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Home My WebLink AboutCC 1997-04-02 MinutesCITY L� OF MUTING HELD ON APRIL 2, 1997 RGULAR PREPARED BY THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK CITY HALL. 0 WALTER J. FOEMAN CITY CLERK INDEX MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING April 2, 1997 ITEM SUBJECT LEGISLATION PAGE NO. NO. 1. PRESENTATIONS / COMMENDATION: PETER DISCUSSION 1 BLANCO FOR PRO BONO SERVICES 4/2/97 RENDERED TO POLICE DEPARTMENT. 2. CONSENTAGENDA. DISCUSSION 2 4/2/97 2.1 ACCEPT BID: BEST MAINTENANCE & R 97-263 3 JANITORIAL SERVICE INC -- FOR 4/2/97 CUSTODIAL SERVICES AT SEVEN NET OFFICES -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($15,300 FROM GSA/ SW ACCT 513000,421001.6.340). 2.2 ACCEPT BID: AFTER HOURS CLEANING R 97-264 3 SERVICE -- FOR CUSTODIAL SERVICES FOR 4/2/97 FIRE TRAINING CENTER / FIRE GARAGE / SUPPORT SERVICES ADMINISTRATION BUILDING -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($17,796 ACCT 513000,421001.6.340). 2.3 ACCEPT SEVEN DEEDS OF DEDICATION R 97-265 4 FOR HIGHWAY PURPOSES. 4/2/97 2.4 ACCEPT PLAT: FARACO'S PLACE, R 97-266 4 4/2/97 3. PERSONAL APPEARANCE: FRAN R 97-267 4-8 BOHNSACK / RICHARD BUNNELL TO 4/2/97 REQUEST CITY TO OPPOSE POTENTIAL STATE LEGISLATION TO CREATE MIAMI RIVER AUTHORITY. 4. PERSONAL APPEARANCE: DAPHNE R 97-268 8-9 JONGEJANS / MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY 4/2/97 ASSOC 5/18/97 COCONUT GROVE BED RACE EVENT -- GRANT BEER / WINE / FROZEN TROPICAL ALCOHOL DRINKS PERMIT WITH CONDITIONS. 5. AUTHORIZE ALLOCATING $909,068 IN FY '96 R 97-269 10-12 HOPWA (HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR 4/2/97 PEOPLE WITH AIDS) PROGRAM GRANT TO METRO DADE HUMAN RESOURCES (OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES) -- FOR SHORT TERM HOUSING ASSISTANCE TO VERY LOW INCOME PERSONS WITH AIDS. 6. ALLOCATE $190,000 TO HIV / AIDS R 97-270 12-13 PLANNING & MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION 4/2/97 $16,380 TO SO. FLORIDA JAIL MINISTRIES / AGAPE WOMEN'S CENTER INC. / $6,000 TO DEAF SERVICES BUREAU FROM FY '96 HOPWA PROGRAM GRANT -- FOR PROVISION OF HOUSING & / OR RELATED SERVICES TO PERSONS WITH HIV / AIDS OR RELATED DISEASES. 7. ALLOCATE TO ALLAPATAH BUSINESS R 97-271 14-16 DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY $7,000 FROM 21 4/2/97 YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT / PROJECT 799613 -- FOR BUSINESS REHAB AT 2247 NW 17 AVENUE, PREMIERE CLASSE FOOTWEAR. 8. ACCEPT BIDS: SUPERIOR COMMUNICATION R 97-272 16-17 / AMCON / MULTIPLIER INDUSTRIES CORP -- 4/2/97 FOR MOTOROLA RADIO PARTS & ACCESSORIES -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($65,000 FOR GSA / SWCOMMUNICATION - SERVICES DIVISION ACCT CODE 506000.420601.6.718) . 9. AMEND R 96-86 -- INCREASE TOTAL R 97-273 17-18 AMOUNT OF A & A / U.S. AUTO GLASS 4/2/97 COMPANY & SAFELITE GLASS .CORPORATION BID FOR GLASS REPAIR -- FOR GSA / SW, FIRE -RESCUE, POLICE DEPARTMENTS -- FROM $14,000 TO $25,000 -- ALLOCATE FUNDS FROM ACCTS. 509000,420901.6.670 ($10,000); 001000.280701.6.670 ($5,000); 503001.291301.6.670 ($10,000). 10. RATIFY / APPROVE / CONFIRM EMERGENCY R 97-274 19 FINDING -- WAIVE COMPETITIVE BIDS -- 4/2/97 APPROVE PURCHASE OF JANITORIAL SERVICES FOR POLICE NORTH SUBSTATION -- FROM AFTER HOURS CLEANING -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($21,000, ACCT. 001000.290201.6.340 / POLICE GENERAL OPERATING BUDGET). 11. AUTHORIZE SETTLEMENT: TERESA MUNOZ R 97-275 20-21 $100,000 / PLUS $28,000 ATTORNEY'S FEES S 4/2/97 $5,650 POST JUDGEMENT INTEREST) -- ALLOCATE FUNDS FROM SELF-INSURANCE TRUST FUND CODE 620103-653, 12. ACCEPT BID: SNAP -ON TOOLS -- FOR R 97-276 21-22 EQUIPMENT FOR POLICE FLEET SERVICE 4/2/97 CENTER -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ( $93,872.88 / ACCT 503001.291301.6.850). 13. ACCEPT BID: MEF CONSTRUCTION, INC -- R 97-277 22-24 FOR CITYWIDE SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENT 4/2/97 PROJECT PHASE XIV, B-4594 -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($250,989.75 / FROM CIP PROJECT 341171). 14-A. DISCUSS FUTURE USE OF CITY FACILITY AT DISCUSSION 24-30 1001 MACARTHUR CAUSEWAY / WATSON 4/2/97 ISLAND (MIAMI YACHT CLUB) -- DIRECT ADMINISTRATION TO NEGOTIATE BASED ON FAIR MARKET VALUE RETURN -- HAVE YACHT CLUB EARMARK ACTIVITIES FOR CITY RESIDENTS -- RETURN TO CITY COMMISSION WITH STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS. 14-B. VICE -MAYOR REGALADO REQUESTS DISCUSSION 30-31 UPDATE ON NEGOTIATIONS WITH TENANTS 4/2/97 (CASABLANCA GROUP) AT WATSON ISLAND. 15. (A) DISAPPROVE PROPOSED FIRE FEE AS M 97-278 32-80 PRESENTED -- EVALUATE OTHER 4/2/97 OPTIONS -- RETURN TO CITY COMMISSION WITH OTHER RECOMMENDATION/ALTERNATIVES, i.e. BED TAX / FOOD & BEVERAGE TAX -- CONSIDER IMPACT OF WELFARE REFORM ACT ON SMALL BUSINESSESES WHEN PROPOSING FEES. (B) CITY MANAGER REVIEWS WITH CITY COMMISSION PROPOSED FIVE YEAR RECOVERY PLAN: FINANCIAL ASPECTS - COMPARISON TO OTHER MAJOR FLORIDA CITIES / PRIVATIZATION / STRATEGIC PLANNING / REGIONAL SOLUTIONS TO CITY PROBLEM / INTEGRATION WITH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE / PUBLIC / PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS ON CITY LAND RESTORING ACCESS TO CREDIT MARKETS. MANAGERIAL RECOVERY - REORGANIZATION / RECLAIMING MANAGEMENT RIGHTS/ STAFF TRAINING / CHARTER REVISIONS / BLUE RIBBON TASK FORCE: BUSINESS PRACTICES / FINANCIAL AFFAIRS / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / HEALTH INSURANCE /RISK MANAGEMENT / PROCUREMENT / EXHIBITS THAT TIE STIERHEIM PLAN & TECHNICAL SUPPORT ADVISE. FINANCIAL PLAN - FY '97 PLAN / FY '98 PLAN/ RECURRING V.S. NON ,RECURRING MATRIX / ALTERNATIVES TO ADDRESS FY'98 DEFICIT/ EXHIBITS. (C) SCHEDULE NEXT MEETING TO DISCUS RECOVERY PLAN FOR APRIL 8, 1997, AT 9: A.M. -- SCHEDULE CITY COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 10, 1997, AS SHORT MEETING WITH HALF HOUR LUNCH -- SCHEDULE RECOVERY PLAN DISCUSSION ON THAT DATE FOR 9:A.M. (D) UNION PRESIDENTS COMMENT ON ASPECTS OF PROPOSED RECOVERY PLAN: TOM GABRIEL, INTERNATIONAL FIREFIGHTERS / CHARLIE COX, GENERAL EMPLOYEES / TONY RODRIGUEZ, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE -- URGE CAUTION ON PROPOSAL TO REDUCE PENSION BOARDS STAFFING -- URGE CAUTION AGAINST PRO BONO CONSULTANTS SEEKING CITY CONTRACTS -- COMPLAIN ABOUT LACK OF COOPERATION FROM MANAGEMENT. -- MAYOR DIRECTS ADMINISTRATION TO MEET ONE ON ONE WITH UNION PRESIDENTS TO EXPLAIN INTENT OF PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES TO DEAL WITH LABOR ISSUES. (E) COMMISSIONER PLUMMER COMMENTS ON HIS REQUEST TO RESEARCH COURTS ASSUMING POLICE COURT OVER TIME COSTS THROUGH ASSESSMENT OF FINES. '� 16. APPROVE 30 DAY EXTENSION IN M 97-279 80-81 NEGOTIATIONS WITH METRO-DADE 4/2/97 COUNTY REGARDING SALE OF MARITIME PARK PROPERTY. MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF MIAMI, FLORIDA On the 2nd day of April, 1997, 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 9:16 a.m. by Mayor Joe Carollo with the following members of the Commission found to be present: ALSO PRESENT: Mayor Joe Carollo Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Edward Marquez, City Manager A. Quinn Jones, III, City Attorney Walter J. Foeman, City Clerk Maria J. Argudin, Assistant City Clerk An invocation was delivered by Mayor Carollo who then led those present in a pledge of allegiance to the flag. NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Commissioner Hernandez enters the Commission Chamber at 9:18 a.m. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. PRESENTATIONS / COMMENDATION: PETER BLANCO FOR PRO BONO SERVICES RENDERED TO POLICE DEPARTMENT. Mayor Carollo: Do we have any presentations that we have to make this morning? There are none. OK. Let's go right to the consent agenda. Yeah, there is a presentation to be made. OK. Yes, if Peter Blanco could come up, please. Commissioner Hernandez: Good morning, everyone. On behalf of the Mayor and the Commission of the City of Miami, I'd like to present this certificate of appreciation to a citizen that has gone up and beyond the duty of call as a citizen. Mr. Blanco has a pest control or fumigation company here in the City of Miami, and he has rendered his services on three different occasions pro Bono, for free, to the City of Miami Police Department, to the auto pound division - correct? - on three different occasions. And today, I would like to present to him this certificate of appreciation, to Mr. Peter Blanco. Thank you very much. April 2, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. CONSENT AGENDA. Mayor Carollo: All right. We're now back to the consent agenda. If there are any items in the consent agenda that need to be discussed by the Commission, if I could be so informed. Likewise, if there is anyone from the public that would like to address any items in the consent agenda, if they could come up, please. Commissioner Plummer: Let the record reflect that no one came forward. I move the consent agenda. Mayor Carollo: There's a motion by Commissioner Plummer on the consent agenda. Commissioner Hernandez: Second. Mayor Carollo: Second by Commissioner Hernandez. Hearing no further discussion, all in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Carollo: No "nays." NOTE FOR THE RECORD: ON CONSENSUS OF THE CITY COMMISSION, A D TERMINED THAT ANY CONSENT AGENDA ITEM, WHICH IS PULLED BY A GIVEN COMMISSIONER FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION AND/OR CLARIFICATION WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DEFERRED AND SCHEDULED, AS A REGULAR ITEM, ON THE NEXT AVAILABLE AGENDA. THEREUPON MOTION DULY MADE BY COMMISSIONER PLUMMER AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HERNANDEZ, THE CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS WERE PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 2 April 2, 1997 2.1 ACCEPT BID: BEST MAINTENANCE & JANITORIAL SERVICE INC -- FOR CUSTODIAL SERVICES AT SEVEN NET OFFICES -- ALLOCATE FUNDS $15,300 FROM GSA / SW ACCT 513000.421001.6.340). RESOLUTION NO. 97-263 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE BID OF BEST'S MAINTENANCE AND JANITORIAL SERVICE, INC., TO PROVIDE CUSTODIAL SERVICES, INCLUDING ALL LABOR, MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT AND SUPERVISION FOR SEVEN (7) NET OFFICES, ON A CONTRACT BASIS FOR ONE (1) YEAR WITH THE OPTION TO EXTEND FOR TWO (2) ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS, AT A TOTAL PROPOSED ANNUAL COST OF $15,300; ALLOCATING FUNDS THEREFOR FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION/SOLID WASTE, ACCOUNT CODE NO. 513000.421001.6.340; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO INSTRUCT THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER TO ISSUE PURCHASE ORDERS FOR THIS SERVICE, AND THEREAFTER TO EXTEND THIS CONTRACT FOR TWO (2) ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS, AT THE SAME PRICE, TERMS AND CONDITIONS, PURSUANT TO BID NO. 96-97-027, SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) 2.2 ACCEPT BID: AFTER HOURS CLEANING SERVICE -- FOR CUSTODIAL SERVICES FOR FIRE TRAINING CENTER / FIRE GARAGE / SUPPORT SERVICES ADMINISTRATION BUILDING -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($17,796 ACCT 513000.421001.6. 340). RESOLUTION NO. 97-264 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE BID OF AFTER HOURS CLEANING SERVICE, TO PROVIDE CUSTODIAL SERVICES INCLUDING ALL LABOR, MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT AND SUPERVISION FOR THE FIRE TRAINING CENTER, FIRE GARAGE AND THE SUPPORT SERVICES ADMINISTRATION BUILDING FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION AND SOLID WASTE, AT A TOTAL PROPOSED ANNUAL COST OF $17,796.00 ON A CONTRACT BASIS FOR ONE (1) YEAR, WITH THE OPTION TO EXTEND FOR TWO ADDITIONAL ONE YEAR PERIODS; ALLOCATING FUNDS THEREFOR FROM ACCOUNT CODE NO. 513000.421001.6.340; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO INSTRUCT THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER TO ISSUE PURCHASE ORDERS FOR SAID ACQUISITION AND THEREAFTER TO EXTEND SAID CONTRACT UNDER THE SAME PRICE, TERMS AND CONDITIONS PURSUANT TO BID NO. 96-97-024 SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) 3 April 2, 1997 2.3 ACCEPT SEVEN DEEDS OF DEDICATION FOR HIGHWAY PURPOSES. RESOLUTION NO.97-265 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PROPER OFFICIALS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI TO ACCEPT SEVEN (7) DEEDS OF DEDICATION FOR HIGHWAY PURPOSES AND APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE RECORDATION OF SAID DEEDS IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) 2.4 ACCEPT PLAT: FARACO'S PLACE. RESOLUTION NO. 97-266 A RESOLUTION, WITH ATTACHMENTS, ACCEPTING THE PLAT ENTITLED FARACO'S PLACE, A SUBDIVISION IN THE CITY OF MIAMI, SUBJECT TO ALL OF THE CONDITIONS OF THE PLAT AND STREET COMMITTEE, AND ACCEPTING THE DEDICATIONS SHOWN ON SAID PLAT; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER AND CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE THE PLAT; AND PROVIDING FOR THE RECORDATION OF SAID PLAT IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. PERSONAL APPEARANCE: FRAN BOHNSACK / RICHARD BUNNELL TO REQUEST CITY TO OPPOSE POTENTIAL STATE LEGISLATION TO CREATE MIAMI RIVER AUTHORITY. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: We're now on item 2 of the agenda. Fran, would you like to come up and address the Commission now? Thank you Ms. Fran Bohnsack: Good morning. My name is Fran Bohnsack. I'm the executive director of the Miami River Marine Group. Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you for putting us on the agenda this morning, and I promise not to take much of your time. I have some folks with me today. We're here specifically to request that the City Commission take a position on the proposed Miami River Authority that is winding its way through the State legislative process. We would like you to take a position against that Authority. With me this morning, I brought some folks who are well informed about the issue. There's Betty Flemming, who is the executive director of the Miami River Coordinating Committee, and a number of folks who have been involved with the Stop the Miami River Authority Coalition. And I hope... Will you folks stand up, just so the Commission can see who you are? I also brought with me this morning over a thousand signatures and petitions in both in English and Spanish that we have been collecting from folks 4 April 2, 1997 y along the river, so that you can get a sense of the kind of support there is for this coalition. And having said that, I would like to defer to the spokesperson of the coalition for the substance of the reasons why we hope you will take a position against the River Authority. Thank you. Dick Bunnell. Mr. Dick Bunnell: Thank you, Fran. Good morning, Commissioners and Mr. Mayor. My name is Dick Bunnell. I'm the... I'm here as part of the Stop the Miami River Authority Coalition, and also, I'm treasurer of the Miami River Marine Group. Just a few remarks. I'd like to mention the background of the bill that's going through the legislature right now that... some background of the proposed Miami River Authority, a bill that died last year in the Florida legislature has been resurrected by Senator Al Gutman. This bill is identical to the House bill that was introduced last year, and we create a River Authority, having State... five State appointments, one County appointment, and one City appointment, for a total of seven members. The Governor has stated his disapproval of that bill, and we hope that he states his disapproval of this bill. The first thing that the bill provides for is a comprehensive review to decide if the Authority is necessary. I would imagine that they would find themselves necessary. The House bill that Representative Bruno Barrero is putting together at this time, we understand, includes more local jurisdiction, but... or representation, but in our view, it's still unacceptable. Some of the powers of the Authority would include eminent domain, which the City, County and the State already have at this time. Another part of the bill would be... or the Authority would be to enhance navigation. However, dredging of the Miami River is the most important thing for enhancing navigation. And it can be accomplished once the power in Dade County and the Federal government has focused on the problem, including the economic impact of not dredging the river. Dredging, however, does not only help navigation, it also must be done to enhance water quality, overall quality of the river, and its way of life. I feel it's also the responsibility of the Federal government, just as it is to dredge Miami ship channel. An Authority is not necessary just to dredge the river. The Miami River is basically broken up into three segments -- the marine industry segment, the residential segment, and the downtown development segment. The River Authority would dearly cost all three segments. New taxes would be paid, whether user fees, or through the creation of a special taxing district which would be on top of those already paid now. City taxes, in that case, would be frozen. To say that creating a River Authority would eliminate crime in our neighborhoods and would magically clean up the other problems along the river would be a good case for creating a River Authority in every neighborhood in Dade County, or creating an Authority in every neighborhood in Dade County. The Authority's economic impact on all three segments of the river is enormous. For example, the 32 terminals along the river generate cargo values at this time in excess of four billion dollars ($4,000,000,000) a year, and thereby make the Miami River the State's fifth largest port. I can only imagine what effect the River Authority... no. I can only imagine what effect it would be on the river when the Island of Cuba opens up to U.S. trade. My point here is that the Miami River is not something that should be experimented with or toyed with, especially if the experiment backfires. The terminals on the river may cease to exist through their inability to compete. The jobs that would be lost, and the commerce that would be lost, and the many, many vendors that supply goods and services to the river that would be lost due to a ripple effect just should not happen. As members of the Miami River Marine Group and the Stop the Miami River Authority Coalition, we feel that the public and private partnerships that have been forged thus far, namely, the implementation of the Miami River Quality Action Team and its dedicated participants can do the job that is necessary. Some months ago, you were given a copy of the quality action team's report, prepared by the team, and formulated by the... founded by the U.S. Coast Guard Captain David Miller. He has been a tireless advocate and participant with the quality action team. And one of the major anticipated solutions to enhance the quality of all segments of the river is the implementation of Operation Safety Net, which will take full effect on July 1st of this year. This will require vessels less than 500 tons to abide by the same standards as larger vessels that use the river. We don't feel that a State River Authority should rule the river. The Stop the Miami River Authority Coalition does not feel that any one entity 5 April 2, 1997 should rule the river. the Coast Guard, the Miami River Coordinating Committee, along with the help of the Miami River Marine Group and other groups, if given the chance and the political backing, can do the job better than the expensive and the redundant, wasteful River Authority could ever expect to do. As I mentioned earlier, the Governor has already disapproved last year's bill, and we hope that he'll disapprove this year's version. We hope that you are, as we are, in favor of coordinating efforts on the Miami River, in order to solve the river's problems locally. 1 hope that you will support our opposition to this bill, and help us in our efforts to work together. Thank you very much. Vice Mayor Regalado: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Yes. Vice Mayor Regalado: Last night, I spoke to State Senator Al Gutman, and he's a person that understands the City of Miami. He represents the City of Miami in Tallahassee. Al Gutman's concern is that we need some kind of coordination between the different agencies that operate in the Miami River. I told Al Gutman of the meeting that we all attended in downtown, and expressed in details why there was opposition to the bill. And I told him that I understood that the Mayor was also opposed to that bill, and that some members of the Commission also were not in favor of that bill. He wants some kind of coordination. But because he understands the City of Miami, and because he serves the City of Miami, he told me that I can announce this morning that as of this morning, he is withdrawing his bill in the Senate, and that this bill will not go through the legislature this year. Mr. Bunnell: That's very good news, Commissioner. Thank you. Vice Mayor Regalado: So we need to thank State Senator Al Gutman for his understanding of this matter. Mr. Bunnell• Absolutely. Vice Mayor Regalado: The same will happen in the House with the State Representative Bruno Barrero. Mr. Bunnell: Well, that's wonderful news. Any other questions? Commissioner Gort: I have a few questions. Mayor Carollo: Go ahead, Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Gort: Let me ask you a question. My understanding is in the residential part, the commercial part, where it's within the City of Miami, the City of Miami Zoning Ordinance is the one that needs to be followed. Mr. Bunnell: That's correct. Commissioner Gort: And when it goes to the County, it's the County. Mr. Bunnell: That's correct. Commissioner Gort: Now, the river, itself, who has the authority of the river? Is that the Coast Guard? It's my... Mr. Bunnell: Thirty-six agencies have authority over the river right now, and they're trying to create a 37th. So we thought it was unnecessary. 6 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Gort: So that would have been 37 then. OK. Mr. Bunnell: The 36 agencies... it's a little misleading. Some of the agencies include the Miami Zoning Department, the Miami Building Department, the Miami Police Department, the City of Miami Commission, and so on. So within the City, there's probably seven agencies or parts of the City that control the river. Commissioner Gort: So that deals with normal... I mean the residential part of it. Mr. Bunnell: That's correct. Commissioner Gort: But not the river itself, like the navigation, the depth... Mr. Bunnell: The river... Excuse me. The river itself is a Federal waterway. However, the State does consider the bottom of the river to be State-owned sovereign land up to 27th Avenue. For what reason, I don't know, but anyway, they do. And west of 27th Avenue, they don't. But it is a Federal waterway. It is the responsibility of the Corps of Engineers to dredge the river, and that's what we're fighting hard to have them do. And they're willing to do it. They's just not willing to pay for the dumping, and we're trying to get them to do that. Commissioner Gort: OK. Thank you. Mr. Bunnell: There is a report that the MRCC (Miami River Coordinating Committee) provided to the Governor, and a letter attached to that report that the Governor sent back to them. I'd like to make that available to the Commissioners. Mayor Carollo: What I would like to do is have your group that's really an umbrella group - so many different groups and people - is to maybe assign three or four point people to work with our City staff, and to try to come up with some solutions that we can work at over the coordination of what is done in the Miami River. Could you do that, Fran? Maybe you could send some names to the City Manager, and we need to have meetings every so often to try to see how we best can coordinate the works that are being done there. Ms. Bohnsack: We'd be very glad to. And I'd like to voice again our support. We think it's our responsibility to help clean up the river, and we'd like to do everything we can, and we are at your service to do that. Mayor Carollo: Well, we thank you all very much for your time here this morning. Commissioner Gort: Fran, let me.... Mayor, may I ask? I've seen you've been going to the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) meetings. I imagine you're working very close with the DDA also. You don't have any problems there, do you? Ms. Bohnsack: No, no problems. Commissioner Gort: OK. Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Thank you again. Fran, before you go, would you like the Commission to pass an official resolution clarifying our stance? Ms. Bohnsack: Thank you very much. 7 April 2, 1997 Mayor Carollo: I'd be happy to do that. I'll give the gavel to the Vice Mayor, and I so move a resolution stating the City of Miami's opposition of having a Miami River Authority on the Miami River. Commissioner Gort: Second. Vice Mayor Regalado: Resolution... Mr. City Clerk, would you call the roll. The following resolution was introduced by Mayor Carollo, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO.97-267 A RESOLUTION EXPRESSING THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION'S OPPOSITION TO THE CREATION OF A STATE OF FLORIDA MIAMI RIVER AUTHORITY CURRENTLY PROPOSED FOR CONSIDERATION IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE; DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A COPY OF THIS RESOLUTION TO THE HEREIN DESIGNATED OFFICIALS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gort, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. (APPLAUSE) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. PERSONAL APPEARANCE: DAPHNE JONGEJANS / MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOC 5/18/97 COCONUT GROVE BED RACE EVENT -- GRANT BEER / WINE / FROZEN TROPICAL ALCOHOL DRINKS PERMIT WITH CONDITIONS. Mayor Carollo: We're now on 2-A. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I'll move 2-A, with the proviso that they must use the same rules and regulations that we do at Bayfront Park; that is, to have someone there on premises to check I.D.'s, and to band people, and they cannot sell beverages to people that do not have a band on. I so move. �s April 2, 1997 IN, Commissioner Hernandez: I second the motion. Mayor Carollo: OK. Would you like to address the Commission? Ms. Daphne Jongejans: Yes. My name is Daphne Jongejans. I'm district director for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. And we have absolutely no problems with those. Mayor Carollo: OK. Thank you. There's a motion, there's a second. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 97-268 A RESOLUTION RELATED TO THE COCONUT GROVE BED RACE TO BE CONDUCTED ON MAY 18, 1997, BY THE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION; AUTHORIZING A ONE -DAY PERMIT FOR THE SALE OF BEER, WINE AND FROZEN TROPICAL ALCOHOLIC DRINKS IN THE AREA DURING SAID EVENT, SUBJECT TO THE ISSUANCE OF ALL PERMITS REQUIRED BY LAW; CONDITIONING ALL APPROVALS AND AUTHORIZATIONS GRANTED HEREIN UPON THE ORGANIZERS: (1) PAYING FOR ALL OTHER NECESSARY COSTS OF CITY SERVICES AND APPLICABLE FEES ASSOCIATED WITH SAID EVENT; (2) OBTAINING INSURANCE TO PROTECT THE CITY IN THE AMOUNT AS PRESCRIBED BY THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE; AND (3) INSTITUTING AN IDENTIFICATION PROGRAM TO ASSURE THAT ONLY THOSE INDIVIDUALS OVER THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE MAY PURCHASE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Hernandez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 9 April 2, 1997 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. AUTHORIZE ALLOCATING $909,068 IN FY '96 HOPWA (HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH AIDS) PROGRAM GRANT TO METRO DADE HUMAN RESOURCES (OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES) -- FOR SHORT TERM HOUSING ASSISTANCE TO VERY LOW INCOME PERSONS WITH AIDS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: Three has been withdrawn. We're at item number 4 now. Mr. Elbert Waters (Director, Community Development): Good morning, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Commission. Item number 4 is a recommendation to allocate nine hundred and nine thousand sixteen dollars ($909,016) in FY'96 Housing Opportunities... our HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS) Program funding to Metropolitan Dade County Office of Community Services for the provision of short-term housing assistance to very low- income persons. That amount would help to provide additional services to approximately 300 individuals who have been impacted by the disease. Commissioner Plummer: Move item 4. Commissioner Hernandez: Second. Mayor Carollo: •There's a motion, there's a second on item 4. How much more money do we ..have left in that allocation? Commissioner Plummer: You got item 5 as another allocation of the money. Mr. Waters: These contracts have not been signed yet, Mr. Mayor and members of the Commission. So in that account, we have approximately eight million dollars ($8,000,000) available. Mayor Carollo: Eight million dollars ($8,000,000) available. Mr. Waters: That's our allocation for this year. And again, that eight million dollars ($8,000,000) is used to provide those services on a Countywide basis. Mayor Carollo: But this here that we're talking about now is last year's monies. Am I correct? Mr. Waters: Yes, sir. We have approximately three years to spend those monies, based on the City being a grant recipient. Again, it is to provide those dollars to those service providers that are out there. The HOPWA Board, which the Commission has appointed, makes those recommendations to the Administration. And we, in turn, come forward to you to again recommend that those dollars be expended for those services. Mayor Carollo: Now, the eight million dollars ($8,000,000) are last year's and this year's monies, or are they last year's monies? Mr. Waters: '96 monies. Mayor Carollo: '96 monies. 10 April 2, 1997 Mr. Waters: Yes, sir. You will... You may recall at the last City Commission meeting, the Commission approved the action plan for the 23rd year, of which eight point three million dollars of that is again allocated for delivering the services in this program category. Commissioner Hernandez: Are all these monies earmarked for this special... Mr. Waters: Oh, yes, sir. Again, the Commission has appointed a HOPWA Board. That board works with staff in identifying and addressing the needs of that impacted community, and in turn, we work with them to try to get those services delivered in a timely fashion. Commissioner Hernandez: Mr. Waters, can you introduce the gentleman in the gray suit to us? I'm not familiar with him. Mr. Waters: Yes, sir. This is Mr. Paul Eisenhart. He's a housing specialist. He is the staff representative that works directly with our Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS Board. Commissioner Plummer: Is he paid from the fund? Mr. Waters: I'm sorry... Mr. Paul Eisenhart: Yes. Mayor Carollo: OK. There's a motion, there's a second. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." Mayor Carollo: No "nays." The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who -moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 97-269 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ALLOCATE AN ADDITIONAL $909,068 IN FY '96 HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS (HOPWA) PROGRAM FUNDING TO METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY'S DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES (OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES), FOR THE PROVISION OF SHORT-TERM HOUSING ASSISTANCE TO VERY LOW INCOME PERSONS WITH AIDS; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AMENDMENT, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, TO THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY'S DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES (OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES) FOR THIS PURPOSE. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) 11 April 2, 1997 Upon being seconded by Commissioner Hernandez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. ------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- ------------------ 6. ALLOCATE $190,000 TO HIV/AIDS PLANNING & MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION $16,380 TO SO. FLORIDA JAIL MINISTRIES / AGAPE WOMEN'S CENTER INC. / $6,000 TO DEAF SERVICES BUREAU FROM i FY '96 HOPWA PROGRAM GRANT -- FOR PROVISION OF HOUSING & / OR RELATED SERVICES TO PERSONS WITH HIV / AIDS OR RELATED DISEASES. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: Item number 5. Mayor Carollo: Move it. Commissioner Gort: Second, for discussion. Mayor Carollo: Moved by Commissioner Plummer, second by Commissioner Gort. Discussion. Commissioner Gort: The question is, are you saying this is '95/96 or '96/97? Mr. Elbert Waters (Director, Community Development): '96/97. Commissioner Gort: '96/97. '95/96, all of it has been allocated? Mr. Waters: Yes, it has been allocated. Commissioner Gort: OK. Commissioner Plummer: Who monitors these organizations that the monies are going to? Mr. Waters: Staff and the board. Commissioner Plummer: But there is an audit done. Mr. Waters: Audits are required, yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Vice Mayor Regalado: Is the funding for Agape Women's Center the same as last year? 12 April 2, 1997 ti Mr. Waters: This is slightly an increase, Mr. Vice Mayor, It's South Florida Jail Ministries Agape Center: What they do is they provide assistance, i.e. clerical, to the staff, our staff, and also the HOPWA Board in, again, trying to deliver the services to those affected parties. Mayor Carollo: Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Carollo: No "nays." The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 97-270 A RESOLUTION ALLOCATING FUNDS TO HIV/AIDS PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION (HAPMO), IN THE AMOUNT OF $190,000; SOUTH FLORIDA JAIL MINISTRIES/AGAPE WOMEN'S CENTER, INC. (AGAPE), IN THE AMOUNT OF $16,380; AND DEAF SERVICES BUREAU, IN THE AMOUNT OF $6,000, FROM THE CITY'S FY 1996 HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS (HOPWA) PROGRAM GRANT, FOR THE PROVISION OF HOUSING AND/OR RELATED SERVICES TO PERSONS WITH HIV/AIDS OR RELATED DISEASES, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HOPWA PROGRAM. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gort, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 13 April 2, 1997 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. ALLOCATE TO ALLAPATAH BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY $7,000 FROM 21 YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT / PROJECT 799613 -- FOR BUSINESS REHAB AT 2247 NW 17 AVENUE, PREMIERE CLASSE FOOTWEAR. Mayor Carollo: Item 6. Commissioner Plummer: Move it. Commissioner Hernandez: Second. Mayor Carollo: Moved by Commissioner Plummer, second by Commissioner Hernandez. What is left of the 21st year CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) monies? Mr. Elbert Waters (Director, Community Development): Mr. Mayor, what staff is attempting to do, we are waiting on the final notice associated with all of our account balances. Our accounting division, along with our consultants, Peat Marwick is... Mayor Carollo: Bert, Im sorry. I was just asking a simple question. What is left? Mr. Edward Marquez (City Manager): We don't know, sir, exactly, because there's differences in the accounting records, and that's what Bert is trying to say. Mayor Carollo: By when will we know? Mr. Marquez: The audit should be complete within the next week, and hopefully, we can start reconciling our accounts from there. Mayor Carollo: The minute that the audit is finished, can you make sure that Mr. Waters gets the information so that he can get back to us, and we know what we have left to allocate? Mr. Marquez: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: I have a further question. For those CBOs (Community Based Organizations) that did not meet the minimum requirement, are they required to return funds in proportion to the not meeting of the requirement? Mr. Waters: No. We just de -fund them, sir. They won't be funded in the upcoming year. And that report is scheduled to be to us in May. Commissioner Plummer: So in other words, if they did not meet the required ten, they, in fact, then will not be funded this year. Mr. Waters: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: OK. It's really not fair, though, Mr. Waters, you know, because they have taken the money and run Venezuela. And they were supposed to do ten, and maybe they did two, but they still got the money, and they still keep the money, and we didn't get the results. I think you ought to de -fund them for a great period of time, because actually, in fact, they took money that they were not entitled to. That's my opinion. 14 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Hernandez: Mr. Waters, how much money of the Code Compliance Program is available? Mr. Waters: Approximately a hundred and fifty thousand. We haven't... Commissioner Hernandez: Is that only for target areas, or is that Citywide? Mr. Waters: Targeted areas. Vice Mayor Regalado: Which business is the one that is going to get this seven thousand dollars ($7,000)? Commissioner Plummer: It's there. Mr. Waters: The name of the business is titled Premiere Class E Footwear. It's located in the Allapattah CD (Community Development) targeted area. And the actual Code violation was attributable to safety measures; that is, electrical and fire safety. So the grant will be made available to that business to bring them into Code compliance, in anticipation of retaining that business for the community. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor... Commissioner Regalado, one of the things that we're doing in that neighborhood, we want to bring businesses, new businesses into the neighborhood. And the problem that they have, when they go to rent the building, there's so many noncompliance in the Code that they walk out and they go to other neighborhoods. That's why we established this program. These people, my understanding is that they come from Puerto Rico, and they were looking all around the County where to settle, and. finally, we got them to settle on 17th and 22nd Avenue. And they're going to employ about 15 people in there. Commissioner Hernandez: Are these monies only for commercial properties? Mr. Waters: Yes, sir. This program, monies are only for commercial properties. We also have another program, which is called a commercial facade improvement. So that program is available to fix up the facades, paint up, signage and the like. So one, Code Compliance does the interior work, life safety items, and then the commercial facade does the exterior work to make the business look more appealing, and hopefully, they can market their product a little bit better. Commissioner Gort: My understanding is we also have a program for rehab in residential areas, within those districts. Mr. Waters: Yes, we do. Mayor Carollo: All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Carollo: No "nays." 15 April 2, 1997 1 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 97-271 A RESOLUTION ALLOCATING FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $7,000.00 DOLLARS FROM 21ST YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDS, PROJECT NO. 799613, FOR THE REHABILITATION OF ONE (1) BUSINESS LOCATED IN THE ALLAPATTAH TARGET AREA, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE COMMERCIAL CODE COMPLIANCE PROGRAM, SAID ALLOCATION TO BE BASED UPON A 70%-30% MATCH BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND THE BUSINESS OR PROPERTY OWNER. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Hernandez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. ----------------------------------------------- ; ACCEPT BIDS: SUPERIOR COMMUNICATION / AMCON / MULTIPLIER INDUSTRIES CORP -- FOR MOTOROLA RADIO PARTS & ACCESSORIES -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($65,000 FOR GSA / SW COMMUNICATION SERVICES DIVISION -- ACCT CODE 506000.420601.6. 718). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: Seven has been withdrawn. Eight. Commissioner Plummer: Move 8. Mayor Carollo: Moved by Commissioner Plummer. Commissioner Hernandez: Second. Mayor Carollo: Second by Commissioner Hernandez. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. 16 April 2, 1997 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO.97-272 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE BIDS OF SUPERIOR COMMUNICATION, INC. AMCON, MULTIPLIER INDUSTRIES CORP., FOR THE PROVISION OF MOTOROLA RADIO PARTS AND ACCESSORIES AT A TOTAL PROPOSED ANNUAL COST OF $65,000.00 ON A CONTRACT BASIS FOR ONE (1) YEAR WITH THE OPTION TO EXTEND FOR TWO (2) ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION/SOLID WASTE, COMMUNICATION SERVICES DIVISION; ALLOCATING FUNDS THEREFOR FRO THE GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION/SOLID WASTE, COMMUNICATION SERVICES DIVISION, ACCOUNT CODE NO. 506000.420601.6.718; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO INSTRUCT THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER TO ISSUE PURCHASE ORDERS FOR THESE ACQUISITIONS AND THEREAFTER TO EXTEND THIS CONTRACT FOR TWO (2) ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS, AT THE SAME PRICES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS PURSUANT TO BID NO. 96-97-039, SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Hernandez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. AMEND R 96-86 -- INCREASE TOTAL AMOUNT OF A & A / U.S. AUTO GLASS COMPANY & SAFELITE GLASS CORPORATION BID FOR GLASS REPAIR -- FOR GSA / SW, FIRE -RESCUE, POLICE DEPARTMENTS -- FROM $14,000 TO $25,000 -- ALLOCATE FUNDS FROM ACCTS. 509000.420901.6.670 ($10,000); 001000.280701.6.670 ($5,000); 503001.291301.6.670 ($10,000). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: We're on 9. Commissioner Plummer: Move 9. Commissioner Gort: Second. 17 April 2, 1997 Mayor Carollo: Moved by Commissioner Plummer, second by Commissioner Gort. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Carollo: No "nays." The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 97-273 A RESOLUTION (Pending the Law Department.) (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gort, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 18 April 2, 1997 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. RATIFY / APPROVE / CONFIRM EMERGENCY FINDING -- WAIVE COMPETITIVE BIDS -- APPROVE PURCHASE OF JANITORIAL SERVICES FOR POLICE NORTH SUBSTATION -- FROM AFTER HOURS CLEANING -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($21,000, ACCT. 001000.290201.6.340 / POLICE GENERAL OPERATING BUDGET). Commissioner Plummer: Move 10. Mayor Carollo: Move 10. Second by Vice Mayor Regalado. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 97-274 A RESOLUTION BY A 4/5THS AFFIRMATIVE VOTE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION, RATIFYING, APPROVING, AND CONFIRMING THE CITY MANAGER'S FINDING OF AN EMERGENCY, WAIVING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPETITIVE SEALED BIDS, AND APPROVING THE PURCHASE OF JANITORIAL SERVICES FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S NORTH SUBSTATION FROM AFTER HOURS CLEANING SERVICE, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $21,000.00; ALLOCATING FUNDS THEREFOR FROM THE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S GENERAL OPERATING BUDGET, ACCOUNT NO. 001000.290201.6. 340. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Regalado, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 19 April 2, 1997 I ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. AUTHORIZE SETTLEMENT: TERESA MUNOZ ($100,000 / PLUS $28,000 ATTORNEY'S FEES / $5,650 POST JUDGEMENT INTEREST) -- ALLOCATE FUNDS FROM SELF-INSURANCE TRUST FUND CODE 620103-653. Mayor Carollo: We're on... Commissioner Gort: Eleven. Mayor Carollo: ... eleven. Moved by Commissioner Gort, second by Commissioner Hernandez. Discussion. Commissioner Plummer: The individual that's the so-called bad guy in this episode, does he still work for the City? A. Quinn Jones, III, Esq. (City Attorney): My understanding is that he retired shortly thereafter this incident. Commissioner Plummer: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: What department was he working for? Mr. Jones: This actually rose out of Building... at the time the Building and Zoning inspections... Building and Zoning Department. Mayor Carollo: Any further discussion? All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Carollo: No "nays." 20 April 2, 1997 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Gort, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO.97-275 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO PAY TERESA MUNOZ THE SUM OF $100,000, PLUS ATTORNEYS' FEES IN THE AMOUNT OF $28,000 AND COSTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $5,650, PURSUANT TO COURT ORDER AND POST -JUDGMENT INTEREST, IN FULL AND COMPLETE SATISFACTION OF ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, DEMANDS AND JUDGMENTS AGAINST THE CITY OF MIAMI, PURSUANT TO THE FINAL JUDGMENT FOR PLAINTIFF, AS ORDERED BY JUDGE WILLIAM M. HOEVELER OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT COURT ON DECEMBER 9, 1996, IN CASE NO. 95-2138-CIV-HOEVELER, ALLOCATING FUNDS THEREFOR FRO THE SELF- INSURANCE AND INSURANCE TRUST FUND, INDEX CODE NO. 620103-653. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Hernandez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. ACCEPT BID: SNAP -ON TOOLS -- FOR EQUIPMENT FOR POLICE FLEET SERVICE CENTER -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($93,872.88 / ACCT 503001.291301.6.850). Mayor Carollo: Twelve. Commissioner Plummer: Move it. Mayor Carollo: Moved by Commissioner Plummer. Commissioner Hernandez: Second. Mayor Carollo: Second by Commissioner Hernandez. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Carollo: No "nays." 21 April 2, 1997 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 97-276 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE BID OF SNAP -ON TOOLS FOR THE FURNISHING OF EQUIPMENT FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S FLEET SERVICE CENTER FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF POLICE, AT A TOTAL PROPOSED AMOUNT OF $93,872.88; ALLOCATING FUNDS THEREFOR FROM THE FLEET SERVICE CENTER GENERAL OPERATING BUDGET, ACCOUNT NO. 503001.291301.6.850; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO INSTRUCT THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER TO ISSUE A PURCHASE ORDER FOR SAID ACQUISITION. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Hernandez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. ACCEPT BID: MEF CONSTRUCTION, INC -- FOR CITYWIDE SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENT PROJECT PHASE XIV, B-4594 -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($250,989.75 / FROM CIP PROJECT 341171). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: Thirteen. Commissioner Plummer: I'm going to move it for discussion. Mayor Carollo: Moved by Commissioner Plummer, second by Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. City Manager, I realize that good sidewalks are a thing that eliminates lawsuits, but when I'm hearing that we're short of money and we don't have the money, I'm questioning, why are we spending money? Mr. Edward Marquez (City Manager): We're spending money today not to spend more money in the future. We're going to be very shortly going into the five-year plan discussion, where the State Oversight Board is looking to the City to move from a way of operation into a more businesslike way of operation. One of the things that you do... one of the things that you do is to spend money to prevent future big lawsuits. We have, time and time again, have had people tripping over the same sidewalks, and we keep on getting sued. So if there's a problem, you've got to fix it. 22 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: Oh. Then I'm to assume what you're saying is that this is just the repair of broken concrete, not doing whole blocks at a time. And I have no problem with doing just repair of those that are potential liabilities to the City, and those should be done immediately, and I have no problem with that. But I get the impression that this is just doing blocks upon blocks upon blocks, whether they're cracked or not. Mr. Jim Kay (Director, Public Works): No, sir. Included in the package is a list of some 36 locations identified with the work specified that they want. Commissioner Plummer: Just those that are potential liabilities. Mr. Kay: Yes, sir, every one of them is. Commissioner Plummer: Thank you. Vice Mayor Regalado: Are those all of the 36 we... only 36 we have identified in the City, broken sidewalks? Mr. Kay: Well, there's many more. We are at the present time doing a survey of the entire City, all 660 miles of streets, identifying each location with our own personnel. We want to make a... Vice Mayor Regalado: I remember that when we talked about the task force of the Fire Department, that it was suggested that they would look over the different problems. Are they reporting to you, the people that walk all the streets of Miami during several weeks? Mr. Kay: Well, we get reports from various people, some from the Fire Department, and any other agency or organization. We take all those complaints. Mayor Carollo: OK. There's a motion and there's a second on 13. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Carollo: No "nays." 23 April 2, 1997 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 97-277 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE BID OF MEF CONSTRUCTION, INC., IN THE PROPOSED AMOUNT OF $218,093.75 TOTAL BID OF THE PROPOSAL, FOR THE PROJECT ENTITLED "CITYWIDE SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENT PROJECT PHASE XIV, B-459411; ALLOCATING FUNDS THEREFOR FROM PROJECT NO. 341171, AS APPROPRIATED BY FISCAL YEAR 1995-1996 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT ORDINANCE NO. 11337, AS AMENDED, IN THE AMOUNT OF $218,093.75 TO COVER THE CONTRACT COST, AND $32,896.00 TO COVER THE ESTIMATED EXPENSES, FOR AN ESTIMATED TOTAL COST OF $250,989.75; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, WITH SAID FIRM. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gort, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14-A. DISCUSS FUTURE USE OF CITY FACILITY AT 1001 MACARTHUR CAUSEWAY / WATSON ISLAND (MIAMI YACHT CLUB) -- DIRECT ADMINISTRATION TO NEGOTIATE BASED ON FAIR MARKET VALUE RETURN -- HAVE YACHT CLUB EARMARK ACTIVITIES FOR CITY RESIDENTS -- RETURN TO CITY COMMISSION WITH STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: Before we go into 14, that's going to take a little more time, let's go to 15. And then the only item we'll have left will be 14. We're going to 15 now. Mr. Manager, 15 is one of your items. Mr. Edward Marquez (City Manager): Yes, sir. Fifteen is a study. Mr. Mayor... Oh, I'm sorry. OK. Mr. Jack Luft (Director, Planning & Development): Item 15 is consideration of a renewal of lease terms for the Miami Yacht Club on Watson Island. The Administration is requesting that the Manager be authorized to enter into discussions, negotiations on potential lease terms for renewal of the Yacht Club lease. Currently, their lease is expired. They're there on 30-day 24 April 2, 1997 .,1\ '1� permit. With that negotiation, we would report back to the Commission the substance of a potential lease, and it would be your consideration whether or not to approve that lease, amend that lease or go out to competitive bids. But we would like to at least begin the discussions now with the Yacht Club, to see what kind of terms we can bring back to you. Mayor Carollo: All right. What is the will of the Commission? Commissioner Plummer: I'm sorry, what is this? Mr. Luft: This is the Miami Yacht Club, Watson Island. We're requesting direction from the Commission to negotiate potential terms of a new lease for the Yacht Club, and bring that back for your consideration, at which time, you may choose to accept such terms, amend them, or reject them and go to bid. Commissioner Plummer: When is the present lease they have up? Mr. Luft: It's been up for several years. They're there on a 30-day permit. Commissioner Plummer: What's the recommendation of the Administration? Mr. Luft: Our recommendation is that you direct the Manager to proceed with negotiations of lease terms and report back to this Commission those terms for your consideration. Vice Mayor Regalado: With the same people as tenants? Mr. Luft: The same... the current tenants at this point, and then depending on the terms we can bring back, and we understand this is fair market return to the City, you would... it would be your consideration whether to accept that, amend that, reject it. And if you were to reject it, then we would go to competitive bids. But we... - Commissioner Hernandez: Mr. Luft, how can we... If the lease term is up, how can we bypass normal procedure, procurement procedures, and go ahead and negotiate, renegotiate with these people a long-term lease? Mr. Luft: Two.years ago, there was a Charter amendment passed in a referendum by the voters of the City of Miami that amended the lease procurement provisions of the Charter, which allowed for nonprofit water -oriented recreational clubs to enter into long-term leases with the City without competitive bid. That is the one exception in our Charter that was just recently passed. That's how we were able to bring forth the new lease for the Outboard Club on Watson Island, and we're asking to proceed in that same basic path with the Yacht Club. You may choose ultimately to go to competitive bids, or you could direct us at this time to do that, but they have been there since 1947, and we would like to see what we can bring back to you, and if that's satisfactory or not. Commissioner Plummer: Let me tell you my only concern. You got a Parrot Jungle going over there. Mr. Luft: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: You got a government operation of the - whatever that is - the publicity department, isn't that scheduled to go over there, with a heliport? Mr. Luft: That's on the south side of the island. You're talking about the bureau, yes. 25 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: I understand. But my overall question is, are we smart to negotiate until we know exactly... I mean, that island can only hold so much. OK? Mr. Luft: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: Now, are we smart to say, go ahead and negotiate, but we're not going to make decisions until we have... because they're on a month to month. Go ahead and negotiate, and we'll talk about it after all of the decisions have been made as to what's going to happen with Watson Island, because, you know, you've got Chalks, you've got a lot of things over there. And I just... I love the Yacht Club, they're a great club, and I think they should be there. But until such time as we know exactly what's going to be... As the Mayor said about Virginia Key, until we know the whole picture, I don't think we should be down to the final terms of any negotiation. That's just my opinion. But go ahead and proceed, as far as this vote is concerned, to negotiate. Commissioner Hernandez: I agree with what Commissioner Plummer is saying. I think we should wait, subject to the bigger picture, to see what is going to happen at Watson Island. But I'd like to add, I think it's such a valuable piece of property that, subject to waiting to see what's going to happen at Watson Island, I think it's time that we open up the process to an RFP (Request for Proposals) situation, and see the best that we can get for that piece of land, and let them stay there subject... month to month, subject to see what happens to the project, the overall project, and then we move on. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Gort: " I agree with what's stated here, but at the same time, what I would like to see is some kind of negotiations so at least we know where we can go from, but at the same time, even if we go from month to month, if we can increase the revenue for the City, I would like to see it increased. Mr. Luft: We would enter into any negotiation with any potential tenant solely on the terms of a fair market return to the City. Commissioner Gort: Right. Mr. Luft: That is part of the Charter amendment. It does require that. Commissioner Gort: I think if we have a chance to increase our revenues, we should, and then just continue to be month to month until we get the final plan, then whatever we want to decide later on. Mayor Carollo: How many slips are there, Jack? Mr. Luft: I'm not certain how many they have today. They rebuilt the dock since Hurricane Andrew, and they were able to get some approvals from the State of Florida on the bay bottoms on the north side, to add some additional slips. I don't have the current count. I would have to get that information. Mayor Carollo: Approximately how many? Mr. Luft: A hundred and seventy-two dry slips - These are actually small boats - and 42 wet slips, so just over 200. Mayor Carollo: A hundred seventy-two dry and 42 wet. 26 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: Well, let me go on the record, because I'm not in favor of going out to an RFP. Miami Yacht Club is tradition of this town, and if we can negotiate with them a fair return to this City, I want to stay with them. They've been good to this community, and I think they should be there. Now, if they don't negotiate in good faith and we don't get what is a fair return, then I think we're forced then to go to an RFP to try to get a fair return. But just for one, they've been here as long as I have, and that's a long time. Commissioner Hernandez: I'm in favor of tradition and history. I'd just like to know, is there anyone here that can speak up for the Miami Yacht Club? I'd like to ask some questions as to participants, how many members are there, how many live in the City of Miami. Mr. Luft: The commodore of the club, I believe, is here. Mr. Jim Jordan: Jim Jordan, Commodore of the Miami Yacht Club. Mayor, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen. Harold, you want to... Mr. Harold Cobb: I'm Harold Cobb. I'm the rear commodore. Commissioner Hernandez: How many current members do you have at the Yacht Club? Mr. Jordan: Approximately 305. Commissioner Hernandez: And how many of those 305 live in the City of Miami? Mr. Jordan: Roughly 23 percent. Commissioner Hernandez: So basically... Mr. Jordan: Most are former members. They moved... Commissioner Hernandez: Right. Mr. Jordan: ... moved out of town. Commissioner Hernandez: So 23 percent of 305 members are City of Miami residents. The rest are nonresidents of the City of Miami. Correct? Mr. Cobb: Correct. Commissioner Hernandez: So they are... Is it fair to say that they are benefiting from a nonprofit group that obviously has very fair, very inexpensive dues, and it is at the cost of the City of Miami. Correct? Mr. Jordan: As far as cost to the City of Miami, we have been paying the current lease rate. I mean, we've been waiting for... negotiating the new lease for some years now. We don't have a problem with a... Commissioner Hernandez: How many acres do you have there? Mr. Jordan: Excuse me? Commissioner Hernandez: How many acres do you have in the land? 27 April 2, 1997 Mr. Jordan: I believe it's about four acres, roughly, and one underwater, which includes the docks. It's four land acres. Mr. Luft: It's six and a half acres. Commissioner Hernandez: Six and a half acres. That's a serious concern, when you have 23 percent of the membership being City of Miami residents, and there's a total of 305 members on four acres of probably prime land of the City of Miami. Commissioner Plummer: I guess it's like the Police Department. Ten percent live in the City, 20 percent in the County, and the rest are out of the County. Mr. Jordan: A lot of those members... That's just including actual residents, not where they... a lot of them work in the City, naturally, and it's convenient to go, you know, to back... Commissioner Hernandez: What's the actual membership dues right now? The dues. Mr. Jordan: The dues is 500 a year for a regular membership. Commissioner Hernandez: Do you have any type of discount for City of Miami residents? Mr. Jordan: Not as such, no. Commissioner Hernandez: Everyone pays five hundred dollars ($500). Mr. Jordan: Everyone except those over 65, it's one hundred dollars ($100) a year. Nonresidents outside a 100 mile radius pay a hundred and fifty - excuse me - two hundred and fifty dollars ($250), but they're not allowed to keep a boat there. Commissioner Hernandez: What do you charge for those people that are members and have a... I assume that the dock rates are according to the size of the boat. Right? Mr. Jordan: In -the -water slips are a hundred and fifty dollars ($150) a month. The average on the trailer boats is about fifty dollars ($50) a month. Commissioner Hernandez: Is that below competitive rates these days, the market? Mr. Jordan: Yes, considerably. Mayor Carollo: Very much so. Commissioner Hernandez: Yeah. Mayor Carollo: Very much so. Mr. Jordan: And it's basically the cheapest yacht club to belong to in the general area. Mr. Cobb: Less expensive. Mr. Jordan: Less expensive. Excuse me. Commissioner Hernandez: I've been there. It's a very nice place. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor... Are you finished? 28 April 2, 1997 Mayor Carollo: Go ahead. Commissioner Hernandez: Yeah. Commissioner Gort: Questions. Do you do any - like the Outboard Club - any community work with the kids and senior citizens? Mr. Jordan: Yes. With the kids, we have a summer camp, and we donate tree attendance to those who are considered in need of such help. We have a program, the auxiliary Coast Guard meets there. The Navy League of... the Miami Council of the Navy League meets at the club. The... We've done many Boy Scout and Girl Scout merit badge programs related to water - related sports. We're trying to establish a sea explorers unit on the club site, where they would have use of the clubhouse. We've had some senior citizen groups, church groups, essentially, use the facilities on a weekend for a luncheon or whatever, you know, activities they would like. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor, I'd like to see staff go back and negotiate with them and see if we can increase our revenue, and in part of the negotiation with them, just like you did with the Outboard Club, I'd like to see "X" amount of activities being conducted for the benefit of residents of the City of Miami and the inner City and so on. OK? Commissioner Plummer: Well, let me tell you what I want. Mr. Manager, when you negotiate, let's talk to them about giving us office space and space for the marine patrol boats, City of Miami Marine Patrol. Mayor Carollo: We're making other arrangements for that, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: Who is "we"? Mayor Carollo: "We," the City of Miami. Commissioner Plummer: Nobody has told me, so it's not "we." Mayor Carollo: Well, that seems to be the problem these days. I don't know. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I don't know, because unless this Commission is taking an action, to my knowledge... Mayor Carollo: It has, Commissioner. We have had an offer that's been made public. In fact, we discussed it in this Commission in the past. Commissioner Plummer: So tell me again. Mayor Carollo: Over at the entrance to the Miami River, Brickell Key has made an offer to us and the Maxine Patrol. Commissioner Plummer: They did? Mayor Carollo: Yeah. They have made an offer. This has been discussed publicly. In fact... Commissioner Plummer: Well, OK. Then I stand... Mayor Carollo: ... Commissioner Gort, the chairman of the DDA (Downtown Development Authority), I think, was the one that brought it up. 29 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: At this Commission meeting? Mayor Carollo: Yeah, he brought it up, yeah. You forget. That's what happens when you're around for a long time, you forget things. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, that's right. OK. Commissioner Gort: Do you need a motion on this? Mayor Carollo: Well, I don't think there's a motion that's needed. I think staff... Mr. Luft: We just wanted to report back to you and get the sense that we should begin discussions. Mayor Carollo: Staff, I think, has gotten a drift of what the Commission wants. Sit down, try to see if you can get a fair market value return from them. And you might want to compare the hundred and seventy-two dry-dock slips and the 42 wet ones to the other one that we have on Virginia Key, and then come back to us and, you know, give us your recommendations. Mr. Luft: OK, sir. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. --------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14-B. VICE -MAYOR REGALADO- REQUESTS UPDATE ON NEGOTIATIONS WITH TENANTS (CASABLANCA GROUP) AT WATSON ISLAND. Vice Mayor Regalado: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Regalado: Now that we are discussing Watson Island, several weeks ago, the Commission directed the City staff to meet with tenants of the other side of Watson Island, that they have several complaints regarding the situation there, and that there was an inspection, and there was electricity shot off by the City officials. I was wondering if they met with the tenants and have any kind of resolution Mr. Jack Luft (Director, Planning & Development): I'm sorry, sir. I was... I missed that. Vice Mayor Regalado: Yeah. The tenants on the other side of Watson Island. The people that sell fish there. Several weeks ago, the Commission directed the staff to meet with them and see what kind of arrangement... Mr. Luft: Right. I spoke to... I think it's the Casablanca Group. And we are trying to... we're setting up a meeting with them. We've had one meeting cancelled, and we're trying to get back together, but we are pursuing them, along with Christina Abrams from Marinas. Vice Mayor Regalado: Has electricity been restored, or fixed, or anything? 30 April 2, 1991 Ms. Christina Abrams (Director, Public Facilities): We have made a temporary fix of electricity. We're working with Public Works to try to do it in-house with our own resources from Property Maintenance and Public Works, in order to reduce the cost to an amount that we can afford. Vice Mayor Regalado: But you haven't met with the people. Ms. Abrams: I called... I left a message last week that we wanted to reschedule it to this week or next week, in order to allow us enough time to come up with an idea or a plan that would be acceptable to both. 31 April 2, 1997 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15. (A) DISAPPROVE PROPOSED FIRE FEE AS PRESENTED -- EVALUATE OTHER OPTIONS -- RETURN TO CITY COMMISSION WITH OTHER RECOMMENDATION/ALTERNATIVES, i.e. BED TAX / FOOD & BEVERAGE TAX -- CONSIDER IMPACT OF WELFARE REFORM ACT ON SMALL BUSINESSESES WHEN PROPOSING FEES. (B) CITY MANAGER REVIEWS WITH CITY COMMISSION PROPOSED FIVE YEAR RECOVERY PLAN: FINANCIAL ASPECTS - COMPARISON TO OTHER MAJOR FLORIDA CITIES / PRIVATIZATION / STRATEGIC PLANNING / REGIONAL SOLUTIONS TO CITY PROBLEM / INTEGRATION WITH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE / PUBLIC / PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS ON CITY LAND RESTORING ACCESS TO CREDIT MARKETS. MANAGERIAL RECOVERY - REORGANIZATION / RECLAIMING MANAGEMENT RIGHTS/ STAFF TRAINING / CHARTER REVISIONS / BLUE RIBBON TASK FORCE: BUSINESS PRACTICES / FINANCIAL AFFAIRS / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / HEALTH INSURANCE /RISK MANAGEMENT / PROCUREMENT / EXHIBITS THAT TIE STIERHEIM PLAN & TECHNICAL SUPPORT ADVISE. FINANCIAL PLAN - FY '97 PLAN / FY '98 PLAN/ RECURRING V.S. NON RECURRING MATRIX / ALTERNATIVES TO ADDRESS FY '98 DEFICIT / EXHIBITS. (C) SCHEDULE NEXT MEETING TO DISCUS RECOVERY PLAN FOR APRIL 8, 1997, AT 9: A.M. -- SCHEDULE CITY COMMISSION MEETING OF APRIL 10, 1997, AS SHORT MEETING WITH HALF HOUR LUNCH -- SCHEDULE RECOVERY PLAN DISCUSSION ON THAT DATE FOR 9:A.M. (D) UNION PRESIDENTS COMMENT ON ASPECTS OF PROPOSED RECOVERY PLAN: TOM GABRIEL, INTERNATIONAL FIREFIGHTERS / CHARLIE COX, GENERAL EMPLOYEES / TONY RODRIGUEZ, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE -- URGE CAUTION ON PROPOSAL TO REDUCE PENSION BOARDS STAFFING -- URGE CAUTION AGAINST PRO BONO CONSULTANTS SEEKING CITY CONTRACTS -- COMPLAIN ABOUT LACK OF COOPERATION FROM MANAGEMENT. -- MAYOR DIRECTS ADMINISTRATION TO MEET ONE ON ONE WITH UNION PRESIDENTS TO EXPLAIN INTENT OF PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES TO DEAL WITH LABOR ISSUES. (E) COMMISSIONER PLUMMER COMMENTS ON HIS REQUEST TO RESEARCH COURTS ASSUMING POLICE COURT OVER TIME COSTS THROUGH ASSESSMENT OF FINES. Mayor Carollo: Back to item 14. You're on, Mr. Manager. Mr. Edward Marquez (City Manager): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, let me ask a question. Since one of the key ingredients of this plan is the fire plan, should we not discuss that before we go into the full five-year plan? I 32 April 2, 1997 think it would be advisable, because the vibrations on the fire fee could be marginal. And in my estimation, I think we need to make that decision, because if it doesn't pass, the five-year plan falls out of the book. So I'm just asking what the rest of the colleagues think about that. Mayor Carollo: Well, it might be appropriate, but the only problem that I would have, Commissioner... and that's why maybe we need the Manager to give us some guidance on that. No matter how difficult these decisions that are before us might he, we're going to have to find solutions. It's not a matter any longer, unfortunately, that we, for good reasons, might not want to vote for certain items. It's a matter right now that if we don't vote for certain items, we have to instruct staff to come up with certain other solutions that can provide additional funding. And this is one of the things that I've been asking staff, in case this didn't go, what else they might have to have as a backup. And we discussed certain areas, some that are not feasible, some that might be feasible. Mr. Manager, would you prefer to go into the five-year plan, bringing up the fire fee up front, or do you prefer to leave it as we go along? Mr. Marquez: I'd like, with the Commission's permission, to go through a set presentation here, because of the fact that everything is interrelated. You can't easily pull out one piece and talk about it without understanding the whole, because everything is interrelated in this regard. So with your permission, I'll start from the beginning and work right through to the end. Commissioner Plummer: I guess, really, I have a simple question. If the fire fee fails, does not everything else in the book fall apart? Mr. Marquez: If the fire fee... No, sir. There's a lot of things... Commissioner Plummer: OK. If your answer is no, then proceed the way you want. Mr. Marquez: Well, let me clarify that, because it's a "no," with qualifications. If the fire fee fails, we need something else. And there are always alternatives. There are always options. Commissioner Plummer: I said that from day one. Mr. Marquez: There are appropriate... acceptable options and unacceptable options, in the light of whoever is evaluating those options. Commissioner Plummer: And it depends on who's voting. Mr. Marquez: Absolutely. And who's also approving. Commissioner Plummer: I told you before that there are other ways. There are still other ways. Maybe I'm the only one that thinks that they are reasonable, but I'm telling you that there are other ways than what is being proposed here today. Look, you 'go ahead and make your presentation the way you want. I just thought it was advisable that we talk about the major component of what the glue is that holds this book together, that there's some marginal... as I understand it. I mean, I'm reading the Herald, and I don't always believe what's in the Herald. But the remarks that have been made by members of this... Vice Mayor Regalado: I guess today, you do, on my case. Commissioner Plummer: ... by members of this Commission to the Herald, who violates the sunshine law, instead of us, I think you've got some major problems with the fire fee. And that's the only reason I'm asking. Vice Mayor Regalado: If I may, Mr. Mayor. 33 April 2, 1997 Mayor Carollo: Go ahead. Vice Mayor Regalado: Mr. Manager, I believe that when we leave here today, we cannot defer fear, and what so many people in the City of Miami have now if fear that they will be taxed, because after all, the fire fee is another tax, even though we want to call it what we call it. But we should decide today whether we are willing to impose that burden on the people of Miami, or instruct the City Manager to look for other alternatives, and not defer, so we can... so we won't give the media and the people up there a reason to question the will of this Commission to defend the people of Miami. So I would ask this Commission to make a decision, so we will have ample time to come up with other alternatives. Because in my case, and it's only my case, I would not vote for the fire fee, not if it's fixed, not if it's brought in other ways, because what I would not vote is to impose another tax on the City business on the apartment buildings, and tax that will he passed on to the tenant and the poor people of Miami. That's my position, and I wanted to make it clear so it will be no mistakes at the end of the day. Mayor Carollo: I'd like the Manager and some of our staff have worked very, very hard in putting this five-year plan together, and the least that we could do is give them the opportunity, and hear them out. This Commission, of course, has the right to take any part of that five-year plan and decline it, go over it, amend it, change it. But the problem is that we have to find new dollars to run the City from somewhere. I don't like any kind of fire fee. I don't like any kind of fees. But I think that we need to leave doors open for discussion, because there might be some things that might be less harmful than others. And I... Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, this book has some deficiencies. All right? And that's the reason I wanted to discuss it up front. This book, if you read it, would tell you that this fire fee, imposed as it is, would raise thirty-one million eight hundred and fifty-six thousand and fifty- four dollars ($31,856,054). What this book doesn't tell you, and where I have a major problem is the truth of the matter is this fire fee is going to raise seventeen million dollars ($17,000,000), not thirty-one million dollars ($31,000,000), because the minute that this sleight of hand economics is put into play, you're taking away from the City recurring revenue thirteen million two hundred and eighty thousand dollars ($13,280,000) of garbage fees, because you're simply moving the garbage fee of the single family from the household, and now you're calling it a garbage fee, unless this is trickery, and you're going to go back now into privatization of garbage, and the private company is going to be able to charge the homeowner whatever he wants. And I don't know, because there's no answers in here, but as far as I'm concerned, as you know, I've said from day one there was no way that I would vote to impose a fire fee on single-family residences. So what did we say? We say, OK, instead of paying it for a garbage fee, now you're going to pay it for a fire fee. Now, I'll vote for it as a fire fee on a single-family residence if, in fact, you will assure me that a garbage fee is not going to be imposed at a later time, or privatization's going to come in and the homeowner is going to have to pay the old garbage fee, now called a fire fee, and pay the private hauler a tee. So what I'm looking at right now, and unless I'm wrong, you've got to deduct the thirteen million dollars ($13,000,000) from the thirty-one million ($31,000,000). So this is sleight of hand economics. It is not a thirty-one million dollar ($31,000,000) item. It only raises, in recurring revenue, at best, seventeen million one hundred thirty-six thousand and fifty-four dollars ($17,136,054). So all I'm saying is this is, Mr. Mayor, the reason I'm saying that this has got to be discussed. Now, I know that my colleagues on this Commission were opposed, and I respect, to a garbage fee increase, but I don't like the idea that we're playing sleight of hand here. And I'm not accusing you of any misdoings, don't misunderstand me. But what I need to know, and I need to... no uncertain terms that when you move from the single-family home of a garbage fee, and you now call it a fire fee, that you're not going to be hitting the homeowner for a fire fee... for a garbage fee. Because we know, without any question that the garbage fee in the County is what it is, and it's double what it is in the City today. So somebody has got to give me some answers, because the way it stands here today, there's no answers. 34 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: Commissioner Plummer, to answer that specific question, we are not intending... there is a substitution for the single-family residence. We're going to be charging them a fire fee. We will no longer be charging them a collection fee, and either we privatize the solid waste functions and the City pays for those collections, or we continue with our Solid Waste Department, and the City pays. There won't be an extra charge to the home residence. Commissioner Plummer: Except for the fact that you're going to still be losing the revenue. Mr. Marquez: Absolutely, sir. This... Commissioner Plummer: So, I mean, you know, what I'm trying to say is, Mr. Manager, in this document which you present to us, it doesn't show the amount of money... in that document. But I'm talking about this document which we've been working with prior to this document being issued at nine o'clock last night. Now, am I to understand from you, sir, that there will never be a garbage fee imposed against the single-family homeowner? I need to know that. Mr. Marquez: What I can say, Commissioner Plummer, is that this five-year plan is not contemplating that. I can never say "never," because there's future Commissions to deal with. Commissioner Plummer: No, excuse me, I didn't mean that. OK? So what you're saying is, even if you go private, which you know I've been opposed to, there would be no charge to the single-family home. Mr. Marquez: Correct. Commissioner Plummer: And if you don't go private -and you stay in-house, there still would not be a garbage fee to the single-family homeowner. Mr. Marquez: Correct. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Mayor Carollo: Tom, let me hear you out, and then we're going to hold off from any public input until the Commission can discuss this, and the Manager has a chance to present it. Mr. Tom Gabriel: OK. Mayor Carollo: But I'll give you the opportunity, briefly, because you are the president of the Fire Fighters' Union. Mr. Gabriel: Thank you. Tom Gabriel, Miami Association of Fire Fighters, the president. We have some concerns over this fire fee, also. We don't know anything about it right now, although we're concerned that now, we're going to be used to subsidize a private business that may be coming in. We think that the burden shouldn't be placed just on the fire service. Again, I don't know all the specifics yet on this issue, because we haven't seen anything, haven't been a part of it. But it does concern me that we're moving the burden of the garbage and collection from where it should be, with reasonable rates, over to the Fire Department, and which, you know, now, we're picking up not only the fire fee, but we've increased every other fee. Now, I'm all for revenue generation, but I want it in the right places. So right now, we have concerns. I'm not necessarily opposed to it, but we do have some concerns on it. Mayor Carollo: OK. Thank you. 35 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: Mr. Mayor, I fully appreciate what Tom just said. A lot of people have concerns, because no one has heard the entire plan. Staff has been working literally round the clock for a couple... for a few weeks now in developing this thing. It's a complete picture. I ask that we start and give us 45 minutes to walk through this so that you can see what we're talking about. And you are absolutely right. The City Commission has to approve a plan. And they can take this thing tear it apart, and rebuild it again. But this is our first attempt to try to accommodate a lot of objectives. Mayor Carollo: Would 43 minutes do? Mr. Marquez: You give everyone else unlimited time, but, you know, if it takes 45 minutes, 43 minutes, we will do it. Mayor Carollo: Well, whatever time you need, Mr. Manager Mr. Marquez: OK, sir. Right off the bat, OK. Page 1, on the preface. We're doing this five- year plan because of our agreement with the State Oversight Board, because the City is under Chapter 218. Now, under that agreement, there will be... the five-year plan must do two things... must cover two areas. It must cover an operational recovery plan, which is to address all of the deficiencies pointed out by the Stierheim plan, by the external auditor, by these technical groups that the State is appointing. That... The State is looking to improve inner City government. They will not allow the status quo, according to their own agreement. The second thing this is supposed to do is have a financial plan as a component, where things balance out. Under that financial plan, this year, we were supposed to cover recurring revenues by the tune of 60 percent, which we did. For next year's budget, we have to cover recurring expenses 100 percent by recurring revenues, which this plan contemplates. The problems did not occur overnight. These problems that the City has been facing has been occurring for the past ten years. And because of that, we, the Administration views the fix to occur over the next five-year period of time. In '97, we've identified the deficits. We're identifying the operational deficiencies. We've done a tremendous job. This City Commission has done a tremendous job in stabilizing the red ink. We're in the black this year. You took a lot of hard hits to get us in the black, but we're there in the black this year, if everything comes in. But we're relying a lot on one-time revenues, and we're relying on union concessions that will last two years in nature. So we're in the black this year going into next year, which we'll get into the details and the numbers later on. In '98, we further are going to be stabilizing the financial situation. We'll be in union negotiation contracts. We'll be investigating our privatization options, because we can't privatize right now because of our union contracts. We'll be issuing land leases, and we'll be creating strategic planning for the City. We want to take the City into a business format, where you think a little bit long term, and you plan accordingly. 1999, we figure that we're going to have further stabilization of the financial situation. We need to hire mid -management in the City, because there is virtually no mid -management to do the work and the analyses that are necessary. And we will, you know, start implementation of some of our privatization options. Fiscal 2000, 2001, we should be coming out and really stabilizing the structural problems of the City. Now, why does it take five years? It takes five years because the City of Miami is the fourth poorest City in the country. We're not the Orange County that has a big problem that could raise taxes tomorrow and be done with the problem. We are a poorer community. And as you see on page 3... As you see on page 3, that colored map shows you the households. And this is why this plan contemplates a gradual fix of the problem. In developing this plan, on page 4, we list out some... what I call guiding principles. The guiding principles was to assist us in trying to develop what... to try to differentiate between options that we were facing, and there's options in everything. And we looked at a ton of options, but we needed some guidance. So we developed some guiding principles, and these guiding principles are business oriented. The first number principle is that the citizens... the City belongs to the citizenry. And then in all business matters, their concern takes number one precedence. The citizens of the City deserve the highest possible service 36 April 2, 1997 consistent with financial stability. We have to be practical with our dollars. The City shall not undertake any unfunded mandates. If the City takes a services, it should be prepared to do it efficiently. If the private sector can do it better, the private sector should do it. There shouldn't be any empire building on the City's behalf. To ensure honesty by our own work force, the City government has to be structured so that there's people... there checks and balances in the system. Standards of operating performance should be no less than the private sector here. We should have the resources to do the job right. Our assets, whatever assets we maintain, such as this building, our building, should be kept in a businesslike fashion, and not left for deterioration. When we... Our land holdings, we should have adequate return on our assets in order to improve the financial situation. We should always be hiring the best qualified people for the job. And then... on and on. Most of these things are business -oriented goals. We should have adequate cash reserves as we go forward, contingency reserves and the like. Now, these are items... A lot of these items are things that... Again, I emphasize that the Oversight Board has built into cooperation agreements, so that we're going to have to produce this when we come up with a final five-year plan. I'm going to turn it over to Bob Nachlinger to describe briefly the historical perspective of how... of what the finances have looked like over the past ten years. Let me just note, just before Bob started, the last time our operations were in the black was in 1987. And what I call operations is everything other than capital projects and debt service. All our operational funds, when you consolidate it, the last time that they were in the black was in 1987. Bob Nachlinger (Assistant City Manager): Thank you. Mayor and Commissioners, Bob Nachlinger, Assistant City Manager. As Ed has stated in his preface, the problems with the City of Miami didn't occur in September of last year. They just happened to be reported in the press September of last year. The problems have occurred over a long period of time. And there is an old "saw," if you will, that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. And essentially, we can't afford to repeat prior history here within the City of Miami. So we really need to review what has happened in the past to make sure that that doesn't happen again. Essentially, in the last ten years, your general fund of this City, where virtually all the operations were funded, has managed to lose five point four million dollars. That's in... if it was not a governmental fund... I talked about net income. In this case, it's expenditures in excess of revenues of five point four million during that ten-year period. Your enterprise operations, those are supposed to be done on a businesslike manner. In that ten-year period, they've lost fifty-four point four million dollars. The internal service funds, which are the captive companies, if you will - the fleet maintenance, the internal services the City has -- have managed to lose twenty- seven and a quarter million over that ten-year period. If you total up the losses over this ten-year period, it's slightly in excess of eighty-seven million dollars ($87,000,000), which means, effectively, that the City annually has spent eight point seven million dollars more than they've taken in. There's a chart on page 6 which shows you that ten-year history, and those annual losses, because there's only one or two occasions where there is actually a profit, if you will. The additional problem this has caused the City is in your enterprise operations number, these have bonds outstanding, which are payable from the revenues generated from the enterprise. Over this ten-year period, you'll see that the most that the debt service has ever been covered from the operations of an enterprise fund occurred in 1990, when it actually covered 56 percent of the debt service cost. The average has been more in the 20 percent range during this ten-year period that your enterprise operations have actually eaten in and covered the debt service cost. Bottom line, this means that the general governmental revenues in the City that step up to the plate to cover that other 80 percent, and basically have cost... five point eight million dollars of City revenues have gone in to cover that debt service cost of those enterprise operations. Basically, if we... what the City has intended to do here is consolidate operations. We would like to move forward, bring all those enterprise operations which, quite frankly, don't meet the definition of an enterprise, because they never have been set up to earn their own way. And the internal service funds, collapse those back into the general fund to actually show a true picture of what we anticipate the operations of the City to be. We're still waiting on the final numbers from Peat Marwick in the Accounting Department. We're anticipating that the net effect on the 37 April 2, 1997 general fund is going to be a negative fund equity, a carry -forward loss, if you will, in the thirty million dollar ($30,000,000) range as of the end of September 30, '96, after we consolidate all those enterprise and internal service funds into the general fund. But that effectively does show the magnitude of the loss, and where we move forward from that point to fix it. On page 9, page 9 through 11, actually, there is some comparative information comparing the City of Miami, which, in this State, is the second largest City, even though, quite frankly, Jacksonville... I'm not sure if it's a city or a county, but the State considers it a City. The top ten cities in the State of Florida, on page 10, all the revenues are charted for fiscal '95. That's the latest information that's, of course, available. If you notice, if you average all of those top ten cities together, the average that's taken in by each of the cities is two thousand three hundred and forty-three dollars ($2,343) per capita, which is the average amount on a per capita basis every city takes in. The City of Miami, on the other hand, its per capita earnings or revenues from its residents are eighteen hundred and ten dollars ($1,810), which means that we only collect 77 percent of what the average city or the average large city in this State collects from its residents. The expenditure side is also extremely interesting. If you look on page 12, you'll see that on average, the City spends only 79 percent as much as the average city... large city in the State of Florida. Within that, expenditures is also 57 percent higher expenditures annually for debt service cost. Some of the questions that have been raised in the past have been whether or not the City of Miami has issued long-term debt to fund current operations, to borrow long to pay short. Quite frankly, the much higher than normal debt service cost would tend to bear out that that may have occurred. The other piece that needs to be reviewed is how the chart has been levied at the City that we spend much more for our public safety cost than cities of a comparable size nationwide, and certainly within the State of Florida. If you compare the percentage of the total expenditures of the City for public safety cost, we're spending 31 percent of the total expenditures for public safety. The average for all the top ten cities in Florida is 22 percent. We're at 141 percent of that average. Commissioner Gort: Let me ask you a question a minute. Mr. Nachlinger: Surely. Commissioner Gort: When you're talking about the debt service, is that the general revenue... Mr. Nachlinger: General obligation... Commissioner Gort: ... general obligations? Mr. Nachlinger: ... and special... this is... Commissioner Gort: Also, revenue bonds are included in that. Mr. Nachlinger: Well, no... Commissioner Gort: And your debt service is... Mr. Nachlinger: No, sir. This is not revenue bonds. This is just... Commissioner Gort: This is general obligation bonds? Mr. Nachlinger: General and special obligations. The debt service payable out of the general operations of the City. But if you take the total expenditures and adjust out that higher than average debt service cost, and you'd see that then, public safety accounts for 36 percent of our operation, as opposed to 24 percent of the... for the average cities in Florida, making our percentage for public safety expenditures 51 percent higher than the average. Also, the 79 38 April 2, 1997 percent that we spend of the... for the average of the top ten cities in Florida, if you adjust that debt service, higher debt service cost out, this City only spends 73 percent as much as those average or the top ten cities in the State. Ed. Mr. Marquez: Just... Why don't we repeat those numbers? We spend 73... 72, 73 percent on average less than the other cities, the top ten cities in the State of Florida. We spend more on public safety, police and fire. Probably, there's some good reasons behind that. But that means the rest of our operations are very much in the hole... not in the hole, but underfunded. Mr. Nachlinger: Hopefully underfunded. Commissioner Plummer: Well, but you got to compare apples and apples. Are you talking about cities that have a status and a solid population? Or how many of these cities, as I look across your examples, have a population of 400,000 of actual residents, and a million and a half people that come into the City during the day that throw these numbers completely out of balance? Mr. Marquez: Well, that's why... That's why we're saying that there's a probably good reason for the public safety cost being higher. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I think every cost is higher. Mr. Marquez: But we're saying that we're spending on a per capita basis much less. That's the problem. Commissioner Plummer: I hear you. Mr. Marquez: Your argument right now works... Commissioner Plummer: We're collecting less. Mr. Marquez: We're collecting less. OK. Shifting, moving along, because I know we're... 15 minutes is all of what we did so far. Privatization. OK. There's been a lot of discussion on privatizing our operations. One of the guiding premises that we're using is that if the private sector can do it better, maybe they should be allowed to. The privatization... Commissioner Plummer: Better and cheaper. Mr. Marquez: Better and cheaper. If they can do it better and cheaper, they should. Under the privatization, we save money under privatization only when we can lay off employees, because 82 percent of our work force... I mean 82 percent of our operational costs are labor related. Under our current contracts, the AFSCME (American Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees) contract, for all intents and purposes, precludes layoffs, so we can't private there. With FOP (Fraternal Order of Police), the FOP contract allows for layoffs. However, you know as a practical matter, the last 152 policemen are funded by Federal programs. If we cut our officers in that regard, they... we're just losing Federal money. And under the IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters), the fire fighters' contract, there's minimum staffing requirements. So privatization is not a practical item for this fiscal year. It will not be a practical item for fiscal year 1998 for those three unions. We do have the LIUNA (Laborers' International Union of North America) union bargaining agreement, which precludes privatization this year, but that contract is up for termination this coming year, and we're beginning negotiations with LIUNA. At the same time, on a different track, we keep... we're investigating the privatization issue. Now, one thing that we firmly believe as Management is that privatization should be able to save us money. But if we don't do it right, it will end up 39 April 2, 1997 costing money, because the services we provide are complex in nature. So we would... we would point out that we would request that the City not be penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to privatization of different functions. Let us hire the appropriate consultants in that mechanism and get the best advice that we can as we go forward. So that deals with privatization. It's just to let you know where we're at, at the moment. Candidates for privatization include at the moment Risk Management, Fleet Management in the future. We've had offers from... discussions with several parking authorities, wanting to see if they can manage, lease or buy the Off -Street Parking Department. So we're going to be looking at that and seeing what type of options there are, and at some point in the future, we'll come back to the City Commission to discuss that. Commissioner Plummer: How does that benefit the City? Because those revenues, we don't get anyhow. Mr. Marquez: Well, if we can... If a firm can come in and pay off the Off -Street Parking's debt, free up their available cash to release to the City, and then pay us an annual fee going out into the future, that would benefit the City. Commissioner Plummer: You're saying wiping out their debt service? Mr. Marquez: Wiping out their debt. Commissioner Hernandez: Plus the properties get on the tax base. Mr. Marquez: Depends on how we arrange it. I mean, there's... Commissioner Hernandez: That's an option. Mr. Marquez: That's possibly an option, but it might diminish... it might diminish the return that we have up front. Commissioner Hernandez: Have we looked into the possibility of Off -Street Parking, instead of having to share with the private sector, the City of Miami taking it over all together, and making it a department of the City of Miami? Is that a possibility? Mr. Marquez: We have to do something with the Off -Street Parking bonds, and there's also Charter provision problems, I am sure. A. Quinn Jones, II1, Esq. (City Attorney): Technically, the way it's set up, it is a department of the City, even though it operates just the opposite. Commissioner Hernandez: Right. Mayor Carollo: Seventeen million. Commissioner Plummer: Seventeen? Commissioner Hernandez: So we'd have to go to a Charter amendment? Mr. Marquez: Now, there are tons of options. And I'm... This report is going to take a lot of absorption, so I want to just go and continue the highlights, if I could, and then I'll be more than happy to brief anyone on individual bases here. All right? OK. Finding regional... The next section we have here is finding regional solutions to local problems. Welfare reform, immigration reform, unemployment, these are all major problems within the City of Miami, but 40 April 2, 1997 they are regional in nature. We're going to make it... as Management, we're going to try our best to get much more involved with the regional solutions from the State, from the County, from the Feds, if need be. Commissioner Plummer has been instrumental so far, I think, in dealing with the County and the WAGESS group. And that type of championship from the Commission, and the guidance, you know, that kind of synergy, we need to emphasize, and that's what this section talks about. Integration with the Chamber of Commerce. I've been in discussions with Bill Cullom, the chairman of the Miami... the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, and he's... and they're offering to the City Manager membership on the trustee... a free membership on the trustee, which would allow us to name ten executives to various committees within the Chamber. This is so that we, as Management, can start learning from the Chamber, and so that the business community of the Chamber could start understanding our problems. Both of us... Education is a good thing, both ways, so that, you know, we don't... they can help us plan into the future and we can help them address their future needs. We're doing this first with the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. We hope to extend this out to future... to other chambers within the community. On page 25, we list out the private... the public/private development projects on City land that's out there right now, and an estimated time frame was developed by the Asset Management group. These are the projects that we hope to be able to have better return for our citizens going out into the future. Page 29, another component of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement with the State Oversight Board. It requires that we talk about how the heck we're going to restore our credit. Now, we've been talking to the local banks in town. We've got letters of interest saying that should we require cash flow, i.e., tax anticipation notes, they will bid that... on those. That's not... the public market is where we want to be, because the public market would be cheaper. We have initiated in conversations with one letter of credit bank who is starting to investigate our credit return... our creditworthiness. So hopefully, gradually, as we develop and implement these policies, our ..credit will get better, and wilt eventually get into the credit marketplace. Managerial reorganization. Last week, I sent out a... how we were planning to reorganize the City Administration. The changes in the managerial... in the TO (Table of Organization) addresses a number of the concerns raised by the Stierheim and the external auditor about control issues within the City. The prime example of this is that we take the Finance Department as previously configured, and we expand it out into different departments. That is necessary for good control over your operations. It is necessary to hire the appropriate expertise to handle the complex areas. Data processing... no one is going to be a generalist and handle data processing and budget together effectively. And that's why we're breaking it out and having the functions develop their own expertise. We're also breaking out... isolating the General Service Administration. We're taking out areas from the Police Department and from the Fire Department and sticking them into the GSA. This is Fleet Management, the Insurance Management areas, so that we can isolate it, manage it better this coming year, but also develop privatization options on that, and hopefully, to the degree that the private... If it makes better sense that the private sector should do it, then we can spin that off. Page 36, we have to talk about our future stances, going forward, of how we're going to regain our managerial rights. And we list here some of the things that we have with our labor contracts, things that we need to improve. And it has mainly to do with the right of being able to assign our people in the most effective way. This has nothing to do with economics. This has everything to do with Management being able to control the work force. Thirty-eight talks about the profess ionalization of Management, and changing the internal culture of the City. Dr. Milan Dluhy, from FIU Institute of Government, has offered to assign two doctoral candidates to work with Management, to train us in multiple modules of education that will help professionalize our internal Management. The very first module that we will go through is this module on performance measurement. How do we know if we're efficient unless we are able to measure ourselves against something else? That is a budgetary... that's an item that you build into the budget so that you can keep track of our operations. And that's what we're going to be doing through this offer from FIU's Institute of Government. At the last meeting, you... top of page 42. At the last meeting, you talked about you accepted the Memorandum of Understanding with 41 April 2, 1997 the... with Mitch Maidique, Edward Foote and Ira Clark, with the universities leading a private sector review of our operations. They're going to be giving us ideas that we hope to incorporate, to better the way that we operate the City of Miami going forward. The rest of the section in this managerial section goes through individual departments, general write-ups and how... and in the back section, you see all of the comments from the Stierheim plan and, you know, where within our report we're trying to respond to. It's a lot of reading and a lot of detail, which we don't need to go into here. But the bottom line comment that I need to make here is that these are requirements of the State Oversight Board through our Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement. They are not looking for the status quo going out into the future. They are going to want to see us fund mid -management going forward. They are going to want to see us train our people. They are going to want to see the City of Miami do better. And unfortunately, there's a price tag with that going forward. They're also going to want to see proper reserves created, self-insurance reserve, contingency reserve, et cetera, which brings us into the financial plan. I'm going to turn it over to Dipak and Bob to tag team this, and they can go into some of the numbers. Mr. Dipak Parekh: Good morning, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Dipak Parekh, from the Office of Budget and Management Analysis. The section which we're dealing with comprises from page 85 to 113. Today, Bob did introduce this particular topic in trying to ascertain how we are in the present situation. We have what I would consider a structural problem within the City of Miami; namely, over expenses, over revenues. In order to look long- term, I think we need to address a number of different issues, primarily, the economic conditions, which the Manager did indicate on page 2 or 3 of the map, which deals about the poverty within City of Miami and its impact on the economics of the City. One way to address it has been on the issues of economic development, together... coupled in terms of a businesslike environment within the City of Miami. One of the issues which we would like to continue with .,is, obviously, to look7at the economic indicators. On page 87, dealing with property values, over the last few years, there has been a rise in construction activity. And you can see some of the cranes downtown. However, more needs to be done. And I think the City of Miami Commission and the Administration have taken bold steps this. year in Iaying the groundwork for future development. The value of building permits is on page 88, for our perusal. As we can see, there is a lag between building permit, the construction and the properties being on the tax roll. Usually, in our experience, that has taken over a period of two to three years. So in the near future, we should be able to see or anticipate a growth, a real growth of at least three percent, based upon new construction, plus another additional two to two and a half percent of normal growth. We are looking or projecting growth, therefore, in terms of over five percent, going from next year right over to 2001, 2002. That also brings forth how our City is presently viewed in the national limelight. On page 90, we also see the convention activity, as well as a number of delegates who come over and help to improve our local economy. It has significantly improved. As we can see, from 1994 onwards, we have basically near enough doubled the number of delegates coming within the greater Miami area. That brings forth the issue on page 93. This year, interim Manager Merrett Stierheim pointed out that there was a deficiency of sixty-eight million dollars ($68,000,000), of which nineteen point four was a carryover deficit from fiscal year 1996, a thirty point four million dollar deficit for current care operations, and an eighteen point two capital improvement funding shortfall. The City Commission, as well as the Administration identified solutions which accounted for sixty-eight point two million dollars, leaving a balance of two hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars ($254,000) at the end of the year. This particular area was heartfelt, because there were Citywide expenditures of around twenty million dollars ($20,000,000), of which department reductions coupled with that. Departmental reductions amounted to ten million dollars ($10,000,000). The total reduction of expenses in this fiscal year amounted to thirty point three million dollars. Mr. Marquez: The expense reduction... this is the belt tightening. This is the belt tightening in fiscal '97, which will carry out into fiscal '98 numbers. This belt tightening is over and above... 42 April 2, 1997 Remember what we said earlier. We're at 72 percent of the average of the ten largest Florida cities now. This is... that 72 percent level gets lowered because of this 30 percent belt tightening... I mean this thirty million dollar belt tightening. Commissioner Plummer: When you say "convention activity," are you telling me there's... in the City, there's two conventions a day? Mr. Parekh: In the Greater Miami areas. Commissioner Plummer: Oh. But you don't say that here. Mr. Parekh: Yes. But it does help the local economy, because people come and stay within City of Miami hotels. Commissioner Plummer: I understand, but when... I am assuming that when it's designated outside or total Dade County that it should show that here, because it's not showing that. And one of the major problems that we're finding is that a great number of the conventions are going to Miami Beach, and never come to the City of Miami. And unfortunately, a number of them are going to Broward County and not coming to Miami. And I think, also, a second phase of that has to be understood, because I sit on the TDC (Tourist Development Council), that when you talk about a convention, there are conventions of 60 people, and there are conventions of 6,000. And which ones are the City getting and which ones are going Countywide? Because it makes a big difference on revenue nights, big difference. Mr. Marquez: Commissioner Plummer, you're absolutely right. And that's all the more reason why we need to be integrating ourselves with the Chamber of Commerce, and working with the business community, so that we can trim these things, more refinedly - OK? - so that we can develop, you know, develop teams the way we operate in order to help them out. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I just hope you don't take up the same kind of operation as the Chamber of Commerce. They have a unique history in this City of getting involved and taking credit in something that's positive, and you can't find them when it's something negative. They don't spend money. They never put a dime into any project. Yet, they pay dues. So all I'm saying to you is, the history of the Chamber of Commerce in this community... and they're all my friends, I love them dearly. But let me tell you something. When they come down here and they ask for things, and they demand things, and they want things. They're there with everything but the bucks. So what I'm saying is, that's fine, if you want to get involved, if you want to have people on their committees, that gives us more of an insight, I'll buy that. OK? But jut be careful of the philosophy. Mr. Marquez: We work for the City of Miami, absolutely, and we'll be watchful of that. Mr. Parekh: On page 94, the impact of the 1997 plan on the City work force, the second paragraph basically indicates that there were 4,000 budgeted positions in 1990. At this moment in time, we're at 3,307, which is a net decrease of 18.7 percent. Basically, this was due to two retirement programs in '91 and '95, as well as this year, in which we had abolished over 251 deeply needed vacant positions within the City of Miami. And I think that is also supported by the economic indicators which Bob brought up earlier. I'd like to refer to page 95. Apart from the sixty-eight million dollars ($68,000,000) where the City has either raised revenues or cut expenses, the City also went out and provided additional land sales of eight point one million dollars ($8.1 million), of which five point nine is the latest MSEA (Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority) sale, which was basically finalized last... two days ago. Bottom line, we have brought in an additional thirteen point eight million dollars ($13.8 million) in either revenues or cutting of expenses. The bottom line is that on a projected surplus this current year, we will be at 43 April 2, 1997 fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000), of which four million dollars ($4,000,000) will be set aside as part of the working capital requirements by the State. We will be going in with an ending surplus of ten million dollars ($10,000,000). But at the same time, we will have that four million dollars ($4,000,000) set aside as working capital. Mr. Marquez: Again I just... We don't blow our horn enough around here sometimes, and it's right, this is one heck of a turnaround from the operations that we had coming into this fiscal year. A lot of this has yet to materialize. A lot of it is still land sales that are pending. Jack Luft and his department are actively working on this. We're still doing the sweeps. We're still maintaining... staying within our budgets. A lot... we still have half the year to go. But this is a heck of a turnaround, assuming that we come in on the projections that we have as of this point in time. Mayor Carollo: On the land sales that you're projecting here, does that include the land under the Miami Arena? Mr. Marquez: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: It does include that? Mr. Marquez: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: OK. Mr. Marquez: Five point nine million dollars ($5.9 million) is in this number. Mayor Carolla: You -did get the check, or the transfer, should I say, right? Mr. Marquez: We... As far as I know, the money is in the bank. The answer is yes. Mayor Carollo: Good. Commissioner Plummer: Well, of course... You know, that's great, and I think it's super, because the Mayor negotiated that out fantastically. But the thing that's got to be remembered is that was a one-time payment. Mayor Carollo: It was, but we also have to remember this, Commissioner, that we also had a one-time deficit that was for over nineteen million dollars ($19,000,000) for the year back. So basically, between those five million nine hundred thousand and change, and the almost thirteen million that the Sports Authority gave before, that came to almost nineteen million. So we were only short a small amount from the previous year's deficit. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Well, my problem, Joe, is the fact that he's going to give you... Now that he's given you the good news, he's going to give you the bad news. Mayor Carollo: Well, yeah. Commissioner Plummer: You know. And '97, '98 are good years to talk... what the hell is that thing? It's not supposed to ring. Mayor Carollo: The bad news is... Commissioner Plummer: ... is 99... 44 April 2, 1997 Mayor Carollo: ... what we always knew, that we have to come up with approximately fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) of recurring revenue for next fiscal year's budget, and thereafter. Commissioner Plummer: Well, you know, yeah. I'm assuming, Mr. Manager, you've put the sign, "for sale," on the FEC (Florida East Coast) property. But anyhow, are we realistic on the sale of land? Mayor Carollo: Yes, we are. As you see, we've been very, very realistic, because we've shown very little. On that particular land that you mentioned, I'd appreciate if we could take that up once we're done with this whole five-year plan, and I'll give you a briefing. Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. My problem is, Joe, the government traditionally... not just this government, but government in general. Bureaucracy slows everything down. I mean, it's not like private business where you shake a hand and you write a check tomorrow. Mayor Carollo: You're right, you're right, you're right. Commissioner Plummer: And my question is, when you talk in glowing terms about a surplus, are we going to realistically, even if we sell the property, have the money in hand by the end of that fiscal year? And that's where I'm concerned that, you know, we're blowing our horns here and we might run out of air. Mr. Marquez: Jack... Commissioner Plummer: What the hell do you got to do with it? You're not finance. Mr: Jack Luft (Director, -Planning & Development): I'm asset... Mayor Carollo: Well, land sales, we showed seven million one hundred and seventy-five thousand ($7,175,000). And out of that, we already have in hand at least five million nine hundred thousand ($5,900,000). So I would say that's pretty realistic for this fiscal year. I don't know if that includes another small parcel that was sold, but certainly, to finish off these projections here, we're talking about less than one point three million, at best. And just with a couple of the land transaction deals that we're finishing up now, that would be no problem in finalizing it. There is, however, an additional amount that we had agreed to for the monies we were going to be putting aside in reserves, but I think we're well on our way on that, also. Commissioner. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor, I have a question. When we look at the... and this is going back. Looking at the projections that you did in the comparison with large cities, as I can see here in charges for services, we're at 25 percent. Mr. Marquez: What page are you on? Commissioner Gort: I'm sorry, way back. I'm looking at the future revenues that can be derived. When you look at 25 percent of charges for services, is that with the changes that we have done already, or without the changes that we have done? Mr. Nachlinger: No, sir. Commissioner, these were based off the fiscal 1995, which is the latest information the State had available. Commissioner Gort: OK. So this percentage will probably change within the next two to three months. There would be a higher percentage. 45 April 2, 1997 Mr. Nachlinger: No, because in the fiscal '96, which was completed September 30th, it won't be until fiscal '97, September 30, '97 that you'll see those changes occur. Commissioner Gort: But I mean we have taken steps to increase that from 25 percent... Mr. Nachlinger: Yes, sir, you have. Mr. Marquez: Yes. We have taken positive steps in raising that, charges for services, absolutely. One thing I do want to add so that if anyone questions the numbers here, even though we're using 1995 data, we went and looked at a ten-year history of the same type of trends, and the relationships between the cities pretty much remained fairly constant. In fact, surprisingly so, from our point of view. So we're comfortable that the numbers are good. But again, these relationships do not take into account the recovery plan for this year that we're in, which means the charges for services are not in there. And it means that the belt tightening of the thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) is also not in there. Commissioner Gort: OK. Thank you. Mr. Parekh: To sum up the 1997 plan, to put it in another way, the City has raised revenues and cut expenses this fiscal year in the amount of eighty-two million dollars ($82,000,000) to arrive at the fourteen million dollar ($14,000,000) surplus. Mayor Carollo: Is that what the surplus is being estimated at right now, Dipak? Mr. Parekh: Fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000), excluding the four. Ten million dollars ($10,000,000), yes. Page 96. I just mentioned we have a fourteen... a projected fourteen million dollar ($14,000,000) surplus with four million going toward the working capital reserves. And I would like to refer to pages 103 and 104, the column entitled "1998 Estimated Budget." Vice Mayor Regalado: Excuse me, Dipak. You say here that the plan for '98 is predicated on the passage of the Fire Rescue fee? Mr. Parekh: Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Regalado: So. Mr. Marquez: Commissioner, we had to start someplace. This plan is predicated on the Fire Rescue fee. It's also predicated on forgiving the collection fee. It's a way of balancing things out, which we thought was the least impact to the population of the City of Miami. From the very beginning, in the preface, we understand that we can't go ahead and charge our citizens the obscene amounts, because they can't afford it. So it is a... We are playing... Vice Mayor Regalado: But, you know... Mr. Marquez: We are doing different things here to try to get an incremental increase, because we have to. Vice Mayor Regalado: I know that you spent many days, many hours, that you did not sleep for many days, to bring us this book. But, you know, I keep listening to you and your staff saying that we are the fourth poorest City in the United States. You mentioned something that is very important - and I have not seen it here - is the new reforms, the immigration welfare reform. You know, we are... We keep talking about the fiscal year '98, and you say that this is predicated on the Fire Rescue fee. We have spoken here about residentials, and I understand that residential is an important part of the City of Miami. But we have also to consider other aspects 46 April 2, 1997 of this plan, because if we were to discuss... and I'm sure that we will. But I just wanted to state that I believe that the people that will be most hurt will be those tenants living in apartment buildings in impoverished areas of the City of Miami who will get hit when we impose a fire fee to apartment buildings. There is no way in the world that somebody will tell me, and I believe it, that the apartment building owners will accept a fire fee very happily and not pass it on to the tenants. And if we were to discuss the little businesses, I'm telling you that because of the welfare reform and the immigration reform act, forty-eight million dollars ($48,000,000) in food stamps will not be coming to Dade County. And the City most impacted will be Miami, because this is where the benefits come in most numbers. These people of the little stores, pharmacies, the little markets, will not have an income come this July of many, many million dollars. And then we are going to impose a fire fee. Whether that fire fee is a hundred dollars ($100) or two hundred dollars ($200), these people are just going to have to close. We... This is really bad timing, I'm telling you. And I think that we have to look before we make a decision, or before we say that the '98 plan is predicated only on the fire fee. So I just wanted to make that statement, because I think that we have to consider a lot of things that we cannot control. Mr. Marquez: Commissioner, on the very front cover of this plan, it says "Draft Number L" OK? This is a version. It's a version that we've been working on intently. It's a version that we believe, as Management, and solely as Management, limits the impact on our citizens. There's a lot of trade-offs here. There's a lot of tweaking that can occur on these plans and on these numbers. But the basic bottom line thing that you must keep in mind is that the status quo, the way that we conducted business in the past, if we are to continue as a City going out into the future, cannot continue. And somehow or another, if it's the fire fee, if it's the solid waste fee, or if it's the breaking of the union contracts, something has to give. And... Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but it's got to give... Vice Mayor Regalado: Well... Commissioner Plummer: It's got to give where it's going to be practical. You know, maybe I'm losing something here, but if you take away the garbage fee from single family - OK? - that's thirteen million dollars ($13,000,000) that the City now takes in. Mayor Carollo: No, I'm sorry, Commissioner. We're looking at approximately ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in income that we get from that. Commissioner Plummer: Excuse me. When you multiply one hundred and sixty dollars ($160) by 80,426, you come out with 13,000,000, and that's what the numbers are. Now, if those numbers are not correct... Mayor Carollo: I think they're including in there some additional units and not just single- family duplex. Commissioner Plummer: No, sir. Unless the Manager has given me bad numbers, and I'm referring for... Mayor Carollo: You're including in there duplex also or... Commissioner Plummer: No, sir. I'm including what he considers here to be... Mr. Marquez: There are some duplex revenues in there... Commissioner Plummer: OK. 47 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: Because we do collect some threes and fours. And there's assessment liens. Commissioner Plummer: My concern, Mr. Manager... Mr. Marquez: There's assessment liens and stuff... Excuse me, Commissioner, but just to clarify. The number that we're using as a total loss of revenues is twelve million three fifty on this plan. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Mr. Marquez: There are... it's a number of items besides just the single-family... Commissioner Plummer: I'll accept that. Call it twelve million for round numbers and argument's sake. OK? So you lose twelve million dollars ($12,000,000) in garbage fees. Mayor Carollo: That's correct. Commissioner Plummer: Now, you're going to go and you're going to put it over on this side and pick up the twelve million dollars ($12,000,000). And yet, you're going to go over to the private sector, and you're going to pay the private sector from general fund to pick up the garbage. That's the potential. OK? Well, let me tell you what the numbers are there, because I know what those numbers are. It's eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000) to pick up the same thing that you're charging twelve million dollars ($12,000,000) for. Now, that's what the private sector is going to charge you. I know what they're going to charge you already. OK? And all I'm saying to you is, show me where we're ahead of the game. One is a wash. We take it out, and yet, we don't have garbage fee. Then you're going to pay from the ad valorem general fund the garbage fee from that amount of money. Let's assume it's the same, that it's twelve million dollars ($12,000,000) that you got to supplement. To me, you're losing twelve million dollars ($12,000,000). And this idea of sleight of hand on a fire fee that's going to raise you thirty-one million ain't the name of the game. Where are you ahead of the game, where you're not going to be taking in the revenue, you're going to be shelling out revenue? Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Marquez: Right now... Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor, my... Mayor Carollo: Go ahead, explain it. Mr. Marquez: It's been running at a deficit for years. We still are covering... Somehow or another, that deficit still needs to be covered. Now, the way that... Commissioner Plummer: Some of it, I got no... there's no question. OK? Some of it, without question. Mayor Carollo: Why don't we let the Manager and staff finish their presentations, and then let's get into those question. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Go ahead. All right. You know, the easiest thing in the world to do is just vote no. Go ahead. Mr. Parekh: Again, I refer to page 103. The five-year plan, which was originally presented to the State Oversight Board a few weeks ago, for 1998, the deficit came to sixteen point seven 48 April 2, 1997 million dollars; for 1999, to thirty-two point four; 2000, to forty point two, and 2001 at forty- eight point four. Mr. Marquez: Page 103. Mr. Parekh: A hundred and three. Furthermore, some budget adjustments were made, taking into account the issues relating to the police grants, in terms of expenses and revenues which have been generated, plus the actuarials for both the GESE (General Employees and Sanitation Employees) and the FIPO (Fire and Police) Pension Plans, which resulted in some savings, together with increases in revenues. Basically, what we are left with for fiscal year 1999, budget adjustment of a hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). The total balance still does come to sixteen point eight million dollars for fiscal year 1998. Page 104. These, as the Manager mentioned, is our first draft, and one of our several options, which we start off with the fire fee at thirty million dollars ($30,000,000), with land sales at five point eight. Basically, there are three land sales put up for this year, for which the process has already started. And expenditure reduction and the pension administration cost, for this, I would like to refer you to page 99, which basically states that at this moment in time, the combined budget for both the pension boards is two point six six million dollars ($2.66 million), with a staff on the GESE side of seven full-time employees, one part-timer, and a proposed increase in staff for next fiscal year. FIPO, on the other hand, has one administrator and five full-time staff. A memo which was received from Mario Rivera, on page 108, basically states that for pension systems to... basically similar size as ours, has three full-time individuals, including the Pension Administrator. We believe that there is an option for the City to divide the expenses as we have done in the other City departments this fiscal year. On the solid waste issue, we have basically a rebate of twelve point three million dollars ($12.3 million) in residential and multifamily homes, condos of three million, multi -family of another additional one point eight million dollars ($1.8 million). Management recovery, a lot has been said, so I will just summarize it. Another additional one point eight million dollars ($1.8 million) has been programmed for utilization for next fiscal year. The CIP (Capital Improvements Program) timing is basically the need to repair some of our badly needed trucks for Citywide operation. Basically, instead of 1999, that has been brought forward to 1998. Again, in the issue of enforcement, the City sadly lacks enforcement in several areas. One of the major areas which has a direct impact on our health and safety of our citizens is on the solid waste side. So two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) has been programmed there. Legal fees. Mr. Marquez: Legal fees are for... to assist us in negotiations with all our union contracts coming and going forward. Every corporation in the world that operates and deals with labor unions has professional advice, and this is comparable to what other cities pay. The City of Miami Beach hires attorneys also for negotiation of union contracts. The FIU study in the resolution that you approved last week, there's a provision of setting aside three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) for consultant work going forward. Mayor Carollo: What you have here is for '88, a deficit of sixteen million eight hundred and seventy-two thousand plus dollars that you're working on. This is the best estimate we have so far without having the final audit. Well, we're work out of the sixteen million dollar ($16,000,000) figure from here on, because it's at least eight hundred plus thousand that we'll be bringing in for this coming fiscal year, ten-year recurring. So you're down to sixteen million. That's still a long... Mr. Marquez: I'm not following you, sir. Mayor Carollo: I'm saying that I have something else that I will be bringing in that I'll give in hand to you before the 15th that will amount to somewhere between eight hundred plus to a million or so dollars for next fiscal year. That will be for a solid ten years recurring revenue, 49 April 2, 1997 which will be going up each year somewhat. So you're down to sixteen million. But it's still not going to save us from having to make the tough decisions. Mr. Marquez: Exactly. Now, the section right below, the State Oversight Board is going to require us, in no uncertain terms, to have reserves. I mean, they've already said so, and it's part of the contract. The two point eight million dollars ($2.8 million) is specifically a number in there. They are also looking for us to fund a Risk Management reserve. And part of the recommendation from the Stierheim plan is that we establish contingency reserves, which is good business practices. So when all is said and done... Mayor Carollo: One of the areas that I think that we need to consider... and let's face it, whichever way we go, you're going to have one group or another saying, no, not me. What we have to do, unfortunately, is to try to come up with the fairest way of finding new revenues. And where I would lean is not to go in taxing the residents that live here. One that I think we must consider, if not now, for the future, is an additional cent sales tax for the hotel bed tax money. That's for the tourists that come stay in our hotels. I understand that might put us a penny higher than maybe the Beach, but what we have to offer is much more than the Beach. First of all, it's still very cheap, compared to all other major cities. When I was in New York recently on City business, what we had to pay up there was much higher than anything we paid down here. And most of the major cities are even higher than us. So I think the difference is so minute for someone that would stay in a hotel here that it's not going to hurt us at all, but it will bring in some four and a half million dollars more a year of revenue that we need. Mr. Marquez: Mr. Mayor... Mayor Carollo: And that will increase every year. In fact, the four and a half a year that I see here will probably be closer to five million by next fiscal year. Mr. Marquez: The only thing... we need State legislation for that. Mayor Carollo: I understand that. We've been working on that. As far as the food and beverage, that's tougher, depending how we do it. If we can do it in a district, downtown Brickell is the way that I would like to go, if we could do it that way, because that would bring in the people that are commuting to the City that don't live here, and it would be their way of contributing some to the service that we're providing them that they're not paying for. Commissioner Plummer: "Can you bring that revenue to the City?" is the problem, because that's... Mayor Carollo: Yes, you can. If the State designates it, that it's a special penny that the... Commissioner Plummer: Source of income? Mayor Carollo: Yeah, that the City will tag on, we could bring it in here. Commissioner Plummer: Well... Yeah. I think you're probably going to be setting a precedent, because everywhere else, it goes into a TDC, and that is, the money goes in to go back out for advertising and generating as a VCA on the Beach. They charge a five percent, as I remember. Mr. Nachlinger: No, Commissioner. Actually, the resort tax, which is a separate piece of legislation for Miami Beach, Bal Harbor and Surfside... Commissioner Plummer: Correct. 50 April 2, 1997 Mr. Nachlinger: ... specifically is two percent... two percent on food and beverage sales Citywide, and they've just gone to three percent for bed tax. Commissioner Plummer: But does that go to the coffers of the City, or to the VCA? Mr. Nachlinger: It goes directly to the City, as collected for an administered by the City. And then the City turns over half of the money it collects by interlocal agreement to the VCA, which forwards most of it on to the Convention Bureau. Commissioner Plummer: That's correct, yeah. OK. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Yeah. Let me ask Bob one additional question. How much, by State statute, is the County allowed right now to tax on food and beverage or on hotel bed tax? Mr. Nachlinger: Commissioner, right now, you have a four percent under the tourist development tax, out of Florida 2-12. There's also a three percent convention development tax, which is also charged in Florida Statutes 2-12, and a six and a half percent sales tax. Right now, the amount charged in... well, essentially, every place in Dade County except Miami Beach, Bal Harbor, and Surfside is 13 and a half percent on rooms. Commissioner Plummer: But you also have special restricted funds. Mayor Carollo: Thirteen and a half on rooms. How much are we right now on rooms? Mr. Nachlinger: The City is the 13 and a half percent.- That's Countywide. Mayor Carollo: Thirteen and a half cents Surfside? Mr. Nachlinger: They're a penny cheaper. Mayor Carollo: They're a penny cheaper. But how much is the Beach, Bal Harbor and Commissioner Plummer: And your problem with the food and beverage and the room tax is the fact that you can do it on a local option. The State will always give you that local option. Mayor Carollo: To the County. Commissioner Plummer: To the County, that's correct. Mayor Carollo: That's why I'm asking how much the County is charging now. Commissioner Plummer: But what you have is, you have restricted funds in there that are restricted for transit and other things like that. You know, you go to the Keys right now, you're paying over 11 percent on food and beverage. Mr. Nachlinger: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: And I mean, it's... Monroe County has always been much higher. Mayor Carollo: My question, again, is, do you know, on the local option, how much leeway the County has left? Because the County is not charging everything the State had approved. 51 April 2, 1997 Mr. Nachlinger: No, sir, I don't know. Ed might. Mr. Marquez: My recollection - I've got to verify this - my recollection, it was one penny that was left that they could have done, and that was a professional sports... an additional professional sports tax for one cent. Commissioner Plummer: No, that's completely aside. Mr. Marquez: But we're talking about taxes here. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. That's a special fund for Huizenga. Mr. Marquez: But that's completely for Huizenga. Mayor Carollo: Not in this town. Well, we need to explore this right away, because the easiest way would be if the County could do it, and they give us the money, but if not, we have to get some State help in this. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Their reluctance will be the fact that it has to be applied Countywide. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Go ahead, Commissioner. � Commissioner Gort:- When you talk -about fair taxes, I hope that's something that we practice here, because one of the problems that we have, we continue to be taxing the downtown Brickell/Omni area, and they continue to be taxed for everything. And one of the things we have to realize, there's a lot of competition taking place. There was a time when the office building downtown was the only place. Now, you've got Coral Gables, you've got Blue Lagoon, and you've got the West Dade and West Broward. So this is something that we need to look at, if we do everything across the City. And talking about the fire tax, my interpretation on the fire tax when it was talked to me of the fee, was that we would deduct that money from the mils of the tax so that it would show some savings. And when you add to it, there will be very small savings for everyone. But the reason the City will collect money is because we were going to be able to tax those individuals that never were paying the fee before, like the nonprofits and so on. And that's the only thing I'm worried about, that we're putting the burden on the same people constantly, and there's a lot of competition out there. I hate to drive our business people out of the... not make it competitive. Mayor Carollo: OK. Commissioner, I agree with the statement you made, and that some other members of the Commission have made. However, we have to find the money from somewhere. And, you know, I'm certainly open for suggestions from anyone. Not just the business community, but residents alike, that might have any additional ideas of where we could get the money now. The problem that we're facing is that the City can plan ahead with some of the projects that we're planning on doing. But by the time they go in the books where they're bringing and generating monies, you're looking at the next three, four, five years before we get the bulk of them out there built and bringing money to us. If we would have done this like we should have some years ago, we wouldn't be having the difficulties that we're having today. However, what did we do in between those years? You know, none of us want to charge any more dollars for anything, but, you know, what do we do in the meantime? It's not going to fall from heaven to us, so we have to find it from somewhere. 52 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: Mr. Mayor, just... We started out with a sixteen million dollar ($16,000,000) deficit, with a status quo operation. I've got to put that on the record again. That's at a status quo operation. The State Oversight Board will probably not accept anything that leaves us at a status quo operation, which means that we have to improve our operations, which is what we're suggesting here, a million eight for mid -management. We're talking about several million dollars... actually, five point three million dollars extra for the reserve buildup. Those reserves also serve a second function. Besides business reasons why you would have a reserve, we anticipate that there may be... part of the deficit fund balance that will carry over into this year needs to be covered, and that cash buildup will go towards that and resolve that issue, also. We also believe that the other deductions in that column, such as the legal fees to incur the consulting work is necessary in order to improve the operations. But we are not married to this one revenue source, although whatever we do come up with... whatever we do come up with, it has to be a substantially recurring nature. Mayor Carollo: Let me ask the members of the Commission to see at least if there might be a consensus on one item. Hotel bed tax. Do we have a consensus here of exploring another one penny? Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor, Commissioner Plummer has stated several times, and we see it in downtown all the time. We have a population of four hundred thousand, but at any one time, we have over a million people in downtown Miami, within the districts, hotel districts in the area. I think that's one option we should look at. Mayor Carollo: OK. And is this for hotels everywhere? Commissioner Gort: I agree with you. When I travel to many other cities, let me tell you, what I pay in taxes at the hotel is a lot higher than what we pay here. Mayor Carollo: Yeah. I think this would be the least painful that we could look at. Commissioner Plummer: Well, for this vote, I have no problem, as long as the penny that is charged or whatever is charged, the City is the direct recipient. Mayor Carollo: OK. Well, that's understandable. Then we need to get... Well, when you say "direct recipient," then it's got to come directly... Commissioner Plummer: Well, the problem you have, even if it gets passed, a lot of times what happens, it's collected, the State then gets 20 percent as a service fee, an administration fee, and then you get back 80 percent. And that happens all the time. So, you know, what I'm saying as a direct recipient, that the State is not going to be a party to it. Mr. Marquez: One thing I can... One possibility that we can ask is perhaps that the County collects it for us, since they have the mechanisms already in place to do it, and they would probably charge us a three percent collection fee, similar to the convention development tax collection that they have. That's an option. Or we can investigate and see if we can do it more efficiently than three percent. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Mr. Marquez: But that's... Commissioner Plummer: Well, you can't do it this year, that's for sure. It would have to be in next year's legislature. 53 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: In which case, then, it doesn't work for fiscal '98. Mayor Carollo: It does in part. Commissioner Plummer: Well, because there's no more bills to be filed. Vice Mayor Regalado: There are still weeks to go. Commissioner Plummer: No, but you can't file any new bills. Vice Mayor Regalado: But you can see the bills that are going through, and just have some kind of amendment to what has been done. Mr. Marquez: We will add this, another caution. We will have to seek the Oversight Board's permission to lobby for any State legislation. Am I correct? Mr. Nachlinger: Yeah. Commissioner Plummer: That doesn't make any sense. Mr. Marquez: It's part of the agreement. Commissioner Plummer: You know why it doesn't make any sense? Here is one group that's got sixty million dollars ($60,000,000) from the State, and now, they're asking for another sixty million dollars ($60,000,000), and they're lobbying. Mayor Carollo: Who. are you talking about? Commissioner Plummer: You know who I'm talking about. Your friend. Mayor Carollo: Who? Who are you talking about? Commissioner Plummer: Your friend. OK? Mayor Carollo: I have many friends, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: I mean, it just really makes no sense to me that the State, who is looking at, according to the morning tabloid, four hundred and thirty-four million dollar ($434,000,000) shortfall, is talking about a sixty million dollar grant to somebody to improve a facility, after he left us in the lurch with no money to take care of ours. I... We got their... You know, we got to have their permission to go up and lobby. Right? And they can maybe say no, and they can maybe say yes. Probably will say no. Mm-hmm. Mayor Carollo: Wait, wait, wait. Mr. Marquez: I don't want that to go on the record like that, sir. Mayor Carollo: You know, we hired you to be the City Attorney. Give us legal advice, not the other type of advice. You know, you don't know what they're going to say, you know? You guys keep changing your roles. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, yeah. Interesting. 54 April 2, 1997 Mayor Carollo: I think in this, the Oversight Board will be very willing to be of help, and I think we need to explore this; if not for this fiscal year, that we get it in fully, then for the next. But we need this going into the future. Commissioner Plummer: Ha! Well, so long as they don't make it come down on a local referendum, because if it's a local referendum, you're spinning your wheels. Mr. Marquez: That's been the matter of course, as of late, for the last few years. Commissioner Plummer: The history, yeah. The history, yeah. Mayor Carollo: See, we have in the City of Miami right now in excess of an additional thousand plus hotel rooms that will be going up in the next two years, more or less. That doesn't include maybe an additional thousand plus that still might go up. So you're talking about a revenue that each year is going to be growing and growing. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but Mr. Mayor, you know, let me tell you what the... one of the problems. We can't lobby the legislature. But, you know, everybody is running up to the legislature to stop the City from getting ahead. Now, I don't know if you're aware. I made the Manager aware and the Fire Chief aware. Here we are talking about a fire fee, regardless of how you feel, for or against. And I get a thing from the Florida League of Cities telling me that one of the main sources of projected revenue is religious assessory items, not the actual church. Schools, hospitals and other kind of organizations. Guess what? There's a bill right now before the legislature that has passed either the house or the Senate - one of the two - that says that the cities will be prohibited from assessing a fire fee for rescue and fire against assessory uses of churches. You know, we can't lobby them, but here they are up there killing us. If they pass that... What is it, Carlos? How much is that, just that one alone, in your proposal? Chief Carlos Gimenez (Chief of Fire): I don't have that figure readily available, but the... Commissioner Gort: About thirteen million dollars ($13,000,000). Commissioner Plummer: About two million dollars ($2,000,000), isn't it? Chief Gimenez: Bui that was amended to say that "if the City so chooses." Commissioner Plummer: It hasn't yet passed in its entirety. The point I'm trying to make is, here they are up there trying to make proposals where we're trying to find ways of increasing money. They're giving sixty million away here and sixty million away there, and they say, no, City, you can't do anything. How does that make sense? How does that make sense, in dollars and cents? It doesn't to me. Vice Mayor Regalado: When can we find out if we can lobby or not? Commissioner Plummer: You've got to ask the Oversight. Mr. Marquez: There is a subcommittee of the State Oversight Board meeting on Thursday, and I believe there is a State Oversight Board meeting on this coming Monday. Commissioner Gort: Let me ask you a question. Mr. Marquez: So we could ask... bring it to them at that point in time. Commissioner Gort: We had a legislative package that was passed by this Commission. 55 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: That was approved by the State Oversight Board. Commissioner Gort: That was approved. OK. Because I don't want to be in violation of that, because I was up there two weeks ago lobbying for that. Mr. Marquez: No, no. We made sure. We made sure that was blessed by them, going forward. We could find out probably Monday. Vice Mayor Regalado: If we do, we can see if they have any bills going through - and I'm sure that they do - regarding tourism or taxes that we can have an amendment. Mr. Marquez: This is going to be in... It's going to be very difficult here for us, for the State Oversight Board to approve... I think will be to approve a plan that's pending State legislation, since it's not out of, you know... It's one thing to say that we're going to raise the tax because it's under our control. The State Oversight Board may give us a hard time - and I'm just guessing - with any revenue sources that we say that we're going to be relying on, if that passage is out of our control, and especially with the history on referendum, and I'm just throwing that in front of the table. We will absolutely ask. We will push for it without a referendum and see if the State Oversight Board will say yes, it's OK. I assume that they would say OK, go do it. But once we start doing it, I don't know if it can be included in our plan until... unless there's a real quick passage, which is very unlikely, before the 15th. Commissioner Plummer: And I doubt that they're going to let you go out without a referendum, because that's where the County takes... the County catches the hell and the heat, and they're not going to... Why should they take the heat for us? That's the problem. I have no problem. They Mayor asked each- one of us to voice our opinion. I have no problem asking the legislature if we can say, please, to ask for that as a potential source of revenue, if it comes directly to the City. I have no problem. Vice Mayor Regalado: Neither do I. Mr. Marquez: Or to the County, if it's cost-effective. Commissioner Plummer: It's minimal, you know. It's like the old thing in the State of Florida. What is it? Eighty percent of the revenue for the State of Florida is directed from Palm Beach south, yet it's diviied up 67 percent, 67 different ways. Doesn't make any sense. Well, where are we? Mayor Carollo: We're moving forward with not too many options. Commissioner Plummer: I mean, "Where are we on him making his presentation?" is my question. Mr. Marquez: Well, the... I think the best that we can do for right now is for the staff to individually go and contact each Commissioner and again explain aspects of the plan. We've identified four point four million dollars as a possibility, plus the additional eight hundred to a million dollars that the Mayor was referring to earlier. Mayor Carollo: That's in, but that's not enough. Mr. Marquez: That's nowhere near enough and so... Mayor Carollo: Yeah, and you'll have that in for about ten years, but it's still not enough. 56 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: And we have a structural problem in here. And again, I can't emphasize enough that the status quo is not going to be acceptable. So I guess what's proper is to set another meeting so that... within a few days so we can talk about this again. Maybe on Tuesday, after the State Oversight Board meeting? Mayor Carollo: One area that I need to bring up. This has to do with garbage. What has been done to either cut back or identify the 40,000 or so tons a year that we've been picking up in trash that no one knew where it was coming from, except that we knew it was not coming from the residents? Have we been able to do a chart to see how much trash, garbage we're bringing to the County every week? Is it going down? Is it going up? How much savings are we having? Mr. Ron Williams (Director, Solid Waste): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I don't have a firm number. We've addressed that initially through the Task Force, which, quite frankly, has been identifying units that had not been paying or apartment buildings that... Mayor Carollo: Ron, you're getting like Bert Waters, you know. Mr. Williams: Well, let me... Mayor Carollo: You know, I'm asking a question and you're talking about the moon and I'm talking about the earth. Mr. Williams: Let me try and get here on earth with you then, Mr. Mayor. The specific question, as I have heard it from the audience, is, "What have we done to try and identify the 40,000?" Mayor Carollo: Yeah. Mr. Williams: OK. I was starting with that process, and I will... I'll be brief, Mr. Mayor, and then I can get your question. Mayor Carollo: Go ahead, Ron. Mr. Williams: I don't have a firm number. We've approached it from two angles, the task force that was out there looking, trying to identify people that were not paying. The other side, the Manager has committed support for additional enforcement. Those are the two angles that we really need to go after it with. Mayor Carollo: OK. Have you seen any cut on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis, since we identified... Mr. Williams: I have not, Mr. Mayor, but we have been segregating it on the... We've been trying to pick up the illegal separate from our regular residential program, so we do... I don't have that number with me, but we do know where that illegal number is going, and whether or not that 40,000 is good or not. Mayor Carollo: OK. This is what I want done. Mr. Manager, can you listen up on this? I want a copy of this given to each member of the Commission and the Manager on a weekly basis. Each week, how many tons of trash and how many of garbage we're picking up and disposing. Mr. Williams: OK, sure. We have that number. 57 April 2, 1997 Mayor Carollo: On a weekly basis. And if you can go back at least to the beginning of the year and identify for us how many tons of garbage and trash we have been picking up and disposing of. That's one area that we could save at least a couple million dollars a year. Mr. Williams: Absolutely, Mr. Mayor. And enforcement is going to help. Let me just make sure I understand with regards to where you're going to go. The number on tonnage is very clear. We were trying, also, in regards to your thought, to try to see how much of that was illegal, that we knew, clearly, our residents were not placing out there that we were having to collect. And that's the effort that we've been spending a lot of time on. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but, Mr. Mayor, you know, I think we have to understand, or at least I try to understand. These people that are dumping illegally usually are not doing it during daylight hours. They're doing it after dark when we have no inspectors out there on the street. If you call a policeman to complain, the policeman says, "I've got to see them doing it," which is the law. They can't arrest them without having seen them do it. And it's like in my... As I've told you, out of my place of business, I go there in the morning, right in the center of my parking lot, they've got nothing but trash all in there. I have from cuttings to construction material, roofing material, you name it. They just dump it in the parking lot. And I thought it was just me. Red Bird Shopping Center is even worse. And you've got to catch these people. I brought to his attention a place right over here off of Dixie Highway. There were cars that were set on fire, the dump was set on fire, and then what do they do when we turn around? He went over there and cleaned it up. Mr. Mayor, with 48 hours, that thing was back up again. And nobody... none of the residents. The residents are not there. And that's what's happening. And unless you catch them... I've told you the story about my friend with the tires. He has a place of business up on 79th Street. About once a month, somebody comes in the alley behind, dumps a truckload of tires into his back yard, and we go up there, and we tell him, "We're going to assess you for code enforcement, because you've got tires on your property." He said, "I didn't put them there." They said, "Yeah, but it's your responsibility." I would hope that when we go with this new proposal about lot clearing that once they do and you have the lot clearing that they do, in fact, have to demonstrate that they have carted their stuff off, because that will make a big difference. But you've got to catch them, and that's the problem. Mayor Carollo: What I'd like to do, Mr. Manager, is if someone from your staff can meet with the union representatives from Solid Waste, and I want them to give you their input of how we can cut in Solid Waste, and how we can make it more efficient, including recommendations as to management of Solid Waste, because I don't think that input really has been given or taken as of now. So if you could schedule a meeting with them in the next several weeks. Mr. Marquez: I'll schedule a meeting within the next couple of days. Mayor Carollo: That's even better. Commissioner Hernandez: Mr. Mayor, along those lines... And I'm glad we're talking about solid waste. A lot of issues that are in my mind, regulating solid waste collection in the City of Miami, enforcing solid waste collection, what we are doing to follow up on auditing the private sector on commercial collection. I can guarantee you that the franchise fee - and I've mentioned this before - that we are collecting is not the total amount that's being collected, and the total amount of accounts that are out there and are being reported to us. I would like to see, if it's possible, if we can assemble a committee where every member of this Commission would appoint someone, or we could appoint ourselves, along with someone from the City Manager's office, from the union, and probably one or two people from the private sector, and sit down, and start looking not only at privatization, which I know there's been a report that's been turned in to the Manager, before we go and hire consultants and spend money, and really have a ground roots look into the whole subject matter. And I think it's time that we get into this. 58 April 2, 1997 Mayor Carollo: What I would recommend, Commissioner, is for you to sit down with the Manager and express to him your feelings on it, and let him get back to the rest of us. And then if need be, we'll bring it up at a Commission meeting. Commissioner Hernandez: Fantastic. Mayor Carollo: Any other recommendations or statements, Mr. Manager? Mr. Marquez: I'd like to direct your attention to page 107. Mayor Carollo: One-o-seven. Mr. Marquez: I understand the sentiment of the fire assessment fee, but, you know, in case... if we don't find other alternatives, I want you to understand the work of the numbers. In 107, let me... There's a column there called "Real Budgetary Exclusions" from our numbers. The right hand... and then in the column right off to the right is our expected revenues and how we come up to... how we come up to the amounts. Single-family residences, we would charge... glean thirteen million. This is offset by the... more or less by stopping the pay... the charges for solid waste. Auditor... Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Manager, how do... You show revenue of thirteen -three here, but you show the loss from the other of twelve -five. Mr. Marquez: The twelve -five, there's timing issues. There are timing issues, and the twelve - five include other items, and there's different data bases that we're using. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Mr. Marquez: OK? Public Housing. Based on calls, public housing costs the City two point six million dollars ($2.6 million)... two point three million dollars ($2.3 million) worth of cost for fire service calls. The City has a 1969 interlocal agreement signed with the County where the County will pay us a hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) a year for all of their City services received at public housing. Commissioner Plummer: Instead of the two million three-six-o. Mr. Marquez: Well, this two million... two point three million dollars ($2.3 million) is a brand new number we've -developed. And no one has quantified it before but... Commissioner Plummer: But what I'm saying is... Mr. Marquez: Yes, absolutely. Commissioner Plummer: ... they're paying us a hundred thousand, where, if they had to pay the fee as applied, it would be two million -three. Mr. Marquez: Right, correct. Commissioner Plummer: Isn't it time to go back and renegotiate? Mr. Marquez: Well, it just so happened that a couple of weeks ago, as we started talking about the fire fee, we received a payment from the County for three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000), which was the back payment of three years to bring them up to speed... up to date with their payments to us. 59 April 2, 1997 . .A Commissioner Plummer: They're learning. Mr. Marquez: Yes. But again, the renegotiation of a contract is a two-way street, and they're not under any real compulsion to renegotiate with us. Commissioner Plummer: If they had signed the interlocai agreement six months ago, they would have had the FEC property. Mr. Marquez: Well, there's always leverages to be applied. Commissioner Plummer: They're learning. Mr. Marquez: Institutional items. We've excluded in the service agencies here - that's where you have the churches, that's where you have the Camilus Houses, that's where you have probably the Urban League and the like - generally speaking, these are entities that provide services to the community. Legally, as of the moment, we cannot exempt them and still charge the health care area, which is right below. We cannot charge Jackson Memorial a fee if we exclude the service agencies. We are working on developing better Iegal arguments with the consultant that we're using to see if we can separate the two and charge the Jackson Memorial and the other tax-exempt health agencies which, for the most part, are money -making entities for the people that work in those places, and shift them into the other column for an additional revenue source. We plan on charge all educational facilities. However, we've set aside the School Board as a budgetary exemption, because we feel it would he very difficult to get the money next fiscal year from the School Board, because they have to go to the State legislature before they can pay any special assessment fees. Then on the other side, on the government, we plan on charging all governments the special assessment fee. - We've taken out the City because it's a wash, so it's not any new money for us. We've taken out the Federal government and the State, again, because they need to go through legislative processes or through intergovernmental agreements. We are working with the Federal government to... with a good neighbor policy, as you've seen in a prior meeting, to try to get an intergovernmental meeting signed with them. But this is the impact of the Federal buildings on our fire assessment fees. So that's the full picture on this item. We still... We need to talk. We need to meet a couple more times. We need more input. As an Administration, we need policy directives, because four point four million dollars as a possible item with State action, meaning the hotel tax, is not going to be sufficient. Commissioner Plummer: What we need, I think, is the other side of the coin. I'm getting letters which I thought were about the fire inspection... fire fee. And the letters are about the fire inspection fee. Now, I think we need to know, as Commissioners, a list of all of the fees that are presently being charged. OK? Because I got a list from a guy on Brickell Avenue, B.B. Goldstein, who was raising holy hell. And I thought it was about the fire fee. He don't know what's coming down the pike, if it comes down the pike. It was about the fire inspection annual fee. Let me tell you something, and I'm going to put it on the record. In business, my business, my personal business, I am up to here in fees. Every time I turn around, I am faced with a new fee. I am now licensed by about 16 or 17 different agencies... Commissioner Gort: That's not the City. Commissioner Plummer: No, it's not the City. That's County. No, I had to leave the City because they couldn't provide the protection around my place of business. But I was paying also the same fees there. So what I'm saying to you is the people of this community are fed up, like I am, of every time I open my door, there's another fee, or an increase in a fee. I'll give you an example. Metro Fire Department came in the other day and asked me where was my assembly permit. I said, "What is an assembly permit?" He said, "Fifty dollars." I mean, you know, never 60 April 2, 1997 heard of in a funeral home, assembly permits. It's like we have a cast of thousands. Now, the Health Department comes in. They want to know where is my sales tax number. I said, "I don't sell merchandise." "Well, you got to pay a fee. Where is your sales tax number?" "I don't have a sales tax number." Now they want to charge me on the rent. I don't pay no rent. They want to charge me on the mortgage. I don't pay no mortgage. Now, they come in and they want to know where is my biohazard fee. I mean, it is up to here in fees. And I'm not talking about the twenty-two thousand dollars ($22,000) a year I pay in ad valorem taxes. I'm talking about fees outside of, and not just Dade County. I pay fees to Dade County. I pay fees to the State of Florida. I pay fees to the Federal government. And you've got to realize that besides the City, if you are a business in the City, you're paying County fees, State fees every time you turn around. Corporation fees, intangible property taxes. All of these things are killing small businesses. They're just killing you. So I hope that when we come back the next time that I can have... I got your list here of what you're proposing. But I think we need a full list of what we're already charging, so that we can say that there's some equity across the board. Amen. Vice Mayor Regalado: If I may, Mr. Mayor. I'm really troubled, because we're going to leave here today and we're going to leave the impression that the fire fee is one of the possibilities. We keep talking here of minimizing the impact on the residents of Miami, and the impression that we're leaving as we exit this building is that we are going to impact someone. I mean, we've been talking here of business oriented... this is a business -oriented Code that the City should adopt. But I've seen businesses that have problems, and to solve the problems, they do not raise the prices. They take some kind of measures in the administration, because if they do raise the prices, they ain't going to have customers. And we're saying that we are going to minimize. We're talking about residential. Well, that won't be any problem. But what about the businesses, the little businesses that will be impacted by this fee? Can we not look for another option and, you know, leave here today telling the people of Miami, "You are not going 'to be impacted"? But we are going to leave here and the people are going to start thinking, "Who are they going to hit? Is it going to be me, or is it going to be the big business?" But somebody is going to be hit. I mean, you know, we are killing, with friendly fire, all of the businesses of Miami. And, you know, if we want to bring new businesses, well, I don't know what can we come up with, but I don't think that people would really like to live in Miami. If we keep doing this, I'm telling you, only those businesspeople, only those apartment owner buildings who have the battered wife syndrome would like to stay in Miami. And, you know, if we are working for the future, we just want to have a presence of a balanced budget, and forget that there's going to be a lot of people leaving the City of Miami. So I... I am really concerned that we live here, and the people of Miami would believe that the fire fee or whatever other fee, it's a possibility that we're going to hit somebody in order to fix our house. So that is my concern. Commissioner Plummer: Well, there's no question, somebody has got to get hit. Mayor Carollo: Well... Commissioner Plummer: There's no question about that, OK? Vice Mayor Regalado: But why the citizens? Commissioner Plummer: I didn't say... I didn't... Vice Mayor Regalado: It's not their fault. It's not their fault. Commissioner Plummer: Excuse me. I'm not saying the citizens. Vice Mayor Regalado: No, I mean... 61 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: But we've got to come up with it. And I'll tell you what, just so there's no question about it, I'll move that as presented to us, the fire fee presented to us today not be accepted. I'll make that in the form of a motion. Vice Mayor Regalado: I'll second that. Commissioner Plummer: Let's understand it. Mayor Carollo: You know, gentlemen, I really don't see why we have to make any motion. And then each of you can express your opinion to the Manager. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I think I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Frankly, I would much rather see a motion from each member of the Commission telling us their idea of where we can make up the sixteen million dollars ($16,000,000) that we need to bring. You know... See, it's not just a matter of not wanting to accept this. It's a matter of if we don't, we have to find the money from somewhere else. And this is the problem that we're facing. We're talking approximately six percent of our total budget. Heck, I don't want to give anybody else another fee. That's the last thing I want to do. But if not, where are we going to get the money from? Commissioner Plummer: Well, Mr. Mayor, my motion, just for the purpose of understanding, is to tell the Administration that we're not happy with"what has been presented. And that will force them to come back to us and say, again, "What are your ideas?" And my ideas were, as before, you know, you've got to do it in a manner that can be charged off. And I know Commissioner Regalado is against business, and so am I. But a homeowner doesn't have any way of charging something off. Business does, as a business expense. And I know I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth. But I think what we've got to find is other ways of doing it, because this here is sleight of hand. When we talk that you're trying to bring in thirty-one million dollars ($31,000,000), you're not doing it. You're not doing it. When you take... And nobody has told me. Where is this money for the fire going? Is it going strictly to the Fire Department? I don't know where it's going to be... Is it going to be going to general fund? Mr. Marquez: It's going... It's going to go... Commissioner Plummer: Is it like the Lotto? Are you going to give it to education, and 22 percent goes out for Administration? Mr. Marquez: It goes into the general fund. It is... The fire fee hits individuals and businesses. The free -up... In order to minimize the impact on individuals, we give a credit for solid waste services. So it is a basically a shift more from individuals to businesses. That is clearly the effect. OK? Mayor Carollo: From the individual to the non -profits and business. Commissioner Hernandez: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Marquez: We're also charging the County. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, again, my motion does not kill a fire fee. If you will remember, my terminology was very well chosen. Not accepting that which was proposed to us today, that was my motion. 62 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Hernandez: Well, what we have left out of the mix is also how it affects the tenants of the multi -family units. Commissioner Plummer: I didn't say anything other than, "That as presented to us today is not acceptable." That's my motion. Mayor Carollo: The Manager understands that. He knows... He'll handle that... Commissioner Hernandez: We've sat down and spoken about this with the Fire Chief and the Manager. And one concern was in how or what can we give the condominium unit owners, or condominium associations? What else can we give them, what kind of service, in addition to the fire emergency services that are going to be provided, so it becomes more palatable? Obviously, the fear here is, and one concern that I have on top of the commercial concerns to small business owners, is that landlords are going to pass this fee to the tenants. And we know that... Commissioner Plummer: You know they are. Commissioner Hernandez: ... we have very poor residents in the City of Miami. So... And that goes along with, I think, the majority of the concerns that we have here in the Commission. Mr. Marquez: Mr. Commissioner... Commissioner Plummer: Let me... Can I ask a quick question, based on his... Commissioner Gort: You know, one of the things you have to look at also, you've got to maintain... You're talking about major businesses. They will pass it on, also. Commissioner Plummer: That's right. Commissioner Gort: There's a lot of competition in Coral Gables, and Blue Lagoon, and so it's got to be something that's fair with everybody. It's got to be across the board, whatever we do, not any specific group. Commissioner Plummer: What page is the fire fee schedule on? You know, how much are we going to be charging the... Mr. Marquez: One-o-seven. Commissioner Plummer: What are we going to be charging the condo owners? I know it's based on square footage. Right? Mr. Marquez: The one... Well, the condo owners will be receiving... They're single-family units, as far as we're developing it. They will be getting a credit from us, either a voucher or a credit on the fire bill itself. So the condo owners would not be charged the... Ultimately, it's a wash for them, also. MutIi-family rental units are businesses. They are in the mix. If we try to tinker with this to take them out of the mix, then it's "unviable." It's not workable. Commissioner Plummer: But wait a minute, wait a minute. I got to... Excuse me. Most condos, to my knowledge, today are not paying the City a garbage fee. Am I correct? Because they have private haulers. Mr. Marquez: The concept on this... Correct. Commissioner Plummer: Snow you're going to wash what? 63 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: Well, the concept on this was we look... Commissioner Plummer: How do you wash something they're not paying? Mr. Marquez: We looked at it two ways. The first way that we looked at it was to hire... to provide a collection service to them when we charge the fire fee. The provision of the collection service to them does not... that service accrues to the condo associations, and not directly to the condo unit owners, only to the extent that the condo associations do not have long-term collection hauling contracts, because if they have long-term hauling contracts, they cannot avail themselves of that service, which we would provide. So the other way we would look at it was to give them a credit. When we send them a fire fee, we either issue them a check right then and there, in the same dollar amount, or we go ahead and deduct it from their bill as a credit for us not providing to them solid waste services that we would, under this method, provide to all other single-family unit dwellers. Commissioner Hernandez: Mr. Manager, do we know, in comparison to a single-family resident what a... in the City of Miami pays for the collection of solid waste services, what a condominium owner pays for the collection of the solid waste services in a condominium? Mr. Marquez: That depends on... Commissioner Hernandez: ... square footage of the apartment? Mr. Marquez: Well, it depends on square footage. It depends on how many condos you have in a given place. It's really too complicated for us to even attempt to figure. Commissioner Hernandez: Is it more than -the hundred and sixty-six that we pay in the City, or is it less? Mayor Carollo: It would depend from condo to condo. Who knows? Mr. Marquez: Who knows? Exactly. Commissioner Plummer: They're paying more. Commissioner Hernandez: Yeah, but when we're discussing a wash, we're going to have to see what... Mayor Carollo: No. Commissioner Plummer: They're paying more. Mayor Carollo: Not in that kind of wash. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Where are we? I have a motion on the floor, and seconded. Understand my motion... Mayor Carollo: What is your motion, Commissioner? Commissioner Plummer: My motion clearly is that that fire fee, as presented to us today, is unacceptable, period, so that we let the people know of this community that we're not walking out the door, and that which has been proposed is still on top of the table as a viable item. I don't think it is. So all I'm saying is, that, as presented today, is not acceptable. 64 April 2, 1997 Mr. Marquez: Mr. Mayor, if this motion passes for discussion, may I have some discussion on the item? Commissioner Plummer: Discuss it before. Mayor Carollo: Well, there's a motion. Is there a second? Vice Mayor Regalado: Yes, there is a second. Mayor Carollo: There is a second for discussion. Mr. Marquez: I want to take you back to page 102 in the book. Mayor Carollo: I see it. Mr. Marquez: Other alternatives that we've considered in this process. We've considered deeper expenditure cuts. Although further belt tightening always sounds like a winner, the truth of the matter is that in order for any substantial cuts to be made, either union contracts need to be broken, or whatever is left of our managerial rank needs to be decimated. OK. As we discussed earlier, We're at a level of 73 percent, more or less, of what the average ten largest Florida cities are. So we are not... We are absolutely not recommending further cuts unless you're willing to break union contracts. We've looked at the increase in property taxes as an option. That's... Commissioner Plummer: Well, don't pass over that lightly, because, you know, as much as I, as a property owner... at least, I can deduct it from my income tax. OK? So, I mean, that's a plus item, as to a fee, which I cannot deduct from my income tax. Mr. Marquez: Well, if it's the direction of the Commission, we will put forth... We'll increase our millage up to ten mils. That's no problem on the Administration's part. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I think it is an alternative. It has potential because of the reduction. Mr. Marquez: The way that we looked at... We compared the increase to the property tax versus the fire fee type of taxation. The property tax is a little bit more regressive in nature than the fire fee. At least with the fire fee, you know, when you... You get to charge certain governments. You get to charge the larger businesses more money than the smaller businesses. OK? Here on the property tax, you know, whoever owns property is... It's more regressive, just by nature. We've considered transferring the Fire Department to the County. Mayor Carollo: No. Commissioner Plummer: That's funny. Mr. Marquez: Yeah, well, it was a consideration. We moved right off of that one. Mayor Carollo: Well, you're not going to save any money by doing that. Mr. Marquez: The citizens will not save any money by doing it. The City government would save money. That's why it's not in the recommendations list here. Privatizing options, we talked about that earlier. We can privatize solid waste options next fiscal year. We can privatize... We can do real privatization of items in 1999, assuming that... what contracts we have in place at that point in time. The hotel bed tax, we talked about, and the food and 65 April 2, 1997 beverages tax, we talked about. We can... And again, the deficit number, one more time for the record, is sixteen point eight plus improvements, because the improvements must be made. Mayor Carollo: Approximately how much are you looking to tag onto the sixteen million in improvements? Mr. Marquez: Bear with me. What page, improvements? (INAUDIBLE COMMENT NOT INCLUDED IN THE PUBLIC RECORD) Mr. Marquez: Total improvements. So it's five point three. Five point three, plus eight hundred, mm-hmm, plus... How much more in improvements are we looking at? Five point three plus eight hundred... one hundred? one million eighty-three. OK? So that would be times one point three... eight hundred thousand plus the five million three. Nine point two... Not doing anything with the fire fee... Not doing anything with the fire fee or forgiving solid waste fees, we figure about nine point two million dollars, in addition to the sixteen million. Mayor Carollo: And that's going to what? Mr. Marquez: That's going to... five point three million dollars ($5.3 million) into reserves, eight hundred thousand into legal and consultants, one point three million for the fire trucks one point eight to make management improvements. Mayor Carollo: So you're looking at putting another nine million to the sixteen, so you're at approximately 25. Mr. Marquez: Approximately. Commissioner Plummer: Well, Mr. Mayor, when we're finished with this, we're going to talk about the FEC. Right? Mayor Carollo: Real briefly. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Well, real briefly, but, you see, one of the points that I've tried to go with the Manager is our problem is recurring revenue. If we sell - and I know there's some opposition to it - but if we sell the FEC property for whatever... let's say what that assessment was, one twenty. Mayor Carollo: One twenty-one. Commissioner Plummer: One twenty-one. Mayor Carollo: One thirty-nine, two seventy-six, and twenty three cents. Commissioner Plummer: Whatever it is. Whatever it is, OK? But let's use the number of a hundred thousand... a hundred million dollars ($100,000,000). My point, very simply, it's paid out over ten years. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, you know, you're really going to shoot us in the foot if we start throwing numbers out. You know, basically, what I'd like to ask the Commission is - this is really sensitive, the point that we're at - is to give another 30 days maximum. We had said April 1st. Let's give them until the end of the month before we bring this to a head. I think at that time, there should be something solid, one way or another, to bring to this Commission. 66 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, this has been going on now for two years. Mayor Carollo: It's not our fault, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: I... That's the main point I wanted to bring out, that it is not our fault. But they are trying to posture us into the point where we're going to he the bad guys. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, again, I don't think we need to get into the point as to who's the good guy, who's the bad guy. What I'm hoping that we could accomplish is that everyone ends up being the good guy, and that we come to a fair conclusion to this matter. But it's not going to serve any constructive or positive accomplishments if we discuss this here now. I will tell you that I think that we're extremely close in bringing something to the Commission. But the only thing that we could accomplish by getting into it now is to put this a lot farther away than we are now. Commissioner Plummer: Let me tell you my problem. April the 15th, we've got to give a plan to the State that shows that we have the chance of recovering. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, it's not going to matter whether we do a deal with the County or anyone else on this land today, tomorrow, or the next day. It's not going to matter for the final numbers that we need. We're going to have to make some decisions here that whether we do this with the County or not, we're still going to have to make the tough decisions. Commissioner Plummer: I don't disagree with you, but how tough is touch? And I'm saying to you... Mayor. Carollo: -Tough, tough. Commissioner Plummer: No, no no. The point I'm trying to make to you, Mr. Mayor, if over a ten-year pay out, they pay us ten million dollars ($10,000,000) a year, and we apply that to this deficit, it's going to make a big difference. But we've got to turn this in by the 15th of April. And you're asking that we delay another 30 days. Mayor Carollo: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: I think it does, in fact, have a very, very main... And even if it's a lease, how much is the lease? I don't know. I'm not negotiating it. But I think it has a tremendous bearing on this five-year study. Mayor Carollo: Well, I made the statement that I did before. The... Commissioner Plummer: You also have a diversity of opinion, I think, up here about sale or lease. And I just hope that in the negotiation, the flexibility is there to go both ways. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, there is plenty of flexibility. Commissioner Plummer: Good. Mayor Carollo: At the same time, a final decision would have to be discussed by this Commission. All that I'm trying to get is to the point that we can discuss something that's intelligent, that's fair, that's not going to be insulting to all five members of this Commission. Commissioner Plummer: Fine. 67 April 2, 1997 Vice Mayor Regalado: Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Plummer: Put your paint brush away. Vice Mayor Regalado: Go ahead. Go ahead. Commissioner Gort: Under discussion. Mr. Manager, I don't think we're telling you to go ahead and forget the fire tee. I think what we're telling you is you have made some recommendations to help the residential, to help the condos, but I think you should also look at the options. And maybe we'll get less revenues, but also help the large businesses, because the problem that we have, there's a lot of competition in the businesses, and that shouldn't be all put in one... Mr. Marquez: May I ask if something akin to a hotel tax... following what you were just saying. We assess the fire fee, we do the... we help the residentials by the wash that we're doing that's in here, but over and above that, we do the hotel tax, and then divert the hotel tax towards the other businesses to help out the other businesses? Commissioner Plummer: I think your problems there is that they're not going to accept that by the April 15th, because you're talking a year or so off. I think that's your problem there, even if it was to be a reality. Mr. Marquez: But it still... It still helps. If we're on a commitment to levy a hotel tax for the benefit of general businesses within the community, that might make the fire assessment fee tax more palatable to the business community. Commissioner Gort: I'd like to see that and some other alternatives. I'm sure they'll come up with alternatives that they can send us. Meetings that I've had with, with different people, people want to work with us, but they also want it to be fair all across. We don't... shouldn't do it... put the whole burden on one group alone. Mr. Marquez: We were trying to accommodate as many of the various needs that we had here, and that was an honest attempt, and this debate is good here. But the... Commissioner Gort: And the main thing is what we've been saying for a long time, those tax - exempts, somehow, we have to bring them on board, because we are providing a lot of services to them. Commissioner Plummer: That's what... Mayor Carollo: But the bottom line is that this problem was caused during numerous years. You're looking at at least five to eight solid years that the bulk of this problem arose then. And we're having to resolve the whole ball of wax in one year. If you take into consideration the six, seven months we've been working on this up to now, we're having to resolve everything in one year or less. And, you know, there are going to be tough decisions for us to make. It's been a wonder that we've been able to resolve this year's full deficit. No City in the country has ever, ever been able to solve a deficit of 25 percent of their total budget in less than one year. There is none. New York didn't do it, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit. You can go on, and on, and on. We've been able to do it. But on top of that, we have to deal with a recurring deficit. And we don't have the time to say, well, we're going to wait three, four, five years from now when all the projects that we have, City and private, come on board, and we'll have plenty of money then. We have to find the money now. And somewhere along the line, there will be people that will 68 April 2, 1997 be mad and will he Unhappy. I wish that I could find another solution somewhere. I don't see it, not with all the steps that we've made so far. I don't see what other solutions we have now. Yes, we can find a million here, there, a million somewhere else, but it's not going to be enough to bring in the final numbers that we need, and then be in line to be ready for the following fiscal year once we don't have the concessions, the debt that we have from the unions. Now, one area, Mr. Manager, that I'd like to have you come back to this Commission with, with additional information is on police and fire, exclusive of all the positions of fire fighters, and police officers, exclusive of that. I want a rundown, department by department, with name, salary, of all the other employees that work for both departments, and what it is that they do. Police Department has a lot of civilians in different positions. The Fire Department has some civilians in different positions. We're not talking about regular fire fighters or regular police officers. On top of that, on the ranks, non -civil service ranks, Police Department would be Major and above, the same. I'd like to see how many Majors... how much brass we have in both departments, names and salary. And see if there is any possible way that we could make some cuts within these two departments in the area of civilians or in the area possibly of some of the top management within the department. Mr. Marquez: Within... With that type of information that you're asking for, I assume that you would want us to also list, for those top brass people, the... their civil service rights, because some... Mayor Carollo: You have to include that. You have to include that, of course. Mr. Marquez: OK, because that's a factor. All right. As well as, as far as the non -sworn officer, officer in either department, you would want to know which unions that they belong to. Mayor Carollo: That's correct. Mr. Marquez: OK. If they do. OK. Mayor Carollo: If they belong to any, because you have many of those positions that are not civil service. Mr. Marquez: We will provide whatever information that you would like, of course. The... Just one bit of information for you. In that reorganization plan that's in here, we contemplated on taking a number of those type of individuals, like in Fleet Management over at the Police Department, out of the Police Department this coming fiscal year. A couple of the PIO (Public Information Officer) functions in the Police Department into this community information section that we contemplated in the reorganization. So that's going to complicate the analysis. That's all... but I'm explaining it out. Mayor Carollo: The bottom line is, Mr. Manager, that some 72 percent of our general fund... actually, a little more now. I think it's 74 percent of the general fund goes to Police and Fire. And we have to see if there is anything else that we can cut from there. And I'm not talking, again, for the record, on the positions of any fire fighter or police officer. Vice Mayor Regalado: Mr. Mayor, I think that you are on the right track, because every dollar that we save, although we might not reach the numbers that we need to balance the budget, every dollar that we save is a dollar that the people of Miami don't have to pay. And I, for one, don't like to pick a fight here with the County, but I was wondering, what do we get from the County? Because we all pay the County taxes in our properties, and it seems that we always end up giving the County. Probably, you're going to come back and say, Mr. Manager, well, they have Jackson Memorial Hospital, which serves the City of Miami, or they have public housing which serves the City of Miami. But the fact of the matter is that we pay a lot of money to Dade 69 April 2, 1997 County and we don't get anything at all in return. And that's something that we should look into, because, I mean, now, we're trying to set aside some funds to buy some fire trucks. And it seems that sometimes, when there is a fire in the County, well we ask the County to let us go because we need the training. And I just don't see the County, the Metropolitan Dade County helping the City of Miami. As a matter of fact, as you know, the Commission directed me to work on Channel 9, and it seems that we could use three channels in the system that we have here in the City of Miami, but we gave away one to the County, and we gave away our other one to the School Board. Yes, they do have a service, but we did give away that. And my understanding is that we give the County a... small, but part of the franchise that we charge for cable TV, because we needed to use the facility of Dade County television to do our programming. And my understanding is that we have never used that facility. And yet, we pay some little, but we pay part of the franchise to the County. So, you know, I believe that it's time that if Dade County does want to help the City of Miami, they will come forward and say so, if they do want to help. And if we have to go ahead and say, you know, "You need to give us this kind of service because we are in a crisis now," we just have to do it. And I am sure that the people of Miami will support our call for help, and I'm sure that the people of Dade County will not mind that we are saved, because if we are not, if we keep taxing the people of Miami, the people of Miami are going to abolish the City of Miami. It's as simple as that. And this is not what we want, nor I... I hope that the County does not want that. Mr. Marquez: Commissioner, we will... Commissioner Plummer: I have a motion on the floor. Vice Mayor Regalado: And I seconded it. Commissioner Plummer: I call the question. Mayor Carollo: There's a motion on the Moor and there's a second. Any further discussion? Call the roll, Mr. Clerk. The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: MOTION NO. 97-278 A MOTION STATING THAT THE PROPOSED FIRE FEE, AS PRESENTED BEFORE THE CITY COMMISSION TODAY, IS UNACCEPTABLE AS PART OF THE FIVE-YEAR FINANCIAL RECOVERY PLAN. Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Regalado, the motion was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Manager, the instructions are that you are to rework the fire fee, not to do away with it. At the same time, I hope you have understood that your staff needs to look at other 70 April 2, 1997 options to bring to us. I personally would like to thank you and the staff for spending many, many, many weeks of hard work at this. I don't want you to think that in any way that the Commission is not appreciative of the work that you and your staff have done. I think what you've heard here is that we need to fine tune the numbers more on the fire fee, to see if there are some areas that would be acceptable to a majority of up, and that you need to look at some other ideas besides the ones that were given to us here that we need to look at. There are some here that I think the Commission could buy. The question is whether they could be brought in, in time or not. But there are some other areas that we need to look at that I asked up here for, and we need to know if we can save some more dollars somewhere else. Obviously, there is nothing that I hear except the proposal that you brought to us that would save enough dollars just by itself. So we have to look at several options. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, if I may. I would once again ask the Manager, as quickly as possible, give me a full column on the left of all of the fees that are now being charged to residents and businesses, and fees, as opposed... with the fees, we know, for the fire fee. Second of all, this company that we hired as consultants have, in fact, put this into four or five other cities, as I understand it, and I would like to see how it has been applied in other cities where it is in existence already. I think that's important for us to understand. Mayor Carollo: The next date that we should meet on this, Mr. Manager, what date would you suggest? Would Monday be... Mr. Marquez: Mr. Mayor, this plan that you have in front of you has everything that the State... a full understanding that it's going to get reworked. It has everything that the State requires, except for a cash flow plan. All right? And the cash flow can't be worked upon until we know what we're doing within this plan. So staff is going to need time to turn over the cash flow. Now, if we meet... I think that we need to basically reach agreement on what we're going to do and how we're going to do it on the 10th so that we can get back, rework the numbers, rework the report, and have it back to you for final approval on the 14th. Or in order... And I think because of this and... because of that time deadline, I think may very well have to meet on the 8th, just to hash this out one more time. Mayor Carollo: I would agree that the 8th would be fine. If we could then meet on the 8th at 9 a.m.. Also, on the loth, the Commission is going to have to break, I believe, sometime around 3 on that day. So it has to be a short meeting, because we have the ten-year anniversary of Bayside that we have to attend. So if you want to change that meeting for the 11th, if you need more time, you can do it or... Mr. Marquez: The 11th would work fine. We can work all weekend to produce a cash flow. Commissioner Plummer: The what? Mayor Carollo: What I would suggest is that on the 10th, if need be, we could work right through, maybe take half an hour lunch, and we can take it up here, if need be. Commissioner Plummer: You're proposing to go next week on the 8th and the 11th? Mayor Carollo: The 8th and the 11th, or if you want to do one on the 10th, we've got to work right on through lunch. Commissioner Plummer: The 10th would be better for me. Mayor Carollo: Excuse me? 71 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: The loth would be better for me. Mayor Carollo: OK. So what we'll do is, we'll just take half an hour for lunch. Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. Mayor Carollo: And we'll have lunch up here. Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. Mr. Marquez: Is there going to be a time certain for the plan, for this plan on the loth? Mayor Carollo: Well, we said the 8th. That's what we were talking about. Mr. Marquez: OK. On the 8th at nine o'clock. On the loth... Mayor Carollo: Regular Commission meeting. Mr. Marquez: ... regular Commission time of... any time certain for this item? Mayor Carollo: Nine a.m. Mr. Marquez: OK. Commissioner Plummer: Do we have other matters today? Mr. Tom Gabriel: Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Plummer: Do we have other matters today? Mr. Gabriel: Mr. Mayor, on that issue, on the plan. Mayor Carollo: Yes, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Tom. Mr. Gabriel: Tom Gabriel, Miami Association of Fire Fighters. I just want to clear up a few things. As you look into this plan, first of all, the Manager made a very good statement when he said you shouldn't be penny wise and pound foolish. So when you look at that pension item suggestion about reducing the cost by a million dollars ($1,000,000), you need to get the true facts there. One, the comparison that the Manager did is of funds that are less, a much smaller size than what we currently operate. If you look at page 1.08, our fund in the FIPO plan is seven hundred and fifty million, double of any of those that are sitting on that page. And GESE's is four hundred something million. And if you all recall - most of you do in your service with the City, the Manager and the staff may not - we have saved millions of dollars on that employee run board by giving the City breaks, by resettling Gates suit, and other type of funding. And as a matter of fact, if you look at the Manager's own pie chart, you'll see that I believe it was a nine percent figure of the deficit this year. So when you look at that million dollars, again, be aware that, one, I doubt the legality of them trying to cut that budget; and two, I don't think it's worth the fight for you. Second, when you're talking about public safety, you know, the Manager has given you some cities to compare it against, the top largest, which is fine. But when you look at them, when you look at Fort Lauderdale, when you look at Jacksonville, when you look at Tallahassee, Orlando, they are not the same type of cities that we are. And as the Manager had said, there's reason for that. So when you review those numbers again, remember that at least on the fire side, we are one of the busiest fire departments in the nation, if not the busiest, when you compare it per cap, calls per citizen. If we're going to play that game on the revenues and 72 April 2, 1997 expense per citizen, look at the calls for service. This is a poorer community. The calls for public service is often. So, you know, they call for everything. We're the poor man's doctor. And with welfare reform looking like it's going to happen, it's only going to... It's only going to make matters worse. So keep that in mind when you look at it. The figures are there. You can compare them to other people. But again, look at what the public service really needs in a City like Miami. Vice Mayor Regalado: Tom, can I ask you? Mr. Gabriel: Sure. Vice Mayor Regalado: We are the busiest, if not one of the busiest. But fire or rescue? Mr. Gabriel: We run a combined service. We're actually fire fighter/paramedics. So we have a cross -trained... Vice Mayor Regalado: No, but I mean in terms of calls. Rescue. Mr. Gabriel: In percentage of calls, it is on the rescue side, EMS (Emergency Medical Services). Commissioner Plummer: Oh, absolutely. Mr. Gabriel: Absolutely. Commissioner Plummer: Way ahead. Mr: Gabriel: And that's where the majority of our manpower is -allocated since 1995. So next, I'd like you to think about this privatization. I notice that on page 17, these privatization and blue ribbon committees have a tendency to want to come back and make some money off these deals. And if you look at page 17, you might get a hint of what I'm talking about, where we have people that are working pro Bono putting in bids at the same time. So it always scares me when I see someone who is working for free in a blue ribbon panel, and then turning some things in. And that's just a thought for you. And last, I'd like to talk about what's located on page 36, which is a discussion of what the Manager sees as management rights, and the need to return. First, I think if you approve this plan as it is, and with this section in here, I think you've pretty much drawn the line right now that that union partnership is... union/management partnership is pretty much gone. Some of these things, if you look at, were put in there in the union contracts for specific reasons. For example, the right of the City not to fund portions of its operations, the right to fund positions. In the past, Management has told the citizens of Miami that they would hire up to, say, 670 fire fighters, and really had only 600 of them. And the reason why we ended up making it a specific amount that it was budgeted was they couldn't play that shell game. And we hope that the new Manager isn't looking to play that shell game, that when you budget something, the citizens should know what they're getting, and it should be guaranteed. It's not anything... benefit to the fire fighter to know that there's another position on board. He doesn't make any more pay for that reason. It's just plain and simple that when you budget something, you ought to commit to it, and you ought to be good to it. Again, I don't understand why 36 is in here, but it certainly tells me where the Manager's mind is at. And I just want you to understand that on page 36, it's been pretty obvious from the actions of what's going on that that was his intentions. But I don't see where the City Commission needs to give their blessing to that. Thank you. Mr. Charlie Cox (President, AFSCME Local 1907): Hi, Mayor. Charlie Cox, AFSCME (American Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees). Let me start out by giving you a... quick numbers you asked for already. And he has the same salary report I do. I have 306 people 73 April 2, 1997 that I represent in the Police Department. Their salaries are nine million three hundred and ninety-eight thousand two hundred and sixty-six dollars ($,398,266). Mayor Carollo: Charlie, excuse me. Mr. Cox: There are... Mayor Carollo: Out of... those are 360 of civil service. Do you know how many there are that are not civil service, that are civilian? Mr. Cox: I'm going to give you those right now. Mayor Carollo: Good. Mr. Cox: You have two 0-4s that are civil service, which are your MCs. Their salaries are a hundred and twenty-five thousand four hundred and fifty-seven ($125,457). You have six O-6s, which are unclassified that are... whether they have civil service rollback status or not, I can't tell you. Their salaries are... Mayor Carollo: Six? Six 0-6? Mr. Cox: Six unclassifieds. Mayor Carollo: Oh, six unclassified. Mr. Cox: Right. Their salaries are two hundred and sixty-five thousand eight hundred and fourteen ($265,814). You have 987 cops that are not... that are in the bargaining group. Their salaries are forty-one million nine hundred and ten thousand six hundred and seventy-four dollar ($41,910,674). You have two executive assistants. Their salaries are a hundred and thirty-two thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine dollars ($132,979). You have 16 executives. Their salaries are one point one million three hundred and eighty-three thousand and forty-two dollars. In the Fire Department, I represent 68 O-1s, which are classified. There is one MC in there that has civil service status, and there's four 0-6s in the Fire Department. This is as of the actual salaries paid to the employees in those departments as of February. So there have been a few people leave or retire. Their positions that are represented in there, yeah, you can cut. We don't have to take 911 calls anymore, stuff like that. I mean, that's the positions that they have in those departments. The Manager puts in his book he... You know, you guys said to me, whether we were posturing or not posturing, come here and help out the City. Well, he shows a one point three million dollar ($1.3 million) savings on the pension side for the change in the benefits, when actually, I even came to him and told him it's going to be better than two million dollars ($2,000,000). I mean, you've gotten ninety-seven million dollars ($97,000,000) in excess earnings. Whether all of you heard it or didn't hear it, it's an exact figure over the last six years. I mean, you want to keep going and going and going on what the savings are. And, you know what? We don't have a clue of what's going on. And it's just like Tom said, you want us on the outside, I don't mind being on the outside. I'm better at being a jerk than I am at trying to get along. So, I mean, these are the numbers. Mayor Carollo: Well. Mr. Cox: If they can work through the weekend, I can work through the weekend, and everything in this City is public records to me, and I don't have anything to hide. But the true numbers need to come out in this book, what the true numbers of the savings are, what... the true numbers of the employees. Over the last ten years, we have almost a thousand less general employees in the last ten years. And I have the exact numbers of that. So this problem 74 April 2, 1997 happened a long time ago. Think about what you paid on Gates in the last ten years. Nobody is bringing that up as a problem. Those were mismanagement, theft, whatever you want to call it, from what the City went back from the 1950s. And that's what you're paying back. The Gates lawsuit is a big, big example, but it didn't happen in the last ten years. You've got relief on that in the last ten years. It's helped you save money because of Gates, in the last ten years. It hasn't hurt you. Commissioner Plummer: Charlie, for the record, just so you weren't kept in the dark, we got our books last night at nine o'clock. Mr. Cox: Yeah. Well, that's fine. Commissioner Plummer: I'm not finding fault, understand. Mr. Cox: I got mine at a quarter after nine this morning. Commissioner Plummer: But I just wouldn't want you to think that we got information long before anybody else. Mine was... Mine was delivered at nine o'clock last night. I had some time to look at it, but I just wanted you to know that that's what happened. Mr. Tony Rodriguez (President, Fraternal Order of Police): Mr. Mayor, Tony Rodriguez, with the Fraternal Order of Police, Miami Lodge 20. You know, my colleagues here covered some of the points that I was going to address, and I'm glad they did, so I won't belabor those points, although they are certainly very accurate. One of the things that I do want to talk about is, you know, several months ago, the City came to us, the City Manager, his staff, management and others, and they came to us for concessions, concessions that we all gave. And they came and they -talked to us on almost on a daily basis. You asked for our help. You asked for our input. Yowasked for us to sacrifice. You told us we were part of this team. And we gave you our concessions, and we gave our sacrifice. Each and every one of our people have sacrificed daily, daily, to help solve this problem. After those concessions were given, we didn't hear from you again. We have been completely kept out of the loop. We're not involved in some of the solutions unless we stick our foot in the door. You know, it occurs to me that, in looking over this plan, as briefly as I've been able to, because I just got it this morning, as well, in looking at leadership and some of the areas and the culture that you want to train your people in here, well there are some important elements to leadership if you want to bring the City back on its feet. And there's words like "honesty" and "integrity."' There's words like "commitment to your people." There's words like "honor." And I'm wondering if we've forgotten some of those words here, by reading page 36, page 107, where you're basically... And I hear the Commissioners here and the Mayor say that they didn't create this problem. Well, neither did your employees. Your employees have always worked to help you get out of this mess. Your employees have been there year after year, telling you that you had this mess, and you've ignored us. And now, we look, by reading what you have in this plan here, that you're coming to your employees, and those are the people that you want to kill, when we're the ones that have been here, and are going to be here when you and everybody else is gone. That's wrong. Let's start looking at including your employees. And the most important asset you have is not your waterfront property, it's not all those other things you mentioned. It's your people. If you start developing your people and treating your people like they deserve to be treated, then maybe you'll get somewhere. You want to keep us on the outside, that's OK. My membership is ready to fight, I can tell you right now, and so am I. But we don't want to. We want to be part of the solution, and you're keeping us out, and it's wrong. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Gentlemen, I appreciate each and every one of you coming up here and giving us your input, but I don't see why there needs to be any fighting between any of us. I think we have all been working together. You know, you've given what you could. We have to find the 75 April 2, 1997 rest. So I don't see, you know, what there is to fight about. You know, maybe I missed something, but I don't see it. Mr. Rodriguez: Well, let's talk about that, Mr. Mayor. Let's talk about that. Go back to page 36. I believe that's the right page. Now, it clearly describes in this part of the report where Management seeks to go, in terms of its future negotiations or relationship, I would say is a better word, with its unions. And let's go item by item. The right of the City not to fund portions of its operations due to fiscal constraint without outside arbitration. Well, I think... I think my colleague, Tom Gabriel, covered that quite clearly, and why that's in there. I mean, let's look at the realities, you know. We didn't create the problem. We're not the ones that stole from our pension fund. In fact, we waived a hundred and twenty-seven million dollars ($127,000,000) so we could invest our own earnings, so that our retiree brothers and sisters could have a better future for their families. Number two, the right of the City to direct certain operations without seeking consensus of a labor/management board. Well, doesn't that sound grand? Why is that there? Because in the past, the City has abused its people and its employees, and taken advantage of them, and treated them unfairly. That's why that's there. And with all the criticism that we wage at Cesar Odio, and he has... many of them are accurate. But one thing he was is, he believed in labor/management. And many of you here were here and believed in labor/management, and it worked. Labor/management worked to improve the quality, the benefits and the service that we provide to the citizens, because that's what counts, what we provide to our citizens. Let's not lie to the citizens. Number three, the right of the City to determine the number of employees to be utilized at any given time and method of funding departmental budgets for salaries. Well, what does that mean? Are we going to fire everybody? We need more cops. You want to lay off cops? He said it on his own. You can't lay off cops now. But we were threatened about that - weren't we? - before, when the concessions came up. All right, then. The right of the City to respond to changes in services with changes in the number and composition of employees. What does that mean;. Mr. Manager, if I may ask? If I may ask? Mayor Carollo: What I see, Tony, is that you have questions here that really need to be asked, and the Manager to answer them to you on a one-to-one sit-down. It hasn't been done. It needs to be done. Then after that sit-down, once you can identify exactly what is meant by some of these statements, I think then we go to the next step. But I think that the best way to go about it is for each of the union representatives to sit down with the Manager, one one one, and have him explain to you what he means by each of these points. Mr. Rodriguez: Well, I believe I know what he means by these points. I think it's pretty clear. Mayor Carollo: Well, I don't know what he means, then. So, you know... Mr. Rodriguez: Well, Mr. Mayor, perhaps you don't, but I do. But I want to make sure that the people that are listening to this and watching this on the channel understand what is meant by it, because I understand what is meant by it. In fact, the Manager and I have spoken on a number of occasions, and he's made it very clear. We get along very good now, until contract negotiation time comes around. But what is that telling me? What is that telling my... your police officers, what is that telling them? Do you think we're living fat and heavy on what we have now? Let's look at the numbers. The reality is that what the City pays, the City pays, for the fringe benefits and the pension that we are presently under is in the lowest 99 percentile, were it not for the Gates money that they got to pay because they stole money out of our pension. When we took over our insurance, we operated cheaper than anyone else. As a matter of fact, I offered to the Manager, I... We'll take over the rest of the insurance to save them money. Mayor Carollo: Well, I... 76 April 2, 1997 Mr. Rodriguez: See, let's look at the real numbers. Let's tell the citizenry the truth. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, we do that once and then have to bail them out for nine million dollars ($9,000,000). Not them. The Fire Department. Mayor Carollo: I think that the whole Gates situation was something that was started before we were here, before you were there. Mr. Rodriguez: I understand. But the reality is, under the Florida retirement system, municipalities pay 27 and a half percent into the retirement, and the employees pay zero. That's not what the City pays for us. We pay ten percent. They pay - what? - ten percent less, 18 or something into the pension. Those are the realities of it. We're not living fat and heavy off of what we... Unidentified Speaker: They're zero dollars. Mr. Rodriguez: They're zero dollars, exactly, when you look at dollars. Unidentified Speaker: Because of Gates. Mr. Rodriguez: Gates, what they pay because of Gates. Because why? Because we've invested our money wisely and for every time we earn and we manage our funds properly, it stays with City money. Those are the realities. But yet, we want to cut our staff, the staff that's working hard to save you money. We talk about risk management and how much is spent on claims and all that. I mean, let's look at the real numbers, and let's tell the people the truth. Let's not lie to them. If you want to play the lying game, then let's not attack us. Let's be real about it. And that's what's happening, and -that's what's got me, quite frankly, quite upset. And it's got my membership upset, and they should be. And ever work force of every one of these unions, these people work hard for you, for our citizens. And our citizens are being lied to, and they're being told that the employees are this and the employees want to privatize. You know, now we're seeing the real numbers, and we said it when all this started. The savings of privatization of solid waste is what? One million, two million, when we heard ten million? How? The salaries is only five million. How are you going to save ten million? All right? Let's talk real numbers. Mayor Carollo: You haven't seen the real numbers, Tony. The real numbers that were always looked upon were somewhere in the neighborhood of at least five million. And I believe those numbers would hold. That's not to say that we're going to privatize, you know, but... Commissioner Plummer: Tony, let me ask you a question. There's a candidate running around town making a statement that he has a copy of an audit done by the Police Department that says in reality that the deficit is nowhere near what the City says. Is that a true statement? Mr. Rodriguez: Well, let's ask the Police Department. They're here. I'm a Police Lieutenant at the union. Commissioner Plummer: No, no, no. You... Yeah. Mr. Rodriguez: Let me tell you, I don't believe the deficit is sixty-eight million. I don't think the City knows themselves yet what the deficit is. Commissioner Plummer: No. I'm asking, did you all really do an audit? Mr. Rodriguez: Now, is there a deficit? If there wasn't... If I didn't believe there was a deficit, you wouldn't have gotten a concession from us. Right? 77 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: Did you do an audit? Did the Fire Department... I mean the Police Department... Mr. Rodriguez: I'm not... Well, I don't want... Mr. Gabriel: Tom Gabriel, Miami Association of Fire Fighters. Commissioner Plummer: Right. Mr. Gabriel: Let me make this point perfectly clear. We had... Before we did our last concession agreement, we hired an economist, and he said there was a problem. The difference between the sixty-eight million dollar ($68,000,000) problem which we have never signed on to... God bless Mr. Stierheim, because when he says something, it sticks. And that sixty-eight million dollars has been a bible since day one. There's a whole bunch of ways to look at these numbers. I feel like I'm almost an accountant now, the way that we've had to look at some of these numbers. The bottom line is, Larry Jessup never said there was not a problem. The argument we have is over the size of the problem, and how you want to define that problem, and how you're going to solve those problems. That's what the economist said. Now... Commissioner Plummer: No... Mr. Gabriel: There's no way that I've ever read anything that Jessup said that... wrote down that said there was no problem. It's a matter of size. Commissioner Plummer: OK. My point is... Mr. Rodriguez: We told the City Manager. We gave him our numbers. Unlike them, we want... we've given our input. Commissioner Plummer: Somebody appeared on a radio program, supposedly... Mr. Rodriguez: Well, we can't control... Commissioner Plummer: ... and made a statement that he had a copy of an audit done by the Police union that showed the deficit was only one point three million dollars. So that's not a... You did not have an audit done. Mr. Rodriguez: Yes. Commissioner Plummer: Thank you. Mr. Rodriguez: Yes, we did. Commissioner Plummer: Yes, you did have an audit? Mr. Rodriguez: And our economist has been working on this. And we've given the City Manager and his staff our numbers. We're in constant... Our economist is in constant communication with the City, obtaining information from them. Commissioner Plummer: But it's not one point three. Mr. Rodriguez: Well, I'm not going to discuss right now what our economist has found. But, no, those numbers are not what I would represent as accurate. That's correct. 78 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: OK. Thank you. Mr. Rodriguez: But let me just say, Commissioner, I certainly... I have enough to worry about dealing with what's going on now, to worry about what a candidate might be saying on the news. You know, I'm more concerned about what you people are saying, about what you're telling the community. That's what I'm concerned about. Commissioner Plummer: The only question is, if there was such, I'd like to see it. That's... Mr. Rodriguez: Well, believe me, if there was, you would have seen it. Thank you for your time. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, are we pretty well wrapped up? Mayor Carollo: I appreciate it. I think we are. I think that the Manager needs to sit with the union representatives... Commissioner Plummer: I had asked... Mayor Carollo: ... and identify what we have here. And this way, we know exactly what is being said on these two pages. Commissioner Plummer: The question I asked is if there... I had asked that the Police Chief find negotiation with the courts in reference to DUI (driving under the influence) cost of police. I don't see any movement on that. And I'm asking now for the third time. Are we meeting with -the judges? What are we doing to try... Because I'm told it's in excess of a million dollars in overtime. And can they not assess that against the guilty party, as they do court cost, assess police overtime cost against the guilty party, and relieve the City of a million dollars in overtime? Is that... What's happening with it? I've seen nothing. Chief Donald Warshaw (Chief of Police): There are two issues, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: No, there's really one. Chief Warshaw: Well, all right. I thought you were talking the first issue, about the DUI overtime project, which is starting to realize revenue for the City. On the other side of the issue, the judges are not going to assess that additional amount of money and allow the cities to recover that money. Commissioner Plummer: Have you asked them? Chief Warshaw: We have spoken to the courts and... Commissioner Plummer: And the courts have said no. Chief Warshaw: Yes. And I think we mentioned that last time, that what you're asking is for the judge to assess an additional fine and have that fine revert to the City. Commissioner Plummer: I'm asking the courts to consider assessing a fine, as they do for their court cost to the Police Department in the million dollars in overtime that is running on in six and seven delays on DUI cases. And all I'm asking is, is a report, who you met with and what the response was. 79 April 2, 1997 Chief Warshaw: All right, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: And this is the third time I've asked, and I don't seem to get an answer. Chief Warshaw: I'll get you something in writing that delineates the legalities of whether or not we can get that from the courts. Commissioner Plummer: And I'want to know who you talked to and what his response was. I don't know why they're entitled to court cost and I'm not entitled to the police cost. Commissioner Gort: Chief, let me give you a suggestion, also. Talk to our lobbyists in Tallahassee. There's a bill being presented to make sure that we refunded for all the expenses and all this type of... Chief Warshaw: I'll do that. Commissioner Gort: So check with them, because there is a bill present. Commissioner Plummer: Are we gone? Mayor Carollo: No, we have the other hill present, which, hopefully, passes in Tallahassee, so that you could be able to steer all the monies that are confiscated to the City's general fund. You know, it will be up to you and only you, Chief. Chief Warshaw: It would be my pleasure, Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Thank you, Chief. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16. APPROVE 30 DAY EXTENSION IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH METRO-DADE COUNTY REGARDING SALE OF MARITIME PARK PROPERTY. Vice Mayor Regalado: Mr. Mayor, before we go, just for the record, I voted yes on the motion that J.L. presented regarding another version of the fire fee, but that... Just for the record, it doesn't mean that I will reconsider my position. I just don't like the fire fee at all. And I will be voting against the fire fee. Commissioner Plummer: OK, Commissioner Gort: Mr. Manager, another suggestion is, you have some representatives, property owners in here. They might come up with some suggestions, too. Get together with them. Commissioner Plummer: So we meet again the next time on the 8th, right? Nine o'clock on the 8th. Mayor Carollo: OK. Last but not least, Commissioner, if I may have a motion by Commissioner Plummer, second by Commissioner Gort, that we have 30 more days extension in the negotiations with the County on the Maritime Park. 80 April 2, 1997 Commissioner Plummer: How about 14? Vice Mayor Regalado: OK, yes. Mayor Carollo: Hearing no further discussion, all in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: MOTION NO. 97-279 A MOTION EXTENDING A PERIOD OF 30 DAYS FOR THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND METRO-DADE COUNTY IN CONNECTION WITH THE MARITIME PARK. Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gort, the motion was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Commissioner Wifredo Gort Commissioner Humberto Hernandez Vice Mayor Tomas Regalado Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE CITY COMMISSION, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 12:56 P.M. JOE CAROLLO MAYOR ATTEST: Walter Foeman CITY CLERK Maria J. Argudin ASSISTANT CITY CLERK 81 April 2, 1997