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CC 1996-10-30 Minutes
t i f 1 INDEX MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING October 30, 1996 ITEM PAGE SUBJECT LEGISLATION NO. NO. 1. PRESENTATION -- (FPL) FLORIDA POWER & DISCUSSION 1-2 LIGHT PRESENTS 'THREE MILLION DOLLAR 10/30/96 ($3,000,000) CHECK TO CITY IN ADVANCED FRANCHISE FEE PAYMENTS. 2. DISCUSS CITY MANAGER SELECTION DISCUSSION 2-17 PROCESS — DESCRIBE SELECTION CRITERIA 10/30/96 USED BY KORN & FERRY — FURTHER, MR. CAROLLO INSTRUCTS THOMAS CONNELLY, VICE PRESIDENT OF KORN & FERRY, TO BRING FINALISTS BEFORE COMMISSION DURING AFTERNOON SESSION — VICE -MAYOR GORT INDICATES PREFERENCE FOR LOCAL CANDIDATES, ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL — DISCUSS NEGOTIATING CotlTRACT FOR NEW CITY MANAGER — MAKE FINAL SELECTION ON SPECIAL MEETING OF FRIDAY, 11/1/96, AT 8:00 A.M. — SEE LABEL 11. 3. AUTHORIZE TO EXECUTE AGREEMENT FOR R 96-805 17-20 HIRING EXTM14AL AUDITORS' FIRM: KPMG 10/30/96 PEAT MARWICK FOR 1996, 1997 AND 1998. i t f i p. t. j C" 4. (A) DISCUSS/AUTHORIZE PROPOSED AWARD OF M 96-806 21-40 CONTRACTS FOR 'TOWING SERVICES IN R 96-807 CITY — SELECT COMPANIES AND THEIR R 96-808 DESIGNATED ZONES. R 96-809 (B) APPROVE RESOLUTION FOR CITYWIDE 10/30/96 TOWING/WRECKER SERVICES IN ZONES 7, 8, 1 9 RESPECTIVELY: BANOS TOWING; BLANCO i TOWING; SOUTHWEST TRANSPORT. ' (C) APPROVE RESOLUTION ACCEPTING I PROPOSALS FOR PROVIDING TOWING/WRECKER SERVICES FOR CITY -OWNED VEHICLES - FOR THREE YEARS - ALhOCATE FUNDS ($45,000, ACCOUNT 291301-340) . (D) APPROVE RESOLUTION ACCEPTING PROPOSALS TO FURNISH CITYWIDE TOWING/WRECKER SERVICES — FOR INITIAL THREE YEARS WITH OPTION TO RENEW FOR TWO ADDITIONAL ONE YEAR PERIODS IN ZONE 1 = MIDTOWN, ZONE 3 = NOLAN, ZONE 4 = DOWNTOWN, ZONE 5 = KING, ZONE 6 = TED. (E) APPROVE RECOMMENDATION THAT SPECIAL EVENTS REQUIRING TOWING/WRECKER SERVICES BE ASSIGNED TO BACKUP TOWING AGENCIES. (F) COMMISSIONER PLUMME2 DISCUSSES WRECKERS WHICH STEAL CARS - SPEED LIMIT ON US1 - POSITION OF' TRAFFIC SIGNS AT RAMSON/EVERGLADES SCHOOL. r (G) DISCUSS INADEQUATE PARKING DURING FESTIVALS - MAYOR CAROLLO DIRECTS J. ADMINISTRATION TO MEET WITTH ALBIO CASTILLO TO DETERMINE DAMAGES - IF ANY - DONE TO HIS PROPERTY BECAUSE OF INADEQUATE PARKING DURING FESTIVALS. l 5. (A) APPROVE AMENDING MIAMI CABLE M 96-810 40-44 TELEVISION LICENSE ORDINANCE 9332 — 10/30/96 EXTEND FOR THREE MONTHS TERM OF CABLE T.V. FRANCHISE AGREEMENT (SECTION 202 (A)) BETWEEN CITY AND MIAMI TELECJOMMUNICATIONS, INC. — FROM 11/18/96 TO 2/18/97. (See label 8) (B) MAYOR CAROLLO DIRECTS 1 ADMINISTRATION TO NEGOTIATE WITH T.C.I. TO OBTAIN FUNDS TO IMPROVE PROGRAMMING � ON CHANNEL 9. 6. APPROVE RESOLUTION EXPRESSING CITY R 96-811 44-45 f COMMISSION CONDOLENCES NCO THE FAMILY OF 10/30/96 F POLICE SERGEANT MICHAEL WARREN ON HIS UNTIMELY DEATH. C Y �i 7. DISCUSS COMMISSION CONCERNS REGARDING DISCUSSION 46-47 FREIGHTERS ON MIAMI RIVER TRANSPORTING 10/30/96 STOLEN CARGO — SEE LABEL 10. 8. EMERGENCY ORDINANCE: AMEND CITY OF ORDINANCE 47-48 MIAMI CABLE TELEVISION LICENSE 11410 ORDINANCE 9332 — EXTEND TERMS OF CABLE 10/30/96 FRANCHISE AGREEMENT BETWMN CITY AND MIAMI TL-F 414UNICATIONS, INC. TCI FOR THREE MONTHS (11/18/96 TO 2/18/97) — SEE I.,ABM 5. 9. (A) FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ORDINANCE 48-79 ARTICLE 6, SECTION 602 OF ZONING FIRST READING ORDINANCE 11000, SD-2 COCONUT GROVE 10/30/96 CENTRAL CCtlME2CIAL DISTRICT — TO MODIFY PARKING PROVISIONS WITHIN DISTRICT — APPLICANT: COMMUNITY PLANNING/REVITALIZATION DEPARTiMF.U. (B) FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND CHAPTER 35 OF CODE, ENTITLED "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC" — AMEND ARTICLE VIII, COCONUT GROVE PARKING IMPROVEMENTS TRUST FUND — TO DELETE DIRECTOR OF OFF STREET PARKING AS EX - OFFICE NON -VOTING MEMBER OF PARKING ADVISORY COMMITTEE — TO REDEFINE SCOPE OF EXPENDITURES OF COCONUT GROVE PARKING TRUST FUND -- TO RESTRUCTURE 11. SCHEDULE OF FEES/CHARGES — APPLICANT: COMMUNITY PLANNING/REVITALIZATION DEPARIM a\Tr . -- FURTHER, VICE MAYOR GORT DIRECTS ADMINISTRATION TO BEGIN } MEETINGS WITH EMPLOYERS IN THE GROVE TO DEVELOP PLAN FOR EMPLOYEE PARKING — ALSO, MAYOR CAROLLO WILL ASSESS NIGHT PARKING PROBLEMS IN THE GROVE WITH POLICE. (C) DISCUSSION REGARDING CRIME IN COCONUT GROVE — ILLE,GAL PARKING AND LITTERING ALONG RESIDENTIAL STREETS. RETORT BY POLICE CHIEF DONALD WARSHAW DISCUSSION ON POLICE AUTHORITY TO INSPECT CARGO OF 10/30/96 FREIGHTERS ON MIAMI RIVER -- MAYOR CAROLLO DIRECTS ADMINISTRATION TO ESTABLISH SPECIAL POLICE UNIT TO STOP FREIGHTERS ON THE MIAMI RIVER FROM BUYING STOLEN ITEMS — SEE LABEL 7. INTERVIEW WITH CITY MANAGER CANDIDATES M 96-812 FINALISTS: RICHARD LEWIS; EDWARD 10/30/96 MARQUEZ; RONALD RABUN; AND MICHAEL ROBERTO — SEE LABEL 2. i f ri CITY COMMISSION OF MIAMI, FLORIDA On the 30th day of October, 1996, 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 9:17 a.m. by Mayor Joe Carollo with the following members of the Commission found to be present: Mayor Joe Carollo Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. ALSO PRESENT: Merrett Stierheim, City Manager A. Quinn Jones, III, City Attorney Walter J. Foeman, City Clerk Maria J. Argudin, Assistant City Clerk An invocation was delivered by Commissioner Dunn who then led those present in a pledge of allegiance to the flag. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. PRESENTATION -- (FPL) FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT PRESENTS THREE MILLION DOLLAR ($3,000,000) CHECK TO CITY IN ADVANCED FRANCHISE FEE PAYMENTS. Mayor Carollo: Before we begin with the special Commission meeting, I'd like to ask the representatives from Florida, Power and Light that are here to come up for a special presentation that they have for us. Come up through here, gentlemen. We have here Manny Rodriguez, Eloy Villsusu (phonetic), and I think Ramon Ferrer is on his way. Through the difficult financial times that we have been encountering, the Commission and the Manager have spoken to numerous people from the private sector to see if they could help the City. And FPL (Florida Power and Light) has an announcement that they would like to make today. Mr. Manny Rodriguez: We are very happy that we can help the City during this financial crisis. We are glad to be part of the solution. And with that in mind, we are advancing to the City three months of the franchise payment for three million dollars ($3,000,000) that we're advancing to the City. We are happy to be part of the solution, not just by this advance, but also to help the City by providing management support. And we look forward to being a team with the City of Miami for many, many, many years. Thank you. 1 October 30, 1996 [i W (APPLAUSE) Mayor Carollo: On behalf of the residents of Miami, we thank you very much. And I'd like to congratulate Merrett Stierheim and some of the staff that worked with you to accomplish this. I know that it's the first time that FPL has been able to do something like this. In fact, it's the first time that, I think, this has happened, where the private sector has come forth in this manner to help their City. So we thank you very much. Mr. Rodriguez: Thank you. (APPLAUSE) Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, we didn't want to lose the interest on today's date, so it's in the bank already. -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. DISCUSS CITY MANAGER SELECTION PROCESS -- DESCRIBE SELECTION CRITERIA USED BY KORN & FERRY -- FURTHER, MR. CAROLLO INSTRUCTS THOMAS CONNELLY, VICE PRESIDENT OF KORN & FERRY, TO BRING FINALISTS BEFORE COMMISSION DURING +' AFTERNOON SESSION --- VICE -MAYOR GORT INDICATES PREFERENCE FOR LOCAL CANDIDATES, ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL -- DISCUSS NEGOTIATING CONTRACT FOR NEW CITY MANAGER -- MAKE FINAL SELECTION ON SPECIAL MEETING OF FRIDAY, 11/1/96, AT 8:00 A.M. -- SEE LABEL 11. ---------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: We all, I believe, have received the package that Korn Ferry International gave to each and every one of us on the selection of the five finalists. I've asked Tom Connelly from Korn Ferry International to be here today so that he could explain to us the process that he followed, and for the Commission to be able to ask him any questions that they would like. Mr. 4 Connelly, if you'd come up, sir. Mr. Thomas Connelly: Good morning. I'm Tom Connelly, a partner and vice president with Korn Ferry International here in Miami. Let me say, Mayor Carollo and members of the City Commission, that it has been a great privilege for me and the partners of my firm to represent the City during this time of crisis. As promised, we've conducted an accelerated and thorough nationwide search for candidates for the position of City Manager. I'm pleased to report to you this morning that we have now completed the process of developing candidates, and we submitted to your offices last evening resumes of the five final candidates. In alphabetical order, they are Richard Lewis, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Houston, Texas; Edward Marquez, Finance Director, Dade County, Florida; Ron Rabun, recently County Manager with Seminole County here in Florida; Michael Roberto, City Manager, City of North Miami Beach, Florida; and Michael Rogers, City Administrator and Deputy Mayor for Operations in the City of Washington, D.C. Through the course of the search, we've contacted or assessed the credentials of approximately 300 public sector executives. We've canvassed nationwide those cities and counties of comparable size, or comparable complexity, seeking executives within those entities who possess the skills and track record required to succeed in the position of City Manager here in Miami. This group of five finalists represents what I believe to be a wonderful cross-section of talent in the public sector. They come from large cities outside of Florida, as well as locally. They come from both City and County governments. These five individuals 2 October 30, 1996 �i represent a wide range of experience, and each offers their own unique credentials and track record in success within public administration positions. And so, as you meet these candidates today in a formal interview setting, I wish you great success in choosing the new City Manager for Miami. Do you have any questions for me? Mayor Carolio: Commissioners, I would start by asking Commissioner Regalado, and work our way from right to left, so that each of you could ask any questions that you might have at this point. Commissioner Regalado: Yeah. What was the main criteria that you used in determining the finalists? Mr. Connelly: Years of experience in public administration positions, wherein the executive confronted similar problems, specifically targeting individuals coming from complex, multi- ethnic communities, and people who had a track record in... most immediately addressing financial issues. Commissioner Dunn? Commissioner Dunn: My question... and I believe some of them, I had an opportunity to meet, but in terms of dealing with a deficit, specifically, and being able to turn that process around, was that taken under consideration, as well? Mr. Connelly: Most definitely. And as you read through the five resumes submitted, which contain a tremendous level of detail, you'll see a track record of experience in that regard. Mayor Carollo: Vice Mayor Gort. Vice Mayor Gort: For the record, I received this this morning. Right? Mr. Connelly: It was delivered to your office last evening. I understand. Commissioner Plummer: With my office, that was not the case. But go ahead, I'll have my turn. Vice Mayor Gort: My question is, you say you interviewed 300 individuals? Mr. Connelly: No. We considered... Vice Mayor Gort: You considered over 300 individuals. Mr. Connelly: Exactly. Vice Mayor Gort: Out of those 300 individuals, locally, you only had... any idea how many locally applied for it? Mr. Connelly: There's two different issues there. One is, when you use the term, "application." In a public sector search of this sort, one of the tactics that is traditionally used is advertising the position, which we did at your request. Vice Mayor Gort: Right. Mr. Connelly: Those individuals who respond to that, of which there were roughly a hundred, would be considered applicants. In other words, we did not identify or contact them initially. They approached us. Vice Mayor Gort: Right. 3 October 30, 1996 �j IP' Mr. Connelly: Those... The vast majority of those individuals, I would say, were local, as in Florida, or local, as in South Florida. But nationwide, as well as we conducted the search, we looked at counties and city entities across the board, again using the criteria we used. And, of course, that covered local entities, as well. Vice Mayor Gort: So of all the applications you received, you applied the criteria that you stated a little while ago about the experience in similar situations like this one, and... Mr. Connelly: The same criteria was applied to everyone. f Vice Mayor Gort: Same to everyone. And this is where you come to the five. Mr. Connelly: That's correct. Vice Mayor Gort: Which three of them are out of Dade County, and two from the County. Mr. Connelly: That's correct. Now, in addition... Vice Mayor Gort: Of all... i_ Mr. Connelly: If I... Vice Mayor Gort: Of all the applicants, of all the individuals you received information for, your final selection was two from the County, and three from outside. Mr. Connelly: Yeah. Essentially, it's the five you have here. I want to complete my though earlier, and that is that one element of the search is the application process, which is derived from advertising and receiving paperwork in that regard. The real issue in an executive search is that we identify, by the process of research within the firm, those individuals in a given population that we believe have the skills and credentials to do the position. That means that we're approaching people who are essentially gainfully employed. They are not usually looking for a position. They are very contented where they are, but they stand out, because of their track record of success. The process of executive search is identifying and approaching those people, and establishing a common ground by which we can demonstrate this position makes sense for them to look at, and in turn, that they have the criteria that we need here in the City. Vice Mayor Gort: Thank you. Mr. Connelly: You're welcome. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner Plummer, go ahead. Commissioner Plummer: Just for the record, mine was delivered by a staff member of the Mayor's office this morning at eight -forty-seven. That's when it was delivered to my office. Mayor Carollo: I apologize that your staff closes promptly at five p.m., Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: OK. All I'm saying is, just for the record of when it was delivered, it wasn't last night. Of these people that are here, it had been indicated prior to me that the procedure possibly was going to be reversed. It would be two from out of town, and three local. Was there a reason for the changing, that... what I had heard was, in fact, going to be the case? Mr. Connelly: We did not then, and nor do we ever apply certain criteria, based on covering ' regional areas, or being specific in terms of the mix. If the five candidates came from the City of 4 October 30, 1996 F �i r Miami, and we thought they were the best appropriate candidates to present, we would do so. If the five came from the west coast, it would be the same issue. But in this instance, on a couple of issues, one being the critical nature of the search; two, the incredible complexity that we have here in this City, and the complexity of the problems that we confront, one of the important things that we wanted to examine was anyone who was already in this area, who has an executive track record in public administration, and who understands the complexity is a step ahead of the game. Now, having said that... Commissioner Plummer: Is there any reason why it took so... I mean, to get this material in our hands to... the very, very last minute? I mean, it would seem like, to me, that these names are names that you had proffered to me... matter of fact, some of these people, you brought to me, to be one-on-one interviews. And I'm just questioning why it was so long to get these things to the Commission. But, I mean, I... Mr. Connelly: Well, I'll address that question. We brought outside guests into town last week, as you all know, who were people who we considered possible candidates for this position. Those meetings were not interviews. Those meetings were introductory situations for those individuals to get a sense of what the dynamics are in this community, what the chemistry is, who the personalities are on the Commission, an opportunity to get them a chance to feel, firsthand, what our situation and our City is about here. I interviewed individuals right through the weekend, again, recognizing that we had promised that we would accelerate this thing, due to the urgency, as possible... quickly as possible. And so even through Sunday, I was interviewing individuals and saying, yes or no, these people, you know, are better or worse than those we already have. So literally, by Monday afternoon, we'd begun to write resumes, and that clearly flowed into yesterday. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, one of the questions that you had asked was that you had heard while talking to - I don't know if it was Mr. Connelly, or Mr. Stierheim or someone - that there were possibly three local candidates and two from the outside, versus three from outside of Miami and two local. I think, if I could answer that to you, by my conversation with Mr. Connelly, there was one final question, if, in fact, one of the individuals from out of town wanted to be considered or not. And because of that, I believe there was a sixth candidate in the list that was local that, if any one of these would say, no, they would not want to be considered, then that would be the person that would be placed on the list of five finalists. Commissioner Plummer: An alternate. Mayor Carollo: And I think that's the reason why we have this final mix. Is that correct? Mr. Connelly: I think that brought us down to the wire, exactly. He's referring to Mr. Lewis from Houston. There was an issue with his family as to whether or not they would consider relocation, and it took, you know, a matter of days to get that resolved. They have two young daughters in high school. Commissioner Plummer: I have one other question. Was each one of these made aware of what the present City Manager's salary is, and benefits? Because I'm looking here at some of the things that you have in here of the annual salary, which doesn't show benefits that are forthcoming. Arid, I mean, are they aware that they possibly are making more money than what this Commission was paying, and sometimes criticized for... too much money to an individual? Did you make that aware to them or... Do you understand my question? Mr. Connelly: Yes, I do. If they asked me, I told them what is a matter of public record. Having canvassed the entire nation, you know, at both the City and County level, this group is very representative of a mid -ranging compensation. You'll see there's a low there of ninety- 5 October 30, 1996 �i eight thousand, I believe, is the base salary, up to, I believe, one hundred thirty-two thousand. There are individuals in much smaller entities who are earning in the range of one hundred seventy thousand. Commissioner Plummer: But, in other words, you feel that they were aware of what the former Manager was making? Mr. Connelly: What the former Manager was making is a matter of public record. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, I understand that. But were they aware of it? Mr. Connelly: I did not specifically go out of my way to inform them. If the question was asked of me, of course, I answered the question, yes. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Mayor Carollo: Well, I really don't see that as the issue. Commissioner Plummer: I didn't say it was an issue. Mayor Carollo: Yeah. This Commission has the leeway to set salary. I don't think for another ten, fifteen thousand, more or less, it's really an issue. What is an issue is to get the best possible person we can. We had a previous Manager that we paid a hundred and sixteen thousand -plus in salary, plus benefits, and look where we're at today. So, I mean, I personally don't mind paying someone more, if we're going to get someone that is going to be a professional Manager, that is going to lead this City out of the financial mess that we're in today. So that's... that, to me, is not really an issue. That's something that this Commission can decide. And frankly, I think that this Commission has to be competitive out in the field. We have to look at other major cities and see what they're paying, so that we can be competitive. Commissioner Plummer: I agree. Commissioner Regalado: All of these candidates are, as far as you know, available to start working immediately? Mr. Connelly: The only candidate who is available, absolutely immediately, is Ron Rabun. He has... Since I initially contacted him in the search, he has resigned his position as County Manager of Seminole County. All others are gainfully employed. And with due respect to their current positions, they would need to give notice, work out a transition. And, of course, if they're out of town, relocating them and their family here is another complicating factor. Commissioner Dunn: Normally, what's the time process in... Say if a candidate was chosen from out of town, what, in your knowledge, what would that normally take, in terms of them... Mr. Connelly: Of notice? Commissioner Dunn: Yes, them being able to actually start work, if they were selected. Mr. Connelly: Well, there's two issues there. One is giving notice, and two is literally arriving in town and reporting to work. An absolute minimum would be two weeks notice. Now, recognize that these individuals are in critical positions in their respective organizations, and it's hard to imagine walking away in just simply two weeks. However, at the same time, all of these individuals have notified their respective Commissions, or Councils and Mayors that they are... a short list of candidates for this position. So some of that notice has been accomplished, in a way. The second issue is, of course, getting them relocated here, if they're out of town. 6 October 30, 1996 1i Mayor Carollo: Mr. Connelly, I know that we've asked you to do this search in an expedited manner, but I think we need to ask the following question: If you would have had three, four more weeks to conduct a search, would that matter, at all, in the quality, types of candidates you would have had, or maybe even made a difference in the candidates that have applied? Mr. Connelly: No, two or three weeks would not have made a difference. These... This group, collectively and individually, by the way, is a very remarkably talented group of executives. I am comfortable that any one of these individuals could walk into this position and perform for you. We were able to accelerate the search in rough... less than six weeks. Now, a normal corporate search that we would take on, on behalf of our corporate clients, may take upwards of three months. We accomplished this because of the following factors: One is that my firm has a significant partnership in every major market in the United States. So in Houston, in Washington, D.C., in whatever respective City we're talking about, we have local partners on the ground who can help expedite the process of identifying and qualifying candidates. Secondly, my firm has been at this type of search for many years. We have a long track record, so we were not starting from scratch, literally, but there's already a data base of individuals within our system to help expedite the process. Thirdly, by the sheer kindness of many of my other clients who were willing to allow me to put their assignments a little bit on the back burner. I have put personal full time into this assignment for almost four weeks. That's highly unusual. It's... As anyone would know in our business, nearly an impossibility to work on simply one assignment for four weeks at a time at a partner level. But because of our commitment to the City, and because of the extreme urgency of this situation, I thought it appropriate to proceed in that manner. Mayor Carollo: Well, I would like to publicly acknowledge the work that you have done for the City of Miami. We understand that normally you charge much more than you have charged the City for the search and the services that you have provided us. And at the same time, you have done something that is extremely unusual. You have dedicated, for approximately a month, all your time to this one search. You have done what normally would take three months of work in approximately a month and a half, granted that you put all your time into this. So I would like to thank you on behalf of this Commission and the residents of Miami for the work and dedication that you've done in what, I think, is an outstanding effort that I, frankly, don't think there's any firm out there that could have done this for us. The five candidates that you have selected, I think any one of them would be an outstanding City Manager for the City of Miami. All of us have interviewed some of them already. Some have interviewed all, some have interviewed up to three, informally, as you said. I, personally, have interviewed all five of them, and I would feel very comfortable with any one of the five names that you have submitted to us as having them as our City Manager. I think they're all professional. I think they all have outstanding track records. So I compliment you, and I thank you for the time, effort, and work that you have done in this for the City of Miami. Mr. Connelly: Thank you, Mayor. Commissioner Plummer: Did you... Mr. Connelly: It's been our pleasure. Commissioner Plummer: Excuse me. Mayor Carollo: Hold on, J.L. Commissioner Plummer: Did you... Are you finished? 7 October 30, 1996 �i Mayor Carollo: No. Commissioner Plummer: I'm sorry. Mayor Carollo: Go ahead. Commissioner Plummer: I just... When you asked me... you were setting up the criteria, my question or my statement to you at the time was that I was not necessarily of the closed mind that there couldn't be somebody that was not involved in government. Did you talk to any individuals of large corporations that were not actively involved in governmental business, as such? Mr. Connelly: Yes, I did, and we very quickly concluded that that was not a viable tactic in this particular search. I talked to a number of chief financial officers, for instance, in a corporate setting, who clearly understand the financial aspect of the situation. But I think it's very fair to say, and very apparent, that a public entity, such as the complexity of a city government, is a far different world than the setup in a corporate situation. We also don't have the luxury of time, a long education period. And based on that, I felt very quickly that we must concentrate on the public sector executives. It would be an obvious strategy in the search. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner. Vice Mayor Gort: Mr. Mayor, I have one more question. This information that we have received here, is part of your process is to check and make sure that what we have in the resumes have been confirmed? Mr. Connelly: Yes. What we do, as our normal process, is to verify the employment history, and verify the education credentials, which has been done. Vice Mayor Gort: Right. Mr. Connelly: What we do not do is conduct deep background investigations. In this instance, you may well want to consider that, and I can make recommendations on firms who, in fact, do that. I would point out that these individuals, on paper, clearly have been in public service for many years. So I think, in that sense, there should be a comfort factor for you there. Vice Mayor Gort: Thank you. Mr. Connelly: You're welcome. Commissioner Plummer: Did you, on any of these individuals - I asked one, in particular, who, I was thankful, provided - did you at any time go, for example, to a council from which they were coming and get recommendations or evaluations from members of that council? Mr. Connelly: Informally, yes. Commissioner Plummer: Only informally. Mr. Connelly: Yes. Commissioner PIummer: Nothing in writing. Mr. Connelly: Well, as we go through the search process, until you get to the very end of it... It is logistically impossible to conduct deep reference checks on every possible candidate. 8 October 30, 1996 Commissioner Plummer: Well, I understand your time was short. Mr. Connelly: Right. Commissioner Plummer: But, you know, it's also nice to know from those people who they worked with, what their recommendation and their thoughts in the matter were. And depending on this process, that's one of the things that I would like to do, because one of the individuals that I interviewed with did, in fact, send me a list of his complete Commission, so that I would have the opportunity to either call, or write to them and try to get a background of what they felt that individual's weaknesses, what his strengths, and things about him... Mr. Connelly: Absolutely. Commissioner Plummer: ... that lie, himself, might not want to be up front with. Mr. Connelly: That's absolutely right. Commissioner Plummer: 5o I think it's important. Mr. Connelly: OK. Mayor Carollo: Any other questions or statements to make from the Commission? Commissioner Regalado: Would it be possible to later get some information about other candidates that may have been in the finalist list, but that did not make the exact criteria; that is, some alternates? Are you thinking about that possibility of giving us, or this is the final list that we have to consider? Mr. Connelly: In other words, give you a list of people who were disqualified by us, or who would not consider the position? Commissioner Regalado: Disqualified. Mr. Connelly: There is a sensitive issue there, clearly, from the standpoint that, primarily, what this process is about is our approaching individuals and asking, with their due respect, to consider their credentials. There are individuals that I approached, and who we talked with, and who never publicly stated that they wanted to be considered a candidate, and I think there is some confidentiality there, in their respect, to protect. But what is it that we would accomplish in that sense? Commissioner Regalado: Would the Commission consider other alternatives, other than the five names? Commissioner Plummer: Oh, sure, we can. We're not... Excuse me, I shouldn't answer that. But... Mr. Connelly: Well, we can... We, of course, and... Commissioner Plummer: ... we're not bound. Mr. Connelly: The process of the search is about considering many different people. Commissioner Regalado: Absolutely. 9 October 30,1996 e Mr. Connelly: But if they withdraw their names, or we conclude they're not appropriate, then that's, essentially, the end of the discussion. Commissioner Dunn? Commissioner Dunn: I have one other question. Did you do or do you... does your firm do a ranking from a short list? Is that something that you would... Mr. Connelly: No, we do not. Commissioner Dunn: You don't do that. Mr. Connelly: No, we do not. It's very important to know that, you know, our job is developing the candidates, presenting you, our client, with a workable group of fully qualified candidates. As I said, I would be personally comfortable with any one of these individuals in this position. It's important that you, as the Commission, pick your finalist. You'll interview them in alphabetical order, and they're presented to you in alphabetical order. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Mr. Connelly: There's no ranking. Mayor Carollo: Any other questions from the Commission? What I had asked Mr. Connelly to do was to bring in this afternoon the five finalists. As I stated, all of us have had the opportunity to informally interview either some or all of them. And I thought that the next step should be for us to interview them publicly, for them to be able to make a presentation to this Commission, and for us to be able to ask - excuse me - any and all questions that we might have of them. We have scheduled, I think, approximately 45 minutes time for each of them. Obviously, we could take more or we could take less, depending on their presentation, and how many questions we might have for them. The... What is the normal procedure... And what I'm trying to do is make use of their time as best we can. What I would suggest to the Commission is that after we interview them publicly, then those that would like to further speak to any one of them privately can do so later that evening, the next day. Since they are here, I would imagine the ones from out of town can stay longer for the next day so that we could ask additional questions, have additional meetings with them privately. At the same time, we can personally contact - those that want to - any of the elected officials, non -elected officials that are in their respective city. I think that this is a process that, frankly, we could either do one or two ways. We can make this a process that it could be a process that we could drag it out for several months, and drag the City along with it, or we could make this a process - like I believe we should, and can - to end it this week, so that we would have an orderly transition, a transition where we have stability within the City. The bottom line is that this afternoon, we will have that opportunity to be able to interview them publicly. And from then on, we can have the opportunity on the next day to interview them additionally, be able to contact, for those of us that would want to, any of the elected officials, others that they have worked with in the respective cities that they're from. The question that I would have for you, Mr. Connelly, if we want to bring this for an additional day, until Friday, that would be very difficult, I would imagine, for some of the outsiders to stay here that long. I don't know if that's the case or not. But... What is the common practice? And I know it varies from City to City. Would it be inappropriate to make the final decision if the candidates are not here, present, or not? Mr. Connelly: I would suggest that you, as we have talked earlier, you'll interview these individuals back to back this afternoon. Commissioner Plummer: We can't. 10 October 30, 1996 �i Mr. Connelly: It is then appropriate to narrow down the group to two, ideally, two individuals that you're interested in, perhaps three - it depends on what your reaction is to the candidate pool - and call them back either later this evening, or tomorrow. I've asked all outside... out-of- town candidates to stay overnight, to be available for meeting informally with each of you tomorrow morning. And then come to some agreement as to where your ideal candidate could be. It may be that you need additional time with both finalists in order to get comfortable with one or the other. But at that point, the interview process is essentially completed. They can leave. And then it is an issue of you coming to agreement as to who your final candidate is, and making the offer. Then we must negotiate the specifics of it. Mayor Carollo: I think that's a good suggestion, that we can probably narrow it down to two or three out of the five, after we interview them this evening; that, that would make the process easier. Commissioner Plummer: Well... Go ahead, Willy. Vice Mayor Gort: Mr. Mayor, I think I stated from the beginning, before we went into this process that, everything being equal, I've always... I, personally would go for the local, because I think the local individuals have more knowledge of what's going on in Dade County. I'd like to give the... I've only have two that interviewed - which I have not interviewed with - which is the gentleman from Washington and the gentleman from North Miami. I'll be available today at any time to meet with any one of them today. At the same time, I don't believe we should drag this on, but I wanted the... One of the reasons I'm telling you I was not able to take a vote today is because I'd like to talk to some of those people. I'd like to confirm - because I think we've got to learn from the past - I'd like to confirm some of the things that are here, and talk to some of the employers, and see what they think about it. Personally, being equal, I, personally, am going to go for the local guy. I've stated that from the beginning, and before the process began. I think the company has done a tremendous job, and it makes it a lot easier for us that we don't have to go through all those resumes and through all those individuals. So I compliment you on the work you've done. I know you've been under a lot of pressure, and I'm sure you have selected the... according to the criteria and standards you have set, you have selected the five people. So... And I'd like to suggest, I think 45 minutes is kind of long. I think anybody who can speak for more than ten minutes should be sitting here instead of over there. Mayor Carollo: Well, we're not going to have them speaking for 45 minutes, Commissioner. Vice Mayor Gort: OK. Mayor Carollo: I figure that we'd give them, maybe, at most, ten minutes to make a presentation to us. Vice Mayor Gort: Right. Mayor Carollo: And the rest of the time is for us to ask questions. And if we get done beforehand, then we could break until the next one comes in. Vice Mayor Gort: But I would also like to add that up here, there's four of us that were elected by the people, and we were elected to make decisions. Mayor Carollo: You're correct, Commissioner. And the fifth is here, who, while being appointed through the constitutional process that we have, also has that right. Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Mayor. 11 October 30, 1996 r� oa Mayor Carollo: Hold on, Commissioner. And I think that what you're saying, I take it correctly. I know that you do not mean it in any other way. Vice Mayor Gort: No, I meant it very positively, OK. I think that you're the fifth, but... Mayor Carollo: Yeah. Oh, I know that. This is what I'm saying. And I compliment you for the statements that you have made. The bottom line is, as I stated, that I am willing to go with any one of these five that a majority of this Commission is willing to vote for. For the record, let me state this: That of all five of these individuals that have been presented, there's only one of them that I knew from before. And I knew him from maybe being involved in a meeting where he was there with maybe another 30, 40 people, and maybe at some time during the meeting, I was introduced to him, but never had contact with him until this process begun. So there is no favorite for me here because I have a friend in the bunch, or anything else like that. I will be happy to go with any one of these. The criteria that I had asked from Mr. Connelly, and he confirmed publicly that he heart: the same from each and every one of us when he interviewed us privately, was that whoever lie would choose, first and foremost, would be a professional administrator that would have the type of background, the type of experience that this City requires to move forward in a professional manner. We don't want to go to the kind of games that we've had in the past. And this is why we're here today, because of what went on in the past. We want to move forward, and make sure that Miami is going to be a City that's going to be run professionally from here on. And I think that that criteria was met. And again, I will state it for the record that I would be very pleased to have any one of these five individuals that are the finalists to be our City Manager. And I will abide by the will of the majority in selecting any one of these five from here. Commissioner Plummer: Will the gentleman from Washington be here tomorrow? Mr. Connelly: Yes, he will. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Because I have met with all of them except the one from Washington and the man from North Miami. Mr. Connelly: Yes. Michael Roberto. Commissioner Plummer: That... North Miami would be no problem. I'm just worried about the transportation on the one from Washington. And I have one other to interview. Mr. Mayor, let's lay one thing on the table, if we may. Mayor Carollo: Absolutely, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: One of the individuals, which I interviewed, and I won't name, was most insistent that he would not consider being a finalist unless, in fact, he could get a contract. Recalling from the past, it was my understanding, and I so informed him and told him he'd better check, that this City could not issue a contract to a City Manager. Now, Mr. City Attorney, I put you on notice this morning that I was going to ask the question, and I think we'd better lay it on the table. Because if one of these individuals... And I noted with the morning tabloid that they said that he should get a contract but... Mayor Carollo: Well, they also thought in the morning tabloid, as you call it, Commissioner, that... Apparently, the person that wrote the editorial, by the way that it was written, was under the impression that there is no runoff nine days later. We do have a runoff nine days later, after the November 5th election. Commissioner Plummer: Seven days.; 12 October 30, 1996 s> W Commissioner Regalado: Nine. Mayor Carollo: Nine days, because there's a holiday. W Commissioner Plummer: Oh, that's right, that's right. We changed it. You're right. You're right. I'm just as wrong as they are. Mayor Carollo: So we are... We will not have a final election until the 14th, and a new appointment that would not be made, a new swear -in would not be made for Commissioner Dunn until the 15th of November. So... Commissioner Plummer: OK. The point I'm trying to make... Mayor Carollo: Well, I know the point you're making. And it is, I think, a very well thought out point. The way that we did that in the past, if you remember, because you made the motion for it, was we made it in the form of a resolution, all the terms. And I think that if there is one thing that this Commission must do, it's the same thing that Dade County did in their last process, that they made sure that the Manager had a solid agreement from the Commission that specified certain things that should be done for the security of whomever is the Manager. And the way that we could do that, as we did it in the past when you made the motion, was in the form of a resolution. In that resolution, we stipulate different... Commissioner Plummer: It's a letter of understanding. Mayor Carollo: Well, it's... It was a resolution. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Mayor Carollo: It stipulated the terms, different things that we would agree to. The only thing that we cannot stipulate there is an ending date. In other words, that... Commissioner Plummer: No. It was not binding on future Commissions. Mayor Carollo: ... there would be an ending date in the agreement that we have with them. Commissioner Plummer: There was one other provision in there, Joe, and that was that, as I recall this letter of understanding that was given, that you could not bind future Commissions. That was one of the main points in there, that you could make it for the present term. Is that correct? The problem was the binding of future Commissions. Mayor Carollo: Well, if there is a resolution by this Commission... Commissioner Plummer: Whatever it is, but just think that we should be aware... Mayor Carollo: Yeah. That resolution is therefor this Commission or a future Commission. Commissioner Plummer: Sure. I'm just laying it on top of the table. Mayor Carollo: Yeah. So... Commissioner Plummer: ... because one individual was very, very definite that he would not want to consider moving without a contract. So I told that individual - I don't know if he contacted you or not - as to, you know, what I thought I remembered, and he'd better contact you and have a full understanding before... 13 October 30, 1996 5, Mayor Carollo: Well, Commissioner, I don't know who it was you're referring to, but I will say this to you: That I would doubt it very much if we could get any kind of professional City Manager - certainly, I doubt if we could get any one of these five outstanding candidates - if we don't provide them some security. Because from the track record that, unfortunately, we have had in the past, anyone that would come to be our City Manager we'll require that. And frankly, that's the professional way of doing it. If we have the form of government that we have now, that is the professional way of doing it, so that this way, we don't have the games that were being played of the discretionary fund, and other things that went on here, so that someone could keep their job. So I wouldn't have any problem in doing what, frankly, this Commission has done in the past. Commissioner Plummer: Absolutely. Mayor Carollo: That we gave that security in the form of a resolution, an agreement, to whomever we select as City Manager. And I would proffer to my colleagues that we could even use the County agreement as a form of guidance to this Commission; not that we have to abide by every step that they did, but that we could use it was a form of guidance. But that's for something else, to be decided later. Commissioner Plummer: I don't think we can give any more, and we should not give any less. Mr. Mayor, if I may take a personal privilege to introduce a colleague from the Florida League of Cities, a past president, now working with the Governor's Office, and the former Mayor of Orlando, Larry Durrance (phonetic). Nice to have you here. Mayor Carollo: Larry, good seeing you here. Thanks for being here today. Commissioner Regalado: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Regalado: I would like to ask our acting Manager how... Commissioner Plummer: There's no such thing as an "acting Manager." Commissioner Regalado: ... much time would you feel comfortable in terms of a transition with the new Manager? What is the time, the days that you think you would need, in terms to introduce the new Manager to the City business? Mr. Merrett Stierheim (City Manager): I have interviewed, met with, and briefed all five of these candidates. When I say "interviewed," in a way, I as assessing their experience, "fire in the belly," if you will, which is one of my terms. Mayor Carollo: Let me say for the record, I asked the Manager if he would take time to interview them, also. Mr. Stierheim: Well, they wanted to talk to me, as well. Mayor Carollo: Absolutely. Mr. Stierheim: Because they wanted to know... Commissioner Regalado: They want to know. 14 October 30, 1996 AN k1l Mr. Stierheim: ... what they were going to get themselves into if they were selected for this position. And I'd like to share, while I have the floor, Mr. Mayor, just a few observations. I think you're... not because I've selected them. I've had experience with the firm. There were several firms that I contacted, as you are, aware, and they did reduce their rates, and I think they've done an excellent job. You've got five very talented people on this list, all of whom have unique skills and ability that... to bring to this City. And, of course, I've not been shy about recommending to you and to department directors, and to our leaders of our collective bargaining units, I think the absolute critical need to have a professional sit in this seat. This City... And it isn't just a financial problem. This is a management problem. You need someone to manage this City and... because there are more than just financial needs. The... I gave each of them a thorough briefing, so they walked in with their eyes open. Didn't pull any punches. We met for anywhere from an hour to two hours with each of them. I gave them my telephone numbers. I've had one or two calls since, and I have indicated that I a►n not going very far away, just down on Brickell, right in the heart of the City. And, you know, I haven't put the time in that I have without being available to whoever you select to counsel with and share my feelings and recommendations. And, of course, I will give this Commission a full report when I leave. So going back to your question, I mean, I would just make myself available, to make sure that every bit of information, judgment, sensitivities that I have would be shared with whoever you select. I feel I have that obligation. Commissioner Plummer: My question would be, once that selection is made, who is going to sit down and negotiate with the individual as to the terms and conditions of the contract? Mayor Carollo: My suggestion would be, Commissioner, that we ask both the Manager, with the assistance of the City Attorney, and Mr. Connelly to be able to do that. I think that the Manager would require the assistance of the City Attorney, and I think the assistant of Korn Ferry would also be helpful in the process. Mr. Stierheim: Yeah, I would... Whether it's me, or Tom, or someone, certainly the Attorney has to be involved. Mayor Carollo: Of course. Mr. Stierheim: The... I would recommend strongly to you that you use a third party, a neutral party, because there's always a little give and take in those negotiations. You don't want to do that... Commissioner Plummer: Give me an idea of who you would think would be a neutral party. Mayor Carollo: Well, this is why we're... Well... Commissioner Plummer: Who would... Mr. Stierheim: Well, I think, certainly... Mayor Carollo: That's why I was saying Korn Ferry should be included. Commissioner Plummer: Oh, oh, yeah, him. Yeah, that's fine. Mr. Stierheim: He would be neutral. Mayor Carollo: Sure. Yeah. Mr. Stierheim: I think I would be neutral. I mean, I don't know. And I don't necessarily want that job. But... 15 October 30, 1996 10 W Commissioner Plummer: You sure? Mayor Carollo: Well, you're into it this deep, Merrett. Might as well go all the way. Commissioner Plummer: You sure? Mr. Stierheim: The job of negotiating the contract with my successor, that's what we're talking about. Commissioner Plummer: All right. My... Mice Mayor Gort: Busy on that one. Commissioner Plummer: I think my final question is, Merrett, will you be the one, or will Mr.... Korn Ferry to get us a list of the council members' phone numbers of those five finalists that we could have, so that we could maybe make some phone... Mr. Connelly: We'll assemble that information. Commissioner Plummer: You'll do it? Mr. Connelly: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: OK. I have the one already from Houston. Well, I'm assuming that... I don't know if he sent it to all the rest of you or not. Commissioner Regalado: No, he did not. Mayor Carollo: No, I didn't get that. No. Commissioner Plummer: All right. I have it at the house, and I'll be glad to furnish you... Mayor Carollo: We'd appreciate it. Commissioner Plummer: Well, you can go ahead and get another copy. Mr. Connelly: We'll get that to all of you. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. I think it's important. Mayor Carollo: So basically, the procedure that I would suggest that we follow is that after we interview all five later this afternoon that will go into the early evening, then at that time, this Commission will decide if we want to choose two or three finalists, so that beginning, if some of us would like, later this evening or all day tomorrow, we can interview them personally, again, contact any of the references that they have given us, by phone, verbally. And on Friday, we will bring this back in a special meeting and make the final determination. Commissioner Plummer: The only problem I have is this afternoon. And this was originally scheduled... Mr. Mayor, it was going to be a one Commission... one item. And... Mayor Carollo: Well, we had discussed several items at the last meeting. But obviously... Commissioner Plummer: OK. But I didn't plan on being here all day, you know. That's my problem. Let me see what I can work out. 16 October 30, 1996 W r Mayor Carollo: We appreciate it, Commissioner. Mr. Connelly, thank you again, very much, and we'll see you this afternoon. Mr. Connelly: My pleasure, gentlemen. Mayor Carollo: Thank you, sir. Thank you, Commissioners. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. AUTHORIZE TO EXECUTE AGREEMENT FOR HIRING EXTERNAL AUDITORS' FIRM: KPMG PEAT MARWICK FOR 1996, 1997 AND 1998. Mayor Carollo: We are now on item number 2 on the agenda. Mr. Merrett Stierheim (City Manager): Mr. Mayor, may I ask a question? Mayor Carollo: Yes, sir. Mr. Stierheim: And I'm sorry I didn't reach you earlier. As a point of personal privilege, could... The only item that I have here is the audit. Mayor Carollo: Let's take it out of order. Mr. Stierheim: Would you mind taking that up? And then I can... Mayor Carollo: Sure, that's no problem at all, Mr. Manager. Let's take item 4. Item 4 is to authorize the City Manager to execute a contract for external auditing service to the City of Miami. Commissioner Plummer: I have some questions. Mayor Carollo: Certainly. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Manager, on page 1... Mr. Stierheim: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: ... for an extension. Mr. Stierheim: Right. Commissioner Plummer: It doesn't so indicate the same terms and conditions. Mr. Stierheim: The... Of course, that would be negotiable at the time, and if you note on page... We are talking about the second year fee being reduced on page 6 for seventy... '97 and '98. Commissioner Plummer: I saw that. Mr. Stierheim: Three twenty-five. You're correct. But that's your call. In other words, if they are in agreement to go for the same terms and conditions, it becomes automatic. And... 17 October 30, 1996 Y f Commissioner Plummer: But it doesn't say here "negotiable," which would normally be the terminology used for an extension, would be "negotiable," or it would be locked in at the same terms and conditions. Mr.. Stierheim: No. We could add a sentence. I think it's implied, but you're right, it doesn't spell it out. You could say the terms and conditions of such extension shall be negotiable and subject to the approval of the Commission. Commissioner Plummer: Correct. Mr. Stierheim: All right. With those words, can we... Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. On page 10... Mr. Stierheim: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: ... on... To assign, transfer or encumber this... with the written approval of the City Manager. And I want to add, "and City Commission." Mr. Stierheim: Agreed. Now, that was page 10? Commissioner Plummer: Page 10. Mr. Stierheim: Paragraph... Commissioner Plummer: Non -delegable... Mr. Stierheim: Oh, "delegability." Delegabiiity. Commissioner Plummer: My Polydent is not holding tight. Mr. Stierheim: Prior written approval of the City Manager and? Commissioner Plummer: And City Commission. Mr. Stierheim: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: You're bringing it here, asking us to approve it in the forefront. Because of the people involved, I think if it's going to be transferred, it should be also there. Mr. Stierheim: I agree. Commissioner Plummer: I did not like the terminology. I can live with it, but I think who receives - and I didn't mark it - the copies of this report, it... help me. It says, "The City Manager or his designee." I don't remember what page it... Mr. Stierheim: No. We're trying to find it. I... Unidentified Speaker: Page 4. Commissioner Plummer: Page 4. Unidentified Speaker: "L" 18 October 30, 1996 i Commissioner Plummer: OK. Page 4L. Mayor Carollo: It says, "And City Commission." Commissioner Plummer: It says that. OK? Mr. Stierheim: And the City Commission. Commissioner Plummer: But I don't want "the City Manager or designee." I would prefer "City Manager and a designee." In other words, I want to make sure that where the buck stops, the City Manager definitely can't say that lie didn't get a copy. So if you read that to say "City Manager and..." Mr. Stierheim: Why not make it plural? "And designees." Commissioner Plummer: And designees. Mr. Stierheim: "Nees," plural. Commissioner Plummer: The rest of the terminology is fine. Mr. Stierheim: Make it "sic," "S", because it could be the Finance Director, the auditor. Commissioner Plummer: Whoever your designee is, is fine. Mr. Stierheim: Yeah. But City Manager. Commissioner Plummer: But you, you, the Manager, whoever sits in that chair, must, mandatory, receive a copy. Mr. Stierheim: Total agreement. That's a good change. Commissioner Plummer: I have no further questions. Mayor Carollo: That is good, Commissioner. Mr. Stierheim: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: This way, we will never hear again some of the excuses that we've heard in weeks past. Any further questions from the Commission on item 4? Commissioner Plummer: If there are none, I'll move it. Mayor Carollo: OK. There's a motion by Commissioner Plummer. Commissioner Dunn: Second. Mayor Carollo: Second by Commissioner Dunn. Mr. Manager, you're totally comfortable with the rest of this contract, the way it's written? Mr. Stierheim: Oh, yes. And I thank Rachel Baurn, Deputy Finance Administrator in the County; Bob Nachlinger, Finance Director for Miami Beach; and my colleague, Dick Montalbano, from William Huff, because they assisted in this. It's a good contract. { 19 October 30, 1996 4 W �i Mayor Carollo: They certainly have done a tremendous job, and we are so grateful to them the time they've given to the City, for the help that we so badly needed. There's a motio there's a second. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Carollo: Any nays? None. Mr. Stierheim: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Manager. The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 96-805 A RESOLUTION, WITH ATTACHMENT, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGE TO EXECUTE A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH KPMG PEA MARWICK, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, FOR TE: PROVISION OF EXTERNAL AUDITING SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF MIAI1 FOR THE FISCAL YEARS 1996, 1997, AND 1998, THE TERMS AND CONDITIOl, OF WHICH ARE SET FORTH IN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT; ALLOCATIN FUNDS THEREFOR IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $350,000 FOR THE FIRIC YEAR FROM ACCOUNT NOS. 001000.260201.6330.28013 IN THE AMOUNT C $270,000; 799302.452223.6330.28059 IN THE AMOUNT OF $75,000; AN 420003.350110.6330.28052IN THE AMOUNT OF $4,500. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the Ci Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dunn, the resolution was passed and adopted b the following; vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Although absent during roll call, Commissioner Plummer requested of the Clerk to be shown in agreement with the motion. NOTE FOR THE RECORD: City Manager Merrett Stierheim exits the Commission chamber at 10:13 a.m.. 20 for n, ty October 30,1996 W ka ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. (A) DISCUSS/AUTHORIZE PROPOSED AWARD OF CONTRACTS FOR TOWING SERVICES IN CITY--- SELECT COMPANIES AND THEIR DESIGNATED ZONES. (B) APPROVE RESOLUTION FOR CITYWIDE TOWING/WRECKER SERVICES IN ZONES 7, 8, 9 RESPECTIVELY: BANOS TOWING; BLANCO TOWING; SOUTHWEST TRANSPORT. (C) APPROVE RESOLUTION ACCEPTING PROPOSALS FOR PROVIDING TOWING/WRECKER SERVICES FOR CITY -OWNED VEHICLES -- FOR THREE YEARS -- ALLOCATE FUNDS ($45,000, ACCOUNT 291301-340). (D) APPROVE RESOLUTION ACCEPTING PROPOSALS TO FURNISH CITYWIDE TOWING/WRECKER SERVICES -- FOR INITIAL THREE YEARS WITH OPTION TO RENEW FOR TWO ADDITIONAL ONE YEAR PERIODS IN ZONE 1 = MIDTOWN, ZONE 3 = NOLAN, ZONE 4 = DOWNTOWN, ZONE 5 = KING, ZONE 6 = TED. (E) APPROVE RECOMMENDATION THAT SPECIAL EVENTS REQUIRING TOWINGAVRECKER SERVICES BE ASSIGNED TO BACKUP TOWING AGENCIES. (F) COMMISSIONER PLUMMER DISCUSSES WRECKERS WHICH STEAL CARS -- SPEED LIMIT ON US1 -- POSITION OF TRAFFIC SIGNS AT RAMSON/EVERGLADES SCHOOL.. (G) DISCUSS INADEQUATE PARKING DURING FESTIVALS -- MAYOR CAROLLO DIRECTS ADMINISTRATION TO MEET WITH ALBIO CASTILLO TO DETERMINE DAMAGES - IF ANY - DONE TO HIS PROPERTY BECAUSE OF INADEQUATE PARKING DURING FESTIVALS. Mayor Carollo: OK. We're back to item number 2 of the agenda. Ms. Judy Carter (Chief Procurement Officer): Yes, sir, the towing item. Mayor Carollo: If you could give us a brief breakdown again while I grab the Manager before he goes on a brief matter. NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Mayor Carollo exits the Commission chamber at 10:14 a.m. Ms. Carter: Yeah. We're here again for the Commission's consideration of the award of contracts for ten zones here in the City of Miami. We have two items relating to towing. One, to provide those services within the City of Miami, and another item, we would ask the Commission to award contracts to towing vendors to provide towing for City -owned vehicles. The City Commission is being asked to make the selection of towers to provide such services in each of the zones. In the issuance of the RFQ (Request for Qualifications), we asked that each of the towers provide the City with their preferred zone. What you have before you is the list of those zones and the towers who have indicated their preference for those zones. To recap, zone 1, two firms issued a preference: Midtown Towing and Nuway. A selection must be made as to 21 October 30, 1996 [i what towers will provide such services in zone 1. Zone 2, no tower indicated a preference for that zone. Zone 3, we had three firms: Nolan, King's Wrecker, and Downtown Towing. Zone 4, we had Diaz Towing or Downtown Towing. Zone 5, King's Wrecker or Molina Towing. Zone 6, Diaz or Ted and Stan's. Zone 7, only one firm indicated that preference, and that's Banos. Zone 8, Blanco. Zone 9, Southwest Transport, doing business as Southland Towing. And, of course, your backup zone is Zone 10. So for Zones 7, 8 and 9, there is only one firm that is presented to you, because that is the only firm that indicated the preference. So the most important decisions must be made as it relates to Zone 1; Zone 2, because there is no one indicated; Zone 3; Zone 4; Zone 5, and Zone 6. And of course, if the Commissioners are comfortable with their preference, and the fact that there's no other firm indicating, other than 1, 7, 8 and 9 are basically identified already. Questions. Vice Mayor Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Are there any questions from any of the Commissioners? Commissioner Plummer: I don't have any questions. I assume we're here to make a selection. let's do it. Ms. Carter: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: As far as I'm concerned, there's no question in reference to 7, 8 and 9. Ms. Carter: That is true, sir. Commissioner Plummer: There's only one firm each; is that correct? Ms. Carter: Exactly. Commissioner Plummer: So I don't see a problem there. The other ones, we're going to have to make a selection of one or the other, and we're going to have to possibly do the backups. And I just thought that maybe the backups ought to be the ones that are not chosen for a special zone. Ms. Carter: Absolutely. Commissioner Plummer: That's... Ms. Carter: Absolutely. That's appropriate. Vice Mayor Gort: Let me ask... Commissioner Regalado: When we say... Vice Mayor Gort: Excuse me. Commissioner Regalado: Oh, go ahead. Vice Mayor Gort: Yes, go ahead. Commissioner Regalado: No, when we say "backups," we're talking of all the City, or one... one area? Officer Arthur Moe: Yeah, throughout the City. Commissioner Plummer: Citywide. 22 October 30, 1996 1i Officer Moe: Citywide. Commissioner Regalado: Citywide. Vice Mayor Gort: Commissioner. Commissioner Dunn: I wanted to know what procedure we would take in... Commissioner Plurnmer: Well, they... Vice Mayor Gort: There is a report given here by the police that gives you information on most of the... I'd like to add two suggestions. And if the first one is not accepted, I'd like to mention a second suggestion. I think when we look at the reports in here, it's very difficult to select which... one from the other ones. I think we have to look at the... If we... I have to look and see who we take away because of violations, and noncompliance with zoning and so on, or... And I understand... I was told by a police officer that it was very difficult to do so. From my understanding, the County has rotation, and this gives a chance to everybody to get a bit of the business. Now, they tell me it's very difficult. But my understanding is the County uses the rotation process, and that gives a chance to every one of those firms that's within the City of Miami, where they could constantly be changing every month. It doesn't have to be every week, or every other day, like the County does, where you can change it every month. I understand it's a little bit more work. You have to give the dispatcher the new list every month, and that could probably be more work. But I mean, let's... I want to be fair to everybody, because they're all here, and I think they're all within the City of Miami, and I think they all agree, they all want to do business, and they're willing to share the business, from my understanding, from what I've heard. Commissioner Regalado: The problem that we see is that we have a problem with accountability. We could check specifically the work that every company does in one area, if we were to award one company one area. Arid, I mean, we can get... We can get complaints, and we can process the complaints directly to the police. Commissioner Plummer: Well, let me give you a little background. I've been here before, and I've been through this process before. And I think Officer Moe will be glad to tell you that wrecker companies have many complaints. Nobody likes their car being towed. OK? I mean, there are no happy campers when cars are towed. Commissioner Regalado: Absolutely. Commissioner Plummer: They're upset, they're beside themselves, they find everything wrong, and they make complaints. Now, that doesn't say that there aren't some complaints that are legitimate. And there are, and I'm sure that there are. But the process is going through... as to try and determine which of those are legitimate and not legitimate. We do have a process, I think, as I recall, and that process is that when they receive so many complaints, that it kicks in something that you look at, or something of that nature. I think there's another thing to be remembered, that the Police Department has a criteria of 30 minute response time, as I recall; that if they don't, then they call another wrecker, and that's important. So, you know, these are all of the things that really, in fact, are for consideration. Rotation, as they said at the last meeting here, was almost a nightmare for the dispatchers, trying to remember in ten... nine different zones, who's today and who's tomorrow, and take it from there. That was a comment made at the last meeting. So, you know... Vice Mayor Gort: I understand that the rotation doesn't have to be daily. It could be monthly, F and all you have to do is hand a sheet, just like this, printed out, of who's in turn this month. z i 23 October 30, 1996 s Commissioner Plummer: Excuse me. I didn't make the statement. Vice Mayor Gort: I think that's what the County... Commissioner Plummer: Somebody else made the statement. Vice Mayor Gort: The County is... From my understanding, in the County, that's the way the County works it. Officer Moe: The only problem you also have with rotation is, again, the City of Miami isn't as big as the County, and then you're cutting the calls down even further, and you're requiring these companies to have a huge investment, the trucks, the land. And again, if they don't tow a sufficient number of vehicles, then, you know, again, that's... in the City of Miami, that's why I don't definitely feel rotation would work. Because what was stated last time, the confusion and everything... and again, you're asking them to have this large investment. Vice Mayor Gort: Well, what happens to the company that has the larger investment if they don't get any business at all? Officer Moe: Again, the City is... Unfortunately, the City is only big enough for so many companies, you know. And again, we require them to have specific amounts of equipment, land, and, you know, rotate. Vice Mayor Gort: Well, they have to have it, any way. And if they lose, they have the equipment, they have the land... Officer Moe: That's correct. Vice Mayor Gort: ... and they don't get any business at all. I don't know, it's just a thought. What's the decision of the majority? Commissioner Plummer: Hey, you know, as I see it, it's really a simple thing. We. got nine zones and we got 11. companies. Now, if we put one in each zone, that's two left over. And my opinion is that the two companies that don't get the majority vote become the backup. Now, that's the way I see it. If anybody else has got a better idea, I'm willing to listen. Commissioner Regalado: How big of a business is the backup? Officer Moe: Backup hasn't really towed that much for the other companies, which they couldn't handle. We've used them mainly for special events at the Orange Bowl and some road blocks, but they have not towed in any... you know, nowhere near what the other companies have. It's been very little, the backup. They have towed, again, but it's been very little. Commissioner Plummer: Let me ask... I'm sorry. Commissioner Regalado: No. In the Bayside area, I've seen a lot of cars being towed. Is that because of a special event, or is that a regular, ongoing... Vice Mayor Gort: Downtown is the big market. Officer Moe: Yes, that's... Vice Mayor Gort: Downtown and Coconut Grove are the two biggest markets. 24 October 30, 1996 r P Commissioner Regalado: So we're talking the regular and the backup, or the regular will be able to do that work? Officer Moe: Correct. Regular handles Bayside in that zone, and the special events, again, we're talking mainly Orange Bowl events and road blocks. Commissioner Plummer: Who does the towing for Off -Street Parking? Unidentified Speaker: Molina Towing. Commissioner Plummer: Molina? Unidentified Speaker: Yes. Commissioner Plummer: The only other question that I had was have you... Would you consider, Officer Moe, that these nine zones are somewhat balanced as to the number of calls? Officer Moe: Yes. I did do a research, and again, they... they are somewhat balanced. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Officer Moe: You're definitely going to have, you know, again, some towing a little more than others. That's... Commissioner Plummer: Sure, OK, but somewhat balanced. Officer Moe: Yes. j Ms. Carter: We also have members of the Certification Committee here, if you have any J questions. Commissioner Plummer: Just for the record... Vice Mayor Gort: OK, what's the choice? Commissioner Dunn: Yes, is there anyone... Commissioner Plummer: Just for the record, all of those firms presented to us here today have been determined as qualified. Ms. Carter: Absolutely. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Ms. Carter: They have met the minimum qualifications. And I might add, Commissioners, pursuant to Commissioner Plummer's concern about having at future meetings information regarding dollar volume of purchases that have been made by vendors that are being submitted to you, I have such information for a five-year period, if you would like to know that. Vice Mayor Gort: Well, I think that if we decide to make the decision, all that is important. I know I've had a lot of complaints, one located on 27th Avenue and Northwest 28th, 29th Streets, the complaints on Code Enforcement that have been cited. They have had a lot of problems. I have requested from staff to bring that... because if we're going to have to select, we're going to 25 October 30, 1996 have to eliminate. And I think we need to eliminate those that are not in compliance with all the ordinances. Ms. Christina Cuervo (Assistant City Manager): Commissioner, I think that we can address that concern. And I believe that, apparently, a certificate of compliance was issued yesterday for that Code Enforcement violation. That's what staff is telling me. So it has been corrected as of yesterday. Vice Mayor Gort: Great. So everybody is in compliance with the Code and so... Commissioner Plummer: Absolutely. Vice Mayor Gort: OK. What's the choice? Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Vice Mayor, at this point, I'll take the noncontroversials first, and move that we approve 7, 8 and 9, since there was only one applied. Let's... Vice Mayor Gort: There's a motion to approve 7, 8 and 9. Commissioner Dunn: I second. Vice Mayor Gort: Second. Discussion? Commissioner Regalado: No. Vice Mayor Gort: Being none, all in favor, state so by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Mayor Gort: Unanimous. The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: MOTION NO. 96-806 A MOTION AWARDING THE CONTRACT FOR TOWING SERVICES TO THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES: BANOS TOWING SERVICE CORPORATION FOR ZONE 7; BLANCO TOWING, INC. FOR ZONE 8; AND SOUTHWEST TRANSPORT, INC. FOR ZONE 9. (Note: The essence of the motion above is contained within R96-808.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dunn, the motion was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort NAYS: None. ABSENT: Mayor Joe Carollo 26 October 30, 1996 7A NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Although absent during roll call, Mayor Carollo requeste o the Clerk to be shown in agreement with the motion. Commissioner Plummer: I would then... Does anybody else want to speak? I mean, am I the only one here? Hello? I would move in the area of 1 and 2 that... Commissioner Regalado: Do we need to wait for the Mayor to complete... Commissioner Plummer: Oh, if you wish, that's fine with me. That's fine. I just thought that you all wanted to move on it. Commissioner Regalado: I think he just said he would step out for a minute and... Commissioner Plummer: OK. We'll wait. Vice Mayor Gort: Why don't we take a five-minute break? Commissioner Plummer: No. Why don't we take item 3, because I don't think it's controversial. It's just an expansion. Ms. Carter: Well, could we take the second companion item of this towing? Because that is... You're not making any selections per zone. If you can recall, I indicated that in addition to the providing of services for or within the corporate limits of the City of Miami, we also have for you the selection of firms to provide towing. of City -owned vehicles. Commissioner Plummer: Do I have that? Ms. Carter: You should have that in your package as a second reso memo, signed by Merrett Stierheim. It's... Commissioner Plummer: Why did you say that's noncontroversial? Ms. Carter: Well, because we «sled... it is "non," because we asked the towers, once again, "Tell us whether or not you have an interest in providing that service," because the rates are established. This was not a competitive price proposition, if you will. The rates were established, and if we use them, we will pay them what we have indicated in the RFQ. NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Mayor Carollo enters the Commission chamber at 10:27 a.m. Commissioner Plummer: So what are we doing? Ms. Carter: Eight of those firms agreed and wanted to provide the service, and I would like to read those names, and then seek a motion from you to approve those eight firms to provide that service. Three of them had no interest in that. Vice Mayor Gort: OK. What you're telling us is these eight firms... 27 October 30, 1996 Ms. Carter: Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Gort: ...were committing to work with the City to tow City cars, at a specific rate, which is a lot lower than the standard. Ms. Carter: Absolutely. We... Vice Mayor Gort: OK. That would be good. Ms. Carter: And I'd like to read those firms out to you, and they are here to attest to that. Banos Towing, Blanco Towing doing business as Free Way Towing, Diaz Towing, Downtown Towing, King's Wrecker Service, Midtown Towing, Molina Towing, Ted and Stan's Towing Service. Those are the eight who indicated in the RFQ response that they wished to provide their services for the rates established in the RFQ. i Vice Mayor Gort: Who are the three that did not? Ms. Carter: The three that did not would be Nolan, Nuway and Southwest Transport doing business as Southland Towing. Mayor Carollo: OK. So that's Nuway, Nolan... Ms. Carter: And Southwest doing business as Southland. They did not have an interest in providing this service at all. Mayor Carollo: OK. Southwest doing business as Southland Towing. i Ms. Carter: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: Joe, they clued you in. This is for towing City vehicles. Mayor Carollo: Right, I understand. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Mayor Carollo: I understand. Commissioner Plummer: If that's the recommendation of the department, I so move. Ms. Carter: And all of them meet the qualifications to provide that service, so we would ask that you approve it for the eight. Commissioner Plummer: I move it. Commissioner Dunn: Second. Mayor. Carollo: There's a motion, there's a second. Any further discussion? All in favor, signify by saying "aye." l The Commission (Collectively): Aye. t r< 28 October 30,1996 T _ The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO.96-807 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE PROPOSALS OF CERTAIN TOWING AGENCIES FOR THE FURNISHING OF CITYWIDE TOWING AND WRECKER SERVICES; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT(S), IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, WITH EACH AGENCY TO PROVIDE SAID SERVICES IN SPECIFIC DESIGNATED ZONES, FOR AN INITIAL PERIOD OF THREE (3) YEARS, WITH THE OPTION TO RENEW FOR TWO ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) j Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dunn, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado ' Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Clerk, can you show me voting on 7, 8 and 9, in the affirmative, please? Mr. Walter Foeman (City Clerk): Yes, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. OK. Now we're... ` Ms. Carter: Now we're back to Zones 1 through 6. Mayor Carollo: One through 6. What is the will of the Commission on how you would like to proceed in selecting these? Commissioner Regalado: I would rather vote zone by zone, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: OK. Let's go zone by zone, then. Commissioner Plummer: Well, that's fine, Mr. Mayor, except in 1 and 2, what I was going to do was take one... there's two names, one in 1 and one in 2 so you... Mayor Carollo: OK. Well, let's go in Zone 1. If you want... How would the Commission like to do this? We'll start with Zone 1. Commissioner Plummer: Fine. Mayor Carollo: We will choose one for Zone 1, and whichever one we haven't chosen for Zone 1, we could either... choose for Zone 2, if you'd like or... E s; Y_ 29 October 30, 1996 ! ep Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. Commissioner Dunn: Let's do that. Mayor Carollo: Would the Commission like to do it in the way of a motion, or would each of us just like to write which of the two companies we prefer for Zone 1? Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Dunn: I would like for each of us to write which... Mayor Carollo: That's fine. Let's go and do it, then. This is for Zone 1, and we're choosing between Midtown Towing and Nuway Towing. Commissioner Plummer: Is that with the understanding that the one that doesn't get the three votes goes to 2? Commissioner Dunn: That's correct. Mayor Carollo: That's correct. The one that doesn't get the three votes goes to Zone 2. This will be ballot number one, and the only one that we should have. Commissioner Plummer: I agree. While we're waiting for the tally, Mr. Mayor, is it possible... I think we're going to be finished here in about another 15 or 20 minutes. You're laughing. Mayor Carollo: hopefully so. Commissioner Plummer: Then we could interview those candidates prior to lunch? It would sure help me out if we could. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, unfortunately, I don't believe there are any here. They were all told to begin coming at three -thirty. Commissioner Plummer: Three -thirty? Mayor Carollo: Yeah, because we have the Coconut Grove Parking Ordinance at two, and that's going to take at least an hour, an hour and a half. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Ms. Cuervo: Mr. Mayor, also... Mayor Carollo: Maybe more. Hopefully not. Yes. Commissioner Plummer: Maybe less. Ms. Cuervo: Can I also add that for this item... and I know we mentioned this at Thursday's meeting, but we need to read it into the record that the RFQ initially had the towing fee from the... for the company at sixty-five dollars ($65), and the City fee at fifteen, and we've changed that to the towing company fee to be sixty dollars ($60) and the City fee to be twenty. We need to add that into the record. 30 October 30, 1996 a r Mayor Carollo: OK Ms. Cuervo: And that's for this item. Mayor Carollo: That's fine. All right. Mr. Clerk, can you read the results of the ballot? Mr. Foeman: Yes, Mr. Mayor. There were four votes for Midway Towing and one for Nuway. Mayor Carollo: Midway? Commissioner Dunn: Midtown. Mr. Foeman: Midtown. t Mayor Carollo: So we got a third one in there? Mr. Foeman: Midtown. Mayor Carollo: OK. Commissioner Plummer: So Midway is in 1? Ms. Carter: Midtown. Commissioner Plummer: Midtown is in 1 and Nuway would be in 2. Mayor Carollo: OK. Midtown in 1, Nuway 2. Let's go to 3. I would suggest that we use the same procedure on number 3. Commissioner Plummer: Well, the problem there is you have three firms. Mayor Carollo: That's correct. Here, we have three firms for... Ms. Carter: For Zone 3. i Mayor Carollo: For Zone 3. Commissioner Plummer: It's only five votes. What's taking so long? Mayor Carollo: The minute you're ready, Mr. Clerk, read the results. If we do not have three votes for any one of the firms, I would suggest that we then choose between the two top vote - getters, if that's OK with the Commission. Commissioner Plummer: Fine. You got to use some process. r Mr. Foeman: OK. s Mayor Carollo: Yeah. !' t Mr. Foeman: OK. Mr. Mayor, we have three votes for Nolan and two votes for King. p Mayor Carollo: OK. s: 31 October 30, 1996 r N Commissioner Plummer: So it's Nolan. Mayor Carollo: It's Nolan. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Mayor Carollo: We now go to Zone 4. Commissioner Plummer: Four. Mayor Carollo: It's Diaz Towing and Downtown Towing. Commissioner Plummer: Let me... Before we finalize this, let me make sure. Are we still of the thought that we were before, there would be two firms that don't make a zone, that they will be the backup zone? Is that... of the Commission. Mayor Carollo: I would be in agreement. I would be in... Commissioner Regalado: Absolutely. Mayor Carollo: Is it three firms? Ms. Carter: No. It would be two. Vice Mayor Gort: No, two. Commissioner Plummer: It will be two. Mayor Carollo: Two firms. Yeah. I would... Commissioner Plummer: There's nine zones and 11 firms. I don't know where we come up with three. OK. Mayor Carollo: It's the hours he's putting in. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. r i Mayor Carollo: It gets to you. t Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. i, Mayor Carollo: Are you ready? Go ahead. Mr. Foeman: Yes, sir. We have four votes for Downtown and one for Diaz. Mayor Carollo: OK. Let's go to 5. It's between King's Wrecker and Molina Towing. Commissioner Plummer: Where is that article I gave you? Mr. Foeman: Mr. Mayor, we have three votes for King's Wrecker Services, and two for Molina. Mayor Carollo: All right. King's. Let's go to Zone 6, which will be the last one. Commissioner Plummer: Zone 10 is automatic. 32 October 30, 1996 Mayor Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Plummer: You want to make some more copies in case they want them? Mr. Mayor, while they're waiting to collect that, our next item is on TCI. I have not read this article. Someone sent me an article about TCI, and I've asked the... Mayor Carollo: I read it. Commissioner Plummer: Have you... I haven't had a chance to read it. Mayor Carollo: Yeah, read it. Commissioner Plummer: So I was asking that copies be made so we'll have them. Oh, I'm sorry. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Clerk, you're keeping each group separately, correct? Mr. Foeman: Yes, I am. Mayor Carollo: OK. So that... It's public record. Anybody can see it afterwards. Commissioner Plummer: Plus the fact it's on... I assume we're all using the same thing, which has our names on them. Mayor Carollo: That's correct, yeah. Commissioner Plummer: Oh, thank you. Mr. Foeman: We have two votes for Diaz Towing and three for Ted and Stan's Towing. Mayor Carollo: Ted and Stan. Commissioner Plummer: That would put... i i Ms. Carter: That would put Molina and Diaz... j Mayor Carollo: And Diaz... Ms. Carter: ... in your backup zone. Mayor Carollo: In the backup zones. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I move at this time that those votes that were cast be accepted, and that the contracts be awarded as outlined in the previous resolution. I so move. Vice Mayor Gort: Second. Mayor Carollo: OK. There's a motion by Commissioner Plummer, second by Vice Mayor Gort. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. 33 October 30, 1996 W The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 96-808 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE PROPOSALS OF CERTAIN TOWING AGENCIES FOR THE FURNISHING OF CITYWIDE TOWING AND WRECKER SERVICES; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AGREEMENT(S), IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, WITH EACH AGENCY TO PROVIDE SAID SERVICES IN SPECIFIC DESIGNATED ZONES, FOR AN INITIAL PERIOD OF THREE (3) YEARS, WITH THE OPTION TO RENEW FOR TWO ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Vice Mayor Gort, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Ms. Lauraine Lichtman: I want to thank everybody but... My name is Lauraine Lichtman. I'm with Midtown Towing, 551 Northwest 72nd Street. I would just like to make it fair for the two companies that did get put... picked for backup, that any of the companies that did get picked, if they cannot handle the calls to not transfer them to another towing company. Make sure they give them back to the police station. And let them get the Orange Bowl and the overflow work, so they can make some money, too. Mayor Carollo: I think we should make that in the form of a separate resolution. I think it's a very fair suggestion that was made. Vice Mayor Gort: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Yes. Vice Mayor Gort: I would also like to advise that we have a procedure where we can follow the performance of each of those companies. Because let me tell you, I've been a victim of being towed twice, and it's the worst thing in my life, the way I was treated, and the way it was handled, and the way it was done. And I understand everybody is upset about it and all that, but I think somehow, we've got to make sure that the services provided are with a certain courtesy, and at the same time, with certain time limits, and that those that are not complying should be removed if they don't comply with the contract. Mayor Carollo: I agree, Commissioner. Vice Mayor Gort: Because in the past, we've had companies that have not only violated the contract, but the City Code. 34 October 30, 1996 �i N Mayor Carollo: I fully agree with your statement, Commissioner. There is a motion. Commissioner Dunn: I second it. Mayor Carollo: You made the motion. Commissioner Dunn: So move. So move. Commissioner Plummer: As I... So move it. I mean, what it is, is that all special events required for wrecker service will be given to the two backups. Is that what I'm understanding you want to do? Mayor Carollo: That's correct. Commissioner Plummer: Sure. Mayor Carollo: And that they will not be transferred from one company to another; that they will be given to the two companies that we have chosen as the backups. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Ms. Carter: Absolutely. Mayor Carollo: That's what they're there for. Ms. Carter: Which she's saying that may not have been taking place in the past. Mayor Carollo: OK. So there's a motion and there's a second. All in favor, signify by saying flaye .11 The Commission (Collectively): Aye. The following resolution was introduced by Vice Mayor Gort, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 96-809 A RESOLUTION (PENDING THE LAW DEPARTMENT.) (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) 35 October 30, 1996 1i f.� Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dunn, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Goenaga. Commissioner Plummer: Wait a minute, Mr. Mayor, if I may? Mayor Carollo: Sure. Hold on. Commissioner Plummer: I spoke at this table, Officer Moe, about six months ago. I'm more concerned today than I was at that time, and I don't think, really, anything has been done about it, and that is these rebel wreckers, rebels without a cause. And people in my neighborhood are convinced that some of these pickup trucks with a hook in the back of it are the ones that are stealing cars in my neighborhood, that... You know, for whatever it's worth, I don't know that that's the truth, but here, we absolutely have rigid control over these which work under our auspices, but we don't, really, to my knowledge, have any control of these guys getting out on Dixie Highway... And I realize we're in a free and independent system. I fully appreciate that. But it would seem like to me... For the tourist that's out there on Dixie Highway or off on a street where these people come along and say, "Hey, I'll tow you," and then they do whatever they want to do. I think that what we need to be able to do is somewhat control the people who I consider to be rebel wreckers, people who have no basis, people... Some of these pickup trucks don't even have a name on the side of them. Don't even have a name on these things. And, you know, if we did no more than made it mandatory that a wrecker had to have the name, the address and the phone number on the side of it. OK? Officer Moe: It is a County ordinance. And again, we're cracking down on it. We just... just had a sting last month, which you'll see, OK, on... with Channel 4. And again, we're cracking down on these companies that are taking advantage of solicitation and so forth. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I think you've got to do it, because I just think that they're just... They're multiplying like rabbits. Officer Moe: Yeah. Commissioner Plummer: Everywhere you turn, I see a new name. I saw some of... You know, and they're very spectacular names, by the way. But there just seems to be no control. And one of my neighbors is convinced that... He walked out to get the newspaper, went back in, and when he came back out, within a matter of minutes, they had hooked up his car to a wrecker, quietly, and gone. Chief Donald Warshaw (Chief of Police): And Commissioner, if I could just add something to that. I met some months back with members of the vendors who tow for us. And as Officer Moe told you, we've done some stings, but beyond that, the officers tell individuals who are 36 October 30, 1996 about to have their cars taken who the towing company is, that it was ordered by the City. The problem is, sometimes, these rebel wreckers come by and they say to the people, "Tell them you called for me." And, you know, because everybody is upset and in a hurry, and raring to go, and before you know it, they hook it up and the car goes. So a lot of it is educating the public and being patient, and waiting for the tow company to come that we have requested through official means. But you're right, that's been a real problem. Sometimes, they're so close, because of their monitoring system, that they get there before we get there, and they're ready to go. So this, again, is an education process. We work with the media to try to let the public know, and I know there have been a lot of articles written, and TV exposes about it. Commissioner Plummer: Don, while you're there, in the same vein, let me say to you, I think the thing that you encouraged that I worked with you on, of moving accident vehicles off of main arterials seems to be working. And I think that we need to go, you know, and continue to say to people, like on Dixie Highway or others, if you can move your vehicle off the road, do it. It's not a hit-and-run. Just move it off the road. Because it doesn't take... The other day, I was going to the office, and they're putting that planting on the Dixie Highway. They had one whole lane of the inners, and there was a bus on the other lane. Chief Warshaw: Right. I got stuck in it, myself. Commissioner Plummer: You had one lane open for a madhouse in the morning. Chief Warshaw: Chief Martinez told me we stopped that because they didn't have a permit. Commissioner Plummer: Well, they didn't need to work between seven and nine in the morning, OK? Chief Warshaw: We are going to try to get more signs and continue to provide information to the public about moving the vehicles off the road, and it's a process of time. People have become so accustomed to, "Don't move your vehicle and leave it there," but we're working on it. Commissioner Plummer: I have two other things, Mr. Mayor, if I may, quickly bring up. Why did they change Dixie Highway north and southbound, which had always been 45 miles an hour to 35? If you could find out. I think 35 miles an hour on Dixie Highway is absolutely crazy. Mayor Carollo: Hold on. Where did they switch it to 35? Commissioner Plummer: From my house... 17th Avenue to Bird Road, because I travel every day, they've switched it from 45 to 35 miles an hour, and I can't believe... Mayor Carollo: To 35? Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Mayor Carollo: When did that happen? Commissioner Plummer: Joe, I don't know when it happened, but I was riding there yesterday, and sure enough, it's 35 miles an hour. Chief Warshaw: We'll look into that. The State... Mayor Carollo: Yeah, that doesn't make sense at all. Chief Warshaw: I agree. That's a State road, and that's State signs. We'll find out. 37 October 30, 1996 Commissioner Plummer: OK. The second thing... Mayor Carollo: Even 45, at times, is cutting it. Commissioner Regalado: I think that what happened, J.L., is that there was talk after the accident... Commissioner Plummer: Of Del Rio? Commissioner Regalado: Yes. Mayor Carollo: Yeah, but that was at 17th. Commissioner Regalado: Seventeenth. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but that was 105 miles an hour. I'm talking about... Commissioner Regalado: No, no, but that was on 17th, 17th and Dixie. Commissioner Plummer: I live there. Commissioner Regalado: Yeah, I know. But that's what I said, that there was some talk. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but that's a main arterial. I can't... Commissioner Regalado: Oh, absolutely. Chief Warshaw: We'll find out, and we'll report back to you. Commissioner Plummer: All right. The second one, Ransom Everglades School on Tigertail, the first sign that tells you the hours of when you shall do 15 miles an hour is in the middle of the school. When you're coming on Tigertail towards 22nd Avenue, you are in the area of the school before the sign tells you seven to eight a.m., or whatever those times are. You've already violated the zone before you see the first sign, and there are... They've removed the signs that say "In school zone speed," or "Speed zone for schools." And I got to tell you, I'm sorry to tell you, one of your officers was writing tickets for that, and I think it was a little unfair that these people did not know about it until they got into the zone. Chief Warshaw: We'll talk to the school and to the County about the position of the signage. It's a private school, as you know, and... Commissioner Plummer: If this is the beginning of the school property and the end, the sign is right here. Chief Warshaw: Yeah. And that's obviously the wrong place for it Commissioner Plummer: It should be out here. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Certainly. Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: May I? Mayor Carollo: Thank you, Chief, gentlemen. Yes, Mr. Goenaga, if you could... KKI October 30, 1996 [A Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Chief, Chief... Mayor Carollo: If you could give your name and... Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: Yes. Yes. My name is Manuel "Boom -Boom" Gonzalez-Goenaga. Contrary... Mayor Carollo: Manny, if I may. Make whatever statement you like, but as far as getting employees to asking questions to answer, we... you know, please refrain from that. Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: No, no, no. Contrary to what has been said, I am a rebel with cause. And I don't have any complaints, whatsoever, with the towing thing. But this is something that I have been through the experience more than seven times. When the police orders the zone or whoever to tow, they should... When they give you your arrest affidavit, they should always give the receipt of who has the towing, which company has the towing car. I went... I went crazy many times asking where was it? The police purposely or meaningful, told me that they did not know. Probably, they get on their ground... I'm just questioning, because anything is possible in Miami now. Some things... if I get the arrears on warehousing. So the longer we know, the more they charge, of course, because it's on a daily basis. And once... They always pick me up, for your information, Friday. They choose social Friday to pick me up, even though I have never... Mayor Carollo: Excuse me. Mr. Goenaga, they used to pick you up Friday. Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: They used to pick me up. Mayor Carollo: OK. Thank you. Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: But they have detained me three times for different reasons. So it's the issue that we should be given, when we are arrested, the... who... what company actually is picking up the car, along with the arrest papers. Commissioner Plummer: It's usually on the... Mayor Carollo: That's a valid statement that you made, and I'm sure the Chief has made note of it, and I'm sure that the Police Department will implement it. That's a very valid request. Mr. Albio Castillo: May I address the Commission? Mayor Carollo: Yes, two minutes. Mr. Castillo: Oh, do you know that... Mayor Carollo: Name and address. Mr. Castillo: I don't have to tell you. Mayor Carollo: You're an old pro, I'm sure. Mr. Castillo: Oh, yes, 23 years, to be exact. My name is Albio L. Castillo. I live at 2386... This is a question to the Administration. There is a festival that always goes on, on the 8th Street that is called "inadequate parking," because they don't provide enough parking facility. Now, in '95, I almost had to chase somebody out of my driveway. Who's going to pay for that damage, if somebody decides to damage my car, because of illegal parking in my driveway? 39 October 30, 1996 Commissioner Plummer: Under no-fault, you are. Mr. Castillo: No, the City is. The City is. You know why? Inadequate parking for a large festival. Commissioner Plummer: That's interesting. Mayor Carollo: Yeah. Mr. Castillo: Good point. Commissioner Plummer: Interesting. - Mayor Carollo: Commissioner, would you like to... Commissioner Regalado: I'd Iike to say... Mayor Carollo: ... look into it? Commissioner Plummer: I'll write you a personal check and... Mr. Castillo: Who... Mayor Carollo: What I would suggest that you do is meet with the Administration, show them where you live at, and see if we could have better enforcement there. Mr. Castillo: Oh. three blocks from the war zone, where the Kiwanis start their little ding -ding. Mayor Carollo: Well, I appreciate your statements. Commissioner Plummer: What happened? I missed that one. Mr. Castillo: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Thank you, sir. OK. Any further statements from anyone? OK. ------------------------------------------- - - - 5. (A) APPROVE AMENDING MIAMI CABLE TELEVISION LICENSE ORDINANCE 9332 -- EXTEND FOR THREE MONTHS TERM OF CABLE T.V. FRANCHISE AGREEMENT (SECTION 202 (A)) BETWEEN CITY AND MIAMI TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INC. FROM 11/18/96 TO 2/18/97. (See label 8) (B) MAYOR CAROLLO DIRECTS ADMINISTRATION TO NEGOTIATE WITH T.C.I. TO OBTAIN FUNDS TO IMPROVE PROGRAMMING ON CHANNEL 9. --- Mayor Carollo: We're back to item 3. That's the last item in this morning's meeting. Commissioner Plummer: I think this is perfunctory, isn't it? It's just a matter of giving the extension time? Mayor Carollo: Yeah. That's basically correct. I took the time of speaking to the attorney, the special counsel of the City has in this, and he was very thorough in explaining to me why we're doing this. It's basically that the Administration... Commissioner Plummer: Does not have the time. Mayor Carollo: ... didn't have the time, didn't get together with or whatever the case is. But we're not where we should be today, and we're going to extend it for three months so that we can have the opportunity... Commissioner Plummer: So move. Mayor Carollo: ... to properly do this. There is a motion. Chief, would you like to make any statements on it for the record? 0 Chief Carlos Gimenez (Chief of Fire): Well, part of the reason why we're delayed is that there was new FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulations that came out in February of '96, and there were interpretations of those rules that didn't come about until June, July and August that would have an impact on this particular contract. I Mayor Carollo: Very good. And Mr. City Attorney, you were made aware of... by our special counsel in this matter of some financial matters, and I am told that you're taking the appropriate steps to inform TCI (Telecommunications, Incorporated) of it? A. Quinn .Tones, III, Esq. (City Attorney): Yeah. We've been in contact, and we'll keep you apprised of that development. Mayor Carollo: Very good. All right. Any further statements or comments? Commissioner Plummer: For the record, Mr. Mayor, when you do these negotiations, I think that you need to talk to each Commissioner before you finalize any negotiations. I don't know about my colleagues, but I can tell vou, there's some things that I'm unhappy about with cable that I think need addressing, and I would hope could be negotiated... maybe not. But I want it known, the areas that I think that need... especially Saturday morning. They got 18 shows of selling everything from whatever, you know, and they have... Unidentified Speaker: They have the comics. Commissioner Plummer: I don't care for the comics, no, I pass on that. But I... You know, even the... Mayor Carollo: You don't get the Playboy Channel either, correct, Commissioner? Commissioner Plummer: That's it. You know, it's the idea that I just say to you that before you do any final negotiations that you might go around to each Commissioner and find out what he may or may not have, thoughts on the matter, so that you could at least address them in negotiation. Chief Gimenez: That will be part of our process. Mayor Carollo: Not only that, Commissioner, but I think they should tell us the parameters of what is the least, the most that we can expect to negotiate, so that we could give them the input on the areas that we would more like to see versus others, and a give and take of negotiations. 41 October 30, 1996 ri W W Commissioner Plummer: Agreed. Commissioner Regalado: There's also the problem of financial problems that TCI seems to have. There's several articles. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, that... Commissioner Regalado: Yeah, that's one of them, but there are several that I've read regarding... And I was wondering whether we have assurances that, you know, we can have a responsible... that they can have a responsibility to the City. There's also the question of some channels being taken off recently. Chief Gimenez: That's a delicate issue, because the FCC kind of binds our hands on regulating what the programming is for that cable company. Commissioner Regalado: I understand that, but it's also... It could be the will of the company to do that. Chief Gimenez: That's correct. Commissioner Plummer: I think also... Vice Mayor Gort: Mr. Mayor... Commissioner Plummer: I'm sorry. Mayor Carollo: Vice Mayor, go ahead. Vice Mayor Gort: I would like to find out the certain programs, the public service programs, informative programs, what is the criteria and guidelines to take those programs off the air? Because I received many complaints on one particular program. It seems like it was an educational program, the viewers liked it, and somehow, they were taken. I'd like to find out C what are the criteria to do that. Chief Gimenez: The company's criteria of taking... of putting programs on and off? Vice Mayor Gort: The company's criteria for taking off these programs, yes. Chief Gimenez: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: Last, but not least, I want this Commission to be fully informed of every possible aspect of aid that we can receive and request in the negotiations for Net 9. We have a prime channel that is totally, totally being wasted. The only thing that we include in there are the Commission meetings when we have them, and a few other City meetings. But in the meantime, we have a channel that's going to waste. We have constantly being shown the names and telephone numbers of NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) Administrators, the different individuals that work in the different NET offices. A good percentage of them don't work in those NET offices anymore. They've moved, and many other things that are wrong, that they're placing to the public. And we need to advertise Miami. We need to show, for instance, Virginia Key, the City's beach here in Miami. We need to show Coconut Grove. We need to show downtown Miami and Bayside. We need to make that a real channel. Obviously, we need some extra dollars to do that. And that's one of the areas that we need to be advised on what can we negotiate with them to try to get some additional infusion of dollars or assistance, so that we can achieve that. 42 October 30, 1996 Mi Commissioner Regalado: Mr. Mayor, in that line, it's good that you mentioned the fact about the information being showed on Channel 9. I checked for about a whole morning some of the names and the phone numbers. And in some NET offices, we have a delay for information of about nine months, because of the changes that were made with personnel. And on that issue, I expressed to the Chief that I had some ideas. In fact, we can use the resources of some businesses to have better programming in Channel 9. Mayor Carollo: That's fine. There was a motion by Commissioner Plummer, second by... Commissioner Dunn: Second. Mayor Carollo: ... Commissioner Dunn. Mr. Goenaga, you have two minutes, sir. Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: Yes. My name is Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga. Besides what you have said, there are many articles in the Wail Street Journal, one dated October the 22nd, 1996, page C-25. There was one head article in the Wall Street Journal last Friday, dated October the 26th. And in addition to... I am not surprised at all. And I have called constantly, constantly, this cable company. Chief Gimenez: TCI. Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: TCI. I have always called the number that the City Manager has, and I have left many messages there. I haven't had any answers from that. Office of the City Manager for the cable issue, and I presume that they are still recorded. And in the TCI, they have hang me the phone, hang up the phone when I... when my blood pressure gets up. It's a constant, constant... Like Castro does with TV Marti in Cuba, this is the same thing that TCI is doing to me. And finally, last Friday, I tried to change to be heard in Spanish in TCI, and a nice lady was understanding to me. And she told me that the problem was not with TCI, it was with the subcontract of TCI, because in my area, they say that they are changing to fiber optics, and that's where the problem is. I'd rather have no optic, no fiber, but the nice, clean TV that I had before. I believe in development, but not halfway, a hundred percent. So this is the service. And also, I am charged five dollars ($5) when I pay within the month in a prepaid month. I have never seen that in my whole life. I'd love to be invited to these negotiations as an observer. Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Any further statements? Commissioner. Vice Mayor Gort: I'd like to state that the... you know, the employers who have the Channel 9, I think they've done a terrific job with the means and... the means they have. But I think we should help them. I think that we should take advantage of it and have more information, and above all, try to educate the community in what we're doing, and so on. I think it's very important. People watch it, let me tell you. Chief Gimenez: Yeah. Mayor Carollo: Yes, they do. Any further statements? Hearing none, all in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. 43 October 30, 1996 �p The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: MOTION NO. 96-810 A MOTION AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXTEND THE TERM OF THE CITY OF MIAMI CABLE TELEVISION LICENSE WITH TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INC. (TCI) FOR A PERIOD OF THREE MONTHS, FROM NOVEMBER 18, 1996 TO FEBRUARY 18, 1997. (Note: The essence of this motion is contained in Emergency Ordinance 11410.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dunn, the motion was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Mayor Carollo: We will reconvene again at two p.m. this afternoon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. APPROVE RESOLUTION EXPRESSING CITY COMMISSION CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILY OF POLICE SERGEANT MICHAEL WARREN ON HIS UNTIMELY DEATH. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, if I may? Mayor Carollo: Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: I think it would be appropriate. We have, many times, at this table, talked about an untimely death of a policeman. But in this past week, when I say "untimely," a man who worked in the Coconut Grove area and was known to all of us, Sergeant Mike Warren, 43 years of age, out working in his yard at home, and keeled over, obviously, I assume, with a massive heart attack. The funeral was yesterday. The appropriate thing, I think, that we should do is, of course, on the record, express our condolences, and especially to the family, and to make sure through our Police Department that his family is looked after, as they always do, because they are a big family, but to, at least, this Commission express its condolences on the record, and so forward it to the family. I so move. Mayor Carollo: There's a motion. f k Commissioner Dunn: Second. I' Mayor Carollo: There's a second by Commissioner Dunn. All in favor, signify by saying "aye." E 44 October 30, 1996 1 � t i The Commission (Collectively): Aye. The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 96-811 A RESOLUTION (PENDING THE LAW DEPARTMENT.) L i 1: l- (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Dunn, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. THEREUPON THE CITY COMMISSION WENT INTO RECESS AT 11:04 A.M. AND RECONVENED AT 2:20 P.M., WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION, EXCEPTING VICE MAYOR GORT, FOUND TO BE PRESENT. I t f 3: s 45 October 30, 1996 �i ------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. DISCUSS COMMISSION CONCERNS REGARDING FREIGHTERS ON MIAMI RIVER TRANSPORTING STOLEN CARGO -- SEE LABEL 10. Commissioner Plummer: While waiting for Commissioner Gort, to the Administration... through the Administration to the Police Department, my office has been receiving phone calls, and I'm sure other of my colleagues have, but I've not checked with them, about freighters on the Miami River, and stuff going out the river that... The question is asked, do we, because they exist in the City of Miami, do we ever do any checking on all of the stuff that is, in fact, going out on these boats? And my answer was, 1 didn't know. And I think, to ask the Police Department, so that we, the City Commissioners, can answer the question that boats are going out with thousands of bicycles, thousands of television sets, and other miscellaneous merchandise. I think the public has the right to know whether or not we, in fact, do any kind of checking, whatsoever, on whether or not that stuff is perfectly above board. So I would ask that as soon as you can, to get back to all of us with a memo. Mayor Carollo: We do not, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: Well, OK. Mayor Carollo: And that's been... Commissioner Plummer: If we don't, we should. Mayor Carollo: That's one of the major problems that we have on the river, and, in fact, many of our neighborhoods, like East Little Havana, that are right next to the river, where you see the guys with the little carts going through the neighborhood picking out whatever they can. They take it to the ships there, they pay him pennies on the dollar, and then it goes out to who knows where. And we need to work with the Federal authorities so that we could get the permission, the rights to take action that we haven't been taking. NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Vice Mayor Gort enters the Commission chamber at 2:22 p.m. Commissioner Plummer: Well, the question was asked of me as to whether or not you could... I know that there's admiralty law. Could you check it before they went into that fence, while they're still on the streets of the City of Miami? The last phone call I had was from a gentleman in the Roads, who watched his bicycle being stolen out of the Roads... out of his front yard, and he followed the individual, and it was placed on a boat. And he said, "Why couldn't you go in and get my bicycle back?" And I said, "I really don't know the law, but I know there are specialty laws relating to admiralty, and that's where the Feds do, I'm sure, come in." So this is the last complaint that I had. And all I'm asking is, if we're doing anything on it, please let us know, so when our constituents call us, we can tell them, "Yes, no, maybe." OK? Commissioner Regalado: Commissioner, you may remember a series of stories that Michael Putney did, I think, last year or two years ago about the bicycles. And it turned out that about 80 percent of the bicycles that are taken in those boats, especially to Haiti and the Bahamas, were 46 October 30, 1996 stolen in the City of Miami and Dade County. But the City of Miami has the highest ratio of stolen bicycles, because of the proximity due to the Miami River. And you're right, we could stop before they get into the dock, but after the dock, then that would be Customs, or the Coast Guard, or the Florida Marine Patrol. Those three entities will stop. And the reason that they don't do it is because they say they don't have the manpower to do it, to check on all the cargo that goes into those ships. I think there are at least two or three ships that leave the port - the docks - on the Miami River with bicycles and other items each week. Commissioner Plummer: Well, the problem is, if they don't have the manpower to check, imagine the manpower, if it takes place and disappears in Miami, of every report that has to be written by our Police Department to say, "Hey, something was taken." And you're talking, I bet you, thousands of hours of report writing for that stuff that's missing, and possibly on the boat. Hey, I just think that the people who are asking should have the answer. We are... And if we are doing something, tell us what we're doing, so we can tell those people who are calling us. Ms. Christina Cuervo (Assistant City Manager): I just spoke with the Chief, and he's going to be here in approximately half an hour, and then he'll be answer to answer you. But... Commissioner Plummer: You tell him and let him give us something in writing, so we'll have it in the office for our staff. Ms. Cuervo: OK. Mayor Carollo: Once he gets here, hopefully, by that time, we'll be finished with the Coconut Grove Parking Ordinance, and we'll hear him. Ms. Cuervo: OK. Mayor Carollo: Very good. ----------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- ---------------- 8. EMERGENCY ORDINANCE: AMEND CITY OF MIAMI CABLE TELEVISION LICENSE ORDINANCE 9332 -- EXTEND TERMS OF CABLE FRANCHISE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY AND MIAMI TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INC. TCI FOR THREE MONTHS (11/18/96 TO 2/18/97) -- SEE LABEL 5. Mayor Carollo: We have to bring back the emergency cable ordinance. If it is an ordinance, then we need to have the City Attorney read that extension for three months and then have the Clerk read the roll call. A. Quinn Jones, III, Esq. (City Attorney): Yes. OK. Mayor Carollo: This was... The motion was made by Commissioner Plummer, seconded by Vice Mayor Gort. Can you call the roll, please? 47 October 30, 1996 id An Ordinance entitled - AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE AMENDING CITY OF MIAMI CABLE TELEVISION LICENSE ORDINANCE NO. 9332, AS AMENDED, BY EXTENDING THE TERM OF SAID AGREEMENT, AS SET FORTH IN SECTION 202(a) OF THE CABLE TELEVISION FRANCHISE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AND MIAMI TELE- COMMUNICATIONS, INC. FOR A PERIOD OF THREE MONTHS, FROM NOVEMBER 18, 1996 TO FEBRUARY 18, 1997; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. was introduced by Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Vice Mayor Gort, for adoption as an emergency measure and, dispensing with the requirement of reading same on two separate days, was agreed to by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Whereupon the Commission on motion of Commissioner Plummer and seconded by Vice Mayor Gort, adopted said ordinance by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. SAID ORDINANCE WAS DESIGNATED ORDINANCE NO. 11410. The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and to the public. October 30, 1996 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. (A) FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND ARTICLE 6, SECTION 602 OF ZONING ORDINANCE 11000, SD-2 COCONUT GROVE CENTRAL COMMERCIAL DISTRICT -- TO MODIFY PARKING PROVISIONS WITHIN DISTRICT -- APPLICANT: COMMUNITY PLANNING/REVITALIZATION DEPARTMENT. (B) FIRST READING ORDINANCE: AMEND CHAPTER 35 OF CODE, ENTITLED "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC" -- AMEND ARTICLE VIII, COCONUT GROVE PARKING IMPROVEMENTS TRUST FUND -- TO DELETE DIRECTOR OF OFF STREET PARKING AS EX -OFFICE NON -VOTING MEMBER OF PARKING ADVISORY COMMITTEE -- TO REDEFINE SCOPE OF EXPENDITURES OF COCONUT GROVE PARKING TRUST FUND -- i TO RESTRUCTURE SCHEDULE OF FEES/CHARGES -- i APPLICANT: COMMUNITY PLANNING/REVITALIZATION DEPARTMENT. -- FURTHER, VICE MAYOR GORT DIRECTS ADMINISTRATION TO BEGIN MEETINGS WITH EMPLOYERS IN THE GROVE TO DEVELOP PLAN FOR EMPLOYEE PARKING ALSO, MAYOR CAROLLO WILL ASSESS NIGHT PARKING PROBLEMS IN THE GROVE WITH POLICE. { (C) DISCUSSION REGARDING CRIME IN COCONUT GROVE -- ILLEGAL PARKING AND LITTERING ALONG RESIDENTIAL STREETS. I---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: We are now in the Planning and Zoning items relating to the Coconut Grove Parking Ordinance. When staff is ready, you can begin. Ms. Lourdes Slazyk (Deputy Director, CPR Dept.): All right. These... For the record, my name is Lourdes Slazyk, Department of Community Planning and Revitalization. These are two companion amendments, one to the Zoning Ordinance and one to the City Code, in order to amend the Coconut Grove Parking Trust Fund Ordinance. As some of you may recall, several years ago, we created an ordinance whereby existing commercial structures in Coconut Grove... and it was later amended to allow new commercial structures under a half acre that could not provide their parking on site to pay the Department of Off -Street Parking a fee, in lieu of their required parking. That money was to go into a trust fund in order for the Department of Off - Street Parking, as a primary purpose, to develop parking in Coconut Grove. The ordinance established a cap of 1,000 spaces, which, as the years went by, and the 1,000 space cap was reached, the department decided, you know, to analyze and conduct a study as to why the 1,000 space cap was put in the first place, and what the justification for it was. We found that the 1,000 space cap was based on a very loose study that was conducted at the time. It did not reflect certain other changes in the community, and some changes made by the City Commission regarding, for one, the half -acre or less parcels that could now come into the trust fund. It didn't anticipate other entities coming into the trust fund to meet their required parking. For that reason, we conducted a study to do... more than anything, to see what the ramifications of eliminating the cap would be, and what we could do with calculating equitable parking requirements for establishments in the Grove, whether they're existing or new, in order to come into the trust fund. PZ-16 is the amendment to SD-2. What this does, first and foremost, is establishes a chart by which we figure out what the required parking is, and how much each particular property is eligible to obtain from the trust fund, and how much they must provide on site. The formulas are based on the size of the property, and the nature of the commercial 49 October 30, 1996 establishment for each property. What we did was we created a basic commercial parking requirement for all commercial properties in the Grove, of one space per 300 square feet. Restaurants and other uses that were more intensive had to provide more parking. The base FAR (floor/area ratio) in SD-2 is .86 times the gross lot area. So we calculated that for your first .86 FAR, you may purchase 100 percent of your required parking from the trust fund. This would be at a price of six thousand dollars ($6,000) per space in 1997, seven thousand dollars ($7,000) a space in 1998, and eight thousand dollars ($8,000) a space in 1999. For... And this is for sites that are under 20,000 square feet, or approximately a half acre. These are sites that could not obtain a reasonable commercial development with... and include parking on site. You end up with something that doesn't really work, doesn't provide the street retail frontage that is what made Coconut Grove what it is. Sites over 20,000 square feet, also, for their first .86 FAR would be subject to the same prices. It's when you get to sites that are over a half acre in size that we will allow you to purchase your first .86 FAR, but at a price of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) a space. And anything over your first .86 FAR on sites over 20,000 square feet must provide all their parking on site. These are the Cocowalks and the Mayfairs, the people who have sufficient property that they could put their parking on site... that they could put their parking on site in a way that doesn't destroy the pedestrian retail frontage of the Grove. Now, what happened, what we did with restaurants... Restaurants need more parking. We didn't want to make anybody who wanted to develop a restaurant necessarily have to pay all of the required funds into the trust fund for a one to 100... one parking space per 100 square foot requirement. What that would do would be to economically tie the restaurant up forever, as having to remain a restaurant. If the restaurant ever went away and the building owner wanted to provide a retail establishment, he would basically have paid more parking than he needed. So what we did was, we allow a conversion from retail to restaurant to come in and just rent the spaces for as long as they need them. When the restaurant goes away, the rental goes away. But their basic commercial rate has to be a purchase. What the second... That's basically what PZ-16 does. It establishes these requirements. It also addresses... NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Mayor Carollo exits the Commission chamber at 2:28 p.m. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but... Can I stop you for one minute. Ms. Slazyk: Sure. Commissioner Plummer: There's something in the back of my mind that I'm trying to remember, and help me with it. They could become in compliance for the purposes of selling, and the person who bought was not under the same obligation. And as I recall, did we not write into that ordinance that if they sold or transferred their property, they had to be 100 percent paid? Ms. Slazyk: Yes, yes. The last amendment we brought before you was about a year ago. And there was no mechanism in the original amendment for a person purchasing a property to know whether the person who owned it before was paid and up to date. Now, what we have put in there - and this, we did a year ago, it's already in here - is that the Certificate of Waiver, which is what we give you when you come in and apply, is recorded. So if somebody is going to purchase the building and there is a problem that they're not fully paid, it at least puts the purchaser, the buyer on notice that this person is into... you know, into some payment requirement with the City, and they should, you know, check it out before they purchase to see if it's in default. Commissioner Plummer: I thought we made it mandatory that they had to pay up before they sold? 50 October 30, 1996 Ms. Slazyk: Yes, that is in here in... Commissioner Plummer: I don't want to put them just on notice. Ms. Slazyk: OK. Commissioner Plummer: Putting them on notice that there is a pending obligation is a lot different than saying, "Hey, you pay up now before you leave, or you don't leave." Vice Mayor Gort: It's part of the closing costs. Commissioner Plummer: Well, but I wanted to make sure it's there, that's all. Ms. Slazyk: Yeah, that was in there a year ago, and that's still in here. Commissioner Plummer: OK. There's also... Wasn't there a provision of nonpayment as far as j a lump sum, and a monthly payment, which I haven't heard you speak to? j Ms. Slazyk: Right. That, we put in a year ago, as well, and once you go 90 days past due, we i rescind your... we rescind the spaces, and therefore, Code Enforcement action begins against the Certificate of Use, because you are no longer in compliance with your parking. Once we rescind the waivers... Commissioner Plummer: But wasn't there a provision in there that they could pay so much a month, forty dollars ($40), as I recall, or buy it outright? Ms. Slazyk: Yes, that's right. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Ms. Slazyk: We're changing that to no more rental for your basic parking. If you've got a retail building, your basic one to 300, there's no more renting. You must purchase them. And once they're paid for, a Certificate of Waiver is recorded, which basically grandfathers the property forever at the rate at which you purchased. Where you're only going to be renting now is in restaurants, or any other use, nightclubs, anything else that requires more than a one to 300. What they'll work out with the Department of Off -Street Parking is a payment plan, similar to purchasing a vehicle. You go purchase it. You're not going to have the twenty, thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) outright. You're going to get into a pay... you're going to finance that over a certain amount of time, with interest, and you are going to pay what that... what that amounts to. Where you rent now is for your restaurants, and the reason was why I described. We don't want to tie somebody economically to a restaurant forever. If the restaurant goes away, we want to give them the option to come back to retail, and not feel they are forced to stay a restaurant, because they've already paid for this parking. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah, but, you know, the only problem I guess I have, and I hate to put this on top of the table, but a lot of businesses in Coconut Grove are not doing well. OK? What I'm saying is, they file for Chapter, and there is no money. Off -Street Parking has made a deal where they're going to pay it off over a period of time. And once you file for Chapter, forget it, Charlie Brown, it's not going to be happening. Mr. Jack Luft (Director, CPR Dept.): Yeah. But the existing buildings are grandfathered in. Commissioner Plummer: Well... 51 October 30, 1996 µ_. Mr. Luft: This is for new development. Commissioner Plummer: I hear you. OK. Word of caution. NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Mayor Carollo enters the Commission chamber at 2:32 p.m. Ms. Slazyk: Well, the other thing regarding the waivers is if they're not fully paid before they file for bankruptcy, again, similar to purchasing a car, we foreclose on the spaces. And anybody who comes and buys that building in the future is going to have to pay all over again. It's similar to, you know, to any purchase. a Commissioner Plummer: You sound just like what they answer me from Code Enforcement. Go ahead. Ms. Slazyk: All right. Commissioner Plummer: Forever, they'll be in court. Ms. Slazyk: The second amendment, PZ-17, is the amendment to the City Code. This is where it sets out how the money is collected, how much is collected, and what it can be spent for. We met with many of the groups that have representatives here today, with the... We have a representative from the Village Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Parking Advisory Committee, which will... which have all signed off on this. They have, you know, voted that they are in favor of this. What this amendment does, it changes... Let me talk, speak more to the changes, and if there are specific questions, then I'll address them. One of the things that this ordinance didn't spell outright that the monies could be used for is for landscaping, to curb the adverse effects of parking into the neighborhood. We all know that there is a certain radius - we calculated it to be approximately 1,000 feet from the village center - where parking is spilling over, and it's got an adverse effect on the residents there. People are parking in their swale areas, they're blocking driveways, et cetera. This ordinance previously had a catchall at the bottom of what the monies can be used for that said, "Perform such other related activities as may be appropriate to carry out the intent of this Article." We have added language that specifically addresses a landscape program to curb parking activities in the neighborhood, surrounding Coconut Grove. I understand one of the issues that. I think some of the neighborhood groups still have a problem with is how the money is spent by the Department of Off -Street Parking for this purpose. Let me just read to you the section of this amendment that addresses that. And again, I'll answer any questions on specifically what it means and what the intent was. The section reads: "It is the intent of this article that prior to expenditures, pursuant to items 1 through 3 in Subsection A" - 1 through 3 is the actual requirements that they buy land, build a parking garage... it's everything related to constructing parking, prior to expenditures for those - "sufficient funds shall be applied toward the execution of items 4 through 6." Four through 6 are the traffic monitor, and the landscape, and the safety issues for a 1,000 foot radius around the village center. This is written in a way that ensures that before we build parking, before we build a garage, or the Department of Off -Street Parking, I should say, before those things are done, that sufficient funds are applied toward the implementation of a traffic monitor and landscape. That does not mean that the money to pay the entire... Let's say we come up with a program for landscaping that cost two to three hundred thousand ($300,000) dollars. This does not mean that DOSP (Department of Off -Street Parking) has to spend the entire two to three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) to implement the entire program. They have to give 52 October 30, 1996 Y something toward it. The program will most likely be in phases, anyway. So they have already disbursed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for phase one of a program for landscaping around the village center, and they'll continue to do that. All this says is that before they actually buy the land and build the garage, that they must apply sufficient funds towards the implementation of those other items. Beyond a guarantee of that, you know, there is no way to directly pass monies through to these groups for them to do what they would like to do. M Commissioner Plummer: Do you know the joke there`! Have you seen Oak Avenue? Oak Avenue... And let's admit the truth. This landscaping is to discourage from people parking in the swale area. That... let's, you know, call it what it is. All right? Oak Avenue, by the tennis courts, and one block towards Virginia, they put in oak trees, great shade for the cars that are parking in between the oak trees. There's no sign there that says you can't park there. If there are signs there, they're hidden by the oak trees. OK? But, I mean, this is a joke. That there, you're now coming to a thing of enforcement. And these people get down there, and they have a couple of drinks, they're going; to mow your grass, and they're going to mow your bushes. So you'd better put something in there that's... cactus. Go ahead. Mr. Clark Cook (Executive Director, Off -Street Parking): Commissioner, Clark Cook. I'm Executive Director of the Miami Parking System at 190 Northeast 3rd Street. We do have an enforcement program down there, and have been very active with that, working the officers well past midnight, over the weekends, and, of course, up to the reasonable time. I was looking at one of the officers the other day, and he had 18 tows and... I've forgotten the number of tickets now, but several number of tickets. We are enforcing the "no parking" area... in that area. Where the "no parking" signs are, we are enforcing it. Commissioner Plummer: Can you answer a question for me, Mr. Cook? Parking is critical. Parking is critical in the Grove, legitimate parking. Can anybody explain to me why, alongside of the tennis courts, on Matilda, that they allow parking on Friday, Saturday and Sundays, only up until ten p.m. at night? Mr. Cook: I have no earthly idea. I... Commissioner Plummer: It makes no sense, whatsoever, to me. Now, if it was abutting residential property, I could understand. But here is at least 20 or 25 parking spaces, abutting up to a park, abutting up to the tennis courts, with signs that say "No parking after ten p.m." Mr. Cook: If my memory is correct, and I'm digging deep, that was set up by the people who handle the school. The school people wanted people to be... Commissioner Plummer: After ten o'clock at night? Mr. Cook: No. Let me finish. Let me finish. When the PTA (ParentslTeachers Association) comes and they have open house, they wanted their people to park there. After their people left, they didn't want people to park there, and that's exactly the reason those signs were put up that way. Commissioner Plummer: And 25, if that's what it is, 20 parking people are having to go and... to infuse into the residential area because they can't park there after ten o'clock at night. Mr. Cook: Commissioner, I have no problem changing the sign. We just complied with what the School Board asked us to. Commissioner Plummer: Excuse me, excuse me. I would like to know the reason for it, and then we'll make demand or no demand. OK? 53 October 30, 1996 K W Mr. Cook: OK. I will respond to you. I think my statement was correct. I'll drop you a note. Commissioner Plummer: Thank you. No, he's going to drop me a note. I'll find out from him. Thank you. Mr. David Gell: If you would allow me to answer that question, because I live on the corner of Matilda Street and Oak Avenue. Commissioner Plummer: I know exactly where you live. Mr. Gell: My name is David Gell, 3290 Matilda Street. The reason that those time limits are there is because police reports will show you that that location was the highest incident of robberies and crimes to automobiles and property in the entire City of Miami, at that specific zone. It was 600 and some odd... almost 700 incidences in one year occurred on Matilda Street, in front of the school, after ten p.m. Every single weekend, we had the problem. And that's why, after ten p.m., we are trying to save people... Commissioner Plummer: So then, David... Mr. Gell: Excuse me, Commissioner. Go right ahead, interrupt me. Go ahead. It's all right. Commissioner Plummer: You squeeze it here... If they're going to steal, they're going to steal over here. I mean, to... Mr. Gell: We're trying to... Commissioner Plummer: ... to eliminate parking is not going to eliminate them breaking into cars. Mr. Gell: We're trying to save people's lives. We're trying to save people's lives who wander into neighborhoods, see a piece of grass and want to park on it, and don't really understand the crime and the problems that they are putting themselves in by doing that. Commissioner Plummer: OK, I hear you. Don't agree with you, but I hear you. Commissioner Plummer: We're up to 18? Ms. Slazyk: Well, 18 was something we prepared in order to raise the cap by 170 spaces, just more so as a temporary measure, because we... That came through... yeah, that came through before we wrote this, before we conducted the study that, you know, justified removing the cap and all of the, you know, things I said. The last thing I just wanted to mention real quickly is what happens to everybody who's got a waiver today. Those people... There is nobody in the trust fund today who has purchased their spaces. They're all in a rental program, so to speak. The funds were... The payment that was required was forty dollars ($40) a space... forty dollars ($40) per space, per month, to be adjusted annually through the CPI (Consumer Price Index). In this ordinance, we are raising that to fifty, to be adjusted every five years through the CPI. To adjust it every year through the CPI cumulatively is going to make it skyrocket, you know, faster than what is really needed. So they will... on the adoption of this, they will go up to fifty immediately, and every five years, it would be adjusted to the CPI. But they are grandfathered. They came in under the old ordinance. To make any of those people now come up with, you know, potentially, you know, a hundred thousand or more dollars to stay in the trust fund is not fair. So this will let them keep their current waivers, but the price has changed. 54 October 30, 1996 r ell") W Commissioner Plummer: I assume items 16, 17 and 18, you are recommending? Ms. Christina Cuervo (Assistant City Manager): Let us clarify. If you adopt 16 and 17, then 18 is withdrawn. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Thank you. I think they're finished, Joe. Mr. Walter Foeman (City Clerk): Excuse me. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Clerk, could you swear... Commissioner Plummer: Hold on. Mr. Foeman: Surely. Would you raise your right hand. AT THIS POINT THE CITY CLERK ADMINISTERED REQUIRED OATH UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 10511 TO THOSE PERSONS GIVING TESTIMONY ON ZONING ISSUES. Mr. Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga: Well, my name is Manuel Gonzalez-Goenaga. You have just seen and heard bureaucracy at its best. The... Every time there is a new ordinance or a new law, you are limiting our liberty. I am just going to... regarding the three, provided they don't go on a tour to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico at our expense, at the taxpayers' expense. That... My suggestions, I'm just throwing something. That in Old Coconut Grove or the... Cocowalk, I never go there anyway, but whatever. Why don't you establish something like is done in Puerto Rico? We have beautiful parking spaces here. We have a free trolley that takes all the people, and then everybody's walking in the streets and enjoying the "Macarena," 'Ti Bamba," and it's no more problems with this bureaucracy. We save a lot of problems. And some parking in Puerto Rico is given free to induce the tourists to go to the area. But provided... For heaven's sakes, don't make a Carnival Cruise tour ten of these Off -Street Parking Authority just to make a study, where I can provide it free. This is just... I am throwing out a suggestion. Thank you very much. Commissioner Plummer: You know, one of these days, Manny, I'm going to figure out why, if everything in Puerto Rico is so perfect, why you left. Mr. Gonzalez-Goenaga: You know why? Precisely because of that. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Mr. Michael Bushey: My name is Michael Bushey. I live at 3238 Virginia Street. And before I start, Commissioners, I would first like to ask you that I be allowed maybe a few more minutes, if necessary, to go into some of the details about what the concerns with my neighborhood is? Mayor Carollo: How much time do you need? Mr. Bushey: Probably no more than three, four minutes. Mayor Carollo: That's fine. You could have up to... Mr. Bushey: We... Mayor Carollo: ... five. I know that you have been working very hard on this ordinance for some time. That will be fine. 55 October 30, 1996 Mr. Bushey: Thank you. And if I could, also, we have a member of the Miami Police Department here, and I would request, so he can get back to active duty, he's here to speak on our behalf, also, and if lie could please follow me? Mayor Carollo: That's fine. Mr. Bushey: First of all, I want to answer just one thing that Clark Cook had said, because I live in the residential neighborhood behind Cocowalk and behind Mayfair. And what we're here to discuss with the Commission is that we're going to be asking you to... I can't describe it any better. We want you to help us save our neighborhood. We have a serious problem back there. Clark Cook is responsible, or his people, for going back into the neighborhood and correcting some of the problems that we encounter on a daily basis. And with all due respect to Clark Cook, those people are not back there as much as they should be. When they are back there, they're back there maybe ticketing some cars on an irregular basis. They do not tow any cars from the residential neighborhood. They never have towed any cars from the residential neighborhood. So if he's towed some cars, it's from the commercial district. And one of the problems that we have tried to address with them, as we have reached out to his department, and basically, everybody involved in this process, we believe that if you're going to try to discourage people from parking back there, because we're what you call the free parking. The guy back there is the guy who's trying to save the six dollars ($6) at the garages. Ticketing; is really not an effective means of convincing these people you can't park back there. What you really need to do is tow some people. And the problem... And the reason why they won't... We have found out the reason why they won't come in and tow in our neighborhood is because they are contracted with a tow company - correct me if I'm wrong - that is on Northwest 79th Street, which means... and I don't know why. Which means that if they tow a car out of my neighborhood, all right, this guy, this poor soul has not only got to pay the tow ticket, et cetera, he's got to go to 79th Street to pick up his car. Now, if Miami police officers tow a car out of my neighborhood, they're contracted with the guy across U.S. 1. That's logical. That makes sense. Why they do it otherwise, I wish you would ask them that question. We have a problem with what we're calling; commercial intrusion into a residential neighborhood. And I... We came to the Commission meeting last Thursday. You had a lot of PZ issues before you, and there seemed to be a lot of discussion about those issues, about what you call residential integrity. And our goal is to make sure that as this ordinance is passed or changed, that the residential integrity of my neighborhood is maintained, so that we are allowed to stay in our homes, enjoy our homes in a very peaceable manner. And the problem with all this is right now, we cannot. And some of the solutions are... A lot of our neighbors have basically just picked up and left. They've given up. And quite frankly, a couple years ago, I decided that I can't tolerate this anymore. I mean, I knew what I was buying when I got there, but I also know that my property was built pre -phase two Cocowalk, pre -phase one Cocowalk. My property was there before Mayfair was there. We had no... At that time, back in 1974, when we were building, there was no commercial intrusion, to a large degree, like there is now. And the City really is the one that has, in a sense... you guys not particularly, but the City Commission as a whole was in error, and I've heard Commissioners admit this. Businesses were being opened up back in the '80s, they were allowed to play musical chairs with the parking. They never had the proper parking. The ordinance in 1993 was supposed to address that, and to a degree, it has and will. But nobody seems to... There seems to be, you know, the people making decisions here regarding the process are trying to effectively exclude my neighborhood from part of the solution. What we witness... And I want not only the Commissioners to hear this, but if there's any owners here who might object to paying the increased fee that they're talking about, and the argument from Off -Street Parking is going to be that this money is to build garages. This money is to build garages, only, and that's our only function. And we encounter almost on a daily basis, more so on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, people parking in our driveways, people parking in front of our driveways, people parking on the sidewalks, people parking on the 56 October 30, 1996 �i corners where you have no visibility going around. These are... a portion of these are the employees. And I would also like to know, as part of this ordinance, why the City Planning Department or somebody from the City has never made it a part of the ordinance which requires that the business owners adopt an employee parking policy, because right now, they have none. If you go up to Mayfair and speak to their people, when a guy is hired and he goes through orientation, he's told what his pay is, what his hours are. If you go to the City of Coral Gables, I have a friend who worked at the Colonnade. We was told what his hours, what his pay was. He was also told where to park, in their garage, he has no choice, it's mandatory, and this is what your fee is. That's very convenient for the businesspeople to say, "I don't want to have a policy," because the City never required them to have a policy. And we believe it should be part of this ordinance. There is places other than my neighborhood for the employees to park, if you guys would make it an issue with them. Dinner Key, just surrounding here, has hundreds of spaces. It is no farther to walk from here than it is from my neighborhood. So that argument just doesn't wash with us. That's part of what the employees do. The employees also, quite frankly, we've seen them doing; illegal... I don't know if it's the employees or not. But there are people back there, sitting; in their cars, sometimes. We see people doing drugs. We see people sitting out in their car drinking;. The employees are probably just maybe 25 or 30 percent of the problem. The other problem is the patrons from the Grove, as they start pouring into it. And these are mostly people who are 30 years or younger. And these people, the kind of things that these people do to our neighborhood, we go out almost on a daily basis and pick up bags and bags and bags of litter every day, from people walking back and forth. Our biggest issue back there, basically, is a crime issue. We believe that 80 to 90 percent of the cars parking in the right-of-way are either employee or patrons from the Grove. We have a community patrol program which is basically unable to distinguish who our neighbors are and who's not. Miami Police Department will tell you that the Center Grove probably has one of the highest crime rates... I'm not sure about the City of Miami, but certainly, in Coconut Grove. It's all related to these people coming; and going, because as soon as they park their car for free in my neighborhood, we have people that come in, know this, they're back there. You'll see the glass, you'Il see the broken glass, purse-snatching;s, muggings. We had gang; fights back there. We've had Fire and Rescue, knife fights, we have people urinating on our property as they come and go. Because not only are they trying to save six dollars ($6) at the parking garage, it's much easier to go around to the Farm Store and buy a six-pack, sit back in my neighborhood, drink your six- pack, because it's three or four dollars ($4) when you go into the Grove to buy it. It's not pretty what goes on there. But I think you need to understand that, and the owners here need to know that these are your patrons. They are not my responsibility. They are your responsibility. And they are basically destroying our neighborhood. Our property values are declining. Your tax base is going down. And on certain nights back there, for lack of a better word, it's a virtual war zone back there. I think it's important, also, because the Planning Department would have you believe that this ordinance is going to be the final solution, and the answer to the entire parking problem. But a lot of people here are not prepared to admit that the parking problem... If anybody in here knows about what goes on in the Grove, that the parking; solution is not to build garages, and build garages, alone. The parking, solution entails three parts to it. It's to build parking where you lack parking now. The second part of the solution is traffic flow, because a lot of people don't come to the Grove to park. They just want to go around. That's officers on peak nights. And the third part is the commercial intrusion. You have to answer those three... commercial intrusion into our neighborhood. You have to answer those three things. You have to solve all three if you want to solve the entire parking problem. Now, in 1993, the Planning Department came out with an ordinance to solve the problem. You got a million -two in the fund. You got a site plan for the Farm Store. You were going to build 400 spaces. And they're here to ask you to not only raise the fees, but pretty much eliminate the cap. I think that's the proposal. You've got 1,000 space shortage. That's a fictitious shortage. And some argue whether it's 800 or 1200. You've got 1,000 space shortage right now. And their answer to that is to lift the cap. Now, at first sight, you look at that, and as far as my neighborhood, that does nothing but bury us. If you allow more businesses to open up, more employees, more patrons, 57 October 30, 1996 AIN and you still haven't resolved my problem in the neighborhood back there, you haven't addressed the problem. But they are proposing to lift the cap, so, you know, if my arithmetic is correct and you got a thousand space shortage now, and you, after four or five years, are able to put a garage up that has 400 spaces, you now have a 600-space deficit. But by eliminating the cap, you effectively start adding on, as these new businesses corne on line, all right. You have not realy made any progress, whatsoever, in my opinion. So, you know, we can argue about whether you should lift the cap or not lift the cap. As to my specific issue with the neighborhood, they are here to convince you that the wording in the... in this ordinance will take care of our problem. We're here to tell you that we don't feel that it does, and we're here to ask you to help, maybe offer some amendments that will specifically answer to our needs, and answer to our needs now. The original ordinance provided relief to our neighborhood. It was one paragraph. It stated that funds could be used to enhance the safety and security of the residential neighborhood within 1,000 feet. Over the past year, we have actually approached everybody involved in the process, tried to do the necessary steps to get some of that funding for our solution to the problem. Now, our solution is the landscaping and the right-of-way, Commissioner. And you are correct, on Oak Avenue, it doesn't work. But if you'll notice, and maybe you haven't been there in the past month or so, we have started a pilot project on Virginia Street near the firehouse. It addresses that specific problem. They are building a berm. It's been tested. It works. Nobody goes up over the berm. It's approved by the Public Works Department. Our solution is endorsed by the Planning Department. Our solution is endorsed by i the Coconut Grove Planning Study, which you people have paid money to. So, you know, the solution is in the language. And if you read the new ordinance, it specifically goes in and states that you must implement landscaping, you must do it prior to building garages. And our real problem with this is one sentence that was added that we've objected to to the Planning Department, which basically states that after you do this, then you will... After you've gone ahead and read the ordinance that you must go to the Off -Street Parking Department, because they will make the final cletermination as to what you get, when you get it, and where you get it. So on one hand, they address our needs with the ordinance, and effectively, on the other hand, they take it away by giving it to Off -Street Parking, because Clark Cook is a very nice person, he's worked with us, lie's giveri us an initial twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) towards our project. We had to jump through a series of hoops to get that, and we did it. And Clark will tell you that they are in favor of landscaping in the neighborhood. The real problem is when we go down and have to go through the process of applying before his board every time we need money to continue this project, his board will turn us down. So Clark says he will provide it. Then we go down to the board, and they refuse it. That's the problem with the ordinance as it's written. And you've got a clear case here of an ordinance stating that you must build parking, and you must mitigate the neighborhood, and then you've got an autonymous Off -Street Parking Authority telling you that they do not want to adhere to certain parts of the ordinance. And I really would like you to ask them what all this means, because I read a paragraph quoted from the Miami Today, and it states that the Director of the Department of Off -Street Parking voted on September 25th to notify officials that they oppose the proposed change in the Coconut Grove Parking Trust Fund that would require parking relief money to go to projects other than new parking spaces. And it goes on to say -- and basically, there's a veiled threat in there -- that if we cant do it our way and build parking spaces only, we don't want any part of this trust fund. We don't want it. Take it and give it to somebody else. I have problems with that, because I don't want to see our money we collect from the merchants being used for things they don't want. Said Board Member Arthur Hertz, "It's a tax. It needs to be spent the way we say it's going to be." Now, that begs the question... It sounds to me like you've got a clear case of the tail wagging the dog. And that begs the question, Commissioners, who sets policy in the City of Miami? Does the Commission or does Off -Street Parking? So that's really where... That's really where we see fault in the ordinance. We have to be absolutely sure that collectively, as a neighborhood, we're going to be allowed to stay in our homes, we're going to be allowed to enjoy our homes. We are not the solution for your problem. One other question that Off -Street Parking needs to answer is... and they have to go out and bond this. They have to go out and do 58 October 30, 1996 r projections on projected revenues. And I didn't see in their feasibility study, but I like to know, how can you build a garage, a 400-space garage on the corner of Oak and Mary, and when it's done and completed, expect patrons to pay you four, five or six dollars to go into your garage to park, when only one block away, two blocks away, you can park in my neighborhood for free? So how in the world can you spend five million dollars ($5,000,000) on a garage and not plug up the 300 free spaces in my neighborhood? It doesn't make sense to us. It doesn't make any sense at all. So I don't know why they're arguing because, you know, this... In my opinion, this is a win/win situation for everybody. Because all we're doing by plugging up our neighborhood... You're saving my neighborhood first of all, all right? But if we take and... I went back and counted them, and there were at any given time 250 to 300 spaces that are being used back in my neighborhood. I'll walk it with you and show it to you. If we effectively do the numbers, we effectively manage to push, let's say, just 20 of those cars per day into these garages that's five or six dollars, what does that come to? That's money poured back into their garage at the rate of forty to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) a year. They're getting their money back, but we have to have the money up front. So we win by stopping the intrusion into our neighborhood. They effectively have more customers going into the garage, because they're excluded from my neighborhood, and their bottom line is increased as the patrons, because I think the time... Everybody agrees that the time has finally come that if you want to go to Coconut Grove, you're going to have to pay to park. And you must stop them parking within my neighborhood. We're asking you for your help. Please help us save our neighborhood. Thank you. If I could just introduce... This is Sergeant Mike Hervis, Miami Police Department. Sergeant Mike Hervis: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. I am a sergeant assigned to the Coconut Grove NET Office. In the past three years, we... the entire Grove has gone down in crime. But the surrounding area in the village itself has increased, breaking into cars, robberies, and so forth. As you well know, on weekends and during festivals, we get about 6,000, 10,000 people coming into the village area, and they park on the outskirts of the village area. On their way back to their cars, they either get robbed, or they get their cars broken into. And also, we receive numerous complaints regarding to littering and loud noises from stereos and so forth. Instead of spending numerous hours in overtime by conducting surveillances and decoy operations, I think by displacing the vehicles from the surrounding area, would... we would bring along -term solution to an ongoing problem. That's my opinion, and I thank you for your time. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. Commissioner Plummer: Do you agree... because I don't want... You know, this is going out live over television, OK? Mr. Bushey: Yes. Commissioner Plummer: Do you agree that the number that we heard, that there's probably 700 incidences a year? Sergeant Hervis: In that area of Oak and Matilda, that's a relatively... Commissioner Plummer: In the central business district. Sergeant Hervis: As a matter of fact, last night, we got about three to four cars broken into. Commissioner Plummer: My question is, the average is 700 a year? Is that a reasonable number? Sergeant Hervis: I don't think it's actually that, that high. M Commissioner Plummer: OK. Because the reason I'm trying to say it is, is that's really less than two a day. And I don't want a perception to be going out of this City Commission meeting that's going to hurt people in Coconut Grove that are in business. And when you start talking about high incidences of robbery and crime in Coconut Grove, they don't need but the truth to go out. And if there's two incidences a day, I don't think that that, in my estimation, would be considered a panic situation, or a situation that's not controllable. We have a lot of those incidences, by the way, and I wish you would indicate yes or no, that I'm correct, that are breaking into cars. They're not of persons. They break a window, and they steal a cellular phone, or they steal something. But the differences between property and a person is that those 700 are not all against persons. Sergeant Hervis: No, they're; not, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: I would say the greatest majority of them are against property. OK? Sergeant Hervis: That's correct. Commissioner Plummer: So I just wanted t get the record clear, so those people that are out there watching here today have a full understanding, you know. It happens on South Beach, where some of them are going right now. Sergeant Hervis: Oh, that's correct, yes. Commissioner Plummer: And South Beach, you're paying fifteen, eighteen and twenty dollars ($20) to park a car, if you get it back, and the valet parking, according to TV last night, don't use your cellular telephone calling Hong Kong. So I just want to make the record clear. Thank you. Sergeant Hervis: You're welcome. Vice Mayor Gort: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Go ahead. Excuse me. Go ahead, Vice Mayor. Vice Mayor Gort: Let me ask you a question, because during the presentation, two things came out. One is the traffic flow. I don't know if we've done a study of the traffic flow in Coconut Grove. Mr. Luft: Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Gort: Number two is the closing of the streets. I've seen in many cities, major cities where they have an entertainment center, like a central business district, where sometimes, at certain times, peak hours, they will close the streets to traffic, allowing pedestrians... And if we're going to build parking garages and facilities for individuals to park, can we direct that traffic flow to those parking, and avoid this? This is something that I don't know if you at all had considered, and I don't know if the village would be in favor of it or... but that... I think that's something that should be analyzed. A lot of the major cities throughout the world, they do this. They'll close the street to traffic a certain hour, after certain hours, and they'll direct the traffic into the parking spaces. Mr. Luft: There are two ways, then... Vice Mayor Gort: And the other thing is implementation of the parking into the neighborhoods. We can always have decals going to the property owners or the people that live in the residences, 60 October 30, 1996 N) and anybody without the decals, you can put up signs saying "Parking by decals, only." That's my understanding. And that could be part of the solution. Mr. Luft: And we are... Vice Mayor Gort: And anybody who parks without a decal gets towed away. Mr. Luft: And both of those are part of our solutions. Commissioner Plummer: Jack... Commissioner Regalado: I'd like... Oh, go ahead. Commissioner Plummer: Jack, you had a scenario that you did on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights a while back, and it worked fantastically. And I'm wondering why it has never come back to be used again. If you can follow my reasoning, this is Virginia, this is Grand. They put barricades so that if you were coming on Grand, you could either only go straight, or make a right-hand turn onto Virginia. Mr. Luft: Right. Commissioner Plummer: If you were coming on Grand, you could not make a left to go onto Virginia. Mr. Luft: Right. Commissioner Plummer: That worked out unbelievably. And yet, I have not seen it there for the last year. And that intersection right there, without question, is the biggest hangup in Coconut Grove. And I'll tell you something. Now, some merchants might not like it, and might not like me for saying it, but I'll tell you, when it's there, if it was permanent, it would eliminate a great, great amount of bottle -necking in Coconut Grove. And I'll tell you, I think that if the worst comes, Mr. Mayor... Mr. Luft: Yes. Commissioner Plummer: ... that we ought to try to use it for a period of 90 days, and see how it works out. I know it might hurt a few parking spaces, but let me tell you, that bottle neck is absolutely totally eliminated with about five barricades at that intersection. Mayor Carollo: Well, you know, these are the ideas, Commissioner, that we should try on a temporary basis for 60 days, 90 days, and if they work, we bring them back here, we have another public hearing, and implement it, if that's that will of the Commission, if it works. I... Commissioner Plummer: Joe, they used it a year or two ago, and it worked. And then they quit using it, and I don't know why. Commissioner Regalado: I'd like to have the sergeant... just ask him a question. Do we have signs in the residential area that state that no parking? Do we do it? Do we have it? Sergeant Hervis: In some areas, yes, but the majority of them, I believe there isn't any now. Commissioner Regalado: If we don't, can we post... Because this morning, we just approved two backup towing services for special events. Can we not make two or three weekend sting operations, in terms of parking, using one of those towing companies which is close around here, 61 October 30, 1996 and just have provisional signs saying to the people there, do not park here, towing will be enforced. And then we have two or three weekends of sting operations in that residential area so the people will know, and the word will go around. We can even... we can... I mean, that operation, I am sure, would attract press, because Coconut Grove is a very special place, and I'm sure that if we advised the press that we'll get some coverage, in terms of cars being towed away to protect the neighborhood. Sergeant Hervis: I think that's a pretty interesting idea, and that would put the message across to people not to park in the area. Commissioner Regalado: Can we have the signs, provisional signs? Sergeant Hervis: I would imagine, yes, we can have them. Mayor Carollo: Jack, Jack... Commissioner Regalado: Do you agree with that? Mayor Carollo: Ellie, you were listening. Fill Jack in, so you both could answer. Mr. Bushey: Well, if I could, first of all, Commissioner, just state that the neighborhood would definitely be in opposition to that, with all due respect. I mean, I bought into a residential neighborhood, and I really... Because the signage requires that in order... Mayor Carollo: Enforcement. Mr. Bushey: Well, besides enforcement, even if you enforce it, you have to have one every so many feet, per the Code. Commissioner Regalado: I know. I know that you would... Mr. Bushey: So now, someone living in the neighborhood has... Commissioner Regalado: I was going to... Mr. Bushey: I mean, obviously, he has a sign. Commissioner Regalado: No, I was going to... Mr. Bushey: And it detracts. It really detracts from the neighborhood. } Commissioner Regalado: Yeah. I was going to ask you if that would bother you as a neighbor. But I think that before we go in and enforce and tow some cars, you need to tell the people that what they're doing is wrong. +` Mr. Bushey: Correct. I think you're required to. You can't tow unless there is a sign... t 3 a Commissioner Regalado: Right, Mr. Bushey: But they can tow... I think they can tow, and I don't know who would answer this, but they can tow if you're on the sidewalk. And this happens all the time in our neighborhood. If a car was parked in front of Mayfair or Cocowalk on the sidewalk, he'd be gone, two seconds flat. They're constantly parking on the sidewalk back there. However, the guy gets a ticket. That doesn't reinforce anything. The only way you're going to reinforce it is to tow the guy. And you don't need a sign to tow a guy off of the sidewalk, I don't believe. 62 October 30, 1996 k" 4 Commissioner Regalado: But are the cases of people parking on the sidewalks like many? Mr. Bushey: Enough that we cannot... There are sidewalks that we have to go out into the road as we walk through our neighborhood, walk our dolts, yes. It's significant enough. And I would also like to say that, you know, what Commissioner Plummer was saying, the impression a lot of people might have with this is that our problem in the neighborhood is minor. And I'm here to reinforce the tact that it is not minor. It is major, to the extent that our neighbors are moving out. My... I personally made a decision three years ago, I'm moving, I cannot tolerate this anymore. But I decided to stay and fight. And I tried... I decided to work through the system, and I've approached everybody that's involved in this, that it is not a minor problem. We don't want to have to move. Otherwise, we like the neighborhood. We want to be able to stay in our homes. But it is not a minor situation. It's not a... It's not a matter of one car being broken into per night. It is an accumulation of the debris, people parking on the sidewalks, people in the driveways. We've got fights going oil hack there, we got noise going on back there. I've got people urinating on my property. And I hate to say this, because it's not pretty, but it's not pretty to us, either. I have had two incidences where we've had people defecate on our properties. Because these... The kind of people corning and going out of these neighborhoods are not people that are going to the opera. These are kids. These are people that are 25. These are college age kids. They live in Kendall. They live in Hialeah. They don't belong to the City of j Miami, and they're dumping on us for free, not paying the six dollars ($6). So it is not a minor problem. It is to the extent that if you don't correct the problem that property... people will move out. Property values will decline. As far as signage goes, we really do not want to have to put signs up. Our solution works. The landscaping eliminates the parking. It eliminates it without the signage, and that's what we'd like to see done. Commissioner Regalado: But that landscaping will be a long way. I mean, you're going to have to wait. Mr. Bushey: It's a two-year process. We've always realized it, and we've always. Commissioner Regalado: OK. So would you be bothered if during the weekend, you have a major operation by the police, press, all... Mr. Bushey: Not at all. Not at all. Commissioner Regalado: Because, I mean, you're going to have... Mr. Bushey: About two months ago... Commissioner Regalado: You're going to have a lot of attraction there. Mr. Bushey: Two months ago, we asked Clark Cook to have his department come in there and do a sweep on a Friday and Saturday night. They didn't show up. Call back next week. And after numerous calls back to them, come to find out, the towing company they are contracted with refused to come into the Grove. Commissioner Regalado: But that would be a police matter. I mean... Mr. Bushey: OK. Commissioner Regalado: The police officers will be there. Mr. Bushey: Yes. 63 October 30, 1996 Commissioner Regalado: And you're going to have a lot of commotion, no doubt about that, you know. Mr. Bushey: But it sends a message... Commissioner Regalado: People being interviewed, maybe, or complaining. Mr. Bushey: But it does send a message, and I think it would be effective, yes. Commissioner Regalado: But we... Would that be... Is it doable? Mr. Bushey: I think, it is. Commissioner Plummer: For the record, I did not say that the crime problem was a minor problem. I was just trying to infer that it's not the combat area. Mayor Carollo: Excuse me. How many people are left that want to address the Commission on this subject? Four, five, six. Approxmately six or seven that are left. Commissioner Plummer: You got one over here, Joe. Mayor Carollo: OK, there's more here. Commissioner Plummer: Two over here. Mayor Carollo: OK, about ten people that are left, approximately. OK. How many of those people need more than two minutes to address the Commission? Two, three, OK, four. Commissioner Plummer: Can we ask how many are for and how many are against? Mayor Carollo: OK. What I'm going to do is the four that are requesting additional time, I'm going to give each of you double time, four minutes, and hopefully, that will be sufficient. And all the others, I will give two minutes to. So the ones that need four minutes - I think we have three up here. There was one more back here - can come up. And then everybody else... Well, if you'd come over here, Manny, I'd appreciate it so we can keep track of who's speaking four minutes. Then if everybody else that wants to speak two minutes will then be coming to this mike over here, I'd appreciate it. Go ahead, sir. Mr. Gell: Thank you. Again, my name is David Gell. I live at 3290 Matilda Street, and I am president of the Center Grove Neighborhood Association. I've been waiting for five years to speak to you about this issue. However, I want you to know that during those five years, I've been involved up to my eyeballs in this situation along with Michael. Michael has done a great job. Mr. Mayor and Commissioners, City Administrators, I'll just try to read this as quickly as possible. Almost four years ago, many Coconut Grove businesses were threatened with the reality of being shut down by having their occupational licenses and certificates of use revoked, or at the least, not renewed. This happened because many businesses had cheated on parking compliance, as required under previous ordinances during a time of rapid growth and development in the business district. It was clear to everyone that parking had finally reached a critical mass, and that it needed to be addressed. The neighborhood responded to the crisis of overflow parking in residential areas by organizing the first tree planting along Oak Avenue, which... I go to sleep fairly early on the weekends, but I never see cars parked between those trees, because we have had wonderful enforcement by Off -Street Parking. We need the same type of thing in the rest of the neighborhood. The businesses, through the Coconut Grove 64 October 30, 1996 [i Chamber of Commerce, responded by initiating the idea of phantom spaces. The only reason that the stop gap measure has come this far is because Yaromir Steiner, then -president of the Chamber, recognized from the very beginning that the residential neighborhoods surrounding the business district must be included in the process. He called me and asked what it would take for us to agree on how to create parking. I responded that we wanted our neighborhood back, not the way it was, certainly not the way it was ten years ago, a quiet little village, art colony, but at the least, protected from weekly onslaughts of cars. We agreed that the ordinance would provide for up to 30 percent of the trust fund to be earmarked for police in the residential area, a possible tram, signage to direct cars away from the residences, and swale enhancements, trees, to prevent unwanted cars from parking on the swales in the neighborhood. And so as these things do, the basic concept and premise has gone along. The businesses didn't miss a beat in raking in record profits, while the residents have waited right up until today, this moment in time, to ask to be partners with the guarantees that the businesses are being given. Lighthearted discussions and respectful lack of agreements have punctuated the working groups that have been devoted to our support of and solving the businesses' problems. Several versions of the parking ordinance, the latest of which is before you today, is... still is not meeting the needs of the entire community. And I know you have heard the needs that we have. That's four minutes? Mayor Carollo: No. You've got a minute left. Mr. Gell: OK. I'll just skip, and just tell you very simply, we need to be included. If you exclude us in the guarantees that we deserve as residents, as taxpayers, as voters, in regards to a greater issue of businesses doing business in Coconut Grove, then I think we're being short- changed. And the lies and the promises that have been given to us by the businesspeople up until today, this moment, have been for nothing, and we have waited for absolutely nothing to occur. And I know that you hear this, and I know that you care. Thank you for your consideration. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. Next. Ms. Maltide Valverde: My name is Maltide Valverde. I'm the owner of the Bumper Check in Commodore Plaza, 3145 Commodore Plaza. It's very frustrating for us merchants to be always blamed for the same issue. As one of the residents said, these people are not the ones that go to the opera. They do not spend in Coconut Grove, either. They buy their cans in 7-Eleven somewhere else, and they just drink it there. So don't blame and continue blaming us for the same thing. I'll go back on track so I can keep on schedule here. We and most probably everybody wants to agree with the fact that the private sector is going to be added to this ordinance, and that they can start building parking that we desperately needed. But there's something that is bothering me. One other thing is that the Coconut Grove Trust Fund was scratched from this ordinance as the entity that will do the expenditures, which is fine. We want the private sector to do the parking, as well. This brings... This is kind of strange, because it seems like they are taking away the control from Coconut Grove to decide where this parkings are going to be built, and how this money is gonig to be spent. And that's not fair. We are putting a lot of money in here, even though you said it's never enough. But we, as... We think it's plenty, and we want to have control of it. There is a committee, advisory committee that is being decided to which the parking... the Off -Street Parking is only going to give due consideration. I wonder what "due consideration" is. On that Parking Advisory Committee, there are three persons, three members that have... that will be given by the Chamber of Commerce, four by the Village Council, one by the Parking Authority, and one by the City Commissioners. We are right there in extreme disadvantage. We are not majority. An the parking is being paid by the merchants, which are the ones that are suffering by. We are not having... the members of that committee do not represent... There are only going to be three, and do not represent different areas that needed the parking. They can be, all of them, from the North Grove or Center Grove, and we need one from... at least from Commodore Plaza, we need 65 October 30, 1996 P AfA � definitely one. And I hope it is not only one, because majority will be four. Why four from the... I'm almost, almost, almost there. Why four from the Village Council? It should be four from the merchants; three, maybe, from the Village Council; and one, and one. That will... a ratio that we will more like to. The first draft that I read was saying that 20 percent of the funds collected were going to he applied to lanscaping, security, and traffic control. I wasn enraged by that portion. Now, I'm more enraged. It's going to 30 percent. But the thing... And I understand that they want a portion of this money applied to something. I won't say it's Oil,, landscaping — _ their area, but security. What the police is for? And why is traffic control? But not only that. The ordinance says that the money is to be spent in parking, prior to that, they have to go to landscaping, security and... landscaping, security and traffic control, which I don't think it's fair. And that's basically it. Mayor Carollo: Thank you very much for your time and comments. There's two more for the four minutes. Got two more, yourself and one more gentleman. Mr. Gerald Marston: My name is Gerald Marston. I five at 3026 Day Avenue. The last Commission meeting, I distributed a memo to you. I don't know if you want the same memorandum. I changed one word. Mayor Carollo: In that case, we'll take it. Mr. Joel Maxwell (Deputy City Attorney): Excuse me. Could we have a copy over here, please? Mr. Marston: Sure. The memorandum addresses a number of issues, historical issues that other people have covered. But I think it's pretty clear that we have an understanding of where we have been and where we would like to go. I would like to call your attention to a number of things that I think are salient points that people have not mentioned so far, and they are... and I will do them by number. Number 11 is that if we calculate a parking space at forty dollars ($40) a month, which is what is currently being paid, it takes about 25 years to buy a parking space. And quite frankly, our neighborhood can't stand 25 years of cars parking in it. Number 13 is the neighborhood residents and developers in the Day Avenue/Virginia Street area have collected approximately fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) and spent forty thousand dollars ($40,000) of our own money for the landscaping on Virginia, which is, today, an effective deterrent for parking in our neighborhood. We've spent countless hours doing the surveying, planning, designing, fund- raising, obtaining property owner approval, and permits for all of the improvements to date. We have spent countless hours doing the plan for our neighborhood, which estimates two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) to complete the program. Our streets are not built as on - street parking roadways. It was suggested at the Off -Street Parking Board that we happen to live in an urban area, and we ought to put up with it. As soon as the City of Miami wants to come through and pave that parking, give us curb drainage, landscaping appropriate to an urban area, I think we'll consider it. The City of Miami has, in the past, tried to raise the cap to cover administrative or clerical errors. And I certainly think this Commission ought to go on the record today to discuss whether or not there are 1,000 spaces or 1,117 spaces that are currently being paid for, before they consider getting rid of the cap and adopting a new ordinance. The Off -Street Parknig Board has reluctantly transferred twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) to Public Works to help our landscaping program, and continue to insist that these monies are not a commitment to continue funding of our mitigation program. Certainly, the quotes that Michael read to you would indicate that Off -Street Parking is not necessarily our friend in this work. Number 19, the proposed City of Miami Planning Department ordinance eliminating the cap has done two things. It has adjusted the fees to make the time for creating parking spaces more reasonable. Certainly, the bigger dollars make more sense. However, it has, again, used "weasel words" regarding use of collected funds to be used in the mitigation of neighborhood impacts. And specifically, the words are "Sufficient funds for the implementation of items 4 through 6 66 October 30, 1996 shall be determined by the Department of Off -Street Parking Board, after due consideration is given to written recommendations from the Coconut Grove Parking Advisory Committee." OK? This is placing, at the discretion of the Off -Street Parking Advisory Board, what they will do in our neighborhood. Could I take a couple extra? City's investing in commercial and residential neighborhoods to protect tax basis, good business, requiring developers to mitigate their impacts on communities and their environment is common practice, by law, in the State of Florida. We believe a strong Coconut Grove Commercial District will be good for our neighborhood, if we are protected from noxious impacts. We believe the proposed ordinance is more than fair for all potential new commercial development. We will endorse the proposed new ordinance, provided the City Commission attach a stipulation to the ordinance which guarantees timely mitigation of impacts in our neighborhood. Tile City Commission directs the Department of Public Works to expedite the release of the twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) now in Public Works, which is earmarked for the continuation of our program. Could I please read number 26? Please remember we are your neighbors, citizens of Miami, taxpayers, and voters. We deserve your help and respect. Thank you very much. Mr. Manuel Alonso-Poch: Mr. Mayor and Commissioners, my name is Manuel Alonso-Poch. I live at 3520 Rockerman Road in Coconut Grove. I am a property owner in the central commercial district of Coconut Grove. And I come here to make a few comments today on this proposed change to the two ordinances, to the ordinance of the Zoning Code, and the City Code, because as a commercial property owner, we have contributed for the last three years, about 12 percent of the monies that are held by the fund. And we would really like to see a solution to the problems that presently exist and that were sought to be addressed by the enactment of this ordinance three years ago. We still haven't seen any solutions created. And I think Mr. Bushey was very on point when lie said that building parking spaces is one solution. Enforcement of the parking regulations in the residential area is another solution, and the traffic flow. I think those three solutions are the ones that would eliminate a lot of the problems that we encounter. Excuse me. This ordinance, however, is really intended to solve one of the three solutions, or to give resolution in one of the three ways that have been suggested by Mr. Bushey, and that is to build parking spaces. The solution of traffic control is really a solution that needs to be addressed by the Police Department and the Department of Off -Street Parking. The solution of controlling the parking in the residential areas also needs to be addressed by the Department of Off -Street Parking, and the Police Department, and traffic control, similarly. Now, as far as the building of parking spaces, this ordinance and the modifications that are suggested are helpful, but they still... there's still a lot of rough areas that need to be polished before I would suggest to you that you pass the ordinance in its final form. And this is the first reading today. And you may, you know, do... take a number of different actions, but as far as the final reading, I would suggest to you that you think about a lot of these things. And I think that a lot of the changes that have been made and a lot of the suggestions that are being made here today, and... that they be taken into account before you finally pass this ordinance and put it in the books. Thank you. Mayor Carollo: OK. Good afternoon, sir. Two minutes. Mr. Jack Sander: Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Jack Sander, 3170 Florida Avenue. I'm speaking on behalf of the Florida Avenue Neighborhood Association. A couple of things I'd like to address first. Not to be number one in the situation, but I think Mike Bushey's situation is deplorable. I think the situation on Florida Avenue and Matilda is worse, not that number one ranking has any prestige here. Number two, Commissioner Plummer and I always bump heads on this. I think the figure of 700 incidents, as stated by the officer, is inaccurate. I agree with Commissioner Plummer on this point. It's more than that. Half the patrons that come back inebriated, on drugs, they're not going to call a police officer for assistance when they have a problem. They're not that stupid. They're stupid, but not that stupid. I'm trying to figure out how to relate the problem to each of you. I thought about virtual realit, I thought about role playing, I thought about role residing. I'd like each of you to close your eyes, and I thought, 67 October 30, 1996 well, that's not such a good idea, because you had tough sessions in the past couple of weeks. You might go to sleep on me. But try to visualize and experience firsthand the following situations that you are confronted with daily: Trash, bottles, debris all over the place. I should actually get paid from the City. I spend about a half hour picking up trash. I only do bottles now, because it's just taking too much. Beyond midnight, beer and drug parties, prostitutes and drug dealers doing their trades; boom boxes and alarms going off beyond midnight; intrusion into fenced property to vandalize, to steal, whatever the reasons are; urination and defecation oil your property, and not by four -legged creatures, either; verbal and physical assaults, if you get involved as a citizen. I don't mind getting involved, but I've become somewhat hesitant, when you get life threats against yourself and your gamily members. To be honest, none of you, if you are visualizing and experiencing, somewhat, would not tolerate this in your own neighborhoods, I guarantee it. You almost get to the point where you want to arm yourself as a citizen. I have sympathy for the police force. I realize there are many more priorities on the weekend or even the weekdays than some or this stuff. But you can help us out by beautifying these swale areas, making them parking -proof, by either coming up with some kind of a curbing. Check out Alice Wainwright Park on Brickell Avenue. They put these huge poles down. If you create a barrier, you won't need the consistent law enforcement, and also, your neighborhood will be a little more aesthetic. Please, I'm asking you to consider us and assist us. Thank you for your time. Mr. Brian De Lemos: Hello. My name is Brian De Lemos. I live at 3166 Virginia Street. Commissioner Plummer: Pull the mike down. Mr. De Lemos: Want me to repeat it, or can you hear? 3166 Virginia Street. My name is Brian De Lemos. I own the property I live at. Commissoner Dunn, I just got your letter in the mail about unity in the community. And obviously, Coconut Grove has come together on this issue. We want landscaping. We want people to stop parking where we live. Commissioner... You can't tell where the sidewalk is anymore, because of where people park. They're all over. I was one of the people who left Coconut Grove. I grew up there. I've lived there for 20 years. I left, moved to South Beach, came back, and I'm really sad at what I see. Mike, everyone up here from our community has said more than I could say. I agree with everything; they're saying. Temporary traffic diversions and signs, those are Band-Aids on a larger problem. We need to stop people from parking in front of our houses and everything that brings. We need to stop the crime at the root. That's not moving cars. That's stopping the crime at the root. I don't know what the answer is to that, but it needs to happen. One thing that really wasn't talked about was the spaces in Cocowalk and Mayfair. There's more than enough there. I'm on those streets every night. Those lots aren't full. No one wants to pay to park there. We don't need another lot in our area. People need to go park there. Thank you for your time. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. Next. Anybody else? OK. Commissioner Plummer: I have one question, if I may, of the department. Mayor Carollo: Go ahead, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: The question has been asked in reference to the establishment of new businesses. Can they get an allocation of parking, if they want to start a new business? Ms. Slazyk: Under this ordinance, yes. What we're looking at is pretty much the structure. If the structure for which they want to move a new business into is grandfathered, then there is a certain amount of their parking that's grandfathered. If they want to bring in a restaurant and the structure is not grandfathered as a restaurant, they would have to come in under the supplemental parking and pay fifty dollars ($50) a month for space. It varies. The answer is yes. 68 October 30, 1996 t_ 1; Commissioner Plummer: Is that only if it's increased from a thousand to eleven -seventy, or is that at the thousand? Ms. Slazyk: No. That... Mr. Luft: The thousand goes away. Everyone will have an equal right to come into the trust fund and obtain the parking they need. Commissioner Plummer: Thank you. Mr. Robert Masrieh: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Robert Masrieh. I'm chairman of the Coconut Grove Parking Advisory Trust Fund. On June 19th, July 17th and October 8th, our committee met, discussed this ordinance that is now finally before you, started in its first semblance in June, presented by Mr. Luft at that time. It was reviewed again in July with certain alterations recommended by the committee. And its final draft that you now have was presented to us on October 8th. On all three sessions, the committee voted unanimously in favor of it. In addressing the question that's been brought up mostly this afternoon before you in regard to the landscaping in the residential community, in that same June 19th meeting, Mr. Bushey and Mr. Marston addressed the committee with their concerns. The committee was sympathetic and understanding of the concerns, approved a twenty-five thousand dollar ($25,000) initial payment, which Off -Street Parking sent directly to Public Works. The committee also approved a... potentially up to two hundred thousand dollar ($200,000) expenditure for this landscaping project as an estimate that was thrown towards us as an approximate at the time. What we did say, however, was we wanted a final approved plan, approved by Public Works to be brought back to us with a proper budget, and a program for the installation of it, and that the committee was in favor of initiating such a program in an orderly fashion, as long as it was being done in a legal form. Thank you. Mr. Allen Sweeny: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Allen Sweeny. I'm a resident, a business owner here in Coconut Grove. I come before you this afternoon as the president of the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce. At the Chamber Board of Directors meeting on October 15th, the directors, on behalf of our 1,100 members, heard Jack Luft's presentation of the latest version of the parking ordinance. After discussion and recognizing that the latest revision had allowed greater opportunity for the private sector to take part in the development of additional real parking in Coconut Grove, along with the fact that it seemed to provide a greater input from the local community in the final decisions that are made regarding parking. The board voted unanimously in favor in endorsing the ordinance as it is now presented to you. Thank you. Mr. Bruno Carnesella: Good afternoon. My name is Bruno Carnesella, 3838 Irvington Avenue, Coconut Grove. I am chair of the architectural committee for the Chamber of Commerce. And the only item that I would like to put on record is the following. It's the first time in Coconut Grove that we have the Village Council, the Chamber of Commerce, Off -Street Parking, the committee for parking, and the Planning Department all concur in the basics of this ordinance. So we will ask respectfully to you, pass this ordinance's first reading. Thank you. Mr. Tucker Gibbs: Good afternoon. My name is Tucker Gibbs. My office is at 2665 South Bayshore Drive. And I'm coming before you as the chairman of the Coconut Grove Village Council. The Village Council reviewed this ordinance, and I'm sure Jack can tell you that we went through this ordinance line by line with our comments. We then met with the Planning Department on approximately four occasions, representatives of the Village Council, to go through our concerns. Every single one of our concerns was addressed. And the Village Council told me at our meeting, if they were addressed, I could come up here and say that we approved it. We do approve this ordinance. And I wanted to talk to you about two basic issues 69 October 30, 1996 y that we had. The authority of the parking committee in the Grove, we wanted that committee to have as much authority as possible, because you appoint that committee based on recommendations from the Village Council and the Chamber. And that committee... And someone made the comment about all due consideration for that committee's opinion. That was as good as you can get, legally, and I'm sure the City Attorney's Office will tell you that no appointed board can tell the Department of Off -Street Parking how to spend their money. This is their money, according to the ordinance. So we got the strongest language we possibly could to have the viewpoints of Coconut Grove be listened to. The other issue was in the ordinance, there was a reduction of the amount of money that was to be spent on nonparking issues, from 30 to 20. And we wanted that boosted back up to 30 percent, and we got that. Finally, just to refresh your memories, very quickly, in 1993, when the original ordinance was created, it was created as a balance. It was a balance between the homeowners' groups and the Chamber and the business groups in Coconut Grove. And the issue was gap financing. This money was never to be used by itself to build a parking garage. It was to be used to leverage financing so bonds could be issued, so parking garages could be built. That was the primary purpose. That was the reason for the amounts of money in that ordinance. The other part of the issue was as mitigation, that money could be used, 30 percent could be used to mitigage the effects of parking in the surrounding areas, not just the Center Grove, but the West Grove and the South Grove, as well. And we're only hearing about the Center Grove, and they have the brunt of the problem. But if you asked our friends who live on Charles Avenue, who live on Oak Avenue beyond McDonald Street, they will tell you they have problems, too. So look at this as a balancing act. The Village Council did, and we recommend it. Thank you. Mr. Clark Cook (Executive Director, Off -Street Parking): My name is Clark Cook. I'm the Execxutive Director of Miami Parking System, and with the Commission's approval, I'll just speak very quickly on a few of the items that were brought up. First, let me talk about towing. Our towing contractor is Molina. It's located at Northwest 7th Avenue and 20th Street. In the Grove, when we tow in the Grove, we work with the City of Miami Police Department, who does have a towing contract closer. It's more convenient for the people to pick their cars up at one and two and three o'clock in the morning. We do tow in the Grove when people are parked hazardously on the streets. We ticket when people are parked in no -parking areas. The "no parking" signage that they were talking about, we have put all of that "no parking" signage up at their request. And I thank Mr. Gell for his nice comment, because we have done, in my opinion, a very fine, a very respectable job of enforcement. Mr. Bushey is correct. One night, he asked for a sweep, and unfortunately, my communications... my communications did not work well. And the gentleman who was responsible for it had an emergency, and we did it the next Saturday night. We continue to work in the enforcement area. I think our numbers reflect the improvements we've made there. Let me talk a little bit about the relationship, if I may, about the... between the Parking Advisory Board... the Parking Board, I should say, and the trust fund Advisory Board that Mr. Masrieh and these people have. We have an extremely close relationship. They recommend to us what we take back to our... what I take back to the Miami Parking Board for approval. We go through with them every step that we take, every time. That board is made up of people whom you have appointed. And I don't think at any time that we have ever gone back on something they've asked us to do and not done it. My Parking Board will follow the letter of the law. Whatever this Commission passes, that Parking Board will comply with. And I want to correct a little bit of the comments made. I don't mean to say "correct," but explain a little bit. Our board, in a recent board meeting, made the comment that they would prefer to see the funds go for parking. We know that... We believe that the parking solution is to create some interceptor garage parking facilities in the Grove. We know from the economic studies we made for years and years that you can't build a parking facility in the Grove, because of your parking needs of Thursday... I mean of Frida, Saturday and Sunday night. It just economically is not feasible. And this gap financing program, with this fund, will work and will work very, very well. I'm pleased to tell you today that we are now closing on the two pieces of property at Oak and Mary, and Rice. I believe that closing will occur between now 70 October 30, 1996 and the first of the year. And I hope very much to be in the process of constructing a garage at that location this late summer. I want to make sure everyone understands, if this Commission passes the ordinance, and as the ordinance is written, Miami Parking System will follow it, Miami Parking Board will follow it. They've always followed it, and always will follow it. I think that completes... I'll answer any questions anyone has. Commissioner Regalado: Clark, when would we have the parking building ready? Is that... Do you have any... Mr. Cook: Coin inissioner, today we had a board meeting this morning, and they passed... authorized me to issue an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for selection of architects. The Farm Stores, the Mayor's Farm Store, which he has warned me about once or twice will be moving out on the 1.6th of December, I understand, and we should be able to close the week after that. That's one of the requirements of the contract, that the tenant move out. The Rice Street property, we have reached an agreement on price and are dilly-dallying with language right now, but I anticipate that will be. I would like to see us be in a position to break ground. On a 400- car parking garage, you're probably talking 12 months of construction. Mayor Carollo: Any other questions to Mr. Clark from the Commission? Mr. Gort. Vice Mayor Gort: My understanding is that the procedure is the Coconut Grove Parking Advisory Board will listen to the items, they'll make a decision, and that decision has to go to the Miami Parking System Board. Mr. Cook: That's correct. Vice Mayor Gort: And that board makes a decision. Mr. Cook: That's correct. Vice Mayor Gort: And then... In my dealing with the different agencies from the decision taken to implementation, if it's affirmative, it could take three months. Is there any way we can expedite that? Mr. Cook: Commissioner, I don't think we have that problem. I may be wrong. The parking... The... If I understood your question correctly, Commissioner, the Parking Trust Fund Committee meets once a month. And I think... Yeah, we can have it on the agenda of the Parking Board the next... the same month, because they meet in the middle in the month. The Parking Board meets in end of the month. Vice Mayor Gort: Clark, if it's possible, I think that's something that should work, where you could have the meeting two weeks before, so decisions could be expedited a little bit more. Mr. Cook: And we'll do that. Vice Mayor Gort: Because what happened with the neighbors, and you can understand, they're desperate. I mean, I tried to drive through the area, and it makes it almost impossible. At the same time, I was told by Jack that the traffic flow is part of this ordinance. You're going to contemplate the close on the streets because of the traffic flow. One of the things you want to do is make sure, like the gentleman stated a little while ago, if you take those out of the free parking, you're going to need those revenues to pay for the bonds. So I want to make sure. So we talked about several things. One is to take the cars off the residential area. Mr. Luft: Correct. 71 October 30, 1996 Vice Mayor Gort: We talked about maybe a decal program, and I don't know if that's legal or not, where you can have a decal for the people that live there. Mr. Luft: It is, and that's a part of this. Vice Mayor Gort: And then with signs stating... not ticketed, but you will be towed away if you don't have a decal, like we have in the other parking lots. Mr. Luft: That's funded by this ordinance, the signage, yes. Vice Mayor Gort: That's part of this ordinance. Mr. Luft: Yes, it is. Vice Mayor Gort: And the... I really would like to see the closing of the streets to avoid this... I this... that takes place, this circling; around with the different cars taking place on weekends. Mr. Luft: OK. We're going to immediately revisit the whole Grand and Oak - excuse me - Grand and Virginia intersection, per Commissioner Plummer's suggestion. We have, as you know, at times, closed off Main/McFarlane intersection from the bank to the Johnny Rockets to simplify that turning. One of the things we want to do with this ordinance is bring in a traffic officer to control the traffic flow, particularly the pedestrian flow at the Main/McFarlane/Grand intersection. One of the things the merchants on the Commodore end want is the ability for anybody parking on the north end, wher the majority of the parking is, to easily walk to the southerly portion of the shopping district. And our consultants have told us that getting; , all - phase stop with a PED (pedestrian) crossing;, per a police officer, is the easiest and probably the most efficient way to do that. The funding; is there to do that. So that can be partly a traffic control issue, partly a pedestrian control issue. We will adjust as the needs are accordingly. We have to be a little bit careful about closim-, streets off up oil Virginia, because of the fire station and the emergency vehicle access that's needed in there. So we will work with the Fire Department on those kinds of closures that are resonable. But we believe we can manage the flow of traffic. The important thing here is to get the parking built. We will have and we do have plans specifically right now for the landscaping of the swales and the signage, and the signage for the monthly decals. All of those things will be moved on simultaneously. Vice Mayor Gort: In the meantime, while you're waiting for parking, some of these places around here, office spaces that they don't use their parking at night... Mr. Luft: Right. Vice Mayor Gort: ... maybe you can subcontract, where you can use some of these facilities in the meantime, while we're waiting for the other parking to be built. And if you can create a shuttle system with the trains, the trolleys, that could be very helpful in taking the people off the neighborhoods. I think that's something you should look into. There's a lot of perimeter parking that can be used if you have a shuttle system. Mr. Cook: Commissioner, we've talked about this once or twice before up here. I certainly will support that and the fund allows me to do that. As you know, I think I've said publicly before, the shuttle has not worked... did not work the last time it was tried. It doesn't mean it won't work this time. But we will be more than glad to look at it. The time to do it, if you're going to use the shuttle, is after you've advertised it properly, after you've gotten signs in there. And I will work with the Trust Fund Committee to do that. And we will try to set some... I want to make sure we give the trolley a fair shot. I don't just want to run down to Aviation, for instance, 72 October 30, 1996 and Tigertail and say, we're going to parking down here, we'll ride the shuttle over there, and not give it a fair shot. I want to give it a fair shot. Because it would help if we could shuttle people back and forth. It would cut down the number of... the traffic in there... Vice Mayor Gort: My experience in the past in using the trolley with the private sector, we made sure that stops are in the right places. Mr. Cook: I think there's a lot to that. There's a lot to that. Vice Mayor Gort: ... with a sponsorship. Mr. Cook: Our... I'm about to make myself an expert. I'm not that far from the office. But our experience in looking at it nationwide on entertainment centers, on the trolley, it's not been good. Most of them have been abandoned. Disney World works well, but in entertainment centers like Coconut Grove, people tend to want to have their sixty thousand dollar ($60,000) car , close to where they're entertained. But I have made this commitment to both yourself and this Commission before, and I will make the commitment. As soon as I can find a way to do that, I will test it. Vice Mayor Gort: The guy with the sixty thousand dollar ($60,000) car is... he can pay six ($6) or twelve dollars ($12). It's the other guys who get away with it. Mr. Cook: Yeah, I realize that. Commissioner Regalado: One question about cost. Maybe Clark or Jack... You're charging now six thousand dollars ($6,000) for the vouchers, right? Is that correct? Mr. Cook: Yes, that's what the committee came up with. The actual cost of a parking space in a 400-car garage would be approximately ten thousand dollars ($10,000) a parking place, plus the cost of the land. If you look at land cost and parking space, you're looking at fourteen thousand dollars ($14,000) a parking space. The six thousand was a compromise. I'm supportive of that compromise. I think Planning has worked very hard. Jack and his staff have worked very hard to come up with that figure. I wish it was higher, but I can live with it. Commissioner Regalado: But there won't be any problem, money problems during the construction? Mr. Cook: No, sir, I don't believe so, providing we can solve... What we have to do, our study that we gave the Trust Fund Committee, the one I gave our board, showed that what we needed to get, an influx from the trust fund, was about two point five million dollars, or the price of the land. Then we could float four million dollars ($4,000,000) worth of bonds and build a garage. And then we would kill... We would get no more supplement for the trust fund ever again. We'd have to carry that whole facility. And I think that will work. The trust fund has a million - two in it now, if my memory is correct. What we would do there is a possibility - and I haven't worked this out with my board yet, but we have talked about it - is for the Parking System to loan the trust fund a million dollars ($1,000,000) to get the money in there to do it, and get this thing going. We need to... We can... We've talked about this for three years. We need to build a garage there and get those people out of the neighborhoods. And I know Mr. Bushey and I don't always agree. I think we agree on a lot more things than we think we do, sometimes, but unless I give those people a place to go, they're going into his neighborhood. And the only way I can do that is to build an interceptor garage. Every study that we've done, looking at where the traffic comes from, it comes down 27th Avenue, it comes down South Bayshore, it comes down 32nd Avenue. And we've got to get an interceptor garage that says to the guy, park his car, walk to the places conveniently. The money problems, we're going to work out, Commissioner, one way or the other. I can assure you of that. I'll find a way, and we're going forward. 73 October 30, 1996 r e Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Mayor, if I may? Mayor Carollo: One more person from the public is going to speak. Commissioner Plummer: Fine. Mr. Art Manners: Enough is enough. My name is Art Manners. I live at 3034 Day Avenue. I hear the young gentleman from the Commission talk about the only way to do it is not to... is to get a garage. That's the only way you're going to get them out of the area. If you go down Virginia Street, and go down Day, and turn out to Day, you will see nobody parking. The landscaping on the berms have done the job, the trees. If you do that landscaping, you won't even need a garage. Thank you. NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Commissioner Regalado exits the Commission chamber at 4:08 p.m. Mayor Carollo: Well, I've heard so many diverse opinions, and let me begin by saying that I think some of the neighbors that live in that area are correct. If any of us would live there, we would certainly feel the same way. Now, there are many ways to address this. And one that I, for the life of me, cannot comprehend why we haven't truly enforced it is by sending people out there, not just to ticket, but to tow away if they're parking in the streets. We should tow them away. I'll tell you some of the scenes that I ran into. Early morning hours, people leaving some of those places, openly drinking in convertibles, sitting like if you were going through a parade drinking beer, and there's a total lack of law enforcement. And that's part of the problem, a major problem that we have. There's no enforcement. It's not just having police officers out there, but it's having police officers that are going to be willing to enforce the law. I think that we can begin by alleviating some of the problems through our Police Department working together with Off -Street Parking. If we have to assign, like we used to years ago, a special group of police officers, leave them in there a few weekends in a row, where we have the bulk of the problem, until the word gets out that you're going to be arrested, or your car is going to be towed if you are violating the law, then I think that will go a long way. But nevertheless, we have to make a decision today. We've heard from staff, we've heard from some in the business community, we've heard frorn the residents. I think out of all of us here, the one that has had the most experience in parking has been Vice Mayor Gort. He was former chairman of the Off - Street Parking Authority. He was very involved with them, and I'd like to get his opinion and guidance to the rest of the Commission on this. Vice Mayor Gort: Definitely, I think we need to build the parking. But it's got to go, like they were stating before, you need the traffic flow, and you've got to take measures to make sure that people go to the parking. Now, my understanding is you built in here the study for the traffic flow, and you're going to do it so that people go to the parking. You also are going to be looking at the idea of closing the streets and having pedestrians. The landscaping is going to be taking place to make sure that people that do not live within an area park there. And one thing that I'd forgotten that I think is very important, especially in new businesses - and I don't know if you can do it with old businesses, maybe when they renew their licenses - is that they have some kind of employees parking plan. I think that's a must. I agree with them. I think most of the employees are the ones that would want to park some other place. Now, business in downtown, one of the first things you do is, you provide parking for employees. I think you need to do that. I think you need to take care of your customers, but you also need to take care of your employees. If all that is built within this ordinance, I don't have any problem with it. I 74 October 30, 1996 �i think it's one of the ways to solve the problems. But we've got to keep the people off the streets in the residential areas. And we're not going to do it unless we really enforce it. We put the right signs up, we have the decals in there, make sure that all the residents in the area get the decal. Anybody that doesn't have it gets towed away. Commissioner Plummer: The only question I had, Jack, or - excuse me - the only statement I wanted to make, if you do go back. to that barricade that I talked about, it's got to be 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it cannot be Bob's Barricades, where the drunk kids runs out in the street, knocks them down, or takes them away. You've got to put something there that is going to stay there, and that's going to be there as a permanent fixture. I would hope if you do it that you do it for a 90-day trial, and see whether or not it's worth a damn, and let's try it. Take it from there. Mr. Luft: OK. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I think we need to get off dead center. I think Mr. Gort's ideas are very well. I think we need to make some motion, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Vice Mayor Gort. 1 Vice Mayor Gort: Yes. Mayor Carollo: Would you like to make a motion that would include your suggestion? Vice Mayor Gort: I'd like those amendments as part of the ordinance. Mr. Joel Maxwell (Deputy City Attorney): Which amendments are they, please, Mr. Mayor? Commissioner Plummer: The ones we were talking about. Mr. Maxwell: He went through a litany of things. The only thing that was really... that would be different than what's actually written here was the... were the items dealing with the employee parking. I think everything else, staff said is actually in the ordinance. Vice Mayor Gort: Right. My understanding is that every one of the items that I mentioned, the traffic flow study to be implemented, the closing of the streets, the decal parking for the residents, and with enforcement and signs that if you don't have a decal, you're going to be towed away. Mr. Luft: Yes. Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Gort: And then one thing I'd like to do is ask the employers to come up with the parking program for the employees. Mr. Luft: I can assure you, when you resolve the overflow parking north of Oak, which are a lot i of employees, they will be forced to come up with an employee parking plan, and we will work with them on a positive basis to do that. Vice Mayor Gort: I'd like for you to start working on that now. f f E Mr. Luft: OK. Vice Mayor Gort: Because these individuals have been there suffering for a long time. l 75 October 30, 1996 F �i 4,? 0 Mr. Luft: All right. Commissioner Plummer: Well, the question I had... you have to ask, Willy... Mr. Maxwell: And just to point, though that on... that would not actually be a part of the ordinance. That's really directions to staff. Is that right, Mr. Vice Mayor? I would recommend that that's the way you do it. Vice Mayor Gort: OK. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Let's say that that is a go item. And you stop the employees from parking in the residential with that. Where are they going to go? We got a shortage of parking now. Where are they going to go? Vice Mayor Gort: To the satellite parking. Commissioner Plummer: Where is the satellite parking? That's the question I'm asking. 1 Mr. Cook: Commissioner, can I answer the employee parking? I will attempt to answer. The present time, in Lot 6, we have a thirty dollar... a dollar a day parking rate that we... Commissioner Plummer: Where is Lot 6? Mr. Cook: Lot 6, next to Coconut Grove Playhouse, for employees. Vice Mayor Gort: Thirty dollars ($30) a day? J j Mr. Cook: A dollar. Vice Mayor Gort: Oh, a dollar. A dollar. Mr. Cook: A dollar a day. Vice Mayor Gort: A dollar a day. Mr. Cook: For employee parking. We've gone to the point of handing out some brochures at... in the Parking Trust Fund to some of the merchants in there. And we can... we will work a program. The problem is, that you run into there, Commissioner, is that the employees, the majority of the employees are working north of McFarlane. Now, are they going to walk down there and walk back? No. We open the garage, certainly, during the daytime. We'll be delighted to have an employee parking rate. Commissioner Plummer: Hey, it's worth a try. Vice Mayor Gort: You got to try it. Commissioner Plummer: It's worth a try. Vice Mayor Gort: Hey, you want to keep your job? Walk a little bit. It's good for you, keeps you physically fit. Mr. Luft: Well, if that's their only choice, they will. Commissioner Plummer: Mr. Gort, if that's the motion, I second it. 76 October 30, 1996 Mayor Carollo: There's a motion, there's a second. Commissioner Plummer: That's on 16, correct? Mayor Carollo: That's correct. This is on first reading only. Vice Mayor Gort: First reading. Commissioner Plummer: Right. Mayor Carollo: We will revisit this again on second reading. There's a motion and there's a second. Anv further discussion from the Commission? Commissioner Plummer: Read the ordinance. Mr. Maxwell: This is on 16. They made a motion on... Mayor Carollo: Call the roll, please. An Ordinance entitled - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE BY AMENDING ARTICLE 6, SECTION 602 IN ORDER TO RESTRUCTURE THE PARKING REGULATIONS FOR THE SD-2 COCONUT GROVE CENTRAL COMMERCIAL DISTRICT; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. was introduced by Vice Mayor Gort, seconded by Commissioner Plummer, and was passed on first reading, by title only, by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: Commissioner Tomas Regalado The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and to the public. F Commissioner Plummer: Did you move 17? Mayor Carollo: Item 17. Commissioner Plummer: Move it. I Mayor Carollo: There's a motion. i Vice Mayor Gort: Second. Mayor Carollo: There's a second. 77 October 30, 1996 1.4 W Commissioner Plummer: Now, a question, very quickly., Mayor Carollo: Question. Commissioner Plummer: You're saying the new businesses that are on a waiting list for parking will be able to be accommodated? Mr. Luft: Yes, sir. Commissioner Plummer: OK. First reading. Mayor Carollo: Call the roll, please. An Ordinance entitled - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 35 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAIVII, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED: "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC," BY AMENDING ARTICLE VIII, "COCONUT GROVE PARKING IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND," TO DELETE THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFF- STREET PARKING DEPARTMENT AS AN EX-OFFICIO NON -VOTING MEMBER OF THE COCONUT GROVE PARKING ADVISORY COMMITTEE; TO REDEFINE THE SCOPE OF EXPENDITURES OF THE COCONUT GROVE PARKING TRUST FUND AND TO RESTRUCTURE THE SCHEDULE OF FEES AND CHARGES; MORE SPECIFICALLY BY AMENDING SECTIONS 35-191, 35-192, 35-193 AND 35-194 OF THE CITY CODE; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION, A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. was introduced by Commissioner Plummer, seconded by Vice Mayor Gort, and was passed on first reading, by title only, by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: Commissioner Tomas Regalado The City Attorney read the ordinance into the public record and announced that copies were available to the members of the City Commission and to the public. Commissioner Plummer: It's my understanding now we don't have to do 18. Mr. Luft: You don't. Eighteen is withdrawn. Ms. Christina Cuervo (Assistant City Manager): Withdrawn. Commissioner Plummer: Go away and sin no more. Mr. Luft: Mr. Mayor, if I may, I would like to acknowledge the extremely hard work and excellent effort of Lourdes Slazyk on my staff, Assistant Director, and Francisco Garcia, who has spent an extraordinary amount of time in the last several months to bring it to this point. 78 October 30, 1996 Commissioner Plummer: You better say a thank you to Mr. Masrieh, or you're going to lose him. Mr. Luft: And Mr. Clark Cook, and Mr. Masrieh. Commissioner Plummer: No, no, no, he's a hired gun. Mr. Luft: And our board. But there's a lot of people who worked very hard. I'm very proud of them. Mayor Carollo: You are correct, Jack. There are a lot of people that work very hard, and we're grateful to all of them. And before this comes back for the second and final reading, I'm going to ask one of our newer City residents, Chief Donald Warshaw, to see if he could pick a date, either this weekend or next weekend where he and I can spend some time, either Friday or Saturday evening, late at night, when the Center Grove comes alive, so we could see firsthand what's going on there, and maybe we could get even a better insight, and then make some recommendations, and maybe even take some direct actions there if we see something that we t should take action on immediately. Thank you, Chief. Commissioner Plummer: I don't know if we ought to trust the two of you alone in Coconut !1 Grove at two o'clock in the morning. Mayor Carollo: Well, we won't be with motorcycles like in the old days, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: I hear you talking. You're too old for that. I'll loan you mine. Mayor Carollo: No, that's what I mean, see. I knew you still had one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. REPORT BY POLICE CHIEF DONALD WARSHAW ON POLICE AUTHORITY TO INSPECT CARGO OF FREIGHTERS ON MIAMI RIVER -- MAYOR CAROLLO DIRECTS ADMINISTRATION TO ESTABLISH SPECIAL POLICE UNIT TO STOP FREIGHTERS ON THE MIAMI RIVER FROM BUYING STOLEN ITEMS -- SEE LABEL 7. Mayor Carollo: All right. We had asked the Police Chief to come. Commissioner Plummer had an area that he wanted to address. Commissioner, go ahead. Commissioner Plummer: Don, it was just... We continuously get calls about things going on boats in the Miami River. And the question is, are we doing anything about it? Are we checking? Are we doing, really, all that we can do to make sure that the stuff that's going on those boats are not stolen goods, that they're proper? And are we checking? You know, I know we can't go on the boat. I know we can do only certain things. But, you know, the last call that I got, as I said, a man in the Roads section saw his bike being stolen, followed it down to the river, saw it being put on a boat, and got very visibly upset when he was told by a policeman, "I can't do anthing about it, because it's already on the boat, and that is another jurisdiction." Chief Donald Warshaw (Chief of Police): All right. Commissioner, a couple of things. We do have access to go on the boat. We have gone on the boats before. We've worked through some of the NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) offices with Code inspectors. The problem 79 October 30, 1996 r with bicycles, as you had spoken about earlier, is even when the bikes are on the ground or on the boats, they're very, very difficult to detect. We have also... The Marine Patrol, has worked very closely with U.S. Customs, where... members of the department on different kinds of Federal strike forces. Unfortunately, most of those groups are looking for contraband, drugs, cash, not bicycles. We've recently confiscated two smaller boats that were being taken out of the country, probably, and we confiscated them... they were stolen, and recovered them. The problem we've got, of course, is, you know, limited resources, limited access to go on board. But this is not an international port. We do have the right to board these boats, and we have done it in the last year, I think. And Chief Martinez was telling me that the Marine Patrol made in excess of 20 inspections. One of the other things I know, the Miami River Coordinating Committee has been working very hard to try to create an umbrella group that would, among other things, provide additional enforcement on the river. And this is something that I know we feel very strongly about. I think I've mentioned before that the river is something that Marine Patrol is spending more and more time with, not just patrolling the waters along the bay and dealing with jet skiis, which, of course, are also important to us. Commissioner Plummer: I don't think the problem is from the stuff coming on the boats from the water side, OK? It's not a marine problem. It's from the Iand side onto the boats. Now, for what it's worth, I was told that those boats go out at two and three o'clock in the morning. And the stuff that might not be completely legitimate goes on those boats from the grocery cart merchants about an hour before sailing time. OK? Now, I don't know, I'm not there at two or three o'clock in the morning, but when I loot: at these boats and I see the stuff that's going on, and I see the people coming there with... you name it. From lumber to windows to whatever. I seriously have to question whether or not that is being legitimately purchased to do for the shipment out. It might be. But I think we owe it to the people of this community who are asking the question. Are we doing all we can to make sure that that is, the stuff that's going out, perfectly legit? And I'd just ask you to send us a memo, so we can give it to our staff, who can answer the question when it comes in. Chief Warshaw: OK. And I will look into that. I just want to make one additional point. Chief Martinez just told me that effective in October '97, there's just been some recently passed Federal legislation that would limit certain types of freighters entering the river, so that will have, I think, a positive impact for us. But we'll get back to you in writing, and give you something. i NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Commissioner Regalado enters the ommisson chamber at 4:21 p.m. Mayor Carollo: We need, Chief, to have some guidelines as to what our police can do. Maybe we could establish a special unit to deal with it, so that we can stop these freighters from buying for pennies on the dollar a lot of merchandise that's being stolen. It's not just bikes. It's many, many household items. Any given day, you can go, and particularly in the evenings, towards East Little Havana and other neighborhoods, and you'll see these individuals with stolen carts from the grocery stores, and they've got them full of stuff. And they're looking around, and they're all heading the same way, to the river. And this is all, for the most part, stolen property that's going over there. The people at the docks, they know what's going on. They know it's stolen. They will give them a few pennies on the dollar. And it's hurting our neighborhoods greatly. And probably, that's one of the reasons that in many of our neighborhoods, the crime is so high, because a lot of the breaking and entries that they were having are, in part, due to this. A lot of the people that you have in crack, they steal so they could get a few more dollars and buy more. And then they have an easy market to sell to right away. 80 October 30, 1996 f, �i Chief Warshaw: All right. We'll get back to you, Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. Chief Warshaw: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: I am going to suggest that we take a five minute break so that I can go and bring Mr. Connelly, and bring the first candidate we will be screening. THEREUPON THE CITY COMMISSION WENT INTO RECESS AT 4:22 P.M. AND RECONVENED AT 4:45 P.M., WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION FOUND TO BE PRESENT. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. INTERVIEW WITH CITY MANAGER CANDIDATES FINALISTS: RICHARD LEWIS; EDWA.RD MARQUEZ; RONALD RABUN; AND MICHAEL ROBERTO -- SEE LABEL 2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor Carollo: Mr. Connelly, can you bring and introduce to the Commission, please, the first candidate that we have here, Mr. Richard Lewis? Mr. Thomas Connelly: Mayor Carollo and members of the Commission, I'd like to introduce Richard Lewis, who is Chief Administrative Officer with the City of Houston, Texas. Mr. Richard Lewis: Thank you, Tom. Mr. Mayor, would you like me to make some opening comments, sir? Mayor Carollo: Yes, Mr. Lewis, I think that would be the appropriate way to start, if you could make a presentation to this Commission. And feel free to take as much time as you need. Mr. Lewis: OK. I have 18 years of progressively more responsible public sector experience, with three and a half years of private sector experience working with local governments in Texas. I think this has positioned me well to face challenges similar to those that face the City of Miami. Based on the material that I've reviewed, it's my perception that those challenges really fit into four categories. They are financial, organizational, community -oriented, and then as well, some issues that face most of urban America in terms of the inner cities. With regard to the financial challenges that face the City of Miami, it strikes me that the job for your City Manager will be to bring integrity back to the City's financial affairs. This is going to have to be done both on the expense side of your budget, as well as the revenue side of your budget. It will not be easy, but it can be done. In fact, I think Mr. Stierheim and the staff, the team he's assembled, has, in fact, put most of the items in a menu before you. There may be some that could be added, but I think most of them are, in fact, there. I would also like to add that I think the professionalism that I've seen in Mr. Stierheim and the staff, I would like to applaud it, and I think it's a credit to our profession of City Managers that you have someone as capable as him that's been able to step forward. Insofar as the organizational aspects, I think the City Manager's challenge is going to be to provide what I would call motivational leadership to your work force. This is going to have to be done all the way up and down the line on your organizational chart. It starts with the executive staff of the City, works through the mid -management parts of the organization, all the way down to the line employee, the employee that's providing services to 81 October 30, 1996 the citizens of Miami. My experience has been that you do that by exhibiting positive values. Those that I think are important and have been important in my career are hard work, honesty, integrity, creativity, showing diversity as the asset that it is in a global economy, and accountability for one's actions. I think those are the values that will need to be reenstilled in this organization. I would also remind you, as I'm sure Mr. Mayor, and the Vice Mayor, and the other Commissioners know, that in a service organization, which is what you have in a corporate municipality, it is the employee who is the most important asset to that organization. They're the ones that are out there on the line serving the people that have elected you, and they are the most important asset, and they need good leadership. The City Manager is responsible for that. Insofar as the community is concerned, I think the City Manager will have a role with this Commission in terms of re-enstilling confidence on the part of the citizens in their City government. I think the Manager's role is to be accessible to all sectors of the community. I think he has a job to provide you information that shows you what the cost of Miami is, compared to the competing cities in this region. That will tend to drive the organization's effort to be a low cost provider of the highest quality of service that this City can provide. And it will guide improvements in that process. At least that's been my experience. And then finally, there's some long-term issues that face most of urban America that after you really kind of solve the three that I just went over, you're going to need to concern yourself with, as, I'm sure, in my discussion with the Mayor, lie already is. The inner City, which is what Miami is, versus the regional development in this area, have got some conflicts associated with them. At least they do in Houston, where I'm working. It's extremely important that Miami retains an adequate revenue base for the basic public services that make the entire South Florida region economically competitive. And we compete with you in South Florida in Houston a lot. You're a tough competitor. That revenue base is critical. You'll need to focus long-term, as most cities will, on receiving reasonable compensation for the use of your property. And probably the most valuable property that you have are the streets in downtown Miami. They have electrical power running through them, natural gas, forms of communication. And it's those types of assets that you can capitalize in the long-term, I think, and even fret some people outside of Miami paying for the services that Miami offers when they come to work through those assets. Compensation for other City infrastructure. Possibly, compensation from nonresidents who come into the City through creative forms. You don't want to drive businesses and employers out of the City. It will have to be creative in nature. You're already working on Federal and State assistance. State assistance might be more likely than Federal, because the Federal government still just has deficits to share, but that will he an issue. The key thing for urban America is to make sure that the inner city is attractive to the middle income population. And too many inner cities have seen their middle income move to the suburbs. I've got some detail on each one of these four areas that I'll he glad to address. I have commitments in Houston tomorrow. I have to return this evening, although I had an opportunity to introduce myself to each of you recently, and have some informal discussions, which I thought were very good. It might be better at this point, Mr. Mayor, if I... if you all would like to ask me questions, or I could go ahead and go down and provide you a little bit more detail. Either way. Mayor Carollo: Well, I would prefer if you finish your presentation as you would like, and then the Commission would ask questions of you, and you could give a final presentation. Mr. Lewis: Very good, sir. I'll just kind of run through. The... As I said, the financial situation is serious but manageable. It will require political will on the part of this Commission to solve the financial problems; a lot of hard staff work, as well. As I said, Mr. Stierheim has put a menu before you that I think is substantially complete. I think there's four areas on the expense side you'll need to focus, and he's really provided you a lot of detail. Most of your expenditures are for personnel. You're going to need to focus on improving productivity, consolidating some operations, and streamlining the organization, in terms of management, administration, and that probably needs to be done in the Manager's Office, to begin with. Compensation, total compensation. How does the City of Miami employee compare to the market in this area? It 82 October 30, 1996 would seem to me you want to be right at market; not over market, and not substantially below market, but compensation is probably where most of your dollars are being spent. When I use the words, "total compensation," I'm referring to base salary, benefits, and all of those associated costs. 'You'll need to compete with the private sector, invite the private sector in to compete for services that you're providing, to be sure you're providing the lowest cost. Look at your service levels and possibly look at some innovative use of debt, whether it be equipment or restructuring what's outstanding. Revenues, there are three or four areas that you can loot: at. The accounting system and monthly financial reports are very important, I believe. As I said, the organizational challenge really involves leadership by the Manager, streamlining the administration of the City, reviewing each department's administration, possibly some consolidation, as well as some segregation of duties, and then the market comparisons. I think employee satisfaction surveys are important in terms of development. On the community, I think the Manager will need to get acquainted, if he's not local, with leaders in the business/labor neighborhood, and nonprofit sectors of your community. I believe that each department that has a significant public service responsibility should do customer service satisfaction surveys regularly. Those will also drive improvement efforts. And then the concept of the your NET councils, and those vehicles you've set up for neighborhood involvement. I've already mentioned the long-term regional issues, the State legislative action, as well as national policy. I think that pretty much covers the details that I was going to offer, and I'll be glad to try to answer your questions about my own accomplishments or experience, if you'd like. Commissioner Plummer: I have just one question which I will pose to each and every one of the (; applicants. Mr. Stierheim has indicated one of the basic problems -- excuse me -- one of the major areas that we have to address is the area of dealing with our unions. And I will ask each one of you as to what experience you have had in dealing with unions, dealing with employees, dealing with pension funds, and anything relating, since that is our main area that Mr. Stierheim has indicated that we have to address immediately. So that's a question, Mr. Mayor, I will ask of each and every candidate as they come forward. Mayor Carollo: That's fine, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: Other than that, I had the opportunity of meeting with this gentleman, I think it was last Friday, and all of the questions which I had, he had pretty well answered. I will be asking a second question of all of the individuals, and that is, that you have looked at the financial package that presently is existing, and your thoughts on the matter relating to if you were chosen here. Mr. Lewis: We did discuss that a little bit, Commissioner Plummer. Texas does not have collective bargaining for its public employees, although Mayor Linear (phonetic), who is the current Mayor of Houston, agreed to a... what is referred to as a meet and confer provision in the State law as it relates to our fire fighters. I was on the negotiating team two years ago that negotiated the first meet and confer agreement with our fire fighters. We have one large union of fire fighters, and then several smaller unions. The statutes ordered that we negotiate with the large union, and we successfully negotiated an agreement whereby we modified some titles of classifications, and got them to agree to a straight time program for overtime work. We were having difficulties in our staffing levels manning each of our apparatus with four fire fighters. That agreement resulted in being able to pay them straight time for overtime, and we were able to man every piece of apparatus at a standard of four fire fighters, which was a significant accomplishment. In the area of pensions, one of my deputies serves on our three pension boards in Houston. Those boards were not performing well in the early '90s. We have assets of roughtly two point foi.►r billion dollars ($2.4 billion). Two of the funds have what I would call modest unfunded liabilities that are being ammortized over a 27-year ammortization period called for in the statute. And one of my first budgets... my first budget put together for the City, we had to increase our pension contribution by thirteen point four million dollars ($13.4 million), 83 October 30, 1996 which was roughly half the general fund normal revenue growth that year. It was a mouthful. Since that time, we've not had a substantial increase. All three funds have been producing good yields on their investments. We've been able to withstand any increase in benefits mandated by the legislature. And I think our pension funds are in pretty good shape, partly because of the political strength of Mayor Linear, but also because or the personal relationship that my designee has with the governing bodies of each board. And the management does not control the governing bodies of those three pension funds. The most significant, I think, accomplishment that I had with regard to the unions and the employees is attacking what was the most serious financial crisis facing the City of Houston in 1992, and that was the runaway inflation in our health benefits program. Our health benefits for employees and retirees had reached a hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in 1992. We had had a 13 percent increase, a 15 percent increase, and a 17 percent increase in cost. We had a plan that was both an indemnity and HMO (health maintenance organization). We had three HMOs. We had a preferred provider system. We were not leveraging our purchasing power. It took us 17 months in two phases, with the last phase going to market and whip -sawing three of the major health care providers, signing a contract with one of them, and we dropped our cost by twenty million dollars ($20,000,000), 20 percent; elminated an eleven million dollar ($11,000,000) deficit; and got a guarantee on future cost increases, no greater than the Houston inflation rate, which at the first year, turned out to be a one percent rate, and the second year, two percent. We took most of that savings and passed it along to employees in the form of compensation increases. And that was done with all major unions involved. It took a lot of hard work. My experience has been - I didn't mean to give too long-winded of an answer, I'm sorry - is if you explain the reality to the employees and they're responsible, they'll do the right thing. Commissioner Plummer: Thank you. Commissioner Dunn: I have a question, Mr. Lewis. I'll be also posing this question to all of the prospects. What is your feeling... First of all, let me ask you, what is the makeup of Houston, racially? What is the breakdown? Mr. Lewis: Houston is a very diverse community ethnically. The Anglo population is approximately 40 percent. The African -American population is approximately 27. The Hispanic population, which is the segment of our community which is growing the most, is 28 percent, and the remaining is Asian. Commissioner Dunn: Based upon those figures, how do you see that as giving you the strength to handle the multi -ethnic population of Miami? Mr. Lewis: Well, we have a... ethnic minorities make up a majority of the City Council in Houston. And so... And as we discussed, I think that you can... you effectively relate to all sectors of the community by showing respect for their views, and then ensuring that the organization mirrors the work force or the constituency that it serves ethnically. And I've... And you put your money where your mouth is. The City of Houston this past year increased our DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprises) goals, because we had a disparity study that justified an increase in those goals during a time when most of the country was considering rolling back those goals. It took political courage on the Mayor's part to do that, but it was the right thing to do, and it was passed unanimously by the 15 members of the City Council. Commissioner Dunn: Another question. There was a recent decision by the Supreme Court regarding affirmative action here in Dade County. What would your posture or position be on that, related to the City of Miami? Mr. Lewis: Well, we're a nation of laws, not of men. And so I think it's very important to follow the law. I think to the extent that the law allows for the Chief Executive to employee 84 October 30, 1996 people so that we mirror the constituency or the work force that we're drawing from, it would be my goal to do that. Mayor Carollo: I like that last statement that you made, that we're a nation of laws, and not of men. Vice Mayor Gort. Vice Mayor Gort: I've met with the gentleman. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Regalado: Well, I had the opportunity of talking to Mr. Lewis for, I think, almost j two hours, and I really enjoyed his presence. And I think that we pretty much covered everything in that meeting. So I would just go ahead and give the mike to the Mayor. Commissioner Plummer: I think one of the questions that was asked this morning needs to be asked of each one of you, also, and that is, if you were to be chosen, how soon could you come to work? Mr. Lewis: The... We have a lot of depth in our organization. I think it could be relatively soon. j Commissioner Plummer: Soon, two days, two weeks, two months? What is soon? Mr. Lewis: I would say probably between two weeks and 30 days, if we could agree upon terms. Commissioner Plummer: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Houston has a population of about a million and three quarters, approximately, correct? Mr. Lewis: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: What is the present budget of Houston? How many employees does it have? Mr. Lewis: Approximately a two point one billion dollar ($2.1 billion) budget, not doing any double counting in terms of the funds. Twenty-four thousand employees. Commissioner Plummer: Same as the County. Mayor Carollo: And how large of the... 22,000 employees, how many of those are in the Police Department? How large of a police force do you have? Mr. Lewis: Approximately seven thousand. Mayor Carollo: How about the Fire Department? Mr. Lewis: It's going to be closer to 3,500. Mayor Carollo: Thirty-five hundred. Mr. Lewis: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: Is your Solid Waste Department done by the City of Houston, or is it privatized? 85 October 30, 1996 Mr. Lewis: In Houston, the City is only responsible for the single-family residential units on public streets. That's about 350,000 units. Of that 350,000, approximately 90,000 are contracted with the private sector, either through community associations or through direct contracts with private haulers. Mayor Carollo: Can you go over again your total years as a public administrator? Mr. Lewis: Yes, sir, be glad to. I graduated from what is called now the University of North Texas in 1974 with a political science degree; began work for Dallas County in January of 1975 in the old CETA (Comprehensive Employment Training Act) Program; began writing criminal justice grants for the. Sheriff, District Attorney, courts in Dallas County; was promoted to Assistant Bi.idget Officer. In Texas, at that time, County Auditors, who were appointed by District Judges prepared the budget. And Dallas was the first County in the State that got a separate Budget Officer accountable to a Commission. Was acting budget director, and then finally promoted to be what was called the Commissioners' Court Administrator, which was like the Chief of Staff for a Commission. And that Commission exercised both executive and legislative authority. My most significant accomplishments, I feel, in Dallas County, was the reorganization of the administrative departments under the Commission. We brought in new professional management. In those days, County government was referred to by the National Association of Counties as the "dark continent of American politics." And it was a very fertile ground for innovation. We also established the first five-year financial planning process that integrated annual budgets in, with an update of the financial, long-range financial plans. And I think the third thing I would say was the certification of the County Jail System, which had been under Federal court and out... and in violation. And I was instrumental in working with the Sheriff's Office, which is like working with the Pentagon, to get that accomplished. I left the County and went to work for the City of Dallas in the first line job I ever had. I had been in staff jobs at the County. And they had a 1980 court system that was of a 1950 vintage, in terms of systems. And we had 200 employees. We renovated the facility; consolidated 3,000,000 records into about 400,000; changed the docketing policy; and just overhauled the whole thing. And I was just amazed at what a small group of people could do in a very short period of time. And then I ran that for a period of time. And then they put me over in the Health Department as Acting Director. And then I was humped upstairs to he Assistant City Manager. In the spring of '96, the economy took a nose dive in Dallas. We had a sales tax shortfall. I told, I think, most of the members of the Commission; I think I have the record of the shortest tenure of an Assistant City Manager in Dallas' history. I was reassigned as part of a down -sizing move. The Manager needed to do... set the tone for the next budget year. I merged the building and fleet operation, and ran that for about six months till I was offered a job. He had promised to bring me back. He left to go run the Metropolitan Transit Authority. I was somewhat bored. I was offered twice my pay to go to Houston with a State law firm that does property tax collections, ran their Houston operation for two years, ran their statewide marketing effort for a year and a half, and then took a position as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Houston. I might add that the relationship between the law firm and the City was not real good. They ended up in litigation because of a performance guarantee contract, but the City had enough, I would say, a high enough opinion of me that they hired me for a senior executive level. And when my boss left after Mayor Linear was elected, the Mayor asked me if I would take it on for a while. And it was a good fit, and here I am today. I might add, and I think I told each one of you, but for the public, in 1992, the... as a result of a referendum for term limitation purposes, the Charter of Houston was amended to limit the terms to three two-year terms. Mayor Linear was elected at that time, and he will leave office unless the Charter is amended, or the statute is... unless there is a preemptive statute approved by the next session of legislature, which could happen. But he will be leaving office in December of 1997. And so I'm in the market. Strong Mayor form of government. There is some vulnerability for senior executives, and Miami is the size of City that would be good to move into. 86 October 30, 1996 Mayor Carollo: Any further questions from the members of the Commission? Commissioner Plummer: Nope. Mayor Carollo: Hearing none, let me turn it around, and let me ask you if you have any questions of us. I think it's only fair to have a two-way question and answer session. Mr. Lewis: I think I got most of my substantive questions answered. I would ask... I've been following you in the newspapers. I would ask what type of... What kind of process do you see going forward from today, Mayor? Mayor Carollo: The process that I would like to see is for, at the end of today's session, is for the Commission to choose either two or three finalists, whereas we would have an additional opportunity where members of the Commission can meet individually again with the finalists later this evening, tomorrow, he able to call any of your City fathers where you work at for any reference that members of the Commission would like to have, and bring this whole process to a head by Friday, unless there are three votes on this Commission that feel otherwise. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I think Friday or Monday, either one. Monday doesn't make any difference. Mayor Carollo: Friday is the day that I'm looking at, Commissioner, but if there are two other votes that.. or three other votes who feel differently... Commissioner Plummer: No. The only thing I'm thinking is, you know, once in a while, we got to work. Mayor Carollo: I thought you were telling me that business was slow, people were living longer. Commissioner Plummer: People are dying today that never died before. Commissioner Dunn: Let the dead bury the dead. Commissioner Plummer: I hear you. It really... Well, between you and I, Dunn, we cover them from birth to earth. Don't worry about it. You know, I really don't see any big difference between Friday and Monday. It's over the weekend. And what I'm looking at is... And I think it's very, very important, and I asked for it this morning, and I thank you for sending it to me. You faxed it over. I think it's very, very important that we be able to have the opportunity to contact people that you have worked with out there, and to get their opinion. It's not going to be any problem for the two people that are here locally. I think we know most of the people they deal with, and we know how to get in touch with them immediately. But I do feel that the others, I think that, you know, that we need the time to, in fact, be able to sit down or try to reach these people and try to get some kind of a conclusion. If we can do that by Friday, that's fine. But if we can't, I don't see a difference with Monday. Mayor Carollo: Well, we'll finish our discussions between ourselves.... Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. Mayor Carollo: ... when we're done interviewing everyone else. Mr. Lewis: That was the only question I had. I'm almost sorry I asked, but I appreciate the answer, sir. 87 October 30, 1996 Commissioner Plummer: At the very latest, it will be Christmas, but that doesn't mean it can't be Friday. Mayor Carollo: Any additional questions that you might have that we might make this easier for you? Commissioner Plummer: Oh, I'm sorry, excuse me, Mayor. You didn't answer my question in reference to compensation. I don't know if you were avoiding it... Mr. Lewis: No, I wasn't. I was just trying to be brief. Your prior City Manager... Commissioner Plummer: I don't want you to be brief on one of the most important subjects. Mr. Lewis: OK. Mayor Carollo: Well, the truth of the matter is, Commissioner, I think that that's really an area that he understands what the previous City Manager was making, and that's really an area that I think we touched upon this morning, that whoever we choose will then be meeting with the people that we have designated to negotiate that for this Commission and bring it back to us. I think we're jumping the gun on that. Commissioner Plummer: No, no. You misread my question. My question was, had he seen the package that is presently the compensation package that the previous Manager had? Mr. Lewis: No, sir. I just knew what his salary was. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Thank you. Mr. Lewis: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: Thank you very much. Mr. Lewis: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: You will be around until one tomorrow? Mr. Lewis: No, sir. I mentioned that during my break. I have some commitments tomorrow I was not able to reschedule. Mayor Carollo: OK. So you will be leaving early in the morning tomorrow. Mr. Lewis: Yes, sir. But I can be reached by phone either this evening or in the morning. Mayor Carollo: OK. Have you left the Commissioners the hotel where you will be staying at tonight, in case anyone else would like to... Mr. Lewis: No. I'm leaving this evening. Mayor Carollo: OK, you're leaving this evening. Mr. Lewis: Yes, sir. I was unable to reschedule some commitments I had tomorrow, but I am available by phone. Mayor Carollo: OK. Surely. Well, I think in your case, each of us was able to meet with your previously. 88 October 30, 1996 �i Mr. Lewis: I was able to introduce myself and have some informal discussions with each member of the Commission. Mayor Carollo: Yeah, last week. Mr. Lewis: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: Certainly. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Lewis, for coming. We're very impressed with your resume. Thank you. Mr. Lewis: Thank you very much, sir. Commissioner Dunn: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: OK. We're going to wait... Actually, let's take a short recess while we're waiting here for the next candidate to be brought down to us by Mr. Connelly. THEREUPON THE CITY COMMISSION WENT INTO RECESS AT 5:16 P.M. AND RECONVENED AT 5:18 P.M., WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION FOUND TO BE PRESENT. Mr. Connelly: Edward Marquez, Finance Director of Metropolitan Dade County. Mr. Edward Marquez: Good afternoon. Mayor Carollo: Ed, feel free to give as long a presentation as you like. And once you're done, the Commission would ask questions of you. And then we will go back and give you time for a final presentation or rebuttal, if we could call it that. Mr. Marquez: OK. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, Honorable Commissioners, citizens and employees of the City of Miami, my name is Edward Marquez, and I appreciate the opportunity to answer your questions regarding my credentials to serve as your City Manager. For background purposes, I would like to answer three questions first: Who am I? Why should... Why do I want to be your City Manager? Why should you want me to serve in that capacity? So who am I? I was born 43 years ago in New York City. My father, God rest his soul, immigrated to New York from Cuba in the late 1940s. In the early '50s, lie met my mother, and I was the first of three sons born to them. Up until the age of 14, I grew up in an area called West Harlem, which was a low to moderate income neighborhood. What that community lacked in economic clout, it made up for in richness of diversity. It was multicultural, multiethnic, and multiracial. I was lucky to have grown up in that area, because it taught me early on that people of different backgrounds could live and work in peace and harmony. My family moved to Miami in 1967. I was educated at Miami High... Miami Central High. Commissioner Plummer: Uh-oh, you lost Willy and I. Mr. Marquez: Sorry. Miami Central. Go, Rockets. Commissioner Plummer: You had us and lost us. Mr. Marquez: The University of Florida, and then at Florida International University. For the past 20 years, I have worked at Metro -Dade County, first serving in several auditing capacities, and then moving on to other financial areas of the County. For the past ten years, I have been the Finance Director, otherwise known as the Chief Financial Officer of the County. I am married to a wonderful lady. I have two sons, ages nine and 1.5, and I'm happy to say that my wife and I are expecting a little girl in the next. couple of weeks. The next question that I want to answer is: Why do I want to be your City Manager? I thought long; and hard about it. And I guess the answer is really surprisingly simple. I get passionate over professional challenges. And if nothing else, the situation here at the City of Miami will, indeed, be a challenge in the upcoming couple or years. The City is faced with a sixty-eight million dollar ($68,000,000) deficit, of which approximately forty-six million is recurring in nature. This is a huge fiscal and financial problem, in light of the fact that the overall budget for the City is approximately two hundred and seventy-five million dollars ($275,000,000) annually. It has also been said that the City faces a managerial crisis within its ranks. These two problems alone would challenge anyone's professional abilities. So why should you want me as your City Manager? I have worked in an organization that dealt with Countywide problems for 20 years. I am a wholehearted believer that what is good for the City of Miami is good for the rest of Dade County, and that the City of Miami is the very heart of the County. And as you know, as the heart goes, so goes the rest of the body. I have a proven track record of fiscal responsibility and successes within the County. For example, despite 'Hurricane Andrew, the County was able to maintain its credit rating of Al and A -plus. I have effectively managed the 300-plus professional staff whose composition reflects this community's rich cultural diversity. Over the years, I have provided direction and support for a number of capital and operational initiatives within the County's solid waste system, seaport and airport developments, and the soon to be Performing Arts Center, only to name a few. I have also helped develop competitive and fair procurement practices in the County for auditing and underwriting services. And in regards to professional services, I have been the lead negotiator in several of the County's major fiscal ' contracts. I have served as part of the senior management team for Dade County over the past ten years. I have worked under Sergio Perreira, Joaquin Avino, and now under Armado Vidal, Merrett Stierheim was there when I was first hired on in the Auditing Department. As a result of these fine individuals and their management techniques, I have been effectively trained to bring forward recommendations to the legislative body in an apolitical and in an unemotional fashion. The City of Miami critically neecis a professional Manager who can bring these qualities to the table. Finally, but most important, this body and this community needs a City Manager who believes that the joh to be done, is more important than the position to be occupied. The City needs a person who is willing and talented enough to bring forth all viable options to solve the City's problems, irrespective of their individual popularity. In other words, you may not always like what I have to tell you, but you will always know that I am giving you my best professional opinion at all times. Now, I'll be happy to answer any and all questions that you may have. Mayor Carollo: All right. We'll start with Commissioner Plummer and work our way down. Commissioner Plummer: My three questions are the same to you as all others. Number one, what dealings have you had with unions, and employees, and pensions? Second of all, are you familiar with the pay package that is presently on the table? Just familiar with it. And I don't need from you the names of your Council. I think I know them. And if you were chosen, how soon could you start? Mr. Marquez: Let me start with the last question first. If chosen, I would prefer to give... I would like to give the County one month's notice, and then I can start the very next day. However, given the state of... the nature of the crisis here at the City, I'm sure something else could be worked out between the County management and City management. In regards to employee negotiations and pension workups, I'm a CPA (certified public accuontant). I am a CPA. I've got a tremendous fiscal background. So none of the numbers involved with those type of negotiations would scare me. I have not had one-to-one firsthand knowledge in the type of dealings. And your third question, I believe you already answered. You know who the Council members are. 90 October 30, 1996 i Commissioner Plummer: Well, you are familiar, somewhat, with the pay package that is { presently on the table? Not that I'm here to negotiate it, but, I mean, you know what is there now? Mr. Marquez: Would you care to elaborate because I'm not familiar... Commissioner Plummer: Well, what the salary ranges are, and things of that nature. Mr. Marquez: No, sir, I don't. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I think Mr. Stierheim should tell you, not me. But it can be done { later. (' Mayor Carollo: Well, Mr. Marquez, basically, what the Commissioner is saying is if you are aware of the salary that the former City Manager was making, which I'm sure you are, since you live in Dade County. It's approximately almost a hundred and seventeen thousand. The package of benefits, I'm sure, was at least similar to Dade County's, if not more than what Dade County is giving. So those are areas that if, indeed, you are chosen, whoever is chosen by this Commission, the City will negotiate with you. We have assigned Merrett Stierheim with the City Attorney and Mr. Connelly from Korn Ferry to do those negotiations for us. Mr. Marquez: I look forward to negotiating in good faith. Mayor Carollo: Very good. Vice Mayor Gort. Vice Mayor Gort: I had one question. Most of them have been asked by the other Commissioners. My question is, you, as the Finance Director of the County, I imagine you work with all the departments in preparing the budget, that you get an opportunity to work with all the directors from the different departments, when you put your budget together for the County? Mr. Marquez: When I... Over at the County, the main budget accumulation job belongs to the Budget Director, who is an officer in the Office of the County Manager. My dealings with all departments are more of a long-term nature. I'm more concerned about their fiscal well being today and how they will look like five, ten years out into the future. My functions in a planning, long-term planning mode. And yes, I do work with a number of departments. Vice Mayor Gort: Do you coordinate their performance according to the budget? Is that what you... then you plan ahead? Mr. Marquez: Well, when it comes down to comparing it to the capital plan, yes. But when it comes to the operating budget, no. That's always been a function of the Budget Department. Vice Mayor Gort: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner Dunn. Commissioner Dunn: To maintain consistency, I indicated to... and I indicatd to you earlier my concern about your specific department. What is the racial makeup of your department? Mr. Marquez: As of last year, my department was the only one in Dade County that perfectly matched the racial makeup of the entire County. We have that racial makeup pretty much throughout the levels of management within the department. That's something I'm very proud of. I'm a firm believer in hiring the best possible people that you can for the job, but I'm also a 91 October 30, 1996 is firm believer that you're allowed to stack the deck. For instance, if I needed to employ someone of a particular nature in order to make my numbers look better, in order to be better reflective of the community, I would actively look at... recruit people of high quality that can fit into that position. Commissioner Dunn: OK. Thank you. Let me just ask another question. I support and I kind of agree with Commissioner Plummer. I looked at your base salary, and this may be premature and somewhat unfair, but suppose we. don't come up all the way. Would that present a problem for you? Mr. Marquez: Commissioner, it's awfully hard to be negotiating here in the public forum. Commissioner Dunn: Sure, sure. Mayor Carollo: That's what I was saying. i Mr. Marquez: And I think that's a little... little difficult on us all. Mayor Carollo: Yeah. It's very unfair, really, to do it with anyone here. f Mr. Marquez: Everything is negotiable. Commissioner Plummer: Well, that's why I asked just had he seen the package, and knows j exactly what is in the package today, you know. Because I think it's very, very important, 6 because any package that is negotiated has got to be brought back here for approval. Mr. Marquez: Absolutely. Commissioner Plummer: So, you know, I've just... Mayor Carollo: Well, I, again, will say what I said this morning. We could pay someone what we paid Mr. Odio or less and get what Mr. Odio gave us, if that's what we want. Commissioner Dunn: No, no, that's not. Mayor Carollo: I'm sure that's not the case. Commissioner Dunn: Surely. Commissioner Plummer: We could pay more and get more... problems. Commissioner Regalado: I have a question for Mr. Marquez. When we talk about the City government, you said that you'd be working first with numbers, but there are a lot of City employees that are concerned about the policies of their would-be new Manager. So if we were to cut services, what would be your criteria? Mr. Marquez: The number one criteria for the services that are remaining, that the City Administration does the hest possible job that it can. And that means staffing accordingly. In regards to the City employees and the work that's going to be necessary in the management ranks, I think it's going to be beneficial in the long term for the employees to have, from the top down, a level of professionalism installed. I mean, that's where you learn... that's how you get disciplined in being the best that you can be for the citizens of the City. You look up above, and you must have confidence in your superiors, in your bosses. And I plan on setting the example by working long and hard, and showing to them what professionalism is. 92 October 30, 1996 Mayor Carollo: Mr. Marquez, the City Manager, Mr. Stierheim, has stated today that what the City of Miami is facing is a financial and management crisis. I very much agree with him. While any expertise that anyone might have on negotiating contracts with unions is a plus, we're not looking for someone to be a union negotiator or to play Jimmy Hoffa. We should have people, as Mr. Stierheim brought in, precisely to help in those negotiations that specialize in that field. The main thing we're looking for is someone that has key experience in the two areas that we need to resolve the crisis that the City has, which is the financial and management crisis. You have served approximately for nine and a half, ten years as the Finance Director of Dade County. Are those numbers correct, approximately? Mr. Marquez: Correct. Ten years come January. Mayor Carollo: It will be ten years. Prior to that, you were the Assistant Finance Director? Mr. Marquez: For one month. I was Controller for about five years. Mayor Carollo: And then you were the Controller for approximately five years. Mr. Marquez: Min-hmm. Mayor Carollo: OK. I'm just trying to go back through his record. What do you feel are the strongest areas that you can provide to this City in your background? Mr. Marquez: Again, focusing on the City's two major problems, where I will bring substantial strength is the ability to plan long-term your fiscal affairs. I think the City must know where it's going in order to figure out all of the individual steps to get there, and that has to be done on a fiscal basis. I think also, in a fiscal basis, I have had extensive relationships over the years with the rating agencies. The CPA background helps in everything fiscal that you do. In the managerial area, I have served as a Manager of people for the last ten years... actually longer. I handled the Controller's Division, which employed 60 people... 60, 70 people. I've been a Manager of the Finance Department now for ten years, which manages 300 people, of different levels, different types. You know, yes, the City government would be much bigger in nature than my one department. But I don't... I, as City Manager, will not be managing each individual within the City. I, also, as Manager, would not be doing each and every function within the City. I would attempt, first of all, to surround myself with competent people that will carry out the professional training that may be necessary throughout the departments. These are my strengths. You know, I know where I'm weak, and I can look at that and supplement accordingly. Mayor Carollo: Any further questions by the Commission? Are there any questions that you might have of the Commission as a whole? Mr. Marquez: No, sir. I've talked to each of you individually, and I pretty well... hope I understand where you're at. Mayor Carollo: OK. Any final statements that you would like to make to the Commission? Mr. Marquez: Deep down in your hearts, you're going to have to ask yourselves who you need... who is your choice of City Manager. I request that you pick someone that you honestly will work with on a one-to-one basis, and as a group. The City Manager, your next City Manager is not going to solve the problems if the City by himself. It's going to be a team effort. It's going to be a team effort between the City Manager and the Commission, the City Attorney, the City Clerk, and the population. You're going to have to get resources from the outside, as well. So just whoever you select - and I hope I'm the one - but whoever you do select, select someone that you can work with. Thank you. 93 October 30, 1996 Mayor Carollo: Thank you very much for your time and interest, Mr. Marquez. OK. The next candidate that we will be interviewing will be Ronald Rabun. If Mr. Connelly could start bringing him down, we'll just wait a few minutes, in recess for a few minutes until he gets here. Commissioner Plummer: Are the other two here, Joe, from Washington, D.C.? Is he here in the City? Mayor Carollo: I believe that out of the last three, at least two are here. Commissioner Plummer: Which one is not? Mayor Carollo: I think the last one out of Washington, D.C.... Commissioner Plummer: That's the two I haven't met. I haven't met the one from Washington... Mayor Carollo: The one from Washington, I'm not sure if he's withdrawn or not. I need to verify that, and have Mr. Connelly tell us. Vice Mayor Gort: I got a pocket item. Mayor Carollo: You want to do a pocket item? Vice Mayor Gort: Yeah. Mayor Carollo: Sure, go ahead. Vice Mayor Gort: This is an event that we approved with a resolution. You all have a copy. ! Commissioner Plummer: We better check. This is a special session. I don't think you should be bringing up pocket items. Vice Mayor Gort: Can't? OK, never mind. Bring it back on the 21st. THEREUPON THE CITY COMMISSION WENT INTO RECESS AT 5:39 P.M. AND RECONVENED AT 5:44 P.M., WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION FOUND TO BE PRESENT. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner Plummer, back to the dais, please, so we can proceed. Commissioner Dunn. Commissioner Plummer: So actually... Am I going to assume this is the last one? Because the other one... Washington, D.C. is not here, I'm told. Mayor Carollo: There's one more. Commissioner Plummer: Oh, all right. Oh. You can count to five? Mayor Carollo: No. Commissioner Plummer: I can't. 94 October 30, 1996 Mayor Carollo: Now we know how Deloitte Touche got in. Commissioner Plummer: Well, you called me out here for what? Mayor Carollo: OK. We're ready to go. Mr. Connelly: Mayor Carollo and members of the Commission, I'd like you to meet Ron Rabun. He recently served as County Manager, Seminole County, Florida. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Rabun, welcome. 4 Mr. Ronald Rabun: Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. I'd like to bring you up to date on my current situation since I was first contacted by Korn Ferry and Toni regarding this position. I'm no longer County Manager of Seminole County. As of the 22nd of October, I resigned. I'm still an employee until November 22nd, helping them with transition matters, but I'm no longer the County Manager of Seminole County. Let me tell you a little bit about why that is. After almost six years in my current position, I began about a year ago thinking about other opportunities and other challenges. And I was recruited, for instance, by... recruited for a consolidated metro government position in Agusta, Georgia. And then having looked at that position, and looked at this one, too, being attractive, after having been contacted by Korn Ferry, I discussed this with my Chairman. And he felt uncomfortable with the new incoming Commission with a search ongoing. And I felt that I wanted to approach with vigor the Miami position. So I felt it was best, under the j circumstances, that I resign my position in Seminole County, so I could approach this job with gusto. So consequently, if chosen, I'd be able to report right away. So I wanted to bring you up to date on my current situation. Commissioner Plummer: Excuse me. I'm sorry. And maybe I'm confused by too many individuals. Did you not make some comment to me when you met with me about Daytona Beach? Mr. Rabun: No. Commissioner Plummer: You did not. Mr. Rabun: Well, Valusia County. Valusia County. Commissioner Plummer: Oh, OK. That's Daytona. That you couldn't... That it was the most unique scenario, that when you went to negotiations - and I think this is important - that when you went to negotiations, you couldn't negotiate with them, and that's why you dropped out of that picture. Is that a true statement? Mr. Rabun: Yeah. That was about... That was about a year and a half ago. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Mr. Rabun: Yes. Commissioner Plummer: But that was... I thought my memory was about right. OK. Thank you. Mr. Rabun: Yes, sir. You're welcome. But that's my current situation. A little bit more about myself, so that you, perhaps, would know more about me as... I'm a family man, wife, three children, school age, middle school, high school. Navy veteran, a combination of active and 95 October 30, 1996 [i reserve. I spent about ten years in both sides of that, four years active and about six years in reserve duty. Master's degree in public administration. I've had 18 years of increasingly responsible experience in City and County government positions. I've been in both. I've been on both sides of the fence. I've been in major metropolitan areas, Atlanta, Sarasota, Tampa Bay, Orlando. I've served time in the City of Clearwater, as well. The kinds of skills I think that I bring to this position that would he applicable is, first of all,l I'm familiar with all the traditional aspects of City and County management, from the water and sewer, sanitation issues, public works, parks, police and fire, these hasic kinds of services. Beyond the basic kinds of services, I'm also familiar with the nontraditional kinds of services. Electric, gas, convention center, tourism, economic development, professional baseball - in Clearwater, we had the Phillies - international sports. In Seminole County, we have the headquarters for the U.S. Women's Soccer Association. Not only their team trains there, but all their administrative facilities are three, too. And we host the Swedish, Irish, German teams and all. So we have an international flair to our community, international sports. International trade and development. Recent trade missions that I have been on to Spain with my board, trips to Ireland, and also upcoming trips to the Netherlands. So we have international exposure in the Orlando area in tourism, much like, I believe, that you also have here in Miami. So I think those are applicable kinds of things. Looking at what I would, specifically, beyond that basic kind of experience, bring to Miami, if chosen for this position, what I think I bring to Miami is integrity and energy. I'm a full member of the ICMA (International City Managers Association). I subscribe to the International City and County Management Code of Ethics. I believe in doing things the right way. That's the only way to do things. I believe in pursuing a job with energy, vision, and to do it and do it right. Diversity, I have the kinds of diversity of experiences with all kinds of populations and ethnic groups, linving worked in Orlando, having served in the Navy. It's a great melting pot, as well. And the time that I spent there, I think, is very important to get to understand all kinds of people. I'm a seasoned professional who has not only observed and worked in government, but I have occupied the CEO's chair For 17 years. When I first got in as a... into City government, I was an assistant, and after less than one year, I was placed In as City Manager, in a position in South Georgia. So I have been in that CEO chair. I have not just observed it or been an assistant. I have been in that CEO chair. So I think I know something about the heat of that chair. I think I know something about the tough decisions that must be made in that chair, and I have made those kinds of decisions. I have operated in a crisis atmosphere in other jurisdictions. I can recount stories of coming into the Metropolitan Atlanta government when our budget was basically in a shoe box. We were borrowing money from the bank to make payments for payroll. And our banks informed us that we could no longer do that, we were going to have to do someting about that. We turned that government around. We began to bring in economic development. We became the surprise coir,munity South Atlanta. And it was sort of like the Butch Cassidy and Sun Dance Kid Movie, "Who are those guys?" We began bringing in development, we began scoring with industry, and so we turned that government around that was in crisis. I have done that. I did that with some skill, some vision, and also some hands-on experience. If I'm hired for this kind of... this position here, I will not just delegate and lose control or lose knowledge. I will make sure that accountability is maintained. I will make sure that I have the knowledge of reports, that things come hack to me. I don't believe in losing touch, and losing road feel, and not knowing what's going on. You can get in trouble that way. So I would he the kind of Manager who understands strategic issues, but also understands the details. I will he familiar with that. If necessary, to understand what makes a service work or not work, I'll get out in the field. I have done that. I'll ride a garbage truck or a fire truck to find out what the issues are out in the field, so I can see what's going on myself. It also helps to get away from the desk, I find, periodically, to get rid of some of the tunnel vision. You can get tunnel vision staying at a desk too much. So I will know what those issues are, and I will know where our problems are in Miami. I believe that I possess very strong communications skills. I communicate well with the media. I communicate well in groups, and one-on-one interviews. I like to do that. I enjoy... I do not have to drag myself to a podium or to a speech, or to a community meeting. I enjoy doing that. I think that government has an obligation to make itself 96 October 30, 1996 available to the citizens. It needs to be open door, accessible and out there. I think people need to know what government is doing. So il' I'm chosen for this position, I will be an ambassador for you out in the community, to let you know that government cares, government has a human face, and government wants to run like a business. Because there's no reason why government can't run like a business. The private sector has no monopoly on management skill or expertise. It's human beings, and it's the style of tile. organization, and it's the management expertise of the organization and those people. So I would want to run government like any good business should be run. I've been involved in some pretty innovative programs, some pretty innovative practices. I've received.., and you'll note in my resume area several awards from Florida League of Cities, National Association of Counties for cost savings, consolidation of services, those kinds of things, combining departments, privatization. And to give you a quick example of something that we've clone in Seminole County, when I came to Seminole County, we had 17 + department heads. We now have nine. So collapsing, consolidating those departments, giving people more responsibility, and then making them accountable has saved us dollars. And the r span of control is improved. People are busier, and we're Netting more work out of our people, and we're doing it with less overhead and less bureaucracy, less levels of people. And to show you how that has played out and what some of the numbers are, I... We compare ourselves in the Central Florida area, and as well as with other comparable signed counties. And I'll read some I, as our expenditures in Seminole County, we have statistics to you quickly here. Per capit j thirteen hundred and sixty-six dollars ($1366) we spend on a per capita basis. Compare that to Lee County, of twenty-seven-o-nine; compare that to Orange County, of twenty-two-o-two, and Sarasota, of fifteen forty-two. Thirteen sixty-six. That's a good low number. Per capita employees, per 10,000, in Lee County, there's 86.2; Orange, 109.7; Sarasota, 100.3; Seminole, 64.7. So 64 compared to 109 is pretty good. We're pretty lean and mean there, and proud of it. We've done a lot of things with that. I specialized in financial management, organizational improvement and development, getting more out of less. In my entire career, I've never had a blank check. I've never had a box of money that I could go fishing out of. So I've always had to do it the right way, and do it in an efficient way. I've done that, and I can do it here. One of the things that I want to point out to you, I believe, though, that in spite of financial skills, or in spite of the ability of this City to get itself out of debt, I think you have to have a prescription for staying out of debt. Because I think you can turn this financial corner. I think you've turned it in the past, as I've looked at the... as I've looked at the experience of the City. There have been various times that money has been raised. There have been various times that financial solutions have been found, but only to wither away, perhaps, in lack of management oversight and accountability. I'll pledge to this hoard, if I'm hired, once the financial crisis is turned, and I will i help you turn it, too, I w►Ii emthis from ploy and apply management techniques that will keep happening again. Employees need to know what their job is, their accountability and their responsibility to perform, to put out the kind of effort and to be the best. There's no reason for Miami to be second hest to anybody. Miami ought to he a premier City in Florida. There's no reason for... You don't deserve this kind of reputation. Your employees and your government need a different kind of reputation. You must not just find a temporary solution. You've got to put a permanent solution in place. And I believe that underpinning your financial solution, it can be and should be underpinned with good, strong management practices, demanding a good day's work for a dollar paid. That kind of thing has been a hallmark of mine, as well, and that can cement your success into place. I think ahead. I anticipate. I don't rest and say, boy, this is nice, the phone is not ringing today very much, I can sort of escape, maybe I can play golf. I want to think ahead, anticipate problems, and be curious, be curious about things, plan ahead. I bring you a broad experience. I bring you international experience. I bring you tourism, economic development. I bring you hard nuts and bolts know-how. I bring you enough, I think, fire in the belly and stiffness in the spine to get the job done. I've sat in the hot seat. I've served as captain of the ship, and I think I know how to drive it, with a good Commission behind and good support. I think that the ship can he run into safe harbor. If given the chance, I'd like to show you how to do that. I'm available for any questions that you may have. 97 October 30, 1996 1i W Mayor Carollo: We'll start with Commissioner Plummer. Commissioner Plummer: The same questions of you as the others. Actually, three questions and a request. I'd like you to go a little bit more in-depth as to your ability to deal with the unions and the employees, in general. Second, have you seen the pay package that is presently on the table for the City? And thirdly, if you were to be chosen, when could you start. And the fourth is a request that you forward to this, all of us - I ask in my name, but all of us - the names and phone numbers of your present council, so we could check with them and get recommendations from them. Mr. Rabun: Yes, sir. Ability to deal with the unions. I have, since my time in Florida here, and I've been here now for 11 years, have dealt with unions in every position. So I do know how to deal with the unions. I understand collective bargaining. I believe you should engage in hard but fair bargaining. i don't believe you should treat your union people any different than anybody else. But when they come to the table as a union, then they need to earn their keep. They don't need a free ride. They need to explain their positions, and start from ground zero, and see what they can ge. et. And it's nCumbent on management to deal with the unions in a fair, but I think a tough way, as well. So I have dealt with unions, from teamsters to police unions, all up and down the line, and I think successfully. In Manatee County, for instance, we did some things from a management perspective there that caused the union to decertify. It was the teamsters at the time. They decided they believed enough in management's ability to be responsive that they decertified, and decided they didn't need an extra layer, because there is an extra layer between management and employees when you have the unions. Pay package for the City Manager, I'm aware it approximately has been... for Mr. ©dio, it was approximately a hundred forty thousand base. When I can start? I'm available. As I indicated earlier on, I could start... It would take a Couple weeks, I'm sure, to get organized, but basically, I would hit the transition spots, and I understand, with Mr. Stierheim's departure so there could be a little bit of transition between he and i. So right away. And yes, from the standpoint of names, phone numbers, those kinds of things, I have some of those with me now from a reference perspective that I can get for all councilmen. Commissioner Plummer: Why don't you give them to Mr. Stierheim, who can forward it to each and every one of us, so we can have that opportunity tomorrow. Thank you. Mr. Rabun: You're welcome. Mayor Carollo: Vice Mayor Gort. Vice Mayor Gort: I had a chance to meet with the gentleman, and we spent a few minutes together, but I have one question that you have addressed a little bit. And you're right, this is a problem that goes way back. And at one time, the City had an unfunded liability of about two hundred and thirty million dollars ($230,000,000). What would you do to make sure that this would not happen again? Mr. Rabun: I think you have set into motion a five-year plan. You need to have an advanced capital budget and operating budget projections. You need to know where you're headed, what the cost is going to be for running government. And that way, you have a prescription, you have a blueprint, you know what you're doing in advance. You cannot plan one year at a time and know where you're at. You've got to look at your costs down the line. And if you set those things into a five-year plan, you'll have a lot of strategies that go along with that. It gives you that extended vision. Vice Mayor Gort: Thank you. 98 October 30, 1996 _ 1 Mayor Carollo: Any further questions? Commissioner Dunn. Commissioner Dunn: The question that I raised in the meeting with you and also to the other prospects is, what is the basic racial makeup of Seminole County, and how do you see that as a strength or a weakness in helping you address the proble►ns that we face here in this multiethnic City? Mr. Rabun: Well, in Seminole County, the racial diversity is not as great as it is in other areas that I have worked. Our present black population is about ten percent. Our Hispanic population is about seven and is growing. But in jurisdictions where I have worked before, in Atlanta as well as Clearwater, there were much higher percentages. So again, I'm familiar with race, with issues of diversity, and I'm experienced in those. I'm comfortable along those lines. I'm i comfortable with all community groups, and I understand and believe that what community ' groups want is a stake in the economy, a stake in their City, a stake in their County, and an opportunity to be treated fairly, and to have an opportunity to partake of the American dream, and a piece of that pie. And I think that's all the people want. They want the opportunity to work for receiving benefits, but they want a level playing field. So I believe very much in that. And I believe that my service experience, from a very early age, at 18, when I joined the Navy, I think is a wonderful laboratory and a levelling experience for anybody to go through. Because there, everyone is the same. And so I can deal with those issues, I think, with fairness, sensitivity, kindness, and good common sense. MayorCarollo: Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Regalado: You have worked in consolidating some departments, and also I reducing work force. Of course, When a new Manager comes into a City, especially in these times, there are some departments that feel that they'd be hurt. What would be your priority in i terms of departments or privatizing, or consolidation? i Mr. Rabun: I would want to look very closely at consolidation of like services. I believe that form can follow function, and should. There are many operations under a public works operation that probably should go together. When you look at those kinds of things, you can simply reduce your management overhead and place the right kinds of people in those positions, and have the accountability. Privatization is something that should be looked at. The more... The buzz word today is competition. However, it's not automatically a privatization thing, but it's a matter of competition. And sometimes, the City or the County forces can do it just as cheaply. And if given the opportunity, with real hard numbers, to include retirement benefits and workers' comp, and all those costs in there, make sure every cost is included, then I think City workers deserve the opportunity to deliver a service, if they can, indeed, do it and bid, put it on the barrel head and sign it, and do it. But with... If it cannot be done, or if it is a service that is just not appropriately delivered by government, I think the private sector can do it, and do it all the time. I have been in areas wher we have privatized fleet maintenance, certain road operations, shoulder gradings, sign striping, those kinds of things. We have a myriad of privatized operations now in Seminole County, and in Clearwater, when I was there. So there are areas that come to mind. Certninly, sanitation does. We don't collect our garbage in Seminole County. That is done by private contract, and it works very well. However, in Clearwater, I would point out, when I was there, our sanitation operation, collection was excellent, and it was performed by City employees there. So again, it depends on the management style. But I would look at all of those opportunities. Commissioner Regalado: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Like the two previous candidates before you, Mr. Rabun, I think each of us had the opportunity to meet with you last week.... 99 October 30, 1996 s. 1 Mr. Rabun: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: ...and go over in detail with you many of the questions we had. Approximately, from what I see here, you were County Manager in Seminole County until the last week or two. Mr. Rabun: Approximately six years, yeah. Mayor Carollo: Yeah, six years. Previous to that, Clearwater, City Manager, Clearwater, Florida for approximately four years. Mr. Rabun: About three. Mayor Carollo: Yeah. '88 to '91. Three plus years. Mr. Rabun: Yeah. Mayor Carollo: And previous to Clearwater, you were the County Administrator of Manatee County, Florida... Mr. Rabun: Correct. Mayor Carollo: ... from '85 to '88. Previous to that, in Georgia... Mr. Rabun: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: ... you were County Administrator in numerous positions in several cities. What is the strongest area that you feel that you can bring into the City of Miami as City Manager? Mr. Rabun: I think financial management and common sense management ability, to get more out of your work force. It's really two. They really go together. If you have a technician who understands financial management and simply knows how to do investing and... with your bonds and things that can be done to maximize your return on investment, those kinds of things, those are all nice and they're important. I understand those things. But I think the strongest ability that I can bring, and the strongest resource I could bring to the City of Miami is good strong management ability. And underneath management ability comes so many things. I can get more out of the organization. 1 can motivate people, and I can save the dollars. We're doing more with less today than we were in Seminole County. The same was in Clearwater, with less of a work force. And our bond ratings went up in every... in both places, too. So I think strong, good management ability to run the work force, understand the O&NI and to sit in that chair and make those decisions. Mayor Carollo: Do you have any questions that you would like to make of the Commission as a whole? Mr. Rabun: The schedule of your decisions. What do you anticipate, Mayor? Mayor Carollo: We were discussing that previously with a candidate before. We're hoping, at least I am, to try to bring; this to n head by Friday. One Commissioner expressed on Monday as the date. I've expressed Friday. Mr. Rabun: OK. Mayor Carollo: You will be in town up until when, possibly? 100 October 30, 1996 i I 1 Mr. Rabun: Through tomorrow. I have a flight out at three -thirty, something like that. Mayor Carollo: Three in the afternoon tomorrow? Mr. Rabun: Yes, sir. Mayor Carollo: Very good. In case any of the members of the Commission would like to meet with you, if you are chosen as two or three of the finalists out of the five that we have, would you be available to meet with them tonight or tomorrow? Mr. Rabun: I would. Mayor Carollo: Very good. Mr. Rabun: My time is yours. Mayor Carollo: Well, thank you very much, sir. We appreciate your time. Mr. Rabun: Thank you very much for your time. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. OK. The next candidate that we have to interview is Mr. Michael Roberto. Again, we'll recess just for a couple of minutes. If we could stay here as we recess, while... Commissioner Plummer: Can I ask some questions? Mayor Carollo: Yeah, while Mr. Connelly brings him down. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. You made some mention that this other gentleman maybe has withdrawn his name? ` Mayor Carollo: Not Roberto. Commissioner Plummer: The one from Washington? I think we need to know that. Mayor Carollo: Yeah. That's what we're waiting for to hear. Mr. Connelly: Regrettably, I'm expecting a fax from him, and that he will be withdrawing. Commissioner Plummer: The indication is he's withdrawing his name. Mr. Connelly: He is withdrawing his name. He is not here. Commissioner Plummer: Do you have alternatives that you would supplement, where we had asked you to do five? Mr. Connelly: No. I would say that if... Mayor Carollo: Well, we never said a number, Commissioner. Commissioner Plummer: OK. No, but I'm just asking is if there's any other ones that you felt j very strongly about that we might want to talk to. 4 t i f s, 101 October 30, 1996 r C Mr. Connelly: No. I would... My suggestion would be it, in fact, Mr. Rogers is withdrawing - I still not have received a fax from him, but I'm expecting it - that you make a decision based on the four candidates we have in place here. Commissioner Plummer: OK. Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Very good. Thank you. Stay loose so that we can get back as quick as we can. THEREUPON THE CITY COMMISSION WENT INTO RECESS AT 6:10 P.M. AND RECONVENED AT 6:15 P.M., WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION FOUND TO BE PRESENT. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Connelly, can you introduce the next candidate, Mr. Michael Roberto? Mr. Connelly: Mayor Carollo and members of the Commission, I'd like you to meet Michael Roberto, City Manager, City of North Miami Beach, in Florida. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Roberto, feel free to take as much time as you need to make a presentation to the Commission. Then the individual members of the Commission will ask you questions. And then you will have time to make a final presentation to us. Mr. Michael Roberto: OK. Let me give you a little background about myself. I was born in New Jersey, and my parents came from Italy in the late '40s and settled in New Jersey. I spent a good part of my youth there. I went to school, undergraduate degree out in Bowling Green State University in Ohio; went to American University in Washington, D.C. I got my Master's in public administration from American University in Washington. I spent five years there. I had a great opportunity to see a lot of different parts of Washington, experience a lot of different parts of Washington. Worked everywhere from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the National Association of Neighborhoods. I really sort of got into the community. I enjoyed staying there. I enjoyed the diversity of the community, and frankly, just had a good opportunity experiencing parts of Washington. When I had an opportunity to be recruited down to Dade County through Merrett Stierheim's program, I found it the kind of opportunity I was looking for. I wanted to get involved with local government. I wanted to be a City Manager. I had figured out very early in my career that one of the first things I wanted to do was to get to the top of an organization. I felt that leadership was one of the skills you needed to demonstrate, and I felt that over the years, I've had a chance to develop those kinds of skills and demonstrate those skills on a regular basis. But when I saw the opportunity to come to Miami... frankly, I had never been here before. I remember coming down - in fact, Mr. Marquez and I were just relating - I remember coming down, the day I came down here to Dade County, walking into the County Building, there's a fresco on the roof. I remember looking at that fresco and thinking to myself, this was a tremendous opportunity. I actually fell in love with Miami. Had a chance to work in the County Administration program. I've worked everything from the Finance Department out at the airport, I worked for Mr. Stierheim in the... through the Finance Department and stayed in the Finance Department. It was an interest that I had had. It was an area that I had developed a keen understanding in over the years, and felt that I wanted to stay in finance. And very frankly, I was very, very content at that point to be there. And I had a great chance to work under a gentleman named Bill areas (phoenetic), who was the Finance Director, and found that whole area of finance and bonds was a direction I thought I wanted to go in. But then I had an opportunity to get to North Miami Beach. In fact, it's quite interesting. The North Miami Beach position opened up very similar to a situation that you're experiencing. The City Manager was under the cloud of an indictment, and had to leave the organization, along with the Public Works Director. The assistant became the Manager, and there was an opening that was created. And I found that I got very stimulated about going back into local government. And the 102 October 30, 1996 0 1i City Manager gave me an opportunity to work... to go back into... to go at a local government. And what I've really experienced at that level was the ability of reaching people, the ability of seeing a problem and being able to touch that problem and effectuate a change in that organization. And that organization was, at the time, decimated, the City Manager being pulled out of the organization on a very serious charge, Public Works Director taken out, which was the second largest department in the City, and the organization was in a lot of turmoil. There were a lot of good people there. There was a very good council, there was a very good staff, but yet the organization was in a turmoil. One of my first jobs going in was to create stability in an organization. And that was what I felt... began to demonstrate why I wanted to really be in local government. When I had the chance, as I said before, to come to Miami, the thing that particularly intrigued me, and what intrigued me at North Miami Beach was that i had a chance to be in local government, in a community that I really had come to really enjoy and realty understand its diversity. And when I say diversity, you can... As you all are quite well aware, you can pretty much get a piece of whatever part of this community that you feel that you want, and you've got a range in which to pick from. That's exciting for someone like myself. I met my wife here. I have a beautiful... what I think is probably the most beautiful six year old child in Miami. I've raised a family here. This community has been very, very good to me. I've been very respectful of what it's given back to me. North Miami Beach has been wonderful to me. It's given me a great opportunity to be a City Manager. It's given me a great opportunity to raise a family, and I felt it was time to move on. When I saw this opportunity come up, it struck me that I'd been doing this for eight years. I've got solid City management experience. I believe probably my strongest skill is leadership. When I think of what I bring to this table, I bring the ability of saying, folks, that I am going to be in charge of an organization, that there is one person that you're going to point to who says where the buck is going to stop, and that's what I've done for eight years. I've been the person that everyone had to turn to when something didn't work, and, very frankly, when things did work. And that's what I have found, in terms of City management, why I found it particularly exciting, because you're on the line. You're on the line every single day. The press is there, the public is there. And in City government, whether the City is a City of 50,000 or a City of 3.50,000, you're constantly trying to find ways of finding solutions. And as I found myself over the years getting more and more involved in different parts of my profession - I've sat oil the board of the International City Managers Association, and I've been the president of the Florida City and County Managers Association - what I've constantly found is the ability of interacting with Commissioners, being able to interact with the public, being able to understand the whole picture. And that's what I've particularly always found exciting about government. I can tell you that I've been here for... specifically in local government, obviously, for the entire time that I've been here. I've been able to develop, I think, a very, very good relationship with all my council people. I've often said that I can always use all the elected officials as a reference. There isn't anyone that I've ever worked for that I didn't honestly feel that I couldn't put on a piece of paper and give as a reference. And we've had our differences, and we've had our arguments, and we've had our disagreements on points, but people will always point to my professionalism. People will always point to the fact that I try to put reasonable solutions on a table. Anyone can throw a hand grenade onto your lap, and anybody can give you 101 solutions that may not fly when you've got to go out into the public. It's the responsibility and the obligation of the City Manager to give you politically reasonable solutions. And you've got a whole bunch that you're going to be dealing with over the next 12 months. You've got some that are going to he very difficult for you to come to grips with. And there's going to be a lot... Very frankly, there's a lot of solutions out there. There's not one single one that's going to solve any kind of particular problem that you have, and there isn't going to be this one thing that's going to pull out of the air. It's going to be a combination of factors. It's going to be working very, very hard. My mom and dad taught me one thing in life, was if you worked very, very hard at anything, whether it be a... whatever problem you had in front of you. My mom cleaned houses for a living and my dad was a maintenance man in a factory. And they taught me that if you worked hard, you could solve a problem. And I've been able to invest that into organizations. In North Miami Beach, we've constantly tried to involved 103 October 30, 1996 �i employees in solutions, for example. That, we found very important. There's a lot of answers out there. We all have them. I could sit there from the top of the organization and tell each of those people what I think what's right and wrong in an organization. But as you try to bring ideas from the lower parts of the organization and bring them up, there's a tremendous amount of solutions that we've found. Technology is a great way of innovating and getting very good, solid solutions to an organization. But you need to bring everyone into the process. And I think the ability of being inclusive, the ability of bringing people together, again, is one of the strengths that I believe I bring to this table. We have monthly town meetings in North Miami Beach, and I run those town meetings. And the purpose of it is to be able to get in front of a lot of the curves. As I said before, whether you're in a City of 50,000 or 350,000, it's the same kind of problems you're dealing with. We're all dealing with the same economic problems. We're all dealing with the same diveristy issues. We're still all dealing with the economics of our commercial corridor and the deterioration of residential housing and crime in the streets, and all that. How you move your people through that organization, how _you keep them motivated... You know, government can be an awfully... You can get banged around in public a lot, and you can get... And to the employees on the street, it can be sometimes a very difficult process for them. But your ability of motivating those people, the ability of keeping them moving and keeping them in a focused direction to accomplish a goal on the end is, again, one of the responsibilities that you have to put into this office. It's something that I happen to relish. I enjoy being out in the public. I enjoy talking to the public. And in a lot of ways, I enjoy dealing with problems. It's what sort of comes part and parcel with the job. So I get to North Miami Beach, and I've been... As I said, I have been there for eight years. It's been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It's been difficult at times. We've lowered the millage rate four years in a row, and we've done that by very, very hard work. We did that so we could give a future council the room to move when, things might change into the future. And we felt that it was important to create a bigger picture in the City. And in doing that, we realized we had to involve everyone. They said whether it be through the town meeting, whether it be through involving them in the surveying that we've done with our public on a regular basis, we've tried to engage everyone. And that, folks, is a very broad overview of myself. Mayor Carollo: Thank you. Commissioner Plummer, we start again with you. Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. I'm going to have to ask you one other question, because I haven't had the opportunity to meet with you previously. Do you speak more than one language? Mr. Roberto: No. Just English. Commissioner Plummer: Just Spanish? Mr. Roberto: Just English. Commissioner Plummer: Just English. Mr. Roberto: Except Italian. I don't know if that's going to fly. Commissioner Plummer: Huh? Mr. Roberto: Except Italian. Commissioner Plummer: OK. The standard questions. I'll have, if, in fact, you're one of the short -short list, I'll have more questions to ask you later, which I've asked each and every one of these gentlemen. I would like for the record, if you would, to tell us what experience that you've had in dealing with unions and pensions, whether or not you're familiar with the pay package 104 October 30, 1996 J that is presently on the table for the City and how you look at it. I know your council pretty well. And if you were chosen, when would you be able to start? Mr. Roberto: OK. Let's deal with the first one. On union contracts, yes. For as long as I've been in North Miami Beach, I've negotitated the union contracts. Some union contracts, we've had to take benefits back. Some union contracts, we've expanded benefits. It was a function of both the time and some longer term projections we were looking at. A number of years ago, we had to freeze the salaries on all the organizations. 1 froze my salary along with all the other management staff. We've negotiated... I've negotiated probably four AFSCME (American Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees) contracts and three PBA (Police Benevolent Association) contracts over that time. Some have been hard, some have been easy. But I have been the one at the table negotiating some of those benefits. We took the consensus that the council wanted, and went back to the table to negotiate the benefits. So, yes, I have a lot of experience, a lot of experience with union contracts. Pension, the City has two pension plans, police pension plan and general employees' pension plan. We've acted as everything... as the staff to the pension plan, as well as giving them as much guidance and oversight of the plan. They have independent boards which are comprised of both the council and employees, but we've helped them as a staff. I sat on the International City Managers Association Retirement Corporation. I was a board of trustee. That was a two billion dollar ($2,000,000,000) fund. And I sat there for three years. So I've had an interesting opportunity to see it from both sides, both the ones trying to make the investment decisions of how to invest other people's money, as well as sitting on the side of having to help manage those funds. So, yes, I've had a lot of experience in those two areas. The third issue was... Unidentified Speaker: How soon could you start? Mr. Roberto: ... how soon could I start. I can start this month. Commissioner Plummer: This month? Mr. Roberto: This month, yes. Commissioner Plummer: You're speaking of November. Mr. Roberto: I mean November. November. Speaking of November. Sorry. Yes. I think one of the opportunities I have, one, being, obviously, in the area and knowing it extremely well, it allows me an opportunity to start a lot earlier. I've built a very good organization. I've got outstanding assistants that I'm very, very confident and very, very... and the council is very, very confident to turn the organization over to. Whether they choose ultimately to keep them as the Manager would be their decision. But I'm absolutely in a position to start in November. And finally, you asked about the pay and benefit package. I don't know. I mean, I have not studied what the pay and benefit package was. This is a first class City, and I would assume that you would pay a commiserate salary and benefits. Mayor Carollo: That's a good answer. I like that. Mr. Roberto: I wouldn't expect anything less. Commissioner Plummer: The City Attorney just had a heart attack. The Clerk didn't do much better. Mayor Carollo: I like that. Mr. Roberto: I didn't hear that before. 105 October 30, 1996 [A Mayor Carollo: Vice Mayor Gort. Vice Mayor Gort: I'll ask the same questions that I asked before. This financial problem that we've had, I understand we've had it in the past, and it's something that continues to occur once in a while. What would you do to make sure that this would not happen again? Mr. Roberto: The types of problem you've experienced? Vice Mayor Gort: The types of problems, yeah, fiscal problem we have today. Mr. Roberto: Well, I think there's three things that I've looked at. One, you clearly had too much information centralized in too single of a location. You have to, for checks and balances purposes, spread out where the information flow is going. You need separate people, separate budgets, separate data processing operations, separate financing, internal auditor. Those need to be separated out for a variety of reasons, the most important being the checks and balances that are created. When you restrict information, you end up putting too much control onto too few people, and things can happen. And sometimes good things can happen, when you've got good people, and sometimes bad things can happen. So I would think the first, you need to break out some of those pieces that are too centralized. Second, there needs to be some regular reporting. I've always been a very, very strong fan of everything being as open as possible. I don't even have a lock on my door in my office, for example, because I just believe very strongly that we operate in a form of total openness in government. So that means all information... The press is going to get it anyway, so you want to make sure that you're as inclusive as possible with information. If somebody wants information... Usually, when one council person asks me for information, I usually give it to everyone. And that's how my council has chosen. They like that process. And I believe very strongly in getting the information very, very fast. 1 think you also want, for example, in each of the departments... You have to make sure you have financial people in each of the departments. A lot of times, one tends to think of public works and police as not necessarily being more finance oriented, but the reality is they move a lot of transactions through those organizations, and you need to keep track of them. You need to be able to have a regular reporting system back to the City Manager, and in turn, from the City Manager to the Mayor and council. Now, that's... Mayor and the Commission. That's extremely important. So I think that your ability of opening up the process prevents these types of problems from occurring in the future. Vice Mayor Gort: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Any other questions? Commissioner Dunn. Commissioner Dunn: Consistent with my previous questions with the other prospects, how would you deal with the racial makeup of Miami, and in what way are you currently dealing with it in North Miami Beach? And do you see that as a strength or weakness in coming into Miami? Mr. Roberto: First off, I believe diversity is a tremendous strength. I mean, I think that this country is made up of so many different groups of people, and they all bring such richness into this situation. And I've been lucky, because for the greater part of my life, I've been in environments of very, very diverse environments, especially in Washington, where it was an extremely, very, very diverse population. North Miami Beach is very evenly divided. It's about a third black, a third Hispanic and a third Anglo. We've tried to, in turn, reflect our internal organization to the same ethnic diversity, as well as our management ranks. It doesn't do you any good to have a diverse base of your organization if your management ranks are not equally diverse. And I think out of that diversity comes some solutions that you normally wouldn't necessarily think about, and engages a lot of discussion, engages a lot of ideas that you would 106 October 30, 1996 bring. I find it a tremendous asset. And I think the way we've been able to improve upon that in North Miami Beach... North Miami Beach has changed. For those of you that have been here for a number of years, it has gone through a rather rapid change, like a lot of communities in Dade County. It's brought a younger population to our community. Our focus now, whereas 30 years ago was more focused on the elderly, today, it's focused predominantly on kids. That's why we're so suppotive of the bond issue coming up on Tuesday. We believe that the future is going to be kids and families in North Miami Beach, and we're trying to gear our services around those kids. Those kids are going to be diverse. And the more that we reach out our staffs to them, the more solutions we're going to bring back to our government. Mayor Carollo: Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Regalado: I remember that we spoke about the environment that you found when you get to North Miami Beach. Your predecessor had very serious legal problems. And I was wondering, not on the practical side, but sort of the philosophical side, what kind of morale did you find in the employees, and how have you dealt with that situation that, I'm sure, impacted all the City? Mr. Roberto: I think probably the thing that struck me the most was that most employees I've come across in my life want to do a good job. They want to work hard, they want to be there for eight hours, and they want to do the right thing. What I think happened when we first got to North Miami Beach, we saw a lot of employees who were seeing things happening at the top that became discouraged by what they saw being demonstrated at the top of the organization, and caused a lot of cynicism. People were not accountable, because the system had created an unaccountability. I've spoken about the... keeping information secluded to only a few people. And I think the employees did not understand, necessarily, where the full standards were, where the full ethical standards were. One of the first things we did when we came in, we brought in a series of ethical standards that we felt the whole organization, including the people at the top, had to adhere to. We have a standard that says you can't take any gift, whatsoever, of any dollar amount. There's a zero tolerance. And the reason for it was not to try to be some "Goody Two Shoes" person. It was that the reality was, we wanted to send a message to the organization, partly because of the past, and partly that we felt, as an organization, we would let people know exactly where we stood. And we find that if you give the proper picture to employees, and you say, folks, here is where we are, here is where we believe we need to be, whether it be the vision of the City, whether it be the vision of the organization, the employees will follow. They are looking for leaders. You give them a leader out front, and the City Manager needs to be the leader, and I will assure you I can do that. You put a leader out front, the whole organization will follow that person. They are begging for someone out there. And as you find the right person and you're blessed with a whole bunch of very, very talented people, all of whom I think will do an outstanding job for you, whomever you pick, whoever you put out there, that person needs to set that standard. I sit on the Florida City and County Managers Associations Ethics Committee, where I've got to review what City Manager's do. Sometimes, they do wrong things. And we've got to review that and take action. Same thing with the ICMA, International City Managers Association. I sit on their... We call it the Committee for Professional Conduct. Because we're saying, folks, this is important to us. This is what we stand for as an organization, and we won't tolerate anything less than that. Now, that can be tough at times for people, especially when you're in challenging environments, but you cannot cross over certain lines. And I think the organization understand that. Commissioner Regalado: Thank you. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Roberto, from 1998 (sic) to the present, you have been City Manager of North Miami Beach, approximately nine years. Commissioner Plummer: 1998? Mayor Carollo: 1988. Commissioner Plummer: No, you said '98. Mr. Roberto: He can see things sometimes. Mayor Carollo: It's getting late at night now. That's approximately nine years as City Manager; Deputy City Manager is approximately two years, '86 to '88; Assistant City Manager from '84 to '86. Then in Metro -Dade County, you held different positions. I think the last one was Administrative Officer, and combined with Assistant Finance Director. Or it says Administrative Officer/Assistant Finance Director. Mr. Roberto: No, I was the assistant... I was one of the assistants to the Finance Director. Mayor Carollo: Assistant, OK. Well, I think that's what they meant here, right. Assistant to the Finance Director. What quality do you feel that you possess that would be the main quality that can be the biggest asset that you have to the. City of Miami? Mr. Roberto: I've talked to you about leadership ability. I think that's obviously a very, very important character issue of a City Manager. I think probably, frankly, the most important trait that I bring to this organization, what I can deliver to you all, is the ability of taking problem situations and solving them. That is fundamentally what City Managers are paid to do, and should do it very, very well. So that can range from anything from a citizen complaint to a major fiscal crisis. Being able to look at a problem, which has many, many components, being able to look at situations that... or have to be broken clown into the different aspects and the different impact it has on citizens, councils and Wall Street, looking at that whole picture, and coming up with reasonable, politically viable solutions. I think, far and away, the period of time that I've spent in government has taught me that we are problem solvers, that we need to lead the organization, and under the leadership, will come the solution of problems. Mayor Carollo: Are there any questions that you might have of the Commission, as a whole? Mr. Roberto: Sure. What is the expectation of the Commission of this position? Mayor Carollo: Well, I think the expectation, the main one, as Mr. Connelly confirmed to us in writing, that individually, we all expressed to him, was that we wanted a professional Manager, someone that's going to run the City in a professional manner, with the leadership that you talked about, that was lacking. I think each of us would express the same thing. Mr. Roberto: You konw, it's interesting. One of the things that struck me is for City Managers and Commissions to work together, there's always a trust factor. I suspect, not knowing you all individually, I suspect that trust factor has been violated. That has to be rebuilt. This form of government doesn't work without that relationship, to know that the solutions that we're going to put in front of you, and the interactions that we're going to have during that process involves trust. And you have to... You don't... You have to earn that trust. It doesn't just come with the fact there's a City Manager's name on a name plate. That has to be earned over a period of time. One of the expectations that I would have is that it we... If myself and the staff demonstrates that trust, that we're going to need to earn that, and we're going to need a reciprocal trust level back. That we're going to try to work together on solutions. And it will be... Sometimes, it will be a three/two solution, and sometimes, it will be nice, a five/0 solution. But we're going to have to work together as a team. And that team work, and that ability of interacting... and being honest, by the way. And one of the nice things about growing up in an Italian family is there's 108 October 30, 1996 �i never a lack of honesty around a kitchen table. The ability of being honest with each other and being able to express what it is that you need, and it will be the job of the City Manager to fulfill that need in that organization. It becomes very, very important. Mayor Carollo: Any other questions that you might have of the Commission as a whole? And to my colleagues, feel free to answer him, if you would, on any questions. Commissioner Plummer: I think he answered it in his presentation. OK. Mayor Carollo: Any final presentation that you would like to make to us? Mr. Roberto: Yeah. As I was thinking over, sitting upstairs in the conference room, you know, it really struck me that there were four issues that you all are going really need to come to grips with, again, with whomever you end up putting in this position. You've got fiscal issues, obviously. You've got a fiscal problem you've got to deal with. It's a solveable problem. It's going to take some hard decisions, it's going to take a lot of hard work, it's going to take staffs that are going to have to do things that they haven't done before, and then look for solutions they haven't sought before. So you've got fiscal issues. You got citizen trust. You've got an image out there. You know, the government takes enough beatings in life just by sometimes doing the right. And sometimes, when we don't do the right thing, we violate that trust. And citizens are unfairly taken advantage of. And I think you've got an image and a trust issue that you've got to rebuild with the community here. And I've generally found when that happens, and I saw it in North Miami Leach, and I've see it in other situations, the people want to believe in their government. They may be a little bit loud about it from time to time, and they may be pretty cranky and pretty loud, but I think, fundamentally, people want to believe in government. We do a... I think, a very, very noble thing in trying to do the right thing in life, and trying to do the right thing in government. So I think we've got a trust issue that you're going to have to build. You've clearly got employee morale. You've got an organization that's wondering, very frankly, whether or not they're going to be around during this entire process. And you've got to make sure that the morale of those employees... The guy who delivers the garbage, the cop on the street, the secretary who answers the phone, they've got to believe in where the organization is going. They've got to believe there's a solution. And you've got to get that solution out to them. You've got to bring them into the whole process, if I could implore upon you one thing. Bring them into... And they'll give you solutions that you haven't even heard before. And obviously, the last, you know, the fourth part is just the Wall Street factor. You know, you've got bonds out there. You've got a trust in Wall Street that is going to need to be reinforced, and they need to see the plan that you're willing to put out there. And I believe in that same vein that they will follow if you provide the plan, and the vision, by the way. I thank you. Mayor Carollo: Thank you very much for your time. One last question. In your case, I don't think all the members of the Commission had the opportunity to meet with you. I think there were one or two that did not meet with you. Would you be available later tonight or tomorrow for any one of the members of the Commisson to meet with you for the first time, informally, or for some of the others to meet with you again? Mr. Roberto: Sure, absolutely. Mm-hmm. Whether it be this evening or tomorrow morning, you can just let me know. I'd be happy to. Commissioner Plummer: If you'll call my office in the morning, and leave a number where you can be reached. (INAUDIBLE COMMENT NOT INCLUDED IN THE PUBLIC RECORD) 109 October 30, 1996 r Mr. Roberto: Yeah. No, I don't have it now, but I'll get it for him. And again, I wasn't kidding when I can say I would use every single one of my elected officials as a reference. There isn't anyone in that group that I wouldn't... Mayor Carollo: That's fine. Well, in your case, it's even easier, because you're right here. Just get the phone book, and we'll have it. Mr. Roberto: OK. Mayor Carollo: Thank you very much. We appreciate your time. Mr. Roberto: Well, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity, by the way. I appreciate it. Mayor Carollo: Gentlemen, we have gone through a pretty exhausting process. Out of the four finalists that we have, three of them we all have met with last week. The last one, three of us or four of us met with, and one or two of us did not meet with him. What I would suggest that the next step that we take is that we, as Mr. Connelly suggested, bring this down to two candidates or four. Let's bring it down to two finalists, so that we could take then the time tomorrow to call some of the people they have worked with, Commissioners, Mayors or people above them, if that's the case. But I think that we need to move forward. I think that we need to bring this down to two out of the four. i Commissioner Dunn: What way would you suggest that we proceed in that manner? Mayor Carollo: Well, the way that I think might he the best way and the quickest way is for each of us to put down two names of the two out of the four that we would like to choose, the Commission would like. We could take ten or 15 minutes recess, or we could do it right now. It's up to the Commission. Commissioner Plummer: Huh? Mayor Carollo: I'm saying that if you'd like, we could take a ten or 15 minutes recess, and then come back and do it, or do it right now. Commissioner Dunn: Let's do it now. Commissioner Regalado: I would do it now. Commissioner Plummer: Well, I just... I'd like to ask a question. I mean, you know, what are we trying... why are we trying to eliminate two? I mean, I think, you know, this is a little on the foolish side. We're down to four now, and we were talking about two or three. I think we ought to leave our options open, and take it from there, because I... I've always said that I'm not bound by anything here. I can nominate anybody I want, I think. I'm not bound by Korn Ferry's decisions. But I mean, I don't know what we're trying to accomplish by cutting to two. Mayor Carollo: Absolutely, Mr. Plummer. I mean, we could even nominate Mr. Odio again None of us are bound by anyone. Commissioner Plummer: I hear you, sir, but I'd like to know why we're talking about cutting down, instead of having the four available till Friday? Mayor Carollo: That was the process that the people that we hired to advise us in the normal process suggested this morning, which I personally thought was a good process. If you don't... If you would like to consider any of the others, we could. But I think that the quicker that we 110 October 30, 1996 �i move to this... If you want to leave all four, leave all four, leave all two, but, Commissioner, we need to bring this to a head. The last candidate we interviewed, Mr. Roberto, touched upon two areas that are so right, beyond the ones that we discussed this morning, why we need to bring this to a head and pick a permanent City Manager. One is a very real problem that we have with Wall Street. Will Street is looking right down at us. And if they see that we can't even come to an agreement in choosing the permanent City Manager, a replacement, so that we will have stability when Merrett Stierheim leaves on the 15th, that's going to weigh even heavier on us than what we have faced so far. Secondly, it's, frankly, a morale problem. The City employees need to know as quickly as possible who is going to be the permanent City Manager, who is going to be in command of the City of Miami. And last but not least, the last scenario that we want to face is the situation that we're going to be looking at weeks where we will not have a permanent City Manager. And, in fact, we will then have to consider who the next interim would be before we could atually even choose a permanent Manager. But I will open it to the Commission to see if the Commissioners would like to go with considering two or all four. Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Dunn: If I may. I would like to ask the City Attorney a couple of questions as relates to my status. What is there... Is there a difference in an appointed Commissioner and an elected Commissioner, in terms of his or her ability to make decisions? Am I limited in making decisions, or do I have the authority... A. Quinn Jones, III, Esq. (City Attorney): You have all... You're vested with all of the power as a City Commissioner, whether you're appointed or elected. Commissioner Dunn: OK. With that in mind, I'd like to make a motion that we select two candidates before selecting a permanent... two prospects before selecting a permanent candidate for City Manager. Mayor Carollo: There's a motion. Is there a second? Commissioner Regalado: Second. Mayor Carollo: There's a second. Any further discussion? Vice Mayor Gort: Well, I'll save you some time. I've always said, everything being equal, I'd like somebody from home. So I've listened to the two candidates that are here in Dade County, and I think they're both very good, they're both prepared. Mayor Carollo: They're both very good, Commissioner, you're right. Vice Mayor Gort: That would be my choice, I can tell you right now. Mayor Carollo: All four of them were excellent choices. I think they're all, as I said before, excellent choices. And I'm glad that not only ourselves, but the public had an opportunity to see the choices that Korn Ferry made, because any one of those gentlemen can lead the City in the right direction. But I certainly understand your feelings. Any further discussion? Vice Mayor Gort: At the same time, I think we should... Wait a minute. What would this motion do? This motion would then limit it to only two individualsl and... Mayor Carollo: To choose two out of the four, so that then we can proceed in the next step. ill October 30, 1996 r Vice Mayor Gort: Are we eliminating the right, if any one of us would like to bring someone else? Mayor Carollo: Well, that is always the right of any Commissioner... Vice Mayor Gort: OK. Mayor Carollo: ... to bring whoever they'd like out. If somebody wants to change the procedure that we established in the beginning, anyone has the right to do that. But we instructed Korn Ferry to give us finalists, and they did that. If we ask to have finalists, it would seem that the reason is because we want to go over that list. But as I said before, anyone can bring up any name they would like to. And... Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. We're going to go with two? Mayor Carollo: That's correct. My suggestion... Commissioner Plummer: My two... Are you ready for my two? Mayor Carollo: Well, no, no. Commissioner Dunn: There's a motion on it. Mayor Carollo: There's a motion and there's a second that we're going to go with two. Hearing no further discussion, all in favor, signify by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Commissioner Plummer: That's fine. Mayor Carollo: All against, say "nay." The following motion was introduced by Commissioner Dunn, who moved its adoption: MOTION NO. 96-812 A MOTION STATING THE PROCEDURAL GUIDELINE THAT TWO OUT OF THE FOUR NAMES PROFFERED BY THE EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRM OF KORAN FERRY INTERNATIONAL WILL BE SELECTED AS FINALISTS FOR CANDIDATES TO BE CONSIDERED BY THE COMMISSION TO THE POSITION OF CITY MANAGER. �i Upon being seconded by Commissioner Regalado, the motion was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Commissioner Tomas Regalado Commissioner Richard P. Dunn, II Commissioner J.L. Plummer, Jr. Vice Mayor Wifredo Gort Mayor Joe Carollo NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Commissioner Plummer: My two are both the local. Mayor Carollo: OK. Well... Commissioner Plummer: And here... Mayor Carollo: What I suggest we do, Commissioner, is that we just write down the two names and then hand it in. Instead of giving any names, write down two names, and we'll give it to the Clerk. Commissioner Plummer: In the last two days, I've had more secret ballots around here than I've had in ten years. Mr. Jones: They're not secret. Commissioner Plummer: No, they're not secret. Mr. Jones: Please. Mayor Carollo: The only things that were secret are now wide open in the Federal Courthouse. Commissioner Plummer: Ballot number one. Mayor Carollo: After we go through this process, then we'll decide on the next one. Again, before the City Clerk reads the names of the two finalists, I'd like to again say that all four candidates that we interviewed are extremely qualified. Each and every one of them, I think, would make a great City Manager for the City of Miami. Unfortunately, we have to choose only one. Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Mayor, may I also make a statement? Mayor Carollo: Of course. Commissioner Dunn: As it relates to that, I want to take this opportunity, once again, to thank Korn Ferry for a very fine job that you've done. And I do regret that Michael Rogers pulled his name out or requested that his name be deleted. I just wanted to say that for the record. Commissioner Plummer: That's the one from Washington. Mayor Carollo: Mr. Clerk, go ahead. 113 October 30, 1996 P Mr. Walter Foeman (City Clerk): Mr. Mayor, the two finalists are Edward Marquez and Michael Roberto. Mayor Carollo: OK. Edward Marquez and Michael Roberto. Did anyone else receive any votes? Mr. Foeman: Michael Rogers received one vote. Mayor Carollo: OK. And you're saying... Commissioner Plummer: He was the one that pulled out? Mayor Carollo: All right. Did he pull out? Unidentified Speaker: Yes, he pulled out. Mayor Carollo: That's fine. OK. Commissioner Plummer: That's like voting for a dead man. Mayor Carollo: No, no. That's not... That's late at night when people are tired. All right. The next step that we will take is to discuss the final process that this Commission would like to take. We had discussed it briefly this morning. I think that, and particularly with the two finalists that are local, it's even easier to make a phone call across town. My suggestion is that we take the time tomorrow that each of us needs, either to interview with personally, again, with the two finalists, and/or to inquire of the members of each respective Commission of their background, their abilities, anyone else that we see fit to call in the respsective employments that they presently have. And after doing that, that this Commission comes on Friday and meets to decide on the final candidate. Having said that, I open it up for any additional discussions from the members of the Commission. Vice Mayor Gort: Sir, I don't have any problem with Friday or Monday, but if it's on Friday, I'd ! like to have it early in the morning. Mayor Carollo: As early as you'd like, Commissioner. Vice Mayor Gort: Eight -thirty is already taken, so I got to get back to work, too. Mayor Carollo: Eight, eight -thirty? Vice Mayor Gort: I don't have any problem with that. Mayor Carollo: We could meet at eight -thirty. We could meet at eight, if you'd like. Commissioner Dunn: Eight? Mayor Carollo: You want to meet at eight or eight -thirty? Commissioner Dunn: Eight o'clock? Mayor Carollo: Eight a.m. on Friday. OK. So each of us will take the time out to interview them again, as we see fit. Each of us would call them, make the time that we need available with them, and feel free, gentlemen, to call as many of the members of the North Miami Beach 114 October 30, 1996 Commission, Dade County Commission, co-workers, Managers, Assistant City Managers, as any of you see tit to inquire about them. And we will be hack then on Friday morning, eight a.m., to make the final determination. Commissioner Regalado: Are there only... any other issues on the Friday meeting? Commissioner Plummer: Yeah. Mayor Carollo: That would be the only issue on Friday on the agenda. I... It will be a special Commission meeting that I would call for the final selection of the City Manager. I believe that there might be one other quick item that we need to place on the agenda, after we're done with the selection, having to do with the... Vice Mayor Gort: Is it a pocket item? Mayor Carollo: Well, pocket item... Just let me know what you need, and I'll put it on. Vice Mayor Gort: I need to get this one. What it is, is a... It's going to be a beneficial soccer game that was going to be in October. They're going to change it for November the 26th, the date, and since there was a resolution, we need to change the date on that resolution. Mayor Carollo: That would be fine. But whatever pocket items the Commission might need, if they could just send a short memo to the Manager, and I'll gladly put it on on Friday. Commissioner Plummer: So the only thing we have, then, Friday morning is the selection plus one pocket item. Mayor Carollo: Well, there's going to be, actually, I think, two. There's another one having to do with a very important process that we're doing next door here. But those will be quick. Commissioner Plummer: Fine. Mayor Carollo: All right. Well, thank you all very much. This meeting is adjourned. THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE CITY COMMISSION, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 6:58 P.M. JOE CAROLLO MAYOR ATTEST: Walter Foeman CITY CLERK Maria J. Argudin ASSISTANT CITY CLERK 115 October 30, 1996