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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2011-12-08 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Meeting Minutes Thursday, December 8, 2011 9:00 AM SPECIAL MEETING 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 December 8, 2011 9:00 A.M. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ORDER OF THE DAY Present: Chairman Gort, Commissioner Sarnoff, Vice Chairman Carollo, Commissioner Suarez and Commissioner Spence -Jones On the 8th day of December 2011, the City Commission of the City ofMiami, Florida, met at its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, in special session. The meeting was called to order by Chair Gort at 9:30 a.m., recessed at 12: 18 p.m., reconvened at 2:14 p.m., and adjourned at 3: 06p.m. Note for the Record: Vice Chair Carollo entered the Commission chambers at 9: 31 a.m., and Commissioner Sarnoff entered the Commission chambers at 10: 55 a.m. Julie O. Bru, City Attorney Luis Cabrera, Assistant City Manager Priscilla A. Thompson, City Clerk Chair Gort: (INAUDIBLE) City ofMiami special Commission meeting for December 8, special to deal with the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) fundings [sic] from the -- the grants from the federal governments [sic]. On the dais with me is Commissioner Spence -Jones, Commissioner Suarez, and myself Chairman W fredo Willy'Gort. Also, we have Attorney Julie Bru; Assistant City Manager Luis Cabrera; and today is -- substituting for Priscilla, Todd Hannon. Thank you all. Will you all please stand for the invocation by Commissioner Suarez and the pledge of allegiance by Commissioner Spence -Jones? Invocation and pledge of allegiance delivered. Chair Gort: We have Vice Chairman Frank Carollo here also. Madam Attorney. Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the Commission, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Manager, members of the public, City Clerk. This is a special meeting of the City Commission. It's been called to consider and address funding amendments affecting the City's annual action plan for the U.S. (United States) Department of Housing and Urban Development programs. The material for the item on the agenda is available and was available during business hours at the City Clerk's office and online at www.miamigov.com. Anyone who wishes to appeal any decision made by the City Commission for any matter considered at this meeting may need a verbatim record of the item. Please, no cell phone or other noise -making devices are permitted in the chamber. Silence those devices now. Any person with a disability or requiring any kind of auxiliary aids or services for this meeting, please notify the City Clerk. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. City ofMiami Page 2 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.1 11-01098 Department of Community Development (SP.1) 11-01098 Department of Community Development PUBLIC HEARINGS RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE OF UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ENTITLEMENT GRANT FUNDS, IN THE TOTAL PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $24,774,235, AS STATED HEREIN, FOR THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT, HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS, HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS, AND THE EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS GRANT, FOR PROGRAM YEAR 2012-2013; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ACTUAL AMOUNT OF GRANT FUNDS WHEN MADE AVAILABLE FOR SAID PURPOSE. 11-01098 Summary Form.pdf 11-01098 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01098 Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff R-11-0482 Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be RECONSIDERED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE OF UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ENTITLEMENT GRANT FUNDS, IN THE TOTAL PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $24,774,235, AS STATED HEREIN, FOR THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT, HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS, HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS, AND THE EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT, FOR PROGRAM YEAR 2012-2013; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ACTUAL AMOUNT OF GRANT FUNDS WHEN MADE AVAILABLE FOR SAID PURPOSE. 11-01098 Summary Form.pdf 11-01098 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01098 Legislation.pdf City ofMiami Page 3 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Spence -Jones Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo R-11-0482 Chair Gort: At this time, SP.1. George Mensah: Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. George Mensah, director of Community Development. SP.1 is a resolution of the Miami City Commission authorizing the acceptance of United States Department of Housing and Urban Development entitlement grant funds, in the total amount of $24, 774, 235, for the Community Development Block Grant, the HOME Investment Partnerships, the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), and the Emergency Grant Solutions for program year 2012 to 2013. Commissioner Suarez: I move the acceptance of the U.S. HUD (United States Department of Housing and Urban Development) entitlement grant funds. Vice Chair Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. Each item is a public hearing. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Showing none, all -- any further discussion? Discussion. Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. [Later..] Ninoshka Reyes (Assistant City Attorney): Mr. Chair, may I make a clarification before you break? I'm sorry. Chair Gort: Beg your pardon? Ms. Reyes: Can I make a clarification before we break? Chair Gort: Go ahead. Ms. Reyes: SP.1 and SP. 3 refers to Emergency Solutions Grants. That's the name that HUD is proposing to change. The true name of the funds is Emergency Shelter Grant. Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): So am I hearing you say that on SP.1 -- Ms. Reyes: And SP.3. Ms. Thompson: -- and SP.3 the information included in the legislation as -- regarding the name of the entity that was listed has to be changed? Ms. Reyes: Yes. Ms. Thompson: We're changing that on the floor? City ofMiami Page 4 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Ms. Reyes: Yes. Ms. Thompson: Then, Chair, we would -- Chair Gort: Do I have a motion to change the wording on this --? Ms. Thompson: No, no, no. I'm sorry. We have to do it in two steps. One is a motion to reconsider the item. Then you go ahead and make your modification and take the vote on each one of those. Mr. Mensah: It's only one that's needed. Chair Gort: Do I have a motion to (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F) 12:16: 33 the item? Ms. Reyes: It refers to SP.3 as well. Commissioner Suarez: We'll do it afterwards. Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Sarnoff. Ms. Thompson: And now you -- Chair Gort: All in favor, state it saying "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Ms. Thompson: So now -- Chair Gort: Now it's -- Ms. Thompson: -- you're reconsidering SP.1. And the attorney is going to state on the record the change, please, the modification. Ms. Reyes: The change that we are accepting Community Development Block Grant Home Investment Partnership Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS and Emergency Shelter Grant program year 2012-2013. Commissioner Suarez: I move the item as described by the City Attorney. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Sarnoff. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." Commissioner Suarez: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Chair Gort: Aye. Ms. Reyes: We need quorum. Commissioner Suarez: Where is he? Chair Gort: Hello. Commissioner Suarez: Commissioner Sarnoff, we need a second. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. City ofMiami Page 5 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.2 11-01097 Department of Community Development Commissioner Suarez: Okay, we got a second from Commissioner Spence -Jones. Chair Gort: Been second. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE OF SECTION 8 HOUSING PROGRAM FUNDS, IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $4,244,682 FOR RENTAL ASSISTANCE, AND IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $485,000 FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION, FOR A TOTAL PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $4,729,682, FROM FISCAL YEAR 2012-2013 ANNUAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS FOR SAID PURPOSE. 11-01097 Summary Form.pdf 11-01097 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01097 Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff R-11-0483 George Mensah (Director, Community Development): SP. 2 is a resolution of the Miami City Commission authorizing the acceptance of Section 8 housing program funds, in the projected amount of $4, 244, 862 [sic] for rental assistance, and in the projected amount of $485, 000 for Administration, in the total amount of $4,729,682, for fiscal year 2012-2013. Chair Gort: Let me ask you a question. For the benefit of those that's in here and for those watching this, could you explain how those funds are being utilized -- how they will be utilized? Mr. Mensah: The Section 8 funds are rental provided through rental assistance and they are provided to help the individuals on the Section 8 list pay their rent. We have approximately 436 people that receive rent assistance in this way and we have a waiting list of approximately 10,000 people. Chair Gort: In other words, my understanding -- because I think it's very important to understand that we have Home 8 -- Section 8 program, which we have X'amount of funding. At this time we're funding four hundred and -- Mr. Mensah: It's actually four million, two hundred and forty-four -- Chair Gort: No, but how many people? Mr. Mensah: For 436. City ofMiami Page 6 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.3 Chair Gort: Four hundred and thirty-six. That section will not be open again until we have some vacancy. Mr. Mensah: Yes. Chair Gort: Then when we have vacancy, the City ofMiami will issue a new vouchers, right? Mr. Mensah: Right now -- no -- we have a wait list -- Chair Gort: Of 10,000. Mr. Mensah: -- so -- of 10,000 and we have to go by the wait list. Chair Gort: No. I think it's very important people understand that because people come up to us says, I've been on the list so long. They don't realize there's people that's been waiting there for years. Mr. Mensah: Yes, that's true. Chair Gort: Thank you. Open to the public. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Anyone in the public would like to address it? Okay, close the public hearings [sic]. Commissioner Suarez: Move the -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Discussion. Commissioner Suarez: -- acceptance of Section 8 funding. Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Spence -Jones. Discussion. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving clarity on -- because that Section 8 issue is definitely an issue. People assume -- our residents assume that we do have these vouchers available, so clearing that up I think is extremely important. I just want to have George also have clarity -- I don't know if we all know what the breakdowns are on the Section 8 vouchers per district. And it's not done by districts; it's done on a first -come, first -served basis, correct? Mr. Mensah: Yes, it's done on first -come, first -served basis. I know that -- I don't have the percentages here with me, but I know that majority's in District 3 because of the fact that we have a lot of the buildings in District 3. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So District 3. So we get all the parks and you get all the Section 8. Commissioner Suarez: I don't have any parades, I can tell you that much. Vice Chair Carollo: I won't comment right now. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just wanted to mention. Okay. Chair Gort: Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. RESOLUTION City ofMiami Page 7 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 11-01100 Department of Community Development (SP.3) 11-01100 Department of Community Development A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS GRANT ("ESG") FUNDS FOR PROGRAM YEAR 2012-2013, IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $351,760, TO THE CITY OF MIAMI HOMELESS PROGRAM, NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT TEAM AND THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $10,879, TO THE CITY OF MIAMI DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT -RELATED ACTIVITIES, FOR A TOTAL PROJECTED ALLOCATION OF $362,639; DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMITA MULTI -YEAR WAIVER REQUEST TO THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT TO INCREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF ESG FUNDS THAT CAN BE USED FOR ESSENTIAL SERVICES; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS FOR SAID PURPOSES. 11-01100 Summary Form.pdf 11-01100 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01100 Departments Certification.pdf 11-01100 Legislation .pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff R-11-0484 Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be RECONSIDERED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT ("ESG") FUNDS FOR PROGRAM YEAR 2012-2013, IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $351,760, TO THE CITY OF MIAMI HOMELESS PROGRAM, NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT TEAM AND THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $10,879, TO THE CITY OF MIAMI DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT -RELATED ACTIVITIES, FOR A TOTAL PROJECTED ALLOCATION OF $362,639; DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMITA MULTI -YEAR WAIVER REQUEST TO THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT TO INCREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF ESG FUNDS THAT CAN BE USED FOR ESSENTIAL SERVICES; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS FOR SAID PURPOSES. City ofMiami Page 8 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 11-01100 Summary Form.pdf 11-01100 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01100 Departments Certification.pdf 11-01100 Legislation .pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones R-11-0484 Chair Gort: SP. 3. George Mensah (Director, Community Development): SP. 3 is a resolution of the Miami City Commission authorizing the allocation of Emergency Solutions Grant funds in the amount of $351,760 to the City's homeless program, in an amount of $10,879 to the City ofMiami Department of Community Development, for administration [sic] -related activities. Chair Gort: Thank you, George. Once again, I'd like for you to please go into detail how these funds are utilized. Mr. Mensah: These funds are primarily used by the NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) offices' homeless programs, and it's used for (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 9: 37: 40 services. It pays for staff who goes around and makes sure that if somebody's homeless, that they are taken to the right -- given the right services. Andl have Haydee here who can further explain. Haydee Wheeler (Director, Neighborhood Enhancement Team): Yes. Good morning. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Ms. Wheeler: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Haydee Wheeler. I'm the director of NET. With me is Sergio Torres, the administrator of the Miami Homeless Assistance program under NET. The ESG (Emergency Solutions Grant) dollars are used to actually pay for 15 outreach positions that are used on a daily basis, 24/7, to reach out to the City's homeless population and provide them with assistance. Chair Gort: Thank you. My understanding -- I have some information from the different providers of services, and my understanding, all the beds that was full as of last month. How do we deal with that? Sergio Torres: Good morning, Commissioners. Sergio Torres, City ofMiami Homeless program administrator. That's real. The bed situation is really tough. For singles -- all the shelters that we have that add to 1,400, the emergency shelter beds are up to capacity and also we have 60 -- excuse me, 52 families residing in hotel waiting to get into shelters. Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Is anyone in the public would like to address this, SP.3? Being none, close the public hearings [sic]. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Suarez: Move -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Spence -Jones. Discussion. Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. " City ofMiami Page 9 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 The Commission (Collectively): Aye. [Later..] Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Now -- Chair Gort: SP. 2. Ninoshka Reyes (Assistant City Attorney): SP. 3. Chair Gort: SP. 3. Ms. Reyes: Motion to reconsider. Commissioner Suarez: Motion to reconsider SP.3. Chair Gort: It's been moved and there's a second somewhere before we get through with the meeting. Commissioner Suarez: We need a second on a motion to reconsider. We need a second on a motion to reconsider. Commissioner Sarnoff. Second. Chair Gort: It's been second. Ms. Thompson: Now -- Chair Gort: Madam Attorney. Ms. Reyes: I'm sorry. Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry. You got to vote on your motion. Your vote -- first, you need to vote on your -- Ms. Reyes: It's a resolution of the Miami City Commission authorizing -- Ms. Thompson: Excuse me. Ms. Reyes: I'm sorry. Ms. Thompson: I need a vote on the motion to reconsider, please. Commissioner Suarez: Aye. Commissioner Sarnoff. Aye. Chair Gort: Aye. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Now we'll go in with your modification of that resolution. Ms. Reyes: And the modification is as follows. A resolution of the Miami City Commission authorizing the allocation of Emergency Shelter Grant funds for program year -- City ofMiami Page 10 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.4 11-01096 Department of Community Development Commissioner Suarez: Move it as -- Ms. Reyes: -- 2012-2013. Commissioner Suarez: -- described by the City Attorney. Chair Gort: It's been moved by -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. Second. Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner -- Ms. Reyes: Thank you. I apologize. Chair Gort: -- Sarnoff. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye. The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Ms. Thompson: We're recessing until what time? Unidentified Speaker: 2 o'clock. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM FUNDS, IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $4,409,501, FOR HOUSING PROGRAMS, FOR PROGRAM YEAR 2012-2013, IN THE CATEGORIES SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT "A", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS FOR SAID PURPOSES. 11-01096 Summary Form.pdf 11-01096 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01096 Legislation.pdf 11-01096 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff R-11-0485 Chair Gort: SP.4. George Mensah (Director, Community Development): SP.4 is a resolution allocating the HOME Investment Partnership Program funds in the projected amount of $4,409,501, for housing programs, for the year 2012 to 2013. HOME (Home Investment Partnership Program) funds are usually housing funds, and they are used primarily for down payment assistance program and to City ofMiami Page 11 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.5 11-01099 Department of Community Development provide assistance for rental housing development and home ownership development. Chair Gort: The other question I would like besides you telling us how those funds are utilizes [sic] and who uses them, if you can also describe how those funds are allocated to the districts, what are the criterias and guidelines utilized to do that. Mr. Mensah: These particular funds are not allocated to the district per se. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Mensah: I think in the past the City Commission decided that on an annual basis, certain districts gets about $1.5 million to help them -- the housing in their district, andl believe the last district was District 1. This year it will be either District 2 or District 4. However, because we're not sure the district Commissioners are in agreement that we use the funds based on the needs of either of those two districts, so those amounts are being put in housing activities. And if there's a need in any of those two districts, those $1.5 million should be used in those districts. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Public hearing is now open. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Showing none, close the public hearings [sic]. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Suarez: Move the item. Vice Chair Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Suarez, second -- Vice Chair Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: -- by Vice Chairman Carollo. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDS FOR PROGRAM YEAR 2012-2013, IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $7,503,156 FOR THE ACTIVITIES SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT"A", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, COMMENCING APRIL 1, 2012; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS FOR SAID PURPOSES. 11-01099 Summary Form.pdf 11-01099 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01099 Legislation.pdf 11-01099 Exhibit 1 SUB.pdf Motion by Vice Chairman Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo and Spence -Jones Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Suarez R-11-0486 City ofMiami Page 12 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: SP. 5. George Mensah (Director, Community Development): SP.5 is a resolution authorizing the allocation in broad categories of the Community Development Block Grant funds, in the projected amount of $7.5 million, and the allocations are Public Service, $1.1 million; Administration, $1.5 million; Code Enforcement, 673,000; Section 108, 558,000; Economic Development, $3.6 million. I just want to state here for the record that normally when we do this, any time -- these are projected amounts, and any time that we receive a cut in the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) allocation, the cuts will be proportionately applied to this particular item. Now in the case of code enforcement, this amount is already in the budget, and the idea is that if there's any cuts, that we make sure that the code enforcement activities remain at 670,000; otherwise, there will be a hole in the City's budget. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may? Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Let me open a public hearing and -- Commissioner Suarez: Sure. Chair Gort: Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Being none, close the public hearings [sic]. Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to ask one question of Mr. Mensah, which I think maybe you left out accidentally, which was when we briefed, you had mentioned if there is a cut in public service funding, that those programs that are administering elderly meals would not be reduced from last year's amount. Is that accurate? Mr. Mensah: Yes, that's accurate. We're going to address that in SP.6. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Mensah: But that's accurate, yes. Commissioner Suarez: Thanks. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Mr. Mensah, do we need to approve this? Mr. Mensah: For the sake of HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) appropriations, yes, it needs to be approved. Vice Chair Carollo: And you have different categories. You have from Public Service to Administration to Section 108 to Code Enforcement to Economic Development. Correct? Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: And that needs to be approved by the City Commission? Mr. Mensah: That's correct. City ofMiami Page 13 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: And if the City Commission makes changes to any one of these categories, then the Administration should abide by those changes, correct? Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: I have a problem, and I'm not trying to blindside you because you know very well -- as a matter of fact, I brought it to your attention. I showed you. I refreshed your memory andl showed you. Mr. Mensah: No problem. Vice Chair Carollo: But it's once again how this Commission is not respected. We voted unanimously last time to put $800, 000 from Code Enforcement in a reserve account until received the information, the financial information that I requested. I have not received the financial information. Did they receive those $800, 000? Mr. Mensah: Not exactly. The amount, the 800,000 have not been received by Code Enforcement. However, the City, as part of their budget process, did approve an allocation for Code Enforcement and that allocation has been paid out. In terms of the allocation from Community Development, Community Development funds has been used to reimburse the City's general fund to a tune of $440, 000. But $800, 000 has not been used. Vice Chair Carollo: So what you're saying is that we don't need to approve these 670,000 that you're asking for because if it's in the budget, then there's no need to approve it, because the City Commission clearly, in a unanimous vote, stated that those $800, 000 should go into a reserve account and, obviously, they didn't stay in a reserve account. They were actually used. Mr. Mensah: Not all of it. Some of it has been used. Vice Chair Carollo: Not all of it. Mr. Mensah: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: But at least $800, 000, some of it was used without coming back to this City Commission for approval. Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: And once again, my point is, you know, when we take a vote up here, is it respected by the Administration or not. Not to mention that the reason for putting it in the reserves is to give ample time for me to receive the information that had requested, which I never did. Chair Gort: Let me ask you a question. You're addressing last year's funding or this future funding coming up? Vice Chair Carollo: This was -- give me a second. It is my understanding this was introduced 12/8 of 2010, and I have the minutes of that meeting. So it was funding for, you would say, this current year? Chair Gort: Past year. That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. Chair Gort: Not for next year. City ofMiami Page 14 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Vice Chair Carollo: Right, not for next year -- Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: -- which is what we're approving. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: But again, you know, it's another example that this Commission takes a vote and it's not respected. And realistically, those $800, 000, before any amount should be expended, should have come back to the City Commission for approval and it was not. I have a big problem with that, a huge problem with that, andl see it recurring. Not to mention that my questions were not answered. And going further into this, a lot of those questions was 800,000 is a lot of money -- $800, 000 is a lot of money. What -- how are we allocating those funds? How are we spending those monies? And realistically -- 'cause I want to make sure that the service we provide to the public is met, and I'm having issues with that. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Mensah: Commissioner, on an annual basis, every September the City Commission approves the budget for the City ofMiami. As part of the budget, like I indicated, is the fact that code enforcement activities, including all the other departmental activities, are approved. Now Chair Gort: George, let me interrupt you for a minute. Mr. Mensah: Sure. Chair Gort: I think what the Commissioner is requiring is very simple. He wants to know, like I'm asking you to explain to the public and to ourself [sic] and to those viewing this, how those funds are expend. I mean, the Commissioner asked for a report from that Department. They getting the funds. How are they using, and what are the benefits of those funds to that community. Now my understanding is part of that is the improvement and the enforcement of the codes in the area. Part of that is those vacant lots being cleaned up and all that in the neighborhood that they qualf. At the same time, my understanding is that the houses that need to be knocked down, demolished, andl think that's what the Commissioner's asking for. He's asking for information from you that you have not released those funds because he didn 't get his answer. Mr. Mensah: Okay. The -- Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: And ifI may. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: I'll do it -- let me just put it in very simple terms. And again, I hate to do this to you, Mr. Mensah, 'cause I'm sure Finance had to do with this, Budget, andl know -- I see Mr. Alfonso here. I know he was not here at that time. So I hate to do this 'cause I know we have a whole new financial team. But I'll make it real easy. Mr. Mensah, before any expenditure of those $800, 000, should it or should it have not come back to this City Commission for City ofMiami Page 15 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 approval? Mr. Mensah: When you asked me that question, I said currently, yes. It's an error on our part and I'll own up to that error. But what I'm (UNINTET,T IGIBT ,F) 9:49: 25 -- and in CDBG, in the work that I do, if you make a mistake, you always go back and you undo it. I can go back and undo this error. Now the effect that it will have on the City's funds, that have no control over, andl -- and when these payments are made, it doesn't come to Community Development to approve the salaries of the Code Enforcement. The salaries are approved by budget. It was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 9: 49: 53 paid. The only role Community Development plays in this is that at the end of the year, Community Development transfers the amount that is budgeted into the City's general fund to make the City general fund whole. This transfer was done in September. Now if that was done incorrectly in September, we have two months; we can go and undo it, and then we can come back to City Commission and make the appropriation. In that case, then I don't know if you close your books or not and what affect it will have on the City -- on the general funds. You want to address that? Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Before we get into that -- because what's happening now is that you're putting this Commission in a situation that is not the situation that we could have been, which was analyzing the numbers and seeing where exactly we wanted to go with it and be able to do it in a prudent manner. Now we're going back and say, yes, because it wasn't done correctly, we could do this, this, and that. However, it may have circumstances on the current year's budget. So I want to go back to my question before: Should those $800, 000 -- before spending any of those $800, 000, should it have come back to the City Commission for approval? Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Mensah: The answer -- for reinvestment -- for the reinvestment of this money already spent, the answer is yes. However, I had no control over how the money got spent. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Mensah: That is controlled by Code Enforcement and Budget. My -- Community Development only reimburses. So whether the Commission comes back and approve it or not, that money already been spent. The reimbursement portion of it is -- I agree with you, Commissioner, that it should have come back based on the minutes of the last meeting. Vice Chair Carollo: So the bottom line is, those 800, 000, before it is spent, should have come back to this City Commission for approval. If not, then why are we approving, you know, this 670 and all these amounts? Then it doesn't make sense. Mr. Mensah: I agree with you, Commissioner, the $670, 000 that should have come back to the City Commission to be reimbursed, to be able to reimburse. Now if it didn't come back, it means that the City -- if we didn't -- it didn't get reimbursed, then the City will be in the hole. Andl think that maybe we need to -- the process is what we probably need to discuss because the City's budget is approved in September. When the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 9: 52:16 values are -- is approved in September, whatever amount I'm bringing to you has already been taken into consideration. So if it's the will of the Commission to ensure that this amount is used, then I will suggest that Code Enforcement budget is not approved in October but rather wait and approve it today so that if the City Commission decides that they're going to only use $600, 000, then City ofMiami Page 16 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 $600, 000 is what is used. Right now that amount, $670, 000 we're talking about, has already been abrogated in the budget. And so if this Commission decide not to approve it right now, something has to be done with that particular budget. Budget will not be balanced. Vice Chair Carollo: I understand that's something that we may have to take up because the bottom line is -- what you're saying is is that we're rubber-stamping this, and last year we did not rubber-stamp it. Last year, by a vote of the unanimous Commission, what we did was put it into reserves until we received the numbers and then address that issue and see exactly where is that money being allocated to. Because in all fairness, this year it's 670; last year it's 800, 000. That's money that can go into economic development, fixing streets, facade programs, many issues that you know of and it's not. It's being used for code enforcement. So I want to know exactly what are we getting for that money? What are we getting for the $800, 000? And that's part of what requested last year and that's what we put into reserve, that never received the answer. The money was spent and it never came back to this City Commission. So -- and my issue with this realistically, is service to the community because I'm having issues in my community that Code Enforcement is not addressing, you know. In the September 27 meeting -- andl could give you -- yes, the September 27 meeting, I had the director of Code Enforcement in front of us andl asked him -- and not to put him in the spot. I asked him what is the main priority with regards to code enforcement in District 3. And not to put him in the spot, I told him trash. I mean, there's illegal dumping all over District 3, andl could show you pictures, you know. Moreover, you know, just recently I have a complaint by a resident with regards to overgrown grass, rats running all over a dirty lot, you know. On November 4 we requested that something be done and more -- I'll go a step further, actually cut the grass, which has been done before. On November 4 that request was made. On November 14 we asked for an update. November 30 we asked for an additional update. We received no answer until a month later, you know. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: So what happens? The resident thinks, you know what, this district Commissioner is not doing his job. And no; we actually did our job. We respectfully sent it to the proper department, you know, as a, you know, request to -- it be, you know, cut like it has in the past. Luis Cabrera (Assistant City Manager/Chief of Operations): Commissioner -- Vice Chair Carollo: You know, so I want to know exactly what code enforcement monies are being spent. Mr. Cabrera: -- I will -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Wait a minute. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Are you finished? Vice Chair Carollo: Actually, can I show you some of the pictures of the illegal dumping in District 3 that I have to actually look at and tackle with every day? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Commissioner. Chair Gort: (UNINTET,TIGIBT,F) 9:55: 53. City ofMiami Page 17 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: I definitely can show the pictures. I don't have a issue with that. Vice Chair Carollo: Could we --? Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just -- while you're loading it up, I just have a -- can I ask a few questions? Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So is it -- the concern that -- you know, the money that's being -- that -- well, I guess the number -one concern is you -- it should have come back in front of the Commission. That's the number -- Vice Chair Carollo: Absolutely. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- so that's the number one concern. Andl think that the Administration has acknowledged that that should have happened, okay. So I'm assuming from this day on -- all of this stuff predates me coming back, so I'm assuming that this was something that was voted on prior to me coming. So we have gotten a commitment from the City Administration that that correction will be made. I'm sure all of us -- I can show you a million and one lots in Little Haiti, Liberty City, Overtown. We probably would take up the whole budget, honestly, with the number of vacant and overgrown lots, but I'm not discrediting why yours are important. But I just want to understand really what the issue is. Is it -- are you more concerned about it not coming in front of the City Commission for the vote or the support of it? Or are you more concerned with what the money was actually being used for? And -- or is it both? Vice Chair Carollo: It's actually both. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, okay, so that -- So then my question becomes -- I'm assuming that George has turned it over to -- that the reason why Danny is standing there, it's more of a budgetary issue. Was this number included? No, it's not. Daniel Alfonso (Director, Management & Budget): May I? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, let's please clear that up as to -- Chair Gort: Let's finish the presentation -- Mr. Alfonso: Yeah. Chair Gort: -- because I got a couple of questions, couple of suggestions. Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Could we look at -- Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead. Vice Chair Carollo: -- all illegal dumping in District 3 that --? Chair Gort: I'll bring my pictures too. [At this time a PowerPoint Presentation was made.] Vice Chair Carollo: And any given day you go by East Little Havana, this is what you see. City ofMiami Page 18 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 [Presentation continued.] Vice Chair Carollo: We actually have a lot more pictures, andl -- out of courtesy to my colleagues, I only decided to put a quarter of them. What I mean with this is we have a serious problem in District 3 with illegal dumping, andl am really trying to tackle this issue andl need the help of Code Enforcement, andl want to see exactly what they're doing. As a matter of fact, in all fairness, I requested at the September 27 meeting to receive a list of all the citations that had been given for these illegal dumping. I think you all received the same thing thatl received, at least that's what was stated in the e-mail (electronic), and after looking at a long list, which actually was able to fool a couple of my staff the number that showed was, at the end, 595 citations. The first thingl looked at, guess what? The majority of those address weren't even in District 3. And instead of 595, when you actually go through the Excel spreadsheet and you go to the left to see exactly how many there were, there was actually 346, not 595. From those 346, when you take out all the addresses that weren't in District 3, we're talking roughly in the area of 70, 75. And then when I go into those 70, 75, I really can't tell -- I don't have a citation number andl really can't tell what's really for illegal dumping or not. So whatl am expressing is that there is a big issue in District 3. I am definitely trying to tackle it. And when I see funding of $800, 000 going to code enforcement and now it is requested of us of $670, 000, it's very simple. All am requesting is how is that money being used. How many officers, how many Code Enforcement officers are being paid from this amount? What areas are they canvassing? Where are they focusing? Is it illegal dumping? Because it appears like it's not. And then with that aside, Commissioner Spence -Jones, yes, it's absolutely wrong that this Commission takes action and the Administration doesn't respect it. That's absolutely wrong. So besides my issue, yes, I have a second issue that we're not respected. Our votes up here is not respected and that has to stop. Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay. Let me tell you what the problem is, and this is something -- and by the way, I can show you the daily e-mails that we send out to Code Enforcement and all the pictures that we have. This is a major problem throughout the whole City ofMiami. Dumping -- the City of Miami has become the ground for dumping. Now the question's very simple. There's no communication between our different directors. I mean, I understand George job is to come in front of us to let us know what it is and then Commissioner request out of certain departments they're not pleased with how you're spending this funding, where are you spending this funding. Because according to the rule and regulations, this funding have to be spent in certain neighborhoods. So George somehow Finance, Communication, Administration we're not talking to each other. I've seen this problem in many other departments, people not talking to each other. This is something we have to bring together. Now all the Commissioner requested is code enforcement -- the whole problem is code enforcement. Mr. Mensah: Yes. Chair Gort: What have you done with the funding that we've given you? All the requested is give me a report where we're utilizing this funding from CDBG, what are we doing with this funding, have we earned these funds? That's all he's requesting. And then he requested before you come -- you spending the funding, come in front of us if we do not have the answer. If he has the answer, I'm sure he will not have any problem. Yes, sir. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I was -- Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- just waiting for -- So I just want to get clarity, guys. Just -- first of all, Commissioner Carollo, I commend you on your effort to expose, you know, a couple issues. One, I think that whatever, you know, we vote on as a Commission and we request, City ofMiami Page 19 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 should definitely take place, so I don't want to make light of that at all. I think it's extremely important from day one coming back to the Commission that was one of my, you know, pet peeves, is if we vote on something or we requestfrom -- something from the staff or Administration, that should be respected, so I don't want to make light of that. I just -- for me at the end of day, I just want to -- it's for -- important to get to the bottom of what -- where we are with it. So I'm assuming, Danny, you can answer the question. First of all, was the funds spent properly on this issue? Mr. Alfonso: Okay. Danny Al -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Because that -- to me, that's more of a HUD -related issue, andl don't want to have a situation where we got money from the -- through the City for the City Administration in any manner and we did not spend that money properly. Mr. Alfonso: Danny Alfonso, director ofManagement and Budget. Yes, the money's been spent in code enforcement, which is an allowed use. The -- and I'm coming in at the tail end of this, so I'm going to try to explain a little bit about how the budgetary impact of this is. In a sense, the budget for '10/'11 and that budget for '11/'12 as well for the Office of Code Enforcement has been constructed with the assumption that some of the salary for Code Enforcement officers is reimbursed through this program. So in effect, when the Commission approves those budgets for the Office of Code Enforcement, we know that if that reimbursement doesn't occur into the office, then that office will overspend its budget, because we need to account for that reimbursement. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Let me ask you, Danny. Are you clear on that, during our budget briefings, that those dollars are comingfrom that? Mr. Alfonso: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So in your briefings, I just want to be clear, did you brief all the Commissioners so that as we went down each one of these items for the departments, were you clear with each one of the Commissioners that -- you know, even though it didn't come back in front of the Commission, did you brief the Commissioners on those particular salaries coming from Community Development included in the budget? Mr. Alfonso: I do not believe that we got into that specific detail -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: -- of the explanation of how the code office is budgeted. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: That did not come up in any of the discussions that I can remember. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: There was a lot of things discussed -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So that's one issue that could have been addressed during the overall budgetary process to make sure that it was clear that those positions why we budgeted them, they were actually comingfrom the federal dollars that we have. Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So that was -- did you want to add anything else on that? City ofMiami Page 20 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Mr. Alfonso: Well, what would like to add is, ifI may take the opportunity to, give me a little bit of time; I can get together with the Office of Code Enforcement and we can put together a report as to what those Code Enforcement officers that are under -- being funded by these fund do, andl know that they operate on a citywide basis and they enforce the code of the City, including that for illegal dumping and other code violations. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm -- Chair Gort: I'm sorry. Go ahead. Vice Chair Carollo: I'll yield. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just have a few things. Chair Gort: Sure, sure. Go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So I just want to be clear. The positions -- I don't know if it's really a George question or your question. And code enforcement -- because it seems like this is really all about code enforcement. Chair Gort: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Is there a Code Enforcement staff member here to address the Commissioner's concerns 'cause that person should be here? Okay. Mr. Mensah: I understand they've called for their staff person. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So my question then becomes how many positions actually come from that dollar amount? Mr. Mensah: Twelve. Mr. Cabrera: Commissioner, to answer your question, approximately 15 inspector salaries are paid from that fund. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so 15 people are actually paid from the reimbursement portion of it? Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, all right. And then I'm just curious -- andl don't know if you're able to address this issue 'cause it sounds like it's more of a code enforcement issue. With the 15 people that are actually hired or have a position outside of illegal dumping and lot clearing and all of that, do we know how much work has actually been cleared because of the 15 people that are actually working? Because I also know each one of us Commissioners sitting up here do not want to have any delays 'cause I know I'm the first one -- when I see a lot and I'm riding around in my district andl see an overgrown lot, I have a issue with it. I'm calling Code Enforcement immediately, you know, so -- and we don't want no -- none of us want any time delays on having it addressed, so do we have any idea of --? City ofMiami Page 21 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Mr. Mensah: The code enforcement program, as stipulated in the regulations, is supposed to assist declining neighborhoods to be able to arrest the decline, and the reason why CDBG funds actually can be used for that purpose is exactly that. Andl believe in 2008 or 2009 when the City Commission decided that they wanted to fund code enforcement activities through the use of CDBG funding, what we did in Community Development is to go and look at the citywide maps and look at the areas that are eligible, that are declining, that code enforcement activities are eligible. We took that map, superimpose it on the map of community -- of Code Enforcement where the officers work and we selected certain areas that are eligible to receive those funding. So those staff in those areas, they became eligible. Now those are strictly for salaries of the individuals. What we provide at the end of every quarter and at the end of -- mostly at the end of the year to HUD is the activities that take place in those areas. And we -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Those targeted areas. Mr. Mensah: -- rely on the same reports that probably was given to the Commissioner, which includes -- but HUD is only interested in housing violations. So what we do is that we extract those housing violations, and the report we provide HUD includes the number of housing violations that was as a result of those funding, and then we also look at a number of housing violations that was corrected because the issue is that whenever a violation, you want it to be corrected -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah. Mr. Mensah: -- so that the whole neighborhood doesn't go down. And those are the numbers that we provide to HUD based on that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: What -- first of all, I think that your explanation is awesome for all of us because, you know, now you're drilling down to what the real issue is and that is, okay, yes, we set aside money by way of HUD to take care of these salaries, but we have obligations based upon those dollars. So it's not like you can just go and say, you know, I want to go pick up -- I'm just using this -- you know, this lot full of trash if it's not directly related to what the grant or what the dollars are saying you actually have to do because HUD has already given you the guidelines of the target areas or target things that you have to do with those dollars. If not, then it becomes a violation. 'Cause I think it's really important -- when we sit up here, it's really important -- andl'm just saying this to my fellow colleagues because you got people watching it, you got people sitting in the audience, and all of our communities are important, andl know my colleague didn't say which particular communities or district got the most, you know, support from this amount of money andl'm not really sure why he didn't mention it, butt wouldn't be surprised if it was District 5 because I know from a HUD perspective District 5 and many of those communities, like Little Haiti, Liberty City and Overtown and Wynwood, especially Liberty City, Overtown and Little Haiti are high on HUD's map of target areas that need to be addressed. So I think that part of this is just communication. When you first started off or when he first started off and you guys chimed in, it appeared to me, you know, we put money into Code Enforcement to provide staffing and staffing was identiing the places which were more important, right? That's kind of what was coming off of it. And the question became, I'm sure for him, how are these dollars being used and how -- who's making the decision which areas are most important? Andl think what you just answered was the staff didn't sit and decide okay, this is what's important; really, federal government or HUD decided these are the target areas -- Mr. Mensah: Based on the criteria. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and this is the reason why the resources went into those particular areas. So I think it's important perhaps in the future that you present all of that information so that we're not sitting up here not being clear or being confused about, you know, staffs commitment to have -- help all of the districts. And I'm going to say this in closing, Mr. City ofMiami Page 22 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chairman. You know, originally, I thought that when these complaints come to resident -- I mean, come in from residents, usually, you know, these lots that Commissioner Carollo talking about are lots that I'm assuming that we wait for residents to tell us are issues from 311. So I'm assuming that you're taking that particular -- those calls and identiing which ones actually fall in the target area. Is that how it's being addressed through Code Enforcement? Mr. Mensah: I -- I'm not sure. Code Enforcement question. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so that's really a code enforcement issue. Because that brings us back to, really, it's not you determining -- Mr. Mensah: No. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- where you need to go. It's based upon the number of complaints that come by way of 311, which I'm assuming at that point, or from the Commissioner's office, is how you begin to address the issue. Mr. Mensah: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So I guess when Code Enforcement comes, we'll get a greater understanding. But thank you for that further explanation. And I think -- in closing, I think the biggest thing that the Commissioner's asking for if we request for something before we vote on it or before money's being spent -- and I'm sure Danny's probably saying on his end, well, October 1 is when the new budget started. So at the end of the day, that should have happened really in September sometimes [sic] because you got 12 people that got to go to work. Mr. Mensah: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You know, so I think that is a part of the overall issue, that it supports our Administration so things would have actually stopped if that was the case. So with that being said, I have clarity on what the issues are. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. I want to address a few of the things. And thank you for that, Commissioner Spence -Jones. There's various issues that I wanted to address, the first one being as far as the restrictions or the target areas, I can assure you that all this illegal dumping is within the target area. And to go a little further in that, that's what I requested a year ago -- this is what I was requesting a year ago. As a matter of fact, not only was it a simple request; it was actually a vote of this Commission, and we actually put the funds in reserve so we could obtain all that information. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: So that's how far I went. As far as the fundings [sic], yes, you're right, I didn't even ask as far as, you know, how much services your district got as opposed to mine. But I'll tell you what. If you look at the HUD funding now, you'll see District 3 is right behind District 5. I mean, I'm almost touching you. So there's a great need here. When you mention as far as an overgrown lot and you want to make sure that you're able to contact Code Enforcement and they take care of it right away -- I mean, do you think it's acceptable on November 4 we sent a respectful request to Code Enforcement to address this lot. On November 14 we respectfully asked for an update. On November 30 we respectfully asked for an update. City ofMiami Page 23 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: And that's when we find -- a month later is when we finally get something saying, oh, well, the vendor's not available, this and that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, but Commissioner Carollo, I think -- Vice Chair Carollo: So the truth of the matter is -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- but I think that does -- that means that we need to address it to Code Enforcement. Chair Gort: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But as far as this particular issue -- I mean, it's hard for George and hard for CD (Community Development) to kind of answer those administrative questions from the standpoint of delivering the service and l just want us to be fair. If nothing else, let's be fair about how we address the issues. And then I want to be clear with you on the issue -- it wasn't about the illegal dumping. What I -- the comment that was made on the record was these particular funds aren't necessarily identified for illegal dumping, even though the staff is hired to do -- you know, provide the services of code enforcement, what HUD is really looking at is are we eliminating the housing related issues, whether or not they be abandoned houses, whether or not they be abandoned lots that are attached to housing. I -- so there is a difference between somebody deciding to dump a refrigerator or a toilet stool -- a toilet, I'm sorry, on the side of the road compared to somebody having a burnt -down crack house. There's a big difference between that. Vice Chair Carollo: Well, let's ask. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Andl think that that's what they're speaking of. Vice Chair Carollo: Well, let's ask. Chair Gort: Excuse me. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Am I correct on that? Okay. Chair Gort: Excuse me. Vice Chair Carollo: Well, let's ask. Chair Gort: Let's speak one at a time. Vice Chair Carollo: Let's ask and I'll tell you why. Because what's happening -- what really happens is that we are replacing general fund dollars with these dollars. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: That's what we're doing. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: So if we are replacing general fund dollars with these dollars and these dollars cannot address the biggest code enforcement issue that I have in District 3 -- City ofMiami Page 24 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: -- then what are we doing? We're not addressing illegal dumping. So my first question is can these dollars, these CDBG dollars be used for illegal dumping? Commissioner Spence -Jones: I think they can. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. Mr. Mensah: George Mensah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But they -- but -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Mr. Mensah: Mr. Commissioner -- Chair Gort: One at a time. Yes. Mr. Mensah: -- I respectfully request some times when we are in the public domains, the use of certain words can make this program ineligible. We are not -- the City -- in my opinion, the City is not using these money to replace general fund. The City decided that it has needs that Community Development funds allows it to use, and so we are using these funds to meet the needs of the City in terms of this sense. Vice Chair Carollo: Excellent. Mr. Mensah: So I just want to put that for the record. Vice Chair Carollo: Excellent. I accept what you're saying. And I'm -- and then I -- it goes back to my point. I have a big need in District 3 and that is illegal dumping. And if you want me to bring the rest of the photographs, we will be here for an hour, I can assure you. So what am saying is I, as a district Commissioner, am trying to tackle this issue andl am requesting from the Administration help. And, you know, when I joke around a few times andl say, hey, I'm in the penalty box, this is what I mean. I mean, I make a friendly request. You know, 30 days later, after two further, you know, updates is when I get an answer. I mean, and that's when -- when I joke around, that's what mean, I'm in the penalty box. I mean -- and this isn't right, because the one who's hurting is the residents. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: And then they come back to me and say, Commissioner, are you doing your job? I say, no, no, here. It's the Administration that I keep complaining about. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So resolution, what's the resolution? Chair Gort: Excuse me. Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this code enforcement issue has been a frustration for the last two years since we've been here. We've tried in a variety of different ways and forms to address some of these issues. I think we really need to spend some time on this. Maybe this is not the appropriate moment, but we need to spend some time, either a discussion item, a sunshine meeting, a special meeting, whatever we have to do. One of the frustrations that I have is the difference between enforcement and compliance. We can enforce the code all we want, and his frustration is over enforcement in that particular example. But City ofMiami Page 25 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 there's a difference between enforcement and compliance. I just -- the Code Enforcement just gave someone a fine yesterday, I think, for an illegally parked truck in a house on 15th Street and 34th Avenue, but that doesn't mean that person's going to move the truck. So we need to start figuring out ways to force very -- you know, very -- properties that are very noncompliant with the code -- that are continually noncompliant with the code to become compliant, not just to enforce the code. That's something else we have to look at. But with relation to this issue, my question is we had allocated $800, 000 for demolition and we had allocated) believe $800, 000 for code enforcement. Those are two separate allocations, is that correct? Mr. Alfonso: That's correct, Commissioner. Commissioner Suarez: And don't see here any funds for demolition. So what you're saying is we still have funds remaining for demolitions or we don't have to reallocate funds for demolition? That's all the questions I have. Thank you. Chair Gort: Let me tell you. I think you all receive copy. I had some pocket items last meeting, which I asked the Administration what is the follow-up that's being done in the decisions that we took here at the City Commission. I believe you all received part of the answer from the Administration. And one of the major problems that we have is illegal dumping, property, vacant properties. That's creating a lot of problems to the whole City ofMiami. This is one issue that) think we need to address, have a special meeting on this. This got to be part of the agenda of our next meeting. The Administration, we got a task that we got to take care of. I don't know how many departments we're going to have to put together, but we have to do it. We got to keep a clean city. At the same time, the issue today is the Commissioner had a request and this one department has not answered his request. Code Enforcement, let me know where you're spending the money, what are you doing with that money, and why is not the illegal dumping being deal with. He needs that report. And my understanding is at this time action were taken without the Commission compliance. I'd like for George to give me -- and this is part of the issue today and I'm glad, Commissioner, you brought it up because this is good for the Administration. We all getting together on this. We have to work on it. You got to get -- your directors got to be talking to each other. We have all these computers. I don't know how many millions we spend in computer. Somehow there's got to be a check and balance in all this. It can't be independent constantly. The different department, they're completely independent. We need to coordinate that. Let me finish. I think today our actions is we need from George and the Administration what is the action we're going to be taking for what happened before and what are we going to do to -- make in our motion -- we can put any amendment that we like to put in this motion to make sure that this does not happen again. Andl think the Administration needs to get the message, this Commission is following up and it wants to make sure it gets answered. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Just out of curiosity, is the director of Code Enforcement here? Commissioner Spence -Jones: No. We just said he wasn't here yet. Chair Gort: No. Vice Chair Carollo: I mean, I know ifI was the head of some department and there 's funding being allocated to my department, I'd be on top of it because that's a lot of money. So I ask that question to the assistant City Manager, do you feel that the director of Code Enforcement should be present since it's $670, 000 allocated to his department? Mr Cabrera: The director is not here. The assistant director's en route. The director's attending City ofMiami Page 26 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 a course today. The assistant director will be here. To answer some of your questions, as you know, the illegal dumping situation is a multi -prong issue. It's also based on actions taken by the police, actions taken by Code Enforcement, and also, you know, education. So I agree with you, we need to take proactive measures. I agree with you, we will provide you with all the information that's needed. We work in every district. We will continue working in every district. Andl will ensure you that we're going to go ahead and take a more aggressive and proactive approach in dealing with not only illegal dumping; with whatever concerns you have. Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Chairman, and that concern primarily is illegal dumping. And what want to make clear is that don't want Code Enforcement going out there and trying to ticket everyone for every low -hanging fruit there is. In other words, maybe the car is too close to the sidewalk or whatever. I want them to tackle what really is the issue in District 3 and that's illegal dumping. Mr. Cabrera: Commissioner, I assure you that if I'm given the time and we meet, I will sit with each and every one of you. We'll look at what's important in your areas. We'll put together a comprehensive plan which will compose of both internal and external resources and we will address it. This is -- nor yourself nor any Commissioner, as long as I'm around and my boss is around, we will not blackball or do anything that undermines you. We will address the issues and we will ensure that the information that you request is given to you. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. I appreciate that. Because you know I will bring it up here in City Commission andl will definitely make light of it. Now with that said, there's also another issue with regards to us making a, you know, respectful request with regards to a resident that has an overgrown lot next to his house, rats running around. I've been there personally. I have seen it. And we don't get a response from Code Enforcement for about a month later. I mean, I think that's unacceptable. So I wish the City Manager would have been here so, you know, this could be discussed because we need to remedy this issue. Mr. Cabrera: Commissioner, the Code Enforcement Department, as I'm -- I'm the ACM (Assistant City Manager) that oversees that department. I assure you once again and guarantee you that we will get back with you and provide you the information you've requested. And if the Administration is not doing what needs to be done, I assure you that will take whatever measures necessary to correct those actions, okay. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. Chair Gort: If you recall, part of my pocket item was that. My understanding is there's supposed to be -- one of the biggest problems that we have, some of those property has lien for 200, 000, $500, 000, more than the value of the property itself. We discussing it. We requested from the Law Department, from -- there's a way that we can collect this fund and maybe collecting those funds we can utilize those funds to remedy some of this problem. At this time, I have a motion and a second. Now my understanding is no further funding could be utilized until we get an answer from Code Enforcement. Now we need an amendment to this --friendly amendment to this motion that's on the floor today. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: We do not have a motion -- Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Motion. Vice Chair Carollo: -- on the floor. City ofMiami Page 27 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Ms. Thompson: That's correct. Vice Chair Carollo: And -- Chair Gort: Okay, my apologies. Vice Chair Carollo: -- I will make the motion -- Chair Gort: Go ahead. Vice Chair Carollo: -- to approve SP.5 with, once again, the way it should have been done last year with the only difference of putting the $670, 000 of code enforcement activity into a reserve account until we receive the information that has been requested, we actually see exactly what's the target areas, what is the actual activities that this monies can be used for. Now -- andl know Commissioner Spence -Jones is going to have a question, and I'm going to jump the gun 'cause it might be the same question. Will this affect any services whatsoever of code enforcement? Chair Gort: No. Mr. Mensah: Your question, will it affect any services of code enforcement? Vice Chair Carollo: If we put this in a reserve account right now. It didn't last year, so I don't see why it would this year. Mr. Mensah: Well -- Vice Chair Carollo: And then -- Mr. Mensah: -- and -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: That's really a budget question. Chair Gort: Yeah. Vice Chair Carollo: -- have it come back to this Commission for approval once we get all those answers. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, you did read my mind, so. Budget -- Chair Gort: All right. Ninoshka Reyes (Assistant City Attorney): Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- that's a budget question. Can we get a answer from Budget? Mr. Mensah: It's not -- Chair Gort: My understanding is, Administration -- a motion has been made. Is there a second? Ms. Thompson: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I don't want to second until get an answer. I'm waiting for him -- budget to tell me. Is this going to -- I don't want to second something -- City ofMiami Page 28 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: I'll give you the answer. Commissioner Jones [sic], if you allow me. Commissioner Spence -Jones: You can give it to me. Chair Gort: We are requesting that the services continue. You get the funding from general funds, from whoever you have to get, but you cannot discount the services. You have to continue the services. Okay. Mr. Mensah: Let me ask a question then. Commissoner Spence -Jones: But that's not -- Chair Gort: Without -- no, no. My understanding is, the City out of general funds can pay for this. If they come to us, they show us how they use the funding, the City can get reimbursed once we decide to do so. Yes, sir, go ahead and answer. Mr. Mensah: Well, I think you probably -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Budget. Mr. Alfonso: Danny Alfonso, director ofManagement and Budget. We can continue to do the operation and temporarily fund it with general fund, but if this Commission later comes back and says we're not going to release this grant funding, then we have a gap -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Got a problem. Chair Gort: You have a gap. Mr. Alfonso: -- in the general fund. So under the assumption that you will get the right reports and you will agree with it, then temporarily we can fund the operation. But if we don't suspend the activity, we're spending money. Vice Chair Carollo: And we're not suspending the operation. Andl'll give you the answer. 171 give you the answer, Commissioner Spence -Jones. From a year ago, from a year ago, I'll give you the answer and right here. Andl do want to make sure that my colleagues know that it's not going to jeopardize anything right now in the current budget. And we can always bring it back and make changes and so forth. So really, it's not going to hurt this at all, unless in the future we actually don't allocate that money back into Code Enforcement. Andl'll go a step further. We didn't do it last year. It never came back to this Commission and it didn't affect anything. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, I know. But part of the issue right now -- the reason why we're having this discussion is to correct the problem. Chair Gort: Right. Vice Chair Carollo: Exactly. Unidentified Speaker: Correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So what -- I just want to be clear -- I'm going to second your motion, but want to second it with the understanding that, you know, from the Budget director, that we don't have an issue because now, technically, we won't see you until January. So I want to make sure that whoever those employees are that are going to be working, I don't want that to be an issue because now you have to wait till you come back in front of the City Commission to give a report on how the money's spent, where it's spent, who it's spent on, and all of that. So City ofMiami Page 29 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 you have a second from me. That's not an issue. I just don't want people's jobs to be in jeopardy around us trying to figure out or wait for that information, and that's my concern. So you have the second. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: At the present time, it is not in jeopardy. And I'm going back to the same exact discussion we had a year ago. Ms. Reyes: Mr. Chairman, ifI may. Chair Gort: There's a motion and there's a second. Ms. Reyes: Mr. Chairman, before the vote is taken, ifI may? Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Reyes: We had asked that -- this is a projected amount, and we had asked that when this allocation be made, that these funds would not be subject to the projected cut from HUD; that these funds would get paid first, and we need to make that as part of the motion so that -- there's a projected 11 percent cut -- Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Ms. Reyes: -- and this is a projected amount we're using from last year. Chair Gort: I understand that. But the funds right now, that they're being utilized, that the existing funds that were passed before. This is not next year's budget. Ms. Reyes: Yes, this is next -- Chair Gort: Doesn't this begin in April? Mr. Mensah: Yes. But this is next year's budget beginning April 1. Chair Gort: No. I'm -- this is a different -- this is for next year's budget, what we're approving today. What we're talking about, this is we're going to hold, but we're taking about the money left from last year's budget -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes, that's what he's talking about. Chair Gort: That's what we're talking about. Mr. Mensah: No, no, no, no. We're talking -- the years overlap. So we're talking about the budget from April I going. Chair Gort: Right. Mr. Mensah: Already in the City's budget they assume that they're going to get the $673, 000. Chair Gort: I got you. I understand. Okay. Do you all understand? Commissioner Suarez: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. City ofMiami Page 30 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: Okay. So what -- Ms. Reyes: Are we clear? Chair Gort: -- you want to add the amendment? Ms. Reyes: Yes. The amendment being that the 670 being allocated towards the now reserve account, right, as part of the motion -- Chair Gort: Right. Ms. Reyes: -- not be subject to the projected 11 percent cut; that those monies be used -- be untouched in the reserve and that the rest of the allocations are subject to a pro rata share of the cut. Is that clear? Vice Chair Carollo: No, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I thought these monies already reflect the cuts. Mr. Mensah: No. Ms. Reyes: No. Mr. Mensah: No, Commissioner. Chair Gort: These are projections. Vice Chair Carollo: These monies do not reflect the cuts? Mr. Mensah: No. Vice Chair Carollo: They're projections? Mr. Mensah: They're projections, yes. Chair Gort: They're projections on the cuts that you're expecting. Commissioner Suarez: Based on last year, right? Mr. Mensah: We -- based on what has already been approved by Congress, we expect that there will be some percentage cut in the neighborhood of 10 to 11 percent. Chair Gort: So in putting this budget together, you have taken that in consideration? Mr. Mensah: No. We -- Chair Gort: Those cuts are going to take place. Mr. Mensah: It's going to take place, but we can't take into consideration because the regulation does not allow us to. The regulation only allow us to use the current year's amount, and if any cuts come, then there -- we'll have to go back and adjust our numbers. And that's the reason why the resolution says that it's projected and that if there is any cut, there will be a pro rata share of the cuts across board. And what this amendment is saying is that because the $670, 000 has already been budgeted in this year's Code Enforcement budget, rather than have a pro rata cut, that we should have a direct allocation of $670, 000 from whatever amount we get. City ofMiami Page 31 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.6 11-01102 Department of Community Development Chair Gort: Okay. Do you all understand what these amendments will do? This amendment will do of all the total fundings that will come to this use, all they'll be cutting according to the discount from the -- that we receive from HUD, except this one from Code Enforcement. Vice Chair Carollo: Yes. My motion will be approval of SP.5 with $670, 000 going to the reserve account for later -- coming back to this Commission once we receive the information and that money is -- will maintain at 670,000 regardless of any cuts. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second with amendments. Chair Gort: It's been -- any -- yes, ma'am. Ms. Thompson: Excuse me, Chair. Before you go on and take the vote, may I please have the assistant City attorney state her name for the record? Ms. Reyes: I'm sorry. Sasha Reyes. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Ms. Reyes: Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. All in favor, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF PROGRAM YEAR 2012-2013, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDS, IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $1,300,000 IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CATEGORY, TO THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT "A," ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AND THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $2,357,051.40 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT RESERVE ACCOUNT, FOR A TOTAL PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $3,657,051.40, FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES FOR PROGRAM YEAR2012-2013; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE AGREEMENTS, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH SAID AGENCIES, FOR SAID PURPOSES. 11-01102 Summary Form.pdf 11-01102 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01102 Legislation.pdf 11-01102 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff R-11-0487 Chair Gort: SP. 6. City ofMiami Page 32 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 George Mensah (Director, Community Development): SP. 6 is authorizing the allocation of $1.3 million in the economic development to the following agencies, and the agencies are Allapattah Business Authority, $120, 000; Contractors Resources, $80, 000; FAMN (Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami), $50,000; Neighbors and Neighbors, $150, 000; Rafael Hernandez, $50,000; City of Miami Economic Development Reserves, 850,000 -- sorry, City ofMiami Facade Improvement Hard Costs, $850, 000; and District Economic Development Reserves, $2, 357, 051. I just want to state for the record that usually when we use the word l'conomic development reserves,'ive use -- those are unallocated funds to be allocated at a future date. Vice Chair Carollo: So -- Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Carollo: I'm sorry. Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: So we don't have to necessarily make the decision right now. In the future we can make a decision to use those funds? Mr. Mensah: That's correct, Commissioner. Chair Gort: That's correct. Would you go into details, once again, how those funds are being utilized. Mr. Mensah: Economic development funds is -- economic development is a broad category of CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) programs where we provide assistance to for profit businesses, assistance to microenterprise business. We can do commercial facades as well as even code enforcement by its activities, also called economic development activities. We can also use it for park improvements. We can use it for infrastructure improvement. So those are all economic development activities. Andl know that certain Commission districts use it for street repavement. The allocation is made currently mostly for facade economic development activities for for -profit entities, which is basically job creation, and then you have microenterprise assistance. So that's what we use those funds for. Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. Public hearing is opened. Anyone would like to address this issue? Grady Muhammad: Good morning. Grady Muhammad, CEO (Chief Executive Officer), Miami -Dade First, 5426 Northwest 7th Avenue. Just to digress real quickly. For the last issue, I didn't get an opportunity to speak. Every department and every organization that gets funding, they have to have quarterly reports, monitoring reports, so you all have to ask where is the reports. That -- departments get funding just like these nonprofit agencies that get funding and business get funding, they have to give quarterly reports on their successes or failures of what they're doing. Code enforcement can be able to easily get done with the money. We have neighborhood stabilization funds that can be used for code enforcement as well as demolition. So we have solutions. Andl know with Model City, specifically District 5 and Ms. Karen Kitchen, the NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) administrator, we took Code Enforcement out of the NET offices. They need to be back in the NET offices so where they could be able to do it. They had (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 10: 38:14, they got to come back. But specifically with District 5, they want -- the Commission has the authority from the State to be able to allow Code Enforcement to be able to go ahead and cut the grass and do those things and put those liens that we're talking about and be able to get those funds on it. One property we have is 742 Northwest 62nd Street. That building is next to the Walgreens. You can look through it and sees City ofMiami Page 33 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 the sky. It's been there for almost ten years vacant like that. Code Enforcement keep citing and citing. It's talking about the compliance. There is no compliance. We need to start knocking those things down and putting those liens on it. But we have Community Development Block Grant through neighborhood stabilization for land banking, demolition, new construction, and so we need to start coordinating all of these services compared to what we're doing, speaking for economic development specifically. We have to be able to ensure these monies go towards the residents and the businesses and the organizations that need them. We have to make sure they're on the street. We can put them in reserves. That's nice and dandy. But with the need for economic and the need for development and the need for business assistance, we shouldn't have this money sitting around because every year we keep -- we putting money into reserve -- in the reserves, but again, what is happening with the economic development, the business development. This is where the money needs to be, on the street. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Leroy Jones: Leroy Jones, 180 Northwest 62nd Street, Neighbors and Neighbors Association. I just wanted to take a minute to thank the staff thank all the review panel people that sat on the review panel and reviewed and scored all the applications. I know it was competitive process. I know it was time-consuming. So I just wanted to thank this body, City staff as well as the people that sit on the review panel. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else in the public would like to address this issue? Being none, close it. Public hearing. Commissioner Suarez: Move the item. Chair Gort: Do I have a motion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Discussion. Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Spence -Jones. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I definitely want to commend staff for, you know, doing an awesome job. Much of this, like the next item we're going to vote on, was kind of done before I got back, so a lot of the motion was all -- all of this stuff was in motion, so I'm really just kind of following up on whatever was already I guess through the process in which CD (Community Development) has -- was already kind of gone through already, so I just want to be clear on that. But I do want to acknowledge Brother Grady's comment. I do think that, you know, the Code Enforcement -- andl know that that -- from an Administration standpoint, we moved away from that a few years ago. But there was beauty in having Code Enforcement operate out of the NETs because you would have immediate attention happen for areas or in areas that really needed attention immediately. So I know that kind of addresses Commissioner Carollo's issue. If you had a Code Enforcement officer that was already within one of your NET offices, there would not be a question as to whether or not it got done because your NET administrator would make sure it got done. So I think that that's something, as time goes on, we should definitely reconsider, so I want to at least acknowledge Grady on that. I would like to make sure from the administrative side, George side -- I know that with me coming back, one of the main things that I wanted to kind of launch off is this whole cultural corridor initiative which highlights Liberty City, Overtown, Wynwood and Little Haiti, and of course, part of my district on the river for the fisherman's wharf. I just want you -- if there's any additional dollars that are left -- I'm working already with FANM and already Leroy -- I just saw him a few seconds ago -- for us to make sure that we create projects that are actually going to stimulate the economies in the neighborhoods. I think it's extremely important. So I'm City ofMiami Page 34 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 going to ask that once this process is done, that we -- you come back with recommendations if there's some resources available for us to put in organizations in those areas to kind of promote cultural corridors. And then last but not least, and I've said this in my meetings with the agencies that I fund throughout my district from a sustainable side of it, we have to come up with a sustainability plan to address these small businesses, George, because every year the businesses really rely on those funds for them to survive. But as we move forward, we got to figure out a way to at least have them building some sort of sustainability plan so it's not always relying on government to cover these costs. And you already know this, that every year HUD is reducing the amounts. So I'm going to ask as we move forward that every small business that we give dollars to, that there's some sort of sustainability plan with, you know, whatever allocation through our agencies that support it because if not, I'm not really helping them grow or building them. I'm keeping them in the position where they're constantly relying on these resources, which is not good for them. So I'm just going to ask that you also include that. With that being said, that was my only comment. Chair Gort: Thank you. Let me tell you. When I first got elected, the NET office had the compliance -- police compliance inspectors and they worked as a team because they were in the neighborhoods and they knew -- they were driving around within the same neighborhood. I think that's very important. I think the Administration should consider -- I don't know it was taken out of the NET office, but I think it -- you should look into putting it back into it. Okay, any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying iiye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. SP.7 RESOLUTION 11-01101 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Community ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION FOR PROGRAM YEAR Development 2012-2013 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDS, IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $595,477, IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE CATEGORY, TO THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT "A", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, AND THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $529,996.40 TO THE CITY OF MIAMI DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC SERVICE RESERVE ACCOUNT, FOR A TOTAL AMOUNT OF $1,125,473.40, FOR PUBLIC SERVICE ACTIVITIES COMMENCING JULY 1, 2012; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE AGREEMENTS, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH SAID AGENCIES, FOR SAID PURPOSE. 11-01101 Summary Form.pdf 11-01101 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01101 Legislation.pdf 11-01101 Exhibitl SUB.pdf 11-01101-Submittal-Grady Muhammad.pdf Motion by Commissioner Spence -Jones, 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-11-0488 Chair Gort: RP.7 [sic]. George Mensah (Director, Community Development): SP.7 is your -- authorizing the allocation City ofMiami Page 35 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 of 2012-2013 Community Development Block Grants for public service in the amount of $595,477 in the categories of the agencies that was attached. I want to say here for the record that the 595,477 were the amounts that we advertised during the 30-day period and that after that, certain districts have already made their allocation. So at this point maybe it will be better if the districts put their allocation on the record so that I can give the total amount that each organization will be receiving. Chair Gort: Go ahead. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Carollo: IfI may, I wanted to give the allocations for District 3, and again, it doesn't mean that this is -- has to be done everything today. We could always bring this back, but I want to give me allocations. I want to make sure that all of the organizations that I funded in the past could be made whole as much as possible. So the first allocation will be Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese ofMiami, Inc., Sagrada Familia, Inc. Child Care Center, $18, 795; Centro Mater Child Care Services, $14, 750; Josefa Perez de Castano Kidney Foundation, 2,500; Little Havana Activity [sic] and Nutrition Centers of Dade County, $131, 705; and the Association of [sic] Development of the Exceptional, Inc., $6, 720. That's to make all of them whole at least for my district, from what I -- from my part. The only one that is missing is Regis House, and you've mentioned that there was an issue with that, so if you could elaborate on that. Mr. Mensah: Yes, Commissioner. Regis House, as you know, we -- Regis has had allocation this year, and on November 23 we received a request from Regis House to change their work program and move the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 10: 46: 20 to Melrose -- move the location of their service to Melrose Elementary School, 3050 Northwest 35 Street. And Commissioner, that is right outside the City limits. Vice Chair Carollo: So it will not be eligible if it's outside City limits? Mr. Mensah: That's correct, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. And -- okay. And that's all I have at least for right now. And that's to make as much as possible from my end all the organizations whole. There is also the funding that this Commission set aside with regards to aiding some of these other organizations. I think it was to the tune of $362, 000. It's in a non -- $362,000 is in Nondepartmental. Mr. Mensah: That's -- Vice Chair Carollo: And -- Mr. Mensah: -- correct, Commissioner. Vice Chair Carollo: -- you know, I don't know if any other Commissioners want to add to it, but maybe later we could mention with regards to exactly how we're funding that, andl think -- I don't know if all the Commissioners received the allocations. Mayor Tomas Regalado: Commissioner, if I may. Chair Gort: Yes. Mayor Regalado: Mr. Chairman. Yeah, what the Commissioner is referring to is what has been historical, the citywide, or what they say, the Mayor's Poverty Initiative. And in consultation City ofMiami Page 36 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 with every district and the staff and myself we proposing -- and this, you don't vote on this today, on the poverty initiative, because it's only a draft. We have to wait for January in order to understand if we are going to be cut or how much are we going to be cut by HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development). We will know that in January. But just to mention -- and the idea is to make all these groups whole as they were last year. And by following that, Allapattah Community Action will receive $100, 871; Catholic Charities, Malcolm Ross, which is UTD, 4,045; Centro Mater Child Care Services, 27,000; Curley's House, 8,979; De Hostos Senior Center, 28,300; Fifty -Five Years Up, 9,830; Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Centers of Miami -Dade County, 60,962; Sister and Brothers Forever, 25,148; Southwest Social Services Program, 39,566; Sunshine For All, 25,148. This covers all the five districts. There are citywide agencies, plus district agencies. I just wanted to put it on the record, although you won't be voting on this column. You will be voting on the other column. But Commissioner's right, this is talking to different district how do we reach last year's budget. And ifI may, Mr. Chairman, since we are here in front of many community agencies, we really need the help of the agencies and the community. Next week two members of this Commission -- Vice Chair, Commissioner Suarez, myself -- will be traveling to Washington again to plead and lobby for Congress to pass the waiver that we're seeking in order to resolve this issue. As you know, social services are under attack in Washington by both the Administration and the Congress, and we just need to get those waiver. And I, you know, commend the Commission because you've been taking the time and doing a lot of lobbying and hopefully on Tuesday we will be able to know more about this in Washington. But it's important that the people here will communicate to their Congress representative, either Senate or House, in order to support what has become -- and actually, I have to say that what originated here has become a national bill. So it started with a City ofMiami but now in the form of the bill, it would cover the whole nation. Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for that, Mr. Mayor. That's, you know, a resolution that brought to this Commission and got full support, and it's something that is extremely important for all these great agencies. It's a flexibility from 15 percent to 25 percent and all we're requesting is flexibility. I'm very confident that we're going to be able to achieve this, but we still need to be speak to our -- the senators and continue our vigilance and make sure that they're on board, our representative, congressmen. And with that said, I understand that the amounts for the $362, 000 to aid some of these organizations, we are not being -- are not being voted on right now, but I just wanted to make sure that some of those organizations know that this money has been allocated. And Commissioner Spence -Jones, I know that requested to know exactly how it was going to be spent. During budget time it was 3: 20 in the morning, but now we're seeing how, you know, some of the funds will be allocated, and I just wanted to put it on the record so -- of these estimates so that these agencies know that, you know, they will be receiving some of these funding. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Suarez: Go ahead. I'll yield 'cause I'm going to read mine so just -- Chair Gort: He'll yield to you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Right. City ofMiami Page 37 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm glad that we're not actually voting on the item today. I did not get the breakdown that you just mentioned and maybe it was, you know, passed on to my office and we just did not have -- I didn't receive it. But I would like to discuss further. I know a few of the agencies that you mentioned in there. I know the need is much greater, andl can mention one of them right now which is in here today, is Curley's House. So they don't necessarily just serve my district. We know they serve the entire district and -- Unidentified Speaker: Citywide. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. -- I'm not really sure whether or not -- what the, you know, past Administration from our office gave towards it because I understand that Commissioner Carollo is only making sure we keep things whole from last year, but I know the need is much greater than that, so I'm not really even sure how we even got to that number last year. But I want to move fast forward to definitely be able to sit down and chat with you and hopefully have the support of my Commissioners that we definitely need to, you know, look at that number. On the side of the De Hostos Center, I'm glad that you were able to, you know, address that issue. I just want to make sure that -- I guess between the allocation that we have that we're going to talk about through CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding and the funding that you're giving now, we're at least making sure that they remain at the same level because, again, even though it's in my district, it does service, you know, Allapattah -- it serves a whole bunch of other areas. And we all have visited the center. They're right in the heart of Wynwood, and we need to make sure that they also have their same support. So afterwards, if you don't have a problem, sir, I really would like to sit down -- Mayor Regalado: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and hopefully have the support of my district Commissioners on this issue. Mayor Regalado: Right. Chair Gort: Yes. Mayor Regalado: And Commissioner, I just want to say that you andl, for four years, struggled. I think that this -- you know, to tell you the truth, this is probably the most difficult Commission meeting in the year. Chair Gort: It is. Mayor Regalado: Forget about budget, because this is about the needs of the people ofMiami and there is so much money. And the good thing is that you all have some reserves in your public service and it's prudent because we don't know how much are going to be cut. But you're right, you -- you know, your office has a proposal of allocation for Curley's, and what we tried to do is to go back to last year, but we need to have the staff and if you allow myself consult with you -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yes. Mayor Regalado: -- to understand -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: And I'm open to that. Andl know you -- Mayor Regalado: Right. City ofMiami Page 38 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- both organizations you fully support, so I --- Mayor Regalado: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- and the Commission fully supports -- Mayor Regalado: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- so I don't think that's the issue. It always boils down to what? Money. Mayor Regalado: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And whether or not we have the resources to make it happen. Mayor Regalado: Okay. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mensah -- Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: -- could you go into the details --? Yes. I'm sorry, Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to read my allocations. And, again, this is essentially the same effort to maintain our agencies whole with the caveat or with the representation that was made by Mr. Mensah that those organizations which are serving elderly meals will be held intact notwithstanding the 11 percent potential cut. Mr. Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. That was exactly what we attempted to do. However, with the amount that is remaining and not knowing how the amount is cut is, I really can't guarantee at this point because the -- what we wanted to do was not to even discuss this here today; just to wait until the whole amount comes out so we can know how to handle it. However, since we put this on the record, we have $32, 000 left, and $32, 000 is not enough to absorb a 10 percent cut in CDBG funding for all the elderly meals. So I just wanted -- so yes, we will try as much as possible to make them whole, but there probably will be maybe 4, 5 percent cuts that we probably cannot help. Chair Gort: Mr. Mensah, let me ask you a question. Could you go through the seven -- through the specific and the allocations you have made? Mr. Mensah: Yes. I was going to do that. Chair Gort: Would you go over it, please? Mr. Mensah: Yes. I also want -- Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Mensah, can you clarify when will we know exactly? Mr. Mensah: We expect that sometime in January. Maybe middle of January we'll know exactly when. Commissioner Suarez: May I just --? Chair Gort: Sure. City ofMiami Page 39 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Okay. So on the basis of what you said and with the understanding and I want the public to understand what the impact of the things that you're saying is, we're going to do everything that we can not only in trying to get the exemption but in finding money from everywhere basically, from any nook and cranny that we can to ensure that our elderly meals program, in particular, is not impacted. But let me just go ahead and read my list of allocations, and it's in keeping with the same spirit of my colleagues, which is, for District 4, I'm going to allocate $3, 509 to Centro Mater Child Care Services, Inc.; $6, 287 to Josefa Perez de Castano Kidney Foundation for elderly meals; 19,951 to Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Center; $86,173 to Southwest Social Services, which has a corresponding allocation from the Mayor's poverty initiative, and that's something that we had talked about in our briefings to maintain them whole. Sunshine For All, $75, 443, and the Association for the Development of the Exceptional, $21, 689. Mr. Mensah: Okay. I wanted to say that the -- Chair Gort: Could you go through the whole list, please? Mr. Mensah: That's what I was going to do. Chair Gort: Please. Thank you. Mr. Mensah: I want to say here that the entire -- the list that was just mentioned by the Commissioner of District 4 has already been advertised. I'm just going to add the one that we did not advertise, which is first before I can give the total. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Mensah: District 2 additional allocation, which was not advertised, is Catholic Charities Centro Hispano is 5,470; Catholic Charities Archdiocese Malcolm Ross is 12,134. The next one is Coconut Grove Cares is 10,000; Coconut Grove Collaborative, 5,000, De Hostos Senior Center, 80, 541; KIDCO, 6,286; Little Havana Activity Center, $13, 967, and St. Alban's $10, 000. So I'm now going to read the total allocation that each agency is getting -from CDBG -- sorry, I'm reminded, the second page, Liberty City Optimist -- no, sorry, Association for Retired, 5,000 -- 11,757 for Theodore Roosevelt. So the total for each agency, including the advertised amounts and the one I put in the record, will be Allapattah Community Action, $213, 000; Catholic Charities, Centro Hispanic $5, 470; Malcolm Ross, 12,134; Notre Dame, 7, 000; Catholic Charities, Sagrada Familia, 32,375; Centro Mater, 18,259; Coconut Grove Cares, 10,000; Coconut Grove Collaborative, 5,000; Curley's House, 30,000; De Hostos, 86, 541; FAMN (Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami, Inc.), 10,000; Fifty Years and Up, 8,150; Jose [sic] Perez, 8,787; KIDCO, 18, 861; Little Havana Activity Center, 165,623; Regis House, 6,000, which is already removed so it will be zero; SaintAlban's, 10,000; Southwest Social Services, $86,173, Sunshine For All, $74, 443; the Association for Development of the Exceptional, 37, 889; the Sundari Foundation, 58,000; Theodore Roosevelt, 11,757; Urgent, Inc., 12,500; Web Literacy, 13,000; and we have a reserve -- we have some reserve amounts -- some allocated funds which will be allocated at a later date. So those are the amounts. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. We'll now close the -- open the public hearing. Grady Muhammad: Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Again, Grady Muhammad, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) ofMiami-Dade First. We have to take in consideration for historical organizations like Dr. Helena andADE (Association for the Development of the Exceptional), Little Havana, but we have to also take in the new organizations, like Curley's House. And the capacity building or the lack of capacity building that is being funded to them for $30, 000 and looking at the numbers that I received from CD for Action -- Allapattah Action Agency, Little Havana, and just recently, the numbers were served was 111 people in July, 119 people in City ofMiami Page 40 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 August. Curley House serve that many people in a week, period, point blank. Community Development in December or November 2009 gave Curley's House, 1302 Northwest 54th Street, the old high-, low price supermarket. They also included a $60, 000 debt taxes -- back taxes on it and a $535 water bill. Now nonprofits has no money, so how you going to include -- to give a person a building and then include taxes, back taxes that they didn't create, a water bill that they didn't create, and to be able to expect them to be able to close on a deal because that was the predication -- that was the prerequisite for them being able to get the building. Now we've used affordable housing trust fund to pay $1.3 million on back payments to loans. We used that to pay back taxes on properties. Why haven't we got creative with the affordable housing trust fund to help build the capacity for Curley's House to be able to expand and to be able to continue to accept the residents that they're doing, especially in light ofJESCA, James E. Scott Community Association? That business got destroyed by former Commissioner Dorrin Rolle. Curley's House had to pick up those elderlies and those seniors. If we're going to talk about helping the elderly and senior, we got to be able to do it across the board. Thirty thousand dollars when others are getting two hundred and thirty, others are getting hundred and ninety-seven thousand. We have to have parity. Again, especially since District 5 census tracks demographics, density to poverty and poverty statistics bring down the federal revenue sharing. So we just want a fair share and that's all we requested. We're not against anything or against any other district organization, all of them. But I think finally, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Vice Chair, we had the Citywide Advisory Board, 1996 to 1999, prior to that. That's the board that the federal regulation 570.204 with citizens participation. That's a committee and a board that needs to deal with these and vet these applications and vet this thing first. Your brother, Vice Chairman Carollo, appointed me to that board in '96 and then late Commissioner Arthur Teele also appointed me to that board. We have to have citizens' participation where we can be able to have not a town hall meeting -- residents -- elected residents -- appointed residents with Dorothy Quintana -- the late Dorothy Quintana, Mariano Cruz, and many other folks like myself and Irby McKnight that sat on these boards that need to vet these applications so you all can likewise make an intelligent decision where we will be able to vet and we know what the numbers are, whether they're serving, whether they're performing, and we can get those things to you and report independent of what Community Development doing and you all can make an intelligent decision. But for Curley's House to be able to serve the people that they're serving and give a -- be given a building but with a back taxes -- we've given $800, 000 to Parrot Jungle to pay back taxes in general fund. Why don't we do the same creativity to Curley's House that's serving the community? And -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Muhammad: -- they're a citywide organization, not district wide. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair. Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Yes. Ms. Thompson: Excuse me. I need to state -- make this statement on the record. Individuals who are speaking do need to sign in. And if you're here representing the interest of a community organization or you're a nonprofit, you do also have to register with me, so please, I need your names. You know, you should -- if you speak without signing in, please come back to us so we can get all of our records straight. Thank you. Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Renita Holmes: Good afternoon. Thank you. Just to follow a note, I'm glad you're speaking of public service. You know, when you think about hunger, you won't think about disparity and no City ofMiami Page 41 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 one should be hungry at all. My name is Madam Renita Holmes. I am a citizen and member of Curley [sic] House, as well as a partner/service provider, so I'm speaking at all ends on the subject of hunger and disparity in District 5, an African American community. True, the numbers are disparate, but like I said, nobody should be hungry. Not only does Curley [sic] House serve elderly and seniors, they serve disabled persons. I do believe that even some City employees now who can't make the budget to feed their family on a monthly budget that have been laid off are actually being served as well, so it's a matter of poverty level. But no one should be hungry. You know, I commend you. But when we look at equity and balance, having access to the resources that you need to feed your community, I see a big gap between 28,000 in one community that has the same numbers as those are being served in citywide, you know, the same disparity. So I look at the big gap and the differences per capita. District 5 is a large per capita alone, them serving those who come in within their per capita. Not only just serving people of poverty. If they're within that level, there are some who are recently middle -income who have crashed, so we've seen some extenuating circumstances in the culture and in the demographics that we're serving and for those who come outside. I think when we're trying to be fair, we should look at all of the factors, and sometimes the perception of community economic development can be amiss. Also the fact that a lot of organizations that have not quite acquired the technical assistance, yet have inherited debts and liens in order to expand are null and void and still in need of some help. So let's recalculate, look at the methodology, and the fact that's apparent here by the number of persons you hear that how many can be served and how many more can serve. Thank you. Appreciate it. Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Go ahead. Helena Del Monte: Helena Del Monte, Association for the Development of the Exceptional, 2801 North Miami Avenue. For those in the dais that you all know me but for the possibility of anyone in the audience that may need our services, we are a specialized academic program, academic and vocational, for adults with developmental disabilities. meaning retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, and a whole array of disabilities. After the age of 21, the school system ceases to service them and they are in a limbo unless we serve them and prepare them for future sustainability and so that they can maximize the limited abilities they have. I thank each of you in the dais for believing in us, for supporting our population. I'm very proud to say that our agency has received 100 percent compliance from the City ofMiami for many, many years. I have received a 97 percent from the state of Florida, and my annual audit is zero comments, zero findings. Right now I am at a shortfall from last year's funding. I was at 59/5. I am now at 37. Honestly, you know, if there's any way -- we are the only program for the developmental disabilities being funded by public service. The elderly, you know -- you knew my parents. You knew my parents. Does anyone love the elderly more than I? They were my empire. But my people need it too. The County gave a 30 percent cut to public service, except to the elderly, and here we're seeing the same -- andl applaud you, but I also implore you also if there's an additional money, my students need it desperately. I've been cut from Tallahassee. I've been cut from Metro. I no longer get the donations. And trust me, I'm a fighter, so if there's money out there, I am trying to seek it. But you know, right now I am in a hole this big and, please, I implore you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff. Come see me afterwards, Helena, because I was in Tallahassee yesterday andl was surprised to learn that Genting, which is a huge land owner here in Miami, has an extremely robust program at hiring disabled people. And the numbers they gave me were extremely chartable and extremely robust, so come see me afterwards. Ms. Del Monte: Good, 'cause that's what we do, supported employment. We employ our, you know -- but -- City ofMiami Page 42 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: You got -- set up your meeting right after. Ms. Del Monte: But the meeting is -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Del Monte: -- going to be wonderful, but I need the funding to make -- to train these consumers -- Chair Gort: We understand. Ms. Del Monte: -- to make it happen. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff.. All things are possible. Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Del Monte: Okay, thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Nilsa Velazquez: Good morning. My name is Nilsa Velazquez. I'm the executive director of KIDCO Child Care, Inc. It's a child care agency in the Wynwood community, and we also serve Little Haiti. I am proud to celebrate my 36 birthday at -- anniversary at KIDCO in Wynwood, serving the needy of the area. Unfortunately, I know that cuts need to be -- to happen; yet, we have been hit hard as well as the others. And what we do for the children is that we prepare them for the future. Early intervention and brain development is what we do best. We have testimonies of parents who go to KIDCO and say about the improvement that their kids get when they go to our facilities. We receive 30 percent cut the previous year. Now we receiving another 30 -- 25 percent cut. We -- I'm appealing to you to maintain the same level of services that we had last year and for that, we will need an additional $6, 000, besides the recommendation that we received. So I appeal to you to take that into consideration. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Next. Sue Loyzelle: Hello, Chairman Gort and the Commission. My name is Sue Loyzelle, and I'm here representing the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) of Greater Miami, Allapattah branch, 2370 Northwest 17th Avenue. We put in an application for funding and we received zero dollars. And the reason that I'm here today is the YMCA is celebrating our 95th anniversary and we started in the City ofMiami and we've remained in the City ofMiami for 95 years. Our center at Allapattah is in desperate need of assistance for our child care program. We knew there was a need for affordable rentals in this community and we tore down our old YMCA and we built for this community in the City ofMiami a $38 million project to bring affordable rentals for the elderly, 100 units, 200 affordable rentals for families to live at Allapattah. It is at full capacity. I am so proud. And with our partners, we were able to bring you the $38 million project to the City ofMiami. We are asking and pleading because the families that live in those towers need child care and they need some assistance. We are asking for you to please consider the YMCA. We used to receive funding from CDBG. We closed our building to build a new one and now we can't get back into the process. It's very difficult, and the families need assistance so their kids can attend our child care center. It is a state-of-the-art child care center for 127 children. And we would employ [sic] you to please look into the coffers. I know it is very difficult. It's very time-consuming to try to find funds for everyone, but I would ask if you could find us ten or fifteen thousand dollars to help these families get through so that their children can City ofMiami Page 43 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 attend the child care. I would appreciate your consideration. Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Next. Merline Barton: Good morning. My name is Merline Barton, executive director of the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative/Theodore Gibson Memorial Fund. Each year we apply for funding to help our elderly residents and home -bound residents in the Coconut Grove community. I would like to thank you, Commissioner Sarnoff, for awarding us this year again, and l just wanted to thank the staff of the City ofMiami for their great work and encouraging us and guiding us towards productive reports. I do wish to ask also if there's any more funds -- our seniors, we serve over 200 seniors and home -bound residents in Coconut Grove from the elderly center to the waterfront area here. So again, I thank you, but I'm always looking for more. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Elisa Juara: Good morning. My name is Elisa Juara. I represent Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Center. Good morning, Commissioners, Mayor, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for funding Little Havana, which has been serving this community for over 39 years and we appreciate your funding. It's very important. We are countywide, but we have six of our centers in the City ofMiami. No, seven. And they are very poor. And as you can see, there's a lot of need in this community. So I thank all of you, Commissioner Carollo, Commissioner Suarez, and Commissioner Sarnoff, and all of you Commissioners, Gort and Mayor, because we need all these funding that we can get. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Ms. Juara: And also the staff of Community Development always been so helpful to us. Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Levert Jordan: Good morning or afternoon, whatever it is. My name is Deacon Levert Jordan. I'm here to represent myself but to speak on behalf of Curley's House. I'm a deacon so I'll speak for everybody so I represent everybody. But most things -- what concerns me most is to find somebody that's hungry. I look around, there's food everywhere. And l find out our government's trying to help, but they're strapped with their budget, but the first thing they cut is the food line and that's a awful thing. I imagine most of you all belong to a church, synagogue, or a mosque or something. You know what it is to treat your fellow men decently. And to be hungry is an awful thing when food is all the way around. But I was very impressed when our illustrious Mayor got up this morning and said he had to -- major initiative fund he's got it. He had some kind of -- $8, 000 in his budget there for Curley [sic] House. Mayor, we appreciate that. But to me, considering the volume of business that Curley [sic] handles every day, I'm not talking about weekly, everyday, from all over the County of Dade County. They're never turned away because they live across the line or across the street or avenue. They're always welcome. The volume of business there -- the amount of money you have there -- I know your heart is good because I -- what I heard you said you had a million dollars at one time, you're willing to give it back to the community and that really got on my -- on the good side of me, okay. But when I heard you say you -- however you came up with allocating of the funds and only came up $8,000 or so for Curley [sic] House, I felt that a bit atrocious to me. But when I heard you talk to our representative Mayor of our district, that you all going to sit down and work it out, now that brought me back -- put my foot back on the ground again. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Jordan: Mayor, you my Mayor. You my Mayor again, all right. Thank you, Mayor. But -- City ofMiami Page 44 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Jordan: -- what I would like to see all the Commissioners to fall in line behind the Mayor, and I'm going to be with you all. I'm going to send all my friends that's computer savvy to jam the e-mails (electronic) in the Washington DC (District of Columbia) with the senators and representatives. We're going to load it up. They think they got a problem this weekend trying to get home for Christmas. They gone have plenty of problem trying to answer all those e-mails because I'm going to get on the line and let them hear from us today, all right. Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Mr. Jordan: Thank you. Chair Gort: Next. George Castano: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is George Castano. I'm the executive director of the Josefa Castano Kidney Foundation. I'm simply here to say thank you to all the Commissioners for continued support. And just to remind you that we have a citywide -- my elderly meals program is a citywide program and every little bit helps from every district, so I would appreciate it. Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Castano: Thank you. Chair Gort: Next. You can use the other mike. Brenda Graham: Good morning. My name is Brenda Graham, and I'm here to represent Curley's House. And I just want to say I -- we do at Curley [sic] House need more funding to provide more jobs. IfI may, I would like everybody that works at the stadium to please stand up. This is the beautiful relationship under the leadership of Curley's House with Lavern Scott and Laverne Holliday. And l just want everyone on the board to please give us more funding. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Yes. Tiffany Walker: Good morning. My name is Tiffany Walker. I'm here to represent my family, which is Curley's. I been a volunteer there for two years. And we basically help with our seniors, the community, the homeless. If we could just please get more fundings [sic] to help our community and to help feed our people, I would love that. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Would you please, when you state your name, state your address also? Marcell Maxwell: My name is Marcell. I work for Curley's. The only reason we here, we here because we need help. We need help bad for our seniors, for ourself [sic], for the children, for our grandchildren. So could you please give us a little bit more funding? Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Cynthia Orr: Yes. Good morning. My name is Cynthia Orr. I'm one of the Curley [sic] House members. When I didn't have nowhere to go or feed my kids, they was the one that looked out for me. Got me a little job, and it's better than nothing. Andl wish it continue on for me and other people that really do needs it. Thank you. City ofMiami Page 45 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Yes. Geneva Finlayson: Good morning, Mr. Commissioner and Ms. Jones and everybody. My name is Geneva Finlayson. I'm here. I'm concerned about the Curley [sic] House. The Curley [sic] House represent all of our members who have on these shirts here today. And we really, really need your help. And please give us more support. That's what I have to say. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Yes, sir. Rudy Brown: Good morning. My name is Rudy Brown. I'm also representing Curley's House. I just want to reiterate one thing. Had it not been for Curley's House providing me a job, giving food to the community, things of this sort, a lot of people would have a lot of services that are really vital to the community. And I'm also pleading for more funding to help reiterate this effort. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am. Sheila Allen: Good morning. My name is Sheila Allen. I'm here for Curley's House. And I was here -- like to let y'all know that we need more fundings [sic]. And if it wasn't for Curley's House, I wouldn't have nothing for me or my kids. And for the community, we need more funding and thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Manuel Del Valle: Thank you. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Mr. Del Valle: Morning. My name is Manuel del Valle. I'm the director -- project director of Sisters and Brothers. I'd like to thank the Commission, the Mayor, the City staff for our funding and to please not forget us. We're an elder meals program and we need your help. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Robert La Marca: Good morning, Commissioners and Mayors [sic]. My name is Robert La Marca. I'm here to represent Curley's House. You know, we support the homeless, the rich, the poor. We are one of the largest organizations there is in our city in our district, and we need a little bit more funding, if you could help us on that. We need a bigger building so we could try to help our community a little bit more. I was one of them people that used to hang on the corner. Curley's gave me a chance. I'm here -- they always give me when I don't have. They help me pay my bills and everything else. Without them, I'd be homeless myself. So please take into consideration. We will try to help other organizations and a little bit more of our people if we had the funds and a bigger space. Thank you. Y'all have a good day. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Ronald Baker: Good morning. My name is Ronald Baker, and I'm the CEO of the ISIS Foundation, whereas it stands for Instilling Strength Inevitable Success. Now the reason why I'm here starting off -- real quick, the mission statement, so you'll know. Instead of me asking for funding, I'm going to let you know what it is about first before I say all those things. ISIS Foundation is bound to helping the family, not just in this city or this state or this country, but to every land where there lives a dream, a dream of success, of prosperity, and a dream of a better tomorrow. It is our promise to instill hope to the child that feels hopeless; help to the family that feels helpless, and make accessible the keys to possessing the goods of an inevitably brighter City ofMiami Page 46 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 future. It is our cause to challenge the social growth of man academically, mentally and spiritually by teaching character, courage, and self-control. We plant seeds of good choice amongst the infected within a social inequality trigram as we understand that every person is different in many ways. So therefore, we do not just provide a standard plan of action, but rather design it to meet each individual specific social challenges and needs. By doing this, we thrust forth into an atmosphere inclusive of the tools, assets and remedies needed only to one day achieve our inevitable success and this is our mission to make a difference in the lives of others. And so today, the ISIS Foundation comes before you today pretty much, as with everybody else, asking for funding, but in the sense that in inner-city rural communities, we are pretty much the pilot program and the harbinger for such a tenacious and visceral doppelganger, if you allow me to say that, called social inequality. And so with that being said, because of the communities that we come from, the people through hate, fear and mis-education, the choices that they make, we have poor education. We have drugs. We have STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) rates. We have high crime rates. This information right here submitted by you, the City ofMiami consolidated plan, what I've been doing my research on outlines from 2012 -- 2009-2013, the grim and un-, you know, favorable statistics that we are supposed to experience within these communities. And so I invite the CDBG, the board, I invite the Commission dais and everybody else to take a look at this foundation and what we're doing, but then also other foundations who fight and try to correct the socialhood of a people. Because all these people right here are affected by social awareness. All these people are affected by choices that we have made. All of this is social interactions that we're trying to present to you. These people that they're servicing Curley [sic] House, the elderly, these are all a part of who we are and it's listed right here. One thing that is also taken into consideration that we, as a people -- yes, and even in the occupy demon -- I want to bring that up because with the rich one thing that I also said and one thing want to make known is that we may not know -- I may not know all of their names, but we are still connected invisibly through the economy that we live in and the social brotherhood called -- you know, of who we are. So with the finances of the rich they may have or the finances of these other community boards, the finances of the poor, it still plays a part together as a whole. And so with that being said, these people right here, we all compensate and we have, you know, a viable cause. But like I say, it needs to start with programs that center around jobs, family, and education. This is where it is. We need this for the people. And for ISIS Foundation, we need this simply for the minimum amount of $10, 000. If you can grant me that, I'm so confident in myself and what my foundation is about that don't need a whole lot because I know that I'll find it from other places. But just give me that helping hand because, like I said, I'm helping these people. This is what you list in your plan. This is what we go by. And so from that -- that's pretty much what it is about. Additionally, one last thing before -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Baker: -- I go. I'm sorry. Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Baker: When you take into culture also, a pretty heavy aspect between education, number one, art, number two, three -- number three -- the number three, luck of how people get ahead in life. Luck hits ever so often. Two -- number two, art. Is it talent? It's in everybody. It has to be cultivated and developed. Education is something that a monkey, a dog, and a bird can pick up to get a job. So everybody needs education. And when it comes to culture, this article right here in the Miami Times has said that the Martin Luther King parade almost was not going to happen because there were funding -- there was not enough funding, where $59, 000, so I'm told, has to be raised up by us to pay for barricades just for us to line the streets. Fifty-nine thousand dollars. This article right here -- for 33 years, it should never have even hit the press because this is culture. This is our community, just like, you know -- Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. City ofMiami Page 47 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Mr. Baker: Yes, sir. All right. Chair Gort: Appreciate it. Mr. Baker: I do appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Applause. Kuame McNeal: Good morning. My name -- Chair Gort: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Please. Yes. Mr. McNeal: -- Kuame McNeal. Good morning, Commissioners. I'm representing Curley [sic] House. And I'm here to say I'm here helping out elderly, older people and the community and also our neighborhood. We need money, food and a better lifestyle. That's all got to say. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Next. Logan Clark: Good morning. Chair Gort: Morning. Mr. Clark: My name is Logan Clark. I'm a member of the Curley [sic] House. I just want to let y'all know that it's hard in the black community. Ms. Thompson: I'm sorry, Chair. We -- I -- Mr. Clark: We shouldn't have to sell -- Chair Gort: You got to bring the mike up to you. Mr. Clark: -- drugs. Okay. Ms. Thompson: And need -- Chair Gort: State your name and address again, please. Mr. Clark: Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Logan Clark -- Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Clark: -- a member of the Curley [sic] House. I just want let y'all know it's hard in the black community. We shouldn't have to sell drugs, prostitute, kill for money to eat. I mean, it's hard in America. That's all I got to say. Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. James La Marca: Good morning. I'm James La Marca, and I represent Curley's House. Without the funding and the building for Curley's House, we couldn't feed our community. We do not turn anybody down. We give to anybody and everybody. Without your support and funding, we can't do what we do. Thank you. City ofMiami Page 48 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Alretha Harris: Hello. My name Alretha Harris. I live in Overtown, andl have always not been perfect but since I found Curley [sic] House -- Chair Gort: Speak into the mike, please, ma'am. Ms. Harris: -- they showed me how to better my life and start back over again. So I was praying that y'all keep the program up for Curley [sic] House. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Next. Esther Couvertier: Good morning. Esther Couvertier, from De Hostos Senior Center. I would like to thanks [sic] all the Commissioner, especially Commissioner Spence -Jones and Commissioner Sarnoff, for your support. Also to the Community Development Department and to the Mayor, that he always have been very supportive. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Christine King: Good morning, Commissioners, Commissioner Spence -Jones. My name is Christine King. I'm the president and CEO of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation. And I would request your support for funding for our Wheels to Work program. It's an initiative thatl believe achieves all of the goals that you have spoken about today. And I'm just up here to make that request for funding. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Next. Anthony Whitfield: Hello. How everybody doing? To the Commissioner, to the Chairman and the Commissioners, I want to say thank you for letting us come today and speak. It's a lot of things that the Curley [sic] House do. By the way, my name is Anthony Whitfield, 6112 Northwest 7th Avenue, owner of Star Medical. There's a lot of things that the Curley's House do. And yes, everyone already knows about it, everybody understands about it 'cause they see it every day. Yes, they do need funding but we also need a way that -- where we can have an open-door policy to be able to talk to individuals about different planning. We're not asking for funding just to give us money and then we go buy food and everything else like that. A lot of the programs that the Curley's House has is to rebuild the community, rebuilding it green, rebuilding it with the lifestyles of the different people that needs jobs. We go after the individuals that's just been out of jail or have a way -- or look like they're about to go in jail. That's our main focus; veterans and everybody else. So we have different plans and different programs with the funding that you can give us from CDBG funds to be able to move forward. A lot of times individuals takes what they -- what you give them and come back the next year and ask for more money. What we asking for funding for is help us to build our own selves up 'cause with our programs and different thing else like that, we'll be able to be able to touch the masses, not just in Liberty City, not just in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 11: 35: 43, but all over Miami, Florida. Give us the funding. Let us produce the jobs, which we're already doing, and let us create more opportunities for individuals that has been thrown and left to the wayside. Thank you. Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Whitfield. Mr. Whitfield: Yes. City ofMiami Page 49 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Sarnoff.. How many veterans --? Mr. Whitfield: Wow, veterans. Well, understand this. A large population of the homeless are veterans -- a large population of the homeless is veterans, so we serve about 35 to 40 percent of our people that comes in there are veterans. I'm a veteran myself. So it's -- veterans is big. And for them not to be able -- a lot of times -- ifI may say, a lot of times when we come back from war, okay, our minds are not right, okay, because we dealing with so much stress, everyday stress and everything else like that. So it takes a special organization or a transitional group to be able to move forward. The Curley's House do have a program for that. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay, and that's whatl wanted to hear, that you actually have a problem for people coming backfrom either Iraq or Afghanistan. Mr. Whitfield: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay. Mr. Whitfield: Yes, sir. Chair Gort: Have you heard of a program called Anthem? Mr. Whitfield: No, sir. Chair Gort: It's specifically -- right now it's going to be -- I'm sure they're going to be talking to Commissioner Spence -Jones. There's a big program going there to help veterans. If you call my office, I'll give you their director -- executive director. He's in Miami, that he can be very helpful. Mr. Whitfield: That sound like a plan. And for the record, could you say the name again, please? Chair Gort: Anthem. Mr. Whitfield: Anthem. Chair Gort: Like the national anthem. Mr. Whitfield: Oh, I got it. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Whitfield: All right. Thank you so much. You have a great day. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Laverne Holliday: Good morning. My name's Laverne Holliday, the assistant director of Curley's House. To the Commissioners, Chairman Gort, we thank you for the recommendation. We appreciate that. We need more. I just want to say this. We -- you probably -- most people probably think that all we do is pass out food. That is far from what we do. We know that passing out food is a Band-Aid for things that people are really hurting in the community. So we establish a relationship with them so that we can find out what their needs are and how we can direct them and help them. And so it takes a lot of work to document and make things happen for people. So it's -- our stadium -- part of that is our relationship with the stadium to help these people that -- to give them a second chance 'cause all of us have had some little skeletons in the City ofMiami Page 50 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 closet somewhere and we come out. So we give them a better shot at at least getting to be employed. So we would like some funding for our economic development and our building. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Lavern Elie -Scott: Lavern Elie -Scott, director of Curley's House. Curley's House is here today with our voting populations that came out in numbers to show their support for us, as well as to support you guys because we do support you guys citywide. We provide a service that is citywide. We provide help to people from Coconut Grove, the Heights, let along [sic] so many -- we have large numbers in Allapattah, as well as the other district throughout the city. Andl was surprised to learn that myself that we are hiring people that come all the way from Richmond Height [sic] to work for our organization. We have many people here that -- today that are working for our organization. By giving these people jobs, we're preventing recidivism. We keeping them out of jail. We keeping them from robbing and stealing because it's so difficult for them to find a job. So we need your help. We need your support in keeping these people off the streets and giving them a second chance. Like Ms. Holliday said, we do more than give out food. We're also a access site. So what that means is that we help them with food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, cash assistance. Right now our program is 40 percent Hispanics because the dynamics of our communities are changing, so we're serving the Hispanic community as well. We have maybe a 30 percent Haitian population and the rest is black and others. So we serve everybody without any prejudice. We don't care what ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) code you're from. If you come to our place and you say that you need help, we have an open-door policy, and that's what it's all about. We don't turn people away. These people right here cannot go to other ZIP codes and get their help' cause the first thing they going to do is send them around in that proverbial circle screw, okay. We don't do that. We help everybody. So that's what it's about. We need your help. We thank you all, Commissioner Carollo, Suarez. Gort, we need your help 'cause we serving your district. Commissioner Spence [sic], we thank you. And of course, I can never say enough, Mayor Regalado. We thank you for your support. We thank you for coming out with us to those senior buildings for providing that service that you do during the holidays. I mean, we really thank you for that because you don't come out just because you need our vote or our support. You show great kindness and your gratitude and love and support for those seniors. Our senior community is hurting. Those people receive $5 in food stamps, less than $400 to $600 a month, and you all -- you always talk about the seniors, so I know you're aware of those numbers. It's hard to believe in America that people can actually be receiving $5 in food stamps. What can you buy with $5 in food stamps? The check's only 400, okay. So when they pay their rent -- if they do get an increase from off of their check, the rent goes up. How can they pay for their medication? They -- many of them have their grandkids. Many of them are just trying to survive. So if it was not for Curley's House, many of these people would be eating cat food dog food. Who knows what you got to do to survive these days? Somebody talked about standing on the corner selling drugs and selling their bodies. People got kids. We have people come to us with 13 or 14 kids that need our help. It's a desperate situation there. It's time that we stop playing politics and get serious about helping people that are truly in need in this community 'cause we are suffering. And as you know, Miami is one of the poorest people -- places throughout the United States. And who would think that with the great wealth and vast wealth and resources that we have here. So we do need you [sic] support. We are here to support you guys. Once again, thank you, Mayor. We have many senior buildings that are calling us that need our help, okay. We have limited resources. Thirty thousand dollars, Commissioner Spence [sic], we thank you for it, but it's not enough. It's not enough. When we go to these buildings, these buildings have 100 seniors. Some of them have 200 seniors. They calling us, Curley's House, we need your help 'cause they know we will come out. But if we don't have the resources -- 'cause we not getting paid ourself [sic]. We're basically volunteers. You have a lot of executive directors here receiving 120, 000. Great. We happy for them. We're not. We doing this out of the kindness of our hearts. So we're asking you all to continue to support us. Thank you. City ofMiami Page 51 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Applause. Unidentified Speaker: My name is -- Chair Gort: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Please. Mr. Muhammad: Mr. Chair -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Mr. Muhammad: -- I wanted to submit this for the record. The Curley's House -- the building, the resolution from the City. Chair Gort: Okay, fine. Mr. Muhammad: Enter it for the record. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Unidentified Speaker: Good morning. My name is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 11: 43: 45, and I'm a client at Curley [sic] House. And thank God that was able to come down here to speak in behalf of the family of the Curley [sic] House. If it wasn't for them (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 11: 43: 55 food that I receive, I wouldn't be here. But I -- we need -- desperate need for more money. Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Anyone else? Okay, close the public hearing. Motion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Motion. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Carollo: Second. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Discussion, though. Oh, did you --? Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah. I was going to make an amendment. I'd like to amend and give Curley [sic] House $5, 000 and reduce the $5, 000 from the Coconut Grove Collaborative. Mr. Mensah: And so I want to make a correction on the record. The Catholic Charities Segrada Familia will be 18,795. Curley's House will now be $35,000, and Association for the Development of the Exceptional will be 36,609. So that's for the record. Chair Gort: Okay. Thank you. My understanding, some of this reserve that we have, we can always make the transaction later on. Mr. Mensah: Yes. Chair Gort: We can make the -- Mr. Mensah: That's correct. City ofMiami Page 52 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: -- changes later on. Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, a couple of things that I wanted to say. First of all, I want to commend the Curley [sic] House. We've been working together from day one, at least when I started -- when I got officially elected. And our office was truly committed to making sure that, you know, they were at least stabilized and empowered to mobilize the community. And being gone for two years and coming back to see the work that has been put in to have people come out, mobilize to be able to speak about their issue in a very intelligent, smart manner without the screaming and the yelling and the -- I mean, you guys are to be commended for that because this is the kind of leadership that we need to have happening in my district, you know. We're get -- you're getting your point across. Our fellow Commissioners and the Mayor see exactly what the issue is. And l just want to be able to acknowledge that. George also knows and both Lavernes also know in the very beginning we had some trying times with trying to make sure that the business of the operation was in order. And it is a blessing to hear from George today that, you know, Curley's House is on top of the business part of doing business for the district, which I think is a beautiful thing. It's great to see it growing like that. I want to add a couple things. First of all, thank Commissioner Sarnofffor giving, you know, $5, 000 towards the allocation. And as I stated earlier, Commissioner -- excuse me, Mayor Regalado and I will sit down to look at the Mayor's Poverty Initiative to at least make sure there's some equalness [sic] or close to fairness in how we determine or give out those dollars, because as you can see just in this room alone, Curley's House is truly servicing a lot of people, even outside of my district. Andl will continue to work along with Curley's House to figure out innovative ways that we can create revenue so that they can sustain themselves. As I sit up here today, though, I have to say, you know, it's very challenging, you know, when you really don't see the whole entire picture. As most of you guys know sitting in the audience, my district probably is the most challenging district. No one could ever question my love for seniors. I mean, during my term in office, a lot of my attention was placed on supporting seniors and actually small businesses. So my love and passion for seniors still exists and will continue to exist because if we don't take care of you guys, then who else will. But it becomes a delicate balance when you don't have a lot of money to spread around and you have to break it up between definitely supporting your seniors and my youth -based programs. And we all can agree in my district that the youth issue has become a huge issue when we start talking about the number of guns that are on the streets, the number of young people that are getting shot daily on the streets in Miami; that have to begin to look at innovative ways to address, you know, the crime that's happening in the district. So I'm weighing between definitely making sure my seniors get support and definitely making sure that my youth -based organizations get support. And bottom line, I think Curley's House, even though they -- their focus is a lot on seniors, they clearly feed families, which touch young people as well. So I do understand that andl recognize that, butt also understand that my pot is not all that big. So what have to do -- and this is what I say all the time -- and my fellow Commissioners know this about me and Administration know this about me, is that I know that government can't afford to cover, you know, the whole gamut. So that's why private industry becomes extremely important to raise money outside of what government can do to provide the necessary support. And that's why, Mr. Mayor, any initiatives -- I know we're working on a few together to figure out other ways because next year it's going to be worse. And the year after that, it's going to be worse. And we're going to continue to have the same discussion because, unfortunately, the money's getting cut left and right in federal government. So we got to begin to create plans that sustain our organizations. For instance -- and that was one of the reasons why I mentioned to -- this morning on -- with George on the dais this morning that want to make sure that all of my nonprofit organizations and even my businesses come up with some sort of sustainability type plan because if -- let's say the federal government decides that it's not going to happen next year, no money, then we're going to have a City ofMiami Page 53 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 problem. So, you know, us working closely with the Curley's House and other organizations -- I know Curley's House dominated, but I do see organizations that are here that came out to support their organizations as well. We have to figure out a way to at least generate revenue without always depending solely on government 'cause eventually it's going to go. So whether or not that means Curley [sic] House now needs to be innovative to create maybe a thrift shop that can sell clothing and create revenue, whether or not that means Curley's House has to begin to look at other opportunities that's going to go towards the bottom line to continue to feed people -- and then I'm going to shut up after this. But I'm just going to say this, I came in on the end of this process, and there's one thing I've learned about this two-year time away -- or I would say my hiatus on the mountaintop was, you know, this train had already left the station, you know. The process had already gone out. Apparently, there had been community meetings like we normally have for CDBG and you had already done your presentations. And the one thing that I am not going to do is I'm not going to interfere in the process in any way, andl definitely want to make sure that everything thatl do from my perspective is done from a transparent standpoint. And I'm not going to jump in the middle of the process that Administration -- 'cause I'm not going to have a problem later on. So what I've asked for George to do is let the process, you know, roll the way that it is. But first quarter, I believe we have January and February, hopefully I'll have some reprogram dollars and some additional funds left over or still in existence that we can have a process to address the additional needs that are necessary. But I know that my -- the residents of my district understand that Spence -Jones got to do everything right 'cause if I don't do everything right, then I have a problem later on. It may not be the same for everyone, but I'm definitely going to do it the right way. So what I've asked for George to do with me is to look at what we have left over to figure out how we can spread this amongst not only our seniors, but also how we can spread it amongst our young people because I have to begin to look at initiatives to kind of really address what the overall issues are. So my main mission for 2012 is not just to only provide the resources that are necessary to support the local organizations that are in my district, but I have to begin to put things in place to teach my community how to fish. That's really what it's about. Because ifI don't teach you how to fish, I'm really only abandoning you in the process. I am pacifying the situation. I'm not building you up. I'm not empowering you. I'm not creating a scenario where you can become better without government. And that's the one major thing that learned in these two years going away. I don't ever want to be in a situation or my community be in a situation that I have to hear 100 people show up to the mike and every single last person says that I'm hungry or I don't have a job or I don't have -- to me, then that means we all fail. That's not true leadership. If I'm constantly creating a dependent situation, that's not empowering my community. That's not making it better. It pains me to see my community come up and ask for anything like that and that's real. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Thank you. Chair Gort: Do I have a motion? We made the motion? Commissioner Suarez: I believe I made the motion. Oh, no? Ms. Thompson: We had -- we listed Commissioner Michelle Spence -Jones as making the motion. And we have here Vice Chair seconding. Commissioner Suarez: Perfect. Ms. Thompson: Is that correct? Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Sounds good to me. City ofMiami Page 54 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: George, let me ask you a question, and this is for all of us to think a little bit about it. We have a lot of agencies that provide services to the needy within our community. They're independent agencies. They don't receive direct fundftom CDBGs. Is there any way that we can coordinate those agency in order to support each other? Get away with this is my turf. But a lot of these services that being provided by existing agency that might not be aware of the need of the other community. So I think it's very important somehow we can reach to all those agencies and how we can coordinate all those services. 'Cause an example, for the homeless, I know we -- it's about 15 to $20 million that goes for homeless, and we need to find out how it's being used and so on. So that's something that I'd like for you all to look into it since you're in that department. Mr. Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. Yes, Commissioner Spence -Jones have started talking to us about being able to provide (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 11: 55: 03 to all the nonprofits. So one of it is basically what you just talked about, and that is being able to make them aware of opportunities that are out there that they can avail themself [sic] of. The Homeless Trust definitely is one of them. The Children's Trust also has the sort of funding that we need to find out how we can assist them to be able to apply for such funding, look at the state funding, look at federal government funding in other area that are not CDBG. And these are all available andl intend to work with the grants department to see what type of program we can put together to assist all of them. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir [sic]. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- andl just want to add because it's really important. You know, when you're talking about organizations that are literally living on a shoestring budget to even keep their doors open and when we send them to agencies like the Children's Trust -- and not saying anything negative about the agencies, but you know, their bars are so high up on the scale that many of the organizations in my community unfortunately cannot even begin to reach it, but they're still servicing people. So, you know, whatl -- I like your suggestion of trying to figure out a way to have us work along with some of these agencies so that even if it's the City and those agencies that can combine their resources to go after some of these grants, if the City's partnering with them, they have a greater chance of getting the resources to get things done. But ifI askMLK (Martin Luther King) or ifI ask Curley's House or ifI ask, you know, any one of the agencies in my district to just go after these dollars on their own, you know, they're not going to be able to access those monies. It's just -- you know, it becomes talk in the wind and, unfortunately, it's a group of people that sit and make judgment on what organizations the -- you know, should and should not have something. And a lot of times, if they're not politically connected or they don't have the right people sitting on the board or the right people speaking for them, they don't even have a chance. So if nothing else, I would definitely like -- andl love the suggestion of the Chairman -- if there's any way that maybe perhaps we can create some special program that can assist these organizations so that they can at least go after some of the additional federal and state and even private foundation grants to at least help them become a little bit more stable. Andl think that that probably is a better route to helping them. But to send them to any of those other agencies would be -- I know would be a waste of time. Chair Gort: There's a lot of people that want to help, especially this year, so next year. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. City ofMiami Page 55 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.8 11-01103 Department of Community Development Ms. Thompson: And Chair, we just need to make sure the record will reflect that this resolution is passed as modified. Chair Gort: Correct. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING THE ALLOCATION FOR PROGRAM YEAR 2012-2013 HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS PROGRAM FUNDS, IN THE PROJECTED AMOUNT OF $12,498,939, AS SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT "A," ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, TO PROVIDE HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND HOUSING RELATED SERVICES TO LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE AGREEMENTS, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, FOR SAID PURPOSE. 11-01103 Summary Form.pdf 11-01103 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01103 Legislation.pdf 11-01103 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones R-11-0489 Chair Gort: SP.9. SP. 8? Vice Chair Carollo: SP. 8. Roberto Tazoe: Roberto Tazoe, assistant director, Department of Community Development. This is a resolution of the Miami City Commission allocating program year '12-'13 for the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (Acquiredlmmuno Deficiency Syndrome) program funds in the projected amount of 12, 498, 000 -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Let me stop you a minute. Let's take a five-minute recess. Commissioner Spence -Jones: What's five --? You want to just take a break, lunch? It's 12 o'clock. Vice Chair Carollo: I agree. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, you don't want -- we're not taking a break. Chair Gort: I don't have any problem coming back. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, these other items are going to be long, right? City ofMiami Page 56 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: Yeah. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Well, not too long, right? Commissioner Sarnoff. How long? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Parrot Jungle's going to be a minute, I believe. Chair Gort: We can try to finish this -- let's try to finish this and leave Parrot Jungle for afterwards. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Chair Gort: How's that? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, that's fine. Chair Gort: Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Continue, sir. Mr. Tazoe: Roberto Tazoe, assistant director, Department of Community Development. This resolution is -- well, it's approval for the resolution of the City ofMiami Commission approving the allocation for program year '12-'13 for the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS program funds, in the projected amount of 12, 498,939. The following agencies or City programs are being recommended. City ofMiami Department of Community Development administration, 324,968; Apple Tree Perspective [sic] for technical assistance, $50, 000. For the project based operating support, Miami Beach CDC (Community Development Corporation), 27,000; Carrfour Harding Village, 28,000; Carrfour Little River Bent, 17, 500; BAME Development Corporation, Greater Bethel, 48,000. Under the long-term rental assistance program, Center of Information and Orientation, 437,980; Empower "U, " 437,980; Miami Beach CDC, 348,230; Sunshine for All, 398,490; and Spanish American Basic Education and Rehab, 175, 910. In addition for rental payments, the City ofMiami Department of Community Development, $10,154, 881. And for legal services, HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) Education & Law Projects, HELP, Inc., for $50, 000. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Chair Gort: Once again, as I've asked the individuals before, could you explain what are these funding and how they being used. Mr. Tazoe: The HOPWA program -- basically the City ofMiami administers the HOPWA program for the whole county, and it's a dedicated program to assist people with HIV/AIDS. The way we work this program is that we have a long-term -- we concentrate on a long-term rental assistance program, which works similarly to the Section 8 program and allows for people that are low income who have AIDS to pay 30 percent of their income and the City comes up with the difference. In addition, we have an operate and support program where we have buildings where people -- the assistance is tied up to the actual unit and people who have AIDS who have -- you know, through a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 12: 01:16 wait list, they're able to qualin, for these units. We have 30 units for operate and support. And finally, we have legal services, which they provide supportive services to people who are already in the program in order for them to be able to get services that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford. Chair Gort: Thank you. My understanding is this is funding restricted to the use of people with AIDS. Mr. Tazoe: Correct. City ofMiami Page 57 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.9 11-01095 Department of Community Development Chair Gort: Correct? Okay. Thank you. I now open the public hearing. Is anyone would like to address this issue? Is anyone would like to address this issue? Showing none, we close the public hearings [sic]. Board members -- Commissioners. Commissioner Suarez: Motion. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Sarnoff. Any further discussion? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Whatever -- I think that whatever we need to do to support more AIDS -related programs, we need to try to do that. So I'm hoping that y'all visit to DC (District of Columbia) -- who's going to DC next week? Please. Chair Gort: We're well represented. Okey-doke. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Tazoe: Thank you. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPROVING THE CITY OF MIAMI DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTS AFFORDABLE HOUSING INCENTIVE STRATEGIES AS RECOMMENDED BY THE HOUSING AND COMMERCIAL LOAN COMMITTEE AS REQUIRED BY FLORIDA STATUTE 420.9076; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS TO IMPLEMENT SAID AFFORDABLE HOUSING INCENTIVES STRATEGIES. 11-01095 Summary Form.pdf 11-01095 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01095 Pre -Affordable Housing Incentives.pdf 11-01095 Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones R-11-0490 Chair Gort: 9. George Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. PH.9 [sic] is approving the City ofMiami (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 12: 02: 31 Community Development affordable housing incentive strategies, as recommended by the Housing and Commercial Loan Committee. And this approval is required by Florida Statute 420.9076, and this allows the City to continue to be part of the SHIP (State Housing Initiative Program) program. The incentive that are recommended here are incentives that are already in place and there is no new incentive being recommended. City ofMiami Page 58 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: Move SP.9. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Second. Vice Chair Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez, second by Commissioner Sarnoff. Public hearings [sic]. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Yes, sir. Grady Muhammad: Grady Muhammad. Again, as I stated with the Housing and Commercial Loan Committee -- I just somehow misplaced my documents. This is a City -created entity by ordinance. It deals with federal funds. They have a meeting tomorrow here at 9 o'clock. You look at the agenda for the Clerk, she has no minutes of it. It's in this Commission [sic]. It's not televised. The small ad that shows what it's supposed to do -- but look at the people that's sitting on the board. Most of them don't live in the City ofMiami. The person who's the public advocate for the poor lives in Bay Harbor Island. How's a rich man going to represent me, a poor man? That's oxymoronic. But this is the entity -- and you have City employees also sitting on this board. But these dealing with state, federal affordable housing funds. But again, I wanted to submit to the record -- my notes have somehow disappeared, but I had the list of the Housing Commercial Loan Committee. And it states the advocate for the poor is Mr. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 12:04:12, out of Bay Harbor Islands. He's the advocate for the poor. Mr. Director, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I can assure you -- I'll get the records in the next minute and I'll give you the facts. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: How are those people identified? I'm just -- Are they appointed? Mr. Muhammad: Yes. Mr. Mensah: The -- Mr. Muhammad: By the Commission. Mr. Mensah: -- ordinance which appointed them follows the Florida Statute as to who should be members of those organizations. And those -- there's an advertising process and then based on advertising, their names come to the City Commission for approval. That is how it's done. So it's -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: And when does that process happen again? Mr. Muhammad: These are federal funds. Mr. Mensah: The process -- actually, when there is a vacancy on the board -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, so that's the only time it happens? Mr. Mensah: I think they do -- is it two years or four years I believe serve on -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So they serve four years? Mr. Mensah: Is it four years? There's a term. They have a term. And at the end of the term -- City ofMiami Page 59 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 the term ends, and then they come back -- it comes back to Commission. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Sasha, what --? Ninoshka Reyes (Assistant City Attorney): For what board? I'm sorry, for what board? Mr. Mensah: The HCLC (Housing and Commercial Loan Committee). Ms. Reyes: I believe it's two years -- Mr. Mensah: It's two years? Ms. Reyes: -- for the term. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so when is the next period? Mr. Mensah: The next period -- I don't -- I have to -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Mensah: -- go look at records and I'll send it to you Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. But basically, we don't really appoint them, we just confirm them, but they have to go through an application process? Mr. Mensah: They have to go through an application process, yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so the question become -- you know, that's why it's really important for us to have the right -- all the information. So when this process comes back up again, Grady, we need to make sure that other people are applying during that process so that at least they're in the loop of who is selected. Mr. Muhammad: The HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) regulations is real simple. A citizen appointed or elected body. The Housing and Commercial Loan Committee is created by this city and by ordinance. Federal regulations 570.204, citizens participation, just like the Model City Community Advisory Committee from the County is a elected and appointed body of residents so HUD requires four citizens' participation for Community Development Block Grant to have residents and individuals elected and appointed. Like I said, Mr. Mariano Cruz, myself, Ms. Dorothy Quintana, Irby McKnight, those are the committee that we sat on for the citywide advisory board. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Grady -- Mr. Muhammad: And that made the recommendations -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Got you, Grady. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Got you, Grady. Mr. Muhammad: -- for that. Thank you. City ofMiami Page 60 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: But we're just trying to handle one little issue andl know we got to get out of here. Mr. Muhammad: No problem. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Sasha, I know you -- are you with us? Ms. Reyes: I'm looking at the term right now. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, so do you want to clear up anything on there 'cause I don't like the stuff to be out -- floating out in TV (Television) land and, you know -- Mr. Mensah: Yeah. That's always the issue. The issue is that when you have a citizen come and make reference to a Florida Statute or HUD regulation 570 dash something, which doesn't really exist or doesn't say what they say it says, it becomes very difficult to really talk about it. The -- this particular body was set up through a request by HUD in the '90s that the City when it comes to underwriting of housing projects that -- and economic development loans, that the City abrogate -- the City Commission provide that responsibility to a third party who are experts in that field. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, okay. Mr. Mensah: So that's how the whole -- the loan committee entirely started. Now the Florida Statute require the City to have an advisory board which made up of certain -- had certain requirements. So the City, instead of having two bodies, one just to do affordable housing and then one just for the state, decided that we'd make them together to be one body which serves the terms of the SHIP program and at the same time also meets the requirement of HUD. That requirement that HUD (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 12: 08: 05 is not by HUD statute or anything. It's just because of the fact that HUD advised the City that making decisions when underwriting shouldn't be political, that it should be apolitical. And that the body that make those decisions as to whether a project is feasible or not should be made by professionals in the field. So people that live in Bal Harbor or live in other areas, once they meet those criteria, are qualified to be on that committee. So I just wanted to put that on the record. Commissioner Sarnoff. Andl think the record reflect probably the greatest advocate in the history of America of the poor, Bill Clinton, I believe is worth $42 million and happens to live in Connecticut. We could make the statement he has a really nice house, but you can't say he doesn't care about the poor. Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: We had a motion and a second. Ms. Reyes: Commissioner, ifI -- Chair Gort: Is there any further discussion? Ms. Reyes: -- could clarify for you? Commissioner Spence -Jones: Sasha has a comment. Ms. Reyes: I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. It is a four-year term. And moreover, we're required to put out a public notice in the newspaper 15 days prior to any appointment so that the citizens of the City ofMiami Page 61 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 SP.10 11-01119 Department of Community Development community can submit names and, you know, of the members to get appointed. Chair Gort: Now my understanding is -- Ms. Reyes: Every four years when there's vacancies to be filled. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Four years, not two. Ms. Reyes: Right. It's a four-year term. Chair Gort: Question, there are certain criteria that has to be met. My understanding is -- Ms. Reyes: That's correct. Chair Gort: -- that finance or -- I mean, there's certain requirements. Mr. Mensah: Yes, that's correct. Ms. Reyes: Right. They have to be in real estate. The other has to be in -- developer in construction. One has to be in banking, in finance. You know, there's certain -- Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Reyes: -- professions and fields they have to be in. Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Chair Gort: Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 6020 NORTHWEST 15TH AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA, FROM MIAMI DREAM HOMES INVESTMENT GROUP, INC., LEGALLY DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT "A", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR SAID PURPOSES. 11-01119 Summary Form.pdf 11-01119 Notice to the Public.pdf 11-01119 Letter - Miami Dade Home Investments Group, Inc.pdf 11-01119 Pre-Legislation.pdf 11-01119 Legislation.pdf 11-01119 Exhibit 1.pdf 11-01119-Submittal-Grady Muhammad.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chairman Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Spence -Jones City ofMiami Page 62 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 R-11-0491 Chair Gort: SP. 10. George Mensah (Director, Community Development): SP. 10 authorizes the City Manager to accept the conveyance of the property located at 6020 Northwest 15th Avenue from Miami Dream Homes Investment Group. And this property will come to the City and the City Attorney will ensure that the property has no liens and anything before the City accepts it. Commissioner Suarez: Move SP.10 for discussion. Vice Chair Carollo: Second. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Second. Chair Gort: Any further discussion? Commissioner Suarez: Just one question -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, discussion. Commissioner Suarez: -- Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Wait a minute. It's a public hearing. Yes, sir. Grady Muhammad: Grady Muhammad, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Miami Dade First. This is the letter from Miami Dream Homes, dated October 30, 2011, of why they could not complete this project. They got the land in 2005. As of June 30, 2011, the 15-unit apartment complex should have been completed according to all of the extensions that were granted. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Fifteen units? Mr. Muhammad: Fifteen units at 6020 North -- that's -- that was -- it was a proposed 15-unit -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Oh, for this. Mr. Muhammad: -- apartment complex. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Muhammad: They giving you the land back. In this letter, they're stating they had $450, 000 that they received from Miami -Dade County, which was about 45 percent or 40 percent of the funding. Again, we don't seem to think out [sic] the box. The City gave them the land. They got additional funds from the County. We have neighborhood stabilization funds that can be used to build multifamily rental apartments. Why didn't we get --? We've received $100 million in NSP (Neighborhood Stabilization Program) dollars from HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) since 2000. We could have used some of those funds to be able to do what these collaborations and these matches you're talking about, Chairman Gort. This is what we have to do. I don't know why we didn't. And the other one, of course, is Miami Dream Homes, 1525 Northwest 60th Street. That's a three-story, 7-unit, $1.2 million apartment complex, $160, 000 per one -bedroom apartment. That likewise was given at the same time. Extensions was given. This letter -- ifI could read it to the record, Mr. Chair -- goes to George Mensah. CD (Community Development) Building. We requesting the City grant an extension through March 31 to complete the construction of CD Building. Our contract mandates that we complete the City ofMiami Page 63 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 building by December 31, 2010, a date that was very reasonable at the time and doable at the time the request was made. However, our elevator subcontractor, Ace Elevator, received one of the elevator parts defective. The company that makes the part could not deliver another one 'til the week of January 24, 2011. Once Elevator -- Ace Elevator receives the part, it will take 30 days to complete the building. The building is 95 percent complete, but due to the Ace Elevator problem, we cannot complete the building before March 31, 2000 -- they got '10. It's supposed to be '11. We are forced to request additional extension to complete. This was granted. Here we are, December 8, 2011. The building ain't nowhere near complete. Air condition has been stolen twice. Where is the --? I've requested police reports because the e-mail (electronic) that received from the deputy director states it was vandalized. Well, I can assure you the pictures and all the things that I've sent to you all in e-mails, those elevators -- those air conditioners were stolen months before a police report was given, and it's two vandalism. I only got one police report. So I can assure you, $1.2 million -- We got across the street this Commission approvedParkview Gardens (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 12:13:10. That's already a three-story building that's going up and almost finished across -- next to African Square Park. This is a three-story, 7-unit apartment building, 1.2 million, and it has taken five years and it's still no close to complete. There's no access to the underground parking. The elevator doesn't exist. The rails are not there. And who's responsible for this because these are federal funds. But if we continue and do not in any way, shape, form and fashion as you all are saying, we will have to repay HUD and we should not -- and this should not take such a very long time to complete a building to provide affordable housing in District 5 and citywide. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Anyone else in the public? Mr. Muhammad: For the record, I'll enter those letters. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Can -- I've asked for the City Attorney to actually -- I guess she's working on some issues regarding this -- both -- this particular matter but the matter that Mr. Grady is speaking of. Is there any way that we can defer this and bring this back when we come back at 2 o'clock? Chair Gort: I don't have any problem. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. I'd rather do that so that we address it, but -- Chair Gort: Table it. Vice Chair Carollo: Table. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- I would ask for George to clear the record really fast, though, regarding this statement that was made, if there's anything that needs to be cleared up on -- 'cause we got to stop spewing all this stuff out and not have -- not operating from fact. Mr. Mensah: This -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Is there anything that you need to clear up before we come back at 2, I'm assuming. Mr. Mensah: Well, this particular project is a project that they did not have -- first of all, we've City ofMiami Page 64 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 not had NSP funds from 2000. NSP funds were in the last three years. And this is a developer project. This is not owned by the City. The City gave them the land and their job is to go and find the financing. When the NSP came, it was an application process and the developer could have applied for NSP fund to use in this project. And so it's not something that the City really had control over. And we think that it's better to get a property back than to let it continue to be in the hands of the developer if he's not able to make those dates. Commissioner Sarnoff. Have they paid the taxes? Mr. Mensah: Yes. The taxes is paid. The property is kept in good condition. Commissioner Spence -Jones: The item that we're voting on, I want to be very clear, is about us accepting back land -- Mr. Mensah: Yes. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- on this particular -- Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- property. Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: All right. So Mr. Chairman, if we can deal with this issue when we come back, I would greatly appreciate it because -- Chair Gort: No problem. What time you guys want --? Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- I want to make sure that my fellow Commissioners understand any issues regarding any one of these properties, okay. All right. Chair Gort: Thank you. What time you guys want to come back? [Later..] Chair Gort: SP.11. Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Chair, just to remind you -- Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Thompson: -- we did -- we still have SP.10 when we get back in there. That one was tabled. Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am. For SP.10, we'll wait for Commissioner Spence -Jones. Okay, Commissioner (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 2:18: 04. We're ready. Ready for you. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, we can't have this discussion without you, Parrot Jungle. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. You're recognized. Mr. Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. Commissioner, this is the conclusion of the SP.10 item, where we accepting the property, 6020 Northwest 15th Avenue, from Miami Dream Homes. City ofMiami Page 65 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman, I've actually gotten clarity from -- Chair Gort: Item 10. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- yeah -- the City Attorney. So our focus is really on just receiving the land back, correct? Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay. So anything else should be addressed at a different time. Mr. Mensah: That's correct. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, I just had one question. And that has to do with the liens or any potential liens against the property. You had mentioned to me in our briefing that prior to taking -- to accepting title, you will -- Mr. Mensah: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: -- conduct a thorough lien search and title search to make sure that we 're not getting anything that creates an obligation for the City. Mr. Mensah: That's correct, Commissioner. Commissioner Spence -Jones: That was it? So moved. Ms. Thompson: No. I'm sorry, Chair. Because we tabled this item -- Chair Gort: SP.10. Ms. Thompson: -- when we tabled, you had opened your public meeting. You need to close it, and you already have a motion and -- Chair Gort: We already had closed it and the motion, I believe, was made and was tabled, and then it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 2:19: 28. Ms. Thompson: Okay. So you have your motion on the floor already. Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Thompson: So you need a vote. Chair Gort: All in favor, state it by saying "aye. The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: Thank you. SP.11 DISCUSSION ITEM 11-01133 Department of DISCUSSION ON PARROT JUNGLE. Community Development City ofMiami Page 66 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 11-01133 Summary Form.pdf 11-01133-Submittal-Overview of Jungle Island.pdf DISCUSSED Chair Gort: SP.11. Alice Bravo: Good afternoon. Alice Bravo, assistant City Manager. Back in our November meeting, the Commission approved refinancing of a Section 108 HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) loan that had been entered to on behalf of the Jungle Island project, and we agreed that day to come back and provide an overview of that project. I've handed out a PowerPoint presentation that I hope to get up here on the screen. Vice Chair Carollo: And Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. And since we're discussing Jungle Island, I just want always in an abundance of caution -- I want to ask our City Attorney, even though I've already asked her, the firm that I am employed with has Jungle Island or companies with Jungle Island. I'm not sure of their relationship, but they're clients of the firm that employs me. I want to make sure that there are no conflicts of interest. So I pose that question to the City Attorney and with an abundance of caution, I bring it to everyone's attention. Julie O. Bru (City Attorney): Right. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. No. In fact, the way that you've described the business relationship is the City's tenant or perhaps a company affiliated with or one of the companies that constitutes the members of the tenant -- because they have different companies -- may be a client of the firm that you work for. There is no -- as a result of any discussion here today or any vote that may be taken in the future related to this discussion, there will be no private gain to you or to any of your relatives. Vice Chair Carollo: No, ma'am. Ms. Bru: Therefore, there is no conflict here. There would be no conflict for you to discuss and subsequently vote on any matter regarding Jungle Island. Vice Chair Carollo: Thank you. As a matter of fact, I'll go a step further. I met with them a few months ago andl requested various financial information andl still haven 't gotten it so thank you. Ms Bravo: Okay. Well, the idea today is more of a discussion item. The Jungle Island project, as it is today, began over a decade ago and has different facets that involve different departments of the City, our Finance, our Asset Management, CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) because of the Section 108 HUD loan. So this is meant to give an overview of all those different facets. But just to give a quick status summary because we get asked a lot of questions regarding the lease and the different loans. So, first of all, the City is responsible as a guarantor of 80 percent share of the HUD Section 108 loan for Parrot Jungle that was originally a $25 million loan. The County's responsible for the other 20 percent. The current principle balance of this loan is $15.56 million. That's the loan that we presented the refinancing of back in November. And so the City's portion of that is 12.448 million. Now Jungle Island also has private sector loans, so the County and City's interests are subordinated to that of the interest of the private lender. And as of this moment, Parrot Jungle or Jungle Island is not in default of any of their obligations to the City. But because of the refinancing of the HUD loan, they are responsible for the settlement costs associated with that financing, which is $531, 000, approximately. So just as -- to provide some history and background, in 1995, the relocation expansion of Parrot Jungle was approved by the voters of the City ofMiami through a public referendum. In September of City ofMiami Page 67 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 '96, through a resolution, the City formally approved a lease and development agreement for Parrot Jungle that included the relocation and expansion. In September of 1998, a joint participation agreement between Miami -Dade County and the City was executed for the Section 108 loan guaranteed application, where the City assumed 80 percent of the loan obligation. Chair Gort: Let me ask a question. Ms. Bravo: Yes. Chair Gort: My understanding when that was originally done, our part -- our portion of the City was going to be 20 percent. Commissioner Sarnoff.. I think he's right. Ms. Bravo: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff.. I think he's right, but that -- my rec -- Chair Gort: The City was -- the commitment was 20 percent. Ms. Bravo: All right. Chair Gort: So somebody check that. Andl don't know when it was changed to 80/20. Ms. Bravo: We'll ver -- Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Bravo: -- when that may have changed. All right, our lease agreement with Jungle Island was executed in September of 1997. They took possession October of 2000. And Jungle Island of course, opened June 2003. The lease agreement is for 45 years, with an end date of September 2045, with one 15-year option for renewal. And the rent is structured as the greater of either minimum annual rents or percentage rents. And the first year was 200, 000, 300, 000, then 400, 000 for each additional year. And once it reached the tenth year, then there's a CPI (Consumer Price Index) increase. And for the percentage rent, it would be 5 percent of the gross revenue, up to 20 million; beyond 20 million is 6 percent. However, the lease was amended back in 2009 and that fourth amendment provided for a deferral of rents. So basically, the rents between April 1, 2009 and March of 2013 were deferred and are due December 31 in the year 2020. So based on the minimum rents and the CPI adjustment, the minimum due in 2020 would be 1.9 million. Based on percents of gross, the amount will probably be higher than that. So during this period of rent deferral, Parrot Jungle is still responsible for the state fees, which is, again, a sliding percentage scale or minimum of $26, 000 a year. And there's one provision that if Jungle Island pays off the HUD loan by August of 2020, then a portion of this deferred rent is eliminated and only 800,000 would have to be paid. Chair Gort: Come back again with that one. Ms. Bravo: Hmm? Chair Gort: Come back again with that one. Ms. Bravo: Okay. If Parrot Jungle pays its HUD loan in full on or before August 1, 2020 and the deferred rent minus 800,000 shall convert to a permanent abatement, with that 800,000 to be paid by December 31, 2020. City ofMiami Page 68 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Bravo: Now the -- some of the HUD Section 108 commitment history. In November of 2003, the City and the County -- Commissioner Sarnoff. I'm sorry. I think you wrote it -- I think what you meant to write was if they pay the loan by August 1, 2020 -- did you mean to say the deferred rent minus 800,000 shall convert to a permanent abatement with 800,000 to be paid by December 31, 2020? Commissioner Suarez: It's kind of confusing, yeah. Commissioner Sarnoff. Or is it -- did you mean to say the deferred payment shall be 800,000 or it just now reduce by 800, 000, which would make it 1.1 million? Ms. Bravo: Right. It'll be -- Ninoshka Reyes (Assistant City Attorney): Reduced -- Ms. Bravo: -- reduced by -- Ms. Reyes: -- by 800, 000. Ms. Bravo: -- 800, 000. Ms. Reyes: That 800,000 is a loan that the City gave to the tenant for taxes that were not paid and tax certificates that were issued by the County in the prior years. Commissioner Sarnoff. So then my next question then would be if it's reduced by 800, 000, let's just assume your 1.9 number, then at December 31, 2020, the 1.1 million would have to be then due and owing? Ms. Bravo: Correct. Ms. Reyes: Right. Ms. Bravo: That's a correction that's needed here. It'll be 1.1. Ms. Reyes: That's correct. Ms. Bravo: And it may be higher than that -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Ms. Bravo: -- based on the gross -- Commissioner Sarnoff. I didn't -- Ms. Bravo: -- percentage of gross. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Ms. Reyes: And he's actually paying that 800,000 now on a monthly basis 'cause that's a loan. Ms. Bravo: No. That's something else. City ofMiami Page 69 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Ms. Reyes: That's a different 800? Ms. Bravo: Yes. This -- the deferred rent, the minimum of which is $1.9 million based on percentage of gross, might be higher than that, if the HUD loan is paid off by August of 2020, then that deferred rent, whatever the balance is, is reduced by $800, 000 and with the balance being due December 31, 2020. Chair Gort: And the balance will be? Ms. Bravo: At least 1.1 million, perhaps more based on the percent gross structure of the lease. Sorry about that. All right, so in November of 2003, the City and County jointly executed a letter to US HUD for consideration to approve the substitution of the City as a guarantor for 80 percent loan guarantee for the Parrot Jungle Island Section 108 loan. Two thousand seven, the City Commission authorized the Manager to execute that assumption agreement. Chair Gort: Repeat that paragraph again. Ms. Bravo: Okay. Chair Gort: Eleven twenty-four. Ms. Bravo: November 2003, the City and County jointly executed a letter to US HUD for consideration to approve the substitution of the City as a guarantor for 80 percent loan guarantee for the Jungle Island Section 108 loan. Chair Gort: So -- Ms. Bravo: I think before that the loan was officially in the County's name, correct? Mr. Mensah: Yes. It is still in the County's name. The City just has a percentage, which was approved by HUD. Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. Ms. Bravo: So before that there were no HUD documents reflecting the City's involvement in the HUD loan. Mr. Mensah: Yes. That's correct. Ms. Bravo: Okay. Chair Gort: It was the County, and the City commitment was 20 percent. The original loan -- Mr. Mensah: That -- Chair Gort: -- the City ofMiami commitment was 20 percent. It was issued by the County. Mr. Mensah: I haven't seen the documents going back to that time, so I really don't know. Chair Gort: Still, my memory, ifI recall, I think that's what it was. Ms. Reyes: We're reviewing -- Ms. Bravo: We'll verf. City ofMiami Page 70 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Ms. Reyes: -- the resolution now approving the HUD loan. Ms. Bravo: So 2007, the City Commission authorizes the Manager to execute that agreement. July 2007, the City and County execute the joint participation agreement, which includes deferral of Parrot Jungle's obligation to pay the HUD loan until February of 2012. So the amount paid by the City on behalf of Jungle Island as a result of that deferral amounts to $13.8 million. Okay. All right, so to conclude and summarize the public sector debts associated with Jungle Island, those deferred rents that we just described total obligation to County and City together is the 17.2 million; 80 percent of that is owed to the City, 20 percent to the County. And Jungle Island is due to pay that on or before August 1, 2019. However, at that time, they can elect to defer the payment further at a 5 percent interest rate, and so they would begin paying monthly installments between January of 2020 and January of 2030, so a 10-year term to pay that back to the City and the County. So that's basically the payments that have already been made to HUD by the City and the County in the past. This is when Jungle Island would have to repay it, between 2020 and 2030, if they do not meet the August 2019 deadline. So now the HUD loan, the remaining balance from now to the future, that portion Jungle Island is obligated to repay. The first payment in February of 2012 was a small amount for a interest payment, and HUD requested that that be paid as part of the settlement costs of the refinancing that took place in November. So I believe that was a small amount, approximately $9, 000. Luis Cabrera (Chief of Operations/Assistant City Manager): Nine thousand dollars. Ms. Bravo: Approximately $9, 000. So the Jungle Island is due to make the first HUD payment that includes principle and interest in August of 2012, which amounts to roughly $1.5 million. Now the City granted rent deferral for the period 2009 to 2013. We discussed that. So in April of 2013, Jungle Island would resume paying rent to the City through their lease. And additionally, at one point there was a $800, 000 loan structured to assist Jungle Island with payment of property taxes. So the remaining balance of that is $366,000 that they've been paying in monthly installments between September of 2009 and August of 2013. Aside from this, there are amounts that they owe to the County through various loans. And this is just laying out the proposed payment schedule of the HUD loan that was recently refinanced. So this shows you that August 2012, they owe a principle and interest payment of 1.5 million. Following February of 2013, it would be an interest -only payment in the amount of 22, 000, and this alternates into the future with the last payment in August 2019. Commissioner Sarnoff. 2019? Chair Gort: Thank you. Questions? Commissioner Sarnoff. 2019 or --? Ms. Bravo: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. 'Cause you only show through 2015. Ms. Bravo: Yes. I didn't have enough space for the whole table so we added a note under the table. The payments continue to alternate between interest and interest only through the last payment that's an interest and principle payment in August of 2019. So every February and every August they have to make a payment -- Commissioner Sarnoff. But that won't amortize the loan, will it? It won't take it completely out. Ms. Bravo: Yes. That will -- Commissioner Sarnoff. It will? That's a -- City ofMiami Page 71 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Ms. Bravo: Yeah. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- full amortization schedule? Ms. Bravo: Yes, yes. The refinancing provided for a very low interest rate. Prior to that, the loan interest rate fluctuated between 7.8 percent and 7.9 percent. So with the refinancing, it fluctuates between .3 percent and up to 2 percent towards the end of the -- Commissioner Suarez: Free money. Commissioner Sarnoff. Great loan. Commissioner Suarez: That's free money basically. Ms. Bravo: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff. That's a great loan. Chair Gort: Can't beat that. Ms. Bravo: So basically, these are the different aspects associated with the property. Jungle Island as I mentioned, is responsible for the settlement costs associated with the HUD refinancing of that loan, so we'll be invoicing for that and we anticipate them making their first payment in August of 2012. Now this HUD loan, this refinancing is backed by both County and CDBG funds, so that's what was used to guarantee the loan to HUD. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Can I apply to HUD for a home mortgage? Chair Gort: Like to refinance -- he'd like to refinance his home mortgage, yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. Can you imagine if people got this rate. Chair Gort: Okay, my understanding -- I'm sorry. This is a discussion item. It's not a public item. Grady Muhammad: It's not a public hearing? Chair Gort: No, sir. Sorry. Mr. Muhammad: No problem, Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: I know you'll get the opportunity some other time. You will. Ms. Bravo: That concludes my presentation. We're here to answer questions, the entire team, or provide any additional information that might be needed. Chair Gort: So my understanding they're supposed to be making a payment next year in February '12 for a total amount of? Ms. Bravo: Well, the February one was rolled into the settlement cost, so right now they're obligated to pay the closing costs of the refinancing, which was roughly $530, 000. And then the first large-scale payment would be in August of 2012, the 1.5 million, which includes principle City ofMiami Page 72 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 and interest. Okay, the HUD Section 108 loan, the remaining balance, was refinanced in November. So the closing costs for that -- HUD requested that the February interest -only payment, February 2012, be included in the closing costs. So Jungle Island is responsible for those closing costs, as well as assuming this payment stream starting in August of 2012. Chair Gort: What I show here, according to the scale here, is total payments of about maybe six to seven million. Ms. Bravo: Well, there's a note at the bottom. The -- those -- the alternating payments continue through August of 2019. Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Bravo: Just ran out of space for the table. Chair Gort: So at this time, they're not considered in default? Ms. Bravo: No. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Cabrera: Commissioner -- Chair Gort: Question. Mr. Cabrera: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Cabrera: At this time, we've also invoiced -- we're invoicing them for the amounts that ACM (Assistant City Manager) Bravo has stated, so we've invoiced them for a little bit over $531, 000. Chair Gort: It has to be -- that is due on? Mr. Cabrera: Due in -- Vice Chair Carollo: February. Chair Gort: February. Mr. Cabrera: -- February, correct. Chair Gort: Okay. All right. Commissioner Sarnoff.. So -- can I? Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff.. So did we make the payment to HUD with general fund or CDBG dollars? We did not. Mr. Cabrera: No. The payment to HUD was made by the County and the County -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. The County invoiced -- City ofMiami Page 73 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Mr. Cabrera: -- invoices us and we went ahead and forward that to the tenant or the occupant, which is his responsibility. Commissioner Sarnoff. I'm just curious, how does the County make the payment, out of general fund dollars or out of -- yes? Mr. Mensah: I would say I think so. And the reason why I would say I think so is that the County had a resolution that said that they cannot use any CDBG funds to pay any obligations of Parrot Jungle. That's on record. Commissioner Sarnoff. So the County pays a little over, I'm just thinking, 20 percent above -- there's my mathematician over there -- six hundred something thousand dollars. They invoice us for 531. Presently, the County is outfrom its general fund and now we're being asked to pay -- we then forward this to Jungle Island. How long has this been out to them? Mr. Mensah: It just came recently. Ms. Bravo: I think we just received the final settlement amount. Commissioner Sarnoff. Have we sent it to them? Mr. Mensah: Not yet. The City Attorney's office is drafting a letter that will go with it connecting the participation agreement, citing the relevant portion of the agreement requiring him to make those payments. Commissioner Sarnoff. And -- Is it okay? Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff. Madam City Attorney, are you asking for any kind of estoppels letters or any kind of acknowledgements as to debts owed and due? And say that -- let me finish 'cause -- I apologize. Ordinarily, when a bank -- you take further loans outfrom a bank, what they do is they reestablish what they believe to be the amounts then owing and due so that you don't have to go back in history, 10, 15 years ago. You say, well, you guys just closed on a new loan and it becomes an estoppels situation. Are you going to do the same thing with Jungle Island? Ms. Reyes: Yes. At this point, we're going to invoice him for the February payment, which HUD has required of us, and he has a 30-day cure period you know, to pay that amount, and during that period, we are going to request of him, you know, the balance due, what the interest is, the new structure of the loan so that he's aware of -- Commissioner Sarnoff. But I think -- I want to be a little clearer. Maybe you say it better 'cause maybe you do this for banks. But don't they ordinarily bring up all current outstanding debts as part of an acknowledgement so that there's no sub -- is that -- what do you guys -- don't you guys call it an estoppels --? Ms. Reyes: An estoppels certificate. Commissioner Suarez: You have to -- yeah, you have to clear the title if you're going to refinance something; I think is what you're asking. You know, a bank is not going to -- typically not going to lend money -- and this is not a bank. Remember, this is the federal government, so it may be a little different. The bank doesn't typically lend money when there are outstanding liens on the property because they don't want their loan to be subordinate in interest to, particularly when they're putting out that kind of money, any other rights that are out there. City ofMiami Page 74 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Ms. Reyes: Chair, ifI may. I'm sorry. The issue here is that truly the tenant has nothing to do with this refinance as he's not privy to the documents that this was a HUD loan to the County and the City and we're refinancing the County and the City with HUD. We have other agreements with the tenant and so as it pertains to this particular refinance, he's not privy to this transaction, we are, with HUD. But -- Commissioner Suarez: And he's not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 2: 41: 06 -- Ms. Reyes: -- vis-a-vis the lease and the participation agreement that the County, the City, and the tenant signed, he is, you know, liable for those loan payments. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Let me put it -- maybe Suarez can, in a real estate way, rephrase what I'm trying to say. Seems to me if we have a relationship with somebody and we're invoicing them for an aspect of that relationship, we should reaffirm the relationship with them as to what is then owed and due so that they have an opportunity to say to us, no, we don't owe you that money. Sorry, and we're not going to pay this 500, so then you have an opportunity to say, well, if you don't think you owe us this amount of money, let's sit down so we can all get on the same page and say, well, gosh, we didn't know you made that $10 million payment. It seems to me the banks -- at least my banks that I've dealt with -- andl wish they weren't like this, but they're very good at this -- they're always good at reestablishing what all my previous debts are to them so that that is the document that then governs moving forward. Commissioner Suarez: That -- you explained it fine. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Okay. Commissioner Suarez: I have a question, Mr. Chairman, ifI may. Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead. Commissioner Suarez: I'm assuming -- and I'll ask the question -- but I'm assuming that there's an acceleration clause if the February payment is not made or the -- within the grace period that all sums outstanding, any deals to postpone payments, they'll all become due automatically upon default. Ms. Reyes: That's correct. We have an acceleration clause on the leasehold mortgage -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Reyes: -- and also on the development agreement. Mr. Cabrera: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Cabrera: I want to clam a response to Commissioner Sarnoff's question. Commissioner, staff has informed me that we billed and invoiced the tenant approximately a week ago. So that was the response to the question you asked. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Yeah, but you -- but you know, I just -- as I sat here, I remembered what the document's called. And banks call it a reaffirmation of debt. In the document where you send the invoice, you reaffirm all previous debts owed and due. It's for convenience. It's also to bring up all issues so that -- let's say for instance they agree to pay this five hundred and something thousand dollar closing cost, but you say to them -- and forgive me, I don't remember the exact number. But let's say you say to them you still owe us potentially another 25, $30 City ofMiami Page 75 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 million. And they say, oh, no, we don't. Wouldn't you rather know that issue right then and there Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- so that they can say didn't you get our $10 million check back in July? Did you misplace it, Mr. Manager? Did you --? You know, and you could say, well, look, we never got your check. Andl know I'm being a little facetious, but think banks want their debts reaffirmed for reasons, for a lot of different reasons, some of which are defenses, some of which are estoppels issues, andl think we should practice just like a bank and re -- and be very careful so that Finance and our new CFO (Chief Financial Officer) can get out there and say I've looked at all the documents, this is what we're owed and due, and then you could put your reaffirmation of debt paragraph, or however you express it, in your invoice for the $500, 000 plus to paid within -- I don't know what cities usually pay -- 30 days or whatever's acceptable practices. Commissioner Suarez: The other way it can be done -- or maybe similarly it can be done by providing them with an amortization schedule. I don't know if you've provided them with a new amortization schedule because whenever you refinance by definition basically, the maturity changes -- you know, the terms change to a certain extent. So, you know, to put them on notice that these are when you have to make your payments and this is how much your payments are. Chair Gort: Now they're liable for all the payments that have made in the past by the City and County. Okay. That's what they're talking about. When you send them the documentation, you making sure they know what's the total loan that they have to pay. Mr. Cabrera: Mr. Chairman, we will do that. We'll work with the CFO and with the Law Department to ensure -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Bravo: Mr. Chairman, we were able to confirm that, yes, since a previous document, 1998, the City was always in a position of guaranteeing 80 percent of the HUD loan. Chair Gort: Eighty? Ms. Bravo: This document is a resolution back September 1998 -- or this is the original joint participation agreement. Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I just have a few questions, and then I -- I guess I would just want to hear from the Administration, you know, resolution like what is the recommendation from, you know, the City Administration on what you guys feel should be our next steps. Even though I know this is just a discussion but -- Peter, if you can -- Peter Kendrick. Sorry, I forgot we had two Peters. I don't know if you guys actually seen the consolidated revenues at all, what was earned, okay. And it says about $104 million over a certain period of time, which is a lot of money. But let's just say the last year, I'm going to say, 2011, we're talking about almost, what, a million plus -- no, $12 million, over $12 million actually -- Peter Kendrick (Lease Manager): That is correct. Peter Kendrick, from City ofMiami Public Facilities Department. Yes, Commissioner. That's correct. They've been doing -- averaging a minimum of a million dollars a month -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. City ofMiami Page 76 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Mr. Kendrick: -- in revenue so -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: So -- andl understand that we had the abatement and all of the stuff that was going on. I mean, the arrangements that were kind of made with them as to, you know -- but I just -- and maybe for the life of me, I'm just not getting it. You know, out of all of that money they earned, did they not even think once or twice to sit something aside to address this issue because they knew this day would come? That's my first question. And then part of my briefings on this issue as my staff and team went through the paperwork on this Parrot Jungle issue, we know that there was a consolidated statement on what was earned, what was spent, but one of the things we noticed in the midst of this was the number of companies up under the Parrot Jungle umbrella. So really, Parrot Jungle really did not -- correct me, Alice, if I'm wrong. I mean, how many companies was it, like 20 companies? Ms. Bravo: Right. They presented a consolidated financial statement and it includes wholly -owned subsidiaries. So they're reporting a gross revenue of those -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. Ms. Bravo: -- different entities. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right, but that would -- again, I have -- we have one accountant on the Commission that would probably be able to drill down further than -- something don't seem strange about 20 different companies and all of the various companies, you know, and then all of a sudden, we have this consolidated report. My suggestion or my thought was, have we thought about doing some sort of forensic accounting on those companies at all to see if what they're actually earning is what it actually is. Ms. Bravo: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, I would hope that the individuals that are responsible for the Parrot Jungle project would not be operating from that perspective. They -- I mean, I know them over there. They appear to be very good people, you know. But when we sit up and listen to four hours of people from the community clearly, you know, expressing their concerns about not being able to feed people, not being able to provide programs for seniors and all of these things we just listened to for four hours and the only resolution that came out of our briefings was that we may have to pay this back, you know, and the reality is us paying it back will affect our future programs, you know, that are already being slashed left and right and the only recommendation that I'm hearing at this point is that we have to pay it. Something is -- I mean, we could -- you could show me numbers and presentations all day long, but there's something very wrong about what's being presented. And I'm not really sure if there is or has been -- and I'm hoping there has been enough outreach to the group over at Parrot Jungle to have some compassion around the many of times that we've given them opportunities to do the right thing. I mean, when does it stop? You tell me you make over $12 million a year and you couldn't set aside something to assist with this debt? I mean -- and what's even more so to me discouraging and upsetting and disappointing is a better word is that we 're having this discussion about an item that has something to do with them and they're not here. You understand? Andl know they know the item's on the agenda. When you needed the extension and you needed the -- us to abate everything, you were here knocking on every single person's door. And now when it boils -- I'm not making staff responsible for it. I understand, you know, but -- I mean, when does it end? Ms. Bravo: I'd like to -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: You're not here now. Andl know that it was at least two Commissioners up here during that period when they came and, you know, they were beating our doors down asking for us to give them a little bit more time. City ofMiami Page 77 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Ms. Bravo: Right. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And now we're here and now we got people starving on the streets and their solution or the only solution we have is, okay, let's just go ahead and pay the HUD loan. So now our HUD -based programs that we get, you know, they're going to be greater reduced. Ms. Bravo: And since -- at this time, based on our agreements and all the different deferrals of rents and loan payments, et cetera, this was the first fiscal year of the City in which it was Jungle Island's obligation to start assuming these payments. The City has not budgeted for the 80 percent share. Likewise, the County has not budgeted for a 20 percent share because the agreements stipulate that this is when Jungle Island begins to make payment on these obligations. So we fully anticipate them to meet those obligations, and if they don't, we will take every action that we can to defend our interest. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, but I mean, based upon my briefings -- I'm sorry -- Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- Mr. Chairman. But based upon my briefings, I mean, nothing really can happen to them at this point. At this point, you know, if any -- if it does not happen, it goes -- the first position belongs to who? Ms. Bravo: A private bank. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So, I mean, so what are our --? I'm just waiting -- I'd just like to hear from the Administration like what is our options? I mean, are we -- have we -- I guess this is the better question for me. Beyond this item coming on the agenda today, did anybody outreach to the Parrot Jungle folks to say how can we work this out? Did that outreach happen this week? Ms. Bravo: We've had discussions with them. They've -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know. Ms. Bravo: -- approached us. We're also in discussions with the County, andl think we're in lockstep with the County and that we're no longer able to defer payment or forgive any debts associated with this project. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I know, but -- Ms. Bravo: So it's -- again -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Alice. Ms. Bravo: -- they're due to make the payments and we're preparing ourselves in case they do not for whatever legal remedies are available to us. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Right. I guess the question is -- I know that you've had several conversations over a certain period of time, but before the item came on -- because it just seems like there should have been like a very detailed conversation before it came in front of us about a discussion on this to say, look, we went -- we met with them. We really tried to find some sort of resolution to kind of address it and this was the last comments that -- this was the last discussion we had this week itself. Did that happen this week? Or was the resolution more about City ofMiami Page 78 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 discussing it with the County to find, you know, possible options to address, you know, what they're doing? Was that the resolution? Is that what you guys decided to do instead? Did you meet with Parrot Jungle this week? I guess that's the question. Ms. Bravo: Not this week, no. We've met with them recently. We met with the County recently. In the most recent discussion with Jungle Island, they're interested in further debt deferral or forgiveness. So those are not palatable options to the City nor to the County. Commissioner Sarnoff. But can I just pipe in? That's why I think it's imperative that as part of -- part and parcel and substance in your request for payment needs to be a reaffirmation of debt. If they cannot concede and agree that that debt is existing -- you know, I'm not asking you to pad. I'm saying get it dead accurate. Get whatever documents -- not what people's memories are, but whatever the documents demonstrate, put that debt -- if you need an amortization schedule, so be it. If you don't, that's okay too. But get a reaffirmation of debt so that this can come to a head sooner than later so we can know not just that the five hundred and thirty something thousand dollars is unacceptable to them, but everything else is as well so every Commissioner up here -- 'cause you're going to come here some day and you're going to say they agreed to 95 percent of what I said, except for this $2, 000 loan here, and we might kind of laugh and say okay. Or they might say, you know what, did you guys miss a $10 million payment? We know we're at odds with each other. I think what Commissioner Spence -Jones andl think everybody up here is -- the sooner we get to that place in time, the better. And the only way I know how to do that is a reaffirmation of debt. Ms. Bravo: Okay. Commissioner Spence -Jones: I mean, I can't even understand how these people are making over $12 million and, you know, there's not even a thought process over the last four years that, hey, we need to save something and put something aside to address this issue because we know it's coming. It's almost like the assumption was that they knew we were going to take care of it anyway. It's disrespectful. And you know, to me, even today, you know, the reality is that I do believe that we should have definitely encouraged for them to come here and address the Commission when they wanted to address us to deal with all the other issues. I mean, I'm going to be fighting tooth and nail for not one dime to be paid from, you know -- paid back to HUD on this issue because it's going to affect all of us. Ms. Bravo: Absolutely. Commissioner Spence -Jones: And the whole purpose of it is to make sure that, you know, we provide services to, you know, our residents. And everything that Parrot Jungle promised to do just did not happen. So -- and then my question becomes the even bigger thing, have they defaulted on any other issues besides the payment? Did they meet the job requirement? Did we -- do we have a full analysis on whether or not they've done the things that they said that they would do in the agreement? Is there an analysis --? I mean, we're talking about the money part of it, which I think is extremely important because, quite frankly, we're in a financial situation right now. But I mean, I would like to at least understand if they defaulted on other issues because the Section 108 loan is clear. Ms. Bravo: It has employment requirements. Commissioner Spence -Jones: There're things that they have -- obligations that they must meet. Mr. Mensah: George Mensah, director of Community Development. The County is the one that has -- even though the City, which is -- unfortunately, you know, the City has the 80 percent of the debt, the County actually the one -- since they've been dealing with this from year one, they're the ones that made the account to HUD. And according to the County, there's no -- that they've City ofMiami Page 79 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 met all their job obligations. Commissioner Spence -Jones: Yeah, but George, let me ask you something. If we're paying 80 percent of anything, okay, and the County's on the hook for 20 percent of anything, to me it would seem as though on -- even if they're doing it, we should know that information like offhand. And quite frankly, if we're on the hook for 80 percent, I would have liked to see 80 percent of the jobs come from the City ofMiami. Mr. Mensah: What I will do based on this is to maybe do a formal letter to HUD to inquire from HUD because -- whether the County -- whether Parrot Jungle has met their job creation responsibility under the Section 108 loan. The last time the City was involved in this was 2007, when we provided the $800, 000. At that time, they were required to maintain a minimum of 400 jobs, which they provided -- we have a list of the 400 jobs, which they provided, including their payroll, and so to us those jobs were met. But in terms of the HUD loan -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: In 2000 -- what year was that? Mr. Mensah: -- itself -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: What was that -- what year was that, George? Mr. Mensah: 2007, I believe it was. Commissioner Spence -Jones: So that's what, five -- almost five years ago? Mr. Mensah: 2007 is when -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: They gave you the report. Mr. Mensah: -- they gave them the -- when they gave them the funding, the funding (UNINTELLIGIBLE) $800, 000, that's when it was required for them to provide proof that they are employing 400 people -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Okay, and then -- Mr. Mensah: -- and they provided that. Commissioner Spence -Jones: -- my question goes to Sasha on -- or the City Attorney that's handling it. What's our -- I mean, what is -- what's the remedy for the City if they have not met all the obligations outside of the money, you know, if they have not met the obligations of the jobs? Andl don't know what the other, you know, major issues are for them in the Section 108 that they have to adhere to. Ms. Reyes: Our remedies would be the same as any other -- Mr. Mensah: It's only job creation. Ms. Reyes: -- affordable housing. Mr. Mensah: Section 108 is mostly job creation. And if they've met all the job creation requirement, then that's the end of it. If they haven't -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: Then what happens to them? Mr. Mensah: -- at that time and HUD says they haven't, then the funds have to be paid back. City ofMiami Page 80 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 But this is -- goes years ago and they've been operating for a very long time. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Mensah: Andl know that HUD even used the Parrot Jungle as an example of a very successful Section 108 loan at that time. So -- and that was probably 2005. I was just here, brand new, and I went to that event. So if HUD -- if they hadn't met those goals, I doubt HUD would have done that. But I'll vernj, from HUD to ensure that those goals were met. Chair Gort: Let me -- Commissioner Spence -Jones: I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. I'm done, Mr. Chairman. I just want to close out. Only thing would ask for in the midst of all of this is that we do -- andl know we have a CFO. We're glad to see the CFO join us. I guess this is her first -- is this your first City -- yeah, it's your first City Commission meeting, so welcome aboard. And we are very thankful and grateful to have you here, right, Commissioner Carollo? Commissioner Sarnoff. She was scribbling on something pink there a minute ago. Commissioner Spence -Jones: But I'm hoping that there's some way that we can definitely do a drill down on all these other companies that's associated with Parrot Jungle because I'm -- you know, what I'm being told is that all the other companies are actually making money, but Parrot Jungle, the entity, is not or not showing that it's making money. Andl would really like to know that information, and if there's any way that we can address that, I would really greatly appreciate it. Because I would hope that they are operating from, you know, a fair and just position and not further trying to take something -from people that clearly need it in our community. So I would ask that we definitely, Mr. City Manager and our CFO, if there's any way we can drill down on that, I really would appreciate it. And then last, but not least, and then I'm done with the issue, George, I know that you andl talked about, you know, the plan for Parrot Jungle, and at one time or the other, you were in search of a company to come in and do an assessment with Parrot Jungle to figure out, you know, some better way or some -- to adjust how the actual facility is being ran, like other cities have done with major facilities like this to see how more money can be generated from a facility like this. So I don't know if you have any updates on where you are with that or if that's something that the City Administration is working on so that we don't find ourselves in this position again. Mr. Mensah: Yes. At a meeting of the Administration trying to look at what the next thing would be -- I know that two years ago when I was working on the $800, 000 loan, I mean, I was just brought in so I reviewed the financial statement andl looked at it andl said, well, this doesn't seem to be on the books of what I see a very sustainable business model. So the suggestion was to bring in a consultant, somebody who knows that type of business model to give us idea on, first of all, the operations of that particular business and why it's not doing as well as it could have and then give us advice on -- to the City as to what would be the -- how they can advise us to do. And when this thing happened, I spoke to -- the City Attorney's office felt the same way, that we needed somebody with the expertise in this particular arena, and so we're going to work on it to ensure that we bring in somebody to just take a look at the entire operation and be able to advise us on what the City can do on that particular business side. Chair Gort: George, we pay 80 percent of the loan. I think we should have 80 percent of the information or more or our input should be 80 percent. At the same time, I want to make sure the Administration, when you deliver this letter to them, to let them know what the -- what they have to pay, when they have to pay. At the same time, I imagine you working with a plan if payments are not made and default takes place, plan number [sic] B, we got to be implemented. At the same time, I think we got plenty of people in Florida that knows about the -- that type of business. I mean, all you have to do is go to Orlando and there's quite a few people there that City ofMiami Page 81 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 NA.1 11-01177 can tell you how to be successful. Commissioner Sarnoff. Commissioner Sarnoff.. I -- just one last recommendation and I'll -- it's not what do for a living, but I've done it a couple times. I think you should treat this like a closing. I would put together a reaffirmation of debt. I'd put together a schedule of every basis upon which you think they owe us money, hand it to them like a closing document, in a binder, so that if they agree that this -- so that they make payment. Two things happen. One is I would make them reaffirm the debt in writing so I'd have a placeholder under my letter that says we reaffirm the debt right there so it's on the document with the attachments. It makes your lives a lot simpler in the future and it just requires a lot of work right now, but I think you know where you might be come February or you might know where you might be in January. You might know where you're going to be very quickly. So why don't you get in front of the issue now, put together a closing binder, put together reaffirmation of debt so that come February, you can come to this Commission and say, here's the 500. They didn't agree with this. Here's the other reaffirmation of debt; they didn't agree with that. And then you could come to us and say, based on paragraph of this and paragraph this, I hereby recommend we do whatever it is we do. Mr. Cabrera: Commissioner, we will do that and we'll follow the Commission's direction. Additionally, the Administration has been discussing several options. We're not ready to put those options out now for several reasons, but I will say this. We're going to be aggressive and we're going to ensure that we do the right thing, that we know what the numbers are, where -- how they've managed this organization and to ensure that there's not profits being made and debts being ignored. So without disclosing too much, you know, the Administration is going to follow up on these items. Chair Gort: Thank you. Further discussion? Thank you all. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Vice Chair Carollo: So move. Commissioner Sarnoff.. So -- second. Chair Gort: It's moved. Thank you. NON AGENDA ITEMS DISCUSSION ITEM COMMISSIONER SUAREZ ACKNOWLEDGED THE PRESENCE, IN THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS, OF SUE LOYZELLE, COUNCILMEMBER FOR THE CITY OF CUTLER BAY. DISCUSSED Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, ifI may? Chair Gort: Yes. Sorry. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I just wanted to recognize Sue Loyzelle, who's a councilmember from Cutler Bay, who's here with us today. I just wanted to -- Chair Gort: Oh, I'm sorry. I -- Commissioner Suarez: It's okay. Chair Gort: -- missed you. City ofMiami Page 82 Printed on 1/9/2012 City Commission Meeting Minutes December 8, 2011 Commissioner Suarez: No. It's okay. Chair Gort: Pleasure to have you with us. Thank you. ADJOURNMENT The special meeting was adjourned at 3: 06p.m. City ofMiami Page 83 Printed on 1/9/2012