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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2011-09-27 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Di • -sash. 1° r • IN O9P I9 1i: Meeting Minutes Tuesday, September 27, 2011 5:05 PM SECOND BUDGET HEARING 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 Michelle Spence -Jones, Commissioner District Five Johnny Martinez, City Manager Julie O. Bru, City Attorney Priscilla A. Thompson, City Clerk City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 CONTENTS BH - SECOND BUDGET HEARING TO DISCUSS FISCAL YEAR 2011-2012 FINAL BUDGET BEGINNING AT 5:05 P.M. BH.1 THROUGH BH. 15 SECOND BUDGET HEARING 5:05 P.M. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Present: Chairman Gort, Commissioner Sarnoff, Vice Chairman Carollo, Commissioner Suarez and Commissioner Spence -Jones On the 27th day of September 2011, the City Commission of the City ofMiami, Florida, met at its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, for its second budget hearing session. The meeting was called to order by Chair Gort at 5: 58 p.m., recessed at 10: 24 p.m., reconvened at 10: 48 p.m., and adjourned on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011, at 3: 34 a.m. Note for the Record: Commissioner Suarez entered the Commission chambers at 5: 59 p.m., and Vice Chair Carollo entered the Commission chambers at 6: 01 p.m. ORDER OF THE DAY Chair Gort: (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) till the Commissioners get here, so in the meantime, welcome to the second budget hearing. We're going to be beginning with the -- from Budget Hearing 1 to Budget Hearing 15. At this time, my understanding, Commissioner Spence -Jones, you had some requests? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes, Mr. Chairman. I know -- excuse me -- one of our Commissioners is not out here. But I do want to try to move as expeditely [sic] as possible to make sure that we are out of here by 12 o'clock, so I believe that we can push to make that happen. So what I'm asking or I'd like to request is there are a lot of agencies that we have here that may not have a lot of controversy around their items, so I would like for us to take -- deal with them first, if we can, after Madam City Attorney gives us opinion on whether or not we can do that. But know that there are certain things we have to vote on now, andl don't have a problem with that, and doing the public hearing; that's fine. But I don't -- I just really don't think it's fair to have people sitting here, you know, from the community to 12 or 1 o'clock at night, especially when I know that each and every one of us up here has a lot of issues to deal with on the City budget. So Madam City Attorney, what is the best way to move us through that process? Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Okay. As to the individual budgets of some of the agencies, if those budgets are funded by general fund, by the City's budget, we have to first take up the mill -- set the millage rate and adopt our budget because, you know, you cannot adopt a budget before you adopt the millage rate, so they would have to wait. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, no. I'm saying we can deal with that part of it. But before we get into like BH.3, which really kind of deals with the overall budget for the City, if there's any way that we can address --? I see Commissioner Carollo coming. If there are items -- andl want to wait till he comes, Mr. Chairman, just in to make sure. Chair Gort: Sure. Commissioner Spence -Jones: 0oh, you got a lot of books over there. Commissioner Carollo, City ofMiami Page 2 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 just real fast, I was just mentioning, if we can, I was asking Madam City Attorney for us to deal with BH.1 and BH.2 to at least get everything moving. I know that we want to all push to try to leave at least by 12, if we can, but we do know if there's issues that we need to resolve, we want to make sure that they're all resolved by all of us. But what I'm asking for is I don't want public -- I mean, citizens that are a part of boards that are not City employees to be here all night, if possible. So my thought was is we could at least deal with some of these boards, let them leave so they can go, and then we can really delve into the City budgets, 'cause I know I have a lot of questions on those items. And l just don't want to have like -- people like Virginia Key, I don't want them sitting here till 2 o'clock in the morning to get an answer on three hundred and something thousand dollars when we can address that issue quickly and let them go home. DDA (Downtown Development Authority), same thing. If there's an issue, let's deal with them so they can go home, you know. I just -- I think the City departments, we really need to spend as much time and energy on getting their stuff done. But I would like to see if you -- first of all, if you have any concerns with any of those particular boards or anybody has any concerns with those particular boards so we can address them and that be done? And then at that point, take up the rest. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Actually, you read my mind, Commissioner Spence -Jones. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Wow. Vice Chair Carollo: As a matter of fact, this is how we did it last year. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Good. Vice Chair Carollo: Last year, at my request, we actually asked all the other agencies to come before us first and then we dealt with the budget -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Wonderful. Vice Chair Carollo: -- so they can get -- you know, so they could leave and they don't have to be here all night. And at the same time, I think that it's very important these other agencies -- andl have seen in the past -- and even in all fairness, in our last meeting, as soon as we were done with the City budget, it seems like everyone went quick, and there was a lot of noise and so forth, andl really do believe that we need to focus on some of these other agencies first and then move into our -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Deal with our business. Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. So I agree with you 100 percent. And I'd like to start off with, I believe it's BH -- Chair Gort: Discussion of the millage. Vice Chair Carollo: -- 5. Chair Gort: We got to approve the -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: You have to do -- Chair Gort: -- first -- City ofMiami Page 3 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- the millage first. Let's get -- Chair Gort: The millage first. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- all of that done first, right, Madam --? Chair Gort: But by the way -- Ms. Bru: Correct. Chair Gort: -- let me -- all of you are welcomed to stay. I mean, that doesn't mean we don't want you to leave. You can stay here, listen to all the argument, because I think they'll be very important. Those of you that want to stay, make sure you can stay. All right. Yes. Ms. Bru: Okay. Mr. Chair, members of the Commission, I suggest -- the DDA is an independent taxing district. They have nothing to do with the City's millage rate or the City's budget. You could take that agency up first. I believe that Virginia Key -- and the Budget director needs to address this. I believe the Virginia Key Park Trust is not using any general fund dollars, is not using -- Chair Gort: Right. Ms. Bru: -- so if you wanted to deal with that agency, you could take that agency up. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Ms. Bru: Those are the only two that I believe are not subservient to our budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: A friendly request. If we could just go down the line, BH.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, which is all the --? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Ms. Bru: But to the extent that any of those agency budgets depend on the City's budget, you need to -- Chair Gort: You have to approve the City budget first. Ms. Bru: -- consider the City's budget 'cause they're part and parcel of the City's budget. Your Budget director can tell you which agencies. I think it's only the Virginia Key Park Trust that doesn't depend on the City's budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And Miami Parking Authority, right? Ms. Bru: And -- well -- yeah, but to the extent that they contribute monies to the City. I mean, I don't know. The Budget director needs to answer that. City ofMiami Page 4 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Budget Director. Daniel Alfonso (Director, Strategic Planning, Budgeting and Performance): Okay. I'm -- we're going to talk together on this one because I'm not quite familiar on all of them and how much they get, but we'll let Mirtha -- We know that the Virginia Key Trust doesn't get any direct general fund. That is correct. Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): I'm sorry. Mr. Alfonso, can you speak into the mike for us? Thank you. Chair Gort: And then identifi, yourself. Mr. Alfonso: Daniel Alfonso, Budget director, City ofMiami. Andl brought Mirtha up here with you -- with me because she has a little more knowledge about these other agencies, and l just want to make sure that don't get this wrong. We agree that the Virginia Key Trust does not get any direct general fund support; therefore, you can do that. Ms. Bru: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Ms. Bru: And the Miami Parking Authority, I believe, doesn't have any funding contingent on the adoption of the City's budget. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: I think we're going to get into this whole debate and going back and forth. Can we just take them one at a time and, you know, let's get moving instead of going back and -- who's -- you know, I think -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: -- BH.6 -- I'm sorry -- BH.5 is the DDA millage, and BH.6 is levying taxes from the DDA or the millage, then it's their budget on BH.7. BH.8 is CIP (Civilian Investigative Panel), BH.9 is the Grove BID (Business Improvement District), BH.10 is the FIPO (Firefighters and Police Officers) Trust, BH.11 -- can we just take them down the line? Why are we --? Ms. Bru: Okay. Again, the ones that are contingent on the City's budget, for example, the two pension trusts, they get funded from our budget so you really need to discuss your budget before Vice Chair Carollo: I rather discuss their budget before -- Ms. Bru: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: -- we discuss our budget. Ms. Bru: But I'm not -- and again, this is a question that your Budget director has to answer. Would you be able to approve these agencies' budgets that are dependent on your general fund budget before you have already made decisions about your general fund budget? I mean, he needs to answer those questions. City ofMiami Page 5 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: The question's the following. If we approve any of the agencies' budget, would that affect your budget? Vice Chair Carollo: It could, yes. We could actually obtain more money. Mr. Alfonso: The Commissioner's right in that sense. Chair Gort: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: To the extent that the general fund is subsidizing those organizations, the Attorney has answered that we need to appropriate that before we know what we're going to give to them. I think the Commissioner is saying the other side. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: If we already have in the assumed budget a number to pay those organizations. His point is if we give them less, then there's more in the general fund. Chair Gort: So in agree. The problem is if they were to request more, then we would have a problem. But if they -- if we reduce it, it's fine with us because it does not affect the general budget you're going to present today. Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Now -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- and again, going on consistency, you know, because I want to make sure that we continue this consistency, andl think it's important. We did it last year this way. We went through all the other agencies first and then we dealt with our budget, and some of those other agencies may affect our budget, andl think we'll soon see if they do or not. Andl think we need to address them first. That's what I believe. I -- Chair Gort: I agree. I think they're going to be -- might be positive influence. We might be able to get more fund. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So let's -- so we're ready, guys? Ms. Bru: So -- Chair Gort: Okay, we're ready. Ms. Bru: -- we start with the DDA then? Chair Gort: We start with DDA. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Actually, no. We're going to start with B -- I thought we were going to start with B -- you don't want to start with the millage, BH.1 and BH.2 and get it out of the way? Chair Gort: No. Let's go to DDA. City ofMiami Page 6 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Because BH.3 is what we have to vote on anyway. Chair Gort: I understand, but then we have to open the public hearing. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, I see. Okay. Chair Gort: Okay. [Later..] Chair Gort: Madam Attorney, you were making some suggestions. Ms. Bru: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Consistent with what the Vice Chair stated about how we handled it last year in order to expedite and get the agencies out and consistent with what Commissioner Spence -Jones has requested, and I've discussed it with the Budget director, and based on the state law, I think what would be appropriate would be -- there are certain statements that they have to put on the record about the millage rate. They could read that into the record. You should then open up the public hearing on all the issues that are left on your agenda, all the budgets of all the agencies, the City's budget, the millage rate; have your public hearing; close your public hearing; bring it back to the Commission for the final adoption of the millage rate; and then you can consider the individual agency budgets, get them out of the way, and then finalize your hearing here tonight with the adoption and the appropriation resolution containing the City budget and the appropriations, okay. Chair Gort: Okay. City ofMiami Page 7 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 BH.1 11-00768 Office of Strategic Planning, Budgeting, and Performance DISCUSSION ITEM FINAL PUBLIC HEARING TO DISCUSS THE PROPOSED MILLAGE AND FINAL BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011-2012. THE PROPOSED GENERAL OPERATING MILLAGE RATE OF 7.5710 FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012 WHICH IS THE ROLL -BACK RATE. CITY COMMISSION LISTENS AND RESPONDS TO CITIZENS' COMMENTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE. ACTIONS BY THE CITY COMMISSION: 1. AMEND THE TENTATIVE BUDGET, IF NECESSARY 2. RECOMPUTE THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE, IF NECESSARY 3. ADOPT THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE 4. ADOPT THE FINAL BUDGET OR THE AMENDED FINAL BUDGET AS NECESSARY 11-00768 Millage & Final Budget 09-27-11.pdf 11-00768-Submittal-Fiscal Year 2012 Propsed Budget.pdf DISCUSSED Chair Gort: You're recognized. Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): So the Budget director reads into the record the rollback rate statement. Daniel Alfonso: Okay. Daniel Alfonso, Budget director, City ofMiami. This is the final public hearing to discuss the proposed millage and final budget for fiscal year 2011/2012. The proposed general operates millage rate of 7.571 for the City ofMiami for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2011 and ending September 30, 2012, which is the rollback rate. That is the statement that is required to be read into the record. Now we can discuss that item. Chair Gort: Okay, we're now opening the public hearings [sic]. Anyone would like to discuss the millage and any of the agencies that are going to be presented? Anyone in the public would like --? Yes, Mr. Cruz -- Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Chair. Chair Gort: -- you're recognized. Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry. Chair -- Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Thompson: -- before we start, may I ask what would be your time limit on public speaking tonight? Chair Gort: Time limit is according to -- I like to keep it within three minutes, if possible. City ofMiami Page 8 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Chair Gort: Yes, Mr. Cruz. Mariano Cruz: Yes. Mariano Cruz. Today is a different address. 2634 Northwest 21 Terrace, because I come here as a lobbyist and chairperson of ABDA (Allapattah Business Development Association), and also I am the vice president of Allapattah Homeowners Association. Albena Sumner, the president, couldn't be here today because one of her cousins died, but I representing her too. The district -- homeowners mostly in District 5 and ABDA is District 1, so I, you know, work all place of the City. Andl am going to speak here today. The ABDA doing good there, andl know the main thing that we worry about is the police protection. We have so far now good police protection because the first thing that Commander Laberdesque when he was appointed there, he came to Albena andl and asked to take me to your business people there to find out what the problem is, and we working together because remember, if there is a robbery or a problem in 20th Street and 17th Avenue, the business goes down and you know how it is with robberies and the problem. But they doing good. Laberdesque, Freddie Cruz, Sergeant Cruz, Davie Cruz too in mounted, Felix Delgado, Bo (phonetic) Leonard, they doing real good there (UNINTELLIGIBLE). A lot of them, they doing real good because they interacting with the people in the community. They going to either Don Toston, they go to I Am Latin, they going to La Mia, they go into Subs on the Run. They working the neighborhood, and that's the way to have to do. Now we have to protect together business there 'cause one of the things we got, the problem in the industrial park of the -- in there, the neighborhood. Like 17th and 28th, Access Tool [sic], he got to close down his manufacturing of tow trucks because he doesn't get finance from the banks on the Ford Motor Company, and that's manufacturing, get something and add value and transform a truck and other kind of thing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) manufacture there. Also, like I talk yesterday to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He told me we have a lot of problem here. The problem that have to have all these TV (television) problem, the manufacture is 1749, 21 Street and 2190, 19th Avenue there. (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) master, Mr. Capote, and the other one is Tony (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Andl talk to them because I go to the businesses. And Allapattah pays more money, I think, almost than downtown to the City and the County because it's industrial. Now there's no homestead in those buildings there and we have to protect them. We have to do something for those businesses because people once they leave, that's it. Another thing -- anyway, I'm going to talk about the Parking Authority later. That's okay. That's a different thing. But the banks, remember, they getting all that money from TARP, Troubled Asset Relief Program. They haven't put any money there in the thing. And Leroy Jones is there. No. I was -- the other day when they mention (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) mention they give --I don't know what is the money that your mom-and-pop is giving to the businessmen in Allapattah. Name me one that you're giving some money there. Because one, they was unqualified for he miss a check mark. Come on, don't tell me that. The guy missed a check mark and you disqualified him. Come on. Andl told you, I hate that because we -- Chair Gort: Mr. Cruz. Mr. Cruz: -- pay taxes. No, no, no. Don't tell me that. I am -- I speaking as a lobbyist, registered lobbyist of a nonprofit, two nonprofits, andl know. Chair Gort: All right. Mr. Cruz: A lawyer I can have -- the lobbyists talk there, they can talk to their heart content, and Mr. Sarnoff knows that. I wrote to the Herald precisely complaining about the lobbyists and lawyers hearing, instead of the public hearing, okay. This is the public hearing. But I don't pay taxes to the City. I pay -- remember, another problem that we have there is they are not sweeping the inside street. They sweeping -- that the Solid Waste -- they sweeping 17th Avenue, but they don't go inside, and where people told me look at all the dirt andl saw the dirt there by the sidewalk. Come on. And they pay per frontage fee (UNINTELLIGIBLE). They pay. It's not City ofMiami Page 9 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 free. There's no free lunch here. There's no free lunch. We all pay for everything. The business people pay for everything there. And remember, that's the name of the game. Because we -- the people there produce something. Tell me what is Wall Street producing nowadays. Nothing. Just paper. I read the New York magazine and that's exactly -- I don't say that. The New Yorker say that. Wall Street doesn't produce nothing. Those are speculators and gamblers there, okay. I know because I had 401k andl have a lot of money in the 401k, too, okay. No. I get what want to read (UNINTELLIGIBLE) thing. But remember, only one thing good too. Duarte Park, the roof has been fixed now. They got (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Finally the water park, after so many years being planned now it's being built. Finally, finally, when the water park in Grapeland Park was built in no time at all. Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Leroy Jones: Leroy Jones, 180 Northwest 62nd Street. I just want to speak a little bit about this CIP (Civilian Investigative Panel). It's my under -- the Citizen [sic] Investigation [sic] Panel. It's my understanding that their budget is not requesting any additional funding. The amount they was awarded this fiscal year is what the budget is for next fiscal year. In that budget it's about 80 -- between 80 and $90, 000 that's not being set aside for anything. The CIP only has one investigation -- one investigator, and one investigator cannot oversee all the complaints that's being filed through that department. Cannot. It's no way one person can handle all the complaints that's being filed through the CIP. I'm a part of the coalition. I'm one member of the coalition that organize to participate and come and be a part of the community aspect of the CIP, and we're requesting this board to look at and consider making sure that the CIP have two additional investigators because one investigator can't do it. It's my understanding the money is in the budget. Maybe y'all can take a look at it. But right now one investigator cannot handle all the complaints that's being done through the CIP. Please reconsider that. They're not asking for any additional money, but at some point it needs to be more people added in investigations so that we can make sure that the community is represented as it relates to that. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Anyone else in the public would like to address us? Being none, okay. We close the public hearings [sic]. Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Mr. Chair, if I could -- Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Bru: -- just make one point of clarification, andl beg your indulgence. Given that I know that there were some late -minute amendments to the City's budget that were just shared with us recently, should it be that after we get through the Commission's deliberating on the budget and presentation of the budget by the Budget director, should there be any additional questions that any member of the public wish to ask about the budget, you should accommodate -- Chair Gort: Of course. Ms. Bru: -- given the fact that the budget was, you know, revised and presented at such a late hour. Chair Gort: We will. Yes, we will. Ms. Bru: Thank you. Chair Gort: Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Chair, ifI might -- City ofMiami Page 10 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Thompson: -- chime in, andl say this because I have a number of people from the public who signed up who said they wanted to speak, and I'm not sure that they're following the proceedings that this is the time. If you have comments to make, this is the time for you to come up and make them. And like I said, I have a number of sheets here. I'm just, you know, letting you know what I have in my hand. Chair Gort: They're welcome to do it now or they're welcome to do it later when we discuss the budget, as we discuss the other -- the budgets. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: Madam Clerk, does that maybe include the people who are here to discuss the agency budgets? Ms. Thompson: We have some here that are from the unions, some here are just -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Thompson: -- citizens. We also have individuals who may be against citizen's agencies and the like, so we have a mixture. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. But I'm saying -- I don't think -- was it your intent that if we're discussing, for example, the FIPO (Firefighters and Police Officers) budget, that they had to discuss it during the public portion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. Only during their section of the -- Ms. Bru: Right. I think the intent of the Commission was that we comply with the state law that requires that the first substantive matter that the Commission discusses is put on the record what the millage rate is. That was done. But also in connection with the millage rate, after the millage rate was announced, you opened up the public hearing to all the matters that appear in this agenda, which the agenda has been published with sufficient time for the public to know what is on the agenda. So there are various matters that the Commission is going to take action on, including adopting individual agencies' budgets, the pension trust, the Civilian Investigative Panel, the Miami Parking Authority, Virginia Key Park Trust. If anybody's here to comment on the budgets of those departments, you can do so now. The intent is to open up for -- to hear from the public at this time, and then we would close the public hearing to the extent that we've heard from the public, and then the Commission would then deliberate and vote on the budgets as you see fit. Andl think the intent is to start off with some of the agency budgets. Chair Gort: I understand. Andl request, once again, is anyone in the public would like to address this Commission on any of the issues that we're going to discuss? Mr. Cruz: Parking Authority. Chair Gort: Yeah. When it comes to that, we'll -- anyone in the public would like to address at this time -- you'll get a chance to do your presentation, but you can address it -- Gene Tinnie: Would this be the proper time for us to address this -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. City ofMiami Page 11 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Tinnie: -- or should we wait for the --? Okay. Just wanted to clam -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: When your item comes up. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Tinnie: Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Is anyone in the public would like to address the issue of the budget or the budget of any of the agencies that are going to be presented? Mr. Cruz: I wanted to talk on the Parking Authority. Chair Gort: Go right ahead, sir. Mr. Cruz: Sure. Chair Gort: You're recognized. Mr. Cruz: Mariano Cruz, Chairman ofABDA. The Parking Authority has been very responsive to us when people -- some business make complaining about parking meter being installed there without consulting with him. I called there. I talk to Mr. Noriega and Shooter Escandon. They came to the meeting, and they removed 19 meters from 17 -- from 32 to 17 and 34. Now we agree to have meetings periodically to talk about some of the meters that are in the City. Now they agree to follow protocol, okay, follow protocol, if they have to consult the business people, the owners of the property, if the people want the meters or not. Some people want the meters. Some don't. And you can go there and some meters -- this is not Bayside. There's no Brickell Avenue there. It's Allapattah. People make 7, $8 an hour. If they going to pay -- in some of those parking meters that say every day, Sundays and holidays included, from 7 to 6, they got to pay 8, $9 a day to park there, okay. And you could see the people parking in the residential neighborhood and not using the meters and then we got some problems too with the Goodwill. They say that is being solved. But we -- you know, they -- what happens when there's no communication. Think you go to the 1930 (UNINTELLIGIBLE). The problem is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was war because there was no communication, the second war. And you don't want war, we talk together. We talk. You know, we've been talking. Andl -- they doing good. They, you know -- no problem so far. So far -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Cruz: -- they have been -- whatever they tell us that they doing, they doing it. Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Cruz: Thank you. Chair Gort: Mr. Cruz. Yes, ma'am. Lavern Elie Scott: Lavern Elie Scott, director Curley's House, 6025 Northwest 6th Court. Once again, Curley's House, you know, we've been providing food for the last 12 years to the elderly population as well, you know, throughout the district, as well as all the needy families. We provide food, clothing, shelter, the basic needs, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, each and every day. That's what we do. And we help people from all districts. Commissioner Carollo, we definitely like to help -- thank you for your support of our organization, and Commissioner Suarez, as well as, Commissioner Spence -Jones, Commissioner Gort and Commissioner Sarnoff. City ofMiami Page 12 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 We would like for you all to please consider helping us and continue helping to provide our services to the seniors because we know that the seniors are the neediest. You know, a lot of them, once again, receive less than $5 a month in food stamps and less than $400 a month in income. So we once again would like to ask you to please continue funding Curley's House and helping us to provide our services to the people in everyone's district. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone else? Laverne Holliday: Good evening. My name is Laverne Holliday, the assistant director of Curley's House. And backing up what my partner said, I want to thank you for your support in the past. Hopefully, you'll continue to supporting us and we are -- we do an awful lot more than just feed the poor. We provide jobs for people that -- we give them second chances. So we have a contract that states that they will hire at least eight people that we send on their training programs. So we're looking forward to your support, and thank you once again. And thank you, Mayor Regalado. Thank all of you for helping us. Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Julia Dawson: Good evening. My name is Julia Dawson. I live at 1701 Southwest 4th Avenue, in the City ofMiami. I am a community activist, and I'm also active on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union Chapter here in Miami, and we've taken a very strong interest in the Civilian Investigative Panel and the work that they do. And I'm here this evening to ask for your support for their budget when you get to the consideration of that. We feel that the CIP is an absolutely critical component to law enforcement in the City ofMiami. It is the only place that a citizen can go and take a complaint where it will be heard by a non police, impartial, unbiased, independent entity, looked at with -- from that perspective and where citizens can come and explain any misfeasance, misconduct by a police officer and be heard and have that allegation investigated, and it's a very important part of civilian oversight of the police, which is crucial. Police activity in any city is not simply up to the police. It is also the responsibility and the purview of the citizens of that jurisdiction. And so we're requesting that you support the budget for the CIP as it stands now, which is simply a continuation of last year's budget, and also consider what my predecessor, Leroy Jones, presented to you, which is the amount of money that the currently being held that could clearly fund another one or two investigators, which would greatly improve the ability of the Civilian Investigative Panel to truly interact with the community and meet their concerns in a meaningful way. Thankyou. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else? Albio Castillo: My name is Albio Castillo. I live at 2345 Southwest 16th Street, Apartment 3. I'd like to know is that the City ofMiami, you have enough inspectors for like Code Enforcement or Solid Waste in order for the abandoned buildings that are continually coming in. Is the City going to have enough inspector? I also like to thank from the Mayor down to every office in the City ofMiami, they're doing a terrific job under the conditions that they are. So as a citizen, I'd like to thank them. I also like to know how is the City going to promote the Marlins? I already seen some ads in the Marlins in how when the baseball stadium is not being utilized what the City can utilize without tearing apart the grass or anything like that to try to prevent, you know -- like they have done in the Sun Life Stadium. Any question from the Commission? Any question from the Administration? Chair Gort: Thankyou, sir. We'll answer them afterwards, okay. Mr. Castillo: You're welcome. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. City ofMiami Page 13 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Joe Simmons: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Joe Simmons, Jr, president of the sanitation workers union, AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), Local 871. Just had a couple of comments. I was a little surprised that the budget process went the way it did this year. Normally, under no circumstance the budget -- the department head normally sits down, at least makes us aware of the things that they're going to propose in order to receive input from us regarding the budget before it gets put forth to you guys. There are a couple of things in there that they desire us to do that is they want to make some service reductions in equipment purchases. Our recommendation is to maintain the same service level that we have currently to those residents, particularly our street cleaning division and our garbage route collection. We'd like to have new trucks, but think we can wait another year. My understanding, you guys are postponing buying police cars and other equipment to kind of help out with the budget, andl think it would be very helpful to give you guys some relief to minimize the bleeding, if you will. You know, we're committed -- Solid Waste is committed to work with the City to make sure that we provide the best level of service to our citizens, and whatever it takes, we're going to try to make it work. Even though the City has budgetary constraints, our folks understand at least everyone is still working. And we try to encourage people on a daily basis, even though it looks doom and gloom, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Again, I think we can wait on some of those equipment purchases. And even the automated recycling system that they're proposing, I think we can wait for that. We'd like to have it, but I think we can wait until we get in the black hopefully in the near future. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone else? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman, can I respond to that, or do I have to wait? Chair Gort: Sure. Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. I just want to ask Mr. Simmons, on the issue --I'm assuming that's the Solid Waste question. But did you get a chance to sit down with the Solid Waste director and make that recommendation? Mr. Simmons: About a month ago we had a labor management meeting. When we found out -- officially, you guys had gotten a package when I requested mine. There really is a limited amount of time in order for us to analyze the information. I think if we're involved in the process earlier -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Mr. Simmons: -- I think we can put forth some ideas that I believe will be helpful to the process. But you know, if we receive something at 11: 30 -- and I'm just using that for an analysis purposes -- the clock strikes midnight, that doesn't give us a very -- doesn't put us in a very comfortable position. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, we under -- believe me, every single Commissioner sitting up here understands that position, so we feel your pain, so we have to deal with the same thing as well. So I know everything came down to the wire, but we -- Mr. Simmons: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- do have time, you know, still tonight in the budget now. So my recommendation is that you sit down with Mr. Carswell. And if you're saying that clearly here's something that we can cut back on, you know, the trucks, and -- are you saying to alleviate purchasing the trucks, to keep more people on? What's your analogy in --? Mr. Simmons: Well, my thought process is this: We have certain divisions that are internally City ofMiami Page 14 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 efficiencies that is on the director's control that they could change to make it better without spending more money. One particular, we have a street cleaning division that is manned by a supervisor seven nights a week, and those other two nights have been costing the City overtime. As far back as 2003, we brought to the Manager's office about an idea we have that we believe would save the City some money, but yet and still, the bleeding continues. I think it's a cop-out tojust close down a division rather than dealing with your overtime problem, and particularly there are things internally that they could do that are in their control that is easily tojust say, hey, we're going to close out the shift for two nights versus addressing the problem. This has been going on for a number of years. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So are you saying, Mr. Simmons, that we can as far as equipment is concerned at this point, just like we did with the police cars and other things that we've decided to at least hold off on here, that it is possible to do that this year and still maintain the same level of service? Mr. Simmons: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Simmons: I think there are a couple of things that need to take place. There needs to be more -- better streamline purchasing process, the Purchasing Department, when it comes to our vehicles having to be sent out to the dealer for, let's say, warranty related issues. Usually on any given morning, normally GSA (General Services Administration) receives vehicle count. We needX'amount of trucks and garbage, trash, recycling, street cleaning, whatever that may be. The challenge comes is generally, they may meet that minimum number. Let's say in my garbage division, I have 23 garbage routes, I'm going to need at least 30 trucks. That's going to be the number that they need to meet in order -- because during the pre -trip process that our operates have to go through, they may uncover certain deficiencies, so they take over GSA make a work order, do a pre -trip inspection, and you find that there's problems. So from the beginning, we starting off in a position of weakness. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Let me just make this recommendation because in the essence of trying to at least move this public hearing process along, I would make a suggestion that both you and Mr. Carswell take this time -- because this item doesn't come up later -- to look at how we can make the changes on that. Because I think the suggestions that you're making make a lot of sense. And I know that I used to sit on the Solid Waste Advisory -- Mr. Simmons: Commercial Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. So you know, I love garbage men, I love Solid Waste, so I want whatever we -- whatever way we need to make it work -- Mr. Simmons: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- when everybody wants to throw away the trash, I support -- Mr. Simmons: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- my Solid Waste workers. So my suggestion is that y'all take this time right now and use this as an opportunity and bring it back when we're addressing Solid Waste issues. Mr. Simmons: Point well intended. Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. So we don't spend any more time, because I see my City ofMiami Page 15 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 BH .2 11-00769 Chairman looking over at me saying, okay. Mr. Simmons: Yes. He's looking at the clock. Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. So if you could take a minute to do that, that would be great. Mr. Simmons: Thank you very much. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you so much. Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else from the public? Jeanne Baker: I rise to speak briefly. My name is Jeanne Baker. My office is on 27th Avenue. I'm here in my capacity representing a coalition of community organizations, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Brothers of the Same Mind, Neighbors and Neighbors, the Haitian Grassroots Coalition, SALAD, the Spanish American League Against Discrimination. We are organizations that have all joined together in this last year in response to the seven police shootings of young African American men in a very quick time frame. We have joined together to work with and support the CIP and make sure that the CIP gets the support of the community that it needs and is responsive to the community. We've been working extensively with the CIP, and we're very excited about the energy and the vigor with which they are approaching the investigations and they're work in general. And it's a very important that we retain in Miami civilian oversight to the police. It was something that the voters put in the charter a decade ago. It was a massive uprising of voices of voters and still today, the needs are there. And if we lose the CIP, we lose a very, very important element in this community. So I want to support its budget. I want to support anything that the Commissioners can do to provide the CIP with additional investigative help. They right now have one investigator, and they have a huge case load in the hundreds every year. And I understand that there is a sum of money in the $80, 000 range which hopefully could be directed towards new investigators rather than some old rental issue that has been plaguing their budget. So on behalf of all of those organizations, we support continuity of the CIP and that it at least receive the funding it's received in the past and so that it can continue to exist. Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else? Donna Milo: Good evening. My name's Donna Milo. I reside at 738 Northeast 75th Street, Miami, Florida. I think it's incumbent upon this Commission to lead by example during these times -- tough economic times. As the stewards of our tax dollars, I think the Commission should consider the vote to do away with the elected officials' retirement plan, and this should include past as well as current Commissioners and elected officials. Perhaps a consideration should be made to cap executive salaries. Perhaps Commissioners could vote to cap their pay at $50, 000 and return all of the perks to the general fund that they currently receive in their offices. And perhaps they could also further reduce their office budgets to about $280, 000 per year. These are just some examples. But with these examples, you can begin to show the citizens ofMiami your commitment to real public service and the fiscal responsibility that these trying economic times require from all of us. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else? Anyone else? Close the public hearing. ORDINANCE Second Reading City ofMiami Page 16 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Office of Strategic Planning, Budgeting, and Performance BH.3 11-00770a AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DEFINING AND DESIGNATING THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI FOR THE PURPOSE OF TAXATION; FIXING THE MILLAGE AND LEVYING TAXES IN THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 11-00769 Summary Form FR/SR.pdf 11-00769 Legislation FR/SR.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 Spence -Jones Office of Strategic Planning, Budgeting, and Performance 13287 Chair Gort: Next item. Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): So Mr. -- Chair Gort: Go back to B.7 [sic] -- B.8 [sic]. Ms. Bru: Mr. Chair, it would be appropriate now to consider the ordinance adopting the millage rate -- establishing the millage rate for the City ofMiami. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: So move. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Gort: Been moved by Vice Chairman Carollo, second by Commissioner Suarez. It's an ordinance. Ms. Bru: Okay. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Your roll call on your second reading ordinance. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Ms. Thompson: The ordinance has been adopted on second reading, 5-0. Chair Gort: Thank you. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ADOPTING A BUDGET AND MAKING APPROPRIATIONS RELATING TO OPERATIONAL AND BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012. City ofMiami Page 17 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 11-00770a Summary.pdf 11-00770a Legislation.pdf 11-007770a-Supporting Documents -Proposed Budget Figures.pdf 11-00770a-Submittal-Table of Organization-9-27-2011.pdf 11-00770a-Submittal-Full Time Employee Count For FY 2011-12-9-26-2011.pdf 11-00770a-Submittal-Draft Copy Of SUB Legislatioon-9-26-2011.pdf 11-00770a-Submittal-Memo-Substitution For Item BH.3 Change In Legislation-9-26-2011.pdf 11-00770a-Submittal-Memo-Information For The FY 2011-12 Budget Sub. Item.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Spence -Jones Noes: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez R-11-0389 Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So we're back to the budget? Chair Gort: BH.3, yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So we got about 55 more minutes. Chair Gort: That's just only for the presentation. Yes, sir. Daniel Alfonso (Director, Strategic Planning, Budgeting & Performance): We're ready to discuss our budget? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Mr. Alfonso: All right. In a sense, I'm just going to say that we have a balanced budget at 478 million -- Vice Chair Carollo: Well -- Mr. Alfonso: -- 986, 300. Vice Chair Carollo: -- we actually have more now. Mr. Alfonso: That hasn't been allocated, sir. So we have a balanced budget of 478, 986, 300. It includes some increases in revenue of 1.5 million for building permits. It includes $463,000 in ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds. It includes the $4.8 million that came through the IAFF (International Association of Firefighters) contract agreement as revenue, and about a million dollars for the contributions that employees will make for the use of take-home cars. We've done things that you were concerned about. For example, we took the NDA (Non -Departmental Account) special pay reserve to $9 million. We funded the cost of elections for next year at $672, 000. After meeting with the Clerk, that's what was determined that was minimally needed assuming that there might be at least one runoff. We established an in -kind reserve of $275, 000 so that the Commission will have the funding so that when we have those special events or parades or whatever, they can be allocated for covering the overtime in those events, et cetera. We increased the police overtime initially by $246, 000. However, you will note that there's a reduction there because of the agreement that has passed -- or I'm sorry, that has been TA'd that FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) and the holiday furlough, et cetera, that will City ofMiami Page 18 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 reduce the overtime a little bit. But initially, we increased the overtime by 246. We eliminated a number of vacant positions from the budget. There were some reductions administratively to positions that have also been done, and that's basically along with moving funds within the budget that we felt better distributed in other areas and we have balanced that budget. And we're just here to answer whatever questions you have about the budget. We have issued out a number of memorandums that explain some of the changes that took place from going into September 15 from July and then from September 15, listening to you -- to this Commission, to the original agenda that was submitted for the 27th. And then finally, once the agreements were pretty much raged and we were able to distribute those savings that had been allocated in nondepartmental, $22 million roughly, then all those have been distributed throughout the budget in each of the departments and that's why we had to do that late budget substitute is because we really didn't know exactly where those numbers were going to land in terms of the agreements until the very, very last minute. With that being said, I'm ready to take questions about the budget and we can discuss departments. I think the directors are here. They're ready to answer your questions. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. I imagine we could go by departments. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Can we -- Chair Gort: Question. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- just go 'head [sic] and address the Solid Waste issue so we can go 'head [sic] and get that resolved? That's one issue that I know that we asked for you to resolve, and at least we don't have to have them sitting here all night as well. So let's deal with the Solid Waste issue on the budget. That was one of the concerns I had. Keith Carswell: Okay. Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, Keith Carswell, director for the Department of Solid Waste. Since I guess the Manager entrusted me with leading the department, it's been two months and about five days. Sometimes it seems a little longer, sometimes shorter. We -- I have met with both union presidents, representatives, and actually on September 7, I met with -- we had the first labor management meeting with Mr. Simmons in about three years where we discussed some of these issues as well that was brought up. We had an opportunity to, I guess, caucus. Mr. Simmons is supporting the capital purchases. We went through that in detail. And also, one of the concerns that he raised in terms of level of service, we were looking at goingfrom -- on the nightshift, going from a seven night a week shift to a five night a week shift. With the seven night per week shift, we had built in overtime. So in order to try to reduce the overtime, which is something that I'm keenly aware of we were looking at doing that. But Mr. Simmons has proffered an alternative. Instead of using one of the supervisors who's on the dayshift who has been coming in working at night at a higher hourly rate, he's going to proffer the names of about three individuals on the nightshift that may serve in an acting capacity for the department. Also, we discussed a number of positions that were being frozen. There were 14, which he's comfortable with because we're also in the process of hiring about 9 additional positions. So -- andl also explained to Mr. Simmons that the number of employees that we have in the department will not be reduced in any way, shape or form as a result of the proposed budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And then the vehicles? Did we address that issue of the vehicles? Joe Simmons, Jr.: Yes. The -- Mr. Carswell: Well -- Mr. Simmons: Joe Simmons, Jr., president of the sanitation workers union, City ofMiami. We got a chance to get more detailed information. It was clarified. As far as the equipment City ofMiami Page 19 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 purchase, we support it fully. There was some information that we received that it wasn't reflected, and that's why those questions came forth and he was able to clear up a lot of those questions. I think we're in partnership here. We're not in -- we're not opponents. We're in partnership. We're committed for the City to continue its level of service to its residents. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Wonderful. Mr. Simmons: One of the things we looked at is -- through our new contract when it goes into effect -- actually, it's in effect now -- there is a provision for the director to annually look at route balancing. That's been a concern that we've had. The second concern we had was overtime distribution, which we will work through the director in resolving that. There are other issues that we're going to work through the labor management process, which is an extension of the labor negotiation process. And basically, those issues are brought forth with -- concerning quality of life, productivity that would actually enhance and make us more efficient in a lot of areas. We spoke in very great length about ideas that we have that we believe would be beneficial and in the future we'll be proffering those ideas to you guys to at least inform you, make you aware of our ideology when it comes to those ideas. I know the City's in a very tight financial constraints and we're committed to help as much as we can. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Wonderful. So we found a resolution -- Mr. Simmons: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- for Solid Waste? And does any of the -- the conversation that you guys had, does it impact the change on the budget or the numbers stay the same? Mr. Simmons: The number remain the same. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Wonderful. Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Question. With regards to the night cleaning, is it going to be seven days or are we reducing it to five days? Mr. Simmons: Seven. Vice Chair Carollo: Seven days, okay. 'Cause that was something that Mr. Simmons andl had spoken because that was actually going to be a reduction in services because now we're getting seven days of cleaning and we were going to go down to five days, so that was a reduction in services. So I'm glad to hear that it -- you know, we've reached an agreement for it to be seven days. Mr. Simmons: You know -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. I mean, the issue was not really the -- I think the seven days are always there -- whether or not you're going to use a supervisor, which means we would have gone into overtime. So that's what they just communicated. We're not going to have an overtime issue. They found another way to address it. Mr. Simmons: Correct. I mean, I think the estimates, what they were, it would cost the City somewhere between 70 and 100, 000, more or less, depending on the hourly rate of the individual, but I guess using our folks, it's going to be probably about a tenth of that. City ofMiami Page 20 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: So does that mean that the numbers do go down then? Mr. Simmons: Well, what would happen is we would have improved service delivery -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Simmons: -- because there are areas that you have, let's say specific, on our street -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I got you. Mr. Simmons: -- cleaning division that we can enhance what we're doing. It's all about improving efficiency and the bottom line. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No problem. I got it. Well, well done on being able to come together and work it out andl think that's awesome. Mr. Carswell: Thank you, Commissioner. And -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: You have somebody behind you raising their hand. Anthony Hatten: Anthony Hatten, union president of Local 1907. I haven't been advised about any supervisors 'cause that's who I represent and Keith has not said anything about this. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Carswell: There are no -- there's no impact to the -- there -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: The issue was the overtime. Mr. Hatten: You have to -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: The supervisors having -- Mr. Hatten: I understand, but he -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- overtime hours. Mr. Hatten: Right. He's supposed to negotiate with me because my people are the supervisors. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- Mr. Hatten: And he never talked to me about -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- does this have anything -- Mr. Hatten: -- anything. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- to do with overtime for super --? Mr. Hatten: Yes, it does. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Mr. Hatten: Yes, it does. City ofMiami Page 21 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Carswell: There is -- andl hate to discuss this in this particular forum -- Mr. Hatten: You should have talked to me. Chair Gort: Hey, come on. Mr. Carswell: We've had discussions with it. Well, okay, since you -- Mr. Hatten: No. Mr. Carswell: -- since we're going there -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Chair Gort: Hold it, hold it, hold it. I don't want arguing back and forth -- Mr. Carswell: No, no, no, no. Chair Gort: -- please, okay. Mr. Carswell: I just want to state the facts. Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Mr. Carswell: I want to state the facts. One of the challenges -- first of all, when I approached the department, I look at things from two perspectives, accountability and operating efficiency. That's how I look at it. When I took a look last month at the overtime for the supervisors alone, $113, 000. That's just the supervisors. Now of that we have one individual who averages $50, 000 or more a year in overtime. And so what I decided to do as the manager trying to operate efficiently in the department, I had someone who was an acting supervisor close the operations at the end of the day. This person has been in acting capacity since November, before I was appointed director. I'm trying to make sure that I've minimized the number of overtime that the department is incurring. I think it's kind of you know -- given the fiscal environment that we're in, I don't think that we should be incurring that kind of cost in overtime. IfI can get someone at a lower hourly rate to close the department, which is also saving the taxpayers' money, then I think it's within my management rights under the contract. Mr. Hatten disagrees with that. We've had a discussion about it. And what I've told him, quite frankly, that if he wants to grieve it, which is his right, then I would make his member the poster child -- Mr. Hatten: And then you'll cost the City more money -- Mr. Carswell: -- for what's wrong -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Mr. Hatten: -- in attorney's -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. You'll get an opportunity. Let's go through the Chair, please. Thank you. Mr. Carswell: So again, I think we're moving forward with the process. The discussion that had with Mr. Simmons' union, as it relates to one of his members who works the dayshift, who's City ofMiami Page 22 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 probably one of the highest supervisors out of all the supervisors I have, works overtime on the nightshift in addition to working on the daytime. Now when you talk about equitable, when you talk about trying to operate efficiently, I don't think, from a management perspective, that is being a good steward of City's money -- of the City's money. And also in terms of distribution of overtime, the overtime distribution in the contract has historically been used for special events. So, for example, when we're having Calle Ocho, when we're having Goombay, you want to make sure that that particular overtime is evenly dispersed among the members. Overtime is a privilege. It's not a right, and that is my contention. Now if we go -- as we go through this process, it'll go to the HR (Human Resources). They'll -- you know, as part of the collective bargaining process, but that is my position. I feel that I'm being a good steward of City resources. I feel that it's within my right as a director to manage the department in an efficient manner, and I'm willing to stand on that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I think that we have basically worked out what needed to be worked out with Solid Waste. We don't want this to become a 30-, 45-minute discussion, but I will ask for both unions to please sit down with the director to at least work out those details. I do understand what your concerns are -- Mr. Hatten: I totally agree. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- but we don't -- we can't hammer that out right now, okay. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Hatten: I totally agree. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so if we can just move -- Does anybody have any other questions on Solid Waste? Chair Gort: Any other questions on Solid Waste? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so we're okay with Solid Waste. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So actually, Solid Waste and that team can leave and go home to your families. I think -- I don't think we have any other issue -- unless, Mr. Manager, you want them to stay around. Chair Gort: You have any questions. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You do? Okay, so you want Joe Simmons and the rest of them to stay? That's who I'm talking about. Mr. Martinez: Oh, no. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So who wants -- who's delving into this budget first? Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead. I've been going first all the time. It's your turn. Go for it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm almost afraid to go before you. City ofMiami Page 23 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead. Chair Gort: Go ahead. Vice Chair Carollo: I got your back. Chair Gort: Go for it. Vice Chair Carollo: I got your back. Go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, let me ask -- Commissioner Suarez, do you have any pressing issues? Commissioner Suarez: I mean, I don't know how to qualin, them as pressing or not. I mean, I have a lot of questions. I have one, two, three, four, five, six pages of questions. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So let me ask this just so that we can -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- I'm just trying to -- Chair Gort: Go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- move things along. Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: This is just a recommendation. Guys, do you think that it might make sense for us to at least go through each one of the areas and see if we have an issue and we address the issue that way instead of me going through all 30 things I have and then waiting for you to go all --? We'll be here 'til 5 o'clock in the morning and -- Chair Gort: Let me ask -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- that's not going to happen. Chair Gort: -- a question. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So can we do it that way, Mr. Chair? Like City Manager, I know I have some issues on City Manager's budget -- Chair Gort: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- so if there's a City Manager's issue, then we all address it at one time and we can keep things moving? Chair Gort: That's how we can start. We can start from the top or the bottom and go down. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Chair Gort: No problem. City Manager. Commissioner Spence -Jones: City Manager. Commissioner Suarez, you want to deal with your City ofMiami Page 24 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 issues on -- you don't have no City Manager issues? Chair Gort: You got any issue with City Manager's office? Commissioner Suarez: Not on that category. Go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, I'm going to save -- let's save Carollo for last. Commissioner -- what's your name? Commissioner Sarnoff. Sarnoff. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Sarnoff. Commissioner Sarnoff.. I have no questions. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No questions on the City Manager? Commissioner Sarnoff.. Not on this one, no. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, okay, good. All right, so I just have a couple that do want to ask from the City Manager's part of it. We got our budgets back today and -- we got our budgets today at 3 o'clock from Danny. And Danny, there were a couple of issues on the expenses, really fast. I just want to understand -- and guess the City Manager can break it down for me now. The Building Department, remember -- you gave us an appropriation of 1.3 million whatever dollars and now you're saying it's going up another 200. Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Correct? You explained to me that this was based upon what needed to happen in Building. If you want to elaborate on that so we're real clear, or I don't know if the Manager wants to elaborate on the change that's going to take place in Building because -- take place in his office because of the requirements on that. I just want to be very clear on it. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Mr. Alfonso: Through the Chair. Mariano Fernandez: Mariano Fernandez, Building director. Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Yes, sir. Mr. Alfonso: Through the Chair, the Building director will speak about the issue with the Unsafe Structures Board and why it is important that it be in the Manager's office and not in his department where it was previously budgeted. All that we did in that sense was take the positions and the $200, 000 of budget and move it from an existing line in Building and move it to the Manager's office, so it is not an addition in a sense. It's just a shifting of the cost from one cost place to another. Chair Gort: You reduced it from one department; appropriated to another department. Mr. Alfonso: Correct, Commissioner. City ofMiami Page 25 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Mr. Fernandez: You want me to explain about the four positions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, the one concern I have -- and then you can just respond to it. Basically what I'm hearing is -- or I heard today from the City Manager's office this morning, we were now going to have four new positions that are going to be two clerical kind of positions and two other positions up in the City Manager's office from Building. So all together, we're talking about four positions, correct? Mr. Fernandez: That is correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. My concern about that was when we had our discussions earlier, we looked at the number of people we actually had to -- that are no longer with us that we just found out about today which actually equated to four people, okay. Mr. Fernandez: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So my concern is -- andl -- you know, we released four people to now hire back four people, and when it was communicated to us earlier, Mr. Manager and Ms. Assistant Manager, it was communicated that the reason why those people were let go was because they were not classified and that they, for whatever reason, did -- were not suitable for the department. I don't want to get into the details of who the people are, but again, my concern is always City employees, human capital. As my Commissioner on my right-hand side, I would rather have less, you know, conferences and conventions and paper and all of those things, gas and all of that, whatever, to save people and their jobs. So to see that, you know, this major change has taken place in the department, that we've basically fired four people to now have to fire -- to hire four more people and the reason that we were told why they were released was because of the fact that they were unclassified when actually they were classified. And then doing my further drilldown on it, finding out they were actually pretty decent employees. I'm just concerned about the messages that we -- the different messages that we get. I'm not putting anybody on the spot, but then to now hear that, oh, actually, we're going to rehire those people -- some of those people back again, I mean, that -- we got to get out of -- I mean, to me personally, I don't -- I think it's a bad practice for us to humiliate anybody in any way. Already the economy is -- I mean, people are struggling every single day. To be fired and then have to go home to your families and your kids and come back the next day to say -- you know, a week later, two weeks later, oh, we're going to bring you back, it's a little messy. I'm very concerned with me seeing this happen in the City Manager's budget and this adjustment being made and it's the same amount of people that you're getting ready to rehire that were not bad employees, you know, that, for whatever reason, were released. So I'm not going to get into the names and the details, but I don't even know if -- Alice, I don't even know if you could have an explanation for it, honestly. But if you want to attempt, you can. Alice Bravo (Assistant City Manager/Chief of Infrastructure): Okay. Several months ago, we sat down with the Building Department and evaluated every element of that organization and how they function and how they're meeting the needs of structural plan reviews, of different certifications, inspections, et cetera, that that department is responsible for. And as we set out on that project, the department director and assistant director worked very closely with HR. They've worked also with the union representatives to formulae the restructuring of that department, which ended up with the elimination of several positions. Separate from that, we identified that -- as part of our unsafe structures program, we periodically or for every single case have to go to a County board and pay a fee that's not reimbursable through the federal funds of that program and we pay that fee for every structure at the County, and the City Commission voted and urged us to create our own board to get that approval internally and save funds in that fashion. So one thing is the department restructuring, and as a separate element, City ofMiami Page 26 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 we're creating this board that will yield the savings to the City so that we 're not paying the fee to the County, but that board cannot report directly to our building official department head since, in essence, he's going to that board seeking the approval and, therefore, that's why they're being reflected in the City Manager's office. So it -- they're different functions, completely unrelated. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Alice, I understand the difference and the fact that it needs to be two different entities. That's really not the point. The point is we have to be a little bit more sensitive to people, you know. You just -- andl understand that we all have to, you know, make the hard cuts and do what's necessary, but it's very disheartening to hear that you could let four people go but you got to hire four more other people, and some of those people were good people and had no -- that could have been definitely utilized in the Manager's office under the new post. And now to only know that you're considering bringing them back, you know, and that's just a little messy to me. Ms. Bravo: Andl'm not sure where that assertion came along because the functions that were eliminated in the Building Department (UNINTELLIGIBLE) personnel is a different skill set than what's required for this panel. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Well, again, I have three different stories and I'm not going to put anybody out there on the stories. But I really would like for you, especially since we had all these savings took place today, thanks to Commissioner Carollo, that we consider, you know, how we handle people. Ms. Bravo: Absolutely. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Because some of these individuals were great employees. To hear that people have been on -- City employees for 28 years, and then all of a sudden, they're told they don't have a job the next day, that, to me, is just very inconsiderate, for no reason. Now we got four more new positions open. Ms. Bravo: And -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But -- Ms. Bravo: -- the Building Department restructuring was a different matter that's been in the works for a while. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Gotcha, but do you understand my point? Ms. Bravo: Yes, absolutely. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so we want to treat people like we want to be treated. Ms. Bravo: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So that's my viewpoint, Mr. Manager, on that whole issue with the Building Department. That was the new item that saw that was under your budget. I did not -- so I'm done on that. I just -- I'm hoping that there is a miracle that takes place, that the individuals that were -- I feel were not handled properly, that that situation is resolved. Andl'm sure, Mr. Building Director, you -- Building Official, you have your department and everything ready to roll, I'm trusting that, but I'm hoping that we can figure out a way to make sure that we work out -- not telling people who to hire. I'm just saying that I know that every single Commissioner sitting up here, we were not aware of how that took place. Unless somebody else has another answer on it, I know we were not. We didn't find out about this until today. So we can figure out, along with the Building Department on that, to make that adjustment, I would City ofMiami Page 27 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 greatly appreciate that, Mr. Manager. Mr. Martinez: (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) the specialty that the people that were laid off or terminated fit this job. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, no problem. The other question I had really fast on City Manager issue -- 'cause that's all we're dealing with -- was the last budget we had a film person and now the film person's out. I just want to be clear. Mr. Martinez: The film person is out, yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so when -- as far as us dealing with this issue of film, we're not worrying about who's going to fill -- we're not trying to do anything to make sure we (UNINTELLIGIBLE) films coming to Miami, monies, revenues being generated. Who's handling that now since we're -- since this one person didn't work out, I'm just curious as to why we felt that it wasn't important anymore. Luis Cabrera: Good evening. Assistant City Manager Luis Cabrera. Unfortunately, we lost our film coordinator, and we have a contingency plan in place where the NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) director, along with myself, are coordinating the film office now with the special events office, with Wesley in Parks. We did that about four or five months before we hired a film direct -- coordinator and we were able to manage it with some success. I am -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Luis, you don't feel like you have a lot of work to do? Mr. Cabrera: No. Yes, I do. I have a lot. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, I know that Pete has the world of -- you know, he really believes you got a million and one -- you can handle a million and one jobs, but clearly, I mean -- isn't this a special -- this is a specialty area. Is this not a specialty area? Mr. Cabrera: I agree, Commissioner. And we're going to move forward full speed ahead -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But we don't have an item in the budget now. If you needed to hire somebody, we don't have that item. Mr. Cabrera: No. We do. We have funding for the film coordinator position, correct? Commissioner Spence -Jones: It's in the -- 'cause it's removed out of our -- Mr. Alfonso: It was -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- updated document. Mr. Alfonso: I believe originally it had been removed. We put that position back. We fully funded that position for next year in the budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so I guess what I'm looking at just does not include it on that. Mr. Alfonso: There are several steps that took place. I think in September 15 we might have removed the position, but we put that position back. And just let me look through my document here real quick. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. City ofMiami Page 28 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: I'm fairly certain we funded it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so if that's there, then that's fine. Luis, I just don't want you to be overloaded with a million and one other things running around with film directors and producers. Mr. Cabrera: Thank you, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So the other thing -- and this is my last question on the City Manager's part. So I didn't really have a lot. I was just really concerned about the Building issue. I know that my colleague is already going to harp on it, but I do have a -- I have to put on the record that do have a concern about the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) issue. And where is Diana? Diana, I think that -- I'm sure you're fabulous and you can do a million and one things, but I'm just -- you know, I looked -- I saw the breakdown that you guys did, the analysis of all the different cities that had CFOs and didn't have them and all of that, and that's not really my area, but I do want to say that we have so many major projects going on and major issues that deal with the City's finances and l just don't want you to be set up for failure. Nobody else may not say it, but I'm just going to say it to you and just be straight because the minute it doesn't go right and something is not right, you're going to get 100 percent of the blame. Andl think it's our responsibilities as sitting Commissioners up here to make sure that we bring these issues up because if not, then at the end of the day, if it doesn't turn out right, it's going to be Diana that's on, you know, the firing squad because everybody thought Diana could do ten jobs. So I don't even have to talk about the CFO because I know that Commissioner Carollo's going to talk about it, but I have a huge concern with us not having -- especially when we have all of these mega deals happening that really can have a serious fiscal impact on the City and not have somebody in that role. So with that being said, that's all have from the City Manager's side of it. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: Through the Chair, ifI may. I just want to confirm that, in fact, it is correct that we funded the film coordinator position. It is in the September 15 memo where originally the attrition taken out of the Manager's office had removed it. But in that memo on the 15th, we say specifically the initially attrition has been partially offset by the hiring of the film industry coordinator position and there's an impact there. It's like about $70, 000. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So it's not on what you gave me today, though? Mr. Alfonso: Right, because it was already incorporated in the number on September 15, Commissioner. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: These were kind of added to the stats. We did what we did for the 15th, then the next memo was the changes between the 15th and the 27th -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No problem. Mr. Alfonso: -- and then the one today was the final changes primarily due to the bargaining agreements. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Thank you. City ofMiami Page 29 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's all have on the City Manager. Chair Gort: Anyone else on the City Manager budget? Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. I don't even know where to start. Okay, let me start by saying thatl think the way this whole budget ordeal has happened, it's wrong, it's unfair, you know. We just received an increase in the City Manager's budget at three something this afternoon. I don't have the detail, other than, you know, a one- or two -sentence, I guess, explanation, but can't even tie the positions. And you know whatl'm saying, Mr. Alfonso. And I'm not blaming you. I'm, you know -- but you know whatl'm saying at the same time. I can't even tie the positions, you know. I can't tie the salaries, you know. And this is not a way of doing a budget. This is not, you know, a prudent way, you know, a responsible way, you know, under the gun, in the last minute, in this rush with not sufficient time to analyze things, question things. It's just wrong. And as I said -- and yes, you could probably see my frustration with this. And as I said today in the executive session, you know, I'm just not used to dealing like this. You know, I'm used to dealing in a professional matter [sic]. As a certified public accountant, this is not the way of doing it. It just isn't. It's wrong. With that said, I can't really tie the numbers. I can't really see the descriptions of the increases in the Manager's budget. I don't. Does he have a vacancy in the chief of operations? Is that vacancy still there or not? Mr. Alfonso: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: 'Cause it's funded. At least -- hold on, let me rephrase that. It's funded from the information that had before which now is obsolete. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, the information that you had before is not obsolete. I want to say that the information builds upon each step. We went through several steps to develop the budget. First, I'm going to address the issue with the Building Department and the $200, 000 that we moved. I'm not going to quibble over it, but actually we provided almost a full page explanation in the Building Department area that explains the reasoning. But the four positions are positions that were fully funded in the Building Department that we identified in the memo by type/classification, so we can definitely tell you exactly what the dollars is for each of those and the operating expense. And we basically moved $200, 000 of an existing portion of the budget and moved it into the Manager's office. As to the issue with the Chief of Operations, the fact is that Mr. Cabrera, who's currently the acting Chief of Operations, is 100 percent fully funded as a deputy in the Police Department. We right now -- at some point that may change. In other words, he may go back to the Police Department or he may remain in the Manager's office. But I believe with the new police chief he may want a deputy at some point. So if he says, I need a deputy, then I needed to put some money in the Manager's office budget. Assuming that this thing won't happen in the next three months, I funded 115, 000I believe is the number, ifI can remember -- Vice Chair Carollo: A hundred and seven. Mr. Alfonso: -- off the top of my head. I'm sorry, 107? Vice Chair Carollo: A hundred and seven. Mr. Alfonso: Okay, 107,000 for roughly three quarters of the year. And actually, it's 115, sir, because the $8,000 in FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) -- it's 107 -- so 115,000 to City ofMiami Page 30 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 fund for three quarters of the year the position of Chief Operations Officer. What does that mean? That if Mr. Cabrera returns to the Police Department, then the Manager will have the funding in his budget to hire a Chief Operations Officer for three quarters of a year. On the other hand, ifMr. Cabrera becomes a permanent member of our staff then he will use that funding for three quarters of the year and free up the money that he's being reimbursed or whatever in the Police Department so that the Police Chief then has the money to fund a deputy in his department. And that's sort of the numbers there. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm not even going to get into that. As far as the assistant director to Public Works, why is that under the Manager's --? Mr. Alfonso: I'm sorry, the assistant director ofPublic Works? Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. What's PW? PW, I take it, is Public Works. Why is that under -- why is that not under Public Works and under the Manager's budget? Mr. Alfonso: Are you looking at a position description or something? Vice Chair Carollo: Job title. Ms. Bravo: Alice Bravo. That's actually an assistant to the director ofPublic Works that, before I started here, was transferred to the City Manager's office and she serves as an executive assistant to myself and Assistant City Manager Cabrera. That's the position of Ms. Yordanka Mendez, and she was originally in Public Works when she was transferred over to the Manager's office. Vice Chair Carollo: So she's an assistant to you and to Mr. Cabrera, so it's not Public Works. Mr. Alfonso: Well, the title may still say that, but she's actually working in the Manager's office and funded in the Manager's office and is part of this budget. Ms. Bravo: Correct. Chair Gort: Question. Was this -- Ms. Bravo: It was just in -- that position was moved as a whole. Chair Gort: -- individual in the Manager's office, went to Public Works, and then you went back to the Manager's office or --? Ms. Bravo: No. I believe she -- that position was moved to the Manager's office probably May of last year, 2010, and it was -- and so that person with position was moved to the Office of the Manager. Chair Gort: The question is the reason the person was changed from Public Works to the Manager's office is her expertise at the Manager's office is going to be dealing with Public Works (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dealing with you all? Ms. Bravo: No. The position was moved simply because an assistant was needed in the office manager -- I'm sorry, the City Manager's office, and therefore an individual was identified and the position was moved as a whole. Chair Gort: This individual was -- Ms. Bravo: It's a classified position, yes. City ofMiami Page 31 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: I think the relevant question is why wasn't the person's job description changed or the titled changed? Ms. Bravo: It's in the process of being changed. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Chair Gort: And that change took place in May of last year? Okay. Ms. Bravo: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And I don't know if -- to address this to Mr. Alfonso or the Manager. Has any -- has there been any increase in salaries of any of the personnel that is under the Manager's budget? Increase in salaries. Mr. Alfonso: From when? I mean -- Vice Chair Carollo: At least a year, from -- Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- last budget year. Mr. Alfonso: -- what I can tell you right now is that the Building -- I mean, the Manager's office has a proposed budget for next year -- before this $200, 000 was moved -- of $1.27 million roughly, with a million one of that going to salary. If you look at the prior year, it was like a million three, so there was actually reductions in the overall salary allocation for personnel. If individual persons may have been given an increase -- and there may have been promotions internally. In which case, if there's a promotion, you get an increase. But I -- at the budget level, if we're looking at the numbers in salary, I look at what the payroll is right now and we try to allocate those funds. I don't do a search by an individual to see if their salary changed from last year to this year by 5 or 10 percent, et cetera. I mean, I'm having to develop a budget at sort of a macro level. Vice Chair Carollo: That's fair. That's why then the question is to the Manager. Mr. Martinez: Yeah. I don't believe that there's any increases. As a matter of fact, the positions that we've had to fill, we filled them at less than the previous incumbent. Vice Chair Carollo: So there has been no increase in salaries -- Mr. Martinez: I have not given in any increases in salary to any of the people that we've promoted through the vacancies. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. And my question is one of fairness. Because if no classed employees received an increase in salaries, then I don't think that nonclassified employees should be receiving increases in salaries, so that's why I'm asking and I'm verifying. Mr. Martinez: And we have not. The only -- and one exception to the people that were promoted. In Solid Waste, I promoted at the exact same salary as the previous director because City ofMiami Page 32 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 they were very, very low in that category. Other than that, everyone else that was promoted into -- you know, because people have left, are way below the person that held the position previously. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. I will take you at your word. What's finally going to be the total salaries? Mr. Alfonso, what's finally going to be the total salaries in the City Manager? Mr. Alfonso: The total salary, once we add these four positions is -- for the Manager's office, it will be $1.37 million. Vice Chair Carollo: Just on salaries? Mr. Alfonso: Just on salaries. The overall budget for the Manager's office will be 1, 580, 000, which is still below what the budget allocation was for fiscal year '11, even after absorbing these changes from the Building Department. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry. Could you give me the number again on salaries? And again, doing this this last minute and -- What's the number again on salaries? Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, the salary number at the end will be $1, 370, 000. The total budget for the Manager's office will be $1, 580, 200, which is still roughly $130, 000 below the current year adopted budget. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm at a total salaries of 1, 206, 057. What has changed from that number? That's the original one that you gave me. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, I'm not -- the numbers that we have changed -- did you add the four positions for the Building Department that we've moved in? Vice Chair Carollo: No, I have not. I don't -- Mr. Alfonso: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: -- have the -- Mr. Alfonso: That may be the difference then. Vice Chair Carollo: And I don't have the amounts either, so I couldn't tie it to the general fund proposed budget. You understand what I'm saying, right? Mr. Alfonso: Yes, I understand what you're saying, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: I don't have the numbers, so I can't tie it. Is it possible to get the numbers? I don't know. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner -- Vice Chair Carollo: And are we over the 16 positions because, supposedly, FTEs for the Manager's office is 16positions? Mr. Alfonso: Today -- Vice Chair Carollo: Are we over the --? Mr. Alfonso: -- Commissioner, with the agenda, we moved the four positions in there, so if there City ofMiami Page 33 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 were 16 before, there would be 20 now. Andl believe that was distributed with the agenda substitution for this memo. There is a table of organization -- I'm sorry, a listing of the positions in every department and the change is listed there. Vice Chair Carollo: When was that handed out? Mr. Alfonso: Madam Clerk. Vice Chair Carollo: Oh, you mean the ones that she has there on -- This is the one I think got today. It's got today's date, no? I don't know if anyone else has any questions. Again, doing this this last minute, you know, handing this out in the last minute is just wrong. And let me tell you something. It's a shame because ifI vote no on this budget, I think a large majority of the reason will be just the procedures, the way this is handed, this last-minute things. It's just wrong, you know, and it's not right because, realistically, I think this is a budget that we could work with. I think this is something that, you know, it's workable and it could be a good budget to go forward. And realistically, the way this is being done is just wrong. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, Mr. -- Mr. Chair, I think -- Commissioner Suarez: I'm okay with -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- we're going to move on to City Clerk on it. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Yes. Commissioner Suarez: I have one on the Clerk. Chair Gort: Go ahead. Commissioner Suarez: I have one on the Clerk. My question on the Clerk is on page 11 of our proposed budget. Our professional services budget was at -- is at 2,775. For the last four years, it's kind of been all over the map. In '11, it was at 49,000. In '10, it was at 981. In '09, it was at 254. And in '08, it was at 453. So I'm just concerned that we're budgeting 2,775 when our latest actual was -- our year-end forecast, better said, was 49. And so I just wanted some clarification on that, Madam Clerk. Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): What we've done is to shift some of our spending from our general fund budget to our special revenue budget because of some of the work that we're having done by our computer specialist. So we've been able to shift some of the funding from general fund to our special revenue. We've also completed some of our projects with the microfilming and we've been able to decrease the budget. As well as some of the funds we were spending for our outside vendor for records, we've been able to transfer back to budget so that it comes out of the NDA account because we were covering the expenses for the budgets for off -site storage for all City departments. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, so you basically put it on a -- in a different line item? Ms. Thompson: Yes. And this is from last year. Before that, we had other citywide services that we were actually paying for out of our budget, but we've since over the years actually moved those into the correct places. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Do you feel comfortable with that budget category, that 2,775 versus --? I mean, you see where I'm -- why I'm -- City ofMiami Page 34 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: Yeah, I clearly see, Commissioner -- Commissioner Suarez: Do you understand where I'm -- Ms. Thompson: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: -- coming from? Mr. Alfonso: Yeah. It's like clearly from looking at the historical for that one particular item, if we look at it on an isolated level, yeah, one would say that line item may not make it. Clearly, sometimes things post to a line that they should be moved somewhere else, et cetera, so we try to sort of focus at the department level for the budget. As of July, it looks like they might have been going over a little bit. We haven't done the August/September yet, but we're trying to see if we can get the overall budget within the allocation. The budget for next year is set roughly about the same that it was in the current year overall. So then the question becomes, you know, for that line item is the Clerk have a solution to move that money somewhere else or -- Ms. Thompson: In that particular line item, we're comfortable with the two thousand seven hundred -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Thompson: -- and seventy five thousand [sic] dollars. Commissioner Suarez: And could -- but you're saying that there's another 47,000 identified somewhere else or you're saying you actually reduced expenses -- Ms. Thompson: No, no. We moved that out. Commissioner Suarez: You moved it out to where? Ms. Thompson: To special revenue. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Ms. Thompson: For one of our projects, our lobbyist project. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, so it's there? Ms. Thompson: Yes. No, it's covered. Those funds -- Commissioner Suarez: The full amount? Ms. Thompson: -- are covered. Yes. Chair Gort: Yeah, total budget is the same as last year. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Chair Gort: Except for $200. Mr. Alfonso: And through the Chair, ifI may. I believe that those expenses also need to moved out perhaps as we close out the year, et cetera, through some special revenues that may not have been moved yet or is that --? City ofMiami Page 35 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Thompson: No. Mr. Alfonso: No. Ms. Thompson: As far as -- Mr. Alfonso: For next year? Ms. Thompson: For the next -- Mr. Alfonso: Okay, for next year, okay. Got it. Commissioner Suarez: But special revenues? It's an expense. Mr. Alfonso: Yes. I think they have passports and -- I'm sorry. You can explain. Ms. Thompson: Through certain resolutions, our office was given the ability to generate revenues. Among those would be our miscellaneous revenues for copies, as required by the State, that we charge. We also have a passport acceptance service, if you've noticed, so we generate funds from there as well. We also have -- I'm sorry, with our research fees, our records management, we also have monies or revenues we can generate from there, so we've been able to offset some of our general fund expenses through our special revenue fund. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. I'm not sure I understand that, but -- Mr. Alfonso: Special revenue is an account separate from the general fund. Commissioner Suarez: Right. I understand that. Mr. Alfonso: So they're -- for next year, they believe some of these expenditures can be applied in that area so they will not be expensed in the general fund budget. Ms. Thompson: Correct. Mr. Alfonso: Therefore -- Ms. Thompson: Yes, correct. Commissioner Suarez: Now I understand. Mr. Alfonso: So you feel comfortable -- Ms. Thompson: But we've been able to offset -- Commissioner Suarez: The expenses, and revenues are posted in another part. Ms. Thompson: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: I got it. Ms. Thompson: So we've -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Ms. Thompson: -- decreased -- City ofMiami Page 36 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Sorry about that. Ms. Thompson: -- our general fund budget -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I'm with you. Ms. Thompson: -- by those amounts we felt as though we could cover in our special revenue fund which we're allowable -- or are allowable -- Commissioner Suarez: I'm with you. Ms. Thompson: -- by -- Commissioner Suarez: I'm with you. Thank you. And again, you know, apologies for not being able to talk to you about this prior to -- and this is going to be something we're going to have to say over and over again, you know, over the course of the night. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just -- yes, Mr. Chairman. On the Clerk, right? We're still on Clerk? Chair Gort: Yes, Clerk. Commissioner Suarez: Madam City Clerk, on -- just on the -- I know it falls really up under the NDA, but it's still something that you kind of somewhat manage. I just wanted to have clarity. Maybe Mr. Budget Director can tell me. When you say in this coming year $300, 000 for the election and then you added another 372, is it 372 added or 72,000 added? Mr. Alfonso: No, 372 added, Commissioner. The total cost of elections for next year in the budget is $672,000. And I'm going to try to repeat this from memory, but I believe it is two district elections and one runoff is projected. But -- Ms. Thompson: If you would like, since our qualfing has completed, we've been able to fine-tune the numbers that we originally had so that right now we have a general municipal election covering two districts and there's a possibility for one district runoff. We have the early voting costs as well as advertising costs for a total estimated cost of $672, 440, where we could possibly have a savings if we don't have a runoff okay. But as it stands now, our best guess estimate, based upon our factors that we know, would be the entire amount of 672, 440. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, and guess this is what we're going to work on to address Madam City Clerk and the CityAttorney's office andl guess someone from the Manager's office, not for this year, but to work on next year when we get ready to go into the budget to kind of address how we can reduce that cost altogether. Ms. Thompson: As was directed to us today -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Ms. Thompson: -- we're going to do some research, get some numbers together, and present it to the Commission to see if it is their desire to move over to even year elections with the County. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. That was my only question. I just wanted clarity. City ofMiami Page 37 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Any other question? Okay. Next. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Civil Service, I believe. Chair Gort: Civil Service. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Any questions for Civil Service? Chair Gort: Any question on Civil Service? Okay. We'll move on. Commissioner Suarez: My next one is Employee Relations, so I don't know if you have one before that. Do you have Auditor General? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Auditor -- no, butl think the Chair did, right? You have questions on Auditor General? Chair Gort: On Auditor General, my question is the committee make the selection as -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, okay. Chair Gort: -- soon as possible. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Any question from you, Commissioner Sar -- on audit? No? Okay. Ms. Thompson: Excuse me, Chair. Before you go on, we are fast approaching the bewitching hour, so we've got to switch over, restart. That clock is slow. So we'll be -- need to switch over our system. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Now? Mr. Alfonso: So we're -- Ms. Thompson: If we can just take a little break, if you can give us about five minutes. Mr. Alfonso: --at Human Relations? I just want to keep track of -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: We're at Communications, yeah. Chair Gort: You got to -- how much time you need? Ms. Thompson: We need about four minutes. Chair Gort: Okay. We'll stay here. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. [Later... Commissioner Spence -Jones: Are we ready? Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. City ofMiami Page 38 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Communications, I believe that's the next one. Anybody have any issues on Communications? I think may have one. I just have a question. Chair Gort: Office of Auditor General, we don't have any. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You want to hit the gavel to get -- Chair Gort: Office of Communication [sic]. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman, I only have one question. I just wanted to have clarity from the City Manager. It's -- administration transferred the special projects assistant from Communications to Grant [sic] Administration. Didn't under -- can I just get clarity on who it is and what it is. Mr. Alfonso: IfI may. That was a position that worked in Grants. It was thought operationally that it could be moved to Communications. But after further review, we kind of moved it back, so that was sort of a come and go. Commissioner Spence -Jones: It never moved? Mr. Cabrera: No, that position never moved, Commissioner. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So this is -- Mr. Alfonso: No, the position never moved. Lillian Blondet (Interim Director, Grants Administration): That's a position -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Your name. Ms. Blondet: Lillian Blondet, Grants Administration. That's a position that was in my group and we were -- the person was splitting her responsibilities between Communications and my department. And then we decided to keep her in my group this coming year instead of going back to -- or staying in Communications. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, do you have -- Lillian, I just want to make sure, do you have -- is this monies that's coming out of your budget to go to this other place? Ms. Blondet: They're staying in my budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh. Ms. Blondet: They were going to move from my budget to Communications, but they're going to remain in my budget with the person. Mr. Alfonso: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, so the person is -- Ms. Blondet: So there's a net -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- actually staying in Grants? Ms. Blondet: Yes, staying in Grants. City ofMiami Page 39 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: They're not going to you? Mr. Alfonso: That is correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, okay. Ms. Blondet: They're not going to Communications, yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. That was my question. Mr. Alfonso: Okay. Ms. Blondet: Okay. Chair Gort: Any question? Employees [sic] Relation [sic]. Commissioner Suarez: Two quick ones on Employee Relations. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Is that Human Resources? Mr. Alfonso: Human Resources, yes. I didn't change the name in the spreadsheet because this spreadsheet has been going for a long time, and for consistency, I didn't want to change the name of the spreadsheet. But the table of organization for next year, as I hope you adopt today, lists the department as Human Relat -- Human Resources. Mary Leckband (Assistant Director, Human Resources): Human Resources. Mr. Alfonso: So that next year when you get a spreadsheet, it'll say Human Resources. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Just two quick questions. Again, professional services. I don't know if it's similar to what happened in the Clerk's office, if it's in some sort of a special revenue account, but it's budgeted at 10,789 and it was previously -- it previously came in -- it's been forecasted to come in at 70,000. And then the history of that category is all over the place. So I just want to know why we're budgeting so much less this year. Ms. Leckband: Mary Leckband, Department of Human Resources. I believe that professional services line is for an expert test consultant to assist the Department of Human Resources in its work through the May 1999 federal order governing Miami Police Department certain promotional ranks. The amount billed in previous years could have been up to contract amounts of like $70, 000. It was reduced substantially due to the fiscal urgency of the City and we will just have to limit the amount that the consultant can provide the services. And for additional resources, of course, we've been working closely with the Law Department for some time on that federal order. Commissioner Suarez: So you're prepared to follow that order while maintaining a significantly less -- smaller budget? Ms. Leckband: Yes, sir. We have to follow the federal order. City ofMiami Page 40 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Okay. My second question is, other current charges and obligations. And sometimes with these categories, you just don't really know what's in them. But it's been budgeted at zero and in prior years -- again, this is another one that's kind of been all over the place. But last year it was -- it's forecasted to be at 24,968. This year it's budgeted at zero. And I just wanted an explanation for the discrepancy. Ms. Leckband: Yes, sir. That was the elimination of the employee service award pins from this upcoming budget. So the Department of Human Resources is responsible for ordering the service award pins to be awarded for employee milestones for five-year, ten-year, fifteen year, twenty, so on and so forth, in five-year increments. We have pins on hand to award -- Commissioner Suarez: Pin? Ms. Leckband: Yes, they're pins. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, got it. Ms. Leckband: Lapel pins. Commissioner Suarez: I thought you said pens. Ms. Leckband: -- for their service milestones. We have pins on hand now to award through service milestones earned through December 31, 2011. We did not budget -- we were not able to budget any funds to order pins to recognize service milestones for employees who earned those milestones through the calendar year 2012. Commissioner Suarez: But are you saying that last year we spent $24, 000 on pins? Ms. Leckband: Yes, sir. Mr. Alfonso: Andl want to point out -- Ms. Leckband: I believe it's -- Mr. Alfonso: Through the Chair, ifI may point out -- Commissioner Suarez: We'll just give them a proclamation. How about that? Ms. Leckband: Yes. I believe there was a blanket PO (Purchase Order) for $22,000 that brought our pin inventory up to date to award service milestones earned in 2009, 2010, and those being earned in 2011 to catch us up on three years of service milestones. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. So we're not giving pins this -- next year? Ms. Leckband: In 2012, we do not expect to have an inventory left on hand. Commissioner Suarez: We'll give proclamations. Ms. Leckband: Pardon me? Commissioner Suarez: You let us know who they are and we'll give them a proclamation -- Ms. Leckband: Thank you, sir. Commissioner Suarez: -- or a certificate. Do we have to raise our certificate budget too to do City ofMiami Page 41 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 that? Or will we be able to do it with the funds currently budgeted? That's paper, so it should be cheaper, right? Mr. Alfonso: I guess so, Commissioner. I want to point out, though, that the previous year was only $8 too, so that's kind of been up and down. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I mean, that was definitely a year without pins. That's for sure. Ms. Leckband: Yeah. There's been three years without pins. Commissioner Suarez: Well, the prior year before that was $27, 000 worth of pins. And don't want to know if it was $62, 000 worth of pins the year before that because -- Ms. Leckband: No. Commissioner Suarez: -- if we're spending $60, 000 on pins, we got some serious problems. Ms. Leckband: There were other obligations in those previous years. Commissioner Suarez: I would imagine so. Chair Gort: Questions. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just have one question. The item advertising and related costs, I mean, I saw that it went from 180 to 72 to 20 in 2011, but it's at zero now. So I'm assuming you still have to advertise anyway, like the police officers and all -- you know, all of those positions, right? I mean, available. Ms. Leckband: Yes, ma'am, we do have to advertise. We advertise through the City Web site, as well as other organizations. A lot of the operating departments now incorporate those advertising costs within their department budgets rather routing all the City positions through HR (Human Resources). Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. So that -- so you no longer have to purchase advertising at all to -- no -- 'cause you're at zero. Ms. Leckband: We won't be in this upcoming year. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. That was a question. I saw it at zero. Andl think that was the -- and rentals and leases is -- just so I'm clear -- was -- 'cause that went down too a lot. Rentals and leases of what, just like equipment and -- I mean -- Ms. Leckband: I believe that does -- and I'll look to Mr. Alfonso, butl believe that also incorporates our copiers, our testing -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, okay. Ms. Leckband: -- software, scanners. Mr. Alfonso: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, I got you. Ms. Leckband: Okay. City ofMiami Page 42 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: That's correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's it for me. Chair Gort: Employee Relation [sic], any other questions? Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman, I'm going to be brief and I'm going to bring up a couple of items thatl guess we could probably bring them up across the board with mostly all departments, andl think it might be something of policy that, you know, we may have to make a determination. The first one is travel and per diem. You have budgeted $10, 000 for travel and per diem. Ms. Leckband: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: What does that entail? It seems like you had some travel expenses in the current year. Could you elaborate on that? And I'm being broad. Ms. Leckband: The travel budgeted for the upcoming fiscal year would incorporate any technical training. We work with different systems of NeoGov, Oracle, as well as technical or professional trainings of our department director. Chair Gort: They have to travel to get the training. Is that what you're saying? Ms. Leckband: Yes. If there's travel involved, yes. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Now, when you say travel, can you explain travel. Does that mean that we pay for a car ride up to -- or rental car to Orlando? Or is this that, you know, we pay a plane ticket and hotel and meals and so forth to go to -- San Antonio keeps coming up, but let's say Texas or somewhere else. Ms. Leckband: There is a City APM (Administrative Policy Manual) on travel on City business. The amounts for the meals are set -- are preapproved by the Finance Department in accordance with a schedule that they maintain. The travel, if it is a location -- technically, Orlando is a few miles out of the mileage allowed to take your own City vehicle, but the City reimburses the cheapest mode of transportation. That's what's looked at. And that's through our Travel on City Business APM. Vice Chair Carollo: Does that include --? Since it lists the ER (Employee Relations) Department or Human Resources -- I'm not sure what the name is now. But anyways, that department, is it to bring in people to interview or anything of that sort? Ms. Leckband: Not that I'm aware of. Vice Chair Carollo: And the travel will be for educational purposes or is there --? 'Cause I'm really looking at policy, what we're going to set and it adds up with every department. X" amount, X'thousands of dollars every department starts adding up. Andl want to see what, you know, my colleagues think as far as policies and so forth because, again, when people have lost their jobs, when, you know -- we need the money for our general employees, our police officers, firefighters, again, I start seeing, well, you know, these costs are starting to add up. Do we really need it. City ofMiami Page 43 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Leckband: During the budget preparations, certain educational courses and other certification or conferences were looked at to -- and the cost of those to come up with the budgeted number. However, before any trip is taken, whether to be taken to a conference or an educational seminar, it is preapproved before the money is spent. Vice Chair Carollo: And preapproved by who? Chair Gort: By who? Ms. Leckband: Through the City Manager. Vice Chair Carollo: So the City Manager is the one who approves all the trips? Ms. Leckband: Yes. Our department director, if she's going to attend something, would prepare a memorandum costing out the registration fees, the estimated travel and per diem as provided through the Finance Department for meals. It would be sent to the City Manager's office for approval. Upon that approval, then the travel can take place. Vice Chair Carollo: And obviously, there would be proper documentation and support for those trips. Ms. Leckband: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Another question -- and again, it's going to go across the board for everybody and you'll see some are higher than others. Subscriptions, membership, license, permits and others. You have a proposed budget here of $5, 900. Could you elaborate what exactly are subscriptions, memberships, license and so forth? Ms. Leckband: Okay, under the -- that line item, part of that -- twenty-two hundred fifty-seven and fifty dollars is for our statistical program and social science license with SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). That is for only two licenses to be utilized by the entire department for our statistical processing and reports. Also, in previous years we have our director Society of Human Resource Management membership. We've had staff members in Labor Relations, their Florida Bar Association fees. We've hadADA -- that's the Americans with Disabilities Act -- employer and Fair Labor Standards Act guides and the membership fee to the International Public Management Association for Human Resources. That is for the department, not for an individual. Vice Chair Carollo: If my colleagues are okay with it, then that's all the questions I have. Thank you. Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Thank you. So the -- that budget for that subscriptions came down to 5,900. Ms. Leckband: It's 5,905 -- yeah, 5,900 this year's budget. Chair Gort: Originally, it used to be 21,000, so you brought it down quite a bit. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, correct. Ms. Leckband: Yes. Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. City ofMiami Page 44 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: One question, not necessarily for the director but for, I guess, the assistant City Manager. Do we still have a policy on a hiring -freeze? Are we still under a hiring -freeze? Mr. Cabrera: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: So some of the vacancies that I'm seeing, even though they are budgeted, I can conclude or assume that they will be maintained vacant? Mr. Cabrera: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Even though they're being budgeted? Mr. Alfonso: IfI may, Commissioner. First of all, most -- Vice Chair Carollo: The reason why I'm saying is because -- Mr. Alfonso: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- the amount is there. There's a vacancy so -- Mr. Alfonso: I understand. Commissioner, ifI may. Most vacant positions -- first of all, we eliminated 130, 140 positions that were vacant, most of them, except for 8 positions -- for the most part -- Vice Chair Carollo: But we -- Mr. Alfonso: -- 130 positions were eliminated from the budget that were vacant. Vice Chair Carollo: -- still have some in there, right? Mr. Alfonso: Yes. I agree, Commissioner. Let me explain. Vice Chair Carollo: Without going into too much detail. There's some -- still some -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: -- in there. Mr. Alfonso: There's a few more vacant positions that are still in the budget. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: A lot of the vacant positions that remain in the budget are actually unfunded. Some of them may not have been removed because of contractual obligations. There are also a few vacant positions that may be funded, and the reason for that may be various and it could be that operationally we need those positions so -- Ms. Leckband: Right. Mr. Alfonso: For example, in the Police Department, we funded the sworn vacant positions, understanding that there would be some attrition, but they are funded. There may be -- in City ofMiami Page 45 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Payroll -- you know, if you have payroll clerks that process your budget and there's some vacancies -- Vice Chair Carollo: (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F) Finance. Mr. Alfonso: -- I'm not saying you have one. I'm just giving an example. If there's a vacancy there and you need to process the payroll, we decided operationally that position's going to be needed. So there are a few vacant positions that are funded. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm just asking, and there's more than a few. There's -- Ms. Leckband: Yes, sir. The May 7, 2009 hiring -freeze, if there is a position that a department puts forth a memorandum to the City Manager stating why it should be filled for the necessary operations of that department and budget approval is given, then the City Manager issues a hiring waiver to that position. We have been preparing reports to the City Commission from your July 28 directive that you've received two reports I believe to date on all hires into those positions, including copies of the hiring waive -- the waiver memos for the hiring -freeze. Vice Chair Carollo: Now we have received those reports. I received the report today. Ms. Leckband: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: However, I -- andl noticed the last time and since it's usually given in the last minute -- and again, I don't know if it's from you or the Manager or what it is, I keep forgetting to mention that believe we had long discussions with regards to that, andl think one of the items that we requested and that the Manager agreed to that there was no problem was the reasoning for the hiring. You just stated that, you know, you sent a, let's say, memo -- I'm not going to quote exactly what you said, but let's say a memo to the Manager saying we need this position because XXX,'and so he grants, you know, you that position and hires someone. I think that report, ifI remember correctly, and I'm pretty sure of it, let me put it that way, was supposed to also stipulate the reason for the hiring and it hasn't been included. Ms. Leckband: The reasons have been included in the attached waiver letters, but we'll be happy to add a column to the actual spreadsheet if that simples its review. We'll be happy to do that. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Ms. Leckband: You're welcome. Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: And in the meantime, there is a hiring -freeze except those few positions that I would say there's a little bit more than a few, but I won't get into details. Mr. Alfonso: Okay, Commissioner. I want to note that I was hired as a waiver myself. Chair Gort: Okay. Any other questions? Commissioner Suarez: We needed a budget director. Mr. Alfonso: I think I'm on that report. Commissioner Suarez: We kind of needed a budget director, right? Chair Gort: Any other question? City ofMiami Page 46 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Maybe a CFO too. Chair Gort: Any other question? Commissioner Suarez: It'd be a violation of the hiring freeze, though. Chair Gort: Human Resources, no more questions. Thank you. Ms. Leckband: Thank you. Chair Gort: Equal Employment Opportunity. Budget from 247, 719; came down to 239, 300. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman -- do you have a question? I just have a quick -- Chair Gort: Go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Again, this predates me. So I see 2008, 2009, 2010 there was -- this was not a department, so is this a new department? Amy Klose: Amy Klose, Equal Opportunity and Diversity Programs administrator. This department was actually separated. It was -- initially it was in the Human Resources Department. And then in 2009, it was separated to report directly to the City Manager. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So can you -- just 'cause I had no idea that it was a separate department. So just so that I'm clear, exactly like why -- do you know -- just so that know -- I don't know -- did you guys know it was separated? Commissioner Suarez: No. And I think it's a good -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- all right. Commissioner Suarez: -- point, the one -- I think what you're about to make is a point that I would agree with where you're going -- where you seem to be going. Maybe it's just late. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, then you say it then. Commissioner Suarez: Maybe it's just late. No, go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. I just -- I'm just curious what was the reason for, one, the separation and what is the overall -- 'cause we're talking about almost $230, 000 to -- for something that has never existed before. Mr. Alfonso: I wasn't here. This is new, butl assume it did exist, but it existed inside of the Human Resources Department. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But not for this amount. Ms. Klose: No. I believe it was for that amount. I wasn't here either. But by looking through the files and the paperwork, it did exist with a budget very similar to that amount, and then it was just separated so that it would report directly to the City Manager to avoid conflict of interest issues. Ms. Leckband: Mary Leckband, Department of Human Resources. I believe it was in either November or December 2009 by City Commission resolution you moved the Office of Equal City ofMiami Page 47 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Opportunity and Diversity Programs out of the Department of Human Resources to report directly to the City Manager because of the investigatory nature of what they do. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I see. Can you just explain to me so I know what you do because that still didn't tell me what you do? So tell me, what do you do now? Ms. Klose: We oversee the City's compliance to the EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) laws, to the federal, state and local laws regarding discrimination and sexual harassment. We investigate internal complaints of such, and we respond on behalf of the City to external complaints, as well as prepare and perform trainings on discrimination and sexual harassment for City employees and as needed as department directors require. We also review certification lists for discrimination issues and sign off on that. And we are the -- we act as liaison to the Equal Opportunity Advisory Board and to the Miami Commission on the Status of Women. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, great. So how many people in the department? I'm just curious. Ms. Klose: Three. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Three, okay. I just never knew it existed, so that's why I asked. It makes sense that it would be separated, you know, so -- and then you guys, where are you stationed though? Ms. Klose: We're atMRC (Miami Riverside Center). Commissioner Spence -Jones: You're at -- are you in another part of the building? Ms. Klose: Oh, aside from -- yes. We have our own office. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Ms. Klose: Outside -- Ms. Cabrera: They're not inside Human Resources. Ms. Klose: No, we're not. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, no problem. Commissioner Suarez: I guess -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: -- my question was are they a separate department or -- 'cause you're kind of saying that you're in the ambit of the City Manager, so why aren't you -- my question, I guess, is why wouldn't you just be in the City Manager's budget. Why would you be in a separate category? Are you a separate department? Did we authorize a separate department or did we authorize a transfer --? Ms. Klose: I believe it's an office. I'm not sure of the distinction, frankly. It was authorized separate from -- yeah. Commissioner Suarez: Maybe it's better to be -- maybe the question is better asked of the Budget director or the City Manager, 'cause I agree with Commissioner Spence -Jones and with your reasoning that you should be separate for conflict of interest purposes from Employee Relations, City ofMiami Page 48 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Human Resources or whatever. But I just don't understand why if you're under the City Manager's purview or whatever, why aren't you just in his budget, you know. I don't know. Did we create a new department? Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, for the past -- I heard that there was a resolution that moved them out. I want to note that for this budget that we're proposing for 2011-2012, the EODP (Equal Opportunity and Diversity Programs) is listed in the table of organization as a separate department. So if you approve the budget today as proposed, this office is a separate office. It reports to the Manager directly and it is a separate department. Chair Gort: But the action was taken, according to what you're telling me, on November of '09. Mr. Alfonso: My understanding -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, but it wasn't funded in '09 or '010 -- or '10. It didn't get funded, based upon what I'm seeing here, until 2011, not in -- separately, not as a separate department. It was under the City Manager or under the -- Ms. Klose: Under Human Resources. Commissioner Sarnoff.. I think this is -- and I'm taking a little bit of a guess here, but there were some new EEO guidelines that came out under CFRs (Code of Federal Regulations) about last year, and they had to -- you had to have a separate compliance department separate and apart from your HR department. And I'm just guessing that somebody read that and realized that there's got to be a separation. I mean, their job is really EEO compliance. They have to -- Commissioner Suarez: And they have to be a separate department or they can't be part of the City Manager's budget. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Based on the CFR I read, it needed to be an actual department. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Cabrera: They need to maintain independent because of their -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. Correct. Mr. Cabrera: -- investigory [sic] capacity. Commissioner Suarez: Investigatory? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, but -- Mr. Cabrera: Yes, I'm sorry. It's been a long night. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- he's still -- Commissioner Suarez: But they're still -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- that doesn't make sense 'cause she still reports -- oh, okay. That's fine. I just had a question 'cause I saw that there was no money set aside, but I guess it was somewhere else. Chair Gort: Any other question on Equal Opportunity? City ofMiami Page 49 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Klose: Thanks. Chair Gort: Information and [sic] Technology. Commissioner Suarez: I have two on this one. Cynthia Torres (Director, Enterprise Information System): Good morning. I'm Cynthia Torres, representing Information Technology Department. Commissioner Suarez: I have two, Mr. Chairman, ifI may. Chair Gort: Question, yes. Commissioner Suarez: One of them very quickly is on professional services again, that lovely category, is budgeted at 850 this year. Last year it was -- or this year-end forecast has it at 1.3. It's a $500, 000 difference. And then the years before that, you know, it went as low as 134 the year prior and it was hovering in the 300's for the two subsequent -- the two prior years. So just an explanation as to why you feel comfortable in that discrepancy. Ms. Torres: Actually, it may have varied over time depending upon what projects were going on. But for sure, these dollars represent what we need to pay for individuals to come in to perform technical activity, development tests on Oracle where we're missing the specific skill set. We had a number of positions that were opened, that were unfrozen, but we've yet to be able to fill them. If we're able to fill those positions, then we will see a reduction on this line item. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, but that doesn't really answer the question that I had, which was you're reducing the line item as is about half a million dollars from the prior year's budgeted forecast. And my question is what specifically gives you -- you know, what gives you the idea you're going to come in at $500, 000 less. Ms. Torres: That comfort level you mean? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Ms. Torres: Specifically because we're going to be completing the majority of a lot of our larger projects by March. So I feel relatively confident that in terms of spending 850, that's where we would pick up the difference for the rest of the fiscal year. In other words, today we're probably able to use those same resources that are working on these projects to help us -- and once the projects end, the 850 covers the rest of the year. So I feel confident that we'll meet that number. I know that we did have to work extra hard in reducing it, quite honestly. It was a lot higher. We worked through all the processes and all the projects we have going on and came in -- came down to the 850 number. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, andl mean your budget has come down quite a bit -- Ms. Torres: Twenty point five percent, yeah. Commissioner Suarez: Right. And again, I have no way of knowing from a technical perspective whether that's, you know, wise, whether that's sufficient enough, et cetera, et cetera. But I just wanted to make sure, 'cause this is a big discrepancy in this category, that you feel comfortable with where you're at. The second question I had real quick was repair maintenance service City ofMiami Page 50 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 budget at 1.8, which is $100,000 less -- $150,000 less than the prior year and, you know, significantly less than the two prior years before that -- three prior years before that. Ms. Torres: You know, one of the things thatl would like to address is the fact that we actually performed this budget plan a little differently than they probably did in the past. In the past I believe that it was under the sole guidance of a single person or maybe two people. This year we actually went through line by line with all the managers, pulled out all the receipts, verified all the information and even called back vendors to drive down pricing or tell -- advise them that we would appreciate a reduction. So wherever possible, we were able to pull these dollars in and, really, that's how these numbers came down. So we actually applied a team approach rather than a single person penciling in the numbers, and it actually worked out very well 'cause now we have commitment across all the management team to really bring this budget in line. Chair Gort: Okay. Any other questions? Question? Vice Chair Carollo: Yes, Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Go right ahead, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. How many consultants do we have hired with regards to Oracle and everything with IT (Information Technology)? Ms. Torres: Oracle right now is running a R12 (Release 12) upgrade. Let me backup and state I started here in July of 2010. There were I believe nine consultants. Within three months, I dismissed five in order to reduce costs. Today -- let's see, I'll tell you right now. I believe there's six on board and they're all dedicated to the R12 project. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry. You said today there are six? Ms. Torres: Six. Commissioner Suarez: Can I just ask a question on that? Chair Gort: What was the total before? Vice Chair Carollo: Go ahead. Commissioner Suarez: My -- I'm sorry. Thank you for yielding. My quick question is does that include the certificate of use Internet application that I had asked for a while ago? Ms. Torres: No. This is specifically for Oracle. In terms of the certificates of use, that was another team that was put together. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Torres: Right now we're working -- we're at the very tail end of the user acceptance testing for that application. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. That's fine. Ms. Torres: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: I just want to know that that's in the works, that that's still moving forward. City ofMiami Page 51 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Torres: It's absolutely in the works. As a matter of fact, we're going to work with the NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) -- Commissioner Suarez: I yield back. Ms. Torres: -- team to roll it out. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Do you know, more or less, what's the amount of those consultants, the dollar amount? Ms. Torres: I'm sorry. Vice Chair Carollo: The dollar amount of those consultants. Ms. Torres: Which consultants? Vice Chair Carollo: The Oracle or -- you know what, the six -- Ms. Torres: Well -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- or any other consultants that you may have. Ms. Torres: Yes. Actually, I have them all. On the Oracle side, they're there actually coming in at projected spend of 925,000 by the end of our project, but they will be released after 12 is complete or most of them will be released, and that's where the 850 kicks in for maintenance, and that's for Oracle. For the other developers, unfortunately, most of the CU (Certificate of Use) team left. We lost a lot of consultants through competitive bids from other companies. So it's a very competitive world out there and they stayed and then they left, so we were down to only one resource today for the CU project. However, it's at the tail end of that program. In terms of the iBuild project, that's another project that was funded and originally had 22 people on -- in that team. Today they have four consultants at a very, very low price. Vice Chair Carollo: Out of curiosity, what's a very low price? Ms. Torres: A low price for a web developer is $60. Vice Chair Carollo: An hour? Ms. Torres: An hour. Vice Chair Carollo: Something again across the board, travel and per diem, $15, 000. What -- why is that there? Why do you feel you need travel? Ms. Torres: I'm sure that line item was there -- and very similarly to what Dr. Leckband described. We do have technical training. We do have -- you know, from time to time. What we've begun to do is offer web -based training and computer -based training. As far as the plan to burn the 15,000, I can't honestly say that I have an agenda to take care of that money. If -- I would prefer to not spend it. Vice Chair Carollo: We would prefer that you did not spend it also. And hold on. I'm sure the subscriptions somewhere in here. You only have $1, 000 of subscription, so I'm just going to bypass that. Ms. Torres: Yeah. We totally got -- City ofMiami Page 52 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Ms. Torres: -- rid of all that. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Ms. Torres: You're very welcome. Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. Law. Law Department. The law. Questions, lawyers. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I only have a few (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- I think Julie kind of answered it already. It's actually in the NDA. So last year we spent -- 'cause my concern was the amount of money we spent on attorney fees -- Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- outside fees, and you said that it's 1.7 so far. Ms. Bru: Last year we budgeted -- we requested and it was budgeted in the NDA account $2 million. Andl think to date we have already spent about 1.7, so I think we're going to get to that 2 million by the end of the year 'cause we still get some bills that are coming in now. The bulk of it, of course, was spent for the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) investigation, the Jorge Fernandez matter, and then the labor litigation that we had with the -- you know, and the PERC (Public Employment Relations Commission) proceedings that we used the law firm of Allen Norton & Blue to help us with those matters. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so you think we're going to be lower than that this -- hopefully. Ms. Bru: You know, I'm requesting 2 million again because we still have SEC pending, even though we believe that most of the testimonial phase is already concluded, they are still taking testimony, andl will be updating you privately on, you know, the status of that. But to play it safe, we're still budgeting that amount, the same amount for next year. You know, I mean, we -- Jorge Fernandez went to trial. We prevailed, but it's being appealed, so you know, the saga continues. We have a class action that was filed, a private -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Can I --? I'm just curious on the Jorge Fernandez part of it because I don't know how much money we would have spent on legal fees at this point. Ms. Bru: Four hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And how much was he asking for in the end? Ms. Bru: I think a little bit less than that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Now that doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, that's just like -- I understand we want to make a point, but do we have to make the point on the back of the citizens? Ms. Bru: That was a policy decision, Commissioner. Chair Gort: I agree. Sometimes you have to take a business decision. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Did somebody -- I mean, I'm just saying, when we start saying -- City ofMiami Page 53 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 when we were like at $400, 000 or $300, 000, did anybody say, well, wait a minute, how -- what is the li -- what is the amount? Ms. Bru: It was a breach of contract where he was asking for his severance and some accrued -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know, but what's the dollar amount? Ms. Bru: I think that his payout was in the vicinity of $250, 000, something like that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So we're just going to keep going on until we reach a million dollars. And even if we lose, we lose -- even if we win, we lose. Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, I think at this point you've won and you have an appeal. And he went in front of a judge. That's a pretty tough thing to overturn. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, but do you understand what I'm saying though? Commissioner Sarnoff. Oh, we offered him a significant amount of money and he did not accept it. Ms. Bru: We attempted to settle the matter. We did have some very good faith settlement negotiations that the prior manager was involved in. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I -- only reason why I'm mentioning it now, I'm just saying if we're looking at $2 million that we have budgeted, already we know we're at 1.7 or whatever for this year -- I mean, some of this stuff we just kind of have to look at it and say -- I just would not want to see you spend another 400 when we could have dealt with it for 200 and it went away. Ms. Bru: Well, the appeal is not going to be that much money. I mean, I don't think it'll be more than $35, 000. And hopefully, you know, we will resolve it at that stage. We do have a -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But your decision is if you see that it's going to -- we're not going to allow for it to be another 400, 000. Ms. Bru: No. I will always update you on the progress of the litigation. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right, about $30, 000 -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- Commissioner Sarnoff. -- at the most. And his chance of prevailing would be less than 3 percent. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm just curious anyway just on other things that we're doing the same thing with, you know. It's like if we're talking about being fiscally responsible, I mean -- andl understand some things we have to -- the idea is to send a message, but when we're sending a message and we're spending double the amount of money to close out on something and move on and let it be done with, I mean, I think that our residents and citizens will understand that we don't want to keep waste -- throwing money after something bad. I don't get it. But anyway, that's -- I'm just putting it on the record. I know the SEC thing we have really no choice in, correct? We got to -- we have to defend ourselves or at least -- Ms. Bru: Yes, we do. And unfortunately, it's been a very document production, intensive -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. City ofMiami Page 54 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Bru: -- kind of endeavor with -- and a lot of preparation of witnesses -- Chair Gort: It's ridiculous. Ms. Bru: -- and you know, I will be giving you a status update next month on where we are with that investigation now. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. And then last have for you -- and I'm just piggybacking off of Carollo -- on the -- just so I know, the subscriptions, memberships, license, permits, it was 86,000 -- in 2009, it was 103; in 2010, it was 100, and then 106, and now you got it down to 98 . What is it anyway? Ms. Bru: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: What are those items? Ms. Bru: Under that code, what we pay for are -- it's our document management system that we have from ProLaw. It's a Thomson West product where we have all our documents stored electronically, where we produce our documents electronically. That's what we use to do our work, and that's -- it's a program. And that pays for the license and the maintenance. We also pay for our books under that line item. We pay for our research, for electronic research. Right now we're in the process of negotiating a better contract with Lexus. We've been using Westlaw for the past three years. It also pays for the bar dues for the attorneys in the office. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I got you. Ms. Bru: And that's it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, I was just curious what it was. All right, that was it. That's all had on it. Chair Gort: Okay, questions. Commissioner Suarez: I mean, I went through this basically last year with the City Attorney with - - you know, and we made a lot of cuts last year. You know, obviously, the $2 million for outside - - it's one of those things that, you know, we would prefer not to spend and I'm hopeful that next year, you know -- I think one thing we -- hopefully we don't have any other SEC matters and obviously securities litigation is very, very -- it's a very specific area of the law, and that's something that we talked about when the City Attorney recommended that we hire this firm. You know, I think when we're going to -- in the future, when there's a very specific area of the law, we may have to consider if we were to hire a lawyer temporarily full-time just -- who's an expert in that area of the law because the fact of the matter is even if we would have hired somebody at $200, 000 who was a SEC expert, who had been practicing for 20 or 30 years on a temporary basis, we would have saved -- you know, could have saved a substantial amount of money. Ms. Bru: I think the problem, too, came in when we had to hire attorneys to represent a couple of the individual employees involved -- Commissioner Suarez: True. Ms. Bru: -- because, you know -- and -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. There was -- those additional kind of unforeseen expenses, which City ofMiami Page 55 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Bru: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: -- were other outside counsels aside from the outside counsel that we had that was representing us as an -- Ms. Bru: Right. Commissioner Suarez: -- organization -- Ms. Bru: Right. Commissioner Suarez: -- to protect the City's interest. But you know, I think it's something that we have to think about the next item we're in a situation where we have a very specific area of the law -- it may not be SEC -- hopefully, it's not SEC. Hopefully, we don't ever -- or hopefully, we'll never -- we're not investigated by the SEC while we're here. But if there's any other kind of area of the law like that that's very, very specific. Ms. Bru: Thank you. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just had to just add on real fast, two seconds. You mentioned three particular lawsuits that we were fighting. You said Jorge, SEC -- Ms. Bru: The high -ticket items were the Fernandez matter, the money that we spent litigating the labor cases with Allen Norton & Blue representing us, which amounted to about 173, 000, so those were the grievances filed by the Fire, Police, the unfair labor practice charges filed by Fire, Police, some of the matters that were litigated concerning Gates. And even though we did a lot in-house, they did provide a lot of assistance. Andl think it was money well spent because there were millions of dollars at risk, and we've done very well in that litigation so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So is there anything else out there? Ms. Bru: So those were the two, and then we have a private cause of action by an investor who's seeking to be certified as a class challenging -- it's a private -- what is it, a private securities law -- I forgot what the acronym is, but it's the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) class action -- seeks to be a class action, and it's -- Commissioner Suarez: The bond investors. Ms. Bru: -- seeking damages as a result of allegations that we misrepresented our financial circumstances when we issued some debt. Commissioner Suarez: Andl have to say -- ifI may, Mr. Chairman, jump in real quick. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: You know, the City Attorney's track record in terms of helping us handle litigation in the two years that I've been here has been perfect as far as I'm -- I mean, I don't know that we've -- I can't think of an occasion that we've lost a case. I can't think of any. I may be wrong, but I can't think of one that we've lost in the last -- since I've been here. So you know, I have to commend you for that, that -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. City ofMiami Page 56 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: -- your judgment on our litigations have -- has turned out to be, in the two years that I've been here, flawless. I mean, I haven't -- I -- just in terms of that, I can't remember -- I don't know of a case that we've lost. I don't know of one, butt know we've settled a lot of cases and stuff like that, but I don't know of a case that we've actually lost a judgment on. Could be wrong. Ms. Bru: I have to tell you I'm extremely proud of the group of litigators that we have in the office, extremely talented, committed, experienced. And under the leadership of Warren Bittner, who's our deputy in charge of litigation, I think that, you know, you do get serviced very, very well. Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: And l just want to echo what Commissioner Suarez just said. From the billboard issue to many, many other important issues, you know, I think it's to be commended. I think spoke to you about it. I think in the near future we'll be bringing a proclamation and so forth because I think it is to be commended. And there were high profile cases, you know, important cases to the City ofMiami that could cost us a lot of money, and you know, we prevailed. So my, you know, sentiments are exactly the same as Commissioner Suarez. Thank you. Ms. Bru: Thank you. Chair Gort: Andl have to tell you -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's it, Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: -- my experience been that when they've been able to settle and get a good settlement, they have done so. And that's to be commended. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, now we go to the Management and Budget. Questions. Mr. Alfonso: My budget for next year is roughly 14, 15 percent lower than this year so -- Chair Gort: Right. Mr. Alfonso: Thank you. Chair Gort: From 1.384 to 1.44 -- Mr. Alfonso: 1.144, yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just wanted you to clam -- you gave us -- remember the questions we had in the meeting and you gave us responses to the Commission questions in your backup document and it was in reference to the positions approved in the budget. Mr. Alfonso: The positions approved in the budget? I'm sorry. I don't remember the question. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. It's how do we approve positions in the budget. Mr. Alfonso: Oh. City ofMiami Page 57 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: I think that was more or less -- probably Carollo's -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. And in the memo that was sent out today -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Mr. Alfonso: -- ifI remember correctly -- Vice Chair Carollo: The one we've all had time to, you know, digest. Mr. Alfonso: In effect, basically, the answer is this. The positions in the budget are approved. If you look at your resolution for approving the budget, Section -- was Section 8, now it's Section 9, specifically reads, 1411 departments and the number of employees designated therein provided for in this budget by position summary or by organizational chart are deemed approved by the City Commission. Any permanent change regarding same shall require City Commission approval." So in effect, when you adopt the budget resolution, and that resolution includes the position counts and the table of organization that we have presented to you, you are approving -- this is your position count. If the Manager or a department director wants to make a permanent change to that, they need to come to this Commission. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. And then the 7,000 to cover the cost of -- you found that, right? Mr. Alfonso: The 7,000 to cover that cost is -- through some of the reductions that have taken place in some departments, we had a vacant position that we had intended to fill in this coming year in my office aside from the fact that we cut three other positions, but that we have a person that rolled back, as is termed here, into my office at a salary that was $7, 000 higher than what I had in the budget, so I needed to cover that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: Because I had already taken all of the attrition for the vacant positions out. If you look at the previous reduction, 135, 000, 59,000, basically, I took the value of all the vacant positions that were there out. So by having this person come into my office with a slightly higher salary, I had to put that $7, 000 in to cover it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's it for me, Mr. Chair. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Are we going to fill that budget analyst position? Mr. Alfonso: It's filled by a matter of rollback, sir. I -- it came in, there it is. I have the budgeted position. The person rolled into my department. It's filled Commissioner Spence -Jones: And their budget -- they -- Mr. Alfonso: Yes. This person is somebody who had worked in this office before and had moved on through a promotional opportunity. Now in that department because of the reductions that are being made, they were cut there and they came back to the Budget office. They have rights to the position so I have an additional analyst. City ofMiami Page 58 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: What -- I'm just curious. What did they roll back from? Mr. Alfonso: Public Facilities. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: They rolled back into this position so -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. I had a vacant position -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: -- that was funded -- Vice Chair Carollo: Which is the one that I'm speaking about. Mr. Alfonso: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: So -- Mr. Alfonso: So now it's filled Vice Chair Carollo: -- I don't have obsolete information in just -- I guess, old information. Mr. Alfonso: No, it's not obsolete, Commissioner, because in a sense I did explain it in the memo that we are filling the position through a rollback, and it came in at $7, 000 higher than I had budgeted, which is why -- and by the way, this position was rolled into my office on Monday of this week, which would have been yesterday. Yesterday was her first day. Well, actually the day before yesterday. It's a little after midnight. Vice Chair Carollo: Another question with regards to -- and again, I've been saying this with most departments -- travel and per diem. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: You have budgeted 15,000. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: Is that for any trips to out of state for CPEs (Continuing Professional Education) or --? Mr. Alfonso: Yes, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: It is. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: And how does the Commission feel about that, you know, because we're seeing 15,000 in -- 15,000, 10,000, you know, for each department. It starts adding up and, you know, again, it's something of policy, and I'd like to hear from my colleagues. Mr. Alfonso: Through the Chair, may I? Chair Gort: Sure. City ofMiami Page 59 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: The reports that we have -- and we provided this to you, actually provide -- at the very bottom on page, I don't know, 33 or 34 -- I can't count pages at this time -- show the expenses for these categories at a citywide level. The citywide expense for travel is about $143, 000 and that's for the entire city what is budgeted. I just want to put that on the record. Chair Gort: No. The question is -- my understanding is a lot of the travel you do it because of certifications and -- but can't you -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Chair Gort: -- do those certification local? Mr. Alfonso: We have some professionals -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Trainings. Mr. Alfonso: -- who are members -- we have some professionals in our office who are members of GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association). It's a professional organization. They have -- Chair Gort: I'm aware. I know (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Alfonso: Correct. They have their national conference in different locations throughout the country. If you want to do your CPEs, you want to go to their seminars, they have some local and they have some outside here. We feel that this is there to send our people to get that professional development. It's a policy of the board -- of this Commission. Chair Gort: Let me -- my experience as -- in my former business, I used to go to all those conventions andl think we can do it locally. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You think what? Chair Gort: We can do it locally. Vice Chair Carollo: We can do it locally. Chair Gort: Like right now the Miami -Dade League of Cities, they have a seminar for attorneys and they're -- they go -- they can go to the luncheon, the seminars, and they can get the -- what do you call them, continuing education. Commissioner Suarez: CLEs (Continuing Legal Education), yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: No more San Antonio. Unidentified Speaker: It wasn't in San Antonio. Commissioner Suarez: El Paso. Unidentified Speaker: Chicago. Commissioner Suarez: El Paso? Chair Gort: Guys, guys. City ofMiami Page 60 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: No, Chicago for the next -- for this current year is what they're looking at. But there is local, you know, classes, CPEs, whatever you want to call it. Andl think right now in these tough financial times -- that's why I bring it up. And again, I didn't make a decision or so forth. I brought it to my colleagues and said how do you all feel 'cause this is a policy decision. But in all fairness, I think, at the very least, if we're going to, you know, honor education and continuing education and so forth, it should definitely be at the local. We shouldn't be paying for airplane trips and hotels and so forth. And that's how I feel. You're still budgeted at 15. I don't know if we want to reduce or we just leave it at that, or we leave it at, you know, what most departments have it but with the understanding that, you know -- Chair Gort: Use sparsely. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. We're looking at it being local, if at all. I mean, this is tough times. Commissioner Suarez: And what happens is I think when times are good, it's a cultural thing, you know, in terms -- Chair Gort: Sure. Commissioner Suarez: -- what we've been doing the last two years, and one of the reasons why we go line by line is we're trying to, you know, adapt to what's happening culturally in terms of spending. And everybody -- it's happening all over the place. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- Chair Gort: Anyone else? Commissioner Spence -Jones: We're just asking, Danny, that, you know, you be conscious of the trips. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, Commissioner, we'll be conscious. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. We see that you have nothing in subscriptions and other areas, advertising and the rest of that and other departments do, so it all balances out. Mr. Alfonso: Correct. I mean, my -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So we're asking that you're consider of -- Mr. Alfonso: -- the office budget is down like 15 percent from the current year. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I understand. Chair Gort: Okay. Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Nope. Chair Gort: No? Thank you. Purchasing. Kenneth Robertson (Director): Good evening, Commissioners. Kenneth Robertson, Purchasing Department. The proposed fiscal year '12 budget for the Purchasing Department is 10.58 percent lower than the adopted budget from fiscal year 2011. Vice Chair Carollo: Does anyone from the board have any questions? City ofMiami Page 61 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: On Danny's memo, he mentioned the citywide P-Card administrator -- Mr. Robertson: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- is a critical position. Mr. Robertson: Correct. During this -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Was it not included in the beginning? Mr. Robertson: It was funded for the current fiscal year. My office went through four recruitment processes to fill various positions that were either vacant or became vacant. The incumbent for the P-Card administrator was promoted internally in my office to a senior buyer position. The intent of my department's reorganization approach is to take the P-Card administrator position and combine the duties of that position with our storekeeper for the disposition of all surplus property. The storekeeper position is responsible for our live auctions and online auctions and for the transfer of surplus property. So the P-Card administrator position will do both of those roles. Currently it's vacant because of the internal promotion, but we have authorization to advertise the position. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Carollo: Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. And I'll yield to Commissioner -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, no. Commissioner Suarez: I just had a follow up to your question actually. I'm not a fan of the P-Cards and -- number one. And number two, I'm sure as heck not a fan of someone to administer the P-Cards. I mean -- Mr. Robertson: Well, the City -- Commissioner Suarez: -- it's like a double whammy, you know, like -- I just think the P-Cards are an invitation for -- and of course, you would need someone to administer it because the problem with it is that you're giving someone a blanket authorization essentially to spend -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, do we have a lot of people with P-Cards? Mr. Robertson: Yes. There are a -- Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Mr. Robertson: -- significant number of employees citywide that have P-Cards. There are actually a lot of advantages and benefits to the City's P-Card program. We receive a 1.9 percent -- 1.95 percent rebate on all purchases using the P-Card. The program actually blocks merchant category codes for unauthorized transactions so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But we -- the Commissioners and elected officials, we don't have P-Cards, right? Commissioner Suarez: No. City ofMiami Page 62 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Robertson: The P-Card -- Commissioner Sarnoff. You going to get yours? Mr. Robertson: -- purchases are coordinated by -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, I don't want a P-Card. Mr. Robertson: -- and through the Office of Management and Budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Huh? Excuse me. I'm sorry. What now? Mr. Alfonso: Yes. Mr. Robertson: P-Card transactions are coordinated through Mr. -- Director Alfonso's office. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Manager, is -- I'm assuming no elected -- Do you guys have P-Cards in your office? Vice Chair Carollo: No, I do not -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: No. Vice Chair Carollo: -- Commissioner Spence -Jones. Commissioner Suarez: Negative. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, ifI may answer the questions. You may not physically have P-Cards, but you do make P-Card transactions by contacting an employee in my office who has a P-Card to purchase on behalf of the Commission within your budget. You have -- you say I need to get this. She figures out whether it's a P-Card or an item -- a requisition. She prepares the documentation and the expense gets made. So while you don't have a physical P-Card, there is an employee who processes P-Card transactions for your offices and that person is located in my office. Commissioner Suarez: But can I ask a follow up on that? 'Cause I mean, I would think -- I know we order -- you know, we may order supplies like pens or -- I would think we have a contract with a supply company, with an office supply company and you would -- it wouldn't be a P- Card transaction. It would be a purchase under that contract, correct? Mr. Robertson: Correct. The use of the P-Card for contract items is specifically prohibited. The use of the P-Card is for non -contract items under $2,500 or for items that are exempted from the procurement code that are also under $2, 500. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I could be wrong. I don't know that we ever ordered anything under that -- under those parameters. Mr. Robertson: No. What happens is if the Commissioners would like to order something, you transmit that information to the budget office. The budget office knows the correct procurement method for what you would like to buy. If it's something under contract, they would submit a purchase requisition to my office. We process that through the Oracle system. If it's for a travel arrangement or something not on contract under $2, 500, we could use the P- Card for that. City ofMiami Page 63 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Were employees purchasing gas with the P-Card? Mr. Robertson: No. That's strictly prohibited. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, 'cause I know there was an issue in the Police Department where some -- that was a totally different issue? Mr. Robertson: That was -- correct. That was a separate program authorized by the Commission using the State of Florida fuel card program. Commissioner Suarez: How many -- Mr. Robertson: That program is being terminated. Commissioner Suarez: -- P-Cards are -- exist right now in the City? Mr. Robertson: I don't know the exact number. I know it's in the dozens. I can provide you an exact number in the morning. Commissioner Suarez: In the dozens? Mr. Robertson: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: And we need a person to supervise the dozens ofP-Cards that are out there? Mr. Robertson: Correct. The duties of the P-Card administrator are quite voluminous. They monitor transactions on a daily basis to make sure the transactions are eligible. They coordinate the issuance and cancellation of cards when people come on board and leave the City. They actually train the new cardholders how to use the card in an appropriate manner. They coordinate resolving issues with the issuing bank. They analyze transaction trends to determine if we need to procure services in a different manner, either informally or formally, by establishing a bid if we're noticing that we spend more than $25, 000 on a particular commodity in any given fiscal year. So in terms of what the P-Card administrator does, it's quite extensive. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I would imagine if you have a bunch of those things running around that you're going to need somebody to keep an eye on them. I mean, I think you're an -- I think you are a wonderful professional and -- Mr. Robertson: Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Suarez: -- you know, I very much value your opinion and your perspective. On this issue, on the P-Cards, you know, I don't know that it's a good practice for the City to have P-Cards, number one. And then number two, I suppose if we have P-Cards, it would make sense we need to have somebody regulating them. I mean, that's almost -- you have to have it because they're so fraught with the possibility of you know, unscrupulous transactions that you would -- it would make sense to have someone administering them, but it's like a double whammy, you know, again. Mr. Robertson: With today's eCommerce environment, not having a P-Card program would set the City back significantly. Should you desire to make travel arrangements without a P-Card, how would you secure your flight except buying through the Finance Department by requesting a transfer of direct payment where we would issue a check -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. City ofMiami Page 64 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Robertson: -- to the travel agency. Commissioner Suarez: Well, I think the Vice Chairman would like all those categories taken out anyways. But -- Mr. Robertson: There are actually vendors who don't accept purchase orders, who will only accept a credit card. Commissioner Suarez: You're saying the full faith and credit of the City ofMiami is not good enough? Mr. Robertson: It actually also accelerates the procurement process for everyday goods and services that are not under contract needed by our various user departments. It also alleviates exempt procurement items from coming through the Purchasing Department that don't need to come through us. Commissioner Suarez: All right, whatever the board wants to do. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. I just had a question and concern with what, you know, would be the purpose of doing it, but I'm going to follow the lead of you, Commissioner Suarez, if you're saying that it would seem like maybe perhaps you do need to have someone managing that process. It just didn't -- we've never had the position before, correct? Mr. Robertson: No. We've had it -- Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. It's vacant. Mr. Robertson: -- for many years, but the -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so this is -- we're reinstating it now? Mr. Robertson: No. The person who was occupying the position in fiscal year 2011 was promoted internally in my office. We still use her expertise daily, but we need to find a new replacement. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So I'm fine -- yes, Danny? Mr. Alfonso: If you want me to clarify why it seems like we're adding the dollars. In -- I want to say in the eagerness of saving, at one point we took every vacant position and defunded it. So once you analyze that and you realize, okay, we have to fund this back which is why it looks like it's being put back. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Thankyou, Danny. Chair Gort: Any other question? Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Not necessarily a question. I just want to say, Mr. Roberts [sic], you know, I echo the sentiments of Commissioner Suarez, you know. I think you are a true professional. You're actually running very lean. Other than salaries -- other salaries and taxes, I mean, you're really running very lean. Travel is 1,000, you know, office supplies and operating supplies, 1,500. So, I mean, if you really go down the list, you're actually operating very lean so I appreciate that and -- Mr. Robertson: Thankyou, Commissioner. City ofMiami Page 65 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm done. Chair Gort: You're done? Everybody's done, okay. Office of Hearing Board [sic]. Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Where are we now? Commissioner Sarnoff.. Hearing Board [sic]. Vice Chair Carollo: Office of Hearing Board [sic] that is now within Planning. Chair Gort: Right. Francisco Garcia (Planning, Director): Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, Francisco Garcia on behalf of the Office of Hearing Boards. The Office of Hearing Boards was functionally merged with the Planning Department effectively last year. So for this past year we've essentially been operating as one department, although admittedly I believe this has not been reflected yet in the table of organization. And one of the items that we proposed to you to accomplish today is to actually make what has in fact been the case for the past year or so official. We think there is merit to it and we're happy to convey information regarding that. And since I am up here and should you care to discuss it, we are also proposing that the Office of Zoning be merged with what would then be the Department of Planning & Zoning, including the Office of Hearing Boards. We think it makes sense. We basically manage the same data, all three offices do. There are efficiencies to be found in this merger, and frankly a significantly enhanced service to the community whom we work with on a daily basis. IfI can answer any questions regarding particulars. Chair Gort: So you're recommending to put the Planning and Zoning together -- Mr. Garcia: Yes, sir. Chair Gort: -- creating one department and Hearing Board [sic], all three of them together. Mr. Garcia: Yes, sir. Once again, Hearing Boards and Planning have been functioning as essentially one department for the last year or so. The change tonight would be that the Zoning functions would be merged with Planning and we would further coordinate -- not that we haven't been coordinating, which we have, but further coordinate our functions. Chair Gort: And that's going to reduce the budget by? Mr. Garcia: We had proposed -- the breakdown is basically as follows, and I'll yield to Mr. Alfonso for more details. But let me break it down into three for a second. We had -- in terms of the Planning and Hearing Boards Department, we had proposed in the earlier rounds of the budgeting process approximately a 9 percent reduction and that reduction is in fact still the case. And then Zoning is a very, very lean operation as it is so they basically intend to stay the same. So in the net process -- and I'm not sure honestly whether the 10 percent of Planning and Hearing Boards is something that translates over to the overall or what the percentage is, but certainly in the Planning and Hearing Boards and -- approximately a reduction of 9 percent and then Zoning would basically come in intact. We also hope, frankly, that when we further integrate the three operations, we will find additional efficiencies and we will certainly -- I'll report back to you on that as time goes forward. City ofMiami Page 66 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. -- Chair Gort: Question. Vice Chair Carollo: -- Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: As a matter of fact, I think we are voting on that sometime today. I think it's BH.4 with regards to the changes that Mr. Garcia is stating. Is that correct? Mr. Garcia: I believe so, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: The only thing is, Mr. Garcia, I don't really -- I have not seen the backup to that. There is no real description or so forth. I know we're voting on it in BH.4, but when I looked at the backup, really wasn't much. Andl think it was similar to what said at the first hearing that what do we really have in front of us. We don't have, you know, a configuration or anything, so just look at the backup. You know, I think you'll have time before BH.4 comes to the board. Thank you. Mr. Garcia: Happy to do so, sir. We're certainly prepared to do it, andl apologize that we haven't had an opportunity, frankly, to meet prior to that. Certainly, it was my intent to do so. But we're certainly happy to answer any questions. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Chair Gort: Any question? So that takes care of Planning, Zoning, and Hearing Board [sic]. Commissioner Suarez: Hearing Board [sic]. Vice Chair Carollo: No. That's Hearing Boards. Planning and Zoning is -- Mr. Alfonso: I want -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I think what he was saying -- Mr. Alfonso: They are merged. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- is that he was addressing everything -- Chair Gort: All three of them. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- at one time. Chair Gort: Yeah. He -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So if you do have any -- and while we're doing that, can I just ask -- while Commissioner -- Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- Carollo is getting to -- getting his thoughts together. Can we City ofMiami Page 67 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 just be clear real fast from our team that's up here just so that we'll know whether or not we're going to be addressing those particular departments? Can I just -- do you mind, Mr. Chairman, if we could go through --? Chair Gort: No, go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Does anybody have any issues up here with Neighborhood Enhancement Team, NET, that we're going to address? Vice Chair Carollo: Give me a second. I may have some questions. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just want to go through the list so we know how many more we have to cover 'cause it's 1:15 a.m. in the morning. Commissioner Sarnoff.. At the rate we're going, it's about 5 o'clock. Vice Chair Carollo: Hey, don't look at me like that. You were getting into it. I didn't even want to say anything 'cause you were -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, no. I'm not getting into it. That's why I want to go through -- I got lost for a minute so I want to get back on track. So anybody have any issues with NET? Chair Gort: I don't. I'm a proponent of the Neighborhood -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I don't have any issues with NET. Does anybody have any issues with NET? Chair Gort: I love my NET offices. They're doing good. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. I have a few questions for NET. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, no problem. Let's put a star by that one. Code Enforcement. Do we have an issue with Code Enforcement? Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. I have a few questions for Code -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Capital Improvement [sicg? Can I ask you what you don't have a problem with? That might help. Chair Gort: That'll be a lot easier. Vice Chair Carollo: I thought we were just going down the list. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Let's try that way first. Chair Gort: That'll be a lot easier. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Let's try that, and then I'll see if we have any issues with any of those. Which ones you don't have a problem with? Solid Waste we could take off 'cause we've dealt with, right? Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. City ofMiami Page 68 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: That's pretty -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: GSA (General Services Administration)? Vice Chair Carollo: I think we have questions for GSA. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Public Works? Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. We're -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Fire -Rescue? Vice Chair Carollo: Of course. Chair Gort: He's got them all. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Public Facilities? Vice Chair Carollo: A lot less questions, probably one or two. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. What about Risk Management? Okay. Pensions? Vice Chair Carollo: I think we pretty much went through -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: We dealt with the pensions. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, we dealt with the pensions. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Grant Administration? We just dealt with them. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So that's three off the list. Building, we dealt with earlier. Chair Gort: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You dealt with Building. Remember, we called Building up andl asked if you had any issue with it. Vice Chair Carollo: Are you going to let them go home or are you going to ask the Manager for them to go home? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Excuse me? Vice Chair Carollo: Are you going to ask the Manager to let them go home or should --? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, no, no. I'm just -- Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm just -- Chair Gort: You're supposed to expedite it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- I just think it's important for us to communicate to them so they have at least an idea and we have an idea how long you're going to have us up here. Hint, hint. City ofMiami Page 69 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 So, okay, that's all wanted to get a sense of. So we are -- Chair Gort: Okay. Neighborhood -- NET office. Vice Chair Carollo: We're doing NET now. Commissioner Spence -Jones: NET office. Chair Gort: NET office. Any questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No questions for me. Haydee Wheeler (Director, Neighborhood Enhancement Team): Good morning. Vice Chair Carollo: Give me a second, give me a second. Yes. Good morning, Ms. Wheeler. Ms. Wheeler: Good morning, Commissioners. Haydee Wheeler, NET director. Vice Chair Carollo: There's different issues that I have and one that I'd like to address is the rental and leases. And hold on, I want to make sure it's the right line item. Commissioner Spence -Jones: It's $32, 000. Chair Gort: Thirty-two thousand three hundred came down from thirty five thousand. Vice Chair Carollo: Hold on, hold on, hold on. Yes, rental and leases. Could you elaborate a little bit on what exactly is rental and leases? Ms. Wheeler: Yes, of course. We have two entries under rentals and leases. Number one is Rios del Sol, which is the office that houses the D3 (District 3) NET office, the Little Havana NET office space. That office is the only one that we are paying rent for because at the time that our budget was cut in '09, we could not actually get out of the lease, so it was easier and less expensive for us to continue with that office open. The monthly cost of that office is $1,375.67 with a 3 percent annual increase based on the CPI (Consumer Price Index). The second amount that completes the -- Vice Chair Carollo: Ms. Wheeler, I'm sorry. Just slow it down 'cause I'm writing some of this. Ms. Wheeler: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: And that rental lease that you stated is the only one that you have is in District 3? Ms. Wheeler: Correct, 1275 Northwest 1st Street. Vice Chair Carollo: Right, Rios del Sol. Do you know how long is that lease for? Ms. Wheeler: We have two more years before the lease is over. Vice Chair Carollo: Two more years? Ms. Wheeler: Yes. Our next month's lease -- next year's lease, it will come up to $1,416.94, so we've estimated the yearly cost at $17, 003.28 for the year '11/'12. Vice Chair Carollo: Seventeen thousand. City ofMiami Page 70 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Wheeler: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, that's a perfect example of -- You know, I want to see if in the near future we stop those leases and we go into a City -owned building so we avoid the lease rental and we save $17, 000 a year. Ms. Wheeler: Commissioner, again, this is the only office out of the nine offices that we have that we are paying rent. All the other offices are in City buildings. Vice Chair Carollo: I understand. Andl think I'm going to help you to be able to save those $17,000 a year. Ms. Wheeler: Sure. Vice Chair Carollo: So now, 17,000, but you're asking for 32, so what makes up the rest? Ms. Wheeler: Correct. The remaining amount is $15,313.30. This is a line item that covers the projected annual cost of the use of the copiers in the NET offices. They are projected at an annual cost of $1, 896.13 for a total of six offices, and then I have $1, 288 for the rest of the offices. The total amount -- and this is as per a purchasing agreement with GSA -- that we pay for all the copiers, including toners and maintenance, is $15, 313. That's a total of ten off -- Vice Chair Carollo: Nine. Ms. Wheeler: -- eleven -- no, because that includes our administration office and that also includes the office that we have on the Brickell/South Miami office. Vice Chair Carollo: By the way, I haven't mentioned it before. I know the Budget Department knows that I've looked at it quite a bit, you know, our contract with the rental of copiers. We're spending a lot of money with copiers, andl know we need it and so forth, but that's something that in the future I want to look at because -- Would you agree NET office or the NET Department is relatively small compared to other departments? Yeah, we're spending $15, 000 in copiers. Commissioner Suarez: Can I ask you a question on that? Vice Chair Carollo: Sure. Commissioner Suarez: My question is do we not have or do we have a citywide -- like do we have a citywide contract for that, for copiers? Ms. Wheeler: This is the citywide contract -- Commissioner Suarez: Okay. I'm just curious 'cause -- Ms. Wheeler: -- with Sharp copiers. Commissioner Suarez: I'm -- so what I'm -- I guess what -- the reason why I'm asking is 'cause then if we did have a citywide contract, then it shouldn't be more expensive for one department than for another. It should be the same price. Vice Chair Carollo: Well, they actually are not and that's what we found out. Because when I saw some of these prices for copiers, I said, wait a second. I don't know if any NET office, definitely not Little Havana, makes, you know, all that many more copiers [sic] than maybe a City ofMiami Page 71 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner's office. Andl think our copiers are much cheaper than, you know, the amounts that you're stating. Ms. Wheeler: Well, ifI may. We do make -- don't forget that when we do the outreach, we do make the flyers for the outreach, sometimes 300, 400 apiece. We do service the community with all the permits they come and apply. We have to make copies. So we do use the copiers, plus there's scanners too, which is what we're using now to save on the paper. So there are scanners and printers. And I think you want to say some -- Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, through the Chair. Chair Gort: Yes. Go ahead. Mr. Alfonso: I want to point out that they have multiple locations, so you're talking about -- 11, you said? Ms. Wheeler: Ten. Unidentified Speaker: Nine. Mr. Alfonso: -- 9 different locations, so you can't use really the one in one NET office in another. Also, the cost of printers has to do with how much copies you do. So while you have a fixed cost, you also have a variable cost. So in the HR Department, for example, where they do a lot of copying of documents, they would have a higher cost. GSA, they're doing a lot of printing, they have a much higher -- Commissioner Suarez: But it's pursuant to the same contract, right? I mean -- Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, but the contract has a fixed cost -- Commissioner Suarez: I know, I know, I know. Mr. Alfonso: -- and then the variable. Commissioner Suarez: I'm just -- I'm trying to wrap my head around the issue. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. And in all fairness, you know we spent, you know, a long period of time with this because -- Mr. Alfonso: Yes. Pizza and Sergio's subs, and we missed the Chinese food on Friday, but that's okay. Vice Chair Carollo: With that said, you know, I saw a big disparity with the price. I just can't see a NET office, you know, one NET office -- let's say even Little Havana, which I'm more familiar with -- make as many copies of say, my office or a Commissioner's office. I just don't see it. Yet, I think the price is, what, $600 more a year than what it costs us so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: What? You're saying the NET offices don't make more copies than we do copies? Vice Chair Carollo: At least -- we make copies and -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, but I mean, the NET -- City ofMiami Page 72 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Wheeler: We make a lot of copies. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- their job is to do is outreach in communities, any time anybody's coming there for support. I mean, the NET, they do a lot. Ms. Wheeler: On an average, we do at least a thousand copies a month -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Ms. Wheeler: -- to the community. Some communities more than other, but if there is not a community that has the distribution list through e-mails -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Little Haiti. Ms. Wheeler: -- we have to go out there -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: They're making -- Ms. Wheeler: -- with the flyers. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- a lot of copies. They're doing a lot of stuff to get outreach. Come on, guys. They're doing -- you're comparing it to our office? Come on. There's no comparison. Mr. Cabrera: Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I can't believe we're talking about paper at -- Mr. Cabrera: I think the Purchasing -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- 1: 30 in the morning. Mr. Cabrera: -- director can provide additional information. Mr. Robertson: Kenneth Robertson, Purchasing Department. The citywide copy contract is based on usage and the model of the copier that the office has. So there is a great variable between the pricing between the departments. If you have more than one copier and you have a model that is a high industrial voluminous copy machine, it costs more than a smaller copy machine. And also, the copy count per machine is different per office. Commissioner Suarez: But it's all -- Chair Gort: Let me ask you a question. Commissioner Suarez: -- handled by one contract, so it's not like -- Mr. Robertson: Correct. Commissioner Suarez: I'm sorry to interrupt. -- GSA has a contract for copiers and the Commissioners have a contract for copiers. There's no separate -- Mr. Robertson: Correct. It's -- Commissioner Suarez: It's one -- City ofMiami Page 73 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Robertson: -- all one contract -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Mr. Robertson: -- managed by -- Commissioner Suarez: That's just whatl was wondering. Mr. Robertson: -- each department. The contract includes toner, so based on your usage -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Robertson: -- the copier company replaces your toner. Commissioner Suarez: Right. But -- Chair Gort: Question. When is the contract up? Do you know? Mr. Robertson: I don't know the expiration date of that contract. I can send it to the Commissioners immediately or I can go look it up in my computer. Chair Gort: I think the idea is whenever the contract comes up, an RFP (Request for Proposals) comes out, and when you design the RFP, make sure that we can get as many similar machines for the different NET office not to have too many different ones and so on. In other words, to be very much uniform and that will -- Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: -- save some of the monies. Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: What's the overall citywide amount that we spent on copiers and the lease? Do you have that, Mr. Roberts [sic]? Mr. Robertson: I can go to my computer and do an Oracle search in the accounts payable section for amount we've paid to date, but I don't know that number offhand. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, just roughly. I'd like to know what's the total amount that we pay for copiers. Mr. Robertson: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. We don't have to wait to get that answer though, right? Vice Chair Carollo: Of course not. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, great. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Any other questions for Haydee? Chair Gort: Any other questions? Thank you, ma'am. Code Enforcement. Thank you. Ms. Wheeler: Thank you. City ofMiami Page 74 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you, Haydee. Code Enforcement. Sergio Guadix (Director): Good morning, Commissioners. Sergio Guadix, with Code Enforcement. And before you get a chance to say anything negative, I just want to start on a positive that our revenue task force just finished today with 2.4 million this year, opposed to last year, 2.2 million bringing in with licenses and certificates of use. I just wanted to bring that out. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Sergio, what makes you think we would say anything negative? Mr. Guadix: I'm just saying. Chair Gort: Questions. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Guadix. I have a question that I've been wanting to bring up andl even have pictures and so forth and it's too late for all that. But I just want to ask, what do you think is the priority, at least in District 3, with regards to Code Enforcement? Mr. Guadix: Well, as it is in most of the City, our priorities have to do with quality of life issues. They have to do with trash. They have to do with homes that are being left because of foreclosure and they're being left unkempt, the overgrown lots, things like this. There's also -- we have a tree ordinance that we also have to enforce and that's also citywide. We get complaints and we have to enforce that. It's not a priority that we look for, especially in certain districts, but we do have to look for that and if we get complaints. But I would say the quality of life issues, those are the things that we're looking for as far as code enforcement. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, so you answered in a diplomatic, general way so not to get pinpoint with anything. Like we've all mentioned, it's late and I'm not going to come up here and show the pictures and the whole nine yards. But I'll tell you the issue that I'm facing in District 3 is garbage, illegal dumping. I'm sure we give you calls every week. Let me ask you something. How many citations have you issued for illegal dumping? Mr. Guadix: Just in your -- Vice Chair Carollo: In -- yeah, right. Mr. Guadix: -- particular -- I don't have an exact -- I will get back to you with that number. I didn't bring that number with me. Vice Chair Carollo: I understand. Mr. Guadix: But probably the number one thing that we cite throughout the City are trash issues so it's probably -- and it's more prevalent in like Little Havana, Model City and Allapattah, but it's also a problem everywhere else. But a number, an exact number, I will give you those numbers for your district. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. I do want those numbers because aside from Little Haiti and Allapattah and so forth, I can tell you it is an issue in East Little Havana. Any day of the week you pick and you go drive by East Little Havana and there's piles of trash left and right, illegal dumping and, you know, I think that's the primary, you know, purpose, at least for code enforcement in that area. Yes, there's other issues, but I think that's where we need to focus. And you know, I'm just cutting to the chase and letting you know my sentiments with regards to that. Chair Gort: It's an issue citywide. City ofMiami Page 75 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Guadix: Commissioner, it is our priority, and we will make it a super priority. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. Chair Gort: Thank you. Thank you, sir. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Capital Improvement [sic], CIP (Capital Improvements Program). Chair Gort: CIP, Capital Improvement [sic]. You're on. Albert Sosa: Albert Sosa, director of Capital Improvements. Chair Gort: Thank you, Mr. Sosa. I see you've -- your budget from 1,052,000 came down to 778, 300. Mr. Sosa: That's correct. Chair Gort: Okay. Questions? Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes, I have a question, and think I've raised it with you in the past. And now I'm seeing, you know, X'amount for postage and et cetera. And don't have an issue with the postage amount and so forth, but my question goes more to when I see a project that's about to begin, how do you determine who gets a letter, who does not? I've heard different scenarios that we actually don't send letters. We actually walk door to door and place -- so how does that work? Mr. Sosa: For -- to take the first part of the question regarding the postage line item here, the bulk of this postage line item goes to different types of notifications, in some case, notifications about projects. Our process internally in order to make the process more personal to the residents, when we have a project that's beginning to -- that's about to begin, we will physically walk door to door for the corridor. In other words, if we have a project that's an entire neighborhood that has ten blocks but we're only going to work on the first three blocks for the first month, we will walk those three blocks and we'll deliver the notifications door to door basically. Most of the times, we'll knock on the door, see if somebody's home. If they're not, we'll leave it there. If they are there, we will speak to them. And when the project moves into the next phase, say the next three blocks in our example, the same process would occur there. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Other than that, I don't have anything else. It's -- everything else I see is minor so I'll just yield to my colleagues. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. I just wanted to just make one little statement. My biggest issue when I see 11 positions cut that just concerns me. Are we going to be able to be productive with getting the projects done, you know? And know you don't really have an answer for that, but -- City ofMiami Page 76 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Sosa: No. I understand your concern, Commissioner, and I feel we have a very lean staff one that's very efficient, and l feel that we can accomplish the workload that we have with the staffing levels that we have. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right, and if you can't, I guess you'll come back midyear and say I need more people. Yes. That's okay. Chair Gort: Any other question? Mr. Sosa: Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No problem, sweetie. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you. Finance. Chair Gort: Audiovisual Broadcasting. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Now is Finance going to be a long one, Mr. Carollo? Chair Gort: No. Wait a minute. We have the -- Mr. Alfonso: Audiovisual -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: 'Cause we know -- Chair Gort: -- Audiovisual. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, ifI may, Audiovisual has actually been merged into GSA, so I don't know if you want to handle Finance and then when we get to GSA, we can talk about the Audiovisual. Chair Gort: Let's go to Finance. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, get Fi -- well, it all depends. Commissioner Carollo, you got a lot for Finance? We know you have a love affair with Finance so. Vice Chair Carollo: I think I've been quite vocal with regards to Finance. And it's actually nothing against you, Ms. Gomez. As a matter offact, you know, Commissioner Spence -Jones brought up a good point and we don't want you to be set up for failure. And the truth of the matter is that, you know, there's been a lot of knowledge that has been lost andl think we should get a little beefed up with regards to, you know, the CFO position. And as a matter offact, I'll go a step further. It was promised during the ratification, you know, that it was going to occur and then just like we find out today, the mind has changed and we're going in a different direction, you know. We didn't go that direction. Andl think we have seen time and time again the importance of having a strong financial, you know, department. Even if you start reading some of the job descriptions, realistically everything that I've asked for with regards to who from Finance is going to help us or who from the financial team is going to help us, realistically in all the job descriptions, everything that I've asked for and so forth are in the job descriptions with regards to helping with the budgets, with regards -- and you saw that some of those budgets actually affect our City budget. You saw how we were able to obtain, you know, revenues that just a few days ago we were looking desperately, you know, for additional revenues or monies City ofMiami Page 77 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 and you saw that we were able to obtain that. So it does affect our City budget. So again, I'm not going to just rehash what I've said in the past and, you know, but in all fairness, again, I'm very disappointed that the chief financial officer position has not been filled and we've gone with the direction that it should not be filled. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And again, this is the -- this -- we're having this discussion for two seconds, you know. You have two Commissioners that really feel strongly about us having this CFO. I mean, our City Manager is not -- I don't know where our City Manager -- well, Luis, you're the City Manager, but you can't really answer that question. But I mean, I'm just asking my fellow colleagues. I mean, you hear us talking about why we feel it's important, you know, whether or not it's Larry or was Larry. That person that was there was very beneficial being there so I'm just -- Vice Chair Carollo: I'm just -- and my point is, I think we've seen it various times today. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, we reduced costs on everything else, so it's not like we don't have it in here somewhere. Diana, what's your feeling on it? Diana Gomez: Diana Gomez, Finance director. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I don't want to put you on the spot. Okay, I'm putting you on the spot. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, and it's a little fair because the CFO was -- she used to answer to the CFO. So I think it's a little unfair on the question but -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, I'm talking about the -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- I'll yield to my fellow -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- responsibilities. That's what I'm talking about. Ms. Gomez: In terms of the responsibilities of the CFO, the CFO was also an assistant City Manager, had several departments reporting to him. When I discussed the position with the City Manager, one thing wasn't -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Comfortable with. Ms. Gomez: -- comfortable with taking on additional departments. However, I am comfortable taking on the financial responsibilities that the CFO performed other than those other departments. So the administration of the departments is something that I didn't want to take on extra. Commissioner Spence -Jones: What were those departments again, Diana? Ms. Gomez: It was Risk Management, Employee Relations and Purchasing and Finance. So everything that the CFO did for Finance and for financial matters, I'm fine with taking those on, but I was not comfortable or I did not want to take on the additional departments, and that's why I did not -- I was not okay with becoming the CFO. So I did not want that for myself for a myriad of reasons, and so I said I will take on the financial roles that the CFO took on, but I was not comfortable taking on the additional departments. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, and we -- and everybody sitting up here is comfortable with that? I mean, to me -- City ofMiami Page 78 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: I have a question. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- the CFO is the -- is like the heartbeat or the lifeline of this operation, you know. So if you're not doing it, then who's doing it now? Ms. Gomez: No. As I said, I'm not taking on the additional departments -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I understand, but who -- Ms. Gomez: -- but the financial -- all of the financial transactions that the CFO handled for the City are going to be handled by me is the way I understand it. Mr. Cabrera: Commissioner, to answer your question -- Mr. Chairman, may I have the floor? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes, you may. Mr. Cabrera: Thank you. The departments have been divided among the assistant City Managers and Purchasing reports directly to the Manager himself. So the responsibilitiesfrom the other departments, the Manager has divided it between his office and the two assistant City Managers. HR -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: And you guys don't -- Mr. Cabrera: -- is reporting under -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- feel like you're overloaded? Mr. Cabrera: I'm proud to serve. I'm fine. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know you're proud to serve, but you don't feel like you're overloaded? Mr. Cabrera: No, ma'am. Chair Gort: Let me ask a question. My understanding, the former CFO used to be the finance -- looked over the Finance Department, Purchasing -- What were the other departments? Ms. Gomez: HR and Risk Management. Chair Gort: There was another one. Ms. Gomez: And IT? IT. Chair Gort: So he had those -- he had all four departments reporting to him. Now then you work directly with him. Ms. Gomez: Correct. Chair Gort: Of the team there was at that time working with him, you got the same team working? Ms. Gomez: Pretty much I have the same team. He had an assistant who's no longer with the City, but pretty much we have the same team from a finance perspective, yes. City ofMiami Page 79 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: And you have -- Ms. Gomez: And we have an addition ofMirtha. Chair Gort: -- Mirtha coming to you. Ms. Gomez: That's correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: It's okay. We put it on the record. We have two Commissioners that feel like it's an issue, and if the other three don't, then I guess when it comes up as an issue, then we'll discuss it then. But have to say that I feel extremely uncomfortable with where we are with, you know, trying to manage the fiscal responsibilities of our City. Not that you can't do it, Diana. I just think that -- Diana, I just think that it's a lot. So you got two people over there that -- assistant City Managers that believe and feel that they're already overloaded with what they have and to take on that additional responsibility is a bit much but that's not my job so -- it becomes my job when it becomes a problem. So I'm fine with the way it is, so we can move on. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And listen, I could give some long speech and get real technical on the different things that a CFO should be doing and why we need one and so forth. I think we have seen today on various occasions why we should have a CFO or more active Finance Department. I -- you know, today we made decisions that, you know, we should have had, you know, the financial department saying, yes, we checked this information. Yes, Commissioner, we're sure of this and so forth, and it didn't occur. So I'm going to leave it at that. Again, I raise that as a concern and realistically, to a certain degree it's really unfair because a lot of the things that, you know, I pointed out and so forth, I mean, it should be the Finance Department. It should be the CFO that should be on top of this stuff. It shouldn't be a Commissioner that, you know -- I'll just leave it at that. Chair Gort: My question is one of the things that I've been asking from since we set up our budget last year -- and like I stated, we made a lot of decisions. Those decisions were not implemented until three, six and four month afterwards. I just want to make sure in this one that we get a monthly report of our expenses and we really on top of the different departments making sure they're complying with the budget and we really are reviewing their budget to make sure that they're in compliance with it. At the same time, I think that one of the things that we're looking for is not to have any more surprises. I mean, we should be aware of any financial statement, anything that's going financial within the City. We should ask the question and we should be able to have the answer. Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Chairman, to follow on what you're saying, not only this monthly, you know, year-to-date financial and so forth, but at the same time, it can't be two or three months down the line, you know, for a month. I mean, I'm working with July, you know, the end of July numbers. We should have the August numbers by now. We're almost at the end of September. I mean, you know, I think we need to get -- I want to say a little, but I really want to say a lot better with regards to the timing of when we, you know, obtain this information. They can't be three months down the line where -- you know, and in all fairness, that's something that I addressed as soon as I became a Commissioner. And it took us quite a bit, but we finally started getting there, andl think, you know, my colleagues remember, and we started getting these updates in a more timely manner. And all of a sudden, it just disappeared. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. City ofMiami Page 80 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: Commissioners, about the monthly projections. The fact that August is not out is on me and my office, okay. In the preparation for the budget and the putting together of all these numbers and spreadsheets, I had to decide whether I -- the six people or nine people that I have preparing the budget, I put them to do the projections for the month of August, looking at the actuals, et cetera, or complete the budget and all the transactions that we have to prepare to redistribute the resources as per the agreements and now getting ready to load the budget because we have to load the budget before this weekend so that October 1 when it rolls in, there's an appropriation there so that we can spend, otherwise we'll fail funds, et cetera. So I had to make a decision whether I do the August projection or get these things done. I will do my absolute best to give you the monthly reports for the expenditures. That's on me. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Alfonso, let me be clear also. I mean, I think you've done a very good job working with what you have. You've come in the fourth quarter, you know. I really appreciate, you know, how much effort you've put into everything, being able to meet with me and so forth and going over the data. As far -- you know, also Mirtha. And I know you lost Jennifer. Jennifer left. Mr. Alfonso: And Adine. Vice Chair Carollo: Adine is so quiet that -- yes, that's a good workhorse right there, so thank you, Adine. So I do want to commend you all and l just want to make sure that this is not, you know, myself trying to reflect bad on you because you've really done a lot and, you know, even with a learning curve and so forth, so I definitely want to put that out. But at the same time, remember, we have a job to do and not just recently; it's happened now for quite a few months that we are not receiving the year to date in a, you know, timely manner. It's something -- like I mentioned, as soon as I came to the Commission, that's one of the things that I started harping on and so forth. And we finally, after quite a few months, got it together. I have to admit, you know, City Manager Migoya definitely listened to me and he promised. He said, Commissioner, we're going to get that done. I know exactly what you need. I know exactly what you're talking about, and we're going to get it done and it started happening. Andl think all of us up here that was here remember that and we can admit that it slowly started fading away and it has faded away. So I just want to make sure that, you know, we get back to where we were. Mr. Alfonso: I understand, Commissioner. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so we handled -- anything else on this? Chair Gort: Nope. Vice Chair Carollo: No. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, we handled Finance. We handled Building. We handled Planning & Zoning, right? Chair Gort: Planning & Development [sic]. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We did Planning & Zoning. No? Chair Gort: Yes, we did. City ofMiami Page 81 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: I think we did -- Chair Gort: We took part of it. Vice Chair Carollo: -- it out of the Zoning -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: We did Building, Planning & Zoning and Solid Waste. They're done. Now we're at GSA, Public Works. GSA, are they ready? Ricardo Falero: Rick Falero, director of GSA. Vice Chair Carollo: Give me a second. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI can just ask two quick questions while -- Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead. Commissioner Suarez: -- the Vice Chairman gets ready. One of them is your overtime budget is significantly lower than really the last four years -- Mr. Falero: Right. Commissioner Suarez: -- at 84,808. Mr. Falero: That was due to the elimination of overtime for special events. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, so that's something that -- Mr. Falero: That's what -- Commissioner Suarez: -- you guys have -- Mr. Falero: Exactly. Commissioner Suarez: -- dealt with in another fashion or -- Mr. Falero: Because we get funded for that differently. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. My second question is -- but I mean, are we going to still incur -- so when we have a special event -- Mr. Alfonso, when we have a special event, are we saying that we're not going to need GSA or are we saying that we 're not going to pay --? Mr. Falero: No. We do need GSA, but usually the vendors end up providing the money to fund those things so we do get the money back. Mr. Cabrera: Commissioner, incorporated into the special events fees -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Cabrera: -- we incorporate any costs that are related to employees from the GSA Department. Commissioner Suarez: I understand. But the budget, which is our expense category, has been reduced by close to $50,000. It's a significant reduction, and so my question is, are we going to be incurring that much less overtime, and if so, why? That's my question. I mean -- City ofMiami Page 82 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Falero: The events are the Three Kings Parade, Martin Luther King Parade, Coconut Grove Art [sic] Festival, Calle Ocho, and Goombay. Commissioner Suarez: So I think what you're saying is we budgeted for those events in another place. Mr. Falero: Previously we did, yes. Commissioner Suarez: So you're taking it out -- what would otherwise correspond in terms of overtime expense to your budget, you've taken that out by -- Mr. Alfonso: I think if he's -- if I understand what -- Chair Gort: It's a special charge. The vendors or the people providing the events are the one that pay for those (UNINTELLIGIBLE) overtime. Mr. Falero: Exactly, and we get funded back from (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Gort: In other words, that charge is being passed on to the other -- Commissioner Suarez: Right, but -- Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, ifI may. Commissioner Suarez: -- maybe it's just me. Mr. Alfonso: I don't think that he's saying that we're budgeting it somewhere else. I think what he's saying is that he is being reimbursed -- Chair Gort: Right. Mr. Alfonso: -- for that expense -- Mr. Falero: By the vendors. Mr. Alfonso: -- from the vendors who have the events. Vice Chair Carollo: They're actually paying. Mr. Alfonso: They're actually paying him to cover that cost. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: I get it, but that's an expense and the income is a revenue. So I don't understand how that reduces your overtime expense. It may increase your revenue category that offsets the expense but -- Ernest Burkeen: Ernest Burkeen, director of Parks and Rec (Recreation). And we're in the same case. There's a special revenue that's collected as a result of the vendors and then those charges are applied to the special revenue. Commissioner Suarez: Is this something that we're doing new this budget year? Mr. Burkeen: No. It's something that we've always done. We haven't been consistent because City ofMiami Page 83 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 we've had a lot of transition in the last two years. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. So we're taking that out and putting it into a special revenue account that -- Mr. Alfonso: Special revenue, yeah. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Repair, maintenance services budgeted at 3, 300, 000, and we've been at 3.6, 3.5, 3.8 and 3.7 the last four years. That's like a $300, 000 difference. Mr. Falero: Exactly. That's due to the fact that we took away the NAPA (National Automotive Parts Association) and now we own our own parts department and we're running it -- we're already in the first few months of operation. Despite the initial cost to start up, saving over $100,000 in the first few months. Commissioner Suarez: In the first how many months, sir? Mr. Falero: Six months. Commissioner Suarez: So if you saved 100 in six months -- Mr. Falero: This is starting up -- we had a startup cost too -- Commissioner Suarez: Right, okay. Mr. Falero: -- of buying the inventory that they had existing plus whatever we had to do to fill the rest of the inventory. Commissioner Suarez: So you feel confident that we're going to hit -- Mr. Falero: Yes, positive. Commissioner Suarez: Positive? Mr. Falero: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: I like that. Mr. Alfonso: So do I. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Okay. Those were my two questions. Thank you. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah. I hate to do this, but after hearing what you said, I don't thinkl understand something. So could you go back to the major events? You said Calle Ocho, you said Goombay -- Mr. Falero: It's Three Kings Parade, Martin Luther King Parade -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F). Commissioner Sarnoff. I was listening to Suarez's comments and -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Which line item is (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F)? City ofMiami Page 84 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Falero: This is just my explanations. It's under overtime. This is -- I know how we did the cuts to -- I don't know if there's a line item for it. Mr. Alfonso: The special revenue is not in the general fund budget, so he is receiving revenue that is put in a special revenue account. When he incurs the expense for those events, that's where he charges that expense, so it's not in the general fund budget. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. I have no clue what you just said. And you know what, I wasn't going to care but I do now. I want to know is he budgeting for Goombay, Calle Ocho -- give me another -- Martin Luther King -- certainly isn't budgeting for -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: It's not in his budget right here. Commissioner Sarnoff. What's that? Commissioner Spence -Jones: It's not in his budget here. Commissioner Sarnoff. No, but it was brought up a moment ago. So in what context was it brought up? Mr. Falero: The monies, the way they were, were not being sent back to GSA. Whenever they had these events, we were not collecting the money. The money was going to different -- I don't know exactly where. Now we identified this and when this [sic] events are going to come up, we will get the money to be able to fund it from the vendors. Commissioner Sarnoff. So for the first time this year you're going to get the money from the vendors and replace -- Mr. Falero: They've been getting the money all along. We just -- GSA has not been getting it. Chair Gort: It's been going to a different pot. Mr. Falero: Exactly. Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, I mean, I know -- that's an untrue statement. I mean, that's not a true statement. Andl don't know why everybody's allowing it to be said. It's not a true statement. Mr. Falero: How so? Commissioner Sarnoff. How so? Goombay was -- did not get money. I don't know that Calle Ocho got money or did not get money, although I think Calle Ocho might be different. Martin Luther King, I don't know if it got money so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: They didn't get money. I think what he's saying is before either it came from the general fund or from the NDA account, to my understanding, that would reimburse these departments back. Mr. Falero: Exactly. Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's how it's happened. I don't know why he -- Commissioner Sarnoff. So they City -- okay, so the City is paying for these events. City ofMiami Page 85 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. I mean, that's what we've been -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, no, 'cause it's a little different for me because, understand, I wanted to do an event for the American Parkinson's Foundation and when I brought it to a vote, the vote was no. So I guess there's an understanding in the City -- and) don't want to repeat myself on something) said before, but -- Is that the way we're going to do it? Is that how it's going to work around here? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. I think they found a way to resolve the issue so that at least we know what the number is upfront. I just think that at this point the GSA director may not be explaining it all the way correctly. The focus should be your budget and how you're addressing the budget itself and that is not an item in your budget. Mr. Falero: Exactly. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So I just think that he's -- Chair Gort: Can you clam it? Ms. Bravo: IfI could clam. Alice Bravo. The people holding these events pay the City to cover the cost of our departments, such as GSA, that perform services for these events. Commissioner Sarnoff. That's not a true statement. Ms. Bravo: Correct. Mr. Falero: And Solid Waste also. Chair Gort: But -- Ms. Bravo: And Solid Waste as well. Chair Gort: -- let me give one example. I know Calle Ocho -- Commissioner Sarnoff. I think that does pay. I agree. Chair Gort: -- okay, we pay over $400, 000 or $500, 000 to the City. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And Martin Luther King pays nothing. Commissioner Sarnoff. I don't think it does. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Jose Marti pays nothing. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Three Kings pay nothing. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And in your district, Goombay doesn't pay nothing [sic]. Commissioner Sarnoff. Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- City ofMiami Page 86 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Cabrera: No. Goombay paid -- I'm sorry. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, but there's a lot that they don't pay. Mr. Cabrera: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so I think that the way that they're resolving it, from what I saw, is that they're at least putting some funds aside to deal with these kind of issues, Parkinson's or whatever one you decide you want to support, they're dealing with it. I just think that in him explaining it, he didn't express it fully or properly, and that's fine. You're learning, I'm sure but Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, where is this being stored, this money, in the NDA? Commissioner Spence -Jones: It's -- yeah, it's in -- we haven't gotten to that part of the budget tonight. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Ms. Bravo: But when a sponsor of an event does pay the City, those funds go into a special revenue account -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Ms. Bravo: -- and so the overtime and the services that get paid with that special revenue account don't show up here because here we show the expenses that are paid by general fund. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, I got you. We got you. Unidentified Speaker: Or, ifI may, they may be offset so those revenues are credited to those expenditure line items, therefore bringing them total expenditures. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, great. Unidentified Speaker: That some time -- right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Great. Okay, any questions you guys have for GSA? Chair Gort: No. But I understand Commissioner Sarnoff. He did come here and he asked us to approve the waiver of the fee, which was very small, and they voted no. And then we find out later on that other events were funded without coming in front of the Commission. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right, andl think that we talked about this at least in the last Commission meeting that that was an issue and that we need to figure out a way to resolve it, and I think they found some cost savings to address that issue so that he can do Parkinson's, Goombay or whoever else we need to do. And we talked about events that are -- been grandfathered in or have been here in Miami for God knows how long and how important it is for us to continue to support them in the City. But that's not the issue that we're discussing now, soI don't want us to go off into -- until we get to that item because it's on the agenda. We do have that the Budget director can address. But if there's any other issues on GSA outside of that that we have a concern on -- like I know my only one would be the subscriptions. You went from 5,800 to 14,000, and I just didn't know -- Mr. Falero: The reason for that, ifI may, this year we are having to do software license renewal, body shop estimating also for the frontend and alignment machines -- City ofMiami Page 87 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Falero: -- for Ford, Chevy, and Toyota diagnostics. Some of the permits and county licenses are due. Some are due every two years. Some are due every year, so that's the reason for the increase. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No problem. Any questions on this, guys? Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you. Mr. Falero: You're welcome. Chair Gort: Public Works. Commissioner Spence -Jones: It is now 2 o'clock in the morning. Chair Gort: Public Works. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So can we at least have a consensus that we will -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Be out of here by 3. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- be out of here by 3? Okay, I mean -- Chair Gort: I don't have any problem with that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so can we have a -- do we have to get a vote on that? I mean, I'm asking 'cause I've already blown my 12 o'clock -- our 12 -- Mr. Chairman, we had a 12 o'clock time frame, didn't we? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We've blown -- we're three hours behind. So we have an agreement by 3 o'clock we're out of here, guys? Chair Gort: We hope so. I'm ready. I'm ready to go. Vice Chair Carollo: I wasn't the one asking all these questions here. Chair Gort: I'm ready to go. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, no. You can't say that. Chair Gort: No. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You started it. Okay, so I'm sorry. Chair Gort: Public Works. City ofMiami Page 88 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Carollo: Public Works. Chair Gort: Any question on Public Works? Commissioner Sarnoff. You're doing a great job. Next. Zerry, take a bow. Move on. Chair Gort: Public Works, any questions? Thank you, sir. Commissioner Suarez: Public Safety. Chair Gort: Fire -Res -- Public Safety, Fire -Rescue. Maurice Kemp: Maurice Kemp, Fire Chief. Our proposed budget is $68, 047, 000, which is 5.9 percent less than last year. Chair Gort: About $4 million less. Chief Kemp: Yes, sir. Chair Gort: Any questions? Any question? Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: I just have a couple I'm sure that can be answered pretty quickly. Our overtime budget is higher than last year's and it's been increasing, I see, for the last four years. Is there any specific reason for that, Chief? Is there --? Chief Kemp: Actually, the overtime budget is going to be 1.74 less than last -- than the year that's ending now and the proposed budget. And a part of that is the concessions that were agreed to today that will facilitate -- Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Chief Kemp: -- us spending less money on overtime. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, okay. Yeah, and again, I apologize 'cause that is not incorporated into what we have in front of us. And so, again, I don't know how relevant any of the questions that I'm going to ask are considering the fact that concessions were made today and agreed to today that impact your budget. Chief Kemp: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: So I apologize for that. You're absolutely right. And special pay may be another one. I don't know, special pay here is at -- budgeted at 6.5 million and last year it was at 7.3. I don't think we changed the special pay as part of the concessions, so it's a big difference. It's about an $800,000 difference. I know we did a big -- there was a big hit on special pay the year prior, but can you -- I don't know, either one of you. It doesn't really matter who explains it. Mr. Alfonso: Yeah. The special pay did not change in the IAFF (International Association of City ofMiami Page 89 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Firefighters) agreement. It is -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Alfonso: -- what it is. So in terms of the budget that they have for special pay, it's $6.58 million. It is -- Chief Kemp: The actual 2011 adopted, it was 10.2 -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Chief Kemp: -- million dollars so it's significantly less -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Commissioner Suarez: Yes, and -- Chief Kemp: -- in the proposed budget than it was in the current year. Commissioner Suarez: -- that's my question, is -- you know, it's obviously good that it's less. But my question is are we going to be -- is it going to be less at the end of the year, you know? Chief Kemp: It is going to be less, and that is a -- special pay is a catch-all. There are a lot of different items within special pay. I have a long laundry list of them here. Commissioner Suarez: 'Cause our yearend forecast is at 7.3 -- Chief Kemp: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: -- and so we're -- Chief Kemp: Actually, I'm being told by my deputy of administration that a good portion of special pay was moved into other line items, into the salary line item. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, so -- Chief Kemp: So it's not as dramatic as it looks on paper. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Chief Kemp: It's moved into another line item. Commissioner Suarez: Can you explain that a little better, what -- how that happened or --? Chief Kemp: I can try, but I would prefer to punt to my Budget director on that. Mr. Alfonso: My understanding is that there is a reporting issue as to -- I guess when we changed special pay, some of them may have changed from being a percentage to a flat fee or -- so in the programming of it, some of the special pay I guess is hitting in what they call a line 512, which is a regular salary. Is that --? Chief Kemp: Yes. Mr. Alfonso: So it's a reporting issue. That's -- so that the difference in effect is not going -from 10 million all the way down to 6.6. City ofMiami Page 90 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: No. Mr. Alfonso: But some of the costs that was there is actually in line 512, in the regular salary line. But there is a reduction however because they did agree in the previous agreement -- Commissioner Suarez: No, they didn't agree in the previous agreement. Mr. Alfonso: Well, I'm sorry. Commissioner Suarez: There wasn't a previous agreement. Mr. Alfonso: It was imposed, correction. The previous imposition did reduce that expense quite a bit. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Thank you. Again, professional services, it's like double what it was before. Just some clarification and, you know, Chief I would have liked to have been able to sit with you on all these things andl apologize. That's unfortunate. Chief Kemp: Once again, on the sheet that I'm reading for [sic] -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Chief Kemp: -- professional services is pretty much flat from one year to the next. Commissioner Suarez: What I have is the yearend forecast is 276,669 and then our budgeted amount is 554,193 for professional services, not medical, for professional services, just professional services. Chief Kemp: The adopted budget is flat, and there's an explanation as to why we didn't spend everything that was budgeted. And that is that in that professional services line item, it includes the consulting services for administration of tests, all of the promotional exams. Commissioner Suarez: And those weren't done. Chief Kemp: And we were not able to give those exams last year, so we didn't incur that expense last year, but we will give all three exams this year. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. So I got you. I got you. So that was an expense that just didn't get incurred this year. Chief Kemp: Right. Commissioner Suarez: You're going to incur it this year and that's why it's in your budget. It makes -- that makes sense. And medical -- with professional services medical, is that the same thing? 'Cause that one is also flat from last year but the actuals -- Chief Kemp: There is an explanation there as well. Professional services medical includes the medical director and the employee physicals -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Chief Kemp: -- and we had some contractual issues citywide with contractual physicals last year so we didn't get to do them and now there's a backlog so we will certainly use that money this year. City ofMiami Page 91 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Got it. Okay, other contractual services, it's at 535, which, again, it's flat from a budget perspective, but from an actual perspective, it's almost $100, 000 discrepancy. Chief Kemp: Right. Yeah, that's a pleasant answer. This is our EMS (Emergency Medical Service) billing collection company and they get paid on a percentage basis, so the revenue stream went up so the payment to the billing company went up. So it's a good -- that's a good outcome actually. That revenue increased by approximately $600, 000. Commissioner Suarez: Awesome. Chair Gort: What's the percentage we --? Chief Kemp: We historically are running about 42 percent. Over the last three years, that revenue stream has gone from -- Chair Gort: No. Chief Kemp: -- 4.2 million to 7 million. Chair Gort: What's the percentage for the collection company? Chief Kemp: It's about 42 percent. Chair Gort: Forty-two percent. Chief Kemp: Yes. It sounds very low, but -- Chair Gort: No. Chief Kemp: -- we have to keep in mind that our client mix is a very poor group and many of whom don't have medical insurance. Chair Gort: No, no. I understand. That's your collection, but what I'm saying, the office that perform the collections -- Chief Kemp: Yes. Chair Gort: -- what do they charge you? Chief Kemp: Oh, okay. About 7 percent. Chair Gort: Seven percent, okay. Chief Kemp: And with Medicare and some others, there's a different rate, a flat rate, and that's due to state law and things of that nature. Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Suarez: My last one, Chief -- and appreciate your patience -- the public safety supplies. Chief Kemp: Yes. That is drugs and medicines. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. City ofMiami Page 92 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chief Kemp: And you know, 80 percent of what we do involves medical services, so we have -- Commissioner Suarez: Logic here. Chief Kemp: -- and the prices of medicines are -- Commissioner Suarez: Fluctuate. Chief Kemp: -- they fluctuate and we have issues with availability that forces us to buy different drugs that might be more expensive so -- Commissioner Suarez: But in this particular case it sounds like you're actually reducing it because your yearend is at 764 and you're budgeting 600. So I'm a little concerned that we're budgeting enough for that. Chief Kemp: Actually, I see a year-to-date expenditure of -- which matches the budget -- it'll be actually over 600, 000. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. And again, I apologize, 'cause what we have here is probably different from what you're looking at. What we have is a yearend -- our schedule of the budget has a yearend forecast and so it's probably -- it may be different based on what your actuals are letting you to believe. Chief Kemp: We actually expended more money than we had in that budget item. We moved monies around within the budget, which is allowable, to cover the additional expenses associated with medicines. Commissioner Suarez: But -- okay, but do you think 600 is enough for next year? Chief Kemp: I think we will do our best to make do. And if we don't, then we'll do without something else to move monies into that line item. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Okay, those were all my questions. Thank you. Chair Gort: Any other question? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Nope. Chair Gort: Any question? Thank you, sir. Chief Kemp: Thank you. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Chief. Chair Gort: Police. Mr. Alfonso: Just for the record real quick, Commissioners. Commissioner Suarez, we sent out the -- a spreadsheet earlier that allocated the expenses for the union contract. I'm not sure that you -- that's the one you're looking at but -- Commissioner Suarez: I don't think it's the one I'm looking at. Mr. Alfonso: Yeah. City ofMiami Page 93 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: And again -- Mr. Alfonso: That's okay. Commissioner Suarez: -- you know -- Mr. Alfonso: I can walk you through it. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Mr. Alfonso: In a sense, his overtime number -- yeah. You got it. Commissioner Suarez: I'm trying not to duplicate the effort. Andl apologize, again, for all the departments that haven't had a chance to really sit with on an individual basis andl appreciate them kind of standing in the fire, and no pun intended, and you know, answering the tough questions on the spot. So I know how difficult that could be. Chair Gort: Police. Questions on Police. Commissioner Suarez: I have two quick ones. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of them is contract -- other contractual services is budgeted at 1.2. You know, it's been going down from the last four years from 4 million, 3 million, 2 million to a million, and really the other thing, which I know we've talked about before, has to do with overtime and, you know, we increased our -- I believe we increased our salaries by a million, but then we decreased our overtime by several million. And so I think it's 3.3, so you know, our net is a discrepancy there, and I just want to make sure that we are, you know, on the ball on that. Manuel Orosa (Interim Chief): Commissioner, the other contract -- Manuel Orosa, Police Department. The other contractual you were concerned about, that's the janitorial in the Police Department. And basically a contract was renegotiated that saved us quite a bit of money, especially when they took away that cost of -- Mr. Cabrera: The living wage increase. Interim Chief Orosa: That's it. And we went from paying probably almost 2 million to a little bit less than a million. Commissioner Suarez: That's like half. Okay. And then the other concern that I had was with the in -- you know, we increased our budget by another million on salaries -- on the salaries, but we decreased our overtime significantly and, you know, I just am concerned. Mr. Alfonso: IfI may explain the decrease in the overtime. Part of the agreement that has been TA'd at this moment includes converting overtime in the Police Department from daily to FLSA. That means that the officers will be paid after a week's worth of work actually has taken care of instead of on a daily basis. That is anticipated to reduce overtime. In addition to that, the agreement that has been TA'd includes two holidays, I believe. So that means that for those two days that are now not going to be termed holidays, officers will not get overtime on that day. So that savings is approximately the $855, 000 that you see that we took out. Prior to that, I wanted to note that I understood your concern and therefore we had allocated $246, 000 to overtime. So in a sense, their budget was 2.589 and we had added 246 to make it roughly 2.8, which was the money that was spent in 2010. And then from that number, we subtracted the contractually City ofMiami Page 94 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 agreed number. Commissioner Suarez: That answers my -- Interim Chief Orosa: So that takes us where we're at now. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. I don't know if anybody else -- I'm good. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I'm going to be brief. Subscriptions, memberships, you're budgeting 123, 000, yet the forecast is going to be 39,000 of expense for the current year. So it appears like we're over -budgeting 80 something thousand. So could you elaborate on that and --? Interim Chief Orosa: That's the appearance. Out of the 123, there's $117,000 worth of software, basic licenses that are coming due next year that we have to pay for. Out of the 39, there's about another 60 something thousand dollars that the bills were coming in now that by the end of the fiscal year, we will be paying about another 60, $70,000 worth of items that are already obligated under the budget. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but my number is going by what I believe Budget has forecasted that you're going to expend. Now I know in several areas, you know, there was a big disparity -- it hasn't come up here, you know. I haven't mentioned it, but it was when we spoke and we got together. There were some disparities between what they forecasted and what was actually spent or not spent or so forth so, again, I'm going by the number that they forecasted. You're saying that, you know, within this -- within the next four days -- because that's it. Friday, it's over. You're saying that a big bill is going to come in for 60 something thousand? Interim Chief Orosa: We're saying that we have monies obligated under this budget to pay for about $60, 000 worth of stuff that has not come in yet. Vice Chair Carollo: When do you know -- when is it going to come in? Mae Shepherd (Administrative Assistant III): Mae Shepherd, City ofMiami Police Department. In addition to the 39,000 which is actual expenses, I think, through July, we have another $29, 000 encumbered. That means we're obligated for those expenses. And as soon as we receive the invoices and the invoice posts, we're going to see the expense increase. And also, our IT Department just put through, within the last week, requests to pay some additional licenses that's not reflected here that would also be paid. Mr. Alfonso: I want to point out that a couple of years ago it was as high as 107, 000, 87,000, 90,000, so it does fluctuate, and we are talking about the Police budget, which is $118 million roughly right now. The licenses tend to happen, I guess, cyclically so maybe every three or four years you have to renew them. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Go ahead. Chair Gort: Any other question? Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just have two. I'm assuming, Mr. Budget -- it's late -- the 900 for the uniforms, that was already accounted for today, right? Mr. Alfonso: Correct, Commissioner. If you notice, part of the agreement that was TA'd was $1.3 million for uniforms and physicals; noted that the 900,000 is being taken out. And if you go a few lines up, there's a $400, 000 that is the medical services. That is the physicals. So that is the $1.3 million that was TA'd on the agreement. City ofMiami Page 95 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: And in effect, I'm taking it out of the departments. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No problem. And just real fast, Ms. Shepherd, what -- the rentals and leases, is that property or is that just a combination of property and --? Commissioner Suarez: Cars. Ms. Shepherd: It's the rental vehicles for staff and undercover officers. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, okay. And then the 22, Chief the travel and per diem. It seems like in 2008 somebody was doing a lot of traveling. Interim Chief Orosa: That fluctuates also because a lot of that money is investigative travel -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, I see. Interim Chief Orosa: -- and it depends on where we have to go and how many times we have to go due to cases. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so this is not conferences and conventions and --? Interim Chief Orosa: No. We pay out of the second dollar for training, conferences, conventions, and -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, I see. Interim Chief Orosa: -- stuff like that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. All right, no -- I'm fine with everything else. Done? Chair Gort: Okay. Any other question? Thank you. Interim Chief Orosa: Thank you. Chair Gort: Public Facility [sic]. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So, Madam City Clerk, can you officially put our little red buzzer on so we know the 30 minutes so we'll like -- you know, there's like a little ticker to let us know that we're slowly approaching our last 30 minutes? Chair Gort: We're getting there. Public Facility [sic], any questions? Daniel Newhoff (Interim Director): Dan Newhoff, Department of Public Facilities. Commissioners, my budget in Public Facilities is essentially flat for 2012. I'd just like to make note that Public Facilities' budget was cut 24 percent in the last two years. During that time, we've opened an additional facility, the Dinner Key Mooring Field, with the existing staff. Also, we are directly/indirectly related to generating $900, 000 of new revenue in 2012 for the general fund utilizing existing staff in my department. I've lost one position, which is a senior property appraiser in the Asset Management Division of Public Facilities, so the budget was reflected in the document before you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Excuse me. You lost two positions, I thought. City ofMiami Page 96 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Newhoff. I had one position lost, the senior property representative in Asset Management Division. That position was lost due to budgetary reasons. I also had a rollback from the Building Department who bumped an existing employee back to the Budget Department. So that employee that had was replaced by another employee with more seniority. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So the one that was let go was the one we talked about earlier? Mr. Newhoff. The senior property -- the official title, senior property representative, excuse me Commissioner Spence -Jones: You lost that one. Mr. Newhoff. -- I lost that position. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So it's three or two? Mr. Newhoff. One -- that's one position. The second position, one staff senior analyst was replaced with a more senior staff senior analyst. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. My concern, just putting it on the record, I think that with all of the things we got going on, i.e., the Marlins Stadium, i.e., all of the public facility related facilities that the City has, I just think that for you not to have what you need to me is more detrimental than anything else. So Mr. Budget Man, I'm not really in agreement with us losing -- Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, ifI may point out. Maybe it's not being clearly explained. He lost one position, one. When he says that he lost a second position due to rollback, in effect a position -- a person with more seniority somewhere else came into his department and he lost the person that he had doing that that maybe has more knowledge in that specific area, but he did get a person that will now be doing that job. Maybe it will take him a little bit of time to get acclimated again -- as a matter of fact, that person that was bumped -- I should say rolled back -- is the person that ended up in my department. So I now have the person that he had. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But see, to me -- but you know -- Mr. Alfonso: But those are the HR rules that -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I understand that, but you know -- Mr. Alfonso: -- we have to deal with. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- some of this stuff just doesn't make any sense. Chair Gort: Civil service. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You know, but even us making the decision to even have the rollback happen, why do you -- why does he have to lose somebody that's already caught up to speed, that knows the job, that knows what to do, and why does he have to lose somebody that he needs to have to help us facilitate, you know, these City venues or these partnerships we have. It just does not make any sense to me. So now we're losing the institutional knowledge that's necessary, which means time is lost. It's just not -- from a City Manager's side, I just really feel like that wasn't a smart thing to do. Really just wasn't -- I understand that we was trying to figure out what we needed to do, but that just wasn't smart. So now you got people that are trying to play catch up. So I'm just asking, Mr. City Manager, since you're sitting in the big chair, please try to figure out how we work this out so they're not losing good people or at least City ofMiami Page 97 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 people that know the job because what's going to happen if -- when it doesn't turn out right, guess what, all five of us that are going to be sitting up here having an issue. That's my only concern with Public Facility [sic]. Mr. Alfonso: From a management perspective, Commissioner, I fully understand. Dealing with some of the restrictions that Civil Service places on management is sometimes not easy, but I think those rules are there to also protect employees. Commissioner Spence -Jones: It -- I'm not -- listen -- Mr. Alfonso: No, I hear you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- it's not even -- let's not -- that's not what this is about. I got two minutes to tell you this. That's not what this is about. This is about them making a decision that affects your ability to do your job. So you don't have to make -- I want to protect as many employees as possible, but I also don't want to put you in a situation where you're going to have an issue later on and then we're going to be on you 'cause it's not right and you got somebody trying to figure out what to do. That's not right. It's not fair, correct? Mr. Newhoff. I understand your concerns. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. That's it. I don't have any issue. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: A real quick question to the director. Professional services. Over the last two years, it's been about 40 something thousand. It appears that this year even though it's forecasted at 61, I have a feeling it's going to come a lot less than that and you're still budgeting at 61. Could you address that? Do you know what's the actuals? And I know that you just became acting director or director. I'm not exactly sure, but -- Mr. Newhoff. Acting director yesterday. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. So you know, it might be a little unfair, andl don't want to put you in a position that you're not sure of but you know, although I know the forecast is 61,000, I have a feeling that it's less than that. And you know, if you or maybe Ms. Bravo could address that. Mr. Newhoff. We budgeted $61, 000 for professional services in the Asset Management Division of my department, and what that consists of are several different components, and let me try to explain. We have $25, 000 that's for commercial appraisals pursuant to City Charter requirements. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. Mr. Newhoff. We have another $25, 000 for Dinner Key bay bottom land survey. We have $4, 000 for miscellaneous title searches. We have another $6, 000 for other title searches for properties, and that includes payments to First American Real Estate Solutions, which is -- it helps us with software, real estate data and comps. So these are things related to buying/selling property. Vice Chair Carollo: Understood. But are you telling me budgeted numbers or you're telling me actual numbers for this year? City ofMiami Page 98 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: Budgeted. Mr. Newhoff. These -- this number can fluctuate yearly depending on how many properties we're dealing with at any one point in time. It can range from 40 to 60. By all means, if the money isn't necessary to spend, it will be not spent, but we need to make sure that money's there because some of these expenses are tied to revenues. We have $6 million of leases in the City. We're the landlord, so sometimes these leases come up. Sometimes there's modifications, and if this money's not budgeted, the City may lose revenue. Vice Chair Carollo: Fair enough. As a matter of fact, we had one of those appraisals done for a property that Ms. Valdes worked very closely with me and Ms. Bravo that we were able to obtain for a very small amount compared to what it was sold in the past, so it's understood and okay. That's all I have. Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm fine. I just -- Chair Gort: Any other question? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, I'm done. I just wanted to ask you, I know that we went from not having assistant directors to -- so I'm assuming we did not put a director's position in this for now. Is the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Mr. Newhoff. Still budgeted. Mr. Alfonso: It's still budgeted, Commissioner. We did not eliminate any further positions from his budget, so he will be able to recruit. If he becomes the director, he'll be able to recruit an assistant director. If he stays the interim, they'll, you know -- Ms. Bravo: Alice Bravo. The plan is to have a director position and an assistant director position for this department and that's how it's budgeted for fiscal year '12. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So unlike the other ones where we reduced it down to one and not having an assistant director, in this particular case because of the need -- Ms. Bravo: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- we will definitely have -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- a director and assistant director. Ms. Bravo: Correct. And historically, this department represents what used to be two departments many years ago, so there're two different functions with regard to Asset Management. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Only thing that I would recommend honestly is I think that, you know, from a Manager standpoint, we need to get -- you know, I'm assuming you're going to perhaps apply. I'm not sure if you are, if you want the headaches or the responsibility, but if you don't, I would really want to make sure from an administration standpoint that we do everything it takes to get somebody that's experienced and knowledgeable about running facilities, not a neophyte, somebody that has a great, bright idea 'cause we can't afford to have somebody in that position that has never handled something like this before. So I'm making a very strong recommendation, especially with all these major projects and facilities that we have, that we get somebody that's experienced with doing the work. City ofMiami Page 99 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Cabrera: Yes, we will, ma'am. Chair Gort: Thank you. Park [sic] and Recreation. Vice Chair Carollo: And by the way, before we go into Parks, I echo those sentiments. Yes, very important. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so you got two -- we agree on that. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, very much so. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We agree on a lot tonight, don't we? Vice Chair Carollo: Very much so. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We're agreeing on these next 30 minutes too? Chair Gort: Park [sic] and Recreation, let's go. Mr. Burkeen: Ernest Burkeen, director of Parks and Recreation. Chair Gort: Questions. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: I can assure you, ifI start asking questions, we will go over 3 a.m. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Please don't. Vice Chair Carollo: Now with that said, I think I've made my point, especially in -- I think it was, what, yesterday's Commission meeting, with regards to the big disparity there is with parks in other areas of the City and my district or District 3, rather, so I ask that, you know, Mr. Burkeen, you work with me to see how we could make it more fair and that disparity isn't there. Because as far as, you know, the snacks program, perfect example, yeah, it's only two parks; however, still a lot of children all around that area and so forth. So you know, I ask that you work with me with regards to the park issue. As far as future parks and so forth, that -- you know, that's for the future. We'll work on that. But you know, I just -- I'm seeking fairness, all right. Mr. Burkeen: You have my commitment, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And Ernest is a workable kind of guys so -- Right, Ernest? Mr. Burkeen: Yes. Chair Gort: Any other questions? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Nope. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Risk Management. City ofMiami Page 100 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Risk. Vice Chair Carollo: Risk. Calvin Ellis: Calvin Ellis, director of Risk Management. For physical [sic] year 2012, we're proposing a budget of 58.413 million. This represents a 7 percent decrease over the prior year, which the budget was 62.844 million. Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: No. Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Give me a second because the number you just said is different from the spreadsheet that have, so I need to look at another spreadsheet and figure out which is the latest one. Mr. Ellis: Yeah. It should be 58.413 million Chair Gort: One three three hundred. Vice Chair Carollo: Well, I have two spreadsheets and they both have different numbers, so I guess it was -- Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, if you look at the spreadsheet that we sent late this afternoon when we talked about the agreements with the contracts being raged, it should have $58, 413, 200 as stated by the Chair. Vice Chair Carollo: So this is the third time this changed. Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Actually, Commissioner, the September 15 was the number that changed from the July 14. And the number that was submitted for September 27 originally a week ago did not include the numbers assumed in the contractual agreements that we have reached. So now there's a third edition with the changes that occurred. So yes, you're right. The number has changed three times. Vice Chair Carollo: With regards to Risk, I clearly see the health insurance, but that's in the Police budget. Where did the Police -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: -- where did the --? Mr. Alfonso: The $2 million for Police is in Police, yes. Vice Chair Carollo: It's in Police. So explain to me where today's concession hits the Risk Management budget. Mr. Alfonso: The non -bargaining group andAFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) 1907 had increased co pays, and that was estimated at a $900, 000 savings, so that's why that changed as well. Also, 1907 agreed -- Vice Chair Carollo: But -- City ofMiami Page 101 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: -- to some -- three days of holiday that they're not going to take. Therefore, he has a number of employees in his department that are covered by 1907, so that number was reduced also, as it was for every other department that has a 1907 employee. Vice Chair Carollo: So the holiday changed in his department? Mr. Alfonso: Anybody who's 1907 -- 1907, which -- Vice Chair Carollo: I understand. Mr. Alfonso: -- hadl think, what, three days, ifI remember correctly right now. Mr. Cabrera: Three days. Mr. Alfonso: Three days. Mr. Cabrera: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: So the people that he has that are 1907, their salary is getting cut a little bit so I took that money out. Also, they agreed, 1907 and the non -bargaining, executives, all of us in non -bargaining, also agreed to increased co pays on our insurance. Those increased co pays then reduced the amount that he anticipates he will have to lay out for the medical claims. So that number was taken out of his budget, not Police. The Police pension was a different number. It was a contribution to their health plan. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you for that explanation. Mr. Alfonso: You're welcome, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And ifI could continue with my questioning? Chair Gort: Sure. Vice Chair Carollo: A question that I've asked quite a bit and I'm going to ask it again. You should be familiar with the question. You came before us, let's say a couple months ago, and asked us to approve $150, 000 for a consultant that would help you reduce the -- let's just say reduce your budget -- Mr. Ellis: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: -- your expenditures, group insurance, whatever it is. Mr. Ellis: You want to see the return on investment. Vice Chair Carollo: You know the question. Mr. Ellis: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: I've asked it numerous times, different locations. Mr. Ellis: Yes. And we contracted with Aon Hewitt back in June for 150,000. We've been able to leverage about $2.8 million in concessions from our current provider, and this includes almost $1.9 million in pharmacy rebates alone, which normally would be spread over years 2012 and City ofMiami Page 102 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 2013, but they've also agreed to concede about 640, 000 for the current plan year. Vice Chair Carollo: And you attribute this reduction to this consultant firm? Mr. Ellis: Yes. We were able to leverage their intellectual capital to identify specific areas that we could focus on in terms of our negotiation strategies. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. I will accept that at least for now. Subscriptions and membership, 8,500. Mr. Ellis: These are professional organizations that we belong to, the Risk and Insurance Management Society, the Public Entity Risk Management Society. These are networking groups that we participate in in terms of working with our peers to identifi, best practices in terms of risk management. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. That's all I have. Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Two quick ones. I hope these questions weren't already asked, but they're quick. The life and health insurance budget is a couple million dollars less. Mr. Ellis: It's 33.3 million. Commissioner Suarez: Correct. And last year's projected is 36.5. Mr. Ellis: Well, it was actually 32.44 was what was budgeted. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Ellis: It ended up going over -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Ellis: -- at 36. Commissioner Suarez: Right, so our actual, our projected -- Mr. Ellis: Right. Commissioner Suarez: -- actual is 36.5. Mr. Ellis: Correct. Commissioner Suarez: And we are budgeting 33 -- what did you say right now, 33 what? Mr. Ellis: Correct, 33.3 approximately. Commissioner Suarez: Andl think this is one of those budget categories where -- I just want to be clear -- that we as a -- I feel -- and just -- we've talked about this several times -- Mr. Ellis: Right. Commissioner Suarez: -- in meetings over and over and over again, andl -- this one with the worker's comp, so it's really the same question, it -- you know, this is the one budget -- and then City ofMiami Page 103 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 this goes something -- to something I think the Vice Chairman said earlier. You know, I think we've really started to tighten this process up and so it is unfortunate to a certain extent that we've gotten some of this information late because I really do feel that we've really tightened things up a lot and we've really made adjustments where necessary. And for the most part, Budget has really listened and really tried to, you know, kind of -- the word in Spanish is esprimir, you know, squeeze as much as possible and make adjustments. But this is one area where I'm a little concerned. Mr. Ellis: With the group benefits. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, just the -- I think we have some assumptions built in here and some -- I don't know that the history really supports the budgeted amount. Does this assume the savings that you were just talking about right now, the 2.9? Mr. Ellis: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Ellis: And also, the actions that were taken last year in terms of restructuring the plan and increasing the employee contributions, we're starting to see the impact of that. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Ellis: So that's why we were able to reduce that number down to the 33.3. Our total loss -- Commissioner Suarez: So you feel good about it. Mr. Ellis: -- pick is probably in a 38 to $40 million range. But because of the employee contributions, which total approximately 5.5 million, we're able to bring that number down -- Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Ellis: -- to the 33.3. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Thank you. Chair Gort: Any other question? Anyone else? Thank you, sir. Mr. Ellis: Thank you. Chair Gort: Pension, I believe we took care of that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Grant Administration we took care of as well, unless there's something else you guys want to cover on -- I think we've dealt with Lillian already. Vice Chair Carollo: Did we do the Auditor General? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Who? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. We skipped over it. I don't know if you were here. Mr. Alfonso: It was -- Auditor General, I think that was at the beginning. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You had something for Auditor General? City ofMiami Page 104 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: The only question I had -- and I don't know where it is in my spreadsheet -- was regards to the peer review and so forth. It appears that we had a expense for peer review this year. Therefore, if peer review is once every three years, we shouldn't have the expense in this current year. So -- andl don't know where it is in the spreadsheet. Lewis Blake (Senior Staff Auditor): Lewis Blake, Auditor General. Yeah, we have a -- yeah, the peer review is every three years. We had one in 2011, and the 13,500 you see is for our CPE (Continuing Professional Education) courses. We have -- every -- the peer reviewers confirm that all of our auditors have the required CPE courses, so you know, we have ten auditors budgeted for and each auditor, 50 hours of CPE, 25 bucks an hour so -- Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: And again, it's something that I mentioned from the beginning as far as policy. Are we going to, you know, be paying for these courses and continuing education credits and so forth, and it's something that -- you know, it's up to this board, you know. I'd like to hear from my colleagues. At the same time, I think we said it enough that should we decide, yes, okay, we will be paying for some of these courses, that they are locally, that we're not flying off to San Antonio or Chicago and, you know, incurring additional expenses -- Commissioner Suarez: Or El Paso. Vice Chair Carollo: -- you know, flights, hotels and so forth; that they are locally. And again, it's a policy -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, I mean, just because it is an issue that keeps coming up, do you want to just say, you know, all departments that have that item, make a 15 percent reduction in that area, then that way across the board everybody is hit the same way and that's an additional cost so, Dan -- Mr. Budget Director, maybe you can just do that and that kind of addresses that. And if you want to do the same thing with subscriptions as well, 10, 15 percent across the board -- let's agree on what that number is so at least we show a united front on us making the reduction 'cause we can always come midyear if we have to if there's an emergency in that area to address it. But just from a policy standpoint, if we can say, Mr. Budget Director, let's just make it across the board for every department, 15 percent reduction on all travel -related expenses and all subscriptions and then that way addresses -- it addresses it, instead of going through each -- every single item on here trying to reduce that amount. Is that good for you? Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: I think in some -- like the Police Department a little while ago stressed that their travel is a little different 'cause they have to go because of witnesses and they have to go to do investigations. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But then they can always come back and say, you know, we got to do it, but I think that his suggestion from a policy standpoint sends a very powerful message that we've asked everybody to take a cut in that area. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: The only thingl want to caution is that let's say subscription could be a City ofMiami Page 105 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 pretty broad area. In other words, subscription could be periodicals and magazines and so forth, you know, that deals with that profession, you know, whether it's building and planning or whether it's, you know, accounting and auditing. Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's fine. So you want it tojust be travel? Vice Chair Carollo: But at the same time, the Law -- I think she's got Westlaw under subscriptions, and I think that's actually very important for her to have. Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's fine. I'm just -- Vice Chair Carollo: So that's -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- trying to figure out a way to address what you want to see happen. So on the transportation -- I mean, on the travel, do you want tojust say just do it on travel, 10 percent reduction, 15 percent reduction? Vice Chair Carollo: I don't really have a preference andl -- you know, I'm usually a little cautious when we do it across the board, especially -- what want to definitely cut down is that we're not flying out to, you know, out of state -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But if you don't -- if we don't -- either we're going to address it or we're not going to address it. And addressing it either is us making a decision and say it's going to be 5 percent, 10 percent cut or we're going to go through each one of these items. But to tell them to keep it at the number that it is and then try to reduce on it, that's still giving them free reign to -- I mean, we're just talking. It's not really becoming anything physical. Vice Chair Carollo: I understand. I just don't know if we're addressing the issue by a 5 percent cut or a 10 percent cut because what I'm saying is, okay, let's say we cut the budget 5 percent or 10 percent, so they have X'amount of money so maybe now one or two people fly off to Chicago or somewhere else and, you know, we incur the expense of flight and hotel and so forth as opposed to five people. So I don't know if that really addresses the issue is what I'm saying. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So how -- Vice Chair Carollo: So -- well -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- it's a quarter to 3, so do you want tojust leave it the way that it is then? It sounds like that. Chair Gort: It has to be -- Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, because I don't think it's going to make that much of a difference. I just want, you know, the Manager to understand that -- and from what I'm hearing from my colleagues that if there are educational courses that we're going to pay for, continuing education and so forth, they should be within state, not traveling, you know, to -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, I don't necessarily -- I -- to me, I'd rather give them a reduction on the overall amount because I would not want to determine what's better for them from an educational standpoint. If there's a great seminar, a great workshop or a great something that they need to go to, and quite frankly, it's not here -- I mean, it's not here; it's in Chicago. If it's better for them to go and we have to reduce over -- I'd rather them do that than to come to something in the City ofMiami or Miami -Dade County that is not giving them what they need. I don't -- to me that -- just for us to say we made a reduction, that -- either we make the reduction, 5 percent, 10 percent, or we just tell them, look, we want you to be mindful of -- City ofMiami Page 106 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 you know, instead of you making three trips a year, you're only making one trip a year. But let's not limit how people learn. That, I don't want us to do. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: The only thing that I want to point out is that one thing is this special course that, you know, is for a license or so forth and continuing education, which there are hundreds and thousands of continuing education. And for the most part, yeah, if you go to Chicago, realistically, you're going to obtain, more or less, the same information as a course here in Florida so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: And what I'm saying is -- andl don't want to argue about this at 3 Chair Gort: We're going to be arguing this -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- 2: 45 in the morning. I'm just simply saying agree with you, and I'm trying to deal with the issue so that either we're going to re -- either they reduce costs and they make a decision as to whether or not they want to go to three things locally or one thing nationally. I think that should be -- as long as they stay -- they keep their cost low as possible, that's where we should be. I mean -- andl don't want -- what don't want us to do is sit here on the dais and then we find out if they decided to go take a course that may not be in South Florida and it may be somewhere in Philadelphia, then we come back and say, well, we told you not to fly somewhere. No, I don't want to do that to -- I'm not going to set people up like that either. So I think the Manager should have discretion as to whether or not if there is something that they need to attend or go to that's going to be beneficial to them being better at their jobs, then he should make the determination as to whether or not that's something they should do. Chair Gort: My understanding is the procedure that the individual feels that he needs to take any specific class, he goes to the department director. If he's the department director himself, he's got to put a proposal together and take it to the budget and it has to be approved by the Manager. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Chair Gort: So I agree with you on that. Let's just leave it the way it is right now. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right, we're done. Now we have NDA. Anything else on NDA? Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, great. Chair Gort: NDA. Vice Chair Carollo: NDA. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Madam City Clerk, you -- we're on time? We're doing good with time? City ofMiami Page 107 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Thompson: Actually, ifI recall, you did say at 3 o'clock and the Chair did say we were moving right along. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes, okay. Ms. Thompson: Okay. Thank you. Chair Gort: Let's go. Question. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. I'd like to start with items in NDA, Florida League of Cities. We are going to -- we're budgeting or our proposed budget is for $40,500 of annual subscription. What I want to say with regards to the Florida League of Cities is thatl remember in this legislative session we had an important item with regards to our billboards andl really didn't see them get involved. I know we had the, I guess -- Commissioner Suarez: Miami -Dade. Vice Chair Carollo: -- chairman or president come before us andl mentioned that concern. Again, if we are, you know, paying a $40, 500 membership and we're part of the organization, I would hope that whenever we have an issue that was important to us, it could have cost us -- you know, depending what figures you used, 3, 4 or $5 million -- that they would have been on board and they would have backed us and, you know, it seemed like they weren't really on board. Commissioner Spence -Jones: What item -- Chair Gort: We have -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- is that in the budget? Where is that in --? Mr. Alfonso: In nondepartmental detail, the Florida League of Cities is one of the expenditures, Madam Commissioner. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But what does it fall under? What -- is it --? Mr. Alfonso: It is inside of subscriptions in NDA. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, I see. Chair Gort: My understanding, they were willing to -- we did not ask them to be part of the -- but in meetings that I've gone to with the -- not only the Florida League of City [sic], but the Miami Dade League of Cities, they're -- matter of fact, they just sent us a letter, which I forwarded to the Manager, requesting that we give our priorities for the legislative session so they can incorporate it in their legislative needs. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But I'm just curious, do we ever get any benefits out of them? That's -- Vice Chair Carollo: That's my point. That's exactly my point because we had an issue that could have cost the City a great deal of money and they were up there in Tallahassee lobbying and so forth, but it seemed like our issue that was very important to us, it became the number one issue because it could have cost us -- and again, depending on the figure -- 3 million, 4 million, 5 million, it didn't seem like they were really too active in helping us. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may. City ofMiami Page 108 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: I personally think that Miami -Dade League of Cities -- 'cause there may be some confusion. The Florida League -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: -- of Cities is different than the Miami -Dade League of Cities. The president that came before us I think was the president of the Miami -Dade League of Cities -- Chair Gort: Miami -Dade. Commissioner Suarez: -- if I'm not mistaken. I think -- and I'm on the Dade League of Cities on behalf of this body. I think that particular organization is a good organization. That's an organization that does get involved in issues and they will help us in Tallahassee. Now Florida League of Cities, I don't interact with. I don't know anything about Flor -- so maybe the intent would be to give some of the money to the Miami -Dade League of Cities, which is actually -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: They're in there already. I think they get 14,000. Vice Chair Carollo: Fourteen thousand -- Commissioner Suarez: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: -- right, but there's a big disparity between -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- 14,000 and 40,000 so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, to me I don't see the need for us to really -- unless -- do you guys see the need for us to still, at this time with the budget crunch, include this $40, 000 there? Chair Gort: I think the Miami -Dade is more than enough. They (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So maybe that's an item that we lose out of the budget. Vice Chair Carollo: Let's reduce the 40, 500 from Florida League of Cities. Mr. Alfonso: Done. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Great. Commissioner Suarez: Can I just make one little minor caveat? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Sure. Commissioner Suarez: Could we increase our contribution then to the Miami -Dade League of Cities since they're the only ones who are going to be advocating on our behalf in Tallahassee City ofMiami Page 109 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 from -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: You don't think $14, 000 is enough for them to advocate? Commissioner Suarez: -- 14 to 20? It's an extra six. Since we're going to save 40, we'd be saving 34. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So giving them how much? Commissioner Suarez: An extra six. It'll be 20. And that -- because -- and let me just say that we are -- we're eliminating our entire lobbying budget in this budget so, in reality, our only lobbying force is each other -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know. We have money in the lobbying budget. Commissioner Suarez: I think we've eliminated almost all of it. Mr. Alfonso: Three quarters. Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, no, no, no. Mr. Alfonso: IfI may -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Mr. Martinez: We kept 50,000. Vice Chair Carollo: We're not there yet. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. We have money there. Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Mr. Alfonso: IfI may, Commissioners. The lobbying budget is going from 200,000 to just -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: To 150. Mr. Alfonso: -- $50,000. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Fifty? Mr. Alfonso: Fifty. That is correct. And so three quarters of it is reduced. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Mayor, you're going to be in Tallahassee a lot, huh? Mr. Alfonso: In addition, I wanted to point out that the -- Commissioners, I'm sorry. I wanted to point out that the Dade League of Cities, the amount that we pay them is their invoice. Vice Chair Carollo: We're not there yet, Commissioner. Mr. Alfonso: So I mean, they invoice us for 14,500. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I'm just saying -- my -- the reason why I'm saying it is because the City ofMiami Page 110 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Dade League of Cities by and through their priorities and by and through -- they're a very active organization and they really do advocate on behalf of cities on -- not only with reference to the state but also with reference to the county. Now right now we've decimate -- we've reduced or eliminated basically our lobbying budget so -- with the exception of $50, 000. Vice Chair Carollo: We're not there yet. We'll get to that item in a sec. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: I'll address that item in a second. Commissioner Suarez: And mean, unless we've change that and - Vice Chair Carollo: Listen, I don't have a problem with the $5, 500 to make it to 20,000. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: I don't have a problem with it -- Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's fine. Vice Chair Carollo: -- and we'll reduce it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's fine. Vice Chair Carollo: So let's just move on. With regards to the lobbying, since it's being brought up, let me be frank about this because I'm a little upset. Because it was right about this time last year when we were in this situation -- and I'm the one who brought up about the lobbying fee and so forth -- we had a long discussion. Yes, at this time of the night, we had a long -- or morning -- discussion and we went to the point that we tabbed it or capped it at $200, 000. We picked out our lobbyists, the amounts they were going to get paid and the whole nine yards. Andl think we were all under the impression that we had capped it at 200, 000. Just like right now, we are all, except for me, under the impression that we're capping it at $50, 000. Well, guess what, do you know what our actual lobbying fees were for this current year? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. Tell us. Vice Chair Carollo: We tripled it. We're at -- end forecasted for maybe a month or so, $718, 922. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Seven hundred? Vice Chair Carollo: Seven hundred and eighteen thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two dollars. That's what I have here, yearend forecasted, unless, you know, the numbers that I'm being given is different. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Seven hundred? Vice Chair Carollo: Seven hundred and eighteen thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two. That's after we, this Commission, except for you, Commissioner Spence -Jones, capped it at 200, 000. We chose which lobbying firms, what amounts they were going to get paid and the whole nine yards. So it's very deceiving because that's not what occurred. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, we're going to -- I'm sorry -- have to look into the number. I know City ofMiami Page 111 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 the projection for that line, professional services, is projected at 700, 000. That's not to say necessarily that that's all lobbying. Commissioner Spence -Jones: All of it's lobbying. Mr. Alfonso: There may be something else sitting on that line and -- Kirk Menendez: Yeah. And Kirk Menendez, Intergovernmental Affairs Liaison, Office of the City Manager. I was notified by Budget just recently that the lobbying compensation was over I think approximately $10, 000. And based on the invoices that have been submitted and processed, we are, more or less, in line with that number. There hasn't been -- as far as I know -- andl did see the same number that you saw, which made me think as well -- and I'm glad the budget director's going to look into it in terms of what was agreed to last year in the budget and what the contract amounts are. In the invoices that have been processed, the number is in the $200, 000 range. The only reason it's gone over 10,000 is because halfway through this fiscal year because of the important CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) issue in Washington, D.C., we decided to bring backAlcalde & Fay, who has done an outstanding job of moving that important bill forward. But in the grand scheme of things, we're, I would probably say, within a -- I'm guessing a 10 or -- 10 percent range within the $200, 000. Vice Chair Carollo: I guess -- the Chairman's not here. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So we are two minutes 'til the deadline. Any other questions for Kirk? Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. And Mr. Menendez, you have to realize, I'm going by the numbers that I'm given. Mr. Menendez: I understand. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay? And in all fairness, I saw that because Alcalde & Fay were not one of the firms that we had discussed during our budget meeting. However, I will admit that Vicky Iceman and their group did a very good job, and it's just been kind of crazy up there in Congress. So I want to make sure because when we're approving this, we're approving this at the department level. So realistically, without our knowledge, management can move monies up and down and net them. So even though we're approving 50, let's say they have leftover from somewhere else, special pay, they can move that money up there. Yes. And correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Budget Director? Commissioner Suarez: I don't know. I'm not saying you're right or wrong. I'm just saying that it appears to me from what everyone here is saying -- and of course, they need to explain to us why that category has $700, 000 of expenditures versus what you're saying, which is basically that it's $200, 000, within a range of potentially $10, 000, why that discrepancy occurred. It's kind of a different -- Vice Chair Carollo: I got it. Commissioner Suarez: You know what I mean? It's different from what you're saying. And then I think that's -- you know, I think in fairness, that's -- we've had discussion items on that. We're voting on a budget and it's frustrating because -- Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: -- what do you do. What more can you do? You know what I mean? What more can you do? I mean, what are you going to do? You're going to keep putting it up as City ofMiami Page 112 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 -- I suppose we could keep putting it as a discussion item, you know. I don't know. Vice Chair Carollo: Anyway -- Commissioner Suarez: I feel you on that. Vice Chair Carollo: -- so I -- you know, I wanted to touch that point with regards to this because I just don't want -- you know, I don't want it to be smokes [sic] and mirrors that, oh, we're only spending $50, 000 and next thing you know it's a lot more and so forth. I don't know if I agree with that amount or not, but I needed to put that for the record. Continuing with the nondepartmental accounts, I have a question, either to the Manager, Budget Director, whoever, and once again, it's going to be a financial question. How did you come up with the $275, 000 for events, for the Three Kings Parade --? And by the way, I appreciate it because I didn't see it in the budget in the, you know, first hearing andl was concerned because I think we all expressed up here that we wanted to make sure it's in the budget this year so we wouldn't have any issues, and when I didn't see it, I was concerned. I didn't say anything, but I was going to address it, you know, in this budget hearing and you did. Now with that said, going back to the financial issue, how did you come up with 275,000? Mr. Alfonso: Okay. Commissioner, I did listen to the discussion that took place andl understood the concern of having no safety net, so to speak. To be perfectly honest, during that discussion somebody mentioned an event like the -- I'm not sure -- Three Kings or one of the other events -- Vice Chair Carollo: Martin Luther King. Mr. Alfonso: -- could be as much as 80, $100, 000 in overtime for the Police Department. There was really no scientific way that have sat down and said, oh, okay, that's exactly how much it is. I simply set an allocation, given the amount of funding resources that we had, and said, okay, I'm going to set aside 275 and it will be up to the Commission to identf where and what events that amount will be used for. There really was no scientific analysis of how much hours of overtime for what events because I don't know exactly what events this Commission will want to fund, perfectly honest with you. Vice Chair Carollo: Right, but this Commission doesn't really know which Commission -- which -- I'm sorry -- events it can fund because we don't have, realistically, numbers or I don't think anyone has analyzed numbers of what would it cost to fund, let's say, the Three Kings Parade, which I have some of the items here, or the Martin Luther King Parade or maybe some of the others. Mr. Alfonso: And ifI may offer a suggestion, Commissioner. Chair Gort: We got to have track records. I mean, payments have been made for years, so I'm pretty sure -- Mr. Cabrera: Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: -- in the Budget Department, there's got to be the funds that have been paid there. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. I mean -- Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- we just need to look at the historical events -- City ofMiami Page 113 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Cabrera: Right. Chair Gort: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and that was the whole purpose, I thought, that they identified these dollars for, to make sure that the parades, all of them -- the ones that, you know, are significant to certain communities still are able to, you know, exist and happen, and I'm assuming that you guys looked at whatever past payments that were made to assist that, you know, to do that. Vice Chair Carollo: They have not. Mr. Alfonso: No. Commissioner, to be perfectly honest, no. We were looking at what is the funding availability that we have. Andl know that this is a concern -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so then if that's what we -- if that's the -- in the past, we've always had a pot of money. If that's the pot that we have to deal with, then that's -- Chair Gort: That's it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- the pot that we make available -- Mr. Alfonso: That's correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- towards these events. That's it. We don't have any more money, so whatever the two -- if that's the 275, that's the amount they were able to identify, then each one of the main signature events that happen, Three Kings -- Vice Chair Carollo: Martin Luther King. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- Jose Marti, Martin Luther King, Goombay, or Parkinson, whoever you decide you want to give it to, then that's what we do, but -- Mr. Alfonso: Now -- I'm sorry. Commissioner, if -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- at least now we have something to identifi, that with. Mr. Alfonso: Correct. And -- Chair Gort: We have something to budget. Yes, sir. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Mr. Cabrera: Commissioner -- Assistant City Manager Luis Cabrera -- at the will of the Commission, I think they voiced several times that we needed to budget for these events. Having seen what has happened in the past, we made it a priority to make sure that we budget for it. And the Chairman was absolutely right. We have records that provide us information of what we've spent -- and the Vice Chairman -- in special events through the off -duty office with the Police Department and the special events office in Parks. So we are able to provide to you that information upon the events coming into town. We work with the coordinators and the event coordinators. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. City ofMiami Page 114 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: And again, what I'm saying is, I think we should have done that already so we know exactly what events -- right now -- 'cause right now, I'll be very adamant, Three Kings Parade is extremely important. It's an event that's been here for, I don't know, four or five decades maybe, close to 50 years. Mr. Cabrera: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: And I don't think it's gotten to 50 years, but it's forty -something years, you know, and that's very important to me. And l just want to make sure -- you know what, I think the Martin Luther King Parade is also very important -- Mr. Cabrera: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: -- and realistically, you know, Commissioner Sarnoff mentioned an event, but the thing is we keep saying this event and this event and we're starting to add and we really don't have the numbers and that's why, again, I seek from my financial team to let me know, hey, listen, Commissioner, more or less, this is what it costs. Here are the invoices, something like what I have -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- so I know what -- Mr. Cabrera: We will provide those to you. But also the Three Kings Parade, Commissioner, the last year that I've been working with them -- and I've worked with numerous events -- their budgets change. They change the parameters of the event. A bunch of elements change. And with the Three Kings, they've -- Chair Gort: They shortened the route. Mr. Cabrera: -- and they've provided funding also. So at times some of these organizations do provide additional funding to help us out. Vice Chair Carollo: Let me tell you what's happened with Three Kings. Mr. Cabrera: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Three Kings used to go from 4th Avenue to 27th Avenue. Mr. Cabrera: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Because of all the costs and so forth, they've reduced it from 4th Avenue to 22ndAvenue. Mr. Cabrera: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: And last year they reduced it from 4th Avenue to 17th Avenue because the costs are just exorbitant. And let me tell you something. I think the City has also added to that because, you know, they got to bill foreighty something thousand dollars for police services alone. Now with that said, I have heard from other organizations, Kiwanis of Little Havana -- Chair Gort: Two hundred and forty thousand dollars police alone. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. When they do their big festival that believe is the largest Calle Ocho, the largest -- I don't know if it's in the world or so forth, but it's definitely very large -- City ofMiami Page 115 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 they're getting charged prices that when they go online and so forth -- andl could give you details -- it seems like they're being overpriced what everyone else is being price. When you compare it to other festivals in the Grove or something, for some reason, you know, a lieutenant in the Grove charges less than when we do this festival. And they've shown me documentations and so forth and -- which I have right here, you know. A lieutenant in Calle Ocho, we're charging them $60 -- I don't know if it's per hour or what -- Chair Gort: Per hour. Vice Chair Carollo: -- but in the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, it's only $40. So this disparity can't happen. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So, guys, since we don't have all the numbers, I think that the intentions of Mr. Budget Director was to make sure that we had some monies identified towards special events, okay, so I think that's a noble approach. I said the same thing with the ticket surcharge. Hopefully, we can do the same thing once we add the additional amount of monies to that. That's additional monies that can go into the special revenue to also assist with these additional events. If you would like to see a higher amount than 275 just to make sure that we're covered, you know, you want to take it to 300 and at least you have a cushion of money there, you have saved money all night long. We can do that. But for us to determine how much one festival costs over the other festival at 3 o'clock in the morning really -- you know -- Chair Gort: Of course not. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, honestly -- Vice Chair Carollo: It should have been done beforehand, though, Commissioner. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. I understand this, but after a while it becomes like -- we become incoherent andl don't think we're doing our residents any good by not, you know, having our minds fresh enough to even deal with this. So at this point, do -- would you -- would the Commi -- is it the will of the Commission to at least go up an extra $25, 000 for now -- Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- to make it 300? Vice Chair Carollo: I don't think we need to. We just need to identify what these costs are and then see how many festivals we want to, you know, actually fund. I can tell you this, I think 275 will be enough and should be enough for the Three Kings Parade and the Martin Luther King Parade. Now -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, I don't want to throw out Goombay andl don't want to throw out the other ones that may need help. So what I'm saying is let's just go with the 275 'cause that's what he proposed now. We'll get with Public Facilities and if they are able to bring the legislation to add the additional dollar surcharge to our venues, then that revenue can be identified to support our issues. But right now at least we have something to start with that we can vote on tonight. Vice Chair Carollo: And at least -- I want to identify at least two festivals 'cause the Three Kings Parade is, you know, very important for my district. It's a tradition that, you know, I don't want to lose. So I want to make sure that at least from those 275, the Three Kings andl think Martin Luther King Parade also. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. I definitely don't have a problem with adding those two -- City ofMiami Page 116 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 added -- that those -- Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- are the ones that need to definitely be on the list and then we can make the determinations on the others. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Now, originally, when we had the briefing, it was more than just parades. It was parades and events and to support park -related things, which I think are extremely important, so I don't want you to limit it to a parade so we want to leave it open. If there are small, little things that you want to do in your district, you need to be able to have resources to do that. So I know on my end I'm going to be working hard to at least create some sort of revenue, hopefully through ticket surcharges, so that my community at least receives some of the activities and the events in our parks to assist Ernest. But right now we have 275. Let's deal with that and add -- if you want to add those two items, not a problem. Let's just go ahead and add them so we can move on. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: I want to make sure -- and again, I'm using an old document from what I saw today -- the $100, 000 for Gusman is no longer there, correct, in the NDA? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, it's gone. Mr. Alfonso: The 100,000 is gone, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And the 264 for some reserve emergency support for the City Manager. Mr. Alfonso: It's been reduced to 200, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: To 200. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, sir. And that's -- out of that reserve we pay things like PFM and -- so as a matter of fact, part of the charges that you saw in that line of $700,000 include expenses that are paid out of the reserve. But you don't -- but reserve is not an expenditure category so that professional services is so that the charge for professional services for PFM and some of the labor negotiations charges for professional services are hid in that line where the lobbyist was, and there are some demolition charges there as well, as I'm just told. And in a sense, we have the $264, 000 reserve that's there, but again, reserve is not an expense allocation, so when you actually expense, you put the expense where the category fits, and then the reserve, in a sense, is covering that expense because it is in the same section. Vice Chair Carollo: You said something right now that worries me a little bit when you said I've been told like -- Mr. Alfonso: No. She just said net. I know that we have paid the -- Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, 'cause that worries me 'cause that's saying, man, even you're not keeping up with the changes, but -- so that concerns me. City ofMiami Page 117 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: I've approved some of those myself, Commissioner. It's just that at this time I don't remember exactly -- Vice Chair Carollo: I hear you. Mr. Alfonso: -- all the -- Vice Chair Carollo: I hear you, I hear you, but I mean, we got to keep going, you know. The 464, Civilian Investigative Panel, we're going to leave it as is. However, we should be receiving at least 186,000 back and so forth and we'll budget for that accordingly. Mr. Alfonso: Some amount, yes. Vice Chair Carollo: We'll do the adjustments. Mr. Alfonso: Well, I need some direction from the board right now. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: If we're getting close to the end, let me just say this. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: We have $300, 000 that we are going to receive from -- Vice Chair Carollo: MPA (Miami Parking Authority). Mr. Alfonso: -- the Parking Authority. Vice Chair Carollo: An additional. Mr. Alfonso: An additional 300, yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, $6 million. Mr. Alfonso: That is not currently in the budget. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: Okay, so I need to -- I'm assuming if we don't allocate it to any specific item, I'm going to put that in reserve. Vice Chair Carollo: You're going to be receiving an additional $200, 000 from the GESE (General Employees Sanitation Employee) pension. Mr. Alfonso: Yes. Was that 200 or a little less? Unidentified Speaker: Two hundred. Mr. Alfonso: Two hundred? Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Two hundred. And it's actually -- and savings from last year is going to be over three or -- three something, three plus or something like that because last year it was that plus the excess. This year the excess is within the GESE. City ofMiami Page 118 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: Right, but the budget that I have -- Vice Chair Carollo: Two hundred. Mr. Alfonso: -- for GESE will be reduced by 200. Vice Chair Carollo: Two hundred, so we're talking -- Mr. Alfonso: In addition to that, we also decided that we're not going to pay the membership to the -- Chair Gort: That's another 20,000. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. That's another -- Mr. Alfonso: -- Florida League of Cities, which was budgeted at 40, but we're using -- Vice Chair Carollo: Thirty-five. Mr. Alfonso: -- exactly. We're using -- Vice Chair Carollo: Thirty-five. Mr. Alfonso: -- roughly 6,000 of that so 34 and half, something like that. Vice Chair Carollo: Are you already showing the double count of the 25, 000 for (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Mr. Alfonso: No. That's already been taken out, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: That's already been taken out, okay. And then an additional at least -- it may be higher -- my calculation was 211, but at least they've agreed to -- the consensus was 186,000 and something. Mr. Alfonso: Right. But if we're going to do that in the yearend close item -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: -- then that becomes part of the current year closeout numbers, which in the end it becomes either fund balance that, you know, we're not going to reappropriate -- Vice Chair Carollo: Well -- Mr. Alfonso: -- at this time. Vice Chair Carollo: -- what happens is it'll be fund balance at the end of this year -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: -- but we could obtain it next year. Mr. Alfonso: True, except that we have a fund balance of roughly $13 million andl thought we have a directive to sort of push that number up, so I'm not sure what the -- City ofMiami Page 119 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: It'll go into reserve. Mr. Alfonso: -- purpose would be of taking 180,000 that we saved and then going to spend it. I mean -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right, but -- yeah, yeah, yeah, but don't misunderstand me. I'm saying from the fund balance of CIP into the general fund. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, I understand -- Vice Chair Carollo: That's what I'm saying. Mr. Alfonso: -- into the general fund. Vice Chair Carollo: That's -- yeah. I'm not saying taking it out of the fund balance and spend it. I'm saying take it out of the fund balance of CIP and put it in our fund balance. Mr. Alfonso: I understand, but -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Chair Gort: My understanding is -- Mr. Alfonso: -- what I'm trying to say is that I'm not -- Chair Gort: -- your question is you'd like to put those funds in the reserve. Mr. Alfonso: Correct, Commissioner. The fund -- Chair Gort: And don't have any problem with that, and don't know if any of the other Commissioners have any problem with that. I think going into the reserve is a great idea. Mr. Alfonso: Okay. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: So roughly, off the top of my head -- Chair Gort: Roughly, we all agree to that. Mr. Alfonso: -- it's about $530, 000 that I'm going to allocate -- Chair Gort: That we're going to add to the reserve. Mr. Alfonso: -- to the reserve. Vice Chair Carollo: It's actually about seven. Five, two -- Mr. Alfonso: The hundred and eighty some thousand, Commissioner -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Whatever the number is -- Chair Gort: Whatever the amount is. We're not going to argue about the amounts. We got enough time already. We've argued quite a bit already. City ofMiami Page 120 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Whatever the amount is. Chair Gort: Come on. Mr. Alfonso: Whatever the amount is, I will put in the reserve to balance the budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you. Chair Gort: That's it, yes. Mr. Alfonso: Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff. No, no, no. The fund -- Vice Chair Carollo: One more. I have another question. Commissioner Sarnoff. Not the reserve, the fund balance. There is a difference. Vice Chair Carollo: I have another question. Three hundred and sixty-two thousand dollars for Commissioner Spence -Jones: Elderly services. You want to know who that is. Vice Chair Carollo: I want to know who that is. That's right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Who are they? Vice Chair Carollo: And how did we come up with these agencies? Mr. Alfonso: Well, I think George Mensah -- and I see him coming out -- he'll tell you exactly how they come up with the agencies. I'll let him speak to that. George Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. I believe that that is the -- what we used to call Mayor Poverty Initiative, and it's supposed to provide for elderly feeding. As you know, Community Develop -- last two years, we did not allocate any funding because we shorten the year so that we can pay everything out of CDBG. Now two years has passed, so next year we will only have $1.1 million to distribute if we don't get any additional cuts. And based on how much we've been funding them, the 12-month allocation used to be 1.5, about $1.6 million, so with 1.1 (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 360 to still be 1.4 and there will still be cuts to the elderly feeding services. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: That's why -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But who -- Vice Chair Carollo: And this is two parts. -- it's still very important, Mr. Menendez, with regards to the 15 to 25 percent. We still need to push for that. With all this going on, you know, I have to admit, I even have, you know, put it in the backburner a little bit, but that's something that we cannot -- you know, that's our services to our elderly, to our children and so forth. And City ofMiami Page 121 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 with that said, that's why it's very important to understand those $362, 000, who are they going to go to and who made that decision or the decision has not been made and we're going to be making -- Mr. Mensah: The decision has not been made. As you know, we just had an RFP process. When we do the allocation, as usual, we'll come to meet with every Commissioner and at that time that decision will be made, but we haven't made any decision as to where it's going to and who it's going to. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So it's just sitting in there in the account? Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Mr. Mensah: Yes. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Or will be. Commissioner Suarez: Another thingl think we should consider as a board is if we have some money -- I don't want to say in surplus 'cause, really, that's -- but if we have $500,000 in savings, rather than put that money to our general fund balance, which is not really a significant contribution to our general fund balance -- our deficiency in our general fund balance pursuant to our financial integrity ordinance is $70 million. So you know, if it's a situation where in a given budget year we could make our organizations whole, the ones that feed the poorest members of our community, and it's a matter of being $200, 000 deficient between what we have budgeted and what we've been budgeted from CD (Community Development), I think that's something -- to me that's a no-brainer, to me personally. Now I don't know what everybody else feels about it here, but to me that's a no-brainer. You know, rather than have an extra $200,000 in our fund balance, which is really not anywhere near solving the problem for us, I think it would be better for us to allocate the money to make this program whole because we don't know when the 15 percent waiver will come through. And you know, once that happens, obviously we'll have much more ability to tap into that and we can always refund the money back into the general fund. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Again, whatever the will of this Commission is. You know, we have extra money now that we, you know, could operate with and whether it's for our fund balance or not. I think you've been a big proponent of increasing our fund balance so, you know, even if it's little by little -- so I don't know. Whatever the will of this Commission is -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: The will of the Commission is to definitely have it go towards the fund balance. Vice Chair Carollo: I don't have a problem with that. Chair Gort: That's it. We stated. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- Vice Chair Carollo: Go to the fund balance. City ofMiami Page 122 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- we can always go -- Vice Chair Carollo: Now with the 362, it has not been allocated, so we will discuss in the future where those monies are going. And all I'm saying is I'm hoping that if they're not whole, that a piece does go to Little Havana Activities Center. We're all familiar with them. Mayor Tomas Reglado: IfI may just briefly. There are hearings on the 15 percent, 25 percent waiver I think late October. Andl was talking to Congresswoman Ileana Ros, and probably there'll be a vote either in December before the break or in January when Congress reconvene. So that would be on the July budget process of the federal government. So we will get the waiver most likely, but it would be for next year. So we need to have this funding source to secure this groups and also to have some kind of cushion of the money that has been save here -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mayor Regalado: -- for those services because there's no way to explain if we have to cut meals or services in different programs. So I would ask you that you approve this amount and then probably of the money that had been saved tonight here, have a little reserve in order to continue to fund this -- all these organizations. Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: By the way, I think it, you know -- we're wrapped up in so many things that it hasn't, you know, been said enough and so forth. We've made great, great strides with regards to the changing from 15 percent to 25 percent. We've gotten the support of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to support it and sponsor it in the House of Representatives in Congress. We've gotten Senator Bill Nelson to support it and will sponsor it in the Senate. It seems like it's a go. However, as we've all seen, you know, in the last few months, it's crazy up in Congress, but it seems like we have the support and we could get this passed. We've all been active with this. And again, you know, I want to say that, yes, I saw Vicky Iceman from Alcalde & Fay work her butt off and she facilitated a lot of these meetings, especially with the senator and a lot -- the Congress people so, you know, I think we've made great strides and we just need to keep pushing a little bit because it's extremely important to all of us. This is, you know, increasing the amount of public services, you know, for our elderlies, our children and so forth. And it's not asking for additional monies. It's just the flexibility to use monies and you know, it's extremely important and now especially in these tough times is when we really need it so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Great point, great point. So we're -- Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- moving in the direction, right? Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We're moving in that direction, right? Vice Chair Carollo: Well, with the 15/25, yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: We've been moving and we continue. I think everything stays the same. I think the 362, the Mayor is the one, you know, asking. We have the reserve, 5, 700, 000, City ofMiami Page 123 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 whatever, you know, andl think from that --I'm done with my items, I believe. Commissioner Suarez: So -- Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: -- just for clarity's sake. If we don't get the waiver, we are using -- are going to use this money to make those agencies whole, correct or incorrect? Vice Chair Carollo: We need to see where we're at, I think. That's -- you know, I always make my decision -- Chair Gort: This year -- my understanding is -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- based on facts. I need to see where we're at. I need to see -- Chair Gort: My understanding, even if it's passed, it will not be implemented until the following year. So this year we are going to have a deficit -- reductions on the funds for the services. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, Mr. Chairman. I believe we handled NDA. I don't know if we want to deal with any other issue on -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. Move to approve the budget, as modified. Chair Gort: There's a motion -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: -- to approve the budget as modified, second by -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. Call the question. Chair Gort: Commissioner Sarnoff made the motion. Commissioner Spence -Jones second the motion. Discussion. Vice Chair Carollo: The only thingl want to say is thatl think that this is a very workable budget. I'd like to thank everyone that's worked very hard. Mr. Alfonso, I mean, you came in the fourth quarter. I think you did a great job. I think the Administration did a great job, in all fairness. I'd like to thank our unions for doing the concessions, the negotiation team and so forth. And by all means, ifI vote no on this budget today, it's not necessarily because of the lack of hard work 'cause I see it there. It's not because I don't believe that at the end of the year we do -- we will have a balanced budget and at the end of you know, next fiscal year, we will have a balanced budget. It's just this process, the way it's occurred, the last minute, the rush. I just -- you know, the -- unable to be -- to tie some of these numbers, and you know what I'm saying, Mr. Alfonso. I mean, you know I don't have all the numbers to actually tie and so forth and that's like -- to me, that's like an attorney reading the document halfway and, you know, missing a paragraph or so and we all know that changing one word could change the meaning of the whole document. So you know, ifI vote no, that's the reason, but truly appreciate everyone's help andl truly believe that we've made this budget a lot better. It's a balanced budget. You seen I've been active. I think we were even able to obtain additional fundings [sic] and so forth so -- andl want to say that for the record. Commissioner Spence -Jones: The only -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes. City ofMiami Page 124 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- comment thatl do want to make in -- as we wrap up to go home. I think that going into next year, if nothing else, that -- I know at least I've learned from this experience is that we need to work earlier and we need to work smarter and we need to be more efficient in how we do what we do. I think we were all in -- I know I was in a crunch coming into the situation, but at the end of the day, we have to do what's right and good for the City. I think we did hammer out a lot of the issues tonight. I think the staff did a great job with trying to do the best with what they had. But I think that on our end, we also, as Commissioners, need to be a little bit more sensitive to staff and also try our best to try to get -- you know, make ourselves even more so available so that we could get the information that we need in order -- or ask the right questions to make sure that we're not wasting so much time. Honestly -- this is just my feeling tonight -- I think we wasted a lot of time, you know. Things that we could have dealt with in 20, 30 minutes became an hour and a half discussion. Andl understand the importance of you know, getting our questions and -- and I'll take full responsibility for some of the things that did as well, so I just know the next time that I will not find myself in that same position, that will do my part to make sure I get the information so that I'm not only wasting your time up here, okay, away from your family and other things that you may have to do, their time, because they have families as well, and then our citizens that have to sit here and listen to us at 3 o'clock in the morning to discuss things that, quite frankly, we should have kind of handled prior to this . Andl understand the viewpoint that some of this stuff we got later, but the reality is, some of the stuff we had also in enough time to kind of deal with that we didn't have to do the drilldown as much as we did this time. So whether or not you vote or anybody votes for the budget tonight, we need to do what's right for the City so that we can move on and get things happening within the City, and that's really my point. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff.. I certainly hope the Vice Chair is voting with us 'cause I think this has been an effort that we've all joined arm in arm and it's been something that I think we've always worked in consensus wherever and whenever possible. And maybe to put things in perspective, you know, we're certainly a city in Florida that has dealt with our budget crisis, a loss of over $75 million of revenue since 2009, I think in the most forthright manner of any city in all of Florida. And maybe put us in a perspective sense, the city of Trenton, with its 350 police force, laid off 10 percent of its police force last year. And this year, as of five days ago, laid off 105 police officers. City of Hollywood, Florida, laid off 13 police officers and 18 others due to budget woes. Seven hundred police officers were laid off in the city -- in all of New Jersey and of which 700 cannot find jobs. A lot of people have dealt with their budget crisis very differently than the City ofMiami. And while it may seem like a lonely task and a tough task that we've gone through, we've dealt with it probably in city -wise the best of any city I've ever seen. And even though we learned today nine people lost their jobs, nine people in a city of 4, 000 people, that's an incredible statement on behalf of the unions and an incredible statement on behalf of the administration that you were able to close a budget gap without having significant layoffs, both -- though, let's be candid, for the nine people, it's significant, but we didn't do as the County had done, and other people are facing much worse times because we took a tough stance last year and put ourselves in at least a trajectory to close a budget gap this year with the cooperation of everyone. So I think it's -- put it in perspective. Your safety officers, your safety personnel are all intact, and the City will go on functioning very much the way it did as in 2008, as it did in 2009, as it did in 2010. Chair Gort: I'd just like to add, I believe all this exercise has put a great team together. I think we all have shown the residents, ourself [sic], the unions and the staff and the Administration that we can work as a team. Can we improve the team? Yes, we can. And our goal is to continue to work together as a team because that's the only way that we're going to survive in City ofMiami Page 125 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 here, and this is something that we have to keep up and keep it up at all times. So I want to thank everyone for being part of it and being a team player and that's what we have to do to continue for the safety of the City. Anything else? Mayor Regalado: Mr. -- Chair Gort: Yes. Mayor Regalado: -- Chairman. Just to thank you. Thank you for your patience. I know that probably some numbers were late. But the fact of the matter is that we are going home this morning with a balanced budget, with services to be given to the people ofMiami, and especially with four contracts with all the City unions. And for that, we want to thank you, Mr. Manager. You and your team in just four weeks have done what many other city probably would envy from the City ofMiami. We have agreements with the unions and the unions gave instead of asking. So for that, Mr. Manager, thank you very much. Chair Gort: Okay, there's two things. We got to move on the budget, but at the same time, we have to move first on the B.4 [sic]. Ms. Thompson: No, no. I'm sorry. Chair. Chair Gort: An ordinance. Ms. Thompson: No, Chair. We have a motion on -- Chair Gort: A vote on -- Ms. Thompson: -- the floor for a modified resolution on BH.3 that we need to vote on. Chair Gort: Right. Ms. Thompson: We just need the vote. Commissioner Sarnoff. Call the question. Chair Gort: Okay. All in favor, state it by saying aye." Commissioner Sarnoff. Aye. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Aye. Chair Gort: Aye. Vice Chair Carollo: No. Commissioner Suarez: No. Ms. Thompson: Okay. Chair Gort: Okay. BH.4 ORDINANCE Second Reading 11-00803 Office of the City AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ESTABLISHING THE Attorney DEPARTMENTS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI AS SET FORTH AND FUNDED City ofMiami Page 126 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. 11-0389, ADOPTED SEPTEMBER 27, 2011, AND PURSUANT TO SECTION 19 OF THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, ENTITLED "CREATION OF NEW DEPARTMENTS; DISCONTINUANCE OF DEPARTMENTS;" CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. 11-00803 Memo - Office of the City Attorney FR/SR.pdf 11-00803 Legislation FR/SR.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones 13288 Chair Gort: B.4 -- BH.4. Vice Chair Carollo: BH.4, I think Mr. Garcia was before us when I said -- Mr. Garcia, were you able to provide something 'cause I think it deals with your department? This is approving the Hearing Board [sic] into the Planning Board [sic] and -- Daniel Alfonso (Director, Strategic Planning, Budgeting & Performance): Commissioner, ifI may. Yes, the proposed table of organization that was attached to the item that came to the board -- Vice Chair Carollo: I didn't see one. Mr. Alfonso: Madam Clerk -- I'm sorry. The full agenda included the table of organization, correct? Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): As far as I know, the original -- Mr. Alfonso: The original agenda. Ms. Thompson: Yes, the original did. Vice Chair Carollo: This is what I got. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, the agenda item that was given and distributed on Monday included a table of organization. That table of organization includes Planning, Zoning and Hearing Boards as one department called Planning & Zoning. Chair Gort: Right. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Sarnoff.. So move. Chair Gort: It's been -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: -- moved by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Commissioner -- It's an ordinance. Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry, sir. City ofMiami Page 127 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: I understand. Read the ordinance. Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry. I apologize, Chair. I didn't hear -- Chair Gort: The motion was made by Commissioner Sarnoff and second by Commissioner Spence -Jones. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Chair Gort: It's an ordinance. Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): All right. Mr. Chair, this is an ordinance of the Miami City Commission establishing the departments of the City ofMiami, as set forth and funded, pursuant to Resolution 11-0389, which has just been adopted today -- what the date is -- September 28 -- Ms. Thompson: No, no. Ms. Bru: No? Ms. Thompson: It has to be 9/27. That's the day we started our meeting. Ms. Bru: Okay. Ms. Thompson: Okay. That's the meeting date posted. Chair Gort: September 27. Ms. Bru: All right. So adopted on September 27, 2011; and it's pursuant to Section 19 of the Charter of the City ofMiami, Florida, entitled Creation of New Departments/Discontinuance of Departments," containing a severability clause and providing for an immediate effective date. And this was second reading on this ordinance. Ms. Thompson: Your second reading -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Thompson: -- ordinance. Vice Chair Carollo? Vice Chair Carollo: I understand the intent of the ordinance, so yes. Ms. Thompson: Commissioner Suarez? Commissioner Suarez: Yes. Ms. Thompson: Commissioner Spence -Jones? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes, and I'm so glad to hear that you support the will of the Commission. Vice Chair Carollo: Always. Ms. Thompson: Commissioner Sarnoff? Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yes. City ofMiami Page 128 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Thompson: Chair Gort? Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Thompson: The ordinance has been adopted on second reading, 5-0. Chair Gort: Do I have a motion to adjourn? Commissioner Sarnoff. So move. Vice Chair Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: Thank you all. BH.5 DISCUSSION ITEM 11-00749 Downtown DISCUSSION OF THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE AND FINAL BUDGET Development FOR THE MIAMI DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY. Authority PERCENTAGE INCREASE/DECREASE IN MILLAGE OVER ROLLED BACK RATE RESPONSE: 0% (.478 IS THE ROLLBACK RATE) CITY COMMISSION LISTENS AND RESPONDS TO CITIZENS' COMMENTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED MILLAGE DECREASE AND EXPLAINS THE REASONS FOR THE ROLLED BACK RATE. ACTIONS BY THE CITY COMMISSION: 1. AMEND THE FINAL BUDGET, IF NECESSARY 2. RECOMPUTE THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE IF NECESSARY 3. ADOPT THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE 4. ADOPT THE FINAL BUDGET OR THE AMENDED FINAL BUDGET AS NECESSARY 11-00749 DDA- Millage & Final Buget 09-27-11.pdf DISCUSSED Vice Chair Carollo: BH.5, DDA (Downtown Development Authority). Alyce Robertson: Good evening. Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. What you have before you today from the DDA are two items. One is setting the millage for the DDA at .478, which is the rollback rate for the DDA, and the other item that you have is our budget. The percentage increase or decrease over the millage over the rollback rate is zero percent because it is the rollback rate. What the actions by the City Commission is to amend the final budget, if necessary, recompute the proposed millage rate, if necessary, adopt the final millage rate, and adopt the amended final budget. Couple of things about the process that the DDA has gone through is that we began the budget preparation process in March of 2011 with the annual board retreat, then held a budget workshop in June. We have various committee meetings that go over the different budget proposals, and then the final budget was voted on first in July and then a second review in September. And the revised City ofMiami Page 129 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 item in front of you about our budget is the revised budget that the board passed as a result of the rollback millage. The proposed operating is 6.57 million in operating, plus a capital expense of $1.5 million for a signage and way finding program. We have obtained an FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) grant that will be paid in the year '15/'16, and the DDA is proposing to advance that money so that the signage and way finding program can be implemented as soon as permitting is terminated. I'm also here with our board treasurer, Al West, and he can speak for any other issues. Alvin West: Yes. My name is Alvin West. I'm treasurer of the DDA. And I came to ask for your approval of the budget today, also to speak on behalf of the board, who has been very much involved in the budget process, as Alyce has mentioned, throughout the past year. We have financed committee. We have compensation committee. We have the board who scrutinizes the process monthly. And the product that we have put before you today in asking you to approve, we feel that it's very conservative and doable and that -- and achievable for the upcoming budget year. So with that, we ask that you consider and please approve the budget for 2012. Commissioner Sarnoff. So moved. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: At this time -- well, we got to approve the millage first? Vice Chair Carollo: Right. And that was my question. We're in BH.5. Chair Gort: 5. Vice Chair Carollo: Is this with the millage first? So the motion is to approve their millage, correct? Chair Gort: Their millage, yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. But is -- this is also a public hearing, is that correct? Veronica Xiques (Assistant City Attorney): It's a public hearing. Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Xiques: So you have to open it up to the public. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So we need to open it up. Chair Gort: It's open to the public. Anyone would like to address this issue, millage rate for downtown Miami? Okey-doke. Close the public hearings [sic]. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, second. BH.6 ORDINANCE Second Reading 11-00779 Downtown AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Development ATTACHMENT(S), RELATED TO TAXATION, DEFINING AND DESIGNATING Authority THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA; FIXING THE MILLAGE AND LEVYING TAXES IN SAID DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT FOR City ofMiami Page 130 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012, AT .478 MILLS ON THE DOLLAR OF NONEXEMPT ASSESSED VALUE OF ALL REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN SAID DISTRICT; PROVIDING THAT THE FIXING OF THE MILLAGE AND THE LEVYING OF TAXES HEREIN SHALL BE IN ADDITION TO SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL NOT BE DEEMED AS REPEALING OR AMENDING ANY OTHER ORDINANCE FIXING MILLAGE OR LEVYING TAXES, BUT SHALL BE DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL AND IN ADDITION THERETO; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 11-00779 Memo-DDA FR/SR.pdf 11-00779 Pre -Legislation FR/SR.pdf 11-00779 Legislation-DDA FR/SR.pdf 11-00779 Millage Levy Calculation FR/SR.pdf 11-00779 Cerification Taxable Vaule FR/SR.pdf 11-00779 Legislation FR/SR.pdf 11-00779 Exhibit 1 FR/SR.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones 13286 Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Chair, ifI -- I'm sorry. I want to be clear. What we have on our agenda is BH.5 is your discussion of the millage rate where you entertain your public comments. The voting will begin on BH.6, which is an ordinance, okay. So we're moving now from BH.5 I take -- Chair Gort: To BH.6. Ms. Thompson: -- to BH.6. Thank you. Chair Gort: For the ordinance. Commissioner Sarnoff. So moved. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Sarnoff, second, Commissioner Michelle Sponce [sic]. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor -- it's an ordinance. Read it. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Assistant City Attorney Veronica Xiques. Ms. Thompson: Your roll call on your second reading ordinance for your DDA (Downtown Development Authority). A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. City ofMiami Page 131 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Thompson: The ordinance has been adopted on second reading, 5-0. Chair Gort: Okay. Alyce Robertson: Thank you very much. BH.7 RESOLUTION 11-00750a Downtown A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ADOPTING A BUDGET Development AND MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FROM THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT Authority DISTRICT AD VALOREM TAX LEVY AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS INCOME FOR THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ("DDA") OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("CITY"), FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012; AUTHORIZING THE DDA TO INVITE AND ADVERTISE REQUIRED BIDS; PROVIDING FOR BUDGETARY FLEXIBILITY; PROVIDING THAT THIS RESOLUTION BE DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL AND IN ADDITION TO THE RESOLUTION MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012, FOR THE OPERATIONS OF THE CITY. 11-00750a Memo - DDA.pdf 11-00750a Legislation-DDA 09-27-11.pdf 11-00750a Millage Levy Calculation.pdf 11-00750a Cerification Taxable Value.pdf 11-00750a Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones R-11-0380 Chair Gort: BH.7, budget. Alvin West: I think the -- Ms. Robertson gave you a preview of the budget in her remarks earlier. Alyce, would you --? Alyce Robertson: Right. This is the actual item where it sets the rate -- the total revenue anticipated for the fiscal year '11/'12 is 8,721,000 and the total expenditures are the same. Mr. West: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff. This is your statement with regard to 6.57 million and 1.5 million in the signage and way finding? Ms. Robertson: Correct. Mr. West: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. So moved. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. Public hearing is opened for the budget of the City ofMiami Page 132 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Downtown Development Authority. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Close the public hearings [sic]. Commissioners. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just want to acknowledge DDA (Downtown Development Authority) for doing an outstanding job and just all of the work that, you know, I've seen you guys do, and I'm sure has a lot to do with Marc also pushing to make sure that happens. But it's just great to see that downtown is finally coming alive. So I want to acknowledge you for the hard work, and whatever we can do to continue to push that, we will. Ms. Robertson: Thankyou very much. Mr. West: We appreciate that very much. And also, I would like to say thank you to the Commission and to the Mayor for the work that you guys have done this past year in helping us to realize a major milestone. I think all of us can see the landscape of downtown change before our eyes. And one of the things that think Alyce put before you a few minutes ago is a big achievement. We are going to be on the cover -- we, the downtown Miami is going to be on the cover of Nexos magazine for the next three months, and the chair of the DDA is holding that up. We are very proud of that. We worked very hard with partnership, the board and American Airlines to get this done. I can tell you that this magazine will be in every plane flying South America and the southern part of the United States. It is an outstanding piece. Andl can tell you also that the -- this represents a value to the DDA of about $700,000 that was brought to the table by DDA's partners, and so very little money on the part of the DDA, a lot of effort and coordinating and making sure that this happen. So we appreciate your help and effort in making this happen. Thankyou. Chair Gort: I think it's also important to state that the funds that comes to the DDA is an additional fund paid by the property owner within that district. Mr. West: That's right. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. West: It -- it's an additional millage that is paid by the property owners within the district. Years ago the property owners agreed to tax themselves so that the DDA could do the things that it is doing today, mainly keeping the streets clean, making sure that families are safe, and making sure that we have a master plan for the City to follow and that all of the building and development is an orderly process and that we have new businesses coming to town that will have a blueprint to follow. So that has been over the course of the last several years, andl know that you, Commissioner Gort, has been a major part of that, as well as Commissioner Sarnoff and others. So we appreciate all that you've done, andl think the stakeholders ofMiami -- downtown Miami appreciate what you've done. So thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thankyou. Chair Gort: Commissioners. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. First of all, I'd like to thank Ms. Robertson, Mr. West, Mr. Betancourt. I haven't seen him, but -- there he is back there -- for not only meeting with me, but at the same time, giving me certain information that I had requested, especially in such a short City ofMiami Page 133 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 period of time. Unfortunately, this rush on the budget is a great deal, was out of my hands, so I truly appreciate meeting with me and everything you've done for me to have the information that I needed. At the same time, I want to be perfectly clear that some of the questions that I'm going to be asking is part of me doing due diligence because I want to see the maximum amount of monies going to programs, going to the residents of that area and the businesses of that area which, as Chairman Gort stated, they actually pay an extra tax. They pay an extra millage to receive that service. So a lot of the questions that I'm going to be asking is because I would like to see if more revenues could go towards programs of that area, andl do this with all due respect to the Chairman of the DDA and to all the board members. I do want to point out that although you do very good work -- and by the way, congratulations on the Nexos cover of the magazine. That's very good and should be commended. I did see that the salaries did go up and, you know, I spoke about this last year. I think the salaries still in the DDA are quite high. I know other people may be in disagreement with me, but I feel that needed to put on the record. I do feel that the salaries are still quite high. And as we've seen, most governments have reduced salaries and, you know, the DDA increased at least their total amount in salaries. Something that I mentioned last time also is the rent. I understand that you're in a lease, so there's not much you can do about it. But I don't know if you've actually looked into it to see if it's possible to break that lease, and what would be the penalties and so forth to see if there's actually an advantage of breaking the lease early. You know, we're talking -- andl forgot what was the amount -- somewhere -- three hundred and something thousand a year in rent, and that includes parking for staff but that's outrageous, andl need to put that on the record. I saw some other areas of expenses that did go up: Other expenses by 49 percent, conferences by 133 percent. And know the conference is due to developers' conference that you all are thinking, so I hope it pays off. Andl also saw professional development, an increase of 38 percent due to continuing education, so forth. I mean, I don't know. I just feel that even with all these organizations, I want the maximum amount of dollars to go to the programs, to the area, to the residents so they see it, to the businesses. The last thing that I'm going to mention is the way finding signs. I'm definitely not sold on the idea yet. I understand it's been approved by the board and so forth, so you know, I'll yield to that. But spending, you know, $1.5 million on these signs -- andl understand. I understand that, you know, we may get a grant in the future -- I think it's 2016 -- for a million dollars of those 1.5. But still, you know, I raise some concerns as far as the way finding signs. With that said, you know, I will yield respectfully to the chairman of that board andl will trust his judgment and the judgment of all the board members of the DDA that have approved this budget, and they're all well-known businessmen. So again, I just needed to put my concerns on the record. Thank you. Mr. West: Yeah. Commissioner Sarnoff.. And Mr. Vice Chairman, I just thought I'd -- Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thought I'd address some of your concerns. The lease situation was inherited not only by me, but my predecessor, Joe Sanchez, and it was inherited from then that Commissioner who sat here, and then that chair of the DDA where they had a seven-year lease and then they executed a ten-year option. So we have looked into breaking that lease, and the good folks at our building welcomed us to do so, and they would charge us all the rent necessary until they released the building. That building is probably 40 to 50 percent unoccupied, so we suspect it would be very difficult to release it at the same lease rate that that lease was created probably back about eight years ago now. We've looked into it. We'd love to do it. We'd love to have you on part of the search committee, because we were actually considering no longer being in that building, but being more on the ground level, having a better grounded both empirically maybe and maybe in a different frame of mind to be grounded on the ground floor possibly even in a historic building. So there is a search committee doing that. And I do appreciate your thoughts on that. Equally, with regard to DDA compensation, they do not City ofMiami Page 134 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 have defined benefit programs. They have defined contribution programs. The amount of their deferred compensation that you could attribute to their salaries -- so let's say somebody makes $100, 000 a year -- would be 7 percent, which means they would be $107, 000 all in. If we were to play apples to apples, a City ofMiami employee would be $100, 000, but then their annual deferred compensation would be 42 percent of that, so they'd be at $142, 000. So if we really were to compare apples to apples, you would see that they're really not paid anywhere near what a City ofMiami employee is paid, though you would be correct; they would be highly paid in terms of suggestive of their work in comparison just to the salary. I think the DDA is doing extremely good work. I think it started before I got there. I certainly hope I helped contribute to it being the respected board that it is. I just want to pay tribute to a couple offolks on that board, andl apologize; I'm not going to mention everybody. Dr. Montoya, I think continues to give us sage advice and good direction. Hank Kline is always good for the humor of the moment, and sometimes humor is what you need. Jose Goyanes is a person that keeps our feet very firmly planted on the ground. Jerome Hollo is a dreamer and a thinker, and that's exactly what developers should be, dreamers and thinkers. Jay Solowsky keeps us probably out of more legal harm's way than we could think about. The Miami Heat, Kim Stone, probably gives us a lot of pride. I know all of us this year were very proud of the Heat and got to enjoy that. Al West tells us exactly where we are budgetarily. And it's truly my honor and privilege to get to serve on a board with such highly educated and highly motivated people, and l just want to thank them for allowing me to be the titular head of that board. So with that, I hope that explanation somewhat suffices. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: I have one more question. Now I'm sure I'm going to hear, you know -- I'm sure I know what the answer's going to be, but I still need to put it for the record. Are all those positions necessary in the DDA, all 18 positions? I think it's 18 personnel. Do you believe that all those 18 positions are necessary? Ms. Robertson: Mr. Commissioner, when I came to the DDA three years ago, I did a top to bottom review of all the positions. And we have had a restructuring, and we've reduced the number of positions that are at the DDA. The people who remain are truly those people who are dedicated and are hard working, and we've got them working really hard. I also wanted to say for the record that the support of the City ofMiami Administration is really critical for us getting our job done at the DDA. And Johnny and his folks have always been there supporting what we want -- to take downtown into the future, so for -- with 18 bodies, we're doing a lot of work. Mr. West: Yeah. Additionally, Mr. Commissioner, when the board reviews the budget, they look in great detail at all of the activity that is going on, and we have to make priority as to what is going to be funded, what isn't going to be funded, what should be staffed, and what should not be staffed. So although -- and it's a good check and balance for the administrative staff. And so I can tell you to a board member -- by the way, the board -- this budget was passed unanimously by the board, so each member signed off on it, and we agreed that it is properly staffed. Now as Alyce can tell you, when she came on board three years ago, we felt that we needed to have a recalibration of all of the activities and of staff, and we did that. And we asked Alyce to evaluate the positions and -- that she had. So we had a drop in staff from 21 down to 18. So that is the result of staff and board working together to make sure that we were delivering the most efficient and economical product to our stakeholders. And so we feel very comfortable with the budget that we have put forth today. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. City ofMiami Page 135 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I just want to create a little bit of a distinction here. I also would yield to the chairman and to the board members who have, you know, passed their budget unanimously. And l just wanted to reiterate that the monies that are used to pay for these activities are not tied to our general fund, and I'm saying it for a specific reason. The salaries issue does concern me, not so much because of defined benefits versus defined contributions, which I think you're absolutely correct on, Commissioner. It's more about consistency because I know -- I could tell you there are other boards in here that have salary -related issues that I'm going to have an issue with. I suspect there may be other board members that will as well, and the reason why is because they relate to our general fund. So I just want to put that distinction on the record because I don't, you know, want someone later on, ifI make an objection related to salary, to say, well, hey, you know, you voted one way on DDA and now you're going to vote and kind of apply a different standard to another board, andl think there is a difference in that sense. Chair Gort: Okay. Anyone else? Commissioner Sarnoff. Was there a motion? Chair Gort: There's a motion. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. I think we had a motion and a second already. Chair Gort: Got a motion and a second. Ms. Thompson: You do, you have a motion and a second. Chair Gort: And this is a resolution. Ms. Thompson: It is. Chair Gort: Okay. All in favor, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Robertson: Thank you very much. Mr. West: Thank you. Thank you. BH.8 RESOLUTION 11-00780 Civilian Investigative A RESOLUTION OF MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), Panel APPROVING THE TOTAL ANNUAL BUDGET FOR THE CIVILIAN INVESTIGATIVE PANEL, IN THE AMOUNT OF $464,000, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012. 11-00780 Memos - CIP.pdf 11-00780 Legislation - CIP.pdf 11-00780 Legislation.pdf 11-00780 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Spence -Jones, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. City ofMiami Page 136 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones R-11-0382 Chair Gort: BH.8, Civilian Panel. Civilian Investigative Panel. Horacio Stuart Aguirre: Good evening, Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, Commissioners. Horacio Stuart Aguirre, as direct -- as member of the Civilian Investigative Panel of the City ofMiami and is chairman of the budget committee, offices at 970 Southwest 1st Street. I'm here with our interim executive director, Ms. Carol Abia, Esquire, and with our independent counsel, Mr. Charles May [sic], Esquire, both of them who have presented to most of you memorandums explaining our budget proposal. We are not asking for a single dollar increase. As a matter of fact, we operate with a bare bone skeletal staff of just four, including Mr. Mays. That's an administrative assistant, one sole investigator for the entire City ofMiami, population of 500, 000, plus or minus, who you argue with, and of course, Mr. Mays as independent counsel. We operate on a bare bones budget. To paraphrase Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Never have so many owed so much to just so few, 'and that's how I think that the Civilian Investigative Panel should be looked at. We have a mission statement. It was provided to you in the August 15 budget memorandum, and won't repeat it. But I'd like to say that there is a misconception that we exist to prosecute police officers. That is totally incorrect. We also exist to exonerate unfairly accused police officers, and that does happen. As a matter offact, as recently as in our last meeting of last week, one police officer case was exonerated. So we look in both directions with equal fervor and vigor. We're not going to ask for a single penny. As a matter offact, we're going one step further. We are restructuring our four -man vast team so that we can devote more attention to investigations. It's been referenced that we are overloaded with cases. As a matter offact, we are. We have over 300 case files open right now. For this -- for the past fiscal year alone, our case load was 225 cases, plus 100 spillover from last year. Given our staff of just one investigator, we were only able to close 145 cases. You might think I'm now going to change my policy and tell you I'm -- look for more money. No, I won't. But I'm going to tell you that you're going to deal with the public fervor for more attention, more involvement, more coordination with our fine police officers and our fine police department in the future, you're going to need to spend more money on police oversight. A year and a half ago our budget, correct me if I'm wrong, former Chair Sarnoff, was a million one, and now we're down to $465, 000. That's a major hit. We operate in bare bones facilities, in the Manuel Artime City -owned facility, and so I'll leave it at that. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Does anybody -- we have any comments? Chair Gort: Yield to you. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, I'll yield to you. But yeah, I have comments. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, let me hear your comments first. Vice Chair Carollo: You want to hear my comments first? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. By the way, thank you for coming before us, and we definitely appreciate the work that you do. I have two separate -- I don't know if they're issues or -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Concerns. Vice Chair Carollo: -- what you would call it, but -- City ofMiami Page 137 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Concerns? Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Concerns? Vice Chair Carollo: I don't know if they're concerns or issues or what, but there's two separate issues that I'm going to address. First of all, I'd just like to just let everybody know that we, the City, have already helped out the CIP board. Why? Because -- I don't want to stay just like the DDA (Downtown Development Authority), but you were also in a situation where you -- and when I saw you, I mean the CIP. I don't mean anyone particular -- got into a situation where you were in a long-term lease for rent that was extremely high. However, with the CIP, the lease was broken, andl think there was penalties or so forth. But the bottom line is that the City stepped up and helped you guys out, and we continue to because you are now rent-free. So that huge amount is already being saved. So -- and I'll continue with that later on, because in all fairness, if we're saving that huge amount, I think some of that should come back to the City, but we'll address that later. I knew I should have brought water. Second issue, and it's a question, what do you expect to be your unused monies at the end of this year? Mr. Aguirre: It's a very interesting question, and it's purely hypothetical because we don't have any unused money. I wish we did. But I'd like to -- well, it's going to be, what, 106, 000, you know. But let me go back to one point, and it's a very valid point. And you referenced the lease that we were once in, by the way, long before I was on the Civilian Investigative Panel, but that lease was entered into in the year 2003 with the full strong recommendation of the Facilities management department of the City ofMiami. And really, Vice Chair, it was not exorbitant. I did the calculations. It was $14.80 a square foot in 2003. That is not an exorbitant amount back then. In 2007 additional space was incurred and that came in at $23 a square foot. That, again, is not an -- today, at rock -bottom market, that's about where rock -bottom market is today, and that was a heck of a buy back in 2007. Comparable leases in 2007 would have gone for over $30 a square foot. So we really were not in the lap of luxury back then. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Like I said, I will address that, you know, on the side. But more particular is my question that I asked you: What amount of unused monies are you going to have at the end of this fiscal year? Carol Abia: Commissioner, Carol Abia, interim executive director. At the end of this year we'll have at least $106, 000 of unused monies which was set aside towards the settlement on the lease. Brenda Shapiro: IfI could? Brenda Shapiro, member of the Civilian Investigative Panel. Good evening. We'll have 106,000 that we were mandated to set aside. But please keep in mind that we have not been able to fund two additional investigators, and our case load hasn't gone down; it's the same, and this is just the beginning of the year. So the 106 could give us more than two additional investigators and could add another staff person. We started with ten. We're down to three. Mr. Aguirre: That's absolutely correct. In other words, if you take that 106,000 that you want allocated to help resolve the breakup of the lease, we don't have any excess cash. If you leave us that 106,000 then we could bring in two investigators. And our investigators are not overpaid. We're looking at a budget of 49, $50, 000 per investigator, not an exorbitant amount. City ofMiami Page 138 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: IfI could continue, please? Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Okay, so at least you will admit that you have 106 at the end of the year? 'Cause I'm looking at a little bit more. I'm looking at approximately 131. And I'm going by the July actuals of how much you have spent for the year as of July 31, 2011, and that's the latest that the City has provided myself. I don't know if this Commission. So I can't go into the August numbers. I wish we were a little bit more speedy with regards to our monthly year-to-date, but it is what it is, and I'm going with -- on behalf of the July 31 actuals, and it seems like ifI do the computation, which I'm pretty certain that I'm doing it correct, you are looking at having $131, 000 in excess by the end of the year. Now you're saying 106, so at least we're getting close. So that's 106,000 of extra money that you have that you could roll over to 2012 year. Now, with that said -- Mr. Aguirre: That is assuming that you let us keep it and that you don't take it to mitigate the lease breakup. Ms. Abia: Correction on that. We don't have rollover funds. At the end of the year, that 106,000 goes back to the City's general fund. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry. It goes back to the City's general fund? Ms. Abia: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, 'cause that's where I'm going with it. That's what I want to make sure. Because ifI look at the audited financial statements of September 30, 2010, I'm seeing that they're allocating $80, 646 to you. So I'm looking -- I -- well, I'll show you where it is in the CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report), but it's showing in your net assets 80,646. Now I am just not, you know, under the impression that you all should be reserving funds, and in the CAFR you're showing $80, 000. So I don't know if someone in Finance or if we need to discuss this. But I'm seeing 80 plus 130, I'm seeing $211 [sic] that could go towards, you know, that money where we actually only have to fund for 2012 $253, 000 to make you whole at 464. Mr. Aguirre: You have given us great news. We don't have a piggy bank or a savings account, but if you have found it, please share it with us. Vice Chair Carollo: Well, it's -- Mr. Aguirre: Because this is wonderful news -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- you know -- Mr. Aguirre: -- because we didn't know we had that money. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Commissioner Carollo, can I just ask a quick question, just --? Vice Chair Carollo: Sure. Chair Gort: Yes. City ofMiami Page 139 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Andl think what you guys are bringing up is probably very good valid points, andl knew that Commissioner Carollo would dig deep to find out what the real issues were. I just think that if you're saying one thing and he's saying something different, I think the Administration needs to look at what Commissioner Carollo is speaking of and maybe you guys can step off to the side and deal with that issue. Because this seems like this is going to take a minute to kind of figure out like where is the 80 grand. I mean, I do have comments on this issue, Commissioner Carollo, but I don't want -- I'd rather them figure out the money part of it first, because my issue is really more -- is going to be more about the importance of the CIP panel. So the money issue, I think, is the most important thing that we need to get to the bottom of and it looks like they're trying to figure out what's going on. And l just don't want this to be another 25, 30 minutes for them to try to figure what's happening, like we did today with Finance. If you guys can take a few minutes to address that issue, Mirtha, if you could do that, and then -- Commissioner Carollo, if you have a copy of that -- 'cause I don't -- I didn't see the additional money at all. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Mr. Aguirre: Or -- Vice Chair Carollo: I could show you where it is in the CAFR. I actually made a copy for myself, and could make -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Could we have a copy of that? Vice Chair Carollo: And I -- yeah, sure. I could make a copy for you. But -- Mr. Aguirre: Or perhaps, Mr. Vice Chair, we could address -- Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have the CAFR? Mr. Aguirre: -- Commissioner Spence -Jones's questions while the Administration is -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. That's -- Mr. Aguirre: -- pouring through their books? Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- that looks like it's going to be a second, okay, 'cause -- Chair Gort: Let's get the funding first. Vice Chair Carollo: And again, what I'm looking at is, you know, this organization, no matter how good they are and no matter -- they shouldn't be, you know, in the business of reserving funds. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know. I'm not disagreeing -- Vice Chair Carollo: So -- and I'm just saying -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- with that. Vice Chair Carollo: -- even to make them whole, even to make them for what they're asking for, 464, then these 80 and that hundred and something should come back -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. City ofMiami Page 140 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: -- to the general fund; and we could still, from what they're allocating, be able to give them the 464 in the proposal and that's if -- well, I'll leave it at that. Mr. Aguirre: I do assure you, we are not reserving funds. If somebody in the City is reserving funds -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so that's -- Mr. Aguirre: -- smart work. But we're not doing that. We don't have it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- so I think that you got a commitment from him to make the adjustments on it, but let's not operate in the air. So can you guys -- can City Administration and you guys take a few seconds to work that out so we can at least keep things moving on that issue? Andl do have some comments that I'd like to add to -- where did he go? Chair Gort: Yes. He's -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, Commissioner Carollo -- Mr. Aguirre: All right. Mr. Chairman, would you give us direction? Chair Gort: Excuse me. Wait a minute. You want to answer your questions now or you want to wait until --? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. I'll just wait till we come back to that. Let's just move on to the other item, 'cause the Administration needs to figure that out. That's going to take 20 minutes for us to go through, so can we just go to the next item? Chair Gort: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Aguirre: All right, sir. You will call us back then? Chair Gort: Yes, we will. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes, as soon as you guys work out where the 80 grand went. Mr. Aguirre: Thank you, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Thank you. [Later..] Chair Gort: Can we go back to -- Commissioner Suarez: CIP? Commissioner Spence -Jones: CIP ready? Chair Gort: -- CIP. Mr. Aguirre: Mr. Chairman, I'm here to report that the Vice Chairman is absolutely right; there is a fund balance of $80, 000. It should have been cleaned up during the mid year adjustment. It didn't happen. Yearend adjustment. I'm going to ask Ms. Diana Gomez to give you a more City ofMiami Page 141 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 detailed explanation of why it was there and why it's still there. Diana Gomez: Diana Gomez, Finance director. The -- each year when the Budget Department makes the appropriation to an agency, we don't have their audited financial statements. We don't know what their fund balance is going to be. We can't -- so we appropriate the entire amount of what they believe they're going to need. Typically, either in the mid -year or at yearend clean -- mostly in yearend cleanup, which is going to be coming down the -- you know, in a couple of months we'll be doing the yearend cleanup when we're doing -- cleaning up our audit. We will then bring back to the City's general fund any balances that are left over. So just as we're appropriating this year for 2012, we don't know what they're going to leave on the table for 2011 so we can't factor that into a decision in the budget, so it's done after the fact. So that $80,000 will come back to the general fund at the time of the cleanup. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So what I'm saying is those 80,000, plus, like you said, we don't know exactly what they're going to end up with, if it's either -- at least they're saying at least 106. I was at more like 131, but they're saying 106. That 106 and that 80 should actually come back to the general fund, or all we have to do is let them have that money, but then only fund them 253, 000, depending if we use 131 or 106, and then they'll still be whole, they'll still be at 464. What I'm saying is that the City ofMiami should be receiving $211, 000 for this year's current general fund. Ms. Gomez: Well -- Vice Chair Carollo: So it's starting to add up. Ms. Gomez: -- the 11 -- what is left on the table for the '11 year, we won't know until later. So until have the audited financial statements, I'm not very comfortable saying that we're not going to -- we do or don't have that money. We can take a percentage of what they've expected to leave on the table and that would be a fair way to do it and say we're only going to fund them the difference of what they need. Vice Chair Carollo: The difference. Ms. Gomez: But we're going to appropriate the full 464 in order for them to be able to operate on that. They have fund balance sitting, so they -- we are reappropriating fund balance and then we will cash fund them the difference. That is an option that I -- Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So would it be fair to say that 464,000 is what you're asking for. And again, the other issue, as far as the rent and so forth, 464 is what they're asking for, minus -- let's just go, you know, with an even number -- $100, 000 that they said they're going to have -- they're not going to use this year. They're going to -- they said 106, but let's say 100, 000. That's 364 that we only have to budget them this year if we get that 100 back, and then minus 80, we're talking $284, 000 that we only have to fund them, even though they'll end up being whole at 464? Ms. Gomez: That is correct. Again, I would be cautious not to use such a close number to the 106 unless they are absolutely positive that they're not going to need it. I would say maybe 75 percent of what they're going to -- 50 to 75 percent of what they're planning to leave on the table we would reduce it by. We would always get that back in a subsequent year. Vice Chair Carollo: And by the way, I'm using July's 2011 actual numbers so, you know, it's two months that we could project and two months is actually not that much to project. I think it's City ofMiami Page 142 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 going to be more, but still, they may go out and now overspend -- Ms. Gomez: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- which I'm hoping you don't, so just -- Chair Gort: Let me ask a question. Vice Chair Carollo: But the bottom line is, we should get at least $180, 000 back into the general fund. I'm looking at more, like 211,000 back into the general fund. But that's going to have -- money that we're going to have in the general fund for this current year. Chair Gort: My question -- my suggestion -- andl don't know that I'm not an accountant, but the -- we can allocate today's budget -- approved today's budget of four hundred and some thousand dollars. How we're going to pay it depends on the reserve and whatever that has to come from the general funds. Can that be done? Ms. Gomez: You can appropriate existing fund balance and a contribution from the City in the amount of the difference. Vice Chair Carollo: Now the 80 is there. Ms. Gomez: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: So the 80 -- okay. Is it fair to say, Diana, that at least $80, 000 will be coming to the general fund for services for police officers, for --? Ms. Gomez: At the close out of this fiscal year for the City -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Ms. Gomez: -- we will be bringing that back. Now should you decide -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Ms. Gomez: -- to not fund them or reduce it by that amount, we won't bring it back to the City, but rather appropriate the use of that fund balance for them and then only fund a contribution from the City of 464 less the 80, whatever the number is. Chair Gort: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: The 80, plus the hundred or whatever for the year. Chair Gort: Right. Ms. Gomez: Plus whatever portion of that hundred we are comfortable -- Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. Ms. Gomez: -- to be conservative and fund it. Yes. Chair Gort: How we make the payments is the difference. Yes, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair. Mr. Aguirre, I was here when the 2007 -- they requested to expand their offices, andl was here when I warned them that that would be a foolish thing to do, City ofMiami Page 143 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 because I thought that we were budgetarily heading into a crisis. Andl was here when they said, well, we really don't need your vote, Commissioner. We have four other votes. Andl think they got four other votes. So my question to you is who ended up paying for that lease extension, the City ofMiami or the CIP? Mr. Aguirre: I don't know. I wasn't here at the time. I wasn't a member of the CIP at the -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. So I would like to know -- Mr. Aguirre: -- time. I don't know. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay. I'd like to know of the lease that they broke, how much was that -- how much did that cost the taxpayers? Mr. Aguirre: Well, if we hadn't broken the lease, it would have cost the taxpayers maybe four times as much than -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. Oh, I don't deny that, but -- Mr. Aguirre: And it was sort of like do we kill the whole body or do we just cut off an arm, and we elected to cut off the arm rather than kill the whole body. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Might have just cut a fingernail for all know. Mr. Aguirre: Well, it would have been a better solution had that been optionable. Commissioner Sarnoff.. But here's my position, and want to understand it. How much did it cost the taxpayers for the breaking of the lease? Mr. Aguirre: Carol -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Can somebody fromAdministration answer that question? Mr. Aguirre: -- what was the total cost of the settlement with the landlord? Ms. Bru: I can have somebody research in Legistar what the settlement amount was and get back to you in a minute. Let me just tell somebody upstairs to do that. Commissioner Sarnoff.. All right. So let's say that's a number. Mr. Aguirre: It was approximately $195, 000 -- Chair Sarnoff. Okay. Mr. Aguirre: -- give or take a few. Commissioner Sarnoff.. So the $195, 000 was not budgetarily prorated towards you, correct? In other words, did you pay it back to the City from your budget? Mr. Aguirre: We are going to give you $106, 000 from this budget request grudgingly back to you to settle that. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Why grudgingly? Mr. Aguirre: Because we think, honestly -- and it's a good question, andl hope another City ofMiami Page 144 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner pursues it further -- that right now that money would be very well served within the CIP for the mission of the CIP at this point in time. Commissioner Spence -Jones: What I'm -- I'm sorry. Let him finish. Mr. Aguirre: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Let me let Commissioner Sarnofffinish. Mr. Aguirre: But that may be -- Commissioner Sarnoff. So -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Because I'm now really confused, but go ahead. Commissioner Sarnoff. Just so I understand. What, in '010 [sic] or -- in '010 [sic] there was a settlement with this lease situation, correct? Mr. Aguirre: Correct. Commissioner Sarnoff. And that money was to come out of your budget, of which you said -- and forgive me for not using smart accounting terms. Did you just save $106, 000 to pay back the City ofMiami the 195 it cost? Mr. Aguirre: Say that again. Commissioner Sarnoff. I don't know how else to put it. Vice Chair Carollo: More or less. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Mr. Aguirre: Yeah, we're getting the money from you and then giving it back to you. That's creative accounting. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. So then -- Mr. Aguirre: And then I -- you know. Commissioner Sarnoff. Andl know it's begrudgingly. Mr. Aguirre: And with great reluctance. Commissioner Sarnoff. With great reluctance. Mr. Aguirre: And -- Commissioner Sarnoff. And great resistance. Mr. Aguirre: -- offending a lot of people who feel that the money should be used for investigations. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, we're going to get to that part. But I want to make -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, and that's -- City ofMiami Page 145 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- sure we address his issue (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah. So then this hundred -- because -- you know, I keep hearing numbers. There's -- here's what I've written down. There's a hundred -- Mr. Aguirre: To be honest with you, it'd be a lot easier if you all just did what I think you've done for other agencies. Commissioner Sarnoff. Which is? Mr. Aguirre: Just pay the settlement. Commissioner Sarnoff. So just incur the settlement, don't factor it against you, just use it out of your general fund; we should have known better, but we didn't know better, and -- Mr. Aguirre: It was the right call at that -- Commissioner Sarnoff. At the right time. Mr. Aguirre: -- moment in time. In 2003, in 2007 those decisions, looked at retroactively, were the right call at that moment in time. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff. That was -- Mr. Aguirre: At that moment in time it was the will of the Commission, and the Commission approved it, to increase the size and scope of the CIP. They did. You all allocated a budget of a million one, and we got some very favorable leases at that point in time. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Mr. Aguirre: It looked good at that time. Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Wait a minute. Commissioner Sarnoff. I gotcha. Mr. Aguirre: Market changed. Commissioner Sarnoff. So it's funny 'cause I knew you back then, and you andl were having conversations about how you thought the market was about to change, and in '07 you saw it coming. I know you weren't -- Mr. Aguirre: IndeedI did. Andl stood here and told you and your colleagues it was going to change, and you were the only one on the dais at that time, along with then -Commissioner Regalado, that believed me. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Mr. Aguirre: And predicted it was going to change. City ofMiami Page 146 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Excuse me. Commissioner Sarnoff.. And -- Chair Gort: I'd like to maintain this in question and answer, please. Commissioner Sarnoff.. So -- all right. So the $106, 000 is money that Commissioner Carollo believes is there, and then I heard another 80 -- Chair Gort: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Is there another 80 out there as well? Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Aguirre: There's 80,646 in the fund balance right now, and that will go back to you and -- as Commissioner -- Vice Chair Carollo correctly states and observes. Commissioner Sarnoff.. And am I correct in -- and am I correct that you are asking simply for $464,000 -- Vice Chair Carollo: See, that's my point. Commissioner Sarnoff.. -- to do --? Mr. Aguirre: That is correct. We're asking for the same amount we got last year -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay. Mr. Aguirre: -- to continue the mission in an ever more complex environment. Commissioner Sarnoff.. And that will provide you with two additional investigators? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Mr. Aguirre: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Mr. Aguirre: And the way we're going to do it is we're going to do some reassignments within the organization. Ms. Carol Abia, instead of being solely the administrator or the interim executive director, will assume the role of chief investigator and share her administrative responsibilities with another member of the staff as well. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But the answer is yes. Mr. Aguirre: Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you. Mr. Aguirre: Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: Now -- and my point is -- Chair Gort: (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F). Wait a minute. City ofMiami Page 147 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: He's -- Commissioner Sarnoff. No. I'll yield, I'll yield, I'll yield. Chair Gort: Sarnoff -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- they're asking for 464. Mr. Aguirre: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: In our budget it's 464. However, we're -- if we decide to give them what they're asking for, there's 180 -- 186, 180 something. My calculation says depending what they end up spending this year, might be -- I had up to 211, 000. That money needs to go back to the general fund, so we're going to have -- what's going to happen is they're going to get the 464, if we approve it, and we're going to get $211, 000 or $180, 000, depending who you're listening to. Chair Gort: Right. Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Andl -- the only thing that I just want to be clear on -- because, you know, it just seems like the waters are really muddy right now. The issue is they need to have the resources to do the two investigators. I know we all sitting up here agree and understand the importance of the CIP panel, me more so than anything else. After all of the stuff that has happened in the district over the last two years, it's extremely important that we do have that oversight, andl know every single last one of you will agree. So us going back and forth -- we just need a straight answer, and I don't know if that's an Administration question. Mr. Aguirre: Well, ask your question. Commissioner Spence -Jones: The 4 -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Wait a minute. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- the 464 that's needed, that will cover the two additional investigators. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Mr. Aguirre: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So if that's the case, then what else is the issue? Vice Chair Carollo: The issue is that we're going to obtain for the general fund at least $186,000. That's it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Or it might be up to $200, 000 -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But then -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- or $211, 000. And they still would have their -- Chair Gort: Okay. City ofMiami Page 148 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: -- 464 with the two additional investigators -- Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: -- if we approve that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, that's fine, as long as we agreeing to 464 today and they agree to pay back the 10 -- Vice Chair Carollo: It's not -- Chair Gort: The motion today is to approve their budget -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Chair Gort: -- at the figure that they're requesting. How we pay them, they'll take care of that. Ms. Abia: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: I don't want to get into details as far as financial and the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and all that. But the bottom line is there's monies there that can come to the general fund, at least 186,000 that they and us, the City Commission, have both agreed is at least 186, 000. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: They're agreeing to it. It's not like -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so I think we resolved it. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We're going to vote today on your 464 -- Chair Gort: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and then you guys work out the additional 180, whatever, that needs to be paid afterwards. But today we will vote on what's being brought in front of us -- Chair Gort: We have a motion. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- which is the 464, making sure that we do have those two additional two investigators, 'cause we all know that we need them. Correct? Ms. Abia: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. Chair Gort: Yes. I need a motion. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So moved. Chair Gort: It's been moved by -- Vice Chair Carollo: Second with an amendment. City ofMiami Page 149 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Spence -Jones, second by Commissioner Sarnoff. Amendment. Vice Chair Carollo: No. Second by Commissioner Carollo. Chair Gort: Okay. Seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo. Commissioner Sarnoff. Point of privilege. Vice Chair Carollo: The amendment is just that those -- let me get the exact amount. Hold on. Commissioner Spence -Jones: The additional -- Chair Gort: Whatever is less -- Vice Chair Carollo: The eighty thousand, six hundred and forty-six thousand -- hold on -- $80, 646 come back to the general fund, and whatever you did not use at the end of this year, which you're estimating 106, 000; I'm estimating 131, 000, but within that range, also comes back to the general fund of the City of Miami, which will give the CIP the 464 that you asked for, but at the same time will give the City ofMiami at least 186, 000 for its general fund and it could be as high as 211, 000. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We're clear on -- Vice Chair Carollo: Is that clear? Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- that, as long as I know we're voting on your 464 going on -- Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- in the budget -- Chair Gort: That's where (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Carollo: And we're all in agreement. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and he has the caveat added to it, but -- Mr. Aguirre: So you're capping our give -back at 211? Didl -- Vice Chair Carollo: No. I mean -- Mr. Aguirre: -- hear you correctly? Vice Chair Carollo: I don't want to cap it. I'm just -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Good negotiations. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, my goodness. Mr. Aguirre: I'm going to take you at your word. Okay, 211. That's our cap, okay. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: I don't want to cap it, but you know, I'm trying to be fair. I'm trying to do -- City ofMiami Page 150 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 BH.9 11-00781 Coconut Grove Business Improvement District (BID) Board Chair Gort: There's a -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- you know, the actual calculation. Mr. Aguirre: Mr. Vice Chair, we accept that -- Chair Gort: -- motion. Mr. Aguirre: -- friendly amendment. Chair Gort: Excuse me. There's a motion. There's a second. Commissioner Spence -Jones: There's a motion and a second. Chair Gort: Is there any further discussion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. Chair Gort: Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Have a wonderful evening. Ms. Abia: Thank you. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET OF THE COCONUT GROVE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ("BID"), TO PROVIDE FOR THE OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE OF THE BID, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012. 11-00781 Memos - BID.pdf 11-00781 Legislation.pdf 11-00781 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones R-11-0381 Commissioner Spence -Jones: So BH.9, Mr. Chairman? You want to --? Chair Gort: B.9 [sic]. Commissioner Spence -Jones: BH.9. City ofMiami Page 151 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: And hold on. Let me -- Chair Gort: Coconut Grove Business (UNINTELLIGIBLE). David Collins: Good evening, Commissioners. This is David Collins, executive director of the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District, 3390 Mary Street, Miami, Florida. I'm here tonight to ask -- to respectfully ask for your consideration and the approval of our annual budget, and our budget was approved by our board and our finance committee on August 9 and August 15 unanimously. It comes to expenditure total of $1, 307,177 and the same amount for income. Commissioner Sarnoff.. So move. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You have a question? Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff. Is there a second? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Commissioner Carollo, you had a question, right? Vice Chair Carollo: For? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Do you have a question on the BID (Business Improvement District)? Chair Gort: But -- Vice Chair Carollo: Oh, definitely. I'm just -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- waiting -- Chair Gort: There's a motion and a second. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- what was your -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- I'm waiting to see if you're going to second it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- I want to hear your questions first. Chair Gort: Okay. Who's going to second the motion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second for discussion, I guess. Chair Gort: Second for discussion. Okay, it's a motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones. Discussion. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. I'm going to have several issues. The first one thatl want to mention is one that think is important, and again, because of all the hard decisions that we've had to make last year and this year, and we even saw it today. Yes, we came to some concessions City ofMiami Page 152 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 with our unions, but at the same time, I mean, you know, it was difficult -- it was a difficult situation and difficult decisions on both parts, on their part and on our part. With that said, I think that in times when we have these difficult situations, we should be able to have various monies used for the general fund to go to police officers, firefighters, solid waste, and I'll leave it at that, general fund. I know that by code, I think it's 20 percent of the -- or 18 percent of the total surcharge goes back to the BID? Mr. Collins: Yes. The allowable range by state statute is 20 to 40 percent, but we get -- we do get the 20 percent, ifI may, on the amount of parking surcharge paid in Coconut Grove. I think that's an important consideration, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: No. I understand that. But I'm also faced with a situation of a parking garage or parking garages, you know, in downtown Miami, Marlins stadium and so forth where I -- you know, I've stated here at least for now in these tough difficult times that whatever revenues we derive from that will go to the general fund. It will not go to a special district in District 3. It will not stay within that district. It would actually go where it's needed, the general fund, you know, to fund police officers, solid waste, firefighters, and so forth. So I understand that by City code we've established that, and right now we can't go back and obtain that money, andl know it's $220, 000. It's quite a bit, especially in these difficult times. And let me tell you something, everything adds up. Everything adds up. So I need to make that point, because you know, I think in the future, if something we may want to look at where during difficult times or during a financial urgency or the potential financial urgency, I think that, you know, we should be able to tap into those funds so all those funds goes to the general fund. Now the extra assessments that, you know, you charge the businesses and so forth, no, I -- that I'm not saying we're going to touch. But as far as parking garages, yeah, I think that, you know, is fair game, especially when we're having difficult times. So I wanted to make that point. Second point I want to make -- andl think made it last time -- your G&A, general and administration, is almost 25 percent of all of your expenses. That's quite high. And again, I -- you know, I yield to the chairman of the Coconut Grove BID. I yield to, you know, my colleague, to his judgment and so forth, but you know, I'm also looking out -- these are taxes. These are tax revenues. These are, you know, monies from the citizens of the City ofMiami, andl think have a fiduciary duty to be able to fight as much as I can for that money to be returned to the citizens and not necessarily go to administrative costs, so that's the second item that want to bring up. And the third item, I see a host committee income of 120 and then a host committee expense of 168, so it is ends up netting a loss, so I'm not sure what that is, and I'm hoping it's, you know, to the benefit of the City in some way, so maybe you could elaborate on that. Mr. Collins: Sure, I'd be delighted to, Commissioner. It actually says hotel committee, and it is relative to increasing the marketing of our six premier hotels in Coconut Grove so that they can market themselves as -- because they are some of the best in Miami and the beaches. We'll have more people in the Grove, more people shopping in the Grove, and more people eating in the Grove. It's a direct investment in Coconut Grove, which is what a business improvement district does. Vice Chair Carollo: I understand. Now why do you have hotel income of 120 and then you have hotel committee, as of July 2011, of 168 as an expense? Mr. Collins: Because we've negotiated with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau to match that along with the hotels. Vice Chair Carollo: So they matched the funding? Mr. Collins: Yes. City ofMiami Page 153 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Understood. They matched the funding and then -- gotcha. Mr. Collins: IfI may -- Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Mr. Collins: -- respond to item 2. We slashed salaries 20,000. We have an annual rent of $30, 000 for a fairly modest ground -level office. We're not out of control in G&A in our opinion and neither in the opinion of our board. Finally, on point one, I think the reason that -- There are more than 1,000 business improvement districts across America, towns big and small, Corning; Manhattan has 90 BIDs, Miami has 1. The one thing that works against BIDs across the country is when diligent and responsible politicians who have been elected to office decide that they're going to get more out of the money than the BIDs are going to provide back to the community. For example, in the coming budget year, we provide $258, 000 and only get 220 from parking surcharge funds that had been collected in Coconut Grove Village so that we 're paying more on the streets, including, I would add, sir, the 12 median islands that decorate the front of this City Hall are paid for by us, not the County, not the City. And we're doing our best, and I think that we can do better because there are other BIDS in America that are doing great jobs. And rather than discourage us by talking about taking back money, I think that we should encourage the formation of BIDs because it expands the pie, with respect. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. I want to address the second point that you mentioned as far as the GNA is not out of control. I never mentioned out of control -- Mr. Collins: Oh, okay. Vice Chair Carollo: -- but it is high. Mr. Collins: Apologies. Vice Chair Carollo: At 25 percent, it's high. Mr. Collins: Fine. Vice Chair Carollo: And ifI include -- you know what, I'm not even going to go there. But it is high. And speak to the financial, you know, personnel and so forth, and they will tell you, yeah, GNA at 25 percent or almost 25 percent of your total expenses is high. Whether you slash salaries $20, 000 or not, the bottom line is, what you take as a whole is high. And I'm not sure exactly with the islands and how much you're putting in. You say that you're putting in 258,000 and getting back only 220. What I am saying is -- and I -- I'm supportive of BIDs -- Mr. Collins: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: -- even though we only have one, but at the same time -- and -- okay, let me backtrack and rephrase that. I am supportive of BIDs, but at the same time, there's different ways that the BID could be established. And you have a hybrid. You have different fees and so forth that you charge, let's say, the businesses and so forth. But at the same time, in a parking garage that, yeah, it just so happens that it's in the Grove. You know, there is, you know, the surcharge that we charge every parking garage, andl believe it's either 18 or 20 percent of that money goes right back to the BID where right now in these tough, difficult times, we are looking at everything because look, in all fairness, I see that you pretty much have a fund balance of City ofMiami Page 154 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 about $3.6 million. Mr. Collins: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: That's correct, right? So if you have a fund balance of $3.6 million -- Right now we're in some tough financial situations. People are losing their jobs. And those revenues that could be used to enhance and so forth could go for salaries of police officer, firefighters, solid waste, and I'm not saying all the time, but in difficult years, yes, I am looking at everything, and we should look at everything. So that's all I'm saying. Now that doesn't mean that I'm not supportive of BIDs. That means -- that does not mean that I'm not supportive of you all. That doesn't mean that I'm not supportive of Commissioner Sarnoff as the chairman of the Coconut Grove BID. However -- and in all fairness, you know, this isn't the only time that I saw revenues staying in a district in these tough financial times, saying hey, listen, some of that should go into the general fund. Chair Gort: Now there's a conference going on. Mr. Collins: IfI may, Mr. Chair? Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Collins: Thank you. I would like to point out -- I respect your opinion, sir, absolutely, andl think your attention to detail is impressive, andl do respect it. The reserve fund that the BID has is entirely restricted funds. That's money that has to be used in very specific ways. And the question you asked about the 258, I won't bore you with drilling down, but it includes -- we put up better signage in Coconut Grove. Those blue signs that you see, we're putting $25,000 into replacing those because we own those. We put them in the right-of-way; we got to maintain them. We're putting up better pedestrian directories. The rest of America tells tourists where to go, so the cost of 5, 000 -- and these all add up, and they all have to do with the allowable uses in the parking surcharge, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And by all means -- and this goes straight to my point -- I don't mean that you're not doing a good job and that the signs are great; and yes, I have seen them. They look great and so forth. But right now, at least this Commissioner, I prefer that money to go to police officers' salaries, to firefighter salaries, solid waste employees, parks than I do to signs. Mr. Collins: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And that's my point. Mr. Collins: Yes, sir. Andl am not -- Vice Chair Carollo: That's my point. Mr. Collins: -- disagreeing with that point, sir. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. City ofMiami Page 155 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Sarnoff. I think if you would look at the source funding and what that money could and couldn't be used for, we'd have to go to Tallahassee to change what that money could be used for. I mean, oftentimes when I'm walking in the Grove or anywhere else, people are going, you know, I think you should pay teachers more money. And I'm thinking, well, we're not the School Board, but people really don't know that. But we do know sitting up here certain money is directed towards capital improvement, certain money is directed towards only parking, certain money is directed towards those type of issues. Now the BID has three source fundings. The source funding that the Commissioner is suggesting is not the source funding that could be used for police officers and could not be used for firefighters. However, this BID does pretty much maintain four uniform police officers from the City ofMiami on, more or less, a continuous basis through other source funding. With regard to salaries, how much do you make, Mr. Collins? Mr. Collins: Eighty-seven thousand, sir. No pension. Commissioner Sarnoff. Tell us your pension. Mr. Collins: No pension. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. And what's the person just below you make? Mr. Collins: Fifty-six thousand, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff. And tell us his pension. Mr. Collins: Zero. Commissioner Sarnoff. And the person below that? Mr. Collins: Twenty-nine thousand. Commissioner Sarnoff. And tell us her pension. Mr. Collins: Zero. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. So I -- you know, I could argue, I think, persuasively, that if the BID does its job, it increases the ad valorem base of the City ofMiami, which is something that is an unrestricted amount of money, by increasing the value of the particular district that the BID is improving, and that's the import behind it. I mean, can New York City be so wrong by having 90 BIDs? It is the way that New York City has increased its value pretty much from Guiliani administration on. It was pre -Giuliani, there were no BIDs. Post -Giuliani, there was 72 BIDs. There have only been the creation of about 18 more BIDS post -Giuliani. That was how New York improved itself. I suspect andl suggest the Design District is a good member to be a BID. Wynwood will someday be a BID. It is how precious resources that compete with each other create a stainable society in the times that we live. You know, some people suggest that we should go to Tallahassee and no money should be earmarked, but that's not the way it is right now. And as it stands right now, we do have money that's earmarked only for capital infrastructure, only for road, only -- you know, somebody said to me the other day, you're spending money on this roads; why don't you spend it on police officers? Because it's surtax and you can't spend it on a police officer, and it's complicated to people 'cause they don't understand that. But it is the nature of the electorate. It is because they didn't trust elected officials that they created special source funding so that it couldn't be used for any purpose, so it had to be used for capital infrastructure, for roads, andl can go on and on. The money that you're suggesting could not be used police officers. However, the BID does maintain four uniform officers in the City ofMiami Page 156 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Grove pretty much on a continued basis, and that is how Coconut Grove became and is today the safest city in all of South Florida. It is because of that patrol service that they have voted themselves and provided for themselves, that last year and this year they are going to be the safest city in all ofMiami-Dade County and this year moved up to the 24th safest city in America. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. -- Chair Gort: Okay, yes, sir. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Some more you want to add? Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. I just reserve time for rebuttal, and I'm learning this -- the lingo from all these attorneys, so I'll just reserve time for rebuttal, and I'll yield to Commissioner Spence -Jones. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I really don't have a lot of comments on you guys' argument on the issue. The only thing that I would like to kind of just add on the issue. I was not clear -- and) don't know where Art is. Oh, there's Art. Because in the beginning) was told that it was -- you're only asking for 200, 000. I think that kind of confused everyone because it was actually in our budget -- in our actual budgets that were presented to us, and then now it's not -- it's there, but to my understanding, it's actually just coming from the parking revenues, so it's really more or less a pass -through than anything else. So I got clarity on that. Is that correct, Art? Art, like I didn't hear anything you had to say, Commissioner. So the money that that's being collected from parking in Coconut Grove, it has to be given to the City first; and then from us, then we have to pass it along? Art Noriega: Yeah, but that's surcharge money. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Mr. Noriega: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. So -- Chair Gort: And you are? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Huh? Mr. Noriega: Sorry. Art Noriega, Miami Parking Authority. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so I have clarity on that. I just wanted to just state that for the record, you know, I truly support BIDs and) support CRAs (Community Redevelopment Agencies). I support any of those kind of organizations that are going to redevelop any areas, whether or not they be areas that have slum and blight or whether or not they're areas that just need the extra push to help grow into the next level. My only thoughts and communication would be to you, David, is -- Mr. Collins: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- just like I would say to any CRA that, you know, I'm a part of -- and) do want to -- you know, the Design District is in my district, and though I definitely feel like, you know, having BIDs and that would help them go to the next level as well. But what I do City ofMiami Page 157 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 want to state for the record, that I think it's extremely important to really understand -- I think for the Commissioners to understand what the overall plan is. Andl think that there's confusion at times because, you know, even though it may be in my district or Commissioner Sarnoffs district, it's still the City ofMiami -- Mr. Collins: Absolutely. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- you know. So I think it's extremely important for there to be some kind of communication maybe on an ongoing basis so that at least people see kind of what the BID is doing so that we don't get to budget hearings and we're not clear about why signage and all this other stuff is happening -- Mr. Collins: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and, you know, there's a lot of questions, you know, about it afterwards. I personally -- andl know it's your district, butt have to ask this question. I'm wondering if there's any future plans to include the expansion of the BID so that the West Grove could have the opportunity to benefit from a BID as well or being a part of the BID? Andl don't know if that's more or less your conver -- a conversation for you or a conversation for Commissioner Sarnoff. But you know, on, you know, Grand Avenue -- I mean, those businesses -- I mean, to have the support of a BID in that area will only help it grow. So my question would be, are you looking at including down the line or soon --? Is that your question or his question? Commissioner Sarnoff.. Probably better suited to me. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff.. There are so few businesses left on Grand Avenue that think you have to bring in -- I've always candidly bet on the Pointe Group, and they're still coming and they're still going to be creating a retail establishment, a Publix; if not a Publix, it will be another supermarket. Andl think you've got to create a certain mass and a certain density there before they can be included or considered as part of a BID. You can collapse a BID, and this BID could easily collapse because it'll take on more territory than it can handle and it won't -- it'll stretch its resources too far and when you -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Let me just add. I got you. I just think that you have a particular community -- and I'm just saying to you, David -- and it's not my district, but it is our city. I think that whatever it takes to kind of include them somehow so that at least they're benefiting from what you have, whether or not it be expertise, resources, or whatever it is, I think it's important -- and let me just say this to you, because I also look at the BID in Harlem, aperfect example. Mr. Collins: Oh, sure. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And Harlem, you know, have the same issues: Certain areas were not -- you know, didn't have, you know, the density, but had space in between, you know, by the Apollo theater and the rest of that, and they included in the BID no matter what because it eventually grew out. Andl just think it sends a -- more of a united message for the Grove to be united so that it can grow together. I just would want to see -- if I'm supporting this in any level, I would want to make sure that there's much inclusion and participation for both sides of the Grove. I think it's extremely important. I think it sends the right message. And if we're supporting that on the dais, you know -- or supporting you on the dais, then we need to see that kind of flowing to the other residents in the area as well. Mr. Collins: May I respond? City ofMiami Page 158 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: That would be my only -- only reason why I would bring it up is because I know Harlem had the -- they had the -- they clearly had the space like you're talking about, but they included it, and it was really important that they included it because it help grow the area. Commissioner Sarnoff. But bear in mind -- Chair Gort: Listen -- I'm sorry; you wanted to answer? Mr. Collins: I stand aside, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff. No. What I'm saying is bear in mind that you have to be invited into that territory. You have to then have a vote of the territorial owners. And what I'm probably inartfully [sic] saying to you is I think you have to get some development there before you could really create an expansion of the BID. And you know, that's really pretty much what we've been waiting for, is that development to occur. Now you'll hear a whole lot about that development, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But that's pretty much what -- what you want to see happen on Grand Avenue, which I think is what want to see happen on Grand Avenue, is vitality, is seeing people of all colors walking up and down and enjoying it. I think that's going to take the private sector investment. And once the private sector invests, I think the BID could readily expand or create another sub BID there, if needed to be, but I don't think you could do it to vacant land right now, and that's pretty -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So there's no businesses on Grand? Commissioner Sarnoff. Predominantly, there's not. I mean, there's a person that knows it pretty well right behind you, Placido Diaz. There's really nothing left on Grand Avenue. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know. I just -- I know that there are businesses on Grand, on the Unidentified Speaker: There are some, but they're west of -- the majority are west of -- Commissioner Sarnoff. By McDonald. Unidentified Speaker: By Plaza -- west of Plaza. Commissioner Sarnoff. I'm sorry, yeah, by -- Vice Chair Carollo: Mike. Chair Gort: Yes. Mike, mike, mike. Vice Chair Carollo: On the record. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I guess he's trying to tell you to get on the mike. Okay, so -- I mean, I don't want to make it a big issue. I'm just telling you for my support, I would like to see, you know, definitely, you know, the people of the West Grove participate and be involved in what's happening. And whether or not the development is there already, you know, let's figure out a way to at least make sure that they're somewhat included, and that's, you know -- Mr. Collins: HI may just briefly? Chair Gort: Yes. City ofMiami Page 159 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Collins: I know it's long. I have had serious meetings with Will Johnson, Yvonne McDonald, Jihad Rashid, and the owners of the Pointe Group, and they've all been interested. The problem is -- and it's only -- it was a problem in the Center Grove too. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Mr. Collins: You got to get property owners in these difficult times to say that they're willing to take X'amount of money and put it there every year for five or ten years. I am prepared in -- as a volunteer to help with that. As for the BID itself, it's a decision of the board. I've kept the conversation going to the extent I can. I put textbooks that describe how to do it in the Village West. I am completely in agreement with you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. That was my only comment, Commissioner. I just wanted to, you know -- Chair Gort: Question. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- see if there's any way it could be included. Chair Gort: Any idea where the new -- what is it called, the project that we approved here, the -- 2 Commissioner Sarnoff.. Pointe Group? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Pointe Group? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff.. They'll kind of come to us, my guess, is in December with a new master plan, so it's not like they're not coming. They're coming. But I haven't seen that plan. I know I've seen a letter of intent from Publix. I know that that is 135 jobs right there on the premise. I know that brings another 60 indirect jobs. So I know there is development, you know, coming through seeing a letter of intent. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Collins: And ifI may -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Collins: -- Mr. Chair, I did bring a packet of the 20 biggest projects we worked on this past year, so ifI can circulate that. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: I just wanted to clarify because we did try to do a BID in the MiMo (Miami Modern) area, I believe. Andl think the way it works, from my recollection, was that it goes to the public in essence, and the public has to vote to basically -- I don't want to say tax itself, but to in essence, you know, pay that extra fee, so -- I mean, I think our job is ministerial in the sense that we just put it to the public and the public -- if the public wants to do it and if they can afford it, why not. You know, I don't see why not. I mean, I would love -- selfishly, would love to have a BID in Coral Way. I just don't know that our business owners would want to pay City ofMiami Page 160 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 an extra, you know, tax -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: And that's what I -- Commissioner Suarez: -- you know. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- wanted to be clear. I was told that the tax, it actually -- what's happening is they're not actually -- correct me if I'm wrong -- Mr. Collins: Sure. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- they're not actually paying an extra tax. They're just -- we're identfing money out of the taxes that they're already paying. Commissioner Sarnoff. No. Mr. Collins: No. Commissioner Sarnoff. It's -- think of it like the CRA. You get your base year and then you go above. Commissioner Suarez: Or like the DDA. Commissioner Sarnoff. So it's the -- more like -- it's the DDA. Commissioner Suarez: More like the DDA, yeah. Commissioner Sarnoff. Correct. You vote yourself an increment above. No, it's not part of your taxes. It's -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- a tax over -- it's like a special taxing district. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: It's like a fee, but there's different -- Commissioner Suarez: It gets included in the tax bill, though, doesn't it? Commissioner Sarnoff. Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Mr. Collins: Yes, it does, at the County. Vice Chair Carollo: It -- Commissioner Suarez: So they do -- Mr. Collins: Non ad valorem. Commissioner Suarez: -- collect for it through the tax bill. Vice Chair Carollo: And there's different revenue sources. So there's fees, but then there's also City ofMiami Page 161 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 these parking surcharge. Now by code -- you know, I agree -- andl started saying that, that that has to go back into the BID. I understand that. However, if we change that code, I don't see why parking surcharge money can't go to police officers or firefighters or, you know, solid waste. And as a matter of fact, you know, I have spoken to our financial team now, andl guess we're deliberating to see if we can or we can't or so forth. And you know what, that's -- maybe that's for another time. We'll discuss it. But that's my point. Commissioner Sarnoff. The Grove is one of two districts in the City ofMiami that has what's called park -- payment for parking in lieu of creation, and that's the parking surcharge you're seeing, which is instead of having a parking spot, you pay in lieu of that parking spot. There's another -- Design District has it; they've never used it. But the Grove is the only part that's ever used it. Because it was never possible to create the necessary parking spaces, they pay in lieu of parking. So let's say a restaurant has to have 16 parking spaces -- let's just say for instance -- they could only create four or five. They pay the additional 12 in lieu thereof. Vice Chair Carollo: Again, you know, I spoke to our financial team. I think we're still deliberating, unless they're ready to come -- I'm not -- you know, I'm just making a point. You know, I'm just seeing dollars that's generated from a parking garage and some of that money is going back to that district. Similar to like Burn Notice, what happened. And let me be perfectly clear. I am not against a BID. I am not against a Coconut Grove BID. I'm just saying one of your revenue streams, one of them -- because you have several. You have several fees here. And if you see their budget, you will see the different fees, how they obtain their revenues. One of your revenue sources is part of you know, monies that -- and you're going to see it today when we vote for the City budget -- 220,000 we're going to allocate back to the BID. And I'm just saying, in these tough financial times, can't that money go into the general fund? Andl know by code -- because it's within our -- within the City Commission's purview, you know. I know by code it's going back to the BID, andl don't know if what restrictions you have for it or so forth. But parking surcharge monies, unless someone tells me otherwise, I don't see why they cannot be used for police services and so forth, unless you tell me otherwise and, you know, we actually -- you know, I guess, open up the books and so forth. But you know, discussing it briefly here, it didn't seem like we cannot use it for that. Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Diana Gomez: Diana Gomez, Finance director. The way that it is currently written in the code, it does say that those dollars need to go -- to be used for capital -type expenditures in that area. So should this Commission wish to change the code, obviously they can, and they can write it for however they want to use it. But as it stands now, it needs to be used for capital -type expenditures. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: And that's exactly my point. And I think if you go back into the minutes, that's how I started. I know how it's written in the code. Andl know that it's going back into the BID, and maybe it's restrictions that you could only use it for capital. However -- and that's how I started my argument. You know, maybe it's something that we need to revisit, you know, because in tough financial times, we went -- may want to have an opening where that money can then be used for the general fund, again, when we are in a situation of financial urgency or the potential, and then that money can be used for police officers, firefighters, and solid waste. Now as the code is written right now, yes, that money is supposed to go back into BID and used for capital or so forth. However, we could change that in the future. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Diana, what does that number equate to? City ofMiami Page 162 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Gomez: Over the past couple of years, it has equated to about $220, 000 a year. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh. So that -- that's the only amount? Ms. Gomez: That's the only amount -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Ms. Gomez: -- that we're talking about, that I understand we're talking about. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Is that what you're talking about? Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So there's nothing outside of the 200? Vice Chair Carollo: No. Anything outside of the 200, they actually, you know, are fees. But hey, for -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: What's that number -- Vice Chair Carollo: But -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- outside of the 200? 'Cause I don't have -- I'm sorry; I didn't see that. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Sarnoff. No. What are your other revenue sources? Vice Chair Carollo: A little less than a million. Commissioner Sarnoff. What are your other revenue sources and what are your sources of revenue? Vice Chair Carollo: A little less than a million. Mr. Collins: Sure, delighted. Parking waivers which are paid by people that don't -- businesses that don't have sufficient parking in Coconut Grove; special events supplemental fees which we pour back into capital also; sidewalk cafe fees paid for by our beautiful restaurants on the street; and banner fees, which are minimal. We're allowed to charge minimal amounts to put banners across the street, then BID assessments. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Collins: That's basically it. Vice Chair Carollo: Bid assessments. And 8ther'£ncomes. Mr. Collins: Yeah. The 8ther'actually is very interesting. It's very interesting because it's co-op funds -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. City ofMiami Page 163 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Collins: -- where we partner with and increase the level of money that we're able to improve the Grove with. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. Now -- and -- I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: No. Go ahead. Vice Chair Carollo: And, Commissioner, yeah, I understand it's $220, 000. But you saw for 651, okay, 220 here, 200 there, 100 there, it adds up and, you know -- and you saw the surprise we got today. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Listen -- Vice Chair Carollo: Maybe we wouldn't have gotten that surprise. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- I'm not disagreeing with you. I just want to make sure I understand the numbers -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- because it appeared like there was three different categories of monies coming in beyond the 220 so -- or two other categories, so I wanted to understand how much it was actually generating. So that was really the question. Andl think I'm clear on the issue. I don't know if you have anything else you want -- I think my points have been made. I really feel like it needs to be more inclusive with the West Grove, and Commissioner Sarnoff and Mr. Collins have said that they're looking at possible ways to do that, and that would be my only real issue of concern about that at this point. Chair Gort: Let me make a little suggestion, andl understand we can change all the ordinances that we placed before, but one of the things that we can do -- because there's a lot of neighborhood that produce X'amount of income, and we also have to take care of the general funds that the -- all the neighborhood as a whole. You do have restricted funds, but you have to use the capital improvement. Maybe you, working with the City ofMiami, some of the capital improvement expenses that the City would have to do within that area, it might be subsidized by you and that'll be some savings for the general funds. Just food for thought. Mr. Collins: With things like tree trimming, we do that every day of the year, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And I'm ready to vote on it. There's no sense -- I think we've made our points and so forth. The only thing want to say as far as the general and administrative, I didn't get the breakdown so I don't know how much the salary, but that's okay. I'm going to yield to, you know, the chairman of your BID board and so forth and -- Chair Gort: No. He stated it. Vice Chair Carollo: -- trust his judgment. So I'm ready to vote. Mr. Collins: Thank you, Commissioner. Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion? Being none, it's a resolution. All in favor, state it by saying iiye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: Thank you. City ofMiami Page 164 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 BH.10 11-00785 Fire Fighters and Police Officers Retirement Trust Mr. Collins: Thank you very much. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET OF THE CITY OF MIAMI FIRE FIGHTERS' AND POLICE OFFICERS' ("FIPO") RETIREMENT TRUST FUND FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012, IN THE AMOUNT OF $0, TO PROVIDE FOR THE OPERATION OF THE CITY OF THE FIPO RETIREMENT TRUST FUND, WITH THE ACTUALAMOUNTAMORTIZED IN ACTUARIAL NORMAL COST AS STATED IN THE ACTUARIAL REPORT DATED JUNE 16, 2011. 11-00785 Memos - FIPO.pdf 11-00785 Letter -Actuarial Report.pdf 11-00785 Legislation.pdf 11-00785 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff R-11-0388 Vice Chair Carollo: Next? Commissioner Spence -Jones: So we have three more hours -- Chair Gort: Next is the City of Miami Fire and Police Retirement Trust. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- Mr. Chairman, andl really believe we can do it. Vice Chair Carollo: You -- did you --? Oh, I guess you didn't receive that -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, four hours. I'm sorry. Vice Chair Carollo: -- amendment that we got -- or I got at three something -- 3: 30 amending our budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But I believe. Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Vice Chair Carollo: We're making progress. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes, we are. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: We're obtaining monies for the general fund. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you. City ofMiami Page 165 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Okay. Yes, sir. Tom Gabriel: Tom Gabriel and Bob Nagle, 1895 Southwest 3rdAve, here for a resolution of the City ofMiami Commission, with attachments, approving and adopting the annual budget of the City of Miami Firefighters and Police Officers, FIPO, retirement trust fund for the fiscal year commencing October 1, 2011 -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So moved. Mr. Gabriel: -- and ending September 30, 2012, in the amount of zero for the operation of the FIPO retirement trust fund, with the actual amount amortized and the actuarial normal costs as stated in the actuarial report dated June 16, 2011. Andl -- rest assured, you all know it's not actually zero that we're using for administration costs, but the number is $2, 367, 008. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I moved it. Is there --? Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Spence -Jones. Is there a second for discussion? Vice Chair Carollo: Second for discussion. Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman Carollo. Go right ahead, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Mr. Manager, do you recommend that we approve this? Johnny Martinez (City Manager): I think the $2.3 million is part of the budget of their 42 million, right? Two point -- yeah, the 2.2 million. Vice Chair Carollo: Help him out, Danny. So you believe that we should approve this? Mr. Martinez: Well, the Commission has the right to look through these items and see if the $2.3 million is the appropriate amount of money, but it's included in the pension budget. Vice Chair Carollo: How 'bout our financial team, should they look at it too? Because this is actually monies from the general fund that's going to be going to pay administrative costs. And by the way, this money is not going to pay pensions, it's not going -- it's actually going to pay administrative costs. Mr. Martinez: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: And it's money that's leaving our general fund and it's not going to police officers' salaries, firefighters' salary, general employees' salaries. So I want to know has our financial team looked at this. Where are we? Mr. Gabriel: Actually, it's not coming directly from the fund. It is -- part of the money is being fronted by the plan. You eventually pay because -- obviously. Vice Chair Carollo: And that's the bottom line. Mr. Gabriel: But in a year that you have a positive investment return, you sort of made a good bet. In the year that you didn't do so well, you'll make that up and the administrative cost. So by putting it inside the plan in the years that you do have a positive return, you'll get more for your money, so to speak. City ofMiami Page 166 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I have a couple of questions. One is -- and this is also for the Administration. The -- it seems like the contribution for this upcoming fiscal year went down about -- from what I'm reading in this letter from the fund --from Stanley Holcombe, it seems like it went down from 65 for the current fiscal year to 42.3 for -- or actually 65, was that the prior fiscal year, to 42 --? Mr. Gabriel: Yeah. This year it'll be somewhere. The normal cost -- there's two separate costs. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Gabriel: We have the administrative costs, which is the zero for the budget theoretically on here, but the 2.3; and then we have the cost which is the mumbojumbo at the end that says the actuarial cost for the normal cost, which is the $42 million, and it is down -- Commissioner Suarez: The 42 is for this upcoming budget year, correct? Right. And we were given -- Chair Gort: For the '11/'12 for next year is 40 -- Commissioner Suarez: We were given a letter by our -- and this is the question that I have. I have couple of questions, several questions. But we were given a letter by our attorney -- our pension attorney that said that our employer contribution was -- and I'm paraphrasing, I'm guessing -- guesstimating -- about 52 percent. Mr. Gabriel: Are you talking about for payroll? Commissioner Suarez: Yes. I'm asking -- Mr. Gabriel: Oh, okay. Commissioner Suarez: -- the Administration because that really wasn't produced by your board. That was produced by them. So I want to confirm is that correct or is that incorrect? Unidentified Speaker: No. It's correct. It is correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Who are you asking? Commissioner Suarez: I'm asking the Administration? Commissioner Spence -Jones: The Administration. Chair Gort: Hello. Commissioner Suarez: Hello. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Budget. Chair Gort: Question. Commissioner Suarez: My question is in the letter that we received from our pension attorney, I City ofMiami Page 167 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 recall that they said that employee -- the employer contribution for our FIPO fund was 52 percent of payroll. Is that -- approximately. Is that correct or incorrect? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Danny, can you go on the other one so he -- you can help him out a little bit? Daniel Alfonso: Danny Alfonso, Budget director. That sounds about right, Commissioner. I don't have the letter infront of me, but that number seems to ring a bell. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. And what I'm reading here in the letter delivered by this company, Stanley Holcombe & Associates, is that it's 29.89 percent. That's a huge discrepancy. Mr. Gabriel: Let me explain. Actually, if you look above -- are you on the actuarial report -- Commissioner Suarez: I am. Mr. Gabriel: -- page 4, where it says summary discussions at the top? Either way, I can explain what the -- Commissioner Suarez: I have a letter infront of me that says October 1, 2010 actuarial report, and it says dear board members. Mr. Gabriel: Yeah, okay. Commissioner Suarez: And it's signed by -- Mr. Gabriel: It's a letter but it sums up what's on the actuarial report. And ifI could, it's a great thing to talk about because the numbers 50 percent is thrown out, and obviously that's seems pretty high. But it's sort of a -- it's a moot number, and say that because we have people on payroll right now that are not paying any contribution and are not costing anything. They're in the DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Plans), so the DROP has been outlined. Certainly for anybody who reads the paper, you could certainly understand what the DROP is now. But the total cost of payroll -- of total payroll, including the people that are in the DROP, which are putting out fires, arresting suspects, et cetera, they're on the street, the total cost of payroll is 29 percent. You have two -- Commissioner Suarez: Including people who are in the DROP? Mr. Gabriel: Correct. So when you look at the first number, where it says 52 percent, which is exactly what -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Gabriel: -- Randy Stanley had said -- Commissioner Suarez: I think it's 52.84. Mr. Gabriel: -- that is the total cost of payroll for people who are still contributing. Commissioner Suarez: Who are not in the DROP basically. Mr. Gabriel: However, it's not the cost of the total (UNINTELLIGIBLE). We don't separate the total cost. So the number -- the real number that should be out there is 29 percent of total payroll and -- however, the 52 percent is not incorrect. City ofMiami Page 168 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: I gotcha. Mr. Gabriel: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: It's two ways of looking at the -- kind of the same information. Mr. Gabriel: Correct. And we thought that the -- and Randy Stanley thought that it's a more accurate picture. Because when you take the pay cuts that the individuals took and the fact that 260 or 270 people jumped into the DROP, all of a sudden all of the savings that you put onto the plan last year and you could see the dollar amount dropped, you would have thought that the percentage of payroll would have dropped with it. Because what you did is you imposed caps and you made different changes right, and that saved millions of dollars. It's not captured if you look from last year. It was around the same amount of percentage of payroll but not total payroll. You did save a lot of money with those cuts. It was -- and when you look at the total package now, it's 29 percent. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. I mean, I think your explanation makes logical sense. I haven't had a chance to -- Mr. Gabriel: Right. Commissioner Suarez: -- to review it, but it makes intuitive sense to me, andl -- again, I haven't had a chance to actually think about how those two numbers interplay because it's a big discrepancy. I mean, going -- Mr. Gabriel: Right. Absolutely. Commissioner Suarez: -- from 52 percent to 29 percent. Andl understand the way you're explaining it andl think it makes sense. I still -- not sure how I feel about it. I think there are some other issues that have, andl don't know who else on the board shares the issues that have. One of them is that the proposed -- well, the proposed budget goes up by about $140, 000. That's one issue. Some of that is in salaries. Some of that -- I mean, obviously, there's derivative -- once you raise the salaries, that has a derivative effect on FICA (Federal Insurance Contribution Act) taxes, for example, retirement contributions, insurance, et cetera. There's an additional two line items for additional $20, 000 in legal services and additional $5, 000 in travel, education -- slash education. Mr. Gabriel: Would you like me to just touch on --? Commissioner Suarez: Sure. Mr. Gabriel: On the legal issue, we've had the same attorney for quite a long time, back as far as I've been on the job, over 30 years, and he's only asked for two increases in his retainer. Certainly over the last couple of years, we spent a big increase of legal issues not only from the internal stuff but external stuff where we have forfeiture hearings for police officers or firefighters who break the law, have a felony. We've recently completed a slate of six or seven of those. Those are actually administrative hearings under the code of -- the administrative code of the state of Florida. They're pretty thorough, lots of research, discovery. It's basically a trial to see if we're going to take a police officer, a firefighter's pension away, and we have taken several of them away and we've not taken some of the other ones. Commissioner Suarez: And to what extent, Madam City Attorney, does the City --? Because we were just talking earlier about City representing employees. To what extent does the services that they provide to their fund members interplay with the services -- you know, with the representation that you --? City ofMiami Page 169 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Ms. Bru: We don't. The City Attorney's office does not have any involvement -- Chair Gort: The mike. Ms. Bru: -- with the legal representation. We don't have any involvement with the legal representation of the Trust. Commissioner Suarez: What you're saying then is your legal representation is wholly contained in what Trust members do and the variety of legal issues that that creates for you? Mr. Gabriel: Correct. That's all in the administrative costs. So he does the basic legal, does disputes, does counsel, and as well as we hire a special counsel in order to prosecute, if you will, people that we believe have violated the law and then try to take their pension away. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I just think -- I think one of the concerns thatl have -- and this is why I raised it in the other item -- is, you know, we're in a situation where our employees are not getting salary increases. They took severe cuts, as you mentioned, last year not only to salary, but to pension. This year they're making further concessions. And l just -- I'm not sure what kind of signal it sends for us to increase the salaries of the fund members that could be used for the general fund could be used, as the Vice Chairman says, for Police and Fire, et cetera. Andl just -- I don't know how fair it is for us to do that on your fund, you know, even though you're administering your funds, and you may have very, very good reasons for it. Look, there's a very, very good reasons why, you know, a lot of our hard-working police officers and firemen deserve, you know, to be compensated better. There's a lot of people that deserve to be compensated better, but unfortunately in these particular circumstances and times, we're not able to do that. Another issue that I'm concerned about -- and this -- I think we talked about it last year a little bit, andl'm not sure there was a resolution, andl'm going to now another issue, which was the fund was audited by our auditor and there were underperforming fund managers and there was a question asked last year as to whether or not those underperforming fund managers were knocked off the plan and that's as they are graded against their peers. That's not just, you know, in the abstract. That's against -- that's a peer review, in essence. And so my question to you now is the same question I had then because, as you know, if the fund underperforms, the City is obligated on the hook for, you know, what I -- what is called sometimes the legacy costs, the unfunded liability, whatever. So my question to you is, are there underperforming fund managers? And if so, have you made -- taken action to dismiss them? Mr. Gabriel: We have -- what we have in process -- because the business cycle, it's a little bit longer than a budget cycle. You know, three to five years is what you're looking at. We hire managers. For example, it might be a growth manager, and he's only measured against growth. When you compare him, you can compare him against growth. So growth is out of style and he's -- he's not making positive numbers, that's sort of okay in our business. However, when growth comes back, he's got to perform, and that may take a couple of years. But yes, we have removed I think it's three this last year, andl currently believe there's one -- I unfortunately wasn't at the last meeting, but I do believe we put one or two on watch, which watches a higher level of scrutiny. Over the last several years, I'd say four, we've probably removed six or eight managers, so -- but it -- sometimes you take a snapshot, and the snapshot will show them underperforming, but it doesn't mean that they're not being watched closely. And then we put them on a watch list. I don't happen to have that. That's more -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. And whatl was talking about -- and it's okay. Mr. Gabriel: -- investment return, but I -- Commissioner Suarez: What I -- and by the way, we've been -- we're -- I think we've all admitted City ofMiami Page 170 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 that we're kind of behind the eight ball trying to catch up with all the things that have been put before us, you know. And the audit report wasn't about them, you know -- I understand that when you're in a growth portfolio, if growth is not succeeding, you know, you're obviously not going to do well in that particular -- because that's a risk category. So my thing was they were being judged against their peers, so against other growth managers, and they were underperforming against those managers. So you know, last year I brought up the issue of we need to take action. Mr. Gabriel: And we do. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Gabriel: And we have this -- we have an outside consultant who reviews and recommends, and currently, I believe there's two people on that watch list. We have terminated others in the past year. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Could you provide us with that list, please? Mr. Gabriel: Absolutely. Commissioner Suarez: I'll yield to anyone else who has any other -- I may have one or two more questions, but I'll just yield to anyone who has any questions, and then I'll come back. Chair Gort: My understanding, at one time you had the rules that a person did not perform within three consecutive reports, within 90 percent of the median, they automatically will be fired. That used to be at one time. You used to have that rule. Unidentified Speaker: That no longer exists. Chair Gort: That no longer exists. Mr. Gabriel: That's -- for the record, it's not the way it currently is. We do have a performance monitoring. It's probably 40 or 50 pages of how the process works and what they're compared against, but yes. And the problem with doing it that quickly, if you do it every quarter, so less than a half a year or three quarters of a year, you'll end up turning over managers. And one of the big costs is people deal with -- dealing with their own managers maybe is the cost for turning things over and going -from one portfolio manager to another maybe on a down day or a high day, so you try to give them a chance. You do your due diligence beforehand. You hope that they perform well, and you monitor them. If they don't, you put them on a watch list, and then after that, you terminate or take them back off. Commissioner Suarez: I have another que -- Chair Gort: Commissioner Spence -- you finish? Commissioner Suarez: -- just one last question. Chair Gort: Go ahead. Commissioner Suarez: I'm sorry. I knew there was a question that was missing. One of the -- another concern that have aside from the salaries is that we have in our proposed budget -- and this goes to the discrepancy between last year's budget and this year's budget. I'm -- I believe we have in our budget, our current budget, budgeted 2.2, which was I think last -- or closer to last year's amount, and your proposed budget is at 2.367, so I'm concerned that there's a discrepancy between what we have in our budget. And this kind of goes to something the Vice Chairman was City ofMiami Page 171 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 saying earlier in relation to the City Attorney's questions about what we do first and whether we should do this first or approve our budget or whatever. Andl think the problem here is we need to make sure that everything we do is consistent, coherent, and I'm concerned about that. I mean, that -- those are my concerns. I don't know how everyone else feels. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just have like -- this is just one question I have, and then I wanted to ask the Manager about the memo we received today, I guess, from Budget. I'm just -- first of all, Commissioner Suarez, did you have the opportunity to meet with them prior to all of this? Commissioner Suarez: I don't believe I did have an opportunity. Didl -- did we meet? I -- Mr. Gabriel: I believe we -- Commissioner Suarez: -- don't think we did. Mr. Gabriel: -- provided information, but we -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Mr. Gabriel: -- did not knock on anybody's door. Commissioner Suarez: No. Mr. Gabriel: We probably should have. But usually there's a request. We did meet with one of the Commissioners who asked to meet. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. And again, you know, part of the issue is we -- and it's not your fault. We've been getting information and trying to play catch up this entire month, so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Commissioner Suarez: And you know me and even knows me; I'm not the type of person to surprise people or try to surprise people -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: -- from the dais at all. Never done that. Never been that way. It's been two years that I've been here, thankfully. Never will be that way, I don't think. But in any event, you know, sometimes things get to us very, very late and so there's no opportunity, really. Mr. Gabriel: We have no problem with answering questions. Commissioner Suarez: And you haven't. And I -- Mr. Gabriel: And/or providing it. Commissioner Suarez: -- appreciate that. Mr. Gabriel: More information. Commissioner Suarez: You've been very, very candid in terms of -- and very knowledgeable about the way your fund's managed in terms of answering the questions that I've had. Thank City ofMiami Page 172 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. No. I was just curious as to whether or not you got the information -- because it seemed like it was -- like for the first time that you're hearing -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- all of this. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So that -- Commissioner Suarez: -- got the information -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- was just one of the questions. Commissioner Suarez: Sure. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And then, Mr. Manager and Mr. Budget Man, Danny, to date you gave us a -- I guess a -- the final appropriations breakdown for Fire, correct, where you had the lines? Mr. Alfonso: For the City, yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. So -- and on this, I just want to be clear just from the fire -rescue side of it, is there -- there like a 2 million, $3 million reduction on it? Mr. Alfonso: Okay. The reduction -- and this is not related to -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know. No. I'm just asking -- Mr. Alfonso: -- the FIFO at all. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- so I'm clear. Mr. Alfonso: Yes. The reduction that you see in the Department of Fire is in the agreement that was ratified by the membership today. There was an acceptance of reducing $1.74 million from overtime due to the reduction in minimum staffing and training, overtime, et cetera, and the agreement of freezing $1.5 million of attrition, vacant properties. So that $3.2 million reduction that you see there is the allocation of the monies that had been not attributed yet to the budget until these agreements were reached so they're now reached, and have to distribute that allocation throughout the departments. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: And you'll -- that's why you see a lot of departments with small changes. For example, the AFSCME 1907 holidays and all those savings, as small as they are, they had to be distributed in each of the departments. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So basically from what you've presented to us today -- even though they're separate, they are somewhat attached -- there was a reduction that was made just in general from Fire, correct? Mr. Gabriel: Yes. City ofMiami Page 173 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: That is pertinent to the agreement that they ratified today. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. No problem. And then my question is -- because at the end of the day, we really have to take recommendations from our Manager and City staff regarding these issues. Do you have a concern with anything that's being presented on BH.10, which is their item, that you feel is really important for all of us to know or address? Mr. Martinez: Basically, they're a hundred -- Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry. Mr. Manager, your microphone. Chair Gort: Speak in the mike. Mr. Martinez: Basically, they're 144,000 over last year's budget. I understand that the 2.23 million is included in the $42 million that we allocated as our contribution to the pension. Obviously, some of these things, like Commissioner Suarez said, the salaries and things like that, could be reduced at the will of this Commission and reincorporated into the amount that we need to budget for. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So is that your recommendation? Mr. Martinez: Well, my -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, who on staff -- 'cause it's obviously not you -- would be charged with working along with them on this issue? Because this -- I'm -- it's just amazing to me that we get all the way to the ninth hour for us to even identifi, that there is an issue -- because I expect for staff to give me recommendations based upon what's submitted, you know, by departments, you know -- for you to tell us if you think that there's an issue. Mr. Martinez: Well -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: We should not know like the eve of that we now have a concern with $144, 000. That should have been something that was brought up -- actually, it should have been brought up in the first hearing that we had so we could hammer out the issues before we got to the last budget hearing. I -- I'm -- Mr. Gabriel: Commissioner, while they're working it out, do you mind ifI maybe jump in a little bit on some of the bigger increases that are there as part of the fund? We've already gone over legal. One of the items is a increase due to the fact that the board appointees -- we had vacancies last year. The City did not appoint. The process had slowed down. We now have a full board, so you have to pay for that individual. We're at the end of a three-year upgrade to the computer system, and that -- it's been costly. It brought our machinery and equipment line down there up to 350, 000. That's like the third year that it's been way above what you would normally see from us, but it's the end of that cycle to upgrade. We should be good for ten years. What that's allowed us to do is have less employees than other types of plans that are out there. So we do -- we used to have six employees. We have five now. We had -- that was back in 2002. We're dealing with twice as many retirees as we did back then; 22 managers compared to 11. So what we've done is goosed up the computers in order to save on personnel costs. So that part next year should be dropping back down. You'll see a budget savings in that year probably -- approximately a couple hundred thousand dollars. So although it's been -- it's a little higher this year, it's going to be a couple hundred thousand dollars less next year. City ofMiami Page 174 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Okay. Let me ask a question. Budget -- Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Manager. Chair Gort: Hello, can we have a meeting over here? Hello. Question. Mr. Alfonso: I apologize. Chair Gort: When you budgeted all these line items here of these expenditure are part of the budget that you presented to us today. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, the request the actuaries presented us for funding FIPO was for $42.3 million. In that $42.3 million was included the $2.2 million for administration of their operation. That was really -- I think the only discrepancy is that in their report they said that the administrative cost was $2.2 million, and the number being presented now is like 2.230 or something like that. Commissioner Suarez: Two point three six seven. Mr. Alfonso: Okay, so there's a -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: -- $167, 000 variance from what was in the report. Mr. Gabriel: It's true. And we're sort of getting into the higher math of the actuary. The 2.2 is not totally in the 42. That cost -- the administrative cost is amortized. So the cost of-- the normal cost is a particular part of it. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Can I jump in here and ask a few questions, please? Chair Gort: Sure, go ahead. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. First of all, this is what I mean as far as our financial team. I'm not going to drill on this too much, but this is exactly what I'm saying. We, as Commissioners, at the last minute shouldn't be the one who starts drilling and all this. Now with that said, Mr. Gabriel -- Mr. Gabriel: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: -- Tom -- Mr. Gabriel: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry. I'm -- Mr. Gabriel: No, no. Vice Chair Carollo: -- used to calling you Tom. I've known you for so many years, so I apologize, Mr. Gabriel. Let me ask you something. Do you have a treasurer? City ofMiami Page 175 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Gabriel: No. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have an administrative assistant III? Mr. Gabriel: We have one administrative assistant. Vice Chair Carollo: An assistant to the administrator? Mr. Gabriel: Yes, we have an assistant to the administrator. And we have one -- I believe it's called an administrative assistant; answers phones and helps with the benefit manager so it may be under the benefit manager -- assistant benefit manager. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have a payroll specialist? Mr. Gabriel: No. Vice Chair Carollo: You do not. Do you have a PensionGold special projects administrator? Mr. Gabriel: We pay PensionGold to do that. Vice Chair Carollo: And where is that in your expense? Is it an employee? Mr. Gabriel: That is part of the three -- at line 66, four thousand, equipment program. That's part of the higher number that we had talked about. Vice Chair Carollo: So you outsource it? Mr. Gabriel: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: You don't have an employee that does that? Mr. Gabriel: Correct. Our employees do input stuff into it, but we do not have a dedicated person for PensionGold. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have an administrative aide? Mr. Gabriel: No. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have a security guard? Mr. Gabriel: No. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have a facility maintenance manager? Mr. Gabriel: No. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So from what I've seen, you only have five employees, correct? Mr. Gabriel: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: And that's an administrator, an assistant administrator, an accountant, and another accountant, and then a benefit clerk? Mr. Gabriel: Correct. City ofMiami Page 176 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: So you operate with five employees? Mr. Gabriel: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Let me get into some of the items that I really have a problem with. One is -- and I'm just going off the top of my head. I see it here now. Your rental and leases. Office space is $136, 000 a year, more or less? Mr. Gabriel: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: That's about 11 and a half -- eleven point three thousand dollars a month. Mr. Gabriel: Correct. About $19 a square foot, somewhere in there. Vice Chair Carollo: For five employees? You know, it's a lot. And I'm looking at ways that we could cut. And again -- and you know I've known you for many, many years. You know we've had a very good relationship, and at the same time -- Mr. Gabriel: Believe me, I don't take it personal. Vice Chair Carollo: -- I have a fiduciary duty to the City because, again, this is money that's going to the general fund to pay administrative costs, to pay rent and employees and so forth, andl want that money to go to the firefighters, to the police officers, to the general employees, to the solid waste employees, and for things that we really need. And you've seen this year all the negotiations; that haven't been easy. You saw last year what happened, andl don't even want to get into that. So I'm just doing my due diligence to make sure that the money goes where it could best be in the City ofMiami. So I have a problem with this rent. There's many, many areas that think we could cut. Mr. Gabriel: Can address that -- Vice Chair Carollo: Sure. Mr. Gabriel: -- because unfortunately, it's never easy, right. The rent -- the building that we're in is owner occupied. The assets of the plan -- that building was built to be a performing asset. Money was not asked for from the administration to build the building, so we -- prior board dedicated money from the investment dollars in order to build the building, and that building is producing the income of the rent. That rent actually does in fact go into the plan. Vice Chair Carollo: Who owns the building? Because when I looked at your -- Mr. Gabriel: FIFO, the Trust. Vice Chair Carollo: And I'm going on memory, but I think when I looked into the financial statements, I didn't see that asset there. Mr. Gabriel: It's in the audit. You should see it in the audit. In fact, we had to deal with that as far as how do you price it. We do a yearly appraisal in order to put the dollars there. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. I just don't remember it. But again, we're looking at mammoth amount of information all in the last minute -- Mr. Gabriel: I understand. Vice Chair Carollo: -- all within a week. So you know, if that's the case, I stand corrected. But City ofMiami Page 177 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 still, it's a lot of money. Andl understand what you're saying. There's other areas there that, you know, I have difficulties with. First of all, I think you have a 4.5 anniversary increase in salaries. Is that correct? Mr. Gabriel: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: You know, I don't think any City employees had any type of increase in the last year or two or possibly three. You know, I have a problem with, you know, these employees getting a raise, and I'm just trying to be fair. You know, the sick payments, you know, I think we're all trying to go into a use it or lose it, you know. As far as the retirement contributions, could you elaborate a little bit more? In other words, what's the multiplier, the average number of years for retirement and all of that? Is it compatible to what we have here in the City of Miami? Mr. Gabriel: It was modeled after what it was, 3 percent. I believe it's best 5 -- highest 5 or -- I'm sorry. Two, I'm sorry. Two-year. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. So it was model of what we used to have, but as you know, there's been all these cuts and so forth. And I'd like to see, you know, this retirement, you know, maybe mirror, you know, what GESE (General Employees and Sanitation Employees) has, which is I think the first 15 years, I think it's 2.25 multiplier, instead of a 3; instead of the 2, you know, highest years or whatever, go to a 5-year average, and stuff like that. Andl think, realistically, we could cut a lot of these administrative costs. And you know, I see travel, education. I think Commissioner Sarnoff -- I'm sorry, Commissioner Suarez mentioned that. So there's expenses here that think we could cut. Not to mention what our Budget director mentioned, that on I think it's page 17 of your actuarial report, you actually have administrative expenses listed at $2.2 million. Mr. Gabriel: I don't think we're just -- no. At 2.3 -- Vice Chair Carollo: And I'll show you where I'm looking at. Mr. Gabriel: Honestly, I can't explain the difference there. The actuary is not here to answer that. Vice Chair Carollo: Who hires the actuary? Mr. Gabriel: We do. Vice Chair Carollo: You -- so you hired your actuary and he put 2.2 million for administrative costs. Mr. Gabriel: He -- Robert Nagle: He was using last year's number. He uses it -- it's a -- it's allocated in arrears. Vice Chair Carollo: But this is even lower than last year's number. No? Mr. Nagle: Yes. By 23,000, yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, it's even lower than last year's number. So I mean, in all fairness -- and you know, respectfully, that argument isn't valid 'cause if he's using last year's number, he's under 23,000. Maybe he feels like I feel, that we should redo the cost. Mr. Gabriel: Maybe we could get it out of his salary. Is that what you're saying? City ofMiami Page 178 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: And this is -- hey, this is someone you've hired to do this report for you, so maybe, you know -- I think he feels the same as I -- I'm sure this Commission, and maybe we should reduce his cost to 2.2 million. I think it's fair. That's what your actuary report says. Chair Gort: Yep. Mr. Gabriel: No. The report that you're dealing with today is our budget report, and the budget reports reads 2.367008. Vice Chair Carollo: No. I'm looking at October 1, 2010 actuary report -- Mr. Gabriel: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: -- for the fiscal and plan year October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. Mr. Gabriel: Correct. And that is the actuarial report, not the budget. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. But it says administrative expense of 2.2, and that is the expense for what we're about to vote for. But he is saying -- and again, this is your actuary that you've employed and produced this report. He is saying that our administrative costs, what we should vote for today should be $2.2 million, not $2.367 million, so -- Mr. Gabriel: The -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- I think we should abide by what he's saying and reduce it to 2.2 -- Mr. Gabriel: The actuary is not part of the budgetary process, other than his salary. I can only assume that he takes last year's numbers because the time -- if you want a timely number, the actuary report came out well before the budgetary numbers have to come out. And the process -- the timeline -- in order to get an actuarial report in a timely manner, you would have to put some sort of thing. He put a number that's there. It certainly was passed by the board, but it was not part of the budgetary process. It would be akin to your auditor saying somewhere on your line that you could have saved this much money and you know what, it's on somebody else's report. It's not part of your budget process. So you know, that budgetary process led us to a number of 2.3. It's zero out of the general fund. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. -- Vice Chair Carollo: Give me a second. Let me look it up. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. While he's looking that up. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman, can I just ask a quick question? Obviously, there are two mistakes that were made in the midst of this process. One, you guys failed to sit down and meet with every Commissioner, you know, to make sure everybody fully understood what you're asking for. Because a lot of these questions and a lot of these issues are very valid issues that they're bringing up, but they could have kind of been resolved before we got here. Andl think at the end of the day, whether or not we spend another hour on going through your budget because every item that they're talking about I think are very valid issues, I think the bottom line is is that they want you to reduce costs. So instead of us going back and forth on, you know, what it should be, what it isn't, and how it is, and how it isn't, and all of that, I think that you need to maybe take a break -- City ofMiami Page 179 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Gabriel: Unfortunately, I don't have that authority and neither does he. We don't have the authority. That's passed by the -- that's passed by our budget -- our board passes it and -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So in other words, so -- this is what I want to be clear on then. So if you don't have the ability to -- just like the other two departments or agencies that got up here and sat and figured out what made the most sense, then that means we're up here to cut. Mr. Gabriel: The cut is going to result in a zero budget for the general fund. That's what -- you have in your general fund right now under the line of pensions for FIPO zero, right, except for the 42 that's part of the normal cost for the shortages from prior investment losses and/or gains. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And this is what I want to be clear on, and maybe Budget or staff can communicate this 'cause when we see the actual language, it's saying zero. So whatl want to be clear on -- because Commissioner Carollo, I'm sure, got about hundred more questions to ask you, and then after that I'm sure Suarez like about 1,500 more to ask, so we would be here till tomorrow morning. So -- Mr. Gabriel: I knew getting here early wouldn't help. I knew I was going to be stuck. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- I'm just trying to be sensitive to everybody's issues and times that they're sitting here trying to get past it. Are you saying to us now that even if we allowed you the opportunity to go back and look at some of these numbers to see whether or not you could reduce on travel or whatever the case may be -- so at least the Commission from our side feels as though there was some attempt to reduce on those numbers, you're saying to me, Commissioner, even ifI wanted to do that, I couldn't. Is that what you're telling me? Mr. Gabriel: That's correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Gabriel: There would be -- it'd be akin to you going somewhere else after the board taking action -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, no. No, no. Mr. Gabriel: -- and you not able to do it even if you wanted to. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just want to make sure -- Chair Gort: That's it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- not only we understand it in here, but I'm also wanting to make sure the people watching it understand it too. Because it doesn't matter how much we sit up here and tell you what's wrong and what's not right about it. If you're saying that you can't make the changes on it, then the next question I have is can we make the changes on it? And don't know if that's an Administration question. If we're not happy with what we see in the numbers, does that mean the Administration has the ability to say, hey, look, we're not hap -- I mean, the Commission has the ability to say, hey, we're not happy with these numbers. This is what we want to reduce it to. You live with it. Are we able to do that? Can I get a question -- because it doesn't make -- I'm just telling you, right now it's just going into the insane realm right now. Mr. Gabriel: IfI may? Chair Gort: My understanding is -- City ofMiami Page 180 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Gabriel: Up until last year -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just -- Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Mr. Gabriel: -- our budget -- you would have seen as part of the resolution the $2 million on the budget, you would have brought these concerns to us in the first budget hearing. I would have went back to the board, which I did prior years -- we try to work out -- things out. We get a board vote and it would happen. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Gabriel: Last year, in a cost -savings measure, we took the budget for last year, 2.2 -- and this is where you guys I think will understand that the 2.2 is not dollar for dollar for administrative costs. That 2.2 is buried inside the cost of the fund, okay, and it doesn't cost you that much. Cost you a little bit, but it doesn't -- 'cause you have $2 million less being invested, so to speak. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But -- Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- Gabriel. Mr. Gabriel: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm sorry. Let -- please let me just finish just my one comment. Chair Gort: No. I want you -- but I want you to -- let's start going through the Chairperson, please. Go ahead. Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm sorry. Chair Gort: Ask a question. Go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm going through you now. Chair Gort: No, no. Go ahead, yes. You're recognized, yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. I just want to be clear, because we can go back and forth. If you can't make any changes yourself and the changes can only come from us, on our side, then, really, it's nothing more that you can really say on your end because if the Commission -- we've already heard it, okay. So the question becomes if we're not happy with some numbers on here, guys, then we need to make the recommendations what the numbers are -- should be. And I'm just saying just in the interest of both parties, I would say table this. And if there's things that they would like to put on the record now by saying look, I think you need to reduce on this number, that number, that number, and this is what we're looking at doing, then -- even though you can't take it to anyone else, at least you have the opportunity to say hey, look, this is the concern we have with it. But I think it's just -- for us to sit here and go back and forth, back and forth back, and -- they got a issue with this budget. I don't know how many other ways to say it you know. And so I'm asking my fellow colleagues is there a better way for us to address this City ofMiami Page 181 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 issue right now? Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Then allow -- Chair Gort: My understanding is we can make the decision on the budget here as Commissioner [sic]. Now my question -- yes, go ahead. Commissioner Suarez: I just want to -- I want to sympathize a little with Mr. Gabriel because he's right; we could have brought this up in the first budget hearing, and there's a million reasons why we didn't bring it up in the first budget hearing and it has nothing to do with you. And so I sympathize with your inability to have been able to deal with this issue from the first hearing to now. That's completely not on you. Mr. Gabriel: Nothing we can do about it now. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So now that it's -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- not on him now -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- it is -- I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. I'm going back through you again, okay. Now that it's not on him, it is really on us, okay. So the question becomes are we going to try to hammer out these numbers now or do we just say, okay, these are the categories that we have issues and concerns with, work by way with the Administration to figure out what those are, and then allow for them to come back on it and deal with it. But I think that it's just -- it sends a very crazy message for us to be on this for an hour about something they can't do anyway. Chair Gort: Yes. My -- Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: I have one question. The budget that you set up for the FIPO pension, does that include the administrative costs? Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Mr. Gabriel: Yes, it does, Commissioner. Chair Gort: Yes, it does. Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: And -- Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: And did you get that number from the actuary? Mr. Gabriel: Yes, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: Did he send you an e-mail (electronic) saying this is the amount? City ofMiami Page 182 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Gabriel: They sent a report that says the amount to budget is $42.353 million. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. Mr. Gabriel: That is what we budgeted. It is inclusive of the administrative expense. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. And it's part of page 17 of the actuary report and that's where -- if you want the break-up of the 42, 353, 775, it's right there in the actuary report. Is that correct? Mr. Gabriel: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: And it includes 2,200,000 for administrative expense right out of the actuary report; is that correct? Mr. Gabriel: That is correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So if we don't approve anything other than $2.2 million for administrative costs, is it then going to be an increase in our budget because we only have proposed budgeted 42,353? Mr. Gabriel: It will not increase our budget because the number that they have given us is 42.353. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Gabriel: However, what they do to make up the difference, I'm not -- Commissioner Suarez: No, it's not that simple. Because legally, we have to fund certain things at certain levels. So we can't just say we're going to give you 42 million and you guys figure it out. We have to, you know, incorporate the administrative costs into the other actuarial obligations that we have. I don't even think we can -- and I'll -- to answer your question, Commissioner, I don't think we can even get into really the nitty-gritty. And Madam Vice -- Madam City Attorney, please -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: City Attorney. Commissioner Suarez: -- correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think we can get into the nitty-gritty categorization of their budget. We just -- I think -- legally speaking, I think we can only approve the budget in terms of the amount, and then they're the ones that actually have the right to set the individual line items. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Is that true? Commissioner Suarez: I think that's our obligation under Gates. Mr. Nagle: Well, there's several. First, let me say that you do not get your budget numbers no matter how much you want to from the actuary. In August we sent you a budget. That's part of the budgetary process. This report has nothing to do with the budget, other than tell you what your normal cost is going to be. The budgetary process for administration, which is what we're here for in part tonight, the budget, is that. Now as far as how the budget is run, there is a chance that we could come under budget. We've been under budget before. There are times when we've been over budget. But I think we have a running total over -- you showed me an exhibit. I'm looking at them. He's pulling a blank. But about 900,000 over about 10 years that we sort of went under -- we went under -- you didn't have to pay those dollars. Let's just put it City ofMiami Page 183 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 that way. Commissioner Suarez: No. But I agree with what the Vice Chairman is saying. I think it's reasonable for us to rely on constructing our budget with your actuarial report which details what -- you don't think it's reasonable for us to rely on that? Mr. Nagle: If you wanted to put that in as the first part of your first budget hearing and we could get -- but you would already have -- you request and ask for -- if you ask your Budget people, they ask for and received our budget -- Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Nagle: -- which I think he would agree to if he was asked. Chair Gort: Yes. Okay. Mr. Gabriel. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Mr. Nagle: Sony. Chair Gort: Appreciate it. Thank you. Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, I'm going to see how we could resolve this now and see how we go forward, andl think that's why everyone's asking. Chair Gort: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: First of all, I understand -- and you're right; if we would have heard this on first hearing, we have this discussions, you know, then maybe we would have worked it out, and by now we would have come to some conclusion. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, andl think it was out of our hands. I think we have more than have stated that on the record in the previous week, and it's unfortunate. I -- honestly, andl will admit, I didn't have a chance to look at it and that's why I asked to defer. Now with that said, that at the same time, it's not your fault, so I understand andl sympathize with what you're saying. But we are where we are. And as an FYI (For Your Information), that telephone call that I gave you on Sunday, Mr. Manager, this is what I was talking about. This is exactly the item that we were talking about. Now we have a letter from the actuary that says we need to fund 42, 353, 775. That's the amount we have to fund. That's what we have in -- as a proposed budget to pass this -- Chair Gort: Budget. Vice Chair Carollo: -- today -- yeah, this budget year. And from what I'm seeing the breakup, it's 2.2 million of administrative expense. Am I clear so far? I mean, are we all in agreement so far? Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Madam City Attorney, what are our options? And by the way, not to mention as far as our financial team should be, you know, all here. And this is nothing against you, Mr. Alfonso because in all fairness, you came in at the fourth quarter, andl think you're doing a very good job. I think you really have taken, you know, the bull by the horns and, you City ofMiami Page 184 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 know, are on top of things. I know Mirtha's been there helping you and stuff like that, and I appreciate -- because we actually spoke about this on Sunday, so I appreciate you all taking the time and so forth, because I knew it was going to end up being an issue. With that said, Madam City Attorney, what are our options? What can we do legally? Can we pass the budget with a two point -- pass their budget with an administrative -- just like it's shown and like it's -- it appears like it's in our budget and pass their administrative -- or BH.10 with administrative expense of 2, 200, 000, and then they'll go back to their board and see what occurs and so forth? Is that possible? Mirtha Dziedzic: IfI may, Commissioner. Mirtha Dziedzic, former Budget director, treasury manager, whatever. The bottom line -- Commissioner Sarnoff. (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F). Vice Chair Carollo: You're catching on. Ms. Dziedzic: In between. The bottom line has not changed from the actuarial report -- Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. Ms. Dziedzic: -- to the legislation, so there must have been changes within their line items to offset the 2.3 that they're now requesting for their admin costs. So as far as the budget is concerned, it has no effect on what we have proposed. Now that they may be able to achieve additional cuts in their administrative line items, that's a different story. But the bottom line, what we have in our budget right now has not changed and is not proposed to be changed. Vice Chair Carollo: And that's -- Chair Gort: My understanding, the difference, the $167, 000? Vice Chair Carollo: No. It's more than that. And that's -- but that's a two-part. In our City budget it has not changed. Ms. Dziedzic: It hasn't changed. Vice Chair Carollo: It's the 42 million. Ms. Dziedzic: Correct. Vice Chair Carollo: However, in the administrative budget that's before us to pass, it has changed quite a bit. Chair Gort: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: It's a difference of -- yes, you're right, 167, 008. Chair Gort: I'm not an accountant, but I do my work here once in a while. Vice Chair Carollo: Hey. So -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So we are -- Ms. Dziedzic: But what make -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- doing what now so we're clear? City ofMiami Page 185 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: I -- Madam City Attorney, can we pass their budget for $2, 200, 000 as opposed to the $2, 367, 000? Ms. Bru: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: And I'm saying this, you know, to resolve the issue and move forward, because I'm sure ifI start digging into these numbers, I would think, you know what, I don't -- I think 2.2 is too much. I think we need to cut even more. But I'm doing it as some type of compromise in order to resolve this issue and move forward and get into the GESE plan. Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Dziedzic: But for our clarity -- I'm sorry -- does that mean that now our budget will be reduced by a hundred --? Chair Gort: No. Ms. Dziedzic: Leave it flat. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, leave it flat at the same amount, because you're going under the 42 -- Ms. Dziedzic: Based on the actuary. Commissioner Suarez: After actuary -- after their actuarial report. Vice Chair Carollo: -- where the 2.2. So we're going through the actuarial numbers, so I will leave it as is. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So -- Chair Gort: Okay. Is there a motion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: I guess I need to withdraw my motion 'cause now something changes in this. Commissioner Suarez: Correct. Ms. Thompson: Unless you want to accept a friendly amendment or the modification. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Friendly amendment to include -- Vice Chair Carollo: To include -- not to include -- instead of their total of $2, 367, 008, to be a total of $2, 200, 000. Chair Gort: You accept the amendment? Commissioner Spence -Jones: I accept the amendment. Chair Gort: The second accept the amendment? Commissioner Suarez: That's her amendment. That's his second. Ms. Thompson: Yes. City ofMiami Page 186 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: You second -- Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: -- it as she obviously amended it because you have provided her the language. Vice Chair Carollo: However you want to do it. Madam City Attorney, give us guidance. Mr. Gabriel: I suggest it's a clear motion. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: You want to -- Mr. Gabriel: So that -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- do it as a clear motion? Mr. Gabriel: I would like a clear motion so we know exactly what's being passed. Commissioner Suarez: That's fair. Mr. Gabriel: We've heard the City Attorney. Commissioner Suarez: That's fair. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Mr. Gabriel: And we'll go from there. Commissioner Suarez: That's fair. Vice Chair Carollo: Would you withdraw your motion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Let me just withdraw my motion. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm going to make a motion to pass their budget at a total amount of $2, 200, 000. Commissioner Suarez: I'll second that motion. Chair Gort: Okay, there's a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Gabriel: Thank you. City ofMiami Page 187 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 BH.11 11-00772 General Employees and Sanitation Employees Retirement Trust Commissioner Spence -Jones: No problem. I just want to put on the record as we go on to the next one, I mean, we have to figure out a more efficient way to do this. I mean, this -- I understand what you're saying -- Vice Chair Carollo: Don't get me started. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and -- I know. But it's -- you know, it's borderline just ridiculous. I mean, we spent an hour going through a budget that, quite frankly, we can't even change anyway. We should have just voted on what was already being proposed, unless we were trying to just send a message. And if we wanted to send a message, we should have just sent the message prior to this meeting. Chair Gort: Okay. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET OF THE CITY OF MIAMI GENERAL EMPLOYEES' & SANITATION EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT TRUST ("GESE RETIREMENT TRUST FUND") FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012, IN THE AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $3,128,250, EXCLUDING NORMAL COST, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE GESE RETIREMENT TRUST FUND. 11-00772 Memo - GESE Retirement Trust.pdf 11-00772 Legislation.pdf 11-00772 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, 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 Spence -Jones R-11-0387 Vice Chair Carollo: Next. Chair Gort: B.12 [sic]. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So are we going to do the same thing with GESE (General Employees and Sanitation Employees) ? Chair Gort: GESE. Vice Chair Carollo: Actually, it was reported a little bit different. GESE actually -- we have a separate line item for their administrative costs, while FIPO (Firefighters and Police Officers) was included -- it was totally included -- the administrative cost was included in the total. GESE is actually a separate line item and -- for administrative, so it's going to be a little different. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- I mean -- but -- okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Are we going to have issues with their budget? At least am. I don't know if any other Commissioners will. City ofMiami Page 188 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So are we in the same position that we were with Fire, meaning -- Mr. Budget -- Mr. Danny, are we in the same position that we were with the last issue, meaning a number was already presented? I'm assuming that GESE has to also go in front of their board and vote on it again too, so we have the same issue. No, not the same issue. Daniel Alfonso (Director, Strategic Planning, Budgeting & Performance): No, Commissioner. The budget that GESE is presenting is exactly the same that we have in our budget. Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. But if Commissioner Carollo has changes on that budget, are you saying that we could make changes on this budget? Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Alfonso? Mr. Alfonso: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: We -- Mr. Alfonso: You did last year. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Ron Silver: I don't believe so. Well -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So you can? Vice Chair Carollo: We did last year. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: And -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just want to be clear. Vice Chair Carollo: Name and address for the record, Mr. Silver. Mr. Silver: Yes, thank you. This is BH. 11. I am Ron Silver, attorney for the City of Miami GESE plan, which is the General Employees and Sanitation Employees retirement system. This is a resolution of the Miami City Commission, with attachments, approving and adopting the annual budget of the City of Miami General Employees and Sanitation Employees Retirement Trust, for the physical [sic] year commencing October 1, 2011 and ending September 30, 2012, in the amount not to exceed $3,128, 250, excluding normal costs to provide for the administration of the GESE retirement fund. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Is there a motion, or does any Commissioner have any --? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. Commissioner Sarnoff. So move. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We want to go -- I want you to go through your issues first before we introduce any motions. Please, go through them now so we know exactly what they are, or concerns, not issues, concerns. Vice Chair Carollo: Does any other Commissioner want to speak on the item? No? You -- City ofMiami Page 189 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: I want to hear yours first. Vice Chair Carollo: It seems like there's a pattern, huh? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. I just want to hear them. Vice Chair Carollo: You just want to hear? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Um -hum. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, let's start with this. Mr. Silver. Mr. Silver: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: First of all, thank you for meeting with me when I asked. And at the same time, thank you for being here today and addressing this Commission. Mr. Silver: You know, ifI could just add to that. You know, at the last year's meeting we all suggested that we should get together and meet before the meeting, and that's why I sent out correspondence to everybody -- you weren't here, unfortunately, but we -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's okay. Mr. Silver: -- did try to get in touch with you. And that's why we followed through from last year. I just want you to know, as a former politician I appreciate when people say something from the dais, that we follow through on that, and that's what I was trying -- Vice Chair Carollo: I under -- I -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. Is there such a thing as a former politician? Mr. Silver: Well, I was being kind. Vice Chair Carollo: I understand, senator. Andl think, again, on first reading, you know, we had so many issues, we really weren't -- at least I wasn't prepared to address them yet. You know, and once again, I'm not going to, you know, rehash what has been said, you know, in the previous week and so forth. But I think all of us wish we would have spent more time with the budget. Now with that said, getting into your budget, you know, right off the bat, I'll tell you I have a huge problem with the salaries and wages. Do you have a treasurer? Mr. Silver: No, we do not. Vice Chair Carollo: You do not have a treasurer? Mr. Silver: Nope. Vice Chair Carollo: I have -- Mr. Silver: Oh, I'm sorry. I am the -- Vice Chair Carollo: Man, you almost lost your job. Mr. Silver: Yeah. I am the legal advisor, okay. Vice Chair Carollo: We're doing pretty -- City ofMiami Page 190 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Silver: I'm going to bring up the accountant -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- good. Mr. Silver: -- and the chairman of the board, all right. Ron Tompkins is the chairman of the board. Vice Chair Carollo: Let's keep going that route. Mr. Silver: I just deal with legal issues, all right. Vice Chair Carollo: So you do have a treasurer? Mr. Silver: Okay. Ron Tompkins is the chairman of our board. Vice Chair Carollo: How you doing, sir? Ron Tompkins: Fine. How you're doing, sir? Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, so you do have a treasurer? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, we do. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have an administrative assistant III? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, we do. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have a payroll specialist? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, we do. Vice Chair Carollo: And you do have a PensionGold special projects administrator? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, who also is a benefit analyst. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you have an administrative aide? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, we do. Vice Chair Carollo: And a receptionist? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, we do. Vice Chair Carollo: And a facility maintenance manager? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, we do. Vice Chair Carollo: And a security guard? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, we do. Vice Chair Carollo: Real quick, how come you have all these positions and FIPO does not? Mr. Tompkins: I can't speak for FIPO, but we need them. City ofMiami Page 191 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Do you think they operate a little bit more efficient than you all? Mr. Tompkins: I can't speak for FIPO. Vice Chair Carollo: No, but -- I mean, in your opinion, do you feel -- I mean, you saw they have -- they're managing with five employees. Here, I'm seeing all these additional employees that they don't have, and again, your salaries are pretty much double theirs and doing pretty much the same amount of work. I think their funds are much higher than yours. I think they double yours. Mr. Tompkins: Yeah, but I think -- Vice Mayor -- Vice Chair of the -- number of retirees and pension employees group that we serve is a lot higher than Fire and Police, and when you go through probably the daily workload of our employees in terms of calculating pension benefits, in essence I think we got a much more labor intensive employee group that we represent than FIPO. Mr. Silver: HI could, Mr. Vice Chair. Vice Chair Carollo: Um -hum. Mr. Silver: Just to address one issue, the security guard. First of all, I notice you have a security guard out here. We have a staff that works late hours, okay. We've been very concerned about that. They work 9, 10 o'clock at night, okay. We have people that come into the building. We check them out first. They can't get into the gate unless we know who they are. I think you would agree that that is an important factor in the day and age that we live in today where you want to check people out before they come in, so I'm just bringing that to your attention. We have ladies that are working late hours. I mean, I'm not working those hours at the place, so I could take care of myself, but the ladies are. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm just asking all the employees that you have and questioning if you need them. Mr. Silver: And I'm just saying -- I'm just giving you an answer. Vice Chair Carollo: Let me ask you another question. Mr. Silver: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: You have a payroll specialist II, and at the same time, you're outsourcing, Paychex, so why is that? Paychex is not doing a good job? Mr. Tompkins: The payroll specialist that we have is a payroll specialist in terms of -- it's an internal position as opposed to someone who calculates our employees' paychecks. Paychex is solely a third party that's used to calculate and process our internal payroll. Vice Chair Carollo: And they actually do the whole payroll process for you, correct? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, but that's a much different -- that's for 11 people. That's not for the employee group that we represent. Vice Chair Carollo: So you're saying there's no duplication of duties there? They're not doing -- Mr. Tompkins: They're not duplicating anything we do for -- on behalf of the employees of the City. City ofMiami Page 192 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. I would argue against that. But anyways, I'm just -- you know, again, I'm not here to give anyone a hard time or so forth. I'm just pointing out issues thatl have. Since with the salaries, let's continue on the salaries. I see that there's been a great increase, and obviously, you could argue whether it is a great increase or not, but there is an increase. You would admit to that, correct? Mr. Tompkins: Yes, I would. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Why has there been an increase? It's -- you know, andl think it's significant. Why has there been an increase in salaries? Mr. Tompkins: One of the things as we indicated, Vice Chair, when we met with you, a lot of the positions that you see here this year, one of the things we had to do was kind of rewrite the job descriptions. Several of the people that you have here, although they're title may represent one type of skill set, they -- when you consider the total realm of duties and responsibilities they have, that far exceeds what it may indicate by their title here, such as the PensionGold specialist is also employee benefit specialist. And also as we indicated when we met with you, a lot of these positions, as well as the salaries, when you consider the skill set of what they perform each and every day and compare it to comparable positions within the cities, you'll find the salaries pretty much are in line. One thing of interest too is out of the 11 employees that we have, over 8 of them have 10 years or more with our pension trust, andl think it's about 6 that actually have 15 years of service, I believe. Vice Chair Carollo: So that means that last year they weren't worth what they're worth this year, because the increase has been, you know, tremendously? So last year they weren't in line with what the market is and all of the stuff that you mentioned? Mr. Tompkins: That is correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. And I'm sure you've monitored as far as the employees of the City of Miami that have received no pay increase for, what, three years at least? Mr. Tompkins: We're very sensitive to that, sir. We're very sensitive to that. Vice Chair Carollo: But we still go -- Commissioner Suarez: Exactly. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. I mean, I'm hearing you, but I've always said actions speak louder than words, and I'm seeing a great increase in salaries. I don't even know ifI want to say the amount, but it's a great increase in salaries. I didn't -- you know, I had minimal time to do all the different organizations so I didn't calculate the percentage, but I would think it's a high percentage, probably double figures. But anyways, I really have a problem with this. We're going to have to cut this. Commissioner Suarez: I was going to -- Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. I heard you move, so if you want to chime in on that. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I just wanted to chime in. I think -- and the in -- andl did have a chance to meet with you all and -- Mr. Tompkins: Thank you very much. City ofMiami Page 193 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Yes. -- you did provide me this -- which is what I had asked, a year-to-year comparison and that I was kind of startled to see as well. I think the total increase is 22.6 percent when you add up all of the different salary categories, aside from the fact that you have many more employees than a fund, as the Vice Chairman said, that is larger and has far less employees. I think there's some categories here -- and I know you said that you're restructuring some of these duties, but you have a person here getting an 86 percent raise. You have another person getting a 56 percent raise. Another person getting a 65 percent raise. Another person getting a 35 percent raise. So you know -- I mean, has your fund changed fundamentally from one year to the other that we have to -- aside from the fact that, as the Vice Chairman mentioned -- and we grilled the last person that came up here on the FIPO fund, but the fact of the matter is they have five employees; you guys have -- Mr. Tompkins: Eleven. Vice Chair Carollo: Eleven. Commissioner Suarez: -- eleven employees, double, and their fund is larger -- or is about the same and -- the membership wise, which is the number that we asked for, the mem -- you guys are slightly more in members, not much more. Mr. Tompkins: I think we're approximately 500 more. Commissioner Suarez: No, I don't think it's that much more. I think it's -- I have the number. Here it is. I think you guys have about 300 more. Mr. Tompkins: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: About 300 more, so it's not a big difference. And you have double the staff members -- more than double the staff members. Mr. Tompkins: One of the things, Commissioner -- I think we explained it to the Vice Chair Carollo, but I don't think we had a chance to explain it to you. But when you look at our budgets, keep in mind we have two budgets, the GESE budget and the excess plan budget. Last year we separated and allocated the cost into two -- in both of the plans. This year the GESE budget represents the total budget. Commissioner Suarez: So you're consolidating those two budgets. Mr. Tompkins: In the excess -- but when you look at the excess budget, the excess is not in addition to the GESE budget. The GESE budget that you have this year is just an allocation out of the GESE budget. It's not two -- in other words, you don't combine the numbers. Last year to get a comparability, you should combine the two budgets. I think we had this Commission with the Vice -- this conversation with the Vice Chair, I believe. I think, right? Vice Chair Carollo: We've had conversation. Now I want to point out -- and I think in the conversation I didn't change anything from what I'm saying now, am I correct? Mr. Tompkins: You didn't change -- Vice Chair Carollo: You're not hearing anything different, right? Mr. Tompkins: You did not change anything different. But I did indicate the budgets this year is really one budget, not two. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. But getting back to the numbers -- and by the way, let's say you City ofMiami Page 194 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 manage 300 more employees, but let me tell you, the fund value in the FIPO is one billion, three hundred thousand, more or less. Yours is 600 million. So their fund value is more than double yours, so you had to take that into consideration, and they're doing it with five employees. Now -- and let me get into retirement contribution. Just like I asked FIPO, do you have a 3 percent or what's your multiplier? Mr. Tompkins: Is this for the employees, our employees, or for the --? Vice Chair Carollo: I'm going under the line item of retirement contributions. It's a large increase, andl want to see what exactly is their retirement contribution, what type of plan do you have. It's obvious the City ofMiami employees all made concessions or, unfortunately, were imposed last year, but the bottom line is their multiplier, their average years, as well as numerous other things changed. Did you all change? What do you have? When do you vest? Mr. Tompkins: Vice Chair, we did not change. But for the record, one of the things we do want to put on the record is as part of the budget process last year, you may remember, our initial actuarial contribution was $35 million. And concern for what the City budget was at that time, one of the things we did was charge our actuary with going back and seeing within the County standards as well as what the Florida Department of Administration would allow us, we were able to change those assumptions that produced a $15 million savings to the City's contribution on last year. And one of the things as I indicated to most of you when we met is that one of the unfortunate things about a pension is what you may save in one year eventually over that life cycle, amortization of the cost, you eventually got to catch up and so, therefore, the savings that we were able to pass on to the City last year, we're not able to do that this year. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman, ifI can continue? Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Now, since you're saying about these calculations and the savings and so forth, Mr. Manager, should we approve this budget? Do you recommend for us to approve this budget? Johnny Martinez (City Manager): I recommend that you reduce salaries (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry. Mr. Manager, your -- Chair Gort: Mike, mike. Mr. Martinez: I recommend that you reduce -- be consistent and reduce salaries and things like that, like you've done in the other budgets. Vice Chair Carollo: And do you have someone in the financial team to guide us in how much we should reduce and so forth? And not only that, to either reflute [sic] or agree with the statements that the gentleman just said as far as the savings that they provided to us and so forth? Mr. Martinez: No. I think we -- we've been treating all the different agencies. We've been going over their budget and reducing it and it become part of the budget. Danny's already included this as part of the budget. Any savings you do here is a direct savings to our budget. You know, he's already factored in this amount. Vice Chair Carollo: I understand. But in order for us to be in a level playing field, the gentleman's saying as far as all the savings that, you know, they have been able to save the City and so forth, and l just like our financial team to be part of it so they could guide me and tell me City ofMiami Page 195 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 if what's happening is correct or not or where are we so we can make an educated decision here. Chair Gort: My understanding is the statement that has been made is the last year, they were able to save the City ofMiami $15 million. Is that correct? Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Mr. Tompkins: That's correct, from $35 million actuarial contribution to 20. Mr. Alfonso: That was due to the imposition, the reduction of benefits. Is that --? That's -- Mr. Tompkins: That was a change in the benefit assumptions. Mr. Alfonso: Right. Mr. Tompkins: Yes. Mr. Alfonso: Not the administrative expense, $15 million. Mr. Tompkins: But it still saved the City $15 million out of the general fund. Vice Chair Carollo: Get in there (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Gort: Speak in the mike. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, while they're getting that all together, again, you guys have the knowledge from last year because you're looking at last year and comparing it to this year. It was not included in my backup for this year. Are you looking at old backup? Vice Chair Carollo: I -- actually, no. I actually requested it. Commissioner Suarez: I did too. Vice Chair Carollo: We actually requested it from them. And actually, when we met, I found out I didn't have enough information, that needed the backup, andl requested all this information they provide. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Does the Administration -- can we get a copy -- do you guys have a copy of it, Mr. Chairman? Chair Gort: Yes, I do. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So you have a copy of it now? Chair Gort: Not here now. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: In other words, Commissioner, we didn't go through the -- well, at least I didn't go through the Administration. I went on my own meeting with them and asked them for the information. City ofMiami Page 196 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Same. Vice Chair Carollo: Because the Administration -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Well, I would like to have -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- didn't provide that information to us. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- a copy of it, your -- a copy, please, since the Administration doesn't have it. Can I get a copy of it? Vice Chair Carollo: Do you want it with my notes too? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, let me get your notes. Mr. Silver: Mr. Chairman, may I also indicate that we had a very good rate of return this last year on our investment performance to date, which is 8.5 percent, which obviously saves the City money on the amount that it has to put in. I'm sorry? Commissioner Spence -Jones: So what is the resolution for today? Are we asking for them to reduce by what, 15 percent, 20 percent? What are we telling them they need to be reduced by? Vice Chair Carollo: I'm hoping our financial team could guide us in -- make a copy, but don't lose it. That's my only one. That's where I have my notes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Lose it, lose it. Vice Chair Carollo: That's where I have my notes. Mr. Alfonso: Through the Chair, ifI may? Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, these members, just like FIPO, has a board of their own. They present their budget to that board, and then the requirement is that they come here and present the budget to you and you approve that budget. So we're not -- Administration is not in the process of approving the budget for FIPO or GESE. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So -- but the question is so then -- 'cause what I've been told -- 'cause the first time really couldn't make any adjustments on it, right, on FIPO. So now can we -- you guys said last year you made adjustments -- Vice Chair Carollo: You better believe it, yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- on it and then I'm assuming you took it back to -- they took it back to their board, correct, from last year's changes from the meeting? Mr. Silver: No. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No? Mr. Silver: I don't think so, no. Not that I recall. Yeah, the City Manager was very seductive? No, I don't think so -- very persuasive. That's the word I'm looking for, okay, in reducing the amount, and we agreed to do that. City ofMiami Page 197 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- Vice Chair Carollo: So you're saying Mr. Martinez is not persuasive? Mr. Silver: Well, not yet. Vice Chair Carollo: Johnny, come on, man. Mr. Silver: Not yet. But you know, if I could, Mr. Chairman, just make a brief statement here as far as legality is concerned because that's whatl deal in, all right. And I'm not trying to be argumentative, and I'm not trying to be, you know, anything other than stating what believe to be the facts. Andl don't believe, absent some fraud or criminal activity or something, that you can change what we have submitted to you, the budget, and that's pursuant to the Gates case, okay. I just don't thinkyou can do that. I mean, you know -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But think said that -- Mr. Silver: Unless you could find something -- Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Wait. Mr. Silver: -- really -- Commissioner Suarez: No. But I think -- I kind of agree with what you're saying and I kind of disagree. If you were to tell me right now that your budget was $15 million and you wanted to hire 25 people and you wanted -- Mr. Silver: But that is something that a court would never allow to occur, right? Commissioner Suarez: Right. No. I understand. Mr. Silver: So -- Commissioner Suarez: I understand. There's limitations. Mr. Silver: But I'm saying if it's -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Silver: -- within the reasonable grounds, I don't thinkyou can change it. You can't change it for $100, 000 or something. I mean, that's -- Vice Chair Carollo: But here's the thing. What is reasonable? Are these expenses reasonable? I -- and that's exactly what I'm seeing. I don't think these expenses are reasonable -- Mr. Silver: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: -- you know. I'm seeing -- you have a treasurer and -- Mr. Silver: IfI might respond? Vice Chair Carollo: -- I guess the treasurer is to determine how to invest your funds? Mr. Silver: Okay, let me respond to you. What we have done when we propose the budget is we City ofMiami Page 198 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 make a decision upon what is necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the pension fund. That's what we do, considering our fiduciary responsibilities and all other matters, all right, and then we propose a budget. We just don't take a number out of the air and say, yeah, this is what it's going to be, all right. We have a rational, reasonable approach to determining what it is. Now you andl can disagree as to salaries, okay, but unless they're so far out of line, I, you know, just don't understand how you can do anything to it, but that's my legal opinion. Vice Chair Carollo: A 20 something percent increase from last year in salaries alone I think is out of line. Mr. Silver: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: And as far as retirement contribution, you know, I think, in all fairness, you should do as your employees that you represent, you know. I think, realistically, you should drop the multiplier and, you know, go to the five years and do exactly what your employees are doing. Mr. Silver: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Oh, I'm sorry. The people -- the employees that you represent have done. Because in all fairness, this money, if we pay you an administrative cost, does not go to the employees, does not go to pay police officers, general employees, everyone that you represent. Mr. Silver: But it does go to the proper administration of the trust fund, which to most of the people that we serve is the most important thing that they got going for them, all right. What's going to happen when they retire? What -- andl get, you know, three or four questions every week about probate, who they're leaving the money to, what's happening. These are critical decisions that they have to be made, and somebody has to spend time with them and sit down with them and advise them as to that. So it's not only a question of money, it's a question of giving them the proper advice. And what our board has determined is in order to give them the proper advice and administration, this is what the cost is. Now you -- I mean, you can disagree. Vice Chair Carollo: So what you're saying in order to give them proper advice, you need to give your employees a defined benefit plan that is much richer than the ones of the people that you represent? Mr. Silver: Do that one again with me. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, I'll say it again. What you're saying is in order to properly administer the plan, you have to give your employees, your 11 employees a defined benefit plan that is much richer than the employees that work for the City ofMiami that you actually represent? Mr. Silver: Well, as I mentioned to you in the office the other day, I think you got to take into consideration a lot of factors. And if we would let everybody go and hire first year people, all right, and we came back and there were a lot of mistakes made and a lot that stuff, you'd be all over us. How come you didn't do it right? How come you didn't, you know, look at the people that had all the experience? Why'd you let them go? Okay. Well, in order to keep people today, all right, you got to have some payment to them based upon their experience and their qualifications. I just don't think you can ignore that. I don't think it's right to ignore that. These people have been in the office for long periods of time, as was mentioned before. We have a continuity in the office which is second to none, andl would -- I'd ask you to match that against anybody else. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman. City ofMiami Page 199 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, Mr. Silverman [sic]. Mr. Silver: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And hear you fighting for your people, and guess what, that's what you should be doing is fighting for your people. I think that in the midst of all of this, you have to understand the five of us when we sit up here, we have to govern -- basically make decisions about, you know, how we're going to spend the City's finances. And think what you're hearing from Commissioner Carollo is everybody had to dig a little deeper and when -- now I have both sets of numbers. In some cases you do have individuals that are making double the amount of money they made last year, okay. Yeah, right, but it is -- Mr. Silver: Go ahead. Yeah, sure. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. I don't want to go back and forth on it 'cause I think you guys have gone back and forth enough on it. I'm just trying to be the voice of reason in this situation. Andl know Mr. Silverman [sic], him being a former elected official, understands the challenges that we have to -- what we have to face because he was once was one himself, so -- Mr. Silver: Former, former. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. So the issue is, you know, we're seeing almost a $200, 000 increase, correct -- Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- Commissioner Carollo? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We don't want to argue the point all night long with him -- with them, right? We just want to get -- find a resolution. Would the resolution be -- do you want them to be funded at what they were this year -- last year so that at least they're flat going into it and you still have a reduction; it's not an increase? You know, because if you voted on this number last year, that means people just don't get raises this year. They would have to understand that, okay. But for us to go back and forth, you're going to be right, guess -- you're going to be right -- Chair Gort: They're going to be arguing all night. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and you're going to be right, too. So at this point can we just find common ground? And common ground is to at least -- if you voted on this budget last year, which is what you just gave me, and you were fine with -- you guys were fine with last year's numbers, correct? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Can we just vote on the same numbers from last year and they have to deal with it? Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Can I -- I'll -- can I address that, Mr. Chairman? Chair Gort: Yes. Go ahead. City ofMiami Page 200 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. The issue I have with that is we approved -- and you have the number -- $698,242. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: You see that, right? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, I see it. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you know what their actual expenditures were? Commissioner Spence -Jones: We can ask them. Vice Chair Carollo: No. I have it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Eight hundred and twenty five thousand, seven hundred and four. So realistically, what it did is they increased the salaries so they're paid more in salaries. And below those line items, the budgeted amount was way over what they really needed. Do you understand what I'm saying? So what they did -- and we'll get into discussion with the City budget later on because -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I hope -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- there's a -- I know. You hope by 12. At the same time, we got an amendment on the City budget at, what, 3: 40 in the afternoon? So I mean -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I gotcha. I'm just -- andl love this. I love the fact that you would drill down on it. I really do. It is refreshing to know that somebody will drill down on the issues because I love drilling down on the issues. But I just -- what I'm trying to do is at least figure out what you want the number to be. And if you're saying that you want the numbers to not go over a certain amount in each one of the -- I think that us determining how they spend their money is, to me, not the right thing to do, but if that's what you feel comfortable with doing, meaning a certain amount allocated toward salaries, if that's the way want to do it, let's just get to telling them that because no matter what you say, they're not going to agree with what you say. So you need to just tell them, look, this is where it needs to be. Salaries need to be approved at the same amount from last year, whatever it is. Let's just let them know so we don't have to go back and forth all night with them. Because I don't care how much you tell Ron you think he's the greatest on earth, he's still going to argue 'cause his job is to make sure that they get this budget passed. Mr. Silver: Tell me I'm the greatest on earth. Chair Gort: That's the name of the game. Vice Chair Carollo: With that said -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: -- okay. With that said, in all fairness and due to the amount of time that I spent on all the different budgets and so forth, can we table this so I could get a calculation and a little bit -- andl could come up with an amount that think should be --? Commissioner Spence -Jones: I am more than happy with doing that. Does my fellow colleagues City ofMiami Page 201 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 feel comfortable with doing that so we can get passed other things on the agenda? And then I would ask for GESE to make sure the Commissioner is fully satisfied and happy. Vice Chair Carollo: And by the way, I mean, I welcome all, you know -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, no. We want your input. You're doing enough drilling down for all of us. I'm telling you. So I'm happy with what you found. Chair Gort: We're waiving all our questions to him. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. So -- Chair Gort: We'll give you all our three minutes just for you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- but can you guys work -- whatever -- he's going to -- he needs a little more time to go through it, okay, and then you guys figure out from that point if there's a comfortable point. Andl know, Mr. Silverman [sic], you understand so I'm sure you'll work through it. But it doesn't make sense for us all to have to sit here and endure you guys going back and forth. Mr. Silver: Well, first of all, it's Silver, but it's okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Silverman [sic]. Mr. Silver: Yeah. That's all right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Silver. Silver? Mr. Silver: Silver. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Silver. Yes. Mr. Silver: Silver's going down so, you know -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: No problem. Is that -- so can we officially move on? Mr. Silver: Well, no, because -- you know, I don't know what we're going to solve by that because, again, the board has adopted a budget which they believe is reasonable, okay, and the City's included that in their budget, all right. I don't know where we're going with that. I mean Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, I'm going to trust my fellow colleague and give him an opportunity if he feels like he needs more time -- because if we need to table it and he feels we need to table it, then we're going to let him table it. So we're going to table this -- Chair Gort: That's it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and allow for us to go on to another item so that the other people sitting in the audience, we can deal with -- address their issue and come back to it, instead of just outright cutting it and your not having any voice in it at all. I think that's a better option -- Mr. Silver: Well -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- than us going on and on and on about it. City ofMiami Page 202 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Silver: Commissioner, with all due respect -- I don't say this in an argumentative way, all right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know. I understand. Mr. Silver: But I do not believe that you have the authority, unless you can find something which is, you know, way out of the box, all right -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Mr. Silver: -- something crimi -- something was done fraudulently or something was done with criminal intent -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I gotcha. Mr. Silver: -- to the budget, all right, I don't believe you can do that. So I can't agree to something that the board didn't pass. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. I gotcha, Mr. Silver. Chair Gort: I understand. Let me ask a question to the City Attorney. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Can we -- yes. Can we get the City Attorney to opine on that? She can take this time -- Mr. Silver: Sure. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- to opine on that while we move on to the next item. Mr. Silver: I think she's pretty well versed on that. Ms. Bru: This board has the authority to approve your budget. Inherent in the authority to approve something is the authority to disapprove of something. Chair Gort: Of course. Ms. Bru: And there is no specification in Gates as to how they go about approving it, other than the manner in which they go about approving it should be the same as they approve the budget of the DDA (Downtown Development Authority). So to the same extent that you receive a budget from the DDA and you consider it and you approve it or disapprove it is the authority that you have with respect to this agency. Chair Gort: Sure. Commissioner Sarnoff. Then do we have the authority to set the total amount of salaries and wages, the total amount of fringe benefits, the total amount of professional services? That's my question. Ms. Bru: I believe that you do. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. There we go. Mr. Silver: I respectfully -- City ofMiami Page 203 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Disagree. Mr. Silver: -- disagree with that, yes, sir. Chair Gort: I understand. Mr. Silver: Respectfully disagree for the record. Commissioner Sarnoff. I thought lawyers don't even have to say respectfully. Vice Chair Carollo: Can we just table it? Commissioner Sarnoff. I thought it was always implied. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Can we just table it and -- Chair Gort: Table it. Vice Chair Carollo: -- move to the next --? Commissioner Spence -Jones: We're tabling it and then -- Chair Gort: We'll table it and move to the next one. [Later..] Chair Gort: Okey-doke. My understanding, an offer was made of deduction of 100, 000. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: What I'm seeing here is here from their actual amounts -- what they budgeted last year to their actual amounts, it's -- they've actually have expensed 578,000 less than what they budgeted last year. So in other words, there's a lot of savings there that, you know, don't have to be paid to you guys, and I'm not saying that we're not paying that. I'm saying we've paid what we've paid, but you're coming -- realistically, you don't need all that money. You're almost $600, 000 lower than what we budget you last year. So $100, 000I think is really not all that much. I think you should give a little more, so I'm saying work with us. And what I'll do is, you know -- or what we'll do, you know, start this process a little bit earlier next year so it doesn't come to this last-minute thing and wheeling and dealing and so forth, you know. Maybe we could work on maybe some of those pensions or reform or so forth and maybe in another way be able to get this board a little more comfortable. But that's actually what I'm seeing. I'm seeing that there's a difference of $600, 000. I think only giving up only $100 -- I'm sorry -- $100, 000, it's a little low. It's a lot low, but I'm being diplomatic here. Mr. Tompkins: Vice Chair, I think you may remember when we met with you, we told you about the pension gold refabrication we were doing as a result of the pension estimates; that the assumptions that are in the charter that have been made, andl thinkFlPO is going through the same thing. We're about two-thirds through that project, and think as we indicated to you, we are -- we need about $300, 000 of that to go into our budget solely for the refabrication that's done with the PensionGold pension system. City ofMiami Page 204 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Does that mean that --? Commissioner Sarnoff. Can I try something? Vice Chair Carollo: Sure. Commissioner Sarnoff. You said last year they had how much in unexpended? What was the number? Vice Chair Carollo: Well, from what we budgeted -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- to what they have actually used, there's a difference of $578,000 roughly as of August 31. So in other words, they -- we budgeted way more -- Commissioner Sarnoff. I gotcha. So if we just -- just to create the ballpark and let's see if we can negotiate real fast. If we take all your line items right now -- ifI just looked at your personal services, you have created $158,204 in additional personnel salary services. IfI were to just take your fringe benefits, you've created $246, 332 in additional services this year. Now you do get some credits because professional services, you have -- you've saved $130, 000. Obviously, your office and administrative is identical. And then ifI look at your insurance and occupancy, you have a savings of $170, 345. So if I do all the reductions -- and assuming that your $5 million is not something we should be looking at; andl don't think it is -- you have $104,191. The Vice Chair is saying you have an additional savings of last year -- maybe the characterization is not savings -- but an additional carry forward of $578, 000. So to round things around, you're at 105,000 and about 580, 000. Is there a number you could give us in the middle? Mr. Silver: Well, let me explain, first of all, we haven't paid PensionGold yet $250, 000. That's where -- Commissioner Sarnoff. So that should be the reduc --? Mr. Silver: -- some of the unexpended dollars are, if I'm correct. It's 250. We haven't paid PensionGold 250, 000. Commissioner Sarnoff. So then you would have a two hundred and eighty -- well, let me do that. Yeah, it'd be two -- about $280, 000 left. So then the ballpark is between 105, if what you're saying is accurate, and $280, 000. So -- Mr. Tompkins: I believe also, Commissioner, the numbers I think the Vice Chair is looking at -- you remember when you asked for the budget actual for this year. Are those the numbers that you're looking at, because those are only 11 months of actual? Vice Chair Carollo: I understand that. That's August 31. Mr. Tompkins: It doesn't include the 12 months. There's one month not included. Vice Chair Carollo: You're right. Mr. Tompkins: Yeah. So Commissioner Sarnoff, there's one month that's not included in the Vice Chair's calculation of the savings. Commissioner Sarnoff. So what would the one month reduce that by? City ofMiami Page 205 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: That's why I asked for the projections, that one month and -- the year, plus the one -month projection, but -- I mean, I could do it myself, but again, it's going to take time, andl think, you know, everyone wants to -- you know, again, this is why this whole budget ordeal this year and the rush -rush, you know -- andl tried to avoid it like months ago. You know thatl said it, but anyways -- I mean, I could calculate it myself but again, it's going to take some time, andl think everybody wants to be a little bit more expedient. Mr. Tompkins: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: I -- Mr. Silver: Commissioner Sarnoff, I mean, I would try to go to 150, all right. I mean -- Commissioner Sarnoff. No. I think he wants some methodology, and knowing him, I -- let's give him methodology, because the difference right now is 105,000 -- I was wrong. It's 330,000 differential. Vice Chair Carollo: There you go. Commissioner Sarnoff. I apologize. But you're missing a month so you should get a credit for some month. Sandra Ellenberg: Yeah. It's 258,000 a month and we still haven't paid for pension -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Ms. Ellenberg: Sandra Ellenberg, pension -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Ellenberg: -- administrator of the GESE fund. It's 258,000 a month that we spend, andl have not paid for PensionGold yet, which I still owe them $200, 000. That's 458, 000. Commissioner Sarnoff. Well, I'm not sure how that could be. You would then be over. Mr. Silver: In the spirit of trying to do something, again I'll offer 150 and then -- Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry. Chair Gort: Make a motion you guys. Ms. Thompson: On the mike, please. Chair Gort: Speak in the mike, please. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Mr. Silver: In the spirit of trying to come to some conclusion on this, I'd offer up to 150 as an approximate figure. It's not an exact figure, but it's somewhere in the ballparkl think of what you want. Vice Chair Carollo: Ron -- I'm sorry. Mr. Silver -- and again, I have known you for many, many years and so forth. City ofMiami Page 206 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Silver: That's okay. You can call me -- just as long as you keep acknowledging that I'm the greatest thing you've ever seen or whatever. Vice Chair Carollo: Well, you have a chance now. You have a chance. Just hold on. You have a chance. How 'bout offering $200, 000 less than what you proposed in your budget? And again, my colleagues have to agree to it. It's not -- you know, this is not just me, so my colleagues will have to agree with me, but $200 -- $200, 000 less than what you have in your proposed budget right now, which is 3,128, 250, andl think it's fair. And then we could discuss, you know, for next year earlier and so forth and -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: But that would be putting them where they were before, right? Vice Chair Carollo: Actually, no. That will put them less than last year. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Two hundred -- because when I'm looking at the salaries from this last year -- Vice Chair Carollo: Remember -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- the salaries were -- Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. But remember, the salary was sort of like a shell game, and we'll get into the City administration also how we could do the shell game, because we passed their budget on a departmental basis. So realistically, what's happening is last year, even though we approved a lot less salaries, there were other line items that were way under budget, and they used that money to bring it up and pay people the higher salary, so that's where the difference was. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. But when you're saying -- when you say -- if I'm looking at your line items here from -- compared to last year to this year, just in the salaries alone -- I'm just -- this is 200,000 right there. Vice Chair Carollo: Right, right. Commissioner Sarnoff. What do you got? What do you got? What are you guys offering? Mr. Silver: Well, one -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Come on, what are you guys offering, all right? Mr. Silver: -- seventy five. Commissioner Sarnoff. You know what, I'm going to make a motion that -- to approve them at 175,000 less than what they did last year -- than their requested budget for this year. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly, because their requested budget -- Commissioner Sarnoff. I gotcha. Vice Chair Carollo: -- is less -- you know -- Mr. Silver: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- where I'm going with that. City ofMiami Page 207 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Sarnoff. Yep. Vice Chair Carollo: You know why I'm using that. So realistically, if we go with the 200, 000, it actually will be 254,000 less than last year is what they would agree to, and that's why -- that -- and you're right, I don't just throw numbers up in the air. I use methodologies. Commissioner Sarnoff. No. I -- and just so you -- Vice Chair Carollo: So that's why I was using -- Commissioner Sarnoff. And the reason I didn't go to the 200 is the differential of what they're projecting right here is 170, 345, but I didn't drill into what you drilled into. So in the spirit of moving this along, I'm going to make the motion for 175,000 more than what -- less than what they have proposed for this budget year. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Second with a friendly amendment. Chair Gort: There's been a motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, second by Vice Chairman Carollo. Vice Chair Carollo: My friendly amendment is that we increase it to 200, 000, so it's what, an additional 50,000? Come on, Ron -- I'm sorry -- Mr. Silver. Mr. Silver: I can't do it. I'm trying to compromise between what we offered and what you said and that comes out to 175, and that's the most I can go. I'm sorry. I just -- I can't do it. I mean, I don't know if the board's going to -- you know, I got to present this to the board andl got to go forward. Andl -- you know, again, based upon my legal conclusion, I don't even think we should be here, but I'm willing to -- Chair Gort: There was -- Mr. Silver: -- you know, renig on that and -- Chair Gort: -- there's a motion and a second with the friendly amendment. Does the maker of the motion accept the friendly amendment? Vice Chair Carollo: Hear from your colleagues. Commissioner Sarnoff. I accept the friendly amendment. Chair Gort: Okay. Is there any further discussion? Commissioner Suarez: Yes. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. My question is we're allowing them to essentially decide how they're going to -- Chair Gort: Sure, yes. Commissioner Suarez: -- save those $200, 000? Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. City ofMiami Page 208 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: In essence -- well, realistically, if you go by what they did last year, they just go by what the total amount is, and they move around whatever they want anyways, so yes. I mean, unless we have some say in it, realistically, yes, you're right. We approve their total budget even though -- and I'm going to show examples -- Commissioner Suarez: No. I -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- of how we -- how at least this Commissioner thought that there was set amounts and those amounts -- Commissioner Suarez: Approved. Vice Chair Carollo: -- were going to be approved, and we actually stayed here in the wee hours of the morning, as we all know, and realistically, those amounts were way, you know, over. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, I agree. Vice Chair Carollo: So you know, to answer your question, it appears like regardless, they move around the money and -- to the total amount, so -- Chair Gort: Okay, there's a motion. Second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Ms. Thompson: That's as amended. Commissioner Suarez: "Aye." Chair Gort: As amended. Vice Chair Carollo: As amended. Commissioner Suarez: Reluctantly "aye.' Mr. Silver: Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Mr. Silver: Yeah. Ms. Thompson: Now we still have -- Vice Chair Carollo: And Senator -- Mr. Silver: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: -- if we could start the process earlier -- I know it wasn't you all. But if we could start the process earlier, maybe, you know, even in a month or so we could start discussing it and maybe see how we could rearrange it for, you know -- so we could come to, you know, City ofMiami Page 209 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 BH.12 11-00738 General Employees and Sanitation Employees Retirement Trust some good, you know, reform if -- for lack of better words. Mr. Silver: Okay. Chair Gort: Start working next month. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET OF THE CITY OF MIAMI GENERAL EMPLOYEES' & SANITATION EMPLOYEES' EXCESS BENEFIT PLAN ("GESE EXCESS BENEFIT PLAN") FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012, IN THE AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $124,661, EXCLUDING THE ACTUARIALLY DETERMINED ANNUAL BENEFIT PAYMENT, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE GESE EXCESS BENEFIT PLAN. 11-00738 Memo - GESE Excess Benefit Plan.pdf 11-00738 Legislation.pdf 11-00738 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, 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 Spence -Jones R-11-0386 Commissioner Spence -Jones: BH (Budget Hearing) -- Vice Chair Carollo: MPA (Miami Parking Authority). Chair Gort: Now wait a minute. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- 11 and BH -- Chair Gort: The next one -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- 12, right? Chair Gort: -- is the Miami Parking -- I'd like to get the -- Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): No, no, no. I'm sorry. Ron Silver: No. We have 12. Vice Chair Carollo: Oh. Mr. Silver: We have BH.12. Vice Chair Carollo: Table that too. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- Mr. Silver: That's the excess plan. City ofMiami Page 210 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: The excess -- Mr. Silver: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: Might as well. Mr. Silver: That should be -- Vice Chair Carollo: Let's do them together. Chair Gort: 13 is the -- Mr. Silver: Huh? Vice Chair Carollo: Let's do them together. [Later..] Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Ms. Thompson: No. Mr. Silver: This is a -- I'm sorry? You want me to do 12? Vice Chair Carollo: Oh, that's right, the excess. Ms. Thompson: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Now -- and I'm sorry. Before you do 12, the excess, from what was explained to me, is just a percentage of what we already approved, correct? So in other words, it's not additional monies. Ron Tompkins: It's not additional money, but one of the things I wanted to explain before when we were on the subject before, Vice Chair, when you compare our last year's budget to this year's, last year's budget, the excess and the GESE (General Employees Sanitation Employees) had to be combined to come up with the true total budget. So when you look at actual to budget this year, that's why you get the -- what you -- appear to be larger increases than you may -- what really occurred because last year we separated the budgets in two different budgets. This year the true budget, so to speak, is GESE. The excess is solely just an allocation out of GESE just because for accounting and our tax purposes, we have to represent a separate plan for the excess benefits, people that are paid over a hundred grand. Vice Chair Carollo: So what you're saying is that last year it was GESE plus -- Mr. Tompkins: Plus the excess. Vice Chair Carollo: -- the excess. And this year it's just GESE. Mr. Tompkins: It's just GESE. Vice Chair Carollo: And excess will be paid from a percentage of GESE. Mr. Tompkins: Paid from a percentage of GESE. City ofMiami Page 211 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Gotcha. Mr. Tompkins: So it's not the increases that you thought. Vice Chair Carollo: I understand, but it's -- Mr. Tompkins: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: -- still fair. I mean, would you agree it's still fair what we've compromised and --? Mr. Tompkins: You beat us up pretty good but -- Vice Chair Carollo: I know. The senator, he drives a hard bargain. All right, guys. Mr. Silver: You know, listen, I -- Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Silver: -- had an $18 billion budget for four years andl know what you're going through and that's why I respect what you're going through. And -- $18 million, we had all these arguments and all these cuts and all that stuff. So anyway, this is BH. 12, a resolution of the City ofMiami Commission, with attachments, approving and adopting the annual budget of the City ofMiami General Employees and Sanitation Employees Excess Benefit Plan for the physical [sic] year commencing October 1, 2011 and ending September 30, 2012, in the amount not to exceed $124, 661; excluding the actuarially determined annual benefit payment to provide for the administration of the GESE Excess Benefit Plan. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Suarez: It has to be changed, though, to reflect the new budget on the other one 'cause it's 5 percent of what we just passed, correct? Chair Gort: They have them separate, but they had to put both of them together within the original budget so the -- my understanding is the motion was made to reduce it by $200,000. So it's $200, 000 there to apply to the line item budget. Am I correct? Mr. Silver: I think Mr. Tompkins has -- By the way, Mr. Tompkins was the president of the Florida CPA (Certified Public Accountant) so I want you to know that while I may not have the exact knowledge of all this stuff he does. Mr. Tompkins: Thank you, Ronald. That's why we pay you so well. But -- Vice Chair Carollo: It doesn't affect us, though. It affects them. Mr. Tompkins: -- to the Chair and Vice Chair and the Commission, the approximate percentages would be 5 percent of the new numbers that we agreed to. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Mr. Tompkins: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: So move. City ofMiami Page 212 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: I just wanted some clarification on the record. Thank you. Mr. Tompkins: All right. Okay. Chair Gort: It's been moved by -- Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Gort: -- Vice Chairman Carollo, second by Commissioner Suarez. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Thompson: I just want to make sure as we record because there's a modification to your first number, this resolution then would have to show a mod -- as a modification as well because the numbers will change, correct? Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Silver: That's right. (UNINTLELIGIBT,F) 11: 04: 07. Vice Chair Carollo: The final numbers would change 'cause it's a percentage of -- Ms. Thompson: Right, but there's a number -- Vice Chair Carollo: -- the GESE. And just to be clear, we voted on this under the assumption -- at least I did -- that this is not additional fundings [sic]. This will be percentages of money that we just allocated to GESE. Mr. Tompkins: Right. Mr. Silver: Right. Chair Gort: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you, senator. Mr. Silver: Okay. Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Silver: The only thing that you've done for me tonight is that when I go home to my wife now, it'll be her birthday 'cause her birthday's tomorrow. Chair Gort: Go get the gift. Mr. Silver: So I can give her a kiss, you know, happy birthday. Chair Gort: Make sure you give her a nice gift. Vice Chair Carollo: Give her my best. City ofMiami Page 213 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 BH.13 11-00786 Miami Parking Authority Chair Gort: The kiss is fine, but give her a gift. Go ahead and take some flowers. Mr. Silver: Yeah -- oh, yeah. At this hour? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. In Miami you can still do that. Chair Gort: Yeah. Mr. Silver: Don't tell her that. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you, senator. And what -- and something that I'd like to add just for us, that the savings from last year wasn't only two hundred and fifty something thousand. It was 250,000 plus the excess amount right now. So whatever that is -- so, you know, I think it's a big savings and, you know, that money is very much needed right now in these tough financial times, you know, and the employees really, you know, need that. So thank you. Mr. Tompkins: Thank you. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET OF THE DEPARTMENT OF OFF-STREET PARKING, IN THE AMOUNT OF $14,087,649, EXCLUDING DEPRECIATION, AND OTHER NON OPERATING EXPENSES OF $7,198,479, ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012. 11-00786 Memos - Miami Parking Authority 09-27-11.pdf 11-00786 Legislation.pdf 11-00786 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 Spence -Jones R-11-0385 Chair Gort: 13 is the -- Vice Chair Carollo: Let's do them together. Chair Gort: -- Department of Off -Street Parking. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Miami Parking Authority. Chair Gort: No. Let's -- why don't we get the Virginia Beach Trust. I don't think that we have any problem with that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. Vice Chair Carollo: I think got good news with Miami Parking Authority. City ofMiami Page 214 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Is it going to -- is it short news or long news? Vice Chair Carollo: I think it's going to be somewhat short if the board agrees. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Is it longer than my Virginia Key Beach? Vice Chair Carollo: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know, Commissioner. I don't know. I don't know. Chair Gort: BH.13, Miami Parking. Commissioner Sarnoff. Take a deeper breath. Art Noriega: Commissioners, good evening. Art Noriega, Miami Parking Authority. With me is Scott Simpson. As we've done every year, we present to the City Commission our budget. This year's budget, as is currently presented to you, calls for an excess contribution to the City of $5.7 million. I'm going to actually kind of defer to Commissioner Carollo at this point 'cause he andl have had, I would call, a very intense bonding session over the last five days. And as a result of that, he has some items he'd probably like to bring up and discuss with us. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. As you all know, I've -- for several weeks or Commission meeting, I've had budget of the MPA (Miami Parking Authority) as a discussion item, but unfortunately, I haven't really had the opportunity or the time to meet with, you know, Mr. Noriega and Mr. Scott Simpson. And again, I'm not going to rehash of what has been stated, you know, a week ago and so forth and time with the budget. However, I've been able to look at it quite a bit, andl discussed with Mr. Noriega, Mr. Simpson that was in disagreement -- big disagreement with a lot of the expenses andl asked that we cut, and we went back and forth. And after, I would say, many, many hours, Mr. Noriega, Mr. Simpson has agreed to do cuts. And what that's going to represent is instead of five point something million dollars that they gave the City for the current year and five point something that they thought they were going to give the City next year, they're actually going to give the City in excess revenue $6 million. So I don't know if Mr. Noriega would like to elaborate. I'm not exactly sure where the cuts are going to come. I think he will have to explain that. Mr. Noriega: We'll elaborate on that. Vice Chair Carollo: 'Cause we just went back and forth and netted this; well, if you cut here, you have to cut there. So you know, the bottom line is we did that negotiation already. And if you all agree, I think from five point something to six million dollars without spending too much time, because that's what think I'm hearingfrom you all -- Chair Gort: Motion. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Carollo: -- you know -- Chair Gort: We need a motion. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, let's hear from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- City ofMiami Page 215 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, let's hear where the cuts are because -- Mr. Noriega: Yeah, yeah. We're going to read those into the record. I want for purposes of just clarification; it was referenced probably more than once in the discussion that Commissioner Carollo has agreed to name his first-born son after me. He at least put it into consideration. He didn't make me any promises, but as a result of all the time we spent together, he agreed to do that. So Scott, if you want to -- Scott Simpson: Good evening. Scott Simpson, Miami Parking Authority. The $300, 000 of additional income comprised of reduction in our capital contribution of $150, 000 to roughly $450, 000 of capital expenses within the Authority for the year. That contemplates garage improvements, automobiles, those type of things. The other remaining 150,000 comes directly out of operating expenses, maintenance and landscaping, 20,000; parking meter parts and installations, 60,000; other consultants, 20,000; computer software, 10,000; and payroll and overtime, 40, 000; for a grand total of 150,000 on the operating side, which would reduce our operating expenses $13,937, 649, which would give an excess contribution of $6 million to the City. Commissioner Suarez: I'll move that. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Or I'll second his motion, I suppose. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Chair Gort: Been moved by Vice Chairman -- Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Chair Gort: -- Carollo and second by Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Just a quick -- just a couple quick observations. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Very quick, Commissioner Spence -Jones, very quick. One is I want to salute you. I see that your salary, wages, and fringe benefits over the last three years have gone down, and that's consistent with what's been going on in the City ofMiami. Andl appreciate the fact that you recognize that and have made those adjustments. The second question I have goes to last year, which we debated about andl thinkl was very adamant about last year and this year and after last year about making sure that whatever we project to receive from your agency, from your Authority, better said, that we hit that target and that that is a realistic conservative target. And l just want you to put on the record that you feel that -- if you feel that way or if you don't feel that way. Mr. Noriega: Absolutely, without question. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. That's it. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Just to follow up on a few of the things you said. When we negotiated or City ofMiami Page 216 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 however you want to discuss it, Mr. Noriega wanted to increase the revenue, and you know that was something that -- or estimated revenue. That's something that last year I was -- I really harped on that. I really thought that they were aggressive. I put on the record as one of the reasons that did not vote to approve their budget. And we came to a conclusion as far as the expenses. Now, in all fairness, he told me, hey, listen, if I can prove to you that I raised the revenues, then I will come back later on once we have -- Commissioner Suarez: For an amendment. Vice Chair Carollo: -- X'humber of months and I'm able to show you we've increased our revenues, then will you be able to increase some of those expenses. Andl said, yes, as long as it nets at least $6 million for the City ofMiami. Now with that said, I still think that there's areas that we could cut and we should cut and so forth, but in the art of compromise -- and you know, as a step forward, you know, this, I think, is a good compromise; and at least for now, the City of Miami will increase what we originally thought we were going to get from MPA. So Art, you know, I truly appreciate it, and Scott also -- I'm sorry -- Mr. Simpson, Mr. Noriega. And you know, again, it's additional revenues for the City of Miami and, you know, that's what I'm always trying to achieve. Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well done (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Well done. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, very well. I want to thank you for your contributions. Appreciate it. Commissioner Suarez: Vote. Chair Gort: Do we have any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Simpson: Thank you. Chair Gort: I don't know if we can increase it. BH.14 RESOLUTION 11-00748 Virginia Key Beach A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Park Trust ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING THE OPERATING FUNDS FOR THE VIRGINIA KEY BEACH PARK TRUSTS FISCAL YEAR 2011-2012 BUDGET, IN THE AMOUNT OF ZERO DOLLARS FROM THE CITY OF MIAMI, AND THE BUDGET TOTAL IN THE AMOUNT OF $381,000. 11-00748 Summary Form.pdf 11-00748 Legislation.pdf 11-00748 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones R-11-0384 Chair Gort: BH.14, Virginia Key Beach Trust. City ofMiami Page 217 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Guy Forchion: Good evening, Commissioners. Guy Forchion, executive director of Virginia Key Beach Park Trust. Gene Tinnie: I'm Gene Tinnie, chair of the trustee board. Good evening. Mr. Forchion: I will read into the record -- this is a resolution of the City -- of the Miami City Commission, with attachments, approving the operating funds for the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust fiscal year 2011/2012 budget, in the amount of zero dollars from the City ofMiami and the budget total in the amount of $381, 000. We respectfully ask today that you approve our budget. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Mr. Forchion: Questions, please. Chair Gort: Questions. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner -- Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: I hate to do this, but I have to. I have to do my due diligence. The biggest issue I have with this is the reasonableness on the revenues, and that's where I'm concerned. You know, I asked, hey, listen, with all these events and so forth, can you provide me a breakdown of the revenues, the expenses and so forth and see, you know, for the past year -- I received two, but that was it, and it was nowhere near $306, 000. So my issue is -- and you're right. You're saying that if they earn their money, then they should be able to do the expenses, andl have some experience with this because I'm the chairman of Bayfront Park Management Trust so I understand a little bit of how it works. But my issue is if the revenues are overstated -- and I'm saying that not in a bad way. I'm saying, you know, if you believe you're really going to make K" amount of revenues and you don't, then who's going to pay for all these expenses? Andl think it will be the City. Now I know you could dip into your reserves, but I'm a little concerned because your reserves is down to 108. So how can we, you know, do this? Andl haven't even touched upon that -- as a matter of fact, yeah, I will. I see Mr. Burkeen. Mr. Manager, would you allow Mr. Burkeen to address us real quick? You were standing there; I guess you expected it. How you're doing, Mr. Burkeen? Ernest Burkeen (Director, Parks & Recreation): I'm doing fine. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, good. How much maintenance do you provide for Bayfront Park? Mr. Burkeen: None. Vice Chair Carollo: No maintenance? Mr. Burkeen: No. City ofMiami Page 218 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: How much maintenance do you provide for Virginia Key? Mr. Burkeen: All of Vice Chair Carollo: So there's a difference there. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, but let -- Vice Chair Carollo: There's a difference there. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Virginia Key Beach is a very sensitive issue, okay -- Vice Chair Carollo: But -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- so we don't ever want to get into comparing Bayfront Park to Virginia Key Beach. We just -- Vice Chair Carollo: What I'm -- what -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- don't want to get into comparing the two. Vice Chair Carollo: But what I'm saying -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Clearly, the resources that go to Bayfront Park and how much money they earn, if anybody's money we need to be tapping into resources wise, it needs to be Bayfront Park so that it can help us with our general fund. Not them saying, look, we're not taking anything from you. We can pay for our own administration. When we start looking at their numbers and how much they earn, it's no comparison to what Virginia Key Beach has earned. And as far as any particular historical based thing for African Americans in this town, that's the only thing we have. So we need to figure out a way to support them and not take away from them, to help build them so they can create enough revenue so they can float on their own. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. What I am looking at, Commissioner Spence -Jones, is from their budget, okay, how reasonable their revenues are because if it's not, we're going to have to fund that. It's -- I mean, is that true? Mr. Tinnier It's totally reasonable. Mr. Forchion: I mean -- and again, Commissioner and Vice Chairman, that is totally reasonable. But I can tell you -- and if you look at our last two years, what we've been doing, we've been furloughing a day for the past two years. We have eliminated 401 k matching and all of those things where three years ago we we're mirroring the City ofMiami. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And they're on life support. Mr. Forchion: We have ended that. And our budgets in the past was a matter of working four days a week. And so as you say that, we really function very much like a private entity. We have -- this I see more is a spending authority. We would love to have the support of the City that if we came up short, we would be covered. We have not done that and have purposefully made sure that we never reached a point where we were overspending because this Commission made it very clear two years ago that it was not providing any dollars to the Trust. And so when we City ofMiami Page 219 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 come into July, August, September, we look at our revenues and would furlough days at that point and according to our revenues. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: So what you're saying is if your revenue estimates are over -- and l just preferred to have a more realistic amount in revenues. Mr. Forchion: And I'll address those numbers also. Vice Chair Carollo: That's what -- Mr. Forchion: We feel very confident about this number. Vice Chair Carollo: -- I'm looking for. And by the way, we are helping them because we do provide all the maintenance services, so we are helping, you know, from the City point of view. Because the bottom line is, we are, Commissioner. I see that smile because you know it's true. Now with that said, listen, again, I'm just doing my due diligence. I want to make sure that the revenues here are realistic, they're, you know -- and if they're not, okay, where -- what expenses can we cut or not? Where's the money coming from? I'm already sayingl understand. I've seen. You have $108, 000 of reserve that you could tap into so -- and I'm not saying to tap into it. Mr. Forchion: Again, first, I'm just sayingl need to speak to that initially first because I'm very much like the other trust that was here. I would like to see that $108, 000. I -- Vice Chair Carollo: So where's our financial team that's --? Mr. Forchion: -- would like to see that $108,000. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: I remember last year one of the things that we talked about was the front loading issue, about having to load the budget and the money being available. Is that what you mean by the 108, 000, that we need to load the budget so you could have that money? Mr. Forchion: Again, last year we had a carryover of $109, 000. Chair Gort: We just approved it the other day. Mr. Forchion: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: So then that -- Mr. Forchion: But our -- but we have -- and we have our actuals from August 31. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Forchion: And, Commissioner Carollo, you had asked for some special reports that I sent over to you, and it has the August actual which, at the end ofAugust our actual spending was three hundred fifty thousand some odd dollars. Our revenues were two eighty-five nine hundred, which was actually our projection. So this month of September has been gravy. Andl speak to City ofMiami Page 220 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 that in a sense that when we began this in '09/2010, we had revenues of $245, 000. This year we're trending out at $311, an increase of 29 percent, and our budget is only based on an increase of 20 percent. Andl speak to that increase because also in this year we raised the entry fee to the parkfrom $5 to 6, matching the other City ofMiami Beach on the island. And that 20 percent raise, along with some other larger events that are coming, I feel very confident at 20 percent that we will be at 381. Commissioner Suarez: Can I just ask a follow-up question? Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: So is it fair to say that you did not dip into your reserves -- or you will probably not need to dip into your reserves this year -- at the end of this fiscal year?. Mr. Forchion: At the end of this fiscal year we are on schedule not to have to do that. But again, I would love to see this -- Commissioner Suarez: No, no. I know. Mr. Forchion: -- $108,000 -- Commissioner Suarez: I know. Mr. Forchion: -- reserve that you're speaking -- Commissioner Suarez: I think last year they said there was a cash flow issue with how some of your events are structured. I don't know if you still have that issue or not. This is just recollection from the last time -- remember there was a big confusion the last time about -- Mr. Forchion: Well, there was. And again, and that's why I speak to this. Yes, it is our budget, but it's also a spending authority. If someone donated us $200, 000 tomorrow, we'd have to come before you -- Commissioner Suarez: And amend the budget. Mr. Forchion: -- to -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Accept it. Mr. Forchion: -- increase ourselves. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. To accept it too. Vice Chair Carollo: Let me tell you something, if someone donates $200,000, count on me -- Mr. Forchion: You would accept. Vice Chair Carollo: -- Commissioner Spence -Jones, I'll be the first one to say, yes. Mr. Forchion: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: With that said -- Chair Gort: Okay. City ofMiami Page 221 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: -- again, I -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Did we get a motion? Vice Chair Carollo: What's that? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Do we need a motion on this item? Commissioner Suarez: We already did. Chair Gort: We already did. Commissioner Suarez: I moved it and you second it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Madam City Clerk. Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Thompson: Yes, you do have a motion. Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez and you second it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: The only thing that I would like to add -- because the reality is we do need to figure out whatever it takes to support the Trust and to support whatever needs to happen on the island, on Virginia Key -- at Virginia Key Beach. You know, you guys have been doing a great job with at least now going into the black, but reality is we got to figure out a way to help you boost those numbers and boost the activities so that you have the resources, because the reality is they still have monies set aside to build this museum that has to be built, you know. So we need to make sure that the Administration is working along with them so that that actually happens. And I'm not really sure if the Administration has been working hand in hand with them, whether or not the actual bid and all of that stuff has gone out for the museum. I just -- I don't want it to be, you know, something that's just not moving. So I don't know what the progress is on it. I know that Commissioner Edmonson had put money aside -- money was already set aside for the museum, a certain portion of it. Mr. Forchion: With general obligation bond funds, $15.5 million. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. So I mean, this is -- we're just not out, you know, having picnics on Virginia Key Beach. This is a historic site that we want to make sure that we have as a tourist destination. So I'm hoping that the Administration will take on the responsibility of making sure that this actually moves. And I'm seeing Ernest Burkeen's face like is it moving ahead? Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, can I ask a follow-up to her question? Chair Gort: Wait a minute. There's a question of Mr. Burkeen. Commissioner Suarez: But it's related to that. Alice Bravo: Alice Bravo, assistant City Manager. My understanding from the last time I conferred with the County on the status of the funds is that, yes, this was approved as an eligible City ofMiami Page 222 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 project for general obligation bonds, but it had not been included in one of the tranches of bonds that they had actually issued, so it's subject to approval on a future bond issuance by the County. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Is that your understanding? Mr. Forchion: Exactly, precisely. And very similar to Museum Park, it's a situation of being able to show operation funds for what we build, and that is where we need to work hand in hand and potentially reduce the scope and size of the original museum plan so that it's something that the City, the Trust can start a first phase. Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: The issue with the obligation bonds is I think a frustrating issue for a lot of people. Andl don't know whether or not -- I'll take the Administration's word that this is unfortunately in a tranche of bonds that have not even been sold, meaning -- Mr. Forchion: Correct. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: -- that we're not going to see this for the foreseeable future and that's unfortunate, andl think that's the answer to your question, the honest answer to your question. Mr. Forchion: Well, the County is preparing a -- potentially a 2013 allotment. Commissioner Suarez: Well, I know they're delaying bonds that have already been purchased, so I mean -- Mr. Forchion: True. Commissioner Sarnoff. I think he -- I think -- Chair Gort: It'd be a while. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- you're looking at 2016, is what I've heard. Commissioner Suarez: If you're lucky. Chair Gort: Sixteen. Commissioner Suarez: If you're lucky. Mr. Tinnier But in the meantime, I mean, before all that comes online, we're still making the park a, you know, every year more of a meaningful historic and environmental experience for the people who come there. Andl have to say for the record, you know, there's been a lot of discussion about salaries and budgets and staff. On paper, Mr. Forchion mentioned, you know, the need to furlough people and all that to make sure that we are in line with our projections. Our projections are usually very conservative and they have been exceeded regularly. But those furloughs are on paper. These people go the extra ten miles on a regular basis. How many institutions or entities could hold on to staff of this qualin, for this long under such circumstances is -- I don't think many can come close. In addition to the staff there was a session Saturday. I quoted Susan Davis, who had an excellent quote about how the parks that work for people often become the parks that people work for. This park has benefited from literally, without exaggeration, tens of thousands of volunteer hours, people planting trees, coming out there participating in beach cleanups; feeling ownership of the park. What we're looking at here is not City ofMiami Page 223 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 a group of people asking, you know, for a handout. This by just sheer community effort has become an entity that is making something happen. That $316, 000 is money that the City does not have to pay to keep its largest park and its most valuable asset, its only oceanfront property going, and not just going but really being first-class. People come out there. They comment on just the quality of the maintenance, the quality of the bathrooms. Those little things that you don't think mean much, but that's what keeps people coming back. That's what keeps those promoters wanting to come to that spot for, you know -- so I mean, I know I'm kind of on the soap box with it, but those are things that really need to be said for the record. They really do need to be understood. And by all means, please feel -- come -- bring your families, come on out. See it for yourself enjoy the experience. And I'd be remiss ifI did not point out Larry's Little Legends Golf Tournament coming up. Golfers, Golf lovers, lovers of golfers, come on and have some fun, meet some hall offamers, support the park. This is one of our great fundraisers, and much, much kudos to Larry and his steering committee for putting that together. This is our fifth year. So this is what we're looking at. Chair Gort: I recall we had a -- I think it was 1996, we had a picnic for the City employees, which was a great event, and the people really enjoyed. I also understand that the Crandon Park has eliminated a lot of the function they used to allow in their park and you get a lot of those business coming to you also. Okay. Commissioner Suarez: What about --? Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: Just real quick. I just want to make a kind of a note for the record because I think the Vice Chairman's concern is about, you know, your projections this year are more optimistic than last year, even than your actuals were from last year. And so if, God forbid, you came in at the same as last year, if you do exactly the same, you would still have sufficient reserves to cover that -- Mr. Forchion: I would just repeat myself again. Show me this $108, 000 reserve I am not aware of. Commissioner Suarez: I gotcha. Mr. Forchion: And if that were to occur, I would have to use some of those reserves. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Chair Gort: Finance. My understanding is there's supposed to be $108, 000 reserve. Diana Gomez: Diana Gomez, Finance director. There's -- I'm sorry? The fund balance that we're talking about? Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Gomez: There is a fund balance as of 9/30/2010. My understanding is that fund balance is generated from revenues that the park generates on their own. It's not general fund contributions so it can't necessarily come back to the general fund. It is -- Vice Chair Carollo: But it can be used in case they over spend or their revenues come in low or so forth. They can use those funds for expenses in the park. Ms. Gomez: I'm not sure how they generate that revenue and whether or not there's restrictions on the use of the revenue 'cause -- City ofMiami Page 224 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: That's fair. Ms. Gomez: -- it's a special revenue. Wherever they generated the revenue and for whatever that purpose, that is the purpose it should be used for. If it's free and clear for -- Vice Chair Carollo: That's fair. Ms. Gomez: -- their operations, then, yes, they can use it for -- Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: That's fair. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: See, Commissioner. Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: Now -- Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Hold on, hold on, hold on. I just want to get comfortable. I need to get comfortable with this. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Go 'head, get comfortable. Vice Chair Carollo: We need to get comfortable with this. Mr. Forchion: We want you comfortable. Vice Chair Carollo: It seems like I'm already helping out a little bit there with the funding. Chair Gort: Well, let me tell you, I think the one way you can be very comfortable is work with them and make sure we get more and more entertainment and more activities over there. Some of the activities at Bayfront Park, they're too small to be in Bayfront Park; we can send them over there. I already met with them andl talk to them andl came out with some ideas and some revenues that we can be producing. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And we just saved $300, 000 so we could just give them some additional monies so they can do what they need to do. Vice Chair Carollo: Well, I'm trying to -- I'm actually trying to help them out. That's why I asked them, listen, out of the $381, 000 that they're projecting, you know, or -- let me rephrase it. Out of the $285, 000 that they say they've earned for the year and so forth, I asked, listen, let me see the events, let me see what's been your cost, let me see -- so I could help you out and we could generate even more revenues and, you know, streamline it. And I've only received two, and I have it here, you know. So -- and out of those two, we're talking what, third -- $37, 000 out of 285, 000. So believe me, I'm trying to help them out, but that's all the info I received. Mr. Forchion: Well, again, and that -- what you had asked about how the promotional activities City ofMiami Page 225 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 funds line was used, which was $40, 000, so that speaks to that particular line. But I will quickly go over the revenues that we bring in and essentially we've broken those revenue sources up into the entrance -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Entrance fee. Mr. Forchion: -- the entrance fees, pavilion rentals, and these are picnic pavilion rentals on the property, amusement rides, the mini train and the carousel; special revenue items, and those consist of different concerts, cystic fibrosis walk, Kiwanis' run, those type of events where we're a venue and there's a use fee for coming onto the property, and then grants. Vice Chair Carollo: I have it. The only thing that every single one of those line items I think were increased and that's where I'm saying, okay, how does he just the increase, how does -- you know, and that's where, you know, I'm concerned because it's pretty much an increase overall of about $100, 000, will you agree, from last year's budget? Mr. Forchion: Yes, I'd agree. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. So you know, I just want to make sure that the revenues don't come in lower and then you have these expenses, and next thing you know you're running in the red, okay, and that's where I'm just being cautious and maybe even, you know, ask you -- as a matter of fact -- Mr. Forchion: Mid year, we could definitely -- Vice Chair Carollo: Definitely mid -year. Mr. Forchion: -- discuss it. Vice Chair Carollo: You know where I'm going with that, Mr. Forchion. Mr. Forchion: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: You know, mid -year, let's see what your actuals are, let's see where you're at and so forth to make sure that, you know, you're on, you know, the right path, and you know, any issues of concerns are raised right away to see how we could curtail or at least be able to come back into the budget. Again, I think Ms. Gomez was correct. I'm not sure exactly what funding it is. I would think that some of that money will be able to use for their expenses. However, I think in all fairness, she is correct, you know, we need to see exactly more detail, but I'm not looking at bringing that into the general fund, but I -- some assurance that I have with regards to if your revenues don't come in as you're projecting, maybe we could use some of that money to offset the expenses. However, again -- and you very much knew where I was going -- somewhere mid -year we need to get together. Mr. Forchion: Come together. Vice Chair Carollo: We need to see the actuals. We need to see where we're at to make sure that, you know, we don't run in the red. Sounds good? Mr. Forchion: Yeah. Mr. Tinnie: And I'll just add. I mean, we've been consistently conservative and those projections are -- it's pretty much how it has been trending. Of course, you know, nothing is totally predictable. I'll go one step further. I would really like for us to even meet on a more regular basis, you know, monthly or whatever, you know, with each Commissioner, because we always City ofMiami Page 226 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 BH.15 11-00783 Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority want to know what your concerns, your questions are and keep you apprised of what our progress is. Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you, sir. Mr. Tinnie: And thank you -- Vice Chair Carollo: You're trying to get a free accountant is what you're doing. Mr. Tinnie: -- so much for the attempt to get us on earlier. We really appreciate -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thankyou. Mr. Tinnie: -- that consideration. Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: You're trying to get a free accountant is what you're doing. Chair Gort: Okey-doke. There's -- is there any further discussion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Nope. Chair Gort: Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mr. Forchion: Thankyou, Commissioners. Chair Gort: Thank you. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET OF THE MIAMI SPORTS AND EXHIBITION AUTHORITY ("MSEA"), ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, IN THE AMOUNT OF $107,000, TO PROVIDE FOR THE OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE OF MSEA, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2011, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012. 11-00783 Memo - MESA.pdf 11-00783 Legislation.pdf 11-00783 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, 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 Spence -Jones R-11-0383 Vice Chair Carollo: MSEA (Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority). Commissioner Spence -Jones: So B.15 [sic] is the last -- BH.15 is the last one until we go back, right? MSEA. City ofMiami Page 227 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Kirk Menendez: Good evening. This is Kirk Menendez, executive director, Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority. Before you and for your approval is MSEA's 2011/2012 operating budget, of which the total amount is $107, 000, of which the entire $107, 000 consists of non City funds. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Vice Chair Carollo: Second for discussion. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Second. Chair Gort: For discussion. Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: When you're saying non City funds, what do you mean non City funds? Mr. Menendez: They do not come from the City's general operating budget. The funds -- MSEA currently has $678, 000 in reserve funds under its account, of which 107,460 are restricted funds that were collected from the Chalks agreement and $526, 000 came from the sale of the Miami Arena, which MSEA uses as its general funds. So these are not funds that come out of the City's budget. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, let me see how to word this. But at one time they were either tax dollars or it was from the sale of the Miami Arena that was constructed with some type of tax dollars, correctly [sic]? Mr. Menendez: Correct, tax dollars were used. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. So what you're saying is that these funds are currently not being allocated for the general fund? Mr. Menendez: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. Let me ask you a few other questions, ifI may, Mr. Chairman? Chair Gort: Sure. Vice Chair Carollo: This is my first concern, andl raised it when I was a board member of MSEA. What revenues are you bringing in? Mr. Menendez: Well, currently, the fund source for our budget are the reserve funds. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Mr. Menendez: We're currently -- the Chalks agreement is in litigation. The Office of the City Attorney's handling that litigation with the hopes of a solution. Last meeting we had -- early 2012 there might be further news or update on its progress. We're in discussions, negotiations with regards to Heliport. There's a meeting scheduled for later this week. In addition to Heliport, if that's resolved, it'd be another source of revenue for MSEA. Also there are discussions with the Miami Children's Museum on possible revenue streams from an arrangement with MSEA and the Children's Museum. So we're -- right now we're -- have ongoing discussions to, as you alluded to, locate or identifi, additional revenue source for MSEA's ongoing operations. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. City ofMiami Page 228 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Menendez, and you know, I understand that, you know, you became the executive director not too long ago so, you know, I'm going to bear with you on that. Do you know when was the last time that MSEA received any revenue? Mr. Menendez: I have -- in terms of my review of operating budget and in terms of 2010/2011, the revenues for its operating budget again came from its reserves. Vice Chair Carollo: Right. So -- and that's something that I had stated many times of concern because no revenues are coming in, yet we're expending and expending and expending so we're going to whittle down that money. Now can those monies be used for general fund or not? I'm not sure. We will have to see if there's any restrictions or not, but I'm not even trying to go there. Question -- and again, hearing my concern that, you know, we keep dwindling down but no revenues are coming in. Question, why do you have a $50, 000 management fee? Mr. Menendez: The budget was approved July 20 by the MSEA board. At that time Tim Schmand was the executive director. Bayfront Management Park Trust was providing services to MSEA and those fees were received by Bayfront Management -- Park Management Trust to provide support services to MSEA. Since that time payments to Bayfront have stopped as of July 20. We are closing certain accounts that are additional expenses, like certain phone lines, in order to bring the MSEA's expenses further -- reduce them as the year progresses. We're -- I'm in discussions with the City so in order to transfer a certain amount of those management fees to the City ofMiami and find a way for the City ofMiami to provide support services just like Bayfront. Those funds would come back to the City ofMiami or go to the City ofMiami if that can be arranged. Vice Chair Carollo: And that's where I was going, because you said that the management fee stopped in July? Mr. Menendez: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Of this year? Mr. Menendez: July 20. Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: But this budget starts October 1. Mr. Menendez: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: So why are we showing it here? Mr. Menendez: Well, as the new fiscal year approaches, we're making changes, transferring operations from Bayfront over to the City or at least City Hall. And without fully knowing what expenses will be incurred going forward with the change, the structural change of MSEA in terms of its operations, $50, 000 -- though our goal is not to reach the $50, 000; our goal is to come much lower than the $50,000 management fee. I think it's prudent, until we get a better grasp of what services and what arrangements can be made with the City ofMiami to step into Bayfront shoes in terms of management, $50, 000 seems like a reasonable cap. And again, like I said, the board approved this amount July 20 before I stepped in as the executive director. Vice Chair Carollo: What do you think will be an expense that could even get close to $50, 000 that you need a management fee for that amount? Mr. Menendez: Well -- City ofMiami Page 229 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: I mean, it seems like you're actually walking into what Mr. Schmand used to do. And there's a reason why we charged MSEA that, but it was pretty much his time. It was his management. Mr. Menendez: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: There wasn't really something tangible. So if you're walking in there and you're a City employee also -- We're paying you a pretty good salary, right, under the Manager's office? Mr. Menendez: It's been reduced about 30 percent the last three years, but I'm making a -- I'm grateful for my salary and the opportunity to serve the residents of the City ofMiami as a City of Miami employee. Chair Gort: Let me ask a question. Vice Chair Carollo: Sure. Chair Gort: My understanding is if we're to reduce your budget today that 50 percent, that will go back into the reserves. Mr. Menendez: Yes, sir. Chair Gort: And if you would need it again, it can come back again. Mr. Menendez: That's true. Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. Vice Chair Carollo: Right, and that's to my point. Why are we budgeting, you know, $50, 000 plus an additional annual facility fee? Do you know what an annual facility fee is? Mr. Menendez: There are certain items on this budget that my goal and objective is not to have to dip into these particular line items and provide savings to MSEA going forward. One of them is office equipment maintenance, the other is the annual facility fee, and the other one is telephones. So off the bat, I've identified at least three line items that I think can -- I can provide MSEA with some savings for the upcoming fiscal year. Vice Chair Carollo: That's roughly what, 3,000, 4,000, $5,000? Mr. Menendez: Three thousand. And wherever other cuts can be made or savings could be earned, we will take the necessary steps to make sure that we run efficiently and effectively. Vice Chair Carollo: Again, I'm looking at that 53,600, which is annual fee, and a management fee of $50, 000. If you're doing the management as the executive director, I don't see why we need that $50, 000 in there. Mr. Menendez: The one place where management fee will come -- be useful and effective would be to -- in terms of not only an assistant in order to help organize the meetings and arrange, you know, the proper distribution of materials for the board members, but also bookkeeping and accounting, which obviously, as you know, is a vital part of any organization. Vice Chair Carollo: You have here business meeting expenses of 1,500 so that should cover your meetings and your materials and so forth. At least that's the amount that Mr. Schmand used to use. City ofMiami Page 230 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Menendez: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: So that's already budgeted in there, so you don't have to worry -- you don't have to tap into the $50, 000 for that. And as far as bookkeeping and so forth, you have an audit here for $15, 000, so that's already included in there. Mr. Menendez: That's the auditor, but they don't do the bookkeeping for the organization. Vice Chair Carollo: And you can't do the bookkeeping yourself? Mr. Menendez: I prefer -- Vice Chair Carollo: I thought that -- Mr. Menendez: -- to separate the functions within the organization. Just as the City has Finance Department, Budget, City Attorney's Office, I believe it's important to separate those functions. I think it's prudent. Vice Chair Carollo: So that means you need to hire an accountant now? Mr. Menendez: Or work out an arrangement. I'm working on an arrangement, exploring the options and possibilities. Fortunately, Bayfront Park had a bookkeeper so they used him in the past. Going forward, like to find someone with the same capabilities, professionalism to carry the books. Vice Chair Carollo: See, what I thought when they named you executive director, I thought there was going to be sort of like economies of scales since you're there in the Manager's office and know, you know, you -- you're in charge of -- or your title is governmental liaison or intergovernmental liaison and so forth. On your spare time, you'd be able to, you know, do this and bookkeeping and everything that -- to manage this, and now it seems like that's not the case. I really thought right off the bag [sic], you know, we'd take $53, 600 out of here. Now it seems to me like we're not only going to pay your salary, but we're also going to have to hire additional personnel or so forth, which you know, it's starting to become more costlier than what I originally expected. And my biggest issue with this is no revenues are coming in, so that's why we have to even be even more careful with our expenses because no revenue is coming in. So all we're doing is just dwindling down the money. It's going to get to a point where we have no money, so -- I mean, I really think that, you know, this -- at least this $50, 000 -- and you have contingencies here. You have other ways of paying for it. Let me ask you something. Professional services and projects, do you know what that line item is for? Mr. Menendez: And a perfect example, professional services is the fees that we pay Iron Mountain for storage of our documentation -- our documents and files dating way back. Vice Chair Carollo: Do you know what's the total amount, actual amount of that? Mr. Menendez: We pay a hefty amount. It's under $1, 000 a month, but it adds up. I could try to Vice Chair Carollo: I'm just seeing -- 'cause usually professional services, you will put like some type of an accountant or something, and I'm just trying to see if, you know, we could reduce this at least by half so it'd be, you know, instead of the expense of you know, $107, 000, if we could get it down to like 50, 50 something, where you know, again -- andl don't know how my colleagues feel. I yield to my colleagues. But again, this is MSEA, that no revenue is coming in. All we're doing is expensing. So, you know, it's a concern. I guess one of the reasons thatl left City ofMiami Page 231 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 MSEA -- and you know, I just -- I really thought this $53, 600 was easily going to be removed and you will be performing this duty as a dual role, just like Mr. Schmand did it as a dual role. If you're telling me no, that's not the case, we have to hire an account or so forth, then you know, I'll yield to my colleagues and see, you know, what they think. Chair Gort: Any questions? Vice Chair Carollo: Since you're all board members of MSEA. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I don't think am, though. Commissioner Sarnoff. Would you like to switch? I think the theory behind MSEA was to provide us the opportunity to use -- like with the Children's Museum, the ability to use certain waterfront land without having to go to RFP (Request for Proposals). I certainly sympathize with what the Vice Chair is saying. The question becomes do you want to keep this organization alive and kicking and it will spend itself down. It will. I mean, it -- Vice Chair Carollo: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- will spend itself down. I don't -- I'm not sure I understand well enough exactly your -- the money that's set aside for the Heliport and the money that's set aside from Chalks. You may have to actually remain as an organization just to maintain that lawsuit. So I think his concern is -- your salary's coming out of this? Mr. Menendez: No. Commissioner Sarnoff. It's not? Mr. Menendez: It's not. Commissioner Sarnoff. And then you're going to have to have an audited -- I thought you had -- I thought MSEA had to have an audited financial. Vice Chair Carollo: They do, and it's appropriated here. Commissioner Sarnoff. It is. Vice Chair Carollo: It's -- yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. That's not your concern, right? Vice Chair Carollo: No, that's not my concern. My concern is annual management fee of $50, 000, annual facility fee, unless we're going -- unless the City ofMiami is going to charge him a facility fee because I think he's upstairs, so that's -- Commissioner Sarnoff. What is the purpose behind that? Why do you need a facility fee or is that just a remnant of what --? Mr. Menendez: That's -- it's a remnant. Commissioner Sarnoff. So we could take it out now -- Mr. Menendez: We can take it out. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- and it wouldn't affect you one bit? City ofMiami Page 232 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Menendez: Yes, we can. Commissioner Spence -Jones: (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) 50,000. Mr. Menendez: Not -- the facility. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You need -- Mr. Menendez: The management fee, until can determine the best -- locate a bookkeeping and accounting services and support services -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I gotcha. Mr. Menendez: -- as Mr. Schmand -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I see what you're saying. Mr. Menendez: -- had with his bookkeeper and his assistant -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I gotcha. Mr. Menendez: -- I can't make a determination at this moment on whether the 50,000, the entire amount, is needed. But the facility fees, I can today tell you that that doesn't have to be necessarily in the budget. Commissioner Sarnoff. I'm just -- Chair Gort: Now -- Commissioner Sarnoff. -- curious -- well, go ahead. Chair Gort: Now, my understanding -- that's why I asked the question from the beginning. You can cut this budget by 50 percent. My understanding, the 50 percent will go in the reserve. After two or three months he needs to amend that budget, he can come back to the board, come back to us and amend it because the funds are there. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Are you okay with that, Kirk? Mr. Menendez: Yes, I am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff. Let's -- Vice Chair Carollo: And real quick, how much of a bookkeeper do you need? I mean, there's no revenues coming in. Commissioner Sarnoff. That was my question. Vice Chair Carollo: I mean, you see -- Commissioner Sarnoff. I was going to yield to you on that. Commissioner Suarez: But I think you hit -- touched upon a little bit more of a critical question, City ofMiami Page 233 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 which is do you really -- is it really wise to continue to have MSEA, like generally speaking. I mean, if all we're doing is -- if we have it alive just to have a couple of lawsuits going, I mean -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. But I think that there's other reasons for us to be able to use MSEA as well, so I don't think -- Chair Gort: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- we should get rid of the organization until we could figure out -- and especially, you know, now we're talking about having a Marlins stadium, a baseball stadium in that -- that's sports related that's in the City. I'm sure there's other things that we can identify MSEA to utilize for grants, all kinds of stuff. So I don't think that we should just make a decision and -- if the decision is to cut it 50 percent if he needs to come back then he can always -- Chair Gort: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- come back, then that resolves our issue for right now. Chair Gort: That's it. Vice Chair Carollo: And all I'm saying, it's costing us. So I want to keep the cost as little as possible -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, that's fine. Vice Chair Carollo: -- because it's costing us. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Chair Gort: Yeah, that's fine. (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F) -- Vice Chair Carollo: It's as simple as that. And no revenues coming in. Commissioner Spence -Jones: No problem. Vice Chair Carollo: It's as simple as that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I think your suggestion of 50 percent is great. Chair Gort: Make a motion, 50 -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. So moved as stated. Commissioner Suarez: I'll -- I think have to amend my motion. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: I'll amend my motion. Chair Gort: Commissioner Sarnoff -- Commissioner Suarez: I'll amend my motion. Chair Gort: -- makes an office [sic] and -- City ofMiami Page 234 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: I'll amend my motion, friendly amendment. Chair Gort: A motion -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Was it already moved? I apologize. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, right. Vice Chair Carollo: A motion -- Chair Gort: Commissioner Sarnoff makes -- Commissioner Suarez: That was a while ago. Chair Gort: -- a motion to reduce the budget by 50 percent. Is there a second? Vice Chair Carollo: Second. Commissioner Suarez: It's seconded. Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Being second by Vice Chairman Carollo. Is there any further discussion? Commissioner Suarez: Nope. Chair Gort: Being none, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Todd Hannon (Assistant City Clerk): As modified. Vice Chair Carollo: As modified. Chair Gort: As modified. Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So it is 10: 23. We're doing great, guys. Hour and a half. Commissioner Sarnoff. We're streaking now. Vice Chair Carollo: We need a break. Commissioner Spence -Jones: An hour and a half. So you -- would you like to -- Chair Gort: Go back to -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- do you need to close out -- have you had an opportunity Chair Gort: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- to -- in the midst of all of this, wrap your -- Ron Silver: I have a proposal. Vice Chair Carollo: You have a proposal? City ofMiami Page 235 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Mr. Silver: You want me to go with you? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, I don't think you want to -- Vice Chair Carollo: That's too much close -- Commissioner Sarno:I That was freaky. Vice Chair Carollo: That's too much closeness, Senator. Mr. Silver: That's my offer. That's my offer. You know, what can I tell you. Vice Chair Carollo: That's too much closeness, Senator. Mr. Silver: By the way, if you're interested in baseball, the Red Sox are winning 8-6 in the top of the 9th. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Do you want to take like a ten minute? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So that way you can go -- Mr. Silver: I could put this off for -- Vice Chair Carollo: Let's see what he proposes -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: -- and then -- Mr. Silver: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: -- let me take ten minutes so I could think about it. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Silver: I've been authorized by our administrator and our chairman to suggest to you that we would offer up $100,000 on the amount. That would be roughly equal -- approximately equal to the salary increases that we have, but still giving us the right to determine how we reduce our budget by 100, 000. So that what I'm saying is I can't suggest that you do line items for us, all right. What I'm suggesting is we'll offer up $100, 000 and I'll take it back to the board. I will tell the board what your concerns are, okay, and then, you know, we have 100,000 less to work with. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. A five- or ten-minute recess, Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Ten. Commissioner Spence -Jones: A real ten-minute recess. Vice Chair Carollo: No, no. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Between 10: 30. Vice Chair Carollo: This is City Commission recess. City ofMiami Page 236 Printed on 10/21/2011 City Commission Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Spence -Jones: No, 10: 30, 'cause I know your five or ten minutes. Chair Gort: 10: 35. Commissioner Spence -Jones: 10: 35? The meeting was adjourned on Wednesday, September 28, 2011, at 3: 34 a.m. City ofMiami Page 237 Printed on 10/21/2011