject to -- well, not subject to anything, so that they can proceed as Ms. Billberry
has requested and then come back on the 29th, consider the motion for the resolution that's before
you today and have a public hearing on the 29th
Commissioner Teele: Right.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Is that --
Commissioner Teele: And to accept the $40,000 donation.
Mr. Vilarello: So the maker of the motion needs to accept that amendment.
Chairman Regalado: Is that clear to everyone? Is it ok with you?
Mr. Heisenbottle: Yes, yes, Commissioner.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Sanchez: Then discussion. Discussion on the issue.
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sanchez: Because I'm not quite familiar with this. Mr. Secretary, please repeat
the resolution we're passing, because, I mean, I'm all confused here. I mean, I didn't dilute this
issue. I mean, I brought it out. I thought it was going to be a no--brainer and then Commissioner
Gonzalez made a valid issue, which I respect, he wants a public hearing which I'll give him and
Commissioner Teele brought out some other issues that he wanted to present to compare this
issue to one that's going on there, which is fine. You know, I just want to be -- I want to get
along with everybody here and I want to act in a fair way, but this should have been a no-brainer
and it's turned into a 25, almost a half --hour issue debate on a property that's being donated,
going to a City park, that's going to be ours. But I'm ok with it because I want to get along with
everybody here, so now read the resolution so I understand it, because it's all messed up and I've
yet to understand it.
Mr. Vilarello: Mr. Chairman, as I understand the resolution would be authorizing the City
Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement for professional services with Heisenbottle
architects, a pre -qualified firm, for an amount not to exceed $67,500.
(BELL RINGS)
26 October 10, 2002
Mr. Vilarello: That would resolution would stand alone. You would further direct the manager
to advertise a public hearing of the 29tH
Commissioner Sanchez: Time certain.
Mr. Vilarello: For a time certain of 5 o'clock to consider placing this -- to accept the resolution
that was presented to you earlier today and place that structure in the designated park.
Commissioner Sanchez: OK. Are you OK with that?
Mr. Heisenbottle: I think that does what we need it to do and it still gives us time for a public
hearing. I'm sure that the Miami Alumni Association is going to come down for that hearing.
That we're going to have a -- you know, a very positive discussion about the relocation of the
building. The other thing that we want you to know certainly is that this building actually
replaces another park building, it's going to be used exclusively as a park building, for park uses
Commissioner Sanchez: All right. Mr. Chairman --
Mr. Heisenbottle: -- and that we want to continue to raise funds --
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Mr. Heisenbottle: -- for the continued restoration --
Commissioner Sanchez: Thank you.
Mr. Heisenbottle: -- of the building.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
27 October 10, 2002
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02--1116
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
CITY MANAGER NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE A PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES AGREEMENT, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY
ATTORNEY, WITH R.J. HEISENBOTTLE ARCHITECTS, P.A., A PRE --
QUALIFIED FIRM IDENTIFIED ON THE CITY'S LIST OF
ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING FIRMS, TO EFFECTUATE THE
RELOCATION, RESTORATION AND REHABILITATION OF THE
BUNGALOW BUILDING PRESENTLY LOCATED AT 79 SOUTHWEST
12TH STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, TO ITS ORIGINAL DESIGN,
MATERIALS AND CONDITION AT A NEW SITE; ALLOCATING FUNDS,
IN AN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $67,500, FROM MUNICIPAL
HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOND FUNDS.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Vice Chairman Winton, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you very much.
9. AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO ASSIST CAMILLE AND SURLETTE MERILUS
FOUNDATION FOR HAITIAN DEVELOPMENT, BY IDENTIFYING COLLECTION SITES
FOR DONATION OF FOOD ITEMS TO BENEFIT FLOOD VICTIMS IN HAITI.
Chairman Regalado: Camille Merilus, the Camille and Surlette Foundation for Haitian
Development. Camille is requesting the City services in collecting donations in food, school
supplies for flood victims in Haiti. They were the victims of Hurricane Lily, and I think prior
floods. Good morning, sir.
Camille Merilus: Good morning, Commissioners, Chairman Regalado, Commissioner Teele,
Commissioner Gonzalez, Commissioner Sanchez, Commissioner Winton, City Attorney. Good
28 October 10, 2002
morning, Mr. Manager, City Clerk, members of the assistants. My name is Camille Merilus,
with my wife Surlette, the co-founder of Camille and Surlette Merilus Foundation for Haiti
Development, Inc. We are here today to talk to you about a very, very tragic situation. The
south coast of Haiti had been a place where people had been victims of all type of disasters ever
since I was a little kid. Following several days of heavy rain, a flood devastated the south region
of that country, killing people, destroying animals, destroying crops, destroying houses, leaving
thousands homeless. Not even a week ago, Lily paid a visit to the area and devastated the place.
In the face of such an awful situation, whenever something like that happen in Haiti, the only
thing that came to the people's mind is to go to Miami, Miami, Miami. That's the reason we are
here today, to call upon the Commission, and the people of the City of Miami to, first of all, help
collect food, dry food, school supplies for the kids of those victims, and also the second thing is,
we are calling upon this City to help build an Antique Disaster Center right here in Miami, an
Antique Disaster Center. The food collection, that's for the urgency of the situation. The
Antique Disaster Center, it's a center where we're going to put stockpile of food, clothing, all
accessories for emergencies, so that whenever there is an urgent situation like that, we already
have stuff ready to put in containers and to ship down there. We are here to say thank you to the
Manager, Mr. Carlos Gimenez, and his staff people, his secretary Rita, and his assistant, Chip
Iglesias. And, also, the Manager, I have to say thank you personally to you for assigning your
aide Kelly de Silva to work with us, and we are here to call upon you, Commission, to endorse
this activity, because we are planning to set up that center to raise money. That's why we are
planning to do a fundraising activity at the Orange Bowl. We are here to call upon you to allow
us to -- the City Manager's Office to work with us on planning a nice event at the Orange Bowl,
so we can raise money to build up that center. We already spoke to Miami -Dade County. We
got Commissioner Jimmy Morales backing this plan, Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, and
Commissioner Barbara Carey -Schuler. They already trying to locate a land, a site, owned by the
County, as a site for that center, but we're going to need money, and the first thing we want to do
is to do that special event at the Orange Bowl. But, once again, there are these two things: The
food drive, which is an urgency situation, and the event at the Orange Bowl, which is the second
one. I would like you to have City services, City Manager's Office, to work with us on the
planning, because this is a big event, or that event, so that it could be a success.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Mr. Manager, do we have a --
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): We recommend approval of the food drive, and we can
certainly help in the sites, and we've done this on a number of occasions, fire stations and NET
(Neighborhood Enhancement Team) Offices, and all that could be a collection site for any
donations of food items.
Commissioner Teele: With pleasure, I move the Manager's recommendation.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion --
Vice Chairman Winton: What did you say? I didn't hear you.
Chairman Regalado: -- on the Orange Bowl event.
29 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: What did you say about the Orange Bowl?
(COMMENTS OFF THE RECORD)
Chairman Regalado: No. No, no, but he's also asking the City's support in an event at the
Orange Bowl.
Vice Chairman Winton: Commissioner Teele made a motion, though.
Commissioner Teele: I moved the Manager's recommendation, and the Manager made specific
recommendations --
Vice Chairman Winton: Right. And I second that motion.
Commissioner Teele: -- on the food drive, and they're going to look into the matter related to
the Orange Bowl, and the other matter.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION NO. 02-1117
A MOTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ASSIST CAMILLE
AND SURLETTE MERILUS FOUNDATION FOR HAITIAN
DEVELOPMENT, BY IDENTIFYING COLLECTION SITES FOR
DONATION OF FOOD ITEMS (i.e. FIRE STATIONS, NET, ETC.) TO
BENEFIT FLOOD VICTIMS IN HAITI.
30 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Vice Chairman Winton, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you very much. Thank you.
Mr. Merilus: Thank you very much, Commissioners, and I want to let you know that we are
going to make sure that the whole country of Haiti knows what you did today.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Merilus: Because we're working closely with the people in Haiti.
10. SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF UNIFORM DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
THROUGHOUT UNITED STATES AND ITS TERRITORIES.
AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO PROVIDE $572.00 TO COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF
WOMEN FOR "SAFE FAMILY DAY" EVENT, WHICH SUPPORTS OCTOBER AS
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH, SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE ON
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16 FROM 5 P.M. TO 8 P.M. AT MIAMI SENIOR ADULT
EDUCATION CENTER.
Chairman Regalado: The last personal appearance Anita McGruder, Chairperson of the
Commission of the Status of Women to address the Commission concerning the presentation of
legislation asking for uniformed definition of domestic violence. Anita Allyson? Good
morning.
Anita McGruder: Good morning. I'm Anita McGruder. I am here to speak for the Commission
On the Status of Women. I have joining me Ms. Pauline Ramos, Miss Connie Johnson, Miss
Karen Cartwright and Ms. Allyson Warren. Gentlemen, we have two issues that we'd like to
speak to you about. One has to do with a uniformed definition of domestic violence and the
other has to do with our Safe Family Day Awareness event that will take place at Miami Senior
High on Wednesday, October 16th. I'd like to paraphrase from the 2001 proclamation on
domestic violence that was done by President Bush. The social blight of domestic violence has
continued to burden this country into the 21st Century. While our homes should be places of
safety and comfort, tragically domestic violence can and does turn many homes into places of
31 October 10, 2002
torment. Domestic violence spills over into schools and places of work and affects people from
every walk of life. It involves a continuum of behaviors ranging from degrading remarks to
cruel jokes, economic exploitation, punches and kicks, false imprisonment, sexual abuse,
suffocating actions, maiming assaults and homicides. We have all heard the statistics that nearly
6,000,000 women will be battered by their husbands or boyfriends in any single year and that 28
percent of all adult women in this country are likely to be victims of abuse during an intimate
relationship. Battery, in fact, is the single most major cause of injury to women in this country.
In each eight-hour period, more than 1,600 women will be battered by their husband or male
partners. The cost of medical treatment can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Eleven
husbands, wives or partners are killed by a spouse or partner. Over 3,000 children will have
witnessed their father assaulting their mother. Between 50 and 70 percent of men who batter
their wives or partners also abuse their children, and during that same eight-hour period,
approximately 283 children will be abducted by a parent; that's 35 children abducted every eight
hours. Ten of these abducted children will suffer mild to severe mental harm as a result of the
abduction. While this data is compelling and overwhelming, it still does not give a truly accurate
picture of the incidences of domestic violence because there is no uniform definition of domestic
violence from state -to -state. In some states domestic violence is defined as violence between
adult intimate partners. This definition is overly restrictive. Domestic violence can, in fact,
occur between adult family members who are not intimate in the traditional sense, but could also
include brothers, sisters, cousins, in-laws and the like. There is a recent trend for states to
include violence towards children, and more than half of the states mention children in their
domestic violence laws. States with a broad definition may be inhibited from collecting and
publishing data about the incidences of domestic violence in those states for fear of negative
comparison with states who will define it more narrowly. President Bush in his 2001
proclamation called for a comprehensive coordinated approach to reduce domestic violence by
having the federal government partner with states and local communities to implement tough and
effective mechanisms to respond to reports of domestic violence. But a uniform definition
would support accurate data collection and analysis of the national trends and would therefore
provide the foundation for a more effective national strategy to address these incidences. The
Miami Commission on the status of women therefore urges the Commission to support the
development of a uniform national definition of domestic violence to be developed by the
National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Commission on Women
and other interested national organizations. That's our first issue. Our second issue --
Commissioner Teele: I move the resolution that's been passed out.
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Commissioner Teele: And present it to (INAUDIBLE).
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second on the resolution sponsored by the City of
Miami Committee Status of Women. All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
32 October 10, 2002
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1118
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION SUPPORTING THE
DEVELOPMENT OF A UNIFORM DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES AND ITS TERRITORIES; FURTHER
DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A COPY OF THIS
RESOLUTION TO THE OFFICIALS DESIGNATED.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir?
Commissioner Teele: I'm not saying this tongue -and -cheek. I am a little bit disturbed about one
aspect of your report.
Ms. McGruder: Yes.
Commissioner Teele: Men in marital relationships are abused as well, and the statistics that
you're citing all cite women.
Ms. McGruder: Yes.
Commissioner Teele: Domestic violence occurs in both situations, and I think, while I have no
problem with citing the specific statistics regarding women, I do think that your remarks and
your collaborative documents should at least acknowledge that some percentage of men suffer as
well.
Ms. McGruder: Yes, you're right, Commissioner.
Commissioner Teele: And as I get older, I'm suffering more and more.
33 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: Not physically but also mentally.
Ms. McGruder: Yes, we've talked about both kinds of violence. Yes, there are a minutent
number of men who are also battered, and that is also part of the statistics. The next item is in
regard to our Safe Family Day event, which again supports October as domestic violence
awareness month. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, October 16th from 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. at
Miami Senior Adult Education Center. Members of the Commission on the Status of Women,
we're all volunteers and work very hard to develop an effective and an awareness raising event.
Agencies from throughout the community will be participating, including the school system and
other domestic violent related agencies. An art and essay contest for elementary and middle
school and senior high school students is being supported by SunTrust Bank who is providing
over $1,200 in savings bonds for our contest winners. We'd like to also thank the City Manager
for providing us some staff support in getting some of the logistics taken care of, but we are also
here to ask the Commissioners to provide some support. Not only your physical appearance, but
some financial support, so that we can make this event the best that it can be; and what we're
talking about is a donation of approximately $600, actually $572 to support the event.
Commissioner Teele: I would so move the $300?
Ms. McGruder: Six hundred, sir.
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Five hundred and seventy-two.
Ms. McGruder: Five hundred and seventy-two.
Mr. Gimenez: And twenty-seven cents.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Ms. McGruder: We'll round it. Yeah.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
34 October 10, 2002
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1119
A MOTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO PROVIDE
FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $572.00 TO THE COMMISSION ON THE
STATUS OF WOMEN FOR THE "SAFE FAMILY DAY" EVENT, AN EVENT
WHICH SUPPORTS OCTOBER AS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS
MONTH, SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16
FROM 5 P.M. TO 8 P.M. AT MIAMI SENIOR ADULT EDUCATION
CENTER.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you.
Ms. McGruder: Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. OK.
Ms. McGruder: I'm sorry. Gentlemen, there's one additional item. We do have purple ribbons
for you all. The purple ribbon designates Domestic Violence Awareness Month and we will get
them to you and hopefully we can encourage you to wear them throughout the month.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you.
35 October 10, 2002
11. (a) DEFER CONTINUATION OF SEPTEMBER 26, 2002 COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY (CRA) MEETING SCHEDULED TO OCTOBER 29, 2002 AT
2:00 P.M.
(b) INSTRUCTING THE CITY ATTORNEY TO STAY ALL FILINGS AGAINST MIAMI-
DADE WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY (WASA) FOR THE NEXT 60 DAYS.
Chairman Regalado: We have the blue pages now. Just to -- for the record -- Commissioner
Teele we have a CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) meeting at 2?
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, because of the obvious illness of the Executive Director,
we're going to request that that be postponed --
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Teele: -- today.
Chairman Regalado: And so there is no CRA meeting at 2.
Commissioner Teele: It will be postponed to 2 P.M. at the next meeting.
Chairman Regalado: OK. So now we -- when would you want to return; about what time?
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman, if there is no objection from my colleagues, I would
rather be back at 3 o'clock, because I have a ceremony of one association that the board
members haven't taken a position today and I need to be there. Unless you want to start without
me and then I'll --
Chairman Regalado: No, no. Three o'clock would be fine. If you all are OK. Johnny, are you
ok with 3 o'clock?
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes. I like 3 o'clock. You mean to return?
Chairman Regalado: To return.
Commissioner Teele: Three o'clock, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: Sure.
Commissioner Teele: Before --
Vice Chairman Winton: But just so you know, if this meeting begins to go late, there'll only be
four of you because I have to be on an airplane at 6 A.M. in the morning, so --
36 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: No, no. We'll take you out of here at 3:30 because you have to be at the
airport by 4:30. So, you be down there at 4:30 A.M.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, before you leave, at the request of the City
Attorney, at the last meeting I filed a motion regarding WASA (Water and Sewer Authority).
The matter of WASA is being discussed at the highest levels of the City and we would like to
move that the City Attorney be instructed to stay any filings regarding WASA until the complete
-- for the next 60 days.
Vice Chairman Winton: Second.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1120
A MOTION INSTRUCTING THE CITY ATTORNEY TO STAY ALL FILINGS
AGAINST MIAMI-DADE WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY (WASA) FOR
THE NEXT 60 DAYS.
Upon being seconded by Vice Chairman Winton, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Commissioner Teele: Is that satisfactory Mr. Attorney?
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): That's fine.
Chairman Regalado: Let me just say this. The reason I was asking what time you want to come
back is because one of my items is a personal appearance and I think it's important, for the
community and the members of the Commission to hear what this person has to say and for the
benefit of the members of the Commission who wishes to ask questions. We have called Captain
Mike Exposito to come this morning, but I have to leave now and, as you all, you have to break
for lunch, so my question is, 3:30 can we do a time certain 3:30?
37 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes, sir.
12. DISCUSSION CONCERNING "WATER WORKSHOP" REQUESTED BY SOUTH
FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT.
Chairman Regalado: -- for the personal appearance of Captain Esposito? I don't know if he's
here. Is that ok with you sir? 3:30, so we're clear with that. OK. On the blue pages, Mayor
Diaz has two items that he wishes the Board to discuss. A) Discussion concerning proposed
dates for a water workshop with City Commissioners requested by the South Florida Water
Management District. Do you all want to set a time and a day or do you wish to communicate to
the mayor's office your schedule and then they will coordinate the date?
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: I would really welcome if any member of this Commission would agree to
be the point person and facilitate. I mean, no, no. I'm not the water. This is water district. This
is -- I don't have a canal --
Commissioner Sanchez: I thought it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I'm sorry.
Commissioner Teele: -- in my district. I don't have a canal in my district.
Chairman Regalado: No, no. No, no.
Commissioner Sanchez: I thought it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Teele: We've got the river.
Chairman Regalado: Arthur, Arthur. What the Mayor is -- he just wants to meet on the Sunshine
with members of the City Commission regarding the water management district, so I guess that it
would have to be noticed and all that, so, why don't we --
Commissioner Teele: I thought what they were asking for was a workshop. This says a water
workshop, and what these water and sewer -- what these water people like to do is they like to
come down and give you the pictures of the helicopters landing and a whole show. Because all
they're going to do is raise the rates and there's nothing we can do anyway. Aren't they going to
raise -- did they raise the rates this year?
Chairman Regalado: The South Florida Water Management?
Commissioner Teele: The South Florida Water Management. Don't they have one of the largest
percentage increases in the history of (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, they did, because of the Everglades project.
38 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: So, we can have the workshop, but it's just going to be more -- there's
nothing we can do.
Chairman Regalado: OK. So -- so, we'll communicate to them.
Commissioner Teele: Angel's got the -- Angel's got the Miami River. He's the guardian of the
river now. So --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes, sir.
Chairman Regalado: Well, OK.
Commissioner Gonzalez: You and I share a piece.
Chairman Regalado: OK. All right. We'll communicate with the Mayor's office on this.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, in all seriousness, I would ask that Commissioner
Gonzalez be sort of asked to lead discussions with the Water Management District and the
Mayor's office and sort of help us to understand what the issues are. Because it's the Miami
River is the big piece of that thing.
Chairman Regalado: Well actually, you know, the canals and the floodgates are of great
importance. Angel knows that because of the floods in his district, my district and it is important
and we -- Frank has been always in touch with these people, so -- are we going to --
Frank Rollason: If I may for just a moment. Frank Rollason, Assistant City Manager. South
Florida Water Management came down and gave this presentation to staff and to a couple of
members of the Mayor's staff were present. It is a presentation of what the whole project is. It's
ongoing with the two big basins, the four pumping, back pumping, etcetera, and it was more of
an informational meeting to let you know exactly what the long-range plan is and with their
graphics and the maps and things they had to be able to lay out that go way beyond the
geographic limits of the City of Miami, the corporate limits. It would give the Commission a
very good picture of what South Florida Management is facing and they felt they wanted to try to
give that to you at your level.
Chairman Regalado: Yeah. I've been to their castle in --
Commissioner Teele: In Palm Beach?
Chairman Regalado: -- in Palm Beach several times. OK. So we'll coordinate with the office of
Commissioner Gonzalez for the workshop. The other item --
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, I'd also recommend that when we have that formal
workshop before the Commission we do it when we're in the official city chambers, so that it can
be broadcast and, you know, it almost should be almost a production so that the public --
39 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Then we will do it on January, 2005.
Commissioner Teele: `05?
13. CONFIRM APPOINTMENT OF MAYOR MANUEL A. DIAZ AS MEMBER OF
METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION (MPO).
Chairman Regalado: OK. Discussion. There is an item from the Mayor. This Commission
decided that Mayor Manuel Diaz will be the elected official representing in the City of Miami on
the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). I guess he wants it because it's on his page.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, we have formally moved that. The Clerk has a resolution
to that effect. I will be more than happy to move it again. But it was voted upon when we did all
the committee assignments, Madam Clerk, and the Mayor should have received a formal
notification, if he didn't.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): We sent all the information on (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Teele: I would so move that Mayor Manny Diaz be designated as the elected
representative of the City of Miami for the MPO.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: Does it mean anything that you move a motion twice? I mean, is there
a significance? I mean, does it hurt anything --
Commissioner Gonzalez: I don't think so.
Vice Chairman Winton: -- to move the same motion twice? Does it hurt?
Commissioner Teele: Well apparently the Mayor's not aware of it.
Ms. Thompson: Well, we get the legislation and we sent it up to him by notification.
Vice Chairman Winton: Well probably sent it in the whole deal, and so, he's not going to notice
that.
Ms. Thompson: When he signs it.
Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah, but --
Ms. Thompson: I mean, we can do it again.
Commissioner Teele: I would so move.
40 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: I'm fine with voting on it again. I just want to make sure that it doesn't
do something that it's not supposed to do.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1121
A MOTION CONFIRMING THE APPOINTMENT OF MAYOR MANUEL A.
DIAZ AS A MEMBER OF THE METROPOLITAN PLANNING
ORGANIZATION (MPO).
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman --
Chairman Regalado: Yes.
Commissioner Teele: Just so the Commission knows, the state law allows for an elected
representative from the top, I think it's four cities, to be there. It is not necessarily the Mayor. It
is whoever is designated. The other representatives are all mayors by the way, just so that --
there's the Mayor of Miami Beach. No, I stand corrected. The Mayor of Miami Beach also
declined. But the Mayor of Hialeah and the Mayor of North Miami are both the other two
members.
14. DIRECT MANAGER TO PREPARE APPROPRIATE ANALYSIS OF TAXES IMPOSED
BY MIAMI-DADE COUNTY TO INCORPORATED AREAS, NAMELY CITY OF MIAMI,
IN COMPARISON TO UNINCORPORATED AREAS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Commissioner Gonzalez, do you have anything on your blue
page? Not that I see. Anything you want to do?
41 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: I don't have anything, but if I'm allowed, I just want to maybe
introduce a point of a problem that I'm sure that all of you are having in your district and it has
to do with code enforcement. I don't know what the --
Chairman Regalado: Can I ask then Vice Chairman Winton to chair and, because I have to go
and then --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Well no. If you want we can take it in the afternoon.
Chairman Regalado: -- I'll be back at 3 o'clock.
Commissioner Gonzalez: It's a matter of -- it's a discussion item that I would like to discuss
with the Commission.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK.
Chairman Regalado: I'm sorry.
Commissioner Gonzalez: We can do it in the afternoon.
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, it doesn't -- I don't think he minds you -- discussing --
Chairman Regalado: No, no. Go ahead. No, I just got to leave.
Vice Chairman Winton: It doesn't have anything to do with your comment.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I thought that maybe you have the same situation that I have in my
district. I don't know. You know, maybe --
Vice Chairman Winton: Well it's your choice.
Commissioner Gonzalez: -- you want to share.
Vice Chairman Winton: Commissioner, would you like to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Gonzalez: -- ideas with you.
Vice Chairman Winton: -- defer the last one?
Commissioner Gonzalez: Yeah. I'd rather wait in the afternoon.
Vice Chairman Winton: Fine.
Chairman Regalado: OK. If not, then Johnny has two items in his blue page.
Vice Chairman Winton: So given that I have two, does somebody else chair now?
42 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. Actually, I'm going to start off with one that isn't in here. I would
like to ask the City Attorney to bring back to us at the next Commission meeting a very clear
understanding of the Florida Constitutional Law regarding what government is allowed to do
from a tax increase standpoint from year-to-year for single-family residential homes with
Homestead exemption. My understanding of the law is that the maximum increase, if you don't
change -- if you don't sell the house, if you own a the house and you haven't done an addition,
that the maximum is 3 percent or CPI (Consumer Price Index), whichever is lower, so it is clear
to me in the research that I've done and I now have probably 30 of these trim notices that I've
analyzed, that with no exception, the increase in the City of Miami, from the county proportion,
is much greater than that, and in a few instances, the City portion is greater, but in almost, you
know, 99 percent of the City's instances it's zero -point -five to two -and -a -half percent, so -- but I
want to understand how the actual law works so that we can have a different discussion after
that.
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Commissioner, the law is on the assessed valuation. However,
if the millage rate goes up higher, you will have increases above the limit, whatever is the CPI or
the 3 percent. I think what happened in the county, I know what happened in the county, is that
they lowered their fire rescue mileage for those for people living in unincorporated Dade County
and all those cities that also have the Miami -Dade -- use Miami -Dade Fire Rescue and they
increased their countywide millage to kind of like balance out in their eyes, but what that did is
for the six cities, five or six cities that have their own fire departments, Miami, Miami Beach,
Hialeah, Coral Gables, Key Biscayne and ourselves, it increased -- since we don't have -- we
didn't get the offset on the fire rescue taxing district millage, they increased our rate and that's
why you're going to see those increases higher in the City of Miami than those that occurred in
unincorporated Dade and also in those that occurred in those cities that are being serviced by the
Miami -Dade Fire Rescue Department.
Vice Chairman Winton: So that I understand, then the constitutional cap is 3 percent or CPI,
whichever is less --
(BELL RINGS)
Mr. Gimenez: That's all the time we have for this discussion.
Vice Chairman Winton: That's the County bell.
Commissioner Sanchez: They want to seize your discussion.
Vice Chairman Winton: Based on the assessed value --
Mr. Gimenez: Based on the assessed value -- your market value can go higher.
Vice Chairman Winton: Right. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
43 October 10, 2002
Mr. Gimenez: Your assessed evaluation can only go up 3 percent or CPI.
Vice Chairman Winton: But your tax bill can actually go up higher than that if government
increases the mileage rate.
Mr. Gimenez: That's correct.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. So, I think I have 15 new trim notices here and I have probably
another 15 that I've already done and another 15 that I'm working on that are City of Miami
notices, and just for you alls information, the lowest out of the 30 that I've looked at so far for
the county portion of the City of Miami is six -point -some percent and there was a group of them
that were in the six to eight percent -- the group that I'm working on today seemed to be in the
12 to 18 percent rate.
Commissioner Teele: Residential.
Vice Chairman Winton: The City of Miami --
Commissioner Sanchez: Residential City of Miami.
Vice Chairman Winton: It's the City of Miami properties and that's the county increased taxes.
Commissioner Sanchez: OK.
Vice Chairman Winton: And the city portion on these same properties is increasing anywhere
from half a percent to 4.5 percent and so that's the range, so that at the end of the day, our
taxpayers, even though we worked hard to -- we pushed our millage rate down so we worked
hard to make sure they paid very little in additional taxes, just the opposite's happened in the
county, so the impact is that our citizens are paying more and they looked straight at us. We
don't get credit for the hard work we've done here to try to minimize their tax bill, because of the
county's formula, which you know had to be strategically planned. I mean, that wasn't an
accident that they created that system to reduce the fire fee for the entire county and increase the
millage rate countywide, so --
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner, for every dollar that they reduce in terms of their millage -- for
every dollar that they reduce on their fire millage --
Commissioner Sanchez: They tack it on to somebody else.
Mr. Gimenez: -- and they shift it over to the county millage, they gain 50 cents, so, that's what
they did because --
Vice Chairman Winton: --which becomes a direct penalty to those municipalities in the county.
Commissioner Teele: Right.
44 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: -- that have their own fire services.
Mr. Gimenez: That's correct. That's exactly what happened this year.
Vice Chairman Winton: So I will provide you all with the absolute data as soon as I've got it
done and I'm close to having it done and then we have to think about what, if anything, we could
do about this kind of thing long-term.
Commissioner Sanchez: Well, if I may, Mr. Vice Chairman -- if you're able to determine
through the analysis that you're doing that, you know, the municipalities are taking the burden.
Because we all know that if -- and I hate to jump because I don't have all the facts and you've
basically have taken the leadership on this and I commend you for it -- but if you're able to show
that in the City of Miami, and we can only speak for the City of Miami being that we represent
the city of Miami, that we are basically -- our taxes are increasing. In other words, the county is
having municipalities, in this case the City, subsidize unincorporated Dade while their taxes are
being lowered and us are being higher, I think that what we need to do, when you're done with
your analysis in what you're doing and you complete, let's say, you do maybe 100 of them -- 100
tack notices -- that we contact other cities and see -- have them do the same study and if we
realize that it's gotten to a point where the county is basically having cities subsidize
unincorporated Dade -- because we all know that the county doesn't want anymore cities to
incorporate, or unincorporated Dade to incorporate into cities, you know, they're going to do
everything they can to keep taxes very low on unincorporated Dade and then raise it on cities;
and we're able to find that cities, the city of Coral Gables, or Hialeah, all these cities are the ones
that are basically -- taxes are going up -- then we can all get together in a unified voice and take
action.
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner, there are five cities that are dispositioned, Miami, Hialeah, Miami
Beach, Coral Gables and the Village of Key Biscayne, because they have their own fire
departments. Every other city ended up had a wash because they used Miami -Dade Fire
Rescue.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Manager, sorry to interrupt you, but is it just the fire fee or is it --
Mr. Gimenez: It's the -- No, it's not -- they don't have --
Commissioner Sanchez: See that's what I need to know. Because if it's just the fire fee, then, I
understand, and maybe I won't need (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Mr. Gimenez: No, what --
Commissioner Sanchez: But if it's the value of property -- and now the county assesses your
property and if it goes up, and your assessment goes up, you may not want to sell the property.
But the higher your property's assessed the more taxes you're going to pay on that property.
Mr. Gimenez: That's correct, but the state constitution caps it at --
45 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: Johnny, there's a cap if you're protected under the homestead
exemption --
Vice Chairman Winton: All right.
Commissioner Sanchez: -- if there's a cap, OK?
Mr. Gimenez: Correct. The county doesn't have what's called a fire assessment like we do.
They charge a millage for the fire rescue department. It's a millage rate, and so, what they did is
they lowered the millage rate countywide for UMSA (Unincorporated Municipal Services Area)
and also those cities that participate with or service through Miami -Dade Fire Rescue. They
lowered that millage and then they increased the millage rate countywide and so the net effect of
those cities and UMSA was a net of zero, OK? The net effect for the five major cities, outside of
Key Biscayne, but like I said, Miami, Hialeah, Miami -Dade and Miami Beach and the Village of
Key Biscayne was a net increase, because they don't assess that fire rescue millage on us
because we have our own fire department. So that's what happened there.
Vice Chairman Winton: And it's substantial, you know? This isn't a little increase. It's a
substantial increase and this kind of thing gone unchecked will absolutely, with 100 percent
certainty, negate our hard work at trying to drive taxes down and we made a long-term, five-year
pledge at our last budget meeting to drive taxes and fees down in this City over the course of the
next five years, and the county's re-engineering of how they allocate costs, is going to have a
direct negative impact on us.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman? Mr. Chairman, I'm in agreement. I mean, I think, you
know, again, one of the components of this is that we need someone -- I've always recommended
it in the budget and management office -- but we need someone who really begins to track
strategically what's going on. I mean, I commend you for the work you're doing, but we need a
real thorough analysis of this, because there's no doubt in my mind what you've deducted is
correct and that is, when the county puts the budget together, just like when the City does, we try
to balance a series of things. It's no secret that we tried very hard to balance against the impact
to the single-family residences in our fire fee matter, and, I mean, we had to do that, with all due
respect to equal protection and due process and all of that. Local government has wide
flexibility. But I think the missing link is what you've identified and that is, there's nobody
standing up at county hall for the residents of the City of Miami because what is happening is
fine for the County Commissioners. Many of them I personally agree with, and worked closely
with, like Commissioner Moss. He's very clear. He doesn't want anymore cities incorporated in
his district, OK? That's down in Naranja, in Goulds, in Perrine. I don't have a problem with
that. But the problem is, you can't then shift the tax burden to protect those people because those
are your voters or those are the base or you're trying to create a financial disincentive to anybody
trying to incorporate, because if you incorporate you've got the things so artificially low, that no
one can compare. Do you really want to pay four more mils, or three more mils for the privilege
of saying you live in the city of Perrine or would you rather stay in unincorporated Dade County,
and that's what's going on. So what happens is, it happens on Miami, Miami Beach, Aventura,
Hialeah. Every time they sit down and look at the budget -- and my dear friend Commissioner
46 October 10, 2002
Charles Dusau was the one that really initiated this -- he and Commissioner Hawkins, who did a
wonderful job at what they were doing and that was to shift the burden wherever legal and
possible and legitimate and sometimes maybe not so legal and legitimate, to a situation where the
unincorporated Dade County taxes are much, much lower per household than in the incorporated
areas. It's not an attack on the City of Miami. It's really a shifting from unincorporated -- and,
of course, the best example is what I can't talk about, but that's in the area where you take
$90,000,000 out of a fee, put it in the general fund and then spend the money, you know, back to
subsidize that other area, so I just think what we need is either to engage a consultant to assist us
in this area or to designate a department that has the sort of strategic approach in long-term,
because it continues to come up.
Vice Chairman Winton: And I think that's an excellent --
Mr. Gimenez: We need to monitor the expenditures and see how they actually reduce the
millage for the fire rescue to make sure that somehow it's not subsidized by the general fund.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, for the good of the order, Mr. -- Madam Clerk, is it Mr.
Sierra? Mr. Sierra, who's an instructor, his class has come in very quietly. They are looking
attentive and they're watching these deliberations and I just wanted to acknowledge the
government class here at Booker T. Washington and thank them for coming in.
(APPLAUSE)
Vice Chairman Winton: Absolutely. Welcome.
15. EXPRESS COMMISSION'S SUPPORT OF RESTORATION PROJECT FOR GUSMAN
CENTER OF PERFORMING ARTS; REQUEST THAT MANAGER WORK WITH
DEPARTMENT OF OFF-STREET PARKING AND "FRIENDS OF GUSMAN HALL" TO
IDENTIFY FUNDS FOR COMPLETION OF SAID RESTORATION.
Vice Chairman Winton: Now, let's see. We have there's supposed to be a discussion on Gusman
Theatre. Is Rich Heisenbottle here for that or are we deferring that? Or is someone else doing
it? They're here, and how long is that discussion Rich?
Richard Heisenbottle: (INAUDIBLE).
Vice Chairman Winton: OK.
Art Noriega: Art Noriega, Miami Parking Authority. I had asked the Commissioner probably a
month or so ago to give us a brief opportunity to just update the Commission on all the work
we've done over the last two summers in Gusman. More dramatically and incredibly is the work
that's been done this summer, so I'm going to turn it over to Rich and let him give a brief
powerpoint presentation on all the work and the status of the overall capital projects at Gusman.
Vice Chairman Winton: Can we get these lights off? Anybody know how?
47 October 10, 2002
Mr. Noriega: And our tech fellows are supposed to have this on.
Mr. Heisenbottle: I guess we have a count down here. We had this working perfectly earlier and
it's going to work perfectly in your new Commission chamber when you finally get back to it
gentlemen.
Vice Chairman Winton: Great.
Mr. Heisenbottle: OK, let's start. As everyone here I'm sure knows, Gusman Center for the
Performing Arts, the Olympia Theatre at Gusman as we now call it, is a tremendous historical
and cultural resource for Miami, and it's also certainly a pivotal resource for the redevelopment
of downtown. As you can see, from these historic photographs, the theater has changed over the
years. It was built in 1926, it is on the National Register of Historic Places and it has served our
community's entertainment needs and cultural needs for the last 75 years. It was first a
prominent silent movie theatre, a vaudeville theatre, and was rescued in 1972 by Maurice
Gusman as the home of the Florida Philharmonic. Today it serves over 140 different cultural
organizations. In 1989 Gusman Management commenced a multi -phased restoration project
with capital support from the State of Florida, from Miami -Dade County and community support
as well. The first phase of that project, and the restoration goals and objectives for that project
was to restore the theatre to its original 1926 splendor, provide state-of-the-art theatrical,
mechanical and electrical systems, maximize patron convenience, comfort and safety and
maximize the usability for presenters and performers. In Phase One we did such improvements
as restroom renovations, dressing room renovations, infra -red sound systems for the
handicapped, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) access for the physically handicapped. We
did theatrical improvements, theatrical lighting system, which was in dire need of those
improvements.
(BELL RINGS)
Mr. Heisenbottle: More importantly, we began the process of replacing the air conditioning
system, which was also in dire need of replacement, so replace the chiller and the cooling tower
and the emergency generator. We went on to also do restoration aspects of the work. As any of
you who have driven by Flagler Street know, we have a new marquee on the building, which was
part of that. But we also restored the vestibule out front, and Flagler lobby, the patron's lounge,
and some auditorium balcony ceiling areas that were literally falling and caving in. The safety
improvements included things, such as the sprinkler system, the fire alarm systems, handrails and
house lighting improvements so folks could see their way around. Now commencing in the
summer of 2001, was Phase Two of all of this work, and that project cost nearly $2,000,000,
$1.958 million, and that included, the theatre re -roofing, because the theatre roof was leaking
terribly, and included some safety issues such as smoke hatch replacement, stage deck
replacement, and additional improvements to the air conditioning system because the duck works
needed cleaning and the building needed an energy management system to be more cost effective
in its operation. The summer of 2002, this summer, we commenced another $2,000,000 worth of
work and we have only worked over the summers here at the theatre so that we did not
discourage any of our performers and different performance groups that use the theatre, and this
summer we did one of the most spectacular restorations that we can begin to tell you about. The
48 October 10, 2002
decorative and historic repainting and plaster repair inside the auditorium, and as you can see
from the slide on the right hand side, the entire auditorium was scaffolded. We have new
architectural lighting throughout; we have a new theatrical lighting cove that is going to greatly
expand the theatrical capabilities of the theatre. We have projection booth improvements. The
stage will finally be air conditioned, so that the maestro does not have to sweat next time he's on
stage and there's also a tremendous amount of work in ductwork replacement in the attic; it was
asbestos containing, so that was a very challenging project and we look forward to you guys all
seeing it either at our grand opening on the 22nd or at your next Commission meeting. Planned
for next year are seating replacement, stage rigging replacement, a new audio system, more
plaster repair and decorative painting in the second avenue foyer and mezzanine areas, which are
now the desperate areas that need that sort of restoration, and new concession counters, as well
as carpet replacement and ADA access to the stage. The project would actually continue to go
on to 2004, when, if we're properly funded, we would be able to complete the project, and that
would include such item as Flagler lobby floor tile restoration and window restoration and
termite treatment of the building -- something that's desperately necessary -- and fire escape
repairs and enhancements. So, as you can see in the slide on the right, many areas of the theatre
are still in desperate need of plaster repair and paint, which has been deteriorating for the last 30
years. In summary, to date, the project's sources of funding have included $1.375 million from
the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, $510,000 from the State of Florida Historical
Resources, $3.893 million from Miami -Dade County Cultural Affairs, $150,000 in community
support, totaling to date, $5,928,000.
Commissioner Teele: Where's the off-street parking now?
Mr. Heisenbottle: Hmm?
Commissioner Gonzalez: That's a good question.
Mr. Heisenbottle: He'll talk about that in a minute. Let me conclude here. To complete the
project we still need $2,000,000 worth of funding. In fact, $2,020,000 if we've estimated things
correctly, and I will tell you that this summer we did estimate things correctly and this project
came in right on budget. We have a pending grant that we feel very comfortable with, with the
State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, but that will be the last grant that we get -- probably
the last grant that we get from them, so if we assume that that grant is coming to us, we will
probably still be $1,500,000 short for completing our project: which brings us to a discussion
that we would like to have with you. Commencing today and then continuing in the future the
possibility of getting $500,000 from the Preservation Bond money that we spoke of earlier for
completion of the project, so with that, I will turn it back to Art.
Mr. Noriega: We appreciate the opportunity to make the presentation, update you on all the
work at Gusman. We look forward to having all of you at your event on the 22nd; it's sort of our
grand re -opening. Our actual first event is the Florida Philharmonic on the 15th. Our goal long-
term is to try to seek some money, roughly in the range of probably about $500,000 through the
Historic Preservation money the City has available. We look for the opportunity to make a more
formal presentation in that regard in the near future in the next couple of months, when it would
be deemed more appropriate
49 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: Well actually, isn't there another issue to make the Gusman extremely
viable long-term and that is, being able to expand kind of the backstage area and re-engineer the
loading areas? Isn't that a major impediment to booking the appropriate kind of shows that you
could put into Gusman?
Mr. Heisenbottle: Commissioner, you're absolutely correct. One of the things that's been a
detriment to the theatre's operation for years is that we have to park tractor -trailers actually in the
street to unload for a show. It requires and load them down an alleyway that runs 100 -some feet
and squeeze them into the theatre. We have a plan that we had proposed awhile back to actually
provide two off-street loading births for major tractor -trailers that use the adjoining side
property. That allowed us to do two things. One, it allows us to expand the stage and two; it
allows us to have very convenient and very cost-effective load -in of trucks for shows, so that is
something --
Vice Chairman Winton: And are you all in --
Mr. Heisenbottle: -- we're proposing --
Vice Chairman Winton: -- negotiations with the adjoining landowner in regards to
(UNINTELLIGIBLE). Is that correct?
Mr. Noriega: We have met with the adjoining landowner and his architect. Explained to him the
kind of needs that we have for the theatre and have been seeking his cooperation in trying to
implement that, along with the redevelopment of his parcel. We expect to be back in touch with
the landowner and the architect to see what they've come up with within the next month or so.
Vice Chairman Winton: Great. OK. Well, keep me posted on that because I'm very --
Mr. Noriega: It's important.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. Thank you very much for the presentation.
Mr. Noriega: Sure.
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, again, I don't want to be redundant, but I think historic
presentation is one of the few things that we can do that nobody else can do, and everyone that
comes after us has got to do their part, because once you tear down, once you destroy, once you
allow, it's gone for good. I would like to pass a resolution expressing the sense of this
Commission to support the Gusman restoration and to request that the manager to work with
Off -Street Parking and the Gusman Friends, et cetera to come up with a complete funding plan
for the completion, and I would like to so move that.
Vice Chairman Winton: We have a motion on the table.
50 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: And a second. Is there any further discussion on that?
Commissioner Teele: On the item, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, I think Gusman is going to be
done and I think Off -Street Parking deserves a lot of credit and a lot of people in the City deserve
credit, because there was a move, and I want to remind you, two years ago the move was to turn
it over to the county and to transfer and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, and there was some of us who
resisted that very strongly and not popular with the downtown people who matter, but we
resisted that. I think we have an obligation, but I also think that we have an obligation to ensure
that children that live throughout our diverse community have the opportunity to visit Gusman.
One of the problems that we have at Gusman -- one of the, not problems, but one of the facts is
that Gusman is not a community venue. It is a professional, semi-professional professional
venue, so you don't have cheap seats, so to speak. I would hope that the manager would
consider providing to Gusman, no matter where the source of funds, in a forgivable loan,
whatever we do, with a view towards over a five or ten year period of time providing for greater
access for community, schools within the City of Miami and particular venues, as opposed to
giving an out-and-out grant and then we wind up -- and I realize that has operational kinds of
issues and operational kinds of things -- but I mean, I would be willing to step up for a
significant amount of money if it were in the form -- and this is just one consideration -- of a
forgivable loan. In other words, as certain community activities take place, it's forgiven. As
opposed to just giving them the money and walking away, and that, I think, helps us with two
issues -- public access and the need for the City to participate in historic preservation.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman?
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I'd like to ask a couple of questions. One is, how many functions a
year do we have at that theatre?
Mr. Heisenbottle: Mike, can you come forward?
Mr. Noriega: Yeah, Mike.
Mr. Heisenbottle: Mike Whartow is the General Manager at Gusman.
Mike Whartow: Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Mike Whartow and you're looking for --
Vice Chairman Winton: Sorry.
Commissioner Gonzalez: We can't hear you.
Vice Chairman Winton: Would you just give your name and address, please?
51 October 10, 2002
Mr. Whartow: It's Mike Whartow. I'm the General Manager for the Gusman Theatre.
Vice Chairman Winton: Your address, please?
Mr. Whartow: It's 1811 Biscayne Boulevard.
Vice Chairman Winton: Thank you.
Mr. Whartow: The events we have at Gusman, like you said, some of them are professional;
some are semi-professional. We have everything from the Florida Philharmonic, to Gospel
shows to maximum dance. We also do children shows there. Currently, we do a couple of
children shows where we'll bring in children from Miami -Dade Community College -- I'm sorry
-- Miami -Dade County Schools throughout the year. We'll bring those kids in to see a children
show from a promoter right now.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. But my question -- I don't really want to, you know, hear the
particulars of which organizations and how many groups. How many profitable shows do we
have at that theatre every year? Last year, for example, or this year. We're almost finishing the
year. How many functions did we have at that theatre where promoters pay the City of Miami or
the theatre to present the show there? That's my point.
Mr. Whartow: Last year we had 54 of those events.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Pardon me?
Mr. Whartow: Fifty-four.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Fifty?
Mr. Whartow: Fifty-four, yes, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Five -zero?
Mr. Whartow: Five -four.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Five -four.
Mr. Whartow: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Right. Thank you.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. Any other questions or comments? Being none, we have a motion
on the table. No further discussion. All in favor, "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
52 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: Like signed, opposed? Motion carries.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 1122
A MOTION EXPRESSING THE CITY COMMISSION'S SUPPORT OF THE
RESTORATION PROJECT FOR THE GUSMAN CENTER OF THE
PERFORMING ARTS; FURTHER REQUESTING THAT THE CITY
MANAGER WORK WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF OFF-STREET PARKING
AND "FRIENDS OF GUSMAN HALL" TO IDENTIFY FUNDS FOR THE
COMPLETION OF SAID RESTORATION.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Chairman Tomas Regalado
16. WITHDRAW PROPOSED EMERGENCY ORDINANCE TO AMEND ORDINANCE NO.
12279, ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS ORDINANCE TO INCREASE CERTAIN
OPERATIONAL AND BUDGETARY APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003.
Vice Chairman Winton: Three. OK. Didn't we already -- when Commissioner Regalado left he
said three. Huh?
Commissioner Teele: Is there anything we can run through now and resolve before we leave
that's not controversial?
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, we probably ought to leave the CDBG stuff until Commissioner
Regalado gets here.
Commissioner Teele: Item No. 9 is this ordinance of second reading. Tow trucks. Are the tow
people here today?
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Yes, sir. We'd like to withdraw Item 8-A.
Commissioner Teele: You want to withdraw 8-A?
53 October 10, 2002
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: So move, Mr. Chairman.
Vice Chairman Winton: We have a motion and a second to withdraw 8-A. Any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 1123
A MOTION TO WITHDRAW PROPOSED EMERGENCY ORDINANCE TO
AMEND ORDINANCE NO. 12279, THE ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS
ORDINANCE TO INCREASE CERTAIN OPERATIONAL AND
BUDGETARY APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Commissioner Sanchez: Nine is a second reading.
Vice Chairman Winton: Like signed, opposed. Motion carries. What'd you say, Commissioner
Sanchez?
Commissioner Sanchez: Nine -- Mr. City Manager, would you like to withdraw number nine or
not?
Mr. Gimenez: No, not nine.
54 October 10, 2002
17. AUTHORIZE MANAGER TO WAIVE $1,900 IN CONNECTION WITH 2002 HERALD
HUNT TO BE HELD AT BAYFRONT PARK.
Vice Chairman Winton: Oh, I'm sorry. We have somebody sitting -- excuse me, we have
somebody sitting in the audience on my other district thing, which is the Harold Hunt and they're
looking for a waiver of fees from the City. This isn't the waiver of fees for Bayfront Park.
Commissioner Teele: Not to exceed -- isn't it $15,000?
Vice Chairman Winton: No, I think -- I have $1,900. Is that right, Mr. Manager?
Commissioner Gonzalez: Nineteen hundred dollars?
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes.
Mr. Gimenez: I'm sorry, sir.
Commissioner Teele: I would so move.
Vice Chairman Winton: It's the typical way we do for everybody in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Gonzalez: Move the waiver.
Commissioner Teele: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Being none,
all in favor, "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chairman Winton: Like sign, opposed. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Ok.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 1124
A MOTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO WAIVE FEES IN
THE AMOUNT OF $1,900 IN CONNECTION WITH THE 2002 HERALD
HUNT TO BE HELD AT BAYFRONT PARK.
55 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, there is a homeland -- Item 11 is an ordinance for second
reading and that's non -controversial.
Vice Chairman Winton: Nine, ten.
Commissioner Sanchez: Are you going to move Mr. --
Vice Chairman Winton: Actually, Commissioner Teele, I actually re -read this ordinance, so
there will be some discussion that I want to have.
Commissioner Sanchez: OK.
Commissioner Teele: Then let's have the discussion --
Commissioner Sanchez: We'll get back to it.
Vice Chairman Winton: You want to have this discussion --
Commissioner Teele: Let's have that discussion at 5 o'clock.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK, fine.
18. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND
ENTITLED: "FEMA/USAR GRANT AWARD (FY 2002)" FOR OPERATION OF SAME,
$150,000, CONSISTING OF GRANT ALLOCATED BY FEDERAL EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FOR PURCHASE OF EQUIPMENT, PROVISION OF
TRAINING, MANAGEMENT, AND ADMINISTRATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA URBAN
SEARCH AND RESCUE (USAR) PROGRAM.
Commissioner Sanchez: How about 12? It's a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management
Agency) grant.
Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. Somebody move it.
56 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: I'll stay for that one.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Move number 12.
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: Got a motion and a second on 12. Discussion? Being none, all in
favor, "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chairman Winton: Madam Clerk, roll call, please.
An Ordinance Entitled --
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ESTABLISHING A
NEW SPECIAL REVENUE FUND ENTITLED: " FEMA/USAR GRANT
AWARD (FY 2002)" FOR THE OPERATION OF SAME IN THE AMOUNT OF
$150,000 CONSISTING OF A GRANT ALLOCATED BY THE FEDERAL
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FOR THE PURCHASE
OF EQUIPMENT, PROVISION OF TRAINING, MANAGEMENT, AND
ADMINISTRATION OF THE SOUTH FLORIDA URBAN SEARCH AND
RESCUE (USAR) PROGRAM; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
ACCEPT THE GRANT AWARD AND TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY
DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR
ACCEPTANCE OF THE GRANT; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION
AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.
was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, and was
passed on first reading by title only, by the following vote:
AYES: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Priscilla Thompson (City Clerk): The ordinance passes on first reading, 4/0.
57 October 10, 2002
19. AN ORDINANCE, AS AMENDED, REFLECTING THE APPLICATION TO
NONCONSENSUAL TOWING OF VEHICLES FROM PRIVATE PROPERTY; SETTING
MAXIMUM TOW RATES ALLOWED BY THE CITY FOR POLICE DISPATCHED
TOWING AND WRECKER SERVICE FOR PRIVATE VEHICLES.
Vice Chairman Winton: Y' all want to do 9, second reading?
Commissioner Sanchez: Nine?
Vice Chairman Winton: Tow truck.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Move Number 9.
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: Got a motion and a second. This is an ordinance.
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): It's second reading, so it's a public hearing.
Vice Chairman Winton: Anyone from the public would like to speak on Item Number 9? It's a
public hearing. Being none, we'll close the public hearing. Mr. City Attorney, would you please
read the ordinance? Madam Clerk, would you call the roll, please.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): The ordinance is adopted, on second reading, 4/0.
58 October 10, 2002
An ordinance Entitled --
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
CHAPTER 42, ARTICLE IV, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "POLICE, TOWING AND
IMMOBILIZATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES, TOWING," BY AMENDING
DIVISION 2 TO CLEARLY REFLECT ITS APPLICATION TO THE
NONCONSENSUAL TOWING OF VEHICLES FROM PRIVATE PROPERTY
AND BY ADDING DIVISION 4, POLICE TOWS, SETTING THE MAXIMUM
TOW RATES ALLOWED BY THE CITY FOR POLICE DISPATCHED
TOWING AND WRECKER SERVICE FOR PRIVATE VEHICLES AND
SETTING AN ADMINISTRATIVE FEE IN THE AMOUNT OF $25 AND TO
RATIFY AND CONFIRM ANY ADMINISTRATIVE CHARGES INCLUDED
IN THE MAXIMUM TOWING FEES INCLUDED IN ANY CONTRACT OR
AGREEMENT IN EFFECT IN THE CITY OF MIAMI; FURTHER
DECLARING THE ADMINISTRATIVE FEE TO BE LEGAL AND VALID
AND TO RATIFY, VALIDATE AND CONFIRM IN ALL RESPECTS THE
ADMINISTRATIVE FEES IMPOSED PRIOR TO THE ADOPTION OF THIS
ORDINANCE; MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING SECTIONS 42-110
AND 42-119 OF SAID CODE; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION
AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE
EFFECTIVE DATE.
was passed on its first reading, by title, at the meeting of September 11, 2002, was taken up for
its second and final reading, by title and adoption. On motion of Commissioner Gonzalez,
seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the ordinance was thereupon given its second and final
reading by title, and was passed and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Said ordinance was designated Ordinance No. 12285.
20. DIRECT ADMINISTRATION TO BRING BACK REPORT CONCERNING RENTAL OF
VEHICLES FOR POLICE DEPARTMENT'S OFFICE OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS.
Commissioner Teele: Is the chief here? Is the police chief here?
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Yes, sir.
59 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: While we've got the tow truck issue, can we just get clarification on the
rent a car issue and is this a raffle? Is it an auction? Is it a bid? What's the compromise here,
Mr. Chief? Mr. Attorney?
Raul Martinez (Chief of Police): Yes. Good afternoon. Raul Martinez, Chief of Police.
Commissioners, at the last Commission meeting, the Commission approved a rental car contract
awarding the bid to two different companies. The reason we have done it that way is we needed
cars that were assigned to Internal Affairs unit to be picked up from a different rental car
company than the general run of the mill cars assigned to investigators. We hope right now to
split the bid to give the Internal Affairs cars to the second bidder maybe in the area of 15, 16, 17
cars. That is the rough category, and the bulk of the cars to be given to the lowest bidder on that
bid process.
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): Commissioner?
Commissioner Teele: But could I do just one thing? Could I ask respectfully for the city chief
and the purchasing officer, the attorney to meet and to give us a little bit of a report about this?
Because what we don't want to do is create some rules that are inconsistent with our bidding.
Vice Chairman Winton: Purchasing.
Commissioner Teele: Our purchasing procedures, and whatever's done needs to be done clear
and needs to be done openly and I would really appreciate if we come back from lunch, maybe
around 5 o'clock at the end of the meeting, if we could just get a report on that.
Vice Chairman Winton: I think that's absolutely appropriate and I didn't inquire about it the last
time when it came up when there were three companies and I don't remember who the top
company was, but it was clear when you looked at the documentation that there was one
company that was below the other two companies and we were accepting all of them and I don't
know why I let that go. You know, I just wasn't (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Teele: See normally Johnny, normally the low bidder gets the first right. When
they do the demolition contracts in the City, and I didn't understand it, but they go first to the
lowest bidder. If that bidder is not available to do the j ob --
Vice Chairman Winton: You go to --
Commissioner Teele: -- then the next bidder does it at their price. They don't have to lower
their price, because if you let one bidder lower the price, then you're going to turn around and let
the other bidder lower the price.
Vice Chairman Winton: Right.
Commissioner Teele: I think, you know, we don't need to make up rules as we go. It needs to
be very open, very transparent and whatever we're doing we ought to just state it on the record.
60 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: Right. And the rules, and I thought we had rules, and that's -- the rules
ought to be, so you're suggestion is perfect, Commissioner Teele, and we'll come back with the
answer to that question at 5 o'clock.
21. DISCUSSION CONCERNING IMPOLITENESS OF SOME CITY POLICE OFFICERS
TOWARDS CITY RESIDENTS.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman.
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I'd like to address the issue for the police while we have him here and
this doesn't have anything to do with rental cars or any of this source. But it has to do with the
attitude of some of your officers out on the street, and I wonder if maybe you should check your
policy to see if you have some kind of a training on education on how to treat citizens. Two
weeks ago, my daughter had a very unfortunate incident at Coconut Grove trying to find out how
to get to a place, ok, and the officer that addressed her was very disrespectful, ok, and you know
about the impact. Now you know who that officer is. Tell that officer that my daughter is not
Commissioner Gonzalez. That I am Commissioner Gonzalez and if the officer wants a
photograph I'd be more than happy to send him one, so she can remember my face, ok? This
person. Now trying to come to this meeting I got lost, I stopped next to a police car. There was
an officer with the head inside the trunk of the car and I said, "Officer?" "Yes." "Could you
please tell me how can I get to Booker T. Washington?" "Well, go straight, make a left, make a
right," without looking at my face. I mean, you know, is that the way that we're treating people
out there? I mean, is that the kind of training that we give to our officers? That they don't even
lift the face to see who's the person that is talking to them? Let me tell you. First of all, if it
wouldn't have been someone that wanted to kill that officer, they would have killed him, because
she never took her head out of the trunk of the car to look at my face to give me directions how
to get to the Commission meeting, and I don't know what the problem is, but I believe that,
Chief, Mr. Manager, you're going to have to, I don't know, maybe send them to Junior High
School again or Miami -Dade Community College. I don't know. Maybe we should start an
academy on courtesy, how to treat our citizens and, you know, because everybody that is out
there on the streets are not criminals, OK? Even criminals are supposed to be treated with
decency and respect.
Mr. Martinez: Commissioner --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Thank you, chief.
Mr. Martinez: Can I respond? I am aware of the incident. We're still looking at the incident.
Obviously that's not the type of conduct that we want our officers to be involved in. Most
officers are not involved in the type of conduct. In fact, during the Grand Prix we went out of
our way to tell our officers to be polite, to be informative for all the mess that was downtown.
That was a lot better than we expected there to be. We do have a course that we hire --
Mr. Gimenez: Chief, chief, chief, don't take this wrong, OK?
61 October 10, 2002
Mr. Martinez: No. I'm not.
Mr. Gimenez: Don't take this badly, but that's exactly the way it should be every day, and I got
a lot of compliments from people about how helpful the police department was and all that, but I
also get on that event they were great. But the Commissioner's absolutely right. Some of
your officers do have attitude problems. If you could just instill what happened at the Grand Prix
to be every day, I think, you know, it's going to go a long way. I mean --
Mr. Martinez: Mr. Manager, what I was going to say -- there was a course that was approved by
this Commission, which is given by the Kingian Non -Violence group that has to do with the area
of courtesy. That is the main thing that they were talking about and we instill that on officers.
Their number one complaint that we get on our police officers is not corruption or excessive
force, it falls in the area of courtesy, so therefore, that's why we're focusing a lot on that area,
because once we turn off the citizen from that they're always going to have that impression of
the police department by what one officer did incorrectly.
Vice Chairman Winton: So Chief --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Don't take -- sorry.
Vice Chairman Winton: Go ahead.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Don't take it personal, but it is, you know, something and then
when your Assistant, Major Casedilla, I don't know what his rank is, he calls me back. He had
the courtesy of calling me back and I really appreciate that gesture. But he says, Commissioner
we already found out who the officer is and it seems that the officer has a problem of attitude
because it's not the only complaint that we have. Well, we need to do something about it. I
mean, we're having complaints, what are we going to do about it? I mean, what are you going to
do about it? It's your department. It's your problem.
Vice Chairman Winton: That leads to my -- when are you going to start this training program on
courtesy?
Mr. Martinez: The training program started I think in August and we sent about 20 officers, you
know, two times a month to this training and they're picked randomly (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
police department so we have a good mixture of police officers and it's something that you
approve I think --
Vice Chairman Winton: How long will it take to get all the officers to that?
Mr. Martinez: It will take about a year, you know, because you can't send all the officers
training at the same time obviously. But, you know --
Vice Chairman Winton: Right.
62 October 10, 2002
Mr. Martinez: -- it'll take about a year for the whole cycle. For the whole police department to
go through.
Commissioner Gonzalez: On top of that, you know, to finish -- you know what really bothers
me the most? That the officer that had the incident with my daughter was a lieutenant.
Vice Chairman Winton: Was what?
Commissioner Gonzalez: A lieutenant, OK, and the officer that just treated me like a piece of
garbage was a sergeant. All right? If that is the command of the troops out there, let me tell you,
I can't blame the troops for anything they do because if that's the leadership that they have, well,
God help them.
Vice Chairman Winton: And Chief, you know, I had my hum little incident in front of my
building a few weeks ago where I was almost out of my car to get arrested over the same kind of
thing. So, you know, I think you're hearing a message that this is a very important issue and we
hope you get this addressed promptly. I do, however, want to put on the record that your police
department couldn't have been better during the whole race week activities. I called you on the
phone on, I believe it was Thursday morning.
Mr. Martinez: I tried to call you back.
Vice Chairman Winton: Left you a message and said, I'm downtown, traffic's a mess, but we
have police officers at every single intersection. They're even out of their cars directing traffic.
Usually at the intersection just watching us all block traffic. They did an outstanding -- then the
next day there's no traffic. I mean, they really got it organized. I watched them and I watched
them a lot. They were helpful. They were courteous. They were smiling. They were giving
people directions. They were patient. They were stern when they needed to be stern. They were
patient when they needed to I mean, they were outstanding. So I just want to put on the
record that I was very, very proud of City of Miami Police Department and those officers that
worked the whole race week thing and hope that all of your officers can learn, as the manager
said, that should be the model, not the exception and I hope we see more of that. But tell them
all I said thank you very much. They did a great j ob.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: I was on Miami Beach with some dignitaries from Little Rock, Arkansas
that happened to be here during race week. They, and with two Commissioners of Miami Beach
at a gala affair for a cancer institute and they could not have been more complimentary about the
conduct of the police officers downtown during race week, and the conversation then went into
why is Miami still in so many of the club people coming into the club districts, and one of the
Commissioners acknowledged that they've got to go back and revisit. The difference between
the way the club owners are saying the City of Miami is treating its patrons from Miami Beach,
and so, I'm very much concerned about the issues that Commissioner Gonzalez is raising and I
63 October 10, 2002
really would urge you all to expedite the Kingian, if you can come up with an accelerated way to
do it, because I've observed the same things, and I've told you that privately, when you have
officers who are there who don't know and don't look you in the eye, but I think there's some
good things going on, but I think the good things that are going on are more like a management
thrust. You know, we know we're trying to move the clubs from Miami Beach to an appropriate
area in downtown Miami that's rundown warehouses. We know about the Grand Prix and I
think what Commissioner Gonzalez is saying that I want to be in support of is we probably need
to have a singular management thrust that we're going to designate one month or something and
we're going to make everybody get off the desk jobs and whatever and go out and be nice to
people and kill everybody with kindness. I shouldn't use that analogy with police, but to really
blow everybody over with kindness and I do think that that's something that Commissioner
Gonzalez has made before that I want to be in support of. That we ought to look at a high
management initiative to do that.
22. ACCEPT CITY CLERK'S CERTIFICATION OF UNOPPOSED MEMBERS TO
OVERTOWN ADVISORY BOARD.
Vice Chairman Winton: Chief, thank you. Commissioners I have a meeting that I have to
Commissioner Teele: I would like to move Item 16. It's the appointment of the election of the
only four people that qualify for the seven vacancies in Overtown.
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, you know, I didn't understand. It says here in the top memo, it
says the City at large has to ratify the following five.
Commissioner Teele: There were seven vacancies.
Vice Chairman Winton: Where's the following five? I can't figure that out.
Commissioner Teele: There were four names that is, let me just read them into the record.
Vice Chairman Winton: Thank you, please.
Commissioner Teele: LaPrincycsessAzatta Bess, Dale Bryan, Dorothy Fields and Arnold Reed.
One, two, three, four. Those are the four names that I move.
Vice Chairman Winton: But this says following five and I can't find any of them. Oh. Is this
the one -- the ones up above? So --
Commissioner Teele: The following five were the vacancies that were created. Those were
vacancies created by death and resignation and whatever.
Vice Chairman Winton: Just so the resolution is clear, because this memo isn't going to follow
what you're saying and I just want to make sure that --
64 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: I think there's a revised memo. I think that's -- there's a revised memo
says 16 revised. There were seven vacancies. These are the four people who qualified. Three
slots, no one ran for, and I think the clerk will be meeting with the Overtown Advisory Board
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. I've got the revised one now.
Commissioner Teele: Announcing the --
Vice Chairman Winton: So I've got the revised. So you're motion is to accept these four.
(BELL RINGS)
Commissioner Teele: Yes, sir.
Priscilla Thompson (City Clerk): I'm sorry, Vice Chair.
Vice Chairman Winton: We have a motion and a second. Yes?
Ms. Thompson: We also need a four -fifth on the employment requirement and Ms. Bess is an
employee of Metro -Dade County. So we need a waiver on that.
Commissioner Teele: She's with the police department?
Ms. Thompson: Yes, she is.
Commissioner Teele: I would move the waiver.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: So the resolution is to accept these four and waive the --
Commissioner Teele: Accept these three and accept the fourth with a waiver.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. That's a motion. We need a second.
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: Got a motion and a second. Further discussion, being none, all in favor,
aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chairman Winton: Like signed, opposed. Motion carries.
65 October 10, 2002
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1125
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION RATIFYING THE
APPOINTMENT OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE
OVERTOWN ADVISORY BOARD.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Winton: Come back at -- are we coming back at three or 3:30?
Commissioner Gonzalez: Come back at three.
Vice Chairman Winton: Thank you. Three o'clock.
THEREUPON, THE CITY COMMISSION WENT INTO RECESS AT 12:33 PM AND
RECONVENED AT 3:12, WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION FOUND
TO BE PRESENT.
Chairman Regalado: The October 29th Commission meeting will be on a Tuesday, at the Manuel
Artime Theater, 900 Southwest 1st Street. The next meeting November 19th, Tuesday, at the
Gusman Hall, and Commissioner Sanchez had some items in his blue page.
23. BRIEF COMMENTS REGARDING UPCOMING UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI FOOTBALL
GAME AGAINST FLORIDA STATE AT ORANGE BOWL AND NEED FOR
ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE THAT FACILITY IS PROPERLY INVENTORIED WITH
SUPPLIES (I.E. WATER) FOR EXPECTED CROWDS.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman, do we have Christina Abrams? Is she in or is she back?
Christina?
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): She's here.
66 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: As we all are aware, that this Saturday the University of Miami plays
Florida State University and they're anticipating a sellout crowd at the Orange Bowl. I have had
several calls --
Vice Chairman Winton: Go Canes'.
Commissioner Sanchez: I have had several calls from the University of Miami, including some
other individuals that have called concerned that -- to make sure that we don't have the same
incident we had last year with running out of water and stuff like that. They anticipate being 90
degrees and you know you're always going to have a sellout crowd, so we just wanted to make
sure that we do everything within our powers to make sure that we don't have the same problem
we had last year.
Christina Abrams: Yes, Commissioner. Christina Abrams.
Commissioner Sanchez: And I just want to know if they have done something to prepare
themselves to make sure that it doesn't happen.
Ms. Abrams: Yes, Commissioner. We had an operations meeting on Wednesday with all
segments of the City operation including concessions and they have enough inventory to support
a crowd of 82,000.
Commissioner Sanchez: Thank you.
Ms. Abrams: You're welcome.
Mr. Gimenez: But Christina, this is a day game. I mean, this is not like a night game so there's
going to be a lot more necessity for water and drinks and all that. Are they taking that into
consideration?
Ms. Abrams: Yes, sir, they have.
Mr. Gimenez: OK.
Chairman Regalado: OK. That's it?
Commissioner Sanchez: No. I had --
Mr. Gimenez: Go Canes.
24. CODESIGNATE SOUTHWEST 3RD STREET FROM SOUTHWEST 22ND AVENUE TO
SOUTHWEST 27TH AVENUE AS "CALLE CARLOS D-MANT".
Commissioner Sanchez: I have a resolution. It's a resolution to co -designate Southwest 3rd
Street from Southwest 22nd Avenue to Southwest 27th Avenue as "Calle Carlos D'Mant."
67 October 10, 2002
Further directing the City Manager to instruct the city clerk to transmit a copy of this resolution
to the herein designated office. This has gone through all the necessary channels that it needed
to go. There is no fiscal impact. It's all coming from private donations. Therefore, I move this
resolution.
Vice Chairman Winton: What am I looking at Joe?
Commissioner Sanchez: It's a resolution just naming a street after Carlos D'Mant. It went
through the co -designee committee and of course it comes back for our final approval and just a
key note here, that basically, there is no fiscal impact to the city of Miami.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1126
A MOTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION TO CODESIGNATE
SOUTHWEST 3RD STREET FROM SOUTHWEST 22ND AVENUE TO
SOUTHWEST 27TH AVENUE AS "CALLE CARLOS D'MANT".
Upon being seconded by Vice Chairman Winton, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
25. AUTHORIZE $212,100 FOR EQUIPMENT AT MOORE PARK
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: Chairman, under the items that I have the discussion on Moore Park. Is
Mr. Nachlinger and Mr. Rollason -- and I don't want to take a final action until Commissioner
Gonzalez is here because let me state clearly that this portion of Moore Park appears to be more
in Commissioner Gonzalez' district than District 5. However, based upon the Park's Advisory
Committee and the park's director, and the community at large, suffice it to say that the park
68 October 10, 2002
belongs to everybody and I'm prepared to support the earmarking of dollars in the amount, as I
understand it, Mr. Director it's $212,000?
Al Ruder (Director, Parks and Recreation): Yes, Albert Ruder. An amount not to exceed
$212,100.
Commissioner Teele: And just so that the record is clear, you all are suggesting that the park
needs seven picnic benches and picnic tables, three 10 -row bleachers with concrete slab, two 10 -
row bleachers, one for the track field and one for the baseball field and five shade structures for
bleachers at the track and field facility.
Vice Chairman Winton: Five what?
Commissioner Teele: Shade structures. To shield us from the sun.
Frank Rollason (Assistant City Manager): That is correct.
Vice Chairman Winton: Is there trees or is that a building?
Mr. Rollason: No. There's some shade canopies that are out now. The city of Pinecrest has
used some over some of their tot lot type things and it allows the wind to go through, but it's a
fabric that gives you some considerable shade and those things are right out in the, you know,
dead of the sun when you get around the track field and the baseball.
Vice Chairman Winton: Are we also though -- I'm sorry Commissioner Teele -- but are we also
planting shade trees around the bleachers, you know, the side and the back so we create natural
shade as well?
Mr. Rollason: We have some of those in some of the parks that are there. What happens is in
some of the places where we go to put these bleachers, the trees become an obstruction to the
lighting --
Vice Chairman Winton: Right.
Mr. Rollason: -- for the field when you're playing the games at night. But with the shade
structure we could control that over the bleacher area.
Vice Chairman Winton: At Roberto Clemente the bleachers there have a lot of shade trees and it
just makes such a huge difference.
Mr. Rollason: Yes.
Vice Chairman Winton: And it looks good, so -- I'm sorry, Commissioner Teele.
Commissioner Teele: No, not at all. Now Mr. Director, Mr. Manager, as I said, this area is
technically in the district of Commissioner Gonzalez, but I'm assuming that you all have
69 October 10, 2002
communicated with Commissioner Gonzalez and he has no objections or he doesn't plan to
spend the money this way.
Mr. Rollason: Commissioner, I have not done that. It was an item that --
Commissioner Teele: Well, there was discussion on the dais, and I told the Commissioner --
Mr. Rollason: Yes. To put it on the blue sheet and bring it back.
Commissioner Teele: --and of course I just left the barbershop and the last thing my barber said
to me as I left, make sure you get the bleachers in Moore Park and that's a member of the Park
Advisory Committee, Mr. Armbrister, so what is the appropriate place to find these funds? Was
there money earmarked in the bond proceeds for Moore Park?
Mr. Rollason: There is some money. About $1,000,000 for Moore Park itself that can come out
of there directly or it could come out of --
Commissioner Teele: Well, what I'm trying to do is this. Because Commissioner Gonzalez was
not here when this was done -- and I want to just make everybody clear on what the process was
-- Over and above the so-called district allocations were categorical allocations to various parks
and facilities. Moore Park was one of those that we put in. I was very instrumental in putting it
in. It does not come out of your district allocation and it doesn't come out of, quote, "the District
5 allocation." There is a Moore Park allocation, if you follow what I'm saying. That has nothing
to do with the $5,000,000 Quality of Life and the --
Commissioner Gonzalez: It's probably similar to Maceo Park allocation, isn't it?
Commissioner Teele: Yeah. But there's a Maceo Park allocation.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Yeah. There is a park allocation. OK.
Mr. Rollason: That are covered in the ordinance.
Commissioner Teele: It's not a park allocation. Each park had a definitive, not each and every
park, but each park that was earmarked had a definitive allocation that is over and above the so-
called district allocation.
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: And so what I'm trying to get is your mutual support for using $212,000
of the -- was it $1,000,000?
Mr. Rollason: $1.1 million and some of these items fall right into that overall --
Commissioner Teele: Of the $1.1 million that was earmarked for Moore Park and to authorize
the management to move forward with the expenditure of those dollars.
70 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: Definitely. As I said here before, I support parks 100 percent and
even though the park -- a lot of people in my district go to the park because all they have to do is
just cross the street to go to the park, so I --
Commissioner Teele: In the morning, I will tell you this. It's an interesting mix. It's right next
to a water and sewer -- Dade County Water and Sewer facility and in the morning the people
who work there, who are largely Hispanic, are among the largest users of the park in the late
morning. In the early, early morning most of the users of the park are African-American. Now
the parking lot, which is free, is full of people from Water and Sewer, but that's another story.
Mr. Rollason: Yeah.
Commissioner Teele: So I would move or second the $212,100 as recommended by the Director
as being needed activities in the Moore Park from the Moore Park allocation. So moved.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I second that.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second on Moore Park. All in favor, say
LL "
aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1127
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF EQUIPMENT FOR MOORE PARK,
IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $212,100, FROM THE $1.1 MILLION OF
FUNDS EARMARKED AND ALLOCATED FOR MOORE PARK IN THE
FISCAL BUDGET.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
71 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Commissioner Teele: And secondly, Mr. Ruder, on the issue, would you all please come back
and look at Gibson Park? We had the successful Teele Bowl last week, in which we had
standing room only in the Gibson Park and it couldn't have been better for me, because of the
Optimists of Model City versus the Optimists of Overtown and I won. The score was a tie. It's a
political decision there, but the sun is absolutely unbearable because in the early afternoon all the
bleachers are on the east side, the sun is in the west. Is there any kind of shade cover that could
be provided in the Gibson Park area?
Mr. Ruder: Yes. We can use the same shade cover that we're proposing for this park. We can
look at that for the bleachers at Gibson.
Commissioner Teele: Well I would request that you all would come back at the next meeting. If
you would place this on the agenda as a discussion item from Gibson Park for the shade
coverage, and even more bleachers. Because, I mean, people were sitting on the ground and
sitting on top of the library, believe it or not, on the roof of the library all around there, because
there's no place for the Overtown Optimists and the --
Mr. Ruder: Yeah, and just in case you all know, we just redid that whole field and the sports
lights --
Commissioner Teele: We know. The field was beautiful.
Mr. Ruder: The sport lights are brand new.
Commissioner Teele: The lights are great, but there's no place for people to sit, particularly -- I
mean, we've got a few bleachers there, but it was unbearable. So I would make that request.
72 October 10, 2002
26. DIRECT MANAGER TO AWARD STUDENTS THAT PARTICIPATED IN CELL
PHONE TOWERS ESSAY CONTEST WITH TICKETS TO HAUNTED HOUSE OF
HORRORS.
Commissioner Teele: Finally, Mr. Chairman, at the last meeting we had the presentation from
the kids and the school, and I hate to bring this up, Mr. Manager, but, you know, again it's one of
those things that I think shouldn't come before the Commission. We received a letter saying that
the children and their classmates would represent 100 kids for the -- what is it? Haunted Horror
or House of Horror?
Chairman Regalado: Yeah, the Commission directed that they will be given --
Commissioner Teele: But those are not against my allocation. Those are another allocation and
I just want to make sure -- in fact, it was Commissioner Regalado's recommendation -- I just
want to make sure, Mr. Manager, that those kids get those tickets in an appropriate time based
upon those poems that were read and recited, et cetera, and if there's some support you need,
financial or whatever, I'd be more than happy to do it or ask that it be taken from the Chairman's
budget or whatever.
Chairman Regalado: I don't mind. Actually I suggested it because I think that is something that
would give them several hours that probably their family cannot afford and, you know, this
gentleman, Nelson Alboreda and his people are putting the show. They have come to the City
for support and we have given them and this is one of the best causes that they can sponsor, so
this is a logical thing to do. My only concern is that they would limit the tickets to either a
Monday or either a Tuesday, because I'm sure that they don't want to use the weekend tickets.
But, having said that, if they can work together with the school maybe they can organize
something and some parents can go and chaperone.
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: Thank you, Mr. Manager. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
27. DIRECT MANAGER TO PREPARE STATUS REPORT OF $255,000,000 BOND
PROJECTS IN 45 DAYS.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: If you allow me the opportunity I would like to publicly -- where's
Mr. Ruder? Thank Mr. Ruder and his staff, the City Manager and the staff and everybody that's
been involved in the upgrading of the Maceo Park. I'm very proud to say that once I was told by
someone that the City would not be able to comply with their promises in reference to the
improvements of that park, and I'm happy to say I'm going to the park every day in the morning
and at night when I'm finished working, and I'm happy to say here publicly that the City
73 October 10, 2002
Manager and the park administrator and the staff had made the City of Miami's promise a
reality. They're working very hard in that park. We already see the improvements and the
different thing that we're doing to improve that park and I want to thank you, Mr. Ruder, and I
want to thank your staff.
Al Ruder (Director, Parks and Recreation): Thank you.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I want to thank you Mr. Manager for keeping your promises and you
raised the perception that the city cannot comply with their promises. So I thank you, Mr. Ruder.
Mr. Ruder: Thank you. As you know, it's been a team effort and Mr. Cerdan especially has
been almost there everyday. This has been his only project.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Also I have seen Mr. Cerdan every day taking care of business and
making sure that the project goes ahead the way it was promised, so thank you very much.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Regalado: Albert.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Regalado: Albert, I think Commissioner Sanchez wants to ask you something.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Ruder, I just have a question since we're on the park issue. The
Jose Marti Park, in my district, could you give us the status of where we're at with the Jose Marti
Community Center?
Mr. Ruder: Obviously, the Commission has approved the plans -- I mean, the award of the bid
for construction. The contract is in the process of being executed and we hope that in the next
couple of weeks it can get started, but I'll send you, you know, I'll send you an update for sure,
but that's what I know now, that it's almost ready to start.
Commissioner Sanchez: I was informed, and maybe I was misinformed, Al, maybe it's not the
appropriate time to bring this out, but since I have you here, you know, this is a project that's
been going on for four years. I remember when I first got into office attending a meeting at the
park with some renderings and some drawings and showing it to the community and we've been
waiting for four years. Let me just say that the RFP (Request for Proposals) went out. I think
you've already selected someone.
Mr. Ruder: Yes.
Commissioner Sanchez: OK.
Mr. Ruder: The Commission has approved it.
74 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: Exactly, and it was approved here and --
Mr. Ruder: Right.
Commissioner Sanchez: -- I think I did it at the last Commission meeting or the Commission
before it was approved.
Mr. Ruder: Yeah.
Commissioner Sanchez: But I was informed of one thing that I was very disturbed and one of
the things was that somehow there wasn't an environmental study and I've yet to comprehend
how we could have gone so far in a process to even bid out and award the project and not even
have done an economic -- not an economic, an environment study. The problem that I have is
that some of the funds that were going to be used for that project was CDBG (Community
Development Block Grant) funds --
Mr. Ruder: No. The funds --
Commissioner Sanchez: -- and you can't --
Mr. Ruder: OK. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Commissioner Sanchez: No, no. I'm just telling you the information --
Mr. Ruder: Yeah.
Commissioner Sanchez: -- that I got --
Mr. Ruder: OK.
Commissioner Sanchez: -- you know?
Mr. Ruder: OK.
Commissioner Sanchez: It may not be correct information.
Mr. Ruder: Right.
Commissioner Sanchez: But if that is what happened, now I'm asking you to tell me and put it
in the record, because sometimes here, the biggest problem we have in this --
Mr. Ruder: Yeah.
Commissioner Sanchez: -- City of Miami is if we all had a universal playbook, another words, if
one universal playbook was used by everyone, the problem I think is that everyone's got an
independent playbook.
75 October 10, 2002
Mr. Ruder: Right.
Commissioner Sanchez: And sometimes it's very hard to move along and find out exactly
what's going, because I'll talk to you and get something from you and then I'll talk to Dena and
get something from Dena or I'll talk to Jose Casanova and get something from Casanova and it is
truly very frustrating when I have to go and I do go out in my community and they'll say, "When
are we going to have the center?" and I have to tell them, "Well, you know, it should be done
already." Well, they haven't even started yet and then when I inquire and I do have my staff that
has been working on this, especially through emails with Jose Casanova and I get back
information saying that an environment study hasn't even been done on it.
Mr. Ruder: OK. The funding source is Safe Neighborhood and the Homeland Defense, so it's
not CDBG. Some CDBG has been spent in the past in other improvements in the park, so that
answers the funding question. Right now the construction of the building, which you have
approved does not have any CDBG moneys. It's all Safe Neighborhood and Homeland Defense
and that was one of the first projects that you approved in your district once the Homeland
Defense moneys were available, so, there's no CDBG at this time.
Commissioner Sanchez: All right.
Mr. Ruder: If there were --
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Parks Director --
Mr. Ruder: Yeah.
Commissioner Sanchez: When will I and residents in my district see the construction of this
park? In other words, they start working on this project?
Mr. Ruder: Like I said, I will give you -- I don't have that information right now. I think it's
two or three weeks away, but I will send you, through the Manager, a memo telling you exactly
when it's going to be.
Commissioner Sanchez: I could accept two or three weeks away.
Mr. Ruder: Yeah.
Commissioner Sanchez: I mean, I've accepted six months, three months and we're at this point
where I'm willing to accept two or three weeks.
Mr. Ruder: Right.
Commissioner Sanchez: But if you say two or three weeks, I want to make sure that in two or
three weeks there's construction going on in that park. Please.
76 October 10, 2002
Mr. Ruder: OK. I will. I will get back to you on that to make sure. OK?
Commissioner Sanchez: Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. OK. I'm going to do just --
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Manager, I think it's interesting that the parks director's answering
these questions and you know and I know that the park director doesn't build parks and that's
sort of one of the anomalies I think and it's --
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Actually the CIP director should be answering those questions.
Unfortunately she has taken ill and she recently got out of the hospital.
Commissioner Teele: And I think, you know, because I've gone through this now long enough
to learn that the park director has about as much to do with the building of a park as the GSA
director does. I mean no disrespect to the parks director, but I'm just not sure how this works
when he's there making these statements and the other director -- and this is what I would like to
say. I think it would be very helpful to the institution and to the process if you would consider in
the second meeting in November, that's about 45 days from now --
Chairman Regalado: There's only one meeting in November.
Commissioner Sanchez: Art, could I interrupt you for a minute?
Commissioner Teele: Yes.
Commissioner Sanchez: Could you yield for me?
Commissioner Teele: Yes.
Commissioner Sanchez: You know, I happen to disagree with you. The parks director should
know what's going on in his parks and he should know when the timeframes for the projects that
are being happening that are going to happen in his parks. He's not the one to build it, he's not
the one to design it or consult it, but he should know what's going to be built in his park and
when it's going to be completed. I mean --
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner --
Commissioner Sanchez: -- the question is that you asked somebody a question. Yeah, you may
ask five different people and you get five different questions. That's what frustrates me.
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner --
Commissioner Sanchez: He doesn't need to know all the questions. Mr. City Manager, hold on
just a minute. You'll have your opportunity. But it's nothing against Al Ruder. Al happens to
be a gentleman and a scholar.
77 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: I thought you wanted to get out early.
Commissioner Sanchez: I do, but it's an issue John. You know what? I can't get a straight
answer.
Vice Chairman Winton: I understand.
Commissioner Sanchez: Every time I ask, next week or two months away. Nobody gives me an
answer. Just -- all that I want is somebody to say, next month they're going to start working.
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner? I think I can answer your question.
Commissioner Sanchez: Well, I'm glad somebody can answer that question.
Mr. Gimenez: One of the first things that I directed our new CIP (Capital Improvements
Projects) Coordinator to do is to get a status report on every single project that has been
approved by this Commission and give you a report, either on a weekly or a bi-weekly basis on
every single project, exactly where it's at, so you won't have to ask anybody here because you'll
have that report. She is in the process of gathering all the information and putting that report
together so that every one of you here, and the mayor, and myself will know exactly what the
status is of each particular project, where it's at, when it's going to go out to bid, what's holding
it up, et cetera, et cetera. She just got here. Three weeks in working the City and we've already
put her in the hospital and, you know, she had an appendectomy, so, I mean, that's what
happened to her, but she's going to be back and that is the number one priority that I have for her
because we keep on asking the same questions and we need to know exactly where we are on in
these projects. This is the first time in the City's history we have so much money available, so
many projects going on, you know, that everybody wants to do at the same time. We need to be
honest with you on the things that we can do and the things that can't be done as quickly as we
would all want to. Again, I think we have more than $200,000,000 in the bank right now to
spend. Our internal capacity is probably in the vicinity of 30, $40,000,000 a year. We're
gearing up to increase that capacity, but again, that's going to take time. We just created this
particular department. Give her a little bit of time. All your questions will be answered and I
have faith that your projects will be moving on a much quicker pace.
Commissioner Teele: Thank you. Mr. Chairman, and I don't want to make this long at all. But
I was not suggesting, my colleagues, that Mr. Ruder should not know the answer. In fact, he
should. The point that I was only trying to make is I've worked with Al, and I think it's really
sort of difficult to answer on behalf of other people and this thing takes a lot of turns. What I
was going to recommend, so that we don't do this across the board project -by -project, is ask the
manager. Let's just start with the 255, because we know we've got a higher priority and an
obligation to the public and let's see if we can come up with sort of like a status report for the
projects, for the 255, say in 45 days or in the meeting in November and I think that's some of the
best time we can spend. I think it's important because when a lot of these decisions were made a
year ago, she wasn't here, OK? Who knows who's going to be here a year from now, and I just
think we need a document that the Commission has looked at. Each Commissioner can give his
78 October 10, 2002
or her, I mean, his input on and I would respectfully request that we have an hour set aside in
November or sometime set aside to review the status of the 255 bond projects. If you think
that's --
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner, I think that's a very good idea. We allocated about 127 of the
initial. We need to come back to you and allocate an additional $28,000,000 which was a bounty
of the sale that we had. We sold $28,000,000 more than we thought we would be able to sell, so
we have to allocate those. The projects have -- the allocation -- certain things were allocated to
certain projects and there was direction given on certain projects, but there's also a lot of
allocations that was fuzzy. There's no real project attached to it. If you do a neighborhood
improvement of $3,000,000 in so and so's district, then nothing was really -- well I want you to
do this. That wasn't done, so we need to, you know, get this all organized so we say, ok. We
have clear direction on these projects, here's where they are. This is allocated money but it's
really kind of -- it hasn't been given clear direction. We need a process to find out exactly what
it is we're going to do with that money and then the final thing is also you have the Bond
Oversight Committee Board that, you know, is acquiring a little bit more power that we're going
to have to go through before it comes to you, so, I mean --
Commissioner Teele: Wait, wait, wait. Say that again.
Mr. Gimenez: The Bond Oversight Committee would like to acquire some more additional
duties so that their charge is to make sure that the money's been spent correctly. They would
like to see all projects come to them and then get their blessing and then come up to you. The
way I understand what this ordinance is saying. Am I right, Frank?
Frank Rollason (Asst. City Manager): That's correct. Frank Rollason, Assistant City Manager.
In the change which is coming before you today for the second reading that Commissioner
Winton spoke about earlier that they want to see all the projects come to them so that they're
kept abreast of what's going on. What we've explained to the Board, is that we're pressing
forward with these on an overhead type issue and that we don't want it to get stuck waiting for a
Bond Oversight Board meeting, and they're onboard with that. They just want to be kept
appraised as to what the projects are and what the expenditures, allocations and I don't think it
means that every finite detail is going to come back to them. But if we're putting X amount of
dollars into a police training center, they want to know that X amount of dollars is going to the
police training center.
Commissioner Teele: Frank, in other words, what I just did today I couldn't have done? In other
words --
Mr. Rollason: That's right.
Commissioner Teele: -- the $200,000 that the community's demanding and my appointee to the
Bond Oversight Committee is by the way the barber that I made reference to, Mr. Armbrister.
Mr. Rollason: Right.
79 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: But we could not have done that today. Another words, we'd have to
have another 45 days before that --
Mr. Rollason: I would think the City Attorney would have to answer that. My understanding of
it is that you or the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Teele: I have no problems Frank routing it that way providing this Commission
with unanimous consent can take an action. Because it doesn't make sense for us to tie our
hands on something that's not controversial, that's administrative and we wind up --
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: -- creating what Commissioner Gonzalez was talking about this morning
where you've got a parks committee, a river committee --
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: -- an inland waterway committee, a bond committee, before you can do
anything, and pretty soon, you know, we will be right back where we're trying to get away from.
I don't agree with the rationale that the only way they can keep up with it is that they've got to
get prior approval.
Mr. Rollason: No, they don't get prior approval. They're not an approval board. They can
make recommendations. If you all take action and the way I read it and if there's something that
they don't agree with, they can come back to you --
Commissioner Teele: I can live with that.
Mr. Rollason: -- and they can say whatever they want.
Commissioner Teele: I can live with that as long as this Commission retains the right, based
upon the manager's recommendation and unanimous consent. That means if one Commissioner
doesn't agree, it doesn't happen, OK? But for us to just put ourselves in a way where there's no
way out, I think that's --
Mr. Rollason: I don't think it does that. But I think the attorney --
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, it does do that.
Mr. Rollason: OK.
Vice Chairman Winton: It absolutely does do that and that's the change that you and I discussed
at the break, and that was the reason I was objecting to this ordinance. Because when I read it
carefully, it says approve, approve, approve and I said, ain't no way, so we've made some
modifications and so when we come to that ordinance, which is probably the time we ought to
80 October 10, 2002
discuss that, unless we're moving to that ordinance right now, my recommendation is we pick up
this conversation when we go back to that agenda item.
Commissioner Teele: OK.
Mr. Gimenez: I have a final comment. My final comment is that while we are focusing in on the
bond issue, the direction to the CIP Director is to get all of the projects -- because we had a
significant amount of money that's non -bond related and we also put significant amount of
money in this year's budget for CIP so that all the projects in all the districts, all throughout the
City, are enumerated, easy to follow and that you'll know exactly what's going on in each
particular district, so that there will be really no need to call anybody up here because you'll have
that status and it should be either on a weekly or every other week basis, and she's working on
that and I'm pretty confident that she'll have it ready for you by the middle of November. It's a
pretty big task. She's trying to get everything all together, but I think once we do that, it'll be a
lot easier to follow and a lot better organized and we'll press on.
Chairman Regalado: All right.
28. DIRECT MANAGER AND CITY ATTORNEY TO MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS NO
RETALIATION AGAINST CAPTAIN MIGUEL EXPOSITO FOR HAVING COME
FORWARD TO RESPOND TO QUESTIONS BY COMMISSION.
Chairman Regalado: I have several items. I'll begin with Item B. In the morning we promised
that we would take this item around 3:30. It's about that time. Captain Mike Esposito has been
invited to answer some questions from myself and members of the Commission. First of all I'd
like to thank the City Manager because he was kind to bring Captain Exposito, who is a member
of the Miami Police Department. The reason that Captain Exposito is here is very simple. The
right to know of the people of Miami, and Captain Esposito was just involved in a legal issue
with the City. That's settled, and because it didn't go to trial, the wisdom of the City Attorney
was able to do that. We didn't know some of the things that we should, so Captain, thank you
very much, sir, and just for the benefit of the people watching, the people here, the members of
the Commission, how long have you been with the Miami Police Department and can you give
us an overview of your career with the department. What units have you worked? What grants
have you held?
Captain Exposito (Miami Police Department): Sure Commission. For the record, Captain
Miguel Esposito. I'm with the Miami Police Department. Commissioner, I've been with the
department 28 and a half years. I joined the department in 1974. I worked my way up the ranks
of police officer, sergeant, lieutenant and captain. I also served for 10 years as a Major of police.
Some of the assignments that I held, I was Commander of the communication section, property
resource management, internal affairs, the south district sub -station, the special investigation
section, the criminal investigation section and finally I was the Commander of the Patrol Central
District just before my demotion.
Chairman Regalado: Captain, I understand that back in --
81 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: Could you -- could you please move the mike so, yeah.
Capt. Esposito: Apparently it wasn't working.
Chairman Regalado: I'll tell you what. Would you mind having the handheld mike? Because I
think it's much better.
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): I think the mike over here works better.
Chairman Regalado: No. That side is not either. It's too muffled, but the handheld mike --
Capt. Esposito: How's this? Is this any better?
Commissioner Sanchez: Yeah, yeah. Just speak into it. It was --
Chairman Regalado: Back in 1996 and 1997 you were moved several times in a rather short
time period while you were a major. What were the reasons for those moves?
Capt. Esposito: Well, in 1996 I was the Major in charge of the Special Investigations Section. I
was doing a lot of traveling to Washington, D.C. where we were working some major narcotics
cases with the Drug Enforcement Administration and upon returning to Miami on one of my
trips, I discovered that dossiers were being compiled against -- on elected officials and
candidates for office. Obviously I wasn't happy when I heard about this and I went to Chief
Donald Warshaw at the time and told him about it. I put a stop to the creation of these dossiers
and a short time later I was moved. I went to the Criminal Investigations section and while I was
there I was the Commander over the Homicide Unit that handled the Coconut Grove Throw
Down case. Obviously we made some arrests on that case. There was some problems that I
observed and I brought to the attention of Major Bill O'Brien, who was the Commander of
Internal Affairs at the time. I also let the chief know what was going on. I recommended that
the Feds get involved. Although we made some arrests, I believe that there were this was a
widespread conspiracy of planting weapons and covering up for them and after much prodding,
we did go to the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI, but I was overruled and basically they were
told we'll call you if we need you. A short time after that I was transferred from there,
transferred to the Patrol Section until 1998 when William O'Brien became the Chief of Police
and I was demoted immediately. After that basically a job was created for me; a job that was
really not a job. I was assigned to an office that used to be a storeroom and I spent a year there
until a four-way swap was orchestrated so I could wind up on the midnight shift.
Vice Chairman Winton: Excuse me, Captain. Could I interrupt for a moment?
Chairman Regalado: Sure. Go ahead.
Vice Chairman Winton: Mr. Chairman, could I understand what the mission is here so I can
figure out how I'm supposed to process this information I'm getting?
82 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Oh, the mission is that I did place this on my blue page because like I said
at the beginning, there's some people who would rather, when ugly things happen, would rather
turn the page and move on. However, I think that the right of the people to know supercedes any
wishes of anybody to turn the page and I don't know if this Commissioner was a victim of
surveillance by the police. I know what I have read. I know what I have heard, but I think that if
you go back in history after President Nixon resigned, there was some inquiries. People wanted
to know. After Kennedy was shot, you know, we just didn't bury him. We tried to find out, so
this is what I think is important for the people because the only way to remedy the future is
knowing what happened in the past, so this is why I am --
Vice Chairman Winton: Except the problem with this is, and I don't doubt anything he's saying,
but I don't have any way of knowing whether what he's saying is fact or fiction or partial fact or,
I don't have any way of knowing. It's one person whose credibility seems to be good, but it's
still you know, what the public can't do anything with this information. The appropriate
vehicle for this seems to me is what the authorities who can investigate wrongdoing on the part
of our police department. I can't do that. I'm just going to hear some guy that says something
and you're putting me in a position where I have to sit here and say, geez, this is fact. When in
fact, I don't know if it's fact or not. I have no way of knowing its fact.
Chairman Regalado: That's --
Vice Chairman Winton: But we're presenting this to the public as fact. So --
Chairman Regalado: No, we're not.
Vice Chairman Winton: -- that makes me nervous.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: No, we're not because --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Just let me answer. It's very easy. If this man is not telling the truth, the
only thing that the Chief of Police has to do is to walk to that microphone -- we've got two -- and
say, no Commissioners, that person is not telling the truth, but I think we owe it to the public. I
think we owe to the public to, you know, to show. Because I do -- so if -- I would like to
continue.
Capt. Esposito: Mr. Chairman, before you proceed, I want to make it clear that a lot of what I'm
talking about here today are things that are on the record from depositions that were taken by my
attorney in my civil case and when some of these things are not from a deposition I will make
sure to explain that to you. A lot of what I'm saying today is public record. It's depositions that
were taken of Donald Warshaw, who admits that I did go to him and complained about these
dossiers. Assistant Chief John Brooks and others that were involved in these misdeeds.
83 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Captain, so were dossiers created by the Miami Police
Department regarding elected officials or candidates that you know of?
Capt. Esposito: Yes, sir. It's a fact.
Chairman Regalado: What type of information was being gathered about the elected officials
and candidates for office?
Capt. Esposito: All right. From depositions and also from what I was told by some of these
witness officers that were charged with the responsibility to obtain this information, they wanted
information on girlfriends that elected officials had, drinking establishments --
Commissioner Teele: Now wait. Did you say girlfriends?
Capt. Esposito: Absolutely.
Commissioner Teele: How do we get the records sealed?
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Not to worry, Commissioner.
Chairman Regalado: Continue.
Capt. Esposito: Girlfriends that they might have, friends, acquaintances, drinking establishments
that they frequented and things of that nature. A lot of personal information that really had no
value to the police department.
Chairman Regalado: Who ordered those dossiers and that surveillance?
Capt. Esposito: From again, from depositions they were ordered by Assistant Chief John Brooks
who happened to be my immediate supervisor at the time.
Chairman Regalado: Do you know the purpose that Assistant Chief Brooks had to order those
dossiers?
Capt. Esposito: Mr. Chairman, I can only speculate, not being in Mr. Brooks' shoes, but
obviously from the information that was being requested, it appeared that it was going to be
utilized for blackmailing purposes or something other than legal police purpose.
Chairman Regalado: We all read in the articles in the "Herald," "El Nuevo Herald," dating back
to your legal case and that some of the names of the elected officials and candidates -- that's
accurate, you know -- the different names that were published in the press.
Capt. Esposito: I don't recall what was in the newspaper, but let me check here and I will tell
you who those candidates were. There was material on Mayor Steve Clark, Commissioner Willy
Gort, Commissioner Humberto Hernandez, Candidates Manuel Gonzalez-Guenaga, Vernon
84 October 10, 2002
Clark and Margarita Ruiz and there's a possibility there were more but that's what we were able
to obtain. It's obvious that there was more to this.
Chairman Regalado: Do you know Captain if other people other than those names that you had
mentioned had been followed or investigated by SIS (Special Investigative Section) in the past?
Capt. Esposito: It's my understanding that this was a routine thing that was being done and this
is in discussing these issues with officers that were assigned to SIS. Yes, there were other
people.
Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Regalado?
Chairman Regalado: Sorry? Excuse me.
Capt. Esposito: Apparently --
Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) mine?
Capt. Esposito: Israel Gonzalez is here. One of your officers that's relieved of duty on one of
the throw down case is here. Apparently came here to intimidate.
Chairman Regalado: I don't -- if you're going to speak you might want to do that in the future
when he's done, because not that you cannot speak but the problem is that we're taping this and
we need for the record and not just a shout in the dark. But if you want to come and speak, of
course you can do that and you can say anything you want. Do you know if Chief Warshaw took
any action against Assistant Chief Brooks for ordering the creation of the dossiers?
Capt. Esposito: No, he did not, and that came out of deposition testimony. He was asked that by
my attorney and he said no. He did not take any type of disciplinary action.
Chairman Regalado: Captain, you have said in the past that I have seen in some of the
depositions and also in the press that Mayor Carollo ordered -- accused you of ordering the
creation of the dossiers and that Chief Warshaw advised the mayor that it was Assistant Chief
Brooks who had ordered that creation. Do you know if the mayor took any action as to request
an investigation why Brooks ordered those files to be prepared?
Capt. Esposito: I do not believe he ordered one. I'm sure I would have been one of the first
witnesses called if that was the case. As far as I know, no, he never requested any kind of
investigation.
Chairman Regalado: To your knowledge, are there any complete copies of these dossiers in SIS?
Capt. Esposito: No, there is not. The City looked for copies of these dossiers. As a matter of
fact, even what we do have, SIS has no copies of.
85 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: But are not the state statutes that prohibit the destruction or removal of
police files without written permission from the state?
Capt. Esposito: That's correct. There is a state statute that we have to send to Tallahassee
requesting that the destruction of files and as far as I know, there was no request to destroy these
files.
Chairman Regalado: Was written permission obtained to destroy those files that you know of?
Capt. Esposito: No, sir. There was no permission requested.
Chairman Regalado: But why do you think that those files were destroyed or removed from the
police department without written approval from the state?
Capt. Esposito: Here again, it's pure speculation. I believe because if they were real legitimate
files they would be there, and the reason they don't exist anymore in SIS is because they were
not legitimate police files. They were created for some other sinister reason.
Chairman Regalado: I have one last question. What date did you formally advise the City of
Miami in writing that those dossiers were requested or prepared by the police department? Do
you know if at that date an investigation was initiated in the police department?
Capt. Esposito: Let me check here. The written notice to the City of Miami was actually made
on October 20th of the year 2000.
Chairman Regalado: After that, do you know of any investigation that was triggered by that?
Capt. Esposito: Yes. There was an investigation conducted. I gave testimony in Internal Affairs
about that investigation.
Chairman Regalado: Do you feel that because you denounced the surveillance of elected
officials and citizens by SIS that you had all these string of troubles?
Capt. Esposito: I would say that's part of it. The other, as you can see by the outburst here
today, is that I'm not a very popular person in the Miami Police Department because there's a
bunch of renegade cops out there that are involved in planting guns, shooting innocent people,
planting guns and they weren't happy when William O'Brien and I got into an argument about
some of these people that were involved in the planting of these weapons. This Coconut Grove
Throwdown case is the only case that the City of Miami Police Department's actually made an
arrest on it without having the feds come in and investigate it and I'm not going to take full
credit for that, but obviously I had some problems with William O'Brien as a result of that,
because some of the people that he was trying to protect were the same people that I was telling
him I felt were involved and I had reasons to believe they were involved in this cover-up.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Any questions from the members of the Commission to
Captain Esposito?
86 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: I do have a question. Captain, do you know if Chief Warshaw took
any disciplinary action against Assistant Chief Brooks for ordering the creation of those
dossiers?
Capt. Esposito: No. Commissioner, he did not. In deposition he said that he never did take any
kind of action.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. I have heard that Ex -Mayor Joe Corollo had knowledge of these
dossiers being created. Do you know of that fact?
Capt. Esposito: I know he received copies of them at one time.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Do you know more or less when or about that he received copies of
these dossiers?
Capt. Esposito: I'd have to check my notes. Hang on a second. Mayor Corollo obtained copies
of these dossiers on June 3rd of the year 2000.
Commissioner Gonzalez: On June 3rd, year 2000.
Capt. Esposito: Yes, and this came out of deposition by Sergeant Alex Gonzalez who had copies
of these dossiers.
Commissioner Gonzalez: So, at that time none of the elected officials knew the dossiers were
being created on them, but the ex -Mayor knew of the existence and the information contained on
these dossiers of the elected officials that were sitting on the dais, representing the City of Miami
at the time.
Capt. Esposito: Commissioner I don't know if the other people knew about it, but he certainly
did find out on June 3rd when he received copies of these dossiers.
Commissioner Gonzalez: But the elected officials that were being investigated or followed or
whatever, they didn't have any knowledge that that was happening at the time.
Capt. Esposito: From news reports and newspaper articles that I have read, Commissioner Gort
and some of the other individuals of which files were produced said they never gave permission
to the City of Miami Police Department to create these files and that they were unaware of them.
This information I got out of the newspaper or from watching them on newscasts, on TV saying
this.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. Just for a matter of record, I just want to ask you one question.
Isn't it a fact that Joe, the Mayor Joe Corollo accused you of ordering these dossiers?
Capt. Esposito: Yes, sir. There was a meeting --
87 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: And could you tell me what happened after that?
Capt. Esposito: Yes, sir. There was a meeting scheduled with Chief Warshaw and myself. I had
no idea what this meeting was about and I went to the meeting and at that time Mayor Corollo
accused me of ordering these dossiers. Obviously I defended myself and explained to him that I
not only did I not order these dossiers, but I put a stop to the creation of these dossiers and
although it took a little bit of prodding on my part to get Chief Warshaw to, you know, to stand
up and tell the Mayor the truth, he did and this came out in deposition that these things actually
happened. As a matter of fact, Chief Warshaw explained to the Mayor that it was Assistant
Chief Brooks who had ordered these files and that he was just some misguided individual.
Commissioner Gonzalez: How long ago did you go to court sir on your civil case against the
City of Miami?
Capt. Esposito: A little bit over two months. I believe it was August 5th
Commissioner Gonzalez: Have you already received the compensation that was awarded to you
by the court?
Capt. Esposito: No, sir, I have not.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. City Manager, are we doing anything in order to comply with the
court order?
Mr. Gimenez: I believe it's a settlement. Once I get the --
Commissioner Gonzalez: The settlement. Right.
Mr. Gimenez: When I get the proper paperwork from the attorney's office, I'll be happy to
process the payment. I don't think I received it yet.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I beg your pardon? Excuse me. When you receive it from the
attorney's office? I think the attorney's office already has it.
Mr. Gimenez: As soon as I get something in front of me for me to sign, everything's OK, I'll
sign it. I haven't seen that yet.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. The reason I ask these Commissioners and I go into questioning
when Captain Exposito's finally going to get whatever he was awarded in the settlement between
the City and Capt. Esposito, Captain Exposito, is that we have seen based in his case and some
other cases that whenever an officer comes forward and says something that he should not say in
order to keep the hoochie-hoochie style that happens in some areas of this administration, the
person gets penalized, the person gets put in a box and, you know, we requested and Mr.
Chairman you requested that the Captain appear before the Commission to ask him questions in
reference to the dossiers and the entire case and the planting of guns and the Coconut Grove
Throwdown and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You know, what I will hate to see is that now that
88 October 10, 2002
the Captain has been before the Commission speaking openly and truthfully, as he always did in
the past and which custom his situation, I want to make sure that now, you know, he doesn't be
retaliated and mainly he will have to go back to court to make sure that the City complies with
what he was awarded or what he got on the settlement, and let me tell you, I'm just going to say
one thing here. There are many officers out there that are afraid to come forward and denounce
things that are improper because they are afraid of retaliation, they are afraid of the consequences
that they will have to pay if they come before the Commission of the City of Miami or if they go
to the press or if they go to someone and tell them that something is wrong that's being done and
that's a cult that has to be stopped and I just, you know, to finalize it, I just want to ask Mr.
Manager and Mr. City Attorney, that you do with whatever's in your power to make sure that
there is no retaliation against this captain who is an officer with 28 years serving this City with
an impeccable career, OK, just because of the fact that he came before this Commission and he
answered the questions that were asked of him by the members of this Commission. That is my
statement, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you.
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner --
Chairman Regalado: Of course, to me this is something I don't even have to say because I really
believe that this is another administration and that there will be no action taken because this good
police officer came forward. Just for the record and for the benefit of the members of the
Commission and the people here and the people watching on TV and maybe the readers or
whatever, the Chief of Police is here and I just have one question, Chief, to you. Anything that
Captain Esposito said you will find not to be true?
Raul Martinez (Chief of Police): Commissioner Regalado, it's difficult. I might have to hold the
microphone because -- so you can hear me. It's difficult to say all the things you say are true or
not true. I mean, I wasn't in that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) when all this happened. It is true that
there was a written request by Assistant Chief Brooks to Major Esposito's shop, which was SIS
at the time and I read you what that request says: "Please provide me with a synopsis of the
upcoming City elections. This should include date of election, candidates opposition, other items
on the ballot, projections and anticipated problems." This memo is signed by then Major
Esposito, Major Esposito gave an hour interview, states that his signature was superimposed on
this memo and this is dated July 24, 1995. I became aware when Major Esposito, Captain
Esposito filed a lawsuit through civil service and we started that investigation that he gave a
statement and many of us gave a statement about this. The so-called non-existent files, you
know, we have it in our possession. We got it from Sergeant Alex Gonzalez. We've been
through those files, the media has gone through those files, it is a public record. It contains a lot
of information where this list and I think Captain Esposito mentioned most of the ones that were
talked about where they live, photographs, places they hang out, so on and so forth. We
interviewed all the people that prepared those files and they say they've got orders. They don't
remember who they got the orders from. They state that basically what they were trying to do
and there's a person that's a captain now that I believe was a lieutenant in that unit working
under Major Esposito was to create a security file on the elected officials, threat level and so on
and so forth. In fact, that lieutenant said that all the information he got, he got directly from the
89 October 10, 2002
elected official of the elected official staff. That there was nothing that we're doing following
his picture. This is -- what one of them said, not to say that all the files were done exactly the
same way. John Brooks -- we took his statement -- we took a statement of Chief Warshaw.
Mike Esposito's correct. Mike went to see, you know, Chief Warshaw at the time --
Chairman Regalado: Chief --
Chief Martinez: -- about the files.
Chairman Regalado: Chief, if I may. I'm a little concerned because you have said that this was
never going to be done under your leadership and I trust your word, but what you're saying is
that, that was nothing that -- no, it's something that's usually done. I mean, in Cincinnati the
police is in big problems for this same thing, as you know. The problems that they have on the
files on protestors and elected officials, but to just to make this thing clear, the police -- should
the police be in the business of having files on elected officials?
Chief Martinez: Of course not, Commissioner, and nothing --
Chairman Regalado: No I said --
Chief Martinez: -- I said before that --
Chairman Regalado: You said this was, you know, like --
Chief Martinez: I am explaining to you what the statements were by the individuals that
supposedly did these files. Then we showed them the files. Did you do this? Yes, I did. What
did you do them for, and they explained, you know, what the rationale was that was conducted at
the time. We did contact Chief Brooks. We did take statements from Donald Warshaw. They
basically confirmed what Mike Exposito said, that Mike went to see then Chief Warshaw and
then Chief Warshaw said that he called in John Brooks and John Brooks' explanation to
Warshaw then, per Warshaw and Warshaw's statement was basically they were just doing this to
get a security profile on the elected officials at the time, but that Warshaw told the staff to stop
doing that; don't do it anymore. I can tell you since I took over in the year 2000 we have looked
left and right inside. There's no files in there that deals with any of the past, current or could
have been elected officials. We have direct SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures) in that area
that should any information come in at a directed official and we have a signed memo
understanding with FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) that will take that
information straight to FDLE or to the federal authority, depending on what the allegation is, and
this is how we've been operating for the last two -and -a -half years.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir.
Chief Martinez: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
90 October 10, 2002
Chief Martinez: Those are direct orders from myself and I've placed it on the record the
existence of these -- I've seen some of these files, you know. They are what they are, but it
could -- something like that obviously has, you know, some very bad implications and very early
in my administration other than the police department, they are not to be involved any way,
shape or form in any kind of activity of the sort and also that if we get any allegation against any
elected official, the City of Miami Police Department will not be doing the investigation. It'll be
turned over to FDLE or if it's a federal issue to be turned over to FBI (Federal Bureau of
Investigation). They will handle it and the Miami Police Department will have absolutely
nothing to do with that investigation, and that's been the standard operating policy and the
standing orders, you know, of this administration since very early on, so, if something like that is
happening now, I don't believe it is. I believe that the Chief has got a handle on this and
hopefully this will never happen again in the future. It certainly isn't happening now, so you
should have some confidence in that end.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you.
Chief Martinez: Commissioner, if I may add one last thing.
Chairman Regalado: Sure.
Chief Martinez: Yeah. Whether the purpose of the files were good, bad or indifferent, I think
it's the creation of the files (UNINTELLIGIBLE) terrible message. That the police department
is gathering information for whatever reason is. I do not believe the police department should be
in any part, any role whatsoever involved in gathering information on elected officials that
somebody can construe, can be used later on for whatever purposes.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.
Capt. Esposito: Commissioner, if I may add one more thing because I don't want people to walk
out of here with the wrong impression about these files. One of the things that Captain Blom did
say during his statement to Internal Affairs is that when he turned in the file and he handled it as
if it were security survey, Chief Brooks gave it back to him and said, I want more meat. I want
to know if he's got girlfriends, and that also came out in the Internal Affairs investigation and,
you know, I think it's a little bit oversimplified that it was, you know, he said hey, I did a
security survey and that was the end of it. It wasn't quite that simple. It was more than that. As
a matter of fact, there's some documents included in there that questions the mental stability of
some of the candidates and things of that nature. I have no idea why the police department
would need to know that.
Chairman Regalado: I thank you and the people of Miami thank you for --
Captain Esposito: Sure. Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: -- your courage.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
91 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele.
Commissioner Teele: Chief, thank you for I guess giving the perspective that you're giving to
this. I guess one of the things that I think bothers me is that if this were the first incident then
maybe we could look at it the way we're looking at it. But I remember when I first moved to
Miami, the firing of a chief in the middle of the night and going to the safe and getting files.
You remember those news accounts?
Chief Martinez: In 1984 I believe, sir.
Commissioner Teele: 1984.
Chief Martinez: I think.
Commissioner Teele: I came here in January, 1984.
Chief Martinez: No, no I'm sorry. Just before that. I'm sorry, sir. I can't remember the year.
The dates get kind of jumbled after awhile.
Commissioner Teele: No. I said I moved to Miami.
Chief Martinez: Mr. Chief Parks.
Chairman Regalado: Yeah, you left the Reagan --
Commissioner Teele: I left Washington in January, 1984.
Chairman Regalado: In 1984.
Commissioner Teele: I left December of 1983 and that was sort of the thing that greeted, you
know, that greeted and I just couldn't believe it at that time. Now, I guess and I know that
you've heard me say this before. It's all right in some ways to have a bad mistake, you know.
My boss in the army used to always say, I'll underwrite any mistake except for a dumb mistake,
but the problem is, nobody wants to underwrite mistakes twice, so the question is, what can we
put in place? What lessons can we learn? What can be put in place to prevent this from ever
happening again? Can there be some kind of code of conduct or something -- An AO, an
administrative order that can be established to insure that police officers know that they are not
to do these things even if the sergeant who, you know, is pretty high up to the guy who just
walks in on the force. It's sort of like, you know, one step to -- is there anything we can do to
institutionally prevent this from happening in the future?
Chief Martinez: Commissioner, there is a very direct standard operating procedure in the Special
Investigation section that explicitly discusses this issue and talks about what the manager just
spoke about, that we will not, emphasize not, get involved in this type of investigations. That we
will notify the Chief of Police who will then notify the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
92 October 10, 2002
or the appropriate authority. The `84 issue was obviously prior to the 1995 issue to do that and,
you know, obviously something right now can't change the past, but for the last two years and
the Commander of Special Investigations is here and the Commander of Internal Affairs is here
too and they know how many times I have discussed with them, you know, this very important
principle.
Commissioner Teele: Well, I don't want to drag up something, but I specifically raised this point
before with a different manager and Mr. Attorney you were here, and I said I want you, Mr.
Manager, to talk to the chief -- I think Mr. O'Brien was the Chief then -- and I want you to go
through the chain of command and ask the question, have you ever done or has anyone ever
ordered these kinds of surveillance and etc., and Mr. O'Brien and both the manager said they did
that and no one knew anything about it. Now, a year -and -a -half, two years later we have this
fine captain who's coming forth now. I'm not comfortable still, because once a culture is
created, a culture is created and we're dealing with not something that this manager knows
anything about, or did anything or you had anything to do with, but we're really dealing with a
culture and I pointed out the fact of `84, stuff I'm aware of I think we need to take another look
at this. Maybe we need to have every young police officer that comes in, not only to do the AO
or the SOP but to sign that they've received it and put it in their personnel file, because what
happens is these things have a way of taking on little twists and turns and I really do think that
it's unfortunate. If, and I want to agree with Commissioner Winton on this, if everything that
Captain Esposito is saying is true, and I have no reason not to believe him, it really is
unfortunate. It's unfair to everybody in the process, and he's just as much a victim as the patrol
officer who, you know, the less fortunate part of this whole discussion that I heard is somebody
would go to the patrol officer or the detective or whoever, and say, why were you doing this?
Well, that's a stupid question. The answer is I was doing it because I was directed to. I mean,
we're not accusing the detectives of running rolled operations are we, Mike? This came down
through command, so it would seem to me the question would be, to ask Captain Brooks -- I
mean, Chief Brooks and is it Blum you said?
Captain Esposito: Captain Blum.
Commissioner Teele: And Captain Blum what did they have in mind? Because what's the guy
who's sitting there writing down the license plates and the name of the nightclub or the
restaurant or the hotel or the motels, what he thinks doesn't really matter at that point. It's what
the other people think and I just think we need to not be so light about this and we need to
recognize that we have a culture. A culture that has been created for whatever reason and this
isn't the first time. There was even an allegation -- it didn't come up today -- but someone said
that they went to the mayor's house, or took a police officer to the house and the police officer
shared a dossier with the mayor. Now is that true or any portion of that true to your knowledge,
Captain?
Captain Esposito: Yes, sir, Commissioner. That came out in the depositions of Sergeant Alex
Gonzalez. He was told to go to the mayor's house and deliver copies of the dossiers.
Commissioner Teele: See, that's unfair to him. He's a victim. That sergeant is just as much a
victim as anyone else, because what you're dealing with is a culture that is being created, and
93 October 10, 2002
everybody who doesn't go along with it, is now either a fink or a rat fink or they're going to be
with their names being used, and I apologize if the sergeant's name is just because he was just
following orders, so I would hope, Chief, that as we consider this that we would look at some
type of way to purge ourselves and to make it very clear to the lowest police officer coming back
up the chain that this is not something. Because it has come up before and it's come up in
several different other occasions in different ways, and to you, Captain, sir, I want to express my
sincere appreciation to you coming. I don't like this proceeding. I think this is not the preferred
way to handle it, but I think it is a part of our constitutional process to come before the elected
representatives and state or answer questions in this case, or for that matter, to even to grieve us
as it relates to a statement. I realize it takes tremendous courage, because the cowards who want
to sit back and complain and say very uncomplimentary things about you, are just that and the
fact of the matter is, it takes courage to come forth and put your career on the line after 28 years
and I respect those people who want to come forth and give a different interpretation. But I
certainly don't think you should feel intimidated, and I would hope that whatever can be done by
the Chief or by the Manager to ensure that you are not in any way character assassinated or
victimized in any way and that in some ways you can be restored -- and I use that word
deliberately -- you can be restored to the status that you feel that you were unfairly denied based
upon your not going along with the good old game and that, of course, is a matter of discretion.
No one can tell or order. Not the Manager, not the Commission, not the mayor and Commission,
can order the Chief or any -- nor should we even suggest to them that a particular person should
be -- but I do think that a condition is something that we can comment on, and I do want to
comment on the fact that I recognize that you have undergone a lot of personal ridicule and
embarrassment and my prayers are with you and your family and I hope that you can receive
what you feel to be yours, based upon your 28 years of wonderful service.
Capt. Esposito: Thank you, Commissioner.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Yes, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: I have a couple of questions, and I didn't know this, but Commissioner
Gonzalez mentioned something about the City losing a lawsuit. What lawsuit did we lose?
Commissioner Sanchez: It settled.
Vice Chairman Winton: It settled, and the settlement was a settlement as a result of your being
demoted?
Capt. Esposito: Yes, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: And when were you demoted?
Capt. Esposito: It was in 1998.
Vice Chairman Winton: 1998.
Capt. Esposito: That is correct.
94 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: So who was the chief then?
Capt. Esposito: William O'Brien. As I explained, William O'Brien and I had some, let's say,
disagreements about some of the people that were involved in some of these throwdown cases
and as soon as he became Chief, he took care of business.
Vice Chairman Winton: And does that demotion still stand?
Capt. Esposito: Yes, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: And so what did we settle?
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): Commissioner, the assigned rank of Major is at the
discretion of the Chief of Police. Chief O'Brien was the Chief in place at the time and then
Major Esposito was demoted to civil service rank of Captain, but the continual rank of Major is
an assignment fully at the discretion of the Chief of Police. The settlement involved the back
pay award and making Captain Esposito whole at the salary and benefits of a Major.
Vice Chairman Winton: And does he remain at that level?
Mr. Vilarello: Yes.
Vice Chairman Winton: But he's a Captain instead of a Major.
Mr. Vilarello: Yes, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: So he gets paid as a Major, but he operates as a Captain.
Mr. Vilarello: Yes sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: Commissioner Teele, you talked to the chief about trying to figure out a
way to institutionalize processes and procedures that would be employed by the good guys, as
opposed to employed by the bad guys, and these kind of issues are only dealt with -- they're
never dealt with through a new rule or a new regulation, ever. They're only dealt with through
leadership. Leadership fixes these kinds of problems, rules don't; and I'm bothered by how our -
- and I don't know because I don't know the details -- but there's enough that you hear. You talk
to officers. There's enough stuff going on that Chief, frankly I'm concerned about leadership of
our police department and I didn't intend to get into this discussion today and I don't know
frankly -- and the reason I didn't is because frankly, I haven't fully determined in my own mind,
whether that's the issue or not, but it's kind of like the flame and smoke issue, you know,
where's there's smoke, many times there's flame, and there's a lot of smoke. Well, many times
when somebody's coming in and completely radically overhauling something, there's a lot of
smoke, because nobody likes to change. But I don't know anything about a radical re-
organization of our police department. There's just smoke and the smoke isn't a result of radical
change, it's just smoke, and that smoke many times is created by leadership. This whole issue --
95 October 10, 2002
I introduced a resolution no less than 18 months ago, no less than 18 months ago, it could have
been 24 months ago, to hire a consultant to do a complete analysis, review of our police
department so that we could end up with, all of us as a team end up with recommendations in
terms of how we could make our police department really work well. I don't know if the
consultant's even been hired, never mind started.
Mr. Gimenez: You approved negotiations between the consultant and myself. We concluded
negotiations. The contract will be coming to you at the next -- I believe it should be coming to
you at the next Commission meeting for ratification, so that process is complete. Well, it's not
complete. The beginning --
Vice Chairman Winton: Right.
Mr. Gimenez: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Vice Chairman Winton: And I recognize that that kind of, you know, picking our consultant, go
through the process. Well, you know, that's stuff's difficult. I mean, it's not easy and getting
the right one's not easy, but that process should have moved light years faster than it finally got
here and so, you add the little pieces together, bing, bing, bing, bing, and Chief, I don't, you
know, I'm not trying to paint a picture that I'm committed to yet because the picture's not clear
in my mind. I'm just suggesting that, in terms of where I sit and I just want to be as truthful as I
can. I don't want to ever look you in the eye and tell you something to your face that's different
than I would behind your back, but I'm concerned about how the leadership of our police
department is functioning right now and so, that said, I guess I would hope that you begin to take
whatever steps are necessary to really make our police department work. To drive morale up to
kick the holy tar out of the bad guys -- and you know and I know there's bad guys in this police
department, probably more than an average police department out there -- and reward the good
guys so that the culture of intimidation from the bad guys can't overwhelm the culture that the
good guys are trying to establish to make our City great, and the job that you did and your police
officers did in downtown Miami this weekend, is indicative of how the good guys can really
make stuff neat and work and our community shine, but I am -- I don't have a doubt about this
one piece. I am 100 percent convinced that we still have too many bad guys in the police
department who are intimidating the good guys and are holding back our progress, holding back
your progress, holding back your ability to be able to stand in front of us and make us feel that
the kind of doubts that are drifting up there a little higher, go away, so I'm just hoping that you
can take whatever steps are necessary to make those doubts that are creeping into my mind, go
away. I'd be the happiest guy in the world. I'd rather never have to talk about this issue ever
again. I'd be thrilled about it, so --
Capt. Esposito: Commissioner, let me respond to you because you're touching on some very
important points.
Commissioner Teele: Before you do -- I want to just say one thing. I'm in total agreement with
what Commissioner Winton concluded with and the training issue. I mean, the need to move this
thing forward, but as a person who served in a uniform for 10 years, a person who led troops in
combat and et cetera, there's a big difference between leading an organization that has a culture
96 October 10, 2002
of fighting and leading a unit that never fired a shot in anger and I get a little bit emotional
because what I tried to do very hard, Johnny -- and you're entitled to your opinion. Everybody --
and I don't want to get into a debate with anybody -- what I tried to do by giving this in historical
context is, I wouldn't care if General Patton came in here to run this police department. He's
going to have to first deal with the culture that is going on for the last 20 to 30 years. Now there
is an element of leadership and somebody's got to take the responsibility. But it is a much more
complicated situation, you know? That's why every one -star general who wants two stars fights
to get the 82nd Division or the 101st Division. Nobody wants the 25' (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- I
shouldn't call the names of the units like that -- but there are a bunch of units that are good units
and they're fighting units, but then there are units that will absolutely fight, fight, fight, fight,
fight, and so I'm not trying to defend leadership as the issue, but what I am trying to say is
there's a culture that we're dealing with here and I wouldn't care if it was this chief or the
previous chief or the previous, previous chief or the first chief that was African-American,
Clarence Dickson, where this stuff was also reported under him, or the next chief of five years or
10 years from now, we have a culture problem, and one way we got to deal with that, we've got
to get the training, we got to train and we got to train and we got to train people into what is
proper conduct versus not. Because you know what happens? When that new recruit, when that
rookie gets in that car for the first time, he sits there and some sergeant says, let me tell you how
this thing really works, and it starts. Whatever that is. Whether it be you don't have to -- you
know that people are always happy to give you a free doughnut and coffee, because people like
to have a police car in front of their -- they learn that. They don't know that just -- nobody
teaches that in the school and so that all that I'm saying is I'm a little bit uncomfortable making
the issue purely one of leadership, although I'm willing to admit leadership is a function of this,
but this problem is a culture problem, in my judgment. You may say this is a leadership, and I
respect that, but I think we cannot erase the fact that this stuff has been going on for 20 -some
years in this City and it's well known and well established, and that's all that I wanted to say,
and Raul I don't mean to cut you off, but I did want to give a perspective there. There are units
that have a history. There are units that have a great history and there are units that have a so-so
history, and the person who commands those units inherits that culture that is there.
Vice Chairman Winton: But there's only -- excuse me. There's only one way you change a
culture and that's from the leadership.
Commissioner Teele: From the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Vice Chairman Winton: It doesn't change from the bottom. It only changes from the top ever. I
don't care whether it's military or civilian. It changes from the top.
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner?
Vice Chairman Winton: And that's leadership.
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner, I said this once before and I'll say it again and because of the
culture that is in that department, your morale is going to go down before it goes up, because the
leader has to make certain changes that are going to buck that culture and that's not going to be a
97 October 10, 2002
very popular thing, so, you know, there's going to be, there's going to be a rough time. You're
probably going to see probably some more snow, before the snow (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Gonzalez: But Mr. Manager, that has been your excuse every time that we
address problems in the police department. Things are going to get worse before they get better.
How many years do we have to wait? Do we have to go all the way -- touch bottom and then it
starts working out? I mean, that's, you know -- Let me tell you. I appreciate the fact that you
want to protect the chief. You may be a friend of the chief. Whatever the association with the
chief is, that's you're problem and the chief's problem. But that we have a problem out there and
Commissioner Winton just said, OK, and I said it in many occasions, ok, is out there. What
happens is that you go out there and the officers are afraid to talk to you and tell you the
problems that some of them tell us and let me tell you, I'm not going to interfere with the police
department. I will never do that, because I know that I can't do that, OK, and I know, for a fact
that they're just waiting for me to slip so they can get in my case, OK? I'm well aware of that,
but I know what's going on out there, because I spend day and night out there on the streets. All
right? And I know where he's coming from. I know where it comes from, OK? I have gotten
messages from a guy named Camilo Pravera, OK, to be careful what I'm doing with the police
department because I'm conspiring to remove the chief. First of all, I don't have the power to
fire the chief. Neither one of us has the power to fire the chief, but that has been said in Hispanic
radio and I have the tape. If you want to listen, I'll bring it to you, OK? They started a
campaign accusing the city mayor, Manny Diaz and myself of conspiring to fire the chief of
police. I don't want to fire nobody. I don't have the power to fire nobody to begin with, OK?
But what I want is, what I want is, cases like that. The police officers that know of corruption,
that know of problems that are happening in the police department be able to come forward and
denounce it and then they don't be retaliated against someone, and that has been happening in
here and it's been happening not from now, ok, and the person that brought me the message had
told him, let me tell you. You're not going to make me be afraid. You know why? Because I
already know how some elements in the police department function, OK? I had it in my
campaign and I had to call you and I called him. I had officers in a polling place telling the
people not to vote for me because I was a criminal. In front of my daughters and on top of that,
they built a case against me which I won against the City, a case that they fabricated against me,
OK? So you can say whatever you want. You can protect them whatever you want. You can
tell the people whatever you want to tell the people, but you're not going to sell it to me. We
have a problem and we all know that we have a problem because he gets complaints, I get
complaints and other Commissioners also get complaints, and let me tell you, one guy may be
wrong, two guys may be wrong, three guys may be wrong, but when you have 50, 60, 100
people talking about problems, man, I think that the problem is somewhere else and you have to
go back and find out where the problem is and please don't come back again with morale is
going to go down, you know?
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner, I'm going to say --
Commissioner Gonzalez: It has to keep going down until it gets better because let me tell you.
What are we telling the people that is here in Miami? Be prepared, be prepared. Be careful.
Take care of yourselves because things are going to be -- are going to go down to a total disaster
before we are able to bring the city to the standard that it should be. Come on, Carlos.
98 October 10, 2002
Mr. Gimenez: Commissioner --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Come on, Carlos.
Mr. Gimenez: I'm going to say what I feel, OK, and what I feel is this. If you somehow get a
real quick turnaround in the police department, watch out, because the culture's still there, OK?
That's what I'm saying.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Let me tell you. They had a lot of problems in the LA (Los Angeles)
Police Department and they got the LA Police Department squared away like that, OK?
Mr. Gimenez: OK.
Commissioner Gonzalez: When the FBI got there, they cleaned up their act.
Mr. Gimenez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) watch out for the (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
Commissioner Gonzalez: It got sped up.
Chairman Regalado: Angel?
Mr. Gimenez: Because the people are happy because the culture stayed the same.
Chairman Regalado: Mr. Manager, we have a problem. Commissioner Sanchez has to leave and
we have several zoning items. I am very happy to continue this conversation and debate. It's
very healthy, but I think that we have heard what Captain Esposito and the Chief and yourself
have said. So --
Chief Martinez: Commissioner, but please I request an opportunity for me to say a couple of
things.
Chairman Regalado: Go ahead. Go ahead, sir.
Mr. Martinez: Especially Commissioner Winton, I can tell you for the last two -and -a -half years,
you know, I have given all I can to bring this department back to the way it is. I disagree with
some of you. Yes, we do have some bad apples, but I can guarantee you that the great majority
of police officers are great police officers, do a lot of good things. State officer over here, officer
that pulled money out of their own pocket and sometimes you don't hear those things -- you only
hear the negatives -- and you only hear the few that are -- that maybe have a point. Maybe
they're right. Maybe they're -- you know, I'm not saying there are not issues. But this is the
department that has changed, that will change, that will continue to change and whoever takes
this job after me will continue the change. It is not a simple police department. This is not a
simple community. This has a lot of issues. Crime's the number one issue and we're addressing
that issue daily. It's not a once a month or once a year that you try to do that. We're working
very closely with the federal authorities and the Justice Department, which is not a fun thing to
99 October 10, 2002
do when you have somebody else working, working and telling you this is the change that you
need to make and officers get indicted for what they did, whether they did it correctly or not and
the courts will (UNINTELLIGIBLE) have the problem. But I can tell you, 99 percent of the
cops are doing their best, trying their best. The officer doesn't feel good when you say things
like that and they hear you, because, you know, and some have a motive, you know? They're
getting reprimanded, they did something wrong, we change the policy, you know? They've got
to do more. They have to go to patrol, which they don't like, you know? Some of those things
happen that doesn't endear some of the officers. Those that have come forward under my
administration I have shielded them. Put them in special assignments that they don't have to go
through. Even Captain Esposito that was in the North District. I put him in charge of training,
which is, you know, a lead assignment for the police department, which like Commissioner
Teele says, we are in dire need of training.
Commissioner Gonzalez: And let me tell you. I'm 100 percent supportive of the troops out
there, because I know the frustration that they're working on and I know they're all frustrated
and they're giving their 150 percent effort to make you look good and to make your department
should look good and you should be appreciative of that, OK?
Mr. Martinez: Commissioner, I am very appreciative.
Commissioner Gonzalez: But I can see the difference. I can see the difference of the clicks.
There are lieutenants out there that doesn't have a problem talking to me. There are captains that
don't have problems talking to me. There are even majors that don't have a problem talking to
me, but there are some elements that they don't even want to get close to me because they feel
that if they talk to me or they have a relationship with me or they communicate with me, they're
going to be retaliated against and that's the type of culture and that's the type of problem that is
happening in the police department, but I support the troops out there 100 percent because I
know what they're doing and I see them working out there. Remember that I told you, I'm out
there every night, and I have proven it to you and I have proven it to your commander in
Allapattah that I go to a park at 1 A.M. in the morning alone to find out if I have people dealing
drugs in my parks or not, so I'm out there every night and I'm out there every day and I do
whatever I'm supposed to do. I do what the people elected me to do, to be looking out for their
interests related to everything, public works, police, fire, whatever. That's what we are elected
for. We're not elected to sit here once a month and just to listen to people asking for money and
for the department asking for money and for other issues. We're here to represent our people, the
people that elected us.
Chief Martinez: And Commissioner, we appreciate that and we'll respond to each and every
concern you bring to us as quickly as we can and as promptly as we can with you. We'll do it
via police (UNINTELLIGIBLE) via phone, via e-mail, via letter, via phone call. We respond to
all those concerns, as we do for many of you, just as I do for John Q, the citizen.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Commissioner Sanchez.
Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman, I've yet to comprehend the purpose of this, to bring
Officer Esposito here and basically make the statements. We've all read this in the media. This
100 October 10, 2002
is a wound that we're just going to pick away. Let me just say that it's really an embarrassment.
First of all, Chief, it didn't happen in your watch. You've inherited a lot of this problem. I think
the Commissioners touch -- as a former law enforcement officer -- some key issues up here and
what is the cultural change in that -- a culture that isn't going to be done overnight. I was with
the Florida Highway Patrol and we had the good old boys, you know, and we went out there and
we brought somebody else from the outside. We brought Gremmings from Chicago, I believe.
He came in. First thing he did, you know, he changed the campaign hats and they wanted to kill
him, you know? He changed the whole --no more cross draw. They wanted to kill him. Morale
hit the bottom, yeah. You know what? Morale is going to have to hit the bottom. That's the
only way we're going to change this in this department. I hate to say it and I speak from
experience as a law enforcement officer, but I don't want to get into that. The statements being
made here today based on the evidence. On the depositions -- no one can dispute that there were
files on elected officials. Whether you want to say there was for security reasons, which I don't
buy or they were for reasons of later on blackmailing or whatever with malice intent, I can tell
you this as an elected official. I'm embarrassed -- it's embarrassing, it's shameful, it's another
dark moment in the police department in the City of Miami's charter, and chapter, and at the end
of the day you know what really hurts me? Is that this lawsuit that was settled, you know who
gets the backend of this deal? The taxpayers that have to end up paying for this settlement.
That's the bottom line, and I'm not going to continue to open wounds here. Yeah, we've got
good officers and we have bad officers, but I'll tell you this much. You know, this today on
Channel 9, I'm not proud of, because they're going to see this today and it'll be all over the
news. We've got -- you know, we started talking about this and the newspaper reporters and just
everybody started writing away, so guaranteed tomorrow, it'll be on the front page of the paper
and it'll be just another dark moment in the city of Miami's history.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Thank you very much.
Capt. Esposito: Commissioner, may I say one other thing?
Chairman Regalado: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Capt. Esposito: You will never have officers come forward as long as we have the policies in
place. Where it's not really the policies. It's the fact that we don't follow our policy. When you
have high-ranking officers that everybody in the world knows that are under investigation,
because it's been in the nightly news and they continue to stay in their position of power, how do
you expect people that work for them, that are potential witnesses, to come forward against these
individuals? It will never happen and I'm not talking about Clarence Dickson and I'm not
talking about Perry Anderson or Ken Harms. I'm talking about 2002. It's never going to change
as long as we have that. That's all I have to say.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir.
Capt. Esposito: Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you very much.
101 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: And you know what, Mr. Esposito? You're absolutely right on that.
You're 100 percent right on that. As long as those police officers stay in those powers they're
going to continue to once again either intimidate people or basically just continue to apply
pressure to keep the silence. Any police officer that wants to come out and say something
against another police officer, I know how hard that is, because you've got that pride of
brotherhood, well, there has to be a channel for you to do that and under -- if you're retaliated by
the police department, you are basically protected under the Whistle Blowers Act to do that.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you again.
Capt. Esposito: Thank you.
29. DIRECT MANAGER TO HAVE E-MAIL UPDATES REPORTING ON STATUS OF
ELECTION TRAINING FOR CITY EMPLOYEES WHO WILL BE ASSISTING DURING
NOVEMBER 5, 2002 ELECTION IN CITY PRECINCTS; CITY CABLE TELEVISION
CHANNEL (NET -9) TO TELEVISE VIDEO OF INSTRUCTIONS FOR CITIZENS ON USE
OF IVOTRONIC VOTING MACHINES.
Chairman Regalado: I'm going to defer two Items, but I just very briefly, before we go into PZ
items and we're going to be quick I promise and the rest of the agenda, but there's another issue
that I think is important and is the November 5th election. I mean, we are lucky. We are lucky
that the City Manager decided that Frank Rollason was going to coordinate -- no really -- the role
of the City of Miami. Because, let me tell you, just read Bob Steinback's column today. He just
went to get some training. Nobody knew he was a reporter and he went yesterday to get some
training to be a poll worker. Read the column and you'll find out what's going to happen. Let
me just say, I don't know how's the process with the Justice Department, Mr. City Attorney and
Frank, we don't have that much time but I think it's important that we establish that we're doing
our own thing. Although we depend from the county, but it is important that we are doing our
own thing because there's going to be problems on November 5th
Frank Rollason (Asst. City Mgr.): Mr. Chairman, would the Commission, would you and the
Commission want a brief update of where we are right now in dealing with the county
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
Chairman Regalado: No, no. We got the email and I wish that you will update us in the next
two or three weeks, at least twice a week, in everything that's been done via email or something.
Whatever --
Mr. Rollason: I've been in contact and with him this morning. There's some more information
and I'm working on it with them, as, you know, the day goes on. They call me and give me
more information and Human Resources was working on it with us, so it's going on even while
we're here today.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
102 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: I'm sorry that you're sitting there Frank. I've got one of the most
intelligent memos -- to the point. It's entitled "A Synopsis of a Phone Conversation with the
County On Voting Precinct Assistance", and it was sent by Mr. Rollason and we all got copies,
and I want to commend you on keeping us informed, on what the City's doing. Just so that the
record is clear, it appears that we're going to be committing approximately 240 City employees
for Election Day, thereabouts.
Mr. Rollason: We have made that offer. This morning I was informed that it was the intent of
the county to utilize some of our people outside the City limits.
Chairman Regalado: No.
Commissioner Teele: No.
Mr. Rollason: So I informed them what the direction of the Commission was and I said that they
could either move people that were in City precincts somewhere else and use that personnel
somewhere else and fill with our people or let me know where the holes are and we'll try to fill
that difference, so that was our conversation as it was this morning.
Commissioner Teele: The motion that I made that authorized this limited the people to the City.
If the manager wants to come back with a written recommendation, recommending that we help
some cities, maybe El Portal or some cities that we are adjacent to -- I mean, but I just don't
think we ought to have people out all over God's green acre, because we are spending City of
Miami taxpayer dollars. All of these people will be paid their salaries for that day, so I think we
ought to try to limit that, but the point I want to make is this. One of the recommendations I
think -- and I think this is Commissioner Regalado's strength -- is the training of the voters.
There is very little done about that, and Madam Clerk, it appears that you brought the issue up in
the meeting. Why don't we see if we can get with Net -9 (Government Access Cable Television
Channel) Nine and I'm sure the manufacturers of these machines have a video; a three-minute,
five-minute video on how to vote. You know, I've never seen it. It's like I guarantee it there's a
$2,000,000 training video somewhere with the manufacturer in New Jersey or wherever they
manufacture, that we just need to get it, put it on our Net -9 and just run it repeatedly so that
people do know how and maybe put it into Spanish or translate it into Spanish, but there are
things we can do to help our citizens and I want to encourage you to continue.
Mr. Rollason: Well, we'll follow up on that and we've also -- the county has informed us that
they're planning on doing some training, specifically at senior centers throughout the county and
we have requested the same training in the City, and they're looking to use their Team Metro and
we've committed our NET and we're just waiting for that information to come, so we can go
forward.
30. CONTINUE CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSAL FOR ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
AND COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AREA PARKING.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Yes, sir?
103 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: PZ Item number --
Chairman Regalado: Seven.
Commissioner Teele: Seven for the first meeting in November.
Chairman Regalado: Ok. We have a motion and a second. All
Commissioner Teele: If the staff has no objections.
Dena Bianchino (Asst. City Mgr. -Planning & Development): No. No objections.
Commissioner Teele: I understand that the Director did not.
Chairman Regalado: OK. All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1128
A MOTION TO CONTINUE CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSAL FOR
ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT AND COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AREA PARKING.
Upon being seconded by Chairman Regalado, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
104 October 10, 2002
31. AUTHORIZE ALLOCATION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
(CDBG) PROGRAM INCOME, $375,000, TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF FEC
RAILWAY CORRIDOR STRATEGIC REDEVELOPMENT PLAN.
DIRECT MANAGER TO DIVIDE BALANCE OF $128,000 FROM COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDS (CDBG) EQUALLY AMONG FIVE
COMMISSION DISTRICTS TO BE USED FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OR OTHER
PROJECTS.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Before we go into PZ --
Commissioner Teele: Any more deferrals?
Chairman Regalado: No.
Commissioner Sanchez: Can we take up number eight?
Chairman Regalado: Item 8. Commissioner Sanchez wants to deal with Item 8. It's a resolution
authorizing the allocation of Community Development Block Grant, a CDBG program income.
Commissioner Sanchez?
Commissioner Sanchez: I just have a question. Dena, what's the balance in that amount?
Dena Bianchino (Assistant City Manager, Planning & Zoning): It's a hundred and what? No,
no. It will be after putting funding in the deferred loan fund $128,000. There's a balance right
now of $928.
Commissioner Sanchez: Right.
Ms. Bianchino: The City Attorney, and we have discussed that we need $500,000 to remain in
our Loan Recovery Fund, which we would recommend.
Commissioner Sanchez: And $375 of that will go for the FEC (Florida East Coast) corridor
plan.
Commissioner Teele: No.
Commissioner Sanchez: But --
Ms. Bianchino: No.
Commissioner Teele: She said plus $375,000.
Commissioner Sanchez: Plus $375,000.
105 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: Of Nine (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Ms. Bianchino: Right, and then $300,000 would go for funding that was previously approved for
the Model City's Homeownership loan --
Commissioner Sanchez: Right, and then --
Ms. Bianchino: -- so that would leave a balance of --
Commissioner Sanchez: Of $128,000.
Ms. Bianchino: Right.
Commissioner Sanchez: And I truly believe that the fairest thing to do with that balance would
be to split it up into five districts. At the last meeting we discussed that. That was the fairest
thing to do is, you know, and I'm prepared to make the motion, that that balance will be split
equally upon the five Commissioners. They, of course, they can do whatever they want. But of
course it's got to go to economic development or other projects.
Ms. Bianchino: And this funding could not be used for social services because we've already
met our cap on the social services.
Commissioner Sanchez: Exactly.
Commissioner Teele: Before you make the motion, has the $40,000 that was transferred over
been restored back to, as a result of the other action we did yesterday?
Dan Fernandes: Dan Fernandes, CD (Community Development). The $40,000 will go back.
It's part of the public service item that is Item Number 5, I believe, on your agenda.
Commissioner Teele: So, OK. So everything is even. All right.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion. Commander Sanchez?
Commissioner Sanchez: So move.
Commissioner Teele: Let's move Item 8 to allocate --
Commissioner Sanchez: So move.
Commissioner Teele: Yeah. Second the motion. That's Commissioner Winton.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Sanchez: Yeah, but he ain't going to fight it.
106 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Huh?
Commissioner Sanchez: He's not going to debate it. He's in favor of it.
Chairman Regalado: We're giving you (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You're going to have
(UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Teele: Actually this should be a public hearing.
Ms. Bianchino: Yeah. It is a public hearing, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: And by the way --
Chairman Regalado: It is a public hearing.
Commissioner Sanchez: It is a public hearing.
Vice Chairman Winton: By the way, what I will remind you all of is that this money is money
we -- when we adopted the FEC corridor redevelopment master plan we directed the City
Manager --
Chairman Regalado: Yeah.
Vice Chairman Winton: -- to find $875,000. To date, we've only found $350,000. So --
Commissioner Teele: The rest is coming. We're committed.
Vice Chairman Winton: Right.
Chairman Regalado: Hey, little by little. This is a public hearing. Anybody from the public
who wishes to speak on this item, being none, I'm closing the public hearing. We have a motion
and a second. All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
107 October 10, 2002
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved its adoption
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1129
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
ALLOCATION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG)
PROGRAM INCOME IN THE AMOUNT OF $375,000, TO SUPPORT THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF FEC RAILWAY CORRIDOR STRATEGIC
REDEVELOPMENT PLAN (FEC CORRIDOR PLAN); FURTHER
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT, IN
A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, TO INITIATE THE FEC
CORRIDOR PLAN.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Chairman Regalado: Now the second --
Commissioner Sanchez: Now Mr. Chairman, I would like to make the motion --
Chairman Regalado: -- the second motion --
Commissioner Sanchez: -- to have --
Vice Chairman Winton: Joe, hold on a second because I want to add a piece -- I want to add a
piece of conversation that this specific thing -- the FEC thing.
Commissioner Sanchez: You have the floor, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: What I'm bothered by is the fact that we directed the management to
find the $875,000 last year, so it was before this budget year, before we passed the budget, and
we found -- and now that we're allocating $375,000 of the $875,000 and so what I want to know
is, when will the administration come back with the remaining $500,000 that you all were
108 October 10, 2002
directed to identify last fiscal year, so that we can move all of the issues forward, relative to the
implementation of the master plan we worked two years on?
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): You want to know when we're going to come --
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes.
Mr. Gimenez: With $500,000? Well, as soon as we identify the funding we'll come back to
you. We will do our best efforts to bring that back to you at the next Commission meeting.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Vice Chairman Winton: Thank you.
Commissioner Teele: Normally a direction like this would be funded off the top on the CD
formula to the extent it is an eligible activity. You know, and I think a part of it has to do with
the eligibility of the activities.
Vice Chairman Winton: That's absolutely right. That's when you're changing it all --
Commissioner Teele: If program income is more flexible than most but, you know, the project
could very well be considered economic development, which has a unique qualifications which it
can be but, you know, requires a lot of work. The other thing that I think is available, Johnny, is
I really do think that we can get money from the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) for
the corridor study, because it is a rail related activity and there are ample dollars that -- I've
raised this with Jose Abreu before, and he's very receptive to it. That requires MPO.
Vice Chairman Winton: Great.
Commissioner Teele: But I just want to say that if the money has not been allocated -- when do
we normally get the CD allocation? Is that in February?
Mr. Fernandes: Yes, Commissioner. We'll get notification at the end of this year of what will
be available next year. The process will actually begin in the spring and the allocation is done
next July.
Vice Chairman Winton: But you see, if I remember this right, there was a resolution that came
to us two or three meetings ago --
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, there was.
Vice Chairman Winton: -- that had the full --
Mr. Gimenez: Full amount. The full amount and it had $500,000 I think in program income and
then we were directed not to use that for this purpose.
109 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, not --
Commissioner Teele: The problem is this, Johnny, just so that you know.
Vice Chairman Winton: Right.
Commissioner Teele: That item came to us as a use of program income, which is very flexible,
but you also had previous resolutions going back to June of last year, March of last year, which
Commissioner Regalado and Commissioner Sanchez were very much for, to find additional
money to make whole the change from the 15 percent cap to the 25 percent cap, and that's what I
was saying. If we're going to do this, let's do this and know what we're doing, because what we
were about to do is spend money without the benefit of all of the issues being on the table.
Vice Chairman Winton: See I think that part of the money that was the $875,000, at least that's
what I was told initially, because I raised the question, I wanted to make sure that it was all
CDGB (Ccommunity Development Block Grant) eligible and I thought this went back and got
re-evaluated and that it was determined that it wasn't, which is the reason this got cut down.
Mr. Fernandes: Commissioner, maybe I can clarify that a little bit. What happened is, the
funding that we had there, the $875,000 --
Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah.
Mr. Fernandes: A $100,000 of it there was no problem, because that was the commercial
revitalization program. The other portions of it were administrative in nature, which meant they
had to come out of the 20 percent administration cap, so what we did is we maximized the
administration cap and that's how we came up with the $275,000 that you see here, plus the
$100,000 for the commercial revitalization component.
Vice Chairman Winton: And what does that have to do with the other $500,000?
Mr. Fernandes: What we wanted to do was we wanted to be able to trade some CDBG dollars
that could have been used for capital funds, with some other dollars that could have been
switched over, so that we would have met the cap requirements. It would have been a
juxtaposition of moneys but --
Vice Chairman Winton: Can you all help me understand this?
Commissioner Teele: Yeah, it's real simple. There are two caps in the formula. There's like 13,
15 categories, there's two caps. Public service is capped at 15 percent and there's where the
problem is Johnny. The other cap is 20 percent administration. Now, there's two provisos
around the caps. One is, you can spend program income and exceed the administrative cap.
Your project or the corridor project is deemed to be, and I agree with them, largely
administrative, OK? That's that CRA issue. Paying staff, which is a bad thing to do and then
calling it a program. I think the staff has made 100 percent the right connect, so, the way around
that, of course, is to take program income and pay for that project. The other competing issue
110 October 10, 2002
was when Congress no longer would give Miami -Dade County -- the City of Miami the 25
percent -- was it 25 percent?
Mr. Fernandes: It went from 25 back to 15.
Vice Chairman Winton: In social services.
Commissioner Teele: On the public service, that money rolled back to 15 percent, so back in
March, April last year, the staff was instructed, and Mr. Manager you ought to hear this -- the
staff was instructed last year in March -April to find money to meet the shortfall on the public
services category. Subsequently, the staff also was instructed to find money for what is now the
administrative category of the FEC corridor. So you had basic conflicting calls for the money.
None of the money has gone for anything to date other than public service and administration.
Other than the $128,000 that's on the table.
Vice Chairman Winton: Mr. Manager? It may not be important for me to pursue this line of
questioning at all. I think you answered my question. You said you all will do the further
research and bring something back at the next Commission meeting. Is that right?
Mr. Gimenez: Yes sir. That's what I said.
Vice Chairman Winton: I don't need to ask any more questions. Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: Ok. Second motion.
Commissioner Sanchez: No.
Commissioner Teele: (INAUDIBLE) $128,000?
Commissioner Sanchez: Yeah.
Chairman Regalado: $128,000?
Commissioner Sanchez: Motion wasn't made.
Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah, it's made and second.
Commissioner Sanchez: It was made?
Chairman Regalado: No, no, no. You didn't make the motion.
Vice Chairman Winton: Oh you were --
Commissioner Sanchez: Yeah. My motion was to --
Vice Chairman Winton: You were moving to the next phase. So, I'm sorry.
111 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: My motion is to -- the balance of $128,000 split it in five ways, per
district. So moved.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. Everybody understand that motion, right?
All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1130
A MOTION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO DIVIDE THE
BALANCE OF $128,000 FROM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK
GRANT FUNDS (CDBG) EQUALLY AMONG THE FIVE COMMISSION
DISTRICTS TO BE USED FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OR OTHER
PROJECTS.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele. Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
32. DIRECT MANAGER TO SCHEDULE PUBLIC WORKSHOP WITHIN NINETY DAYS,
TO BE FACILITATED BY REPRESENTATIVE FROM UNITED STATES HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT (USHUD) OR HUD CONSULTANT TO EXPLAIN CRITERIA
FOR ELIGIBILITY OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) FUNDS.
Commissioner Sanchez: Now, Mr. Chairman, before we move on, Commissioner Teele hit the
nail on the head when we speak about economic development. Let me just say, I've had this
discussion with you, Dena, many times before and, Dan, also with you. The language itself
where economic development -- I'm going to give you a perfect example. This may sound
stupid, but -- Cultural Fridays, it brings around ten to fifteen thousand on a good night to a
specific area and people have an opportunity to eat at restaurants, buy souvenirs, spend money.
That is not considered economic development. I mean, that's exactly what they're telling them.
112 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: The CD (Community Development) rules.
Commissioner Sanchez: The CD rule says that does not fall under economic development. Then
what is economic development? I've yet to comprehend it, and we've had this --
Commissioner Teele: Commissioner --
Commissioner Sanchez: We've had this discussion that has turned into a debate.
Commissioner Teele: Commissioner, I want to make a motion. I move that the City identify an
outside consultant or the federal HUD (Housing and Urban Development) to have a workshop on
eligibility based upon the various qualifications, specifically looking at economic development,
historic preservation and commercial revitalization under those codes. I'm talking now about the
CFR (Code of Federal Regulations). Because it's very clear that when you look at what's been
going on in terms of relocation, the issues that we're dealing with in terms of the HUD, audits
now and the HUD non-compliance issues, we need to have everybody on the same threshold of
knowledge. Because I'm not sure that we're interpreting the regs (regulations) consistently
across the board and I would like to have somebody from federal HUD and, you know, someone
like the national, you know, the people who write these regs. These national institutes that write
these regs.
Vice Chairman Winton: Second the motion.
Dena Bianchino (Assistant City Manager, Planning & Development): Commissioner, just to add
to what you're saying. There already is a consultant that we have on board who is a HUD
consultant and he will be helping us with the housing summit issues. They can also help us with
this very issue that you've raised.
Vice Chairman Winton: Great. So, second the motion.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All --
Commissioner Teele: Within 90 days. Within 90 days.
Chairman Regalado: Within 90 days. All --
Commissioner Teele: In a publicly held workshop that includes, you know, users and
Commission staff, etc.
Chairman Regalado: OK. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
113 October 10, 2002
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1131
A MOTION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SCHEDULE A PUBLIC
WORKSHOP WITHIN THE NEXT NINETY (90) DAYS, TO BE
FACILITATED BY A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE UNITED STATES
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (USHUD) OR HUD
CONSULTANT TO EXPLAIN CRITERIA FOR ELIGIBILITY OF
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) FUNDS,
SPECIFICALLY FOR CATEGORIES OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT,
HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND COMMERCIAL REVITALIZATION;
FURTHER DIRECTING THE MANAGER TO INVITE USERS OF SAID
CDBG FUNDS, COMMISSIONERS, COMMISSION STAFF, ET CETERA, TO
SAID WORKSHOP.
Upon being seconded by Vice Chairman Winton, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
Commissioner Teele: We vote.
Ms. Bianchino: You have to vote on number five.
Commissioner Sanchez: I don't believe that we voted on my motion, in the second. We're
splitting --
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Sanchez: Did we vote on that?
Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah we did. We voted on it.
Commissioner Sanchez: But we --
Chairman Regalado: Yes we did.
114 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Sanchez: I just wanted to make sure.
Chairman Regalado: Oh, all of us want to make sure.
33. AMEND RESOLUTION NO. 02-772 RELATING TO ALLOCATION OF $1,928,400 OF
28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS
AND $960,000 OF PROGRAM INCOME IN CATEGORY OF PUBLIC SERVICES, BY
TRANSFERRING $15,000 FROM DISTRICT 1 PRIORITY SET ASIDE IN PUBLIC
SERVICES CATEGORY TO DOMINICAN AMERICAN NATIONAL FOUNDATION CDC,
INC. AND ALLOCATE ADDITIONAL $231,000, INC. OF PROGRAM INCOME TO
PUBLIC SERVICE AGENCIES FOR 28TH PROGRAM YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1,
2002.
Commissioner Teele: Well, we have two other CD (Community Development) items. Why
don't we just take them if there's anybody here, because it's a public service; it's a public
hearing item.
Chairman Regalado: Six.
Vice Chairman Winton: Five.
Chairman Regalado: Five, six, seven and eight.
Commissioner Sanchez: So move. So move five, Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Teele: Second the motion.
Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Community Development Dept.): Commissioner, can I cut in
for one moment? Dan Fernandes again, CD. On Item number 5, there's $36,500 that was set
aside for De Hostos and trying to bring everybody whole. We got a letter yesterday afternoon
from that agency that they did not wish to take that particular allocation. They're going to
continue to provide services only at their main site in Winwood at the De Hostos Senior Center.
There's another location, Claude Pepper Towers, which will look for another provider with the
money that we had originally set aside, but again, we only got that information late yesterday
afternoon.
Commissioner Teele: Well, what do you want us to do? Defer this?
Mr. Fernandes: So -- I'd like you to pass the entire item except for the $36,500. Put that again
in a contingencies, public service contingency for the senior program at Claude Pepper.
Commissioner Sanchez: Make a motion. I amend it to that.
Commissioner Teele: Second. Accept the amendment.
115 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Excuse me. Excuse me. Before you take a vote, what other program
are you talking about, Mr. Fernandes?
Mr. Fernandes: De Hostos Senior Center.
Commissioner Gonzalez: De Hostos Senior Center.
Mr. Fernandes: Correct.
Vice Chairman Winton: De Hostos said they didn't want the $36,000?
Commissioner Gonzalez: They said that they didn't want the money? They were crying for
money last week, because they didn't have a penny to feed the people there.
Mr. Fernandes: We got the letter yesterday afternoon they didn't want to serve -- they're going
to discontinue service at the second site.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Who did you get the letter from? From De Hostos or you got it from
the other center?
Mr. Fernandes: No, from De Hostos.
Commissioner Gonzalez: You got it from De Hostos?
Mr. Fernandes: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: And how are they going to be feeding the elderly over there?
Mr. Fernandes: They're not. They're no longer going to serve that center. That's why I want to
do is I recommend that what you do is set aside that money that we had previously going to De
Hostos to identify a new provider to go into that particular site at Claude Pepper.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. You got me all confused.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion --
Commissioner Gonzalez: I just came from that center there, OK? We have a huge population
there, mixed population of Afro-Americans, Hispanics, Anglos. I was just at that center. As a
matter of fact, they had a ceremony there. That's why I got here 10 minutes late and last week
they went to see me because they didn't have money to feed the people over there, because they
had some controversy with the other agency that was receiving the total of the money. So what
arrangements are we doing now to make sure that those elderly people there are eating a hot
meal at lunchtime?
116 October 10, 2002
Mr. Fernandes: As far as we know, Commissioner, there's no change at the main center -- the
De Hostos Center. We got the letter yesterday afternoon. We haven't really had an opportunity
to talk to them directly, you know, based on the information that we got. Excuse me. Barbara,
did you speak to them?
Commissioner Gonzalez: Who signed the letter from De Hostos?
Barbara Rodriguez: Barbara Rodriguez, Community Development. De Hostos was in contact
with us. We got the letter from their executive director that their Board has told her not to serve
Claude Pepper. We've been in contact with Commissioner Winton's office, Maria, from his
staff. We are trying to get another provider at Claude Pepper. We have spoken to Catholic
Charities, which have said that they're interested in going back to Claude Pepper, which they did
two years ago. We're waiting for a proposal on their behalf.
Commissioner Gonzalez: But until you go through your process or your proposal --
Ms. Rodriguez: Be --
Commissioner Gonzalez: -- they're going to be eating every day, right?
Ms. Rodriguez: They are being serviced right now by Little Havana Nutritional, that they are
doing homebound meals for the next two months.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. Great.
Ms. Rodriguez: And then hopefully by then we will have some type of arrangement with
Catholic Charities --
Commisioner Gonzalez: OK.
Ms. Rodriguez: -- to go serve meals --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Great.
Ms. Rodriguez: -- at that location.
Commissioner Gonzalez: As long as there's no interruption in the food of those people at noon -
- hot meal -- I have no problem. OK.
Commissioner Sanchez: Call the question.
Chairman Regalado: OK. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
117 October 10, 2002
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1132
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
RESOLUTION NO. 02-772, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE
ALLOCATION OF $1,928,400 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS AND
$960,000 OF PROGRAM INCOME IN THE CATEGORY OF PUBLIC
SERVICES, BY TRANSFERRING $15,000 FROM THE DISTRICT 1
PRIORITY SET ASIDE IN THE PUBLIC SERVICES CATEGORY TO THE
DOMINICAN AMERICAN NATIONAL FOUNDATION CDC, INC. AND
ALLOCATING AN ADDITIONAL $231,000, INC. OF PROGRAM INCOME
TO PUBLIC SERVICE AGENCIES FOR THE 28TH PROGRAM YEAR
BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO EXECUTE AGREEMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO
THE CITY ATTORNEY, WITH APPROVED AGENCIES.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
34. AMEND RESOLUTION NO. 02-879 RELATING TO ALLOCATION OF $2,223,400 OF
28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS
IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CATEGORY, BY TRANSFERRING $100,000 FROM
DISTRICT 1 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PILOT PROJECTS AND $91,000 FROM
DISTRICT 3 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PILOT PROJECTS TO SPECIFIC AGENCIES
TO PROVIDE SAID SERVICES IN DISTRICT 1 AND DISTRICT 3 FOR 28TH PROGRAM
YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002.
Commissioner Sanchez: What number?
Chairman Regalado: Item --
118 October 10, 2002
Dena Bianchino (Assistant City Manager, Planning & Development): Six.
Chairman Regalado: Six.
Commissioner Sanchez: So move, Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I second.
Chairman Regalado: It's been moved and second. This is a public hearing. Anybody from the
public who wishes to address the Board on Resolution 6. It's an allocation of $2,223 -- no.
$2,223,400. Being none, we close the public hearing. We have a motion and a second. All in
favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1133
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
RESOLUTION NO. 02-879, ADOPTED AT THE CITY COMMISSION
MEETING OF JULY 25, 2002, RELATING TO THE ALLOCATION OF
$2,223,400 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
(CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
CATEGORY, BY TRANSFERRING $100,000 FROM THE DISTRICT 1
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PILOT PROJECTS AND $91,000 FROM THE
DISTRICT 3 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PILOT PROJECTS TO THE
SPECIFIC AGENCIES LISTED HEREIN TO PROVIDE SAID SERVICES IN
DISTRICT 1 AND DISTRICT 3 FOR THE 28TH PROGRAM YEAR
BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002; AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE
CITY MANAGER TO ENTER AGREEMENT WITH SAID AGENCIES FOR
SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY,
SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
119 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
35. ALLOCATE $50,000 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
(CDBG) FUNDS FROM ADMINISTRATION CATEGORY TO HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES
PROJECT FOR EXCELLENCE (HOPE), TO PROVIDE FAIR HOUSING ACTIVITIES AS
REQUIRED BY FEDERAL REGULATIONS.
Chairman Regalado: Seven.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Move seven.
Commissioner Sanchez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: $50,000 allocation CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds.
We have a motion and a second. It's a public hearing. Anybody from the public who wishes to
address the Board on Item 7? Being none, we close the public hearing. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1134
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ALLOCATING
$50,000 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
(CDBG) FUNDS FROM THE ADMINISTRATION CATEGORY TO
HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES PROJECT FOR EXCELLENCE ("HOPE"), TO
PROVIDE FAIR HOUSING ACTIVITIES AS REQUIRED BY FEDERAL
REGULATIONS; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH HOPE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO
THE CITY ATTORNEY.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
120 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: None.
36. APPROVE, WITH CONDITIONS, SUBSTANTIAL MODIFICATION TO MAJOR USE
SPECIAL PERMIT PURSUANT TO ARTICLES 13,17 AND 22 OF ZONING ORDINANCE
NO. 11000, FOR BRICKELL MAIN STREET PROJECT, AKA MARY BRICKELL VILLAGE
PROJECT, TO BE COMPRISED OF RESIDENTIAL USE COMPLEX, WITH NOT MORE
THAN 382 RESIDENTIAL UNITS, ACCESSORY RECREATIONAL SPACE, INCREASE
OF 32,000 ADDITIONAL SQUARE FEET OF ADDITIONAL RETAIL USE AND 1,358
PARKING SPACES AT 900 SOUTH MIAMI AVENUE (Applicant(s): Brickell Main Street,
LTD and First and Ten, LLC).
Chairman Regalado: We'll be back to other --
Vice Chairman Winton: We have to do --
Chairman Regalado: Regular agenda. Let's do PZ (Planning and Zoning). We have only six PZ
items. PZ -1. PZ -1, Major Use Special Permit for the Brickell Main Street Project, Mary
Brickell Village Project, 900 South Miami Avenue.
Lourdes Slazyk (Assistant Director, Planning and Zoning): For the record, Lourdes Slazyk. The
proposal before you --
Vicky Garcia -Toledo: Lourdes, excuse me.
Ms. Slazyk I'm sorry.
Ms. Garcia -Toledo: If I may, for the record, Vicky Garcia -Toledo. Mr. Tory Jacobs is here on
behalf of the Brickell Homeowners' Association. He has to leave. He has a pending engagement
and he would like to address the Commission on this project, if you would mind taking him out
of order?
Chairman Regalado: Sure. But first we need to swear everybody.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): This is for all issues? For all --
121 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: All of them. All of the issues. All the PZ items. Anybody who is on a PZ
item.
AT THIS POINT, THE CITY CLERK ADMINISTERED OATH, REQUIRED UNDER CITY
CODE SECTION 62-1 TO THOSE PERSONS GIVING TESTIMONY ON ZONING ISSUES.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Go ahead, Tory.
Tory Jacobs: Thank you. Tory Jacobs, 145 Southeast 25th Road, Miami. Thank you for
permitting me to kick this off. I'm pleased to do this because I think, Commissioners, you're in
for a treat, an unusual situation where we have a major project, two full City blocks and I'm not
aware of any organized opposition, which is quite rare for any development.
Chairman Regalado: Fireworks. Fireworks.
Mr. Jacobs: I trust there won't be any opposition. The Brickell Homeowners Association and
the Brickell Area Association, both organizations are very much interested in the development of
the Brickell Village; had been following this development for some time, and it is of a point now
that it has the enthusiastic support. It's going to bring to Brickell Village the ambiance, the
amenities that I think everybody has been looking for in the HOK Plan that Planning and Zoning
put together. It really embodies the pedestrian friendly community that we've been looking for,
and I encourage the Commission to give it its approval. Thank you very much.
Vice Chairman Winton: Mr. Jacobs, could I ask you a question?
Mr. Jacobs: Yes, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: Could you tell me why the Brickell Area Association and the -- let me
rephrase this question. Is it -- is the reason why the Brickell Area Homeowners' Association and
the Brickell Area Association are supporting this is because the developer has done a mediocre
job, average job or a great j ob of communicating and dealing with the neighbors upfront?
Mr. Jacobs: The -- I would say that Constructa, who are the developers, have been working with
the neighborhood groups over a period of time, bringing us along with the evolution of it, the
changes in it, and have conducted their development in the ideal way in working with the
community. As a matter of fact, the Brickell Area Association Board was invited last Monday to
come over and see the model and the latest changes. The previous Monday, a couple of weeks
ago, I was over at the Constructa offices and saw the model and what they had proposed, and
Constructa has been at at least two Brickell Homeowners Association Board meetings, showing
what they have and what they're planning to do, so, we've been -- sort of felt like we were
almost partners -- the community being almost partners in the development. Is that the question
you had in mind, sir?
Vice Chairman Winton: That is the question, and that is the message that I want to deliver to the
development community. If you come in ahead of time, you meet with the neighbors, you get
them brought in upfront, we don't have to spend four hours with everybody screaming and
yelling at each other and then send everybody back to scream and yell at each other for another
122 October 10, 2002
month or two and come back and then we make the decision on who we're going to have to
punch, so, this is wonderful. Thank you very much.
Mr. Jacobs: Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Ms. Slazyk: Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: Lourdes.
Ms. Slazyk: OK. As you may recall, that you actually already approved this project. It was -- it
came before you as a Major Use Special Permit for a complex that included a little under
200,000 square feet of retail, and a 288 -room hotel. Since that time, the developer has acquired
approximately an additional acre of land, and has reconfigured the project to consist of 382
residential units and an additional 32,000 square feet of retail, which is going to be used to
accommodate a public supermarket. The Planning and Zoning Department has reviewed all of
the aspects of this revision, and find that it is compatible in scale and character with the
surrounding area and that the mix of use is consistent with the Downtown Master Plan vision for
the Brickell Village area. There's only one additional condition that the Planning and Zoning
department would like to add on the record here tonight. As I said, we're very pleased with the
design of this project. It's going to be great for the Brickell Village area. We're so pleased that
we want one particular aspect of this project to be carried over to what's already been approved
as Phase I, and that's the treatment of the garage. We found that the treatment of the garage on
this particular phase is more in keeping with the architectural style of the project and we would
like the developer to carry that over to Phase I of the project, which, like I said, has already been
approved. Since the building permit for the shell of the Phase I garage has not yet been issued,
the Planning and Zoning Department would like to add the condition to this resolution that the
developer reconcile the difference in the parking garage facade of Phase I to match this proposal.
We have spoken to the developer. We have informed him of the additional condition and they
have agreed to it. I want to put on the record real clearly that we want to assure them that this
will not delay their building permit on Phase I. They can come get their building permit on
Phase I, as approved, and then come file the revision for the elevation. We don't want this in any
way to delay the project. Other than that, we recommend wholehearted approval.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Anything you want to say? I mean, do you need to say anything?
Ms. Garcia -Toledo: I think --
Vice Chairman Winton: Was there anyone in opposition?
Ms. Garcia -Toledo: Mr. Jacobs did the best presentation than I could.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Anybody who wishes to address this board on this PZ item?
Anybody?
123 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: In opposition.
Chairman Regalado: Being none, we close the public hearing. Commissioners.
Vice Chairman Winton: Mr. Chairman, I would move staff recommendation, with
modifications.
Commissioner Teele: Second.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. It's a resolution. All in favor say
LL "
aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
The following resolution was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1135
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENTS, APPROVING WITH CONDITIONS, A SUBSTANTIAL
MODIFICATION TO RESOLUTION NO. 00-188, A MAJOR USE SPECIAL
PERMIT PURSUANT TO ARTICLES 13, 17 AND 22 OF ZONING
ORDINANCE NO. 11000, FOR THE BRICKELL MAIN STREET PROJECT,
ALSO KNOWN AS MARY BRICKELL VILLAGE PROJECT, TO BE
LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 900 SOUTH MIAMI AVENUE, MIAMI,
FLORIDA, TO BE COMPRISED OF A RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX, WITH
NOT MORE THAN 382 UNITS, ACCESSORY RECREATIONAL SPACE, AN
INCREASE OF APPROXIMATELY 32, 000 SQUARE FEET OF
ADDITIONAL RETAIL USE, AND APPROXIMATELY 1,358 TOTAL
PARKING SPACES; APPROVING A DEVELOPMENT ORDER; DIRECTING
TRANSMITTAL OF THE HEREIN RESOLUTION; MAKING FINDINGS OF
FACT AND STATING CONCLUSIONS OF LAW; PROVIDING FOR
BINDING EFFECT; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
124 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Joe Sanchez.
Chairman Regalado: Thank you very much.
Ms. Garcia -Toledo: Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: PZ -2.
Vice Chairman Winton: Thank your developer, as well.
37. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE 10544, FUTURE LAND USE
MAP OF MIAMI COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN BY CHANGING LAND
USE DESIGNATION FROM "INDUSTRIAL" TO "RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL" AT 610
SW 1sT AVENUE.
Chairman Regalado: PZ -2. 610 Southwest 1st Avenue.
Lourdes Slazyk (Director, Planning & Zoning): PZ -2 and three are actually companion items for
land use and zoning change from industrial to restricted commercial and SD -4 to SD -7. This
particular property is on the river. We did not take this proposal to the Miami River Commission
in that this is a proposal that was actually requested by the Planning Advisory Board as a result
of another change that took place on the other side of this property. This is a very small remnant
parcel in between two SD -7 parcels, and the PAB had asked us to move forward with this
amendment. If the Commission would like us to take it to the Miami River Committee they
were present at the PAB meeting when this happened, by the way. The representative from the
River Commission. If you would like us to take it, we can take it between 1st and 2nd reading, or
we could postpone it tonight and take it and come back to you.
Vice Chairman Winton: But what's the logic?
Ms. Slazyk: OK.
Vice Chairman Winton: Why are we doing this?
125 October 10, 2002
Ms. Slazyk: The logic here is this is about a 4,500 square foot piece of property owned by FP&L
(Florida Power and Light). It's surrounded on both sides by property that has been rezoned and
reland use to SD -7. To leave this remnant parcel, 4,500 square feet in between --
Vice Chairman Winton: Is SD -7 the restricted commercial?
Ms. Slazyk: SD -7 is a restricted commercial.
Vice Chairman Winton: I understand. You don't need to tell me anything else.
Ms. Slazyk OK. This is to clean it up, so, we could take it to the River Commission between 1st
and 2nd reading and just so they're informed on why.
Vice Chairman Winton: Good idea, so -- is this a public hearing?
Chairman Regalado: You want to --
Joel Maxwell (Deputy City Attorney): Yes, it is.
Chairman Regalado: Sorry?
Vice Chairman Winton: It is a public hearing.
Chairman Regalado: Yeah, it is a public hearing and we're inviting anybody who wishes to
address this board -- This is an ordinance and being none, we close the public hearing. Do we
have a motion?
Vice Chairman Winton: Motion to approve staff recommendation.
Chairman Regalado: And a second. Read the ordinance.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: (INAUDIBLE).
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes. Thank you.
Commissioner Teele: (INAUDIBLE).
Vice Chairman Winton: No, I agree. I meant to say that and I lost it.
Chairman Regalado: OK. With the further instructions that it be taken to the Miami River
Commission. Read the ordinance. Roll call.
126 October 10, 2002
An Ordinance Entitled —
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
ORDINANCE NUMBER 10544, AS AMENDED, THE FUTURE LAND USE
MAP OF THE MIAMI COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN BY
CHANGING THE LAND USE DESIGNATION OF THE PROPERTY
LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 610 SW 1sT AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA
FROM "INDUSTRIAL" TO "RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL" MAKING
FINDINGS, DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO EFFECTED AGENCIES,
CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY
CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton, seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, and was
passed on first reading by title only, by the following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
The ordinance was read by title into the public record by the Deputy City Attorney.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): The ordinance passes on first reading, 4/0.
38. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 11000, CITY'S
ZONING ORDINANCE, BY CHANGING ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM (SD -4)
"WATERFRONT INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT" TO (SD -7) "CENTRAL BRICKELL RAPID
TRANSIT COMMERCIAL -RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT" AT 610 SW 1sT AVENUE.
Chairman Regalado: PZ -3 is a companion. Do we have a motion?
Vice Chairman Winton: So move.
Joel Maxwell (City Attorney): That would be with the same, Commissioner?
Vice Chairman Winton: Second.
Mr. Maxwell: Same
Chairman Regalado: It is the same. We open the public hearing. Invite the public to speak of
this matter. Being no one, we close the public hearing. Read the ordinance. Call the roll.
127 October 10, 2002
An Ordinance Entitled —
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING PAGE
NO. 36 OF ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 11000, AS AMENDED, THE ZONING
ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA BY CHANGING THE
ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM SD -4 "WATERFRONT INDUSTRIAL
DISTRICT" TO SD -7 "CENTRAL BRICKELL RAPID TRANSIT
COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT" FOR THE PROPERTY
LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 610 SW 1sT AVENUE, MIAMI,
FLORIDA. MAKING FINDINGS, CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION
AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton, seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, and was
passed on first reading by title only, by the following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
The ordinance was read by title into the public record by the Deputy City Attorney.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): The ordinance passes on first reading, 4/0.
39. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE 11000, CITY'S ZONING
ORDINANCE, BY AMENDING SECTION 917.3.2 "GENERAL AND SUPPLEMENTARY
REGULATIONS" IN ORDER TO MODIFY EFFECTIVE DATE OF SUCH PROVISIONS
RELATED TO SURFACE PARKING WITHIN CBD CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT, SD -
5 BRICKELL AVENUE AREA OFFICE -RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT, SD -6 CENTRAL
COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS, SD -7 CENTRAL BRICKELL RAPID
TRANSIT COMMERCIAL -RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT, SD -20 EDGEWATER OVERLAY
DISTRICT, AND COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AREAS (CRA AREAS) OF
SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN PARK/WEST AND OMNI, TO JANUARY 31, 2003.
Chairman Regalado: Item PZ -4
Commissioner Gonzalez: Move PZ -4.
Vice Chairman Winton: Second.
128 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: OK. It's a first reading ordinance to modify the effective date of provision
related to surface parking lots within the City of Miami. This is a public hearing. We invite the
public to address the Board in PZ -4. Being none, we close the public hearing. We have a
motion and a second. Read the ordinance. Roll call.
[AT THIS POINT, THE DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY READ THE ORDINANCE, BY TITLE,
INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.]
Mr. Maxwell: You just extended the effective date for application of these provisions to January
31, 2003.
Unidentified Speaker: (INAUDIBLE).
Mr. Maxwell: Staff would have to respond to that.
Lourdes Slazyk (Director, Planning and Zoning): What this was, you remember the parking
requirements that we put into place? This gives an extension on the effective date, because some
of these are going to require, you know, financial obligations from people and this gives them a
little more time to get their plans in order.
Unidentified Speaker: (INAUDIBLE).
Ms. Slazyk: I believe so. I believe so. When we first did -- we actually wrote this several
months ago. It's been continued from three or four PZ meetings in a row.
Commissioner Teele: Is this a first reading or second reading?
Ms. Slazyk: This is first reading. If we need more than January 31st we could extend it again.
Chairman Regalado: Roll call.
129 October 10, 2002
An Ordinance Entitled --
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
ORDINANCE NO. 11000, AS AMENDED, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, BY AMENDING SECTION 9 "GENERAL AND
SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS" SECTION 917.3.2 TO MODIFY THE
EFFECTIVE DATE OF SUCH PROVISIONS RELATED TO SURFACE
PARKING WITHIN THE CBD CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT, SD -5
BRICKELL AVENUE AREA OFFICE -RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT, SD -6
CENTRAL COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS, SD -7 CENTRAL
BRICKELL RAPID TRANSIT COMMERCIAL -RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT,
SD -20 EDGEWATER OVERLAY DISTRICT, AND THE COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT AREAS OF SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN PARK/WEST
AND OMNI, TO JANUARY 31, 2003; CONTAINING A REPEALER
PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, seconded by Vice Chairman Winton, and was
passed on first reading by title only, by the following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): The ordinance passes on first reading, 4/0.
40. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE NO. 10544, FUTURE LAND
USE MAP OF MIAMI COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN BY CHANGING
FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION FROM "HIGH DENSITY MULTIFAMILY
RESIDENTIAL" TO "MEDIUM DENSITY MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL" AT AN AREA
BOUNDED BY SW 1sT STREET TO NORTH, BOUNDED BY SW 7TH STREET TO SOUTH,
INCLUDING NORTHERN '/2 OF BLOCK 49, BOUNDED BY SW 4TH AVENUE TO EAST,
BOUNDED BY SW 5TH AVENUE TO WEST, AND 380 SW 4TH STREET, 427, 435, 443, 501-
521, 525, 541 SW 4TH AVENUE AND 369-71 SW 5TH STREET.
Chairman Regalado: PZ -5 is a first reading ordinance.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Move PZ -5.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second.
130 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: Second, but I want to understand why we're doing this.
Chairman Regalado: OK. It is a public hearing. Let us first invite the people who wish to
address the Board. Being none, we close the public hearing. Commissioners? Commissioner
Winton?
Susan Cambridge: Susan Cambridge, Planning and Zoning Department. We're updating our
comprehensive plan and our zoning to make them consistent. Our zoning right now is R-3 and
our land use is R-4, so to make them consistent, we're changing it to the actual use of the
property is R-3, medium density residential.
Vice Chairman Winton: In our comprehensive plan the actual use is R-3. Our comp. plan is R-
3?
Ms. Cambridge: Our comp. plan is R-4. Our zoning is R-3 and we're changing our comp. plan
to match the zoning that's already in place.
Vice Chairman Winton: Oh, OK. To R-3.
Ms. Cambridge: Right.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. Thank you. I'm done.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Read the ordinance.
Vice Chairman Winton: It's a perfect area for that.
Chairman Regalado: Roll call.
131 October 10, 2002
An Ordinance Entitled --
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION WITH
ATTACHMENTS, AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS AMENDED,
THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP OF MIAMI COMPREHENSIVE
NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN BY CHANGING THE LAND USE DESIGNATED
PROPERTY'S LOCATED APPROXIMATELLY AND AREA BOUNDED BY
SW 1sT STREET TO THE NORTH, BOUNDED BY SW 7TH STREET TO THE
SOUTH, INCLUDING THE NORTHERN '/z OF BLOCK 49, BOUNDED BY
SW 4TH AVENUE TO THE EAST, BOUNDED BY SW 5TH AVENUE TO THE
WEST, AND THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES: 380 SW 4TH STREET, 427,
435, 443, 501-521, 525, 541 SW 4TH AVENUE AND 369-71 SW 5TH STREET,
MIAMI, FLORIDA, FROM "HIGH DENSITY MULTIFAMILY
RESIDENTIAL" TO "MEDIUM DENSITY MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL"
MAKING FINDINGS, DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO EFFECTED
AGENCIES, CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, seconded by Vice Chairman Winton, and was
passed on first reading by title only, by the following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
The ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): The ordinance is adopted on first reading, 4/0.
41. FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 11000, CITY'S
ZONING ORDINANCE, SECTION 401, SCHEDULE OF DISTRICT REGULATIONS, BY
CHANGING ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM (CBD) "CENTRAL BUSINESS
DISTRICT" TO (G/I) "GOVERNMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL" AT 73 W FLAGLER
STREET.
Chairman Regalado: OK. PZ -6. First reading ordinance. 73 W. Flagler Street.
Vice Chairman Winton: What's the impact of doing this? Is this another comp. plan deal, or?
132 October 10, 2002
Susan Cambridge (Planning & Zoning): Well, they're supposed to read the same and we have a
few conflicts where one says one thing and one thing says the other. We're trying to make them
Vice Chairman Winton: And that's all we're doing here?
Ms. Cambridge: That's all we're doing.
Vice Chairman Winton: Making it consistent. You got it. Fine.
Chairman Regalado: OK. It is a public hearing, so we invite the public. Anybody who wishes
to address the public you don't want to address the pubic on this. We close the public
hearing.
Vice Chairman Winton: Move staff recommendation.
Chairman Regalado: It's been moved and second. Read the ordinance. OK. Roll call.
An Ordinance Entitled --
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING PAGE
NUMBER 36 OF THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE NO. 11000, AS
AMENDED, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
FLORIDA, BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM (CBD)
"CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT" TO (G/I) "GOVERNMENT AND
INSTITUTIONAL" FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED APPROXIMATELY AT
73 W FLAGLER STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA; MAKING FINDINGS,
CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY
CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton, seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, and was
passed on first reading by title only, by the following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
The ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): The ordinance passes on first reading, 4/0.
133 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Number 10. This is -- you want to do this? Commissioner Teele, Item 10
is a second reading that keeps coming back and back and back like the Everready bunny and --
Commissioner Teele: I think we need five Commissioners here to discuss this item.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We'll defer that. Thank you.
42. DEFER CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE TO AMEND CODE
SECTIONS 2-1201 AND 2-1203 RELATED TO HOMELAND DEFENSE/NEIGHBORHOOD
IMPROVEMENT BOND PROGRAM OVERSIGHT BOARD TO COMMISSION MEETING
CURRENTLY SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 19, 2002.
Chairman Regalado: Eleven, second reading, the Homeland Defense Neighborhood
Improvement Bond Program Oversight Board. Do we have a motion?
Vice Chairman Winton: Excuse me.
Chairman Regalado: That's 11, Johnny.
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes. I'm there. And there's some changes I want to make.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Vice Chairman Winton: If you go to Page 4 of 8, on the --
Commissioner Teele: What is that resolution?
Vice Chairman Winton: -- whatever this says, reso -- ordinance -- you will see in paragraph --
under Section 2-1201, Paragraph 2 -- I'll go up a bit. Under Paragraph 2-1201, it says "purpose,
powers and duties." Purpose, powers and duties of the board are:" and Number 1, I'm fine with.
Number 2, however, says, ident -- this is duties of the board -- "identify projects related to
historic preservation and improvements for public safety, parks and recreation, and quality of life
issues, green land, street lighting, paving, drainage, sidewalks, lighting."
Commissioner Teele: Can you change that to "recommend" to the Commission?
Vice Chairman Winton: Well, they're -- what was your recommendation? The Manager had --
where is Frank Rollason? He had another word.
Unidentified Speaker: Monitor.
Vice Chairman Winton: Monitor. Monitor.
Commissioner Teele: Fine.
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): We'll try to find Frank.
134 October 10, 2002
Vice Chairman Winton: "Monitor" instead of "identify" works for me. And in the second
paragraph, Number 3, it says "recommend" and I would suggest "monitor" also, because we set
the policies. So, my recommendation is we modify this to, number 2, change the word "identity"
-- "identify" to "modify." And number 3, "recommend" to "modify." And so that's issue one.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Vice Chairman Winton: Issue 2 -- Commissioner Teele, this is the one where you and I will
clearly disagree on because I know that and that's OK, but I just have to say it again. Number 5
says, "expedite the development of the following projects:" And the first one, "state -of -art
training facility, City of Miami Police Department Personnel." And I agree with you 182
percent, that training is crucial. But until we figure out what we want trained, you can't figure
that out until you figure out what your weaknesses are and what your strengths are; none of
which we can figure out right now.
Commissioner Teele: I don't object to deleting that item relating to the --that issue.
Vice Chairman Winton: Right. And, so, I just -- that "A," I'm not excited about expediting that.
Commissioner Teele: Delete "A."
Vice Chairman Winton: OK.
Commissioner Teele: We don't disagree.
Vice Chairman Winton: And then I'm done. Otherwise --
Commissioner Teele: The only thing that I want in this is a language that says,
"Notwithstanding any provision, the Commission, by a unanimous vote, may earmark or
consider any project to expedite or to address certain contingencies." And, candidly, I don't
object to any appropriations or any activity being under a public hearing, I mean, you know, so
that the public has notice. I don't object to that.
Vice Chairman Winton: Nor do I. So, I would move this resolution with the modifications that I
Commissioner Teele: Is this a resolution or an ordinance?
Chairman Regalado: No. It's an ordinance.
Vice Chairman Winton: Oh. Well, then, I move the ordinance --
Chairman Regalado: It's a second reading.
Vice Chairman Winton: Second reading.
135 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second reading.
Vice Chairman Winton: So, is this material change?
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Joel Maxwell (Deputy City Attorney): You could vote on it tonight.
Commissioner Gonzalez: To be honest with you, I have a problem voting on this item today,
because this is going to affect each one of us; each one of the Commissioner's district, each one
of the Commissioner's budget, and we're missing one Commissioner here. Joe Sanchez.
Chairman Regalado: So, is Joe here?
Commissioner Teele: I think Commissioner Gonzalez is 100 percent right. I think we should
defer this item, give the Attorney time to rewrite it -- personally, I think this item should give
them something they're not asking for, and it's just as good a place as any to stick it here. I think
there should be a public hearing before any funds are formally appropriated under this ordinance.
In other words --
Vice Chairman Winton: I don't have a problem with that.
Commissioner Teele: I don't have any problem --
Vice Chairman Winton: I don't have a problem with that.
Commissioner Gonzalez: (INAUDIBLE).
Commissioner Teele: -- holding ourselves to the fact that we should not do something under --
Vice Chairman Winton: Agree.
Commissioner Teele: -- the cover of darkness. What I have a problem with is basically
unilaterally saying we can't act on something until that's been done. So, I think the -- giving a
public hearing provision and a notice and all of that in here, giving the Commission the right,
under unanimous consent, under that public hearing, to make appropriations or earmarks under
this are the kinds of language that I'm very comfortable with. I think the recommendations that
Commissioner Winton has made are totally acceptable. And I do think that we should have all
five Commissioners here. The other thing that I think should be done, though, is that I think
there should be an attachment to this document, and I think it should be a clear codification of
the original ordinance, and everything that has been done and everything that has been done to
date, so we don't wind up passing this and then having to start over because that didn't go -- you
know, something that was done three weeks -- two months ago didn't go before this Board. So,
136 October 10, 2002
we need to basically have a very good attachment that starts out with the ordinance, that we took
to the voters at 2:55, the actions to date, you know, so that it's very clear what it is we're asking
them to do, in my opinion.
Commissioner Gonzalez: If you yield, Commissioner Teele. Also, as far as I'm concerned, I
would like to have someone from the administration to sit down with me and let me know
exactly how much impact this resolution or this ordinance is going to have on the way that the
projects are going to be handled, the speed of the projects, the monies, the approval. Because as
I said before, and I said discussion about a park and a building, you know, we keep going from
one board to another board to another board to another board to another board and projects keep
delaying and things keep not happening, you know. And I want to make sure that I don't vote on
something that is going to be another obstacle for getting projects ahead, you know. Reality is
that people out there -- the citizens out there, what they want to see -- and I said it and I'm going
to say it again -- is streets being built, sidewalks being built, you know, greenways being built.
We're just building a few sidewalks in Allapattah and the entire Allapattah is going in
commotion because they're finally they're seeing some sidewalks being done, you know, and
that's exactly what we want to do. You know, I believe in cutting red tape and bureaucracy as
much as possible, you know, so we can produce product. So, I will appreciate if, at least with
me, someone can sit down with me and explain me what kind of impact this new ordinance is
going to have on the projects.
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Thank you.
Mr. Gimenez: I'll have Frank Rollason schedule a meeting with you and he can enumerate
exactly what this process does and how it may affect the speed. Obviously, it will affect the
speed somewhat, but we want to cut that as much as possible. We did promise -- this is part of
the promise that we gave to the voters, that there will be an Oversight Board. So, this is a
necessary step, but we do need to speed it up. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Thank you.
Commissioner Teele: Does this ordinance require that the CIP (Capital Improvement Project) or
the Manager, through the CIP, provide ninth -- quarterly or any kind of report?
Frank Rollason (Assistant City Manager): That is not in here specifically, but that has been the
administration direction, to put that report together on a regular basis. And we all need it. This
comes from the Oversight -- Bond Oversight Board, from the Administration, from the elected
officials. So, I think we'll all be reading off the same page once this report is put together.
Commissioner Teele: I would prefer if you would consider requiring, through some formality,
there be a public meeting in which that board is presented a status report, because -- what I don't
want is the board to feel like they're telling -- trying to direct us. They should be working with
the management --
137 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: Right.
Commissioner Teele: -- management on this thing.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I agree with you 100 percent.
Commissioner Teele: So -- I mean, whether it's 180 -- whether it's twice a year or three times a
year. But I think we ought to put that in there and have that formality, and let it be a public -- in
a public venue.
Mr. Rollason: We don't have any problem with that. And we have -- just for the record, we've
been doing that as the meetings come. As the meetings come with a board, we're there and we
update them on where we are on the projects.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK.
Commissioner Teele: Frank, just understand, I'm not criticizing you all.
Mr. Rollason: No. I understand. I don't have any problem.
Commissioner Teele: I'm only saying, we ought to put a little bit more formality into the
structure because, you know --
Mr. Rollason: No problem.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Do you wish to --
Gary Reschefsky: Commissioner, if I could just --
Chairman Regalado: -- say something on behalf of the board?
Mr. Reschefsky: -- make a quick comment on behalf of the Oversight Board. Gary Reschefsky,
one of your appointments to the board. Just one point I'd like to make to Commissioner
regarding the line items in the ordinance that talk about the specific projects and regarding the
park and the police training facility, and I believe City streets was another one as a priority. I
would just hope that we somehow maintain that, whether we attach something with a list that
we're giving to the voters as a referendum of the projects, but somehow that we keep that as part
of the ordinance in some way so that we keep on track.
Commissioner Teele: That was my recommendation, that that be in a formal attachment to the
document and -- the original ordinance and all subsequent actions that have been taken, so we
know exactly where we are going forward, that process will be very formalized.
Mr. Reschefsky: Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: OK. OK.
138 October 10, 2002
Mr. Reschefsky: Thank you.
Chairman Regalado: On to --
Commissioner Gonzalez: You need a motion to defer. Motion to defer, right?
Commissioner Teele: Second.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion to defer to when, November?
Commissioner Gonzalez: November.
Commissioner Teele: November.
Chairman Regalado: November 19th. OK. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, who moved its adoption:
MOTION NO. 02-1136
A MOTION TO DEFER CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE TO
AMEND CODE SECTIONS 2-1201 AND 2-1203 RELATED TO THE
HOMELAND DEFENSE/NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT BOND
PROGRAM OVERSIGHT BOARD TO THE COMMISSION MEETING
CURRENTLY SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 19, 2002.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
43. DEFER CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED BUDGET FOR MIAMI SPORTS AND
EXHIBITION AUTHORITY (MSEA) FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 UNTIL MSEA FIRST
APPROVES SAID BUDGET.
Chairman Regalado: The budget of Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority, Item 15.
139 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: So moved.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: -- a second.
Commissioner Teele: Is the director here?
Chairman Regalado: He was here. Jim Jenkins, are you here? I don't see him.
Commissioner Gonzalez: He's not here.
Chairman Regalado: Well then, I can't see anything from there.
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes?
Mr. Vilarello: I'm sorry. Has the MSEA Board adopted this budget before presentations to the
City Commission? I would suggest that it --
Chairman Regalado: Not that I recall.
Mr. Vilarello: -- we defer this item.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Not that I recall.
Chairman Regalado: Not that I recall, no. The MSEA Board have not met.
Commissioner Teele: Move the item be deferred.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
140 October 10, 2002
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1137
A MOTION TO DEFER CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED BUDGET FOR
THE MIAMI SPORTS AND EXHIBITION AUTHORITY (MSEA) FOR
FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 UNTIL THE MSEA FIRST APPROVES SAID
BUDGET.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
44. DEFER CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS OF
SOUTH FLORIDA WORKFORCE BOARD TO COMMISSION MEETING CURRENTLY
SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 29, 2002; DIRECT MANAGER TO MEET WITH
REPRESENTATIVES OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WITH REGARD TO: (1) MORE
FLEXIBILITY RELATED TO NOMINATIONS FOR SAID BOARD; (2) MORE
INFORMATION ABOUT NOMINATIONS; (3) NOMINATIONS WITH SENSITIVITY TO
DIVERSITY OF CITY; (4) NEED TO HAVE BOARD MEMBERS REPRESENT
COMMISSION AND UNDERSTAND CITY ISSUES.
Chairman Regalado: Seventeen, the appointment of the South Florida Workforce Board. Do we
have the names?
Dena Bianchino (Assistant City Manager, Planning and Development): Commissioner, if I may.
At the last meeting you asked us to go directly to the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and
the Latin Chamber of Commerce to get recommendations. The names you have before you came
from the consortium. They are required entities and they are the non-profit members of the 15
members that the city has to appoint.
Chairman Regalado: These are one, two, three, four, five --
Ms. Bianchino: And specific --
Chairman Regalado: -- of the 15.
141 October 10, 2002
Ms. Bianchino: Right. Of specific categories where we have to appoint people. The other 10
private sector ones -- the chamber has been very active in trying to assist us identify people.
People's response to date has been that they don't want to spend that much time and there is a
financial disclosure associated with this board membership.
Chairman Regalado: At least I know of two who want to serve and who are waiting for the
Chamber of Commerce's recommendation.
Ms. Bianchino: Well, if you give me the names, I'll get the names and I will make sure that they
are nominated. Have they made it known to the chamber?
Chairman Regalado: To the Latin Chamber? I hope so because they were calling Mr. Gaska.
Ms. Bianchino: OK, we --
Chairman Regalado: Mr. Joe Chi, one of them.
Ms. Bianchino: All right. We will get you the names at the next meeting of the people who have
been recommended from the Latin Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Greater Miami
Chamber.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Ms. Bianchino: All we have before you today are the five names.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Mr. Chairman, just for your own edification, at the
September 11th meeting the Commission did adopt a resolution appointing a labor member, Mr.
William Bryan.
Ms. Bianchino: Yeah. He's on this list. He's here.
Ms. Thompson: OK.
Chairman Regalado: He's on the list. We just need to -- these are five, so we're still missing 10.
Do we have a motion to appoint these --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Move.
Chairman Regalado: -- persons? We have a motion and a second from Commissioner Teele.
All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Note for the Record: Three Commissioners were absent during this roll call; Vice Chairman
Winton, Commissioner Sanchez, and Commissioner Teele. There being no quorum, motion does
not pass.
142 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: OK. Parking surcharge --
Commissioner Gonzalez: No, wait a minute. We don't have a quorum.
Joel Maxwell (Deputy City Attorney): Mr. Chairman --
Chairman Regalado: Yes, we do.
Commissioner Gonzalez: No, we don't.
Chairman Regalado: Yes, we do. He's here. He's here. He's there.
Commissioner Gonzalez: He didn't vote on it.
Chairman Regalado: Huh?
Commissioner Gonzalez: He didn't vote on it. Commissioner Teele didn't vote on it.
Mr. Maxwell: I think he left the dais when this came up, so you lost your quorum at that point.
Chairman Regalado: OK. All right.
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. I'm going to defer this item then. We don't have a quorum.
Chairman Regalado: You can do anything.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I have a second.
Chairman Regalado: OK. You move to defer.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes.
Commissioner Teele: Second.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, let me tell you why I refuse to vote. We are not potted
plants. We don't need to act like potted plants.
Chairman Regalado: That's why I asked.
Commissioner Teele: If we're being told that we can do nothing but approve something, then
my position is send it back to them and let them do it. I mean, we went through all of this three
months of meetings about liability and are we going to be in or are we going to be out, but I just
refuse to believe that the Chamber of Commerce and the manager cannot come together and get
us more flexibility as it relates to these names. We've got one name and all we can do is approve
143 October 10, 2002
it. I don't have bios (biographies). I was passed out a memo literally two minutes before this
item came up.
Ms. Bianchino: It was faxed to your office this week, sir.
Chairman Regalado: I read it and I found that there were no Hispanics on this five, but then I
said, well --
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): We'll work on this and we'll get you some more names if we
can. I mean --
Commissioner Teele: But we need to -- Mr. Manager, you need to represent us and get us a little
bit of flexibility with the Chamber or however this process is working, because if all we can do is
approve who they send us, they ought to send us two names, three names.
Ms. Bianchino: Commissioner --
Commissioner Teele: And there should be as much diversity as possible. The problem is going
to be getting people to serve, number one.
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Teele: And the second problem is going to be outreaching and going out to the
various entities and, you know -- I don't know these people, candidly. Are they representing our
interests? Has anybody interviewed them? Have you interviewed them? Is the -- Cynthia -- you
know I just have a hard time believing that the district director for vocational rehabilitation is
representing the City's interest, and remember all of the back and forth Commissioner -- Johnny,
about are we in or are we out? I mean, I listened through that and I respected that because I
thought those were some valid issues, but if we're in for the purpose of simply rubber stamping
the names that come down to us, then my position is we ought to just send them back a warrant
authorizing them to make the appointments on our behalf.
Ms. Bianchino: Commissioner, can I --
Commissioner Teele: Because we need somebody that can represent us is what I'm saying.
Some dialogue.
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir.
Ms. Bianchino: Can I clarify one thing? I think you're absolutely right. We were told that these
were state mandated organizations and that those organizations got to pick who they wanted to
sit as part of our 15 members. We had the same reaction you did. We were told these are state
mandated. They must come from these organizations and the organizations must appoint them.
On the 10 -- the other 10 for the Greater Miami Chamber, the Latin Chamber, you were gone
Commissioner. We are working with Bill Cullum, we're working with the Latin Chamber. They
are going to come up with names for us to consider. It will not be --
144 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: What about the Miami -Dade Chamber?
Commissioner Gonzalez: Let's wait until we get the names.
Ms. Bianchino: We'll work with them as well.
Commissioner Teele: The Miami -Dade Chamber and, I mean, you know, we go through this
every year at the Goals Conference. We're going to work together and we're going to be
inclusive, and remember, this program is designed now to deal with those structurally
unemployed and hard to employ and there really needs to be a lot more sensitivity to that
chamber that's in the heart of Model City, Liberty City, on 62nd and wherever.
Ms. Bianchino: We can do that.
Commissioner Teele: I'm not against any of these fine people. I just would like for somebody
to come up and say they've met with them, they understand the City issues that we raised, that
they understand our problems and I just think that as a matter of courtesy, you know, Agency for
Workforce Innovation -- is this an agency in the City? Where are they located?
Ms. Bianchino: What?
Commissioner Teele: Are they located in the City?
Ms. Bianchino: No. It's a state agency, which is a required -- it's a mandated seat.
Vice Chairman Winton: See if you look at all of these, it looks to me like most of these that are
being nominated here are the state mandated seats. We still haven't attacked the issue of the 10
that are not state mandated, that we get to nominate. That's apparently the thing that she's
working on. So we're going to get 10 here that are really our people. It's really a fallacy to be
saying that we have 15 seats because clearly, we have 10. We don't have 15. The other five are
mandated.
Ms. Bianchino: That's exactly right.
Vice Chairman Winton: We have nothing to say about these.
Commissioner Teele: But with all due respect, that's I'm sure right, but there's one appointment
that we've already made and that appointee should have a warrant or certificate and that is Mr.
Riley, Labor.
Vice Chairman Winton: That's correct.
Ms. Bianchino: Right.
145 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: I sat down with Mr. Riley and said Mr. Riley we've got a problem. We've
got some problems in the following areas, and I want to know that you can support us. I'm
concerned about the location of where these one-stop centers are. Will you fight for us to make
sure that we get centers in the City of Miami? I mean, that's the kind of dialogue that I want to
be able to have and know that who we appoint is going to basically be representing our citizens.
We've got a big problem with convicted felons. I want to see a convicted felon program
identified through PIC (Private Industry Council), so --
Vice Chairman Winton: And the other thing that we want our people to do is track real results.
How many people got trained that are City of Miami residents and got jobs? But that's not
always easy to do.
Commissioner Teele: Johnny, and I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, that's sort of like
breaking the code. No one wants this thing to become parochial, but somebody ought to be
parochial on our side to make sure that we really are getting our people or people that are in the
City of Miami are getting access into the program.
Chairman Regalado: I was parochial. I fought for two, but they moved one to Hialeah.
SABER'S been moved to Hialeah. We only have one in the City of Miami now, but, anyway, so
we are deferring this item for -- or do you want to vote on it after what you --
Commissioner Gonzalez: I guess November --
Vice Chairman Winton: We can vote on these. There's no reason not to, and then the other 10
have to come, right? Is that right?
Mr. Gimenez: I have a question.
Ms. Bianchino: If it is the will of the Commission --
Chairman Regalado: There's no way that we can change this name, correct?
Commissioner Winton: Sure.
Mr. Gimenez: I've got a question that I need to ask her.
Commissioner Teele: You can't reject a name?
Vice Chairman Winton: Sure.
Commissioner Teele: For example --
Vice Chairman Winton: You absolutely can.
Ms. Bianchino: I think that --
146 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: I just think that --
Vice Chairman Winton: Absolutely.
Commissioner Teele: -- the manager ought to sit down with each one of these people or afford
some of this. We need to have a resume. We need to at least let them know what our issues are.
We need to stop talking to ourselves and talk to the people that are there to represent us.
Mr. Gimenez: My question to you, Dena, would be, is -- the other entities that have
appointments, we have five that are apparently out of our hands. Do the other entities have the
same proportion as we do --
Ms. Bianchino: Yes.
Mr. Gimenez: -- in terms of --
Ms. Bianchino: Yes, they do, sir.
Mr. Gimenez: Exactly the same? OK.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Defer or what?
Commissioner Teele: Defer.
Chairman Regalado: Defer. All right. Mr. City Attorney --
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman, I think we need to take a vote on the deferral.
Chairman Regalado: Huh?
Commissioner Gonzalez: We need to vote on the deferral.
Chairman Regalado: Yes. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
147 October 10, 2002
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1138
A MOTION TO DEFER CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED APPOINTMENT
OF FIFTEEN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE SOUTH FLORIDA
WORKFORCE BOARD TO THE COMMISSION MEETING CURRENTLY
SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 29, 2002; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY
MANAGER TO MEET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE WITH REGARD TO THE FOLLOWING:
1. OBTAIN MORE FLEXIBILITY RELATED TO THE NOMINATIONS FOR
SAID BOARD;
2. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE NOMINATIONS (RESUMES);
3. INCLUDE NOMINATIONS WITH SENSITIVITY TO THE DIVERSITY OF
ETHNIC AND CULTURAL MAKEUP OF THE CITY;
4. NEED TO HAVE BOARD MEMBERS WHO REPRESENT THE CITY
COMMISSION AND UNDERSTAND CITY OF MIAMI ISSUES.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Chairman Regalado: Deferred. Deferred to November, or to the next meeting in October --
October 29tH
45. AUTHORIZE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO ESTABLISH CLASS ACTION
SETTLEMENT FUND, $14,000,000 TO PAY POTENTIAL CLAIMANTS IN SETTLEMENT
OF ALL CLAIMS AGAINST CITY RELATED TO IMPOSITION OF PARKING
SURCHARGE FOR CASE OF PATRICK MCGRATH III, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, AND
LAUREN VARGA, VS. CITY; SAID FUND TO CONSIST OF ALL PARKING
SURCHARGE SUMS COLLECTED BY MIAMI-DADE COUNTY AT VARIOUS
FACILITIES, $8,000,000.
Chairman Regalado: Parking Surcharge, Patrick McGrath, Metro -Dade County against City of
Miami. Do we want to wait for Johnny?
148 October 10, 2002
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): Mr. Chairman, you lost a quorum again. This item -- I
have before you a recommendation with regard to the settlement of the pending litigation
involving Patrick McGrath versus the City of Miami, Miami -Dade County versus the City of
Miami. It's the Parking Surcharge litigation. This is a settlement of a class action, in which the
County has agreed to contribute all of the funds it has collected under the Parking Surcharge to
the fund -- to assist in funding a fourteen -million dollar ($14,000,000) fund, which will be used
to pay any and all claims that may be made against the parking surcharge, the collection of it
under the statute that the Florida Supreme Court declared unconstitutional. This also resolves
any pending claims with regard to the existing parking surcharge. The City agrees, in that
respect, to stop the imposition of the parking surcharge in October of 2004. The County agrees
to continue to pay all sums collected from the parking surcharge in County facilities to the City
of Miami, starting September 30th of 2002. There is an exception to those County facilities,
which are authorized by law, and that is the port of Miami parking lots, airport parking lots, and
three administration building parking lots in downtown Miami.
Chairman Regalado: Any questions?
Mr. Vilarello: Yes. I am recommending this.
Vice Chairman Winton: So, do we need a -- that's a recommendation?
Mr. Vilarello: Yes, sir.
Vice Chairman Winton: And we need a resolution?
Mr. Vilarello: The resolution's before you.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK. So moved.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a resolution, which is? Oh, this -- no?
Mr. Vilarello: It's written Item 20 on the top right hand corner.
Chairman Regalado: Huh?
Mr. Vilarello: Item -- it refers to Item 20 on the top right hand corner.
Chairman Regalado: Oh, OK. I have it. I have it. OK. We have a motion, seconded by
Commissioner Gonzalez.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes.
Chairman Regalado: All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
149 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
The following resolution was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1139
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION , WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO
ESTABLISH A CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT FUND IN THE AMOUNT
OF $14,000,000 TO PAY POTENTIAL CLAIMANTS, INCLUSIVE OF
ATTORNEYS' FEES, SUBSTANTIALLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT, ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, IN
SETTLEMENT OF ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND DEMANDS AGAINST
THE CITY OF MIAMI RELATED TO THE IMPOSITION OF A PARKING
SURCHARGE, FOR THE CASE OF PATRICK MCGRATH III,
INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY
SITUATED, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND LAUREN VARGA, VS. CITY OF MIAMI,
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN
AND FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, CASE NO. 99-21456 CA
(10), SAID FUND TO CONSIST OF ALL PARKING SURCHARGE SUMS
COLLECTED BY MIAMI-DADE COUNTY AT VARIOUS FACILITIES AND
IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $8,000,000, PROVIDED BY THE CITY
OF MIAMI, UPON EXECUTION OF A SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
WHICH INCLUDES RELEASES IN FAVOR OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, ITS
PRESENT AND FORMER OFFICERS, AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES FROM
THE CERTAIN STATED CLAIMS AND DEMANDS; ALLOCATING FUNDS
FROM ACCOUNT NO. 001000.000000.2235 FOR SAID PURPOSE.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
46. APPROVE SALARY AND BENEFITS FOR CITY CLERK WITH EXCEPTION OF
VACATION AND DEFERRED COMPENSATION.
Chairman Regalado: Let's do the benefits of the City Clerk. Item 21. We have here, as
requested, the Manager's analysis on the City Clerk's benefits.
150 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: This will be the revised version. Do we have a motion to approve the
revised version?
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, before we do, let me just -- I want to be very clear that the
City Attorney and the City Clerk work for the Board of the City Commission. The Manager, of
course, works for the Mayor and Commission and I appreciate the Manager providing his
expertise and I don't want to put you in a bad position Mr. Manager in terms of the fact that we
asked for your professional analysis of it, and so what I would like to do is move the
recommendations as contained in the shaded area of the report. Now there's two areas that I've
got a question about. One of which is a fundamental fairness and that is, the vacation. As a City
employee now, how many vacation hours per year accrual can you accrue?
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): I'm in my 23rd year, so I have 296 hours.
Vice Chairman Winton: Say that again. What was the question and what was the answer?
Commissioner Teele: OK.
Chairman Regalado: The question was, vacation hours.
Commissioner Teele: The question is, based upon her status, not as a clerk for the City, but as a
City employee of how many years?
Ms. Thompson: Twenty-three.
Commissioner Teele: Of 23 years, how many hours a year is she entitled to accrue on the
vacation? This is on the last page at the very top, and her answer was two hundred and what?
Ms. Thompson: Ninety-six.
Commissioner Teele: Ninety --
Ms. Thompson: Two hundred and ninety-six.
Vice Chairman Winton: You can accrue 296 hours --
Ms. Thompson: That's correct.
Vice Chairman Winton: -- per year?
Ms. Thompson: Because I have 23 years with the City. You start off now with the way that the
accrual rate begins I think for the first two years or three years you're now able to get 96 hours
151 October 10, 2002
and every year that you work, up to a maximum I think it is three years, you obtain more hours
and every five years I think there's more vacation added. But there's a scale that you go by.
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): There is a solution -- probably a pretty simple solution is that
she accrues -- that she would get the same vacation days as the City Manager gets.
Commissioner Teele: How many is that?
Mr. Gimenez: I get about 25 hours a month, which is, it takes us to about 300. So, that would
solve that issue.
Commissioner Teele: So, in other words, on the vacation accrual -- see to me it's not fair to ask
somebody to take a promotion and lose something.
Mr. Gimenez: No, I agree, but the rationale for giving her the same, because she is one of the
three people that basically work for (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Teele: How much does the City Attorney get?
Mr. Gimenez: He doesn't know.
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): I believe it's exactly what the Manager gets.
Commissioner Teele: Then I would like to make the recommendation consistent with that, that
the Clerk receive the same accrual as the Manager and the Attorney, and then, the only other
issue on here is the pension or deferred compensation. What is ICMA (International City
Management Association)? Is that the International --
Mr. Gimenez: ICMA is a --
Mr. Vilarello: Deferred compensation.
Mr. Gimenez: -- deferred compensation package.
Commissioner Teele: Is that pursuant to federal tax code or is that just pursuant to --
Mr. Vilarello: I believe with regard to the City Clerk, because she's in the City pension system,
she can only access a 457 as opposed to a 401. So that would be a 457 plan, which authorizes,
depending on your age, up to 11 or $12,000 a year in deferred compensation. Is that correct, Ms.
Thompson? It's a 457 plan?
William Bryson (Fire Chief): That's correct.
Ms. Thompson: That's correct. The more mature you are, the more maturation years you have.
The more you can set aside, and the new law says that --
152 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: New law?
Ms. Thompson: Yeah. The new provision says that if you --
Commissioner Teele: The law -- wait, wait, wait. It's a difference between a provision and a
law. Are we talking about a federal tax law or are we talking about a provision?
Mr. Vilarello: We're talking about --
Chief Bryson: Part of the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) code is 457. It's not based upon age.
It's deferred compensation. The limits are an annual amount. The amount got extended a few
years back. It's up to $11,000, which this Commission granted Walter Foeman.
Commissioner Teele: So, $11,000 is the ceiling right now.
Chief Bryson: That's correct. I think it keeps growing with CPI (Consumer Price Index) though
in future years.
Commissioner Teele: And Madam Clerk?
Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry, but I disagree. Because anyone who's over age 50, which I am,
you're allowed to put away an extra $1,000, so that this year it could be $12,000, the next year
the rate is going to go up for the base, as well as individuals who are 51, so for the next couple of
years they're allowing you to put an additional $1,000 on one end and a $1,000 on the other end.
Chief Bryson: And she's right. A thousand a year for the next four years maximum $15,000.
There's also a catch-up provision that allows you to double up for a period of time.
Vice Chairman Winton: Man, I should have gone into government.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Is that clear?
Vice Chairman Winton: I should have gone into government.
Chairman Regalado: Is that clear?
Mr. Gimenez: We may have a position open pretty soon.
Commissioner Teele: What did you say, Johnny?
Vice Chairman Winton: I said I should have gone into government work.
Commissioner Teele: I move the recommendations as contained in the shaded area, with the
exception of the vacation and the deferred compensation as to whatever's allowed by law this
year only.
153 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion.
Vice Chairman Winton: Second, but I have a question back on vacation, just so I understand it.
When you say accrued, does that mean that you can accrue all of these vacation days. Never
take them and get paid at the end or it just means the earned vacation days?
Ms. Thompson: No. First of all, there's a limit to the amount of vacation hours you can carry
over per year.
Vice Chairman Winton: Got it.
Ms. Thompson: There's a limit for AFSCME (American Federal, State, County and Municipal
Employees) there's a limit for AFSCM; there's a limit for support; there is a limit for executives.
Now what happens is that we also have a vacation time usage requirement, so you must use
again AFSCME's a number, a certain number of support service positions is another and so is
executives. Now you can never carry over more than the limit, but you get these number of
hours credit to you for use during that calendar year.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK, so when this says 296 -- what's it say? So that's just earned.
That's not really accrued, it's earned.
Mr. Gimenez: It's earned.
Ms. Thompson: It's earned.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK.
Commissioner Teele: She's already earned it.
Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah.
Commissioner Teele: And that's why I'm saying it's not fair to take something away that
somebody's earned.
Vice Chairman Winton: But I just wanted to understand what this term really meant, so --
Mr. Gimenez: I think what was agreed to was that her accrual rate now would be the same as the
City Manager and the City Attorney.
Commissioner Teele: Right, and the deferred compensation would be whatever it is based upon
this tax year. I'm not writing in the automatic escalator. You know if it comes back next year
and, you know, there's a resolution then we'll consider that. But I just don't want to start
agreeing to an automated escalator, because this thing may go up to $1,000 for the next four, five
years. Is that right?
154 October 10, 2002
Mr. Vilarello: So your statement is that it would stay at whatever the rate is today every year,
but you wouldn't increase above that should you choose.
Commissioner Teele: It would be whatever it is this year, which we assume is $12,000. Next
year if the Board is satisfied, then wants to consider adjusting it based upon a change in the tax
law, then that will be subject to another vote. But there's no automatic I'm trying not to
create something where we create a provision that we're putting in automatic escalators here.
Vice Chairman Winton: OK.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second.
Commissioner Teele: May I inquire of the Clerk -- Is this package a fair and something that you
feel is equitable and will inspire you to work many, many extra hours at night and weekends?
Ms. Thompson: In addition to what I do already, yes, sir.
Chairman Regalado: OK. That's good. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say
LL "
aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1140
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT, AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 02-415, TO SPECIFY THE
BENEFITS PREVIOUSLY PROVIDED TO CITY CLERK PRISCILLA A.
THOMPSON.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Winton, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
155 October 10, 2002
47. DIRECT MANAGER TO PREPARE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT OUTLINING
CITY'S ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE DURING NOVEMBER 5, 2002
ELECTION, SIGNED BY MIAMI-DADE COUNTY MANAGER AND CITY MANAGER.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Since we're talking about the City Clerk, Mr. Manager could you just
revisit a little, maybe Frank too, the election thing, because, you know, I'm really concerned
about, you know, the voters in the City of Miami not being able to cast their ballots.
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Yes, sir. Frank can give you an update. I can give you a brief
update on what's happened. We have complied with your request and we have contacted the
county and have offered them any and all assistance that they may need from the City of Miami,
and I put Frank as the contact person and he's going to be dealing with them day to day, and
Frank, what have they asked from us so far?
Frank Rollason (Assistant City Manager, Operations): The one change that has come as of this
morning is that they have indicated -- and again I'm dealing with a party that is sort of like a
third hand party interfacing with the county elections office and however it's working there. I'm
dealing with a lieutenant in the police department. She informed me this morning that they would
look to try to get some of our executives to be trained as the top person in the precinct and then
have those people responsible for that precinct for this election. Now at this point my position
with them has been that as they asked us originally to have some of our executives go and learn
the process, and be observers, I think that's a good idea, but I think at this late stage for us to put
our people in charge of the precinct with this late in the stream and have something go awry, and
then have them point to the City of Miami and say, you're people were running these precincts
and how it's not right, I don't know whether we want to accept that responsibility, but whatever
the direction of the Commission is, we'll go forward with it.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, I strongly object to our people having land responsibility
for precincts. Troubleshooters --
Chairman Regalado: That's the idea.
Commissioner Teele: --to assist and translating --
Chairman Regalado: Troubleshooters.
Commissioner Teele: --help --
Mr. Rollason: That's how we presented it to them.
Chairman Regalado: And that is why I mentioned the Boards and especially the Community --
Mr. Rollason: Yes, sir.
Chairman Regalado: -- Relations Board different board, because, you know, we need people.
First of all, they need some kind of access as troubleshooters to the inside because, I mean, you
156 October 10, 2002
can't -- you can do a poll. Did you have any problems? Yeah, I couldn't vote. Well, you know,
what are you going to do?
Vice Chairman Winton: Right.
Chairman Regalado: So there's got to be a way and the county, you know, has to understand
they have -- we have the sixth of all the precincts in Miami -Dade County. We have 105 or a
hundred and some -- and, you know, it's a big chunk of vote and if we look at the statistics, and I
did, most of the problems were in areas of the City of Miami; most of them. I still don't know
why -- I don't know if you have any response from the complaint of one polling place being set
in one building and the people from that building cannot vote on that polling place, or whatever.
It's pretty weird, but closures of polling places, not opening on time were more common in the
City of Miami than in Gables By The Sea or in Aventura, so I'm just saying, you know, we need
to tell the county that we are willing to do whatever it takes, but having responsibility of opening
and closing polling places, that's --
Mr. Rollason: More so than that, they were looking for us to be the supervisor in charge of that
polling place during that day, and I indicated that that was not our direction at this point --
Chairman Regalado: No.
Mr. Rollason: -- and I didn't think that would be what you want to do. Now, tomorrow, I mean,
all of our contacts at this point with the county have been via telephone. We have not been able
to have a face-to-face. I'm going to call tomorrow. I'm going to request that we meet, because
there are elements that are still hanging out there. Police is not sure what they're role is. That's
kind of fragmented. The training of the voters to vote is still kind of fragmented and we've only
got bits and pieces of our actual people to assist, so as helpful as the lieutenant has been to us,
it's obvious that she has to go back to find out and then call me back and I think we need to get
above that level and I'm going to try to arrange that tomorrow to meet, you know, Monday or
Tuesday and get this show on the road. What we've done today with some of the people that
we've already identified, the county required that they have their addresses and date of births so
that they could verify with the voter registration that they were Dade County residents and
registered voters in the county, so we passed that information to them this morning. I have not
heard back from them. The intent with that was that they could start giving us a scheduling time
to get these people over to the Port of Miami where the training is taking place to at least get into
that. It's my intent to take one of those classes myself, get over there very early on and see
exactly what they're showing our people and, you know, we're playing it day by day. But the
overtures are certainly coming from the City, at your direction, to them.
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
157 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Teele: Frank, regarding fire and police I would hope that first of all, the fire and
police would be leveled just like everybody else.
Mr. Rollason: I understand there's a statute about the police not being allowed to work --
Commissioner Teele: That was my point. But it's really important that we comply with
whatever the statutes are, and nobody be in uniform of the City.
Mr. Rollason: Understand.
Commissioner Teele: Name tags or badges --
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: You know, name, not badges, badges
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: -- but name tag ID --
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: -- you know, City of Miami name. But I think it's very important, you
know, that we comply with law, and I think, you know, there are some chilling effect when
people in uniforms in polling places and all that sort of stuff, so I just wanted to make sure that
we did comply --
Mr. Rollason: That's the plan.
Chairman Regalado: OK. Thank you very much.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Oh, OK.
Commissioner Gonzalez: I was going to say that whatever role we, the City, have on the
election has to be a role where we have no responsibility, because the county election department
has been accused of corruption, of everything that you can imagine and I would hate to put our
employees, you know, put our employees in that position, that whatever -- you know, if the
election is another disaster that we don't know yet if it's going to be, we don't need to be blamed
for something that we don't have any responsibility about.
Chairman Regalado: Yeah, but at the same time, we need to protect the right of the people to
vote, so we need people from the City in every polling place in the City of Miami.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Well --
158 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Not with the responsibility, but being monitors.
Mr. Rollason: Well I --
Commissioner Gonzalez: OK, as monitors, yeah, I have no problem with that. What I mean is
that we
Commissioner Teele: Troubleshooters.
Commissioner Gonzalez: You know, we don't want to make our employees or our --
Chairman Regalado: No, of course not.
Commissioner Gonzalez: You know --
Chairman Regalado: That was never the intent.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Responsible because then we're going to be the first ones that are
going to be accused that this candidate won because we manipulated the election, or because our
people --
Mr. Rollason: Let me, let me --
Commissioner Gonzalez: -- has something to do with it.
Mr. Rollason: Let me make myself clear now, so that we understand what they've asked us for
and what we are attempting to comply with. When we asked them what they needed, one of the
first things they need is the lower level worker called an inspector. That's the person that sits at
the table when you come in with your voter registration card and they check the card against the
log and you sign in and you get your ballot or you get your slip and you go to the actual voting
machines, so at this point those are the types of people that the county's using clerk level people
that were looking to use that level and higher to do that job. The monitoring would be from
executives or those people that are on a higher supervisory level to see that, so it's clear, I'm on
the path to provide them with these type workers what they say they are desperately in need of to
greet the people when they come in and check their voter registration card against that log and
have them sign in.
Commissioner Teele: Yeah, but I don't know if I want to agree with the characterization of
lower level.
Mr.Rollason: Well, the first level.
Commissioner Teele: Well, because let me tell you, I wouldn't care if it's a department head.
Anybody can check ID.
159 October 10, 2002
Mr. Rollason: That's true.
Commissioner Teele: Name, etc. I mean the first thing is to have competent, professional,
friendly bodies there that protect what our Chairman's talking about. The right of our citizens,
and I don't think that should be a paid rate issue per se. I do think that Commissioner Regalado
is right 100 percent right, and I'm prepared to make a motion that you would be required to
have a written memorandum of agreement or some written document signed by both managers
by the next meeting or we will have to re-evaluate where we are in this process. If you think that
would be helpful, Mr. Manager. Because what I don't want to do --
Mr. Gimenez: Yes, sir, I do.
Commissioner Teele: -- is to get into this thing and then --
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: -- a week, three days before, the fingers start pointing.
Mr. Rollason: You said you were going to do this and now you're not doing this and --
Commissioner Teele: And it's not in writing --
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: -- and it's a he said, she said.
Mr. Rollason: I agree. I agree.
Mr. Gimenez: We don't want to be holding any bags at the end of this thing.
Commissioner Teele: You know and I do think that, for example, we've got a number of people
who speak Creole and, as well as obviously a number of people that speak Spanish, you know, so
we have something that the county may be short of, but I really do think that we should try to
clarify that, but I would object to us being lying responsible for a precinct.
Mr. Rollason: I agree.
Commissioner Teele: Troubleshooter, communications person to help get messages back and
forth, which apparently was one of the big problems. Nobody could communicate.
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: We ought to look at putting in a parallel system that we've got a person
there with the elections person, you know, in the office where things are being dispatched.
That's one of the things, Frank, that they really need. They need backup, parallel
communication because apparently nobody at these precincts could get in touch with
160 October 10, 2002
headquarters, so if we did nothing but had, you know, telephones, radios and communication
back and forth, we could help them troubleshoot problems, but I would like to move that the
manager be required to present at the next Commission meeting, which is October 29th, which is
like 11th hour, or 10th hour --
Mr. Rollason: Right.
Commissioner Teele: -- a written memorandum of agreement and a memo that outlines the role
and responsibilities of the City and the county as it relates to the up to 240 people that we're
authorizing to be made available at City cost to facilitate and cooperate with the county's
November general election. I would so move.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1141
A MOTION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO PREPARE A
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT OR APPROPRIATE WRITTEN
DOCUMENT OUTLINING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ROLE AND
RESPONSIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE DURING THE NOVEMBER 5, 2002
ELECTION, SIGNED BY THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY MANAGER AND
THE CITY OF MIAMI MANAGER, AND BROUGHT BACK TO THE
COMMISSION AT THE MEETING CURRENTLY SCHEDULED FOR
OCTOBER 29, 2002.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele. Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Chairman Regalado: It passes. Let's --
161 October 10, 2002
Mr. Rollason: Mr. Chairman, can I ask one question? It's very likely that there'll be a runoff.
I'm assuming that our offer stands for that runoff?
Chairman Regalado: Why? Why would there be a runoff?
Commissioner Teele: In the general elections?
Chairman Regalado: There's no runoff.
Mr. Rollason: So, that's it? The highest vote getter and it's over.
Chairman Regalado: Whoever wins, wins.
Mr. Rollason: OK.
Commissioner Teele: In the City of Miami there's a runoff after the November election.
Mr. Rollason: I got you. OK.
Chairman Regalado: No. There's no runoff at all.
Mr. Rollason: All right.
Chairman Regalado: In the City there is a second runoff, but --
Mr. Rollason: OK.
48. AMEND RESOLUTION NO. 00-758, AS AMENDED BY RESOLUTION NO. 02-1097,
RELATING TO ACQUISITION OF THREE MULTIFAMILY PROPERTIES LOCATED AT
1435, 1455 AND 1475 NORTHWEST 61 STREET, LOCATED IN MODEL CITY
REVITALIZATION DISTRICT; ALLOCATE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK
GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM INCOME FUNDS, $300,000, AND $85,000 OF MODEL CITY
REVITALIZATION TRUST FUNDS TO COVER ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH
ACQUISITION AND PAYMENTS RELATED TO SUBJECT PROPERTIES.
Chairman Regalado: We need to do several things. Pocket items. I have several items here.
The City Attorney -- do you have a resolution on the three properties?
Commissioner Teele: Would you explain what you're doing there on that resolution Mr. --
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): This resolution clarifies, unfortunately clarifies two prior
resolutions, which identify the source of funding for the acquisition of three properties located at
1435, 1455 and 1475 Northwest 61st Street. The City Commission authorized the acquisition of
these properties more than two years ago. The property owners had to clear the title on the
property before title was transferred to the City and it took approximately two years to do that.
This resolution -- it cost approximately an additional $85,000 to resolve those issues, so this
162 October 10, 2002
resolution authorizes the additional $85,000 for a total of $385,000 for the acquisition of those
three properties that I mentioned.
Commissioner Teele: Is the staff all right with this? Is there somebody from the manager's?
Mr. Vilarello: This resolution was the result of the reconciliation between community
development, the Model City's Trust executive director, with the supervision of the Assistant
City Manager Nachlinger, so everybody's on the same page.
Commissioner Teele: I would so move. I would so move the item, Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1142
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
RESOLUTION NO. 00-758, ADOPTED BY THE CITY COMMISSION ON
SEPTEMBER 14, 2000, AS AMENDED BY RESOLUTION NO. 02-1097,
ADOPTED BY THE CITY COMMISSION ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2002,
RELATING TO THE ACQUISITION OF THREE (3) MULTIFAMILY
PROPERTIES LOCATED AT 1435, 1455 AND 1475 NORTHWEST 61
STREET, LOCATED IN THE MODEL CITY REVITALIZATION DISTRICT;
ALLOCATING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG)
PROGRAM INCOME FUNDS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $300,000,
AND $85,000 OF MODEL CITY REVITALIZATION TRUST FUNDS,
SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY THE MODEL CITY REVITALIZATION
TRUST BOARD OF DIRECTORS, TO COVER ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED
WITH THE ACQUISITION AND PAYMENTS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT
PROPERTIES; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER
AND CITY ATTORNEY TO TAKE THE APPROPRIATE ACTIONS
REQUIRED TO ACQUIRE THE SUBJECT PROPERTIES; AND FURTHER
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY
DOCUMENTS IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR
SAID ACQUISITION.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
163 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
49. AMEND RESOLUTION 02-1037 TO INCREASE FROM $50,000 TO $65,000 FOR
EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRM
Chairman Regalado: I have several things. Johnny, you have any pocket items? Anything you
want to
Vice Chairman Winton: I think so, and there's one from the mayor's office amending resolution
02-1037 to increase from $50,000 to $65,000. This is the money for the executive search firm.
So moved.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. Mr. City Attorney, do you need to
read the ordinance or just --
Commissioner Teele: That's a resolution.
Chairman Regalado: Oh. He said an ordinance.
Vice Chairman Winton: No, I said amended resolution number.
Chairman Regalado: Oh,. OK. Resolution. All in favor say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
164 October 10, 2002
The following resolution was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1143
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
RESOLUTION NO. 02-1037, WHICH WAS APPROVED AND ADOPTED ON
SEPTEMBER 11, 2002, TO PROVIDE FOR EXECUTIVE SEARCH
SERVICES FOR THE SELECTION OF A NEW MANAGER FOR THE CITY
OF MIAMI, TO INCREASE BY $15,000 FROM $50,000 TO AN AMOUNT
NOT TO EXCEED $65,000, AS PAYMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
FROM THE EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRM.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Teele: What's the source of the money for that, Johnny?
Vice Chairman Winton: I'm sorry.
Commissioner Teele: What was the source for the dollars for that?
Vice Chairman Winton: It isn't here. I don't know.
Commissioner Teele: OK. No problem.
50. GRANT FLORIDA GRAND OPERA, HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN
FLORIDA AND SOUTH FLORIDA ORCHID SOCIETY APPROVAL TO PLACE BANNERS
ON LIGHT POLES LOCATED WITHIN CITY THOROUGHFARES TO PROMOTE THEIR
EVENTS.
Vice Chairman Winton: The next here are banners. I'm going to do them all together. Florida
Grand Opera, the Historic Museum of Southern Florida, the South Florida Orchid Society banner
approvals. So moved.
165 October 10, 2002
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following motion was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1144
A MOTION GRANTING THE FOLLOWING GROUPS APPROVAL TO
PLACE BANNERS ON LIGHT POLES LOCATED WITHIN THE CITY OF
MIAMI THOROUGHFARES TO PROMOTE THEIR EVENTS:
■ FLORIDA GRAND OPERA
■ HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA
■ SOUTH FLORIDA ORCHID SOCIETY
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Vice Chairman Winton: And that's it for me, right, and I'm done.
51. CODESIGNATE SOUTHWEST 3RD STREET FROM SOUTHWEST 22ND AVENUE TO
SOUTHWEST 27TH AVENUE, AS "CALLE CARLOS D'MANT"
Chairman Regalado: Commissioner Gonzalez?
Commissioner Gonzalez: I have a resolution here from Commissioner Joe Sanchez. A
resolution of the City of Miami Commission co -designating Southwest 3rd Street from Southwest
22nd Avenue to Southwest 27th Avenue as Calle Carlos D'Mant, further directing the City
Manager to instruct the City Clerk to transmit a copy of this resolution to the designated offices
herein. So move.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and --
Commissioner Teele: Second.
166 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: -- a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1146
A RESOLUTION OF MIAMI CITY COMMISSION CODESIGNATING
SOUTHWEST 3RD STREET FROM SOUTHWEST 22ND AVENUE TO
SOUTHWEST 27TH AVENUE, AS "CALLE CARLOS D'MANT"; FURTHER
DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A COPY OF THIS
RESOLUTION TO THE DESIGNATED OFFICES HEREIN.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
52. WAIVE $617.70 FOR FESTIVAL DE LAS NACIONES TO BE HELD AT FERN ISLE
PARK ON OCTOBER 12, 2002 FROM 11 A.M. TO 3 P.M. AS PART OF HERITAGE
CELEBRATION.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Let me see. I need to move a resolution to waive waivable fees for an
event at Fern Isle's Park on October 12th, from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. for the Festival De Las
Naciones. It's part of the Heritage commemoration. I believe the amount that we're trying to
waive is $617.70. The promoters are going to pay the cost of the employees. So move.
Commissioner Teele: Second.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
167 October 10, 2002
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1146
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION RELATED TO THE
FESTIVAL DE LAS NACIONES, CONDUCTED BY THE CENTRO
CRISTIANO NUEVA VIDA (THE "ORGANIZER"), TO BE HELD AT THE
FERN ISLE PARK FROM 11:00 A.M. TO 3:00 P.M. ON OCTOBER 12, 2002;
AUTHORIZING THE WAIVER OF FEES FOR USE OF THE PARK
FACILITY AND EQUIPMENT RENTAL FEES IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO
EXCEED $617.70; CONDITIONING SAID AUTHORIZATIONS UPON THE
ORGANIZER: (1) OBTAINING ALL PERMITS REQUIRED BY LAW; (2)
PAYING FOR ALL NECESSARY COSTS OF CITY SERVICES AND
APPLICABLE FEES ASSOCIATED WITH SAID EVENT; (3) OBTAINING
INSURANCE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LIQUOR LIABILITY,
TO PROTECT THE CITY IN THE AMOUNT AS PRESCRIBED BY THE
CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE; (4) INSTITUTING AN
IDENTIFICATION PROGRAM TO ASSURE THAT ONLY THOSE
INDIVIDUALS OVER THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE MAY PURCHASE
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES; AND (5) COMPLYING WITH ALL
CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS AS MAY BE PRESCRIBED BY THE
CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
53. COMMISSIONER GONZALEZ EXPRESSED CONDOLENCES TO FAMILY AND
FRIENDS OF FERNANDO CASANOVA, WELL KNOWN PERSON IN ALLAPATTAH
WHO WAS CANDIDATE FOR CITY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 1 LAST YEAR AND
WHO PASSED AWAY TODAY.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman, I want the Commission to know that Fernando
Casanova, a well known community leader in Allapattah, as a matter of fact, he ran for City
Commissioner, in District 1 at least year he just passed away a few hours ago today.
168 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Oh. We're very sorry.
Commissioner Gonzalez: So I would like to, you know, send our condolences to his wife, son
and daughter and entire family.
Chairman Regalado: Very sorry.
54. THANK MIAMI GRAND PRIX GROUP FOR AUTO RACE THAT TOOK PLACE IN
DOWNTOWN MIAMI.
Chairman Regalado: I have several things. Would you chair, Johnny, so I can --
Vice Chairman Winton: Yes, sir. Chairman Regalado, you're recognized.
Chairman Regalado: First I would like for the Commission to consider a resolution thanking the
Grand Prix group for the race and sending a letter signed by all of the members of the Board and
the mayor and the manager to the winner -- to the three or four first places of this race. I think
Mr. Manager with little time it was great and I really enjoyed it and the people did. We had
some little glitches, but that is up to the Grand Prix, like the information booth didn't know
where the City of Miami or the Bayfront Trust Suite was or the Lalique suite or whatever. But
other than that, it went very well and I think that the City enjoyed, so my resolution is to thank
the Grand Prix car people and send a letter that will be drafted by the City Manager to be signed
by the mayor, all the members of the Commission to the winners in the three different circuits.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: That's my motion, Mr. Chairman.
Vice Chairman Winton: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Being none,
all in favor, "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chairman Winton: Like sign, opposed. Motion carries.
169 October 10, 2002
The following resolution was introduced by Chairman Regalado, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1147
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION EXPRESSING
THANKS AND GRATITUDE TO THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX GROUP FOR
THE RACE, WHICH WAS HELD IN DOWNTOWN MIAMI FROM
OCTOBER 4, 2002 THROUGH OCTOBER 6, 2002.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Chairman Regalado: OK.
Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir.
Mr. Gimenez: Yeah, I'd like to publicly acknowledge, you know, the work that Frank Rollason
and the police and fire chiefs and everybody else involved in putting on that race did. For a first
time event, short notice, I think they did one heck of a job and really made us proud, so I want to
publicly acknowledge them.
Vice Chairman Winton: Here, here. Absolutely.
Chairman Regalado: And I did send you a memo about that, because I know that Frank did an
extraordinary work. I really thank you --
Vice Chairman Winton: You have something else Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: -- for what you did.
170 October 10, 2002
Frank Rollason (Assistant City Manager, Operations): Listen, I just can't let it go by and say
Frank, Frank. Frank did a portion and we had a lot of employees in the City that really did the
extra measure.
Chairman Regalado: Yeah, but it took on -- Look. It's about going one way, putting everybody
on the same page, and you know that. That's the case.
Mr. Rollason: Well, we all did great and thank you for the compliments on behalf of everybody.
55. CODESIGNATE SOUTHWEST 2 STREET, FROM SOUTHWEST 27 AVENUE TO
SOUTHWEST 31 COURT, AS CALLE DR. DIEGO MEDINA.
Vice Chairman Winton: Mr. Chairman, do you have another item?
Chairman Regalado: I have a resolution to accept the co -designation committee's
recommendation to name Southwest 2nd Street from 27th Avenue to Southwest 31st Court, as
Calle Dr. Diego Medina, further directing the City Manager to instruct the City Clerk to transmit
a copy of this resolution to the offices so designated.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Being none,
all in favor, "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chairman Winton: Like sign opposed? Motion carries.
The following resolution was introduced by Chairman Regalado, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1148
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION CODESIGNATING
SOUTHWEST 2 STREET, FROM SOUTHWEST 27 AVENUE TO
SOUTHWEST 31 COURT, AS CALLE DR. DIEGO MEDINA; FURTHER
DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A COPY OF THIS
RESOLUTION TO THE DESIGNATED OFFICES HEREIN.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
171 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
56. AUTHORIZE PLACEMENT OF BANNERS ON LIGHT POLES LOCATED WITHIN
CITY THOROUGHFARES TO PROMOTE "2002 CONTEMPORANEA ART FAIR"
SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 6 THROUGH 9, 2002.
Chairman Regalado: Mr. Chairman, I have a resolution here, the 2002 Art Fair. It's a major
attraction. It's scheduled to take place from December 6, 2002 — December 9, 2002. The
opening gala on December 5th will benefit the Miami -Dade Art In Pubic Places Foundation and
the South Florida Performing Arts Center; therefore, I am proposing a motion to authorize the
placement of street banners in order to promote this event. That's my mtion.
Vice Chairman Winton: We have a motion. Need a second.
Commisioner Teele: Second.
Vice Chairman Winton: A motion and second. Further discussion. Being none, all in favor,
aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chairman Winton: Like sign, opposed? Motion carries.
The following motion was introduced by Chairman Regalado, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1149
A MOTION AUTHORIZING THE PLACEMENT OF BANNERS ON LIGHT
POLES LOCATED WITHIN THE CITY OF MIAMI THOROUGHFARES TO
PROMOTE THE "2002 CONTEMPORANEA ART FAIR" SCHEDULED FOR
DECEMBER 6 THROUGH 9, 2002.
172 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
57. EXTEND DEADLINE FOR NEW SRACK ORDINANCE TO DECEMBER 9, 2002
Chairman Regalado: Mr. Chairman, I have also, after consulting with the City Attorney and the
City Manager, a resolution to extend the deadline of the drop dead date of ordinance of the
newsrack because there are some newspapers that are still are processing at Public Works permit.
This extension will be to December 9. Is that, Frank, the time that is needed to process this?
Frank Rollason: (Assistant City Manager, Operations): That's not a problem. I think that's
more than fair to help those out, because of some of our processing and also some things with us
would color change and so forth, so I have a meeting coming up with all the publishers next
week and that would be great if that got extended. It certainly doesn't --
Chairman Regalado: OK. That's my motion, Mr. Chairman.
Vice Chairman Winton: So we have a motion and a second.
Chairman Regalado: Extending the deadline to December 9th
Vice Chairman Winton: You want to say any further discussion? Being none, all in favor,
aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chairman Winton: Like sign, opposed? Motion carries.
173 October 10, 2002
The following motion was introduced by Chairman Regalado, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1150
A MOTION TO EXTEND DEADLINE FOR THE NEWSRACK ORDINANCE
TO DECEMBER 9, 2002.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
58. WAIVE 120 DAY ADVANCE NOTICE FOR PERMIT FOR MADE IN MIAMI FILM
FESTIVAL TO BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH MIAMI JAZZ FESTIVAL ON
JANUARY 10, 2003 TO JANUARY 15, 2003 IN COCONUT GROVE; WAIVE
PROHIBITION AS IT PERTAINS TO BACK TO BACK SPECIAL EVENTS WITH REGARD
TO MADE IN MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL AND MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL.
Chairman Regalado: My last thing. Yesterday -- December 9th. Oh, ok. Yesterday we had the
regular meeting of the Coconut Grove Marketing Committee and they directed me to bring this
motion to the City Commission. This motion is to waive the 120 -day advance notice with regard
to a permit for the Made in Miami Film Festival to be held in conjunction with the Miami Jazz
Festival on January 10, 2003 to January 15, 2003 in Coconut Grove. This motion is also to
waive the prohibition as it pertains to back-to-back special events with regard to the Made In
Miami Film Festival and the Miami Film Festival. What happened was --
Commissioner Teele: Second the motion.
Chairman Regalado: -- that these people went before the Board. At the last minute the Made in
Miami Film Festival instead of going -- they did this to give you an overview, last year in the
Soyka Complex, but Miami Beach won them and they offered something. Now they went to the
Coconut Grove Committee and their Entertainment and Arts Committee and we encouraged
them to stay and they decided to come to the Grove. Then the Miami Jazz Festival, who already
has a venue at the auditorium in Carlton, offered them their venue to combine the Miami Jazz
Festival and the Made In Miami Film Festival, but there is an ordinance which prohibits back-to-
back --
Vice Chairman Winton: Get it.
174 October 10, 2002
Chairman Regalado: -- event and the City Attorney recommended that we bring this here and
that this Commission can waive both --
Vice Chairman Winton: Great. Perfect. We got a motion and a second. Any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor, "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chairman Winton: Like sign, opposed? Motion carries.
The following resolution was introduced by Chairman Regalado, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1151
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
WAIVER OF THE 120 DAY ADVANCE NOTICE REQUIREMENT,
REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ARTICLE IX, SECTION 54-341(D), CITY OF
MIAMI CODE, FOR APPLICATION FOR A PERMIT FOR THE "MADE IN
MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL" TO BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE
MIAMI JAZZ FESTIVAL" ON JANUARY 10, 2003 TO JANUARY 15, 2003,
IN COCONUT GROVE; FURTHER WAIVING THE PROHIBITION,
ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO ARTICLE IX, SECTION 54-341(C)(3), CITY
OF MIAMI CODE, PERTAINING TO THESE TWO SPECIAL EVENTS
TAKING PLACE ON SUCCESSIVE WEEKENDS.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Teele, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
59. EMERGENCY ORDINANCE: AMEND CITY CODE SEC. 54-270 TO EXTEND
DEADLINE FOR NEWSRACK ORDINANCE TO DECEMBER 9, 2002 (SEE #57).
Chairman Regalado: OK. Thank you very much. That's all.
175 October 10, 2002
Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): Mr. Chairman, I need to bring you back part of the
newsrack issue that's an ordinance. It's an emergency ordinance that we've prepared to delay
the implementation date to December 9th. So you need a motion and a second and I'll read
ordinance.
Chairman Regalado: I move the ordinance.
Commissioner Teele: So move. I mean, second.
An Ordinance Entitled --
AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION
AMENDING CHAPTER 54/ARTICLE VII OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "NEWSRACKS ON PUBLIC
RIGHTS-OF-WAY" TO DELAY BY 60 DAYS (UNTIL DECEMBER 9, 2002),
THE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR THE NEW PROVISIONS SET FORTH IN
SECTION 54-270(A) OF THE CODE, MORE PARTICULARLY BY
AMENDING SECTION 54-270(A) OF SAID CODE; CONTAINING A
REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND PROVIDING FOR AN
INCLUSION IN THE CODE.
was introduced by Chairman Regalado, and seconded by Vice Chairman Winton, for adoption to
an emergency measure, and dispending with the requirement of reading same on two separate
days, was agreed to by the following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Whereupon the Commission on motion of Chairman Regalado and seconded by Vice Chairman
Winton, adopted said ordinance by the following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
176 October 10, 2002
SAID ORDINANCE WAS DESIGNATED ORDINANCE NO. 12286
The ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): The emergency ordinance has passed, 4/0.
60. AUTHORIZE HANGING OF MEMORABILIA PHOTOGRAPHS DEPICTING
ANCESTRY AND LEADING TO COMMEMORATION OF RAILROAD COLOR EDITION
AS THEY CELEBRATE THEIR 55TH YEAR REUNION ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12,
2002 AT CHARLES HADLEY PARK CARRIE MEEK FACILITY WHERE THEIR
ANCESTORS ONCE RESIDED.
Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Regalado: OK. Pocket items. Commissioner Teele.
Commissioner Teele: It's a resolution of the City Commission -- I apologize to the Parks
Department authorizing the hanging of a memorabilia in the form of photographs in the form
of photograph depicting the ancestry and leading to the commemoration of the railroad colored
addition as they celebrate their 55th year reunion this Saturday, October 12th at the Charles
Hadley Park Carrie Meek Facility at the said location where their ancestors once resided. I
would do so move.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
RESOLUTION 02-1152
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
HANGING OF A MEMORABILIA, IN THE FORM OF PHOTOGRAPHS,
DEPICTING THE ANCESTRY AND LEADING TO THE
COMMEMORATION OF THE RAILROAD COLORED EDITION AS THEY
CELEBRATE THEIR 55TH YEAR REUNION ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12,
2002, AT THE CHARLES HADLEY PARK CARRIE MEEK FACILITY, AT
THE SAID LOCATION WHERE THEIR ANCESTORS ONCE RESIDED.
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
177 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
61. DIRECT MANAGER TO COORDINATE PRESENTATION AT MIAMI-DADE SCHOOL
BOARD OF PROCLAMATION, CONTAINING SIGNATURES OF ALL MEMBERS OF
COMMISSION, THANKING PRINCIPAL OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
FOR ALLOWING COMMISSION MEETING TO TAKE PLACE AT SAID SCHOOL.
Commissioner Teele: And, just for the record, the people that were moved out of Hadley Park to
make way for the park are having their 55th reunion, unlike what's going on in Little Haiti,
they're very proud of the fact that they moved out and allowed the park to be built. These are the
people Miss Georgia Ayers' relatives. People who have actually lived physically there and that
is going to be commemorated by a proclamation from the mayor and each of the Commissioners
this coming Saturday. Also, in that regard, I would ask that the City Manager coordinate a
presentation of a proclamation to the principal of this fine school at the Miami -Dade School
Board at a time that is convenient for the school board. We've all signed the proclamation, but
this principal, Mrs. Evans, is doing an outstanding job and she regrets that she's not here. She's
got a football game tonight. She's got her priorities straight, so we wanted to again thank the
alumni of Booker T. Washington for fighting to get this facility restored and built and the
principal, faculty and staff, as well as the School Board for allowing us to be here and we should
really I think recognize that this is an extraordinary venue.
62. DIRECT MANAGER, IN CONJUNCTION WITH MAYOR'S OFFICE, OFFICE OF
PROTOCOL AND DISTRICT 5, BE AUTHORIZED TO RECOMMEND FUNCTION IN
HONOR OF BAHAMAS PRIME MINISTER, MANAGER TO COME BACK WITH COST
RECOMMENDATIONS.
Commissioner Teele: I would move that the manager's office, in conjunction with the protocol,
the mayor's office and District 5, be authorized to recommend at the next meeting a function in
honor of the Prime Minister of the Bahamas who will be making his first official trip to the
United States since his election the first week of November and to come back with cost
recommendations, etc. I would so move.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Second.
Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
178 October 10, 2002
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1153
A MOTION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER, IN CONJUNCTION WITH
THE MAYOR'S OFFICE, THE OFFICE OF PROTOCOL AND DISTRICT 5,
BE AUTHORIZED TO RECOMMEND AT THE NEXT COMMISSION
MEETING A FUNCTION IN HONOR OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE
BAHAMAS, WHO WILL BE MAKING HIS FIRST OFFICIAL TRIP TO THE
UNITED STATES SINCE HIS ELECTION DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF
NOVEMBER 2002; FURTHER DIRECTING THE MANAGER TO COME
BACK WITH COST RECOMMENDATIONS, ET CETERA.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Chairman Regalado: OK. Motion to adjourn.
Commissioner Teele: Always in order. So move.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: It passes.
63. DEFER CONSIDERATION OF (A) UPDATE FROM ADMINISTRATION REGARDING
IMPACT FEES, AND (B) FINANCIAL UPDATE AND BUDGET OUTLOOK.
Joel Maxwell (City Attorney): Madame Clerk, the balance of items continued. Item 17.
179 October 10, 2002
Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Seventeen was deferred. OK? Then we had --
Mr. Maxwell: Eighteen.
Ms. Thompson: Eighteen was a discussion on the impact fee.
Mr. Maxwell: Is it deferred as well?
Mr. Thompson: And 19 discussion of the financial outlook.
Mr. Maxwell: Mr. Chairman, are you deferring those items?
Chairman Regalado: Huh?
Mr. Maxwell: You're deferring those two items. You moved to defer those two items.
Ms. Thompson: Eighteen and nineteen.
Chairman Regalado: We need a motion to defer those two items.
Commissioner Gonzalez: Motion to defer Item 18 and 19.
Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chairman Regalado: We did.
The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption:
MOTION 02-1154
A MOTION TO DEFER CONSIDERATION OF (a) UPDATE FROM THE
ADMINISTRATION REGARDING IMPACT FEES, AND (b) FINANCIAL
UPDATE AND BUDGET OUTLOOK.
180 October 10, 2002
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the motion was passed and adopted by the
following vote:
AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado
Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton
Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Teele: We need an ordinance that basically says that any item that is not taken up
is automatically deferred to the next meeting.
Mr. Maxwell: We will prepare that for you.
181 October 10, 2002
THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE CITY COMMISSION,
THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 6:40 P.M.
Attest
Priscilla A. Thompson
CITY CLERK
Sylvia Scheider
ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
(S E A L)
MANUEL A. DIAZ
MAYOR
182 October 10, 2002