HomeMy WebLinkAboutM-82-0326CITY C0124ISEI011 STIPULATE£ GUIDELINES SELECTIOV FOP
ITEW CITY ATTORNEY. 7
Mayor Ferre: Now the other item is the discussion on the City Attorney. I
would like to recommend the following procedure. Mr. Knox?
Mr. Knox: Yes, sir.
Mayor Ferre: I would like to recommend that we go about the selection in a
fair way to expedite the matter and would have input. Here is what I would
like to do. I would like to make a motion so that we would advertise in the,
I guess Miami Herald / Miami News.
Mr. Plummer: You can't.
Mayor Ferre: Oh, we can't advertise in the Miami Herald.
Mr. Knox: We'll use the traditional legal publications.
Mayor Ferre: All right, the legal journals which is the Miami Review, the
Florida Bar Journal and Diario de las Americas and whatever, and the Miami
Times. Okay?
Mr. Knox: Yes, sir.
Mayor Ferre: So that we can put out to the world that there is an opening
available after May 1st.
Mr. Knox: Yes, sir.
Mayor Ferre: That we f-,dvertise for a period of one week and that in the
case of the Miami tintes it would be one ad, in Diario it would, I guess be
a series of ads, you know. In other words, and we'll follow whatever advice
you have on that.. Now, once we advertise apd the names are submitted they
should be submitted to the Clerk's Office. The Clerk will compile these
names in Step 2, I would like to have the aides or somebody appointed by
each member of this Commission to call out all of the - obviously in consulta-
tion with members of the Commission - and to come back with a list of ten and
each Commissioner or their representative has one vote. I would like to, so
that everybody doesn't feel cheated out of this thing, each Commissioner has
the ability to select one person in particularland then the other five will
be selected from the group at large on a vote basis. Now, those ten names
will then go - this is step 3 - to a Blue Ribbon Committee and I would
recommend that"the Blue Ribbon Committee be made up to the President of the
Black Bar, the Cuban Bar and the Dade County Bar, the Deans of the two Law
Schools, that is the University of Miami and Nova, and that they be chaired
by George Knox,and that that committee, that Blue Ribbon Committee of experts
in the legal field come back to us and recommend, all I want from them is
whether or not the ten names that we have submitted are qualified or not
and then the Commission will vote on the Attornies. Do you think that is
too convoluted?
Mr. Knox: Let me suggest, Mr. Mayor, that as we begin this process we check
with the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers and other professional
organizations to see if we can formulate some standards of....
Mayor Ferre: I'm going to get to that, I would like to say that Mr. George
Knox,in conjunction with the standard operating procedures of the Association
of Municipal Law Officersv submit to us before the evaluation process by
whoever we appoint, the standards that these people will be dealing with and
also 5.i.,«it it to the Blue Ribbon judging committee. The process that I'm
trying to do is to let the five members of this Commission select ten appli-
cants and the Blue Ribbon Committee qualify them as either able to handle
the job or note and then we'll select from the group that they say are capable
of handling the job. Now, do you think that's a reasonable way to do it?
Mr. Knox: Yes, air.
Mayor Ferre: Do you have any problems with that? Do you, J. L.? Do you,
Miller?
APR 11982
Mr. Dawkins: No.
Mayor Ferre: All right, let me repeat it so we are all sure. We will adver-
tise for a one•week period. Oh, by the way, any member of the Commission
who wants to submit a name can submit a name of a person so that there is no
question about names being lost or something like that. You have to submit
it to the Clerk with the person's resume, etc. Okay? Now, each member will
appoint one person, and I would ask that you appoint your aide, but if you
don't think that that is proper then you appoint whoever you want. I will
appoint my aide, Marie Petit,to go over, this is in my opinion a pure admin-
istrative function. I would assume we would get 40 or 50 names,or 30 names,
obviously she will come back to me and I will consult with her and tell her
who I think she should vote for and I'm sure you'll do the same thing, and
let them then vote on the premise that each representative of each member
of the Commission will select unilaterally one person�so that if you have a
special candidate that you feel should have preference ....and then that the
others be on.... the other five be on a ballot basis. Those ten names will
then go to a panel chaired by George Knox and will be composed of the Presi-
dent of the Black Chamber, the Cuban Chamber.....
Mr. Plummer: No, no.
Mr. Knox: The Black Lawyers' Association
Mayor Ferre: I'm sorry, the Black Bar - there is such a thing, isn't there?
Mr. Knox: Yes, sir.
Mayor Ferre: ....and the Cuban Bar, there is such a thin+....
Mr. Knox: Yes, sir.
Mayor Ferre:.... and the Dade County Bar, and the Dean of the Miami Law School
and the Nova Law Schools which are the two law schools that we have in south-
east Florida.
Mr. Knox: Yes, sir.
Mayor Ferre: And that those six people go over and review the ten names
and submit to us out of those ten names those that they feel are qualified
for the Commission then to make its final selection and if they feel that
none are qualified then let the whole thing revert and we start all over
again.
Mr. Knox: All right. Now, shall we conduct interviews and.....
Mayor Ferre: That's your problem, how you set up your rules anJ how you come
to a determination, you're going to have�hopefully� ten people to look at.
Mr. Knox: Yes; sir.
Mayor Ferre: And then you come back and tell us which of the people out
of the ten, if any, are qualified to hold this job and then we'll take it
from there.
Mr. Knox: All right.
Mayor Ferre: So I will formalize that in the form of a motion.
Mr. Plummer: Is there a second?
Mr. Perez: Second.
Mr. Plummer: Further discussion, call the roll.
APR 1 1982
The following motion was introduced by Mayor Ferre who moved its
adoption:
MOTION NO. 82-326
A MOTION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION THAT, IN CONNECTION WITH
THE FORTHCOMING VACANCY FOR THE POSITION'OF CITY ATTORNEY, THE FOLLOW-
ING GUIDELINES BE FOLLOWED:
1) THAT THE CITY ATTORNEY BE AUTHORIZED AND DIRECTED TO ADVERTISE
THE UPCOMING VACANCY FOR THE POSITION OF CITY ATTORNEY IN THE
TRADITIONAL LEGAL PUBLICATIONS AS WELL AS IN THE MIAMI NEWS,
DIARIO DE LAS AMERICAS AND THE MIAMI TIMES, FOR A PERIOD OF
ONE (1) WEEK, REQUESTING THAT APPLICANTS FOR SAID POSITION
SUBMIT THEIR RESUMES TO THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE NO LATER THAN
APRIL 159 1982, BY 5:00 P.M.;
2) DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO COMPILE A LIST OF ALL PROSPECTIVE
APPLICANTS AND TO SUBMIT SAID LIST TO THE MD1BERS OF THE CITY
COMMISSION AND TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, IMMEDIATELY AFTER APRIL
15, 1982.
3) REQUESTING OF EACH INDIVIDUAL COMMISSIONER TO APPOINT ONE IN-
DIVIDUAL OR AN AIDE, AS HIS REPRESENTATIVE, IN ORDER TO ASSIST
IN THE PROCESS RESULTING IN THE SELECTION OF TEN (10) NAMES BY
THE CITY CO*EMISSION FOR SUBMISSION TO A SELECT BLUE RIBBON
COMMITTEE , SAID TEN NAMES TO BE SELECTED AS FOLLOWS:
(a) ONE NAME TO BE PROVIDED BY EACH INDIVIDUAL COMMISSIONER
AND/OR THEIR AIDE:
(b) THE REMAINING FIVE NAMES TO BE SELECTED COLLECTIVELY
BY THE CITY COMMISSION FROM THE REMAINING APPLICANTS.
4) STIPULATING THAT SAID BLUE RIBBON -COMMITTEE SHALL BE COMPRISED
OF THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS:
THE PRESIDENT OF THE BLACK LAWYERS' ASSOCIATION, THE PRESIDENT
OF THE CUBAN-AMERICAN LAWYERS' ASSOCIATION, THE PRESIDENT OF
THE DADE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION, THE DEAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
MIAMI SCHOOL OF LAW, THE DEAN OF NOVA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW,
AND GEORGE F. KNOX, CITY ATTORNEY, AS CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE;
4) CHARGING THE BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY OF
REVIEWING THE RESUMES SUBMITTED TO THEM AND MAKING A DETERMINA-
TION AS TO WHETHER SAID APPLICANTS ARE, IN THEIR OPINION, QUA-
LIFIED TO HOLD THE POSITION DF CITY ATTORNEY; AND
5) FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY ATTORNEY, TO FORMULATE A SET OF
STANDARDS BY WHICH SAID APPLICANTS WOULD BE EVALUATED, IN AC-
CORDANCE WITH THE STANDARDS PRESENTLY USED BY THE NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPAL LAW OFFICERS, AND TO FORWARD SAID
STANDARDS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION AND TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE.
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Perez, the motion was passed and
adopted by the following vote -
AYES: Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Commissioner Demetrio Perez, Jr.
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Mayor Maurice A. Ferre
NOES: None.
ABSENT: Commissioner Joe Carollo.
There being no further business to come before the City Commission, the
meeting was adjourned at 7:14 O'Clock P.M.
MAURICE A. FERRE
M A Y O R
ATTEST:
Matty Hirai
Assistant City Clerk