HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2011-07-28 MinutesCity of Miami
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Meeting Minutes
Thursday, July 28, 2011
9:00 AM
PLANNING & ZONING
City Hall Commission Chambers
City Commission
Tomas Regalado, Mayor
Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Chairman
Frank Carollo, Vice -Chairman
Marc David Sarnoff, Commissioner District Two
Francis Suarez, Commissioner District Four
Richard P. Dunn 11, Commissioner District Five
Johnny Martinez, City Manager
Julie O. Bru, City Attorney
Priscilla A. Thompson, City Clerk
City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
CONTENTS
PR - PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
MV - MAYORAL VETOES
AM -APPROVING MINUTES
CA - CONSENT AGENDA
PH - PUBLIC HEARINGS
SR - SECOND READING ORDINANCES
FR - FIRST READING ORDINANCES
RE - RESOLUTIONS
DI - DISCUSSION ITEMS
PART B
PZ - PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM(S)
MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' ITEMS
M - MAYOR'S ITEMS
D1 - DISTRICT 1 ITEMS
D2 - DISTRICT 2 ITEMS
D3 - DISTRICT 3 ITEMS
D4 - DISTRICT 4 ITEMS
D5 - DISTRICT 5 ITEMS
Minutes are transcribed verbatim. Periodically, agenda items are revisited during a meeting.
[Later...J'fefers to discussions that were interrupted and later continued.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
9:00 A.M. PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
PR.1
11-00690
PRESENTATION
Honoree Presenter Protocol Item
The Life/Legacy of
The Honorable John D.
Edward Blanco
Thomas Higgs
& Wendell Williams
Mayor Regalado Special Tribute
Johnson
11-00690 Protocol Item.pdf
Mayor Regalado Certificate of Appreciation
Commissioner Sarnoff Certificates of Appreciation
1. Mayor Regalado paid special tribute to The Honorable John David Johnson, a Miami
pioneer, civil rights leader and Miami -Dade County's second Black judge since Reconstruction,
whose predominant sentiment during an extraordinary 50-year legal career was a deep devotion
to the cause of human rights with a strong and passionate conviction that the United States legal
system should fight to uphold our Constitution, its democratic quest and the vision of equality of
opportunity in social, civil, cultural and community affairs it frames.
2. Mayor Regalado presented a certificate of appreciation to Edward Blanco, recognizing his
twenty-seven years of service and dedication as a career professional in the City ofMiami, and
applauded Mr. Blanco's outstanding skills and knowledge in his commitment to elevating the
quality of life in the City ofMiami.
3. Commissioner Suarez saluted Dr. Miguel A. Machado for his recent selection as
President -Elect of the Florida Medical Association, joining Dr. Machado's peers in recognition
of his outstanding career in which he provided medical expertise in South Florida hospitals and
his strong advocacy for Florida physicians and their patients.
4. Commissioner Suarez presented a commendation to Kareem Lodge in appreciation of his
Random Acts of Kindness'and refreshing generosity of spirit as a welcoming presence at Miami
International Airport.
5. Mayor Regalado presented special awards to four Small Business Association National
Award Winners for their achievements in creating and sustaining successful small businesses that
serve as an epitome to American entrepreneurship.
6. Commissioner Dunn presented a proclamation in recognition of Youth Development,
Employment, and Civic Engagement Challenge Week, marking the first anniversary of the Urban
Renewal Greater Enhancement National Team's (Urgent, Inc.) important collaboration with the
City ofMiami on the development of youth participation in both civic and work areas by
encouraging youth participation in career development and community service activities.
Chair Gort: At this time we'll make presentation and proclamations.
Presentations made.
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Present: Chairman Gort, Commissioner Sarnoff, Vice Chairman Carollo, Commissioner Suarez
and Commissioner Dunn II
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
On the 28th day of July 2011, the City Commission of the City ofMiami, Florida, met at its
regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, in regular
session. The meeting was called to order by Chair Gort at 9: 28 a.m., recessed at 12: 27 p.m.,
reconvened at 3:18 p.m., recessed at 6: 08 p.m., reconvened at 6:16 p.m., and adjourned at 10: 07
p.m.
Note for the record: Commissioner Suarez entered the chambers at 9: 39 a.m.
Chair Gort: (INAUDIBLE) 28th at the historic site. With me is Vice Chairman Frank Carollo
here on the dais, Commissioner Richard Dunn, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, and joining us very
soon will be Commissioner Francis Suarez, and myself W fredo "Willy" Gort, chairing the
meeting. The meeting will be opened with the prayer by Commissioner Dunn and the pledge of
allegiance by Commissioner Carollo. Also with us is City Manager on the dais, Johnny
Martinez; City Attorney, Julie Bru, and Todd Hannon, filling in for Priscilla Thompson. Please
stand.
Invocation and pledge of allegiance delivered.
MAYORAL VETOES
NO MAYORAL VETOES
Chair Gort: At this time, do we have any mayoral veto?
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Chair, there are no mayoral vetoes.
APPROVING THE MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING MEETING:
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, to APPROVED
PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
ORDER OF THE DAY
Chair Gort: Do we have any minutes to be approved?
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Chair, I do have for your consideration and approval the
minutes from the Planning & Zoning meeting of June 23, 2011.
Chair Gort: Okay. Do I have a motion?
Vice Chair Carollo: So move.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Vice Chairman Carollo, second by Commissioner Dunn. Any
discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
END OF APPROVING MINUTES
Chair Gort: We'll now begin the regular meeting. City Attorney, will you state the procedures to
be followed by this meeting?
Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Yes. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the Commission,
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
members of the public, Mr. Manager, City Clerk -- or Mr. Clerk. Any person who is a lobbyist
must register with the City Clerk before appearing before the City Commission. A copy of the
Code section about lobbyists is available in the City Clerk's office. The material for each item on
the agenda is available during business hours at the Clerk's office and also online at
www.miamigov.com. Anyone who wishes to appeal any decision made by the City Commission
for any matter considered at this meeting may need a verbatim record of the item. Please, no cell
phones or other noise -making devices. Silence them now. Any person who makes offensive
remarks or who becomes unruly in the Commission chambers will be barred from attending
Commission meetings. Any person with a disability who requires auxiliary aids, please see the
City Clerk for assistance. And the lunch recess will begin at the conclusion of deliberation of the
item being considered at noon, unless the Chairman indicates otherwise. This is also a Planning
and Zoning item [sic]. Those procedures and those items will be dealt with after 10 o'clock.
Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am.
[Later...]
Chair Gort: Mr. Manager.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Yes. I'd like CA.2 to be withdrawn.
Chair Gort: Which one?
Mr. Martinez: CA.2. Also, PH.2 to be continued to September 15 and RE.13 also continued to
September 15. And then I have a request for three Children's Trust grants, PH. 4, PH.5 and PH. 6
to be heard together with the respective allocations, which is RE.14, RE.7 and RE.12.
Chair Gort: Got it.
Mr. Martinez: Then -- No. There's more. Then I need PH.7 and PZ.3 for the Brickell Center to
be heard together after 2 p.m., andl also needRE.18 and RE. 20 --
Chair Gort: Excuse me. That was PH.7 and?
Mr. Martinez: No. PH.7 and PZ. 3.
Chair Gort: And PZ. 3.
Mr. Martinez: Yes. And also need RE.18 and RE.22 for the Marlins garage to be heard
together. That's it.
Chair Gort: Repeat them again. The Marlins --
Mr. Martinez: RE.18 and RE. 22.
Chair Gort: Okay. Madam Attorney.
Ms. Bru: Yes. RE.21, Mr. Chair, I'd like to have that continued till September.
Chair Gort: RE.21.
Ms. Bru: 21.
Chair Gort: What's that noise? Any of the Commissioners would like to withdraw any --?
None. Okay.
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Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Chair, if you don't mind, I'm just going to restate what was
Chair Gort: Please.
Mr. Hannon: -- just placed on the record. I have continued PH.2, RE.13 and RE.21 to
September 15. I mean, we're going to defer those then to September 15, excuse me.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Can you repeat those.
Mr. Hannon: PH.2, RE.13 andRE.21 are going to be deferred to September 15. And have for
a withdrawal CA.2.
Chair Gort: I'm sorry; what was the last one?
Mr. Hannon: I have for withdrawal CA.2.
Chair Gort: CA.2, okay. Thank you. Okey-doke. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda?
Vice Chair Carollo: So move.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Couldl --? Sorry.
Vice Chair Carollo: Hold on, hold on.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Can we pull CA.4. Just pull -- I apologize. I didn't realize you were
asking for pulling. I thought you were asking for --
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- I just want to pull it for discussion.
Vice Chair Carollo: And before I do a motion, are we -- is this going to be a motion on the
continuances or is this for the approval of --?
Chair Gort: For the continuances.
Vice Chair Carollo: For the continuance. Yes, I make a motion for all the continuance,
deferrals and so forth stated on the record.
Chair Gort: It's moved by Vice Chairman Carollo --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: -- second by Commissioner Dunn. All in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
[Later..]
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Chair Gort: (INAUDIBLE) Commission meeting this afternoon. Mr. City Attorney, you have
something to say -- I mean, City Clerk.
Mr. Hannon: Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, will anyone require a Spanish and Creole
interpreter for the afternoon portion of today's meeting?
Comments translated by Creole interpreter Catherine Gentil.
Chair Gort: No.
Comments translated by Spanish interpreter Clara -Sylvia Orozco.
Mr. Hannon: Thank you, Chair.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
CONSENT AGENDA
CA.1 RESOLUTION
11-00569
Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ACCEPTING THE BID
Purchasing RECEIVED MAY 31, 2011, PURSUANT TO INVITATION FOR BID NO. 267266,
FROM DIVE RESCUE INTERNATIONAL, INC., THE SOLE RESPONSIVE AND
RESPONSIBLE BIDDER, FOR MARINE EQUIPMENT, PARTS AND
SUPPLIES, ON A CITYWIDE, AS -NEEDED CONTRACTUAL BASIS, FOR AN
INITIAL CONTRACT PERIOD OF TWO (2) YEARS, WITH THE OPTION TO
RENEW FOR TWO (2) ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS; ALLOCATING
FUNDS FROM THE VARIOUS SOURCES OF FUNDS FROM THE USER
DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES, SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF
FUNDS AND BUDGETARY APPROVAL AT THE TIME OF NEED.
11-00569 Summary Form.pdf
11-00569 Award Recommendation Form.pdf
11-00569 Tabulation of Bids.pdf
11-00569 Detail by Entity Name.pdf
11-00569Addendum No. 1.pdf
11-00569 Invitation for Bid.pdf
11-00569 Legislation.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0331
CA.2 RESOLUTION
11-00570
Department of Police A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ACCEPTING THE BID
RECEIVED MAY 13, 2011, PURSUANT TO INVITATION FOR BID NO. 261241,
FROM COMPUTER BASED ASSOCIATES, INC., THE LOWEST
RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE BIDDER, FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF
REMOVAL AND INSTALLATION OF MOBILE DIGITAL COMPUTERS, FOR
THE DEPARTMENT OF POLICE, ON AN AS -NEEDED CONTRACTUAL
BASIS, FOR AN INITIAL PERIOD OF TWO (2) YEARS, WITH OPTIONS TO
RENEW FOR THREE (3) ADDITIONAL ONE-YEAR PERIODS; ALLOCATING
FUNDS FROM THE VARIOUS SOURCES OF FUNDS FROM THE USER
DEPARTMENT, SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND
BUDGETARY APPROVAL AT THE TIME OF NEED.
11-00570 Summary Form.pdf
11-00570 Tabulation .pdf
11-00570 Removal & Installation - Reference Checks.pdf
11-00570Addendum No.1.pdf
11-00570 Invitation For Bid.pdf
11-00570 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
WITHDRAWN PASSED by the following vote.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
CA.3
11-00601
Department of Capital
Improvements
Program
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING ADDITIONAL GRANT FUNDS FROM THE
STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO
EXCEED $115,130, FOR THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT
ACT (ARRA) CITYWIDE BICYCLE RACK AND SIGNAGE PROJECT, B-30694;
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AMENDMENT NUMBER
4 TO THE GRANT AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED
FORM, IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THE ACCEPTANCE OF SAID FUNDS.
11-00601 Summary Form.pdf
11-00601 Pre-Legislation.pdf
11-00601 Legislation.pdf
11-00601 Exhibit 1.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0332
CA.4 RESOLUTION
11-00611
Department of Capital
Improvements
Program
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT
DONATION VALUED AT APPROXIMATELY $59,450, FROM FLORIDA
COMMUNITY LIGHTING, INC., FOR THE INSTALLATION OF STREET
LIGHTING POLES ALONG RICE STREET BETWEEN FLORIDA AVENUE AND
OAK AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN ACCESS, INDEMNIFICATION AND
ACCEPTANCE AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM,
COVERING THE DONATION, TEMPORARY ACCESS RIGHTS AND ONE (1)
YEAR MAINTENANCE WARRANTY.
11-00611 Summary Form.pdf
11-00611 Letter - FCL.pdf
11-00611 Legislation.pdf
11-00611 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0312
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to hear CA. 4.
Chair Gort: Okey-doke, CA.4.
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Commissioner Sarnoff. Do you guys want to present? Where's the CA.4 folks? There you are.
Albert Sosa: Good morning. My name is Albert Sosa, director of Capital Improvements. I'd like
to introduce the principal of Florida Community Lighting.
Humberto Ortiz: Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you to the Chair, fellow Commissioners, to
the Mayor. Florida Community Lighting, we've been in business for over 25 years. We
specialize in street lighting, that is 100 percent our core business that we do. We -- knowing the
times now of the cities where you have high crime, where you also have budget constraints, I
mean, this is a time to be able to get these street lights and actually finance these street lights,
which is what we do. It's a turnkey process where we own, finance, maintain and construct these
street lights. We -- again, this is an area right now, which is (UNINTELLIGIBLE). This is the
way it's looking right now and this is what we plan or things that we can have. We are donating
-- we are so sure of our product that we are donating these street lights so that you can get a
better feel for our company and for our service. Again, I want to thank you for this opportunity
and --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. You do business with the County, correct?
Mr. Ortiz: Yes. We -- right now we maintain all the street lights in Miami -Dade County.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And my understanding is that you can come in as low or in the
approximation of $4.98 per street light.
Mr. Ortiz: That is the price right now for Miami -Dade County.
Commissioner Sarnoff. The City ofMiami presently pays between 11 and $22 per street light
with FP&L (Florida Power & Light), so what I'm saying to this Commission is the core business
ofFP&L is certainly not maintaining the streetlights and, obviously, they're subbing that out
and, obviously, we're paying many, many middle people. I think what we should do is, whether
we resolve to do this or whether we just instruct to do this, that we start revisiting -- maybe do
the pilot project, get a certain number of months under our belt. But we need to really look at
how we can save upwards of 75 percent, in some cases, of the cost that we're incurring for street
lights andl think we should do that as quickly as we can. If in fact, these folks have been
maintaining the County lights, I would expect that they have a record of achievement of some
magnitude that the City ofMiami can simply just, you know, latch onto. And as budgets are
tight, I think this is a great way of just saying, this was easy; we should have done this.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Let me -- okay, go ahead.
Commissioner Suarez: When you're finished. Go ahead.
Chair Gort: As the Chairperson, I'll wait until last. Go ahead.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I want to thank you for
this very, very generous donation. Obviously, we're in a situation financially where anybody --
any member of the public that -- or any company that wants to help out the City ofMiami by
donating things that are beautiful like this is, you know, obviously welcomed and we're hoping
that we continue to have generous members of the community that do that. I know in the City of
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Coral Gables a generous individual gave them, I don't know how many, royal palms recently. So
it's incumbent on our community -- it's part of one of the discussion items that I have later on --
coming together and helping out the City, so we tremendously appreciate that. Andl echo
Commissioner Sarnoffs sentiments that if you guys are providing this service to -- first of all,
FP&L doesn't do anything nearly as beautiful as what you're showing us, at least not from what
I've seen. Andl think although FP&L has been, you know, decently responsive to our office, it's
never as responsive in my experience as having a company that's dedicated specifically to that.
And if you're doing it at a cost savings of 75 percent with a contract that's already in place with
an entity that's 14 times larger than the City ofMiami, that's where I guess you can see the
economies of scale coming into play, you know, where you're bidding on a contract and a huge
entity and you're bidding on it as if they were going to be acquiring a large volume of these street
lights, so that's where I could see a lot of the savings coming into play. I agree. I just wanted to
echo your sentiments, andl wanted to thank you very much for doing this. I know it's not
something that you have to do, and it's something that's greatly appreciated.
Mr. Ortiz: You're welcome.
Chair Gort: Let me tell you, timing is something that is very important in life. I mean, we're
looking at a budget and we're looking at each way to save funds. Andl inquire about this the
same thing last week because when I saw this item, I said this is a blessing. I had a meeting with
some of the activists in my neighborhood where they would like to see some -- the street lighting
in 17th Avenue, Northwest 17th Avenue. And I told them, look, that might be a dream because
it's very difficult to get the funding right now to do so. Then when I read this proposal that's
coming up, I said this is great. As a matter of fact, I already set up a meeting with them andl
instructed my -- the gentleman in CIP (Capital Improvement Programs) to start doing some
analysis on 17th Avenue and we can agree -- accomplish two things: Improve a street, make
them look a little better and save money. You can't lose with that. So I want to thank you. And
the next time, do it in all five districts.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I'll move the item.
Chair Gort: It's been moved --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: -- by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Vice Chairman Carollo. Any further
discussion? Yes, sir.
Mr. Ortiz: Again, thank you. My name is Humberto Ortiz and thank you very much for this
opportunity.
Chair Gort: Thank you. All in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
CA.5 RESOLUTION
11-00661
Department of Solid A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Waste ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN
INTERLOCALAGREEMENT WITH MIAMI SHORES VILLAGE ("MIAMI
SHORES"), IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, FORA PERIOD OF
AT LEAST THREE (3) YEARS, COMMENCING ON THE DATE OF
EXECUTION AND REMAINING IN EFFECT UP TO AND INCLUDING
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
OCTOBER 1, 2015, WITH UP TO TWO (2) OPTIONS TO RENEW ON A
YEAR -BY -YEAR BASIS, FOR USE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY")
VIRGINIA KEY COMPOST/MULCH FACILITY FOR MIAMI SHORE'S
DISPOSAL OF CLEAN YARD TRASH AT AN AGREED -UPON CITY DISPOSAL
FEE RATE.
11-00661 Summary Form.pdf
11-00661 Legislation.pdf
11-00661 Exhibit 1.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0309
Note for the record: Item CA.5 was initially passed as part of the Consent Agenda. However,
the Consent Agenda was reconsidered so that CA.5 could be pulled for discussion. As a result, a
separate vote was taken for CA.5 which appears outside of the items adopted on the Consent
Agenda.
Adopted the Consent Agenda
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, including all the
preceding items marked as having been adopted on the Consent Agenda. A motion was
made by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn, and was passed
unanimously, TO RECONSIDER the Consent Agenda.
A motion was made by Vice Chair Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, and was
passed unanimously, with Commissioner Suarez absent, TO ADOPT the remaining items
on the Consent Agenda (Items CA.1 and CA.3).
Note for the record: After the Consent Agenda was reconsidered, Item CA.5 was pulled
from the Consent Agenda for disucssion, leaving Items CA.1 and CA.3 as the only items
remaining on the Consent Agenda. The motion carried by the following vote:
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
A motion was made by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn, and was passed
unanimously, TO RECONSIDER the Consent Agenda.
A motion was made by Vice Chair Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, and was passed
unanimously, with Commissioner Suarez absent, TO ADOPT the remaining items on the Consent
Agenda (Items CA.1 and CA.3).
Note for the record: After the Consent Agenda was reconsidered, Item CA.5 was pulled from the
Consent Agenda for disucssion, leaving Items CA.1 and CA.3 as the only items remaining on the
Consent Agenda.
CA.5 RESOLUTION
11-00661
Department of Solid A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Waste ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN
INTERLOCALAGREEMENT WITH MIAMI SHORES VILLAGE ("MIAMI
SHORES"), IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, FORA PERIOD OF
AT LEAST THREE (3) YEARS, COMMENCING ON THE DATE OF
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
EXECUTION AND REMAINING IN EFFECT UP TO AND INCLUDING
OCTOBER 1, 2015, WITH UP TO TWO (2) OPTIONS TO RENEW ON A
YEAR -BY -YEAR BASIS, FOR USE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY")
VIRGINIA KEY COMPOST/MULCH FACILITY FOR MIAMI SHORE'S
DISPOSAL OF CLEAN YARD TRASH AT AN AGREED -UPON CITY DISPOSAL
FEE RATE.
11-00661 Summary Form.pdf
11-00661 Legislation.pdf
11-00661 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-11-0309
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Mr. Chairman, can we discuss CA .5?
Chair Gort: Sure.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. CA.5 is the Solid Waste executed interlocal agreement with Miami
Shores. I think we all know that this was what we had expected with regard to our solid waste
that was recyclables. What wanted to show my fellow Commissioners -- andl apologize for
doing it this way. This is Virginia Key. If you look at the way we're going to make access to
Virginia Key, you'll see that we're going to come and we're going to go past -- all the way around
this direction to go to the recycling station, which is about here. We're going to put very heavy
trucks right next to the mountain biking trail and whatnot, which is, I guess, really up here, right
up here, when all we need to do -- this road actually exists, but it doesn't exist blacktop. What we
need to do is just connect the dot here, and what the trucks can do is go this direction right to
there. It's really a no-brainer. It really makes complete sense. Think of the gas savings, think of
the wear -and -tear savings versus doing this. And I've asked them to find a way to do this, and
the only way I could support this particular issue is if we just join these up. We just did a great
mountain biking trail in Virginia Key. This is not expensive. Our CIP Department could take
care of this. It's just a matter of blacktopping. So I ask you to reconsider this. I did ask you to
reconsider it. But I'd ask you to put it as a component of our approval, that we simply blacktop
this piece of road.
Chair Gort: Okay. Discussion. There's a motion. Is there a second?
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Vice Chair Carollo: Second for discussion.
Chair Gort: It's been second. Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff second, Commissioner Dunn.
Discussion.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: I don't disagree with Commissioner Sarnoff. The only thing will just want
to identify, you know, where the funding. Again, I don't think it should be that much, so --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yeah, I don't think it is, but I'll --
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Our new director of Solid Waste.
Keith Carswell: Keith Carswell, director of Solid Waste Department. The item CA. 5 was an
interlocal agreement with the Village ofMiami Shores for disposal of clean yard trash at Virginia
Key. As some of you are aware, we've had a compost and mulch facility for a number of years
there. The revenue from the contract goes to supplement our operations. The Commissioner has
made our office aware of the interest and desire in having an alternate route to get to our facility.
We've talked with CIP andl think we're investigating to look at that alternative. One of the
challenges I believe is going around the western portion. It would -- there's some pristine
vegetation. And so one of the alternatives that we're looking at, and CIP will be following up on,
is seeing if we can go perhaps through or close to the perimeter of the Miami -Dade facility out
there. So it is something that we will take a look at. I would ask -- and I'm not sure what the
motion was -- but that you would pass this item because this is revenue generation, CA .5; allow
us to come back with an alternative or what we can possibly do, given the constraints that we
have.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Any -- Commissioner.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I'm going to stand on my motion because I -- what I notice about this
City is, unless you hold people's feet to the fire, the fire rarely gets to their feet. Andl hear what
you're saying, Mr. Carswell. I think ifI held your feet to the fire and this was a revenue
generated, you would find a way to make this happen.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: Why don't we just table this till the end of the meeting? It will probably be
a long meeting anyways, and by then I think we'll have time to identf funding and so forth. I
really don't foresee it being all that much, so --
Chair Gort: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- why don't we just table CA.5.
[Later..]
Chair Gort: CA.5, are we ready or keep table it? Did we get the route?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yeah. I'm okay.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I would, Mr. Chair, move CA.5, as stated.
Chair Gort: Okay, there's a motion. Is there a second?
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Suarez. Any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
END OF CONSENT AGENDA
Chair Gort: Okay, consent agenda. You want to pull C4 [sic], and CA.2 was withdrawn. Okay,
with those two, can I have a motion?
Vice Chair Carollo: Motion for approval of CA.1, CA. 3 and CA. 5.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: Okay, there's a motion by Vice Chairman, second by Commissioner Dunn. Any
further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
[Later...]
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chairman, can we reconsider CA.5?
Chair Gort: CA.5.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I make a motion.
Chair Gort: Got a motion to --
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me. Chair.
Chair Gort: -- reconsider CA.5.
Mr. Hannon: Let's go ahead and reconsider the consent agenda items first, so let's make a
motion to reconsider the consent agenda --
Chair Gort: Right.
Mr. Hannon: -- because we voted for all those at the same time.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So moved.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. CA.5.
Mr. Hannon: If we could get a vote on that, sir?
Chair Gort: All in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
[Later...]
Vice Chair Carollo: And then vote on the remaining, which I think it was CA.1 and CA.3 that we
also reconsidered.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I'll second his motion for approval.
Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. Any discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by
saying iiye. "
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
9:00 A.M.
PH.1
11-00658
Department of
Community
Development
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Vice Chair Carollo: And we're tabling CA.5.
Chair Gort: Okay. Anything else?
PUBLIC HEARINGS
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, AUTHORIZING THE
ALLOCATION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDS TO
CAMARA DE COMERCIO LATINA DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, INC.
("CAMACOL"), IN THE AMOUNT OF $50,000, FROM THE DISTRICT 4
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT RESERVE ACCOUNT, FOR ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATED WITH COMMERCIAL FA?ADE
AND CODE COMPLIANCE PROJECTS IN DISTRICT 4; AUTHORIZING THE
CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS IN A FORM
ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY WITH CAMACOL, FOR SAID
PURPOSE.
11-00658 Summary Form.pdf
11-00658 Notice to the Public.pdf
11-00658 Pre-Legislation.pdf
11-00658 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0313
Chair Gort: PH.1.
George Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. Mr. Chair, this is a
District 4 item, andl will see if the District 4 Commissioner can be here because he indicated
that he wanted --
Chair Gort: Is it a four fifth?
Mr. Mensah: -- to make changes to it.
Chair Gort: This is a four fifth?
Mr. Mensah: No, it doesn't require a four fifth.
Chair Gort: Oh, I gotcha. Yes. The allocation --
Mr. Mensah: But the district Commissioner had indicated that he wanted to make a change to
the item.
Chair Gort: Okay, PH.2.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): PH.2 has been deferred.
Chair Gort: Public Works. PH.2 been deferred.
Mr. Hannon: I have PH.2 is being deferred to September 15.
Nzeribe Ihekwaba (Director, Public Works): Yeah.
Chair Gort: Great presentation.
Mr. Ihekwaba: PH.3.
Chair Gort: That's it.
[Later..]
Chair Gort: Okay, PH.1.
Mr. Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. PH.1 is a resolution
granting to CAMACOL (Latin Chamber of Commerce) an amount of $250, 000 from the District
4 Community Development reserve account for activities associated with commercial facade and
code compliance projects in District 4.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: I'd like to make a motion -- a modified motion to reduce the amount from
250 to 50. And the reason why is because we are waiting on a plan to do a comprehensive
facade improvement of an area in my district and it hasn't been finalized. The numbers haven't
been given to me. So what I want to do is give the entity $50, 000 to do some spot facades of
people who have called in, andl have requested fundings, so to give them a little bit of money for
them to actually provide some services to the community. But I have something in mind that's a
little bit -- kind of more grandiose and takes a little bit more time.
Mr. Mensah: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: And so I wanted to just confine this to 50, 000 for now. And then once I
have the final plan -- the final cost estimates, bring it back for the additional funding.
Mr. Mensah: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: So that's my motion.
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Vice Chairman Carollo.
And that's a good idea. When -- you create a better impact when you concentrate within one
area. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor --
Mr. Hannon: Chair, public hearing.
Chair Gort: Yes. Oh, okay. It's a public hearing. Anyone in the public would like to address
PH.1? None shown. Close the public hearing. All in favor, state it by saying aye."
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
PH.2 RESOLUTION
11-00573
Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Works ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING THE PLAT ENTITLED "BIG FISH", A
SUBDIVISION IN THE CITY OF MIAMI OF THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED IN
"ATTACHMENT 1", SUBJECT TO SATISFACTION OF ALL CONDITIONS
REQUIRED BY THE PLAT AND STREET COMMITTEE AS SET FORTH IN
"EXHIBIT A", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, AND THE PROVISIONS
CONTAINED IN SECTION 55-8 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, AND ACCEPTING THE DEDICATIONS SHOWN ON
THE PLAT; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER AND CITY
CLERK TO EXECUTE THE PLAT; AND PROVIDING FOR THE
RECORDATION OF THE PLAT IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF MIAMI-DADE
COUNTY, FLORIDA.
11-00573 Summary Form.pdf
11-00573 Notice to the Public.pdf
11-00573 Legislation.pdf
11-00573 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
DEFERRED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
Note for the record: Item PH.2 was deferred to the Commission Meeting scheduled for
September 15, 2011.
PH.3 RESOLUTION
11-00574
Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Works ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING THE PLAT ENTITLED "HAITIAN EMMANUEL
BAPTIST CHURCH", A REPLAT IN THE CITY OF MIAMI OF THE PROPERTY
DESCRIBED IN "ATTACHMENT 1", SUBJECT TO SATISFACTION OF ALL
CONDITIONS REQUIRED BY THE PLAT AND STREET COMMITTEE AS SET
FORTH IN "EXHIBIT A", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, AND THE
PROVISIONS CONTAINED IN SECTION 55-8 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY
OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, AND ACCEPTING THE DEDICATIONS
SHOWN ON THE PLAT; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CITY
MANAGER AND CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE THE PLAT; AND PROVIDING
FOR THE RECORDATION OF THE PLAT IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA.
11-00574 Summary Form.pdf
11-00574 Notice to the Public.pdf
11-00574 Legislation.pdf
11-00574 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
R-11-0314
Chair Gort: PH.3.
Nzeribe Ihekwaba: Good morning. Zerry Ihekwaba, Public Works director. PH.3 is a
resolution to accept the final plat of Haitian Emmanuel Baptist Church from Haitian Emmanuel
Baptist Church, Incorporated, and to authorize the City Manager to execute the related
documents for the recordation of the same in the public records ofMiami-Dade County. This is a
group of five lots lying between Northeast 3rd Court and Northeast 2ndAvenue and on the north
side of Northeast 73rd Street. There are certain subdivision improvements that include -- this
replat involves subdivision improvements in the public rights -of -way of the City ofMiami, valued
at $15, 941, and the applicant has posted a cashier's check guaranteeing that this work will be
completed. This is a ministerial action asking for the Commission to approve the recordation.
Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. It's a public hearing. Is anyone would like to address PH.3? Being
none, we close the public hearings [sic]. Do I have a motion?
Commissioner Sarnoff. So moved.
Chair Gort: It's moved by Commissioner Dunn --
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: -- second by Vice Chairman Carollo. Any further discussion? Being none, all in
favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
PH.4 RESOLUTION
11-00576
Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Administration ATTACHMENT(S), BYA FOUR -FIFTHS (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE,
AFTER AN ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING, RATIFYING, APPROVING AND
CONFIRMING THE CITY MANAGERS RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDINGS
THAT COMPETITIVE NEGOTIATION METHODS AND PROCEDURES ARE
NOT PRACTICABLE OR ADVANTAGEOUS PURSUANT TO SECTION 18-85
(A) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDAAS AMENDED;
WAIVING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SAID PROCEDURES; APPROVING
THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDINGS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI'S
DEPARTMENT OF GRANTS ADMINISTRATION, EDUCATION INITIATIVES
THAT EXCEPTIONAL CONSULTING EDUCATIONAL LEADERS, INC. AND
CONEE, INC., BOTH FLORIDA FOR -PROFIT CORPORATIONS, ARE THE
MOST QUALIFIED FIRMS TO PROVIDE INSTRUCTION, FAMILY ACTIVITIES,
MENTORING, COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS AND OTHER SUCH ACTIVITIES
IN CONJUNCTION WITH PARENTING SERVICES AT VARIOUS CHILD CARE
CENTERS WITHIN THE CITY FOR THE FAMILIES FIRST PARENTING
PROGRAM; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND TO
EXECUTE, AFTER CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY ATTORNEY, SERVICE
AUTHORIZATION LETTERS, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENTS,
AND AMENDMENTS, EXTENSIONS AND MODIFICATIONS IN COMPLIANCE
WITH THE RELATED FORM OF THE CHILDREN'S TRUST CONTRACT,
RESPECTIVELY, WITH: EXCEPTIONAL CONSULTING FOR EDUCATIONAL
City ofMiami Page 19 Printed on 8/22/2011
City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
LEADERS, INC, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $72,000 AND CONEE,
INC., IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $18,000, EACH FOR A PERIOD
COMMENCING AUGUST 1, 2011 THROUGH JULY 31, 2012, WITH THE
OPTIONS TO RENEW FOR UP TO TWO (2) ADDITIONAL SIMILAR PERIODS
AT THE SAME NOT TO EXCEED AMOUNTS, UNDER THE SAME TERMS
AND CONDITIONS; SUBJECT TO CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY
ATTORNEY AND BUDGETARY APPROVAL AT THE TIME OF NEED.
11-00576 Summary Form.pdf
11-00576 Waiving Competitive Bidding - ECEL.pdf
11-00576 Waiving Competitive Bidding - Conee, Inc.pdf
11-00576 Notice to the Public.pdf
11-00576 Legislation.pdf
11-00576 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0303
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item RE. 14 for minutes referencing Item PH.4.
Robin Jones Jackson (Assistant City Attorney): Now you would need to come back and read into
the record for PH.4. Thank you.
Lillian Blondet (Interim Director, Grants Administration): And now PH.4.
Chair Gort: PH.4, read it.
Ms. Blondet: Because we had to accept the funding before we could do --
Chair Gort: Right.
Ms. Blondet: -- the other one. PH.4, a resolution of the City of -- the Miami City Commission,
with attachments, by a four fifth affirmative vote, after an advertised public hearing, raging,
approving and confirming the City Manager's recommendation and findings that competitive
negotiation methods and procedures are not practicable or advantageous pursuant to Section
18-85(a) of the code of the City ofMiami, Florida, as amended; waiving the requirements for
said procedures; approving the recommendations and findings of the City of Miami's Department
of Grants Administration, education initiatives that Exceptional Consulting Educational Leaders,
Inc. and Conee, Inc., both Florida -for -profit corporations, are the most qualified firms to provide
instruction, family activities, mentoring, community workshops, and other such activities in
conjunction with parenting services at various child care centers within the City of -- for the
Families First Parenting program; authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and to execute,
after consultation with the City Attorney, service authorization letters, professional service
agreements, and amendment, extensions and modifications in compliance with the related form
of the Children's Trust contract, respectively; with: Exceptional Consulting for Educational
Leaders in the amount not to exceed $72, 000 and Conee, Inc., in an amount not to exceed
18,000, each for a period commencing August 1, 2011 through July 31, 2012, with the options to
renew for up to two additional similar periods at the same not -to -exceed amounts, under the
same terms and conditions; subject to consultation with the City Attorney and budgetary
approval at the time of need.
Chair Gort: Okay. Do I have a motion?
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
PH.5
11-00603
Department of Parks
and Recreation
Vice Chair Carollo: So move it.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Vice Chairman Carollo, second by Commissioner Suarez. Any
further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), BY A FOUR -FIFTHS (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE,
AFTER AN ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING, RATIFYING, APPROVING AND
CONFIRMING THE CITY MANAGER'S RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDINGS
THAT COMPETITIVE NEGOTIATION METHODS AND PROCEDURES ARE
NOT PRACTICABLE OR ADVANTAGEOUS PURSUANT TO SECTION
18-86(A)(3)(C) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED; WAIVING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SAID PROCEDURES;
APPROVING THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDINGS OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI'S ("CITY") DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION ("PARKS
DEPARTMENT) THAT AMIGOS TOGETHER FOR KIDS, INC. D/B/AAMIGOS
FOR KIDS, ARTS FOR LEARNING/MIAMI, INC., AND MIAMI-DADE FAMILY
LEARNING PARTNERSHIP, INC., ALL FLORIDA NOT -FOR -PROFIT
CORPORATIONS, ARE THE MOST QUALIFIED FIRMS TO PROVIDE
INSTRUCTION, FAMILY ACTIVITIES, MENTORING, COMMUNITY
WORKSHOPS AND OTHER SUCH ACTIVITIES, IN CONJUNCTION WITH
EDUCATIONAL AND PARK SERVICES ATAFRICAN SQUARE PARK, JUAN
PABLO DUARTE PARK, JOSE MARTI PARK, SHENANDOAH PARK AND
WEST END PARK FOR THE HEART OF OUR PARKS OUT OF SCHOOL
PROGRAM; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE SERVICE
AUTHORIZATION LETTERS AND TO NEGOTIATE AND TO EXECUTE
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENTS, EXTENSIONS, AMENDMENTS,
AND MODIFICATIONS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE RELATED FORM OF
THE CHILDREN'S TRUST CONTRACT, RESPECTIVELY, WITH: AMIGOS
TOGETHER FOR KIDS, INC., D/B/AAMIGOS FOR KIDS IN AN AMOUNT NOT
TO EXCEED $68,758, ARTS FOR LEARNING/MIAMI, INC., IN AN AMOUNT
NOT TO EXCEED $43,776, AND MIAMI-DADE FAMILY LEARNING
PARTNERSHIP, INC., IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $86,281, EACH FOR
A PERIOD COMMENCING AUGUST 1, 2011 THROUGH JULY 31, 2012, WITH
THE OPTION TO RENEW FOR UP TO TWO (2) ADDITIONAL SIMILAR
PERIODS AT THE SAME NOT TO EXCEED AMOUNTS, UNDER THE SAME
TERMS AND CONDITIONS SUBJECT TO CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY
ATTORNEY AND SUBJECT TO BUDGETARY APPROVAL.
11-00603 Summary Form.pdf
11-00603 Waiving Competitive Bidding -Arts for Learning.pdf
11-00603 Waiving Competitive Bidding -Amigos for Kids.pdf
11-00603 Waiving Competitive Bidding - Miami -Dade Family Learning.pdf
11-00603 Notice to the Public.pdf
11-00603 Legislation.pdf
11-00603 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0304
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item RE.7 for minutes referencing Item PH.5.
Chair Gort: PH.5.
Ernest Burkeen (Director, Parks & Recreation): PH.5.
Chair Gort: Wait a minute. He's got to read it.
Mr. Burkeen: A resolution of the Miami City Commission, with attachments, by a four fifths
vote, after advertised public hearings, ratifying, approving and confirming the City Manager's
recommendation and findings that competitive negotiation methods and procedures are not
practical or advantageous; waiving the requirements for said procedures; approving the
recommendations and findings of the City of Miami's City Department of Parks and Recreation
that Amigos Together for Kids, Arts For Learning, Miami -Dade Family Learning Partnerships,
all Florida not -for -profit corporations, are the most qualified firms to provide the instruction,
family activities, mentoring, community workshops, and other such activities, in conjunction with
educational and park services at African Square Park, Juan Pablo Duarte Park, Jose Marti
Park, Shenandoah Park, West End Park for the Heart of Our Parks Out of School program.
Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. It's a public hearing. Is anyone would like to address --?
Mariano Cruz: Yeah, public hearing. Mariano Cruz, 1227 26 Street. Like I said before, I like
when I see this, especially I know the people, Amigos for Kids, you know, the Placencia group,
that they do a good job. What I wanted in this activities learning in the parks not to become just
a babysitting thing for the children there. In a way, got to make sure and be -- check them, that
the children are taught and they get something out of the programs. If they're going to spend two
or three hours there, let them come back home learning something because you have to learn.
You -- especially when you're young, your young brain is -- can absorb more. Andl know this
park, Duarte Park, before even was a park there, when it was the exotic gardens, remember, the
land there. Then the City bought the land became Comstock Park and still live in the
neighborhood andl check there, and they do good work there. They do good. I see a lot of
people -- my neighbors say the children there after school and it is good. It's a good. It's --
money well spent, same as spending sometimes monies in grandiose programs, you know, like
that to have your -- the name in bronze, whatever. Let them spend the money where it's really
needed. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, Mr. Cruz. I think the new Administration is really looking into the
administrators to really look out for all those programs and make sure they're in compliance and
they do perform the way they should be performing. Any further -- anyone else --
Vice Chair Carollo: Move it.
Chair Gort: --from the public?
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. Any discussion? Moved by Vice Chairman Carollo,
second by Commissioner Suarez. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by
saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
PH.6
11-00530
Office of Grants
Administration
Chair Gort: Thank you.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), BY A FOUR -FIFTHS (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE,
AFTER AN ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING, RATIFYING, APPROVING AND
CONFIRMING THE CITY MANAGER'S RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDINGS
THAT COMPETITIVE NEGOTIATION METHODS AND PROCEDURES ARE
NOT PRACTICABLE OR ADVANTAGEOUS PURSUANT TO SECTION 18-85
(A) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDAAS AMENDED;
WAIVING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SAID PROCEDURES; APPROVING
THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDINGS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI'S
DEPARTMENT OF GRANTS ADMINISTRATION, EDUCATION INITIATIVES
THAT ARTS FOR LEARNING/MIAMI, INC., AND STRONG WOMEN, STRONG
GIRLS, INC., FLORIDA NOT -FOR PROFIT CORPORATIONS, AND MAD
SCIENCE SOUTH FLORIDA, INC., AND ON TARGET MATHEMATICS
EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, INC., FLORIDA FOR -PROFIT
CORPORATIONS, ARE THE MOST QUALIFIED FIRMS TO PROVIDE
INSTRUCTION, FAMILY ACTIVITIES, MENTORING, COMMUNITY
WORKSHOPS AND OTHER SUCH ACTIVITIES IN CONJUNCTION WITH
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES AT HOLMES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FOR THE
MIAMI LEARNING ZONE OUT OF SCHOOL PROGRAM; AUTHORIZING THE
CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND TO EXECUTE, AFTER
CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY ATTORNEY, SERVICE AUTHORIZATION
LETTERS, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENTS, AND
AMENDMENTS, EXTENSIONS AND MODIFICATIONS IN COMPLIANCE
WITH THE RELATED FORM OF THE CHILDREN'S TRUST CONTRACT,
RESPECTIVELY, WITH: ARTS FOR LEARNING/MIAMI, INC., IN AN AMOUNT
NOT TO EXCEED $14,000, MAD SCIENCE SOUTH FLORIDA, INC., IN AN
AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $27,000, AND ON TARGET MATHEMATICS
EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, INC. IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO
EXCEED $14,200, AND STRONG WOMEN, STRONG GIRLS, INC. (WHICH
IS DONATING SERVICES), EACH FORA PERIOD COMMENCING AUGUST
1, 2011 THROUGH JULY 31, 2012, WITH THE OPTIONS TO RENEW FOR UP
TO TWO (2) ADDITIONAL SIMILAR PERIODS AT THE SAME NOT TO
EXCEED AMOUNTS, UNDER THE SAME TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
11-00530 Summary Form.pdf
11-00530 Memo - Target Mathematics Edu.pdf
11-00530 Memo -Arts for Learning -Miami, Inc.pdf
11-00530 Memo - Mad Science South Florida, Inc.pdf
11-00530 Memo - Strong Women, Strong Girls, Inc.pdf
11-00530 Legislation.pdf
11-00530 Exhibit 1.pdf
11-00530 Notice to the Public 07-28-11.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0305
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item RE.12 for minutes referencing Item PH. 6.
Lillian Blondet (Interim Director, Grants Administration): And the companion public hearing is
PH.6. A resolution of the City -- of the Miami City Commission, with attachments, by a four fifth
affirmative vote, after an advertised public hearing, raging, approving and confirming the City
Manager's recommendations and findings that competitive negotiation methods and procedures
are not practicable or advantageous pursuant to Section 18-85(a) of the code of the City of
Miami, Florida, as amended; waiving the requirements for said procedures; approving the
recommendations and findings of the City of Miami's Department of Grants Administration
education initiatives at Arts For Learning Miami, Inc., and Strong Woman [sic]/Strong Girl
[sic], Inc., Florida not for profit -corporations, and Mad Science South Florida, Inc. and On
Target Mathematical [sic] Education [sic] Products and Services, Inc., Florida for
profit -corporations; are the most qualified firms to provide instruction, family activities,
mentoring, community workshops and other such activities in conjunction with educational
services at Holmes Elementary School for the Miami Learning Zone Out of School program;
authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and to execute, after consultation with the City
Attorney, services authorization letters, professional service agreements, and amendment,
extensions and modifications in compliance with the related form of the Children's Trust
contract, respectively, with: Art [sic] for Learnings [sic]/Miami, Inc., in an amount not to exceed
14,000, Mad Science South Florida, Inc., in an amount not to exceed 27,000, and On Target
Mathematics Educational Products and Services, Inc., in an amount not to exceed 14,200, and
Strong Woman [sic], Strong Girls, Inc., (which is donating services), each for a period
commencing August 1, 2011 through July 31, 2012, with the options to renew for up to two
additional similar periods at the same not -to -exceed amounts under the same terms and
conditions.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Public hearing. Anyone --?
Mariano Cruz: Yeah, public hearing.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Mr. Cruz: Mariano Cruz, 1227 26th Street. Whenever I see something like target mathematical
education, I think it's good, even if they spend so little money. But you can see the money that
the state of Florida, they spend in prisons and all that. And you remember Horace Mann. What
he say, Horace Mann? You spend the money on education, you won't have to spend the money in
prisons, okay, and that's the way (UNINTELLIGIBLE) society don't realize that. They don't
realize that. They put the money after, you know, the problem they got there. No. Let's attack
like that, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's very little. Even -- that money is very little to go for the
mathematical education. What you need mathematics in everything you do in life, Calculus,
whatever it is, everything, a budget, you need math in everything you do in life. It prepares you
for your whole life. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Anyone else?
Commissioner Dunn: Move it.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by --
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
2:00 P.M.
PH.7
11-00541
Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Dunn, second by Vice Chairman Carollo.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Discussion.
Commissioner Dunn: I just want to say to Mr. Cruz, that's probably one of the most profound
statements you've made with District 5. You're right on point.
Mr. Cruz: Make sure you do that.
Commissioner Dunn: No, that's it, that's it. I just wanted to piggyback and say that Holmes
Elementary is in -- right smack hard -- right smack dab in the middle of Liberty City. It's
sandwiched between the Liberty Square Housing projects, Northwestern Senior High School. It's
right in the heart, not too far where the unfortunate incident of the two Miami -Dade police
officers were killed. It's right in that area. And it is also on the list of being changed by the
State. So this will be a blessing in disguise. Hopefully, it can show up -- their reading and
comprehension skills did improve, but I know that there are still some guidelines that they have
to meet, so I'm -- I really support this wholeheartedly.
Ms. Blondet: Thankyou.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Ms. Blondet: Thankyou.
Chair Gort: PH.7 have to be heard after 2 o'clock because it's got to be with PZ (Planning &
Zoning) -- along with PZ.3.
ORDINANCE
Second Reading
District2- AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Commissioner Marc ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT,
David Sarnoff PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 163, FLORIDA STATUTES, BETWEEN SWIRE
PROPERTIES, INC., AFFILIATED PARTIES, AND THE CITY OF MIAMI,
RELATING TO THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF A PROJECT KNOWN
AS "BRICKELL CITICENTRE" ON APPROXIMATELY ±9.03 ACRES, ZONED
BRICKELL CITICENTRE SPECIAL AREA PLAN ("BCC SAP"), BOUNDED
ROUGHLY BY NORTHEAST 6TH STREET TO THE NORTH, 8TH STREET
TO THE SOUTH, BRICKELL AVENUE TO THE EAST, AND SOUTHWEST 1ST
AVENUE TO THE WEST, MIAMI, FLORIDA ("PROJECT BOUNDARIES"), FOR
THE PURPOSE OF REDEVELOPMENT OF SUCH LAND FOR MIXED USES;
AUTHORIZING THE FOLLOWING USES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO:
RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, LODGING, CIVIC, EDUCATIONAL AND CIVIL
SUPPORT, AND ANY OTHER USES AUTHORIZED BY THE BCC SAP AND
PERMITTED BY THE EXISTING T6-48B 0 TRANSECT DESIGNATION;
AUTHORIZING A DENSITY OF APPROXIMATELY 150 UNITS PER ACRE;
AUTHORIZING AN INTENSITY MEASURED BY FLOOR LOT RATIO OF 14;
AUTHORIZING A MAXIMUM BUILDING HEIGHT OF 683 FEET AND
MAXIMUM PEDESTAL HEIGHTS OF 129 FEET AND 160 FEET FOR PHASE
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
1/1AAND PHASE II, RESPECTIVELY; AMENDING CHAPTER 54 AND 55 OF
THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("CITY
CODE"), TO PERMIT THE CONSTRUCTION OF ENCROACHMENTS WITHIN
THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY AND PERMIT CERTAIN COMMERCIAL USES
THEREIN; FURTHER AMENDING CHAPTER 17 OF THE CITY CODE TO
AUTHORIZE TREE REPLACEMENT WITHIN ONE (1) MILE OF THE
PROJECT BOUNDARIES; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
EXECUTE THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE
ATTACHED FORM, FOR SAID PURPOSE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY
CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-00541 Notice of Intent - Develop. Agrmt. SR 07-28-11.pdf
11-00541 Legislation SR (Version 2) 07-28-11.pdf
11-00541 Exhibit 1 SR 07-28-11.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
13278
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item PZ.3 for minutes referencing Item PH.7.
Chair Gort: PZ.3.
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): Item PZ.3 is the second reading -- actually, it -- I think
it would be appropriate to point out at this point in time that PZ.3 -- items PZ.3 and PH.7 are
companion items.
Chair Gort: Right.
Mr. Garcia: PH.7, being the hearing for the development agreement and PZ.3 being the hearing
for the Brickell City Center, andl believe that each of those requires a separate motion as each
is a separate ordinance. Is there anything else that the City Attorney would like to --?
Maria J. Chiaro (Deputy City Attorney): No. Procedurally, that's correctly stated.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Mr. Garcia: And so it makes sense for both items to be heard concurrently at this time. And then
briefly by way of introduction, as I know the applicant has a presentation they want to make, I
will just say that PZ.3 is the second reading for the adoption of a special area plan for a project
known as Brickell City Center, which is located approximately on 1st Avenue and 8th Street. It's
just a location -- for location's sake. And once again, I think what makes most sense is to allow
the applicants to make their presentation and we will certainly be ready to answer any questions
that may arise.
Chair Gort: At this time, we're going to listen to PH.7 first, which is a public hearing.
Ms. Chiaro: Mr. Chairman, you can listen to --
Chair Gort: To both?
Ms. Chiaro: -- PH.7 and PZ.3, insofar as the substance of the items, together because they are
related. You can't have the change in zoning for a special area plan without the approval of a
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development agreement. PH.7 is the approval of the development agreement. This is your
second public hearing on the development agreement, your second reading of the ordinance
approving the development agreement, and then second reading of the ordinance approving the
change in zoning for the special area plan. You can hear them together substantively. You just
need two separate votes.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir.
Spencer Crowley: Good afternoon, sir. My name is Spencer Crowley, 1 Southeast 3rdAvenue.
I'm here representing Swire Properties and the Brickell City Center project. First of all, I'd like
to recognize and thank your Planning staff for working with us over the last few months. It's
been a truly monumental effort. Andl work in a lot of jurisdictions throughout Florida and the
region andl can really say that this Planning staff and City staff that you have that deals with
development is second to none. They're very, very good, and it's been a pleasure to work with
them. You all have heard our full presentation on first reading, so unless you want to hear it
again, I'm going to give a brief summary and open up for public comment. Commissioners,
Swire has proposed a bold and ambitious plan for the City ofMiami. The plan is really pushing
the limits of urban design and is establishing greenway linkages from the urban core up to the
Miami River. This project is going to generate 5, 000 jobs for the City. It's going to have an
economic impact of a billion dollars. It's going to have ad valorem tax revenues per year of five
and a half million dollars. We're going to get permit fees of over $6 million, very apropos to
your budget discussions earlier. This project not only is going to be a financial boom for the
City, but it has the potential to bring a class of retail tenants that have never existed in downtown
Miami. The project has received staff support, recommendation of approval from PZAB
(Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board), unanimous approval from the City Commission on first
reading and support of the Downtown Development Authority, the Brickell Homeowners
Authority -- Brickell Homeowners Association and the Brickell Area Association. This project
has been designed to the standards ofMiami 21. It's the first special area plan under the new
code. The project is replacing a MUSP (Major Use Special Permit) that was approved under
Zoning Ordinance 11000, and that project was very large of its scale. It had three towers
between 69 and 76 stories, 2,424 residential units, 134,000 square feet of office, 87,000 square
feet of residential -- of retail, and 2,800 parking spaces in an above -ground parking pedestal,
and all of that was on about half of the property that Swire is proposing to do this development.
With the announcement of this project earlier this year, there was a lot of excitement locally,
even nationally. And some people, as a matter of fact, have already pronounced this as a
success. Make no mistake, Commissioners, this is a long road ahead of us. This is a very
complicated project. It's being proposed in uncertain times. And while Swire is very optimistic
and confident, they understand certainly that there are no guarantees of success here. So we just
hope that you're able to recognize that. Unfortunately, we anticipate that, as with any big
project that seems to come up these days, you may hear some objections from property owners in
the area. Let me assure you, Commissioners, we've taken time to meet with all of them during the
process. We've listened to their concerns. In these meetings, Swire's indicated to them that it's
going to develop its property in a way that's according to law, that's respectful of them in a way
that's beneficial to the community. Swire is committed to maintaining open communication with
them and will continue to be responsive. Any time they call, we're going to pick up the phone
and listen. So to the extent these property owners have legitimate concerns regarding impacts of
construction on the surrounding area or on their properties, these concerns are going to be
considered and addressed through well established processes. However, to the extent that the
property owners are here seeking a windfall through some kind of private concessions or side
agreements, Swire just cannot agree to that. This project is too complicated to add an additional
level of complication. So in conclusion, Commissioners, this is really a transformative project
for the City and it's a transformative moment for the City. I happen to be a resident of the
single-family neighborhood that's closest to this project, the South Miami Avenue neighborhood.
Andl can tell you that, for one, I'm ecstatic about what this is going to do for our neighborhood,
our area, the benefits it's going to provide me as a resident and to my family. But I just want to
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make sure that you understand in order to proceed with this really complicated -- very
complicated project, Swire needs assurances that it can do so in a manner that's fair, that's
consistent and customary with the existing practices, so we can't really afford to be saddled with
conditions that are not applicable to any other developers. With that being said, I want to thank
you for your consideration and ask for your support here on second reading. I'd also like to
reserve time for rebuttal, if possible. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. Public hearing. Anyone would like to address this issue?
Mr. Garcia: Briefly, Mr. Chair, as people approach the microphone. I was remiss in not saying
that this certainly -- this project is before you with the Planning and Zoning Department
recommendation of approval. And it has been to numerous boards in the City, including but not
limited to the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board, the Urban Development Review Board, the
DDA (Downtown Development Authority) Board, et cetera, and it has received unanimous
approval from all of those. I just wanted to mention that for the record. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir.
Tucker Gibbs: Good evening. My name is Tucker Gibbs, and I'm representing Graciela Zayden,
who's the owner of Frame Art, located at 96 Southwest 7th Street and Brickell Station Partners,
who own the property at 83 through 93 Southwest 8th Street. Andl want to start off tonight by
letting you all know that my clients support this project. It's positive for the neighborhood and
it's positive for the City. But my clients do have specific and legitimate concerns regarding the
impacts of the construction of this project on their properties. Number one, they're concerned
about specific measures to protect adjacent and neighborhood properties from
construction -related dust and debris. And it's true. We have spoken with Mr. Crowley and with
the representatives of Swire regarding these concerns, but we need something concrete. We need
something specific because we are concerned. I represent people who have businesses and the
businesses have operated in this area for many years. So my clients seek the installation -- and
I'm going to explain to you what my clients want so it's very clear. My clients seek the
installation of a watering and dust screen program at the property line with my clients. Why?
Because this kind of construction, one of the biggest projects in the history of the City ofMiami,
is right up against my clients' property line. I represent, for example, Frame Art, with millions of
dollars worth of art in their building. Dust gets in their building, dust gets in their paintings,
destroys the value of their paintings. This is a critical issue to my clients. This is not something
that's just out there. I have another client who has an open-air venue for a restaurant. Dust will
impact it. Debris will impact it. What we are seeking is not a concession, not a windfall. We're
seeking to be able to operate our businesses, just to operate our businesses as we always have.
We'd like to see some limitation on truck access to the property immediately adjacent to my
clients' property during my clients' hours of operation. We're seeking no storage material
adjacent to my property -- my clients' property. We're also looking for specific measures to be
implemented to ensure that my clients and other area businesses will not be interrupted during
construction. What do I mean by that? Electrical systems being placed on their property. If the
electricity goes out, it impacts my clients' businesses. They may close down for a couple of hours
or more. It still has a financial impact on them. So what we're looking for is, for example, no
blocking of access to my clients' property, a requirement that the developer provide alternative
parking to replace the on -street parking that is being removed during construction, insurance to
protect neighboring business from adverse monetary impact caused by utility service interruption
caused by this development. And my clients also seek the continued use of the sidewalk on
Southwest 8th Street, which will be obstructed during construction. If that means creating a --
what is I guess you could call a -- I forget -- scaffold tunnel kind of situation. It's just on the
north side of 8th Street to allow for access to my clients. And finally, something very simple, a
contact person, an individual that my clients can communicate with at any time, 24/7, who is
able to resolve problems as they happen. As I said, these are not exactions from this developer.
These are reasonable suggestions that what we would like to see. In our discussions with the
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developer and with the City, they talked about the construction management agreement or
construction management program that would be part of this process and part of the City
process, and that this agreement would be negotiated prior to the issuance of the first building
permits, probably, I assume, in February or March because at the last meeting the developer
said they expected to break ground think somewhere in the second quarter of next year.
Unfortunately, there's nothing in the record before you, except my presentation and maybe the
presentation of others, that shows that the developer will actually address these concerns. Andl
appreciate Mr. Crowley's statements. He's made them to me in our meetings and he's made them
to others. But the fact is is that I appreciate words, but I appreciate something concrete in
writing a little bit more. And so what I would ask this Commission to do tonight is condition the
approval of the special area plan on the developer implementing these requested actions that l've
presented to you tonight and directing staff to examine these issues and other issues that impact
the neighbors and any mitigation that may be part of a construction management plan. So I'm
asking you for two things, that you condition this approval with the statements -- with the
requests that I've made and ask your Planning Department to go out and as part of the
construction management plan, to talk to the community, find out what the issues are and include
those mitigation points in the plan. One final issue dealing with the site plan. I just wanted to
put it on the record. I spoke to Mr. Garcia about this. My clients at the corner of Southeast --
Southwest 1st Avenue and 8th Street have an issue about the sidewalk. The question is, they
would like to see the program, the sidewalk program as proposed by the developer, continued all
the way to 1st Avenue, which includes their property. The concern is if they're going to widen the
sidewalks, they want to make sure that's continuous all the way through the block. And l just
wanted to put that on the record to ask you all to consider that. I know Mr. Garcia already
knows about it. But again --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Are you suggesting that should be done at their expense for your client?
Mr. Gibbs: Well, while they're at it, yes, I would.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay, so you're asking that you pay for your sidewalk -- that they --
Mr. Gibbs: I would ask --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- pay for your sidewalk.
Mr. Gibbs: -- for that. If they're going to widen that sidewalk, it creates a real problem for
planning.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I'm just ask -- I --
Mr. Gibbs: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- you could --
Mr. Gibbs: Oh, yeah.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I just want to be clear.
Mr. Gibbs: Absolutely.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. And this would be justified how?
Mr. Gibbs: As I was saying, if they're going to widen that sidewalk and leave a maybe 50-foot
portion or 75 foot portion that is narrow, it creates a problem. It's a planning problem actually
for the City. You don't want developers coming in and widening a sidewalk and then having it
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next to a narrow sidewalk. It means that pedestrians don't have an easy way to move and also
limits my clients' ability to do their business, to actually operate their businesses, and that's a
concern.
Commissioner Sarnoff. But isn't your client's sidewalk the size it is right now?
Mr. Gibbs: It is, but my question is if the project widens the sidewalk and creates that problem,
what I'd like to see is that widening go all the way to 1st Avenue.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Gibbs: Thankyou.
Chair Gort: Next.
Ines Marrero-Priegues: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission. My name
is Ines Marrero. I'm attorney with offices at 701 Brickell Avenue. I usually don't appear here
against projects, but I will tell you I'm here on behalf of South Miami Properties, Ltd. and
Tobacco Road Barbecue, Inc. They're the owners of what we all think of as the Tobacco Road
property. It not only includes the Tobacco Road but also the River Oyster House and Lulu's and
I've Been Framed. And we are here because our concerns really relate to the fact that there's
going to be an extended period of construction. This is not a project that's going to come in and
be completed within a year. We're looking at several years of construction that are going to
affect our business. This, I should point out, is one of the oldest businesses in the City ofMiami.
We were there when South Miami was Avenue D. We were there in the turn of the century in
1902. They survived through a lot of things, and we hope they survive construction of the City
Center project. The concern is road closure and utility interruption because usually these things
happen at night because that's when the rest of us are home and not in our offices, but this is
when their businesses operate, the restaurants and particularly Tobacco Road. This is when
they're up and running. So what we want is for there to be an outreach to us, the stakeholders in
the community to be notified actively of road closure, utility interruptions, and if possible, also
for there to be a mechanism in place in case we suffer losses of business because of things that
happen in the course of construction, a ruptured sewer line, a ruptured power line, interruption
of power that shuts us down for a couple of hours or days. We're not asking for anything other
than there be a mechanism so we can bring our claim forth and have that resolved. But again,
we want this project to be built. These are people who are going to be patrons of our restaurant,
and we welcome them to the neighborhood where we've been since, like I said before, the 1900s.
So with that, that's all we ask. We're supportive of the project. We would just like to see our
concerns addressed through the many years of construction that those of us who live and work
there will be facing once the project's under construction. Thankyou.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mariano Cruz: Yeah. Mariano Cruz, 1227 Northwest 26 Street, been a resident of the City of
Miami since 1962. I like all this private industry especially in this economy that we are because
everybody is asking this, that and all -- no, no. Try to expedite all this, expedite. Like Farragut
say, damn the torpedo, full speed ahead, okay? That's the way to do because I am tired of seeing
like in neighborhood, the County and the state, they dump everything that nobody wants there,
you know. You know because you been there. Buildings that serve the whole
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) and don't pay taxes and we have to service those buildings there. Because
like the other day I was look at somebody (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F) man faint in court, who was
there? City ofMiami Rescue taking care of that. It was not the Dade County or the federal
government, no. City ofMiami Rescue was taking care of the mother of that -- no, the little boy
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-- whatever boy that have in that -- the guy that was -- that boy that was kill in -- at Coral Gables
High. And now I am seeing that we need jobs. We can't have an industrial revolution here now,
but at least jobs. I am tired of looking, going downtown everything that used to pay taxes, now a
federal court, a state building, County building. Where are all --? Remember, all those were -- I
remember (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- because I used to take people to those places there. Now they
don't pay any taxes and we have to service them. Try to get money all those people in lieu of
taxes. It's being done in other counties in lieu of service, that we provide municipal service to
them. Thank you.
Chair Gort: We had a -- we got to check up on --
Mr. Cruz: I am all a hundred percent for this project. And they don't want it? Put it in
Allapattah. We put it -- we can have it there.
Chair Gort: Thank you. We'll welcome over there, yes, definitely. Yes, ma'am.
Judith Sandoval: I regret having to follow Mauricio [sic]. He's just a very hard act to follow.
Judy Sandoval and 2536 Southwest 25th Terrace. I am appearing today in favor of this project.
For five years I've been coming up here and criticizing projects and hoping to tweak them and
even criticizingArquitectonica projects. But today I'm playing the role of Lucia Dougherty. This
is a wonderful project.
Commissioner Suarez: This is truly a historic moment.
Ms. Sandoval: It is, as she would say, exciting and beautiful, and it is. The developers are some
of the best that have worked in Miami. They have done wonderful things. I think the problem of
the neighborhood businesses can be worked out without a great problem and that we all will
benefit from this. It's about time we had this level of hotels and shopping all working together.
They even have enough trees. It's quite wonderful. I hope you'll pass it. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I think I've --
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Judy.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- seen everything now.
Chair Gort: Anyone else?
Robert Taglairino: Yeah, just very briefly. Is this site --?
Chair Gort: Name and address, please, sir.
Mr. Taglairino: I'm sorry. My name is Robert Taglairino, president of Taglairino Advertising
Group, 75 Broadway 15th Road, also on 1 stAvenue, also on 14th Terrace. Does this property
come to 14th Terrace?
Chair Gort: No.
Mr. Taglairino: Is this the site of the crater?
Chair Gort: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff. No, no. No, no, no.
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Mr. Taglairino: Okay. Thank goodness. Is that being discussed today? We received a
registered letter today. It's the first notification we've had of this project.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. No.
Mr. Taglairino: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. It's not.
Mr. Taglairino: It's not. Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. It was in the paper, but no, it's not.
Mr. Taglairino: Are we discussing anything today that is --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Any craters?
Mr. Taglairino: -- about the crater and that street? We received registered letter that we were to
show up today to discuss that project.
Chair Gort: Stick around just in case. I don't see it but --
Mr. Taglairino: You never know.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Can you --?
Mr. Taglairino: Okay. Sounds like a great project, neighbor.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Why don't you show it to -- show your letter to staff so they can maybe
help you.
Chair Gort: He didn't bring the letter.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Oh.
Mr. Taglairino: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay.
Chair Gort: Anyone else? Anyone else? Anyone else? Third time. Okay, sir, you got a few
minutes for rebuttal.
Mr. Crowley: Commissioners, real quick in rebuttal. First of all, I just want to disclose on the
record that we did have some meetings with your staff and some Commissioners to talk about the
project. I just want to say that the issues that were raised today by counsel for the property
owners can be addressed, it will be addressed during later phases of this project. The enabling
ordinance which adopts this special area plan requires Swire to provide the Planning
Department with a temporary construction plan. This consists of construction, parking, noise
management, maintenance plan, and an enforcement policy. So if Swire proceeds with
construction and doesn't comply with this plan, they can't go forward. They can't get their COs
(Certificates of Occupancy). We can't do anything. In addition to what the ordinance says,
there's provisions of the City code that require us to comply; Chapter 54 regarding streets and
sidewalk, Chapter 36 regarding noise. We have to follow these laws in order to continue.
Finally, with respect to FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation), any construction we do
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on FDOT roads, which is 7th Street, 8th Street, we have to come up with very detailed
maintenance of traffic plans. Our ability to shut down lanes and all of that kind of stuff is very,
very limited. So, you know, in practice, what's going to happen is Swire is going to hire
contractors. They're going to work with the City to develop these plans once we have the timing
and the methodology of construction set forth. At this point, it's too early. We cannot agree to
any conditions that were proffered by counsel of the opposition, and we would really urge you to
let us proceed and work with them in the future. So with that, I'll --
Chair Gort: Okay.
Mr. Crowley: Thank you.
Chair Gort: We close the public hearings [sic]. I think it's very important that you work with the
existing businesses in there.
Mr. Crowley: Of course.
Chair Gort: You have some of the small businesses that have been there, like Tobacco Road.
They've been there forever.
Mr. Crowley: Of course.
Chair Gort: So we got to make sure we don't affect them, we don't close them, especially small
business where they employ quite a few people there. And I'm sure (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Swire
property and their background, they'll be willing to do -- and work with the people in the area.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Francisco, you want to be a superstar and help us a little bit with some
of the complaints and concerns?
Mr. Garcia: I'm certainly happy to address them. We are fully cognizant -- and this is certainly
not unusual with large-scale developments such as this is, so we are fully cognizant of the fact
that there will be a protracted construction process and, in fact, in anticipation of this, we have
included as one of the conditions that you have in our recommendation of approval with
conditions, condition number 8, in particular, and I'll read it into the record for a moment,
provides the following. The applicant must provide the Planning Department with a temporary
construction plan that includes the following: Construction noise management plan with an
enforcement policy, maintenance plan for the temporary construction site. The plan shall be
subject to the review and approval by the Planning Department prior to the issuance of any
building permits, any building permits, and shall be enforced during construction activity. All
construction activity shall remain in full compliance with the provisions of the submitted
construction plan. Failure to comply may lead to a suspension or revocation of this special area
plan and any permits pursuant to it. And that generally encompasses what we call the -- and
what has been referred to as the construction management plan. In addition to which, it is
implicit but we might as well make it explicit because we've talked about this. We, of course,
understand that there is great merit in involving all the adjacent property owners, all the
stakeholders in the area because it is only through that interaction that we will fully understand
what impacts might be generated by the construction process and of course involve the
applicants as well, as well as referring this particular plan when it is presented to all the
agencies that have jurisdiction over the work being done, be it FDOT, the County, or any
number of internal agencies, DERM (Department of Environmental Resources Management)
included, et cetera. In the end, the applicant will then submit a construction management plan.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
We will reach out to the stakeholders in the area to ensure that they have their input. We will be,
of course, in touch with the elected officials to ensure that everything meets everyone's
expectations. And in the end, the construction management plan will be issued and enforced to
the extent that it has to be. It -- I'll say this just for the abundance -- for abundance of clarity.
The reason why we don't have a plan prepared at this moment in time nor have we asked the
applicant to submit it at this point in time is because the details of the construction process itself
have not been worked out and could not have been worked out at this point in time. This is
simply an entitlement package for this particular development proposal. Once the development
proposal is in place and the entitlement package is approved, it makes sense then for them to
begin to design the phasing of the project and prepare for contingencies. And it is at that point
in time that we will be dealing with them in trying to sort of tighten down the construction
management plan. So this is the way we do it. It is the way that we've successfully managed
other construction projects, and there is no reason to think that this should go any differently.
And for that reason, we are recommending the approval of the project as presented but also
subject to the conditions that you have in your packages, of which I have read one, which is
number 8.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Crowley, there are two magnificent trees on 18 -- on your property.
They happen to be on the southwest quadrant. Any chance that those trees could get
transplanted to 1814 Brickell Park?
Mr. Crowley: Well, I know that we have a detailed plan to take the trees and transplant whatever
trees --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Didl hear a yes?
Mr. Crowley: -- that we can. I'm not a landscape architect, so I don't know, but if you want to --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Do I have a commitment from you that you will revisit -- you'll visit this?
Mr. Crowley: Yes, absolutely. We'll look into it and see if we can --
Commissioner Sarnoff. These are -- there's a tree that would fit perfectly at 1814 Brickell, and I
know you guys want to get great publicity andl know you guys want to be green -oriented, andl
know you want to support the Brickell community andl can't imagine a bigger, better way for
Swire to want and demonstrate to the Brickell community that you're part of it, you're right there
for them and their brand-new park that they're going to be opening up in October. Am I correct?
Mr. Crowley: I have some gumbo limbo saplings at my house I could provide also. I grew them
from seed. They're very good. They'll grow fast; they're native.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Touche.
Chair Gort: Well done.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I'm sure that you want to demonstrate that. Am I correct, Javier?
Mr. Crowley: Yes, sir. We'll -- we --
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Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay.
Mr. Crowley: And that's part of our plan. And we didn't get into that today, but we do --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I'm sure that's something you want to do. Let me tell you what I would
require you to do and what I think you should aspirationally do at this time. I think if you would
add -- and I'll make a motion especially for --I guess it's PH.7 andPZ.3. I believe the build
agreement is in -- I don't know which one it's in, but the Clerk will put --
Mr. Crowley: PH.7.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- it in the right one. PZ (Planning & Zoning)?
Mr. Crowley: PH.7 is the development agreement.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. PH.7, okay. That you would add paragraph 40 and it would be abutting
property owners, and it would say the following: The City and Swire have a mutual interest in
ensuring that the construction of the project proceeds in a manner which is respectful and
sensitive to the owners of the property abutting the project. Andl think you should put in
parentheses, abutting owners, close parentheses. In recognition of this concern, during the
construction of the project, Swire agrees to ensure abutting owners against any actual damages
which directly result from accidental loss of utility service caused by Swire, its contractors or
subcontractors. I would make that a part of the agreement. Aspirationally, I think this is easy
for you to do and you should want to do this. I'm not requiring it, but I'm going to ask the
Administration to look into this. Swire should formulate a community strategy to communicate
with all interested persons, including area residents and businesses, regarding
construction -related activities. Swire should be responsible for developing a project newsletter
Web site to provide the public with daily updated project information and developments,
including the daily posting of construction scheduled road closures or other construction -related
activities that may impact area residents and businesses, and organizing meetings at least on a
monthly basis with affected area businesses to discuss construction activities and mitigation
efforts related to potential disruption from construction activities. Swire shall notify area
residents and businesses of any planned road closings or utility service disruption at least two
weeks in advance of such closing or service disruption. That's when you intend on doing it.
Such notice shall indicate alternate routes for vehicles and pedestrians, to the greatest extent
possible, to minimize the impact on area business including many that service food
establishments. Any road closings, traffic interruptions or utility interruptions shall be carried
out outside of business hours. And I'm going to ask you again, utility service to the area may be
interrupted during the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. so that you're not interrupting them during the
times of their businesses. Swire should designate an emergency contact and shall ensure that
such person is available on a 24-hour basis. Again, that's aspirational. I think that should be
part of your plan, Mr. Garcia. With that having been said, I think you've heard some other good
ideas. I mean, I've heard watering and dust screen. I think the sidewalk should be widened. I'm
not sure at whose expense that should occur, but it would seem like you want to be good
neighbors. You might want to consider expanding somebody's sidewalk. I've always wondered if
people who build right next to each other in a residential neighborhood and they suddenly build
a beautiful swale, why they don't just go to the next -door neighbor and also do their swale
because it's just good neighboring policy. I leave that to you. I don't think can demand that of
you. I would not demand that of you. I would say that if you ever want to come in front of this
Commission again, I would ask how did you do on that sidewalk and you'd have to always
respond to me, well, Commissioner, my client wouldn't do it. That wouldn't be good. So I would
just ask you to consider it.
Mr. Crowley: Noted.
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Commissioner Sarnoff.. And you don't have to say anything. You just -- best thing you could do
is just sit there and let the guy talk and just go, yes, sir, yes, sir. All right, and then I'll make a
motion to approve PH.7 along with --
Chair Gort: No, separate motions.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay, PH.7.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Subject to the modifications, as amended, and supplemented here on the
record today.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Motion by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner --
Commissioner Suarez: Both of them.
Chair Gort: -- Suarez. Any further discussion? Being none --
Ms. Chiaro: It is an ordinance. And I just want to comment that the regulating plan that's the
attachment to this ordinance shall be consistent with the regulating plan in the special area plan
ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Maria J. Chiaro.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Your roll call on PH.7.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, as modified, 4-0.
Commissioner Suarez: Can we just have a -- Mr. Chairman, can I have a point of order?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: I -- and probably should have said it before I voted, but you know,
sorry. I just wanted to harp on one thing andl didn't get a chance to vote on this on first
reading, so I appreciate the liberty that you're giving me. The gentleman who made the
presentation said something that really caught my attention, that this is a transformative time for
transformative moment for the City ofMiami. Andl think, you know -- and we just had some
very difficult discussions related to our tax rate, but this is what favorable tax rate creates, an
environment where people -- aside from all the other great, positive things that Miami has to
offer where people want to come and develop. And to the groups that have their neighboring
businesses, you know, I do share your concerns and we got a chance to meet and, you know, any
project of this size is concerning. I know when we talked about the tunnel issue, there were -- the
City ofMiami Beach expressed reservations and then some other people that were next to the
tunnel, and we tried to work with them as well. So to the extent -- I'm fully -- I want to put on the
record that I'm fully supportive of the Planning director and the Commission's efforts to help
mitigate or minimize or eliminate hopefully any kind of adverse impact to those owners.
END OF PUBLIC HEARINGS
ORDINANCES - SECOND READING
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SR.1 ORDINANCE Second Reading
11-00531
Department of Public AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER
Works 54/ARTICLE I/SECTION 54-3 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "STREETS AND SIDEWALKS/IN
GENERAL/PERMIT REQUIRED FOR WORK THAT OBSTRUCTS OR
CLOSES A STREET, OR SIDEWALK OR IMPEDES TRAFFIC; FEES; WAIVER
OF FEES", BY MODIFYING THE DURATION OF TIME SUBJECT TO A
NON-REFUNDABLE FEE FOR A PERMIT TO PARTIALLY OR FULLY
OBSTRUCTA STREET OR SIDEWALK BY CONSTRUCTION RELATED
ACTIVITIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-00531 Summary Form FR-SR.pdf
11-00531 Legislation FR-SR.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Dunn II
Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
13276
Chair Gort: Okay, second reading.
Nzeribe Ihekwaba: Okay. Good morning. Zerry Ihekwaba, Public Works director. SR.1 is an
ordinance to amend Section 54-3 of the City code, entitled `Permits required for work that
obstructs or closes a street or sidewalk or impedes traffic"; by modifying the duration of time to
partially or fully obstruct the streets or sidewalks due to construction -related activities. Current
City code requirements is that any entity that requires any closure of City streets may be required
to have a 30-day free time to engage in the activities without paying permit fees. This
amendment requires that that time duration be shortened to five days instead of thirty days. The
fiscal impact is that it's going to generate additional revenues and minimize commitment of staff
to inspection services, as well as by the police departments. Any questions?
Chair Gort: Okay. Anyone in the public would like to address this? Second reading. Okay,
close the public hearing.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Move it.
Chair Gort: It's been --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: -- moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Dunn. It's an
ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Your roll call on SR.1.
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A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 3-0.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
SR.2 ORDINANCE Second Reading
11-00532
Department of Public AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER
Works 55/SECTION 55-10 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED ("CITY CODE"), ENTITLED "SUBDIVISION
REGULATIONS/BUILDING PERMITS; ISSUANCE; RESTRICTIONS;
EXCEPTIONS", TO INCLUDE AN EXCEPTION TO ALLOW A PERMIT TO BE
ISSUED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION OR REPAIR OF
NON -HABITABLE ON -SITE IMPROVEMENTS ON UNPLATTED LAND WHEN
SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE MANDATED BY THE CHARTER OF THE CITY
OF MIAMI, CITY CODE OR CITY COMMISSION; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-00532 Summary Form FR-SR.pdf
11-00532 Legislation FR-SR.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
13277
Nzeribe Ihekwaba (Director, Public Works): SR. 2 is an ordinance of the Miami City
Commission, to amend Chapter 55, Section 55-10 of the City code, entitled "Subdivision
regulations and building permits," in order to create an exception in the code to allow for a
permit -- a building construction permit to be issued to full construction, renovation, or repair of
non -habitable onsite improvements on unplatted land when such improvements are mandated by
the City charter, City code or City Commission. This legislation is very vital for the operations
and the activities of the Public Works Department, Planning, Building, and related departments
of the City. It will -- the benefits are very tremendous. It's going to allow the riverwalk
construction on vacant land that currently do not qualin, for platting as per Section 55-8 and
55-15 of the City code. Some of these properties abut -- actually lie along Miami River and they
are required and mandated to have river walks. Currently, some of these properties are
undergoing platting and the platting process requires close to two years duration. The
legislation is going to expedite the process of building construction permits. Also, certain pieces
of properties within the City ofMiami may require construction of perimeter fences on vacant
land that are yet to be platted. The legislation will allow such lands to be secured against
vagrants and homelessness. The further benefits that will be accrued from the piece of
legislation is that it's going to allow waterfront improvements and seawall construction on
vacant land that are unplatted to protect them against erosion surge and also for life safety
protections. This will not create a waiver of the platting process; rather, it's going to enhance
unplatted vacant land to be secured against the seawall surge -- sorry -- against erosion surge,
against entrance by vagrants and homelessness and also expedite riverwalk construction along
Miami River.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone would like to address Second Reading 2? No. Close the public
hearings [sic]. Comments.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Move it.
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FR.1
11-00428
Department of
Building and Zoning
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Suarez. It's an
ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Roll call.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Your roll call on SR.2.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 5-0.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
END OF ORDINANCES - SECOND READINGS
ORDINANCES - FIRST READING
ORDINANCE
First Reading
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, AMENDING CHAPTER
62/ARTICLE XIII OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED, ENTITLED "ZONING AND PLANNING/ZONING APPROVAL FOR
TEMPORARY USES AND OCCUPANCIES; PERMIT REQUIRED," MORE
PARTICULARLY BY CREATING A NEW DIVISION 9, ENTITLED
"TEMPORARY BANNERS," CREATING A PERMITTING PROCESS AND
REGULATORY SCHEME FOR TEMPORARY BANNERS; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE
DATE.
11-00428 Summary Form.pdf
11-00428 Legislation (Version 2) 07-28-11.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
PASSED ON FIRST READING PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
Chair Gort: FR.1.
Barnaby Min (Zoning Administrator): Good morning. Barnaby Min, with the Office of Zoning.
FR.1 is an amendment to Chapter 62 of the City code, to create regulations for temporary
banners that are erected in conjunction with special events.
Chair Gort: Okay, this is first reading. Anyone in the public would like to address? Close the
public hearings [sic]. Comments among board members. I have a question. Through 27th
Avenue and through a lot of the avenues, main avenues through the City ofMiami, you see all
those banners announcing all kinds of performance or places. Do we get any revenues from
those or do they pull a permit to do so?
Mr. Min: They're supposed to pull permits for those types of --
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Chair Gort: They're supposed to?
Mr. Min: Correct. For those types of banners, there's currently really no regulations that are in
place, so those type of banners are being erected assuming they obtain permits under the
temporary special event ordinance. That particular ordinance is not really applicable to the
banners; however, that's the only thing that we have on point, so all we charge is 153.50.
Obviously, Mr. Ihekwaba is behind me because the ones that are in the public right-of-way is
also Public Work permits that may be applicable as well.
Chair Gort: Okay. Yes, sir.
Nzeribe Ihekwaba (Director, Public Works): Yeah. Again, this is Zerry Ihekwaba. Those
banners on public right-of-way are permitted by Public Works or a designee of the City
Manager. Banners along 27th Avenue, 27th Avenue at that location, belongs to the State. So
usually the City ofMiami applies and also supports placement of those banners on behalf of the
entities and the City -- and the state of Florida issues the permits on 27th Avenue, on state roads.
Chair Gort: Right.
Mr. Ihekwaba: Because on City streets, the City ofMiami Public Works issues the permits.
Chair Gort: Okay. The state gets the revenue from the permits.
Mr. Ihekwaba: The state typically doesn't generate (UNINTELLIGIBLE) revenues for permits.
They usually issue permits on free basis, no fee permits for the state of Florida. For the City of
Miami, we charge fees for banners as stipulated in the City code.
Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Ihekwaba: You're welcome.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Zerry, could you stay there because I'm trying to figure out something on
Biscayne Boulevard.
Mr. Ihekwaba: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. If somebody has on private property a pole and on that pole is a sign or
a picture of a person, who would permit that?
Mr. Ihekwaba: That would be Building if it's on private property.
Commissioner Sarnoff. It would be who?
Mr. Ihekwaba: Building Department.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Building Department --
Mr. Ihekwaba: Yes, if it's on --
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- would issue a --
Mr. Ihekwaba: -- private property, and also I believe Zoning.
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Mr. Min: Building and Code Enforcement would have the authority to enforce City codes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. But does that -- do you have to have a permit to put a sign up of let's
say, a picture of yourself?
Mr. Min: In order to put up any sign, there is supposed to be a permit. The only exemption
under the zoning ordinance is if it's a temporary sign for a real estate or a political sign for --
Commissioner Sarnoff. A political sign?
Mr. Min: -- like campaign sign, vote for so and so, those type of sign. But any sign that is --
Commissioner Sarnoff. So if --
Mr. Min: But there are --
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- it was a political sign, you could put it up in perpetuity?
Mr. Min: No. There are size limitations and there are also time limitations that --
Vice Chair Carollo: Time limitations.
Chair Gort: Time (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Mr. Min: -- pursuant to the zoning ordinance, they have to be removed within 30 days of the --
whether it's the election or if it's a referendum or --
Commissioner Sarnoff. When could they go up before the election? How long --?
Mr. Min: The zoning ordinance has no time frame as far as when it could be placed.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So they are -- they can go up? They -- a political --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- sign can go up indefinitely, until the --
Mr. Min: They can go up before any time --
Vice Chair Carollo: Before.
Mr. Min: -- but they --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Mr. Min: -- have to be taken off within 30 days of the time of whether it's the election or whether
it's a, like again, referendum or anything like that.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's something that I inquired when I first got elected because what
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
happens is sometimes we have a whole year of signage and so forth, and you know, I discussed it
with the City Attorney and think there's some legality as far as constitutional, you know -- if we
can do it or not. But what -- you know, what I first tried to avoid is having, you know, signs
pretty much throughout the year because it seems like every year there's election, whether City
elections or state or -- and was trying to avoid having, you know, political signs year-round.
However, you know, discuss it with the City Attorney because apparently there was something
with constitutionality and so forth.
Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Just --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- how will this affect the Performing Arts Center because I know they
put up a signage?
Mr. Min: They actually -- the last -- it will affect the Performing Arts Center because currently
the way that the PAC (Performing Arts Center) is putting up their PSAs (Public Service
Announcement) is they have previously obtained a resolution from the City Commission arguing
that -- finding -- with a finding by the Commission that those PSAs are public service
announcements so they're entitled to basically 20 weeks of having the -- their PSAs on the
property. The proposed ordinance limits signs on properties to be one time a year at a maximum
of 30 days. However, there is language that is incorporated that states that if there is a sign
that's -- a banner that's going to be placed on a government -owned building or a not -for- profit
building, that that time frame does not apply.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So theoretically, this would not apply to them?
Mr. Min: Correct. They would have to obtain a permit. They would have to pay the applicable
fees, but the time frames would not apply, which limits them to 30 days and/or only one time a
year.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. We had closed the public hearing, but I'll allow you to speak.
Mr. Cruz: No, there's no -- you didn't open the public hearing.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah, he did.
Mr. Cruz: That's staff talking. I am the public.
Chair Gort: Okay. Go ahead, public.
Mr. Cruz: Mariano Cruz. I want all this -- the ordinance are made to facilitate for the regular
Joe Blow out there to come and ask for a permit or this is going to complicate things more; that
way people get tickets. And one thing tell you, train your inspectors aware of the people
because I look at many in Channel 77 of the Code Enforcement, the members of the board don't
know anything about the Miami 21. The people -- nobody knows anything. And then Chuck tell
them, you got to get professional help. What's that? If the person who is supposed to have
something to make it easier for the people out there to apply for a permit or something or they
complicate things that don't even the inspectors know or they ticketing the people for. See, I
know because I watch Channel 77 and see every time get professional help. "What? Not
everybody got the money to hire Lucia Dougherty or some of these big price, big -ticket lawyers
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FR.2
11-00647
Department of
Building and Zoning
or they are Jorge Perez to ask for a change or whatever, a variance. Make sure that the
inspectors and the people are trained properly and know what the ordinance say, not to go there
and give tickets and put liens on it, liens that are moot because they can't enforce a lien in a
homestead property.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Okay, it's closed. Ordinance.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Do I have a mover?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. So move.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: I thought it was moved and second. Moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by
Commissioner Dunn.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Assistant City Attorney Victoria
Mendez.
Mr. Hannon: Your roll call on FR.1.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The item passes on first reading, 5-0.
Vice Chair Carollo: There is some value to that, by the way.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. There is. I was just --
Vice Chair Carollo: In other words --
Chair Gort: They could change their mind on second reading.
Commissioner Dunn: In other words, wait till the second.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- don't think that it's going to pass --
Commissioner Dunn: Second round.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- easy -- you know, yeah, get ready for the questions and so forth.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I want to join my knowledgeable right wing over here.
ORDINANCE
First Reading
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING CHAPTER 4/ARTICLE I OF THE CODE OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "ALCOHOLIC
BEVERAGES/IN GENERAL," MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING
SECTION 4-11, ENTITLED "EXCEPTIONS TO DISTANCE REQUIREMENTS,"
TO CREATE THE ORANGE BOWL DISTRICT AND REGULATIONS FOR
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ESTABLISHMENTS LOCATED WITHIN THE ORANGE BOWL DISTRICT;
CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-00647 Summary Form.pdf
11-00647 Legislation.pdf
11-00647 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be
PASSED ON FIRST READING PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
Barnaby Min (Zoning Administrator): Barnaby Min --
Chair Gort: FR.2.
Mr. Min: -- with the Office of Zoning. FR.2 is an amendment to chapter -- the City code
creating the Orange Bowl district, which will relax distance separation requirements for
alcohol -related establishments around the formerly known properties of Orange Bowl, now
known as the Marlins Stadium.
Chair Gort: Okay, public hearings [sic]. Anyone in the public would like to address this one?
Being none, public hearing's closed.
Vice Chair Carollo: Move it.
Chair Gort: Questions? Been moved by Commission --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Second.
Chair Gort: -- Vice Chairman Carollo, second by Commissioner Sarnoff.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Assistant City Attorney Victoria
Mendez.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Your roll call on FR.2. Commissioner Suarez?
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Dunn?
Commissioner Dunn: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Sarnoff?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I almost want to say yes on first reading to look knowledgeable, but I'm
just going to say yes.
Mr. Hannon: Vice Chair Carollo?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Chair Gort?
Chair Gort: Yes on first reading.
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Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 5-0.
Chair Gort: Okey-doke.
END OF FIRST READING ORDINANCES
RESOLUTIONS
RE.1 RESOLUTION
11-00577
Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Facilities ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A
REVOCABLE LICENSE AGREEMENT ("AGREEMENT"), WHICH IS
REVOCABLE AT -WILL, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH
MIAMI ROWING AND WATERSPORTS CENTER, INC. ("LICENSEE"), A
FLORIDA NONPROFIT CORPORATION, TO OCCUPY AND USE
APPROXIMATELY 3.44 ACRES OF CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") OWNED
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 3601 RICKENBACKER CAUSEWAY, MIAMI,
FLORIDA, WHICH LICENSE SHALL PROVIDE: 1) FORA USE PERIOD
EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2010, WITH AN EXPIRATION DATE OF
SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, AND A ONE (1), FIVE (5) YEAR RENEWAL OPTION,
SUBJECT TO THREE (3) MONTHS PRIOR WRITTEN NOTICE BY
LICENSEE, AND MUTUAL CONSENT OF THE PARTIES; 2) FOR LICENSEE
TO PAY A MONTHLY USE FEE TO THE CITY IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,000,
PLUS STATE USE TAX, IF APPLICABLE; PAST DUE FEES OF $35,650.22,
TO BE PAID IN MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS OF $594.17, OVER FIFTY (50)
MONTHS, INCLUDING A LUMP SUM PAYMENT OF $5,941.70; AND AN
ADDITIONAL PERCENTAGE FEE OF TWELVE PERCENT (12%) OF
MONTHLY GROSS REVENUES; 3) FOR AN INCREASE IN THE MONTHLY
USE FEE ON OCTOBER 1, 2015, TO $2,500, PLUS STATE USE TAX, IF
APPLICABLE, AND AN INCREASE IN THE ADDITIONAL PERCENTAGE FEE
OF MONTHLY GROSS REVENUES TO THIRTEEN PERCENT (13%); AND 4)
THAT TEN PERCENT (10%) OF ALL AMOUNTS PAID TO THE CITY TO BE
RESERVED IN A SPECIAL ACCOUNT BY THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT FOR
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ROWING CLUB FACILITY; WITH OTHER
TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS MORE PARTICULARLY SET FORTH IN SAID
AGREEMENT.
11-00577 Summary Form.pdf
11-00577 Pre-Legislation.pdf
11-00577 Legislation.pdf
11-00577 Exhibit 1 SUB.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0315
Chair Gort: RE.1 was --
Vice Chair Carollo: Rowing Club.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Madeline Valdes (Director): Good morning. Madeline Valdes, Department of Public Facilities.
RE.1 is a resolution authorizing the City Manager to enter into a revocable license agreement
with the Miami Rowing and Watersports Center. This license agreement provides for a use
period from October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2015. It includes a one five-year option. The fee
for the license agreement is $2, 000 a month, plus 12 percent of gross. This item also includes a
payment of past due fees in the amount of 35, 650.22 to be paid on a monthly basis at a rate of
$594.17 over a period of 50 months. There is a lump sum payment of $5, 941 that will also be
paid. This second option includes an increase to the monthly fee to $2, 500 and also an increase
to the percentage rent. The percentage rent will be increased to 13 percent. Also, this item
requires a 10 percent of the revenues -- the gross revenues be applied to its capital improvement
to the facility. Are there any questions?
Chair Gort: Thank you. Any questions, Commissioners?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yes, Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Will the failure to pay any of the amounts due, including the 35,000
based on the monthly installments, would that be an incident of default?
Ms. Valdes: That is correct, yes. And by the way, the 5,941 has already been collected.
Chair Gort: My understanding also, the Parks Department collects fee for events that take place
there and they --
Ms. Valdes: That is correct.
Chair Gort: -- collected about $35, 000.
Ms. Valdes: Yes. I said that this morning. Yes.
Chair Gort: Okay. So this additional income for the City?
Ms. Valdes: Yes.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Any other questions? Do I have a motion?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Move it.
Chair Gort: Moved by --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Dunn. Any further discussion?
Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
Vice Chair Carollo: Actual -- hold on, hold on, hold on. I do want to put a question for the
record. Are they paying fair market rent now -- fair market value rent?
Ms. Valdes: Yes, they are. Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Previously they were not, correct?
Ms. Valdes: That is correct.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Vice Chair Carollo: And what amount is going to general fund of the rent?
Ms. Valdes: The 90 percent is going to the general fund.
Vice Chair Carollo: And then the other 10 percent is going to what, capital?
Ms. Valdes: It will be capital, so it's improvements to the facility.
Vice Chair Carollo: And this is a five-year lease?
Ms. Valdes: It's a five-year license --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Ms. Valdes: -- with one five-year option.
Vice Chair Carollo: And who's got the option to renew?
Ms. Valdes: Both.
Vice Chair Carollo: Both. And who from the City?
Ms. Valdes: City Manager.
Vice Chair Carollo: Could that be changed to come back to City Commission?
Ms. Valdes: Yes, we could.
Vice Chair Carollo: Would the maker and the --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Maker accepts.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- seconder, a friendly amendment?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Yes, maker accepts.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor with the amended, state it
by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Ms. Valdes: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
RE.2 RESOLUTION
11-00579
Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Fire -Rescue ATTACHMENT(S), ADDING THE PALM BEACH COUNTY SHERIFF'S
OFFICE, BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, FORT LAUDERDALE
POLICE DEPARTMENT, HOLLYWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT, NORTH
MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT, MIAMI-DADE POLICE DEPARTMENT, MIAMI
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND THE CORAL GABLES POLICE
DEPARTMENT, AS PARTICIPATING AGENCIES IN THE MIAMI URBAN AREA
SECURITY INITIATIVE ("UASI") GRANT PROGRAM FISCAL YEAR ("FY")
2008, PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. 09-0413, ADOPTED SEPTEMBER
10, 2009; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENTS, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED
FORM(S), FOR SAID PURPOSE; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM UASI GRANT
PROGRAM FISCAL YEAR 2008, PTAEO NO.
18-180018-01.06.07-1660-EQUIP-181000.
11-00579 Summary Form.pdf
11-00579 Pre-Legislations.pdf
11-00579 Legislation.pdf
11-00579 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0316
Chair Gort: RE.2.
Deputy Fire Chief Reginald Duren: Reginald Duren, deputy fire chief. RE.2 is a resolution of
the City ofMiami Commission adding the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Broward County
Sheriffs Office, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, Hollywood Police Department, North
Miami Police Department, Miami -Dade Police Department, Miami Beach Police Department,
and the Coral Gables Police Department as participating agencies in the Miami Urban Areas
Security Initiative grant program, fiscal year 2008; authorizing the City Manager to execute
memorandum agreements for said purpose. Essentially, it's going to allow us to distribute some
radiological equipment to facilitate regional water -born radiological teams.
Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. Discussion.
Commissioner Dunn: So moved.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Dunn --
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: -- second by Vice Chairman Carollo. Any further discussion? Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: I do have to ask a question for the record. Just with regards to UASI
(Urban Areas Security Initiative) grants. You know, we had a lot of discussion in the last
Commission meeting with regards to UASI grants. I just want to verifi, that you have proper
controls in place and so forth so we receive the monies back, you know, in a reasonable amount
of time and we don't fall into what's been happening. So I just want to get some assurance with
-- from you or, at least, if you could address that issue.
Deputy Fire Chief Duren: Yes, sir. We continue -- this program was sponsored by the City of
Miami; therefore, we made the purchases. I can assure you the packages are complete and we'll
expedite reimbursement.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
RE.3
11-00582
Department of Capital
Improvements
Program
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, I get confused sometimes with UASI and USAR (Urban
Search and Rescue), so --
Deputy Fire Chief Duren: Yes, sir. Many people do.
Commissioner Suarez: -- bear with me if I'm asking the wrong question. Just correct me. Is this
a program where we decided essentially to stop fronting the money?
Deputy Fire Chief Duren: Yes, this is it, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Right. I just wanted to put that on the record so that from a budgetary --
from a cash flow perspective, you know, we've made a change, which, you know, helps us with
our controls --
Deputy Fire Chief Duren: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: -- so that we don't get in a situation where we have a bunch of money,
we're overextended. And from my understanding, when you briefed me, chief you brought down
the receivables substantially --
Deputy Fire Chief Duren: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: -- in the last year, year and a half.
Deputy Fire Chief Duren: Yes. And we continue to work toward that goal.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Deputy Fire Chief Duren: Thank you.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING AN INCREASE TO THE PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH BCC ENGINEERING, INC., FOR THE
PROVISION OF MISCELLANEOUS CIVIL ENGINEERING SERVICES, IN AN
AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $500,000, THEREBY INCREASING THE TOTAL
CONTRACT AMOUNT FROM $1,000,000, TO AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED
$1,500,000; ALLOCATING FUNDS FOR SAID INCREASE FROM THE
APPROPRIATE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT; FURTHER
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AMENDMENT NUMBER
2 TO THE AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, FOR
SAID PURPOSE.
11-00582 Summary Form.pdf
11-00582 Pre-Legislation.pdf
11-00582 Legislation.pdf
11-00582 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
R-11-0317
Chair Gort: RE.3.
Albert Sosa: Albert Sosa, director of Capital Improvements. RE.3 is a resolution authorizing the
City Manager to execute an amendment to the professional services and agreement with BCC
Engineering, business and existing consulting engineering firm that the City has under contract,
to perform miscellaneous civil services. They are reaching their previously established
contractual capacity and we desire to increase their contract capacity by $500, 000 to a total of
1.5 million. This capacity would be used to support the ongoing capital needs of the City and
allow BCC Engineering to continue working on the projects that they're currently working on as
well as future projects that they're suited for. Are there any questions on this item?
Chair Gort: Okay. Any questions?
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: This is a lot of money, so my question is what constitutes miscellaneous,
dollar amount wise?
Mr. Sosa: I don't utilize a dollar limit, but our contracts are limited in terms of $500, 000
increments, so by default they have to be less than $500,000.
Vice Chair Carollo: So -- but realistically, one project could take the whole $500, 000 that we're
just approving now or that is coming before us to approve.
Mr. Sosa: That would -- feasibly, yes, that could happen.
Vice Chair Carollo: So I guess then what's miscellaneous, you know? Again, anything that's
below 500,000?
Mr. Sosa: Not necessarily.
Vice Chair Carollo: No?
Mr. Sosa: It just -- it depends on whether or not it's -- if it's routine -type work that these
consultants are suitable for, we use it --
Vice Chair Carollo: What's routine?
Mr. Sosa: In the case of civil engineering work, the typical work that we do -- roadway,
drainage -- that doesn't have a specific level of complexity or expertise required for it, we would
utilize the miscellaneous consultants. In cases where we have a project that has a higher degree
of complexity or specific unique features that we feel that we need to go out to advertise the
project to a more general population of consultants, we take that approach.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Question -- and you bring up a good point. With drainage, a simple
drainage -- I have a case that we e-mailed (electronic) with regards to -- I forgot what the exact
street was, maybe 13th -- 11 th Street, 13th Street.
Mr. Sosa: I think it was 15th Street, if I'm not mistaken.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, 15th Street, between 17th and 12 Avenue, drainage problem. You
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
know, the water is just standing still there for two weeks, a week, week and half two weeks after
it rains. And when I mentioned it to you, you said the project could not be started until four
months from now or it would take four months to begin the project.
Mr. Sosa: That's correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: Andl was like why would it take so long. So is that considered routine? So
what's routine? What's not? You know --
Mr. Sosa: Through the --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- I want some more clarity.
Mr. Sosa: -- Chair, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead.
Mr. Sosa: In that specific instance, as would be with any project, we cannot task work to a
miscellaneous consultant unless we have an appropriations item and a project set up to -- for
that particular work. So in the case of -- that we corresponded on --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Mr. Sosa: --from a -- it takes time to get an appropriations item before the Commission. Once
that appropriation item is heard and approved by the Commission, it takes a week or two to get it
set up in the Oracle financial system. At which point I can issue a work order to these
consultants for them to begin work on that. With drainage projects, the permitting on those with
DERM (Department of Environmental Resources Management) and other external and internal
bodies takes a month or two to get these projects permitted. So the four -month time frame I
referred to incorporated the -- what it would take to have an appropriations item, if so desired,
negotiate with one of these consultants issued on the work order, have them perform the field
survey, and get the project permitted and ultimately under construction.
Vice Chair Carollo: So -- andl have several questions, but -- so even though there's a set
amount here, an additional 500, 000, there's no set prices you actually negotiate on a
project -by -project basis with them?
Mr. Sosa: Okay. These are professional services agreements. When they are originally selected
-- because there was a competitive -- a CCNA (Competitive Consultation Negotiation Act)
selection process for these consultants. When the consultants were selected, there's a rate --
standard rates that are negotiated ahead of time with the different consultants for different
positions. For every specific work order that we embark on, we negotiate the level of effort that's
required to perform that work. Once the level of effort is agreed upon or negotiated to what we
feel is fair, the previously agreed upon rates for -- by the hour, for example, get applied to the
level of effort and that yields an amount.
Vice Chair Carollo: So what you're saying, what you negotiate is the amount of time that it's
going to take to do that specific work from these professionals?
Mr. Sosa: That's correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: And the dollar amount is set. It's only the times that you actually negotiate
with them?
Mr. Sosa: Correct.
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Vice Chair Carollo: I'm trying to see what the process because I'm just amazed that to solve a
simple drainage problem would take four months to begin, never mind how long it takes the work
and so forth, but to begin four months, so --
Mr. Sosa: Commissioner --
Vice Chair Carollo: And --
Chair Gort: (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) you have an idea, Vice Chairman Carollo. And Mr. Cruz here
can relate to it. About six years ago, right in front of my house, they build the storm water
system and -- to the sides, and then the water -- every time it rains, I can go fishing right across
the street from my house. And I've been at it now for four years, so I can see four months, that's
not bad at all. I mean, I've been waiting for six years, so --
Vice Chair Carollo: Well --
Chair Gort: -- one of these days it'll get fixed.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but this was a -- this was like a simple problem. I have those other
issues that I'm still waiting since I got here in the Commission, but anyways.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Can I just add --
Vice Chair Carollo: I think Mr. City Manager wants to --
Mr. Martinez: I just want to add one little thing because this is an area that I know well. If it
weren't for the miscellaneous contract where with ask -- we assign random work orders, it would
take a lot longer to procure and get an RFP (Request for Proposals) out and do a competitive
selection. They were already selected competitively. There's more than one thing. There's ten
miscellaneous consultants. And as the assignments occur, we assign them to them directly. So
we've cut out that entire procurement process 'cause we already did it ahead of time, selecting
the miscellaneous consultants.
Chair Gort: No. I think those questions are very good because people need to understand. You
know, we read all those material. We got all these books here that we go through it, but the
public is not aware of it. Andl think it's very important when you realize the -- when those
contracts went out, was to do a specific work according to the needs. And although you allocate
because that's the procedure you have, you allocate $500, 000, doesn't mean they're going to use
all $500, 000.
Mr. Sosa: That's correct.
Chair Gort: You use them as the -- And compared to going to RFP every time you want to do
something like this, it will take a lot longer, so -- okay. Thank you.
Mr. Martinez: But the question is --
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, may I?
Mr. Martinez: -- fair, what constitutes miscellaneous in a regular project --
Chair Gort: Well, I think it would be very important when you make your next presentation, if
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
you can bring some specific project that you'll be putting these people to work, and what type of
work they do will be important. I think it would be better understand by everyone.
Mr. Sosa: We can do that. Absolutely.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just had a few questions. This -- these kinds
of miscellaneous contracts are on as -needed basis; is that correct?
Mr. Sosa: That's correct.
Commissioner Suarez: So if for a week or two weeks you don't need this consultant, you don't
have to pay them for that period of time?
Mr. Sosa: It's work order base. It's scope based.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Mr. Sosa: We negotiate -- if for -- in the example we were speaking about earlier, if it would
require drainage at a certain intersection, what is the value of that work? And then we release
them to perform that work. This is not staff that is fully allocated to the City in any fashion. It's
specific to the work scope that's --
Commissioner Suarez: To the project.
Mr. Sosa: -- being done. Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Is it also fair to say that a large portion of this money will probably be
paid out by nongeneral fund dollars?
Mr. Sosa: The -- yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Because --
Mr. Sosa: We fund these out of capital projects.
Commissioner Suarez: -- I know in my -- in the case of my district, I think the vast majority, if
not all, of the capital improvement projects are funded with nongeneral fund dollars. They're
either street bond money --
Mr. Sosa: That's correct.
Commissioner Suarez: -- or CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) --
Mr. Sosa: That's correct.
Commissioner Suarez: -- or something else, but -- or homeland defense. But I don't think that
any of the capital improvement projects in my district -- I mean, I could be wrong and that's why
I don't -- I kind of qualified it. As a lawyer, I kind of qualifi, it a little bit and say lhost'bf the
dollars are nongeneral fund. I just wanted to put that on the record. Andl guess my last
question was, are you satisfied with their work? I mean, I suppose you wouldn't be here asking
us to extend their contract if you weren't happy with the level of service that they provided for
you.
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RE.4
11-00605
Mr. Sosa: Absolutely. This firm specifically does do quality work and we are happy with the
work that they perform and we want them to continue working on the projects that they've been
working on with us.
Chair Gort: Let me ask a question. Most industries, they have certain amount of hours it will
take to do certain type of job.
Mr. Sosa: Yes.
Chair Gort: I imagine you use the same system. I mean, you calculate how many hours it will
take and --
Mr. Sosa: Yes. We use a database that we modin, slightly. The Florida Department of
Transportation has a very comprehensive database with thousands of line items for how much
effort a specific task should take and we negotiate based on that. In the City's case, our
requirements are somewhat different so we have to go in and modify those rages accordingly.
But yes, we do have a standard.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: One last thing. This is something that the City Manager andl and Ms.
Bravo andl have talked about. There's a state statute that governs the procurement of these
contracts and that --
Mr. Martinez: 287.055.
Commissioner Suarez: -- and that doesn't allow -- yeah -- and it doesn't allow -- and something
thatl don't necessarily agree with, but I'm probably not going to be able to change -- it doesn't
allow cities to differentiate on the basis of price for these kinds of services.
Mr. Sosa: That's correct.
Mr. Martinez: You're correct. You negotiate with the firm. If you don't reach an agreement and
then you go to number two, if it's -- it was an RFP. Basically, on these types of services, he
already has arranged for what it takes to do a milling and resurfacing, to do a
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) to do a drainage system and he just goes by the -- a pre -established rate
per sheet or per drainage structure and it sets the amount.
Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair. I don't have a mover yet.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. So moved.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Dunn. All in
favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RESOLUTION
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Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Finance ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER, DUE TO THE
RECOMMENDATION OF THE AUDIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE, TO
NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT, IN
SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH ERNST & YOUNG, LLP,
FOR THE PROVISION OF EXTERNAL AUDITING SERVICES FOR VARIOUS
CITY DEPARTMENTS, PURSUANT TO REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO.
271251, FOR A PERIOD OF ONE (1) YEAR, WITH OPTIONS TO RENEW
FOR FOUR (4) ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS; ALLOCATING FUNDS
FROM THE VARIOUS SOURCES OF FUNDS OF THE USER DEPARTMENT,
SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND BUDGETARY APPROVAL.
11-00605 Summary Form.pdf
11-00605 Specifications Scope of Work.pdf
11-00605 Letter - Evaluation Committee.pdf
11-00605 Request for Proposals.pdf
11-00605 Legislation.pdf
11-00605 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Noes: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0318
Chair Gort: RE.4.
Diana Gomez: Diana Gomez, Finance director. RE.4 is a resolution requesting that the City
Commission authorize the City Manager, due to the recommendation of the Audit Advisory
Committee, to negotiate and execute a professional services agreement with Ernst and Young for
the provision of external auditing services for various City departments, pursuant to request for
proposal number 271251 for a period of three years, with option to renew for two additional
one-year periods. The Purchasing director and have been able to negotiate fees down to
415,000 in the first year, 427,000 in the second year, 440,000 in the third year, 453 in the fourth
year, and 461 in the final year from what is listed in your package.
Commissioner Dunn: Excuse me; could you repeat that again? I'm sorry.
Ms. Gomez: In the first year -- 415,000 in the first year, 427 in the second year, 440 in the third
year, and the optional years, four and five, 453 and 467, from what was -- what's in your
original package. Please note that there are two optional renewals left on the current auditor
contract with McGladrey and Pullen. However, the Commission requested that we go back out
for RFP (Request For Proposal) this year. Also note that there is a correction needed to the
resolution in the package. In order to be consistent with the terms as listed in the RFP, the
resolution says it's for a period of one year, with four one-year options, but it's actually a
three-year with two one-year options.
Chair Gort: So it is a three-year contract with two years' option?
Ms. Gomez: Correct.
Chair Gort: The options are executed by?
Ms. Gomez: By the Manager.
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Chair Gort: I think they'd like to see it come back to the Commission, right?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Chair Gort: Okay. I'm not an accountant, so I have a question.
Ms. Gomez: Sure.
Chair Gort: First year is 415, the last year at 467. My understanding is, and not being an
accountant, it's you do all the work the first year, so the second year should be a lot easier. And
as you go along, it should be a lot easier. Why is it higher --? I mean, that part, I don't
understand that one.
Ms. Gomez: That is the way that the proposal came in.
Kenneth Robertson: Correct. Kenneth Robertson, Purchasing director. The original submittal
from Ernst and Young escalated $10,000 per year, but their original costs for year one was
440, 000. To get Ernst and Young to concede on price, they changed the structure to come down
25, 000 for year one, using a 3 percent escalator for the succeeding years. The reasoning behind
that, in part, is that labor costs do increase over time.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: I have a couple questions. The first question is does the statute that we
just discussed in relation to engineers apply in this particular case?
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): No. The statute only applies to engineers, architects, and
surveyors.
Commissioner Suarez: So we can take into account price as a component of --
Mr. Martinez: Absolutely.
Commissioner Suarez: -- the services that we receive?
Mr. Martinez: Absolutely.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Because from my understanding, the winning bidder, I guess,
through whatever scoring system that they came up with, was about $15, 000 more expensive for
the first year, $26, 000 more expensive for the second year, $38, 000 more expensive for the third
year, $60, 000 -- I'm sorry -- $50, 000 more expensive for the fourth year, and $64, 000 more
expensive for the fifth year. And again, I tread lightly just like the Chairman, because this is not
my area of expertise, and I'll let the Vice Chairman chime in. It's also less -- it's also more
expensive than the current person that we have, and I'm not saying that we need to go in the
cheap, you know, for auditing services. That's not what I'm trying to say. But these are all
reputable firms. I mean, if it were in the context of a law firm, you know, and you had big -name
law firms like Greenberg Traurig, you know, Holland & Knight, it would be hard for me to
quantify or qualify the difference between those firms. It would be very intuitive for me to look at
the prices and say, you know, among those big firms, there are great firms, and so the one that's
willing to give us the best deal would be the one that I'd be willing to go with. My understanding
is that the procurement process could have but did not engage in oral presentations. Is that
correct?
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Mr. Robertson: Correct. The Selection Committee has the right to request oral presentations of
the proposers, should they deem that necessary, but they did not deem so.
Commissioner Suarez: Would it be possible and appropriate to suggest -- for this body to
suggest that they go before the Audit Committee of the City ofMiami, make oral presentations,
and then that committee make a recommendation to the City Commission on the basis of not only
the quality of the firm but also the price to the City ofMiami?
Mr. Robertson: Well, doing the presentation would not change the cost component of the
selection criteria. The bids already came in.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Mr. Robertson: Twenty points out of a hundred were allocated for cost proposal. Doing a
presentation and asking companies to lower their price is not how they were evaluated out of
those 20 points. They were evaluated out of 20 points based on what they submitted. So the
presentation won't -- would only have an impact on the remaining 80 points.
Commissioner Suarez: So -- oh, okay, I see what you're saying. You're saying that the price
component was already incorporated into the --
Mr. Robertson: Correct.
Commissioner Suarez: -- request for proposal. And you gave it a 20 percent importance?
Mr. Robertson: Correct. When we use the RFP process, price is not the primary consideration
for selection. That's why we use that procurement method.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, andl see that in the engineering context, it certainly isn't either. I
think, unfortunately for the City, we are in a very price -sensitive environment. I don't know how
my colleagues feel about it. For me, you know, I think to have someone that could actually
analyze the presentations -- you know, we're also -- not only price is a component -- and I'll
defer to the Vice Chairman on this -- but we are in an unusual circumstance where we're under
an SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) investigation. So to the extent that the auditors,
whoever they may be, would present to the Audit Committee whatever their ideas are on how to
audit our city and give us ideas on how to better comply with our SEC investigation or any other
investigations that may be in the future, I think that may be beneficial. But I'll yield to my
colleagues on that issue.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Dunn.
Commissioner Dunn: I have a couple questions. I'm just -- and -- question number one will be
what is the difference that we will be paying if, in fact, we were to go along with the
recommendations versus the existing firm --
Commissioner Suarez: I just said it.
Commissioner Dunn: -- that represents us?
Mr. Robertson: The City currently has a contract with McGladrey & Pullen that has two annual
one-year options remaining that could be exercised should the committee -- should the
Commission elect to do so. McGladrey & Pullen, their rates for the next two years would be
390,000 and $390, 000 respectively.
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Commissioner Dunn: So 390,000?
Mr. Robertson: Correct.
Commissioner Dunn: So you're talking about basically $25, 000 year increase if we were to go --
am I correct?
Mr. Robertson: Correct. Should the Commission renew the existing contract, we would save 35
-- $25, 000 for the coming year, and in the following year, we would save $37,000.
Commissioner Dunn: Thirty-seven. Now, with that being said -- I have some more questions --
but with that being said, I -- I'm just finding a little difficult in light of our fiscal crisis that we're
facing how can we just -- andl need you to help me understand how we should be able to
justify paying more. And additionally, my next question would be -- just a thought -- and it was
mentioned -- will the fact that we have a big four accounting firm -- andl yield to my colleague,
Vice Chairman Carollo, on this one -- will that help some kind of way in our rating agencies or
does it really -- in terms of our bond rating, or does it really make a difference?
Ms. Gomez: I don't know that it makes a difference. I don't think they should put a quantity or
dollar amount on a name. Obviously, all of the firms are well respected, capable, qualified
firms. I can't answer that.
Commissioner Dunn: You can't.
Ms. Gomez: I can't.
Commissioner Dunn: Okay. Now -- so now -- so -- but I -- then, again, I don't recall basically
anybody having any harsh criticism from the City Manager or the Finance Department or any of
my colleagues last week -- or two weeks ago when they made their presentation, so I'm just a
little troubled in terms of -- because one of the things that we've been harping on from -- whether
it be the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency), whether it be any agencies -- sometimes not
even having a direct financial fiscal impact to the City's budget is that we want to show fiscal
prudence. And l just -- I'm a little troubled, that's all, in terms of why we would be changing -- I
could see if there were problem or this is going to help improve our bond rating or some sort.
But to go 25,000 higher next year and then go up another, what --
Ms. Gomez: Thirty-six.
Commissioner Dunn: -- thirty -something thousand -- 37,000, and then possibly higher, I just
don't know.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. You know, when we had to deal with Victor Igwe, I was looking into
exactly what are the best practices for large entities, whether they're publicly traded companies
for the City ofMiami, and then suddenly Daniel Shoer Roth comes out with an article, which
most of you escaped most of his wrath when he called the artist Mayor Tomas Regalado and
Commissioner Sarnoff & Company, 'So I guess you are lfc Company'L- gave us the chilling,
scalding of allowing Mr. Igwe to leave. Now having litigated issues pertaining to auditing of
companies, I was pretty aware of what the best practices are. I'm also a little surprised the City
hasn't discussed what are the best practices, but let me give them to you so I can say that I think
this City Commission acted in a reasonable, prudent manner, andl think today will act in a
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reasonable, prudent manner. But Mr. Roth failed to mention both in the El Herald, as well as
the Herald, does generally accepted best practices require the periodic replacement of auditors?
For example, the federal government's Sarbanes Oxley Act -- if you don't know what that was,
that was the act that was passed in 2001 as a result of the stock market crash in 2000 as a result
of improper and inadequate auditing practices, just to give you a perspective for anybody that
didn't know -- requires audit partners at publicly -- now, let me be clear -- audit partners -- and
as the Vice Chair will tell us, that's the guy with the pulse and the heartbeat. You might be able
to keep the audit company, but you have to change the guy with the pulse and the heartbeat who
is auditing you. And the best practice says -- actually, not best practice; it's the law. You can't
vary from it. It says requires audit partners at publicly traded companies need to be replaced
every five years. So we're on -- we're going to go on the fifth year of a contract and then we 're
being suggested to go to a sixth year of a contract. That would be against good practices. Now
the same standard, as Commissioner Suarez was elucidating a moment ago, the fact that the
City's under an SEC investigation, the same standard is found in the Securities & Exchange
Commission, five years. Historically, in the state of Florida, for instance, an insurance
company, a highly regulated entity, could not use the same auditor for more than seven years.
However, the legislator [sic], in its wisdom, effective July 1, 2011, the time period was further
reduced to five years. They're actually stating now best practices are four years and they're
heading towards three years. And what -- I actually wrote a response to Mr. Shoer, andl guess
the Herald decided it wasn't worth listening to a Commissioner who is brought out separately
from any of the company. And l'd just like to read what I wrote to the Herald. I said, you neglect
to mention the generally accepted best practices that requires the periodic replacement of
auditors. For example, the federal government's Sarbanes Oxley Act requires auditors at
publicly traded companies need to be replaced every five years. Same standard is found in the
Securities Exchange Commission. Historically, in the state of Florida, an insurer could not use
the same auditor for more than seven years, as I said a moment ago. Effective July 1, 2011, that
time period was reduced to five years. This is a prudent requirement and enhances and
maintains auditor independence and helps bring new, fresh eyes to look in places that have gone
unaudited. That's the philosophy behind it. And as I said, as you point out, Mr. Igwe's held his
position for more than a decade, far longer than the currently recommended time for any auditor
in any circumstance. It is certainly no less prudent for the City ofMiami to change auditors
periodically than it is for an insurance company or issuer of securities as required by regulators.
I further said, further, Mr. Igwe left the City with a check for $241, 839 in unused vacation and
sick time, which means he had accumulated 2,020 hours in vacation, 736 in illness, and that was
at the rate of $87.75, further demonstrating the need for this Commission in addressing
nonclassified employees use it or lose it standard to vacation and sick time that I think is found
in the private sector. I further stated that good corporate governments is responsible
stewardship. It is not a blunder because he was saying that this Commission or the lfc Company"
folks blundered with Mr. Igwe. I don't think it was a blunder. I think if you listen to the Vice
Chair carefully, what he was saying was you may need afresh set of eyes to look in places and
things that haven't been looked at before. So how does this apply to what we're doing here
today? How this applies to what we're doing here today is we certainly could not use the same --
I'm going to use the right word -- it is replacement of the partner, audit partner, so in theory, we
could stay with the same McGladrey Pullen folks, but we would have to change partners. So we
would lose, as you would say, the continuity of what we had to begin with. However, it would be
like comparing my office, Sarnoff & Bayer, to Holland & Knight. Now, as much as I'd like to be
compared to Holland & Knight, I'm simply not. I'm not their size. I'm not their magnitude. I
don't have their breadth of resource. And to try to compare McGladrey Pullen to Ernst and
Young would be comparing Sarnoff & Bayer to Holland & Knight. There's an old saying in life,
you get what you pay for, and don't mean to bring it down to that level. But for Ernst and
Young -- and I'll defer to the Vice Chair to some degree on this 'cause he obviously knows this
infinitely better than me. For Ernst and young -- for a big eight accounting -- I guess it's down
to the big five, right, Mr. Vice Chair?
Ms. Gomez: Big four.
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Vice Chair Carollo: I think -- now it's -- yeah, now it's the big four.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Big four.
Commissioner Dunn: Big four.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay, it used to be the big eight. I shouldn't date myself. To get a big
four auditing firm interested in the City ofMiami is historic. It is amazing. It is simply -- it
would be like getting -- I'll date myself again -- like Mickey Mantle interested in coming down to
the Yankees. It would be like getting --
Chair Gort: Who?
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- Willie Mays -- I know, the old guys, right? So it would be like Alex
Martinez or, you know -- Fernandez -- I'm sorry -- Alex Fernandez coming down to the Yankees.
It's just a very big deal. And while I thinkMcGladrey's done a great job, I also suggest that it
may be time for us to move to a big four accounting firm. And anybody that doesn't think that
matters to your bond rating, you know, I'd sort of beg to der with you because if you have an
Ernst -- you know, Ernst and Young was the company that revealed the Public Health Trust's
systemic problems. It was Ernst and Young that said to them Between the years 2000 and 2006,
you're going to break the bank. "It was Ernst and Young that said this is an entity that is not
viable. Now, no two ways, the County didn't listen, but it's your choice whether you wish to
listen to your auditors or not. Ernst and Young painted a very clear picture of the malpractice of
the Public Health Trust. So it's not like we're getting somebody that's cozy with the City of
Miami. We're getting at least an opportunity to do business with somebody who will be critical
of the City ofMiami and will give us new ways and new practices that we can become more
financially resourceful and stable. And l just wanted to -- I apologize for taking so much time,
many chair. But the end company, folks, you guys got through the scathing a little bit pretty well.
So thank you.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Could I -- and I -- I'm happy for the philosophical and -- debate I'm
engaged in. And certainly -- andl said it before, too, so it came back to kind of punch me in the
eye, about you get what you pay for. And in fact, you do. But I also would give you an -- a
philosophical example. I would have loved when I decided to take my sons out ofMiami-Dade
County Public schools for various reasons to go either to Gulliver Prep or Ransom Everglades,
but my budget only allowed me to Dade Christian and Monsignor Pace, which are still great
schools. I think we cannot be, in light of our -- andl cannot argue a big four, just like I would
not argue -- and that's not to say anything negative. I'm grateful for the education that they had,
but given my budget restraints and my budget situation -- and that's why I raised the question as
to will it make a difference, andl don't know. I yield to my accounting expert, Vice Chairman,
but I just -- I know oftentimes we talk about fiscal stuff, fiscal -- you know, we in fiscal -- you
know, even got down to, you know, papers and paper clips, you know. It did. So -- in the CRA.
So I can't help but bring up a 25, 35,000, 37,000 issue and I just -- one of the things you'll hear
me say all the time -- and this has been my theme. I just want consistency across the board.
That's all. Fairness. That's me. I cannot argue whether or not -- and that's nothing against
Ernest [sic] and Young. Certainly, they're a big four firm. And it seems to me -- but I did raise
the question as to will that make a difference in terms of our bond rating. Yes, you do get what
you pay for. That -- but sometimes you only have what you can pay for based -- you only can get
what you can afford to pay for, so I -- that's my position on that.
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Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chairman.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to begin by stating that the committee
that selected Ernst and Young and took into consideration expertise and experience, audit
approach, firm qualifications and cost proposal, where actually the members that we, this
Commission, chose as the audit committee. So I think we definitely had fair representation. And
we all, realistically, through our appointment, you know, appointed someone that we at least
thought, you know, was competent, capable, knowledgeable to be placed in that position. And
this was the committee that chose Ernst and Young, and they did take cost into consideration. As
far as oral presentations, I always prefer to have oral presentations. However, they chose not to.
Maybe it was timing. I'm not guilty sure. I think four or five firms, you know, were the ones that
bid. And, you know, it could have been timing. I don't know. I would have preferred oral
presentation. However, oral presentation usually is given, what, ten points, five points? In other
words, I don't think it would have made a difference in this selection. As far as the big four,
yeah, there's a reason why they're called the big four. There is a reason. I mean, you know,
point blank, there is a reason why they're called the big four. If you all remember correctly, few
weeks back, few months back, I was the one who was pressing with regards to our finances, our
deficits; concerned about our images, concerned about the bond rating, which did lower after,
you know, all these discussions and so forth. And although I am not proud of this, I'm actually
somewhat embarrassed, the perception out there in the financial community is that we are in an
extremely difficult -- and I'm going to chose my words carefully because like I said, I'm not proud
of this. And I'll say it again, I'm actually embarrassed that we are in this situation, and that's
why, months back, I've been, you know, trying to ring the bell and get everyone to notice. And --
I mean, privately, some of the things that have been said to me by other CPAs, financial experts,
you know, some of the e-mails (electronic), the way our budget, you know, is being handled, the
way some of this -- realistically, you know what; I think it would be a breath of fresh air to see
the big four actually come and audit the City ofMiami. I think perception, it would go a long
ways by a lot of CPAs, a lot of financial experts to say, they're making a very good move. They're
actually moving up as far as auditing. They're getting one of the big fours and they're actually
starting to turn the tide and really see what's going on and so forth. Now, again, I'm not trying
to say any of the other firms are unqualified. That's definitely not what I'm saying. However,
once again, there's a reason why these are called the big four. The disparity, dollar amount, to
get a big four to actually audit us, I think is actually not that much. And mind you, you're talking
a Commissioner that really watches the dollars, seeing how much spending and what or here and
there. I think, realistically, this is a good move. Again, I didn't select them. You know, the
people that selected them and took cost into consideration and so forth were actually people that
we selected to be our audit committee. The scores are there, andl think the way they scored
Ernst and Young was pretty impressive, andl think this is a move in the right direction because
we need to start showing everyone out there, especially the financial community, that we're going
to turn this tide around and we're going to steer this ship the right way.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Okay. Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: I just want to say a couple of things to wrap it up and then we'll decide --
everyone can, you know, kind of vote their conscience. If I'm not mistaken, andl could be
wrong, the last time the City got into a financial crisis, we were being audited by one of the big
five financial firms.
Vice Chair Carollo: Actually, no. We were actually being audited by McGladrey when we had
the SEC investigation and the transfers.
Commissioner Suarez: No, no. I'm talking about 1997.
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Ms. Gomez: Right.
Commissioner Suarez: We were being audited by KPMG (Klynveld, Peat, Marwick, Goerdeler),
if I'm not mistaken.
Ms. Gomez: No. Deloitte and Touche.
Vice Chair Carollo: Deloitte.
Commissioner Suarez: I'm sorry, Deloitte.
Ms. Gomez: Deloitte and Touche.
Chair Gort: Deloitte and Touche.
Commissioner Suarez: That was one of the big five accounting firms. So you know, being an
enamored with being -- we have been audited by the big five -- you know, one of the big five
accounting firms. I forget which is the one that's actually -- that went under, but -- In any event,
we have been audited by one of the big five. And the last time we got into a financial crisis, we
were being audited by one of the big five firms. So when you look at this proposal or when you
look at this score sheet -- andl think this is where maybe Commissioner andl have some
agreement -- you are basically giving firms -- and again, we don't really interact with
procurement before these proposals are put together. And maybe it's a good idea just from -- not
from a technical, you know, itty-bitty perspective, but from a kind of broad 50, 000 foot
perspective, to get our sensitivities on whether costs are -- you know, should be a bigger
component than they are. The discrepancy between the first place firm and the second place
firm, for example, is less than 3 percent in the scoring, but the dollar amount is $105, 000 over
the life of the contract. So you know, when you talk about the discrepancy between one and the
other -- and keep in mind, this is a very subjective process, you know. And yes, you're right, that
we did select the committee members, but it's subjective. I mean, but for one -- putting one point
here and one putting other one here, we could have been in the opposite situation. We gave --
essentially, we made 50 percent of the presentation relating to -- 30 to expertise and experience
-- by the way, I agree with 30 to audit approach because that's obviously what is the main thing
that we're focusing on, approaching -- how you're going to approach this audit, this new audit
when we're understand an SEC investigation. Thirty plus twenty is 50 percent to -- I don't know
why it -- it kind of is the same thing, expertise and experience, and then firm qualifications. To
me, that kind of goes hand -in -hand. And you only give 20 percent to cost proposal. So you're
lopsiding. You're kind of combining two categories that are really one category and making that
50 percent of the evaluation and cost a very, very small component when everyone here agrees
that these are all extremely qualified firms. So there's really no discrepancy. There's no one here
saying, you know, look, one firm is qualified, the other one isn't. So we really should weight our
approach, you know, heavily on the experience factor. So I -- I'm just putting that out there. It's
a subjective process. The difference between one and two is less than 3 percent in a very
subjective process. And it's going to cost the City over five years, if we stay in this contract,
$105, 000, which is -- divided by five is about $20, 000 a year. So, you know, we are pinching
pennies. And you know, what I had proposed was for it to go to an oral presentation, which the
Vice Chairman has said that he -- it's something that he likes, generally speaking, in these kinds
of proposals so that they can be ranked on that additional component that could maybe take
more into account the cost factor that, you know, I don't feel was very properly weighted,
balancing it against the other ones. That's just my -- that's my last salvo there.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
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Commissioner Dunn: I will yield to the will of this Commission, but I just want to go on record
as stating now that at least now we will say in our -- as we move forward, that everything will not
be based solely on fiscal. If we make this -- we know fiscal is at the top of the rung of the ladder.
We're not -- I'm not suggesting -- but at least there will be some other factors moving forward
that -- we'll include some other factors that might make prudence in terms of our determining
factors all across the board because that's what we'll be -- that's what -- in fact, if we decide to
move forward, that's what we'll be saying, not ignoring the fact that we have a fiscal crisis. I
mean, a blind person could see that. But again, now, when we come back -- and l just want to
say -- to issues that are close to decision or factors that are inclusive of social impact, historical
impact, and even future impact, I just want us to know that we won't be -- I will stand firm on
issues that I believe that will be inclusive of those things. So if we decide to move forward, which
I will respect the will and the expertise of all of my colleagues, especially the Vice Chair -- but
we're saying now that it will not be solely based on fiscal, which has been -- and that's not -- let
me -- I'm putting it in a -- I'm carefully choosing my words, too. I'm not saying we're going to
ignore fiscal or even say the appearance of something that may not appear to be fiscally proper,
but we will -- in deciding, we will include the other factors of social, historical, and future. So if
we -- that's what we're basically saying. And a many times when I make an argument about
certain things that I basically feel that I am knowledgeable about because I've lived it, I don't
want to hear a whole lot of back and forth in terms of what kind offiscal impact if it is as close
as this is. So as long as we set that as -- that's going to be the norm, I'm fine with that. Not
ignoring the fiscal impact. I want to be clear on that. We understand that we have a fiscal crisis,
but it will not be subject to being denied or delayed simply because offiscal issues. Because now
that's what we're -- this is in fact what we'll be doing. 'Cause just like the big four, which I
respect, I understand there are some figurative big four issues in areas like Overtown, the
big four issues.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: If you want. I'll yield to Commissioner Suarez.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: No. I just -- I hear what you're saying, and that's why I think if we're not
going to go with the extra step of taking it to an oral presentation, then I'll probably vote no on
this because I don't want to be inconsistent with respect to some issues that you're talking about.
I'm not going to go into -- I do -- cost is important to me, you know, so -- you know, I -- we're
going to have to face our employees very, very soon. To me cost is important. Every penny is
important. I know it's important to everyone here, so I'm going to -- on that -- the way that you
framed the argument, I agree with you, we have to -- I have to be consistent, so --
Mr. Martinez: Mr. Chairman, may I say something?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Martinez: I don't recommend going to an oral at this point because the message is we didn't
get the results we wanted; therefore, we're going to add another step, so I -- and don't think
time is on our side. We need to, you know, have the auditors on board.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Let me ask a question.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
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Chair Gort: When do we need to have the auditor on board?
Mr. Martinez: The oral should have been part of the --
Chair Gort: No, no. Question, when do we need to have the auditor on board?
Ms. Gomez: So if we have -- if we change auditors, then we would need them to get started in
August --
Chair Gort: Okay.
Ms. Gomez: -- because they -- you know, they have to do a lot of interim work, they have to
catch up with everything, and so we won't be able to stay on schedule. With the same auditors,
since they already have most of the permanent file already built, we could -- we won't start with
them until a little bit later on because they -- all that pre work was done -- has been done over
the years. Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Now my statement -- let me finish. What I'd like to see in the future is we should
know when a contract is up. I don't think it should be looked at as we're going to extend it
automatically. I think maybe we should go RFP way before so we don't get caught in this. You
have to make a decision today. Not only in this type of RFP, any RFP. Any contract that we
have coming up, I think we should -- you should give us plenty of time so we're not forced. Like
today, we have certain -- certain of us is not decided. I agree we need to change it every five
years, butl think we need time. I mean, you bring everything to us -- andl know this is
something new, but I'd like to see us have more time in case some changes need to be made, we
can do it, not that we have to make the decision.
Mr. Martinez: And l just --
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair.
Mr. Martinez: -- want to add one more thing. If there were a tie and the oral could break the tie,
that would be, you know, something very logical, but it wasn't part of the criteria.
Chair Gort: I'm not arguing about the oral. I'm arguing about the process.
Mr. Martinez: Okay.
Chair Gort: I'd like to have RFP come in front of us with plenty of time. Not tell us, hey, you got
to do it today because it's due tomorrow, or you have to extend the existing contract. Yes,
ma'am.
Ms. Gomez: So, typically, interim is done in August. But if we were to start interim in
September, you know, we could probably get there. So we do still have time if we were to decide
today what's going to happen, either way we go.
Commissioner Suarez: Of course.
Chair Gort: No. I understand.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
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Chair Gort: But I'd like to see a process move --
Ms. Gomez: Sure.
Chair Gort: Yes, Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Let me just finish by saying the Chairman was very, very adamant -- I'm
sorry, the Vice Chairman was very, very adamant when we last talked about this, that we were
going to RFP this. I mean, this -- there was really -- you know, we were all in agreement with
that. So, yes, I agree with what you're saying, we should have done it with sufficient time to
budget for any potential quirks, as you could define it or whatever. But the notion of going to
oral presentation is in the RFP, so it's contemplated potentially by the RFP. So it's not like this
is something, you know, pulled out of the sky. The idea of going to oral presentation is in the
RFP and it's a contemplated potential process that the Selection Committee could go to. You
know, I'm just going to leave it at that. I think, you know -- I think I've made my point and just
leave it there.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'd like to begin by saying that when we stated as far as going to an RFP
again, we wanted to begin in January or February. However, our Finance director or the
Finance Department stated that since at that time is when they are actually being audited, it will
not be a good time to go through the RFP process and that's why it started in April, so that was
contemplated to give plenty of time. However, you also have to understand that they just don't
stop everything that they're doing for an RFP process, so that's why it was started in April so I'd
like to mention that. Again, just like you all like clarity, I want clarity, so I want to ver
because it seems like we're dropping everything. And the main point now is going to be price.
Either that or all RFPs are now going to come to this Commission and we 're the ones who are
going to go through them and select who wins or who doesn't. So with that said, let me ask the
procurement director, normally, what's the point value for cost in most RFPs?
Mr. Robertson: Traditionally, between 15 and 25.
Vice Chair Carollo: Fifteen and twenty-five. Second question, usually, what's the point value
given to oral presentations? And I've saidl would have preferred oral presentations. What's
usually the point value?
Mr. Robertson: To have points identified for oral presentations in the RFP document would
presume that that's going to be a mandatory requirement of the selection, so to isolate those
points, we would presuming that that is going to happen. Normally, the qualifications points
would include oral presentation component before they finalize their scores for the other
categories. So traditionally, an oral presentation would be inclusive of the overall score.
Vice Chair Carollo: So in other words, they would have scored this prior to having any oral
presentation, but then there'd be a percentage of points for the oral presentation? Is that correct
or --?
Mr. Robertson: They would meet as a committee, discuss the proposals, decide at that point if
they were comfortable finalizing their scores based on the information reviewed. If not, they
could request to have oral presentations before they finalize their scores. But in this particular
instance, the committee felt comfortable finalizing their scores without having oral presentations.
The RFP reserves the right in their sole discretion to decide if they want to do so or not and they
did not elect to have oral presentations.
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Vice Chair Carollo: And again, these are our financial personnel that we actually put on the
board. As a matter of fact, there's four 'cause one still isn't part of the -- hasn't been selected, so
there was actually four audit committee members that did this selection. Again, I mean, the truth
of the matter is, it's the big four. And you know, I -- if now every RFP is going to be specifically
on price, then the truth of the matter is, you know, let's throw out expertise, audit approach, let's
throw firm qualifications out the door and let's just say, hey, who's the lower -- who's the lowest
bidder. I can tell you, if that's the case, we are going to get in trouble. Andl think any
procurement officer or anyone who has been around for a while will tell you if you always go
with the lowest bidder, you're bound to get in trouble. You have your financial experts that did
the selection process, chosen by us. You have another CPA (Certified Public Accountant) that
believes, yes, I think they did a good choice. And if you think that no, it wasn't a good choice,
then, you know, you vote your conscience. But the truth of the matter is, I can tell you the
financial world out there, the CPAs and so forth have been laughing quite a bit at the City of
Miami. Andl think this will be a good step in the right direction, getting a big four to audit us.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Sarnoff.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: No. Go ahead.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Want me to yield to my younger colleague?
Commissioner Suarez: I just --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I think he can wait.
Commissioner Suarez: Go ahead.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Just a word about process and a word about who wants to do business
with the City ofMiami. Because if we sit up here -- first off we cannot micromanage every RFP,
and that's something -- we'll get ourselves in trouble and we can't micromanage it. And you're
right, we do things through our designees and they -- we theoretically put people on there with
an expertise in a certain industry. In this case, it was auditing and certainly CPAs. But in
general speaking, if we start with well, there's an RFP, and you win the RFP, but hey, then you
come to the Commission and they say, you know what, I wouldn't have done it this way. And
maybe this and maybe that. And let's give it to number three. No, let's give it to number four.
Then all of a sudden people are going to wonder, what is it exactly that the Commissioners are
or are not doing? And then, more importantly, if you're one of the hundreds of people out there
that has to put together and assemble a team and bring thousands of dollars to the table in costs
to do this particular, you know, RFP, why would you ever bother to do business with the City of
Miami because we're going to get a reputation out there as, well, you know, you got to know this
Commissioner and then you got to know that Commissioner and then you got to know this
Commissioner and then the City Manager. Really important that he recommends something a
certain way. And guess what? That was the old City Commission. That was years and years
ago. And one thing could tell you that this City has gotten a reasonably good reputation of, we
pay our bills. We honor our contracts. And we're pretty good at RFP'ing, and we don't
micromanage RFPs.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I agree with everything both of you actually have said. I
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agree with everything that Commissioner Carollo said, that if costs were the most important
factor in every single RFP, we would be in big trouble. Andl agree that -- first of all, we have
done that. We have disagreed with the procurement director's recommendation. This
Commission has done it maybe more than once. But in any -- but I get your central point. Your
central point is well taken. Andl don't want to micromanage. I don't have the time to
micromanage the procurement director. But he made an interesting statement on the record,
which is that costs could be anywhere in a regular RFP between 15 and 25 percent. Well, if you
were to ask me, I would have said go for 25 percent. Twenty five points in this thing because
cost is that important to me. It's not dispositive. It's not the majority. But in any event, that
could have been the difference because the difference was less than 3 percent. So 5 points, less
than 3, could have been the difference. I'll leave it at that. It's an important thing for me.
Commissioner Dunn: Last comment, Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Thank you. Now my whole perspective will be not only costs, butt think
what we need to -- and I'm not a lawyer, but I've learned a few things from watching you guys --
is context. What is the context? Is that pretty good, Commissioner? That's pretty good, context?
What is the context in which we're in? Those are things that you have to factor. So we're not just
harping on costs, but the issue is context. What I mean by that? You've got some employees
right now who are getting ready possibly to be furloughed. That's context. How do we justify --
and I -- big four -- I'm not knocking -- hey, I told you, we got some figurative big four issues in
Overtown, Liberty City, Little Haiti, et cetera, but we're talking context. What is the context in
which we're approving or possibly going to approve this? And so I think that's where we've got
to look at it, and that's why, you know -- andl -- and these are the reasons that we factored --
that's why I believe we have it bring -- being brought to us to either ratify or deny. That's in
every agenda item here. We have recommendations from the staff but we bring it back for
context. What is the proper context? Is it in the right context given the circumstances that the
City finds itself in? That's all I want to say, and I'll let it rest at that. So -- I mean, I don't know
anything about accounting other than, you know, you got your profits, you got your revenues,
and you got your expenses. At the end you want to end up in the black, so I think that's where we
are. But in terms of context, that's my position.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: In line with context, I have a question for the City Attorney. How much are
we paying or how much have we paid or where are we with regards to our SEC investigation as
far as dollars amount because I want to see context?
Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): If you give me a second, I'll give you an exact amount.
Chair Gort: Close to half a million.
Commissioner Suarez: Over 250.
Ms. Bru: It's getting close to a million dollars.
Vice Chair Carollo: Close to a million dollars. Well -- and this was -- this Nose to a million
dollars'ivas based on our financial statements, right? This is based on financial issues of the
City ofMiami, correct?
Ms. Bru: You know, quite frankly, at this point, until the --
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Vice Chair Carollo: Andl -- we're good? And again, I don't want to discuss it too much or get
into it because I know we're under an investigation and the attorneys and so forth. But the
bottom line is, the focus is financially correct?
Ms. Bru: I think it's appropriate to say that proper oversight over the City's finances is critical
to, number one, concluding the investigation in a favorable manner, and number two, avoiding
any further liability that may be out there, so --
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. And what want to point out is this is an area that I don't think we
should go cheap. And I'm not saying that, you know, we're paying, you know, prime prices or --
you know, because the truth of the matter is, they negotiated and lowered the cost. But I think
this is an area -- as a matter of fact, I'll be honest with you. I hope that you all join me at this
level of scrutiny in all the expenses that come before us 'cause it's going to happen. I just don't
want you all to get too mad at me. So I want this level of scrutiny with all the expenses going to
come before us, with attorneys, even when they're just sitting there and they don't say a word. I
mean, with everything. I want this level of scrutiny because the truth of the matter is, this is
healthy. I actually -- I encourage it. But this is the level of scrutiny I want with everything
'cause I really think we need to get there. Now, with that said, the biggest issue with the City of
Miami right now is our finances. I think this is an area that we shouldn't cut any corners. And
I'll tell you what. I don't really know the answer to this question, and usually when I ask
questions, I usually do know the answer, as you all, I think, already have figured out by now.
Some of these other firms, how many governmental entities have they audited the size of the City
ofMiami?
Mr. Robertson: I don't know.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Before we do something like that, I would want to know that. I
would want to know --
Commissioner Suarez: You could ask that in an oral presentation. That's a good question. And
by the way, I agree totally. And Madam City Attorney, when we were choosing the law firm to
represent the City ofMiami, wasn'tI in our negotiations back there squeezing as much as I
possibly could to make sure that the person who was representing us was charging the residents
of the City ofMiami the least amount of money? Andl think it's like $300 an hour for partners,
if I'm not mistaken. A little bit more? Okay. But remember even giving this impassioned
speech to the attorneys and saying what you're doing, you're not just doing, you know, for
yourself or for your own profit, but you're doing it for the residents of the City of Miami. And
please keep that in mind when you decide, you know, what you're going to charge us on an
hourly basis. And yes, the gross amount is very, very high, you know, and I think we budgeted
twice that amount for outside counsel fees. But you know, I remember being just as stringent
with those attorneys because it's very hard to qualf attorneys. I don't think we're going on the
cheap. It's just very hard to qualf attorneys. It's very hard to qualf accounting firms. It's
hard to say that one person's service is more qualified or better than another person's service.
That's why I gave the example that the last time that we were in a major financial crisis, we
happened to be audited by a big five accounting firm. So it's just -- it -- you know, I get it, but
you know, I'm trying to put context as well to the whole discussion.
Chair Gort: I have a question, which is very important. When you're looking at the difference
between one and two, it all comes down to firm qualifications, and it's very little difference. Now
my question is, is the firm qualification based because they're top four or because of the
experience with a government entity as similar to the City ofMiami? And then I'll tell you why
I'm asking that question.
Ms. Gomez: I'm not -- I can't speak for the audit advisory committee who did the selection. I
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was not -- I'm not on that committee, so I am not -- I wasn't part of the selection process. So all
of that would have been discussed at the time of the selection. But --
Chair Gort: Because if --
Ms. Gomez: -- the information as to how many firms they would have audited, I'm sure is
contained within the audit -- the proposals that each of the firms presented. And just to clar,
the cost that we're talking about is with the incumbent auditor who did not propose in this RFP
process because they already have a contract, and they felt that should the Commission wanted
to award them, they could without having to go through that process, so they are not in a
comparison with this new RFP.
Chair Gort: And the reason I ask is the -- if they have more experience than major cities like
ours, in comparison, I don't have any problem with firm qualification. But if the firm
qualifications is based because of the top four -- going back to 1998, I was here in 1998 when we
had one of the top aide at that time, and that's when we -- we had meetings with the Orange
Bowl. We met with the employees and the unions. We were able to reduce our budget by $20
million. Andl was told by the person representing that firm, we in great shape. We don't have
any more problem. We -- one more year and that's it. And then the next year we found the --
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair. Well, just one more thing.
Chair Gort: -- default that we had, a $64 million deficit. But I'll follow the --
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair, I just want to --
Chair Gort: -- whatever you want, Mr. Chairman --
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: -- Vice Chairman.
Commissioner Dunn: Please just --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: I just wanted to comment on my colleague, Vice Chairman. You talked
about the double scrutiny and that we follow your lead. And I'm not being facetious; I thought
that's what I've been doing the whole time that we've been here. I've respected your expertise
and experience, and a lot of times I have, and know this Commission has yielded to your lead
on the fiscal matters, andl say that respectfully. So I've seen this type of healthy discussion on
other items. So that's all I'm -- that's all -- and l just wanted to say that because I have followed
that.
Vice Chair Carollo: No. Commissioner, I'm the first one that says this is healthy.
Commissioner Dunn: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: This is healthy. The only thing I'm also saying is let's have this level of
scrutiny on other things. I mean, this is our finances.
Commissioner Dunn: And we're --
Vice Chair Carollo: This is the person who's going to come here and give assurance to the
outside world that yes, the City ofMiami is reporting, you know, on a reasonable basis, you
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RE.5
11-00606
Department of Capital
Improvements
Program
know. They're fairly stated financial statements. This is who gives assurance to everyone out
there that yes, our financial statements are fairly stated. I think it's extremely important, you
know, and --
Chair Gort: Make your motion.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'll follow the lead of the Chairman. I'll make a motion to approve.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Second.
Chair Gort: The recommendation by the audit committee. But at the same time, it's been moved
and second. There's no more further discussion. But I think this is important to people to
understand, the process that this Commission's going to go through. Those people that sit there
to evaluate this proposal, we're going to be asked a lot of questions. Okay, any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
Vice Chair Carollo: Aye.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Aye.
Commissioner Dunn: Aye.
Chair Gort: Aye.
Commissioner Suarez: No.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Andl will show that as amended for the record.
Ms. Gomez: Thank you.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN
ACCESS, INDEMNIFICATION AND ACCEPTANCE AGREEMENT, IN
SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH BOUYGUES CIVIL WORKS
FLORIDA, INC., GRANTING TEMPORARY ACCESS RIGHTS TO THE
VIRGINIA KEY LANDFILL SITE, FOR THE DELIVERY OF DONATED TUNNEL
FILL MATERIAL, TO BE USED FOR THE NECESSARY REMEDIATION OF
THE LANDFILL SITE, WITH APPROVED LOCATIONS TO BE DETERMINED
BY THE CITY OF MIAMI, SUBJECT TO SOIL RE -USE APPROVALS FROM
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY.
11-00606 Summary Form.pdf
11-00606 Letter - Miami -Dade Solid Waste .pdf
11-00606 Legislation.pdf
11-00606 Exhibit 1 SUB.pdf
11-00606-Submittal-Memo-Va Key Landfill. pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0319
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councilwoman -- what's your -- what is your --?
Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) RE. 5.
Vice Chair Carollo: RE.5.
Chair Gort: 5?
Commissioner Sarnoff. RE.5.
Chair Gort: RE.5, okay.
Albert Sosa (Director): Albert Sosa, with Capital Improvements. RE.5 is a resolution
authorizing the City Manager to execute an access indemnification and acceptance agreement
with Bouygues Civil Works of Florida, known as the tunnel contract. They're working for FDOT
(Florida Department of Transportation); granting temporary access rights to the Virginia Key
Landfill property for the delivery of donated tunnel fill material. The tunnel fill material in
question would be used for the necessary remediation of the landfill site with the locations of the
stockpile material being laid out in a soil management plan to be approved by the City and by
the Department of Environmental Remediation and the County's Solid Waste Department. Some
background on this item: There's an existing landfill site south of the waste water treatment
plant that's on Virginia Key. The access to the site is along the lines that Commissioner Sarnoff
pointed this morning, along the left side of the property. And it's a landfill site that we're
currently working with the County to mitigate the -- to cap it basically and be able to use it in the
future as a park, for example. Capping the site requires a large amount of fill that the City would
otherwise have to import. This agreement with Bouygues Civil Works will allow for their
material from the tunnel exca -- or boring to be brought onto the site in a fashion to be approved
by the Department of Environmental Regulations -- or Management, excuse me, and be
stockpiled on the site so the City in parallel is working with the County to develop a capping
plan for the landfill that will allow us to utilize this fill to perform the final capping and call it --
and be able to remediate the site once and for all. Any questions?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Not usually at a loss for words. Hope that's not something that old age
brings. I've been in -- privy to a number of meetings since I've been here. I actually been privy
to a meeting where then Commissioner Gimenez, now Mayor Gimenez, but he was Commissioner
at the time, had instructed the County to take over the handling of this project from the City so
that the City wouldn't exceed -- andl seem to remember the number -- $45 million that had been
granted to the City from the County 'cause they were the ones who actually put the -- what do
you -- I guess it was -- the material that's not considered good for the land, in the actual landfill.
What's the status of that agreement?
Mr. Sosa: It's my understanding that the $45 million in question do exist in a bond issuance
from the County.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Mr. Sosa: The money is there. Once we have a plan in place to allow it to deal with this through
DERM (Department of Environmental Resources Management) and through the Solid Waste at
the County, once that plan is approved, we'll be able to access those funds in order to perform
this remediation.
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Commissioner Sarnoff. But are we accessing it or is the County doing it?
Mr. Sosa: It's my understanding that the City would be accessing those funds.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Here was the concern of then Commissioner Gimenez, andl was in the
room when he said this, andl think he would agree with this. He did not want the City to face
the potential of cost overruns. In other words, that $45 million was not an adequate amount of
money, and that's why he wanted the County to be the person in charge of capping the landfill.
Now I would think you're in a better position than ever since he's now the Mayor ofMiami-Dade
County. But he didn't want to see the City be at risk for any kind of inadequate funding to
remediate the landfill.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Commissioner, the fact that we're bringing the tunnel fill in,
which will be clean, reduces that risk substantially. The school of thought was --
Commissioner Sarnoff. So I -- you're saying is look, as a result of taking this land fill in, we're
going to be under the 45 million --
Mr. Martinez: For sure now.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So we're going to be the ones that are going to be doing the work, not
the County.
Mr. Martinez: We're trying to work that out. We're supposed to do the work. We were waiting
for the change of guard to work out the specifics. We were trying to do it before, but we weren't
getting anywhere because everybody was anticipating the change of guard. And that's one of the
things that at the top of my list, to get back with the County and at least have a plan. Because
part of the risk before where we had to reject all the proposals was no one wanted to assure us
they wouldn't go over the 45 million.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Mr. Martinez: Since then, even before the land fill became an item, there was some -- and new
technologies and things like that, the school of thought was it would be under the 45. Now with
having to fill, everybody believes it will be under 45 million. The exposure will not go above.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And l just want the other Commissioners to be aware of number one,
the issue; number two, the conversations -- believe it or not, I was -- that meeting that then
Commissioner Gimenez was at was attended by Carlos Migoya to show you how long ago that
was, and I'm just trying to bring you guys up-to-date on where this stands. I think we should
accept this, but we should keep a close eye on making sure that there is no potential of going
over.
Mr. Martinez: There's no downside to accepting this, especially when it's going to be clean fill
and kids can play on it and things like that.
Chair Gort: My experience been sometimes what has been called clean fill, within five years
some of the sources come out and they find that there's certain contaminants in there, so --
Mr. Martinez: This is going to be tested --
Chair Gort: -- we want to make sure that the City is not liable in the future.
Mr. Martinez: -- heavily tested by DERM and a lot of other entities to make sure it's leveled to
the clean that you can -- residential clean.
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Mr. Sosa: And the agreement is specific to the language that states that the fill that is to be
brought on site needs to be tested previously, accepted by DERM and it needs to be meeting the
requirements for residential fill as it applies to Virginia Key.
Chair Gort: Okay. Questions?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I'll move it.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Suarez.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: I do have a substitute for this item.
Chair Gort: We do?
Mr. Sosa: That's correct. I apologize. This item was presented as a substitution item on
Wednesday, the -- Wednesday of last week, the 20th.
Chair Gort: Right.
Mr. Sosa: The substitution item, what had changed was in the agreement the use of the language
in the original item was final locations, heights and quantities to be approved by the City. We
changed that to the location of the fill to be in accordance with the approved soil management
plan as approved by the City ofMiami andDERM. We just wanted to refine that language a
little bit -
Chair Gort: All right.
Mr. Sosa: -- and that change was made consistently throughout the document.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. That -- as substituted, I'll make a motion.
Chair Gort: Okay. Okey-doke. Any further discussion? Being none, all in --
Vice Chair Carollo: Hold on, Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: I just want to address the part as far as contamination and any future
contamination, should it happen. Could we, you know, address that a little bit? I just want to
make sure. Because I know it's clean fill, but I just want to have some assurance --
Mr. Sosa: No, no.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- on the record.
Mr. Sosa: That's correct. The language in the agreement states that should any future problems
arise out of an act of Bouygues on -- an adverse act or some language to that effect, that they
remain liable for that going forward.
Vice Chair Carollo: As far as contamination or --?
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Mr. Sosa: Yes. Let me find the language and I'll read it --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Commissioner Sarnoff. The other thing that you have to get your mind around, this is the tunnel
fill.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So this is, what, 50 feet below the river bed or -- I guess the water bed.
Mr. Martinez: It's like 110.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Five hundred and ten. Sony.
Mr. Martinez: A hundred and ten.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Five hundred --
Mr. Martinez: Hundred and ten.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Hundred and ten feet below, so this is not dredge. This is not skimming
off what we polluted. This is something that's been there for millions of years that -- andl know
I had to get my mind around that as well.
Mr. Sosa: Right. The specific language -- and I'll paraphrase slightly -- it's in Section 1.2,
regarding the insurance requirements incorporated herein. Certificate of liability insurance
attached hereto and incorporated herein by this reference in such reasonable amounts as
approved by the owner's risk management director, protecting the City, its officers and
employees against all claims for personal injury, property damage, and regulatory actions by
government agencies arising out of or related to the activities undertaken by the company on the
property and naming the City as an additional insured. Goes further on to talk about the terms
of that insurance. And it goes on to say that the company shall be responsible for assuring that
the insurance certificates remain in full force for the effect of the term and any extensions
thereto, and it goes on to say that the foregoing insurance requirements shall not relieve the
company of its liabilities and obligations under this agreement, those obligations being that the
fill being brought onto the site are clean and they meet the requirements of DEMI
Chair Gort: Does anyone remember Pelican Island? They might be able to use that. That was
a project on Miami Beach long time ago. When you take the 36th Street Causeway, those
wooden perimeters marking in a certain area. That was to be an island.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I've heard of it. Just -- let's call the question.
Vice Chair Carollo: Call the question.
Chair Gort: Okay. All in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair Gort: (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F) still waiting.
RE.6 RESOLUTION
11-00599
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Department of Capital A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Improvements ATTACHMENT(S), ADDING CAPITAL PROJECTS APPROPRIATIONS TO
Program THOSE LISTED IN RESOLUTION NO. 11-0183, ADOPTEDAPRIL28, 2011
AND AS PREVIOUSLY AMENDED ON JULY 14, 2011, AND REVISING
CURRENT APPROPRIATIONS AMONG APPROVED PROJECTS; FURTHER
APPROPRIATING FUNDING FOR THE ADDED PROJECTS.
11-00599 Summary Form.pdf
11-00599 Legislation.pdf
11-00599 Exhibit 1.pdf
11-004599-Submittal-Administration-FY 2011 Capital Fund Appropriation Amendment.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0310
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item RE.18 for minutes referencing Item RE.6.
Chair Gort: I believe we left at the CR.12 [sic].
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): I'm sorry, Chair. If you could state that item number
again.
Chair Gort: I believe it is CR.12 [sic] -- RE.12. I'm sorry. We already did that.
Mr. Hannon: Excuse me, Chair.
Chair Gort: That was the companion with 7.
Mr. Hannon: Yeah.
Chair Gort: Yes, we already took that. RE.17.
Vice Chair Carollo: We've done RE.12, correct?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: We voted on it --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- 4-0.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Commissioner, we need RE.6 first.
Chair Gort: RE.6?
Mr. Martinez: Uh-huh.
Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Gotcha, yeah.
Albert Sosa: Albert Sosa, director of Capital Improvements. RE.6 is the appropriations item
that includes the acceptance of new funds and reallocation of current funds. There is a floor
amendment that I am passing out at this time for everybody's reference. RE.6, as amended, is an
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appropriations item to accept new funding sources into the capital improvements plan -- into the
projects, excuse me. The amendment that I passed out, it only affects the backup. It does not
affect the actual legislation. I highlighted this specific item that is being amended. It's an
additional transfer that we added to the list. That additional transfer is of unrestricted funds
from a completed project into the Orange Bowl parking garage. This item includes the
previously accepted grants and the funds associated with those and placing them into specific
projects for utilization in the capital plan for those projects, and it also includes reallocation of
funds from projects that are coming in under budget into projects that we 're wishing to proceed
with.
Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. Questions.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Sosa, just a quick question. What are the
contemplated use of those funds?
Mr. Sosa: Sorry. Can you repeat --?
Commissioner Suarez: What are the contemplated use of these funds?
Mr. Sosa: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: In other words, what do you envision using these funds for?
Mr. Sosa: Specifically on the amended item or --?
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
Mr. Sosa: Okay. Specifically for the item that I passed out as amended, it is for transfer into the
Orange Bowl project, and it's to be used --
Unidentified Speaker: Marlins.
Mr. Sosa: -- for the Marlins -- I'm sorry. The payment -- potential payment -- it's the cash flow
of the potential payments to the realtor that is going to appear in RE.22, one of the items that's
coming up, to pay for the payments that are required to be made to that realtor as part of that.
Commissioner Suarez: But --
Alice Bravo (Assistant City Manager/Chief of Infrastructure): IfI --
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a --
Ms. Bravo: -- may add?
Commissioner Suarez: Yes, please.
Ms. Bravo: Alice Bravo, assistant City Manager. As part of procuring a leasing agent for the
retail spaces at the parking garage, at the stadium parking garage, obviously a leasing agent
works on a type of commission and we have to cash flow that payment in advance of collecting
the actual rents. So we tried to identify a project that was complete and had general revenue to
help serve that cash flow with general fund from a previous year rather than affecting the current
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year or the next year budgets. So these funds -- the College of Policing has just now completed.
And as we start collecting rent on the retail spaces, that will generate the funds to actually pay
the commission on the leasing of the sites.
Commissioner Suarez: I have a couple of questions related to that. First of all, it presupposes
that we're going to adopt the resolution as given to us later on in the agenda. That's number
one. Number two, it's over ten times the amount of money that is being -- you want to say
something?
Ms. Bravo: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Of course.
Ms. Bravo: I can address that. In the retail agreement that we're proposing later on, they've
requested a small advance of marketing fees, total --
Commissioner Suarez: Thirty thousand dollars.
Ms. Bravo: -- of $35, 000.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Ms. Bravo: That will be credited back later as part of the lease payments. However, we, along
with our Facilities manager, Madeline Valdes, we've tried to estimate what square footage leases
would be and the terms would be and what the initial payments to the leasing agent would have
to be upfront. We move -- we anticipate moving forward aggressively to lease all the sites. And
in anticipation that we might have to pay out these -- a broker fee before we actually start
collecting rent, we wanted to allocate the sufficient funds to be prepared to do that whole entire
transaction. We wouldn't want to get to the point where we have a lease that's ready to sign, but
because of having the lack of cash flow to pay the broker, we have to hold off on signing a lease.
Commissioner Suarez: I have an issue with that on a multitude of decent fronts. First of all, I
wasn't sure that was going to approve of doing it that way when we got to that item, and that
was $35, 000. This is $405, 000. That's number one. Number two, the notion of advancing a
commission to a realtor is foreign in private sector world. I happen to be a real estate attorney.
I've never heard of -- oh, I shouldn't say I've never heard of it. It is, to me, atypical, certainly in
the residential real estate market. In the commercial, it's a little bit more common, but it's not
something that's standard practice by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not advancing
all those commissions -- I mean, when the tenant comes in, they --
Madeline Valdes (Director, Public Facilities): Madeline Valdes --
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Ms. Valdes: -- Department of Public Facilities. Commissioner, in answer to your question,
we're not advancing the commission for the realtor. We are setting aside this money so that when
the leases do come in and then an execution of an agreement is reached, then the realtor will get
a percentage -- 50 percent of his commission. Then when the tenant makes actual payment to the
City for the rent payments, then the other 50 percent is paid. This money is not being advanced
to anyone. It's just been set aside so that when we close these leases, we have enough money to
pay for the realtor fees. That's all.
Commissioner Suarez: I still don't get it. I don't know if you have any issues with it or anyone
else, but -- I mean, the realtors -- you know, it's a commission -based business. You know, you --
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Ms. Valdes: It's based on 6 percent --
Commissioner Suarez: Exactly.
Ms. Valdes: -- of the net leasable area --
Commissioner Suarez: Exactly.
Ms. Valdes: -- that they bill to the City, so --
Commissioner Suarez: So --
Ms. Valdes: -- and we estimated that there is about 53,000 square feet that would be available --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Ms. Valdes: -- and we took a calculation of approximately $25 a square foot and we made an
assumption that some of these leases would be coming in at, say, ten-year agreements, and we
multiplied that out at 6 percent and we came up to the figure, about eight hundred and something
thousand dollars. Initially, when the leases are signed, we have to pay 50 percent --
Commissioner Suarez: Who's we?
Ms. Valdes: The City.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Ms. Valdes: Excuse me. -- 50 percent of the 6 percent commission.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Ms. Valdes: Once the tenant moves in and makes that first payment, then you have to pay the
other 50 percent.
Chair Gort: Go ahead.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman, thank you. Let me start off by saying that some of this that
we're facing predates us because I don't think they had vision of the retail making money for the
City or at least they didn't plan accordingly because obviously, to lease that -- unless the City of
Miami also starts becoming a leasing agent -- we need to hire some type of real estate leasing
agent. Although there is funding from the bonds for the parking garage and construction and so
forth, when I asked and we looked as far as paying leasing agent, it seems that that monies could
not be used for a leasing agent. Therefore, it's something that, you know, we sat down,
Madeline, the City Attorney, Alice, procurement officer, and you all know -- not to mention
Diana Gomez, Mirtha -- to discuss, well, regardless, this leasing agent, any leasing agent and so
forth, there is no monies set aside whatsoever to pay for a leasing agent -- to pay for the
commission. So that's where we started seeing and seeing all the different sources of funding for
the parking garage, for Marlins stadium and so forth. We identified one, but it had to do with
some transfers. And although it would have been appropriate, I really thought that with the
histories of transfers and so forth, I wanted to have it as clean as possible. The College of
Policing had monies left over andl thought it would be appropriate, you know -- and again, this
was the consensus -- of using those monies in order for a leasing agent. Now the reason why you
have that amount is because these are estimates that we're thinking that -- of revenues that we
could actually get, and 6 percent equals something to that effect. Now, again, that is, more than
anything, identfing where fundings -- adequate fundings could be used. And at the same time,
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please understand that this is actually somewhat of an investment because I would say that even
though you will not see it in the budget because I, for one, do not feel comfortable showing it in
the budget, chances are that starting sometime in April, this will actually start generating
revenues to the City ofMiami, and those monies that we're paying -- right -- will be recovered.
So it's -- you know, it -- I don't know how much more of an explanation you need or where, but
that's where we are so far. And you know, I welcome more questions and so forth because with
everything I've been transparent, I've been upfront, and you know, I want to make sure that
everyone is comfortable as I had to be comfortable andl had to, you know -- you're seeing it
now. I've been there many, many hours discussing this and so forth.
Commissioner Suarez: No. Andl appreciate it, andl -- you know, I don't doubt that. And, you
know, I was just given this right now, literally, with the highlighted --
Vice Chair Carollo: I understand. And believe me --
Commissioner Suarez: And so --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- ifI was in your situation --
Commissioner Suarez: Right. Exactly.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- I would have been doing --
Chair Gort: Five days.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the same thing and so forth. Just remember that we were in a little bit of
a time crunch. Two Commission meetings ago we spoke about the time crunch, and we did
everything we could to be able to bring it to this Commission meeting. As a matter of fact, we
did something that I would prefer we didn't have to, but it was just so we couldn't lose the month
ofAugust, which was do the RFP (Request for Proposals), which it was a bidding process, a
normal bidding process. The only difference was the advertisement time. We couldn't advertise
longer than we would have normally. But we went through the bidding process and did
everything appropriately so we could bring it back by this Commission meeting. Andl actually
gave you an update in the last Commission meeting that this was going to be coming before us.
At the same time, I -- I've been realizing this for a while, but I want to make sure that we knew all
the revenue streams for this stadium, for the parking garage and so forth, so I asked, once again,
a meeting with all of our financial people in order to make sure that any monies that are used for
this is appropriate. We will not have issues. And again, this is a cash flow because the truth of
the matter is, that percentage will be from revenues that we are actually going to be making, and
as I stated, you know, they will be going to the general fund at least at this time or until we're in
this financial difficulty, you know, time. I want no monies to stay in my district or am I trying to
do any type of special district where some of the money stays in my district. All that money will
be going to the general fund. Andl foresee that in April of next year, which will be for this
coming fiscal year, we will be generating revenues. However, since, again, I don't believe that
anyone saw as far -- and this is something this I spoke with former City Manager Migoya last
year. There was no pro formas done as far as what type of revenues it would generate. There
was nothing allocated for any type of operation or leasing agent or so forth, and now we are,
you know, trying to do the best we can and -- with the time frame. Andl want to make sure that
everything came before this Commission so we don't lose the month ofAugust, like I said. The
restaurant that the Marlins are bringing in, are planning to start construction October 1. Now, if
we can do this with the leasing agent and so forth, we have the month ofAugust to start going
after, you know, all of the retail. However, if we don't approve all this in this Commission
meeting, we lose August; the next Commission meeting is September 15; now we're too much of a
time crunch. So that's where we're at. And again, I'll welcome any questions, andl'll, you know
-- along with management because we actually have been working in consensus and it's been
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definitely more than one of us. It's always been at least four or five of us, and getting together
four or five directors and a Commissioner is sometime hard, but the truth of the matter is, we've
just been doing it.
Commissioner Suarez: Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Andl appreciate, you know, your
explanation. And I'm just trying to be consistent, like Commissioner Dunn said, you know. This
is essentially a capital expenditure that we are going to recapture over a certain amount of time.
Last Commission meeting we were given a $3 million capital expenditure and we were told we're
going to be able to recover that investment over three or four years, which was single -stream
recycling, you know, and it all came to us at the last second, you know, and we were, you know,
kind of shocked to see it that way. You know, City staff may have met with you and everyone else
and you may have met with -- but they never met with me and they never told me that we were
going to have to have an expenditure, an outlay, an initial investment from our capital -- from
our general fund capital, you know, category, that -- like you said, I haven't seen a pro forma. I
don't know when this money's going to be paid back. I don't know how long it's going to take. It
depends on the success of the realtor, I suppose, and that also depends on what the capital hit's
going to be. Another thing that wanted to talk about -- andl didn't want to talk about it until
we actually talked about that item, but this kind of came all together -- was, you know, I've been
approached by groups that want to set up a museum in the retail and set up a museum for Cuban
baseball players. And so is there -- has there ever been any discussion, any provisions for that
possibility, something that's been brought to my attention? Andl don't know if anyone's talked
about it. Is this something that we've considered? Is there a possibility that there's -- if there's
excess space or space that's not rented out immediately, that something like that could be done
for a nominal amount of money so that we don't have empty space in the retail component? So,
you know, it -- I don't know how the rest of my colleagues feel. You know, I --
Chair Gort: Commissioner.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I will go along with the will of the Commission on this. I do have a
couple questions because I heard something said that kind of -- I don't want to say shocked me,
Alice, but think heard you say this. We're using $405,000 from excess College of Policing
money that was given by the general fund but not during this year's budget. If that's the case,
how many other general fund dollars exist out therefrom previous capital projects that are just
sitting around in some account that we don't know how much it is?
Ms. Bravo: Very little, if none. When I went through the list of all active or existing project
numbers, there were very few, if any, that had any general fund dollars. This one, it just happens
that we are right now closing out the project and finishing. So it was under construction and
now we've gone through the final closeout process.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. College of Policing has been open for the better part of two years.
Ms. Bravo: Correct.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. And you're just closing out the College of Policing now. And I'm
surmising, having said that, that this would have been '09/'08 general fund dollars?
Ms. Bravo: There's actually some construction within the building that we were addressing some
final closeout issues, so until just about a month ago, there were still pending issues.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. The shooting range issue?
Ms. Bravo: Yes, correct.
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Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. That prevented you from closing out the rest of the issues?
Ms. Bravo: Correct.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. I'm not being critical. I know nothing about construction. I --
reminds me of somebody that has like a, you know, eight -bedroom house and one of their closets
isn't finished and they get to say, well, the house isn't done yet. So I don't know. You're saying --
if that's the way it, that's the way it is. But what you're telling me then is that this is '08 or '09
general fund dollars that existed in this project and they have -- of course they're unrestricted
because you could not be using bond money, correct --
Ms. Bravo: Correct.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- to operate, right?
Ms. Bravo: Correct.
Commissioner Sarnoff. All right. And then -- I just want to make one observation because I
share something Commissioner Suarez says too. I can tell you, I looked into this to some degree,
and fronting of marketing dollars is not the standard in the industry, and I'm just curious why
we're not going with the standard.
Chair Gort: Well, that was the same question I had when it was presented to us.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI can just chime in with a little additional thing. You
know, we could have structured this in such a way that the commission was paid on a monthly
basis, that the realtor would be willing to take the commission on a monthly basis so we could
have to front no general fund dollars; that they could take 10 percent of the monthly rent as
commission and take some sort of risk with the City. I mean, you know, the real estate market is
right now one of the industries that is the hardest hit by this economy, so I don't understand why
we would be fronting, you know, dollars to pay a commission when, you know, we could -- they
could have paid -- you know, they could have been paid 10 percent a month for the duration of
the lease and then we would have had the net, you know, proceeds. Andl think any realty
company would -- that's going to be serving a public sector entity would be more than willing to
engage in some kind of a situation like that, and you know, I don't know why that wasn't made a
component of the RFP (Request for Proposals).
Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead, answer it.
Ms. Valdes: There was actually a number of hours spent negotiating with the selected vendor
with respect to the marketing fee. The marketing fee was structured in their proposal so that they
got the money upfront and not part of the 6 percent commission. As a matter of fact, the second
proposer that we had respond actually wanted a marketing fee that was much higher than what
this proposer had been requesting. We did negotiate this fee. We did negotiate the structure as
much as we could. That's why you will see in RE 18 where we gave you last Thursday a revision
to the proposal because there was some negotiations that were taking place after receipt of the
proposal.
Commissioner Suarez: Well, respectfully, maybe then we should have advertised it the normal
amount of time. Maybe we would have gotten more bids, you know, and that -- and you know --
andl understand there's a time crunch issue, and that's the issue.
Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. I mean, believe me --
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Commissioner Suarez: But --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- I would have loved to -- and I'm telling you, maybe? No. We could have.
I mean, other --
Commissioner Suarez: I guarantee.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- well-known --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- marketing firms did show interest. But again, do you want this to open by
April of next year or not?
Commissioner Suarez: I don't know that because this company comes, anything will open by
April of next year. I mean, this is -- they're realtors. I mean, they now try to market the property
and try to get tenants and they try to build them out by April and they may or may not happen,
you know. Taking this action is no further guarantee, other than just doing things very, very
quickly, which we kind of had said we wanted to do in the last Commission meeting.
Ms. Valdes: Yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: But you know, I -- this was not talked about in the last Commission
meeting, I could tell you that. Advancing a commission, that wasn't talked about. You know,
advancing this amount of a commission from a capital -- a general fund capital account, which
could go to a variety of other things, was never discussed, you know.
Ms. Valdes: IfI may correct again what we're saying. We're not advancing the commission.
We're paying the commission as the leases come in. So I just want to correct the record for that.
What we're doing is we're advancing the marketing. The marketing is not to exceed 30,000, and
that's what we would be advancing, which is just the $30, 000 fee. We also sent this RFP to 39
vendors, so we did do an extensive mail out. It's just that only two responded because of a
limited amount of time that it was out on the market. And due to the fact that there's no
Commission meeting in August and you wouldn't have a Commission meeting until September,
we had to kind of rush things. But we did very well in terms of trying to reduce the fee as much
as we could in terms of the selected vendor.
Commissioner Suarez: Did you put --
Chair Gort: Commissioner --
Commissioner Suarez: -- a request for pro -- may I?
Chair Gort: -- Dunn.
Commissioner Dunn: I yield Go ahead. I yield
Commissioner Suarez: I just have a question. Did you put in the request for proposal --? See,
this is the thing, if you could have -- the least -- I guess the least expensive way of requesting the
proposal would have been to say what we are offering here is the right to lease out the space,
obviously, and to hire you as a company to do that, which, by the way, is very, very good for you
because you're going to be, you know, a vendor in the City ofMiami and you have the
opportunity and the publicity that comes along with that, and the only thing that we ask in return
is that you get your commission off the monthly payments rather than upfront. So I -- you're
right, I did kind of say that in a confusing manner, andl apologize. But think we could have
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structured it in a different way and it would have -- it would not have necessitated, in essence,
you know, advancing these monies or paying these monies upfront and then --
Ms. Valdes: IfI can alleviate some of your concerns. The commission, the 405, 000, will not be
paid in one shot. It's as the leases come in that the money will be coming out.
Commissioner Suarez: But it's being allocated in one shot.
Ms. Valdes: It's being allocated now --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Ms. Valdes: -- in caution that if it get closer to April and we're getting in these leases and then
we have to wait for a Commission meeting to get an appropriation, that would be a problem. So
we're being active in making sure that the money's available so that we can go ahead and close a
deal.
Commissioner Suarez: I -- yeah. I don't disagree with that. I'm just saying that if you would
have changed the RFP, if you would have said potentially, look, you get your 10 percent on a
monthly basis rather than upfront, it would have been, you know, potentially a better deal for the
City. I mean, at least from a cash flow perspective.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Dunn.
Commissioner Dunn: Yes. I just wanted to get clarification on the marketing piece in terms of
advancing that. Is that the standard or is that not the standard because I -- my office was under
the impression that it was the standard? Just need clarification.
Ms. Valdes: Commissioner, it is the standard. This is an unusual property. This is not a
residential. It's commercial in nature. But it's unusual in the type of property and the kind of
clientele that we would want there at that facility. So yes, you would need some specialized
marketing efforts that are not normal to the industry. They will be doing some review of other
stadiums in other areas to get a feel for the type of tenants that we would need in a facility like
this to make it successful. It's very easy to bring in a couple of tenants quickly and get them in
place. Now are they going to be successful in the future? That's what you need this expertise
for. You need someone who can find tenants that the stadium is something that they would be
successful in.
Commissioner Dunn: Let me just make sure because I -- you saidl asked was it the standard
and I'm not trying, but I just want to make sure I'm hearing this right. But then you said it's not
normal to the industry.
Ms. Valdes: This type of facility is not normal to the industry, so yes, it is customary that you
upfront some of the marketing fees because they can be very costly.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Has there been any discussions whatsoever about the possibility of
having some sort of a cultural facility in the garages, something that the public, the general
public, since it is a public facility, paid for by public dollars --? Has there been any discussion
whatsoever about maybe creating a museum for Cuban baseball players, anything of that sort?
Ms. Valdes: Commissioner, we haven't gotten there yet. We're now just in the process of
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approving the firm, and then, you know, there will be discussions thereafter as to what we would
like to see.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay. I'd like to know --
Ms. Valdes: Sure.
Commissioner Suarez: -- how that advances.
Chair Gort: The question is have you the necessary spaces for the different type of locations you
want to create or you haven't done that yet?
Ms. Valdes: We haven't gotten to the point where we've separated out the spaces. We know what
spaces we need filled, but we haven't gotten to the point where we've said, okay, this is how we
want to cut up the --
Chair Gort: My understanding, you have 53,000 square feet.
Ms. Valdes: Fifty-three thousand square feet total.
Chair Gort: Fifty-three thousand. And then you get -- divide it according to the --
Ms. Valdes: The demand and --
Chair Gort: -- demand that they have --
Ms. Valdes: -- what we find.
Chair Gort: --from the different people.
Ms. Valdes: Yes.
Chair Gort: Okay. You might be able to use them all. You might not be able to --
Ms. Valdes: Right.
Chair Gort: And you have projections of the income that'll be produce?
Ms. Valdes: Excuse me.
Chair Gort: You have projection of the income that'll be produce?
Ms. Valdes: No. We haven't gotten there yet, but we will have that.
Chair Gort: All right.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman, one more --
Chair Gort: I personally don't have any problem with the -- utilizing these fund. I think what
we're doing is creating a trust fund. Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman, not only that -- and again, like I stated, you know, I think,
from the beginning some of this -- just like there was a pro forma for the parking garages, there
could have been some idea of you know, the type of monies that this could generate, andl don't
think, realistically, at least, it wasn't written anywhere -- at least it wasn't stated anywhere. But
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as far as the type of monies that it could generate, that's what I said about maximizing our City
assets. Because the truth of the matter is, the reason why we haven't broken up the spaces is
because, you know, we want the most amount of flexibility and we want to make sure that, you
know, the right type of retail, whatever that may be, that pay us the maximum amount of dollars,
whether it be restaurants, whether it be, you know, different types of retail that would actually
maximize our dollars. So we're being flexible and we haven't done actual calculations of how
much revenue it will be because -- for instance, I've heard about the museum. I have not spoken
to them yet. Like I said, we're not there yet. I want a leasing agent to, you know, be the one who
vets all this stuff. But I'm sure they're not going to be paying as much as something else will.
Commissioner Suarez: Would assume, right.
Vice Chair Carollo: You understand. So I think that's why some of that calculations haven't
been done yet.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Let --
Commissioner Suarez: I yield to --
Chair Gort: I'm sorry.
Commissioner Dunn: Okay.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Now I yield to --
Commissioner Dunn: You gone switch it -- you gone flop it this time.
Commissioner Suarez: Go ahead.
Chair Gort: Go ahead.
Commissioner Dunn: Again, I think -- again, I -- you know -- and I don't want to sound like a
broken record, but I think just to harp on it because I want to -- my operative word for today is
consistency, andl think that my colleague, Commissioner Suarez, articulated that earlier. Andl
will yield to my -- sometimes I'll say my better judgment to the district Commissioner in some
cases because of your involvement and direct involvement. I just want this to be reciprocated
when it comes to things that are germane to my district. I just want to put that on record.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: The best example that I could think of right now -- I'm sure, if you give me a
little time, I could think of better examples -- was -- and again, I didn't do my research, so I got
to -- you know, usually you know that I'm well versed on whatever I speak about. But the
Coconut Grove Convention Center, I'm sure was built with City monies, whether bond or so
forth, and the truth of the matter is it generates revenues. Now from those revenues, it goes back
to the City. And you know, we spoke about it last week as far as, you know, it being for the
district or the general fund. This is going to generate revenues. This is a percentage of the
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revenues that we're going to be obtaining. And like I said, it's not like I'm trying to keep it in that
area. Like for instance, the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency). The CRA generates
revenues or -- actually, doesn't generate revenue. Actually receives tax -- ad valorem taxes every
year, but it doesn't go to the general fund. It stays within that area. This will actually generate
revenues and it's going to go to the general fund. It doesn't stay within an area. Now we're
investing, yeah, monies from a project that was completed and it's left over into -- and again, by
a percentage of the revenue that it's going to generate. For what? To make even more monies to
go to the general fund. It's an investment. And you see, just an hour ago we did an investment
even where I, you know, had to do my due diligence and didn't see well, wait a second. We're
putting in $1 million, but we need 10? You know, part of it, it's stipulated there, was
construction. Where's the other money coming from? I could tell you, this -- the money is there
from the bonds and so forth with regards to completing the stadium, the retail, the build out, and
so forth. However, I don't think anyone took into consideration, you know, monies that we would
need for operational prior to the construction being completed; for instance, leasing agent.
Commissioner Dunn: Okay.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Dunn: Just a little small --
Chair Gort: Yes, Commissioner Dunn.
Commissioner Dunn: Andl did not quite respond probably quickly enough or appropriately
enough Monday at the CRA meeting. When we, in fact, use TIF (Tax Increment Fund) dollars, it
does not only benefit the said or respective district. It benefits the whole City. Because
whenever an area tax base is improved, that's something that will be an improvement to the -- I'm
just saying. So it's a different kind of --
Vice Chair Carollo: But here's the problem. Yes, when it improves, it improves that area because
the money's going back to that area. Here, it's going to go back to the general fund. Like, for
instance -- andl agree -- when something improves, it improves the whole City.
Commissioner Dunn: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: But at the same time, think about it, in the CRA area, okay, when something
improves, let's say we get more tax dollars, but those tax dollars get reinvested in that area and
cannot be used for Police, cannot be used for Fire, cannot be used for solid waste, cannot be
used for Public Works, and that's where, you know, we have an issue, especially when we're
carrying over 55 million from the previous years. I mean -- and we'll discuss it a little --
Commissioner Dunn: I know.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- further --
Chair Gort: Commissioner --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- later because --
Chair Gort: Excuse me a minute.
Commissioner Dunn: But just one -- please.
Chair Gort: My understanding is no one is in opposition of this. On the contrary, we're all in
favor of it, but we were questioning is the system and the method that we use --
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Commissioner Dunn: Yeah.
Chair Gort: -- and we have to expedite it because of the time frame that we have and that's the
reason. And correct me if I'm wrong, my understanding is the -- we need to approve the
negotiation with the next item. That's where we can discuss this.
Commissioner Dunn: Andl --
Chair Gort: I think what we're discussing this issue is the allocation of those funds as a trust
account.
Commissioner Dunn: Let me just say --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: -- one more part and I'm in position to that. But now 50 -- we did
negotiate the deal with 50 percent will go to the County as well as to the City, so it's not all going
to -- and we'll discuss that later. It's not all just a district piece.
Vice Chair Carollo: I understand.
Commissioner Dunn: So I don't want it to go out there like it's just going to improve one area. It
will, in fact, help the entire City. So I just want to say that. You know, I'm not going to --
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Dunn: -- sabotage anything that will help the City as a whole.
Chair Gort: Yes, Commissioner --
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think from --
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm -- just real quick. And by the way, I welcome all ideas. If we could get
a better deal -- if we could -- I welcome it, so -- you know me; I am always open --
Commissioner Suarez: It's kind of late now.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- I'm open for discussion. No. It's never -- well, it's never too late until we
finish this meeting. It's never too late. But welcome discussions andl welcome, you know,
thoughts.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: You know, my thought is, you know, we are, for example, in this budget
year not spending a lot of money on certain capital expenditures. That's part of our deficit
reduction strategy. Police cars, I believe, is one of them, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, I
would have preferred, personally, you know, knowing the real estate market, how it is, and
knowing how, by and large, people are desperate to get real estate business and to do this kind of
business, notwithstanding the fact that only two people answered the very, very, what,
two -weeks -old RFP, or whatever, two -week RFP, you know, my preference would have been that
they take it off the top. But you know, if we're not going to do it that way, then, you know, my
requirement would be that this money be replenished first. In other words, as our revenue comes
in, that this money be replenished first. And then -- and again, I'm seeing this all for the first
time, so it's kind of like -- I thought the single -stream recycling was a great idea, you know, and
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we all freaked out because we were given it, you know, five minutes -- were given to us on the
dais. It was hard to analyze a complicated transaction, a $3 million transaction, even though it
was going to save the City $750,000 a year. We were going to recover that money or maybe it
take us two or three years to recover that money -- or four years actually -- little more than four
years to recover that money, you know. I haven't seen anything -- I don't even know if we're
going to recover -- I hope we recover it by April. I hope we recover it before April, you know,
but what if we don recover it before April? Then it's May, June, July, you know. So it's just not
having the information to make an intelligent decision. And it is different from the way that I
would have structured it, but you know --
Chair Gort: Okay. Do I have a motion?
Commissioner Suarez: Does she -- can you just clam that, that the first money out is going to
go to replenish this fund?
Chair Gort: You can make that an amendment.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Chair Gort: Yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, I would, unless it's already -- I haven't --
Chair Gort: When you make a motion, if you all like it, you can make that -- put that amendment
to the motion.
Commissioner Suarez: It may be already in the other contract.
Ms. Bravo: That's fine. We can commit to restore this same amount of money towards a capital
improvement project.
Chair Gort: Capital improvement.
Commissioner Suarez: First thing. In other words, as you get -- okay.
Ms. Bravo: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: However, think about -- and I'm sorry. Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: However, think about this. Let's talk about this a little bit. And by the way,
it's something that I could support, but I just want to see the bigger picture also. If that's the
case, we're foregoing police cars this year, fire equipment because of the budget issue. Can the
revenues go towards the budget issue for this first year?
Chair Gort: Sure.
Vice Chair Carollo: You know, and -- 'cause I know -- I -- and I know what your intent is, to
replenish the money.
Chair Gort: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: The money will be replenished. I mean -- because the truth of the matter is
that money that's --
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Ms. Valdes: Goes to the general fund.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- going to be paid -- is a percentage of money that we're going to be
receiving, so it will be replenished. But what I don't want to do is, you know, put a restriction
where now where we initially say we're going to forego police cars this year and fire equipment
or so forth, or at least that's what has been proposed to us, now all of a sudden we have monies
that we could use for the general fund to pay police salaries, to pay -- and now we're saying no,
no. This money, we're going to put it now into police vehicles, you know. So --
Chair Gort: My understanding is --
Vice Chair Carollo: You understand what I'm saying?
Chair Gort: -- if you're making it coming back to capital improvement it will be used for that
purpose then.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Well, it's unrestricted money.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. It's unrestrict --
Vice Chair Carollo: It will be unrestricted money.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. The best --
Vice Chair Carollo: It would be for the general fund.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- it's the best money there is. It's unrestricted money.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right. It will come to the general fund and that's what I'm saying, where it
can be used for police vehicles or to pay a police officer salary or a firefighter salary or, you
know, solid waste. You understand what I'm saying? It's not like this is fund and it could only be
used -- you understand what I'm saying, Commissioner?
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I think what you're saying is that this is a capital expenditure and
the revenues that offshoot from the rentals are general fund monies.
Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly, could come to the general fund. So I don't want to --
Commissioner Suarez: Restrict them in any way.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- place it -- restrict it in a way that it's a capital fund, even though I know
what your --
Commissioner Suarez: Is that appropriate?
Vice Chair Carollo: To bring it to the general fund.
Ms. Valdes: Yes, it's fine.
Vice Chair Carollo: You understand what I'm saying?
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Andl know your intent.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: So that's why I could support it, but I want to make sure understand we
understand the bigger picture.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: This actually the revenues that we'll be generating can go to pay pretty
much anything, police officer salaries, firefighters salaries, and so forth.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. You are -- by handing us this you're trying to put $405, 000 into the pot
known as the Orange Bowl improvement, right?
Unidentified Speaker: That's correct.
Chair Gort: Right.
Ms. Valdes: That's correct. That's for the Marlins. The Marlins improvements, not the Orange
Bowl.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay. Call it what it is. Mar -- even better. The words come across my
lips, the Marlins improvements. And you need 35, 000 from this 405,000 --
Ms. Valdes: Thirty thousand.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Sorry, thirty thousand. -- to go to marketing --
Ms. Valdes: That's correct.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- correct? So the 475,000 -- I'm sorry, 375,000 then does what at the
Marlins?
Ms. Valdes: That's the 50 percent upfront when we sign a lease with a perspective tenant. It's
structured in such a way that once we sign and execute the lease, we pay 50 percent of the 6
percent commission. That 30,000 gets credited towards the 6 percent commission. Then once
the tenant has moved in and is making his first payment, then the other 50 percent has to be paid.
That amount that's being allocated is the 50 percent.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. So the -- I got to become a real estate agent. So --
Vice Chair Carollo: No, no, no. You wanted to become a firefighter. Don't change up now.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I don't think they'd take me, though. So ifI get this right, the real estate
agent bears no risk in this at all because the moment X'erson moves in, they're paid in full?
Ms. Valdes: That is correct, they're paid in full.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. And --
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Chair Gort: For the total lease?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yeah, right.
Commissioner Suarez: Doesn't make sense.
Ms. Valdes: That's correct.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Doesn't make sense.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. You're telling me that's the industry standard?
Commissioner Suarez: That's not the industry standard.
Ms. Valdes: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: It's not. Not on a ten-year lease. What if they go bankrupt in a year and
a half?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yeah.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I mean --
Chair Gort: You sign a five-year lease --
Ms. Valdes: Commissioner, if you'd like --
Chair Gort: -- you pay them upfront for five years and the people leave in two years.
Ms. Valdes: You have a right to be able to go after them and sue them for damages --
Commissioner Suarez: Good luck.
Ms. Valdes: -- if they walk away from the lease.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's -- Commissioner --
Chair Gort: That's the next issue, guys.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- that's where I tell you that's out of my norm. I don't know that industry.
I'm being told by staff that is the standard, whether with this firm or another one or so forth, so
that's where --
Ms. Valdes: If --
Commissioner Suarez: Look --
Ms. Valdes: -- I can interrupt a second. If you'd like, I have Terranova here and they can talk to
you about their normal contracts and how they do these things --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
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Ms. Valdes: -- if you'd like to do that?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Ms. Valdes: Okay.
Chair Gort: Whoa. Wait a minute.
Ms. Valdes: All right, the client's here.
Chair Gort: The issue right now is not the contract itself. We got another issue where we're
going to be addressing that. You want to --
Ms. Valdes: Right.
Chair Gort: -- address them both at the same time? What's --
Commissioner Sarnoff. We should do them together.
Chair Gort: -- the -- let's do them together then.
Vice Chair Carollo: I think we should.
Chair Gort: What's the --
Vice Chair Carollo: I think we should.
Chair Gort: -- other one?
Vice Chair Carollo: RE.18.
Ms. Valdes: The other one is RE.18.
Chair Gort: Eighteen, okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So for purposes of discussion, let's open them both up.
Vice Chair Carollo: I think so.
Chair Gort: Read RE.18.
Kenneth Robertson (Director): Good afternoon. Kenneth Robertson, Purchasing Department.
RE.18 is a resolution of the Commission by a four fifths affirmative vote ratifying the City
Manager's emergency finding that it is most advantageous for the City ofMiami to waive
competitive sealed bidding procedures, pursuant to Section 1890 and 1885 of the code of City of
Miami; approving the use of competitive negotiations for the purposes of negotiating agreement
for real estate leasing and/or property management services at the Marlins stadium parking
garage retail space for the Department of Public Facilities.
Chair Gort: I want you to explain, although it's not a competitive bid, the process that you
perform in order to get the -- where we're at today.
Mr. Robertson: Correct.
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Chair Gort: The procedures.
Mr. Robertson: On July 8 the Purchasing Department published an informal request for letters
of interest, number 275273, for the purpose of soliciting qualified firms and to negotiate an
agreement for these services. On July 15 two submittals were received in response to this RFLI
(Request for Letters oflnterest).
Chair Gort: How many letters you sent out?
Mr. Robertson: We sent invitations to 39 firms that --
Chair Gort: Okay.
Mr. Robertson: -- provide real estate services. On July 18 the evaluation committee met to
review and select the most qualified firm. Based on the proposers' overall qualifications and
experience, approach and methodology, fees, and oral presentations. Based on the same, it was
the evaluation committee's --
Commissioner Suarez: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second. Did you
just say oral presentations?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Mr. Robertson: Correct. The selection --
Commissioner Suarez: So --
Mr. Robertson: -- criteria for this RF --
Commissioner Suarez: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait a second. You had an expedited
RFP process where you had oral presentations, a two -week expedited RFP process where you
had oral presentations?
Mr. Robertson: Correct. The initial --
Commissioner Suarez: Okay.
Mr. Robertson: -- selection criteria actually had a split -out component for oral presentations.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Robertson: It was decided at the meeting where we were drafting the document to require
oral presentations at the evaluation committee meeting.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Mr. Robertson: This item requires a four fifths vote only because the RFLI was not advertised in
a newspaper of general circulation for at least 15 days, as required by 1885(d) of the
procurement code. Other than waiving this advertisement requirement, the remainder of the
procurement process for this RFLI was in accordance with our procurement code.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
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Vice Chair Carollo: I just want to make sure that everybody knows this was -- you know, I keep
hearing the no bid, no bid, and l just want to make sure that everyone hears what our
procurement director said. Other than advertisement, everything else was followed exactly
normal procurement procedures. Is that correct?
Mr. Robertson: Yes, that's correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So the only thing was the advertisement. 'Cause if we advertised for
15 days, guess what? We don't make it to this meeting. That was it. Everything else was done
the same. And Commissioner, I know you jumped when you said oral presentations. I don't
know the reasoning. I'm -- I told you, I'm in favor --
Chair Gort: I do.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- of oral presentations.
Commissioner Suarez: No. I just -- it was stated that it was very time-consuming and
detrimental to the time schedules and --
Vice Chair Carollo: Well -- no, no, no. But --
Commissioner Suarez: -- things of that nature.
Vice Chair Carollo: No, no, no.
Commissioner Suarez: That's what was said.
Vice Chair Carollo: No. Right, right, right. But let's taking out -- let's not take it out of context.
Commissioner Suarez: Number one. And number two, obviously there was a value to having
oral presentations in this particular RFP, but there apparently wasn't a value to having oral
presentations in the other one. So, to me, I see that as an inconsistency, but whatever. It's not a
big deal.
Vice Chair Carollo: Let -- no, no, no. But, hey, we're here to discuss it. I mean, we're here to
debate it, to discuss this. It's not whatever. It's this, you know, open, transparency discussion. I
mean, this is what, you know, we've done and what I think --
Commissioner Suarez: Why I brought it up.
Vice Chair Carollo: Good. Actually, I brought it up because you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hey, by
the way, I heard you saying oral presentation. Let's talk about it. But anyways --
Commissioner Suarez: No. I brought it up before you. That's okay. I won't argue with you
about it.
Vice Chair Carollo: The bottom line is, yeah, when we were doing the RFP, I thought that it
would be appropriate to do oral presentations. Why there was not oral presentations during the
external auditor, I don't know. Did the committee select not to do oral presentations?
Mr. Robertson: Correct. For that item, the selection committee decided not to have oral
presentations.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, the selection committee decided not to. And the selection committee
is the members --
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Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- that we --
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- chosen as --
Commissioner Suarez: It was good in this one, not in the other one.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: I get it.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- financial professionals. Now when I got together with staff and we
decided and we discussed about this RFP, I -- yes, I told you. I'm in favor of oral presentations,
and we gave a percentage to oral presentations. Now --
Commissioner Suarez: That was wise.
Chair Gort: Let's discuss the contract. Who's going to make the presentation? Can you please
Ms. Valdes: We touched about it briefly in the other item, but basically --
Chair Gort: I want you to go through the whole process right now, please.
Ms. Valdes: Okay. Basically, what we did was after we received the selected vendor package,
we went ahead and negotiated at the fee proposal that was submitted along with his presentation.
The fee proposal was modified from the original package that you received, and then later on
Thursday you received an amended proposal, and that -- what was modified was the marketing
fee and how that would be paid. Originally, when it was submitted to the City, the marketing fee
was separate and apart from the 6 percent that would be given to the firm for commission. The
amount was 30,000. Today he's going to be presented that he's giving us 35,000 with marketing
efforts. So he's actually giving us more than what he initially proposed. The other modifications
that were made was when we do pay out the 30,000, it gets credited toward the 6 percent that
originally that wasn't the case. Go ahead. You had a question?
Chair Gort: No, no. Go ahead. It's okay. I'll get you finish.
Ms. Valdes: Okay. Aside from that, we also negotiated how this would be paid. Andl talked
about the 50 percent when the execution of the lease occurs and then 50 percent when the tenant
moves in and actually makes payment. So those modifications were the modifications that were
made to the fee proposal.
Chair Gort: And the 50 percent is for the payment of the total. In other words, if it's a five-year
lease, he gets paid for all five years?
Ms. Valdes: That is correct.
Chair Gort: Okay. And then once the -- they sign the lease for the first month, they get the
additional funding -- additional 50,000, so they get paid for the whole five years upfront.
Ms. Valdes: That is correct.
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Chair Gort: Okay. What else?
Ms. Valdes: Well, that is pretty much it. We also had a provision in the RFP -- the RFLI that
should the City decide to use them as our property managers, then there would be a fee for that
as well, but that's our option, if we decide to use them as property managers.
Commissioner Sarnoff. How much would the fee be?
Ms. Valdes: That would be 5,000 per month, but that's at our option if we decide to do that.
Vice Chair Carollo: And I don't think -- I don't know if we're there yet.
Ms. Valdes: Excuse me?
Chair Gort: We're not there yet.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sor -- yeah, I don't think we're there yet.
Ms. Valdes: We're not there yet.
Vice Chair Carollo: Let's take it one step at a time. And again -- 'cause this is out of you know,
my realm of expertise -- you're saying this is the standard in the industry?
Ms. Valdes: Yes. As a matter of fact, I have other folks here. We just had Pam Weller from
Bayside, who could lend her expertise since she also does this --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Ms. Valdes: -- for Bayside, if you'd like to hear from her.
Vice Chair Carollo: Sure.
Ms. Valdes: Pam.
Pam Weller: I was asked to speak on behalf of the City. Bayside Marketplace. We're General
Growth Properties. We have our own --
Chair Gort: Excuse me. Your name is?
Ms. Weller: Pamela Weller, General Growth Properties, Bayside Marketplace. We have our own
national leasing reps (representatives). However, on occasion, we do need to hire brokers. And
the way that this has been written, 50 percent at the execute -- full execution, meaning City and
the tenant, full execution of the lease, 50 percent of leasing commission; the other 50 percent
once the tenant is open and paying rent, which would be the first 30 days of open.
Ms. Valdes: And also, if you can talk about the marketing fee. Did you pay a separate
marketing fee?
Ms. Weller: We don't, but I could understand having a marketing fee based on this being a
stadium. I mean, we're 24 years old and shopping centers are pretty much shopping centers. But
in this particular case, for a stadium, I think you would probably need to have marketing. I can't
really speak to the amount, but I think it does need marketing to get a good, viable, national
tenant.
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Chair Gort: I'm not an expert in this, but with today communications and computers that we
have, I think we have at least 100 stadiums throughout the United States? I'm sure there's
associations that deal with the stadiums and so on.
Ms. Weller: But not all stadiums have the type of retail that you're going to have in your
stadium.
Chair Gort: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Commissioner.
Commissioner Suarez: I had a question for her, but it's all right.
Ms. Valdes: Did you want to bring her backup ?
Commissioner Suarez: If you don't mind. I just had a couple questions for you. Sorry. What's
the name of the realty company that you use to do your leases?
Ms. Weller: Honestly, most retailers have their own brokers. So if we were going to do a deal
with the Gap, the Gap has their own brokers that they use. So typically, the retail component in
a shopping center is who brings the broker forward. If we're looking for a restaurant -- a special
restaurant national, then we'll go to a broker that features those restaurants. So it varies by
category.
Commissioner Suarez: And I think you kind of touched on a point, which is a good point. If
you're talking about the Gap, the Gap is a multi, you know, million dollar entity that is not likely
to go bankrupt in a year. If you're talking about a, you know, national food chain, the same.
And so I think that's where, you know, we're not sure -- andl think there's a little bit of hesitation
to front a fee. Where do you get the money to front the, you know, ten-year or the five-year fee?
How do you come up with those funds?
Ms. Weller: Very much like you're going to do it, where you upfront the money and then it -- pay
for it with the net present value of the lease.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay.
Ms. Weller: But you know -- If I can?
Commissioner Suarez: Of course.
Ms. Weller: See this venue as a Duffy Sport's Grill, that kind of concept, and you could do that
deal. You could do that deal easily. There's a lot of restaurant folks out there, but I think to find
the right one, you must go through a broker.
Commissioner Suarez: No. I don't disagree with that. I just --
Ms. Weller: A good broker.
Commissioner Suarez: -- I think what we're kind of debating is whether you have to pay them
upfront and if -- and the second thing that we're debating is if you have a long-term lease,
several years, and you have someone that's a smaller business, there's a risk that they may not
survive and then the City has, in essence, fronted tens of thousands of dollars for a service that
they never receive at the end of the day.
Ms. Valdes: Correct.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you.
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Chair Gort: Thank you. Okay, we have two motions that we have to make. One is the creation
of the shifting over the funds and then the contract.
Vice Chair Carollo: Do we -- is there a motion? I thought Commissioner Dunn made the motion
for that. No?
Commissioner Dunn: No.
Priscilla Thompson: Excuse me, gentlemen. IfI may.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Mr. Hannon: As of right now, I believe Commissioner Suarez was in the middle of making a
modified motion for RE. 6. However, I didn't record it as such. So if you want to start with RE. 6
first, we can start fresh.
Vice Chair Carollo: That was for the CIP (Capital Improvements Program).
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, I mean, my modification to that item was that --
Vice Chair Carollo: The intent, yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: -- you know -- but think we talked about whether or not it was a good
idea to replenish a capital fund versus just letting the revenue flow into the general fund andl
think we all kind of pretty much decided that we better let the revenue flow into the general fund.
I -- you know, one thing would be interested in hearing from the leasing agent is if he would be
willing to take his commission instead of upfront on a month -to -month basis as our tenants pay
our rent, as a -- not -- first of all, as an inducement to work for the City ofMiami . And secondly,
you know, you're doing a public service when you're -- when you are doing something, you know,
conjoined with -- I'd be much more inclined to approve the marketing fee if we didn't have to take
such a hit upfront, if you guys were willing to kind of share along with us. You're going to get
your fee as long as we get our rent, and you know -- and instead of you getting, you know -- I
suppose you could borrow money against that revenue stream and get the money upfront if you
wanted to, but it would be a very good concession, an inducement that would be a huge thing if
you could do that, you know. 'Cause we're a city, you know, that really, really is a poor city, and
it's a poor area by the way. You know, that would be very appreciated and not forgotten.
Ryan Grindler: Ryan Grindler with Terranova Corporation, 801 Arthur Godfrey Road. Thank
you for inviting me here today. I understand your concerns and your question. Of all of the
things that have been discussed today, the one thing that is probably most common across this
industry is the payment schedule of leases. I can't think of a single instance in my career where
I've seen a lease commission paid out a different way. I've also wouldn't generally --
Commissioner Suarez: Welcome to the public world.
Mr. Grindler: Well -- andl also wouldn't ever recommend to you that you sign a ten-year lease
with a tenant that doesn't have a strong credit record. And most of the smaller tenants that are --
have -- I'd call them the mom -and -pops that might not have the same capital basis that these
large companies have, what we typically do is we actually in-house -- one of our services that we
provide is we have a separate segregated credit department that evaluates the credit of those
tenants going into the transaction. We make recommendations to the City --
Commissioner Suarez: Can I just -- so you're saying you're not a large company?
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Mr. Grindler: I'm sorry?
Commissioner Suarez: You're not a large company?
Mr. Grindler: My company?
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. You just said --
Mr. Grindler: I said no. When we're negotiating with a tenant who's not a large company.
Commissioner Suarez: Oh, okay. I gotcha.
Mr. Grindler: For any tenant, we go in and we profile the credit of that tenant. And we will
actually be making a recommendation and giving the City a credit profile. It's the City that is
ultimately going to be entering into these leases. If there is a tenant that does not have a
particular strong credit profile but the City wishes to enter into a lease with that tenant anyway,
we make recommendations on deposit and prepaid rent that will more than cover your
out-of-pocket expenses. It would be highly unusual for the City to enter -- for a landlord to enter
into a lease with a tenant that has a probability of default for not first covering their outside
expenses with a deposit. So I would say in that circumstances where you have a mom-and-pop
operator, you're going to have the money in a check from the tenant before you ever pay my
commission.
Commissioner Suarez: Would you say that generally it's harder to find a larger tenant than it is
to find a mom -and pop type tenant?
Mr. Grindler: Absolutely.
Commissioner Suarez: So it takes longer?
Mr. Grindler: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: So less likely to happen sooner?
Mr. Grindler: Yeah. If you want -- the tenants that you want, there is going to be a lead time.
From the moment you ident05, them to going through their investment committee, negotiating the
lease, it's absolutely a longer process, but well worth it for the credit, the tenant, and the type of
Commissioner Suarez: Of course.
Mr. Grindler: -- business that you're going to be bringing.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Let me ask you a question. What is the average --
Commissioner Dunn: I know. I know.
Chair Gort: -- lease that you recommend?
Mr. Grindler: I would sign either a five- or a ten-year lease, depending upon the credit of the
tenant.
Chair Gort: Five to ten.
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Mr. Grindler: Starbucks, I'd sign a ten-year lease, and they're probably going to require it.
Chair Gort: Gotcha. 'Cause I got something later.
Commissioner Suarez: I have a question here.
Commissioner Dunn: Let me -- it's -- let me ask a --
Chair Gort: Go ahead.
Commissioner Dunn: -- let me just say this.
Commissioner Suarez: Oh, no, of course.
Commissioner Dunn: Now I will yield to my colleague who has the real estate expertise --
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you.
Commissioner Dunn: -- Commissioner Suarez. Go right ahead.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I was just looking at the request for letters of interest, the
RLI [sic], where it says on page 21.82, terms of payment, sentence number 2, no advanced
payments of any kind will be made by the City ofMiami. Terms of payment.
Mr. Robertson: Kenneth Robertson, Purchasing Department. That clause is in our general
terms and conditions.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Mr. Robertson: And if there's any language in the special conditions or specifications thereafter,
they would override what's in the general conditions.
Commissioner Suarez: So you're saying this has been overridden by a -- so -- generally, we
wouldn't make an advanced payment, but --
Mr. Robertson: Correct.
Commissioner Suarez: -- in this particular case we will.
Mr. Robertson: This particular clause is primarily for commodity purchases where we would not
advance payment.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay.
Mr. Grindler: And ifI may, our job as brokers ends when the lease is signed. Our job is to
bring you the tenant and to negotiate the best deal possible and make a recommendation to you.
At that point, what happens is entirely out of our control. We are -- we're a vendor, not a
partner, but we are going to provide you with credit information that you need to make a good
decision, and we're going to protect you against your out-of-pocket expenses. So I promise you,
as the head of our credit department, that if we send you a tenant that has low credit, high
probability of default, we're going to have the money upfront, the commission will be paid for.
Commissioner Suarez: What about the possibility of being paid on an annual basis versus
instead of it all being paid upfront? In other words, if it's a five-year lease, you can be paid on
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an annual basis on a 10 percent -- because I know the 10 percent is a standard, so that, I don't
have an issue with. You know, paid on an annual basis versus being paid on a monthly basis,
which I think maybe will be a little bit too much of a stretch, but compromise, instead of being --
getting it all paid up front, getting it paid on an annual basis.
Mr. Grindler: I think that that the problem is is that -- ifI was just a large company bringing in
money, that would be the case. But our agents are commission -based; unlike some of our
competitors, we do pay health care benefits, and we do allow our agents to draw down against
future commissions so we're taking a risk by paying our agents upfront. They -- our agents will
be drawing down and they will be being paid health care and they will not be living until that
lease is signed, so it's really difficult for it to work any other way.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. And we're taking risks as well because we're entering into a lease
and we are paying the money upfront, so the, you know, residents of the City ofMiami are the
ones that are taking that risk. Did you say that your -- you have a small company, relatively
small company?
Mr. Grindler: We have about, I want to say, 50 to 60 employees.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay.
Mr. Grindler: We're primarily based here in South Florida. We are based -- our headquarters is
on Miami Beach. We have property in the City ofMiami. We've been around for 35 years. We
are a private company. And it's really -- we're not going to get paid for a long time. These
leases aren't going to be signed tomorrow. It's going to take a long time.
Commissioner Suarez: Hopefully by April.
Mr. Grindler: I'm sorry?
Commissioner Suarez: I said hopefully by April.
Mr. Grindler: Oh, I would hope before April so that they can be open and --
Commissioner Suarez: Me too.
Mr. Grindler: -- well on their way to being opened by April.
Commissioner Suarez: Me too.
Mr. Grindler: But by the time that first lease is signed, we're going to have been working for
several months and paying a lot of expenses and agents' draws without payment.
Commissioner Suarez: You're going to be paying your agents' draws before they lease the
property?
Mr. Grindler: That's right.
Commissioner Suarez: Wow. Can I work for your company?
Mr. Grindler: We have a training program.
Commissioner Suarez: Awesome.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Wow, you were just called remedial.
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Commissioner Suarez: Right. I called him small. So before it was important to be big; now I
guess it's important to be small, you know, when you're doing the services for the City ofMiami.
Chair Gort: Let me ask a question. We set aside 400 and --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Five thousand.
Ms. Valdes: Four hundred and five -- five hundred.
Chair Gort: According to the numbers that I have here, the commission is going to be around --
close to a million dollars. If they get a ten years --
Ms. Valdes: It's amended --
Chair Gort: -- if they get a five -years --
Ms. Valdes: -- in 325 --
Chair Gort: -- they get --
Ms. Valdes: -- times 10 --
Chair Gort: -- yeah. Where are --
Ms. Valdes: -- which would --
Chair Gort: -- we going to get the rest?
Ms. Valdes: -- give you 13 million, multiplied by 0 -- .06, which is the commission, it's 795, 000.
Chair Gort: Right.
Ms. Valdes: And what we did was establish 50 percent fee upon execution and then the
remaining will be later on coming from events that are coming in. Excuse me; the remaining 50
percent will come upon execution.
Chair Gort: So you're going to have available seven -- you're going to have available about 700
to a million dollars to pay.
Ms. Valdes: Seven hundred and ninety five, depending on what they pay per square foot.
Chair Gort: Well, if you go with the ten years, it's a little bit more, so --
Ms. Valdes: This is ten-year calculation.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: Can I ask --?
Chair Gort: Oh, that's the ten-year calculation?
Ms. Valdes: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: -- two questions, Mr. Chairman?
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Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Have you done the leasing for any other baseball stadium in the United
States?
Mr. Grindler: No, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Have you -- how many public agencies do you do the leasing for, cities,
counties?
Mr. Grindler: None at this time.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you.
Mr. Grindler: Andl would --
Chair Gort: Excuse me. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I have a question. I mean, I hope this doesn't happen, but I don't know
what the contract provides for. What happens if we do not deliver the retail space on the time
schedule you have? Do we still pay -- do we still owe you the money?
Mr. Grindler: If you don't deliver the --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Say there's --
Chair Gort: Yeah.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- a four -month delay, for some reason -- and I'm just picking a -- I have
no -- I'm not suggesting to anyone this is going to happen. -- I just want to know, what would the
contract provide?
Mr. Grindler: Sure. There are two payments made when a lease is signed. The first half is paid
on execution --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Mr. Grindler: -- and the second half is paid on rent commencement. So if there was a delay that
affected -- in other words, if the tenant's paying you rent but you haven't delivered the premises,
we should get paid because they're paying rent.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Mr. Grindler: But --
Commissioner Sarnoff. But they wouldn't be -- correct me if I'm wrong --
Mr. Grindler: It'd be highly unusual.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I can't -- right. I can't imagine a tenant that would pay unless they had
a lettable premise and --
Mr. Grindler: Typically, rent commencement is a relative date associated with delivery of the
premises.
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Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. So am I to take back then that the City would potentially be out
the 50 percent, the broker's fee, and that we hope the tenant would wait until we were able to
open for whatever kind of delay there could be, and then we would owe that fee -- the rest of the
fee?
Mr. Grindler: I -- whenever rent commenced, that's the way that our negotiation is. So --
Commissioner Sarnoff. And the contract -- let me just ask. The contract provides for that?
Ms. Valdes: The contract will be written in such a way where whenever the rent commences,
that's when they get the other 50 percent.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Chair Gort: Okay. What's the wish of this committee [sic]? Do we --?
Commissioner Sarnoff. You know, we put ourselves in this position. It's industry standard. I
think we have to go forward with this. I mean, I don't -- look, gentlemen, I'm the only one up
here that ever took a stand on Marlins stadium, and my stand was no. But as soon as this
Commission voted for Marlins stadium, that meant that the City Commission voted yes, and we
need to do everything we can do to support that endeavor. And Commissioner -- the Vice Chair,
I apologize --
Vice Chair Carollo: Commissioner is fine.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- you know, has plugged himself into this, as he should be because it's
in his district. It is a citywide issue, but I certainly trust that he has done everything he can do to
get us to the point where we're going to have an excellent ballpark out there. You know, you
were asked to do a leap offaith this morning, andl guess he's asking in his own kind of way for a
leap offaith now. Let me not put words in your mouth because I know you won't like them. But I
think what he's saying is we are where we are.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, exactly. I mean, in all fairness, you know, I never took a position on
Marlins stadium. This is something that inherited, andl am seeing opportunities, andl am
trying to maximize on opportunities that we may have. You know, I was the first one that stated
and started saying, listen, there was no funding for a leasing agent. Well, how can you have
retail if you don't have a leasing agent, unless the City ofMiami is going to open up shop and
we're going to be our own leasing agent. Now that doesn't mean that I won't go out there and
call different restaurants and so forth and say hey, listen, if you're interested, there's an
opportunity here. This area is starting to be revitalized. It is a destination area I think, you
know, you really need to look at and use the Marlins stadium as a retail, a restaurant that
normally wouldn't even think twice about going there, now wanting to come here. Yes. So, I
mean -- and again, I welcome it as far as, hey, listen, I'm not saying everything is done, you
know --
Commissioner Suarez: Perfectly.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- perfect. I definitely welcome -- and that's why, you know, I welcome all
this debate, I welcome all this discussion because, realistically, you know, I'm not in the belief
that one person thinks better than everybody. I think, you know, all heads put together, it's really
the way it should work. It's really the way that a team works. It's really the way you gather
consensus. I have done this with management. I would have liked to have done it previously.
Unfortunately, you know, there has been changes, you know, in the Administration and
something that was started, then gets delayed and so forth. But the truth of the matter is, all that
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put aside, you know, I'm trying to do the best that we have within the time frame and trying to
actually generate monies for the City ofMiami, and that's why I think it's the opportunity that we
all need to see. This is not money that we're going to put upfront and weren't going to see. No.
This is a percentage of revenues that the City is actually going to obtain, and that money is going
to go to Solid Waste, is going to go to police services or fire or Public Works or whatever, you
know, it can. It will go into the general fund. So I'm seeing an opportunity from something that,
you know what, maybe all of us would have been against in the first place. I'm not sure. I never
took a position because I had no say in the matter. I inherit this and I'm trying to do the best that
I can with what we have. Andl think there is an opportunity to revitalize that area, to bring the
right retail. Now, with that, we have to also look at, you know, we need the right leasing agent,
one that, you know, could bring the retail in there and -- I wasn't part of the selection committee
by the way. This was another group of five that, you know, was a real estate, you know --
someone very knowledgeable in real estate in there, part of our Administration, you know. So
again, I'm just trying to do the best that we can with what we have and actually look further than
that. I want to, you know, surpass and do -- you know, maximize our revenues for the City. And
actually, although I spoke to Mirtha and -- I'm the first one to say we cannot at this point
allocate or estimate any revenues from Marlins stadium, but I'm hoping that April, May of next
year, we say, by the way, we're -- we actually made this amount and we're bringing this much to
the general fund. So -- andl think, you know, if there's other ways of doing it? Yeah, possibly.
Right now where we're at and with the time frame that we had, you know, I think we did, I think,
a very good job, I think, to be honest with you. I actually applaud all of management because,
like I said, we had many meetings. And getting five or six directors, the City Manager, the
assistant City Manager, and myself sometimes within a period of a few hours -- listen, we need to
get together. We need to discuss the financing. We need to discuss, you know, this. I think, in all
fairness, we really worked as a team. And if you really see, you know, the amount of people from
the City that, you know, worked at this, you would say, listen, they've earned their money, they
really have. Andl think we should all look at this as an opportunity and --
Chair Gort: In working with you, I know they earned their money. Commissioner Suarez, you
had a motion.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. You know, my perspective was two fold. One, wanting to
make sure that we're doing things in a consistent manner. I think that's important to all of us on
a variety of different issues because these -- every day -- every Commission meeting we have
issues that are important to each one of us, so we want to make sure we handle them in a
consistent fashion, so I think that was part of reason why I was so inquisitive on this issue. The
second reason is that I happen to have some knowledge on real estate, and to me it seems to me
like we're going a little bit further than what we needed to do -- go. And it was a cash flow issue
to me, to be completely honest with you. If we're going to -- I like the idea of -- I mean, I like
your argument of you know, the fact that we can ultimately use the funds that are generated from
the retail for general fund and that is, obviously, the most coveted category for us, so that -- I'm
there. I'm with you on that one. You know, as far as actually fronting money, you know, I --
again, I -- not sure that agree that that's the standard. I mean, certainly this gentleman seems
like a nice person, obviously very sharp, but he's never done a, you know, stadium retail. He's
never done a retail with a public entity, andl think that's the concern that have, you know, that
public entities are not like the private sector when it comes to those kinds of issues, andl just
wish, you know, that that would have been contemplated. And ifI would have been asked, I
would have pushed for that, but I wasn't. It's okay. You know, by the way, I know you guys work
hard. Andl don't mean this in any way, shape, or form to be critical, you know. It's always easy
for us to play Monday morning quarterback and to sit here and say, look, we could have, should
have done it this way. You know, but when things come to our attention that we feel are
legitimate issues, you know, I think it's our obligation to bring it up and make it part of the
discussion to see if we can get a deal that's better for the residents of the City ofMiami.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
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RE.7
Chair Gort: Well, I need a motion.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Are we in RE.18?
Chair Gort: No.
Vice Chair Carollo: We are --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah.
Mr. Robertson: RE.6 --
Chair Gort: RE.6.
Mr. Robertson: -- which is the appropriations item.
Chair Gort: We haven't passed RE.6.
Vice Chair Carollo: RE.6 for the appropriations item.
Mr. Hannon: That is correct, Chair, RE.6.
Chair Gort: We're on RE.6.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Chair Gort: The allocation of funds.
Vice Chair Carollo: I make a motion for -- to approve RE.6, as amended.
Chair Gort: It's moved. Is there a second?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Second.
Chair Gort: Move and second. Further discussion.
Commissioner Suarez: Wait, wait. I don't think there's a -- is there an amendment finally?
Vice Chair Carollo: Well --
Chair Gort: No.
Commissioner Suarez: Oh, oh, by that last document. Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: Or a modification.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay.
Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion. Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Commissioner Suarez: Reluctantly aye."
RESOLUTION
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
11-00604
Department of Parks
and Recreation
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT
TOTAL AMOUNT OF NOT TO EXCEED $419,321 , IN THE FORM OF ONE (1)
REIMBURSEMENT GRANT ("GRANT") FROM THE CHILDREN'S TRUST
("TRUST') TO THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY") DEPARTMENT OF PARKS
AND RECREATION ("DEPARTMENT") FOR THE HEART OF OUR PARKS
OUT OF SCHOOL PROGRAM ("PROGRAM"); ESTABLISHING A NEW
SPECIAL REVENUE PROJECT ENTITLED: "THE CHILDREN'S TRUST
GRANT FOR PARKS 2011-2012," TO FUND THE DEPARTMENTS PROGRAM
ATAFRICAN SQUARE PARK, JOSE MARTI PARK, JUAN PABLO DUARTE
PARK, SHENANDOAH PARK AND WEST END PARK, WITH IN -KIND
SERVICES FROM THE CITY VALUED AT NOT TO EXCEED $309,160 ("CITY
MATCH"); APPROPRIATING THE GRANT FUNDS AND THE CITY MATCH;
FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND TO
EXECUTE, AFTER CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY ATTORNEY, AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE TRUST ("THE CHILDREN'S TRUST CONTRACT)
AND TO EXECUTE ALL OTHER NECESSARY AMENDMENTS,
EXTENSIONS, AND MODIFICATIONS AFTER CONSULTATION WITH THE
CITY ATTORNEY, TO IMPLEMENT THE ACCEPTANCE OF AND
COMPLIANCE WITH THE GRANTAWARD FOR SAID PURPOSES FOR THE
PERIOD COMMENCING AUGUST 1, 2011 THROUGH JULY 31, 2012, WITH
THE OPTION TO RENEW FOR UP TO TWO (2) ADDITIONAL SIMILAR
PERIODS AT THE SAME NOT -TO -EXCEED AMOUNTS UNDER THE SAME
TERMS AND CONDITIONS SUBJECT TO CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY
ATTORNEY AND SUBJECT TO BUDGETARY APPROVAL.
11-00604 Summary Form.pdf
11-00604 Legislation.pdf
11-00604 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0306
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item PH.5 for minutes referencing Item RE.7.
Chair Gort: PH.5 with RE.7.
Ernest Burkeen: Ernest Burkeen, director of Parks and Recreation. I'm going to do RE.7 just as
Lillian has established. RE.7 is a resolution of the Miami City Commission, with attachments,
authorizing the City Manager to accept a total amount of not to exceed $419,321 in the form of a
reimbursement grant from the Children's Trust to the City of Miami's Department of Parks and
Recreation for the Heart of Our Parks Out of School program; establishing a new special
revenue project entitled The Children's Trust Grant'fo fund the Department's program at African
Square Park, Jose Marti Park, Juan Pablo Duarte Park, Shenandoah Park, West End Park;
further authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute, after consultation with the City
Attorney, an agreement with the Trust and to execute all other necessary amendments, extensions
and modifications after consultation with the City Attorney to implement the acceptance of and
compliance with the grant award for said purposes for the period commencing August 1, 2011
through July 31, 2012 with the option to renew for up to two additional similar periods of the
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
same not -to -exceed amounts under the same terms and conditions, subject to consultation with
the City Attorney and subject to budgetary approval.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's a public hearing.
Commissioner Suarez: No. I think it's RE (Resolution) --
Mr. Mensah: No, not -- it's not --
Chair Gort: Now this is the resolution, but we're going to hear both at the same time, so -- wait
a minute. PH.5. That was the resolution. Wait until the PH.5.
Mariano Cruz: Okay.
Chair Gort: PH.5.
Mr. Burkeen: Resolution first.
Commissioner Suarez: Yes. I moved it --
Chair Gort: No.
Commissioner Dunn: Andl second it.
Commissioner Suarez: -- and he second it.
Chair Gort: You're going to vote on that first, okay. It's been moved and second. Any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.8 RESOLUTION
11-00648
Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
Attorney DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO PAY SPRINT -SPECTRUM L.P. WITHOUT
ADMISSION OF LIABILITY, THE SUM OF $97,000 IN FULL AND COMPLETE
SETTLEMENT OF ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND DEMANDS AGAINST THE
CITY OF MIAMI, ITS OFFICERS, AGENTS AND SERVANTS, IN THE
FOLLOWING CASES, PENDING IN THE CIRCUIT COURT IN AND FOR
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, SPRINT -SPECTRUM L.P., ETC. VS. CITY OF MIAMI
AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, CASE NO.: 01-28782 CA 11, AND CITY OF
MIAMI VS. SPRINT -SPECTRUM L.P., CASE NO.: 04-20914 CA 11, UPON
THE EXECUTION BY SPRINT -SPECTRUM L.P. OF A GENERAL RELEASE
OF ALL CLAIMS AND DEMANDS, AND A DISMISSAL OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
WITH PREJUDICE; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM ACCOUNT NO.
00001.980000.531010.0000.00000.
11-00648 Memo - Office of City Attorney.pdf
11-00648 Memo - Financial Signoff.pdf
11-00648 Legislation.pdf
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Dunn II
Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
RE.9
11-00649
Department of Capital
Improvements
Program
R-11-0322
Chair Gort: RE.8.
Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): RE.8, Mr. Chair, is a resolution that seeks authorization for the
settlement of all claims against the City ofMiami in the case of Sprint -Spectrum L.P. versus City
ofMiami and Miami -Dade County. This is circuit court case number 01-28782. This claim
arises out of certain overpayments that were made by Sprint to the City back in 1997 through
2000. The County sued Sprint because the overpayments to the City represented underpayments
to the County under the Public Service Taxes and there was a cross -claim filed. And we have
been negotiating this matter. We're settling it for $97, 000, which is a considerable reduction
from what was estimated that was owed as part of the overpayments.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Do I have a motion?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Move it.
Chair Gort: It's been moved --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: -- by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Dunn. Being no further
discussion, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ENDORSING THE
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EVALUATION COMMITTEE
ESTABLISHED BY THE CITY MANAGER TO EVALUATE AND RANK
PROPOSALS RECEIVED PURSUANT TO REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS NO.
256244, TROLLEY SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI; FURTHER
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE A PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES AGREEMENT ("PSA") FOR TROLLEY OPERATIONS WITH THE
TOP -RANKED FIRM, LIMOUSINES OF SOUTH FLORIDA, INC. D/B/A LSF
SHUTTLE; SHOULD NEGOTIATIONS WITH LSF SHUTTLE FAIL,
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE SECOND,
THIRD, AND FOURTH -RANKED FIRM, IN SUCCESSIVE ORDER; AND
ALLOWING FOR A DRAFT PSA FOR TROLLEY OPERATIONS TO BE
PRESENTED TO THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ATA FUTURE MEETING
FOR APPROVAL PRIOR TO ITS EXECUTION; SUBJECT TO THERE FIRST
BEING EXECUTED AN INTERLOCALAGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF
MIAMI AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTY FOR THE PROVISION OF CIRCULATOR
SERVICES.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
11-00649 Summary Form.pdf
11-00649 Memo - Evaluation Committee - Trolley Srvcs.pdf
11-00649 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Dunn II
Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
RE.10
11-00608
Department of Capital
Improvements
Program
R-11-0323
Chair Gort: RE.9.
Albert Sosa (Director): Albert Sosa, Capital Improvements. RE.9 is a resolution endorsing the
findings and recommendations of the Evaluation Committee for the selection of the trolley
services operator for the City of Miami, the top -ranked firm being Limousines of South Florida.
What we're seeking approval for today is to authorize the City Manager to negotiate with the
highest ranked firm to arrive at an agreement; and if such negotiations fail to be authorized and
negotiated with the second, third, fourth place firms in order, the negotiated agreement would
come before this Commission again at a future date for approval.
Commissioner Dunn: Repeat that last part. I missed you on that.
Mr. Sosa: This approval is only to negotiate the terms of the agreement. Once the actual
contract is negotiated, it will come back before this Commission for review and approval prior to
execution.
Chair Gort: It's giving him permission to negotiate.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Move it.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Dunn. Being no
further discussion, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE
AMENDMENT NUMBER 1 TO THE CONTRACT WITH AMERICAN TRAFFIC
SOLUTIONS, INC., IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, TO
FURNISH, INSTALL, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN A TRAFFIC INFRACTION
DETECTOR PROGRAM FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI, INCLUDING
PROVISIONS THAT ARE MORE ADVANTAGEOUS TO THE CITY OF MIAMI.
11-00608 Summary Form.pdf
11-00608 Pre-Legislation.pdf
11-00608 Legislation.pdf
11-00608 Exhibit 1 SUB.pdf
11-00608-Submittal-Memo-Revisions To Substitution Memo-RE.10 ATS ContractAmendment.pdf
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0324
Chair Gort: RE.10.
Albert Sosa (Director, Capital Improvements Program): RE.10 was a substitution item for
clarification. RE.10 is seeking authorization to enter into an amended agreement with ATS
(American Traffic Solutions) regarding the red-light traffic cameras. This agreement is being
modified to maximize the City's revenue potential, including the total fee paid to the contractor --
limiting the total fees payment of the contractor each month -- excuse me -- limiting those to not
to exceed 40 percent of the total revenue generated by the program. It also extends the terms of
the contract from five years to -- I'm sorry -- to -- extends it to five year, with options to renew to
a term of ten years, so it's an extension of the contract term from five to ten years. The
substitution item was clarifying the indemnification language that was included in the original
proposal and it also made modifications to the sequencing and the numbering of the amendment.
I'd like to defer to the assistant City Manager for further information.
Alice Bravo (Assistant City Manager/Chief of Infrastructure): Just some background --
Commissioner Dunn: Name, please.
Ms. Bravo: -- as to where -- Alice Bravo, assistant City Manager. We've been asked some
questions as to how the program has been performing to date, so I wanted to provide some of
that information as well. We also have Sergeant Tapanes here from the Police Department, who
oversees the red-light camera safety program at the Police Department. So at this time, the
Police Department, comparing crashes at intersections that have the red-light camera program,
comparing crash data for the first quarter of this year versus first quarter of last year, they've
noted a reduction in crashes of approximately 7 percent. Just like at any intersection, you might
have some variations where one is actually a little bit higher, but overall, they've seen a
reduction in crashes. So that means that not only are we improving safety in our community, but
we are also relieving the Police Department of some tasks in attending crash sites and preparing
the subsequent reports that are required and now they're available to attend to other matters. So
the -- attached to the revised amendment, we prepared a table that would kind of explain in more
clarity how the fee structure would work. And so basically, right now ATS collects up to the fees
spelled out in their contract; and if a particular camera produces less revenue than that fee, then
they only collect that revenue. So as a result of maybe 60 cameras we have in place, there may
be 22 that exceed the certain threshold; and therefore, as those number of violations issued
fluctuate, that extra revenue goes all to ATS. So ATS has been working with us in exchange for
these different contract extensions that we're amending into the contract. We're also agreeing to
cap their fee at 40 percent of the total revenue on a given month. So this would help --just as an
example, January through June would increase the revenue to the City by $200, 000.
Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. Questions.
Commissioner Dunn: Quick question, yes. The 40 percent -- and that -- so, in essence, they
would be, more or less, capping it at 40 percent. So they would not ask for the total 100 percent,
which means we would probably get 60 percent back? Is that --?
Ms. Bravo: At a minimum. So right now any particular ticket, the notice of violation, upon
receiving one, the cost is $158, $83 of that goes to the state of Florida. The remaining $75 is
considered the net revenue, and from that net revenue, we look at camera per camera as in the
table that's at the back of the amendment, and only the cameras that exceedATS's fee actually
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yield revenue for the City. So this helps rectf that so that on any given month, we have at least
60 percent of the revenue generated.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Can I add one thing? And this new way or revised way of
collecting is retroactive.
Commissioner Dunn: Oh, so from --
Ms. Martinez: Correct.
Mr. Sosa: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: -- what has already taken place?
Mr. Martinez: Yes.
Ms. Bravo: Right. So since the program started in January, in implementing this change just
January --
Commissioner Dunn: Got it.
Ms. Bravo: -- through June -- end of June would yield the City an additional $200, 000.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Sarnoff.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, I never voted for this for a cash
revenue source for the City ofMiami. If you all don't remember or don't recall, we had the
number -one traffic homicide fatality rate in America. We are number one in that. We are
number two in pedestrian fatalities in America, per cities of our size, so obviously we're doing
something wrong. Anything we could do to get it right, any way that we could take some report
writing, some accident investigation away from police officers so they could do more productive
things is always a good thing. So the revenue doesn't really -- it has never been my focal point
and won't be today. However, having said that, is there a scenario under which this contract
that we could owe them money?
Ms. Bravo: No.
Vice Chair Carollo: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay. Is there a scenario under this contract where if this is declared to
be unconstitutional or there is a law change either in Tallahassee or at the County level that they
could continue to operate and we would owe them money?
Ms. Bravo: No. Our contract terms actually address those situations.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay.
Ms. Bravo: And our City Attorney has reviewed that to that effect.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I have read -- and I'd like somebody to read it to me and then tell me if
you think it sounds -- speaks well and clear and -- so in other words, good English -- the
provision that says you will not owe them any money because I don't --
Chair Gort: What was that again?
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Commissioner Sarnoff. The provision that says you will not owe them any money.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Ms. Bravo: I can --
Commissioner Sarnoff. So it's the --
Chair Gort: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- threshold -- I think it's on your pink paper. I think it's on page 3.
Ms. Bravo: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And read it out loud and tell me if you think that's written well.
Ms. Bravo: The amount of payment shall be a monthly fee per camera, not to exceed the revenue
generated by that camera in that month.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Ms. Bravo: So that means their fee is capped at -- for each camera -- at the revenue of each
camera each month. So if a camera only generates $10, that is the revenue for that camera that
month --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay, keep reading.
Ms. Bravo: -- and their fee.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Keep reading.
Vice Chair Carollo: It's 40 percent.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. 'Cause I -- it could be read a little differently.
Ms. Bravo: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Keep reading.
Ms. Bravo: Then subject to the foregoing, the monthly fee for each camera is spelled out in a
table depending on the number of cameras at that intersection. And then later on we've added
the total fee paid to the contractor in each month shall not exceed a maximum of 40 percent of
the total revenue generated by the program, less the amount paid to the state of Florida.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. And just to be clear, I don't think -- I think if you read that
sentence carefully, you'll see -- I don't think it's clear. I think just the way you said it, you should
have written it.
Ms. Bravo: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff. That's just my take on it, 'cause I can see a different interpretation on
that.
Ms. Bravo: All right.
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Commissioner Sarnoff. But --
Ms. Bravo: And the City Attorney was concerned that this was subject to interpretation because
it alludes to mathematical calculations and, as such, she suggested that we provide a sample
calculation to be included in the contract amendment and that's this table.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, it's always fun to have samples, but it's already better to say it
correctly.
Ms. Bravo: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Andl have no problems with saying 'for example" or 'for instance."
Such a calculation is illustrated on paragraph or illustration one, Section 3 and should be used
throughout the -- you know, the body of the contractual term. But having said that, you are
comfortable that this is a good renegotiation?
Ms. Bravo: I believe so.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And you personally negotiated this?
Ms. Bravo: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Commissioner Dunn: Well, I'll yield to my -- go ahead, Vice Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. I have a few questions. And again, you know, I like to have
transparency, put everything out in the open and make sure that we know exactly what we're
voting for. Question: As far as any additional years or so forth, it's my understanding that right
now we could terminate the contract after one year, but this would extend it to five years. Is that
correct?
Ms. Bravo: Correct.
Commissioner Sarnoff. But after five years, we could terminate.
Ms. Bravo: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: Let me ask you something 'cause it's going to boil down to this. Right now
it's the will of this Commission to terminate the red-light cameras? Because if it's not, then the
truth of the matter is this is a much better negotiated deal. You understand what I'm saying.
Because what will be the difference in revenues as far as what we have to date and what we will
have if we change your methodology of obtaining the monies?
Ms. Bravo: For example, retroactive to January, this will provide us an additional $200, 000 for
the first six months of this calendar year.
Vice Chair Carollo: Retroactively.
Ms. Bravo: Right.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Vice Chair Carollo: And then --
Ms. Bravo: And here on end -- for an example, in just the month of June, there's a significant
increase as well, maybe $100, 000.
Vice Chair Carollo: And obviously, the reason -- I mean, the exchange for us being able to
obtain more revenues and so forth would be that we extend -- not really extend, but that it --
instead of after one year, it would be after five years for us to terminate this contract or so forth.
Ms. Bravo: And correct. You know, the vendor entered into this agreement in the fall of last
year. They've fronted a significant amount of equipment and labor and installing all the
cameras. Had actually -- while we resolved how the invoicing has worked, to date we have yet to
actually pay them any fees.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Ms. Bravo: So they've taken a lot of the risk upfront and in exchange for the additional revenue
to the City, they've asked for more certainty as to longevity of the program.
Vice Chair Carollo: And that certainty is an additional four years.
Ms. Bravo: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: Because, in essence, the first year already has passed or, more or less, it's
getting there.
Ms. Bravo: Close thereto.
Vice Chair Carollo: So I mean, realistically, the question will end up being are we going to say,
hey, we're cutting out; that's it; we're taking them out? And if the will of this Commission is no,
then the truth of the matter is we might as well negotiate a better deal and obtain more revenues.
That's the way I'm seeing it. But again, I'm also seeing it from a business perspective. Andl
know the safety issue has brought up and this and that. By the way, I didn't vote for red-light
cameras. This big brother thing is, you know -- but that's for another day. We could, you know
-- when there's time.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Hey, can I tell you something. It changed the way I drive. I make sure
that stop at the red lights now, I mean.
Commissioner Dunn: Oh, my God.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So it changes the way I drive.
Ms. Bravo: I'll second that.
Chair Gort: Let me tell you, I've been hit twice. Andl used to take yellow lights all the time, red
lights; not anymore.
Commissioner Dunn: No, no.
Chair Gort: I'm stopping.
Vice Chair Carollo: So -- but the bottom line is -- I think the real question is, is the will of this
Commission to terminate, after one year -- so it'll be in a few months -- this whole contract and
so forth? And I don't think it is. I don't think --
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Commissioner Dunn: No.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the will of this Commission is that. I'm already seeing by the expression
of the faces. Therefore, if that's not the will of this Commission, then I think we should then do,
you know, a better negotiation, which is what, you know, Ms. Bravo has brought before us.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's what I'm seeing.
Commissioner Dunn: I'm seeing it the same way.
Vice Chair Carollo: And correct me if I'm wrong.
Commissioner Dunn: No, no, no, no. No, no, no. I yield to your fiscal expertise, I really do.
With that being said, and I'll use this word again, in light of all of the context that's been revealed
today, the new negotiations or the modifications, I'll make a motion on it.
Chair Gort: It's been moved. Is there a second?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Second.
Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Dunn, second by Commissioner Sarnoff. Any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Mr. Sosa: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
RE.11 RESOLUTION
11-00657
District 1- A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, CODESIGNATING
Commissioner NORTHWEST 32ND AVENUE FROM NORTHWEST 13TH STREET TO
Wifredo (Willy) Gort NORTHWEST 17TH STREET , MIAMI, FLORIDA, BY A FOUR -FIFTHS VOTE,
AS "REV. OBEL GUZMAN WAY;" FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY
MANAGER TO INSTRUCT THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS TO
TRANSMIT COPY OF THIS RESOLUTION TO THE HEREIN DESIGNATED
OFFICES.
11-00657 Biography of Rev. Obel Guzman.pdf
11-00657 Map of Rev. Obel Guzman Way.pdf
11-00657 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0325
Chair Gort: RE.11.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Vice Chair Carollo: It's your item, Commissioner Gort.
Chair Gort: This is an item of the naming of the street after Reverend Obel Guzman, who's a
gentleman that's been a pastor in the Grapeland area for 17 years. He's done great work in
there. And I'd like to rename this street. And you have the map in here, which is the church is
located at.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Move.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Dunn, second --
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: -- by Commissioner -- by Vice Chairman Carollo. Any further discussion? Being
none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.12 RESOLUTION
11-00540
Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT A
TOTAL AMOUNT OF $86,722.19 IN THE FORM OF A REIMBURSEMENT
GRANT ("GRANT") FROM THE CHILDREN'S TRUST ("TRUST") TO THE
CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY'S") DEPARTMENT OF GRANTS
ADMINISTRATION'S EDUCATION INITIATIVES (DEPARTMENT), FOR THE
MIAMI LEARNING ZONE OUT OF SCHOOL PROGRAM ("PROGRAM"), AND
AUTHORIZING THE CITY'S IN -KIND SERVICES MATCH IN THE TOTAL
AMOUNT OF $7,883.84 TO FUND THE PROGRAM ADMINISTERED BY THE
DEPARTMENT AT HOLMES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; ESTABLISHING A
NEW SPECIAL REVENUE PROJECT ENTITLED: "THE CHILDREN'S TRUST
GRANT FOR EDUCATION INITIATIVES 2011-2012", TO ACCEPT THE
GRANT, APPROPRIATING THE GRANT FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF
$86,722.19, WITH IN -KIND SERVICES TO BE APPROPRIATED BY THE CITY
VALUED AT $7,883.84; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO
NEGOTIATE AND TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT WITH THE CHILDREN'S
TRUST AND TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE ALL OTHER NECESSARY
AMENDMENTS, EXTENSIONS, AND MODIFICATIONS, AFTER
CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY ATTORNEY, TO IMPLEMENT THE
ACCEPTANCE OF AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE GRANTAWARD FOR
SAID PURPOSES, FOR THE PERIOD COMMENCING AUGUST 1, 2011
THROUGH JULY 31, 2012, WITH THE OPTIONS TO RENEW FOR UP TO
TWO (2) ADDITIONAL SIMILAR PERIODS AT THE SAME NOT -TO -EXCEED
AMOUNTS UNDER THE SAME TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE
PROGRAM AT HOLMES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL,SUBJECT TO BUDGETARY
APPROVAL AT TIME OF NEED.
11-00540 Summary Form.pdf
11-00540 Legislation (Version 2) 07-28-11.pdf
11-00540 Exhibit 1 07-28-11.pdf
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
RE.13
11-00421
Office of Strategic
Planning, Budgeting,
and Performance
R-11-0307
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item PH. 6 for minutes referencing Item RE.12.
Chair Gort: PH. 6, resolution on RE.12.
Lillian Blondet (Interim Director, Grants Administration): Yes.
Chair Gort: Let's go to the resolution first.
Ms. Blondet: Yes. Lillian Blondet, Office of Grants Administration. RE.12, a resolution of the
Miami City Commission, with attachments, authorizing the City Manager to accept a total
amount of $86, 722.19 in the form of a reimbursement grant from the Children's Trust to the City
ofMiami's Departments [sic] of Grants Administration education initiatives for the Miami
Learning Zone Out of School program; and authorizing the City's in -kind service match in the
total amount of $7, 883.84 to fund the program administered by the Department at Holmes
Elementary School; establishing a new special revenue project, entitled "The Children's Trust
Grant" for education initiatives 2011/2012 to accept the grant; appropriating the grant funding
in the amount of $86, 722.19 with in -kind services to be appropriated by the City valued at
7, 883.84; further authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and to execute a contract with the
Children's Trust and to negotiate and execute all other necessary amendments, extensions and
modifications after consultation with the City Attorney to implement the acceptance of and
compliance with the grant award for said purposes for the period commencing August 1, 2011
through July 31, 2012 with the options to renew for up to two additional similar periods at the
same not -to -exceed amounts under the same terms and conditions for the programs at Holmes
Elementary School, subject to budgetary approval at time of need.
Commissioner Dunn: Move it.
Chair Gort: Thank you. It's a motion by Commissioner Dunn --
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: -- second by Vice Chairman Carollo. Any further discussion? Being none, all in
favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION MAKING
AMENDMENTS TO APPROPRIATIONS RELATING TO OPERATIONAL
AND BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING
SEPTEMBER 30, 2011.
11-00421 Summary Form.pdf
11-00421 FY'11 Amending Budget 07-28-11.pdf
11-00421 Legislation.pdf
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
RE.14
11-00683
Office of Grants
Administration
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
DEFERRED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
Note for the record: Item RE.13 was deferred to the Commission Meeting scheduled for
September 15, 2011.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT
TOTAL AMOUNT OF NOT TO EXCEED $153,162 IN THE FORM OF A
REIMBURSEMENT GRANT ("GRANT") FROM THE CHILDREN'S TRUST
("TRUST') TO THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY'S") DEPARTMENT OF GRANTS
ADMINISTRATION'S EDUCATION INITIATIVES (DEPARTMENT), FOR THE
FAMILIES FIRST PARENTING PROGRAM ("PROGRAM"), AND
AUTHORIZING THE CITY'S IN -KIND SERVICES MATCH IN THE TOTAL
AMOUNT OF NOT TO EXCEED $7,883.84 TO FUND THE PROGRAM
ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT AT VARIOUS CHILD CARE
CENTERS WITHIN THE CITY; ESTABLISHING A NEW SPECIAL REVENUE
PROJECT ENTITLED: "THE CHILDREN'S TRUST GRANT FOR EDUCATION
INITIATIVES 2011-2012 FAMILIES FIRST PARENTING PROGRAM", TO
ACCEPT THE GRANT, APPROPRIATING THE GRANT FUNDING IN THE
AMOUNT OF $153,162, WITH IN -KIND SERVICES TO BE APPROPRIATED
BY THE CITY VALUED AT $7,883.84; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT WITH THE
CHILDREN'S TRUST AND TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE ALL OTHER
NECESSARY AMENDMENTS, EXTENSIONS, AND MODIFICATIONS, AFTER
CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY ATTORNEY, TO IMPLEMENT THE
ACCEPTANCE OF AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE GRANTAWARD FOR
SAID PURPOSES, FOR THE PERIOD COMMENCING AUGUST 1, 2011
THROUGH JULY 31, 2012, WITH THE OPTIONS TO RENEW FOR UP TO
TWO (2) ADDITIONAL SIMILAR PERIODS AT THE SAME NOT -TO -EXCEED
AMOUNTS UNDER THE SAME TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE
PROGRAM, SUBJECT TO BUDGETARY APPROVAL AT TIME OF NEED.
11-00683 Summary Form.pdf
11-00683 Legislation.pdf
11-00683 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0308
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item PH.4 for minutes referencing Item RE.14.
Chair Gort: PH.4, and we have to hear this with RE.14.
Lillian Blondet (Interim Director): That's correct. Good morning. Lillian Blondet, Office of
Grants Administration. I'd like to start first providing a little bit of a background on the next six
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items you're about to hear. They're all related to Children's Trust funding. In December the
Children's Trust put out a Request for Proposal. They call it a NOFA (Notice of Funding
Availability) application and we had about five, six weeks to respond to this application. They
requested and required actually that we bring forward in the application who the partners would
be. Being the short time that we had, we -- if you recall, we met with everybody and explain this
process to all the Commissioners. And we included the providers in the applications. For that
reason, we have two resolutions for each one of these funding -- recommendations of programs
that we received from the Children's Trust. So each program has two items, one is a resolution
basically accepting the grant and authorizing the City Manager to enter into an agreement with
the Children's Trust, and the public hearing is to waive the procurement for the reasons I stated
and also to enter into a contract with the providers. Any questions on that?
Chair Gort: Okay. It's a public hearing. Is anyone would like to address PH.4?
Ms. Blondet: Okay. Let me read the resolution, if you want, first --
Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead.
Ms. Blondet: -- which will be accepting the funding and then we have the public hearing. RE.14
is a resolution of the City -- of the Miami City Commission, with attachments, authorizing the
City Manager to accept a total amount of not to exceed $153,162 in the form of a reimbursement
grant from the Children's Trust to the City of Miami Department of Grants Administration
education initiatives for the Families First Parenting program; and authorizing the City's in -kind
services match in the total amount of not to exceed $7, 883.84 to fund the program administered
by the Department of -- department at various child care centers within the City; establishing a
new special revenue project entitled the Children's Trust Grant for Education Initiatives
2011/2012 Families First Parenting program to accept the grant with in -kind services to be
appropriated by the City, valued at 7, 883.84; further authorizing the City Manager to negotiate
and to execute a contract with the Children's Trust and to negotiate and execute other necessary
amendments, extensions and modifications after consultation with the City Attorney to implement
the acceptance of and compliance with the grant award for said purposes, for the period
commencing August 1, 2011 through July 31,2012, with the option to renew for up to two
additional similar periods at the same not -to -exceed amounts under the same term and
conditions for the program, subject to budgetary approval at the time of need.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir.
Mariano Cruz: Yes. Mariano Cruz, 1227 Northwest 26th Street, Miami, Florida 33142. No. I
-- whenever I see in any of this public hearing in grants money going to basic education, it's so
important here. Don't -- we don't realize that countries there in Asia that's what they use the one
thing, basic education in children. The children are taught math and science from the beginning.
See, if we want to compete in a global economy, we have to have education, education, and
education from the beginning. Not everybody have the money -- I got to send my children to a
private school and have a good education. People -- a lot of people depend on child care, a lot
of poor people, and that's the main thing. It's not to go -- money to go to -- andl am not against
lawyers, but we got too many lawyers and too many liberal education thing. We need more
people in math, science, physics, chemistry to become a new industrial revolution, like United
States got so many years ago. That's where we are now with consumer country, not a production
country. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Yes, ma'am. Let him speak.
Judith Sandoval: Judith Sandoval, 2536 Southwest 25th Terrace. I just have a question. Why
are these programs not put into more parks than those are listed or has that already been
funded? And what are some of the activities that are going to be provided?
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Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else? Okay, we close the public hearings [sic]. You
want to answer that question, please.
Ms. Blondet: This program is Families First program. It's a program that is being offered in
child care centers, and we partner with child care centers because it's a parenting program to
establish or to improve their parenting skills.
Chair Gort: What we're saying is we only have certain parks and all our parks have child care
centers and those with child care center are the one --
Ms. Blondet: Yeah.
Chair Gort: -- that will be utilized to establish this program.
Ms. Blondet: And -- yeah. So we have established --
Chair Gort: Okay.
Ms. Blondet: -- programs already in those facilities.
Chair Gort: Okay. Can you give a brief description of what kind of performance they do.
Ms. Blondet: And this is not the Parks program. This is in child care centers.
Chair Gort: I understand.
Ms. Blondet: Okay. On this program specifically, we are going to be teaching parents parenting
skills. Many of this child care centers are located in low-income areas. So the Children's Trust
asked us to select a curriculum and we implement that curriculum that will provide parents, you
know, ideas to how to deal with kids who are problematic, to anger management, and different
skills like that. And we follow an approved curriculum to teach them the skills. We paired also
with a company -- and we'll talk about it now -- called Gymboree Conee -- with Gymboree, so
this is like a hands-on approach to implement what they've learned in the class curriculum.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioners. Motion. Discussion.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Dunn. Any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair Gort: Do we pass both at the same time?
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): No, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: No.
Mr. Hannon: That was for PH.4.
Chair Gort: PH.4. Now --
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Ms. Blondet: That was RE.14, the resolution.
Mr. Hannon: Okay, so we're doing RE.14 first, then PH.4?
Ms. Blondet: We were doing RE.14, yes.
Mr. Hannon: Okay. Then that vote was on RE.14. My apologies.
RE.15 RESOLUTION
11-00689
District2- A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, PURSUANT TO
Commissioner Marc SECTION 62-521(B) (4) AND (5), OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI,
David Sarnoff FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, WAIVING THE TEMPORARY EVENT TWO (2)
EVENT LIMITATION PER PROPERTY AND THE TWO (2) WEEK DURATION
LIMITATION PER PERMIT, IN ORDER TO HOSTA GARDENERS' MARKET
AT THE BISCAYNE PLAZA SHOPPING CENTER, LOCATED AT 561
NORTHEAST 79 STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, OCCURRING EVERY
SATURDAY, STARTING JULY 30, 2011 AND ENDING ON DECEMBER 31,
2011.
11-00689 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0328
Chair Gort: RE.15.
Alice Bravo (Assistant City Manager/Chief of Infrastructure): I --
Commissioner Dunn: No. We did that one.
Ms. Bravo: -- thinkRE.19.
Vice Chair Carollo: No. I think it's 19.
Commissioner Dunn: No. It's 15.
Chair Gort: I thought you told me --
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): We do still have RE.15 on the agenda.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Chair Gort: You sure?
Commissioner Sarnoff. I'll do it real fast. This is an extension of allowing a farmer's market to
continue to work at the Biscayne Plaza shopping center, which is on 79th Street. I'd ask you to
share in this with me and allow us to go through 2011. I'll make the motion.
Commissioner Dunn: Second it.
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RE.16
11-00578
Department of Parks
and Recreation
Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. Moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by
Commissioner Dunn. Any further discussion? Being none --
Commissioner Dunn: Just for the record, I am not anti farmer's market.
Chair Gort: All in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay, Marvin.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), ESTABLISHING A NEW SPECIAL REVENUE PROJECT
ENTITLED: "PROGRAMS FOR THE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED,
2011-2014," APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR ITS OPERATION, AND
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT ANTICIPATED PAYMENT
FOR SERVICES IN THE ESTIMATED TOTAL AMOUNT OF SIX HUNDRED
THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE DOLLARS, FROM THE
STATE OF FLORIDA AGENCY FOR HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATION
("AHCA"), MEDICAID PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT; AUTHORIZING THE
CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND TO EXECUTE A MEDICAID WAIVER
SERVICES AGREEMENT, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY
ATTORNEY, WITH AHCA, TO FUND, ON A REIMBURSEMENT BASIS,
SUBJECT TO STATE APPROPRIATIONS, SERVICES AND PROGRAMS FOR
THE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED ADMINISTERED BY THE CITY OF
MIAMI'S DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION, DURING THE
PERIOD OF JULY 1,2011 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2014; AUTHORIZING THE
CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE, SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY THE CITY
ATTORNEY, ALL OTHER NECESSARY DOCUMENTS TO ACCEPT SAID
FUNDS AND TO COMPLY WITH SAID AGREEMENT.
11-00578 Summary Form.pdf
11-00578 Legislation.pdf
11-00578 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0326
Chair Gort: RE.13. Continue it. RE.16.
Ernest Burkeen: Ernest Burkeen, director of Parks and Recreation. Resolution -- RE.16 is a
resolution of the Miami City Commission, with attachments, establishing a new special revenue
project entitled Programs for the Developmentally Disabled" appropriating funds for its
operation and authorizing the City Manager to accept anticipated payment for services in the
estimated total amount of $600, 000 -- $600, 581 from the State of Florida Agency for the Health
Care Administration Medicaid Program Development.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Questions. Motions.
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Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair, move it.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Dunn. Is there a second?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Second.
Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Sarnoff. Under discussion. I don't know how many of
you had the opportunity to go visit this facility and some of the work that they do with the people
with disability and it's great. It's something very similar to Goodwill. I don't know how many of
you all have visited Goodwill and seen the work that is being done by the people that perform in
there. I think this is something that we need to continue to help these individuals.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: I have had the privilege, even though it was many years ago; just very
impressive, very heart -touching and heart feeling. And we can never go wrong looking out for
other people, regardless of their circumstances, and l just think that -- it's a good thing. It's a
solid program and it's a very helpful program.
Chair Gort: Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.17 RESOLUTION
11-00580
Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Works ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING THE BID RECEIVED JUNE 27, 2011,
PURSUANT TO INVITATION FOR BIDS NO. 10-11-026, FROM
ENVIROWASTE SERVICES GROUP, INC., THE LOWEST RESPONSIVE AND
RESPONSIBLE BIDDER, FOR THE PROJECT ENTITLED "INLET CLEANING
CONTRACT -SOUTH ZONE, M-0044", IN AN ANNUAL AMOUNT NOT TO
EXCEED $53,530, FOR A TWO (2) YEAR CONTRACT TOTAL OF $107,060;
AUTHORIZING UP TO THREE (3) ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR OPTIONS TO
RENEW, IN AN ANNUAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $53,530, SUBJECT TO
THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDING AND CONTRACTORS PERFORMANCE;
ALLOCATING SAID FUNDS, FROM PUBLIC WORKS GENERAL ACCOUNT
NO. 00001.208000.534000; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM,
FOR SAID PURPOSE.
11-00580 Summary Form.pdf
11-00580 Legislation.pdf
11-00580 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-11-0327
Chair Gort: 18, we took care of it. RE.19.
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Alice Bravo (Assistant City Manager/Chief of Infrastructure): Pardon me, Commissioner. We
have RE.17. No?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Alyce Robertson: RE.19 or this is 17?
Vice Chair Carollo: Have we done 17?
Chair Gort: No, we don't. I'm sorry.
Ms. Robertson: I'll go back.
Chair Gort: 17, yes. Trying to go fast.
Nzeribe Ihekwaba: Yeah, I think so. Good afternoon. Zerry Ihekwaba, Public Works director.
RE.17 is a resolution to award a contract to Envirowaste Services Group, in an annual amount
not to exceed $53, 530, for a total of two-year contract amount of $107, 060, for the project
entitled Storm Water Inlet Cleaning Contract -South Zone M-0044; further authorizing the City to
award up to three additional one-year options to renew, subject to availability of funding and
contractor's performance, in an annual amount not to exceed $653, 530. This is a requirement of
the MPDS permit for the City, and a total of six perspective bidders picked up the specifications
and only one bidder returned the -- was found responsive after the bidding period of 21 days.
Any question? IfI may add, the funding is source from a restricted funding, the storm water
utility funds, and can only be expended in this type of a task. Any question?
Chair Gort: Thank you. Question. Motion.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Move it.
Chair Gort: Been moved --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: -- by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Dunn. Any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.18 RESOLUTION
11-00660
Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Facilities ATTACHMENT(S), BYA FOUR -FIFTHS (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE,
RATIFYING, APPROVING AND CONFIRMING THE CITY MANAGERS
EMERGENCY FINDING, THAT IT IS MOST ADVANTAGEOUS FOR THE CITY
OF MIAMI TO WAIVE COMPETITIVE SEALED BIDDING PROCEDURES,
PURSUANT TO SECTION 18-90 AND 18-85 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI, FLORIDA, AND APPROVING THE USE OF COMPETITIVE
NEGOTIATIONS, FOR THE PURPOSES OF NEGOTIATING AN AGREEMENT
FOR REAL ESTATE LEASING AND/OR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
SERVICES AT THE MARLINS STADIUM PARKING GARAGE RETAIL SPACE,
FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC FACILITIES; AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
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AGREEMENT, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ATTACHED TERM SHEET AND
IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, WITH TERRANOVA
CORPORATION, FOR AN INITIAL ONE (1) YEAR TERM WITH FOUR (4)
ONE-YEAR OPTIONS TO RENEW.
11-00660 Summary Form.pdf
11-00660 Legislation.pdf
11-00660-Exhibit 1-SUB.pdf
11-00660-Memo-Substitution For Item RE.18 Marlins Stadium Garage Retail Spaces.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0320
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item RE. 6 for minutes referencing Item RE.18.
Chair Gort: RE.18.
Vice Chair Carollo: I make a motion to approve RE.18.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Second.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair. I do have a substitute.
Madeline Valdes (Director, Public Facilities): There's a --
Mr. Hannon: Sorry.
Ms. Valdes: -- substitution which is the proposal that was negotiated after the packages were
submitted for the Agenda Office.
Commissioner Suarez: Quick question on that. Is the 35,000 -- or the 30,000 -- you said they
were going to put in an extra 5. That's very generous of them.
Ms. Valdes: That's correct.
Commissioner Suarez: Is the 30,000, the large bulk of the money, is that being paid out of the
404 that we just allocated?
Ms. Valdes: That is correct.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay. And we just allocated it, so --
Vice Chair Carollo: And again, the -- from the CI -- from the police, it's just identfing where
the monies is going to come from that -- it was never identified.
Commissioner Suarez: It's another capital category that -- right.
Vice Chair Carollo: Believe me; we have money from the bonds to actually, you know, use for
the leasing. However, we cannot.
Commissioner Suarez: We can't. We're restricted.
Vice Chair Carollo: It's restricted.
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Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. It's one of the most kind of difficult things --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Commissioner Suarez: -- for the public to understand about things that happen in government.
Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. It's restricted. Now I'm faced with this. I know we need a leasing
agent, so look at my situation, you know. And believe me, I calledMirtha. I called Diana. I
spoke to financial advisors that we have in the City. Believe me, we've looked at this, but just
think of my situation.
Commissioner Suarez: No. I --
Vice Chair Carollo: What where we're saying, we need a leasing agent. We have an opportunity
here for retail. How are we paying for this, you know.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: And I bring up --
Commissioner Suarez: And to get creative.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the question how are we paying for this. You understand.
Commissioner Dunn: Oh, I understand quite clearly.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Dunn.
Vice Chair Carollo: So I'm --
Commissioner Suarez: Well, in that sense, I appreciate the fact that you did it now versus when
we sign the lease and then all of a sudden there's a hey, you know, which is what happens often.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well --
Chair Gort: Commissioner Dunn is recognized.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- so --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right. So --
Commissioner Dunn: Well --
Vice Chair Carollo: Look at the situation that I'm in. And again, a lot of this predates us, you
know. Actually, this interlocal agreement, I spoke to City Manager Migoya about it. I think it
was September or October of last year where, listen, there's an opportunity here for the retail to
make money. However, we need to see -- sort this out and see how we do it, and this is where we
are.
Commissioner Dunn: And let me just -- 'cause that -- I couldn't agree with you more, Mr. Vice
Chairman, and definitely going to support it. But you -- when you said it -- and these words just
keep resonating to me -- when you say look at your situation, and that is precisely what I was
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saying Monday night at the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) meeting. CRAs,
historically, have been, rightfully, wrongfully -- I'm not going to get into all of that 'cause I don't
know. I wasn't here. But historically, it has been the whipping board [sic] of the bloggers.
Sometimes our very own Fire Department has whipped us, come in -- people come talking about
sunsetting the CRA and this, that and the other. And people have been alleged as doing wrong
and been questioned, and a lot of that I inherit. And all I'm trying to do is improve the quality of
life. That's all I've been trying to do. And that's why sometimes I may make statements not
directed -- sometimes it's directed to the community, that I let them know, unequivocally, I just
want to do what's best for the City of Miami as a whole and for those residents. So I understand
that clearly and I'm glad you shared that because I -- that is the -- it's a different kind of thing,
but principally, it's the same thing and you're talking about a historical thing -- I mean, not just
in the City, butt have to deal with it in the County.
Vice Chair Carollo: I understand.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Chairman, just to end. Listen, I was the first one to tell you, I wish
it was extended. I really wish. But at the same time, I want to make sure that we make it through
this meeting because we could not lose August. We could not lose August, you know, so --
Commissioner Dunn: I'm there.
Vice Chair Carollo: So -- and the only reason -- and if you saw, everything was presented on
time. The only thing that was not presented on time and it was the very next day was because we
kept negotiating. Andl said, Madeline, we need to do better with the limited knowledge that
have on the industry standards, you know.
Chair Gort: Okay, there's a motion and a second. Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. And hopefully we'll wrap it up. You know, one of the things
that's been great about this Commission is we've never dissolved into parochialism. We have
never done that before. I've never done that, andl don't think this is the time to do that. Andl
hope and pray that it never happens. I hope that for all the time this we're here, we don't ever
dissolve into that. And you know, from my perspective, just being a real estate attorney and
doing commercial transactions, I just found it to be a little bit, from my perspective, odd. I mean,
I don't know -- I guess from everybody -- not from everybody else's, but from a couple of other
people's perspective, it was commonplace that things be done in this fashion. And so, you know,
as we've done sometimes, we've negotiated certain things from the dais and said look --
Vice Chair Carollo: Of course.
Commissioner Suarez: -- and we've supported each other in those endeavors and said --
Vice Chair Carollo: Of course.
Commissioner Suarez: -- listen --
Commissioner Dunn: Absolutely.
Commissioner Suarez: -- let's try to get the best deal possible for our --
Vice Chair Carollo: Of course.
Commissioner Suarez: -- residents, from a cash flow perspective, from a whatever perspective.
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And so, you know --
Vice Chair Carollo: I understand.
Chair Gort: Okay. There being any further discussion -- I only have one comment. It's a shame
we didn't send any letters with people that deal with stadiums and l feel kind of bad. I think we
have a lemon and we have to make lemonade out of this. But I wanted to tell you, I'm going to
keep an eye on you all, that's for sure. My eyes going to be on you 24 hours a day.
Mr. Grindler: We're --
Chair Gort: Andl -- hopefully, when you come back, all the lease will have to come back to us
and be approved by us. Okay. All in favor, state it by saying aye."
Ms. Valdes: Excuse me.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Ms. Valdes: The next item, the RE.22, will explain that we're entering into an interlocal for
Off -Street Parking to manage --
Chair Gort: Well, let's get this out of the way.
Ms. Valdes: -- so the leases will not be coming to you. They will be going through Off -Street
Parking is what I want to make sure you understand.
Chair Gort: Well, let's finish this one.
Ms. Valdes: Okay.
Chair Gort: All in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Mr. Hannon: As modified.
Chair Gort: Good luck.
Mr. Grindler: Thank you very much.
Chair Gort: RE.8.
Vice Chair Carollo: And the modification is just the --
Ms. Valdes: The fee proposal.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- fee proposal that Madeline has, correct?
Mr. Hannon: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you.
Commissioner Sarnoff. By the way, there are 238 major stadiums in the United States.
Chair Gort: Yeah.
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RE.19
11-00538
Downtown
Development
Authority
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE
MIAMI DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, TO ESTABLISH A PROPOSED
MILLAGE RATE; ADOPTING THE TENTATIVE LEVYING OF AD VALOREM
TAXES FOR THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING
OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012.
11-00538 Pre -Legislation - Board of DDA.pdf
11-00538 Memo - Proposed DDA Millage Rate 07-28-11.pdf
11-00538 Legislation (Version 2) 07-28-11.pdf
11-00538-Submittal-Memo-Substitution For Item RE.19 Change In Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0329
Chair Gort: RE.19. You're on, ma'am.
Vice Chair Carollo: I haven't picked up on that one, but I know there must be a reason, so I'm
just leaving it there.
Commissioner Dunn: No, no, no, no, no.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm just leaving it there.
Alyce Robertson: Hi. Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development
Authority. The item you have before you -- the substitute item that we provided for you is the
setting of the maximum millage for the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) district for
2011 and 2012. The millage rate that the board is recommending -- the DDA board is
recommending to you is the rollback millage, which is .478. What's important about this is that
in the DDA history, which is a 45-year history, it has always been .5, but this year, given the
extraordinary economic situation that's going on, that the DDA board felt that it was -- that they
wanted to go with the rollback millage, so it's .478 is the recommendation.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I would move it. Mr. Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Suarez. Any further
discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Ms. Robertson: Thank you.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): As amended.
Chair Gort: As amended.
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RE.20
11-00537
Office of Strategic
Planning, Budgeting,
and Performance
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION COMPUTING A
PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER
30, 2012, DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT SAID PROPOSED
MILLAGE RATE TO THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PROPERTY APPRAISER
AND THE TAX COLLECTOR TOGETHER WITH THE DATE, TIME AND
PLACE OF THE PUBLIC HEARING AT WHICH THE CITY COMMISSION WILL
CONSIDER THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE AND THE CITY OF MIAMI'S
TENTATIVE BUDGET FOR SAID FISCAL YEAR.
11-00537 Summary Form.pdf
11-00537 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0311
Mayor Tomas Regalado: And the other thing, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, I would like
just to announce that we have RE.20, I guess in the afternoon, which is the millage of the City of
Miami, and we are presenting the millage, which will bring a tax reduction to the residents of the
City ofMiami, and that will be the fundamental piece of the budget of the City ofMiami. So in
the afternoon, I guess that you going to take that issue.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mayor Regalado: So we'll be presenting a reduction of the millage of the City ofMiami, which,
by the way, it will be great news because the County, the School Board yesterday and today the
City ofMiami, we all are reducing the millage, so it would mean a significant savings for
property owners in the City ofMiami.
Chair Gort: Okay. Come back at 3?
Commissioner Sarnoff. We have the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency), right?
Chair Gort: Six.
Vice Chair Carollo: It's six.
Chair Gort: Six o'clock.
Commissioner Sarnoff. No, no, no, no.
Vice Chair Carollo: Six p.m., CRA.
Commissioner Sarnoff. CRA -- the Omni CRA is at noon. That's exactly what it was, Omni
CRA's at noon.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff. There's a lot of people here.
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Vice Chair Carollo: I --
Commissioner Dunn: I know --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- have a previous engagement for lunch --
Commissioner Dunn: -- we talked about the Southeast being at 6, so I don't --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Commissioner Dunn: I'll support you.
Vice Chair Carollo: (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) at 6.
Commissioner Sarnoff. At noon. Where's the CRA director?
Pieter Bockweg (Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Right here.
Commissioner Sarnoff. What time is it set for?
Mr. Bockweg: It's noon or thereafter. IfI recommend to the Board, if you hear one item because
there are a lot of people --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Agree.
Mr. Bockweg: -- here --
Commissioner Dunn: Yeah.
Mr. Bockweg: -- for that one particular item.
Commissioner Dunn: Yeah.
Mr. Bockweg: And we did want to make sure we were consistent with what we had presented to
other boards and such. So ifI could present one item to the board for Omni?
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, gentlemen. Okay, Chair Gort, the Commission
meeting is currently in recess.
Chair Gort: Right.
Mr. Hannon: If you can give me a moment, we need to go ahead and switch over so we can get
ready for Omni. Just a moment.
Chair Gort: All right, one item.
Vice Chair Carollo: Excuse me. Which is the item?
Commissioner Sarnoff. It's the Skill Center.
[Later..]
Chair Gort: RE.20.
Mayor Regalado: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, I'm here with the Budget director and on
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behalf of the City Manager to present to you RE.20. As you know, on August -- before August 4
we have to send to the property appraisal [sic] and the taxing authority, Miami -Dade County,
our millage so it will be on the trim and it will be advertised before the first public hearing in
September 15 of this year. And what we have been saying is that we are proposing a decrease of
the millage rate, and that will be the backbone of the budget. And we believe that this will help
not only the present but the future of the City ofMiami. And, of course, it would be advertised as
-- in all the media that needs to be advertised for the public hearing and in the trim note as a tax
decrease by the City ofMiami. And so, Mirtha, Budget director.
Mirtha Dziedzic (Director): Mirtha Dziedzic, Budget Department. This resolution is setting the
millage cap for fiscal year '12 at the rollback rate of 7.5710. Of special note, we received some
estimates last week from the State that increases our deficit for next fiscal year from the
collections from our communications simplified tax by approximately $7 million, which has a
direct impact to the general fund. With that in mind, we are still recommending the rollback rate.
Chair Gort: Now let me ask a question. My understanding is the reductions according to this
type of funding is the -- allocated according to census figures rather than the revenues produced
by the entity.
Ms. Dziedzic: We actually put in a call to the State and the State clarified that the reason for the
reduction is due to a ruling by the courts that the data plans provided by cell phone providers
cannot be taxed. In the past few years, they have been taxing data plans and the courts ruled
that that was not eligible for taxation so --
Chair Gort: So it's a different reason then?
Ms. Dziedzic: Yes.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Ms. Dziedzic: So this affects us directly. They have been requested to reimburse their customers
for the taxation that they charged in the past years, and they've asked reimbursement from the
state and municipalities. So it does affect the current fiscal year and it affects next fiscal year.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Dunn: I'm sorry.
Chair Gort: Who moved it?
Commissioner Suarez: I moved it.
Commissioner Dunn: You moved it, right?
Vice Chair Carollo: I did.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez move it --
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Commissioner Dunn: I'll second it for discussion.
Chair Gort: -- second by Commissioner Dunn. Discussion. Vice Chairman Carollo.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. So what you're saying is that instead of a overall $54 million
deficit, now we have an overall $61 million deficit?
Ms. Dziedzic: That's --
Vice Chair Carollo: For the year '11/'12, for our next --
Ms. Dziedzic: Right. We have made some recommended modifications that bring down the
deficit to 29 million at this point. Those are the removal of the vacancies --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Ms. Dziedzic: -- and the removal of the capital expenditures.
Vice Chair Carollo: But the overall deficit right now is $61 million?
Ms. Dziedzic: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. I plan on having some discussion with this, so just -- obviously. Mr.
Manager, when you and the Mayor presented, you know, your budget, what, a couple of weeks
ago or so forth, you said that you're anticipating that there will not be 22 furloughs. Can you let
us know where you are right now? How many furloughs are you seeing? How are those cuts
going to be happening? Because -- and you know where I'm going with this. Now it's not 22
furloughs.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): It's 30 furloughs, yeah -- 34 furloughs.
Vice Chair Carollo: It's how many now?
Mr. Martinez: Thirty -plus furloughs.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thirty -plus furloughs now
Mr. Martinez: In order to make up for the 7 million we were just hit with.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So forget the 30-some furloughs. With the 22, how much of those 22
have you been able to cut down from where?
Mr. Martinez: Well, the budget is not finalized, but we were looking at different things to -- every
$873, 000 that we close is one furlough day, and we were looking at different --
Vice Chair Carollo: How much? I'm sorry.
Mr. Martinez: Every $873,000 is equivalent in my mind to one furlough day, so we're just going,
you know, piece by piece in trying to reduce the furlough days. Do we have it finished yet? No.
Vice Chair Carollo: How many of those 873 have we been able to identify?
Mr. Martinez: Well, we haven't finished you know, finalizing the --
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Vice Chair Carollo: I understand.
Mr. Martinez: -- budget.
Vice Chair Carollo: But where are we? I guess I'm trying to see where are we now.
Mr. Martinez: Well, it's pending things that are -- we're going to be discussing tomorrow in the
executive session. There's -- you know, there's a lot of moving parts there, and I don't have -- I
can't tell you right now the furloughs have been reduced from 32 to 10 or 9 or anything like that
now.
Vice Chair Carollo: But we're voting on the millage right now. We're capping it. I mean, we --
you know. I think the will of this Commission is to, you know, lower the rates and so forth, but at
the same time -- and we'll get into the rates, you know, in a little bit. But you know, I think we
should have some type of -- and I didn't put it as a discussion item this time, but this is -- I think
it's important information. It's been two weeks. Have you identified anything, what amounts,
and --?
Mr. Martinez: We're working on quantifying the amounts for the suggested ways that we 're
going to be reducing the gap. The 24-hour vehicles, we haven't assigned a number to it;
increasing of zoning fees, we don't have a number for it; the Rowing Club, I think we voted on it
this morning; the Miami Shores clean up yard trash -- these are little bits and pieces that add up
to the gap. The one that you did last week or the previous meeting with the Burn Notice, things
-- all those little bits help. Every time it adds up to 873, boom, one furlough day less. Can
quantify it for you at this moment now? No.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. I'm just --
Mr. Martinez: Little Haiti Cultural Center, we may have something in the works there that
reduces our money going -from us to the Haiti Cultural Center by $500, 000, half a million.
Vice Chair Carollo: Would you say 22 or 34 furloughs is a reduction of services?
Mr. Martinez: We're trying to -- right now I've asked every department to prioritize the services
that they have and assign a dollar value to each service because our premise is, like we stated
before, is not that the fees are not enough; it's that we spend too much. That's number one.
Number two, not to reduce the services. However, as you seen with the County, there are certain
services -- they're reducing libraries, the agricultural department. And we're looking at those
type of things, consolidating departments, and being a little bit more efficient, which we already
had done a lot of personnel actions to be more efficient, and some of that is already included in
the gap, yes, but there's more to come in a surgical way.
Vice Chair Carollo: I understand. I'm just -- you know, I'm doing some rough numbers and I'm
not seeing it adding up, so that's, you know -- andl don't mean your numbers. I'm saying whatl
obtained so forth from either the newspaper or so forth, the numbers as far as reducing
furloughs, and they're not adding up, and now we have an additional $7 million deficit. You
know, I've stated it many times here. You know, I'm concerned, I'm concerned, you know. Andl
think, in all fairness, you know, this is a time that everything needs to be put out on the table, you
know, and something -- some of the things may not be popular. I think a lot of the things may
not be popular. One of the things that I know is not going to be popular with my colleagues and
so forth -- I mean, there's a lot of carryover from the CRAs (Community Redevelopment
Agencies). We're talking 55 million. Now I know some of those we can't spend and so forth. But
at the same time, there's many projects that have been idle or not moving for many years. Now I
know there's certain laws and so forth, which I started looking into, but I really haven't had the
time to like really dig in there and ask the City Attorney to look into it and other attorneys. But
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it's my understanding, maybe some of these projects that have been dormant for three years or so
forth can be de -allocated and that money can actually come to help the City right now. So I
think it's something that we need to look at. And again, I know, you know, some of my
colleagues may not like what I'm saying, but the truth of the matter is listen to what the
Manager's also saying: you know, thirty -some days of furlough. If that's not a reduction of
service, I don't what is. Because think about it. I mean, we're going to have less police officers
on the street. And I'm not even touching upon the overtime factor, where if we have less police
officers on the street, that it might be a safety matter. We may have -- we may actually have to
have them come in in an overtime basis, which, in essence, will actually be even more than -- so
there's a lot of moving parts, as you said, but realistically, I'm not seeing a whole lot of solutions
and that's why I'm bringing it up, 'cause I am truly concerned.
Mr. Martinez: Commissioner, you're absolutely right. We're all, you know, very concerned.
With the concept of the furloughs, the use it or lose it, the APM (Administrative Policy Manual)
that I put out, which is going to encourage people to start using their vacation -- hopefully it
doesn't encourage them to use their sick time and that's used properly -- the aggregate of all
those things could -- you know, seems like it would lead to less personnel to watch the shop,
which means translates into a reduction in service. So we are looking at this very, very hard.
We're looking -- right now each department is looking on top of the 10 percent that we asked to
cut, which we're -- at a 1, 3, and another 5 percent scenario so that we can choose where those
cuts are going to be -- maybe in one area there's another 3 percent, maybe another area we don't
cut any and actually boost them so that we can maintain the essential services.
Vice Chair Carollo: And believe me, I've been looking at departments also. Mirtha will tell you
that I'm looking at them. Andl have found some areas where we could cut and so forth. But
we're talking $61 million. From there, you know, we reduced it from police vehicles and so forth
and we're down to like 30 million, more or Less.
Ms. Dziedzic: Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight, twenty-nine.
Vice Chair Carollo: Twenty-nine million?
Ms. Dziedzic: Uh-huh.
Vice Chair Carollo: So that's $29 million. We're talking 34 furloughs. So I'm concerned. I
don't see where, you know, those reductions are going to come in large amounts. There's a lot of
small parts and those add up. However, we're talking close to $30 million and I'm concerned.
And yeah, you know, I'm not just saying, hey, we have a problem. I'm offering some solutions
where I think it could actually be some big money, you know. Like I said, a carryover is 55
million from the CRA. I'm not saying use all of it. I'm not saying, you know -- but we need to
look at it. You know, fuel costs. There's a lot of you know, 24-hour vehicles -- and I've seen
some myself out in West Kendall --
Commissioner Suarez: Broward.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- and -- yeah, Broward and so forth. That's fuel that we're -- you know,
we're, you know, paying for. So there's a lot of areas that we need to look at. I just want to make
sure that, you know, we put everything on the table, you know.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Martinez: At tomorrow's executive session, there's going to be a lot of things put on the
table --
Vice Chair Carollo: You know --
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Mr. Martinez: -- a lot of big -ticket items, a lot of articles, you know, being reopened. We're
going to define the path that we need to take with the unions 'cause there's three paths that you
can take, andl think certain doors are closed and only one will be opened and that's the one we
need to walk through as a team.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well --
Mr. Martinez: And by team, I mean the entire City.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. I don't know about the different doors or what. You know, I haven't
been privy to that and that there's only three options. I got a feeling there's going to be a lot
more than three options.
Mr. Martinez: I mean, three paths to take, andl don't want to elaborate on that because I've
been advised not to, and we'll discuss that tomorrow in the executive session.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think one of the things that the Manager
has done since he arrived and something that I applaud you for is taking a look at our
bureaucracy and looking at it and saying, what are the things that we can't live with anymore or
what are the things that are luxuries. I think all of us here know that, for example, in District 4, I
can tell you -- and District 4 is not the most crime -ridden of all the districts in the City ofMiami,
but I can tell you that crime is the number -one issue in District 4, so that is a priority for me as a
Commissioner, is making sure that the residents of my district feel safe; doing everything that we
can with the limited resources that we have to reduce crime. So I think part of this discussion is
to give you some direction from our perspective as to what are our priorities and what's
important for us, and I think -- I've always said from the moment I got here that the City delivers
three critical or three essential services: police, fire, and solid waste. Everything else, if it ain't
making money, you know, we have to look at very, very carefully. I think, you know, it would be
-- it would not be correct for us to have this discussion without talking about the residents of the
City ofMiami. Andl think some of the things that jump out at me are the fact -- andl know it's
not lost on any of the Commissioners here -- that the latest statistics show that we're close to 14
percent unemployment in Miami -Dade County. Andl remember when I was reading over the
bond rating manuals that they were saying that we have twice the level of poverty -- twice the
national level of poverty in the City ofMiami according to our bond rating disclosures. You
know, I don't think it's lost on this Commission, who made a very, very difficult decision last year
when deciding not to raise taxes, that we had to fill a budget hole of $ 115 million and how
difficult that was, and other governments didn't do that. And there were consequences, political
consequences to those governments not doing that. As the Mayor mentioned earlier today, we're
fortunate that this year Miami -Dade County has proposed a substantial property tax reduction,
the School Board has proposed a property tax reduction, and the City ofMiami is proposing a
property tax reduction. And I think last year one of the things that was frustrating and hard to
explain was why we had not raised taxes and other governments had and people were still
getting a bill at the end of the day that showed their property taxes going up. You know, one of
the benefits I think of this year versus last year, having been here years, I feel like the labor
unions, from what I've seen, have been much more willing to come to us and talk to us and create
a dialogue. They've given me and they've mentioned to me a lot of different ideas thatl think are
very worthy ideas worth looking at that save millions and millions of dollars. And so one of the
things I wish would have happened, I wish in January or February we would started this
conversation because the fact of the matter is we knew we were going to be here. I mean, there
was no -- we talked about it last year. I brought it up last year. We're not out of the woods.
We're not out of the woods this year. You know, maybe we'll be out of the woods next year in
terms of generating, you know, more revenue than not having a deficit. I sincerely hope so, andl
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think our employees hope so as well because I think they've clearly taken a beating and some
worse than others. But you know, at the end of the day, the question that we have to ask
ourselves is, you know, what are we going to do for the residents of the City ofMiami. I mean,
that's where we start, and then we move from that point forward. And that's why I made the
motion. Andl look forward to working as hard as we worked last year this year and working
cooperatively with our partners, which are the labor unions, to get to a balanced budget. I
sincerely -- from the things that they've told me, it seems like it's very doable. So hopefully, we
can get there.
Chair Gort: If you all recall, my office has made a lot of recommendations and we'll continue to
do so. We have asked the unions to come up with their own ideas also and we -- whatever idea
we can suggest, I think you should bring it up to the management, andl think it's important.
Sometimes the little things grow up to be big things. Any further discussion?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Everybody knows that I'm more than willing to work with the unions and
with the Administration and so forth. And yes, Commissioner Suarez, we should have started
much earlier. That's why months backl said -- you know, I did a point of privilege and we
discussed our finances because I felt we weren't getting the financial information that we needed,
where we were with our unions, the negotiations with our unions and so forth because we -- you
know. Well, I'm just going to say we know the situation that we are in now. At the same time, as
far as our residents, listen, my record speaks for itself. I have been one that has constantly,
constantly been against raising any taxes and my record speaks for itself. At the same time,
when you ask the question what are we doing for our residents, I know, you know, about
reducing their taxes. At the same time, let's not kid ourselves, you know. With regards to
furloughs, there may have to be another way because the truth of the matter is, if there's less
firefighters on the street -- and think about it, for 30 -- and this is business -- this is working
days. This isn't just, you know, weekends. If there's less police officers on the street -- Why?
Because they're taking furloughs. -- then realistically, response time has to go down and that
affects our residents. If they call the cops -- you know, if they call the police, response time will
go down. Let's talk about the paramedics. I don't know about -- actually, I do 'cause we recently
saw some statistics. More than half of my district is age 65 or older. Let me say that again.
More than 50 percent of my district is age 65 or older. And from some statistics that we saw real
quick, a large part of the City ofMiami is residents of 65 years or older. There's a need for
paramedics. And when they call 911 'cause they're having a heart attack or so forth, we've got to
make sure that paramedics are not on furloughs and that the response time doesn't increase
because that could be lives. So I disagree that services will not go down.
Mr. Martinez: Well --
Vice Chair Carollo: If they have 34 days offurloughs -- even 22 days offurloughs, yes, services
will go down and that's why, you know, I'm bringing other options to the table from fuel, to the
CRA, to other -- because the truth of the matter is services will have to ultimately go down.
Mr. Martinez: Commissioner, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I only use the word furlough as
a point of reference. There -- I mean, if there're salary cuts associated with filling the gap or the
deficit, those people will be working and services will not suffer. I'm just using furloughs as a
point of reference to work from. Our goal is to have no furloughs and at least -- and not impact
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services. If you reduce salaries, the services will stay the same. I mean, that's an option. I
appreciate the CRA contribute and we're going to work at chipping away those things, but I only
use the word furlough as a point of reference.
Vice Chair Carollo: By the way, that's -- we still have to see the legality behind this and so forth.
That's not a done deal. I just think it needs to be explored --
Mr. Martinez: Agreed.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- because I think that could be something that would definitely help the
general fund. And I understand that you're just using the word furlough, but the bottom line is,
what's the alternative? You --
Mr. Martinez: Reduction in salaries, reduction in a holiday, you know, different things. We're
looking at all that.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Let's go back to as far as the millage rate. Although I know per state
formula it may be actually correct, I think it's deceiving because we're comparing apples to
oranges. We are comparing this year's July 1 numbers, estimated numbers minus new
construction versus last year's actual numbers after the VAB (Value Adjustment Board) makes
their determination -- makes their adjustments. So we're actually comparing the final taxable
value versus an estimate July 1 figure. And like I said, it's really comparing apples to oranges.
Now I understand that per state formula it appears like it's correct, but whatl think is going to
happen is that once this year the VAB number comes in, we will actually be very close if not
under last year's. Put it this way: Does anyone here think that property values in the City of
Miami have gone up by 1 percent? 'Cause that's what this rollback rate is actually saying, that
the property values in the --
Commissioner Suarez: It went up seven -tenths of a percent.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, seven -tenths. So when you round, 1 percent.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: So that's what this is really saying.
Commissioner Suarez: Rounding costs money.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's what this is really saying, that property values in the City ofMiami
have gone up 1 percent. I don't think anyone here believes that, so that's why I'm saying it's
deceiving 'cause we're not comparing apples to apples. We're not comparing last year's final
taxable value after the VAB, you know, adjustment board, and this year's. We're comparing the
estimate of July I that, if we look from last year, really decreased quite a bit. Now I understand
if we maintain the same millage at this point, it will be considered a tax increase --
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- because we're comparing apples to oranges. Andl know -- or it is
apparent to me that the will of this Commission is to this year show a reduction in the millage.
That's what's been apparent to me. Let me ask you something, Madam Budget Director. Is there
a millage rate in between the flat rate and the rollback rate that will actually reduce taxes but
not by the amount that is showing here? In other words, in the rollback rate, you're not taking
into consideration $527 million worth of new construction.
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct.
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Vice Chair Carollo: So can this 5.7 -- or no, let me rephrase it. Can the flat rate be reduced by
an amount that will still be a tax reduction but not the rollback because of the new construction?
Ms. Dziedzic: Anything above rollback will be considered a tax increase. So 7.572 would be
considered a tax increase. The -- that is the trim law.
Vice Chair Carollo: Even though technically it is not because that's not considering --
Ms. Dziedzic: It's a millage decrease from the current fiscal year, but it is considered a tax
increase for the purposes in trim, the truth in millage. I mean -- and if Law might want to jump
in --
Mr. Martinez: I was in that circular argument myself and there was no way around it.
Ms. Dziedzic: Any --
Mr. Martinez: Andl know what you're looking for, an in-between that still is a tax --
Vice Chair Carollo: Reduction.
Mr. Martinez: -- reduction. I know exactly where you're going, but anything-- what was told,
anything above the rollback is consid -- will have to be posted as a --
Ms. Dziedzic: It has to be advertised.
Mr. Martinez: -- tax increase in the trim notice.
Vice Chair Carollo: And we've seen that the trim notice is always wrong. That's why we've had
to reserve extra money last year; if not, we'd be in trouble. So, you know, state formulas and so
forth is not making it easy. And I'll tell you why, Mr. Mayor. Because at the end of the year,
we're going to find out that these numbers are not accurate. It's actually going to come a lot less
than this number and with a lower millage.
Mayor Regalado: Commissioner, you just said that we're not looking at the new construction
and that would come in line next year. But just for the record --
Vice Chair Carollo: No, no, no, no. It will come in line this year. However, for rollback
purposes, new construction is not taken into the calculation. It would actually be taken into
consideration this year.
Mayor Regalado: Okay. Even though hopefully we expect that next year there will be a modest
increase in property values and new construction in the City ofMiami because there are new
construction -- but just for the record -- andl understand all this discussion. This is the rollback
rate. This is the millage that the Administration is proposed. If the Commission wants to change
the millage to show a modest tax increase, tomorrow I will veto that and then we're going to have
to meet on Monday because by August 4, we will have to send the trim. And you know, we can
go -- we should go to the state and change the formula, but this is the formula that we have to
live with. So anything more than what we are proposing, tomorrow I will veto and then we have
to meet again.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but Mr. Mayor, this isn't about what we're voting for or not. This is
about --
Mayor Regalado: No, no.
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Vice Chair Carollo: -- getting information --
Mayor Regalado: I understand, I understand but --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- you know.
Mayor Regalado: -- I'm just -- because we're talking -- the whole discussion is about the millage
and the Manager is -- has been working with the staff for tomorrow's meeting where we are
going to be shown different options and, you know, then from then on they will get direction. But
what I'm saying is about the millage. We have to send this to Miami -Dade County. There is no
way -- if we do not act today, the trim will be sent to the residents of the City ofMiami saying the
City ofMiami is proposing a tax increase because they will go with the flat rate of last year.
This is what I'm saying. We're talking the difference is $3 million, but what I'm saying is if there
is -- if we deviate from what the Administration is proposing -- and you have all the right to do
that, but I have the right to veto it, and then we'll come back on Sunday or Saturday or Monday
because we do have to send some kind of paper, something to the Dade County property
appraiser.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I think -- I don't want to get into a confusing argument, but it
seems to me that the new construction for 2012 is an estimate of the new construction, so one of
the reasons why it gets taken out is because -- precisely because you want to compare apples to
apples. You don't want to put things in the taxable roll that are not -- were not included last
year. So you want to see how the taxes impact and how the rate impacts by -- residents in their
current state so that you can compare our base from next year to our base from this year. So
that's why I think they take out the new construction. I struggled with it a little bit myself, and it
was something that was a deviation from what I think was originally expected. I know the Value
Adjustment Board has done a lot of reconciliations to bring up values, which is why I think it's
less smooth than it would be otherwise. Last year we went from having lost 15 percent of value
to actually having lost 21 percent of value.
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct
Commissioner Suarez: So this year we're slightly uptick -- you know, we had been told that we
were going to lose anywhere from 5 to 7 percent, then it went to 3.8 percent in the preliminary
assessment, and now it's up slightly at seven -tenths of a percent. The bottom line is we're going
to get the same amount of revenue with this proposed millage rate. So that's why it's the rollback
rate and that's why it wouldn't be a tax increase if we -- it would be a tax increase if we change
the millage rate from the proposed rate.
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Okay. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: I just wanted to somewhat chime on my colleague, Commissioner Suarez,
in that, you know, it's after -the -fact now but that's -- had we kind of started on this earlier, we
could have had maybe some work in progress to do it. But as it is now, we have an obligation
where we do have to act today. I would like the following questions answered and would expect
to have this information to me and my colleagues by mid to late August. And there's a couple of
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questions here. First question is, can we afford -- just something for us to consider and look at.
Can we afford the services the City is providing with the revenues we are generating? If we have
more employees than we need, then what is the excess? Or let me ask it another way. For the
level of services that the City is providing, do we have more employees than we need? For the
level of services that the City is providing, do we have more employees than we need? And then
if the answer to that is yes, if we have more employees than we need, then what is the excess?
And how much does that excess cost the City? Another question: How does DROP (Deferred
Retirement Option Plan) employees impact the excess? These are issues that we need to sit down
and talk about. Again, you know, I feel somewhat like the CRA is the scapegoat and the
stepchild, but let's deal with some other things that are hard to deal with too. How does the
DROP employees impact the excess? What kind of accountability systems do we have in place to
ensure we meet revenues projections as well as revenues from the charges for services category
of the budget? What kind of accountability systems do we have in place to ensure that we meet
revenues projections as well as revenues from charges for services category of the budget? I
want you to work with my office as we refine these questions because I believe only by answering
these questions can we really make informed decisions. Thank you.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir, Commissioner.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I lost my train of thought, so I'll come back. I'll yield to you
or whoever.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you.
Commissioner Suarez: When I get it back -- I'm sure I'll get it back very shortly.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you, Mr. -- Mr. Chairman?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Could I have the floor? Let me ask a question to our Budget director, City
Manager also.
Commissioner Suarez: Got it.
Vice Chair Carollo: Do you think this is going to be the number as far as ad valorem taxes that
we are going to receive at the end of the next fiscal year, or do you think it's going to be less?
Ms. Dziedzic: Historically, it's been a little bit less, not to the magnitude of the current fiscal
year, but historically, there has been a small difference between preliminary and final, maybe 1
to 2 percent.
Vice Chair Carollo: However, the past two years, what has that percentage been?
Ms. Dziedzic: Well, we still -- even for the current fiscal year, we don't have the final final
number. This is a estimated final number. The Value Adjustment Board is still not complete with
their evaluations. We won't have that number until October or November, so that number can be
better or can be worse. The previous year, I'm not sure what that number is off the top of my
head, but for the current fiscal year, it is an anomaly. This is not a normal change.
Vice Chair Carollo: I -- the previous fiscal year, it was much -- the tax revenues that came in
was much less than what we anticipated, and that's where we got into some trouble that we had
to use, you know, our reserves, andl think that's why this current year, back when we were
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drafting the budget, we -- City Administrator Migoya --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- wanted to budget additional monies. And as a matter of fact, if you really
think it's only going to be 1 percent different, why are we then reserving an additional 5 percent?
Ms. Dziedzic: Well, because collections are not just based on changes in value. There's also
people who default, who just don't pay. Also, there is a 4 percent discount for those people who
pay in November, who pay their taxes in November. So right off the bat to expect 100 percent
collection is unreasonable. Any property that has a mortgage, that has an escrow account, the
bank will pay in November in order to recognize those savings. And it's 4 percent in November,
3 percent in December, 2 percent in Jan -- so forth.
Vice Chair Carollo: I understand.
Ms. Dziedzic: So to anticipate 100 percent collections is pretty unreasonable. Ninety-five
percent -- I don't remember a year, since I've been here --
Vice Chair Carollo: I understand.
Ms. Dziedzic: -- that we've collected 95 percent.
Vice Chair Carollo: And the reason why I say that is because that is where I am saying that
we're not comparing apples to apples or oranges to oranges. We're comparing apples to
oranges, and the reason why is because we're comparing our estimated from July 1 to the end
where the VAB already comes in and so forth. So we really are even anticipating that that
amount is going to be lower, so we're not comparing apples to oranges. However, we are now
setting the rate or the rollback rate based on that. And realistically, towards the end of the year,
this tax amount would actually be -- or revenues coming in will actually be less and --
Commissioner Suarez: Probably.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- we have additionally --
Commissioner Suarez: Possibly.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- lowered our rate. So that's why I'm saying it's deceiving, andl
understand that if, you know, this way the trim notice is done, I can definitely -- I definitely
believe it's not, you know, exactly the correct way, not that it isn't correct per how they stipulate
their calculations and so forth. I'm just saying it may not be the best way to calculate because
we're already anticipating, you know, that we're going to have less revenues than this. And if
not, why do we, you know, reserve an additional amount in addition to what the trim says that we
should, 95 percent and so forth. So that's what I'm saying. Andl wanted to see if there is some
way that we could reduce our rate but not to take into account that, realistically, the VAB will
come in at the end of the year and it'll be an amount less.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess the way I look at it is a little
differently. I look at it as this is a policy decision. You know, we are looking at the reality that
the residents of our city are facing and we are basically saying, as have other governments, like
Miami -Dade County, with Mayor Gimenez's leadership, like the School Board, with, you know,
Superintendent Carvalho's leadership, we are saying that whatever inefficiencies are happening
in government, whatever potential waste is happening in government, we don't feel it's
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appropriate to pass that along to our residents. We just don't. We don't feel that that's the
appropriate decision. So whether that means that our values end up coming in a little bit less
and the gap is a little bit wider -- the bottom line is we're making a policy determination. We
don't think it's appropriate given 14 percent unemployment, twice the poverty rate of the nation,
that we are going to raise taxes or do anything that even signals the possibility of raising taxes.
My question to the City Manager is is every single employee of the City ofMiami working to 100
percent maximum capacity and efficiency?
Mr. Martinez: (INAUDIBLE).
Commissioner Suarez: And that's why it's hard for me to sit here and say we are going to
potentially send the message that we're going to increase taxes when we can't even look at our
residents with a straight face and saying -- irrespective of our core services, we can't look at you
and say that every single employee of the City ofMiami is someone that needs to be here and
someone that is working at 100 percent capacity. I got asked this question in a television show
andl thought it was a lot -- I thought it was pretty funny actually. They asked me, are there
employees that make a lot of money and work a little bit and employees that work a little bit and
make a lot of money in the City ofMiami? Andl said, yes, there are, andl think we all know
who they are. I think there are people in the City ofMiami that work extremely hard, that go
above and beyond, andl know a lot of them. That's right. That's one of them. There's a lot of
superstars here. There's a lot of them in all our departments. They kill themselves. And you
know what, a lot of them come to me and they complain that they're -- some of their coworkers
don't. And I've been told -- and I'm not going to out the person who told me, but I've been told
by some departments there's as much as 30 percent of the people that don't do much or don't
work hard. If you were to apply that to the entire labor force of the City ofMiami, that's $115
million in savings. You know, obviously, that's taking it to the extreme. But the point is that, you
know, whatl was hopeful of this year and -- would be that we would do something differently
from last year, that we wouldn't do things indiscriminately, that we would take the time -- that we
would sit with our partners from the labor unions, that we would go through with them and say,
listen, we cannot afford people that don't -- aren't productive. We just can't afford it. You guys
got to tell us who they are so that we can create a government that's maximum efficiency, doesn't
reduce services one iota for its residents, and we also have to prioritize, meaning there are some
services that are more important than others, and there are. Andl think -- I could tell you in my
district, crime is the number -one thing, so I could tell you what service is the one that's most
important for me. So I don't know how my colleagues feel about that statistic, but it definitely is.
So there's 30 departments -- I know Mayor Gimenez's son is over there in the audience. I know
Mayor Gimenez has proposed consolidating departments. I know that you have, as soon as you
came in, started consolidating positions, high-ranking bureaucratic positions, andl commend
you for that because that's hard, you know. 'Cause some of those people are people that you
have grown to work with, but the fact of the matter is we do have to protect our rank in file, those
people who make very little money, who eke out a living, just like our residents, and that's what I
think we should be focused on as this budget year continues.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Okay. Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: A few comments and then at least I'll be ready to vote. A few comments.
One is that I guess what I'm trying to say, Commissioner Suarez, is that even what according to
trim notices are -- is a tax increase, in reality it will not be a tax increase 'cause at the end of the
year, you know, it will actually lower. Andl know, it's --
Commissioner Suarez: Maybe.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right. It's somewhat of a risk, but traditionally, historically, we have seen
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that it's lowered, so I understand. And like I said, I know what the will of this Commission is, but
I have to explore all options. I think that's --
Commissioner Suarez: Of course.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- what we all do. As far as, let's say, that 30 percent that you say that our
employees and -- don't really earn their monies or so forth or at least they're not producing and
-- you know, I mean, let's put it on the table. Some of them are sacred cows, you know. They
can't be touched, you know, and that's the reality. So I mean, if we really get down to it, you
know, we may have to, you know, see who these sacred cows are. And you know what, this
Commission may have to act and say this is not going to continue.
Chair Gort: That's right.
Commissioner Suarez: I don't think we have the luxury of having sacred cows or any other kind
of cows.
Vice Chair Carollo: No, I agree. However --
Chair Gort: Sure don't.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- you stated that you have been told and that you know --
Commissioner Suarez: Andl have.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- that there's up to possibly 30 percent --
Commissioner Suarez: That's what I've been told --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right, so --
Commissioner Suarez: -- by several people, not by one person.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- but -- okay, but --
Chair Gort: Gentlemen.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- let's call it how it is. They're sacred cows.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: They can't be touched. They can't do no wrong, and you know, and if I --
and when we say put everything on the table, I think those people should be looked at also --
Commissioner Suarez: I think everybody should be looked at.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- and we'll be discussing it with our Manager and let's make it even for all.
Commissioner Suarez: I agree. I think everybody should be look --
Chair Gort: I think we all agree on that.
Commissioner Suarez: -- every single employee should be looked at.
Chair Gort: Okay, gentlemen.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Another thing that I want to mention that actually I think it was -- it caught
my attention right away. You mentioned how the County is consolidating departments, yet the
City increased a department to say -- by the way, improperly because this Commission did not
vote for it -- but the City increased a department saying that it was going to be, you know, more
efficient or it was going to save us money. So -- and that's something that I brought up in the last
Commission meeting that said, well, we must be the only municipality to think that cutting is by
making two departments and we're going to cut our expenses.
Commissioner Suarez: I was as perplexed by that argument as you were.
Vice Chair Carollo: You know, so that's why when now you mention as far as consolidating
departments and the County's doing it -- andl agree with you, but you know, again, let's call it
how it is, you know.
Chair Gort: Commissioner, that's part of the actions that we can take in here. We can request
the consolidation of department. We can vote on it, and we can ask that it be done, so --
Vice Chair Carollo: And l just want to be -- I just want to point it out because it clearly dictates
by ordinance who creates departments and who does not. And that somehow was circumvented,
overridden and we created a department without the proper channels, which is this Commission.
So I'm just putting that -- and I'm -- I understand. We want to vote. Let's do it.
Chair Gort: Yes. Thank you.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Just real briefly, Mr. Chair. You know, I don't usually say nice things
about the Miami Herald, although I do get their paper. If you read yesterday's paper, if you read
the front page of it, you got to see exactly how the federal government has balanced its books
since Jimmy Carter. You got to see how the debt ceiling was raised, by what president, how
many times, how frequently. Whether you're a Republican on this dais or Democrat -- we really
shouldn't be any one --
Commissioner Dunn: Nonpartisan.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. It's nonpartisan, I agree. But you got to see it's an American problem
and what it comes down to is spending today's dollars but passing it on to tomorrow children.
And that is exactly what government has done for the better part of 30 to 40 years now. They
have spent today's dollars and passed it on to Mariano Cruz's children. Now for my own
purposes --
Mariano Cruz: Debt service.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Well, exactly. It's everyone's child because America, the land of the
promise, doesn't seem so promising right now. You know, it doesn't seem like we sort of lost our
swagger. And it's really hard for government to spend today's dollars and pay for it in today's
dollars, and yet, that's exactly what we're being asked to do, is to spend today's dollars and pay
for it in today's dollars. It might mean a reduction in some services. Some people might say
under no certain terms is this Commission to even consider reduction of services. Well, I don't
know that that is right. I don't know exactly what services should be cut. And that leaves the
City Manager, andl wanted to say a few words about him. When Johnny Martinez first came
here -- you know, I certainly liked Johnny, andl thinkl made it very clear to everybody. But
thought his biggest missive would have been his ability to say no. I didn't think he had it. I will
tell you the one thing that Johnny Martinez can do is make a decision. He may not be right --
and you know what -- and he may not be wrong either. But I will tell you this, he is decisive.
And decisiveness is what we need in the City ofMiami. Andl think some things went on that you
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just weren't the City Manager for. And you are the City Manager now, and so long as you have
the support of this Commission, you'll be the City Manager. And you know, I just want to say to
you -- and probably don't extol many virtues here in the City ofMiami. I believe in your
leadership. I believe in you. I believe you've done a very, very credible job because you didn't
come in in the easiest of times, nor didMigoya, you know, nor did Crapp, for that matter. But,
you know, you're standing toe to toe and you're doing what you have to do. You're making the
decisions I wasn't sure that you could make. And I just want to say from my perspective, I sort of
agree with everything that Suarez says because it is a philosophical principle decision you're
making today. It is a philosophical principle decision. You know, government is like the beast.
You feed the beast, it will eat whatever you give it. And you either trim the beast down, or the
beast will continue to consume. And for somehow and some reason, Washington doesn't seem to
get it. And maybe we all depend upon them in some respects to continue at their own deficit
spending. But it seems to me it's morally wrong to spend today's dollars and pass it on to
tomorrow's children. So I want to join in Commissioner Suarez and Commissioner Dunn's
motion and move that this -- that we stand toe to toe with the County, with the School Board, and
we demonstrate to the citizens ofMiami that we can live within our means.
Chair Gort: Okay. There's no further discussion. All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Mayor Regalado: Thank you.
RE.21 RESOLUTION
11-00692
Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Attorney ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE FOUR
(4) AGREEMENTS, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH
WEST, A THOMSON REUTERS BUSINESS, FOR WESTLAW, A COMPUTER
ASSISTED LEGAL RESEARCH SERVICE, FOR THE OFFICE OF THE CITY
ATTORNEY, FOR A THREE-YEAR PERIOD, IN A FIRST -YEAR AMOUNT NOT
TO EXCEED $75,501, WITH EACH YEAR THEREAFTER INCREASING THE
AMOUNT BY THREE PERCENT (3%), FOR A TOTAL AMOUNT NOT TO
EXCEED $233,696.84; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM ACCOUNT NO.
00001.131000.554000.0.0.
11-00692 Memo - Office of City Attorney.pdf
11-00692 Legislation.pdf
11-00692 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
DEFERRED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
Note for the record: Item RE.21 was deferred to the Commission Meeting scheduled for
September 15, 2011.
RE.22 RESOLUTION
11-00694
Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Facilities ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE
ATTACHED FORM, WITH THE CITY OF MIAMI DEPARTMENT OF
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
OFF-STREET PARKING, FOR THE PURPOSES OF ESTABLISHING THE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS TO BE PROVIDED FOR IN AN INTERLOCAL
AGREEMENT AND LEASE FOR THE MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF
THE PARKING FACILITIES AT THE MIAMI MARLINS BASEBALL STADIUM.
11-00694 Summary Form.pdf
11-00694 Legislation.pdf
11-00694 Exhibit 1.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
R-11-0321
Chair Gort: RE.8.
Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Mr. Chair, there was one more item that went along with this, and
we announced it at the beginning of the meeting, that it would be taken together, and that is
RE.22.
Chair Gort: Okay, RE.22.
Ms. Bru: Correct, Mr. Clerk?
Vice Chair Carollo: And before we get to RE.22, I just want to thank my colleagues, even though
it's not something that -- it's mine or anything. The bottom line is it's in my district andl have to
make sure that it moves along. It's something that I inherited and I've got to make sure it moves
along. And I'll go a step further. Not only that it moves along; that we succeed and we actually
see opportunities and take advantage, capitalize on opportunities. And hopefully in April or
May of next year, I'll be able to give some good news and say, listen, we're bringing in revenues
and this is the amount. Now, with all fairness, every time that I've been in a position where a
negotiator -- even though this was staff negotiating -- but given some (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with
financials, I've done pretty good.
Commissioner Dunn: You have.
Vice Chair Carollo: You know, even from the remediation, if you remember back with the CRA,
and I'm saying, hey, listen, if we just move the dates or so forth with the remediation, it'll be an
additional 100, 000. It was actually 191, 000, so you know, I'm okay.
Commissioner Dunn: Yeah, we're good.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Okey-doke. PZ (Planning & Zoning) [sic] --
Madeline Valdes (Director, Public Facilities): Yeah. RE.22 is a resolution authorizing the City
Manager to execute a memorandum of understanding between the City and the Department of
Off -Street Parking for purposes of establishing the terms and conditions to be provided for in a
interlocal agreement that will be later brought to the Commission for approval for the
management lease of the parking facilities for the Marlins baseball stadium. And Art Noriega is
here from the Off -Street Parking if you have any questions of them.
Chair Gort: The question is what is going to be the responsibility of Off -Street Parking and
where are those revenues going to go to?
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Ms. Valdes: We had briefly discussed some of that internally, and in the interlocal agreement, we
hope to address that. Obviously, the parking revenues -- excuse me, the leasing revenues we
expect to give directly to the City. As far as the parking revenues, I have Art here and he can
answer that.
Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: I think all that will be in the interlocal agreement. It will be specifically
addressed. And there's two sides here: One is the parking and one is the retail. The parking,
since it was bond monies to build and so forth, there's stipulation on where that money could be
used. I think it first has to be applied to debt and then -- I don't know if there's something else.
And then it could be used for the City ofMiami.
Chair Gort: As a revenue (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Vice Chair Carollo: It appears from some projections, some pro forma that we will also be able
to obtain some general fund revenues from the parking, but I think it's still premature because all
these pro forma, if you will, were done, you know, prior to me being here andl -- but it does
appear from what I've been shown that we could get some general fund monies from the parking
also, but that's after the debt is paid and so forth. But everything, all the details will be in the
interlocal agreement.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Art Noriega: I'm here just for Q&A (Questions & Answers). Art Noriega, Miami Parking
Authority. Whatever questions, you have I'm free to answer. There's a lot to be fleshed out in the
interlocal agreement. So to be honest with you, a lot of the concerns raised earlier relative to
specifically approval process and particularly with the individual leases. This is a City -owned
asset and my recommendation would be that the City keep as much control over that approval
process as possible.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Any question?
Commissioner Sarnoff. So the -- I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Go ahead.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So the interlocal comes back to this Commission?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Noriega: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I like that.1ir'art.
Commissioner Dunn: That's a good one. We can -- Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Motion.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
DI.1
11-00607
City Manager's Office
Commissioner Dunn: Move it.
Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved and second. Moved by Commissioner Dunn, second by Vice Chairman
Carollo. Is there any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Ms. Valdes: Thank you.
END OF RESOLUTIONS
DISCUSSION ITEM
DISCUSSION ITEM
DISCUSSION REGARDING THE SITE CERTIFICATION FOR THE TURKEY
POINT PLANT UNITS 6 & 7, THE PROPOSED ALTERNATE CORRIDOR FOR
THE TRANSMISSION LINE AND THE SUBMITTAL OF THE REQUIRED
AGENCY REPORT RECOMMENDING DENIAL OF THE PROPOSED
ALTERNATE CORRIDOR.
11-00607 Summary Form.pdf
DISCUSSED
Discussion on the item resulted in the resolution below:
(DI.1) RESOLUTION
11-00607a
City Commission A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ADOPTING THE
AGENCY REPORT FOR THE PROPOSED ALTERNATE CORRIDOR
SUBMITTED BY NEIGHBORING MUNICIPALITIES, PREPARED BY THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS
CONTAINED THEREIN, TO BE FILED BY THE CITY MANAGER AND CITY
ATTORNEY IN THE MATTER OF FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT (FPL)
COMPANY, TURKEY POINT UNITS 6 AND 7 POWER PLANT SITING
APPLICATION, CASE NO. 09-003575-EPP; DENYING CERTIFICATION OF
THE ALTERNATE CORRIDOR; FURTHER OBJECTING TO THE ALTERNATE
CORRIDOR AS A VIABLE CORRIDOR FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI UNLESS
THE TRANSMISSION LINES ARE UNDERGROUNDED, AND IN SO FAR AS
ALL CITIZENS THAT BENEFIT FROM THE POWER OF SAID LINES, I.E., ALL
FPL RATE PAYERS, SHALL PAY A PRO RATA SHARE OF
UNDERGROUNDING.
11-00607a Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Dunn II
Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-11-0333
Chair Gort: So we go to Discussion 1. DI [sic]. DI [sic], FP&L (Florida Power & Light) --
Commissioner Sarnoff. DI [sic] --
Chair Gort: -- corridor.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- page 27.
Chair Gort: The alternative corridor for the FP&L.
Alice Bravo (Assistant City Manager/Chief of Infrastructure): Good afternoon. Alice Bravo. As
we discussed probably a month or two ago in the process of FP&L seeking certification of a
utility corridor they had proposed of running transmission lines down US 1 from the Homestead
nuclear plant, Turkey Point, to downtown Miami. There were several municipalities that
grouped together and proposed an alternate corridor that runs through the north side of the City
ofMiami, from west to east, roughly Palmetto/Flagler area. Part of the process, just as we
commented on the corridor proposed by Florida Power & Light, the process also allows us to
comment on the alternate corridor. So our -- the comments that we're planning right now on the
alternate corridor pretty much mirror the comments that we submitted and discussed for the US
1 corridor, that we do not support overhead transmission lines, new lines through that area. If
they are to propose any lines, they need to be underground. We're concerned about the
aesthetics, the economic viability, the negative effects associated with these lines, and as such
our comments for the alternate corridor are almost identical to those of the US 1 corridor.
Chair Gort: And the alternative is underground?
Ms. Bravo: Correct.
Chair Gort: Okay. Do I have a motion? Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair, I -- just so -- the City's position is going to be, Ms. Bravo,
that we are going to support undergrounding. We're going to support that the undergrounding be
paid for not by the adjacent property owners, but by a larger population geographic area so that
it be more well distributed. And by doing that, you're going to be looking at who is going to have
the ability to enjoy this power north as well as west of us, correct?
Ms. Bravo: Correct. And those will be the premise of our analysis of the corridor. In addition
to that, in the report we list that for anything that ultimately does go forward by FP&L, the
requirements that they have to fulfill with regard to the various departments of the City and
permitting, et cetera.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Chair Gort: Okay. Motion?
Commissioner Sarnoff. I move.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): I'm sorry. We are making a motion on?
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Just a discussion.
Victoria Mendez (Assistant City Attorney): I actually can read a --
Chair Gort: Discussion. We don't need a motion, do we?
Ms. Mendez: -- resolution if you --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. You do need one?
Ms. Mendez: I have a resolution title that I can --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Let's hear it.
Ms. Mendez: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. An ore terms resolution.
The Resolution was read by title into the public record by Assistant City Attorney Victoria
Mendez.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Is there anything in that motion that states that the City ofMiami
supports undergrounding?
Ms. Mendez: We can --
Chair Gort: No. It's not.
Ms. Mendez: That's in our report. In the report that we're going to submit, the first thing it's
going to say is we deny certification. The second thing is we would accept it if you underground
it. The third thing --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Is there any way of incorporating that into the resolution so I could be
comfortable?
Chair Gort: Sure.
Ms. Mendez: Yes. Further, objecting to the alternate corridor as a viable corridor for the City
ofMiami and however accepting only underground and underground --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. However, accepting undergrounding insofar as all citizens who enjoy
the use of the power would pay a pro rata portion of the undergrounding.
Ms. Mendez: Yes. We can put that in the resolution.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I would make that motion, Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Okay. There's a motion by Commissioner --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: -- Sarnoff, as amended. Second.
Commissioner Dunn: As amended.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Chair Gort: Any discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair Gort: Thank you. PZ.1.
Ms. Bravo: Thank you.
Chair Gort: You want to swore [sic] in people?
Commissioner Sarnoff. You mind if we take a quick bathroom break?
Chair Gort: Huh?
Commissioner Sarnoff. (INAUDIBLE) bathroom break.
Chair Gort: Okay, we'll take five. Make it five, please.
END OF DISCUSSION ITEM
PART B: PLANNING AND ZONING ITEMS
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. If you'll be speaking
on any of tonight's Planning & Zoning items, can I please have you raise your right hand?
The Assistant City Clerk administered oath required under City Code Section 62-1 to those
persons giving testimony on zoning issues.
Mr. Hannon: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
PZ.1 RESOLUTION
10-00581 mu
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING WITH CONDITIONS, A MAJOR USE
SPECIAL PERMIT PURSUANT TO ARTICLES 13 AND 17 OF ZONING
ORDINANCE NO. 11000, AS AMENDED, THE APPLICABLE ZONING
ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, FOR THE CITY CENTER
PROJECT, TO BE LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 100 NORTHWEST 12TH
STREET, 1120 NORTHWEST 1ST AVENUE, 105 AND 113 NORTHWEST
11 TH TERRACE, AND 1129, 1135, 1145, 1151, AND 1159 NORTHWEST 1ST
COURT, MIAMI, FLORIDA, TO CONSTRUCTAMIXED-USE RESIDENTIAL
COMPLEX COMPRISED OF TWO 27-STORY TOWERS WITH A 9-STORY
PODIUM -PARKING GARAGE AND A TOTAL MAXIMUM HEIGHT OF AN
APPROXIMATE 270'-8" NATIONAL GEODETIC VERTICAL DATUM (N.G.V.D.)
AT TOP OF ROOF SLAB, PROVIDING APPROXIMATELY 340 TOTAL
MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL UNITS WITH APPROXIMATELY 392,612
SQUARE FEET OF FLOOR AREA, 3,130 SQUARE FEET OF RETAIL SPACE
AND 478 OFF-STREET PARKING SPACES; MAKING FINDINGS OF FACT
AND STATING CONCLUSIONS OF LAW; PROVIDING FOR BINDING
EFFECT; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
10-00581mu CC 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
10-00581 mu CC Analysis. pdf
10-00581mu Zoning Map (Miami 21).pdf
10-00581mu Zoning Map (Ordinance 11000).pdf
10-00581 mu Aerial Map. pdf
10-00581 mu Aviation Letter.pdf
10-00581mu Public School Concurrency Letter. pdf
10-00581mu PZAB Reso.pdf
10-00581mu CC Legislation (Version 2).pdf
10-00581mu ExhibitA.pdf
10-00581mu Exhibit B. pdf
10-00581mu Binder Cover. pdf
10-00581mu Inside Cover. pdf
10-00581mu Table of Contents. pdf
10-00581 mu Article I. A. Letter of I ntent. pdf
10-00581 mu Article I. B. City of Miami Application for MUSP. pdf
10-00581 mu Article I. C. Legal Description. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. D. Owner List. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. E. Disclosure of Ownership - RNG Overtown LLC.pdf
10-00581 mu Article I. F. Ownership Affidavit - RNG Overtown LLC. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. G. Disclosure - RNG Overtown LLC.pdf
10-00581mu Article I. H. Ownership Structure - CDG City Center, Ltd. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. I. Ownership Affidavit - CDG City Center, Ltd. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. J. Disclosure - CDG City Center, Ltd.. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. K. Public School Concurrency Form.pdf
10-00581mu Article I. L. Miami -Dade County Printouts - Property Deed. pdf
10-00581muArticle I. M. Ownership List.pdf
10-00581mu Article I. N. State of Florida Documents - RNG Overtown. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. O. State of Florida Documents - CDG City Center, Ltd. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. P. City of Miami Zoning Atlas. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. Q. City of Miami Future Land Use Map.pdf
10-00581mu Article I. R. Aerial Location Map. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. S. Photographs. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. T. Project Principals. pdf
10-00581mu Article I. U. Project Data Sheet.pdf
10-00581 mu Article I. V. Zoning Write-Up.pdf
10-00581 mu Article II. Project Description.pdf
10-00581mu Article II. A. Zoning Ordinance No. 11000.pdf
10-00581 mu Article III. Supporting Documents. pdf
10-00581mu Article III. Tab A. Survey of Property. pdf
10-00581mu Article III. Tab B. Site Plan.pdf
10-00581mu Article III. Tab C. Site Utility Study. pdf
10-00581mu Article III. Tab D. Economic Study. pdf
10-00581mu Article III. Tab E. Environmental Site Assessment.pdf
10-00581mu Article III. Tab F. Architectural Drawings.pdf
10-00581mu Article III. Tab G. Landscape Drawings.pdf
10-00581muArticle III. Tab H. Traffic Impact Analysis. pdf
10-00581mu Article III. Tab I. Traffic Sufficiency Letter.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 100 NW 12th Street, 1120 NW 1st Avenue, 105 and
113 NW 11th Terrace, and 1129, 1135, 1145, 1151, and 1159 NW 1st Court
[Commissioner Richard P. Dunn II - District 5]
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
APPLICANT(S): Ryan D. Bailine, Esquire, on behalf of RNG Overtown LLC
and CDG City Center, Ltd.
FINDING(S):
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval with conditions*.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended denial to City
Commission on December 15, 2010 by a vote of 6-1.
*See supporting documentation.
PURPOSE: This will allow a phased development of the City Center project.
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-11-0330
Chair Gort: PZ.1, City Center.
Francisco Garcia: Thank you, Commissioner. Item PZ.1 -- Francisco Garcia, Planning &
Zoning director, for the record. Item PZ.1 is a Major Use Special Permit application so this
particular application is still traveling under the Zoning Ordinance 11000. This is for properties
located at approximately 100 Northwest 12th Street. And this is basically for a large, mostly
residential, but mixed -use development, including two 27-story towers and a 9-story podium and
parking garage, including 340 multifamily residential units, which we understand are intended to
be affordable housing units. The Planning, Zoning andAppeals Board originally recommended
denial of the item.
Chair Gort: Hold a minute. Go ahead.
Mr. Garcia: Thank you, sir. The Planning, Zoning andAppeals Board originally recommended
denial of the application, and the reason for that was that it was determined the applicant should
seek further input from the stakeholders in the immediate area, which we understand they have
since tried to do and done. The Planning Department's recommendation is for approval, subject
to the conditions that you have on record, and we will certainly happy to -- be happy to stand by
and answer any questions you may have.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Ryan Bailine: Good evening --
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Mr. Bailine: -- Mr. Chair. Ryan Bailine, with the law firm of Stearns Weaver Miller, located at
150 West Flagler Street. I understand you have a number of items left on the agenda, some of
which are very significant, so I would like to say a few things on the record just to back up what
the Planning director said, and then, depending upon the will of the Commission, we're happy to
make a full presentation on our application. Our design and development team are all here. The
first thing I'd like to mention is that when we came back -- when we came to the Commission in
January -- I'm not sure if it was Commissioner Carollo or Commissioner Suarez; it could have
been both of them, who did ask us one question at the time; I couldn't answer it. And the
question was how are we going to advertise this community within the community with respect to
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
jobs? As detailed in our MUSP (Major Use Special Permit) application, each phase -- and it is
almost a virtual certainty that this particular community will be built in three phases -- will
generate approximately 120 construction jobs per phase and about 15 or 12 total jobs after
completion. We have committed on the record here this evening, as well as when we appeared
before the Overtown Community Oversight Board last week, that we will hold one job fair per
phase. We have committed to working hopefully with the CRA (Community Redevelopment
Agency). The director said he would advertise our job fairs on their Web site. We will work with
the community to the greatest extent possible distributing information to businesses, vocational
institutes or what have you and religious organizations to make sure that the members of this
community in Overtown, where our community is going to be built, are kept as informed as
possible about job opportunities going forward. The second thing would like to say just for the
record is that we are in agreement with all of the conditions being imposed on our
recommendation of approval by the Planning Department, specifically -- and l just want to
highlight one condition -- is that because it is, again, a virtual certainty that this community will
be built in phases, the Planning Department is requiring us to come back to the Planning
Department to get interim phasing plans approved so that the property appears as needed while
phase one is complete and phase two may be delayed for a year or so. The third thing, which
dovetails into what I just said, is that -- and something that Mr. Garcia mentioned, is that we did
reach out and appeared before the Overtown Community Oversight Board on July 21, last
Thursday evening. We discussed the project and our hope for developing this community within
the Overtown community, again, in a phased fashion. You know, we spoke about some of the
retail, we spoke about our intentions to have a secure community, and we committed to the
Overtown Community -- the members of the Overtown Community Oversight Board, just as we've
committed to the Planning Department and here again on the record this evening that we will
bring this community back to the OCOB (Overtown Community Oversight Board) as we go
through the approval for our phasing during the development process. With that being said, I'm
happy to answer any questions regarding our application. We are hopeful that we can get an
approval this evening because, as Mr. Garcia said, it is anticipated that this community will be
affordable housing, and an approval will permit us to quickly try and obtain financing for one or
all phases in accordance with the State of Florida September 8, 2011 application deadline.
Chair Gort: Okay, thank you.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Anyone in the public?
Terrance Cribbs-Lorrant: Terrance Cribbs-Lorrant, the vice chair for the Oversight Board. And
we really do appreciate the Chair allowing us this time. They did in fact appear to the board on
July 21. However, it was found through the discussion as well with the community that the
Oversight Board was not ready to support or deny the support of the following building to be --
to continue on until further information was provided. There was a lot of gaping holes as it
related to their ability to identify how they were going to in fact ensure that there would be
residents from the Overtown community involved in the actual process, not just the building from
the front end but as well on the back end. So as it stood, the board voted 7-1 and a resolution
was submitted to both our Commissioner, as well as to the Commissioners on the board and to
the Planning committee that reads as follows, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Cribbs-Lorrant: Now therefore be it resolved and recommended that the Overtown
Oversight Board Community requests that our City Commissioner, Richard P. Dunn, II, and all
the City Commissioners support the decision of the OCOB, which is the Oversight Board, and
delay the vote on the project until additional information is provided to the OCOB and the
Overtown community and a written agreement identfing benefits for the residents of the
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Overtown is structured and including in that proposal that the Overtown Community Oversight
Board requests that our County Commissioners, Audrey Edmonson, and all the County
Commissioners support the decision of the OCOB and delay the vote on this project until further
information is provided to the OCOB and the Overtown residents; and a written agreement
identfing the benefits for the residents of Overtown is structured and included in the proposal.
And so with that, we really recommend to the Commissioners that you all continue to seek out
further information that details and outlines in writing. We understand that empty promises as
we -- many of our communities have suffered from, and we would not want to see that continue
as we will support only those things that benefit the Overtown community and the residents at
large. This was echoed many times throughout their presentation, and we want to be as vivid
and confident as we stand forth before our community. Thank you for the time.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Commissioner Dunn: Go ahead. Go right ahead.
Mr. Garcia: Thank you, sir. I'd like to perhaps add some information that may be of interest to
the Commission. We have essentially captioned the same concern that has been expressed by the
Overtown Community Oversight Board, and we've had this conversation with the applicant.
Where we find the application to some extent to be missing information is to the extent that the
phasing of the project has not been fully worked out. I should say, in all fairness, that this
particular project has been redesigned a number of times, as you know, because we've addressed
this issue before. There were some delays in this application because they were studying the
possibility of doing away with some easements and some covenant restricting the property that
were constraints and required that the property -- that the building as designed be as tall as it is
and as massive as it is. They were, I think, sensitive in trying to respond to the community's
desire that the building be scaled appropriately, and so they explored many options, to make a
long story short, to try to downsize it slightly. In the end, those attempts did not pan out. They
were not able to do away with the easements and the dedications and so they are now aiming to
proceed as originally proposed, which is perfectly in compliance with Zoning Ordinance 11000.
However, the salient point, the important point here is that they don't have yet designed what the
building will look like when only phase one is built, when only phases one and two are built, and
then phases one, two, and three we understand because that whole project has been designed.
So we have reservations about that. We've been very candid with the applicant about the
reservations we have about that. And the commitment they've made and the condition that we
are captioning in our recommendation is that prior to moving ahead with the first building
permit for the first phase, they must present to us and work with us to design a phasing plan and
what each of those phases will look like. And as part of that process, what we have also said and
I'm happy to offer this to you as an additional modification to the condition is that there will be
public participation in that the Overtown Community Advisory Board -- I'm sorry, Oversight
Board will also be involved and presentations will be made to them and their concerns will be
duly addressed. We think that it is of merit for the Commission to consider approving the project
as presented today with the overall massing and entitlement that they are proposing
understanding that this design will have to undergo further revisions and refinement, and of
course, that the Overtown community will be involved in the redesign process prior to it being
approved for building permit.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Bailine: And we are in agreement with the conditions as modified being presented by the
Department.
Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. Close the public hearing. Commissioner.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman, in light of all of the other historical perspective that's been
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
given and certainly in light of the position of the Planning Department and the Oversight --
Overtown Advisory -- Overtown Advisory Board/Oversight Board, I'm -- as I look back at some
of the records, this has been delayed, I think, for the fourth time. Now you said, Mr. Director,
that before a permit is issued, that they will have to come back to you and you're asking also that
they come back to the Overtown Oversight Advisory Board.
Mr. Garcia: That is correct. We are proposing that to you as a condition. We think it is
appropriate, andl believe that the applicant's in agreement with that as well. We hope that also
satisfies the concerns of the Oversight Board.
Commissioner Dunn: So you understand what they're saying. 'Cause I want to act fairly and
reasonably even to those who are developing. They cannot even go forward yet, a permit will not
- - but at least they can begin the process and between coming back to the Planning Department
- - coming back to us, they must first come to the Planning Department and the Overtown
Oversight Advisory Board -- Committee. Is that fair?
Commissioner Suarez: Second for discussion.
Commissioner Dunn: All right.
Chair Gort: Okay, been moved and second. Sorry, the public hearing is closed.
Mr. Cribbs-Lorrant: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I just want to say that this is the kind of thing that I would
agree with mostly because Francisco Garcia is our Planning director. He's someone that I've
worked with on a variety of different issues since I arrived and someone that I truly respect. He's
definitely in the superstar/hard worker category of the category I was talking about before.
Mr. Bailin: I second that.
Commissioner Suarez: And you know, when -- one of the issues always in government is who do
you give discretion to? And Francisco is someone that l feel very comfortable giving discretion
to because he knows how to balance the relative interests of the community with, you know, all
the other interests that are involved in making difficult decisions.
Commissioner Dunn: Let me just -- one more.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Just want to say to the develop -- repre -- to the team representing the
development, you understand now, I have residents in the community that I will listen to.
Mr. Bailin: Absolutely.
Commissioner Dunn: Andl am the Commissioner, but they are the residents, so I just want to
make sure you understand. I want to put that on the record. So I'm asking you to, please, sir,
comply with as much as reasonably possible with the requests that are being made.
Mr. Bailine: Absolutely. And we're making -- we're hoping to make a very significant
commitment to Overtown, not just the community but the residents, so I echo your statement 100
percent.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Mr. Bailin: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
PZ.2 RESOLUTION
10-01096cm
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING A MODIFICATION TO A DECLARATION OF
RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS DATED MARCH 31, 1997 AND RECORDED IN
OFFICIAL RECORDS BOOK 17604, PAGES 3735-3770, OF THE PUBLIC
RECORDS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOR THE PROPERTY
LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 1900 BRICKELLAVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA.
10-01096cm CC 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
10-01096cm Miami 21 Map.pdf
10-01096cm Ordinance 11000 Map.pdf
10-01096cm Aerial Map.pdf
10-01096cm PZAB Reso.pdf
10-01096cm Letter of Intent. pdf
10-01096cm Supporting Documents. pdf
10-01096cm Survey. pdf
10-01096cm CC Legislation (Version 3).pdf
10-01096cm Exhibit A. pdf
10-01096cm Exhibit B.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 1900 Brickell Avenue [Commissioner Marc David
Sarnoff- District 2]
APPLICANT(S): Carlos J. Gimenez, Esquire, on behalf of Dr. Jorge
Suarez -Menendez, Owner
FINDING(S):
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval with conditions*.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval with
conditions on January 19, 2011 by a vote of 9-0.
*See Exhibit "1".
PURPOSE: This proposed modification will amend certain restrictions to the
existing covenant.
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
DEFERRED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Dunn II
Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
Note for the record: Item PZ.2 was deferred to the Commission Meeting scheduled for December
22, 2011.
Chair Gort: At this time, anyone that would like to ask for a deferral.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Carlos Gimenez: Yes, thank you. PZ.2 -- for the record Carlos Gimenez, 121 Alhambra Plaza,
representing the property owner, Dr. Suarez Menendez, in connection with PZ.2. We see you
have a very busy agenda and a lot of big issues, so we'd like to request a deferral to the
convenience of the City staff and the district Commissioner. November or December of this year
is fine with us, and I'd leave that decision up to you.
Commissioner Sarno:I I move it for --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- December.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's been move and second.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Second meeting in December.
Chair Gort: Second meeting in December. Any --
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): That will be December -- well, as of this time, December
22, but there could be a consolidation of meetings --
Chair Gort: Right.
Mr. Hannon: -- as we get closer to that month.
Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying
"aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Mr. Gimenez: Thank you. Good evening.
Chair Gort: Okey-doke.
PZ.3 ORDINANCE
11-00380ap
Second Reading
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING WITH CONDITIONS, PURSUANT TO
ARTICLES 3 AND 7 OF THE MIAMI 21 CODE, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, THE DEVELOPMENT OF
APPROXIMATELY 9.038 ACRES SPECIAL AREA PLAN FOR THE BRICKELL
CITICENTRE, A MIXED -USE DEVELOPMENT GENERALLY BOUND BY
BRICKELL AVENUE TO THE EAST, SOUTHWEST 1ST AVENUE TO THE
WEST, SOUTHEAST 6TH STREET TO THE NORTH AND SOUTHWEST 8TH
STREET TO THE SOUTH, MIAMI, FLORIDA, CONSISTING OF: A)
APPROXIMATELY 4.68 MILLION SQUARE FEET OF FLOOR AREA SPLIT
AMONG FOUR CITY BLOCKS; B) APPROXIMATELY 650,110 SQUARE FEET
OF PARKING AREA LOCATED BELOW GRADE; C) APPROXIMATELY 19,700
SQUARE FEET OF CIVIC SPACE AT THE GROUND LEVEL AND
APPROXIMATELY 6,500 SQUARE FEET OF CIVIC SPACE ON UPPER
LEVELS; D) THESE SQUARE FOOTAGES ABOVE ARE APPROXIMATE AND
MAY INCREASE OR DECREASE AT TIME OF BUILDING PERMIT, NOT TO
EXCEED A TOTAL OF 5,511,492 SQUARE FEET OF FLOOR AREA OR LESS
THAN 19,639 SQUARE FEET OF CIVIC SPACE; MAKING FINDINGS OF
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
FACT AND STATING CONCLUSIONS OF LAW; PROVIDING FOR BINDING
EFFECT; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-00380ap Binder Cover-SAP.pdf
11-00380ap CC 06-23-11 Table of Contents.pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.1 Cover Letter. pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.2 SAP Application. pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.3 Project Directory. pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.4 Exhibit A: Legal Description. pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.5 Recorded Deed.pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.6 Affidavit of Authority to Act. pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.7 Disclosure of Ownership.pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.8 Certificate of Status. pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.9 Power of Attorney. pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.10 Disclosure of Agreement to Support. pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.11 Proof of Lobbyist.pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.12 Public School Concurrency.pdf
11-00380ap TAB A.13 Proposed Development Agreement. pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.1 City of Miami Current Land Use Map.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.2 City of Miami Transact Zone Map.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.3 Transit Oriented Development Map.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.4 Surveys.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.5 Site Location.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.6 Site Photos.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.8 Zoning Write Up.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.9 Site Data Summary.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.10 SAP Area Program.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.11 SAP Parking Data.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.12 Lot Coverage Diagram.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.13 Concept Drawings.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.14 Sustainability Sumarry.pdf
11-00380ap TAB B.15 Economic Impact Summary.pdf
11-00380ap TAB C.1 Design Guidelines.pdf
11-00380ap CC 06-23-11 TAB C.2 Regulating Plan.pdf
11-00380ap CC 06-23-11 TAB D.1 Traffic ImpactAnalysis.pdf
11-00380ap TAB D.2 Development Impact Study.pdf
11-00380ap TAB D.3 Utility Report.pdf
11-00380ap CC SR 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
11-00380ap Analysis. pdf
11-00380ap Miami 21 Map.pdf
11-00380ap Aerial Map.pdf
11-00380ap DDA Reso.pdf
11-00380ap PZAB Reso.pdf
11-00380ap CC Legislation (Version 4).pdf
11-00380ap Exhibit A.pdf
11-00380ap CC Exhibit B - NEW.pdf
11-00380ap CC Exhibit C - NEW.pdf
11-00380ap CC Exhibit D.pdf
11-00380ap 07.13.11-07.18.11 REVISIONS for 07-28-11 CC.pdf
LOCATION: Generally Bound by Brickell Avenue to the East, SW 1st Avenue to
the West, SE 6th Street to the North and SW 8th Street to the South
City of Miami Page 161 Printed on 8/22/2011
City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
[Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff - District 2]
APPLICANT(S): Neisen Kasdin, Esquire, on behalf of Swire Properties and
Johnny Martinez, City Manager, on behalf of the City of Miami
FINDING(S):
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval with conditions*.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval with
conditions* to City Commission on June 15, 2011 by a vote of 7-0.
*See supporting documentation.
PURPOSE: This will allow the Brickell CitiCentre SAP project, which will allow
the development of approximately 9.038 acres of vacant land, create linkages
between the Mary Brickell Village to the south and future development to the
north approaching the Miami River. The proposed project is a significant
investment in the City and is expected to cost approximately $700M, generating
over $4M annually in city General Fund Ad Valorem taxes.
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
13279
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item PH.7 for minutes referencing Item PZ.3.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And I would move, Mr. Chair, for PZ.3 under the same -- using the same
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- statements made before, andl would echo the comments of
Commissioner Suarez. It's interesting that this is on this day.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I don't think you could juxtapose --
Commissioner Suarez: Any issue any better.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah. You know, I -- you know, you sit up here -- you guys sat through it
the whole day, I saw it. It's different for you than it is for us. I mean, we're looking at the next
ten minutes and you're looking at the next hundred years. And the next ten minutes look difficult.
The next hundred years, I can't pick a city in American that has a brighter future than Miami. I
really can't. I mean, couldn't be more proud to say this is home from any city in America. I
chose this place. I wasn't born in this place. He was born in this place. He chose this place.
You were born in this place, okay. But it's -- there's so much promise, otherwise you wouldn't be
spending a billion dollars if you didn't believe in Miami. And there's some people on your heels
that may be spending a like amount, you know. And I echo the thoughts of Suarez, but I also say,
you know, it's like, to the City employees, to anyone out there, we're going to get through this,
and we're going to get through this just fine, but for the next ten minutes, you need to take your
foot off our throat a little bit. And in the next ten years, this city has more promise than any city
in America. That's all want to say.
City of Miami Page 162 Printed on 8/22/2011
City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
PZ.4
11-003981u
Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion?
Commissioner Dunn: I agree.
Chair Gort: Read it.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Maria J. Chiaro.
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): Before the vote is made, ifI may, Mr. Chair. The
motion was made for approval with conditions as contained in the record. Is that correct?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Correct.
Mr. Garcia: And one additional clarifying statement. The information that you are making
reference to in approving this project is based on the latest submittal with dates to June 6. This
is just to clam that the original submittal that you saw in the first reading has been superseded
by that submitted on June 6. Thank you.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Before I read your roll call, Mr. Garcia, will the motion on
the floor amendPZ.3? Okay. Thankyou very much. Your roll call on PZ.3.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-0, as amended.
Spencer Crowley: Thankyou, Commissioners.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Break ground soon. PZ.4.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Swire, go forth and multiply and replant some trees. I want to see some
Johnny Appleseeding going on.
ORDINANCE
Second Reading
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS AMENDED, THE
2020 FUTURE LAND USE MAP OF THE MIAMI COMPREHENSIVE
NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN, PURSUANT TO PLAN AMENDMENT
PROCEDURES SUBJECT TO SECTION 163.3184, FLORIDA STATUTES, BY
EXPANDING THE "LITTLE HAVANA TARGET AREA" RESIDENTIAL DENSITY
INCREASE AREA LOCATED APPROXIMATELY BETWEEN INTERSTATE 95
AND METRORAIL RIGHT-OF-WAY AND BETWEEN SOUTHWEST 11TH
STREET AND SOUTHWEST 15TH ROAD/BROADWAY, MIAMI, FLORIDA;
MAKING FINDINGS; DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO AFFECTED
AGENCIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
11-003981u CC SR 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
11-003981u Analysis.pdf
11-003981u Concurrency Management Analysis.pdf
11-003981u Future Land Use Maps.pdf
11-003981u Miami 21Maps.pdf
11-003981u Aerial Maps.pdf
11-003981u Traffic Analysis.pdf
11-003981u School Concurrency.pdf
11-003981u PZAB Reso.pdf
11-003981u Various Agency Responses.pdf
11-003981u CC Legislation (Version 3).pdf
11-003981u ExhibitA.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately between Interstate 95 and Metrorail Right -of -Way
and between SW 11th Street and SW 15th Road/Broadway, Miami, Florida
[Commissioner Frank Carollo - District 3]
APPLICANT(S): Johnny Martinez, City Manager, on behalf of the City of Miami
FINDINGS:
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval to City
Commission on May 18, 2011 by a vote of 7-1.
PURPOSE: This will expand the above area to the "Little Havana Target Area"
Residential Density Increase Area.
Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
13283
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): PZ.4.
Commissioner Sarnoff. PZ.4.
Chair Gort: PZ.4, Little Havana.
Mr. Garcia: Yes, sir. Thank you. Item PZ.4 is before you on second reading. This is a proposed
land -use change. It is essentially an amendment to the City's comprehensive plan. And
incidentally, I believe this is the item that the gentleman who spoke previously is here to
participate in. The net effect of the proposed change is essentially to change the density of the
area. In the maps that you have before you, the density would change from 150 units per acre to
200 units per acre. I would like to point out that the zoning package will not be affected in any
way whatsoever, so the heights will remain as they are, the uses will remain as they are. It is
only the density of the number of residential units per acre that would change as a result of this
item. The Planning Department recommends approval. The Planning, Zoning and Appeals
Board recommends approval as well. And we will gladly answer any questions you may have.
Vice Chair Carollo: Move it.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Chair Gort: It's been moved by --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: -- Vice Chairman Sarnoff -- I mean, Vice Chairman Carollo, second by
Commissioner Dunn. It's kind of late.
Maria J. Chiaro (Deputy City Attorney): Public hearing was open?
Chair Gort: Public hearing's open. No one. Close the public hearing.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Maria J. Chiaro.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Your roll call on PZ.4.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-0.
PZ.5 ORDINANCE Second Reading
11-00492zt
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER
2/ARTICLE IV/DIVISION 2 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA,
AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "ADMINISTRATION/DEPARTMENTS/PLANNING,
BUILDING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT," MORE PARTICULARLY BY
CREATING A NEW SECTION 2-212, ENTITLED " CERTIFICATE OF USE
PILOT PROGRAM," CREATING AND IMPLEMENTING A PROCESS FOR THE
CONTINUATION OF NON -CONFORMING USES FORA PERIOD OF TWO (2)
YEARS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN
IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-00492zt CC SR 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
11-00492zt PZAB Reso.pdf
11-00492zt CC Legislation (Version 3).pdf
LOCATION: Citywide
APPLICANT(S): Johnny Martinez, City Manager, on behalf of the City of Miami
FINDING(S):
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD (PZAB): Recommended
approval with conditions* of the original request to City Commission on June 15,
2011 by a vote of 7-0.
*See PZAB Resolution.
PURPOSE: This will create a pilot program allowing nonconforming uses to
continue after review and approval of the Planning Department.
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
City of Miami Page 165 Printed on 8/22/2011
City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
13280
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): Mr. Chair, ifI may. May I ask that PZ.4 be put on hold
for a moment while the district Commissioner perhaps joins us again and we might move to
PZ. 5?
Chair Gort: Okey-doke. PZ.5.
Barnaby Min (Zoning Administrator: Barnaby Min, with the Office of Zoning. PZ.5 is an
amendment to Chapter 2 of the City Code to create a pilot program for the continuance of
certain nonconforming uses. Currently, nonconforming uses that have had their CU (Certificate
of Use) expire for less than six months may have their CU renewed and continue pursuant to
Miami 21. What we're proposing is for CUs that have been expired for more than six months but
less than eighteen months, they may continue by a process of warrant, which is an administrative
review process by the Planning Department, and the pilot program would be effective until
August 1, 2012.
Chair Gort: Okay. Anyone in the public? Being none, close the public hearings [sic]. Yes, sir.
Alex Rodriguez: Hi. Alex Rodriguez, with Gables Sports Cars, at 3855 Bird Road. I just want
to speak on behalf of this issue. This is an issue that affects us.
Chair Gort: You're welcome.
Mr. Rodriguez: We, by mistake, have lapsed on our certificate of use, and this is something that
I've worked with Mr. Min on and discussed with him and that's why it is being proposed. It was
a mistake on our part from the many permits that we need. It was just an oversight. And so it
would be something that would be very favorable to us andl would assume to other businesses
that might be in the same situation as myself.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Min: I believe -- if I could just stand in for Mr. Rodriguez, I think it's important for you to
clam for the Commission or at least for you to understand that what's being proposed is for --
between six and eighteen months. That's when it would be allowed to be continued by process of
warrant.
Mr. Rodriguez: Right.
Mr. Min: Anything that's been expired for more than 18 months would not be allowed to
continue and would have to be in full compliance with --
Mr. Rodriguez: Correct.
Mr. Min: -- Miami 21.
Mr. Rodriguez: Right. We just want the opportunity to come back into compliance since -- I
mean, we've been operating the same way for over ten years. There's nothing changed there. I
mean, I'm sure we would --
Mr. Min: But Mr. -- perhaps -- andl don't mean to have this conversation on the -- in the
chambers, but perhaps, Mr. Rodriguez, you don't understand that you are a nonconforming use
that has had a CU expire for three years, and you would not be able to take advantage of this
proposed legislation.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Mr. Rodriguez: For the two -- but we were until 2009, so it would be two years, correct?
Mr. Min: It's being adopted from today -- assuming it is adopted, it's from the day that the
Mayor signs it, and it would be 18 months from the date of adoption.
Mr. Rodriguez: Is it --? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought the one that we were discussing now was the
one for two years.
Mr. Min: It's for 18 months. It's not two years. That's what I'm trying to clam for you.
Mr. Rodriguez: Okay. Okay, I guess I made a mistake there in not reading the ordinance
correctly, but I believe that PZ.5 was -- Is there another one that's coming up today?
Mr. Min: This is the applicable one --
Chair Gort: This is the one.
Mr. Min: -- but it's only for 18 months, and you are outside the 18 months. So all I'm stating to
you -- and it's obviously up to you because I don't want to speak for you --
Mr. Rodriguez: Okay.
Mr. Min: -- but if you'd like to let the Commission consider something more than 18 months.
Mr. Rodriguez: Okay.
Mr. Min: That is not being proposed by the Administration.
Mr. Rodriguez: It was my under -- and I'm sorry for the mistake. It was my understanding that
this -- that there was going to be an amendment to this that would basically take us into being
able to be -- come back to compliance, which would be instead of for 18 months, 24 months,
being two years.
Chair Gort: Would the 24 month take care of his --?
Mr. Min: Andl don't remember the numbers off the top of my head. I thought it was three years,
but if Mr. Rodriguez is stating that his CU expired in 2009, then it should --
Mr. Rodriguez: Right.
Mr. Min: -- cover it.
Commissioner Suarez: Depending on the month.
Mr. Min: Depending on the month, of course.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Let's defer this because I don't think it's -- I don't know what the law of
unintended consequences are. And any time you pass a law for one person --
Commissioner Suarez: I second the deferral.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay.
Chair Gort: Wait a minute. I'm the one that brought this up.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: Sorry.
Chair Gort: And the reason I brought it up, we have a lot of businesses within my area that they
having that problem because of the vacancy and people wanted to come back and establish the
businesses, and that's the reason I asked the staff to bring it up. And then, if you recall, we asked
to have it sunset. In other words, it'll be something that'll be sunset, and l forget what the sunset
was. It was a motion made by yourself. So I'd like to see this done. I have people -- businesses
in the Allapattah area waiting for this to pass so they can go ahead and rent those spaces. Now
originally it was going to be two years and then --
Mr. Min: Andl apologize for not looking down. I made a misstatement. The pilot program is
for two years.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Mr. Min: So the pilot program expires August 1, 2013.
Chair Gort: It's a pilot program for two years, which not only take place for these individuals
but I'm the one that requested because it affects my neighborhood quite a bit.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I'll withdraw my motion.
Commissioner Suarez: I'll withdraw my second then.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: You want me to make a motion?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: I make a motion.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Sarnoff. Any
further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it --
Commissioner Suarez: Can I just say one thing?
Chair Gort: -- by saying "aye."
Commissioner Sarnoff.. It's an ordinance, an ordinance.
Commissioner Suarez: Can I say --
Chair Gort: It's an ordinance. Read it.
Commissioner Suarez: -- can I just say one thing?
Chair Gort: Yes.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Commissioner Suarez: Since this is a pilot program -- right, this is a pilot program? -- maybe in
its non pilot form we can consider longer time:frames to deal with other people who may be
suffering from a similar situation but may need more relief. Is that fair?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: It's a pilot program so --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Chair Gort: By the way, the person requiring the permit has to pay the CU for retroactive.
Mr. Min: Correct. And there's also a warrant fee that's involved and the review process that's
involved. So as the Chair is inferring, there is some revenue that would be generatedfrom --
Chair Gort: Right.
Mr. Min: -- this.
Chair Gort: Okay, ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Maria J. Chiaro.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Your roll call on PZ.5.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-0.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
PZ.6 ORDINANCE Second Reading
11-00588zt
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING
ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE MIAMI 21 CODE, THE ZONING ORDINANCE
OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, BY AMENDING ARTICLE
1, SECTION 1.1, ENTITLED "DEFINITIONS OF BUILDING FUNCTION:
USES", TO ADDA DEFINITION FOR REGIONAL ACTIVITY COMPLEX,
ARTICLE 4, TABLE 3, ENTITLED "BUILDING FUNCTION: USES", TO
PROVIDE PERMISSIBILITY FOR SAID USES, ARTICLE 6, TABLE 13,
ENTITLED "SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS", AND SECTION 6.5,
ENTITLED "SIGN STANDARDS", BY ADDING SIGNAGE PROVISIONS FOR
SAME; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-00588zt CC SR 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
11-00588zt PZAB Resolution.pdf
11-00588zt CC Legislation (Version 3).pdf
LOCATION: Citywide
APPLICANT(S): Johnny Martinez, City Manager, on behalf of the City of Miami
City of Miami Page 169 Printed on 8/22/2011
City Commission
Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
FINDING(S):
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval to City
Commission on July 6, 2011 by a vote of 7-0.
PURPOSE: This will establish provisions and regulations for large assembly
facilities, including definition, permissibility of uses, supplemental regulations,
and signage provisions for such facilities.
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Dunn II
Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
13281
Chair Gort: PZ.6.
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): Item PZ.6 is an amendment to the zoning ordinance
Miami 21. This is before you on second reading. This amendment defines also allows for
permissibility and lists how these uses are permitted and creates signage provisions for regional
activity complexes, which are essentially large assembly facilities that are intended to be
regional venues of attraction. The Planning Department recommends approval. The Planning,
Zoning and Appeals Board also recommended approval by a vote of 7-0. I will be happy to
answer any questions you may have.
Chair Gort: Okay. Is anyone in the public like to address this? PZ.6. No one --
Mr. Garcia: Our recommendation is for approval, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Dunn: Move.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Dunn, second by Commissioner Sarnoff.
Ordinance.
Maria J. Chiaro (Deputy City Attorney): We have a public hearing on this ordinance?
Commissioner Dunn: Yeah.
Chair Gort: I called for the public hearing but nobody came forward.
Ms. Chiaro: Okay. I'm sorry.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Maria J. Chiaro.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Your roll call on PZ.6.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 3-0.
PZ.7 ORDINANCE
11-00584zt
Second Reading
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING
ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ARTICLE 6,
TABLE 13, ENTITLED "SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS," BY ADDING
DRIVE -THROUGH AND DRIVE-IN REGULATIONS FOR T4-O; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-00584zt CC SR 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
11-00584zt PZAB Resolution.pdf
11-00584zt CC Legislation (Version 3).pdf
11-00584zt ExhibitA- NEWpdf
LOCATION: Citywide
APPLICANT(S): Johnny Martinez, City Manager, on behalf of the City of Miami
FINDING(S):
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD (PZAB): Recommended
approval with a modification*, which failed, constituting a denial to the City
Commission on July 6, 2011 by a vote of 4-3.
*See PZAB Resolution.
PURPOSE: This will introduce regulations for drive -through and drive-in
regulations for the T4-O Transect in Article 6 of the Miami 21 Code.
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
13282
Chair Gort: PZ.7.
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): Item PZ.7 is also before you on second reading. This is
also an amendment to the zoning ordinance of the City ofMiami, Miami 21. And this item would
allow the implementation of drive -through and drive-in uses in T4-O zones throughout the City.
However, in order to be allowed, this would require that the uses themselves or the parcels in
which the uses are to be located abut directly a primary arterial road as designated by
Miami -Dade County and that access to the drive -through and/or drive-in be provided through
said primary arterial roadway. It also provides, however, a -- the possibility that if access
through the primary arterial is not allowed by the applicable jurisdiction, be it FDOT (Florida
Department of Transportation) or the County, through a warrant process administrative
approval appealable to the PZAB (Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board), the applicant would be
able to propose entry through a side street, if available. We recommend approval. The Planning
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
-- I'm sorry, the Planning Department recommends approval. The Planning, Zoning and
Appeals Board recommended approval, but their motion failed by a vote of 4-3.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: Thank you. It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner
Dunn.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. What is a primary --? I know what an arterial road is. I don't know
what a primary road is.
Mr. Garcia: They are known commonly as arterial roads. They are the same thing essentially,
and they are duly designated by the County and they are --
Commissioner Sarnoff. No. I know --
Mr. Garcia: -- mapped.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- the County designates arterial. Does it also use the word 'Primary"?
Mr. Garcia: Yes, sir. They are interchangeable, the two terms. Primary, arterial --
Commissioner Sarnoff. So every arterial is a primary and every primary is arterial?
Mr. Garcia: Primary by itself does not exist as a denomination, but primary arterials are
arterials, yes. And arterials are primary arterials.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Didn't we take logic class once? I mean, wasn't that called ipso
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Why do you use the word primary then?
Mr. Garcia: I'm sorry. What I meant to say is that primary by itself would not suffice to cull out
those roadways. They are either primary arterials or arterials, but not just primaries.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Oh, so there is a difference between a primary arterial?
Mr. Garcia: No, sir. I'm sorry.
Commissioner Sarnoff. No.
Mr. Garcia: I'll make that clear. I apologize. Primary arterials and arterials are essentially the
same thing, full stop. If one were to say simply 'Primary," that would not capture the full
meaning of the term.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And if one just used --
Commissioner Suarez: The full effect.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- the word arterial, it would capture everything.
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Mr. Garcia: That is correct.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I'd feel so much more comfortable if we just had this as arterial roads.
Mr. Garcia: We can certainly do that in the ordinance.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. This ordinance -- again, this goes back to Francisco Garcia,
the superstar -- was created out of the community's desire not to see certain areas rezoned and
upzoned, I guess I should say, better said. And Francisco came up with a way of maintaining the
height restrictions in certain areas while changing the use such that the same actual intent could
be effectuated without, you know, doing something that the neighbors would be fearful of. So I
want to thank him for his work on that. It was a promise I would make to the neighbors and it's
nice to be able to deliver on it today.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Coral Way?
Chair Gort: Is anyone in the public --
Commissioner Suarez: No. It's actually 30 -- 27th Avenue.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Oh, really?
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Chair Gort: Is anyone in the public would like to address this? Close the public hearing. It's an
ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Maria J. Chiaro.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Your roll call on PZ.7.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-0.
PZ.8 ORDINANCE
11-00116zc
First Reading
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE NO.
13114, AS AMENDED, BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM
"T4-O" GENERAL URBAN TRANSECT ZONE TO "T5-O" URBAN CENTER
TRANSECT ZONE, FOR THE PROPERTIES LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY
2710, 2720, 2728 SOUTHWEST 23RD STREET AND 2719, 2729
SOUTHWEST 23RD TERRACE, MIAMI, FLORIDA; MAKING FINDINGS;
CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
11-00116zc CC FR 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
11-00116zc CC Analysis.pdf
11-00116zc Miami 21 Maps.pdf
11-00116zcAerial Map.pdf
11-00116zc PZAB Reso.pdf
11-00116zcApplication & Supporting Docs.pdf
11-00116zc CC Legislation (Version 2).pdf
11-00116zc ExhibitA.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 2710, 2720, 2728 SW 23rd Street and 2719, 2729
SW 23rd Terrace [Commissioner Francis Suarez - District 4]
APPLICANT(S): Gilberto Pastoriza, Esquire, on behalf of South Florida
Educational Federal Credit Union
FINDING(S):
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended denial.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended denial to City
Commission on March 16, 2011 by a vote of 7-1.
PURPOSE: The proposed zoning change will allow a broader range of uses
and greater density and intensity. The applicant will proffer a covenant for
these properties.
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
DENIED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Dunn II
Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, may I?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: I just wanted to ask the Planning director if now we can withdraw PZ.8.
Is that -- would that be the proper motion?
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): I don't believe so, sir, only because it is not our
application. There is a private applicant, so I believe procedurally at the very least we would
have to read the item and then --
Commissioner Suarez: Vote on it?
Mr. Garcia: -- subject it to your vote for -- we would recommend denial.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay. I will recommend denial on the application. Vote -- I make a
motion to deny the application.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: You mean PZ.8?
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
Chair Gort: Okay. There is a motion for denial.
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Commissioner Suarez: That's what --
Chair Gort: Second.
Commissioner Suarez: -- PZ.7 was done to solve.
Chair Gort: Discussion? No one in the -- it's an ordinance.
Maria J. Chiaro (Deputy City Attorney): You don't have to read it if it's denied.
Chair Gort: Okay. All in favor, state it by saying "aye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
PZ.9 RESOLUTION
11-00321v
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), DENYING OR GRANTING THE APPEAL, AFFIRMING OR
REVERSING THE DECISION OF THE PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS
BOARD, THEREBY DENYING OR GRANTING VARIANCES AS LISTED IN
ARTICLE 5, SECTION 5.3.1(e); ARTICLE 7, SECTION 7.1.2.7(a); AND
OFFSTREET PARKING GUIDES AND STANDARDS OF THE MIAMI 21 CODE,
THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED, TO ALLOW A RELAXATION OF THE SIDE AND REAR
SETBACKS IN T3-O AND REDUCTION OF PARKING AND GREEN AREA AS
FOLLOWS: A) SIDE SETBACK (EAST) OF 3'10" (5'0" REQUIRED, REQUEST
TO WAIVE 1'2"); B) REAR SETBACK (SOUTH) OF 5'10" (20'0" REQUIRED,
REQUEST TO WAIVE 14'2"); C) PARKING OF 3 SPACES (4 PARKING
SPACES REQUIRED, REQUEST TO WAIVE 1); D) REDUCTION OF THE
REQUIRED FIVE (5) FEET YARD OF GREEN AREA AT THE EAST SIDE OF
THE PROPERTY LINE, WHEN THE DRIVEWAY IS ADJACENT TO A
PROPERTY LINE: PROPOSED 2'3" (REQUIRED 5'0", REQUEST TO WAIVE
2'9"), FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 1772
NORTHWEST 30TH STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA.
11-00321v CC 07-28-11 Fact Sheet.pdf
11-00321v PZAB Appeal Letter.pdf
11-00321v Analysis.pdf
11-00321v Miami 21 Map.pdf
11-00321vAerial Map.pdf
11-00321v PZAB Reso.pdf
11-00321v Application & Supporting Docs.pdf
11-00321v Plans.pdf
11-00321v CC Legislations (Versions 3 & 4).pdf
11-00321v ExhibitA.pdf
11-00321v-Submittal-Photographs Of Property Located At 1772 NW 30 St., Miami, FL.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 1772 NW 30th Street [Commissioner Wifredo
(Willy) Gort - District 1]
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
APPELLANT(S)/APPLICANT(S): Lowell J. Kuvin, Esquire, on behalf of
Theresa M. Mathias and John Radu, Owners
FINDING(S):
PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended denial of the appeal and denial of
the original request.
PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Denied the Variances on May
4, 2011 by a vote of 8-0.
PURPOSE: The approval of this appeal will allow the legalization of an addition
to a duplex structure.
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Dunn II, that this matter be
DEFERRED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Dunn II
Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
Note for the record: Item PZ.9 was deferred to the Commission Meeting scheduled for October
27, 2011.
Chair Gort: PZ.9.
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): Item PZ.9 is a -- is before you as an appeal of the denial
of a variance application by the Planning, Zoning andAppeals Board. The variance appeal is
for a property located at 1772 Northwest 30th Street, and it is for an addition to a duplex
residence that in broad strokes would allow for three setback variances, one parking guideline
variance, and also an excessive footprint or lot coverage variance. This is to bring into
compliance a building that was built without the benefit of a building permit. The Planning
Department recommends denial of the appeal and that you uphold the finding of the Planning,
Zoning andAppeals Board. We will be happy to stand by and answer any questions you may
have.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Lowell Kuvin: Good afternoon -- or actually, good evening, Chairman Gort and
Commissioners. My name is Lowell Kuvin andl represent the property owners at 1772
Northwest 30th Street. I believe that the pictures really kind of tell the story here. It's not exactly
as it seems. I'd just like to point out at first that there haven't been any objections from the
surrounding neighbors to the variance. There's not been any new code violation since my clients
have obtained the property. They bought it at a foreclosure sale. There were several
inconsistencies on the original variance application I'd like to point out. I believe that the
Commission can hear those, and the reason being is that your review would be de novo of this.
The answer to question 21A on the variance application should have been yes. It was marked no
as to special circumstances or conditions which exist which are particular to the land and the
structure involved, which are not applicable to other lands in the same transect. If you'll notice,
the backend of the property abuts a asphalt parking lot and therefore it wouldn 't really be as
much of an impact if it had abutted, say, another neighbor's property. The answer to 21B, which
was answered no but should have been answered yes because the applicant purchased the
property with the buildings and asphalt parking lot in place. The special circumstances were not
the result of the actions of the applicant, but were a result of when they had checked the zoning
and that it had been zoned for a multipurpose -- multiunit -- for a duplex, and that's exactly what
they bought. Question 21 C on the application was answered no but should have been answered
yes because you can see from the aerial photographs other properties in the transect zone were
built with similar setbacks. This little interpretation of the provisions of the Miami 21 code
deprives my clients of the rights that are commonly enjoyed by other properties in that transect
zone. Question 21Z -- D, as in dog, was answered no, but it should have been answered yes
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
because you can see again from the aerial photographs, as well as some of the photographs
which were taken this week, that granting the variance requests will convey the same treatment to
the individual owner as owners of other lands and buildings. Take for example the house next
door, which has less than a setback adjacent to the asphalt parking lot, and that would be the
beige building there. Question 21E was answered no, but I believe it should have been answered
yes because if the minimum variance is granted, it will make possible the reasonable use of the
land or the building, which is as a duplex. Question 21F was answered no, but it should have
been answered yes because it's in harmony with the general intent of the Miami 21 code and not
injurious to the neighborhood or otherwise to the public. My client's asking for three variances.
The property side setback of 14 inches, the property rear setback, which is probably the largest
that they're asking for, is 14 feet, 2 inches. However, I believe that the pictures show that the
property abuts an asphalt parking lot in the back for the public housing in the back, andl don't
believe that it would impact the neighborhood or the people in the public housing development
there. The other one -- the other variance that they're asking for is a reduction of parking spaces
from four to three. There are -- as the pictures show, there are -- there is a liberal amount of
on -street parking. And again, I don't believe that it would impact the neighborhood or impact
the neighbors. And therefore, I ask that the Commission grant the variances.
Chair Gort: Okay. It's a public hearing. Anyone would like to speak on this item? No? We
close the public hearing.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I'll make the motion for you.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So move.
Maria J. Chiaro (Deputy City Attorney): To --
Commissioner Sarnoff. To approve.
Ms. Chiaro: -- approve the appeal.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Chair Gort: To approve the --
Commissioner Sarnoff. To approve the ordinance. Oh, sorry.
Ms. Chiaro: To approve the appeal, thereby granting the variance.
Chair Gort: It's an appeal.
Commissioner Sarnoff. To approve the appeal as stated.
Chair Gort: Okay. I got questions. My understanding this was built without a permit.
Mr. Garcia: That is correct, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Say that again.
Chair Gort: It was built without appeal [sic] and the setback is quite an intrusion and I
understand that you talk about the asphalt parking lot, but at the same time, there's a road right
there and it seems from the picture itself and me being by, you're right next door to the road,
about two feet to the street. I got mixed feelings on this one. I have to tell you the truth.
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Commissioner Sarnoff.. Want me to withdraw my motion?
Mr. Garcia: IfI may, Mr. Chair? Mightl suggest that to the extent that the Commission is
sympathetic to the presentation made by the appellant, that we might suggest ourselves as being
able to discuss with them possible terms of partial compliance, therefore bringing the structure
which is currently very largely in violation of many of the setbacks that are applicable and by
utilizing partial demolition and other measures come further into compliance, therefore reducing
the amount of adverse impact it would have on the adjacent properties. And we would be happy
to speak to the appellant about these possibilities.
Chair Gort: I would like that because I hate to set a precedent that you can go ahead and build
without a permit and build as much as you did in here and encroach the setback as much as this
property did. And it's a bad precedent. I mean, this is something we've been talking about for
quite a bit now and we need to take a stand somehow. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: If the motioner withdraw it, then I will second it.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I withdraw the motion.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: What is your suggestion?
Mr. Garcia: If you would consider deferring the item and asking the appellant to work with staff
to devise a compliance plan for this property and we will work with them to try to improve or
ameliorate the violation conditions to the extent feasible.
Chair Gort: All right. Do I have a motion to defer?
Commissioner Dunn: Motion --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. So move.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. As moved.
Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner Dunn.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Do we have a date that we would like to defer the item to?
Chair Gort: They got to sit down with the Administration. They got to work out some kind of
plan. And the building without a permit, that's something that's got to be a major penalty in
there, that's for sure.
Mr. Kuvin: Chairman, I'd like to just point out that my clients did buy that a foreclosure. It
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M.1
11-00245
wasn't them that built it without a permit. However, they are -- and understand -- they have
corrected all of the issues that Zoning has brought to them, such as the inside of the building.
There were extra kitchens and they have been taking care of all of that, and they do want to take
care of all of the other zoning issues.
Chair Gort: There's a lot more correction that needs to be taking place, and if they -- and you
got to understand; I don't want to set a precedent because you do one and then the next one will
come in. How can you deny it if you did it for one? So I personally don't want to set up a
precedent especially in that area. So I suggest you get together with them and not only try to
compliance but a lot of landscaping, okay? Thank you.
Mr. Kuvin: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Defer it to whenever they're ready. Not definite --
Mr. Garcia: If possible, I think we would benefit from having at least two months to work on this
item before we come back to you. So if we can --
Chair Gort: Right.
Mr. Garcia: -- continue to a date certain of -- for the month of October?
Mr. Hannon: We'll make it October 27. That's the second meeting in October.
Chair Gort: Okay, sounds good. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by
saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
END OF PLANNING AND ZONING ITEMS
MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' ITEMS
CITYWIDE
HONORABLE MAYOR TOMAS REGALADO
ORDINANCE
First Reading
(4/5THS VOTE)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER
62/ARTICLE XIII OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED, ENTITLED "ZONING AND PLANNING/ZONING APPROVAL FOR
TEMPORARY USES AND OCCUPANCIES; PERMIT REQUIRED", MORE
PARTICULARLY BY CREATING A NEW DIVISION 8, ENTITLED "
TEMPORARY VACANT STOREFRONT WINDOW SIGNS" TO DEFINE
TEMPORARY VACANT STOREFRONT WINDOW SIGNS AND TO CREATE
REGULATIONS FOR TEMPORARY VACANT STOREFRONT WINDOW
SIGNS; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
11-00245 Legislation (Version 5) 07-28-11.pdf
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Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
CONTINUED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
Chair Gort: Anybody have any other item need to be heard before 12?
Mayor Tomas Regalado: Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, Mr. --
Mayor Regalado: Just a comment. Andl had in the citywide page the first reading of the
ordinance about the -- what they call the Window Dressing. I would respectfully request that we
defer this because I met with the --
Vice Chair Carollo: So moved.
Mayor Regalado: -- executive director --
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved and second.
Mayor Regalado: Let me explain.
Vice Chair Carollo: Aye.
Commissioner Suarez: Aye.
Mayor Regalado: Let me explain. No, really. Number one, the DDA (Downtown Development
Authority) did not vote on it and they do want to vote up and down this, andl think that we owe
it to them. And so as soon as they vote, they will be able to -- the other thing, Mr. Chairman,
thatl want just to --
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Mr. Mayor, we are deferring that to
when, M.1?
Chair Gort: Indefinite.
Mayor Regalado: I would -- to September, the second meeting, because the DDA is going to be
voting on the first days of September, so it would be to the second meeting in September, as soon
as --
Mr. Hannon: Yes, sir.
Mayor Regalado: -- they vote.
END OF CITYWIDE ITEMS
DISTRICT 1
CHAIRMAN WIFREDO (WILLY) GORT
END OF DISTRICT 1
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D2.1
11-00619
D3.1
11-00624
(D3.1)
11-00624a
DISTRICT 2
COMMISSIONER MARC DAVID SARNOFF
DISCUSSION ITEM
DISCUSSION REGARDING AN OVERVIEW OF ALL THE CURRENT IT
PROJECTS.
11-00619 Email - Current IT Projects.pdf
NO ACTION TAKEN
END OF DISTRICT 2
DISTRICT 3
VICE-CHAIRMAN FRANK CAROLLO
DISCUSSION ITEM
UPDATE ON THE HIRING FREEZE AND EMPLOYEES HIRED AFTER THE
FREEZE.
11-00624 Email - Update on Hiring Freeze 07-28-11.pdf
11-00624-Submittal-New Hires According To Local 1907 From May 7, 2009-June 8, 2011.pdf
11-00624-Submittal-City Manager Report Of New Hires FRom May 7, 2009 Through July 11, 2011
DISCUSSED
Discussion on the item resulted in the resolution below:
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING THE CITY
MANAGER TO INCLUDE ON EACH REGULAR CITY COMMISSION AGENDA
A REPORT TO INCLUDE 1) NEWLY HIRED CITY EMPLOYEES, 2) ANY
INCREASE IN SALARY FOR CURRENT CITY OF MIAMI EMPLOYEES, AND
3) ANY WAIVERS OF HIRING OR PROMOTIONAL LIMITATIONS OF CITY OF
MIAMI EMPLOYEES THAT IMPACT THE CITY OF MIAMI BUDGET.
11-00624a Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Dunn II
Vice Chair Carollo: Mine?
Chair Gort: Yes.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Let's do it. My first discussion item is an update on the hiring freeze and
employees hired after the freeze. Because of the time -- because I think we still have the budgets
for all three CRAs (Community Redevelopment Agencies) and it's going to be a long night, I kind
of want to focus a little bit less on the employees that were hired after the freeze andl want to
look at little bit towards an update on the hiring -freeze. Mr. Manager, right now as it stands --
and by the way, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to focus at another Commission meeting or
so forth on employees that have been hired after the freeze. I just want to somehow find a
remedy for right now. Mr. Manager, how do you go about hiring someone right now when
there's a hiring freeze?
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Right now what --
Vice Chair Carollo: What determines you hiring someone? What determines their pay and all
that good stuff?
Mr. Martinez: Yeah. What I've been doing in the three or four weeks that I've been on the job is
I look at it more as a hiring watch than a hiring freeze.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry?
Mr. Martinez: I look at it more as a hiring watch than a hiring freeze. A hiring -freeze to me is
freeze, that's it. There's no exceptions. A hiring watch is, philosophically, to centralize all the
decisions. In other words, instead of having the departments -- the latitude of making decisions
on who they hire, how they fill and what they pay, I want everybody that feels it's a must -have to
fill a position to come before me with the assistant City Manager and the director and prove that
it's a must -have, not a nice -to -have. That's number one. And number two, to demonstrate the
savings. In other words, they're going to promote an employee at a lower rank to the position
that's vacant at a lower salary and then possibly eliminate the position behind them so that I
have a total savings of hiring at less and eliminating a position and doubling up on the duties . If
the answer to that is yes and yes, I usually allow the action to take place. And look at them one
by one with the ACM (Assistant City Manager) and the director and a written justification andl
question them.
Vice Chair Carollo: I don't think the spreadsheet that received encountered the time that you
were present or not so I don't know who you've hired or not since you've been City Manager.
Mr. Martinez: Well, the ACM, the CIP director, you know.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well --
Commissioner Suarez: They were promoted.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- I think the ACM and the CIP director were actually not transfers, but --
Commissioner Suarez: Promotions.
Mr. Martinez: Well, they're promotions.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Have you hired anyone for the lower position?
Mr. Martinez: Not the -- the lower one, no, but we're looking.
Vice Chair Carollo: And as far as -- I guess you need -- if you have two assistant City Managers
and the director of -- those were positions that you would have to move up. This is what I'm
looking at. I want to see if we can establish some type of committee to first of all see the need
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Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011
that we need to hire anyone and then the availability of funds for those positions. And let's have
a real hiring freeze at least for right now. And even if that committee has to be this Commission
at least for right now, I think it should be, but we should establish a committee that any hiring
whatsoever has to come before this committee and we got to justify each hiring. Because right
now what has occurred is that people are being hired -- we never know about it, and we're under
the impression there's a hiring freeze. Again, I don't think tonight's the right night to get into all
the different people. I'm sure we'll have discussions about that. I think, you know, today we
mentioned about sacred cows -- and by the way, in Spanish (UNINTELLIGIBLE), so you know, I
think there'll be plenty of time for that, but the -- right now my intent with this, where I want to
go, is now moving forward. I want to make sure that there truly is a hiring freeze and that we
have some type of controls over it, whether it's any hirings that you want to do comes before this
Commission or that there is a committee established, like there was once in the '90s, and if that
committee is so established, then any of those hirings also comes as a report to this Commission
so we know exactly who's been hiring -- who's been hired, what positions, what salaries, what
benefits, and so forth. That way we could have some accountability of our employees or new
employees, new hires in the City ofMiami. Andl don't know how my colleagues feel about this.
I think right now I go as far -- and yeah, it might be a little bit of micromanagement, but I think
right now it may not be a bad thing for us to be the committee and any new hires has to come
before us for approval.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: If you remember --
Commissioner Dunn: Go ahead.
Chair Gort: -- I think about four month ago, I came up with a suggestion where I made the --
wanted to make the motion and we had it for discussion where we talked about each one of us
select five and divided all the different departments to groups of five for one of us to work with
those departments, sit down with them and make sure they're working efficiently, they're doing
what they have to and they are complying with their goals and the budget. At that time, we
decided not to do it, but I think this goes along with the committee that you want to create.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Chair Gort: I think it's very important.
Vice Chair Carollo: This is very different, Commissioner Gort, and I'll tell you why. One thing
is evaluating, you know, the positions that are there now and so forth. What I'm saying is, new
hires from now forward. Remember the discussion we had with the 200 new hires and why are
we hiring 200 people if there's a freeze. Andl think the union president came forward and said
it's actually 300, andl've heard 500 andl've heard 700. And realistically, you know, I asked for
a spreadsheet. I started looking through it and so forth andl said, you know what, this could
take some time, especially ifI start asking why is this person hired or why is that person hired?
Why this salary? Andl think, you know what, instead of doing that now, you know, and vetting
that, I thinkl want to focus more on, you know what, let's put a stop to it right now. Let's not
hire anybody unless it comes before this Commission, you know, for approval. Andl know it
could sound a little bit like micromanagement, but right now I think it might be a little healthy.
And you know, so we could see is there a need? What's the salary going to be and so forth so we
can have some accountability of any new hires from now going forward?
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
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Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I don't know if that's legal because we would then be
substituting this Commission for the City Manager. But I think it's important for us to know what
is going on. And one of the things that surprised me -- andl think you'll appreciate this and
agree with me -- is there was one case -- and this was in a prior City Manager -- this was before
Manager Martinez, where somebody had got -- received an outside employment waiver andl
didn't know anything about it until it was brought to me by another person. So, you know, those
are the kinds of things, outside employment waivers, educational waivers, things of that nature
'cause I've heard about those as well, you know. I think those are things that we need to know
about. Those are things that need to be brought to our attention. So I don't know, you know,
whether we can substitute our powers for that of the City Manager in terms of actually -- 'cause
we have the budgetary power of creating or deleting positions, so if we know what is happening,
we can propose a budget amendment in the next Commission meeting and delete the position. So
there -- we do have some ways to, I think, manage that. But I think part of the problem is we
haven't known what's been going on and then things come to the surface after the fact as kind of
like a big scandal and then we're kind of you know, how do we respond, you know. How do we
--? So, you know --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Commissioner Suarez: -- I think there -- those are some other issues that I'm sure you would like
to know. I know I would like to know.
Vice Chair Carollo: Of course. And that's why I'm bringing it up. And you know, there may be
some legality -- and again, maybe it's not a Commission but, you know, some type of committee
that is formed. However, anyone that they approve for hiring needs to -- at the very least, there
needs to be a list every Commission meeting or so forth where we actually know exactly who's
being hired --
Commissioner Dunn: Sure.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- what positions, what salaries and so forth because I think -- well, we were
all here when out of the blue 200 new hires -- and like I said, it was 300 and so forth. And you
know, I think this is something that we should establish from now moving forward so we could
have some accountability. Now the exact way of doing it, hey, you know, I'm open. I think I've
shown that I'm flexible. However, it needs to be addressed. It needs to be addressed and it needs
to be addressed as soon as possible. And you know, I'm throwing it out there. I welcome
suggestions. But at the very least, this needs to start being looked at much more closely and
there needs to be a report to this Commission either every Commission meeting, every month, I
don't know, but there needs to be some accountability.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Go ahead, Commissioner Dunn and Commissioner --
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman. I couldn't agree with you more, Mr. Vice Chairman, and
to my colleague, Commissioner Suarez. We certainly need to stop the bleeding. And where I
come from, they call that being sucker punched. And that's when you find out after the fact
something is -- well, you know, caught by surprise. However, in terms of the legality, as my
colleague, Commissioner Suarez, brought to our attention, I don't believe that the provisions in
the Charter would give us that kind of authority to, for lack of a better word, have influence over
the decisions that the Manager makes. However, we do need to be informed. Andl would like
some distinctions and clarifications because I saw -- just for the record, I saw one blog -- I
happened to see it -- where a number was included in that amount and some of it came from
Commissioner hires. So I think that needs to be clarification. You can't take the number at face
value because some of the numbers that are given, we are -- we do have that authority within our
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office as long as we stay within the purview of our budget to do that. So I think we need to
clam. And certainly, there needs to be better scrutiny, better transparency, the kinds of things
that we've been talking about. So I support that in principle, but in terms of the practicality of
how we do it and the -- and what's pragmatic and what's legal, I think those are the issues, but I
do support in principle what you're saying. We need to be updated, Mr. Manager, as to -- andl
do know that most times -- at least since you've been Manager, you do send out a memorandum
of what takes place and what has taken place.
Mr. Martinez: I think it's a good idea for the Administration to report on the actions that we 've
taken. It's not being done singlehandedly. It's almost a committee. I have the director and the
ACM being part of the decision -making process. They have to demonstrate to me the must -have
of this position, the salary reductions, all the way down the line. Andl don't mind providing a
report once a month of the actions that we've taken and the justification that goes with the
action, you know, the explanation of why we've done this and why it was a must -have to fill the
position and show the savings and show that we were within our budget 'cause I think that's one
of the key things is we need to be within our budget and manage different things with -- we might
pay a little bit more for one position but less for another so it balances out and you're within the
budget. Andl could very easily bring, you know, to the second meeting of every month a list of
the action we've taken with the justification.
Vice Chair Carollo: What I'm looking for is an oversight hiring committee. That's what I'm
looking -- an oversight hiring committee. Andl think one was established in 1996. We could,
you know, do a little bit more research, but I think one was established in 1996 when the last
financial crisis and so forth. But I'm looking for an oversight hiring committee. And then
whoever they hire -- and obviously, they need to look for the need to hire this person, the reason,
and then report who they hired to us, have some type of report so we know who are all the new
hires.
Commissioner Dunn: But Mr. Vice --
Chair Gort: The anti -deficiency act that was passed in '98 is what will take care of that.
Commissioner Dunn: Let me just state -- Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe the one in '96/'97,
I had a piece of that. I know Chairman Gort was a part of that all the way through the process,
but that was governor mandated.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well --
Commissioner Dunn: Am I right?
Vice Chair Carollo: -- okay, but this is volun --
Chair Gort: I don't recall right now, but --
Commissioner Dunn: No, no. The governor --
Vice Chair Carollo: This is volunteering. I mean --
Commissioner Dunn: No, but I'm saying the governor had an oversight committee.
Chair Gort: The Oversight Board.
Commissioner Dunn: The Oversight Board. So a lot of things -- we were in -- there was a
question of whether we were even going to be existing as a city.
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Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Vice Chair Carollo: Right, but I think there was a specific oversight hiring committee. I think
there was a specific oversight hiring committee.
Chair Gort: Not to my knowledge. My knowledge was the Oversight Board met every month
and the City Manager had to get together with them and had to make the presentation, what the
budget was, if they were going to do anything about the budget. That's why those other
ordinances came in.
Commissioner Suarez: Andl -- and thank you, Mr. Chairman. I remember I think correctly --
and remind me if I'm incorrect. I think the Oversight Board at the time approved any expenditure
greater than $5, 000 so that was I think the way that it controlled all -- so basically, they
controlled -- I mean, they basically controlled the government of the City ofMiami because they
approved every single expenditure over $5, 000. I'm not sure there are too many expenditures of
the City ofMiami that are more [sic] than $5, 000, so they basically approved every single
expenditure of the City ofMiami.
Anthony Hatten: And they let go of the sacred cows.
Chair Gort: Excuse me.
Mr. Hatten: A lot of them.
Chair Gort: And you are?
Mr. Hatten: Anthony Hatten.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Mr. Hatten: I'm Anthony Hatten, union president, Local 1907. I'd just like to be on -- have some
-- one of my people on the board, if you'd like. I'd love it.
Chair Gort: Definitely. You --
Mr. Hatten: Okay. Andl have some -- give you guys some (UNINTELLIGIBLE). These are
reports that were record -- public records (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair. Can I get the -- his comments on the
mike?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Hatten: Members of the Commission, this is a list of hiring that was after May 7, 2009. This
is part of a public records request. And currently, I'm waiting for demand for consultants that
the City has hired and have yet to get that. These are new hirees and some are unclassified,
okay. We have plenty employees that work for the City right now that you could put in those
positions at a minimum cost because the ones they're bringing in, they're bringing them at six
figures and it's ridiculous. I mean, we're supposed to be in a crisis and to bring people in at
those figures is ridiculous. Andl wonder why they were hired when we don't need them. We
have people that can do those jobs. We don't need them.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may ask him a question.
Chair Gort: Yes. Go ahead.
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Commissioner Suarez: This is very helpful andl very much appreciate it. Is there any way
possible -- andl don't mean to make your life any more difficult or give you more work, but that
you can break up the unclassifieds from the classifieds in this category --
Mr. Hatten: Yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: -- just so we can see it?
Chair Gort: It's here.
Mr. Hatten: If you look at the last page --
Commissioner Suarez: Oh, it is?
Mr. Hatten: Yeah. It's --
Chair Gort: It tells you classified/unclassified
Mr. Hatten: You got 70 unclassifieds.
Commissioner Suarez: On the last page. Here, maybe I don't have the right one.
Mr. Hatten: And in all fairness, when the job -- in all fairness, when they had the job -- when
they cut our salaries, some people didn't get cuts at all and some people got pay raises.
Commissioner Suarez: Unclassifieds and classifieds, you have them lumped in as one category?
Chair Gort: Please speak in the mike, please.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. No, what I'm saying is that the unclassifieds and classifieds are
lumped in as one category.
Mr. Hatten: Correct, but --
Vice Chair Carollo: As in nonunion?
Mr. Hatten: Yeah. There's only a few -- there's --
Amarilys Perez (Technical Support Analyst, Police): You'll find them on page I and page 2.
Mr. Hatten: Page 1 and page 2. You got 23, ifI recall correctly, classifieds and 70
unclassifieds.
Commissioner Suarez: Do you understand the question I'm asking?
Mr. Hatten: Yeah. You want to separate the unclass --
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, if you don't mind. I mean, and you don't have to do it right now,
but if you could just --
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Vice Chair Carollo: Couldn't it be union and nonunion?
Commissioner Suarez: Or that too.
Vice Chair Carollo: That what it says.
Mr. Hatten: That's what it is right now.
Commissioner Suarez: Oh, okay.
Mr. Hatten: Union and nonunion. Classifieds is us --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Mr. Hatten: -- and unclassifieds is --
Commissioner Suarez: Right, but it's lumped together.
Mr. Hatten: Right, I know.
Chair Gort: Use the mike, please.
Commissioner Suarez: Right. What I'm trying to get at is if you could separate them so I can get
an idea as to one versus the other.
Chair Gort: Speak on the mike.
Commissioner Suarez: Do you guys understand what I'm asking --
Mr. Hatten: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: -- back there? 'Cause I think you guys --
Mr. Hatten: Hold on. Amarilys --
Commissioner Suarez: Sorry. I hope I'm not making it too confusing.
Ms. Perez: Hi. Amarilys Perez, from Local 1907. We can separate them.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I would appreciate it.
Ms. Perez: The last page are people that we got pay cuts.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Ms. Perez: And the last page will show you how much during the process -- we got pay cuts last
year from October to December. We have a public records request that we asked for in June,
okay. In December -- in June, the person got a pay cut from the previous year, and by
December, the person got raises, not just one, several people. If you notice, in the last page,
those are people that have gotten raises. Some have gotten raises and some have gotten
promotions throughout, okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff. That's this last page here you're talking about.
Mr. Hatten: Correct.
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Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman, ifI --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: I just want to say that in light -- andl appreciate your due diligence on
this, but in light of your due diligence, I also want to acknowledge the fact that we do have a
Human -- HR (Human Resources) director. So in light of that, can we get one from her as well
and give it to -- because some of those -- again, some of those names on there, I looked on there
and saw a couple of people from my office.
Mr. Hatten: Correct.
Commissioner Dunn: So you know, that's -- again --
Chair Gort: And my office.
Mr. Hatten: Correct.
Commissioner Dunn: -- that's -- we don't want to get -- we don't want to mix apples with
oranges.
Mr. Hatten: Correct.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Beverly Pruitt (Director, Employee Relations): Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Beverly: Beverly Pruitt, Human Resources director. We have reports for each of the
Commissioners in relation to Mr. Carollo's discussion item that identifies the categories of new
hires during all fiscal years that the waiving -- the hiring -freeze was in place. If you'd like to
have those this evening --
Vice Chair Carollo: Definitely.
Ms. Pruitt: -- we can distribute those to you.
Commissioner Suarez: Sure.
Vice Chair Carollo: Definitely.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. You know, I was going to do something to scare everybody and just go
motion to terminate the City Manager. Anybody want to second it?
Commissioner Dunn: No, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Why not? He's obviously doing a bad job, right?
Commissioner Dunn: No, sir.
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Commissioner Sarnoff. If you have faith in the City Manager, you don't --
Vice Chair Carollo: Don't push your luck, buddy.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Andl -- then let's discuss it. Do we have the right City Manager?
Because either you do or you don't. And you can come up with, you know, whatever it is you'd
like to come up with. What's happening is decisions are being made -- andl don't know if they
were made on his watch. I suspect they were not. I hope they were not. And they're falling on us
budgetarily. And we're not privy to the decisions and there's no way we could be privy to the
decisions and --
Commissioner Suarez: I think we could be privy to them and we should be privy to them, andl
think that's what he's trying to say.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I get what he's saying, and what we should do -- andl don't want to
violate the Charter.
Commissioner Suarez: No, no, no. I --
Commissioner Sarnoff. What we should do is every City Commission in our package should be
new hires, reason for the new hire, old salary, new salary, promotion, who suggested the
promotion, reason for promotion --
Commissioner Suarez: And any waivers that, you know -- any waivers because there was one in
particular that I had an outside employment waiver that the person was accused of having a
conflict and I'm not going to get into the actual person of who it was, but I found it strange that
had never even known that a -- even though I know that it's not our decision, but that an outside
employment waiver -- By the way, that's also very controversial. If there's an outside
employment waiver and the person's making money in another place and that comes out to light
that they're getting paid here whatever, 50, 60, 70, $80, 000 and then they're making another --
moonlighting 50, 60, 70, $80, 000, that's extremely embarrassing. So you know, I think knowing
what's going on -- and it's different from wanting to do his job. We just want to know what's
happening. Andl think -- and this is -- like in the case of the example that I'm using, it was not
under Martinez -- Manager Martinez's watch. It was under another manager's watch.
Mr. Hatten: In all fair --
Commissioner Sarnoff. And all -- wait, wait. And all I'm saying is give us the notice. Once we
have the notice, we can take whatever action we deem appropriate at a Commission meeting.
But you know, I'm not into these committees and then a subcommittee. Either we have the right
manager or we don't. And I'll make a motion, and anybody who want to second it, to fire the
Manager.
Vice Chair Carollo: Second for discussion.
Unidentified Speaker: Thank you, Frank -- Commissioner.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, go ahead. Discuss it 'cause I'll tell you, I'm going to withdraw my
motion, but go ahead, discuss it. But discuss it while it's open 'cause either you got the right guy
or you got the wrong guy.
Chair Gort: Guys, it's 8: 41. The guy's been there two weeks. A lot of the things that happen in
here, a lot of things that we have inherit that we need to work on it.
Mr. Hatten: Let me just say one more thing. When we started back in the late '80s, we started at
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a 25 percent cut in pay to get to be able to join the City for the benefits, okay. So we've been
taking cuts all along, the general employees, okay, and solid waste. So I'm just letting you know,
we weren't starting at the top pay and we worked our ways up. But now they're bringing people
in at $80, 000, right, and they didn't start where I started, so in all fairness.
Commissioner Dunn: Understood.
Chair Gort: Got you. I understand you. My suggestion is -- my understanding is, any time
you're going to have an opening, you post the, what do you call them, documents stating there's
an opening. I think they should always -- and I'm -- talked about being hired within the City. If
we have somebody within the City that can qualifi, for that, that should be given the priority to.
Mr. Martinez: And that's what we're trying to do to -- you know, it's a morale issue. You know,
if we have a qualified -- if you've planned for succession and you've got the right people, we
should promote them accordingly.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair, I want to make an ore terms motion that the City Manager be
required --
Vice Chair Carollo: Layman.
Commissioner Sarnoff. It means an oral motion.
Vice Chair Carollo: Layman term.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- at each Commission meeting to have a section of our agenda that is
devoted to new employees. Each -- or new employees or --
Vice Chair Carollo: New hires.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- increase in salaried employees or compensation.
Commissioner Suarez: Or waivers.
Vice Chair Carollo: And waivers.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I'm not sure -- and waivers.
Commissioner Suarez: And waivers.
Vice Chair Carollo: And waivers.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And that in that information provided by column, that the reason be
stated for the new hire, for the increase in compensation or any other particular that would guide
this Commission for the reason that that person was necessary in the job function of which he 's
now doing.
Vice Chair Carollo: And is there sufficient funding for that hire.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And -- right, where it's budgetarily coming from. I think in Congress
they call it the R number.
Commissioner Suarez: You know, that's not too different from when we have regular --
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Vice Chair Carollo: Second.
Commissioner Suarez: -- agenda items.
Chair Gort: There's a --
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Chair Gort: -- motion and a second.
Commissioner Suarez: I totally support it. I don't think that's too different from when we have
agenda items. We regularly -- we put a budget category. We have an explanation and all that
stuff. And also, when we have, for example, things like unreimbursable grants, they come to the
Commission. They have to disclose it. They have to bring it to our attention. Those are things
that are -- you know, it's about us being able to have accountability and transparency. It's not
about distrust of the City Manager or what he does. It's a function of -- a lot of times I say, you
know, that our -- sometimes our community groups are traumatized by things that have -- actions
that have happened in the past. And to a certain extent, I think we're a little traumatized by some
of the things that we've been through, you know, over the last few months.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, and not -- just to have a little bit of --
Commissioner Suarez: Colloquy.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- back and forth with you, colloquy, sorry. You know, there are folks
out there that when they use the word city, it just means all of us, and we're -- you know, you've
said this is the best Commission, okay, but they lump us all together. They don't see us any
different than they see the Manager, than they see the Mayor; it's all of us. And we pay a
political price for allowing that to occur. And all I'm saying is, let us take action if you make
actions that we think take us out of budget. You know, there was a woman -- whole department
got defunded by the City ofMiami. We used to have a department called Economic
Development. Matter of fact, you saw her name very recently, Lisa Mazique. So believe it or
not, Regalado andl -- he was a Commissioner at the time -- actually got Gonzalez to agree with
us 'cause he put her up there and she could not answer a question as to what she was doing. She
froze. We defunded the entire department. Two days later, the Manager hired everybody from
that department and put them in his department and we could do nothing about it. It would be
pretty tough to defund the entire City Manager's department. Well, it would have meant a
midyear adjustment, but it just goes to show you the defiance that can occur because you have
the power of the budget; you don't have the power of the hire.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, yes and no. And that's -- and by the way, I'm glad we're having this
discussion because, in all fairness, this is what -- this is, I think, extremely healthy andl'm
looking for solutions. I'm looking -- you know, and that's why I didn't get into all the hirings
after the freeze. I'm concentrating more on right now how to stop this and move forward. And
then in the future, we'll get into all these hires. But FTEs (Full Time Equivalents), that's
something that I want to get into. You know, do we actually approve the FTEs or not? Do we
have to or not? Because the truth of the matter is, let's be real. If we approve FTEs, do we really
know all the positions we're approving or not, how many people, what departments? So I think
it's a little unfair if we have to approve that. And then if we do, do we have the authority to, let's
say, approve five FTEs for the Manager's office? If he hires that whole staff we say we hired
five people for your -- that means everybody -- so we actually need to discuss this a lot further.
And I'm not saying tonight is the time, you know. We're going to have a long meeting, as we all
already have gathered. Now with that said, I really do think we need to take a first step andl'm
seeking for some solution right now in order to -- I don't want to say stop the bleeding, but I want
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to say have accountability on all these new hires. And at the very least, yes, I think that a report
should be forwarded to us with the information that between Commissioner Sarnoff and myself --
I think Commissioner Suarez -- I think all of us, we put it -- you know, some information that we
would like to see.
Chair Gort: Let me ask you a question. I'm not an accountant, but do we agree that the budget's
what controls what takes place within a department?
Commissioner Suarez: But you know what, Mr. Chair?
Commissioner Carollo: I'm sorry?
Chair Gort: Doesn't the budget is the one that determine what to do within the department?
Commissioner Dunn: Yes.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: Yes. The answer is yes.
Chair Gort: Go ahead.
Commissioner Suarez: But I think one of the things the Vice Chairman has brought up before,
which I think is a legitimate point is sometimes we approve a line item in a budget that is a large
category, a couple of million dollars. And so within that category, you know, how can we govern
how that money is spent?
Vice Chair Carollo: I'll go a step further.
Chair Gort: The positions.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'll go a step further.
Commissioner Suarez: It's not only positions 'cause sometimes it's not a position -oriented
expense.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'll go a step further. Right with what you're saying, the category is salaries
and wages --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- and it's one amount. How do we know how many employees is that
salary and wages? How do we know what amount is each employee getting paid? If your line
item -- you're going to see salaries and wages. Let's say, I don't know -- I'm going to throw
departments up in the air -- Public Works, City Manager's, I don't know, Budget, you know. You
see line item, salaries and wages. We really don't know how many employees does that salary
and wages is composed of.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: I believe the Manager mentioned about -- and l just want to see 'cause I
don't think we're that far apart in what was proposed through the motion and second and -- as to
what he voluntarily offered to do. I do -- again, I'll be the first to admit there are a lot of things
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that concern me greatly and morale in the City is -- with our employees, with our unions, here
again, fairness and consistency. That's the only way we're going to be able to get this thing
resolved. But I do want us to be very, very, very careful in how far we go in terms of are we -- I
don't want to violate the Charter, one. Number two, andl don't want to micromanage. So I
would like to just hear for the record again what he volunteered. And if -- whatever the will of
this Commission, but I pretty much -- I have my reservations about some of the things that were
proffered.
Mr. Martinez: Yeah. One, stay within the budget. Two, not be handcuffed to make the decisions
that need to be made administratively to deliver the policies and the product that we have to our
work program and so forth. Number three, produce a report at every Commission meeting that
itemizes each hire, the amount of the salary, and the explanation why it was a must -have to hire
that employee, a thorough explanation, and make sure that it's done by committee, the committee
being myself right now, the assistant City Manager, and the director over the department that
articulates the justification for that particular hire.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Also I'd like to add one more. Within the -- if we have someone within the existing
City employee can occupy that, to give them the opportunity.
Mr. Martinez: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. --
Chair Gort: Commissioner.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Couple things, just to follow up exactly on what
you're asking. First of all, Mr. Manager, even though some of this may be repetitive, along with
the things that you said you do mind -- that you do not mind and you will include in the report,
do you have any issues with including -- and some again might be things that you already have
mentioned -- with what Commissioner Sarnoff and myself and any other Commissioner up here
have asked to have in that report? Do you have any issues with those?
Mr. Martinez: No.
Vice Chair Carollo: No.
Mr. Martinez: As a matter of fact, I'm going to include any waivers that --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Mr. Martinez: -- took place.
Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. And you could get it from the record from the City Clerk's office
exactly all those things that we have said. Now, second -- actually, it's not the second question.
It's a question to the City Attorney. Madam City Attorney, do you have any problem with us
receiving a report every Commission meeting with all the items that have been mentioned that
Commissioner -- by all the Commissioners up here and the Manager?
Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): It's appropriate.
Vice Chair Carollo: I think we should do it. I also -- I see another president of another union. I
would like to hear what he has to say. There's another gentleman. I would like to see -- you
know, because I like to think -- I like to see what everyone's thinking, and I'd like to be able to,
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you know -- we always say -- you know, I always say actions speak louder than words. We have
union presidents here andl want to be able to work with them 'cause we're --
Chair Gort: Definitely.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- in this together.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Robert Suarez: Robert Suarez, Miami Association of Firefighters. I think everybody knows
about 15 years ago this city was in a very similar position as we are now. And there's a lot we
can learn from what the City went through at those times and how the City climbed out of that, or
we can forget about it and make the same mistakes all over again. In December 1996, the City
ofMiami -- the City Manager at that time, EdMarquez, agreed with the four unions in writing to
create a City ofMiami Oversight Hiring Committee, mutually agreed to, not imposed by the
governor. It was an agreement signed by the Manager, EdMarquez, at that time. That
committee was in place from December of '96 to October of 1998; reviewed every employee that
was hired in the City. There was checks and balances. There was a representative of each union
that would sit on that committee, but you couldn't have a representative of the union who an
employee was being hired into that group on that committee. We would pick a representative of a
different union in that situation. It lasted for almost three years, and that's just one example of
one of the things the City did to climb out of that crisis. And we can look back at some of those
things we did back then or we can make these mistakes all over again.
Chair Gort: Bobby, if you recall, if you remember, the Administration and the unions had
meetings, monthly meetings --
Mr. Suarez: Yes.
Chair Gort: -- not only to see that but to see how they can work together and improve the City.
And I think that's something that needs to establish again. And if you recall, we used to go to
New York to the rating agencies and the unions would go with us and making the presentations
to the rating agency. I would love to see that again. I think that's very important.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may.
Chair Gort: Okay. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I think Robert is definitely heading in the right direction. I
think one of the things that I learned from last year is that there needs to be a very intimate
cooperation with our labor unions, which constitute anywhere from 70, depending on the year, to
80, 85 percent of our total budgetary expenses. So there has to be cooperation. There has to be
discussion. There has to be involvement. I'm not sure what the right way to do it is, whether it's
by establishing a committee like this, you know. I think that's something that maybe could be
discussed with the Manager and also, you know, executive sessions. And there's collective
bargainings and other things that we need to look at, but I think it's a good idea. At least
someone's coming forward with ideas, and that's one of the things -- sometimes we like to just
criticize and throw bombs at each other, andl applaud you for coming with a positive idea that
could potentially help us deal with these issues. Another thingl wanted to say. My father's been
an elected official for a very short period of time recently. And one of the things that he
discovered in Miami -Dade County -- in the County is that the County has 33,000 budget
categories, budget accounts, account categories and only 27,000 employees. So you know, one
of the things that frustrates, I think, both residents and employees is this hypercomplication of
government, the categorization, the segregation of money. And there's always a thought on the
part of residents and on the part of employees that, you know, there's a puppet master that's
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always, you know, pulling the strings and nobody really knows what's going on. And sometimes
we get a little glimpse of it, but otherwise, it's all very, you know, mysterious. And you know,
large entities such as the City ofMiami, we're a $500 million company. We're not a simple
company, you know, and we have 4,300 employees, major functions, what, half a million
residents, depending on whether you believe the census or not. And so, you know, this is an
incredible city. But appreciate you for coming, you know, forward with a positive idea as to,
you know, how we can work towards having a stable financial future for the City ofMiami.
Thank you.
Mr. Suarez: Yeah. It would be one thing ifI said there was a city in Alaska that 60 years ago
had a similar situation. But this city right here climbed out of a deficit worse than this, though
we're virtually right in the same spot again. You can open up boxes at the Miami Riverside
Center and pull out the manuals, the minutes of all those meetings and see how this city got out
of that crisis. Or we can reinvent the wheel and pretend that this is the first time and that those
solutions didn't work and try to reinvent something and pretend that we didn't have two months
to figure this out. So I think cooperation and working together and blow some of the dust off of
those documents and look to see how we got out of this the last time.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: And that's why I think it's always healthy to have discussions. I think what
Mr. Suarez said was in line with what was saying as far as having some type of oversight hiring
committee. However, I think for now it's okay with what's the motion on the floor. And we
should then look within the next few weeks to see as far as this committee that, you know, Mr.
Suarez was saying and so forth, and yeah, maybe dust off some of those old books and see
exactly what was done. But I think for right now this is a good motion that we have.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair, last comment, please.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: I just want to say that certainly in the spirit of cooperation -- andl believe
that's what my -- both of my colleagues, Commissioner Suarez and Vice Chairman Carollo said,
because I do know that since last year the relationships have been very strained, to say the least.
And so if we can work together genuinely and sincerely toward bringing the City back to fiscal
health, that would be a good thing. I certainly support that.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. And let me be perfectly clear, you know. I put these discussion items
in the agenda first because I think, realistically, they need to be addressed; second of all,
because, yes, there needs to be positive ideas. There needs to be ways of us going forward. You
know, it was funny. I heard some rattling: Oh, you know, this is some type of challenge or so
forth with regards to I'm putting all this stuff on the agenda and so forth. And realistically, I'm
already seeing this very first discussion item, some positive from it, you know, some productivity.
Actually, it's opened the doors to, you know, working with some of the unions thatl think, like
you know, was strenuous. And I think at least two union presidents -- I see Mr. Ortiz around
there. I don't know if he wanted to speak, but the truth of the matter is, you know, it is working
together. Andl think even if one positive idea is brought out through this, you know, it's
productive. It's what we're looking for.
Chair Gort: Okay. Yes, sir.
Manny Roche: Manny Roche, 3101 Southwest, Miami, Florida. Gentlemen, I came with whatl
wanted to say. You see the red ink on it. It's been an education being here the last two
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Commission meetings. And definitely, I have to commend the hard work that you guys put into
this. I've seen a lot of hard work, comments, great ideas. Some of your staff I've been able to
meet. Mr. Gort, your staff is an excellent staff. Those two guys over there, awesome hard
workers. And Commissioner Carollo and Commissioner Suarez, you guys are young, but you
know, you guys have a lot of ideas and you can see you put the -- do the hard work as well.
Commissioner Sarnoff, I agree with you. We cannot mortgage our future and then forget about
just because we want to look good in the present, which is what previous administrations have
done. And like you mentioned, even Washington has been doing that for years and it's just killing
and tearing apart our communities and this country. Commissioner Dunn, it was interesting to
see in your office a portrait of a man that was a true public servant. That is Mr. King. It's
interesting that it said there community is sacrifice. And yes, it is a lot of sacrifice to be able to
serve as a public servant. I have been serving as a public servant for the City ofMiami myself
for over 17 years, andl love my job. I love serving the people here. I have lived here over
40-something years, four generations still live, of my family, here. First time I took a step in the
City ofMiami was in 1959. I don't remember those steps, butt can tell you one thing, I've been
living here so many years that I am a native right now. Unfortunately, we come up through these
hard times and first thing we do is we try and cut the fat and we say that there is fat and we say
that, you know, we have to eliminate all the fat that is draining our city. For example, the
Mayor's talking about eliminating round figures, 400 positions that are -- were frozen. Well, it's
interesting because in the department that I work in, just last week we had one gentleman had to
do all the inspections of the City because there's only three. The others have retired. The other
one fell ill for a couple of days. And so that one gentleman had to tend to the phones, check the
drop-offs, check the walk-throughs, meet with the people and then drive around like a nut trying
to get to the inspections. And the sad thing is that the hiring process -- andl remember when I
was hired -- took anywhere between six months to a year between background checks, collecting
enough of these applications and so forth, so there was a long process before they could even
hire you. Yet, sometimes you see and we see this, that hiring an assistant -- and that's why
coming all these ideas is great because hiring an assistant sometimes is just like rubbing
Aladdin's magic lamp. You need one, you rub it, and poof here you go. You got one. Not much
to that. There's not a long, lengthy hiring process. And granted, some of you folks -- for
example, most of you Commissioners are first-time servers here right now that are --
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) your staff and you need your staff. I've seen that first hand. But we also
need to look at how we are going to eliminate and short staffing the rest of the city where then
now you are hurting the services. Yes, we are saving by one end, but we are hurting by the other
end. And what Commissioner Carollo did point out is true. You might need to do -- pay
overtime on some of these things because now you cannot -- you don't have enough personnel.
We started talking about 22 furlough days, and we're going up already up into the 30 furlough
days. And to say that -- granted that there might be some bad apples in the bunch, I would say
30 percent that don't work hard is a high figure. At least being 17 years in this city, I've seen and
been through a few and gotten to know a lot of the other people that work in other different
departments, and the majority of these people do work very hard. They give up of their time.
Mind you --
Chair Gort: Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt you, but this is not a public hearing. I let you
speak, and there will be a lot of opportunity where you're going to be able to address all this
when we have a public hearing. Andl appreciate you coming out here, but we still got a lot of
things to talk about.
Mr. Roche: Well, I thank you for the time, and hopefully, I'll be looking forward to speaking
again with you folks.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Roche: Thank you.
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Chair Gort: Thank you for being here.
Javier Ortiz: Good evening. I wanted to tie this into not only hiring, but I know that you have a
pocket item on the anti -deficiency. I don't know if you want me to wait until then.
Chair Gort: And you are?
Mr. Ortiz: Sergeant Javier Ortiz, with the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, 710 Southwest 12
Avenue.
Chair Gort: It's whatever the wish of this Commission. You want to finish your --?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. We have to vote on what we have on the floor, but --
Chair Gort: Was there a motion?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. There was --
Chair Gort: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- a motion and it was seconded.
Chair Gort: It's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? None.
Vice Chair Carollo: Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Commissioner Dunn: To reflect --
Vice Chair Carollo: I just want -- let's just reiterate what --
Commissioner Dunn: Okay, yeah. Reflect --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the motion is, yeah.
Commissioner Dunn: : -- yeah, to mod -- yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, the motion is for every Commission meeting for the City Manager to
provide -- I don't know if it's going to be part of the agenda or not. We have to see how it was
stated. But the bottom line is for the City Manager to provide this Commission with every person
that has been hired and also include the reason for the hiring and the salaries and everything
that was stated by all of us and him.
Mr. Martinez: And any waivers that took place in order to do the hire.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, waivers. Like I said, everything that -- anything that was mentioned
by any one of these Commissioners and yourself. And in the meantime, you know, in the next two
weeks, I want to look at the committee and, you know, dust off some of the books and so forth
and see what, you know, the union president, Robert Suarez, was stating and so forth. 'Cause
like I said, I have a vague memory, but we had some type of oversight hiring committee in the
past, so let's just look into it. But for right now, we have this motion, this resolution thatl think
is a very positive step forward, and at least we're going to start having some accountability.
Chair Gort: Okay. It's been moved and second. No further discussion. All in favor, state it by
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saying "aye. "
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
D3.2 DISCUSSION ITEM
11-00625
UPDATE ON INSURANCE COSTS, SAVINGS SINCE APPROVING
CONSULTANT, AND BENEFITS TO CITY EMPLOYEES.
11-00625 Email - Update Insurance Costs 07-28-11.pdf
DISCUSSED
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: Could we continue with my discussion item?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Go ahead.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. I see the looks. How about if we do two more and then I'll
defer the rest? Sounds good?
Chair Gort: I got a couple myself.
Vice Chair Carollo: And --
Commissioner Suarez: Have mercy.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the two is I think we should do insurance and then we'll do the auditor
general and --
Commissioner Suarez: I'm with you.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- which I think we need to do and we need --
Chair Gort: That's one that I have also, auditor general, okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: So we'll do these two and then, you know, we'll defer the rest. Give me a
second. Discussion item number 2.
Commissioner Suarez: Are you still going to do 4 or that's --?
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, I mean --
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, okay. We're going to do it today.
Vice Chair Carollo: You're looking at me, so I'll defer it. I mean, again, I said once lunch
passed --
Commissioner Suarez: No, no, no, no.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- I could be here all night and --
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Commissioner Suarez: I was just saying, generally speaking, are you going to do it or --?
Chair Gort: We know that --
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Chair Gort: -- so that's all right. We don't want to be here all night. Go ahead.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'm just trying to be, you know, considerate to my colleagues and we --
Commissioner Suarez: I gave up one discussion item.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- still have, you know, the budgets of the CRAs (Community Redevelopment
Agencies) so. So my discussion item number 2 is regards to update on insurance costs savings
since approving consultant and benefits to City employee. As you all know, 'cause we approved
it -- we approved $150, 000 in consulting fee for something that was mentioned would help us as
far as reducing costs or finding -- I don't know. I'll let you speak. You presented before us, so I'll
let you, you know, state exactly what the consulting fee was for and so forth. But the bottom line
is, I want to see, okay, what have they done for those 150 --
Calvin Ellis: Show you the money. Calvin Ellis, director of Risk Management. Yeah, on June 9,
we received authorization from City Commission to -- for the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a contract with Aeon Hewitt Consulting, specifically for group benefit services, for a cost
not to exceed $150, 000. And this was for a fairly defined scope of services. Previously, this
function was handled by GRS, at their most recent cost was 300,000 in the current budget. And
in the prior two budget periods, fiscal budget periods, it was $375, 000. So I think right off the
bat we reduced the cost by 50 percent in terms of what they were charging. But in terms of the
services that they're delivering, I think we've been able to leverage their competitive intelligence
in terms of restructuring the way that we're negotiating our group benefits program. Our current
provider, Cigna, has been handling the City's group benefits for close to 17 years now, and
they've been able to bring to light areas that we can benefit from a great deal of savings. And
we've been able to leverage their knowledge to generate considerable savings, even though it's in
a negotiation phase. So the main gist of their efforts has been in enabling us to prepare for an
RFP (Request for Proposals) process on our group benefits. And the other area that they've
directed their services on is helping us get a formalized wellness program in place.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Is it appropriate to talk about what the potential savings
would be from that RFP or what --? 'Cause I think that goes to the question -- the heart of the
question.
Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly what it is.
Commissioner Suarez: Right. The heart of the question of the Vice Chairman. Is it appropriate
to say what are our expected savings from that RFP or from that process?
Vice Chair Carollo: And benefits to our employees because if you all remember, that was the
last piece of the whole puzzle, the insurance, and there was a lot of --
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Commissioner Suarez: Heartache.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- you know, there was a lot of employees that were very dissatisfied with
the insurance and, you know, the actual benefits and so forth. So I want to see -- andl
understand, you mentioned we lowered our costs from last year to this year as far as this
consultant. But okay, still up to $150, 000, I want to see, okay, what did $150, 000 do for us.
Mr. Ellis: I think without any of the changes that were made and -- you know, we're fully
cognizant that, yeah, it hurt a considerable number of people, the changes that were made,
because, you know, it required a lot of sacrifices financially from the employees and, you know,
we're sensitive to that. But according to the projections provided by Cigna, if we hadn't made
those changes, we would have been looking at $45 million in group benefit costs. And our
budget for fiscal year 2011 was actually 32.4 million. So the changes that were made really
enabled the City to curtail the expenditures associated with the group benefits. And even then, I
mean, Cigna was still projecting an annual cost of $41 million even with the changes. And so
far, year to date, we're at about -- in terms of fiscal year to date, we're at about $28 million
compared to the budget at 32 million.
Vice Chair Carollo: But -- okay. Let's say those were the changes for this current year that we
imposed.
Mr. Ellis: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: What is this new $150, 000 that we allocated for these consultants doing for
us?
Mr. Ellis: They've enabled us to leverage some negotiation points with our current carrier that
are going to result in -- because we're still in the negotiation phases. I -- you know, I'd rather
not discuss those strategies, but I will be more than happy to meet with you individually and to
show you the numbers, where they were before this process and where they are now and where
we hope to get them. Because even with keeping the things the way they are, I mean, we're
probably looking at an expenditure of $41 million this next fiscal year in terms of group benefits.
So we need to get our current provider to the table for discussions on some major concessions.
And you know, we've seen it in the past that, you know, whenever we go through an RFP process,
it is very beneficial in bringing competition to the table.
Vice Chair Carollo: And I'm sorry, what is the current year budget for group benefit? You said
41 is what you're looking for next year.
Mr. Ellis: Thirty-two four was budgeted for the current fiscal year, and we're currently at just
shy of $28 million year to date.
Vice Chair Carollo: So are we going to be over?
Mr. Ellis: The way that the claims are trending, yes, we're going to be over. I think we're -- well
Vice Chair Carollo: Is our budget director here? Just --
Mirtha Dziedzic (Director, Strategic Planning, Budgeting & Performance): I'm sorry, yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Say your name and department for the record.
Ms. Dziedzic: Mirtha Dziedzic, Budget Department.
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Vice Chair Carollo: 'Cause if not, Chairman Gort is going to ask "and you are ? "
Ms. Dziedzic: Mirtha Dziedzic.
Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. You have come before us on different occasions and have stated
that for this current year, not next year, for this current year we are projected to be within
budget.
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: Are you still projecting that?
Ms. Dziedzic: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, so even though in the line item of group benefits Mr. Calvin is
projecting that we're going to be over, it will net off -- it will be netted with something else and
we'll still be on target.
Ms. Dziedzic: Within his department he has another line item for liability insurances that is
currently showing a savings of approximately $5 million, which is offsetting any shortfalls in that
line item.
Vice Chair Carollo: It will offset and it will net to --
Ms. Dziedzic: Um -hum.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Question, even though it's on a side note. For this current year -- I
know for next year you're -- you stated that there might be a $7 million additional deficit.
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: How about this year? Do we have --?
Ms. Dziedzic: It does affect the current fiscal year, approximately between 4 and $5 million.
The saving grace for that particular line item this year is that we had two settlements, one that
was just approved today, with AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph) and Sprint in which we
had reserved funds in the PST (Public Service Tax) fund --
Vice Chair Carollo: Gotcha.
Ms. Dziedzic: -- to the tune of 1.2 and $2 million. Those funds are now being released and
being contributed to the general fund
Vice Chair Carollo: Gotcha, so it will offset the --
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- monies that we either have to pay back or --
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct. Those settlements were 200,000 and 97,000.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Thank you for that. Pretty much, I mean, you've given me the
answer that you'll meet with me separately, but you really don't want to discuss any savings and
so forth so --
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Chair Gort: IfI may. It's very simple. We invest -- and the question is we invested $152, 000;
what's going to be the return on the investment?
Mr. Ellis: Overall?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Ellis: I mean, the savings will be --
Chair Gort: Don't say it now. You're going to meet with us and you're going to let us know.
Mr. Ellis: Well, I -- you know, it'll be substantially -- there'll be a multiplier applied to that fee in
terms of what we can translate into savings.
Chair Gort: Right. That's the question.
Mr. Ellis: Yeah. It'll be considerable. I promise you that.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. There's nothing else to speak about this if we're going to meet
privately. And the reason being is it's still premature to say anything in public.
Mr. Ellis: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Mr. Ellis: That's correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, thank you.
Mr. Ellis: All right. Thank you.
D3.3 DISCUSSION ITEM
11-00693
D3.4
11-00630
DISCUSSION ON THE AUDITOR GENERAL.
11-00693 Email -Auditor General.pdf
DISCUSSED
Note for the Record: Please refer to Item NA.7 for minutes referencing Item D3.3.
Vice Chair Carollo: I will defer the rest of my items, except for D3.3, which is bringing back the
Auditor General that saidl would.
DISCUSSION ITEM
DISCUSSION REGARDING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S FINANCIAL TEAM,
INCLUDING NEW INTERIM -CFO, SCOTT SIMPSON.
11-00630 Email - City of Miami's Financial Team 07-28-11.pdf
DEFERRED
Note for the record: Item D3.4 was deferred to the Commission Meeting scheduled for
September 15, 2011.
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D3.5
11-00632
D3.6
11-00634
DISCUSSION ITEM
DISCUSSION ADDRESSING THE CITY OF MIAMI BOND RATINGS AND
FUTURE PLANS.
11-00632 Email - City of Miami Bond Ratings 07-28-11.pdf
DEFERRED
Note for the record: Item D3.5 was deferred to the Commission Meeting scheduled for
September 15, 2011.
DISCUSSION ITEM
DISCUSSION AND UPDATE ON MIAMI PARKING AUTHORITY'S
CURRENT YEAR'S BUDGET AND NEXT YEAR'S BUDGET.
11-00634 Email - Update Miami Parking Authority's 07-28-11.pdf
DEFERRED
Note for the record: Item D3.6 was deferred to the Commission Meeting scheduled for
September 15, 2011.
END OF DISTRICT 3
DISTRICT 4
COMMISSIONER FRANCIS SUAREZ
D4.1 DISCUSSION ITEM
11-00590
DISCUSSION REGARDING POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN
"ADOPT -A -TRAFFIC CIRCLE" PROGRAM, SIMILAR TO THAT OF AN
"ADOPT -A -HIGHWAY" PROGRAM. PERHAPS THE RESIDENTS WHOSE
NEIGHBORHOODS INCLUDE THE TRAFFIC CIRCLES CAN CONTRIBUTE
TO FACILITATE MAINTENANCE OF THE TRAFFIC CIRCLES AS WELL AS
TO PREVENT THEM FROM FALLING INTO DISREPAIR.
11-00590 Email -Adopt-a-Traffic Circle Program.pdf
DISCUSSED
Direction by Commissioner Suarez to the Administration to draft legislation that allows for the
creation of an Adopt a Traffic CircleProgram; further directing that the legislation be placed on
the agenda for the October 13, 2011, Miami City Commission Meeting.
Commissioner Suarez: The other one, item number 2, is one that has come out of a variety of
different issues. It's come out primarily from homeowners associations and it's also come out as
a result of our budget crisis and also as a result of me having gone with Public Works, which is a
department that maintains our traffic circles, and actually having gone up on a Monday, on
several Mondays -- by the way, we have to do that, a Monday morning, 6 o'clock in the morning
at Public Works and go and cut a vacant lot. In --
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Is it a riding mower?
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Commissioner Suarez: I'm sorry?
Mr. Martinez: Is it a riding mower?
Commissioner Suarez: Some of them are.
Mr. Martinez: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: Yes, but there's other options.
Mr. Martinez: Ouch.
Commissioner Suarez: But I think -- yes. I took my wife once, so you know, you and I have -- we
have an inside joke about that. I'd like to know from the Administration and would need the
City Attorney's advice on this. One of the things I thought about is a lot of our areas, a lot of the
-- our residents would love to be able to landscape the traffic circles that are next to their homes.
It would create beautiful and unique landscapes, and it's a very minimal maintenance for them
because it's a tiny, little area. And one of the things that would be great is if we can go to our
homeowners associations and have an Adopt a Traffic Circle program and have a competition
where the winner could come in and get a proclamation or something of that sort. So it would
essentially allow our citizens to do this on their own. I don't know legally if they can do it right
now, andl think there may have to be some sort of legislation that allows them to do this, and so
that's what I want to explore because it would help us with our maintenance tremendously. It
would make those traffic circles look beautiful, and then at the end, we can do something
enjoyable with it and have our citizens interacting with our -- with us as elected officials and
maybe give them a proclamation, take pictures, and really get everybody involved in the
community. So I just want to know if we can explore that and maybe bring it back in --
hopefully, bring it back before the fiscal year because if -- you know, if we can get something like
this off the ground, it could save us, you know, a good amount of money.
Mr. Martinez: I think it's a tremendous idea if we can work out the legalities and the liabilities.
I wouldn't recommend it for all intersections, but for the local ones in the neigh -- deep in the
neighborhoods, I definitely would. And the sense of ownership by the neighborhood will give
them a tremendous value and incentive to keep their neighborhood, you know, looking good. I
think it's a tremendous idea.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Manager. And can we maybe bring it back -- I don't
know if maybe the first meeting in October because, I mean, September may not be a good time.
We may have too many other things. Maybe the first meeting in October. Would you like to
comment on it, Mr. --? Zerry. No, Zerry. I see Zerry there smiling.
Mr. Martinez: Zerry would love it.
Commissioner Suarez: I know, I know. That's why. I wanted to put that on the record.
Nzeribe Ihekwaba (Director): Yeah. Good afternoon. Zerry Ihekwaba, Public Works. Actually,
this is one of the best ideas that we've been contemplating. We've had the fortunate vision of
having been hinted about this from Commissioner Sarnoff in the past. What he had wanted us to
do was to create an Adopt a Median in the City right-of-way. And yours is to adopt a traffic
circle. So what we did in the interim since this issue came up in the past couple of days -- weeks,
rather, was to draft a resolution that will be presented to City Commission for approval. It
contemplates existing programs elsewhere from Florida Department of Transportation, as well
as City ofDoral, where we have input from them. Also, it will encompass other additional
details such as liability issues because these individuals would be in City right-of-way, and they
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would need to be properly trained and supervised to minimize risk management issues. And
also, we need to go back to Law Department for proper review of the legislation. So as of today,
we do have a draft resolution that actually will go to Law Department for review.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: You know what we can do is we can, you know, get together in the
homeowner association meetings. You can do the training there where, you know, a variety of
different residents can see it. And then, you know, the ones that want to participate, if they have
to sign releases --
Mr. Ihekwaba: Exactly.
Commissioner Suarez: -- you know, then we'll get them to sign releases because I -- you know,
obviously, we don't want to create a situation where we're creating a liability for the City when
we're trying to do something good.
Mr. Ihekwaba: Yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: But I'd love to see that legislation whenever you have an --
Mr. Ihekwaba: Will do.
Commissioner Suarez: -- opportunity to show it to me.
Mr. Ihekwaba: Yeah. Okay. Thanks.
Chair Gort: Okay. That's it.
D4.2 DISCUSSION ITEM
11-00612
DISCUSSION REGARDING RECENTLY PASSED LEGISLATION (HB 281)
REGARDING CHALLENGED PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS.
11-00612 Email Challenged Property Assessments.pdf
DISCUSSED
Commissioner Suarez: One more.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: I've had this on, I think, for two or three meetings. We just haven't really
had a chance to get to it. There was a recently -- in the last legislative session, there was a bill
that was recently passed called HB House Bill 281 regarding challenged property assessments.
And it basically states that anyone who challenges their property value assessments has to pay
75 percent of the value up front, so that could minimize a little bit what Commissioner Carollo
was concerned about with reference to, you know, the Value Adjustment Board, you know,
making changes to our values. We would be getting the cash flow on that, at least 75 percent of
it. Maybe you can explain it better, Mirtha, or Ms. Dziedzic.
Mirtha Dziedzic: Mirtha Dziedzic, Budget Department. Basically what the language states is
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that anyone who challenges their assessment at the Value Adjustment Board is required to pay 75
percent of their assessment at that time, and then after the judgment, the 25 percent would be
determined at that time. But it's effective July 1 of this year so --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Ms. Dziedzic: -- anyone who's in the board already it would not apply to.
Commissioner Suarez: Right. I just wanted to -- and we had talked about, you know -- and this
goes to some of the discussions that we've had today. There's always uncertainty as to how some
of these things are going to impact our budget so --
Ms. Dziedzic: Right.
Commissioner Suarez: -- we thought it was prudent not to necessarily, you know, change
anything in the budget as a result of it, but I wanted to bring it to the board's attention because
it's something that could have an impact on our budget --
Ms. Dziedzic: Correct. It should help --
Commissioner Suarez: -- particularly in cash flow.
Ms. Dziedzic: -- our collections.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you.
D4.3 DISCUSSION ITEM
11-00691
DISCUSSION REGARDING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SPEED HUMPS
AS TRAFFIC CALMING DEVICES.
11-00691 Email - Effectiveness of Speed Humps.pdf
11-00691-Submittal-Speed Table/Hump Effectiveness Study.pdf
DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: Okay. The --
Vice Chair Carollo: No humps?
Chair Gort: District 3.
Vice Chair Carollo: Speed humps.
Commissioner Suarez: Sony. Thank you. Should l just quit while I'm ahead? No. The CIP
(Capital Improvements Program) Department, we had an opportunity to install speed humps on
11 th Street between 27th and 32ndAvenue. And the CIP Department -- we had asked the CIP
Department at that time to do a pre and post study of -- because, you know, we do a lot of things
with good intent, and one of the things that I've learned from all of us here is that we should
always be checking to make sure that the intent that we -- the money that we're spending actually
has the impact that we want it to have. And so the CIP Department went out and commissioned
a study on that street and has some results. Do you have those results, Mr. Sosa, to share with
the board?
Alberto Sosa: Albert Sosa, director of CIP. Just to give you -- all the Commission a brief
summary of what we found with this post implementation study. We looked at three locations,
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two along Northwest 11 th Street within District 4, and one on Northeast 85th Street, in District 2.
We found a significant drop in speed after the installation of the speed humps, between 12
percent and 32 percent, depending on which specific location it was. The important thing to note
is that the speed in all cases did drop below the posted speed limit for that location. The speed
reductions that were seen here within the City with these installations are typical of what's being
experienced throughout the nation on similar types of installations, so it's a very positive result
and it does show that these installations are indeed working.
Commissioner Suarez: And Mr. Chairman, ifI could just wrap it up by saying that the speed
humps -- you know, this is not a fix -all, you know. There are different, I guess -- it's a buffet --
we have a buffet of options to control speed in our neighborhoods. This is just one of those
devices, and it's good to know that it's an effective device, but it's also important to note that it
costs about one -eighth the amount of a traffic circle. So you know, that's just something for the
other Commissioners to keep in mind as they decide how they want to plan for speed reductions
in their neighborhoods, that this is one option that you have in your buffet, and it's a very
cost-effective one.
Chair Gort: Well, that's something thatl be -- I thinkl been working on it for a whole year now,
that we had a lot of requests from a lot of the neighborhoods where people go by in very high
speed and we ask for the -- and we even gave some suggestions and we haven't been able to get
anything done andl have a request for at least four different locations where they have problems.
So that's something that, yes, I would like to address andl see all the circles and all the money
you spent on all the circles and we don't want a circle. We just want to stop the speed.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: Yeah. I just want to chime in on that. I know even though it's basically a
HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) issue, I know Liberty Square installed
the speed humps and they also are now requesting them in the Hadley Park area and it is
effective. So I appreciate, you know, the data that validates the usage of them, but that's
something that, as you stated, will be a benefit to the entire city in terms of safety, safety for our
children, safety for the pedestrians, safety for everyone.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: I just have one question. How did you measure the reduction of speed?
Mr. Sosa: In two of the locations, we had objective data before and after. We actually did a
speed study before as part of the original speed study to implement the speed humps, and then we
went out and did a speed study afterwards. This is physically measured with a -- similar to what
the police officer would use to --
Vice Chair Carollo: Radar?
Mr. Sosa: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: So you have someone there and just running radar and --
Mr. Sosa: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Carollo: How many vehicles did pass by?
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Mr. Sosa: If you look at the volumes in vehicles per day, it's listed by the different locations,
between 1,500 to 3,000 per location, roughly, except for the Northeast 85th Street where it was a
much smaller volume.
Vice Chair Carollo: So someone was actually there with a radar for I guess the whole day and
saw 3,000 vehicles pass by and --?
Mr. Sosa: No, sir. They take a sampling over a couple of hours and they extrapolate that
through the day. And they pick different times of the day to --
Vice Chair Carollo: Oh, that's where I was going.
Mr. Sosa: No, yes. They do pick peak versus nonpeak just to see the different patterns and they
extrapolate that, yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. I'm just curious, Commissioner Suarez. I've been trying to get speed
humps or speed tables, I guess, throughout some parts of the Grove, and I'm told by our CIP,
more specifically, the County, I need 100 percent compliance with the houses that are right
affected by the hump and about 70 percent compliance on the block.
Commissioner Suarez: That's exactly right.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: And what we did on 11 th Street is that actually our whole office
canvassed for a full day. And interestingly, some people weren't home. Obviously, you're not
going to get everybody on a given day, but we were lucky to get over the threshold of the 80
percent that was needed and we did it in one day. So it was just a matter of once we had the
study that indicated the need, we were able to get the hundred percent on the ones that were
affected, the ones that were touching the speed hump --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Right.
Commissioner Suarez: -- which were, you know, some time -- in some cases, one house on each
side, and some cases there were two houses on each side, depending on where it was located.
And then we were lucky enough to get 80 percent in one day, so we definitely went out there and
were kind of proactive and aggressive about it.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. And l just -- you know, in case anybody is watching this wondering why
the Grove's not getting them, very simply, I've never been able to get 100 percent at the area, and
it's very difficult to get 70 percent --
Commissioner Suarez: It is.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- in my neighborhood.
Commissioner Suarez: I hear you.
Chair Gort: Gotcha. Okay.
END OF DISTRICT 4
DISTRICT 5
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NA.1
11-00715
NA.2
11-00716
NA.3
11-00717
END OF DISTRICT 5
DISCUSSION ITEM
CHAIR GORT RECOGNIZED CITY OF AVENTURA COMMISSIONER LUZ
WEINBERG IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS.
DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: At this time I'd like to recognize Luz Weinberg, councilwoman ofAventura.
Welcome again. You're becoming a regular fixture here. Okey-doke.
DISCUSSION ITEM
CHAIR GORT RECOGNIZED RETIRED CITY OF MIAMI POLICE OFFICER
MANNY GOMEZ IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, AND EXTENDED THE
APPRECIATION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION TO OFFICER
GOMEZ FOR HIS OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE CITY OF MIAMI.
DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: At this time I'd like to recognize Officer Manny Gomez. If you all remember, this is
a gentleman that was really help clean up Southwest 8th Street long time ago. They had an
accident about five years ago. They didn't think he was going to be able to walk again, and he's
here with us. Thank you for being here and thanks for all the work you've done, Manny.
Appreciate it.
Applause.
DISCUSSION ITEM
DISCUSSION BY COMMISSIONER SARNOFF REGARDING THE
EXPANSION OF THE MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT'S STABLES FOR 3
HORSES THAT ARE BEING DONATED TO THE MOUNTED PATROL
DETAIL.
DISCUSSED
Direction by Commissioner Sarnoff to the Administration to review the cost estimate associated
with the expansion of the Miami Police Department's stables, and to report back on this matter
at the September 15, 2011, Miami City Commission Meeting.
Chair Gort: Okay. Blue pages.
Commissioner Sarnoff. You want to go first? You want me to go first?
Chair Gort: D2 (District 2).
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Chair Gort: Mine is a pocket item.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair, I have the possibility of expanding the police department
stables. I don't want to read you all this, but they have the opportunity of getting, what
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understand, three more horses donated to them. They need to just create three more corrals in
the same space under the same roofline, and they were quoted $335, 000 from CIP (Capital
Improvements Program). Now I can't imagine that cinderblock and cement would necessarily
dictate $335, 000, but am asking the City Manager to look into this. Welcome, Mr. City
Manager. This is an issue I'm bringing up for the possibility of the police -- yes, the stables.
And I think you would agree that based on what they're asking for -- I think we all agree mount --
we all like mounted in all of our various districts and especially in our NET (Neighborhood
Enhancement Team) areas. Their budget's being cut, but they have the ability of getting three
additional horses. What I've committed to them is I will try to privately fundraise for the
necessary feed for the horse andl will try to fundraise for the dentist, the horseshoes, the horse
blanket and the saddles. But there is a need for three additional -- I don't know how to call them,
stables or whatever you call them, dividers for the horses. Stalls. Thank you. Stalls. You can
tell I've been riding lately. And those stalls would be under the same roofline as exists now. I'm
asking you to come back to this Commission the first meeting in September, explain to me how
this could be a $335, 000 cost. I don't know that to be true, by the way. It's just what I was told.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Where did the number come from?
Commissioner Sarnoff.. CIP, I was told.
Mr. Martinez: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. That's a wrong number, right? That's what I was told. I don't want to
make it sound like it is what it is.
Mr. Martinez: Sounds like a lot of horse hay.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. It does. Very good. So would you come back because I really would like
-- I will do my part to try to fundraise to get that horse hay, and would you also try to find out if
we can get their necessary stalls? Okay. Thank you.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: I just want to chime in and say that support Commissioner Sarnoffs
initiative wholeheartedly. One of the things that I've learned in my brief time being a
Commissioner is that the way the public perceives crime and -- may be a little different from, let's
say, crime statistics. Andl've been to a lot of homeowners association meetings since I was
elected, probably over a hundred. I think last year was one out of every three days or something
like that. We actually charted it. And one of the things that the residents always say is --
regardless of what the statistics say 'cause sometimes the statistics say you're down a little bit,
sometimes the statistics say in a given month you're up a little bit, but what the residents always
say is we want to see the presence. Andl've always gotten great feedback and text messages and
calls and pictures every time the horse mounted police officers are in a neighborhood. I literally
get electronic, you know, e-mails (electronic) with, you know, little kids shaking the officer -- the
hand of the officer, petting the horse, and all that stuff. Andl think as important as it is to have
good crime statistics, it's also equally important for the public to feel as protected as possible,
andl think that's one way for us to do that.
Commissioner Sarno:T I wish I said that. You said it better than I did. But let's just try to get on
this, Mr. Manager, 'cause he's dead right. I've been at meetings with him. He's a rock star at
those meetings, by the way. I just want to point that out.
NA.4 DISCUSSION ITEM
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11-00718
DISCUSSION BY COMMISSIONER SARNOFF REGARDING THE CITY
MANAGER'S JULY 13, 2011, ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY MANUAL (APM)
FOR 2-87 (VACATION USAGE/CARRYOVER/PAYOUT) AND 3-91 (SICK
LEAVE).
DISCUSSED
Commissioner Sarnoff. All right. Mr. Manager, the APM (Administrative Policy Manual) that
you've given us, the APM -- this is not a criticism, but I want to make sure that you thought this
through. And the APM is your July 13, 2011 APM. The reason I want to talk to you about this,
not because I think you're wrong in doing it, I just want to make sure you legally can do it. And
let me try to be as forthright as I can. I know there -- I don't know at what point somebody has
or does not have a vested right. There are expectations in life. There's a distinction between a
classified and unclassified employee. There's a distinction between when a person is classified,
which means they work at a union, and then they become unclassified. They may have accrued
certain things. They may have stopped that accrual when they become unclassified. I don't
know. But I do want to point out to you what I think are some previous City Attorney -- and I
was told that was going to get a memo on point, and I've never seen the memo on point. Andl
was told would have it before today and don't have it, and that's okay. However, I'd like to
see something on point. But there is a previous AP -- sorry, City Attorney opinion, and it was
from Ileana Forte, dated June 15, 2010. And I'll just read you the bottom line to it. It says --
and it's regarding vacation time accrual. And it says and/or banked by unclassified employees
can -- said to be forfeit if not used by a certain date. And the conclusion that Ms. Forte derives
is based on the case law and our existing policy, unclassified employees have a vested right in
vacation time accrued as provided under APM 2-87. Because the accrual of vacation leave is
considered to be part of the employee's compensation, an unclassified employee cannot forfeit
his/her accrual leave if the employee fails to use the time by a particular date without
remuneration. I did share that with you this morning, so I don't want anybody to think spring
things on you. Andl don't know what the difference is between vacation time and think what
you guys call here I time, which is sick time. And for my lack of sophistication as a lawyer, it
would seem like vacation time and sick item would occupy a very similar position. Now having
said that, I'm equally aware of a small e-mail (electronic) that was sent by I think one of our
attorneys, and since I have it, I assume the world has it, so I don't think it's work product of
anyone's any longer. And it says the case law indicates the City ofMiami can change their
vacation and sick leave accrual to comport with the June -- July 13, 2011 interoffice
memorandum from Johnny Martinez, City Manager. It says there is an unpublished opinion in
the southern district of Florida regarding Dade County that holds there is no property right in
accrued leave. City ordinance on this issue only pertains to civil service employees. Eleventh
Circuit has not ruled on the issue, and therefore, there's no state law to the contrary. Now
having said that and not having been provided any kind of legal opinion from the City Attorney, I
could tell you an unpublished southern district opinion harbors no precedential value at all, and
I could cite you the case that says that. I just hope you're on firm footing. I don't know that I
disagree with what you did, but I -- the reason I bring this to you, as a lawyer, I always look to
see whatever you do or anyone else does is within what think are the legal bounds of the law. If
it is a vested right, this City could be facing a significant action by various employees -- I don't
want to use the word "class action," but guess I just did, that could potentially hit the City and
could potentially be a significant number. On the other hand, I also want you -- to say to you,
have you ever thought through if you actually do this action right now, what are the implications
on what call the stampede theory, which means people start to cash in what they have right
now, and don't know how that factors into this year's budget, if we have the requisite money to
do it. I just want to know that you thought these things through. I just want to know that your
position is well grounded from a budgetary standpoint, from a legal standpoint. And I'm not
critical of you doing it, but I just want to know what your basis for doing it is.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Yeah. First of all, I did think it through. Maybe I didn't think
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of every single scenario. One of the things that motivated me was picking up the Miami Herald
that says top officials cash in on the way out, andl kept reading article after article, Igwe, in
other cities, in other municipalities. I said, you know what, the City is not immune from top
officials cashing in on the way out, as just happened a month ago. So I prepared the APM trying
to limit our exposure or liability down the road. Having said that, I know that there's an
exposure -- an immediate exposure for people that are going to be retiring within the next five,
six, eight months. Why lose out on all of this? I'll just retire now, cash in my vacation and sick
leave and the City would offset a savings on the salary because the employee's, you know, salary
would be offset from the I leave and vacation leave that he would be cashing out. I've asked --
andl haven't had a chance to go through my e-mails. I've asked Personnel to give me their
guesstimate because there's no way to zoom in (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F) some employees say, yeah,
you know what, I've already found another job, I'll cash in andl got this 20, 30, $80, 000 on this
side of the table. Other employees will say, you know what, I'll stick it out. This is my job. I
love it, and I'll take the loss. And others will do the class action suit that you mentioned. So I
did -- my intentions were good. Like you said earlier, I may not be always right, but I figured
having a 30-day grace period for this to become effective, it would wake everybody up andl
would get the legal opinion and advice that I would need in case I need to make any adjustments
to this. And guess Julie can help me out here on where we are with the opinion and how much
standing does the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) guidance on this have.
Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Commissioner, I apologize. I did -- I think I promised you that I
would have something, andl do have it. It's just that haven't had a chance to review it andl
marked it up. But let me say a few things, andl can speak in generalities because, of course, you
know, there will always be cases that have to be looked at on an individual basis. In the universe
-- again, andl always like to say this -- in the universe of the City ofMiami employment world,
there are three classes of employee. You have your union employees, and those are whatever
they have and whatever they're entitled to with respect to ill time and vacation, it's covered under
their contracts. You've got your employees who are not part of the bargaining units, but they're
covered under the civil service rules, and there's a civil service rule that deals with vacation
accrual and there's a civil service rule that deals with ill time accrual and ill time payouts. And
they're not -- those provisions are not that generous because they do have -- you know, there's a
certain amount of time that you can get. If you're in service after a certain number of years, you
get 25 percent. After a certain number of years, you get 50 percent. And then there's the world
of the un -- the executives, the unclassified. What we did was is we looked back as far as, you
know, ten years ago to see more or less what the policy was. Andl can tell you that there has
never been an expressed policy -- well, let me just backtrack for a minute to speak to the --
whether there's a federal right or a state right to cash out your accrued vacation time or your
accrued ill time. There is no such thing. You have -- in Florida case law that talks about
vacation pay and vacation time, you -- where you look to in order to establish whether or not you
have a vested right to accrued vacation is to your policies. So for the unclassified universe in the
City ofMiami, there has to be a policy that speaks to how much you can accrue and what you
can do with it, including whether or not you can cash it out at separation. As far as I've been
able to review prior policies, there has never been a policy in the City ofMiami for the
unclassfeds that authorize anyone to cash out any amount of time, not expressly. Now I have
seen a policy that goes back to I believe 2001 that you can infer allowed an employee to cash out
as much as 500 hours upon separation. You could infer that. So to say that anybody ever had a
vested right to cash out anything I think is perhaps just, you know, mischaracterizing what we
had. Has there been in my opinion a lack of strict adherence to our policy? Absolutely, because
the record is replete with people walking out of here and cashing out in excess of 500 hours. So
call it mismanagement, call it lack of oversight, you know, call it whatever, but was it an
expressed policy? No, it wasn't. What the Manager has done now, in fact, he has now -- he has
established an expressed policy that you can cash up to 500 hours when you separate. And you
know, it's -- quite frankly, that's what it is now. The prior policies always spoke to the fact that
you could not accrue more than 500 hours and anything over 500 hours would be forfeited.
There were provisions before where you could cash up to 200 hours -- andl think the -- it was
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the past practice that individuals would come in and with the approval of Labor Relations, they
could cash up to 200 hours a year, you know. I think that the requirement was that there had to
have been some kind of emergency, but I don't think that was ever strictly applied. So to answer
your question, is there going to be anyone that can assert a vested right to anything over 500
hours, I would tell you no. No, because not in the labor contracts, not in the Civil Service did
anybody ever have any kind of expressed right to cash out anything because the labor contracts
themselves, I don't think you can accrue more than 200 hours a year. So you're not supposed to
be rolling over more than 200 hours. So that is the law. I don't think that what the Manager did
is subject to any kind of challenge. I think what he did was clarify what employees now can
expect to do with their accrued vacation and ill time. Andl do have a memo for you with case
law. And the bottom line is that there is no property interest in any accrued vacation time or
vacation pay unless it is found in an employment contract or in a policy.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So in effect, what you're saying is that through the years and years of
discretion or indiscretion, people have walked out of the City ofMiami with in excess of 500
hours of vacation andl time accrued, correct? And you're saying there is no de jure policy in the
City ofMiami that allowed for that?
Ms. Bru: The only thing that I have found prior to what the Manager has adopted recently was a
policy that provided for a carryover of no more than 500 vacation hours. But it -- in that policy,
it does mention in addition to any grandfather vacation hours. So, you know, I have to believe
that there would be particular individual employees that could come in and show that at some
particular time there was some Manager who authorized some kind of carryover in excess of 500
hours for reasons -- you know, I can anticipate that maybe public safety employees who were
asked -- you know, who were denied a vacation request because they needed to work because of
some emergency or lack of staffing or something because the prior policy does talk about that
you cannot carryover anything in excess of 500 hours excluding grandfather hours.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So --
Ms. Bru: But it does warn that you have to use it or it will be forfeited. So what I'm saying is
that even then, even acknowledging that you had grandfathered hours, the prior policy was use it
or lose it. So there was no expectation that you could cash it out. The first time that I see an
expressed policy allowing for a cash out is now.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So then you, I guess, have reviewed the July 28, 1987 policy of Cesar
Odio?
Ms. Bru: As amended by Carlos Gimenez in 2001.
Commissioner Sarnoff. And the 2001 amendment, in your opinion, what did that do?
Ms. Bru: Hmm?
Commissioner Sarnoff. In your opinion, what did the 2001 amendment do?
Ms. Bru: You know, I have to compare it to the -- to what was in effect in '87, andl don't have
the '87 in front of me, but as --
Commissioner Sarnoff. I have the '87 here. I'm just asking you what do you think that the
Gimenez 2001 vacation usage, carryover payoff do to unclassified employees.
Ms. Bru: It directs the employees that they can carryover no more than 500 hours, but it does
say in addition to any grandfather, so I guess that would be the case -by -case basis to establish
under what circumstances and what documentation exists of a grandfather in excess of 500
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hours. But then it does say that any vacation time exceeding 500, excluding grandfather hours,
must be used or will be forfeited. So it's telling you you use anything in excess of 500 or you will
forfeit. Now again, that doesn't expressly say that when you leave you're going to get to cash out
500, but I guess you could infer that back then under that policy you could cash up to 500.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So then you're saying that Mr. Martinez's policy is consistent with all
previous City Managers.
Mr. Martinez: Well, I think it does -- well, I guess the question --
Commissioner Sarnoff. No, I don't mind.
Mr. Martinez: I mean, I think what it does, it definitely says you can cash out 500 hours
maximum. That's not up in the air anymore.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Do you presently have a policy on how much you can accrue? Here's
my question. Do you presently have a policy on how many hours you can accrue?
Ms. Bru: Yes.
Mr. Martinez: Yes.
Ms. Bru: It's in the policy.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Do you presently have a policy on how many hours you could
cash out at one time?
Ms. Bru: It's -- he does now.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Five hundred hours, right? Those are two easy softball questions. You
could have knocked them right out of the park.
Mr. Martinez: No.
Ms. Bru: No. He --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Am I wrong? Your policy right now is that you can accrue up to 500
hours.
Mr. Martinez: For vacation and 500 for sick leave cash out. You can accrue as much sick leave
as you want because you may need more than that, but when you go cash out, you can only cash
out 500. In addition to that, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Slow down 'cause I heard two things andl want to -- I didn't know that
was our policy. Are you saying you can accrue up to 500 hours of vacation and -- let me put the
and, ampersand -- 500 hours of I time?
Mr. Martinez: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff. No?
Mr. Martinez: I'm saying you can accrue 500 hours of vacation and you can cash out 500 of this
indefinite amount of time that you've accumulated.
Commissioner Sarnoff. I think we're saying the same thing. So you can have 1,000 hours upon
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leaving?
Mr. Martinez: Yes, maximum, period.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. So you can cash out 1,000 hours at whatever your hourly rate is.
Mr. Martinez: Exactly.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. And that's your policy you put in place.
Mr. Martinez: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay. So you -- andl didn't remember you -- Did your --? Let me see if
I have it. It was a very short -- I apologize. I'm looking for it. Here it is.
Mr. Martinez: Andl have one other little subtle change in there.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Oh, is there a new one?
Mr. Martinez: One other little subtle change. You can cash out 40 hours upon request without
any paper saying it's an emergency or anything like that.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Is -- so is there a new APM out?
Mr. Martinez: It's included in the APM.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. In this APM?
Mr. Martinez: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. So in an effort to limit the substantial payouts that have been recorded at
the time of separation to executives, managerial, confidential and unclassified employees, the
Administration has approved two modifications to the administrative policies (APMs). The
APMs that are attached limit vacation and sick time payouts to 500 each and will take effect in
30 days to permit employees in affected classes to evaluate their individual positions. So if
people have in excess of 500 hours prior to this taking effect, they can cash out the in excess of
500 for vacation and in excess of 500 for I time?
Mr. Martinez: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay. So I'm just curious, why the 30-day -- why not implement it right
away?
Mr. Martinez: Well, I wanted 30 days for people to make adjustments, be able to make the
decision on when to cash out before this takes place because I was going to retire in four or five
months anyway.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. So I mean, aren't you -- I don't think you answered my question right;
maybe I didn't ask it right. So you're not -- you're giving them 30 days to make a decision.
Mr. Martinez: A business decision.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Right. And they may have 800 hours of vacation and 700 hours of I
time, right? They can cash that out?
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Mr. Martinez: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. See, I hate when the City Attorney nods her head no and the --
Chair Gort: Yeah, and you say yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- City Manager nods his --
Chair Gort: Yeah.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- head yes 'cause that tells me that this is not well thought out. Andl
don't mean to be -- I'm not trying to be hard on you guys. You had to have made a change in
policy, and I'm just trying to figure out what the policy is. And I'm not trying to deride you at all,
so I'm going to try it one more time. Person -- Frank Smith from the City ofMiami has 800
hours presently today of vacation time. He equally has 700 hours of I -- you guys call it I time --
sick time. He wants to leave tomorrow. I guess this hasn't taken effect yet. He can leave with
his 1,500 total hours?
Mr. Martinez: Not exactly. I know where you're going.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay.
Mr. Martinez: He can leave with the 800 hours of the vacation time and whatever is based on
his years of service, blah, blah, blah, blah that he's entitled to for his I time. You add them up
and that's what he's entitled. After the -- August 12, he will only be entitled to 500 each
maximum. Now the 500 for I time is calculated on years of service and --
Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yeah. I don't want to get into calculations.
Mr. Martinez: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. And the reason I don't want to do that is I want to talk about the
capping. I have no interest in trying to figure out how you guys entice people to do whatever it is
they do. So the cap right now is it's 500 hours of each, period.
Mr. Martinez: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. And prior to that, prior to this taking effect, it's whatever they presently
have.
Mr. Martinez: Yeah.
Commissioner Sarnoff.. All right. Have you budgeted or do you know what the budget impact
would be?
Mr. Martinez: No. That's what I stated earlier, that I asked for a guesstimate of how many
people would want to take advantage of this because they were retiring in three, four, or five
months and they said it's not worth it. I've got another job, so that equals my salary, andl don't
want to lose the 300 hours, if he had 800, you know, 'cause he's going to only get 500. He makes
the business decision, I'm going to cash out now and retire minus the salary that we 're saving.
Commissioner Sarno:I You indicated that there would be an offset by the person's leaving.
Would that mean that that -- that would mean that you're intending on that position to be vacant?
Mr. Martinez: No. The offset is the salary that we're saving.
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Commissioner Sarnoff. From the new person being at a lower pay scale versus --
Mr. Martinez: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- the person theoretically being at the upper pay scale.
Chair Gort: Plus benefits.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. And you've done that calc -- you've done --?
Mr. Martinez: We're in the process of trying to zoom in on that number.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. That's all wanted to know.
Chair Gort: Is that it? Don't you have the IT (Information Technology)?
Commissioner Sarnoff. Oh, no. I'm going to pass on the IT.
Chair Gort: Okay.
NA.5 DISCUSSION ITEM
11-00719
NA.6
11-00720
BRIEF DISCUSSION BY COMMISSIONER SUAREZ REGARDING
VACANT PROPERTY SECURITY STRUCTURES.
DISCUSSED
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. --
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: -- Chairman. I'm going to --I thinkl had two. One of them was vacant
property security structures. My understanding is that CD (Community Development) is still
working on whether it's -- whether CD funds are an eligible use for those kinds of structures, and
I think they're working with Legal to come up with that conclusion, so I'll leave that.
DISCUSSION ITEM
DISCUSSION BY CHAIR GORT REGARDING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S
ANTI -DEFICIENCY ORDINANCE, AND THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE
ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE THAT DEPARTMENTS ARE COMPLYING
WITH THIS ORDINANCE.
11-00720-Submittal-2011 Bayfront Park Anti -Deficiency Ordinance Memo.pdf
11-00720-Submittal-District 1-Miami City Code -Division 1-Anti Deficiency.pdf
DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: All the things that we've been discussing is -- had to do with the anti -deficiency act
that was passed in '98, '96, which -- and I'll just read a little bit of it. The City Manager shall
have the authority to adjust line item in an amount not to exceed 10 percent of the department's
budget so long as the total annual projected expenditure of the department did not exceed the
department's current budget. During the -- and then it goes on to say adjustments verified by the
departments of the management and budget. Additional, all proposed budget adjustment
between department, including Capital Improvement Project, shall require approval by the City
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Commission ordinance or resolution. During the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, any changes
or deviation in excess of $5, 000 per transaction from the current approved budget for those
department under the authority of the City Manager requires City Manager approval with the
advice writing [sic] concurrence with the members of the City Commission designated by the
presiding officer and copy which shall be provided to the City Clerk. Now this -- I also have
Mirtha requesting, June 30, 2010 -- and this is the memo you sent. It says the -- marks the end of
the third quarter of the current fiscal year of the beginning of the additional fourth quarter
mounting of budget transfers and prescribe on the City anti -deficiency (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Budget transfers received after June 30, 2010 that exceed 5,000 per transaction will require both
City Manager approval and the writing [sic] consent of the chairman of the City Commission or
the Commissioners. We sent the memo out andl only received one, which was from Bayfront
Park Management Trust, where they explained the reason why their budget -- they had changes
on their budget and it was signed and approved by the Manager and myself. And this is
something that can control all that we have talked about. We have a budget that needs to be
followed. That budget tells you how many people you're going to utilize and so on. And a lot of
people are not aware that this existed and this was passed in '98. Is that being implemented?
Mirtha Dziedzic: Mirtha Dziedzic, Budget Department. All of our analysts have before the end
of the third quarter made contact with their respective departments and made them aware that
the third quarter -- or the fourth quarter requirements were coming up and that if they had any
transfers that exceeded the $5, 000 limit, that they should submit it before that deadline. If not,
that they would have to follow the procedures prescribed in the anti -deficiency.
Chair Gort: Have all the departments complied with it?
Ms. Dziedzic: Yes. We have not received any budget transfer requests to date in excess of $5, 000
between any line items. If we do receive any of those budget transfer requests, then we do
require the department to prepare a memo to notify the Chair and the City Manager.
Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. I understand you want to address this.
Javier Ortiz: Yes, I do. Commissioner Carollo, I want to start with we have a solution, and that
is to stop hiring. In dealing with the anti -deficiency act, the Miami FOP (Fraternal Order of
Police) continues to come up with solutions to help end the fiscal crisis. This doesn't take the
City Administration off the hook for many of the unessential new hires we have running around
here. I don't think have to spell them out. Before any union gives one cent of concessions,
these people shouldn't be here and they should be laid off now. In our last negotiation session,
we were asked by Mr. Mattimore to come up with ways to save the City ofMiami money. Our
ideas have not been considered, and Mr. Johnny Martinez has authorized the Miami Police
Department in hiring 47 new police officers. Our budget director says we have money. Where?
We just increased our deficit to $61 million, rolled back taxes, and we are looking at furloughs
long enough to shut down police service for two entire months. Do I really need to say more?
We have worked through four managers to fix the problem, but nobody will listen. Based on the
information we have, the City ofMiami Police Department is heading into violating the
anti -deficiency act. As of July 20, motor fuel is over budget by $2.3 million. And even if no one
wants to take responsibility for the gas cost, the bottom line is emergency vehicles need gasoline
and the bill has to be paid. Overtime is over budget by $1.6 million and will continue to climb
for the next two months. There is no funding for the 19 positions that the Miami Police
Department is immediately trying to hire. I have an e-mail (electronic), which I just gave to all
of you, verfing that ChiefExposito stated that we were having the next 19 police officers paid
by the COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) hiring grant for the next three years. I
told the Manager for weeks it wasn't a factual statement. The Manager told me that we were
hiring these police officers because they were free. We weren't convinced. The Manager was
mislead in believing in these positions not impacting our general fund. We can't afford to
properly fund City physicals for sworn current members. There's no money for uniform
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allotments since 2008, and we're short $1.2 million in our emergency vehicle fleet. Our current
sworn members are looking at many furlough days 'cause we really don't know how many 'cause
we're still playing with the numbers. And even after being mislead and told that the COPS grant
doesn't cover the entire 19 positions, the City Manager has authorized to hire new police
officers; 19 for now, 47 in total. The City ofMiami says we need to come up with $7 million
because of our deficit. That's before you guys threw in the other 6 million. How do we negotiate
in good faith when the City Manager is authorizing $3.5 million, 47 police officers, when we
have a deficit? By the way, the current COPS grant expires next July, leaving the City on the
hook for the salary and fringe benefits -- and that doesn't include emergency vehicles, fuel,
physicals, uniforms, bulletproof vests -- that will now come out of the general fund for the next
three years after that. This isn't the time to be hiring. What is a greater concern is that we are
hearing that the Miami Police Department is projected to go in the red by at least a half a
million dollars. I have two goals during this pocket item: Have this Commission direct the City
Manager not to hire any more sworn members until we take care of the sworn members' benefits
we employ today. City physicals. Make sure that the people that we have on the street right now
are healthy enough to do the job. Vehicles, uniforms. If we are in the red, have the Police
Department make adjustments to prevent us from being over budget now, not at the end of
September or in the middle of September; now. If there are salary savings, then you should
honor the collective bargaining agreement and not cut our benefits even more when the City has
a fiscal deficit. The FOP would love to hire 500 police officers this year to keep the streets safe.
However, the City just can't afford it right now. And Chairman Gort, with your permission, I
would like to have several members of our department come up to the podium in order to inform
the Commission of our current financial status.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Go ahead, yes.
Commissioner Dunn: Can we honor that request?
Chair Gort: Sure.
Miguel Exposito: Miguel Exposito, chief of Police. Good evening, Commissioners. The FOP
vice president questions the deployment of our officers and the use of overtime. His concerns
have been prompted by an effort to reduce the Department's operating budget and consequently
police services in order to find additional dollars in these fiscally challenging times. At times, he
may voice his concerns in regard to public safety. His emphasis on prioritization on dollar
reduction clearly dominates his message and definitely overshadows the goals and mission of the
Police Department. As chief of police, my priorities are to maintain officer safety and to deploy
an operationally effective workforce in regard to safety of the public. I am given a prescribed
budget in order to realize these priorities. We are over 50 officers short and we worked within
those parameters to maximize the resources we currently have in order to devel -- to deliver the
best possible service to this community while maintaining officer safety. The Miami Police
Department uses a three prong comprehensive approach to attain its goals and objectives. It is a
balance of reactive patrols, which are the police officers that answer calls for service, the
investigative follow-ups, which are the detectives that work in Homicide, Robbery, and some of
the other investigative units, and proactive techniques, which are our tactical operations section,
which have been responsible for doubling the number of weapons we took off the streets last
year. We went from about 600 firearms that we had confiscated the previous year to over 1,000
that we confiscated last year, and the majority of them were brought in by the tactical operations
section. The FOP suggested that we start -- stop the hiring process and start transferring some
of the people from these different units into patrol. Yes, it'll create a little bit of presence in the
street and they can save some money, but it's not going to get the job done. One thing that we've
noticed throughout the year is there are times where we've had to move our tactical operations
section officers into one specific area because we had a significant problem. And what we've
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noticed is that the area that they vacated, crimes start to go up right away. So that tells you that
if you put everybody in patrol and that's all you're doing is answering calls for service, all we
have are officers that are writing reports all day and there's nothing being done to get the
criminals off the street. Although this wasn't mentioned by Sergeant -- by Ortiz, I would like to
point out that under the current FOP contract, the City agrees to allow the FOP president, as
well as two of his designees, to be released from their police duties throughout the life of the
contract. In addition, the City agrees to establish a time pool of over 7,000 hours per fiscal year
to be utilized by members designated by the FOP. The three members currently exercising this
opportunity all hold the rank of sergeant. The time pool donation in real dollar well exceeds
$200, 000. In conjunction with the FOP's wish to save the City money, this might be an
opportune time to revisit this generous provision. Last year I stood before you and was praised
for saving $5 million in overtime expenses as compared to the previous year. As a result, in this
year's budget our overtime dollars were reduced by those $5 million that we saved the previous
year. This year attrition kicked in and we lost over 50 police officers. At the current time, there's
-- we're short 56 police officers. We have gone over and over -- in our overtime costs by $1.3
million, as reflected in the May report. During the same period, we saved $3.2 million in salary
savings as a result of the vacancies of these police officer position. Therefore, comparing our
overtime overage and salary savings, we actually are $1.9 million under budget. In addition, we
have $800, 000 of reimbursable overtime that we have not yet received are in the pipeline. Two
hundred thousand dollars of the budgeted fuel dollars were also transferred for physicals for our
officers. They were transferred from our fuel budget over to -- so we could have physicals. I
don't know where Sergeant Ortiz got his information, but apparently it's incorrect. The
projections are that we will be under budget by the end of the year by about a million dollars. I
will now bring Ms. Mae Shepherd, who's the commander of our budget unit, who can break
down the numbers and answer any of the questions that you have relating to this subject. Mae.
Mr. Ortiz: May I say something?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Ortiz: Chief Exposito, respectfully, I'm not incorrect. You are incorrect. You're looking at a
May report. Your overtime is actually $1.6 million and climbing. And if you look at your -- I'm
sorry, 1.6 now because we were (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at $4.2 million. And when it comes to --
give me one second. I'll tell you right now. We're over by $1.6 million. And when it comes to
fuel, we're up to $2.3 million. And as much as we want to hire, the bottom line is we don't have
any money. And when the chief sold the idea to the City Manager that we could hire 19 police
officers, a total of 47, off the COPS hiring grant, the current grant that we have going on, which
by the way exhausts July of next year, which means August and September we're going to pick up
the 43 that are on it now plus 7 if we fund those. Because right now what has occurred is he was
told -- the Manager was mislead and told, look, this is all going to be covered by the grant.
When I spoke to the Manager, the Manager told me, Javi, they're free. That's why we're doing it.
They're not free. This pocket item comes in. The chief now tells him that they're not covered,
that only seven can be covered. It's only for a year. It could be extended possibly to two, but
we're still on the hook for the other 43 that are not budgeted for next year. You got to put in for
physicals. They don't cover that. They don't cover cars. They don't cover any of that, uniforms.
Yet, we're going to hire. And by the way, in order to hire these 19 positions, it's got to be in your
fund now because I've spoken to the US (United States) Department ofJustice. You have to have
funding now, and once you show the funding and it's uploaded to the Department ofJustice,
they'll give you that money back, and there is no funding. There's no money for gas. There's no
money for uniforms. There's no money. We have this huge budget, but we're going to keep on
spending. Andl can jump up and down and scream as loud as I can, and I'm pleading, please
stop spending money. We are right now in the red, and that's why we're here today to stop this
from happening.
Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you.
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Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: I just wanted to ask the Manager, what was told to you by the chief? I just
-- get clarification on --
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Well, I have --
Commissioner Dunn: -- I mean, versus what -- just want to establish the truth.
Mr. Martinez: -- the minutes of the meeting that was conducted in order to approve the grant. It
says Chief Exposito indicated that the US DOT (Department of Transportation) grant is paying
for 43 officers positions currently and 7 hires would be made from the US DOT grant. Any
positions above the 50, which is the 43 plus the 7, would be funded from the general fund,
anything over the 50. And in that everything -- that they were within budget and the positions
were within the budget and they were not above the budget.
Chief Exposito: Right.
Mr. Martinez: Correct?
Chief Exposito: Yep.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Mr. Martinez: And that we needed to have a baseline of 1,137 positions, which is the 1,087 that
we have in place now plus the 50 will give you the 1,137 policemen that you need as baseline.
Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am.
Mae Shepherd: Okay. Mae Shepherd, City ofMiami Police Department. I would like to clam
in reference to the term of the COPS hiring grant. The grant is scheduled to expire not July of
2012, but October 1, 2012 'cause it started October 1, 2009. It's a three-year grant. And the
City's only required to retain those officers hired under the grant for a period of one year, not
three years, and that is outlined in the contract that was signed by the City that species the
terms and conditions of the grant award, and we can make that available to FOP.
Mr. Ortiz: May I ask her a question? Are we funded to --?
Chair Gort: Go ahead and ask one question, but we're not going to be going back and forth and
all this.
Mr. Ortiz: It's not about going back and forth, but the bottom line is are we funded for new
hires. Are we funded for the 19 new hires right now?
Ms. Shepherd: Yes, we are.
Mr. Ortiz: And we're funded for next fiscal year also --
Ms. Shepherd: Well, FY (Fiscal Year) --
Mr. Ortiz: -- which is in two months?
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Ms. Shepherd: -- '12 budget has not been adopted by the Commission.
Mr. Ortiz: Okay, but our director, our Budget director is right now trying to pull out $2 million
from today's budget -- they're trying to pull out $2 million for today's budget. We're already in
the red as it is. How are we going to fund these positions?
Ms. Shepherd: Okay. We're not in the red. There's a monthly projection report, and this report
is available on the City intranet. It's prepared by the Budget Department, and it's published by
the Finance Department. The latest that's been published is May 2011. I think the June 2011
report has been prepared but not published. I was trying to attain a copy of that report before I
got here today, but our budget analyst told me he could not release it to me. But in looking at the
May projections, you will find that we have -- we're projecting a 3.2 million salary savings,
overtime deficit of 2.3, which is going to give you a net surplus of a million dollars in personnel.
But if you go to the operating, because of the fuel, we're projecting a 1.7, not a two point -- I
don't know what figure you came up with. It's two point something. We're projecting a 1.7, so
the 1.7 deficit in the fuel is going to offset the savings in the salaries. But bottom line is we're
looking at about 800 -- I mean, $8, 714.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Are you saying the 3.2 million in salary savings and $2.3 million
overtime should be combined to add or subtract?
Ms. Shepherd: You subtract the 3.2, which is a positive --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Ms. Shepherd: -- from the 1 -- 2.3, which is --
Commissioner Sarnoff. So --
Ms. Shepherd: -- a negative --
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- about 1 million.
Ms. Shepherd: Yeah.
Commissioner Sarnoff. You said -- and then you said there's a 1.7 deficit for --
Ms. Shepherd: Projected in fuel.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Fuel. And how will you make that up?
Ms. Shepherd: Well, we --
Commissioner Sarnoff. I mean, ifI just take your net one million --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- over your 1.7 deficit, it's a $700, 000 loss.
Ms. Shepherd: No. Well, what's happening, we have some savings in some other line items --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Ms. Shepherd: -- which I'm not going line item by line item. I can make a copy of this report
available.
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Commissioner Sarnoff. If you went line item by line item, would you offset your $1.7 million fuel
deficit?
Ms. Shepherd: You're going to -- yes. You're going to offset a million from the personnel, and we
have savings in other line items, like professional services, because we're not going to be
proceeding with the lieutenant exams, not in this fiscal year. It's not going to happen. We have
savings in some other line items, repair and maintenance. But you have to look at it --
Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah, combining them.
Commissioner Suarez: But Mr. --
Commissioner Sarnoff. What would --
Ms. Shepherd: Line item by line item.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- your combined be? It'd be a million dollars from your personnel, plus
what from all the other categories?
Ms. Shepherd: Right. And if you factor in the 800,000 reimbursable overtime.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay.
Mr. Ortiz: But is that also projecting fuel for the next two months?
Ms. Shepherd: Yes, it's projecting it.
Mr. Ortiz: And overtime for two months?
Ms. Shepherd: Yes. Every --
Mr. Ortiz: And the half a million you owe us in uniforms and 1.2 million you owe us in cars for
this year?
Ms. Shepherd: Well, this is the general fund. I don't have that on the cars. That's over on the
GSA (General Services Administration) side.
Mr. Ortiz: What about the half a million dollars in uniforms (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
Ms. Shepherd: It's here. Remember, we did the transfers.
Mr. Ortiz: Right.
Chair Gort: Excuse me.
Mr. Ortiz: We're still owed a half a million.
Chair Gort: Javi, excuse me a minute.
Mr. Ortiz: I'm sorry.
Chair Gort: I'm not going to have this discussion all --
Mr. Ortiz: Okay.
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Chair Gort: -- night long here. We have a budget director. Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the most efficient way of doing this is
to have them write us a report that basically outlines what their projections are for the remainder
of the year and we can analyze that report, we can digest it. Hopefully, the more current, the
better. If it's as offune, we've already closed June. Hopefully, we can get the June numbers
included in that. Andl would say, line item by line item 'cause I know this Commission. So line
item by line item, your budget to actuals and what your projections are for the rest of the year,
and that's it. We can analyze it from there and go from there. Kind of --
Chair Gort: Did you hear the --?
Ms. Dziedzic: I'm sorry, no.
Chair Gort: Okay. He would like to see a report.
Ms. Dziedzic: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: A budget to actual and then a projection for the year. I mean, based on
the current, you know --
Ms. Dziedzic: Sure.
Commissioner Suarez: -- usage.
Ms. Dziedzic: We produce that --
Chair Gort: Every month.
Ms. Dziedzic: -- projection on a monthly basis. We have not issued the June reports because we
saw an anomaly when we were reviewing the report and we wanted to make sure that we drilled
down and make -- and clamed all the questions we had so that's delayed our issuing of the
report.
Commissioner Suarez: Let me ask you a simple question. Is it your opinion that based on the
current expenditures, that the Police Department's budget is in danger of being out of balance or
is -- maybe not in danger 'cause that's a little more subjective, but is on pace to go out of
balance?
Ms. Dziedzic: If certain expenditures are not curtailed -- and there have been management
initiatives taken to curtail those expenditures -- they would have. The biggest concern that we
had this month was the fuel charges. The fuel consumption seemed to have gone up.
Commissioner Suarez: Why don't we do this? Why don't we get the actuals, why don't we get
what's budgeted, what the current rate is and whatever strategies are necessary to make sure that
we do not go out of budget.
Ms. Dziedzic: Absolutely.
Mr. Martinez: I think Ernst & Young needs their first assignment tonight.
ChiefExposito: You know, I just wanted to clar05, something, and that is back in January the
City Manager at the time went to a new fueling system with credit cards. At the time, we didn't
agree with going to those credit cards. We thought the best way was to continue doing it the way
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we were doing, gassing up at the Dade County fuel pumps, and that's created a bit of a problem
with our fueling. With the current City Manager, I spoke to him about that andl explained to
him what our concerns were and he agreed with us, and we're going back to the old system. So
that should help with some of the problems with the fueling. There was a clerical error in which
we were being overcharged for some reason, but that was caught, so maybe that's the figure that
Sergeant Ortiz has is that erroneous figure. But in any case, I think with going back to the old
system that we thought was a better system, I think that you're going to see the fuel costs go
down.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, may I ask --?
Chair Gort: Okay. Just want to make sure we get all that information from the Budget
Department --
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: -- and also make sure the FOP gets a copy and everyone gets a copy. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: This is just a question on the fuel cards. If -- is there any way that we
can get a determination as to whether there was any abuse on those cards? 'Cause it appears
from what you're saying and, you know, that when we changed over the system, all of a sudden
there was an inordinately large amount offuel being used.
Chief Exposito: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: And is there some sort of ongoing effort to determine if anyone was
specifically abusing of --?
Chief Exposito: Yes. We're doing that. We're following up on some of the expenditures that
looked like they're way out of whack. That was our concern and that was the reason we didn't
want to go to the fuel cards where people could fuel at any gas station. We want to go back to
the County pumps and that's what the current City Manager has agreed to do, andl think that's
the right move.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Every time I deal with this issue, I'm going to be accused of being --
making it personal, so I'm going to try not to make it personal. But I just want to say to our
colleagues, the thing that I've been harping on all year long, all day long is consistency, fairness.
I don't know what the numbers are. I don't know -- but I do know that there's some type of
discrepancy between what was said -- well, really, the -- we got the memo, andl noticed that --
you know, here I go again. If it was the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) or something
like that, it would be hell on wheels. And we need police. I respect police. Let me put that on
the record. I appreciate police and we definitely need -- but, you know, guys, we got to be fair
and consistent. Now there's going to be a side of me that's going to come out ifI see
inconsistency 'cause I -- you know, I don't want to be played. If we going to be fair, if we going
to be consistent, we got to be fair and we got to be consistent, you know. We talked about sacred
cows. Maybe, just maybe, we just identified one.
Chief Exposito: Mr. Chairman, I have a question. Apparently, Sergeant Ortiz is quoting a June
report that hasn't been issued yet. I don't know where he got these issues from.
Chair Gort: Well, what we're going to do is we're going to have the Budget director give us the
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figures. They're going to get a copy of the figures. They can go over it and come back to us,
okay?
Mr. Ortiz: I've been getting them from everywhere. And just for the record, we still haven't
gotten our money for physicals, vehicles, or uniforms, so I don't know how we can be in budget
when those three items have not been -- they haven't been made. They just made adjustments
when we have contractual obligations.
Chair Gort: You meet with the Budget Department and you put them up to date, okay?
Mr. Ortiz: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
ChiefExposito: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Okay.
NA.7 DISCUSSION ITEM
11-00723
DISCUSSION BY CHAIR GORT REGARDING THE STEPS BEING TAKEN
TO FILL THE VACANT AUDITOR GENERAL POSITION, IN ADDITION TO
THE PLACEMENT OF AN INTERIM SUPERVISOR FOR THE OFFICE OF
AUDITOR GENERAL.
DISCUSSED
A motion was made by Vice Chair Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, and was passed
unanimously, for the creation of an Auditor General Selection Committee that consists of seven
(7) members, whereby each Commissioner will have the ability to appoint one (1) member to the
Selection Committee that is preferably either a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or has some
form of financial background, and that two (2) members of the Selection Committee consist of a
former prosecutor, and an investigator or former investigator for a government agency.
Chair Gort: Okay, ifI may. On that same -- 'cause I have a pocket item for that too.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. I mean, as long as it gets discussed.
Chair Gort: Mainly what it is, if you recall last Commission meeting, we decided that we should
go ahead and appoint someone to be acting in the absence -- I requested -- I don't know if you
all received copy of the individual most qualified for the job. Andl suggested there was three
people that they had the credentials, but it was only one that had been working with the
department for four years. The other two had only been two years or one year. I suggested that
-- to bring to us and that should be the person to be the interim while we make the selection. At
the same time, the suggestion I'd like to make -- and it's up to this Commission -- is we've had, I
understand, about 60 applicants for the Finance director where we had CPAs (Certified Public
Accountants) and so on. I understand we have a list in there. And then the decision should be
up to you guys, what you want to do, is have this one individual as the interim. He's a CPA. He's
got the experience, been working for four years, and then do an RFP (Request for Proposals) or
a letter or whatever to select the person. And who's going to do the selection?
Vice Chair Carollo: Hold on. There's a lot of things going on. First of all, I had staff pull the
minutes from what we were -- what we discussed and the direction. I guess I made the direction,
by the Vice Chair, with the consent of the City Commission, for the Administration to authorize
the Employee Relations director to assign the most senior staff auditor within the Office of
Auditor General to serve as interim supervisor while a search is conducted for a new auditor
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general; further directing that the City Commission be informed of the interim supervisor's name
once assigned. That was the minutes. So it was my understanding that what we did is we saw
who was the senior as far as position, as far as knowledge, position, and then if two people were
the same, then the person that had been here the longest would actually be named a supervisor
to supervise everything else. And I think that -- I'm readingfrom the minutes. This was the
direction. And further directing the City Commission be informed of the interim supervisor's
name once assigned.
Johnny Martinez (City Manager): We've done that, and there's a name attached to that person. I
think we submitted it to the Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: So that person should be the supervisor.
Mr. Martinez: Yeah. If it's approved by this Commission, we'll make it official.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. I think that's what the direction was.
Mr. Martinez: Done.
Vice Chair Carollo: I think that's what the direction was. And again, I'm reading off the
minutes. Tell me if, you know -- correct me if I'm wrong, 'cause I'm readingfrom the minutes.
Chair Gort: The e-mail (electronic) that sent is according to the decision made by the City
Commission --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Chair Gort: -- this person should be appointed for the reason being that it's qualified and has
been in the position for four years.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Chair Gort: Andl sent that memo andl asked for that person to be appointed.
Vice Chair Carollo: Now the second part -- Madam City Attorney.
Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): You know, I would urge you to be careful about how you're
characterizing what's going on here, you know. We're not -- you're not appointing an auditor
general. You are simply trying to make sure that the staff that is a holdover --
Vice Chair Carollo: Be supervised.
Chair Gort: Right.
Ms. Bru: -- from the last auditor general is being properly supervised so that there 's --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Ms. Bru: -- accountability, so that work is being done. So I don't want there to be any
mischaracterizations that anybody believes that they have some sort of you know, entitlement to
an office. So I think the way the Vice Chair characterizes this is we just want somebody to be
supervising the work, somebody who's accountable to --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
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Ms. Bru: -- the Commission because this office is accountable to the Commission, you know,
and --
Vice Chair Carollo: In the meantime, we're actually advertising for the position of --
Ms. Bru: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- Auditor General. And what was stated in the last Commission -- andl
should have had the full minutes and staff only gave me that part -- was that we would come
back in this meeting andl would bring it back as a discussion item to see, okay, how do we set
up the selection committee, you know. The advertisement has been placed. We mentioned as far
as a national search. I think Commissioner Sarnoff mentioned national search. But the bottom
line is the advertisement has gone out and how were we going to set up a selection committee
because Commissioner Dunn stated that he want all of us to participate, have some type of
participation. So I -- by the way, I reached out to all of the Audit Committee members to get
their suggestions. And one thing that was discussed, whether having the Audit Committee
actually do the selection. And when I spoke to each member, the consensus between myself and
each member was that that was not a good idea because they have a certain relationship built
with Mr. Igwe and should Mr. Igwe want to also apply, it might put them in an uncomfortable
position. So what was discussed with all the members and they all agreed and they thought it
was a very good recommendation -- andl will let you all know -- is that we have a selection
committee of at least five committee members, one appointed each by a Commissioner. You
obviously want some type of CPA, some type of financial expert in order to be able to, you know,
properly vet all the applications that we're going to be receiving. In addition to that, I really
thought that we should increase the committee from five to seven and include a former
prosecutor and former economic crimes bureau investigator or some type of investigator that has
had knowledge so we could have a little bit -- you know, a different perspective. And that's what,
you know, I suggest. However, you know, I leave it open to, you know, my colleagues to see how
you want -- how you all want to do it. But I think --
Commissioner Suarez: As long as there's oral presentations.
Vice Chair Carollo: Listen, I'm always in favor of oral presentations. As a matter of fact, when,
you know, the committee, the staff myself, the Manager, assistant manager, hey, we had oral
presentations. You know, I can't help it that, you know, the Audit Committee felt that they didn't
want, you know, oral presentations. I would have preferred it, but that's me.
Chair Gort: Let me ask a question because I believe it's very important -- I don't have it in front
of me right now, but my understanding is the person -- this department works for the City
Commission. The City Commission instructs these individuals what their jobs -- what is their
descriptions of their performance.
Vice Chair Carollo: Actually, it's also in the Charter what their description is so --
Chair Gort: Right. It's all in there. Now my question to you is, how do we select the City
Attorney and how do we select the City Clerk?
Vice Chair Carollo: I have never been in that process. I could tell you from history, but if the
City Attorney want to answer --
Ms. Bru: Well, the last round, there was a recruitment done and there were resumes submitted.
There was a committee formed. I think the last time before I was appointed, I think
then -Commissioner Teele served as the Commissioner who oversaw the qualifications and he
interviewed the candidates that were -- There was a committee that was formed of individuals
from the community, other attorneys from the community. They narrowed down the list of
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candidates and then one of the Commissioners -- I think it was Commissioner Teele --
interviewed the candidates, and then they came before the Commissioners and they were selected
by the Commission.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Which is pretty much, you know, the structure thatl was stating, you know.
There's going to be a selection committee and I'm looking at if each member of this Commission
would choose a person for that selection committee andl wanted to increase it to two more to
have a former prosecutor also and to have some type of investigative knowledge there, and then
they vet all these candidates and so forth, give their recommendation and it comes before this
Commission for us to discuss. And if we want oral presentations or maybe ask for oral
presentations from the top three, you know. But the bottom line is have some type of vetting
process and then come before us. And we all will have some participation two fold. One, we
will be choosing a committee member --
Commissioner Suarez: The committee members.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- and second, we have the ultimate say. So, two fold we'll be
participating.
Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Suarez: I think that --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: -- that sounds good to me.
Commissioner Dunn: I just -- just for -- I know we're clear on the, I guess, title or description of
the -- let me be careful how I say this -- auditor supervisor. That's what we said? I just want to
make sure -- the only question I have -- andl guess -- andl believe we broached this the last
Commission, but just want to throw this on -- put this on the record. Will there be any ambiguity
or clear delineation of -- you know, with everything you have to have a point person. Is this
person going to be the point person? Will they be treated as such by their staff? I just want to
raise that --I should be looking at you, but was trying to do -- Will it cause any ambiguity
among those who are remaining, three? I just want to put that on the record.
Ms. Bru: This Commission has directed that within the staff that remains in that department, in
that office, that there is one person that now has been identified as the person that's going to be
responsible for supervising, for overseeing the work, the person with whom this Commission is
going to communicate for purposes of any kind of report, any kind of information. I think it
should be clear. Yeah, it's sufficiently clear what the duties are.
Chair Gort: Okay, the -- are you making a motion to create a committee, a selection committee?
Vice Chair Carollo: Sure. I'll make a motion to create a selection committee made up of seven
members. Each Commissioner will choose one member. I think it should have -- each member
should have some type offinancial background, preferably CPAs, but some -- definitely some
type offinancial background. And then two of those members, one will be a former prosecutor,
and the other one will be either investigator or former investigator for a government agency.
Sounds good?
Chair Gort: Yeah.
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Vice Chair Carollo: That's my motion. There is a motion.
Chair Gort: Second. Oh.
Commissioner Dunn: It's getting late.
Chair Gort: I want to get out of here.
Vice Chair Carollo: All in favor?
Commissioner Suarez: Aye.
Chair Gort: There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor,
state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Ms. Bru: Okay.
Chair Gort: Now how are we -- we're going to submit --
Commissioner Dunn: I have two --
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Dunn: -- pocket items, though.
Vice Chair Carollo: Hold --
Commissioner Dunn: Quickie. Go ahead, I'm sorry.
Vice Chair Carollo: I already want to name the member -- well, you know what, we'll bring it for
the next Commission meeting and we'll name the members.
Chair Gort: In the meantime we have an advertising and we're hoping to receive the -- okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. And then once that happens, it'll go -- should -- what the heck, I'm
ready to name my committee member to the selection committee of the auditor general, ifI could.
And do I need a motion or --?
Ms. Bru: Commissioner --
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): I'll defer to Madam City Attorney.
Ms. Bru: -- Vice Chair, ifI may.
Vice Chair Carollo: Or you want to wait?
Ms. Bru: I think today you've decided that as part of the process for selecting the next auditor
general, you're going to have a participation from members of -- you know, external to the City
and that each Commissioner is going to appoint a member. But you need to -- I think you need
to -- at the next meeting in September, I think you're going to have your colleagues provide the
names of the individuals --
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
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Ms. Bru: -- who will be appointed, correct?
Vice Chair Carollo: Right.
Ms. Bru: And then there has to be some kind of structure, some kind of direction as to what the
duties of the committee's going to be. Are they going to be the ones that receive the
qualifications? Are they going to be tasked with just reviewing all the qualifications and then
narrowing it down to a list of ten --
Vice Chair Carollo: And --
Ms. Bru: -- a list of five? This is going to be a committee that's going to meet in the sunshine, so
there's going to have to be a liaison from the Administration that will interact with this committee
to provide support, you know, where they're going to meet so --
Vice Chair Carollo: Fair enough. So we'll just bring it back --
Ms. Bru: Right --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- at the next Commission meeting.
Ms. Bru: -- with some kind of structure.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, fair enough. If you will work with me a little bit on that.
Ms. Bru: We can work with you. Also, in the past, I know the City Clerk's office has also been --
Vice Chair Carollo: Excellent.
Ms. Bru: -- instrumental in assisting in these kinds of tasks so I guess maybe jointly between the
Clerk's Office and our office we can help you structure something for the next meeting.
Vice Chair Carollo: Excellent, and I'll put it as a discussion item for the next meeting so then,
you know, we can form the structure. Again, this Commission will form the structure and then,
you know, each member would, you know, mention who their selection will be for the selection
committee. That's good?
Chair Gort: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Chair Gort: There's a motion. Any further discussion? It was passed already.
Vice Chair Carollo: We're good. I'll -- and I'm going to defer the rest of my discussion items.
Mr. Hannon: Defer to a particular date, sir?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, the next Commission meeting.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Next Commission meeting.
Vice Chair Carollo: Next Commission meeting.
Mr. Hannon: Okay, sir.
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NA.8
11-00721
Commissioner Sarnoff. Of course.
DISCUSSION ITEM
BRIEF DISCUSSION BY COMMISSIONER DUNN REGARDING INTERNAL
BUDGET DOCUMENTS USED BY THE ADMINISTRATION AND POLICE
DEPARTMENT TO DEVELOP BUDGET SUMMARIES THAT ARE
PRESENTED TO THE CITY COMMISSION.
DISCUSSED
Direction by Commissioner Dunn to the Administration to provide Commissioners with a
detailed budget of the Police Department, including positions, salaries, benefits, and
classifications.
Chair Gort: Okay, yes, sir.
Commissioner Dunn: Go ahead. Did somebody say they had a question?
Chair Gort: No. You have --
Commissioner Dunn: Oh, okay.
Chair Gort: -- a pocket item. Go ahead.
Commissioner Dunn: Yes, I do. Okay, my pocket item --
Vice Chair Carollo: Do we need to take a vote on the deferral? No, right?
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): No, sir.
Chair Gort: Go ahead.
Commissioner Dunn: My pocket item, I'm going to defer for the sake of clarity, involving the
APM (Administrative Policy Manual) that we're still not clear on. I'll defer my pocket item 1,
and l just want to -- simply pocket item 2 and 3, I want to have in front of us the same internal
budget document that the police and Administration uses to develop the budget summaries that
we ultimately receive when we vote on the budget, and that will be inclusive of a budget of
positions, salaries, benefits, and classification. The Budget person, I'd like --
Commissioner Sarnoff. I think he's asking for a line item budget from every personnel in the
City.
Commissioner Dunn: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: In the City?
Commissioner Dunn: Okay.
NA.9 RESOLUTION
11-00713
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION URGING THE
MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO SUPPORT THE
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RETENTION OF THE LOW-INCOME HOUSING TAX CREDIT PROGRAM;
DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMITA COPY OF THIS
RESOLUTION TO THE OFFICIAL DESIGNATED HEREIN.
11-00713 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Dunn II, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Suarez and Dunn II
Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo
R-11-0334
Commissioner Dunn: And pocket item 3, the low-income housing tax credit is one of the best
tools for developing affordable housing. However, recently, it has come under attack in the US
(United States) senators' budget deficit plan as being inefficient and duplicative and therefore
should be eliminated. I believe we should join others in renouncing the elimination of the
low-income housing tax credit. So I'm asking that we send a resolution in support of the
retention of low-income housing tax credit. This is in light of the US senator's budget deficit
plan as saying that this tax credit -- low-income tax credit -- housing tax credit is inefficient and
duplicative. I'd like -- ifI may make a motion on that, that we send it as a resolution.
Vice Chair Carollo: I think we need a chance to read --
Commissioner Dunn: Okay, okay. Give you -- okay. Let's give -- Mr. Chair, I think -- I'd like to
make -- Right, that's inclusive of the CDGB (Community Development Block Grant), HOME
(Home Investment Partnership Program) funds. All of that will be inclusive of that. And you
know just last year we went to Washington to get that increase from 15 to 20 -- to work on getting
that. That would -- yes. George -- go ahead, George.
George Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. This is -- state senate --
Commissioner Dunn: US.
Mr. Mensah: -- the US Senator Tom Coburn has a plan called the Back to Black. And in that
plan he recommends the elimination of tax credit, the elimination of the HOME program, and the
reduction of the CDBG program from 3.5 billion to 1.5 billion. So if that plan gets passed,
definitely there will not be any HOME program, and then the CDBG program would definitely be
decimated, so that is just for the record.
Commissioner Dunn: Which will also affect Meals on Wheels --
Mr. Mensah: Yes.
Commissioner Dunn: -- all of that so this has a tremendous ramifications.
Chair Gort: All right. There's a motion.
Commissioner Dunn: Yes.
Chair Gort: There's a second. Further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying
"aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair Gort: Okay.
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NA.10
11-00722
DISCUSSION ITEM
BRIEF DISCUSSION BY CHAIR GORT REGARDING THE MELREESE
GOLF COURSE.
DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: I think my pocket item's the -- been taken care of except for one, and that's
something) discussed with you, Manager, about the Melreese Golf Course. That's something
that happen in February and it comes June and July and nothing has taken place, and it was just
lack of communication between our departments, so somehow I'd like to get that expedite. Okay,
I understand we're going to take five? You got the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency)).
Commissioner Dunn: CRA. Yes. We're going to take five minutes.
Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair. Would you like to go ahead and
adjourn your Planning & Zoning meeting?
Chair Gort: Move to adjourn.
Commissioner Dunn: Second.
Chair Gort: All in favor, say "aye.
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10: 07 p.m.
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