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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 1998-07-30 MinutesCITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON July 30, 1998 (Special) PREPARED BY THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK/CITY HALL Walter J. Foeman/City Clerk ITEM NO. INDEX MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING JULY 30,1998 SUBJECT LEGISLATION 1. ISSUE CONDOLENCES TO FAMILIES OF OFFICERS 7/30/98 SLAINED IN THE LINE OF DUTY AT THE UNITED DISCUSSION STATES CAPITOL. 1-2 2. MAYOR CAROLLO OUTLINES ORDER OF BUSINESS 7/30/98 FOR SPECIAL MEETING. DISCUSSION 2 3. (A) DISCUSSION CONCERNING FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT 7/30/98 BOARD'S REJECTION OF CITY'S PROPOSED BUDGET DISCUSSION (1998-1999) AND REVISED FIVE-YEAR PLAN. 2-14 (B) DIRECT CITY CLERK TO ADVERTISE MEETING TO COMPLY WITH GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE LAW, JULY 31, 1998, BEGINNING 11:30 AM, IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ROOM, CITY HALL. 4. DIRECT CITY ATTORNEY TO RESEARCH AND 7/30/98 CHALLENGE VALUATION OF CITY TAX ROLLS DISCUSSION RELATING TO COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES - FURTHER 14-16 DIRECT CITY ATTORNEY AND CITY MANAGER TO INCLUDE, AS PART OF BUDGET SOLUTIONS, THE REVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL BOND INDENTURE WHICH CREATED THE DADE COUNTY WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY IN ORDER TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE CITY IS ENTITLED TO CERTAIN REVENUES - INSTRUCT CITY ATTORNEY TO HIRE OUTSIDE COUNSEL REGARDING SAME. 5. BRIEF DISCUSSION REGARDING OVERSIGHT BOARD'S 7/30/98 REJECTION OF CONTRACT WITH TOM TEW AS DISCUSSION OUTSIDE CITY COUNSEL FOR THE DELOITTE & 16-17 TOUCHE LAWSUIT. 6. DIRECT CITY MANAGER TO PROVIDE COMMISSION 7/30/98 WITH WRITTEN RECOMMENDATIONS IN ORDER TO DISCUSSION DEVELOP LEGISLATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR PAYMENT OF 17 FEES BY PARTIES OTHER THAN THE CITY RESIDENTS, HOMEOWNER, TAX PAYERS. 7. BRIEF DISCUSSION BY COMMISSIONER PLUMMER 7/30/98 CONCERNING LOT CLEARING MEETING SCHEDULED DISCUSSION FOR JULY 31, 1998, IN HIS OFFICE, AT CITY HALL - 17-18 FURTHER REQUESTING MANAGER TO ADVISE HIM PRIOR TO SAID MEETING OF AMOUNT OF FUNDS ALLOCATED FOR LOT CLEARING. 8. DIRECT CITY MANAGER TO REVIEW EXISTING 7/30/98 NUMBER OF NET OFFICES AND EVALUATE DISCUSSION ADMINISTRATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF SAME - 18 FURTHER REQUEST MANAGER TO RETURN TO CITY COMMISSION WITH RECOMMENDATIONS - FURTHER DIRECTING CITY MANAGER TO EVALUATE EFFECTIVENESS OF CODE ENFORCEMENT FUNCTION. 9. SCHEDULE SPECIAL COMMISSION MEETING TO 7/30/98 DISCUSS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998- DISCUSSION 1999 AND REVISED FIVE-YEAR PLAN FOR FISCAL 18-19 YEAR 1999 THROUGH 2O03 FOR AUGUST 11, 1998, AT 11 AM. 10. ASK MAYOR TO SEND A LETTER TO FLORIDA 7/30/98 GOVERNOR LAWTON CHILES TO REQUEST THE TAX M 98-805 APPRAISER TO COMPLY WITH STATE STATUTE 19-20 REGARDING TAX VALUATION OF PROPERTY WITHIN THE CITY - FURTHER REQUEST GOVERNOR TO HAVE STATE LEGISLATURE TO CONSIDER THE PUBLIC PURPOSE AS IT PERTAINS TO THE IMPACT OF TAX EXEMPT PROPERTIES ON THE CITY'S TAX BASE - FURTHER REQUEST GOVERNOR CHILES TO PROVIDE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FLORIDA CREWS TO ASSIST THE CITY IN ITS CLEANUP EFFORTS. 11. COMMENTS BY MAYOR CAROLLO CONCERNING 7/30/98 FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT BOARD'S REJECTION OF M 98-805 CITY'S PROPOSED BUDGET AND REVISED FIVE-YEAR 21-22 PLAN. MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF MIAMI, FLORIDA On the 30th day of July, 1998, the City Commission of Miami, Florida, met at its regular meeting place in the City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida in regular session. The meeting was called to order at 3:13 p.m. by Presiding Officer/Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. (hereinafter referred to as Vice Chairman Plummer), with the following members of the Commission found to be present: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. (District 2) Commissioner Joe Sanchez (District 3) Commissioner Tomas Regalado ( District 4) Commissioner Wifredo Gort (District 1) Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. (District 5) ALSO PRESENT: Donald Warshaw, Interim City Manager Alejandro Vilarello, City Attorney Walter J. Foeman, City Clerk Maria J. Argudin, Assistant City Clerk An invocation was delivered by Mr. Tony Rodriguez, who then led those present in a pledge of allegiance to the flag. 1. ISSUE CONDOLENCES TO FAMILIES OF OFFICERS SLAINED IN THE LINE OF DUTY AT THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL. Vice Chairman Plummer: Mr. Manager, I've not heard back from the Mayor's staff. I have heard that Mr. Gort's going to be about 10 minutes late. I have not heard from Mr. Teele's staff. We do have a quorum but I'd really prefer to have the message from Mayor, whether he wants me to start or not, but is there anything that we can be doing so that we're not sitting around here paying all this overtime for these department heads, all this high priced help? Chief Donald Warshaw (Acting City Manager): There's really no other business to come before the Commission, that I know of, Commissioner. Make a phone call upstairs find out what... Vice Chairman Plummer: OK. I'm about ready to go home. Due to the lack of interest, today has been canceled. JJ I July 30, 1998 Mayor Carollo: Would everybody stand up for an invocation, please? Vice Chairman Plummer: Mr. Mayor, if I may? We had a very sad and just come...before coming to this meeting today, watched a travesty in our Nation's Capital as they buried two of the guards in the Capital Rotunda at Arlington International Cemetery. It's nothing, anything that we're proud of, but the one thing we can, is that they do look after their own people. I will offer a motion that we do send the condolences of this Commission and I ask that they be remembered in the prayers of today. Mayor Carollo: If I may ask Tony Rodriguez, the President of the Fraternal Order of Police, if he could come up and lead us in prayer, please? 2. MAYOR CAROLLO OUTLINES ORDER OF BUSINESS FOR SPECIAL MEETING.. Mayor Carollo: Unless the members of the Commission have an opinion on how to begin, I would like to begin by asking the Manager to give his input as to the letter that we received yesterday morning, what the administration has been doing up to now and, from then on, the Commission can ask the questions of the administration they so wish or make any statements. 3. A. DISCUSSION CONCERNING FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT' BOARD'S REJECTION OF CITY'S PROPOSED BUDGET (1998-1999) AND REVISED FIVE-YEAR PLAN. B. DIRECT CITY CLERK TO ADVERTISE MEETING TO COMPLY WITH GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE LAW, JULY 31, 1998, BEGINNING 11:30 AM, IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ROOM, CITY HALL. Chief Donald Warshaw (Acting City Manager): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I've left a package for each of you that contains a copy of the letter from the State Oversight Board, along with a copy of page 61, which is the page from the Five -Year Plan that brings out some of the initiatives that we had built into the lastFive-Year Plan that came before the Commission. There's also a copy in there for a revised page 61, which includes certain initiatives that we had come forward, that had been removed or taken out or disallowed by the Oversight Board. Let me just say that I've been now with the City for 27 years and been a member of the staff of the Police Department for a long time, having worked with budgets and having worked through the problems when the Oversight Board was first created, so I have some familiarity with the plan that was developed by Merritt Stierheim and, subsequent to that, Ed Marquez and, of course, more recently with, the former City Manager. The staff has examined all of the numbers and we have gone through, in great detail, the reductions that the Oversight Board has given to us and now, as a result of this letter, we're working within a very narrow 20-day window that's now, of course, down to 18 days. The way I read it...and my best professional judgment is, that the Oversight Board is saying, they'll accept nothing less than one hundred percent recurring revenues for the balance of the Five -Year Plan, starting with next year. If... Vice Chairman Plummer: Can you stop a minute? I have read the letter and read the letter and read the letter. Now, that's nice to tell me they want a hundred percent. A hundred percent of what? I fail to find in the letter, do they want ten cents, ten dollars ($10.00), ten million? What do they want? Mr. Warshaw: If you look at page ... the revised copy of page 61, that's titled Revised City of Miami Five -Year Plan. Vice Chairman Plummer: I've looked at it many times. Mr. Warshaw: OK. And if you look at the column that says Difference, starting with fiscal year 1999, which shows a deficit of ten point nine million and moving through the year 2003, the deficit grows to approximately seventeen million. Vice Chairman Plummer: That's your paper. That's not theirs. Mr. Warshaw: That's correct. 11 2 July 30, 1998 Vice Chairman Plummer: Again, my question, if you can answer my question, is very simple, what do they want a hundred percent of? You know, I got to get ... Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry, but I've got to get it off my chest. The Oversight Board, in my opinion, operates in a vacuum. For 17 months, I have asked and have done everything humanly possible to have a joint meeting of this City Commission, who make the decisions, and the Oversight Board, and they have never, ever taken up the invitation or had a meeting with the very board that they are trying to, they say, help. Now, I only know how to do business one way and I sit in a room with people I'm doing business with. We sit across from a table and we explore the problems and we, then try to find the solutions. That hasn't been the case here. We try to second-guess what they want, if they know, then we send it to them. They send it back. And the process is another 30 days blown to hell. I hope, as I ... Mr. Mayor, to your committee ... and I told a number of them ... that I hope that they are more attuned, if they want to help this City Commission, to call a meeting and meet with this City Commission, so that at the 19th day, they don't come with recommendations that we don't find acceptable. I don't know how to do business but to sit down with the people who you are doing business with across from the table in the same room. And if there's another way of doing business, obviously, what we're doing isn't working because we're in the jam we are today. I don't know their reluctance for not meeting with this Commission, but this Commission is the one that's going to be making the final choices and if we don't make them, nobody else but, so-called, the Governor is going to do it. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, if I may.. Vice Chairman Plummer: So I ... sure. Mayor Carollo: As far as the Advisory Budget Committee that I named, it will be meeting again ... the Committee as a whole, they've been having subcommittee meetings everyday since the original meeting. But the Committee as a whole will be meeting again tomorrow at 1:30, at theMRC building and, of course, all of you are welcome, again, to come there. Vice Chairman Plummer: But, Mr. Mayor? Mayor Carollo: The ... and I want to qualify this. What this Committee will be doing is presenting this Commission with the different options that they find that are available. It will be up to this Commission to decide which of those options, if any, it wants to deal with. As far as recommendations, if you can call that a recommendation, you may but they're not coming and recommending to this Commission that this, this and this and this form is what you have to do. They're going to give us the options. It will be up to this Commission to decide from those options which and how it wants to choose. I will advise the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Ray Goode, that they meet with this Commission and again, when you come tomorrow, you could speak to him to that effect but, at the end of the day, what they're showing us are the options that are available and, frankly, I will believe that whatever options they show us, that are the only ones that are available, are going to be the only ones that are available based on the guidelines that the Oversight Board has given us now, within this timeframe. Vice Chairman Plummer: Well, we can get into that but, Mr. Mayor, you know, let's admit, this Committee is your Committee. Mayor Carollo: That's correct. Vice Chairman Plummer: OK. And we were invited the other day and the three of us that are sitting here happened to be the three that showed up there. Mayor Carollo: That's correct. Vice Chairman Plummer: We were not invited to speak. We sat there like good little boys in a corner and we were good listeners. Now, if that's what tomorrow at 1:30 is going to be, I don't need to waste your time or their time or mine. If it's going to be a meeting in which there's going to be a dialogue between them and myself or any of the members of the Commission, then I think it's going to be beneficial. But if it's not the case, then, you know, I.. just let me know, so I know what to do and not to do. JJ 3 July 30, 1998 [AT THIS POINT OF MEETING COMMISSIONER GORT ENTERS MEETING - (3:23 P.M.)] Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, I will be very clear and precise. This is a professional Committee with experts and budget and finance individuals that, if you put all of their respected budgets together, they do in a year, you have well over nine billion dollars ($9,000,000,000.) that they handle on any given year. This is not a political committee. Any of you are welcome to speak to them. If you would have stayed more or any of you would have stayed more than the initial 15 or 20 minutes, after the Committee got started, you would certainly have had the opportunity to address any concerns that you had to the Committee but, frankly, this is simply numbers. These numbers don't come, nor have I ever seen numbers that come male or female numbers. They come through ethnic backgrounds or racial. Numbers are numbers. There have been an additional four members that had been added to the Committee since then. The initial committee was comprised of the institutions that I contacted for help. They send us their top budget individuals. I didn't ask for those people to be of a certain kind or certain mixture. I asked for the people that they had. Their best people. Outside of the institutions, they were the ones that chose what ... which of their people to send and these institutions include Dade County Government and the Public Schools, University of Miami, Florida International University and the Court System. I only named ... if you could say which I named, particularly five individuals. One was Ray Goode. Second one was Steve Owens. Ray Goode, as you know, was the former County Manager in Dade County. Very respected. He is now a top executive Ryder Systems. Steven Owens is the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Swire Corporation, right here in the City of Miami. The other individual that I named was Adrienne Arch. She is the CEO with Total Bank. That's our largest local bank that we have now in Miami -Dade County or in the City of Miami. A fourth individual is Carlos MiGoya. He is the CEO of...local of First Union. That's the largest financial institution that we have down here. And the fifth was Ruben King Shaw, who has one of the largest health systems corporations in the United States. These were the five that I named, which is a balanced group. The others came from the institutions that I described. You have approximately another dozen people that were sent by those institutions. You're all welcome to come again and meet with them at 1:30. I am sure that you will have the opportunity to address them, but let me be very clear. What I've asked is for a professional opinion as far as the options that are available to the City. I'm not looking for political options. I'm looking for what is the right thing to do for this city. The only options that we would have, no matter how hard they might be or no matter how easy they might be. Vice Chairman Plummer: Mr. Mayor, are you ... do you want to finish? Go ahead and I'll come in afterwards. There are some very ... in my opinion, there are some very good people on that committee, not speaking detrimentally to the others. Others, I just don't know who they are. I've never heard of them before. But I have to tell you that some of the people on that committee... Ruben King Shaw was the co-chairman with myself on the Centennial. He's from John Alden. Those kind of people are top-notch people and I'm sure that those people will be, in fact, doing best that they can for this City and they've demonstrated that in the past. But I'm just saying that there's got to be an open dialogue. Mr. Manager, I'll yield to you until you're finished and then I have a lot of other... Mr. Warshaw: Thank you. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Carollo: Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Gort: I apologize for being late but, unfortunately, you know, I had to be in court and you can't change the Judge's... Mayor Carollo: That's understandable, Commissioner. Commissioner Gort: Can't change... Mayor Carollo: We've... Commissioner Gort: Do we have an agenda or... 11 4 July 30, 1998 Mayor Carollo: The agenda that we're ... we have before us, Commissioner, is going over the letter that the Oversight Board sent us; that any questions that the Commission might have, they could ask of the Administration. And for the Administration to interact with the Commission as to what they have done up to now. And, then, for the Commission to decide the following steps that it...we need to take. I ... let me say this for the record, that unless the majority of you feel otherwise, I think we all know that there's not going to be any decisions made today. It will be extremely premature. Nevertheless, I think that it was the right first step to take for us to have met today after we received the letter ... the official notification on yesterday. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor, for the sake of time, I'd like to request of yourself, myself and all our colleagues, if the staff is going to make a presentation, if any one of us have any questions, to write them down and then, at the end of the staffs presentation, then ask the questions so we can expedite this. Thank you. Mayor Carollo: I think that would be appropriate, Commissioner. Thank you for your input. Vice Chairman Plummer: I yield. Mr. Warshaw: Thank you, Commissioner. Going back to the revised Five -Year Plan summary, page 61, that's in your package. What I started to say was that, this document... although, you're right, it is our document... evolved from the Oversight Board's rejection of our ... an original group of initiatives that are on the original page 61, which is also in your package. Now, having said that, I accept that, based upon the Oversight Board's criteria and what it is they're telling us they want within this 24day window, that the deficits you see in the line that's titled difference, starting with ten point nine million for fiscal year'99 and going through fiscal year 2003, to sixteen point nine million, are the monies ... in response to your question... that Oversight Board is looking for within these 20 days. Now, having said that and having gone through this budget, the previous Manager's budget, all Five -Year Plans, the budgets going back to the Stierheim Plan, it's my best professional judgment that the only way that we can find the monies to raise these kinds of revenues within these 20 days is through an increase in the Solid Waste or the fire fee. Now, having said that, I'll say that the staff is looking at, carefully looking at, other initiatives for the out years where enhanced revenues can be and will be developed and I would suggest that, in those out years, if we find those other revenues, that a reduction of whatever fees you might choose to impose now, could be reduced in future years. But, unfortunately, because of this 20-day window, the Oversight Board is saying they want legislatively approved fees prior to the expiration, which, I believe, is the 18th of August. So all of the other things we're looking at, while they might have possibilities for 2000, 2001 and beyond, I think that legislatively can't be done within this window. And that's pretty much what we have concluded. Now, again, I'll be more than happy to talk about what some of those other revenue things we are looking at for the future. I'm including ... and I know the issue has come in front of the Commission many times, the issue of appraisals and the real appraised value of properties where the City might be losing potentially millions of dollars and those are things that we'll look at but can't within this 24day opportunity. So, that being said, those are the numbers that, I believe, to be the accurate numbers as to what the deficits are and what needs to be done to meet the Oversight Board's concerns. Vice Chairman Plummer: Mr. Mayor, if I may? Mayor Carollo: Yes, Commissioner, go ahead. Vice Chairman Plummer: The Manager kind of stole a little bit of my thunder and I would like to bring to your attention and my colleagues...I'm not going to mention any names but I had a conversation this Monday morning with a very learned and known individual in the area of which I'm going to speak and that is under assessments of the City of Miami. The assessments of property in the City of Miami are absolutely and totally a joke. He gave me three locations of just three buildings in Downtown Miami, which I'll share with you but I'm not going to put on the record. Those three buildings... one is assessed for twelve million dollars ($12,000,000) and it just sold in June of this year for thirty million dollars ($30,000,000). Keeping in mind, the State statute says one hundred percent of assessment the State Department of Revenue will, in fact, accept 85. Another property was assessed for a hundred and seventy-one million dollars ($71,000,000) and it sold in December of'96, two years ago, for two hundred and six million dollars ($206,000,000). Another building in downtown Miami is assessed for seventy million dollars ($70,000,000) and sold in September of 11 5 July 30, 1998 '97, for one hundred and thirty-one million dollars ($131,000,000.00). Mr. Mayor, these three buildings alone, if they were assessed properly, would bring in an additional one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) in recurring revenue each year, to the City of Miami. This individual expressed to me that ... and I'm going to hopefully address it to the Manager ... the Florida Department of Revenue works for the Governor and only the Department/Director of Revenue for the State of Florida can come down and tell Dade County you're not assessing properties fairly. We need to send a letter to the Governor, it's my opinion and the opinion of my writer, to ask him to ask the Director of the Department of Revenue to, in concert with Metropolitan Dade County, to bring about a fair assessment. Now, as the Manager just said, the assessments for this year were made on January 1 st. The bills are almost out for this year. But January 1 st, next year, is write around the corner in the way it works. If the Governor refuses to do such, it is, then, the fact, predicated on what has happened in other cities or counties in the State of Florida, we would have to get a lawyer ... and this has been done ... and go in and sue Metropolitan Dade County Tax Assessors Department. Mr. Mayor, this person has given me a horse back opinion of commercial properties only, that this city is short approximately thirty to fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) a year of recurring revenue. I don't think we can wait another day to, in fact, if it is possible, to get the Governor to help us out, who has indicated he wants to help us out; to ask the Department Director of Revenue to, in fact, do what is within this letter. Second of all, Mr. Mayor, as you know, I was chosen by this Board to head up a committee called PILOT and PILOT was an acronym for Payment In Lieu Of Taxes. We are the worst city in the State of Florida when it comes to tax exemptions. Our assessable tax base is fifteen billion dollars ($15,000,000,000) of which, one third of five billion dollars is tax exempt. And the reason for that is, the Legislature, in their wisdom, came forth and projected a thing says, if you are a public purpose, you pay no taxes. You would be surprised —my Committee, who disbanded itself because we were unable to get the legislature to change, Mr. Mayor, how many profit making corporations in the City of Miami are tax free, tax exempt. I'm not going to name any of them but we have a list that we can show you is property, after property, after property, profit making companies that are tax free. Thirdly and finally that I would bring up to today, Mr. Mayor, is, in fact, that I was stopped in downtown Miami by a crew of FDOT (Florida department of Transportation) and they have crews that they have sent out to clean underneath expressways and the gentleman said to me, Commissioner, why don't you talk to the Governor because we've got unlimited help in the type that they're using and we've got the equipment and we've got the trucks and see if the Governor might like to help by sending some of us, our people, down for six or twelve month period, to help you get your city cleaned up immediately. Mr. Manager, I would hope, if there's no objections to it from any of my Commissioners ... I'll give you this letter and I'd ask you not to divulge the name to the public because the man did it on behalf of myself but he is well-known to everybody. And, if no one has any objections, I would ask that letter be written, Mr. Mayor, and I think it should rightfully go out over your signature, if you have no problem, but I would have no hesitation of it going out over mine. Those are the three things I'd like to bring to the forefront at this particular time. I still ... I have a major problem ... and let me tell you one other problem I have. And we're now in Section "B". The reason I ask the question as to how much a hundred percent of what, it was my understanding from someone, and I'm told now it was from someone in the media, that what, in fact, the Oversight Board wanted in recurring revenue was twenty-four million dollars ($24,000,000). And when I asked, how much money would the fire fee bring in? I guess it was ironic, twenty-four million dollars ($24,000,000). Doubling the garbage fee will only bring in, I think, as I remember, 11. Eleven or 12. Mr. Manager, the only thing I hope, when we come out of these meetings ... and we're going to survive ... on my desk at home, I lay out my monthly bills and then, at the end of the month, I pay them. We are sending out constant reminders every month to the people that are of this community and giving them reasons to hate us. I now have two on my desk, seventy-five dollars ($75.00) for my burglar alarm and another sanitation. Last month I paid something else. Every time I turn around, I'm getting another bill. I'm getting another bill from the City of Miami. I think what we need to do is to come and understand what are the bills and stop this every month turning around. You know, I have to second-guess and that's all I can do because the Oversight Board refuses to meet with us, that what they're basically telling us, Hey, Commission, whether you like it or not, you're going to put in the fire fee. Twenty-four million dollars ($24,000,000) is what we demand". Twenty-four million is what the fire fee will raise. And I don't know what else you can talk about. I really don't. Doing the garbage fee won't do it. I would hope that the next time we meet, that we would go back and relook and relive the fire fee. As I recall, it was a fee that would be imposed that would eliminate the garbage fee for home owners and they came out, I think, thirty-three dollars ($33.00) better than they were the other way and still raised the twenty-four million dollars ($24,000,000). Mr. Mayor, I have really no other comments. I hope I can make it tomorrow at 1:30 and if I can, I definitely will be there. And the only comment that you made was that, I guess, I take exception. We've, the three of us, I can't 11 6 July 30, 1998 speak for the other two, we were said, we were told that they were breaking down into subcommittees and that they would be back in touch with us at a later time. We were not invited to stay or to be there so that's why I left. I can't speak for the other two, why they left. But those are my thoughts, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: If I can, Commissioner... while you still have the gavel. Vice Chairman Plummer: Sure. Mayor Carollo: You all are invited to all the meetings. The meetings are public meetings. They're open to the public. We wanted to make sure that there was no misunderstanding in that and that's why we decided, even though the City Attorney said that they didn't necessarily have to be open, we decided to make sure that they would be open. At the same time, I've asked them to return by Saturday, August the 8th, with their final plan as to the options that are available to the City so that, hopefully, by Sunday, the 9th, it would be in your hands and you can discuss them and that will give us approximately a week and a half time to make our final determinations, if you so wish to follow that. Commissioner Sanchez. Commissioner Sanchez: Yes, Mr. Mayor. Let's find out how we got here today with this ongoing problem with the financial responsibility that we're faced with today. Taking into consideration, if we look back, we're looking about a good 10 years of poor decision -making, sweetheart deals and God knows what else went on. But we're faced today with a crisis in the City of Miami. Now, through it all, the situation that we're in, you know, we're going to be making some tough decisions here and I'm sure that everybody's going to have to decide what they're going to do on this. I've inherited this in a month and a half, to start off with. But we do have ... and I'll tell you this much, we're ... today we're at this situation, not because of the citizens of our community. Because of this city, how it was run in the past. Bad judgment, poor decisioDmaking, we're here today. So now, we bring in people that are really are qualified to make the decisions and I've asked them if they're going to make a tough decision, I ask one thing, make the decision based as if you were a resident of this community and it's going to affect you. The situation we're in today, we look at three things that I have been advised that we have to raise recurring revenue. One is the fire fee, the garbage fee and raising the millage... if I'm ... if I'm not correct. Well ... but that ... J.L., that was one of the things that they said that we had to do. It is pennies but you know what, in the month and a half that I've been here, I've made some recommendations. First, I asked the Budget Director to prepare a Budget Cost Analysis, which I have not gotten yet and I realize you can't do that overnight. The other thing is that exactly what you said, J.L., let's go after the unpaid Solid Waste bills that are probably in the millions out there, that people aren't paying their bills. So who does it go back, it's the City's responsibility to go out there and get them bills. If you can't do it, then it's your problem. The other thing is, that I've asked for is, there's a lot of businesses out there that are open today without Certificate of Use. Let's start a code enforcement or have done whatever it takes to go out there and there's also probably in the millions of people that, dollars, that businesses are not paying their Certificates of Use. Now, the other thing is that I asked ... now, I'm not sure if we can do this ... how much money is in the FEC? Correct me if I'm wrong, thirty million? Mr. Dipak Parekh (Director/Budget and Management Analysis): We received thirtyfive million dollars ($35,000,000.00). Commissioner Sanchez: Thirty-five million dollars ($35,000,000.00). Now, they're asking us ... the Oversight Board is asking us to fix something in 20 days that has been going on for almost 10 years maybe, that we're in the situation? Why can't we take that money, pay some of our debt and go after all these other things that I have said that we could probably raise a lot of money, instead of, guess what, passing on the buck to the citizens out there. And you know what hurts me, I live in the city. My family lives in the city. And when you raise the fees, guess who's not going to pay it? The home owners ain't going to pay because you know what he's going to do? If he has ... if he owns the property and somebody's renting the property, he's going to pass it down to somebody who's making four seventy four an hour or five fifty an hour and it puts a burden on those people. It's easy to get up here and say, oh, we're going to raise the fees but let's start thinking about the people that are going to get affected. Yeah, the Committees that are out there, I have nothing against them but, you know what, they need to decide how they're going to affect the community. And, you know, that's much ... that is all I'm going to say. Now, I've made some recommendations. I don't have all the answers. That's why you guys make the big money, to come up with the solution to find the money. But I am not content with some of the proposals that have been made. It's hard to come up with the 11 7 July 30, 1998 money in 20 days. I would ask that the Oversight Board be a little flexible on this. We have a lot of projects in the next couple of years, two or three years that are going to be revenue ... a lot of money's going to be coming in revenue. It's going to be coming into the city, so that's going to help us out. Mayor Carollo: Hearing nothing else from the Commission... Commissioner Gort. [AT THIS POINT OF MEETING, COMMISSIONER TEELE ENTERS MEETING (3:49)] Commissioner Gort: Just a couple of things. I won't be too long because I think ... first of all, I'm glad the press is here because a lot of comments have been going back and forth and I hope some of the comments that have been coming from the Oversight Board members is not ... they've been misquoted quite a bit. And let me tell you why. Whenever we make a decision... because of the business that I'm in, I travel through the city quite a bit and I travel through all the neighborhoods and everywhere you go, people will tell you the same thing. I'm glad, Mr. Mayor, you got some individuals from the private sector into the committee because they'll be able to determine... when we first spoke about the fire fee, I had a group from the chamber and a group of property... major property owners that paid thirty-three percent of our taxes. They were telling me, what you're going to do is, you're going to put us out of the market. By doing the fee that you're proposing, what's going to happen is, that we're going to be in ... we are competing right now with Gables, West Kendall and so on and West Dade. And what's happening is, we're going to have to increase the square footage and the rent. We're not going to be able to rent. They're going to go to some other places. In looking at the Oversight's document ... and so I'm sure, when... whatever decision they make and recommendation, I hope they do it fairly across everyone throughout this city. In looking at some of this ... I know you all had meetings with the different directors ... and one of the paragraphs in here talks about the increase and mainly speaks about the expenses with 141 new positions that we're incorporating. I'd like to make sure that several things that we have done, which I think ... in considering this ... that 141 positions, how many of those 141 we really need? Also, the request from the Capital Improvement. What do we really need immediately? And I think that should part of their decision making. But, most important, I think ... I understand we awarded it and we have a lot of our management, middle management, going toFIU (Florida International University) and receiving training Management, on how to improve their management skills. I think that should be taken into consideration. I do put emphasis, we do need to have top individuals in Finance because, right now ... look at three ... I continue to look at different numbers going back and forth. For once, I'd like to get the real, true numbers. And what I'm requesting is the ... for example, eliminating...I understand, when... also, when the Committee comes back, it probably will have to come up with some legislation to certain funds that will not be accepted, like the Off Street Parking. If we can come to certain agreement, I think —and when we come back, we should have a resolution or ordinance making sure that that commitment can exist and can be there for the five years so it can be approved by them. Also, my understanding, in the past and from documents I read in the past, my understanding is that the ... some of the funds that they won't accept as revenues, in the past I was told that if three years —those funds would be coming from the next three years, those would be recurring... considered reoccurring revenues. So, I think, somehow we should write about that one more time. And lastly, my understanding is ... and I learned quite a bit when I first walked in here in November of'93, I thought I was going to be a City Commissioner, nice City. We're going to have no problems. It's good, the City's running real smooth and right away, in the beginning of year '94, I started meeting with some of the people about the problems that we were having; that we need to cut our budget. Now, let me tell you, Commissioners, to my surprise, in getting together with the Union and reading a lot of the documents they had, you're not talking about 10 years. A lot of this problem began way back in 1955. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Certainly. Any... Commissioner Regalado: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Carollo: Go ahead. Commissioner Regalado: First of all, I think that we all have said publicly that we welcome the help from the committee. As a matter of fact, we were there and J.L. and Joe and I think we left about 2:30, maybe 3:00, because we thought that the Committee had decided to work in subcommittees but, hopefully, I will be there tomorrow to observe and, if possible, talk to the members of the Committee. One of the 11 8 July 30, 1998 members ... one of the groups that is part of this committee is doing an extraordinary work in the School Board system. They are looking within themselves and, for instance, since I have to follow up, being a journalists of all the local government, they have found that they can save one million dollars ($1,000,000) a year in the school system by not using the cardboard trays for lunches and they are going to buy other kind of trays. They also have about six cost cutting and savings programs right now going on because they have the mandate of the School Board to do so. The Budget Department of the County also has the mandate ... I followed the last Commission meeting and they were told, the Budget Department, they were told that they need to find different areas where costs can be cut and I hope, with that experience, that they would look into the things that we need to do. As a matter of fact, this morning I was talking to the Manager and I was telling the Manager exactly what J.L. has said, and I mentioned that I've spoken to one person who was surprised because 10 years ago this person was paying about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) in property taxes and now is paying fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in property taxes. The Manager said that he will look into that. I have also sent, I think, about 10 memos to the Manager with some ideas that ... I don't want to take your time ... But the Manager has graciously accepted them. I came up with something, looking through the possibility of revenue producing projects in the City of Miami, and there is a case of the bus benches. In 1990, in the City Commission awarded a contract to a bus bench company and that bus bench company is supposed to pay the City certain amount of money and they sell advertising in 1500 bus benches throughout the City of Miami. Well, what happened to that company is that the company disappeared and then reappeared with another name. It was never changed in the contract, nor the City looked into what they were paying. As a matter of fact, the City gets paid for what the company says that they are selling. Those bus benches have never been checked before. And I was talking to a person that knows this business. That person told me that, as of right now, the City could be getting more than a hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) more than what we are getting, which is about 70,000 a year, by the bus benches contract. Mind you, there is a law, State law, passed by the Legislature this year that allows municipalities not to bid any contract in this area of public advertising. I would think that this is an issue that it could be incorporated into what we have to do since there is no need for any bid. The Manager can do whatever he wants on this area. And, lastly, I would request from the Manager some information. I think that it's important that we receive a comparative analysis for the current fiscal year '98 budget against the fiscal year'98...'97 budget in terms of revenues and expenses. I would send the Manager six line items that, I think, are questionable in terms of revenues and expenses. And with that, I think that we are willing to work and do whatever we have to do in order to protect the people of Miami. Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Anyone else would like to make a statement? Commissioner Teele: Is there going to be public input? Mayor Carollo: Excuse me? Commissioner Teele: Is there going to be public input. Mayor Carollo: Not at this meeting, unless the majority of Commissioners would like to get public input. This is a meeting to go over the letter that was sent to us here from the administration, for Commissioners to express themselves and if there's no additional statements to be made, then what I would suggest is that we plan when we'll be meeting again. I have made a statement, Commissioner, I don't know if you were here or not. Commissioner Teele: I heard. Mayor Carollo: That the Budget Advisory Committee, that I formed, not to tell us what to do but to give us the options that they see are available. We'll be coming back by August 8, with their findings. So, if this Commission would like to call a meeting for the week beginning August 9th... Vice Chairman Plummer: August ninth. Mayor Carollo: That's Monday. Excuse me 1 Oth. Yeah, Monday, August IOth. Then, you know, we could set up a meeting now. 11 9 July 30, 1998 Vice Chairman Plummer: What's ourtimeframe? What's the deadline? Mayor Carollo: Supposedly, we have to come back on the 17th, Monday, but I truly ... we have until the 18th. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Carollo: Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Gort: One of the questions, my understanding is, in reading the letter, and then correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Manager, is before we take any contract or any new resolutions to the Oversight Board, it's got to go to that ... whafs that other committee? They have... Mayor Carollo: Estimating Conference. Commissioner Gort: The Estimating Conference Committee. Do we have to go in front of this Estimating Conference Committee first and, then, they have to go over there? It's important that we understand what the procedure is. Mr. Warshaw: I understand. Commissioner Gort: Do we have to do that? Mr. Warshaw: Yes. Commissioner Gort: Does any date requirements by then? Mr. Warshaw: They'll make themselves available. Obviously, we're working within this 24day window, so if and when we have a solution... Commissioner Gort: They'll work with us on the dates to make sure that we can comply with both requirements? Mr. Warshaw: Yes, sir. Commissioner Gort: Thank you. Vice Chairman Plummer: Mr. City Attorney? Mr. Vilarello: Yes. Vice Chairman Plummer: We have a 20-day window? Mr. Vilarello: Yes, sir. Vice Chairman Plummer: We send them something of a revised budget and they reject it. Does that start another 20 days? Mr. Vilarello: There's no specific provision in the agreement with the Oversight Board regarding that. However, yes, that would be a reasonable extrapolation. Vice Chairman Plummer: Thank you, sir. Commissioner Teele: Let me see if I can understand two things. Can we get a written timetable between the Manager and the Attorney in terms of the clock that we're working off of? Is... I assume that the 20 days includes ... I assume that the 20 days, in fact, is the amount of time that the Commission has to act, whether there is going to be an Estimating Conference or not. That's on the other side of the 24day window, but, I 11 10 July 30, 1998 think, we need to all be on the same plain. Secondly, what is the 20th day and...? Mr. Warshaw: Commissioner, the issue of the 17th versus the 18th has to do with the way that the letter from the Oversight Board was delivered. It was delivered to the front desk of the MRC building after hours and I've spoken to the attorney on the other side and they're working up sending me a letter, basically extending the date to the 18th but, basically, it's the 17th or the 18th as of right now. Commissioner Teele: What is the date that we would be meeting to take final action on the plan? Mr. Vilarello: That's up to the Manager. Mayor Carollo: That's what I was asking the Commission to decide, when we would like to meet again? As I stated, on August 8, Saturday... Vice Chairman Plummer: The IOth? Mayor Carollo: The Budget Advisory Committee will have their work finished. We could begin meeting as early as Monday, the 1 Oth, if this body would like. Vice Chairman Plummer: Well, I would hope, Mr. Mayor, if we meet on the IOth, that the Budget ... your Committee, if they're going to be of any benefit to this City Commission, would hopefully have something in our hands on the 7th, so we would be able to have the weekend to study, before we meet on Monday, to try to understand... and, again, I would hope that that Committee would meet with this Commission on the 1 Oth. I think that's very, very important. Mayor Carollo: What I... Vice Chairman Plummer: That there be a joint meeting between the two parties. Mayor Carollo: What I would suggest then, Commissioner, instead of meeting on Monday the 1 Oth and we not meet until Tuesday, the 1 Ith, so at least we have that Monday also available for the... Vice Chairman Plummer: I have no problem with that. Mayor Carollo: ...Chairman and other members of that committee to be able to meet with Commissioners and for the Commissioners to have an extra day to go over the options that they will be given. Vice Chairman Plummer: I have no problem with that. Commissioner Teele: I think it's very important that we ... the Commission has put, I think, itself in a very, very delicate and, quite frankly, embarrassing position. And I think one of the things we're doing is, we're doing this to ourselves. We need to begin to act like a legislative body and I will say that with all ... with the true sense that there are five Commissioners and one Mayor who have distinct and clear roles in this and I think ... you know, it's fine for us to continue to meet; have verbal masturbation on these matters, but the fact of the matter is, we need to start acting like a Commission. We need to first ... if you get out their rules of order, the first thing it says is, the Commission needs to develop rules to allow itself to function. If we're going to meet, then we should set a meeting now and we should not spend the next six or seven days wondering when we're going to meet and we should give the Manager, the Management, the Consultants, the kinds of clear instructions as to what it is we want and we expect when we meet again. I am embarrassed, at this point, to be a part of this Commission. We are not acting like a Commission and we need to begin to act like a legislative body or, in fact, I think the Governor should take the Board ... the legislative responsibilities over because we are not functioning like a legislative body and in America only one group can pass a budget and whether that's in Washington or Tallahassee or Miami or Dade County, and that's the legislature. And the legislator responds to a budget in the case of this charter from the Mayor and the Manager. Now, Blue Ribbon Committees, Gold Committees and Black Committees are fine, but I can tell you right now, Commissioner Sanchez, you said they need to make some decisions. They ain't going to make one decision. They're not going to make, sir, one decision, OK? Every decision that is going JJ 11 July 30, 1998 to be made is going to be made by the Mayor, if and when the Mayor sends down a budget for us to act upon, and by the Commission, one by one, who have to cast this vote. Now, I'm going to say it right here and right now. I think the "Miami Herald" has not been fair in the way this thing has been covered and I think the Oversight Board has been even worst. The budget that we approved was not a Commission budget that, basically, went into a situation where we didn't show political courage. We rubber stamped, much to my disappointment and my chagrin, the budget that the Manager and Mr. Dipak presented to us. And, in my conversations with the Manager today, I said what I'm going to say now and that is, I think the Manager has an obligation to defend this Commission, not any individual, but the Commission. Because unlike what the Oversight Board said, unlike what the "Miami Herald" has reported that the Oversight Board said, the Commission did not design this Five -Year Plan. I wish we had. I wish we would. But we approved the plan that was presented to us and I specifically asked, Mr. Dipak, is this a plan that you are comfortable with and you believe the Oversight Board will approve? And you told us, on the record, yes. Now, it's fine to get into ... we're not at that point now but I think this Commission is going to have to begin to recover some of our political and public policy goodwill that each of us, as Commissioners, are losing when we continue to take these blood baths in the press, that this Commission is not acting. This Commission has approved everything, Mr. Manager, that you have submitted to us, is that correct or is that not correct? Mr. Warshaw: Yes, that is correct. Commissioner Teele: So, I think it's fair, when I say and you disagree with me, that you have an obligation to defend this Commission and the Commission's actions in the way the Oversight Board mischaracterized what this Commission did. If you had given us a fee and we turned you down or if the Mayor had sent down a request for a fee and we turned you down, we would be ... you would be within your rights to say you don't think you should defend us. But the Mayor has not sent down one budget, to my knowledge, that he wants us to approve, other than what we've approved, and neither have you. And I ... wait, wait. Hold it. I'm speaking. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, when you're done... Commissioner Teele: Wait, wait. Hold it. I'm speaking. Mayor Carollo: When you're done, that's all I'm asking for. When you're done... Commissioner Teele: When I'm done, you'll have the opportunity. Mayor Carollo: ...give me the opportunity to respond. Commissioner Teele: Absolutely, Mr. Mayor. But let me just say this, Mr. Manager. I think it is critical that we understand that we're all on this ship together and it does no good and it does not serve, in my judgment, it does not serve, in my judgment, the ability of the legislative body to weave together three votes when the Commission is being blamed for not approving a budget or not acting in the manner in which that the Oversight Board has mischaracterized us. And I would hope, individually, that you would have the coverage, if you will, since political courage seems to be issue of the day, to write the Oversight Board members and correct the record. This board rubber stamped, to my disappointment and to my chagrin, we rubber stamped the budget that was submitted to us. And I said right then and there, I think it's a mistake to change managers because of one issue. That was the only issue. The budget. Because we have no accountability. And right now it looks like...the blame is not falling on Garcia -Pedrosa or Donald Warshaw: The blame is falling on the City Commission and we're the ones who have to go out and face the voters. We're the ones who need the support and the goodwill of this Commission if we are to raise fees. And I just want to be very much on the record and as it relates to the Budget Advisory Committee. I've lived in America for 52 years. I've been black every day from the day I've been born and I will be black the day I die. And, I will not stop saying this as long as you're asking 20 percent of the residents of this city to pay taxes and to pay fees. This city is big enough to have African Americans as Assistant Managers; African Americans in a police department that don't have to be humiliated; and it is big enough also to have African Americans who can serve on a Budget Advisory Committee, if you're going to ask the African Americans to pay taxes. The Advisory Board Committee list that I received ... and I hope that it's been amended. I hope that women have been added. I hope that African Americans have been added. But I think we've reached a 11 12 July 30, 1998 point in 1998, as we go to the Millennium, that African Americans don't need to be an afterthought and they don't need to be added on. And as I said to the previous Manager, I would hope that, in a city like Miami, that has had African Americans to serve in distinguished roles throughout this city, that African Americans could also be considered in the role as Assistant Manager and I think, if you're asking people to pay taxes, you can do no less at this point and time. Now, Mr. Attorney, the parking ... the Off -Street Parking board met for its last meeting until September, on the other morning. There were no City of Miami officials there and, yet, the largest issue associated, largest single issue associated with the Oversight Board's concerns, at least on four separate occasions, they make reference to the Off -Street Parking. There were no officials there, with the exception of the City Attorney's Office. I, specifically, requested that the City Attorney's office work with Off -Street Parking to develop a resolution, which I'm wry ... I would like to state, Commission Gort, I defer it, as Commissioner Sanchez did, to you out of great respect for your leadership and role in Off -Street Parking, but the resolution that they passed, initially, was not satisfactory from my point of view as a Commissioner in meeting the four corners of the Oversight Board's concerns and that is, committing for the five years funds necessary for the ... to meet the Five -Year Plan. And I objected to the resolution because what they passed was a resolution that adopted three years and rejected two years. Mr. Hertz, who a distinguish member of that board, Commissioner Gott, and I report to you on this, was such a gentleman. He agreed that that was not helpful and he offered to amend his resolution to comply with the Oversight Board's request. Mr. Attorney, have we received a copy of that resolution and is that resolution satisfactory from a legal point of view, not from a budget point of view, because budget should have been there to defend themselves and state the position, but from a legal point of view, is that a satisfactory resolution of the Off -Street Parking issue? Mr. Vilarello: Well, I have reviewed a memorandum prepared by Clark Cook that encompasses and addresses the five-year commitment of the Off -Street Parking Authority, together with all the incidental issues that we need to address, including agreements with the Off -Street Parking Authority and amendments to the Bond Ordinance, which would be necessary. So, yes. Commissioner Teele: But see, I don't really want to get into bond ordinances because that's not what I want to approve and that's what I told them. What I need, what this Commission needs, what the Manager needs, what the Mayor, I believe, needs, is a simple resolution that they adopt ourFive-Year Plan projections; that they commit to make those funds available subject only to the availability of funds. That's what the resolution said. And Clark wants to go back now and basically rewrite what was done by saying, we're approving a bond issue. That was not the subject of the resolution, OK? It was not about a bond issue and the restructuring of the bonds. It was about the Five -Year Plan and I ask, respectfully, that they separate those issues so that we can have one document that stands on its own. And, I would again ask you to work with the Manager and our Financial Advisors regarding this matter to ensure that we can get that and I would state, for the record, Mr. Montalbano, I think, had no objections. He's their financial advisor. He represented them well. And I think, you know, there was a sense of five Commissioners ... five members of the Off -Street Parking Board that we would do that. Mr. Cook is here. I see now. The other point, Mr. Attorney, that I would like to direct to you is this. This issue of revenues is one that is going to require legislation and 1, specifically, would like to see legislation drafted in conjunction with the management to accomplish whatever it is the Oversight Board would like to have accomplished. I mean, I think it's important that you get us that legislation and we understand exactly what it is they're asking for. I heard Commissioner Plummer characterize it as they're asking for the fire fee. I don't know what they're asking for. But I think it would helpful if you would work with their general counsel and let's try to work this out. But I would like to conclude by saying, I would like very much the opportunity to visit with individual Commissioners because I think ... I think, at the end of the day, we're going to have to vote. We're going to have weave something that at least three of us can agree on. Hopefully, four. Hopefully, five. And, obviously, I think it is important that we respond directly to what the Manager and the Mayor are asking us to respond to. I cannot overstate the importance of receiving a document from the Manager, preferably with the Mayor's blessing, that basically tells us what it is you want us to do, so that we're not here, at the last minute, pointing the fingers at each other. Because I think we're all in this boat together, Don ... Mr. Manager. But to have a meeting; to have no documents before the meeting; to have another meeting in which we don't know what fees you're asking us to approve ... I've heard Commissioner Plummer. I listened intently before I came in here. He feels like it's the fire fee. I don't know that to be true. I really don't care, at this point, what Commissioner Plummer feels. I really want to know what the Manager is recommending us to do. I really would like to know what the Mayor's budget wants us to do. And, then, we can try to 11 13 July 30, 1998 figure out where we are and how we can come to some consensus and, in that regard, Mr. Clerk, I would like, specifically, if you would notice that I would like to request a Sunshine Law Meeting tomorrow at 11:30, if that's convenient with Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: To try to understand what the issues are from his point of view. Because, again, I think we've got to try to come together and come to a consensus, Tomas. I'm not out there trying to pass a tax you don't want. I don't want to put you or anybody else on the spot of proposing something that would be either embarrassing or politically not acceptable to you. But I really need to understand exactly where you are and I would appreciate if you would do that. If we could do that in the C.O.W. (Committee of the Whole) Room or some place like that. I think that would be helpful. And finally, Mr. Attorney... Mr. Vilarello: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: Everybody seems to say, we've we got to raise taxes or fees. I don't agree. I do not agree. I don't think those are the only solutions. I think Commissioner Plummer hit up on one or two of them today. Others have hit upon it. I would like to know when is the last possible date that the Commission can pass a resolution to challenge the Value Adjustment Board's roles that have to be certified under the Florida Constitution. I don't know if that date has expired but ifs ... I think it's in August. Vice Chairman Plummer: You mean for this year or next? Commissioner Teele: For this year. Vice Chairman Plummer: Art, just for the information I received from the individual, that that was January the 1 stand that bills are ready... already to go out. Commissioner Teele: J.L., I'm not talking about bills. Vice Chairman Plummer: OK. Commissioner Teele: I'm not talking about bills at all. Vice Chairman Plummer: You're talking about a deadline date? Commissioner Teele: I'm talking, Mr. Attorney, about, there is a constitutionally created Value Adjustment Board in each of the 67 counties. One member ... two members of the School Board. Three numbers of the County Commission make it up. They have the sole constitutional responsibility to approve the methodology, for the previous year, of the tax rolls. I believe that the Commission should and must move immediately to authorize the attorney to challenge the valuation of the City of Miami's roles as it relates specifically to commercial property. It would be much better if we had an expert opinion. It would be much better if we had the documentation. But I think we need to lay the predicate that we're very, very serious about this matter. Because I fully agree with Commissioner Plummer's statement, that there's millions of dollars when you look at individual transactions. When you can find two or three transactions alone where the City has lost one million dollars ($1,000,000), the City portion of taxes. You know, that's better than passing... that's better than passing a tax increase or a fee. And so I think, you know, we need to look at that side of the valuation. Similarly, Mr. Manager, Mr. Attorney, I will not vote for any garbage fee increases on households until there is a clear effort to identify the commercial garbage accounts in the month of August 11 14 July 30, 1998 that are not being properly collected and that are operating and collecting garbage illegally. Similarly, I believe that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, in that area and, again, I don't think it's fair to ask the tax payers to do what we should be doing as managers and operational people. And I would like to be very clear. My support for any increases on home owners will be based upon a full compliance of the commercials. There are NET administrators throughout this city that have no idea who is authorized to collect garbage in this city on a commercial basis. And so you've got illegal companies, didn't you say, Mr. Attorney, you saw Big Apple out there? Mr. Vilarello: Personally, yes. Commissioner Teele: I mean, there are all kinds of companies collecting garbage, that are not paying us our 20 percent fee all over this city. And so we don't have to raise taxes to collect that million or so dollars, but what we need, Mr. Attorney, Mr. Manager, is an acceptable budget solution and not a Commission resolution and it's going to require that external auditors and internal auditors and the budget people agree that there is a budget solution of six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000) or two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) or one million dollars ($1,000,000) that can be defended in an estimating conference. Internal auditing did an audit of the garbage company ... of the garbage companies, the ones that are paying. See, the problem with the audit is, they didn't audit the ones that aren't paying. They didn't audit the ones that aren't paying. Let's be real clear about this. They audited the commercial companies that are paying. What is the budget solution based upon that audit, as it relates to revenues that had not been collected, that were being exempted? Mr. Warshaw: Off the top of my head, Commissioner, there were several audits of several of the private haulers that resulted in additional revenue streams. As a matter of fact, I saw one this morning where we recovered about ninety-seven thousand dollars ($97,000). So you're right, these are the haulers that we know about. No question about it. Commissioner Teele: But we've got to take that number and develop it into a budget solution that is a part of our Five -Year Plan. The biggest problem, Commissioners, is the fact that these haulers are exempting the County, the State, the School Board, all the churches, all ... most of the tax exempts, is that correct, from the 20 percent fee? And, Mr. Attorney, are they entitled to an exception? Mr. Vilarello: No, they're not. Commissioner Teele: But no budget solution has been developed. No dollars have been put in the Five -Year Plan to track that operational finding, if you will, of that compliance. I don't know if we're talking about a hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or one million dollars ($1,000,000). But I can tell you this, with the City of Miami being burdened with governmental agencies, such as the Federal, the State, the County, School Boards and others, it is going to be a significant amount of money. And that budget solution means we don't have to raise taxes for that amount of money, but if it's an internal audit paper, we're going to have to raise taxes because it is not an acceptable budget solution for the Estimating Conference and for the Oversight Board. And so I'm saying again, Mr. Manager, to you and your staff, respectfully, that there are options other than just raising taxes and raising fees. The biggest option is the operational budget getting closer to a one hundred percent or 95 percent compliance with the fees that are already out there, such as the construction companies that are doing construction in which we are not collecting the money. It doesn't require legislation to do that. It requires management to do that and it requires management to take those findings and those operational necessities and convert those to an acceptable, not a funny money game, but an acceptable, very real budget solution that can be a part of our Five -Year Plan. Don, I really believe that, if you all really worked on this thing instead of trying to figure out how to pass fees, see, that's why you don't need a Blue Ribbon Committee. What you really need are people out there turning over trash cans and figuring out who's paying and who's not because everybody's paying, we're losing 20 percent on commercial accounts. And, then, I think there are some other options that we can look at in terms of this whole thing. Finally, I think the biggest number out here is a number that you're not going to get from your Blue Ribbon Committee. And I'm going to instruct the attorney to get the bond indenture that creates the Dade County Water and Sewer Authority. I believe that there is probably close to four to six million dollars ($6,000,000) a year that the City of Miami is entitled to under that indenture. And I'm specifically asking, Mr. Attorney, you to get outside counsel because I'm going to tell you this, this place is like an incestuous, haunted house. 11 15 July 30, 1998 Everybody is cousin or doing business with the County or lobbying with the County. You ain't going to get David Morris, who's one of the brightest and smartest guys I've ever met, who's on your Blue Ribbon Committee or you're not going to get George Burgis, who's also bright. You ain't going to get those guys to even sit in the room when you start talking about that. They are going to all get up and run because the County has been stealing, legally, because we've never objected, about six million dollars ($6,000,000) a year from the Water and Sewer Account from the City of Miami. Commissioner Regalado: Commissioner, if I may. I just ... I think I sent a memo to the City Attorney on that issue and on the contract, the original contract, it said that the City of Miami residents will get a 15 percent discount or the City will get some money in return. Commissioner Teele: With all due respect, I ain't worry about the discount. I mean, I'll work with that with you. That's not going to help our budget solution. Commissioner Regalado: Absolutely. But I'm just saying that there is... Commissioner Teele: I won't...I certainly am not going to pass it up. But I'm telling you, Don ... and, again, I don't know who our financial advisor is. I can tell you one thing, it can't bePru (Prudential) on this because they're over there eating out of the County trough. It can't be Montalbano. They're eating out of the County trough. I mean, you know, but the fact of the matter is this, if you bring in some outside experts and get serious about this budget, what you're going to realize is that the City is being short about four to six million dollars ($6,000,000) a year if you read the original bond indenture closely on reoccurring income. And the reason for this is, quite frankly, it was not convenient for anyone to basically raise an objection. The City of Miami has lead the County ... and I will be the first one to come out with my hands up and confess, as Chairman of the Commission, I sat in private meetings where we sat there and tried to figure out how to get money from, not only the City of Miami but Hialeah and Miami Beach and everybody else. I mean ... because that's the game. But now, fortunate for the district residents of District 5, I sit on this side of it and I'm telling you, if you get some smart Philadelphia lawyers and bond advisors, you're going to see the original indenture and the issue is going to be, Mr. Attorney, these words: The Rate of Return. Rate of Return. That's the operational issue. I believe that you can get an attorney ... and, again, we've got problems with the Oversight Board. I don't know who's putting money in their pockets but I can tell you this, I don't like the way this lawsuit on the auditor is going. It smells. I think the Oversight Board needs to check with the IG (phonetic) and check to make sure that they don't have conflicts of interest because that lawsuit, which was supposedly a thirty-five million dollars ($35,000,000) deal, is going south, now. It appears that that contract was rejected. Mr. Vilarello: Yes. Commissioner Teele: I don't know when you're going to report on it but I didn't vote for it. Vice Chairman Plummer: Woe, woe, woe. What contract? Mr. Vilarello: Retention of counsel. The City Commission adopted a resolution to retain the law firm of Tom Tew to represent the City.... Vice Chairman Plummer: And? Mr. Vilarello: ...on a modified contingency basis. The Oversight Board rejected it and indicated that they —recommended that the Commission retain the firm on the straight contingency basis. Vice Chairman Plummer: When did this happen? Mr. Vilarello: This happened early in this year. 11 16 July 30, 1998 Vice Chairman Plummer: And why weren't we notified? You know, I sat there for eight hours in a deposition and they want eight hours in a deposition and I'm going tell you something, if they're down there playing games, I ain't going back. Because they don't know what the hell they're doing in the first place. Mr. Vilarello: We have had discussions with Tom Tew and the Oversight Board, trying to resolve that issue. At this time the firm is considering strongly staying on the case on a straight contingency. If they do come to that agreement, I'll come back to the Board for a new resolution. Commissioner Teele: I think we need to have a separate discussion on that. Vice Chairman Plummer: Absolutely. Commissioner Teele: The issue is this, I met with the counselor's lawyers. I was not here when the Commission voted to make that contract or whatever. But I was impressed that there was a settlement well over fifteen to twenty million dollars ($20,000,000), when I became very upset with the previous Manager for interfering with that lawsuit and I said that on the record. I told the previous manager he should stay out of that lawsuit and not interfere with that. My only point is this, when you start talking about forcing the County to pay over on a Rate of Return our percentage, based upon the original indenture, you're going to step on a lot of toes and there ain't going to be very many law firms in this city that aren't either bond counsel, special counsel, lobby counsel over there at the County, OK. So you better get a Washington, DC law firm. I think you've gotten one under retainer. Who is that? What's the name of the firm? Mr. Vilarello: Apparently, we do have Hawkins, Delafield bond counsel. 6. DIRECT CITY MANAGER TO PROVIDE COMMISSION WITH WRITTEN RECOMMENDATIONS IN ORDER TO DEVELOP LEGISLATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR PAYMENT OF FEES BY PARTIES OTHER THAN THE CITY RESIDENTS, HOMEOWNER, TAX PAYERS. Commissioner Teele: Out of DC? And they don't... hopefully, they don't do work with the County because I think what we've got to figure out is, how do we get our percentage of the rate of return based upon the indenture? Now, if we can figure that out or if that can be a part of our budget solution, if we can get an attorney's opinion on that, that we're entitled to a rate of return, that I think, you know, the issue of taxes goes in a different direction. I don't think we can have that done by the 20th day, but I think it's very important... likewise, I don't think we can have done a new appraisal of valuations of properties by the 20th day, but I think the problem with this government is, we keep putting everything off and we never get things moving in the right direction. My final point in the... consistent with garbage, and I see the Public Works Director here ... is that, likewise, we have people using our public right -of --ways that we're entitled to collect fees from all over the place that we're not collecting. And, again, I think that's an operational issue related to how we bring in money based upon fees that we've already agreed on. I remember standing here, J.L., and you forced us to pay double the fees when we did the water and sewer lines on Brickell. You remember that? For the use of right-of-way. I just think we've got to become a lot more aggressive and look for fees that can be paid by other than the residents and the home owners and the tax payers of Dade County —by the City of Miami and look for ways to do that and I want to pledge to you, Mr. Manager, and your budget team, that I will work day and night to develop a legislative solution the three of us can agree to but we're going to need a lot of help from you all and I think the most important thing, is that we need your recommendations in writing as soon as you can get around to giving them to us. Thank you very much. 7. BRIEF DISCUSSION BY COMNIISSIONER PLUM ER CONCERNING LOT CLEARING' MEETING SCHEDULED FOR JULY 31,,1998, IN HIS OFFICE, AT CITY HALL — FURTHER' REQUESTING MANAGER TO ADVISE 'HIM PRIOR TO SAID MEETING OF AMOUNT OF FUNDS ALLOCATED FOR LOT CLEARING. Vice Chairman Plummer: I got a question, if I may. Two questions of the Manager. Mr. Manager, as you know, I've called a lot clearing meeting for tomorrow morning in my office. You've got to tell me now, what is the amount of dollars that we have to work with because someone said to me that it was not going to 11 17 July 30, 1998 be coming from the budget. It was going to be coming from CDBG. And I need to know by seven o'clock tomorrow morning, when our meeting convenes, how much money we're going to have to work with because, hopefully, it's going to be seed money, but we've got to know, OK? Mr. Warshaw: Yes. 8. 'DIRECT CITY MANAGER TO REVIEW EXISTING NUMBER OF NET OFFICES AND EVALUATE ADMINISTRATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF SAME — FURTHER REQUEST MANAGER TO ,RETURN TO CITY COMMISSION WITH RECOMMENDATIONS — FURTHER DIRECTING CITY MANAGER TO EVALUATE EFFECTIVENESS OF CODE ENFORCEMENT FUNCTION. Vice Chairman Plummer: Second of all, Mr. Manager, we spoke about before redoing the NET offices. It cries out that something has got to be done, whether we're going to cut down on the number of NET offices, realign the NET offices. You know, we operate on five districts, yet, for some reason, we have 13 NET offices. I guess the question begets, do we need 13? How much dollars are involved in the NET offices? You know, as I said before, two years ago that was the best thing we had going in this city. They have now deteriorated to where I really, really must ask the effectiveness of the NET administrators. I know that they can complain they don't have any help; they don't have the money; they don't have, they don't have. But are we going to continue to push something of don't have when it's not being effective? Mr. Manager, I think that you have got to come back and tell this Commission what is your ideas and what are your thoughts on NET offices, whether we need five in total, as we have five districts. Whether we need more or what we need,l, Art Teele will probably be all over me for this, but out of 13 of the NET offices, five of them are in my district and I don't think we really need five NET offices in my district. I think if sunproportionately fair share, you know. So I'm just asking ... say what. Commissioner Teele: The way everything else is done. Doesn't surprise me. The way everything else is going. Vice Chairman Plummer: Go back to sleep. You know, I think that you've got to come up with some kind of a solution and some kind of an answer on the NET offices because they're a lot of money. And my final point is, that it's the same point I make every year. I think we need to totally evaluate Code Enforcement. I mean, it's beautiful to say we have two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) in liens but, you know what, we don't get no money. So, I'm saying to you that if ..you know, the only way you are going to get with the Code Enforcement with clout is when they say you're going to pay, you're going to pay. As I told you the other time, you were ... I think it was three managers ago or four managers ago ... you know, they came ... guy with forty thousand dollars ($40,000.00) in fines. The attorney ... where is he? He was standing here... recommended that they be cut to twenty-nine thousand. Guess what the Board did? Cut it to five. You think that man's got any respect for that Board? I don't think so. I don't think so. So, those are the areas that I think that you've got to look into and look in seriously. Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Manager, some of the recommendations are reasonable that was made here. We ... some of the recommendations made here today were very reasonable. We ask that you relay them to the Oversight Board. Maybe we could sit down with the Oversight Board and study some of their options and some of ours. Since we ... see if we can come to a mutual agreement. Mr. Warshaw: I will, Commissioner. 9. SCHEDULE SPECIAL COMMISSION MEETING TO DISCUSS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 1.998-19" AND REVISED FIVE-YEAR PLANFOR FISCAL YEAR 1999' THROUGH 2O03 FOR .AUGUST 11,' 1998, AT 11 AM. Vice Chairman Plummer: All right. Mr. Mayor, at what time are we meeting on the 1 lth? Mayor Carollo: What time is the pleasure of the Commission? 11 18 July 30, 1998 Vice Chairman Plummer: My pleasure is seven o'clock but I know you guys are lazy. Mayor Carollo: Whatever time this Commission would like, I will be here. Commissioner Regalado: Three a.m. Vice Chairman Plummer: Three a.m.? What's easy. I like to go to work. Mayor Carollo: Anymore jokes? Commissioner Regalado: I start work at five a.m, so I'll be done by 10. Vice Chairman Plummer: Eleven o'clock? Eleven o'clock is fine. Then, we're going to meet next on the I lth, except we'll meet tomorrow at 1:30 with the committees, hopefully. Mayor Carollo: Can I have a motion to meet, then, on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Vice Chairman Plummer: So move. Commissioner Gort: Move it. Mayor Carollo: There's a motion by Commissioner Plummer. Second by Commission Gort. All in favor signify by saying, "aye". There are no nays. The Commission (Collectively): Aye. The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: MOTION NO.98-804 A MOTION SCHEDULING A SPECIAL COMMISSION MEETING TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1998 AT 11 A.M. Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gort, the motion was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Joe Sanchez Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Vice Chairman J.L. Plummer, Jr. NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Vice Chairman Plummer: Mr. Mayor, may I ask a question. I, earlier in my comments, made a thing about sending a letter to the Governor. Do you want that in the form of a motion? Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, I would be happy to do it either way. 11 19 July 30, 1998 Vice Chairman Plummer: Or you want me to wait until the Committee ... I just think... Mayor Carollo: Whatever is your pleasure. Vice Chairman Plummer: Well, what is the pleasure of my Commission? I'll make a motion. Commissioner Gort: What was the motion? Vice Chairman Plummer: The motion was in reference to asking the Governor on the tax assessments, the public purpose on tax exemption. Commissioner Gort: Move it. Vice Chairman Plummer: And on the help of possible cleaning up the city. I so move that such a letter be drafted. Commissioner Sanchez: Second. Vice Chairman Plummer: And if the Mayor doesn't want to sign it or if...I think we all ought to sign it, truthfully, OK? So, I'll move that, Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Sanchez: Second. Mayor Carollo: It's a motion. There's a second. All in favor signify by saying "aye". It passes unanimously. The Commission (Collectively): Aye. The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: MOTION NO.98-805 A MOTION REQUESTING THE MAYOR TO SEND A LETTER ASKING GOVERNOR LAWTON CHILES TO REQUEST THE TAX APPRAISER TO COMPLY WITH THE STATE STATUTE REGARDING TAX VALUATION OF PROPERTY IN THE CITY OF MIAMI; FURTHER REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO HAVE THE STATE LEGISLATURE TO CONSIDER THE PUBLIC PURPOSE ISSUE AS IT PERTAINS TO THE IMPACT OF TAX-EXEMPT PROPERTIES ON THE CITY'S TAX BASE; FURTHER REQUESTING OF THE GOVERNOR TO PROVIDE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CREWS TO ASSIST THE CITY OF MIAMI IN ITS CLEAN UP EFFORTS. Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the motion was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Joe Sanchez Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Vice Chairman J.L. Plummer, Jr. IM, It.,I None. ABSENT: None. 11 20 July 30, 1998 11. COMMENTS BY MAYOR CAROLLO CONCERNING FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT BOARD'S REJECTION OF CITY'S PROPOSED BUDGET AND REVISED FIVE-YEAR PLAN. Mayor Carollo: Anything else? OK. Then... Mr. Vilarello: Mr. Mayor, does the Commission want to call the second meeting before the 18th at this time, provided there's sufficient notice? Vice Chairman Plummer: Why don't we do that on the I Ith? Mr. Vilarello: Oh, you can. Mayor Carollo: Anything else right now? Then, before you all go, if I could have a minute or two. Vice Chairman Plummer: Oh, sure. Mayor Carollo: I won't preach to anybody. I won't take up half an hour or 45 minutes. I'll just go right to the point. I am fed up with the demagoguery that I have been seeing here. No City can survive, whether in this country, in Rome, Greece, Ancient Rome or Greece or anywhere else, with this kind of demagoguery time and time again. Budgets aren't built on demagoguery. They're built on truth and facts. We're here today because of more than 10 years of lies, demagoguery and worst. There are many statements that have been made here, today, that are very valid, that we have talked about in the past. Many more that we have not talked about here, today. About ways that I am sure we could bring new revenue to the city. The problem is that we're going around in circles. These are issues that are not going to be resolved within the guidelines that we have been given by the Oversight Board. I haven't heard anything here, today, that we are going to be able to give to the Oversight Board with the evidence, the facts that they want to see to be able to include in this budget. To be very precise of what has been asked of us, the Oversight Board doesn't want anymore promises. They want to see and they will approve, they have stated, only those budgetary items that we will act upon beginning now, only those budgetary items and contracts that we enter into now. So, everything else that we talk about will be fine to start working on for the future, and we must, but that's not going to solve this budget that we have to present to them in some 19 days from now ... 18 days from now. Now, if I could read from the amendments that were made to the Charter last year, what is the duty and powers of the Mayor pertaining to budget? And it says, "the Mayor shall prepare and deliver a budgetary address annually to the people of the City between July 1st and September 30th" This is what our Charter says that the Mayor is supposed to do and I assure you, I'm not about to give that budgetary address in the month of July. I'm going to wait to see where we're at in September so I could give a very accurate account. Hopefully, much more pleasant than what I'm seeing that we have here now. At the same time, the budget that this Commission approved ... and if the latest one was rubber stamped and if that is accurate, then the one that was approved a few months earlier, after I came back for this fiscal year, the revised budget, then I guess that was one was rubber stamped too. That budget, that's supposed to be the Mayor's budget according to some that want to give that impression, the previous Manager didn't even give me the courtesy to sit down with me and say this is what the Budget Director has been working on or what I've instructed the Budget Director to put in. I received a copy of it the day before the Commission meeting. And if the Oversight Board would have listened to me then, in the statements that I made, they're on video tape; they're on the record, we wouldn't be here today because this problem would have been met head on back then. Because, frankly, what was given to this Commission back then to approve was not what was in the best interest of the City of Miami. At the same time, a statement has been made that no fee increases were given to the Commission when this latest budget and Five -Year Plan was presented to the Commission. If you will look, beginning with fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2003, the options that are here are between fire fee increases of $4,272,183; in garbage fee, increases of a $1,751,753 that came to $6,023,936. These were recommended by the Budget Director and the administration and even after it was voted by the slight margin of 3/2 only, right afterwards, some that voted within that majority started making statements that they voted for it because this is what the Oversight Board wanted. But if it came to and 2000 came in and we did not find what we thought that we could, recurring revenue, so those fees would not have to be increased, a statement was made that they would not go along with those fee increases. So, if this was only with this 11 21 July 30, 1998 amount in the year 2000, what difference would it have made for any additional fee increases to have been brought by the Administration to this Commission, whether it was in the year 2000 or in the year 2020 or whether it was in the next fiscal year? I could go on and on and on and on but, frankly, I'm tired. And I know that I have to work hard because if I don't start working hard, we're going to be back in this same thing with the same rhetoric, the same demagoguery, the same games and, frankly, I don't have the time for it and I'm frankly losing my patience with it. I didn't come back to be Mayor of this City so that I can win a popularity contest with my colleagues up here or with anybody else. I came back to do what's right for this City and if doing what's right means that I have to take on whoever I have to take on, then I have to be the sacrificial lamb, so be it, but I'm going to do what's right for this City. Because, if I don't, this City is not going to survive the way it's going. This City cannot survive on lies, on demagoguery, and some of the worst things that I have seen here. This City could only survive by people doing what's right, by people that truthfully care for this City, and by people that have the independence to act and do what's right. Thank you very much. This meeting's adjourned. THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE CITY COMMISSION, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 4:47 P.M. JOE CAROLLO, MAYOR ATTEST: Walter J. Foeman CITY CLERK Maria J. Argudin 11 22 July 30, 1998