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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2014-02-13 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Meeting Minutes Thursday, February 13, 2014 9:00 AM REGULAR City Hall Commission Chambers City Commission Tomas Regalado, Mayor Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Chair Keon Hardemon, Vice Chair Marc David Sarnoff, Commissioner District Two Frank Carollo, Commissioner District Three Francis Suarez, Commissioner District Four Johnny Martinez, P.E., City Manager Victoria Mendez, City Attorney Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 CONTENTS PR - PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS AM -APPROVING MINUTES MV - MAYORAL VETOES CA - CONSENT AGENDA PH - PUBLIC HEARINGS SR - SECOND READING ORDINANCES FR - FIRST READING ORDINANCES TIME CERTAIN RE - RESOLUTIONS BC - BOARDS AND COMMITTEES DI - DISCUSSION ITEMS PART B PZ - PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM(S) MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' ITEMS M - MAYOR'S ITEMS D1 - DISTRICT 1 ITEMS D2 - DISTRICT 2 ITEMS D3 - DISTRICT 3 ITEMS D4 - DISTRICT 4 ITEMS D5 - DISTRICT 5 ITEMS City of Miami Page 2 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 9:00 A.M. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Present: Chair Gort, Commissioner Sarnoff, Commissioner Carollo, Commissioner Suarez and Vice Chair Hardemon On the 13th day of February 2014, the City Commission of the City of Miami, Florida, met at its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, in regular session. The Commission Meeting was called to order by Chair Gort at 9:05 a.m., recessed at 10: 51 a. m., reconvened at 11: 08 a.m., recessed at 12: 37p. m., reconvened at 3: 27 p.m and adjourned at 4: 40 p.m. Note for the Record: Commissioner Hardemon entered the Commission chambers at 9:11 a.m., Commissioner Carollo entered the Commission chambers at 9:13 a.m. and Commissioner Suarez entered the Commission chambers at 9:20 a.m. ALSO PRESENT: Victoria Mendez, City Attorney Johnny Martinez, P.E., City Manager Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk Chair Gort: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the February 13, 2014 meeting of the City of Miami Commission. In the dais with me will be Commissioner David Sarnoff, Commissioner Frank Carollo; Commissioner Francis Suarez; and Vice Chairman, Commissioner Hardemon. At this time, we will have invocation by myself and the pledge of allegiance by Commissioner Sarnoff. Invocation and pledge of allegiance delivered. PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS PR.1 14-00097 PRESENTATION Honoree OPERATION RED FLAG Miami Police Dept. Lt. Milton Montes de Oca Sgt. Ray Blanco Det. Ricardo Martinez Det. Mike Cadavid Det. Miguel Canario Det. David Bernet Det. David San Juan Det. Surami Kelly Ofc. Brandon Lanier F.B.I. Agent David Solis Agent Jessica Schwalb Presenter Protocol Item Mayor Regalado Certificates of Honor Commander Manuel Commissioner Commendation Morales Sarnoff City of Miami Page 3 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 14-00097 Protocol Item.pdf PRESENTED 1. Mayor Regalado presented Certificates of Honor to police officers from the City of Miami and special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) for their outstanding service and commitment to the Overtown Violence Reduction Partnership, Operation Red Flag,°further honoring their efforts in dismantling violent criminal networks in the Overtown neighborhood and restoring the area to its former prominence. 2. Commissioner Sarnoff presented a Commendation to Commander Manuel Morales, paying tribute to his commitment to uplifting the quality of life in the Miami community through outstanding service to the elderly in the performance of his duties as a Peace Officer; further honoring his inspiring presence in the City of Miami Police Department. Chair Gort: At this time, I'd like to recognize the Mayor to do some proclamations. Mayor Regalado: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Presentations made. APPROVING THE MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING MEETINGS: Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, to APPROVE PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez MAYORAL VETOES Chair Gort: Do we have any minutes to approve? Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Yes, sir. I have for Commission consideration and approval the regular meeting minutes of the January 9, 2014 Miami City Commission meeting. Chair Gort: Thank you. Do we have a motion? Vice Chair Hardemon: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) motion. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Carollo; any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. END OF APPROVING MINUTES NO MAYORAL VETOES Chair Gort: Do we have any Mayor's vetoes? Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, there are no mayoral vetoes. City of Miami Page 4 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 ORDER OF THE DAY Chair Gort: At this time, I would like the Attorney to -- the procedure that's going to be followed Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): We will now begin the regular meeting. Any person who is a lobbyist must register with the City Clerk before appearing before the City Commission. A copy of the Code section about lobbyists is available in the City Clerk's Office. The material for each item on the agenda is available during business hours at the City Clerk's Office and online 24 hours a day atwwwmiamigov.com [sic]. Any person may be heard by the Commission through the Chair for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the City Commission unless modified by the Chair. If the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the opportunity to be heard may be at such later date before the Commission takes action on the proposition. Anyone wishing to appeal any decision made by the City Commission for any matter considered at this meeting may need a verbatim record of the item. A video of this meeting may be requested at the Office of Communications, or viewed online at wwwmiamigov. com [sic]. No cell phones or other noise -making devices are permitted in the Commission chambers. Please silence those devices now. Any person making offensive remarks or who becomes unruly in the Commission chambers will be barred from further attending Commission meetings. Any person with a disability requiring assistance, auxiliary aids and services for this meeting may notify the City Clerk. The lunch recess will begin at the conclusion of deliberation of the agenda item being considered at noon. The meeting will end either at the conclusion of deliberation of the agenda item being considered at 10 p.m. or at the conclusion of the regularly scheduled agenda item; whichever occurs first. Please note, Commissioners have generally been briefed by City staff and the City Attorney on items on the agenda today. Chair Gort: Thank you. At this time, since we don't have a quorum and we have a presentation by the Mayor, do we have any item you'd like to discuss; doesn't need a vote? Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Yes, Mr. Chair, one item; RE.5, withdraw. Chair Gort: RE.5. Is that the only one? Ms. Mendez: I believe so. Mr. Martinez: One item. Chair Gort: Is the Mayor here? We're going to wait a few minutes to get here, because I want to make sure we get all Commission here for your awards. Any item you'd like to discuss, Mr. Manager; any issues? Mr. Martinez: Nothing comes to mind at this point, sir. Later... Chair Gort: Mr. Manager. Mr. Martinez: Yes, Mr. Chair, one item; RE.5, we want to withdraw it. Chair Gort: RE. 5. Any of the Commission would like to defer any items or --? Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Right now, it's going to be tabled. I'm not ready to defer it, but it'll be City of Miami Page 5 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 RE.4, and I just want to table it until I get a chance to discuss further with the Administration. Chair Gort: Once again, RE.5 and going to table RE.4. At this time, do we have any motion on the -- yes? Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, could I get a motion for the withdrawal? Commissioner Sarnoff.. So move. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved and been second; any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. City of Miami Page 6 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 CONSENT AGENDA CA.1 RESOLUTION 14-00007 Department ofPolice A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ESTABLISHING A SPECIAL REVENUE PROJECT ENTITLED: "2013-2014 UNITED STATES MARSHALS SERVICE," CONSISTING OF REIMBURSEMENT FUNDS, IN THE AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $91,200.00, FOR OVERTIME WORK PROVIDED BY MEMBERS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") POLICE DEPARTMENT FELONY APPREHENSION TEAM ASSIGNED TO ASSIST THE UNITED STATES MARSHALS SERVICE PURSUANT TO THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE MARSHALS SERVICE AND THE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO DESIGNATE THE CHIEF OF POLICE TO EXECUTE ANY OTHER NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THE ACCEPTANCE OF SAID REIMBURSEMENT FUNDS. 14-00007 Summary Form.pdf 14-00007 MOU - Fugitive Task Force.pdf 14-00007 Legislation.pdf This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0037 CA.2 RESOLUTION 14-00014 Department ofPolice A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE FUNDING OF THE POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE PROGRAM, TO ASSIST WITH EXPENSES RELATED TO THE OPERATION OF THE PROGRAM THROUGH MARCH 31, 2014, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $60,000.00; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE LAW ENFORCEMENT TRUST FUND, AWARD NO. 1169, PROJECT NO. 19-690001, AND ACCOUNT CODE NO. 12500.191602.883000.0000, WITH SUCH EXPENDITURES HAVING BEEN APPROVED BY THE CHIEF OF POLICE AS COMPLYING WITH SECTION 932.7055, FLORIDA STATUTES, AS AMENDED. 14-00014 Summary Form.pdf 14-00014 Affidavit. pdf 14-00014 PAL Operational Budget.pdf 14-00014 PAL Certification ofApplicant.pdf 14-00014 PAL Corporate Detail.pdf 14-00014 PAL Annual Review and Evaluation.pdf 14-00014 PAL Financial Statements - Draft.pdf 14-00014 Trust Fund Summary.pdf 14-00014 Back -Up from Law Dept.pdf 14-00014 Legislation.pdf City of Miami Page 7 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0038 CA.3 RESOLUTION 14-00041 Department of Police A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE OF A GRANT FROM THE OMNI REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $350,000.00, TO CONTINUE FUNDING THE POLICE VISIBILITY PROGRAM IN THE OMNI REDEVELOPMENT AREA; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE GRANT AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, AND ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE. 14-00041 Summary Form.pdf 14-00041 MPD Renewal Proposal.pdf 14-00041 CRA Pre-Legislation.pdf 14-00041 CRA Police Visibility Grant 2011-2012.pdf 14-00041 Legislation.pdf 14-00041 Exhibit.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0040 Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair, can I just have a discussion on CA.3? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. Can I get the director of the Omni CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) to come up? Mr. Bockweg, since 2009, how much has the Omni CRA provided to the City for enhanced police services? Pieter Bockweg: Pieter Bockweg, executive director of the Omni/Midtown CRA. Commissioner, the Omni CRA since 2009 has a total budgeted amount spent on enhanced services of about $1.6 million towards the police for the police visibility grant. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay, thank you. I would move CA.3, Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff. Is there a second? Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman; any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. City of Miami Page 8 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Vice Chair Hardemon: I just wanted to say, you know, that the Overtown CRA gives to make our community safe also. Commissioner Sarnoff. I think (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Hardemon: It's a joke. Commissioner Sarnoff. I think it'd be on about the same page. Chair Gort: Well, if we can get that much of funding on the other districts, we'll be more than glad to give it to the police. That's (UNINTELLIGIBLE). CA.4 RESOLUTION 13-01409 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ACCEPTING THE BID Fire -Rescue RECEIVED NOVEMBER 20, 2013, PURSUANT TO INVITATION FOR BID NO. 371334, FROM GARRISON MECHANICAL SERVICE CORPORATION, D/B/A GARRISON MECHANICAL, THE SOLE RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE BIDDER, TO FURNISH AND INSTALL EXHAUST SYSTEMS AT VARIOUS FIRE STATIONS, FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FIRE -RESCUE, IN A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED THE AWARD AMOUNT OF $602,826.40; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE 2010 AND 2011 ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANTS PTAEO ACCOUNTS: 40-B70411.05.1762.EQUIPMENT.181000, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $200,242.58; 40-B70411.05.1426.EQUIPMENT.181000, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $53,188.93; 40-B70418.05.1853.EQUIPMENT.181000, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $238,176.62; 40-B70418.05.1426.EQUIPMENT.181000, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $56,415.87, FORA TOTAL BID AMOUNT OF $548,024.00, AND AUTHORIZING AN OWNER CONSTRUCTION CONTINGENCY AMOUNT OF TEN PERCENT (10%) OF THE TOTAL BID AMOUNT, IN AN AMOUNT TOTALING $54,802.40; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM ACCOUNT CODE (PTAEO): 40-6704185.05.1105.EQUI PM ENT.181000. 13-01409 Summary Form.pdf 13-01409 Award Recommendation Form.pdf 13-01409 Bid Proposal - Garrison Mechanical.pdf 13-01409 Invitation for Bid.pdf 13-01409 Legislation.pdf This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0039 Adopted the Consent Agenda Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, including all the preceding items marked as having been adopted on the Consent Agenda. The motion carried by the following vote: Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez City of Miami Page 9 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 END OF CONSENT AGENDA Chair Gort: CAs (Consent Agendas). Commissioner Sarnoff.. Mr. Chair, can we pull CA.3 for discussion? Chair Gort: CA.3 will be pulled for discussion. Do I have a motion on the other CAs? Commissioner Sarnoff.. So move. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff,. second by Commissioner Carollo. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. City of Miami Page 10 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 PUBLIC HEARING PH.1 RESOLUTION 14-00006 Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Works ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING THE PLAT ENTITLED "ELIAS SUBDIVISION", A SUBDIVISION IN THE CITY OF MIAMI OF THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED IN "ATTACHMENT 1", SUBJECT TO SATISFACTION OF ALL CONDITIONS REQUIRED BY THE PLAT AND STREET COMMITTEE AS SET FORTH IN "EXHIBIT A", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, AND THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED IN SECTION 55-8 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, AND ACCEPTING THE DEDICATIONS SHOWN ON THE PLAT; AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER AND CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE THE PLAT; AND PROVIDING FOR THE RECORDATION OF THE PLAT IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA. 14-00006 Summary Form.pdf 14-00006 Notice to the Public.pdf 14-00006 Back-up from Law Dept.pdf 14-00006 Legislation.pdf 14-00006 Attachment 1.pdf 14-00006 Exhibit A.pdf Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon R-14-0041 Chair Gort: Okay, PH.1. Nzeribe Ihekwaba: Good morning. Zerty Ihekwaba, Public Works director. PH.1 is a resolution to accept the final plat of Elias Subdivision, which is located on the southwest of 17th Road -- Southwest 17th Road and Southwest 2ndAvenue, in District 3. Chair Gort: Okay. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Carollo; second by Commissioner Francis Suarez, and this is a public hearing. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Showing none, being none, it's an ordinance. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, it's just a resolution. Chair Gort: All right, it's a resolution; my apologies. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. END OF PUBLIC HEARING City of Miami Page 11 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 SR.1 13-01424 Department of Planning and Zoning ORDINANCE - SECOND READING ORDINANCE Second Reading AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER 23, ARTICLE 1 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "HISTORIC PRESERVATION", MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING SECTION 23-6.1 ENTITLED "WAIVERS, EXCEPTIONS, AND EXCLUSIONS FOR LOCALLY DESIGNATED HISTORIC RESOURCES", TO ALLOW THE HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION BOARD TO GRANT EXCEPTIONS FOR RESTAURANTS AND PRIVATE CLUBS AS ALLOWABLE USES, EXCEPT IN T3 AND T4 TRANSECT ZONES, THROUGH THE CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS PROCESS, WHEN THE RESULT LEADS TO THE PRESERVATION OF A SIGNIFICANT HISTORIC STRUCTURE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. 13-01424 Summary Form SR.pdf 13-01424 Legislation SR (Version 2).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 Hardemon 13429 Chair Gort: Second reading. Francisco Garcia: Good morning, Mr. Chair, Commissioners. Francisco Garcia, Planning & Zoning director for the record. SR.1 is before you on second reading. This is an amendment to the City Code for purposes of allowing restaurants as adaptive reuses for historically designated structures; happy to answer any questions you may have. Chair Gort: Thank you. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Sarnoff. Second Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Sarnoff. This is a public hearing. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Showing none, being none, any discussion among the Commissioners? Being none, it's an ordinance. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item SR.1. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 5-0. END OF ORDINANCE - SECOND READING City of Miami Page 12 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 FR.1 13-01021 Miami Parking Authority ORDINANCES - FIRST READING ORDINANCE First Reading AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER 35/ARTICLE V OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC/ COCONUT GROVE BUSINESS DISTRICT AND DESIGN DISTRICTS PARKING IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUNDS," MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING SECTIONS 35-225 THROUGH 35-250 TO UPDATE THE DESIGN DISTRICT PARKING IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 13-01021 Summary Form SR.pdf 13-01021 Legislation SR (Version 2).pdf 13-01021 Exhibit SR (Version 2).pdf Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be PASSED ON FIRST READING WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff Chair Gort: Eleven o' clock time certain, RE.1. Mr. Manager, RE.1. Francisco? Who's going to present? FR.1, sorry. FR.1. Vice Chair Hardemon: Correct. Chair Gort: I stand corrected. First Reading 1. Kira Grossman: Hello, Commissioners. My name is Kira Grossman with the Miami Parking Authority. This is an amendment to Chapter 35 -- Chair Gort: Please; we have a hearing taking place. Ms. Grossman: -- Section 225. It's an amendment to the Design District Parking Improvement Trust Fund. The main changes that we instituted in this ordinance are a increase in the amount of funds from $12, 000 per parking space to $35, 000 per parking space. We also created a board to distribute the funds, and then eliminated some superfluous language. I am happy to entertain any questions with respect to the proposed amendments. Chair Gort: Okay, this is a public hearing. I have request by Melissa Tapanes. Is that the whole presentation? That's your whole presentation? Ms. Grossman: Um-hm. Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Tapanes. Renita Holmes: I'm not Ms. Tapanes. I'm Madam Holmes. Chair Gort: I know. Ms. Holmes: We have a special presentation. Chair Gort: I'm going through this. City of Miami Page 13 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Ms. Holmes: Oh, okay. Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Holmes: I thought this public hearing (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Gort: A public hearing. Ms. Holmes: Okay, so this is -- Chair Gort: And I called Melissa Tapanes, who's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sign up. Melissa Tapanes: Good morning -- Chair Gort: Good morning. Ms. Tapanes: -- Chairman, honorable Commissioners. My name is Melissa Tapanes-Llahues. I'm an attorney at the law firm of Bercow Radell & Fernandez, with addresses at 200 South Biscayne Boulevard, Miami. I'm here representing the Miami Design District Property Owners Association. They're comprised of dozens of property owners with vested interest in the City of Miami's historic Design District. Together, these members comprise approximately 40 percent of the land holdings in the Miami Design District. The Design District Parking Improvement Trust Fund is promulgated through Chapter 35 of the City Code and directly impacts their investment -backed expectations to expand their businesses and attract tenants. The draft before you is the result of numerous public meetings and compromise. For example, the first draft provided for a doubling of the parking space waiver fee from 12,000 to 25,000, but eliminated the Installment Payment Program altogether. The elimination of this Installment Payment Program would eliminate the ability for small business owners to expand their existing businesses, as well as for property owners to attract tenants whose intended use would be considered a change of use under 11000, because Chapter 35 currently refers to 11000 and not Miami 21. The draft before you today increases the parking waiver fee to $35, 000 per space, but reinstates the Installment Payment Program with a 30 percent deposit, as well as strict forfeiture regulations. This is what compromise looks like, gentlemen. We thank the City of Miami's Planning & Zoning Department, as well as the Miami Parking Authority for incorporating many of our comments and concerns into the draft before you today. We ask that the City Commission advise the Miami Parking Authority and Planning & Zoning Department to consider additional substantive revisions to the draft before you today. Our objective with these revisions -- and I have members of the Association, so if they need to forfeit their time, 1'll only be, I would say, five minutes an additional. I heard the bell. The objective for these recommended changes that I'm going to present to you today and have been submitted to your offices in writing will protect both the City's and the Association's investments into the Parking Improvement Trust Fund, as well as make Chapter 35 consistent with Miami 21 rather than be consistent with the now archaic Ordinance 11000. I have five recommendations, and again, they are in writing before you. I understand that our first recommendation to include and allow contiguous properties to the Design District boundaries as depicted in Exhibit "A" for those properties contiguous under a unity of title to be included within those boundaries. And we ask for that revision in Subsection 35-225(a). Would you like additional copies? We understand from Director Garcia that he's confirmed that this -- to allow contiguous properties within the boundaries is consistent with the intent of this and that that revision would be incorporated into a future draft. We also ask that this subsection be amended to permit all properties that are within the Miami Design District retail street special area plan, the SAP that governs only a portion of the former SD-8 to be included within these boundaries. We anticipate that that special area plan would be amended in the future. And we would like for the Design District to be both not only the Historical Design District, but also what is part of the SAP, to all be able to benefit and contribute to the City of Miami Page 14 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Improvement Trust Fund. We ask for a revision to Subsection 35-225(b). We would like for this section to be amended to -- in order to require that all expenditures from the trust fund provide a district -wide benefit. This amendment will serve as an additional criterion for the Design District Improvement Committee to govern and -- as part of whatever expenditures they make as part of that trust fund The third recommendation is to Subsection 35-225(d), the composition of this improvement committee. Currently, the improvement committee is going to be -- consist of five voting members. We ask for that composition to be expanded to seven voting members and include at least four property owners within the Design District boundaries. We also ask for all members to be freed of conflicts of interest among one another. The current draft, as I mentioned provides for these five voting members, but also allows voting members to be related to one another through corporate entities, business dealings, and/or landlord -tenant relationships. These relationships can be a conflict of interest, can serve to really do away with the goal of the trust fund, and it's very important for these members to have a fiduciary duty as they expend the funds from that trust fund. Our fourth recommendation is to Section 35-220 of Chapter 35. This section is not included within the draft amendment before you, but it is part of Chapter 35. Our recommendation is to allow the Planning director to approve waiver zoning permits that would reduce the number of required parking spaces by 30 percent for projects within certain proximity of the transit -oriented development, as well as transit corridors as defined by the Miami Neighborhood Comprehensive Plan. This is pursuant to Miami 21. What happens today is that properties within the Design District are unduly prohibited from taking advantage of Miami 21 incentives. This is inconsistent with Miami 21's goal to encourage projects that reduce reliance on automobiles, encourage transit ridership, and is responsive to both transit and pedestrian amenities. Lifting this prohibition will encourage public private partnerships to increase public transit services along Biscayne Boulevard, North Miami, and Northeast 2nd Avenue in order to avail projects of this parking reduction. What's the situation today is Biscayne Boulevard does not qualify as a transit corridor. However, if you provide a parking reduction, if Biscayne Boulevard becomes a transit corridor by increasing public transit amenities to ten-minute headways, then all of a sudden you have a situation where you encourage developers to contribute to the City of Miami's public transit system in order to avail themselves of these parking reductions in Miami 21. Our last recommendation is to update Miami 21 's Section 3.14.3 and Section 3.14.4 in order to include public parking amenities as a public benefit through the City's and Miami 21 's public benefit program. This amendment will again encourage public -private partnerships by allowing developers to construct and dedicate parking to the Miami Parking Authority for these public benefit bonuses in height and FLR (Floor Lot Ratio) as permitted through Miami 21. So you can see that the members of the Association, we understand that the fee must be increased, since it was initially -- since this Chapter 35 was initially created in 2006. Again, it's almost tripling the amount of this parking waiver fee. We're not complaining about that increase in fee. What we would like is to protect the proceeds of the trust fund that we invest in, ensure that it is -- that those funds are expended in a way that have a district -wide benefit, prohibit conflicts of interest between and within the fiduciaries entrusted as part of the improvement committee, as well as update Chapter 35 to be consistent with Miami 21 rather than create issues with changes of use, as well as other issues that are provided for in the now archaic Ordinance 11000. We have those recommendations in writing. I believe they're before you now, as well as in your offices and -- Chair Gort: Sorry; I don't have it. Commissioner Carollo: I just received it from the Clerk's -- Ms. Tapanes: Right. They're -- Commissioner Carollo: -- and it's a date of February 13, so -- Ms. Tapanes: Yes. It was today. We sent them today. We received the last draft late last week, I believe Friday evening. So again, we have time between first reading and second reading, and City of Miami Page 15 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 we respectfully request your consideration of these recommendations. In this time, I would ask for a chance to rebut any issues or statements made on the record about any of the Association or my individual clients. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Schiller Jerome. Schiller Jerome: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Schiller Jerome. My property address is 24 Northeast 47th Street. I'm currently the president of the Buena Vista East Historic Neighborhood Association. We are the adjoining neighborhood association next to the Miami Design District. For the record, I want to make four very important points. Number one, we -- this is the first time today that I'm hearing about this. There was never no notice to our neighborhood association, which is the adjoining neighborhood to the Design District in regards to any parking change or restrictions. Number two, the neighborhood association does not support any development without the required parking -- Chair Gort: Stay away from the mike. Mr. Jerome: Sorry. The neighborhood association does not support any development without the required parking being done at the same time. The idea of restricting parking in a neighborhood which is already restricted already, it's a very small neighborhood. Currently, right now speaking, we have a parking issue. We have a parking issue where our residents have to get decals. Well, basically, we're incurring expenses for a quality of life. So again, we are in no support of any changes which basically -- which would restrict the amount of parking needed for any commercial development. And also, I don't know how much it cost to build a parking space, but again, I cannot comment on costs, butt can comment that any development should have the parking done with it; not after the fact. Thank you very much. Chair Gort: Thank you. Renita Haas [sic]. Renita. Ms. Holmes: Good morning, Mr. Chair. For the record, my name is Madam Renita Holmes with the Woman's Association and representing a few of the newly founded tenant and resident associations in the area. While I am pleased with the jargon that is utilized to produce development, benefits, and opportunities for businesses, it's always my concern. This is the neighborhood I grew up in. My mom worked in the Design District. I've seen it change quite a bit. But representing the women in public housing in the area, and those seniors that are in the area, and those smaller organizations who are not so technically advised; neighborhood associations who have not had the courtesy of being involved or educated and given the proper information, such as I'm concerned in doing a public request on what would be the environmental impact, what would be the traffic impact, and what would be the financial tax increases to that. We haven't had the adequate time, because when folks attach themselves to your neighborhood or you're attached to the benefits or the issues of safety and health with the increase of traffic, with the increase of carbon dioxide, with the increase of other folks, we need to be prepared We would like to discuss it with our local crime watch that's newly founded in the area, but mostly the women and the children that are traveling to and fro and going to school in the area. I remember -- in closing, I remember that there is a gun shop that's put there that's wide open, advertising in a neighborhood that significantly has suffered a great deal, and there was no real knowledge or participation. It would help a lot if we talked about the monitoring, the process, but most of all right now, who would be able to advise me as to what has been the neighborhood outreach information and education process or person, what is the environmental impact, and what is the traffic impact? Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Craig Robbins. Craig Robbins: Thank you for hearing this today. I don't think that you've really had a true picture of what's going on in the neighborhood. Firstly, just as a matter of clarification -- I'm City of Miami Page 16 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Craig Robbins, for the record, speaking on behalf of Miami Design District Associates, and we own over 800,000 square feet of land in the Design District. The Holdings, represented by the Association according to its President Doris Suttin, are 28, 000 feet, so I just want to put this into context. Their 40 percent math equation doesn't really add up. In addition, there's a lot of people who own property who are not part of their group and are not represented today, and there's also the school that owns 70, 000 feet of land, and the post office, which is clearly not part of this. So there is a small group that is organized and they're being represented. And we're not really here today, at all, to try to engage the Commission in a conflict. We have a crisis, and we're all partners in this crisis, and that is, is that there is an ordinance that we all agreed on, I think, 15 or 20 years ago that requires -- that allows people to get waivers and increase parking demand in the neighborhood, and when they do that, then there's this hope and reliance that Off -Street Parking is going to take that pool of funds and create public parking in order to facilitate development. The problem is that the costs have come totally out of whack. Just the construction costs for the kind of parking that needs to be created in the Design District is 35 to $45, 000 a space. The land cost adds probably 20 to $50, 000 a space under any calculation. So currently, the City is backing a program that takes $12, 500 in; and Off -Street Parking, which would do anything they could I think, to help our neighborhoods -- so I'm not criticizing Off -Street Parking -- has absolutely no way of creating demand. And so what's been perpetuated is a system of -- that is ultimately going to take one of the jewels of our City, one of the shining lights of our City, and it's going to throw it in a crisis. That leaves you, our Commission, with two choices. One is, you can say, "We're the City; we're going to step in and we're going to fill the gap. We'll pay the difference between the 12,500 and whatever's really needed in order to create parking," because you just can't accept the waivers and create a crisis without a solution. Or alternatively, we can put an intelligent system in place. Now, one problem that has been created is since there became awareness that this was going to be discussed, 300 parking spaces have come approximately -- and the Parking Authority will tell you -- but approximately 300 waivers have been requested, so I think today we need to talk about two things. One is how we're going to deal with that situation, 'cause there's now a 300 parking -space crisis with no solution; and then how we're going to talk about the future. And I would like to suggest the following: One, that we immediately pass this ordinance today with the following modification: We eliminate the right to finance these parking spaces, and the reason for that is if you leave a financing mechanism in, then no parking is going to be created. And so you're putting something in the ordinance, you're increasing the price, but then you're defeating the whole purpose, because no one's going to be able to create parking anyway. The second thing I would ask you to consider is that you add something to the ordinance so that anybody who has gotten these waivers but has not really pulled a building permit with a full set of working drawings, so they're just doing it to try to grandfather themselves in at a discount, when they do go to pull a building permit, they will also have to come up to whatever the new standard is. And I think if you add those two things, then the ordinance will be safe, and I believe that the neighborhood can actually create its own parking without needing to burden the City. And we've always, as you all know, tried to make the Design District project not only a super success, but we've tried to do it with very limited requests of City resources. And so the real question before you today is: Are you going to do something about the problem and -- or are you going to at least acknowledge that you then have to take the burden to make up the difference? And the ordinance with the modifications that I've suggested will do both. Finally, I would ask you and urge you, in the event that this is not definitively resolved today on the basis that I've suggested to institute an immediate moratorium on any more waivers being granted on an emergency basis just to give us the time to get through whatever process you want to get through. And I didn't want to take a lot of your time, but if any of the Commissioners have any question as to the logic or the business sense behind what I'm suggesting, I would be happy to answer any of your questions. I assure you, as by far the largest stakeholder and the person who represents the vast majority of the property in the Design District that we feel this is in the Design District's interest. And lastly, I just want to say, to the extent that there's any question that I am advocating this because of self-interest, I'm happy to incorporate into it anything which gives everybody else the access to use this money before me, as long as it's in the district, 'cause we don't want to start creating City of Miami Page 17 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 parking garages in areas that aren't going to create parking for the neighborhood. The goal is to make it a self -staining project where we're working together and not burdening us or you with these additional expenses. Thank you so much for your time. Chair Gort: Thank you. Javier Fernandez. Javier Fernandez: I waive my time. Chair Gort: You're right, okay. Mariano Cruz. Mariano Cruz: Mariano Cruz, 1227 Northwest 26th Street, also 70 Northeast 39th Street. That's where my union is. That's South Florida National Association of Letter Carrier. We own that building. Now, downstairs you got the BV, the Buena Vista Post Office, and upstairs we are -- and we got meetings there twice a month, the regular meeting and the shop steward and officers' meeting. And we had got some problems there before for parking. Lucky for us, Mr. Noriega solve the problem. I remember that Art, when they were giving tickets to the people that weren't going to the meetings, and then there was -- that was bad because people were coming to the meetings and they were getting tickets there, so we solve the problem. We got some space there to park. But we planning -- the union is planning maybe on selling the building there, 'cause the union is getting too big and maybe have the building maybe too much, because the taxes -- because it is commercial property, too. Because we lease property to the United States Postal Service, it is considered commercial. So we don't know what we going to do, but we're going to probably move out of there, because the permit is getting too expensive for us to maintain there. And that building had been there before -- Robbins, before anybody was around there; before you, before anybody, even you were born; long -- many years ago, before me, before my time. And maybe the -- now on the second reading, I will get some of the full-time officers, because I bet they don't know nothing about this, because we are concerned about other things now, you know, conventions, the postal service survival, all kind of things, and I will let them know, because I got a meeting the 18th. Next Tuesday is the general meeting. I will talk about that at the meeting. It's important, because we, the National Association of Letter Carriers, own -- Downtown 71 owns that building at 70 Northeast 39th Street and will be affected. I know I've seen all going on there, first on 39th Street, all the construction going on 24 hours a day, so, you know, it's very important. And we are property owners there. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? Anyone else? Being none, we close the public hearings [sic]. Commissioner Carollo: I -- Vice Chair Hardemon: May I, Mr. --? Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Doris Suttin: Hi. We have to sign in? Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am, you have to. You have to sign up. Ms. Suttin: I did. Chair Gort: You did? I don't have it. Ms. Suttin: Hello. I'm Doris Suttin. I own property at 1 Northeast 40th Street. I've been a real estate broker and owner of property in that area for about 30 years, and I'm also president of the Miami Design District Property Owners Association, and we've banded together this summer in July in order to have a coalition of people who were not owners of the large piece that Dacra City of Miami Page 18 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 owns, and we wanted to have a voice in the community, so we hired an attorney to represent us to help us. And this parking issue came up just in November, so it was very new to people who hadn't made any application for the parking waivers. And I understand quite a few had been made in this time, because there was a contemplation of raising the price. At the time we had some workshops, it went from 25 -- it was going from 12.5 to 25,000. And then there was discussion about the actual cost of construction being 35,000, so nobody has fought that increase going into effect. Everybody agreed that if that's what it cost, that's what it should be. However, we also need to know how the money's going to be dispensed and how it will be used to create parking. And we were hoping -- and I guess found out that it's not possible that the Miami Parking Authority said they could not provide parking, because the land costs were too high, so it would have to be a private parking or maybe private public parking, like what happened on Lincoln Road. So my hope, as an owner of property that would someday want to develop it to a larger piece and involved in the community, is that there is a parking situation that's solvable; and if it is by raising this increase to the 35,000 and administered properly, it should be one that would solve that problem, because we can't rent our stores at very high prices if the customers can't park, and I think that's really the key to it. So you really have to consider what is the right thing to do. And I believe, yes, we do need to increase the price. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone else? Did you sign up? Ron Bloomberg: No, I did not. Chair Gort: You need to sign up. Anyone else that would like to speak, they need to sign up, please. Mr. Bloomberg: May I -- Chair Gort: Sure, go right ahead Mr. Bloomberg: -- speak and then sign up immediately afterwards? Chair Gort: Go ahead, sign. Mr. Bloomberg: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Ron Bloomberg. I'm a principal of 3801 Biscayne Boulevard, also 455 Northeast 38th Street and 454 Northeast 38th Street. I have been an owner of the property since approximately 2003, and I've had a vested interest in the redevelopment of at least a portion of this area as the gateway into the Design District with creating the facility that we operate there at the present time. I joined the Miami Design District Property Owners Association approximately 60 days ago, because I felt it was important for me, being on the east side of Biscayne Boulevard, to at least attempt to become more a proactive part of what is the Design District, actual entry into the Design District at the very, very busy intersection of 38th and Biscayne. And if anybody's been to that area during rush-hour and at almost any point in time during the day, you'll recognize the importance of traffic flow, pedestrian flow, mitigations, and things of that nature, and the Design District boundaries are presently cut off at the central line of Biscayne Boulevard and moving west. And we felt that, certainly our property on the east side of Biscayne Boulevard would perhaps appreciate some deference and some benefits of being a part of the Design District, and we, in the last 60 days, have gotten proactively involved. This matter relative to parking was somewhat of a new matter, at least for me, when this started being discussed in mid -December. And one of the things that was being discussed was the issue relative to parking impact fees and whether the present value at $12, 000 was commensurate with the actual replication -- cost of replication of new spaces. In that regard, I clearly concur with Craig Robbins in that there is no correlation between that fee, that 12,000 and change and what it costs between land and development costs, and for that purpose, it's certainly critical to certainly assess and increase that fee. The fee that was being discussed back in December was $25,000 with no ability to phase in the pricing as a developer, City of Miami Page 19 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 as an investor and developer. There was no ability to phase that and stage that in. And so one of the compromises that at least was proposed to me as a member of the Miami Design District Property Owners Association was to increase to 35,000, but to have that benefit of putting a down payment and then having the municipality have the power to enforce that payment, failing which there were provisions that you could have a permit denied or applications for occupational licenses, et cetera, revoked and I think the language that had been suggested in the present documents, which I've read and I think you have before you, engendered a phased payment. And so I'm somewhat, you know, endorsing the phased payment, because I think it both encourages development while achieves the maximum price and ultimately the pricing that the City will, in fact, be able to secure for its parking trust. And the other thing that I wanted to also discuss is that the parking fees and the money that are going to be collected in the Trust also is important not only for the creation of parking, but for traffic signal timing, for pedestrian flows and migrations and things of that nature that are going to enhance street improvements and the like. So I just wanted to share with you some of my thoughts as a property owner, a vested property owner in that neighborhood, my concerns about traffic mitigation as an access through, adjacent on both sides of the street are properties which I own, and would appreciate your support of the maintenance of the phased pay -in program, and I thank you for your time. Chair Gort: Thankyou. Anyone else? Mr. Fernandez: Mr. Chair, if you could reclaim -- Chair Gort: I thought you waived your right? Mr. Fernandez: I did but if I could just reclaim one minute by way offering -- proffering a suggestion that might help us get to a resolution today. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Fernandez: For the record, Javier Fernandez, with Akerman, LLP (Limited Liability Partnership), addresses at One Southeast 3rd Avenue, 25th Floor. Thank you for the courtesy. Very briefly, just in consultation with my client and the City Attorney, what we would just want to make sure is included by way of additional language is that you direct staff to implement a moratorium in progress to preclude the acceptance of any further applications. Our concern is that over the last 45 days, 11 applications have come to the door and have secured rights for 290 plus spaces. That's about 50 percent of the capacity of any garage that the MPA (Miami Parking Authority) could build in the future in any one project. So it's going to constrain the City's ability, as my client mentioned, to address the parking crisis that's developing. Again, applying that prospectively, we think it will not adversely impact people that have already come to the process, but will secure that we can get to a final conclusion on the 13th. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Fernandez: Thank you. Chair Gort: Thankyou. Jeff Berkowitz [sic]. Jeffrey Bercow: Thank you, Mr. Chair, Commissioners. Jeff Bercow. I hadn't intended to speak today, but a couple of issues raised by Mr. Robbins and Mr. Fernandez caused me to want to come to the podium and just talk about them very quickly. With regard to the building permit and the related issue about the 290 parking waivers that have been issued, today the Code does not require a building permit for a waiver, and the Code amendment does not require a building permit to obtain a waiver. I think it would be inappropriate to change the rules of the game at this point in time, given that people have relied on it. In addition, I think it's counter -productive for the City, because all of these 290 spaces -- and no one's mentioned this -- are producing City of Miami Page 20 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 revenue for the City, some with building permits, some without building permits, but they're producing revenue for the City now. With respect to the moratorium issue, I think that you all know -- and I'm sure your City Attorney is going to advise you -- you cannot just implement a moratorium. You just can't declare a moratorium. Moratorium has to be imposed by an ordinance. And in order to impose a moratorium by ordinance, you have to have something that you're studying during the interim, and that's the reason for the moratorium; and the moratorium has to be a very short period of time during which that study will take place and be completed. Having said that, we're not supporting a moratorium by any means, but you just can't impose one today. Chair Gort: Thank you. Okay, anyone else? We'll now close the public hearings [sic]. Comments? Yes, sir. You're recognized, Vice Chairman. Vice Chair Hardemon: Madam City Attorney, the first issue that 1 would like some guidance on is the issue of the moratorium, and can you give this Commission some guidance as to whether or not we can impose a moratorium? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): On a conservative approach, this office has always taken the position that a moratorium should be done by ordinance and two readings. Because this is a first reading ordinance and it would still need a second reading, if there was a amendment to adding a moratorium at this time, I would not be adverse to that. I think that it's not a substantial change, pursuant to Newmont. I think that it's something that could be contemplated with regard to this legislation to begin with. So even though it's not my preferred route, it's something that I think could be defensible, just based on the fact that they are still another reading with regard to this legislation. Under Newmont, it should not be considered a substantial change just because those things can be contemplated in several public meetings to this effect, things of that nature, so that would be something up to this Commission if they would want to entertain that, but -- Vice Chair Hardemon: And so -- and that -- the moratorium will be to the granting of the waivers? Ms. Mendez: It would be for -- well, it depends how you would like to word it, because it could be for future applications in the meantime, between now and the future; not what's been processed already. Vice Chair Hardemon: But -- and -- let me direct my question to the Parking Authority. So as of right now, the 290-something applications that you have, which to the City, of course, is lost revenue, because if there is a change in the ordinance to make it 35,000, that increase from 12,000 to 35,000 is what we are losing if we do not place some type of moratorium. So my question to the Parking Authority is, these applications that were sent in, the parking waivers have not been -- have they been granted or have they not been granted? Ms. Grossman: They have been granted by -- the way that the process works is the applicant would go to the Planning & Zoning Department. They would receive the number of waivers required for their property. And as soon as that signature is signed off by Planning & Zoning, the applicants then come to the Miami Parking Authority. They say, `1 have ten parking space waivers, " and then we calculate the fees. It depends whether they want to do a one-time payment or an amortization schedule. We print out the information for them, the contracts for them, and then they would be required at that point in time to pay the fees and then record a certificate of waiver. So all of those applications, the fees have been paid and processed. Vice Chairman Hardemon: Has the certificate of waiver been given to them, though? Ms. Grossman: Yes, on some of them. It's -- there's been a lot of applications that have come City of Miami Page 21 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 through, so there are certain ones that are being processed, but that's just a formality in terms of recording. They're still -- because the fees have been accepted and the contracts have been signet, they're still entitled to receive the certificate. That was just a processing issue. So the contracts have been signed and money has been accepted. Vice Chair Hardemon: So then the revenues that could have been gained to the City by way of this change of legis -- this change in the ordinance, that revenue is lost. Is that your opinion? Ms. Grossman: Correct. It would -- had the price been at the $35, 000 price point, it would have been an additional three point five-ish million dollars to the fund. Vice Chair Hardemon: And then my next question for you -- Mr. Chairman, if you may allow me? Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead. Vice Chair Hardemon: My next question would be: So for these parking waivers, for these spaces, can you give me some type of reasonable explanation as why the waivers were not granted in the past, if you understand where I'm going? I understand that they have to apply for the waiver, correct? Ms. Grossman: Correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: So from what I'm hearing, there was no waiver granted in the past for them for these applications. Ms. Grossman: Correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: So how was it that they were able to operate within the ordinance without having some type of parking fee waiver or the fee -- or the parking built? Ms. Grossman: Right. That's a zoning issue. If you're planning to expand your property, then at that point you would have to go to Planning & Zoning. I would happily defer to Francisco to further explain. Vice Chair Hardemon: Right. Chair Gort: Yeah. Vice Chair Hardemon: So -- Chair Gort: I'd like to hear from Planning & Zoning, because you have a lot to do with this and you haven't even made a presentation or anything. I would also like to know what is the process and who can qualify and apply for those things -- Commissioner Carollo: And -- Chair Gort: -- because (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for certain area? Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning & Zoning): Right. Commissioner Carollo: And Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. City of Miami Page 22 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Carollo: I believe the parking waivers apply when they're going to do additional building, not what's existing right now. I -- existing right now, they're there as of right. However, if they're going to do any additional building, that's when this -- Vice Chair Hardemon: In which -- and that's -- Commissioner Carollo: -- comes about. Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, go ahead. Vice Chair Hardemon: And so that brings us to where we are today, because -- Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. Vice Chair Hardemon: Now, my question then becomes good faith in you actually having some additional building, because if there was no plan, there was no additional building and therefore no parking waiver fee -- no parking waiver applied for, then all of a sudden, within the amount of days, we have 290-some-odd applications. My question is to the good faith of these applicants in actually doing some type of building. And I guess that goes for what Mr. Robertson was talking about, the -- well, let's -- I'll say this, 'cause I don't want to put words in his mouth. However, is there -- it's something in the process that looks to determine the veracity of the applications that you're receiving as far as expanding, rather than them just purchasing these parking waivers with no intent, actually, to actually build in the future, and putting the burden on the district where we have to create some type of parking structure or some parking assistance for them. Mr. Garcia: Understood And thank you for the opportunity of addressing these issues. Francisco Garcia, Planning & Zoning director. For the record, my apologies, so I'll say a couple of things that I hope will be helpful in addressing your concerns, and I will probably then very quickly turn the matter over to the City Attorney's Office because it is properly a legal issue from a certain line over. But I'll first say this: First, you might understand that I certainly have no qualifications to be an arbiter of good faith in these matters, nor would I want to be. However, what I can tell you factually is that this system is in place in order to satisfy needs, and I'm going to quote directly from the ordinance: "In order to provide fees in lieu of required off-street parking." So for all I know, there is presently a building boom taking place in the Design District, and that is what has given rise to the sudden rush of applications for parking waivers. I have no way of knowing that that's not the case. Because ultimately they will need -- "they," the applicants -- will need to demonstrate compliance with parking requirements at the time of which they pull the building permit, the system has been established in such a manner where the waivers need to be obtained first, and the permit is applied for subsequently, the building permit. Having said that, it seems to me that because the fees are in lieu of required parking, if the waiver is granted in advance for parking that is not subsequently required, because no construction comes about as a result, then the intent of the ordinance certainly doesn't apply anymore. And I'd like to think that the equitable result would then be if sometime hence after obtaining the waiver no construction comes as a result of it, to then simply refund the monies to the applicant and forego those until such time comes as they are willing to proceed ahead with construction. That is a common sense approach, and I am speaking to you in terms of the intent of the ordinance. Now, the legal ramifications of that, I defer to the City Attorney's Office on. Vice Chair Hardemon: Right. Ms. Mendez: But there is -- I think that was a suggestion of one of the gentlemen that you need City of Miami Page 23 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 to begin construction within a year or so. That is very similar to all of -- what we do for our special exceptions and things of that nature through the Planning & Zoning Board. If they don't begin construction within one year, the permit is rescinded. So that is something that could be an amendment to the ordinance as well. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Just real quick, and on the same term. So, in essence, this waiver, even if it's granted, or it's in the process of being granted, it's not in perpetuity. So, in all reality, if they don't build within a certain amount of time, then we can rescind that waiver, correct? Ms. Mendez: Only if you -- I apologize, Mr. Noriega. Only if as a result of this legislation here, you would like to place that condition that it would be -- you can get these waivers as long as construction is begun within one year of application or a building permit is requested; you know, a certain trigger. Then, if that trigger is not met, then it could be refunded, and then there needs to be a request in the future which may trigger, unfortunately, a higher rate at that time, depending on when you request it. Chair Gort: What's on the books right now? Ms. Mendez: I'm sorry? Chair Gort: What's on the books right now? Ms. Mendez: On the books right now, that is not a requirement; this trigger concept that's been discussed is not. Chair Gort: In other words, my understanding is, a waiver is requested before a building permit is pulled Ms. Mendez: Correct. Chair Gort: Okay. And they don't have to have a building permit in order to get the waiver? Ms. Mendez: Correct. Chair Gort: That's my understanding what Planning is stating, they do not. Okay, thank you. Mr. Noriega: Correct. Mr. Chair, if I -- Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Mr. Noriega: -- may, just to add a little clarity to this. Art Noriega, Miami Parking Authority. The waivers are bought. They are permanent waivers. They run with the title of the lane, so you keep those in perpetuity. A lot of businesses, especially in the Grove, 'cause really, this whole concept originated in the Grove -- Chair Gort: Right. Mr. Noriega: -- they have purchased them and kept them because they, invariably, become an asset that runs with the value of the land. Chair Gort: Right. City of Miami Page 24 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Mr. Noriega: They increase the property value. Whether you build more or not, they do have an added value to the overall value of the land So a reverter idea certainly is a possibility, but most land owners have dealt with the purchase of the waivers as a value added to the property and a long-term asset that runs with the property, so kind of keep that in mind. That's the -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Mendez: Right. So that would have to be, as Mr. Noriega says, a prospective idea for the future, because some people have purchased it with the idea that that is something that goes with the land Chair Gort: Probably (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Ms. Mendez: But it would have to be a prospective revision, and then that could be placed on the certificates, it could be -- you know, we could put the language and such. Commissioner Carollo: And Mr. -- Chair Gort: Vice Chairman has the floor. Let him finish. Vice Chair Hardemon: Yes. When these parking waivers are granted, if there is no building permit that is received subsequent to that, as of right now, they can keep those parking waivers, correct? Yes. So -- Mr. Garcia: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- then -- that's almost like a test of good faith, I mean, in the sense that there was never no building -- if there is never a building permit that is given to the actual applicant, then we know at the point that they receive that parking permit or they've never applied for a permit, a building permit, then they never had the intention to actually build in the first place, so they were just basically holding these as assets, correct? Mr. Garcia: Correct, sir. Let me add this. And assigning -- because certainly, it is the intent to do so -- to everyone the assumption of goodwill, it is also the case -- and let's, perhaps, deal with this scenario -- that they file for the waiver application and obtain the waivers with every intent to actually build the building. But let us assume for a moment that, for other reasons outside of the control of the applicant, the building never actually gets built. The only way I think I can be helpful to this conversation is to point out that the Code, the City Code provides for acceptance of fees in lieu of required parking. If the building isn't built, the parking is not required; the purpose of the ordinance has not been served. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: And I want to look at it, you know, three prong. I want to know those 290 to 200 and something that just applied I want to know from now until second reading and then second reading on, because we could still face more people, more businesses applying from here to second reading, and by the time second reading comes along, okay -- so, it's actually three prong. We need to -- and I think we need to deal with this issue, because it clearly defeats the purpose. At the same time, you know, un -- you know, governments need to go through a process, and sometime that process is, you know -- we need to meet certain time periods and -- Listen, I -- let's be honest. There's been a history of you know, businesses and people beating the system; and, you know, I don't want to say that that's what's happening right now, but City of Miami Page 25 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 clearly, there's no argument that that is what's happening, so I think we need to, you know, look at it and deal with it now on a three prong approach. The ones that just came in, those 290, from now to second reading, and then second reading on. Because, yes, from what the City Attorney is saying, okay, even if we pass something now on first reading, we still have to go to second reading. That still leaves a window of two weeks, which could be a flood -- opening up the flood gates for more people to apply. So I think it needs to be addressed, you know, in a three prong approach. Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Hardemon: So my question to the City Attorney and -- would be, right now we were talking about the trigger being the construction, beginning construction. But of course, as an attorney, I mean, what does "the beginning of construction" mean? So what happens if we make the trigger be the actual granting of the permit? Ms. Mendez: I think we need to be consistent with the way we do the special exceptions, and I believe with the special exceptions, we do one year or 18 months -- I forget which whichever -- but from the granting of the building permit, correct? Okay, so building permit. We should be consistent with the way that we do special exceptions. Vice Chair Hardemon: So it will be the granting of the building permit, and that's what my recommendation would be, because where I'm going with this is, yes, the waivers have been given now, but to keep -- if we change this law to add language that said that if a building permit has not been secured within one year of the granting of the waiver, then that waiver will be extinguished and the funds for the waiver are nonrefundable. And the reason I say nonrefundable -- Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Hardemon: I know, I know. Listen, but this is the test of good faith. This is the test of good faith, because if you're applying for this waiver, then you do intend on building. And that money that's going to the trust fund which is supposed to be used to create additional public parking or additional parking in lieu, but you can -- we can use it for a number of different reasons, acquires properties and fee, simple, et cetera, et cetera, as per the ordinance, then it gets the property owners on the move that either you are going to build or you are not. And no matter what, they are contributing to that part of the community and creating some type of parking, because either they're going to create it or we're going to create it as a city and -- Yes. Ms. Mendez: And could -- instead of them being nonrefundable, could they be maybe a deposit towards the parking waivers in the future? Because if you are going to say that it's a trigger, no building permit has been issued but, you know, they're able to get their funds in order; a year and a half later, they apply again. Maybe that could be -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Maybe then -- unless the -- I would say, they are refundable unless the delay is the cause -- is by the cause of the Miami Parking -- or by the City of Miami, so -- and this is what I'm saying. So this -- what this will do -- now we have 294 applications that are in right now at the low, low level of 20 -- 12,000 -- Ms. Grossman: Twelve thousand. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- dollars. In all actuality, the first payment is like $800, I believe, correct? The first -- if you're doing the installment -- Unidentified Speaker: Finance. City of Miami Page 26 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Vice Chair Hardemon: -- payment, it's like $800, so we're receiving -- Ms. Tapanes: It's a 30 percent deposit. Vice Chair Hardemon: Well, you've changed it now to make it 30 percent? Ms. Tapanes: That's what's been applied. Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay. So then the 30 percent of $12, 000, which is still not a lot of money when you're considering how much it cost to actually build a parking space -- So what I'm saying is that the build -- unless the building permit is granted, unless there is a delay caused by the City of Miami -- and I'm saying this because I -- what I want to see is something happen with this -- with these funds. If the City of Miami is going to accept funds to create more parking for the people that visit the community, that visit the Design District, then we have to be able to spend those funds to improve upon that area. But if we're allowing people to deposit funds in anticipation of building where they have no good faith to build and then receive those funds back, how would ever the trust fund be -- the money be used to actually build parking? So then now I'm saying, look, okay, well, if you want to make a change -- 'cause right now you don't have to pay if you don't plan on making any changes. But if you have good faith in making any change, then you deposit your money into this fund I think it's fair. Ms. Mendez: It's fair as long as it's prospective, right? Vice Chair Hardemon: Well, if we apply this law today, if we say the building permit be -- if we apply language into this ordinance that changes it, that says that the dollars that have been deposited into this trust fund by lieu of this parking waiver, the parking waiver shall be rescinded if, within one year, they have not received the building permit. I'm saying that that, in itself doesn't change -- it doesn't change the fact that they have a parking waiver. They still have a parking waiver, but now we've added something to the language of the ordinance that says, "Hey, okay, we have a parking waiver, but now I have to get a building permit if I am going to keep that parking waiver." Ms. Mendez: I believe that when we make these changes, it should be for the new applicants in prospective, not the ones that have been issued right now. I think that, for that purpose, maybe a study can be done in the future as to waivers and things of that nature that have been issued. What -- I think a little more research would be -- have to come into play to see for those that have already been issued. This, I think, is something prospective, yes. For all the ones that remain, yes, not necessarily the ones that have already been issued, because this could -- Commissioner Carollo: And -- Ms. Mendez: My suggestion. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: -- Mr. Chairman, back -- it's just a follow-up to what 1 originally said, what about from now to second reading? Ms. Mendez: Well, from now to second reading, if one of the revisions of this amendment is to stop accepting applications, that is fine. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Ms. Mendez: That is something that could be done for the future. I'm just saying the ones that City of Miami Page 27 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 are in and are proper -- because people could have applied for something, but, you know, they're totally off, the applications are incorrect, they don't have the authority to do so. You know, a lot of things can issue an application null and void, but I'm just saying for the ones that are -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. But as of today, we could stop receiving any further applications? Ms. Mendez: If that is something that this board requests, yes. Commissioner Carollo: Obviously. I just want to make sure that we're within the law, because like I said, the three prong. I just don't want it to be that, no, we have to have passed it in second reading before then. We could stop, and then all of a sudden we have a window of two weeks where everyone just floods -- Ms. Mendez: Correct. Commissioner Carollo: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Ms. Mendez: Now, I do want to -- Ms. Tapanes raises a point. There was an opinion out of my office with regard to moratoriums and accepting City funds on amendments and ordinances. Unfortunately, the cases that were cited in this case have to do with land use issues and land use cases, which are much more stricter with regard to moratoriums and zoning in progress and things of that nature. However, it is still my opinion that I would rather have ordinances with regard to moratoriums, and that's why this would be two readings with regard to placing a moratorium. However, I believe that the opinion that was issued in my office had to do more so with -- it was skewed with regard to the cases that were placed -- had to do with land -use type considerations. If this was a land use or zoning, it would be a much stricter review with regard to a moratorium. Ms. Tapanes: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Two questions. Excuse me. I'll get you in a minute. Two questions: Who qualifies to ask for a waiver? Ms. Mendez: Who qualifies? Chair Gort: Yes. What are the conditions for someone to be able to go to the Planning Department and request for a waiver of the parking? Ms. Mendez: And I believe that Mr. Garcia is a little more equipped to answer this question with regard to the process. Ms. Garcia: At the risk of sounding redundant, I'm going to use the only language that I find helpful in the City Code, which is that applications for payment in lieu of required off-street parking are appropriate. I say again, if the parking is not required -- Chair Gort: But what if (UNINTELLIGIBLE) district and who can qualify -- Mr. Garcia: Yes, sir. Chair Gort: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Ms. Garcia: As to process, then, if plans are presented to us in the Planning & Zoning Department showing a project that has a parking deficit and therefore requires parking, based on those plans, we will then refer them to the Off -Street Parking -- or the Department of City of Miami Page 28 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Off -Street Parking or Miami Parking Authority to obtain a waiver and the waiver will be issued. So they first must demonstrate that the parking is actually required. Chair Gort: The question is -- Mr. Garcia: Sir. Chair Gort: -- which district -- there's a district where this takes place. Mr. Garcia: The Design District. Chair Gort: And there's a boundaty that the -- Ms. Tapanes: In Coconut Grove. Chair Gort: So anybody who's within the boundary have the right to apply for it; am I correct? Mr. Garcia: Yes. Chair Gort: That's my question. Do you have a boundaty at this time? Mr. Garcia: We have two sets of boundaries. Chair Gort: Two sets of boundaries. Mr. Garcia: And counsel is correct; that applies both to the Design District and to the Coconut Grove Village Center. Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. Mr. Garcia: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair. Ms. Tapanes: If I -- Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Ms. Mendez: Mr. Chairman, I believe Ms. Tapanes -- Chair Gort: You have a question? Commissioner Sarnoff. I do, I do. Madam City Attorney, first off with regard to the moratorium, since this is not land use and Chapter 2-22 -- 2-65 would apply versus Section 35-121. Let's just say, arguendo, that you want to still go with an ordinance. Why couldn't we just pass an emergency ordinance right now with a four fifths -- with a -- well, we have four of us here. Commissioner Carollo: Advertisement. Commissioner Sarnoff. Create the -- no, I think you can do it. Chair Gort: You don't have four -fifths. Ms. Mendez: Technically, the -- Commissioner Sarnoff is right; you can do an emergency City of Miami Page 29 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 ordinance. I just -- because I'm a little conservative on these things, I wanted to do the two readings because we're discussing it here today, we get to discuss it again, and this Commission has the opportunity to -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Ms. Mendez: -- really -- Commissioner Sarnoff. So just to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Ms. Mendez: But an emergency ordinance, it could be done. I -- because it's not a land use or zoning -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Ms. Mendez: -- type procedure. Commissioner Sarnoff. So if we did the emergency ordinance, we could put a stop to it now. So, as you would say, prospectively, we could stop it. With regard to what has already occurred, can we affect rights that have already occurred? Ms. Tapanes: Absolutely. Ms. Mendez: The -- what has already occurred should not be touched. Unfortunately, the most conservative approach, the legal approach would be to do this prospectively. Anything that we do would be prospective. With regard to the waivers that have already been issued, they've been issued and I think it would be under the rules and laws that we had in the books, and I believe that it would be best to leave those as they are. It's not to say that in the future we cannot do a full -out revamp, check what has been issued, what has not been issued which has had building permits, which has not, and then do a review and be able to redo -- I'm not saying that we're precluded from doing that in the future. I just think that we should do it with a -- much more evidence and much more information with regard to what parking waivers we have out there, which ones have been utilized which ones have not, and things of that nature. Commissioner Sarnoff So we, of course, want to take as much of your advice as we possibly can. Your best advice you can give us off the cuff right now is what has occurred has occurred, but what you -- but you're legislatively allowed to move forward and create a moratorium? Ms. Mendez: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff So we could simply, if we wanted to today -- go ahead. Chair Gort: Let me ask a question, because when you have attorneys involved, there's always courts. And if we don't -- attorneys don't agree, they're going to go to court, and this could take years. I don't think we need a moratorium. I think all we need to do is if you don't pull a building permit in X'amount of time, you will be removed. And if you have a deposit, you will lose it. Commissioner Carollo: But -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Therein lies -- and I think you know where you want to go, Mr. Chair, but -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. City of Miami Page 30 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Sarnoff. So we pass that right now first reading. Commissioner Carollo: Same thing. Commissioner Sarnoff. So two weeks from now -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff. In that two -week span, we will have -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. Chair Gort: Right, I understand. You can have 300 people, 500 people, but if they don't comply within X'amount of time, that's it. Commissioner Sarnoff. No, no, no, no. Commissioner Carollo: No. Commissioner Sarnoff. No, no, no. We cannot do what you want to do -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- unless we take action today and we do it in an emergency basis, because otherwise, there's going to be X'amount of people that are just going to say, I'm going to come in with some sort of an application and do something. "And all I'm saying, Mr. Chair, is -- you know, to sit here and say first reading, all these nice criteria, okay. It's proposed legislation. Commissioner Carollo: But from now to second reading, we're going to open up the flood gates and that will be the issue. And as it is right now -- and I haven't gotten even -- I haven't even got into the finance behind this. But right now we're sort of at a deficit, you know, because in all fairness -- and like I said, I haven't got into the finance yet, but if I ask anyone could we build "X" -- 300 spaces with, what -- 12,000 times 300, can we build a parking garage with that? The answer's probably going to be "no." And at the same time, so now these businesses may expect something. I can tell you the residents already are expecting something. They're expecting that there's adequate parking so it doesn't become a burdens on the neighborhoods in that area, and we're going to deal with a big issue unless the City has some money to just cough up and pay for it, or MPA. Either way, we're in a losing situation. And I think what -- the reason why I said three prong -- you know, the ones have already -- have requested and received a permit, the ones from now to second reading, then after, I think we need to stop -- or we need to do something as soon as possible, because if not, realistically, this is just going to become worse and worse. Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman. Ms. Tapanes: If I may -- Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Tapanes: Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Go ahead. 1'll give you two minutes. Ms. Tapanes: Thank you, sir. To be very clear, these 290 parking spaces that have been waived have been in the existence of this program since 2006. Most of them, the grand majority have been most recently as this proposal to amend the fee was in play. You could imagine the fear -- City of Miami Page 31 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 under the current Code, this does not just apply to expansions and new construction. It applies to change of uses between -- within existing buildings. If you go from a retail establishment to a restaurant, you need parking waivers. So it's not just the new construction, the building; it's the ability to be able to lease your existing buildings. Chapter 35 applies to both the Design District as well as Coconut Grove. And as a resident of Coconut Grove, representing numerous business owners in the Central Business District, the ability to purchase these parking waivers and have them as an asset to their existing properties is of utmost importance. So going backwards is, I would say, not -- it's an impossibility. You will have lawsuits from both the owners within the Design District as well as Coconut Grove. That is issued in a legally binding opinion letter from your City Attorney's Office to the Miami Parking Authority, dated December 16, 2013. The City Attorney's contention that this impact fee, this parking impact fee, which is what it is -- is not related to land use and zoning is an error. This parking requirements are in the Zoning Code, and the current Code references the parking -- it cross-references parking provided for in Ordinance 11000. What we're recommending is for it to apply to Miami 21. So the idea that this isn't a land use and zoning issue and that this City Attorney's Office issued a binding opinion to the Miami Parking Authority that a moratorium requires notice and two public hearings, that is completely false. Now that this Commission can approve legislation today with the proposed changes as an emergency, now that is a prospective issue that I will defer to the City Attorney. However, affecting the existing property rights of all the property owners in Coconut Grove and the Design District that have paid their funds in reliance of the current Code is against the principle of the rule of law, which is -- completely, must be respected by this Commission. Commissioner Sarnoff. Ms. Tapanes. Ms. Tapanes: 171 say -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Sarnoff Ms. Tapanes, can you -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- cite the Florida Constitution, the section that that impairs? Because that's your argument. Ms. Tapanes: That is the rule of law. Retroactive -- Commissioner Sarnoff. I mean, your argument -- Ms. Tapanes: -- I can definitely -- Commissioner Sarnoff. I'm just trying -- I'm trying to make you a better litigator. You are suggesting the Florida Constitution. You want to give me the section and code number? Ms. Tapanes: No. I don't have that off the top of my head I can tell you that it's a well -established rule of law that you cannot issue retroactive law, and that is a clear -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chair -- Ms. Tapanes: -- clearly established. And I'll say one more very important item. If people and property owners purchase these parking waivers and do not build or utilize them through the change of use, then there's no parking impact. The Miami Parking Authority continues to obtain the revenues from not only the people who have paid outright, but also the interest payments. There's no parking impact; yet, there is revenue within this trust. So if it was not for Chapter 35 and this Code amendment, then you wouldn't have over $3 million in your trust fund with zero City of Miami Page 32 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 parking impact as of today. Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Hardemon: And Mr. Chairman, I think -- where we are is this -- so from what I understand, those that have applied the distinct bodies that have applied for these parking waivers is about 12 of them, right? Mr. Noriega: Eleven. Vice Chair Hardemon: So -- 11. So those are 11 different businesses or owners that have applied for these parking waivers. I assume -- and I'm sure that I am correct -- that there are more than the 11 structures or potential -- more than 11 potential individual people that can apply for parking waivers, and then the parking waivers that they apply for could amount to 500 spaces or so. So not touching the existing property rights that people -- the existing rights that they have in the waivers today, we can still pass not necessarily a moratorium, but we can pass this ordinance with some changes -- 'cause I have some recommended changes to this ordinance -- but we can pass this ordinance as an emergency resolution that touches on the prospective property owners in the fu -- I mean, the waivers in the future that says, if you apply for a waiver in the -- from this point forward, then it will be at this amount, and also then that the funds are nonrefundable if you don't have the building permit within a certain amount of time, as we discussed earlier. Mr. Fernandez: Mr. Chair, if I may just elaborate on -- Chair Gort: Two minutes. Mr. Fernandez: -- just in rebuttal. First, with respect to this being a land -use matter, your Code very clear. Vice Chair Hardemon: Wait. Before we -- Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Hardemon: Before we -- Mr. Fernandez: If I can. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- go into that, let's -- Mr. Fernandez: I want to build on your point -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) your point. Vice Chair Hardemon: Before we go into that, my question to the City Attorney and to Mr. Hannon, the Clerk, Madam Attorney, I just want to be clear. So today, we can move forward with an emergency ordinance that addresses the change that I just spoke of? Ms. Mendez: I -- this is -- I want to make certain things clear. Ms. Tapanes, in her energetic speech right now -- I am not suggesting in any way -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. Ms. Mendez: -- that this Commission touch any rights and obligations that have already been prescribed through this waiver program. Vice Chair Hardemon: We're clear what they are. City of Miami Page 33 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Ms. Mendez: So -- Vice Chair Hardemon: We're clear. Ms. Mendez: -- I just want to be clear with that, because that is what I said before this. Everything I have said is prospective, okay? With regard to the opinion that was issued in my office, out of my office, the fact that moratoriums with regard to land use and zoning should be two readings, they should be. If there is any doubt that this is a zoning -related item or not, in the abundance of caution, that is why I would like two readings of anything that this Commission does. Because if I need to go to court against Ms. Tapanes in the future -- Ms. Tapanes: Yes, ma'am. Ms. Mendez: -- I want to be sure that we have two readings by this Commission. So that is why I do not want an emergency ordinance just in case, okay? Vice Chair Hardemon: On a moratorium or on anything? Ms. Mendez: On either. It should not be -- it should be a -- this ordinance here should be an ordinance that if you want your triggers to be placed, and what I suggest is, one, a trigger that if you don't build within a year, then these -- the prospective waivers are not issued; two, a moratorium be placed between February -- what day is it today --? -- February 13 -- Commissioner Carollo: Thirteenth. Ms. Mendez: -- and this will be come back-- Mr. Clerk, this would come back March -- Ms. Tapanes: Thirteenth. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): March 13. Ms. Mendez: --13. Okay, so between now and March 13, that there should be no other new processed items. And the third thing would be any other revisions that you may do prospectively with regard to this, but it would be done -- it would -- and I know that Commissioner Sarnoff is looking at me funny, but this is what I'm suggesting: That if this passes with the trigger, with the moratorium and any other changes you may have, we've had two readings, it will apply retroactively on the moratorium portion only, when it passes on the 13th. And then you have -- Commissioner Sarnoff Retro to this date. Ms. Mendez: Right, to this date. Because all we're saying is we don't want -- after everyone saw Ms. Tapanes speak today, we don't want the flood gates to open and everyone come to the Parking Authority and see Ms. Grossman and ask her to process 500 new applications. So everything we're doing is prospective. Vice Chair Hardemon: The requirement for you to have two readings -- I mean, when we pass emergency legislation, or emergency ordinance, or such, there are two readings, except we do them both the same day, correct? So would that suffice? Ms. Mendez: Well, the problem is that Florida Statute 166.041 basic -- I'm sorry? Mr. Fernandez: Three "C. " Ms. Mendez: Three "C. " You have the paper there, don't you? City of Miami Page 34 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Mr. Fernandez: No, I don't have 3C. Ms. Mendez: Oh, okay, 3C basically says that anything having to do with land use and zoning has to have two readings and cannot be by emergency. So if this has any land use and zoning implications, just to be clear, that is why I would like to have two readings. That is the only reason why. That's why I'd rather not an emergency ordinance. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. You get two minutes. Mr. Fernandez: I'm sorry. Mr. Chair, just to expand on the discussions just slightly. Your Code is very clear as to what constitutes part of your land development regulations, so Chapter 62-11 -- or Section 62-11 tells you specifically what is part of your land development regulations. I think that is the best expression of what would be the subject matter of an ordinance enacted -- require to be enacted under 166.041(3) (c). You do have the legislative prerogative under 166.041(b) to enact an emergency ordinance. That does not relate to land use and zoning. This, in its essence, is an impact fee, or it is an economic development tool when you're providing -- you're trying to intent people to invest in a neighborhood and avail themselves of this ultimate way of providing parking so as to reduce the burden imposed by your Zoning Code, but it is not a land development regulation by the expressed terms of your own ordinance. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Fernandez: Just wanted to put that on the record. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Sarnoff So you're recommending an independent EM. 1? Mr. Fernandez: You need -- my opinion would be that you do need an emergency ordinance in order to close the door prospectively. I'm not talking about going -- I don't want to deal with the issue retrospectively, but prospectively, I think you do need an emergency ordinance. Commissioner Sarnoff But that ordinance -- 'cause I -- see, when you lawyers agree, it's scaly. So what you're saying is an independent ordinance, in and of itself just issuing a moratorium. Mr. Fernandez: I just don't understand -- to your point, Commissioner, if I may do a colloquy -- don't understand how that would have any affect, 'cause you have an ordinance in effect today. If you travel under those rules, I don't know how that moratorium would be binding. And I think, Ms. Tapanes, if she wanted to make an argument in opposition, could advance that position. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: And besides the legality, I would prefer doing that than passing this ordinance that we have in front of us in an emergency setting, because there's -- I mean, we're just dealing with one issue. There's still a lot of issues that we need to discuss. So I prefer going that route. Again, not being an attorney and not looking at it from a legal perspective, I would prefer going that route in order not to pass what we have in front of us as an emergency ordinance, because I think it does need two readings, and we need to work with some of this language in here. Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay. City of Miami Page 35 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Sarnoff. I sort of -- you know, it's scaty when you and I agree. I sort of agree with you. I actually think you're right, and I think it can be done. And I don't know how Commissioner Hardemon feels about it. I'm okay with passing the ordinance you have as well, with some of your modifications, butt think, prophylactically, we have to stop -- Commissioner Carollo: Absolutely. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- the problem now. And -- Vice Chair Hardemon: But if we -- but -- Commissioner Carollo: At least get a grip around it -- Chair Gort: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Commissioner Carollo: -- so that we could act in the future. But at least we need to, you know, I don't want to say stop the bleeding, but right now, more of these waivers come in -- I mean, I haven't heard anybody -- and like I said I haven't gotten into the finance behind it, but I don't -- I haven't heard anybody said, "Hey, with $12, 000 per space, guess what? We can build a parking garage and we'll have sufficient funds. " I think there's going to be a deficit, which the City's going to -- someone's going to have to be able to put up. Vice Chair Hardemon: You can't build it at $12, 000 per space -- Commissioner Carollo: No. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- at all. Commissioner Carollo: So it defeats the purpose of what we're trying to do right now. Vice Chair Hardemon: Well, no. In a sense -- and this is what I wanted to have the discussion about. When we say -- if we add language in here that talks about -- 'cause, obviously, once this passes, then this is the law. Commissioner Sarnoff Right. Vice Chair Hardemon: So any other application that's received has to follow this law. Commissioner Carollo: Right. Vice Chair Hardemon: We -- I think we all agree that existing rights that people have in their parking waivers are as they are. Commissioner Sarnoff Right. Vice Chair Hardemon: But there are a lot more property owners in the area that could potentially apply for a parking waiver for spaces. So with that being said, if we start to address this ordinance and make the revisions that talk about the triggering of the building permit, et cetera, they that have to have the building permit within a year or they lose the -- they lose -- for the new applicants, they lose the waiver. In my opinion, from all that I've heard today, that that can be done, and then if we do that, we don't need the moratorium. Commissioner Sarnoff. No. But -- City of Miami Page 36 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Carollo: No. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- it doesn't satisfy the next two weeks. Commissioner Carollo: Right, and that's -- Vice Chair Hardemon: But the emergency ordinance -- Commissioner Carollo: -- the three prong. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- will be today, is what I'm saying. Ms. Mendez: Right. Commissioner Sarnoff. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ordinance -- Ms. Mendez: I think -- Commissioner Sarnoff. -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) total emergency, so we're going to have two readings of your suggestions right now? Ms. Mendez: No. I -- can I suggest -- Vice Chair Hardemon: One reading today. Ms. Mendez: Because I see how the -- Vice Chair Hardemon: This -- Ms. Mendez: Right. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- one reading today. Ms. Mendez: I see how the board is going so -- IfI can make a suggestion? Commissioner Carollo: Right. Ms. Mendez: If you would like to do the emergency ordinance separate on the moratorium, my suggestion would be an emergency ordinance of the Miami City Commission establishing a one -month or 30-day, at least till March 30, temporary moratorium on the issuance of parking waiver certificates, pursuant to Section 35-225-228; providing a severability clause and immediate effective date. Commissioner Sarnoff. I -- Ms. Mendez: Then you -- Commissioner Carollo: I will do that. Ms. Mendez: -- would have your other motion for the ordinance with all the tweaks, and changes, and everything you want to do; we bring it back on second reading, March 13 -- Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. City of Miami Page 37 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Ms. Mendez: -- and then that one passes. Commissioner Sarnoff. I want -- Ms. Mendez: That's if you want to do it that way. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Talk to each other. Yes. Commissioner Carollo: We still have an ordinance that we need to discuss. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Ms. Mendez: Now it's the actual ordinance. Commissioner Carollo: Now it's the actual ordinance. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. Ms. Mendez: Right. Commissioner Carollo: And can I suggest maybe doing it after lunch, since we're --? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Because I think this is going to -- it's going to be a lengthy process. I think -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman, that's if we were making changes to it today. I (UNINTELLIGIBLE) changes to the ordinance, and I'm not sure if other Commissioners are as well, but the -- Commissioner Carollo: Absolutely. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- good thing about this one is that this comes up for a second reading. Ms. Mendez: Right. This would -- Vice Chair Hardemon: So -- Ms. Mendez: -- come up for a second reading on March 13. So what would happen would be -- is that we already have some revisions that I could bring back that I know. A trigger of the building permit within a year for -- obviously for the costs to be prospective, everything prospective, and then I believe you might have one more, Commissioner Hardemon, that you were looking at. Oh, for the deposits to be nonrefundable. Commissioner Carollo: I -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Deposits being nonrefundable, one; also, if you read the very last line of this ordinance, it actually states that "such other fees as may be from time to time be authorized by the City Commission as it currently states, but the recommendation is that it is or the Department of Off -Street Parking. I wanted to strike Or the Department of Off -Street Parking." And there's only one other major issue that 1 had within this, and that would have been -- if you look at the composition of the committee, where it gives you seven voting members, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), for instance, is a non -voting member, and it says, "shall appoint two City of Miami Page 38 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 other voting members who shall not require confirmation." What I'd like to do is allow him to be -- the CEO to be the non -voting member, but then because that is within my district and it affects funds that if I'm going to use within my district, I'd like to say that the District 5 Commissioner appoints those two other voting members who shall not require confirmation. Those are my major changes. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Ms. Mendez: Okay. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: There's no need to run through it right now. I mean, I'm going to have changes that I'm going to request, and I would like to have discussions with my colleagues on it for, you know, further changes, so can we just bring this back after -- be the first item after lunch and then -- Chair Gort: Not a problem. Commissioner Carollo: -- you know, discuss more discussion on it? I mean, I'm telling you right now, there's two areas with regards to the City Commission having a strike -over and it being the Department of Off -Street Parking. I don't think the City Commission should relinquish that authority. Right here I'm seeing shall -- Department of Off -Street Parking shall submit annual financial reports to the City Commission on an annual basis. Okay, what's the definition of "annual financial reports"? Is it audited non -audited? So I think there's still a lot of things that we need to discuss, and in all fairness, I don't think that, you know, we should just rush it right before lunch. I think we should have adequate discussion after lunch. Chair Gort: It's up to the majority. Vice Chair Hardemon: Well, no, I have no objection if we're (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Gort: I don't have any problem either. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Move to -- Chair Gort: -- we agree -- Commissioner Carollo: We don't (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Gort: Move to adjourn [sic]; come back at 3. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Well -- Chair Gort: We don't have anything else. Commissioner Carollo: Move to re -- Unidentified Speaker: You have a time certain, don't you, at --? Commissioner Carollo: -- recess. Chair Gort: Recess. Commissioner Carollo: Not adjourn; recess. City of Miami Page 39 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Vice Chair Hardemon: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) come back? Chair Gort: Three. Commissioner Sarnoff. Three? Vice Chair Hardemon: So -- I second it. Mr. Hannon: No worries. Basically, you're just recessing the meeting. This item is simply tabled and we'll come back at 3 o'clock. Later... Chair Gort: FR.1. Francisco, for the sake of those people that going to be watching this time, would you go over the whole process, what we're doing? Mr. Garcia: Happy to do so, sir. Francisco Garcia, Planning and Zoning director. This item is before you as an amendment to the Miami City Code, and it is intended to change some of the provisions in the Design District Parking Improvement Trust Fund. There are basically three items that are being addressed today: First, the boundaries of the Design District. Chair Gort: Right. Mr. Garcia: And to that extent, we're simply reaffirming the boundaries that existed previously, so there is no change being recommended on the boundaries and no change in the language before you today as far as the boundaries go. The second item that is being addressed is the payment for parking spaces, so there is available through this ordinance a waiver system where a property owner or a developer can pay into the trust fund in lieu of providing parking spaces. The rate thus far has been -- Unidentified Speaker: I couldn't understand what you said Mr. Garcia: My apologies. The rate thus far has been $12, 000 per space, and we are proposing that that rate be increased to $35, 000 per space. And lastly, this proposal before you seeks to put in place a board to administer the trust fund, and the composition of the board is also set forth in the ordinance attached. Chair Gort: Right. And this is separate -- design -- this is a different document from the existing Coconut Grove. This is a -- one created specifically for the Design District; two separate things. Mr. Garcia: That is correct. I should add for clarity sake that this particular section of the City Code has existed for approximately 12 years. Chair Gort: Right. Mr. Garcia: So it is always the case that there has been a Parking Improvement Trust Fund in principle for the Design District. It was just never activated Now that there is demand in development, we are seeking to activate that. Chair Gort: Thank you. I just want to make sure we put that on the record. Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, ifI may? Chair Gort: Yes. City of Miami Page 40 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. And just -- I just want to clarify that what's being -- what -- the way this works and the way it was explained to me, I guess initially -- my initial reaction when I saw the difference in the amount was I had a little sticker shock. But what it is, is in lieu of someone providing parking for a certain area. Then what we're saying is as a city, this is what it's going to cost us to basically provide that parking for you, or for the residents, or for the neighbors, and that that cost estimate is based on what you all believe is what it actually cost to actually provide parking. So I just want to -- 'cause it's -- it gives the impression that we're increasing the fee, but that's not what we're doing at all. It's not a fee. What it is, is you either build parking in the -- You know, outside this regulation, you would have no other option. You would have to build the parking if you were to increase the size of the structure. This allows you to do something other than build parking and let the City or the MPA (Miami Parking Authority), or whatever, build the parking for those surrounding areas if they can aggregate land, which is another issue and all those other things. And this money's going to be set aside in a fund, and that fund is going to be managed by a board that's composed of the members of -- as specified in the legislation. So I just wanted to get that clear, 'cause I think it was a little unclear initially. Ms. Grossman: Yes, that's correct. And actually, the cost that's included in -- the $35, 000 amount that's in -- Chair Gort: And you are? Ms. Grossman: Kira Grossman, Miami Parking. Chair Gort: Thank you. Ms. Grossman: The cost that's included in the proposed amendment is actually a little bit lower, and it's exclusive of land values. So the actual cost for building parking these days is between 37 and 45, and then again, that's exclusive of land values. Chair Gort: Okay. We already had a public hearing before, and the public hearing was closed so it's discussion among ourselves. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir, you're recognized. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. How involved has our Finance Department been involved -- been with this? Ms. Grossman: They have not been consulted on this item. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. So, first of all, is there any plans to actually build a parking structure? What will be the cost if there is? How do we know --? Ms. Grossman: As of right now, no, there are no plans in place. Again, there hasn't been development in this area, and so we haven't been receiving funds into this trust fund until recently. Commissioner Carollo: Right. But what's happening is that, you know, I'm afraid that there's like a myth or -- sort of like a promise that we're going to provide some type of parking or alleviate the parking and, as far as some of the merchants, they're paying whatever fee they're paying, and "Hey, we don't have to deal with parking. That's your problem, City." And I'm not seeing that we have a solution, so I'll start by there. And then as far as how we're coming up with some of these figures, I would have liked for our Finance Department to be involved, but City of Miami Page 41 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 anyways, with regards to my first question as far as what are the plans of building a structure, the cost, all that, where are we with that? Mr. Noriega: Okay, so -- Art Noriega, Miami Parking Authority. I'll start by addressing what the plan is. So six, seven years ago we bought a piece of property in the Design District specifically for the purpose of as the district grew, we would have an opportunity to build parking. Ultimately, Craig's project -- Dacra's project grew almost exponentially to what the original plan was. And then we did a joint venture. We put out the land as a sort of public private JV (Joint Venture) so that someone would come in, buy the land, develop a parking garage, which is exactly what's happening. There's a public parking garage being developed by Craig with very specific restrictions as it relates to it, there be a public parking component, of which we will manage. That garage is currently under construction; probably will be finished in the next 14 months. The second piece of that is that as a result of all the growth and, in particular, the limited size of many of the parcels within the district, as property owners came to sort of redevelop the sites and were about to take advantage of this particular ordinance, Dacra came to us and said Look, we're going to have an issue because we're building two garages, three garages right now, and that $12, 500 number that's in the ordinance now is not going to suffice for any future projects. We need to up the amount so that if and when this fund gets funded and has a balance that's big enough for us to build something, we need to make sure that the fee contribution is commensurate with what a real cost is." So we kind of went back and forth with them; then ultimately vetted it to the other adjacent property owners; came up with a $35,000 number. It's a compromise on what Craig's actually paying, 'cause Craig's actually paying about 50,000 a space, but that's a hybrid between underground parking and above -ground parking. The intent is not that the cost contribution totally compensates for the cost of the garage, 'cause, ultimately, you build a garage, you're going to collect -- get revenues on it, so it's not 100 percent buy -off. But the idea is that $35,000 really was a good working number; really suggested after a lot of debate and looking at actual numbers, he was getting real bids at the time, you know, for his -- construction of his parking garages, so that's how we came up with the number. The plan going forward is as we collect money -- we've already been in discussions with some of the other property owners, probably not to build a stand-alone garage, but to buy into a number of garages; in other words, buy a hundred spaces as part of this garage; make them public. And ultimately, we'll accumulate a number of public parking spaces in the district without having to build a single stand-alone garage. I learned a lesson from when we built the Coconut Grove garage, which is when you build a single mass public garage, if you don't place it specifically in the perfect location, it won't be successful. The Grove we built as an interceptor garage; it hasn't worked. So for us, we think that strategically placing the inventory throughout the district -- 50 spaces here, 100 spaces here -- will actually be more useful to the customers and to the visitors of the district. So that's kind of what we're working on now. So we've had -- we're in discussions with a couple of different property owners, but ultimately, I can't get into any very serious conversations until we know this ordinance has passed, we know what the economics look like, so we're in the very preliminary stages of any discussions. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: That's a very long answer, Mr. Noriega, but 1 still don't really have the financial input on how you came up with the 35, 000 per space. And I understand that, yeah, some of these garages may acquire revenues in the future, but at the same time, I haven't even see a Performa, so I don't even know if 35, 000 is enough, if it's too high, if it's too low. I'm concerned about as -- like you stated, you know, Mr. Robbins was here. He set up with a 30,000 -- 30 percent down. I don't know if that's enough. How does that play into this whole financial scheme? Because in all fairness, you don't have all the money upfront either, and so it -- you know, it's really, I feel, needs some financial substance behind it, in order for me to comprehend City of Miami Page 42 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 how you're coming up with these numbers, and it's not just -- And by the way, I really do believe that you are working in good faith. I think that, you know, it was compromised, but I really want to know, you know, what was the financial knowledge, because what's going to happen is two or three years down the line, you know, "Oh, Commissioner, you know, this is what we expected at the time. However, the" -- you know, "this is what has occurred" blah, blah, blah, and this and that, and realistically, I want to know who's done their due diligence at least financially. Mr. Noriega: I'm happy to provide you the numbers that we discussed with Craig. Obviously, we haven't done any proformas in part because we don't have any physical actual projects as of yet. But I'm happy to show you the numbers in terms of cost so that you can get a basis for what an actual parking above grade structural cost there, based on the real numbers in terms of the parking that's being developed there now so you can have a sense of -- The cost -- the $35, 000 really wasn't a number we pulled out of thin air. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. And again, I want to make sure that the issue -- the real issue in hands, which is, are we going to have enough parking spaces in that area so we don't burden everybody, from the merchants to potential customers to the residents? It's really up in the air. And, yeah, we're collecting X'amount of money that is not enough to really do anything, and we have a big issue on our hands, and all of a sudden, no one's going to look at Parking Authority, no one's going to look at Craig Robbins. Everyone's going to look at this City Commission, and then they're going to be pointing, "Well, Commissioner, you passed this ordinance back then, and supposedly, that was going to alleviate the problem" and blah, blah, blah. So I want to make sure that, you know, it's financially sound. So that's my first problem I have with this. And the concept, I'm not against the concept. I just think that, you know, a lot more needs to be done. That aside, the other issue I have is once you actually start obtaining the funds, it stipulates here what you want to do is that funds deposited in the trust shall be made available to Department of Off -Street Parking for the purpose set forth in Section 35-225 and for administrative expenses. Right away, administrative expenses -- I know you have some administrative expenses, but I'm a little cautious with that, 'cause I don't want administrative expenses to be -- I don't know -- going to a gala or something like that, but anyways. And then it says, "After review and recommendation by the committee to" -- it used to say "City Commission"; now it's "Department of Off -Street Parking." I think it should maintain "the City Commission." and "approval by the City Commission, " again, instead of the strike -through and "Department of Off -Street Parking." I think it -- both of those should maintain "the City Commission." I think the City Commission should always have a say, and I don't know how my colleagues feel about that, but -- You know, if Commissioner Sarnoff was here, I know on -- at least one occasion that I know, he didn't want to relinquish any power on a nomination on a board, so I definitely don't think that he would want to, and I don't want to put words into his mouth, but I can tell you this, I'm not comfortable relinquishing, you know, from City Commission to Department of Off -Street Parking. Mr. Noriega: All right, so let me address that. So that suggestion actually wasn't made by me, so that was made as part of the feedback we got in meeting with some of the property owners. Quite honestly, the less I do here, the better. So let me give you a little bit of historical context to that. We used to manage the Coconut Grove Parking Trust Fund. We managed it for a long time. I tried probably for a good three or four years to create a structure -- infrastructure there where I could pass on that responsibility because I felt for us, it was just out of the scope of what we should be doing on a regular basis; not my core of business. Ultimately, we created the BID (Business Improvement District), which I was a big proponent of and helped do, and then as immediately we created the BID, I passed all of that responsibility on to them. I felt it was important that the people in Coconut Grove, more particularly, control their own destinies as relates to how the money was spent. It's the whole reason why this was created that way. I'm happy to relinquish any oversight in terms of the Parking Authority and/or even the financial management of it. Ultimately, I think, as we did in the Grove, we're transitioning, so there's a stage here where there'll be -- this will be an advisory group. I think, ultimately, it ought to City of Miami Page 43 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 eventually become probably a business improvement district, something along those lines, with a little more teeth and a little more of a mission as opposed to just parking. You're also going to note in there there's a lot of flexibility built into how the money's spent. I mean, it's not just parking. We just copied and mirrored the Coconut Grove plan. Ultimately, that can be structured any way you want. Coconut Grove started off the only thing you could spend money on was parking garages. Over time, as the -- as Coconut Grove changed, and things evolver, they modified it; they wanted to spend money on sidewalk improvements, on landscaping, on lighting, I mean, so we built some flexibility into it. Marketing. But look, I don't -- I'm not driving the train here. I want the Design District property owners to drive the train. So for me, I'm -- the idea here is we're weaved into this because we had to be, in terms of the structure and the initial setup. I don't have any real strong desire to be the -- do the lion's share of the work. That's not what we do and that's not my core business, so -- Commissioner Carollo: And by the way, Mr. Noriega -- and let me be perfectly clear -- this has nothing to do with the Department of Off -Street Parking. This is just check and balance. Mr. Noriega: No, and I agree. The same conversation I had -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. Mr. Noriega: -- with Commissioner Hardemon that, you know, there's a reference in there to our appointing two Commissioner -- or two appointees, and I -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. Mr. Noriega: -- and he specifically referenced in a meeting before that he'd like his office to appoint them. I say, I absolutely agree. The whole reason for that setup was to create a check and balance, because I didn't want that advisory committee to be so slanted -- no offense to Craig and Dacra -- to Dacra's best interest since they are the lion's share property owner in the district. I wanted there to be some balance, so that's why we did that. I'm happy that he wants to take on that responsibility, because I think he should. I think the district Commissioner should have a say in terms of the stakeholders there. Commissioner Carollo: Absolutely. As a matter of fact, if I count my numbers correct, the business owners will have four potential votes and the City will have three so -- right? If I do my counting correct. But anyways, that's another issue. But my point is I want some checks and balances. I want to be able -- you know, the City Commission to have oversight on the budget, on exactly the administrative expenses and, you know, the recommendations by the committee, and I think we really should. It shouldn't just be everything Department of Off -Street Parking. So I really believe that we should not strike over "the City Commission" and put it in "the Department of Off -Street Parking." The other thing would be with regards to the financial reports. You know, I want it to be a little bit more specific on the financial reports that you were going to provide to the City Commission. You know, we could discuss a little bit about that. I don't know if it needs to be, you know, audited financial statements or -- but at the very least, you know, agreed -upon procedures or so forth, but I would want to discuss it with the City's Finance Department to see what's an acceptable, you know, financial report and have more definition, because financial reports could be anything. Mr. Noriega: Yeah, I think the idea there was to just make it clear that there was an intent to produce financial reports. The specifics of those really are all going to be dependent on structure, governance, and how -- if it's just strictly collecting parking waiver fees and really writing one or two checks a year, at least initially, then, you know, the reporting process may be quarterly. If it gets way more robust than that, then maybe you want to handle -- do a monthly financial statement; it just depends. And I'm happy to take any suggestions, any specific direction you may feel would be appropriate there. I don't -- we don't have any predetermined -- City of Miami Page 44 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Carollo: And that would probably happen between first and second reading. Again, the financials are important. I'm not sure if this 30 percent down is a good amount. I'm not even sure if the 35,000 is a solid amount. So I have a lot of reservations with that. I guess to a lesser degree is the committee appointments. And I'll be honest with you, I haven't really analyzed it to a degree where I could make a recommendation. I have no problem with District 5 confirming your two appointments, your two voting appointments. But again, I think, more than anything, I'm concerned about, you know, the whole financial structure, not really having any substantial numbers to be able to substantiate -- Mr. Noriega: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: -- why these amounts. Mr. Noriega: Sure. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, ifI may? Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I -- my understanding of this issue was that, pretty much, all the stakeholders came together, the large one and the several smaller ones, and came up with this collaboratively. And this is, in essence, for their benefit, because, obviously, the people that come and frequent their establishments need to park their cars. And if they're not able to find parking, as with any business district, whether it's South Beach, you know, Coconut Grove, wherever, they're not going to go shopping there. So it's in their best interest to figure out and not either cut themselves short -- you know, undercut themselves or not really plan adequately for the possibility of there being a parking shortage. What does concern me more is what happened earlier with where we had a gold rush, you know, obviously, of people that were applying under the old amount because, you know -- and I don't want to rehash that discussion. The discussion was had, and I think the Commission took action on it. So for me, this is -- this seems to me a com -- to be a compromise between, you know, all the stakeholders and -- I have a lot of faith in the private sector. The private sector usually is the most efficient --„ certainly much more than the public sector in my experience -- at fashioning resolutions for their own benefit, particularly when they're the ones that are stroking the checks at the end of the day. So that's my -- that's kind of my rational for this. You know, I'm open to whatever suggestions either the Commissioners have to make this stronger, and I'll look forward to them on second reading. Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: And Mr. Chairman, real quick. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: And again, I want to, you know, make sure that stipulate what stated before. I mean, I'm okay with the concept, but some of these specifics -- what's it called? The devil's into details? Some of these specifics is whatl want to make sure that, you know, we're clear on. Thank you. Chair Gort: My -- you want to speak? Vice Chair Hardemon: Yes. Madam Attorney, just for some clarification. I know we didn't officially move any items for changes to this ordinance just yet. City of Miami Page 45 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Chair Gort: Right. Vice Chair Hardemon: So -- Chair Gort: We haven't made a motion. Vice Chair Hardemon: No one made a motion, right. So would the recommendations that most of us have had, are you requiring that we move specifically what we want included or are we just going to make some changes and then have it come up for second reading? Ms. Mendez: Well, if -- I believe that the changes that you described this morning, I don't think any one of the Commissioners had issue with it, so I could incorporate those. Then based on the ones that Commissioner Carollo has advised, we would incorporate those, unless there's objection, and then that's when we would have to then vote on certain things differently. Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay. Chair Gort: Okay. If I may? Are you finished, before you make a motion? Okay. Vice Chair Hardemon: No, I'm not moving anything just yet. So then you would have captured all the language that we discussed about before. The only thing that I did not discuss earlier, or two things, and it may seem simple, but sometimes simple things cause big problems. Under 35-225(d), where we list out the structure of the committee, for 3 and 4, I'm asking that you add the word {vho'after "voting members, " where it says like, "two voting members who shall be"; and then on 4, "two voting members who shall be," because I don't want us to get in a situation where we can -- the composition can be changed just because two members are property owners and they may be taken from some other appointments. Let's say, for instance, if this is changed to be -- I get two appointments and then you look at number 3 and it says, "Two voting members shall be property owners, " yada yada yada. I just want to make it clear, that's all. So just the word {oho. "And then, also, I wanted to clarify what the quorum will be of this committee. I know that the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) would have the permission to add other members to the committee who are not voting members, but I want to just add some type of language that says that a quorum is a majority of the voting members there. That's all that I have. Ms. Mendez: I can -- Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Mendez: -- add that. Chair Gort: Go ahead. Ms. Mendez: That's fine. Chair Gort: Okay. Let me ask a question to see ifI could simplify this. So my understanding, the reason DOSP (Department of Off -Street Parking) got involved, 'cause she experienced in parking, you created the Coconut Grove system, but in reality, you really -- and I had -- you had that land you had bought long time ago. You using that as a leverage to get some additional parking. You are not going to build a parking alone. What you're doing is you're buying parking spaces from existing facility that going to be built or they already built. I don't know if they're going to be built, they already built from the people in the private sector, they're doing their own parking lot, and what we're doing is we're going to have to sign agreements with those individuals and -- Mr. Noriega: That's the goal. The goal is -- and we'll probably end up doing something similar City of Miami Page 46 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 in Wjmwood, as well. Ultimately, the cost of land now, as a result of Dacra's project, has made it a better financial model that we invest in either future or existing projects and joint venture with the private sector. Chair Gort: This is a -- Mr. Noriega: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Wjmwood. Chair Gort: -- great experience, 'cause hopefully, we be able to have to do this in many other places -- Mr. Noriega: Sure. Chair Gort: -- throughout the City of Miami. Mr. Noriega: Correct. Chair Gort: But my understanding is, once this is put together and we have our lawyers, whoever is going to work on the contracts, to make sure that the people that cannot fail on their contract to -- providing to the public those parking spaces. Mr. Noriega: Correct. Chair Gort: That's going to be a document. I'm not involved in that, so that's a -- documents have to be guaranteed. Mr. Noriega: Sure. Chair Gort: And I guess it might be a covenant that has to run with the land for that reason. Mr. Noriega: Sure. Chair Gort: Second of all, once you get that accomplished and you get -- you have that committee, then DOSP responsibility's none. Mr. Noriega: No. The committee's going to draw -- the committee and the City Commission will be all -- will be the -- 100 percent of the decision -making process. The only thing we're going to do is really collect money and produce a set of financials and -- Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Noriega: -- consult basically. Chair Gort: The collections under this is going to be done by DOSP? Mr. Noriega: Yeah. We collect -- we're collecting the money now. Chair Gort: Okay. And -- Mr. Noriega: We're collecting the money, and we're signing the financing mechanism in terms of the note. We're recording the document, 'cause it has to be recorded as part of the -- in addition of the property, so there's a recorded document that goes -- Chair Gort: Does DOSP has any liability with the debt service or responsibility to the debt service? City of Miami Page 47 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Mr. Noriega: There is no debt service in place now, and there probably won't be any debt service -- Chair Gort: Won't be any -- Mr. Noriega: -- hopefully, but you never know. Chair Gort: Okay. So it won't be -- DOSP will not be responsible for any debt service or any bond issues so -- Mr. Noriega: We may in the future issue bonds and use this money as pledge towards it, yeah. Chair Gort: Right. Mr. Noriega: So it's a very mitigated -- Chair Gort: So you might be -- Mr. Noriega: -- liability or risk. Chair Gort: Then DOSP might have to come back and get involved. Mr. Noriega: Oh, certainly, yeah. I mean, if we want to borrow money, obviously, City Commission approves that, so. Chair Gort: Okay, all right. Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: And Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: That process, as far as them obtaining the funds and when they could use it and so forth, that's why I want City Commission oversight on before they actually use that and, you know, there's a recommendation by the committee. However, that recommendation comes to the City Commission for approval and then they have access to it, so -- and I don't know ifI need to specify exactly where it stipulates City Commission and -- for the record, to make sure that these two items are changed from Department of Off -Street Parking or DOSP Board to City Commission, but I really believe that there should be a check and balance, as simple as that. Chair Gort: Okay. I need a motion; and then, once we have a motion, then we can make all the amendments that we believe is necessary. Vice Chairman. Commissioner Carollo: I will make a motion. However, I will need guidance from the City Attorney with regards -- unless you want to make the motion, Commissioner Hardemon. But I don't mind making a motion, but I will need guidance from the City Attorney in order to incorporate all the different amendments that, you know, we are anticipating or that we have discussed not only now, but in the earlier part of the morning with regards to this ordinance. Vice Chair Hardemon: So I will move then. I move that we approve FR.1 -- I move that we pass FR.1 to include though all of the discussion that we collectively had as a Commission, which was not objected to by any members of the Commission -- Commissioner Suarez: Second. City of Miami Page 48 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Vice Chair Hardemon: -- so that we can address the issue on second reading with all the proposed changes included. Chair Gort: It should be incorporated in the second reading. Do you have them all? Ms. Mendez: Yes. Remember that what we do is that we listen to the FTR (For The Record), and we listen to everything you've said all over again, and we write everything down. Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Mendez: And since it's first -- it's between first and second reading, we'll be able to capture everything by second reading. If this was the final reading, I'd say let's go through and reiterate everything. Commissioner Carollo: Understood Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved and it's been second by Commissioner Suarez and -- Commissioner Suarez: Yes. Chair Gort: I'd just like to make this statement, like I stated before, I think this is a great project. It's to the benefit of everyone. We all want to do it, so let's sit down and work together as a team. It's a ordinance. Mr. Hannon: Madam City Attorney. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Mr. Hannon: Roll call on item FR.1. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, as amended, 4-0. Chair Gort: Thank you. FR.2 ORDINANCE 14-00074 First Reading District 1- AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER Commissioner 37 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, Wifredo (Willy) Gort ENTITLED "OFFENSES -MISCELLANEOUS", MORE PARTICULARLY BY ADDING A NEW SECTION TO PROHIBIT THE SALE, BARTER, PROVIDING DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, GIFTING, MAKE AVAILABLE FOR USE OR POSSESSION, OR FURNISHING OF NICOTINE VAPORIZERS AND LIQUID NICOTINE TO PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN (18); MOROEVER, MAKING THE POSSESSION OF THESE NICOTINE VAPORIZERS AND LIQUID NICOTINE ILLEGAL FOR PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN (18); PROVIDING DEFINITIONS FOR "NICOTINE VAPORIZER," AND "LIQUID NICOTINE"; PROVIDING FOR PENALTIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. City of Miami Page 49 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 14-00074 FR/SR Letter - Nat'l Assoc. of Attorneys Gen..pdf 14-00074 FR/SR CDCArticle.pdf 14-00074 Legislation SR (Version 2).pdf 14-00074-Submittal-Law Department.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be PASSED ON FIRST READING WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon Chair Gort: FR.1. No, this is going to be a time certain at 11 o'clock. FR.2, this is something that I brought up. I think we all been reading quite a bit about this. Could you go through it, Victoria? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Yes. This item has to do with taking -- with regulating the vapor -- nicotine vaporizers. They have been falling in the hands of the youth and people under the age of 18. Unfortunately, the State right now is not regulating these items with regard to minors as much as it should, so the City is being proactive in order to be able to make sure that these types of instruments are not gifted, given, or provided, or sold to minors. There's also going to be an accompanying RE (Resolution) item that we will discuss also, urging the State Legislature to prompt action to create legislation or to support legislation that's already in the process at the legislative level to also control these type of instruments. Chair Gort: Thankyou. This is a public hearing. Is anyone would like to address this issue? Showing none, being none, close the public hearings [sic]. Yes. Nancy Maidique: Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here. I thank you for your time. My name is Nancy Maidique, and I share the Tobacco -Free Work Group of the Consortium for a Healthier Miami -Dade. I would like to thank the Department of Health for being here today in support of this issue. I represent Students Working Against Tobacco and hundreds of our community partners from varied organizations and sectors throughout our county. Our goal is to create a healthier community, and your decision to ban the sale of e-cigarettes (electronic) to minors will help us achieve this. We'd like to thank you collectively for acknowledging the dangers involved with the use of tobacco nicotine products, and taking action to protect the health of our children and our community. Commissioner Gort, we applaud you for your leadership, and for taking a stand, and for doing the right thing. Thankyou. The U.S. (United States) Surgeon General spoke at the Whitehouse a few months ago regarding tobacco and said that enough was enough. It is time to create a smoke -free generation. Our children can live healthier lives without a deadly addiction to tobacco nicotine products. Tobacco companies are targeting our children with flavored tobacco products, including the e-cigarettes. There are internal documents from the major tobacco companies stating that flavors need to be added to their products in order to lure children, because they are the replacement smokers. What this means is that they are meant to replace the adults who are dying from using their products. Every day there are increasing numbers of children smoking e-cigarettes. These products are dangerous, and they are not regulated. There have even been incidents of these products blowing up in the mouth of the user and knocking out the front teeth. In one incident, a child ingested the liquid nicotine and was accidentally poisoned As if this were not bad enough, the advertisers who promote the use of these e-cigarettes, they're promoting them in places where smoking is currently not allowed. Institutions throughout our community have had to frantically revise their policies in order to prohibit the use of these e-cigarettes. This is a problem that affects us all. You don't have to pick up a tobacco product in order to die from it. Last year, over 60,000 people died from secondhand smoke without ever having picked up a cigarette. They died just from breathing in the deadly particles that someone else released into the air. This is why your decision to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors is so important and so appreciated. It will not only benefit us locally, but it will also contribute to the national goal of a future smoke free generation. We thank you wholeheartedly for taking the necessary steps in creating a safer, stronger, and healthier community. Thank you. City of Miami Page 50 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Chair Gort: Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else? We'll close the public hearing. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Chair Gort: Any discussion? Yes, sir. Vice Chair Hardemon: I commend you on bringing forth this legislation, and I wanted to see if I can add something to it. I know this is a first reading, but I want the Commission to be aware of what my intentions are, and Madam Attorney, I thought that the bill was very, very good but I wanted to add where you have the restrictions for selling the product that to also add "make available for use"; it would be illegal to make available -- make that product available for the use, for bartering, or to actually give and add the caveat "directly or indirectly" to children. So you can add that language in there so you know where I'm coming from. And then also, it would be nice to be able to add that -- and this is up for discussion at any time -- but it is unlawful for a minor to purchase or possess nicotine vaporizers and liquid nicotine, because we don't want -- the problem is that once it's sold, then with them having it, we don't want them to have it to create the habit, to become addicted to nicotine and things of that nature. And then it is unlawful to misrepresent one's age to purchase the nicotine vaporizers or liquid nicotine. Chair Gort: Let's take that in consideration for the second reading. Ms. Mendez: We'll make those changes. Chair Gort: Okay, any further discussion? Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: First of all, I'd like to commend you. I was not aware that children or teenagers under -- you know, 18 or under could actually purchase this, so I think that this is great legislation; I commend you. And I think in the near future, I would like to open up a discussion also with regards to smoke free areas at least within City buildings, if these are also prohibited, and we may have to make some type of legislation with regards to any smoke free buildings in the City of Miami to have these also prohibited. Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay, any further discussion? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Mendez: With regard to the -- any changes in the APM (Administrative Policy Manual), you mean that we might need to do, yes, we'll follow up that also with the Manager's office. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Madam City Attorney. Chair Gort: Okay, no further discussion? It's a ordinance, first reading. Ms. Mendez: An ord -- Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair -- I'm sorry to interrupt -- I need a motion. Commissioner Suarez: I moved it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Mr. Hannon: My apologies. City of Miami Page 51 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved by Commissioner Suarez; second by Commissioner Carollo. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Ms. Mendez: Also, as modified on the record. Mr. Hannon: Roll call on item FR.2. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, as modified, 5-0. Chair Gort: Can we do "R" -- Ms. Mendez: Mr. Clerk. Chair Gort: Yes. RE.6. Ms. Mendez: Before we talk about RE. 6, I just wanted to ask a question. This item, when would you like it to come for second reading? I thought that it might be -- do you want the same like meeting or -- which would be the -- March 13? Mr. Hannon: Yes, the first meeting in March is March 13. Chair Gort: Can it be on the 27? Ms. Mendez: We can. It would just be -- we would have to draft it for -- if you give me one moment. It can. Chair Gort: If it could be for the March 27, fine; if not, we'll go to the next Commission meeting. Ms. Mendez: Okay, we will try and get it on the 27th. We just have to see about the advertising time line and -- Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I understand. Ms. Mendez: Okay. Chair Gort: Yes. Okay. Ms. Mendez: Thank you. END OF ORDINANCES - FIRST READING RESOLUTIONS RE.1 RESOLUTION 14-00005 Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Facilities ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A LEASE AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FOR THE USE OF APPROXIMATELY 4,810.60 SQUARE FEET OF OFFICE SPACE City of Miami Page 52 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 IN THE MANUELARTIME COMMUNITY CENTER LOCATED AT970 SOUTHWEST 1ST STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, FORA MONTHLY RENT AMOUNT OF SIX THOUSAND THIRTEEN DOLLARS AND 25/100 ($6,013.25), OR $15.00 PER SQUARE FOOT, PLUS STATE OF FLORIDA USE TAX (IF APPLICABLE); PROVIDING FOR AN INITIAL TERM TO COMMENCE ON THE EFFECTIVE DATE AND END ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2018, WITH THE OPTION TO RENEW FOR TWO (2) FIVE-YEAR TERMS, WITH ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS MORE SPECIFICALLY SET FORTH IN SAID LEASE AGREEMENT. 14-00005 Summary Form.pdf 14-00005-Pre-Legislation-SU B. pdf 14-00005 Back-up from Law Dept.pdf 14-00005 Legislation.pdf 14-00005 Exhibit.pdf Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0044 Chair Gort: RE.1. Henry Torre: Morning, Commissioners. Henry Torre, director of Public Facilities. RE.1 is a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute a lease agreement between the City of Miami and Miami -Dade County for the use of approximately 4,800 square feet of office space in the Manuel Artime Center located at 970 Southwest 1st Street for a monthly amount -- for a monthly rent amount of $6, 013, to commence on the effective date, and end on September 30, 2018. I do have a substitution item for some of the backup. I am substituting Resolution R-08-0700 with R-08-0070. I'll give that to the Clerk's Office. Chair Gort: Thankyou. Any questions, discussion, motion? Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Carollo. Is there a second? Commissioner Sarnoff. Second Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Sarnoff any discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mr. Torre: Thank you. Chair Gort: Thankyou. RE.2 RESOLUTION 14-00050 Department of Public A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Works ATTACHMENT(S), CLOSING, VACATING AND ABANDONING FOR USE A PUBLIC SERVICE EASEMENT LOCATED BETWEEN NORTHEAST 77TH City of Miami Page 53 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 STREET AND THE LITTLE RIVER APPROXIMATELY 155 FEET WEST OF AND PARALLEL TO THE CENTERLINE OF BISCAYNE BOULEVARD WITHIN THE PRIVATE PROPERTYAT7700 BISCAYNE BOULEVARD, MIAMI, FLORIDA. 14-00050 Summary Form.pdf 14-00050 Letter - Ventura 26, LLC.pdf 14-00050 Back-Up.pdf 14-00050 Legislation.pdf 14-00050 Exhibit.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez RE.3 14-00004 Department of Capital Improvements Program R-14-0043 Chair Gort: RE.2. Nzeribe Ihekwaba: Good morning. Zerty Ihekwaba, Public Works director. RE.2 is a resolution to declare an existing public services easement between private property located at 7700 Biscayne Boulevard to be abandoned and deemed closed and vacated. Chair Gort: Okay, it's -- Motion? Commissioner Sarnoff. So move. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Carollo; any 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 EXECUTE AN INTERLOCALAGREEMENT WITH MIAMI-DADE COUNTY TRANSIT ("COUNTY"), IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, FOR THE OVERTOWN GREENWAYAT NW 11TH TERRACE PROJECT, B-30624 ("PROJECT"); FURTHER GRANTING AND CONVEYING THE CITY OF MIAMI A NON-EXCLUSIVE PERMIT TO ENTER AND REMAIN ON THE COUNTY'S PROPERTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PERFORMING THE SCOPE OF WORK, AND PROVIDING THAT THE COUNTY MAINTAIN THE PROJECT. 14-00004 - Summary Form.pdf 14-00004 - Back-up from Law Dept..pdf 14-00004 - Legislation.pdf 14-00004 - Exhibit.pdf Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. City of Miami Page 54 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-1 4-0045 Chair Gort: RE.3. Mark Spanioli: Good morning, Commissioners. Mark Spanioli, director of Capital Improvements & Transportation. RE.3 is an interlocal agreement with Miami -Dade County Transit. This is for the Overtown Greenway Project. This will provide us access to do construction activities within their property, and for them to maintain the improvements in perpetuity. Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Hardemon: I have a question. Chair Gort: Is there a motion? Vice Chair Hardemon: Not a motion; I had a question before you move. I know that in the legislation and it's a part of the backup, it says that we, the City of Miami, will have no -- we will not have to expend any funds to upkeep that area. But from what I read, there's part of the area that is County -owned and then there's part that is City -owned. Mr. Spanioli: That's correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: So is what you're telling me and this Commission that the part that is City -owned would also be maintained by the County? Mr. Spanioli: No. The City -owned property will be maintained by the City of Miami. Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay. Mr. Spanioli: This agreement strictly pertains to the County property, the County right-of-way portion. Vice Chair Hardemon: And so the funding -- I know that in the legislation it said that it was partially funded by FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation). Mr. Spanioli: That's correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: So the rest of the funding, where is that coming from? Mr. Spanioli: That came from City of Miami funds. A portion of it was from street funds that were allocated to District 5, as well as some Transit half -cent surtax funds. Vice Chair Hardemon: So would those funds -- Mr. Spanioli: This was -- it was matching funds for the grant that we received from FDOT. Vice Chair Hardemon: So those funds are already earmarked and --? Mr. Spanioli: Correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: They're already allocated also? City of Miami Page 55 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 RE.4 14-00013 Department of Capital Improvements Program Mr. Spanioli: Yes, that's correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay, no further questions. So move. Chair Gort: Okay, been moved by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Is there a second? Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Carollo; any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: RE.4. Mr. Spanioli: Good morning again, Commissioners. Mark Spanioli, director of Capital Improvements & Transportation. RE.4 is a resolution to authorize an increase to the contract -- Commissioner Carollo: I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Hardemon: To table. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: I requested to table this item. Chair Gort: Right, okay. Commissioner Carollo: Can we table it to the afternoon or --? Chair Gort: Sure, bring it back this afternoon. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Chair Gort: RE.5. Mr. Spanioli: Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: RE.5 is withdrawn. I think we're in RE (Resolution) -- Chair Gort: RE.5 was -- Commissioner Carollo: I think we're probably in the BCs (Boards and Committees). Chair Gort: RE. 6 we took; RE. 7, we placed. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING AN ADDITIONAL OWNER CONTINGENCY ALLOWANCE TO ABC CONSTRUCTION, INC., FOR THE CORAL WAY COMMUNITY CENTER-CDBG PROJECT, B-30365E, FOR OWNER REQUESTED CHANGE ORDERS TO COVER WORK THAT WAS NOTA PART OF THE ORIGINAL SCOPE, WHICH EXCEEDED THE ORIGINAL TEN PERCENT (10%) City of Miami Page 56 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 CONTINGENCY, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $60,000.00, THEREBY INCREASING THE AWARD VALUE FROM $602,800.00, TO A TOTAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED OF $662,800.00; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM SPECIAL REVENUE PROJECT NO. 91-02994, FOR SAID INCREASE. 14-00013 Summary Form.pdf 14-00013 Pre-Legislation.pdf 14-00013 Back-up - Bid Proposal.pdf 14-00013 Back-up from Law Dept..pdf 14-00013 Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff R-1 4-0047 Chair Gort: RE.4. Commissioner Suarez: Are you ready for that? Chair Gort: RE.4. Mark Spanioli: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Mark Spanioli, director of Capital Improvements & Transportation. RE.4 is a resolution to authorize an additional owner contingency allowance to ABC Construction for the Coral Way Community Center, in an amount not to exceed of $60, 000. Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Carollo, second by Commissioner Suarez. My understanding, we have a Mr. Alberto Machedo who wants to speak on this issue. Yes, sir, you're recognized. You're going to speak on this issue. Albert Machedo: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) item? Chair Gort: RE.4, right. Yes. Mr. Macehdo: Sir, my name is Alberto -- Chair Gort: Lower the mike for him, please. Mr. Machedo: -- Irvin Machedo. I'm United States citizen. I live in Miami Beach, and I know the County has to do with Hialeah, Miami, and Miami Beach. That's correct? Chair Gort: We're not the County; we're the City of Miami. Mr. Machedo: City of Miami. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Machedo: Of course. City of Miami Page 57 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 RE.5 13-01450 Department of Capital Improvements Program Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Machedo: But the City of Miami is wrong, and the County have to do with that. And the reason is that -- I have prepared some suggestions, but I was informed that it was not in the agenda. Since it's not in the agenda, I won't be able to talk to -- about that, but in the next meeting, I will come prepared for that. So I only say a suggestion on Bayside in front of the Christopher Colon is a park full of spines [sic], flowers terrible for kids; very dangerous. If you people could do something about it. It's -- Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Machedo: -- in the back of Bayside, on the right when you going to go up the galleon on the right-hand side. It's Christopher Columbus statue, and it's full of spine [sic] and thorns; if that could be removed and put nice flowers in there, and that's it. I don't want to take more of your time. Chair Gort: Okay. Mr. Machedo: And thank you so much. Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Any other district issues? Commissioner Carollo: We have to take the vote. Commissioner Suarez: The vote. Chair Gort: Oh, we didn't take the vote, sorry. My Apologies. It's a resolution. All in favor, state it by saying aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mr. Spanioli: Thank you. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING THE BID RECEIVED JUNE 20, 2013, PURSUANT TO INVITATION TO BID ("ITB") NO. 12-13-028, FROM DIPOMPEO CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, THE LOWEST RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE BIDDER, FOR THE HADLEY PARK YOUTH CENTER PROJECT, IN THE AMOUNT OF $6,535,777.60, WHICH INCLUDES $5,347,000.00 FOR THE SCOPE OF WORK, $510,000.00 FOR SELECTED ADD ALTERNATE ITEMS, AND AN ALLOWANCE OF $104,616.00 FOR PERMIT FEES, PLUS A TEN PERCENT (10%) OWNER CONTINGENCY AMOUNT OF $594,161.60, FORA TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED AWARD VALUE OF $6,535,777.60; ALLOCATING FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $6,535,777.60, FROM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT NOS. B-35883AAND B-35883AS, SUBJECT TO BUDGETARY APPROVAL; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, CONSISTING OF THE ITB DOCUMENTS AND ATTACHMENTS, FOR SAID PURPOSE. City of Miami Page 58 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 13-01450 Summary Form.pdf 13-01450 Legislation.pdf 13-01450 Exhibit 1.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be WITHDRAWN PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez RE.6 14-00075 District 1 - Commissioner Wifredo (Willy) Gort RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION URGING GOVERNOR RICK SCOTTAND THE MEMBERS OF THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO SUPPORT HOUSE BILL 153 AND SENATE BILL 224 EXTENDING THE CURRENT PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO TOBACCO PRODUCTS FOR PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN, BY PROHIBITING THE SALE, GIFTING, POSSESSION OR USE OF NICOTINE VAPORIZERS AND LIQUID NICOTINE DISPENSING DEVICES, INCLUDING ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES, TO AND BY PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN, AS STATED HEREIN; DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMITA COPY OF THIS RESOLUTION TO THE OFFICIALS DESIGNATED HEREIN. 14-00075 FL HB 153.pdf 14-00075 FL SB 224.pdf 14-00075 Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon R-14-0042 Chair Gort: RE.6 is companion, urging the Governor. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved and second; discussion. Will you read it, Commission --? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Yes, I can read it for the record. The Resolution was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Chair Gort: Thank you. You're recognized, Vice Chairman. Vice Chair Hardemon: Yes. I'm asking for a friendly amendment to modify this legislation, also, to reflect the changes we made in FR.2. Commissioner Carollo: Accept. Commissioner Suarez: Accept. City of Miami Page 59 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 RE.7 14-00095 Department of Capital Improvements Program Chair Gort: Maker of the motion accept; seconder of the motion accepts the amendment also. 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), AMENDING THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS APPROPRIATIONS RESOLUTION NO. 14-0035, ADOPTED JANUARY 23, 2014, AND REVISING CURRENT APPROPRIATIONS AMONG APPROVED PROJECTS; FURTHER APPROPRIATING FUNDING FOR THE ADDED PROJECTS. 14-00095 Summary Form.pdf 14-00095 Legislation.pdf 14-00095 Exhibit.pdf 14-00095-Submittal-Assistant City Manager Alice Bravo.pdf 14-00095-Submittal-Admi nistration.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon R-14-0046 Chair Gort: RE.7. Commissioner Carollo: Are we going back to RE.1 ? Chair Gort: No. The reason we're taking RE.7, I understand we have some individuals from the County here, and we want to send them back to work. Mark Spanioli: Good morning, Commissioners. Mark Spanioli, director of Capital Improvements & Transportation. RE.7 is our capital appropriations item. We -- if you have any questions, we're happy to go through it. Chair Gort: You're recognized, Vice Chairman. Vice Chair Hardemon: Hello. Alice Bravo: Alice Bravo, Assistant City Manager. As part of this appropriation item, we're moving funds to the environmental remediation of our parks, and we have received correspondence from Miami -Dade County that for at least four of our parks, the contamination that is found there is eligible for reimbursement through their utility service fee fund. So we'll be working with the County as far as the timing of the reimbursement of the eligible cost, and I do have a representative from Miami -Dade Solid Waste Department, Paul Mauriello, in case anyone has questions for him about the reimbursement. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff.. Ms. Bravo, could I see the letters? City of Miami Page 60 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Ms. Bravo: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, when Commissioner Sarnoff yields the floor, could I --? Ms. Bravo: What I've handed out includes a table that gives the status of the parks that are currently under assessment, and we're working on the remediation. Followed by that was a letter where the County asked us to look at the remediation and review all of our parks. And after that is a letterhead from Arcadis, and that is the County's bond counsel reviewing these activities for eligibility and reimbursement. Chair Gort: This the first time I've seen this. I don't know if you guys -- Vice Chair Hardemon: This the first time also. Commissioner Sarnoff. And Mr. Chair? Chair Gort: Yes, sir, you're recognized. Commissioner Sarnoff. Is this the basis for your confidence that we would be reimbursed for the cost of testing, creation of the plan and then for remediation of the respective parks? Ms. Bravo: Correct. As you know, last year, we approved two agreements with the County; one for an interlocal on all solid waste collections; and a second one was for the remediation of the landfill on Virginia Key, and that has an upper limit of $45 million. And in that agreement, it contains a clause that if the funds are not completely spent on that project, then the remaining funds would be available for other City of Miami projects that are eligible for that funding source. And so that's what this letter confirms. And right now, in our conversations with the County and their initial assessments of that landfill, the costs do seem to come in significantly lower than originally estimated Commissioner Sarnoff. So is it all right to enter into the colloquy, Mr. Chair? Chair Gort: I beg your pardon? Commissioner Sarnoff. Can I continue the --? Chair Gort: Sure, go ahead I mean, I think we're going to -- all going to have a lot of questions. Commissioner Sarnoff. So let me understand. This letter to you indicates that this is going to be that funding source for Virginia Key contamination? Ms. Bravo: Right. Well, the utility service fee is the funding that the County uses to back the bonds that were issued for the Virginia Key landfill. Given the number of parks we're dealing with, the County is actually looking at their internal budgetary resource to see if they can advance the reimbursement to the City, and not wait till the remediation of the landfill has concludes, so we're working with them on that. Commissioner Sarnoff. Is the County here? Ms. Bravo: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. Could I speak to them? Hi. Paul Mauriello: Hi, good morning, Commissioners. I'm Paul Mauriello, assistant director for City of Miami Page 61 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Waste Operations with the Public Works and Waste Management Department at the County. Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Mauriello, what level of confidence can you give this Commission that the County will reimburse us for the cost, expenses, et cetera, for the remediation of the various parks? Mr. Mauriello: I'd like to say, I mean, like Alice had mentioned, there is a clause in the contract for the remediation of the Virginia Key landfill that allows reimbursement for any projects if that Virginia Key project comes in under the $45 million. So far -- Commissioner Sarnoff Could you stop there? 'Cause -- Mr. Mauriello: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff -- where are we on that? I mean, have you gotten a bid of 32 million, 33 million, 35 million? Mr. Mauriello: Right. Well, that's the initial estimate, was $46 million; 45, 46 million. Right now, we have a designer, a consultant that's working on the closure design. That design, when it gets to the 30 percent level, we'll have a better -- a much better, more concrete estimate of what it's going to cost, so we should get that in the next couple of months. We'll have that available for you. There's also an aspect of the project that should save some money. Rather than do a pump and treat system for the ground water treatment, we're going to be using a shared deep well with the Water & Sewer Department. So we think that'll save us approximately $6 million on the project. So I'm fairly confident that it'll come in under the 46 million, but, you know, there are always unknowns in a project like this. Once we start doing the work, there could be other things that happen that increase the cost. Commissioner Sarnoff So if in fact, there's no savings, how would the County reimburse us? Mr. Mauriello: If there's no savings, then it wouldn't be within the four corners of the agreement that we have now, so there would have to be some other agreement between the County and the City. Commissioner Sarnoff. Does the County -- I imagine other municipalities have suffered from this event. I imagine a lot of people weren't good stewards in 1942, but have you ever had -- have you reimbursed other cities, municipalities for remediation work on their parks? Mr. Mauriello: On park sites -- We have one park site now that's in the pipeline for remediation. And when a site like the sites you have are considered eligible -- This is the first step, to get this letter from the bond engineer. Once they're considered eligible, they're approved before the Board of County Commissioners for funding, so it's called the Taylor Park Project in North Miami Beach. That project has, again, just like your park system, been approved for -- as eligible. It'll have to go before the Board of County Commissioners in something we call the Comprehensive Landfill Closure Plan to be approved by them as a project for funding. And that hasn't happened yet. But we anticipate that plan will go before the Board sometime either later this fiscal year or early next fiscal year. Commissioner Sarnoff. And those events have to take place prior to the City receiving a dollar of -- Mr. Mauriello: Right -- Commissioner Sarnoff. -- reimbursement? City of Miami Page 62 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Mr. Mauriello: -- that's basically the process. It's determined eligible by the bond engineer; it goes before the Board in some form. We'd like it to be in the Comprehensive Landfill Closure Plan or an amendment to that, and then there's an agreement. Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. I didn't hear you. Ms. Bravo: The process Mr. Mauriello is describing is if -- only if there aren't sufficient funds identified through the Virginia Key remediation. Commissioner Sarnoff. Only if there are not. What -- and you said -- when would you know that -- when would the 30 percent be done? Mr. Mauriello: It should be done sometime around the April time frame this year, so we'll know in a couple of months. We'll have that better estimate. Commissioner Sarnoff. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, I just -- I think Commissioner Sarnoff really answered -- or asked most of the questions and the County answered most of them. I guess my question is more related to timeline. We've started to get more residents, and this is more of a City question, not so much a County question, but thank you. We've gotten more residents lately, I would say particularly in the last couple of weeks, and even Park employees expressing concern over the timeline of you know, the closures, and obviously, we have a finite amount of park space. One of the things that we struggle with as Commissioners tremendously up here is trying to expand in an urban city our park space. And when closures of this magnitude happen overnight, you're dramatically reducing the amount of habitable park space in our city tremendously, and that puts a lot of stress on the other parks that are still open. So I just -- I know that one of them in particular that happens to be just outside of my district, Douglas, is one that I get a lot of calls on, because a lot of my residents do use it, and also because my line has actually been moved slightly closer by a block or two to that park. So, you know, that's not the only park I'm concerned about, but I just want to know if there's any sort of determination by the Administration as to what the timeline is. I know you spoke to me, and specifically related to that one but -- Ms. Bravo: Right. And -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. Before you answer that, 'cause I have the same question. I mean, we walked through the Curtis Park, which is the most used park that we have in Allapattah, and, you know, as long as we have kids and young men and young women in parks, they're going to be staying out of trouble. Our park is heavily used. I walk through it. And my understanding is, I'd like to see some remedies and I want some timeline -- Ms. Bravo: Correct. Chair Gort: Because, unfortunately, a lot of time in here, it says, "We're going to do a study, we're going to do the research, we're going to do this." People can't wait. I mean, those kids are -- now they're in the street. We can't have that. Ms. Bravo: I couldn't agree more. And as a result of -- for Curtis Park, the reason that we have to close the park is so that we can put interim measures in place so that we can reopen the basketball area, the track and field area, and the bleachers. We want to make sure as much of the park is usable as soon as possible. So we had to actually close the park to put those interim measures in place. In the case of Mere Christmas Park, we found that the eastern half of the park really has no contamination, so we're taking some confirmation samples, and we'll be able City of Miami Page 63 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 to move the fence back to the west, and at least reopen half of Merry Christmas Park. So both Curtis and Merry Christmas have those interim plans. In the case of Douglas, we've developed an alternative where basically, we're going to berm over the entire park to provide the two feet of clean soil as an engineering control and then slope down and harmonize, and that helps us reduce our cost. And so we're -- we would hope to have that park reopened by October. Chair Gort: Now, my understanding, the question that I ask, what kind of fumes come out of this contamination? Commissioner Sarnoff.. Oh, let's not go there. Chair Gort: My understanding, there's none. Mr. Mauriello: There's none, right, right, right, right. Ms. Bravo: No. Chair Gort: Okay, there's none, so -- Ms. Bravo: And that -- the nature of the heavy metals at the parks is not -- it cannot -- you can't breathe it in. You can't absorb it through your skin. You would have to physically ingest it in order to be exposed. Chair Gort: Okay. So, please, let's get it done as soon as possible. Commissioner Suarez: And it's not ingestible. Chair Gort: Any further discussion? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): And the ingestion has to be for long periods of time -- Chair Gort: For one year -- Ms. Mendez: -- you know -- Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Ms. Mendez: -- for, you know, massive amounts. So this is -- Commissioner Suarez: I had heard it was a teaspoon a day for 20 years, and I was thinking -- Ms. Bravo: Well, the Department of Health ran an analysis that basically said someone that weighs 99 pounds -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Bravo: -- that consumes a teaspoon over 30 years should not have an exposure threat. Commissioner Suarez: Right, would not have. And what I was saying is if you ate a teaspoon a day, you would probably die of ingestion of some -- of a material that you cannot ingest, in other words. You know, you really shouldn't have soil. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: It's not something that we eat and that our body digests. City of Miami Page 64 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Chair Gort: Any further -- Commissioner Suarez: So for other reasons that are not related to toxicity, you would die. Chair Gort: -- discussion? Commissioner Sarnoff. Commissioner. Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. We haven't done -- we have not done -- and I'm -- Commissioner Gort, I suspect, has not done, but I sort of always considered you as sharing Douglas Park with me. We have not done a public hearing out there. We learned some things in the public hearing process for Merry Christmas Park and Blanche, and I will tell you the one thing I did learn: There's only one person that needs to speak at that public hearing. He's a University of Miami professor of toxicology. Do you remember his name? Ms. Bravo: Not at this moment. Commissioner Sarnoff Okay. So he apparently was the person in charge of Rhode Island. No. Do I have that right? Not Rhode Island; something island in New York. Ms. Bravo: I believe the Poison Control Center. Commissioner Suarez: Long Island maybe? Commissioner Sarnoff No, it's -- Commissioner Suarez: Staten Island? Commissioner Sarnoff Staten Island -- thank you -- which if you didn't know, Staten Island was completely contaminated. It is the benchmark stuck for how you remediate something. And instead of everybody telling you they had their hair tested, or somebod; telling you they had their fingernails scraped, he was very clear that those are absolutely unsupportable, unqualified things to do that lawyers are promoting around here to have their respective -- prospective clients do. He was very clear that if I had a barbecue and I invited Commissioner Hardemon over and he got very close to the barbecue, he would have heavy metals in his hair simply by being in close proximity to the barbecue. If you sat next to a person who smoked cigarettes, you would have something in your hair as a result of the cigarette. So there's only one gold standard. It is a -- they call it a 24-hour single stream, and that happens to be where you happen to pee into some retainer, and you have to do it for a 24-hour period and that is the way you determine if you have any exposure. Of course, nobody's ever done that, because the lawyers aren't recommending that being done, because they would like to have positive findings for whatever future plans they may have. But I strongly urge between you and I, and maybe Commissioner Gort wants to join in, I think accurate information needs to get out there, as opposed to inaccurate information, as opposed to people that intend on profiting from bad stewardship 30, 50, 60 years ago. And I think also, out of Douglas Park, you know that their community center is pretty inadequate. We've been looking at that, always with a fear of we would find something there. Okay, there's something there now. I think we should come up with a new community center there; make lemonade out of lemons right there and come up with a really good community center. And I know we don't get to talk about this. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. City of Miami Page 65 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Sarnoff. So that's why I'm doing it now. Commissioner Suarez: No, I agree. And I think it's one of -- in my district, we've pretty much done a community center at every park. Robert King High; the money's there for West End; we did Coral Gate; Shenandoah had one. Even a small park like Bryan Park is going to have a, you know, small, brand-new community center. So I think Douglas and the residents absolutely deserve to have one, so I'm 100 percent onboard with that. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff And -- I'm sorry. I'll yield. Chair Gort: Vice Chairman. Vice Chair Hardemon: You are recognized to speak if you'd like to say one more thing. Commissioner Sarnoff Sorry? Vice Chair Hardemon: You are recognized to speak if you'd like to say -- Commissioner Sarnoff I was just going to give you guys some indication of my hesitancy on this, on why I asked so many questions. If you look at the defunding sources, they're all District 2 issues primarily, and, you know, District 2 is getting its prospective (UNINTELLIGIBLE) if this money doesn't come back. So the district that waited -- and if you're wondering why I'm hesitant, the district that waited -- and I know nobody was on the dais at that time -- but District 2 is the last district to start using its quality of life parks money, because at the time, the City of Miami's capabilities weren't -- think we didn't have a CIP (Capital Improvements Program) Department that was so robust, and we waited. And because our projects are coming offline and online now, the savings from those projects could create another project. And this is why I'm hesitant, because you hear me very clearly asking the County, "When will this happen; will this happen; under what circumstance will this happen?" It's because the money is being defunded from District 2 projects, and it's going to go into a general fund to the City of Miami. And that's always a scary thought, because great if it gets refunded, but if it doesn't get refunded, District 2 takes two hits. The first hit is that the money gets taken away. And the second hit is that it waited so long for its projects to come online, because, candidly, it was Commissioner Winton who said to his other Commissioners, "We can wait, " and he did wait. And the ultimate benefactor of that was sort of me, because we had this significant amount of money. And we're finally -- as you guys will be up here six and seven years, you'll see your projects complete, but there'll be savings from those projects, and you'll say, "Well, I can get another project out from the savings of these projects." That is my concern; I will not get another project out from the savings. So from being a good steward, from taking our time, from having the benefit of doing these projects during the recession, we had savings. Commissioner Suarez: And I think -- Mr. Chair, ifI may? Oh, no, I think -- Chair Gort: Wait a minute. I have -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Chair Gort: -- Vice Chairman -- Vice Chair Hardemon: You are recognized. City of Miami Page 66 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Suarez: Oh, thank you. I was going to just say one -- just based on what Commissioner Sarnoff was saying was that I think we as a Commission have worked collaboratively and really tried not to hyper focus on the fact that a lot of our funds are segregated by district. I think a couple of Commission meetings ago, we helped Commissioner Hardemon's district with a request for funding from a citywide pooling source. I know that. I think when we did 1814 Brickell, we also used Sunshine State monies, which were citywide at the time, to help acquire that parcel. So -- and I think we have to keep doing that, because I think what you realize -- and for example, I'm dealing with -- and again, we're in the sunshine, so this is the only time we can talk about these things, and it's something that, to a certain extent, affects Commissioner Carollo, because we share Shenandoah together. You know, we're struggling with the whole issue of a fire station, and the residents' desire that it not be at the park where it currently -- where we currently have a temporary station, so we're looking at sites in the vicinity that could qualify. And you know, some of the sites that they looked at were in District 3. And I said "Look, I just want to be clear that even though the funds are allocated to District 4, if the Fire Department were to have found an eligible site and the district Commissioner was okay with it and the residents of that area were okay with it, you know, I wouldn't say, 'No, it's got to be in District 4 because that's $4 million that's allocated to, quote/unquote "improve District 4. "' That's not the way that I look at it. You know, at the end of the clay, first of all, Fire service is not district -dependent, you know. It's not like when someone calls 911, they say, "Oh, well, you're from District 3. Sorry, you got to call back the District 4 911 number, " you know. And the fact of the matter is it is a problem. Obviously, our residents are concerned about the fact that, you know, right now, we have a quote/unquote "temporary station" that's been there for over 10 years, and it's taken up 10,000 square feet of the park, and the contemplated station would take up 30,000 square feet of the park, so it would be three times the amount. So we're working through that. I really want to commend the Fire Department for their help all the way through, and the community has been a thoughtful partner, and that process has been bumpy at times; but the point being that, you know, we have to -- we cannot be so confined as to think of our issues as district -specific. So the day that that problem occurs to you, you should feel comfortable coming to this Commission and saying, "Look, I've identified another funding source. This is good for the City." You know, Douglas may be the next example. You know what I mean? This is good for Douglas. And we also talked about it I think once in conjunction with -- in the open, in conjunction with the tennis center, and the problems that we were having at Bryan Park, when we were having issues with Bryan Park where they wanted to build a tennis center there. It's a small park, and a lot of the residents wanted to keep as much green space as possible in that park. And so we thought about the possibility of doing a tennis center in Douglas. So, you know, there's a variety of ways that we can collaborate in using the money that would have gone to a tennis center at Bryan to build a tennis center at Douglas, which obviously is not in District 4. So we have to think outside of the box a little bit and realize that sometimes what could become a problem for one district could become a benefit to another district. Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Vice Chairman. Vice Chair Hardemon: And one thing I want to reiterate also is that the problem that we're attacking is a citywide issue, and we do -- there's some money -- not to the extent of what's coming from your district, that's coming from my district -- but there's some money that is there. But what we appreciate -- and what I can say I can appreciate -- is the sacrifice that you would be making if you were in support or if this measure did pass. I don't think that it falls on deaf ears or hearts that you are making a sacrifice in order to better the City as a whole, and I think that when we see Commissioners making that type of sacrifice, we should appreciate them, and City of Miami Page 67 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 in a future legislation, we do things that are going to help them and their district. I mean, that's what this is about; it's about bettering the City of Miami as a whole. This is an issue that -- these parks are in other districts than mine as of today, but it is a citywide issue nonetheless, and so I take it just as seriously as you do, it being in your park. So this is something that we're tackling together, I believe, as a City Commission. And anything that 1 can do in the future, if the County doesn't come -- the County is not able to help us, I can say that I'm willing to move forward and do things to bring you whole, in that sense; will help your district where just as in recent Commission meetings, my district was helped also. Chair Gort: And let me tell you what would happen, though, if we're not able to open those parks. You're going to have everyone from the north coming down to the south and use the parks in the south, and there's not going to be enough room to put everyone. So do I need a motion? Commissioner Sarnoff So move. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved. Who made a motion? Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Gort: Who made it? Commissioner Suarez: I think -- Chair Gort: Commissioner Sarnoff second by -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Chair Gort: Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Gort: RE.1. Ms. Bravo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes. Ms. Bravo: If I might add, I handed out a letter that was recently released by the Department of Health. Chair Gort: Mm-hmm. Ms. Bravo: And it's co -signed by Dr. Lillian Rivera, the health administrator for Miami -Dade County, Florida Department of Health, as well as Dr. Jeffrey Brasco, the Children's Medical Services director at Miami -Dade County. And it gives a 1-800 number for poison control; 1-800-222-1212, and that's the number anyone should call if they have a concern as to the proper testing methodology. Chair Gort: I suggest you put that on the website. City of Miami Page 68 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 BC.1 13-01443 Ms. Bravo: Right. Thank you. END OF RESOLUTIONS BOARDS AND COMMITTEES RESOLUTION Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT COUNCIL FOR A TERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. BC.2 13-01242 APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY: Sonja Bogensperger Mayor Tomas Regalado 13-01443 Arts CCMemo.pdf 13-01443 Arts Current_Board_Members.pdf Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0048 Chair Gort: Board appointments. Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): Good morning, Chair and Commissioners. I will be reading into the record the names provided by your offices, and you may then proceed to make a motion on each item. Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Ewan: BC.1, Arts and Entertainment Council. Mayor Regalado will be appointing Sonja Borgensperger. Chair Gort: Do I have a motion? Commissioner Carollo: Move. Chair Gort: It's been moved -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Second. Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Carollo; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon; any further discussion? All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. RESOLUTION City of Miami Page 69 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Office ofthe City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE AUDIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. BC.3 13-01243 Office of the City Clerk APPOINTEES: 13-01242 Audit CCMemo.pdf 13-01242 Audit Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.2 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT TRUST FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Frank Carollo 13-01243 Bayfront CCMemo.pdf 13-01243 Bayfront Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.3 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. BC.4 RESOLUTION 13-01445 Office ofthe City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD FOR ATERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY: Allyson Warren Commissioner Frank Carollo City of Miami Page 70 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 13-01445 CEB CCMemo.pdf 13-01445 CEB Current_Board_Members.pdf Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0049 Commissioner Carollo Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Real quick, BC.4, ifI could make an appointment. Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): Sure. Commissioner Carollo: I'd like to appoint the person that's currently there, Allyson Warren. Ms. Ewan: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: And I move that nomination for BC.4, Allyson Warren. Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved by Commissioner Carollo; is there a second? Vice Chair Hardemon: Second. Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Ms. Ewan: Thank you. BC.5 RESOLUTION 13-01446 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD FOR ATERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY: Jose Soto Commissioner Francis Suarez 13-01446 CRB CCMemo.pdf 13-01446 CRB Current_Board_Members.pdf 13-01446 CRB Memo and Resumes.pdf Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez City of Miami Page 71 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 R-14-0050 A motion was made by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, and was passed unanimously with Commissioner Suarez absent, to appoint Jose Soto as a member of the Community Relations Board; further waiving the attendance requirements in Section 2-886 of the Code of the City of Miami, as amended by a four/fifths (4/5ths) vote of the members of the full City Commission, as it relates to past absences on record for Jose Soto as a member of the Community Relations Board. Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC. 5, Community Relations Board. Commissioner Suarez will be appointing with a 4/5ths attendance waiver Jose Soto. Chair Gort: Okay, is there a motion? Vice Chair Hardemon: So move. Chair Gort: It's moved by Vice Chairman Hardemon. And is there a second? Commissioner Sarnoff Second Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Carollo. All in favor, state it by saying "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. BC.6 RESOLUTION 13-01245 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Frank Carollo Commissioner Frank Carollo 13-01245 CSW CCMemo.pdf 13-01245 CSW Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.6 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. BC.7 RESOLUTION City of Miami Page 72 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 13-01246 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. BC.8 14-00059 APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Frank Carollo 13-01246 CTAB CCMemo.pdf 13-01246 CTAB Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.7 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. RESOLUTION Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION CONFIRMING THE Clerk APPOINTMENT OF A CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (DDA) BOARD OF DIRECTORS FORATERMAS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY: Commissioner Bruno A. Barreiro Board of County Commissioners 14-00059 DDA CCMemo.pdf 14-00059 DDA Current_Board_Members.pdf 14-00059 Miami -Dade County Memo.pdf Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0051 Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.8, Downtown Development Authority. This is a resolution confirming the appointment made by the Board of County Commissioners for Commissioner Bruno Barreiro. Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Chair Gort: It's been -- City of Miami Page 73 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Vice Chair Hardemon: Second. Chair Gort: -- moved by Commissioner Carollo. Is there a second? Vice Chair Hardemon: Second. Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. BC.9 RESOLUTION 13-01248 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: (Ex-Officio Non Voting Youth Member) NO ACTION TAKEN NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff City Manager Johnny Martinez Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.9 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. BC.10 RESOLUTION 14-00062 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING CERTAIN Clerk INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ADVISORY BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Frank Carollo City of Miami Page 74 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 BC.11 14-00063 Commissioner Frank Carollo AFSCME 1907 AFSCME 871 IAFF FOP 14-00062 EOAB CCMemo.pdf 14-00062 EOAB Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.10 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. RESOLUTION Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION WAIVING THE Clerk ATTENDANCE BY A FOUR -FIFTHS AFFIRMATIVE VOTE, AS IT RELATES TO EDILFA PEREZ AS A MEMBER OF THE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ADVISORY BOARD. 14-00063 EOAB Absence Waiver CCMemo.pdf 14-00063 EOAB Absence Waiver Current_Board_Members.pdf BC.12 13-01250 Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez R-14-0052 Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.11, Equal Opportunity Advisory Board. This is a resolution of the Commission waiving the attendance by a 4/5ths vote as it relates to the attendance of Edilfa Perez. Chair Gort: Is there a motion? Commissioner Sarnoff So move. Chair Gort: It's been moved -- Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Gort: -- by Commissioner Sarnoff second by Commissioner Carollo. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. RESOLUTION City of Miami Page 75 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Office ofthe City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE FOR ATERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY: Eric Zichella Commissioner Frank Carollo 13-01250 Finance CCMemo.pdf 13-01250 Finance Current_Board_Members.pdf Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon R-14-0053 Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): That concludes the -- Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: BC.12, I'd like to nominate Eric Zichella. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. All in favor, state it by saying "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. Ms. Ewan: Thank you. That concludes the Boards and Committees. Chair Gort: Okay. You guys want to take five before we go into the 11 'oclock certain? Commissioner Carollo: Sure. Chair Gort: Five; real five now. BC.13 RESOLUTION 14-00067 Office ofthe City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE HOMELAND DEFENSE/NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT BOND PROGRAM OVERSIGHT BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Vice Chair Keon Hardemon City of Miami Page 76 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Frank Carollo Commissioner Frank Carollo Commissioner Francis Suarez 14-00067 Homeland CCMemo.pdf 14-00067 Homeland Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.13 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. BC.14 RESOLUTION 14-00068 Office ofthe City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE MAYOR'S INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: 14-00068 MIC CCMemo.pdf 14-00068 MIC Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Frank Carollo Commission -At -Large Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.14 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. BC.15 RESOLUTION 14-00069 Office ofthe City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE MIAMI SPORTS AND EXHIBITION AUTHORITY FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff City of Miami Page 77 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Commissioner Frank Carollo Commissioner Frank Carollo 14-00069 MSEA CCMemo.pdf 14-00069 MSEA Current_Board_Members.pdf DISCUSSED Note for the Record: Discussion by the City Commission on Item BC. 15 did not result in a vote being taken. Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC. 15, Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority. Vice Chair Hardemon will be appointing Steve Kneapler. Chair Gort: Okay, is there a motion? Vice Chair Hardemon: I'm sure there's some discussion that's going to happen here also, but I move. Chair Gort: It's been moved by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Is there a second? Commissioner Carollo: Second for discussion. Chair Gort: Second for discussion. Vice Chair Hardemon: I'd like to say -- Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Hardemon: As we all know, this was part of one of the appointments that I appointed before, and I gave my word to my fellow Commissioner, Commissioner Sarnoff, that 1 would look into all of the accusations that were made in reference to some issues that he was having with Mr. Kneapler. So after reviewing all those -- that documentation, reviewing the e-mails (electronic), they're much like the type of e-mails that 1 receive from my constituents, and I completely understand that sometimes, we can all be overwhelmed with the number of e-mails that we get from certain individuals, and I do not take lightly the statements that were made by you, Commissioner Sarnoff, because I take everything that every Commissioner gives me, and I really do think about it all, and consider your opinion when I'm making my decisions. When it comes to my decision to appoint this gentleman to the Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority, though, I have a number of reasons that I was thinking about that made me more likely to continue on with the appointment and then ask the Board to either -- to render their opinion about it. But in reference to Mr. Kneapler, himself him and I -- I mean, he's about 74 or 75 years old, so he's twice or more my elder, but with that age, he has a tremendous amount of experience, and just some of the things I want to note about him: During the Carollo Administration in the '90s, Mayor Carollo asked him to be the sole negotiator for the City for the sale of approximately 19 acres of land to the County, and that's where the American Airlines Arena currently sits. It took about nine months, but in that deal, he was able to get more than 100 percent of the assessed value for that land. And Mayor Regalado appointed him to the Bayfront Trust -- Park Trust at a time where there were issues related to the integrity of the management and misuse of funds. As a board member, he directed the effort to help uncover abuses on behalf of the Trust, and end -- the result being the discovery of that abuse and the halt of abuse in helping the Trust begin to be put in a position where they can accumulate millions of dollars for the use of the City. Mayor Regalado also asked him to negotiate on behalf of the City with Soulful Construction to help lower the cost to the City building the Marlins parking garage so that there was some savings in that negotiation. Mayor Tomas Regalado also had him City of Miami Page 78 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 intervene on behalf of the City and lead the City to renegotiate the terms of the Blackstone agreement. Mayor Regalado also asked him to intervene in the Parrot Jungle negotiations last year, and he was successful in getting the City about $2 million in payments due on time. And also, through the years, he's helped when asked by others to intervene with the City on a variety of issues that are too numerous to enumerate. And I do realize that there is some pending litigation that is going on right now that was initiated by this gentleman where he's asking for a writ of injunction, and the spirit of that is because he feels as if -- and I think this is something that we all feel -- that we have to follow our processes, and our codified ordinances, and any Charter that we have, and it's in the spirit of that. He's not getting paid from it; he's not suing for any type of damages, et cetera, et cetera. And also -- I mean, even at the January 23 meeting, Mayor Regalado recognized him for his efforts that he's been making. And so with all that in consideration, when I think about the fact that he's helped draft REPS (Requests for Proposals) and things of that nature, there's a tremendous amount of knowledge that he has that he can impart upon me while being on that committee where I am sitting on, and because of that, I'm asking that this Commission give me the ability to have someone near and dear to me, close to me on the board that can give me the type of advice that I can utilize to make my decisions. I know that on that board, we all have all of our own appointments, and there was no objection to those appointments. And particularly to Commissioner Sarnoff, the promise that I make to you is that you won't have any other types of outbursts from him, and if there are, I will immediately begin to -- the process of removing him from that committee, because on the committee, he represents me. At the time that the e-mails were made, he was not a representation of me, and I want this Commission to feel comfort in knowing that I would not allow anyone to disrespect any of the Commissioners that are here or anyone sitting on that board. It is one of -- it is of great concern to me, and allow me in a sense -- and I hate to say this about a 74-ish-old man, but allow me to control what's happening within my appointments to this board. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I actually would like to hear from Commissioner Sarnoff, 'cause I think he pretty much was the main person that had the issue. Now, mind you, I don't take it lightly, the lawsuit, and that was the first thing that came to mind when I heard about it. But I think I would want to yield to Commissioner Sarnoff, 'cause he really is the one who raised the objection. And by all means, I think that any Commissioner that has an issue should be able to come to, you know, their colleagues and be able to express that. So I think out of you know, courtesy, I would like to yield to Commissioner Sarnoff. Commissioner Sarnoff.: Thank you. Chair Gort: Commissioner Suarez. I'm sorry, Sarnoff, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) have to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) . I'm going to the request. Commissioner Suarez: The extremes here. Vice Chair Hardemon: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Suarez: The extreme sides of -- Commissioner Sarnoff.. Maybe you should -- I'm going to ask you to yield to me simply because I want to put some things on the record, and then you can either work on those things or suggest -- Commissioner Suarez: Sure, let's do that. Commissioner Sarnoff.. So, Commissioner Hardemon, I just want to give you some due diligence up here. I take it that in the e-mails I've submitted to you, it's okay that a man can call another man a (expletive) or make some anti-Semitic comments to him, which apparently are not that City of Miami Page 79 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 troubling, so those are on the record. When we were at the public hearing stage of the -- going out for the REP and the referendum, just so you know, Mr. Kneapler came up to me, chest -butted me, and was immediately pulled back by a sergeant of arms. Maybe that's acceptable behavior to you. I don't think it is. The Chief of Police was able to resolve that. I certainly didn't strike Mr. Kneapler, and I did not respond to his remark to me that he is going to crush me and (expletive) me up. The other thing I'd let you know, he is a man who is permanently enjoined from the United States -- by the United States Government to engage in securities. There's a permanent injunction against him for securities. You should also know that he presently owes the United States Government $450, 000 in back taxes, having lost his appeal to the llth Circuit Court of Appeals, and it's presently, as best we could tell, still unpaid. I'd also suggest to you that when he sat on the selection committee from -- for the REP, he failed to disclose to that City Manager right there -- he chose to give one corporation that he had in his Brickell apartment; failing to disclose 11 other corporations that exist at Monty's, physical address. If you look at them carefully, you see he is the food and beverage man at Monty's. Now, if this is acceptable behavior to you; if this is who you choose to put on your board -- I might be able to help you with getting a better understanding of MSEA (Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority). I think I'm, believe it or not, Commissioner Carollo's appointment to MSEA; at least that's my recollection of it. I'd be more than glad to resign and put you on MSEA; don't need to be there if that's your concern about MSEA. But I'm telling you, you do not put a man who is suing the City of Miami; who is, in his addendum clause, not just suing for injunctive relief and I think you should read the addendum clause carefully; a man -- I would never put a man on this board who confronted you. I would never put a man on this board who called you a (expletive). I would never put a man on this board that did anything resembling any accusations of your skin color. I would never put a man on this board that owes the United States Government in excess of $450, 000. I would never put a man on a board who is enjoined from engaging in securities from the United States Government. I would never put a man on a board who has a host of surreptitious ties to the City of Miami at Monty's, a place that he never disclosed that to that man right there when he put him on an REP Board. And I think if Johnny Martinez were completely frank and honest with him, he would probably say that one of his missives here in the City of Miami was putting Steve Kneapler on that committee for the referendum. And just so you know, he's the only person on that board to give zero points, zero points. That means they got zero, nothing on his fiduciary obligation to review this. He was able to produce nothing for the REP winner. I would strongly urge you as a colleague to rethink your position, to reconsider. I think we could appoint you right now to the MSEA Board to satisfy you that you're now not getting secondhand information; not getting information from the man who's enjoined from securities engagement in the United States of America; not getting information from a man who owes the United States Government in excess of $450, 000 in back taxes; that you could directly engage in MSEA and have a say, a thought, and a vote directly on there, because if that is your concern, we can resolve that concern without having to put a man on a board that should concern all of us, that we're all on notice of now as a result of the due diligence that I've put up here. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, unless you want to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Thank you. And I want to thank the Commissioners for taking up my appointment in the prior vote, and appointing and waiving the -- Chair Gort: Four -fifths. Commissioner Suarez: -- attendance requirements for my appointee. I was in the back. I'm having a little bit of a complicated day, because it's my wife's birthday, it's Valentine's Day tomorrow, and we're about to have a baby, so all conspiring to happen right around the same time. I regret not being here the first time that this issue was brought up, and so it became viewed as an issue that only Commissioner Sarnoff had with the appointee. Since I've been here City of Miami Page 80 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 on the Commission, I think, for four years, I don't think there's ever been a vote on an appointee that I voted against; I can't recall one, to be honest with you. And I don't think there's been a circumstance where I haven't supported a Commissioner in their desire to appoint a specific person to a board. I have to say that this particular case is extremely concerning for me. I think "concerning" is probably a mild word. This individual, whom, by the way, I've never met -- I wouldn't be -- I don't know if he's in the audience or not. I don't know if he's here. I don't know what he looks like. I know that he's been around for a long time, and I know things of him, but I don't know who he is. He has vety, very strong opinions about me that he's expressed to others that is troubling, given the fact that he doesn't know who I am and that I've never met him; I've never had a conversation with him, so I find that to be troublesome, aside from all the other things that the Commissioner articulated about him from a due diligence perspective. The fact that he -- one of the things that was recited about his, quote/unquote, "accomplishments" was that he supposedly negotiated on behalf of the City the issue with Parrot Jungle is extremely troubling to me, first of all, because I had no knowledge that this supposed individual was empowered to negotiate on behalf of the City of Miami with one of our major issues that is a multi -million dollar circumstance that the City of Miami was having. So this knowledge of this supposed good deed that this individual did, coming to my attention, is shocking, to be honest with you, because I don't know who the City Manager was at the time, butt don't recall there being any sort of a memo as we get -- for example, when we have union negotiations, where there's a team of people that are empowered to act on behalf of the City of Miami. I don't recall there ever being any sort of delegation of duty to this individual. I don't know what his qualifications are. I think the fact that he happens to be a contracted party with the City in one of his 11 corporations or -- I don't know how many corporations he has; I don't really care, to be honest with you. But the fact that he has contracted to do business with the City of Miami should not only prevent him from being on a selection committee, on a business that he competes with, which I think is absurd and a violation of ethics, but aside from that, I don't know how he could be given the right to negotiate on behalf of the City of Miami when he is contracted to work with the City of Miami. So I have a -- I'm having obviously serious issues with this. I have never met the man. He's never reached out to me in four years that I've been an elected official. He clearly has some very -- and I've been told from a variety of people that he has some vety strong opinions about me and my intellectual capacities, or lack thereof and -- which I find kind of interesting, given my academic credentials, but everyone's entitled to their opinion. There are sayings that everyone has certain parts of their anatomy, and therefore, they're entitled to have their opinion, as well. So in any event, I don't know. To be honest with you, I wholeheartedly respect, you know, and I want to support the Commissioner's recommendation. MSEA is -- and Commissioner Carollo, interestingly, who doesn't serve on MSEA, but attends MSEA regularly, and has expressed a lot of heartburn over things that happen at MSEA, and rightfully so, to be honest with you. It's in a very fragile state right now, because we are still not really generating any revenue. We're trying to resolve a couple of things that would hopefully get MSEA back on track, and there's still some controversy relating to how people want to use MSEA or utilize MSEA to do certain deals. I like the -- you know, Commissioner Sarnoffs idea of putting you on MSEA, 'cause I would love to have you on MSEA, and I think it would be great to have you there. Go ahead. Commissioner Carollo: I think he's on. I think -- Commissioner Suarez: You are on MSEA. You are on MSEA. Vice Chair Hardemon: I am on MSEA. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah. Vice Chair Hardemon: And I don't want to belabor this point; I don't want to belabor this discussion. And I want everyone here to know and Commissioner Sarnoff, your lawyers walk around the chair. But I want you to understand, this Commission to understand that because this City of Miami Page 81 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 is an issue that is and that was going to be foreseen to be a part of something that we needed to vote on, there was no way that I could have a conversation with you about this. And the only way that we can discuss these things is before this Commission. And so you have to understand that when I bring this forward, it is by no means to insult any Commissioner, but unless we violate the law, there was no other way that we could have this -- Commissioner Suarez: Conversation. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- type of conversation, right. And you brought forth some additional things that you didn't bring up before, obviously, because we couldn't have that discussion prior. I mean, you brought up one objection and a few others when I first brought forth his name, and I did read through some of -- well, I did read through the e-mails and such. I cannot condone any type of misbehavior by any grown man, right. And there are things that I could say in response to some of the comments that you made, Commissioner; for instance, the $450, 000 in back taxes. Hey, that means he made a lot of good money somewhere. I've never owed that much money in back taxes, but maybe I wish I would, because that mean I made a lot more money than what I owe. But those are things that I hear loud and clear from the Commission, and I wanted to be able to have this discussion with everyone so that I can move forward and make the decision the best way that I know how. And the only way that I could do this, Commissioner Sarnoff, was to bring this to this body for us to discuss it in open public. Obviously, he's been appointed to many other boards; obviously, he was appointed to the RFP thing; obviously, you know, he's been around for a vety long time. So at some point, he was in good grace. And by no means do I want to put a thorn into the side of any Commissioner or the Commission as a whole. And because of such apprehension with this, you know, I'm -- I will withdraw this permanently. So -- but I want you to know that the only way that we could ever have this discussion is by means of bringing it before this Commission so we could talk about that; is that okay? Commissioner Sarnoff. It's your call, and it's an appreciated call. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. And I would appreciate it as well, and let me just say that, again, I'm shocked to hear that any person who is not an employee of the City of Miami would be negotiating on behalf of the City -- wait, let me finish; I want to reiterate that -- shocked to hear that. Secondly, I am -- and I've expressed this before -- that I am concerned that someone who, in my opinion, should not have been on that selection committee to begin with, because they have a competing business interest, is now turning around and suing the City of Miami, saying that the competitive process that he should have never been a part of was flawed. To me, that is the height -- I mean, that's just incredible. But, I mean, it is what it is. Having said all that, I am by no means a perfect person; by no means, by any stretch of the imagination. My door is open to that individual to come and talk to me. I've never -- like I said, I don't know who -- what he even looks like. He can come in, talk to me, sit with me, and try to convince me that I have a misunderstanding of who he is, or what he's about, and just like I would expect the same from me. You know, he obviously has what I feel is an erroneous, erroneous perspective on who I am, so -- at least based on what I've heard other people say -- you know, I would welcome him at any point to call me. My number, everyone has it, everyone in my district has it. It's very, very easy; I'm vety easy to get ahold of and I'd be more than happy to meet with him and air out, you know, things. But I am concerned tremendously with those two issues, and those are very recent. Again, this is not stuff that we're talking about 5, 10 -- 'cause I know that there are people that have been around this government for 10, 20, 30, 40 years, but these are recent things that have happened in the last few years that cause me a lot of concern. Thank you, and I appreciate it. Vice Chair Hardemon: And Mr. Chairman -- Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Mr. Chair, may I say a couple words? City of Miami Page 82 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Chair Gort: Yes, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Mr. Martinez: With one Commission meeting left, everybocy's probably wondering, "Why say anything?" 'Cause this is important. Number one, I want to clear, he was not part of the negotiating team. He did attend some of the meetings at other people's request. He was not part of our negotiating team, and I found him to be counterproductive; he wasn't even helpful. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Mr. Martinez: That's number one. Number two, my bad on putting on the RFP -- on that RFP selection; I regret that to the day I did it. Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Hardemon: And I would like to say thank you for the opportunity to discuss this matter in an open way where evetyone who is here can hear what people's opinions are; evetyone who's watching in TV (Television) land can understand what the people's opinions are; and I can have an opportunity to hear all of your opinions without violating the sunshine law, all right. Commissioner Sarnoff And I'd like to just complete the record so that you all know this. So when I first became Chairman of the City of Miami Commission, and Mr. Kneapler decided to sit in on meetings, I refused to sit, 'cause I don't sit with people who are not either employed by the City of Miami, elected by the City of Miami, and I did not attend those meetings any longer. So I like to know what everybody's role in government is; I think they should be clear and announced, so I want to put that on the record as well. Chair Gort: Okay, thank you. Next. BC.16 RESOLUTION 14-00070 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. BC.17 13-00373 APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Francis Suarez 14-00070 PRAB CCMemo.pdf 14-00070 PRAB Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.16 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. RESOLUTION City of Miami Page 83 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD (UDRB) FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. BC.18 14-00071 Office of the City Clerk APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Frank Carollo Commissioner Frank Carollo Commissioner Francis Suarez 13-00373 UDRB CCMemo.pdf 13-00373 UDRB Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.17 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE WATERFRONT ADVISORY BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: 14-00071 WAB CCMemo.pdf 14-00071 WAB Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN NOMINATED BY: Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Vice Chair Keon Hardemon Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff Commissioner Frank Carollo Commissioner Frank Carollo City of Miami Page 84 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 DI.1 14-00008 City Commission Note for the Record: Per Miami City Code Section 2-33(k), Item BC.18 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. END OF BOARDS AND COMMITTEES DISCUSSION ITEMS DISCUSSION ITEM STATUS OF HIRING POLICE OFFICERS. 14-00008 Cover Page.pdf 14-00008-Submittal-City Manager Memo -Police Department Hiring and Staffing Update.pdf DISCUSSED Direction by Commissioner Sarnoff to the City Manager for the Chief of Police to perform an analysis on resort taxes by providing the following information: (1) analysis (including legislative notes from the Florida Legislature involving this matter) of the legislation and the legislative history regarding the exemption of Miami Beach, Surfside, and Bal Harbour from CDT and TDT payments to the County; (2) analysis of the Florida Statute(s) that addresses the "why and how" requirement that Counties are the primary entities receiving these taxes and under what aegis do they have to spend this money, in addition to whether or not the law(s) can be amended to allow for spending on police services; (3) for this analysis to be brought back as a report before the Commission for the April 10, 2014, Commission meeting, and for the report to be issued to the Commission five (5) days before the April 10, 2014, Commission meeting. Chair Gort: Mr. Manager, let's have DI.1. Johnny Martinez (City Manager): Yes, sir, we're prepared for that. Go ahead, chief. Manuel Orosa: Thank you. Good morning, Commissioners. Manuel Orosa, Chief of Police. Since the last Commission, we really haven't been able to do much, because we're still in the process of going through the 366 names, the first batch of the 1,500 names that we have, and we've been able to hire since last Commission meeting two certified, and as of yesterday, on the llth, two more, so a total of four certified officers of the old list that we have about three people to go. But for the recruit list, we're still in the process of doing the physical agilities and the -- I'm sorry -- done with the physical agility. We're in the background and polygraph phase of those candidates. Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. By the way, I'd like to announce Vice Chairman Keon Hardemon has joined us. Thank you. Vice Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Commissioner Sarnoff. Chief I looked into this once before, but I didn't do a complete review, and I'm going to ask you either through the Manager or with your resources, I want to understand resort taxes, and the City of Miami Beach has about a $270 million budget; $61 million of that budget is Miami Beach resort tax. Chief Orosa: Correct. Commissioner Sarnoff. That is allowed to be spent on what they call any related tourist -- tourist-related activity. Miami Beach has an expansive definition of "tourist -related activity," City of Miami Page 85 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 and that includes about 60 percent of their police department are considered tourist related. That enables Miami Beach to pay between 15,000 and 20,000 more dollars on starting salaries than the City of Miami. The City of Miami, along with about 34 other municipalities, are allowed to -- are taxed something called CDT, Community -- Convention Development Tax, and Tourist Development Tax, TDT. Those taxes, if there's a $100 hotel bill, it's $106, and that money goes to the County. The County then does not allow that money to be spent on police -related activities, which, in my mind, are tourist -related activities, because ifI recall correctly, the Herald did a campaign that said essentially, "If you don't have a safe city, you're not going to have tourism. " And I think this was over the shootings that went on many, many years ago in Overtown, many, many -- I'm thinking 11 or 12 years ago. So obviously, the Herald would somewhat agree -- they're an evolving institution, but they would have agreed at one time that tourism and police are interrelated. But the CDT and TDT money does not actually come to the City of Miami. It is discretionarily handled at the County level, and it is spent, not on police -related services, or fire, if you want to include them, too. So what I'd like to understand is, one -- There are three municipalities that are not subject to this tax. The first is Miami Beach; the second is Surfside and the third is Bal Harbor. I'd like to know legislatively, not only in terms of the year the legislation was passed, but the legislative history and what they call the notes; I'd like to know what was said, how it was said that those three cities are exempt from CDT and TDT. Two, I'd like to understand legislatively -- so I'm talking about Florida statutes -- why and how the counties are the primary persons or entities, I should say, that receive these taxes, and under what egis do they have to spend this money, and could it be amended to include police services? It's my present contention that the City of Miami probably sends about 50 to $60 million -- and I may be low on that, Chief -- to the County from its CDT- and TDT-related activity, and that that money could be spent on police services. But I need to understand legislatively and by ordinance how we're restricted from doing that, or if we are restricted from doing it. I also want to understand why it is Miami Beach, Bal Harbor and Surfside can do it. Chief Orosa: Okay. And Commissioner, I think that that extra money that the Beach gets is what puts them nearly at four officers per thousand. If we could tap into those funds, we could save time, and we can expeditiously, and move forward with it to get to our goal of having four per thousand. We will take a look at it. I only ask that maybe you give me a couple of months, like 60 days to be able to do whatever research we need to do and -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Can we compromise on the time? Can we do 45 days, Chief? 'Cause I really don't want to wait two months for this, and if you want some help from a lawyer, I'd be more than glad to give you Danny from my office. Chief Orosa: Okay, 45 days it is, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff. So today is the -- what? --13, so I'd like to have this back to us -- March 13 would then be -- Chief Orosa: The end of March? Commissioner Sarnoff. Can we have the first meeting in April? That gives you almost your time. And I'd also like you to do your report with at least five days ahead of the meeting so that each Commissioner could read it. And if you'd like to put in some recommendations, I'd love to see your recommendations. Chief Orosa: Yes, sir. I'll -- Commissioner Sarnoff. But understand, the goal here is to use monies that is already being collected; that three other cities are using that like money for police services. Chief Orosa: My understanding is that in the Beach, for example, the County doesn't even touch City of Miami Page 86 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 their money. Commissioner Sarnoff. Correct. Chief Orosa: It goes straight to them. Chair Gort: It goes directly to them. Chief Orosa: To them, correct. Chair Gort: And this is something that I think our City Attorney should be looking into. I think that's part of the agreement when those taxes was approved, how they would go, and I think we can change that legislatively. Chief Orosa: I will have George Wysong in my office do the research as to -- and JC -- that the City Attorney so graciously gave me a second one -- start doing the research legislatively, and then I'll have people in my office start doing the background as to gathering the information of how the split is, and how much money we -- the County generates from it, and how is it spent, and then if we need some help, we'll call your office for your assistance. Commissioner Sarnoff One last thought, Chief. Something happened in 1967, and you may need to get their legislative intent out of the boxes, but I do expect you to ask the Legislature for the reasons, the notes that they have legislatively, to how that happened in 1967. Chief Orosa: We will. Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Chair Gort: Also, make sure that those funds are not pledged with any of the bonds that are outstanding or any (UNINTELLIGIBLE) like that. Commissioner Sarnoff. Some are. Chair Gort: You have to check all that, okay. Chief Orosa: I will research everything and I'll let you know, sir. Chair Gort: Thank you. Chief Orosa: Thank you. Chair Gort: Commissioner Carollo, that was just the DI1 that we're discussing. END OF DISCUSSION ITEMS PART B: PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM(S) Chair Gort: Do we have Zoning, PZ.8, or do you want to go into discussion items or --? I think we can go in PZ 8; we only have one item. Commissioner Suarez: Do we have RE.4? Is that --? Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Yes, sir, it's still on the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Suarez: RE.4. City of Miami Page 87 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Chair Gort: Huh? Commissioner Suarez: RE.4. Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Commissioner Suarez: RE.4. Mr. Hannon: It was tabled from this morning, sir. Chair Gort: Oh. That's -- Commissioner Carollo tabled RE.4. Commissioner Suarez: You want that one tabled still? Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: As a matter of fact, I'm receiving information on it as we speak -- Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: -- so yeah. Commissioner Suarez: You want to defer it or you want -- Chair Gort: PZ (Planning & Zoning). Commissioner Suarez: -- to keep it tabled? Chair Gort: Let's do PZ. Commissioner Carollo: No. Let's do the PZ Let's take on the PZ. Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: PZ is first reading, right? Yes. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): One second Do I read the procedures at this time? All right. Commissioner Suarez: We need a couple Commissioners. Ms. Mendez: But 1 could go -- reading the -- Commissioner Suarez: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't have a -- I'm just saying we need a couple Commissioners. I don't know if Commissioner Carollo is going to be here. Ms. Mendez: We will now begin the Planning & Zoning items. I will state the procedures to be followed during this portion of the meeting. PZ items shall proceed according to Section 7.1.4 of the Miami Zoning Code. Before any PZ item is heard, all those wishing to speak will be sworn in by the City Clerk. Please note, Commissioners have generally been briefed by City staff and City Attorney on items on the agenda today. The members of the City Commission may disclose any ex parte communications to remove the presumption of president -- prejudice, pursuant to Florida Statute Section 286. 0115. Staff will briefly present each item to be heard. The order of presentation shall be as described by the City Code and Miami 21 Code. Members of the public City of Miami Page 88 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 will be permitted to speak through the Chair for not more than two minutes, unless modified by the Chair. The City of Miami requires that anyone requesting action by the City Commission must disclose before the hearing any provided to -- anything provided to anyone for agreement to support or withhold objection to the requested action, pursuant to City Code Section 2-8. Any documents offered to the City Commission that have not been provided seven days before the meeting as part of the agenda materials will be entered into the record at the City Commission's discretion. Thank you. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Anyone speaking on item PZ.1, may I have your stand and raise your right hand The City Clerk administered the oath required under City Code Section 62-1 to those persons giving testimony on zoning issues. Mr. Hannon: Thank you. PZ.1 ORDINANCE First Reading 13-01348zt AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, BY AMENDING SECTION 3.15, ENTITLED, "AFFORDABLE HOUSING SPECIAL BENEFIT PROGRAM SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS", TO MODIFY THE APPLICABILITY CRITERIA TO INCLUDE DEVELOPMENTS THAT PROVIDE MIXED -INCOME IN THE RESIDENTIAL DENSITY INCREASE AREAS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 13-01348zt CC 02-27-14 SR Fact Sheet.pdf 13-01348zt PZAB Reso.pdf 13-01348zt CC Legislation (Version 3).pdf LOCATION: Citywide APPLICANT(S): Johnny Martinez, City Manager, on behalf of the City of Miami FINDINGS: PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval. PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval to City Commission on November 20, 2013 by a vote of 8-0. PURPOSE: This will add mixed -income development (both market rate and affordable housing) to the applicability criteria in Section 3.15 so mixed -income development can take advantage of the Affordable Housing Special Benefit Program, which includes relaxations of regulations such as setbacks, height, parking placement and other architectural and design features. Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be PASSED ON FIRST READING PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning): Commissioners, item PZ.1 is an item that has been continued a number of times. This is before you on first reading. I will remind you, briefly, that City of Miami Page 89 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 it's now probably about two years ago some amendments to the Zoning Ordinance were passed to encourage the development of affordable housing. Since then, we have pursued the goal of also promoting the development of mixed -income housing. And the item before you today we believe does that. It does so by extending some of the benefits available for the affordable housing developments to projects deemed to be affordable housing, and we are defining affordable housing for purposes of this legislation as development that provides at least 40 percent of the units as affordable housing, meaning at or below 60 percent ofAMI (Area Median Income) or 20 percent of the units is affordable housing, serving residents at or below 50 percent ofAMI; and this will allow greater versatility as the remainder of the stock on each one of those development projects will be market rate. We are recommending favorably on this item, and the Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board did as well. Having said that, I'll answer any questions you may have. Commissioner Suarez: Move it -- Chair Gort: Thankyou. Commissioner Suarez: -- for discussion. Chair Gort: This is a public hearing. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Tony Recio: Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the Commission. My name is Tony Recio, law office at 2525 Ponce de Leon Boulevard. I will be vety, very brief. I just want to say we're very excited about this legislation. It was promised a long time ago, and we're really happy to be moving forward with this. It's going to allow us to do a different level of quality. With Pinnacle Housing, we do vety high -quality affordable housing. This will allow for mixed income, which will bring in market -rate components, market -rate amenities, those types of things to these developments. So we're very excited, and we're very much in favor of this. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thankyou. Anyone else? Albert Milo: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Albert Milo, principal for Related Urban, 315 South Biscayne Boulevard. First, I want to thank staff. I know this has been a lot of discussions and a lot of iterations in trying to get this ordinance right. We feel it's an important ordinance. It's not a project -specific ordinance. It's not a district -specific ordinance. It's a citywide ordinance. So we think that the promotion of mixed -income housing is good public policy. This ordinance is going to allow us to -- what it's doing, it's actually taking the City ordinance in line with financing for these type of developments. It's going to allow not just Pinnacle Housing or development companies like ourselves, but other developers to come into the City of Miami and finance projects based on IRS (Internal Revenue Service) code, and those income criteria that the director laid out is going to be able to do tax-exempt bond financing and promote mixed -income housing, not just affordable housing or market -rate housing. It's more of a comprehensive ordinance that ties right into the IRS code. So we certainly support the ordinance. We thank staff for working hard on this ordinance. And if there's any questions the Commission has, I'll certainly like to chime in on that. Thankyou. Chair Gort: Okay. Any anyone else? Close the public hearing. Board members, Commissioners. Commissioner Suarez: I moved it. You know, as we said when we discussed this a few months ago -- You know, this was kind of a promise that I made when we -- and when this Commission supported my effort to carve out a section of Miami 21 that allowed for the building of affordable housing, given the financial structures and the financing structures that are in place right now for affordable housing, given the way that it's being built and financed As I mentioned then and I reiterate now, you know, it wasn't perfect legislation then. It's probably not perfect legislation City of Miami Page 90 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 today. This component of it, I think, is an improvement, because it allows for these financial mechanisms which are in place, irrespective of how we feel about them. Because I think, in some cases, they're inadequate, obviously, and there's obviously a tremendous need for affordable housing that vety much exceeds the demand. But, you know, having gone to a lot of affordable housing projects and public housing projects, you see that the quality of the product that's being produced is much, much, much better, and the lone dissenter when we passed the affordable housing piece of legislation carve out was Commissioner Sarnoff at the time. He actually voted in favor of it on first reading and dissented on second reading. And his dissent was based on the fact that there wasn't a market rate, mixed -rate component to it, and I told him then that, you know, I promised to continue to work with the Administration until we got to that point. I think this does that. Having said that, you know, I think that there are things that we've learned from the application of the affordable housing legislation. I'm kind of a glass that's half full type of person. I personally think that it's been wildly successful. We've gotten, if I'm not mistaken, close to 1,000 units of affordable housing. You know, others would argue that, aesthetically, you know, some of the housing that we've gotten from a design perspective is not ideal. I tend to focus on the fact that we've put 1,000 people in affordable housing, which is a tremendous need in the community; and that, to me, is a little more important than how the facade of the building actually looks. And I think there are buildings that are going to look beautiful within the context of the envelope that they have that can be certainly characterized as much more plain than other buildings, and then other buildings that would have been built under Miami 21 without the affordable housing piece of legislation that relaxes some of those standards. I'm amendable, as I said before, to continue that conversation and to see if we can continue to make the legislation better and more responsive to a city that is a beautiful city and that has a skyline that we want to uphold its integrity. So, you know, I'm obviously in favor of this legislation and hopeful that my colleagues are, as well. Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay, it's a move. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Vice Chair Hardemon: Second. Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman. Is any further discussion? Let me tell you, I have a lot of affordable housing in -- within my districts [sic], and the County very wisely had some RFP (Request for Proposals), because you can see the difference when you go to a public health building, manage building compared to the private sector and the joint ventures. Right now we're going to have an opening with an old building, Dante Fascell. This takes place in Allapattah. And the improvement they have made, the people that took over that building, is going to be tremendous, and that's what we need. I mean, we can't continue to create ghettos. I think mixing together the market rate with affordable housing is vety important. For that reason, I'm all in favor of it. Being no further discussion, all in favor, state it by saying aye." Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair. Chair Gort: Yes. Mr. Hannon: It is an ordinance. Chair Gort: It's an ordinance, sorry. My Apologies. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Mr. Hannon: Roll call on item PZ 1. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 4-0. City of Miami Page 91 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 D1.1 14-00076 Chair Gort: Thankyou. Mr. Recio: Thank you very much. Commissioner Carollo: Thankyou. END OF PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM(S) MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' ITEMS CITYWIDE HONORABLE MAYOR TOMAS REGALADO END OF CITYWIDE ITEMS DISTRICT 1 CHAIR WIFREDO (WILLY) GORT DISCUSSION ITEM DISCUSSION ON ARTICLE THATAPPEARED IN THE MIAMI HERALD REFERENCE CHANGES IN STATE LAW PERMITTING OUTSIDE GUN RANGES. 14-00076 E-Mail - State Law on Outside Gun Ranges.pdf DISCUSSED Direction by Chair Gort to the City Attorney and City Manager to identify any and all options that can be instituted to change the law allowing for backyard gun ranges that includes the following: (1) placement of this issue on the City's legislative initiatives list for the State Legislature; (2) review any and all legal opinions from the Florida Attorney General on this matter, in addition to requesting an opinion from the Florida Attorney General regarding the City's rights and abilities to restrict backyard gun ranges; (3) for the City Attorney to bring this matter back as a discussion item at a future Commission meeting with an update. Chair Gort: I got a -- you got an item? Commissioner Carollo: Go ahead, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) item. Chair Gort: Okay, Dl. If you recall, I don't know if you all read about the -- if you're aware, the State of Florida is the one that controls the use of guns. About three month ago, we have a -- we had an ordinance that guns were not allowed in city parks. We had to rescind that, because of the state law would not allow us. And if we would continue with that -- we did not rescind that resolution, we would have been penalized and we could have been in jail. Now, in reading -- and I don't know if you all read an article in the Miami Herald, where it says, "Big Pine Key --Near the National Key Deer Refuge in the Lower Keys, on a sleepy street called Mango Lane, retired sheriffs deputy Huey Gordon checked the waterways [sic] behind his [sic] neighborhood [sic] for boat traffic. 'All Clear?'" asked the gentleman. And he established a range -- a shooting range in his backyard. My understanding, this is allowed by state law. Can you imagine people trying to set up a target range in the backyard here in the City of Miami? So City of Miami Page 92 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 I would like to ask the Administration to check into this; what could be done to make the change to this law. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): I believe that one of the things that we could do is add this to the legislative initiatives to make sure that someone figures out a glitch bill or something so that we can make sure that this is something that does not happen. Another suggestion that I was thinking, if the board is so inclined, is to file some sort of friendly lawsuit, if anything, with the State of Florida to figure out our rights under this statute with regard to zoning and things of that nature. Those are the two suggestions. Chair Gort: I would like a resolution from this Commission requesting from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to look into this. I personally would write her a letter, but I would like a resolution from this Commission, 'cause this could be devastating for the City of Miami. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Carollo: Do you even need a resolution? Ms. Mendez: No, you don't need -- if you just give me a directive, I could draft it for you and send it, and request an attorney general opinion. Is that something that you would like, Chairman? Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Chair Gort: An opinion -- Commissioner Suarez: I'm okay with that. Chair Gort: -- and what can be done to -- Ms. Mendez: Opinion as to our rights and what could be done, as well. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: That's a directive. Chair Gort: Okay. Ms. Mendez: I believe, though, that there has been some attorney general opinions already on the matter. However, we will, one, put it on the legislative agenda; two, see how we could distinguish this attorney general opinion; and from there, bring it back as a discussion item and let you know where we are. Chair Gort: And also see if there's anything that we can do as a city. Ms. Mendez: Okay. Chair Gort: 'Cause I don't want to see anybody open a -- okay. Ms. Mendez: Understood Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. END OF DISTRICT 1 City of Miami Page 93 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 D2.1 13-01076 D3.1 13-01107 D3.2 13-01203 DISTRICT 2 COMMISSIONER MARC DAVID SARNOFF DISCUSSION ITEM DISCUSSION REGARDING DOUBLE POLES AND PROBLEMS WITH COMCAST. 13-01076 E-Mail-Double Poles and Comcast.pdf DEFERRED Note for the Record: Item D2.1 was deferred to the February 27, 2014, Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. END OF DISTRICT 2 DISTRICT 3 COMMISSIONER FRANK CAROLLO DISCUSSION ITEM FOLLOW UP ON PREVIOUS DISCUSSION ITEM REGARDING COMPLIANCE WITH THE FINANCIAL INTEGRITY PRINCIPLES ORDI NANCE. 13-01107 E-Mail - Compliance with Financial Integrity Ord.pdf CONTINUED Note for the Record: Item D3.1 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: I don't see -- Commissioner Sarnoff is not here, so I believe we're going into my discussion items. I would like to discuss the first one, which is compliance with the Financial Integrity Ordinance. I'm not going to go into too much detail, and I'll tell you why. One of the reasons that haven't had, you know, long discussion on this with my colleagues yet is because the compliance with the Financial Integrity Ordinance isn't just about the reserves; there's different clauses, and I've gone into details about them. And one of the -- I don't know if "clause" is the right word, but one of the sections is being able to issue your financial statements on time, and that's why I want to make sure -- see where we're at this year and see if we do issue our financial statements on time, to see if that's one that we could hopefully put behind us. So I'm going to defer my compliance with the Financial Integrity Ordinance to at least, let's say, this first meeting in March. DISCUSSION ITEM FOLLOW UP ON PREVIOUS DISCUSSION ITEM REGARDING ILLEGAL City of Miami Page 94 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 D3.3 14-00020 BILLBOARD. 13-01203 E-Mail - Illegal Billboard.pdf CONTINUED Note for the Record: Item D3.2 was continued to the March 13, 2014, Regular Commission Meeting. Commissioner Carollo: I want to discuss -- go back to D3.2, which is follow-up on illegal billboards. I am currently working with our City Attorney, possible legislation, so I would like to defer this to, I guess, the first meeting in March, you know, so I could continue discussing with the City Attorney. Anyways, do I need a vote for that or --? No, okay. DISCUSSION ITEM FOLLOW UP REGARDING ISSUANCE OF 2013 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. 14-00020 E-Mail -Audited Financial Statements.pdf DISCUSSED Commissioner Carollo: And with that said, I'm going to skip D3.2 right now and ask our Finance director, as far as our audited financial statements, are they going to be issued on time? Where are we in the process? It's something that, obviously, as you all know, I've been monitoring, butt have a lot of hope that we would issue our audited financial statements on time this year. So could you please address that and see where we're at in the process? Jose Fernandez: Jose Fernandez, Finance Department. Commissioner, we're having weekly status meetings with E&Y (Ernst& Young), including Mr. De Santos, a partner, and the last one -- every Friday -- the last one we had on Friday, everything seems to be, you know, on time. We have a vety, vety short list of pending PBC (Prepared by Client) items, and the majority of those are follow-ups to original requests. We're working through them as quickly as we can. And, you know, we -- like I said tomorrow, we'll have another status meeting regarding, you know, the process of where we are, what's pending, what's not pending, the time frame for all those things. So, I mean, as of right now, we feel optimistic that we should be able to issue on time. Commissioner Carollo: Is it possible for you or the Administration to reach to my office after you speak with them tomorrow to see the -- so I could have the latest update and --? I mean, we're in mid -February, so we still have a month and a half so it seems like we could get it done, so I, you know -- Mr. Fernandez: Sure, we'd be happy to reach out to your office and provide you the latest update based on our conversation with them tomorrow. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. And just for everyone's knowledge, I'm going to be putting this again, the discussion item, to follow-up, on the next Commission meeting and see where we're at -- Mr. Fernandez: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: -- with that. D3.4 DISCUSSION ITEM 14-00024 DISCUSSION REGARDING ESTABLISHING A MENTORING PROGRAM. City of Miami Page 95 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 14-00024 E-Mail - Mentoring Program.pdf DISCUSSED Commissioner Carollo: And then the mentoring program. As you all know, I brought as a discussion item recruitment process, and mentoring process is also -- it goes hand in hand. And with the mentoring process, I've been working with our City Manager, and at the same time, our Employee Relations director with regarding to going out to the universities and actually recruiting, going to career days. And we've had some, you know, healthy discussions with regards to some of the students are interested in, let's say, like a parks job or various jobs that we offer in the City of Miami. And I think we need to do a better outreach program to let, you know, young people know the options we have and the career path; that, you know, you start, you know, at a, you know, certain job, but you have growth opportunity in the City of Miami. And I think it's extremely important, because we saw it with the Finance team, the Finance Department that we had 12 vacancies at one time, and realistically, you know, everyone was scrounging on what do we do and how do we hire? So, you know, I believe little by little, we've put a strong financial team. I don't think we're done yet, and I hope it maintains as solid as it can be, but I've been consistently working with, like I said, our director of Employee Relations. And the second part to that is the mentoring program. Once we get, you know, young students hired by the City of Miami, I believe we should do some type of mentoring program. And we've had some healthy discussions on what does that mean. And it needs to be, I guess in a certain way, like a volunteer program where you have certain mentees teamed up with mentors so they have someone that they could go to and ask questions about. And it's something that, like I said, I've been working with the Administration, and, you know, I don't know if we'll be able -- you know, when we'll be able to bring something for -- if it needs codifying or not, or if it just an administrative action, but it's something that we're working on, and I just wanted to, you know, give everyone an update and actually, you know, always open to any suggestions that any of my colleagues may have. Chair Gort: Let me give you suggestions, and we used them in the past, and I don't know whatever happened to it, but we used to have the kids from the university. They have to do -- what do they call the program? Commissioner Carollo: Intern. Chair Gort: Intern. Commissioner Carollo: Intern programs. Chair Gort: We had intern programs in all the divisions that we had here, and it was great for them, 'cause it gave them an opportunity to learn how the public sector works and if they'll be interested in becoming part of the public sector. So that's something that when you go out to university to do that, let's look into those program. I mean, we had some people from the University of Miami, they were great. They did a beautiful job. FIU (Florida International University), Miami Dade. And this [sic] are young individuals [sic] that want to do something, and it's great. Commissioner Carollo: We -- I don't want to say it was an interim program, but that's somehow how we obtained our Finance director. But anyways, with that said that -- you know, I want to, again, bring it up to my colleagues and just let everybody know that I'm working on this. And I'm not sure if we need to codify something in the near future, but it's something that I really do believe that we need to strengthen in the City of Miami, and I started with the Finance Department. I've seen it in other departments. And we need to, you know, build -- have more -- how would you say it? -- you know, I guess, employees willing to, you know, go through the ranks and have a future with the City. Thank you. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Commissioner. City of Miami Page 96 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes. Ms. Mendez: The City Attorneys Office has a very good internship program, which I assisted in fostering about nine years ago. With any of the contacts that we have of any of the local universities, I can also provide assistance to the Human Resource Department of the persons that they need to be contacting in all the different disciplines and all the universities that we work as well. Commissioner Carollo: I appreciate that, because in all fairness, you know, we have a lot of departments in the City of Miami. Some may not be the sexy names, but the truth of the matter is, you know, I think once you explain the opportunities or growth opportunities you have in the future, in all fairness, there's a lot of good careers in some of these departments that, yeah, they're not your sexy names, they're not your, you know, everyday type jobs, but they still need to be filled; they're still, you know, jobs that, sooner or later, can grow to be a department head, who knows, City Manager. Ms. Mendez: If any of the -- sometimes, I have been asked if any of the Commissioners' offices would like interns for those for intergovernmental studies and political science and things of that nature, so -- Chair Gort: We'll take them all. Ms. Mendez: All right. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Suarez, you're recognized. Commissioner Suarez: No, I'm good Thank you. I think we're good today. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. We're done. Chair Gort: That's it? Commissioner Suarez: That's it. Chair Gort: Do I have a motion to adjourn? Commissioner Suarez: Motion to adjourn. Chair Gort: Thank you. And I want to thank all of you; working as a team is great. Thank you. END OF DISTRICT 3 DISTRICT 4 COMMISSIONER FRANCIS SUAREZ END OF DISTRICT 4 DISTRICT 5 VICE CHAIR KEON HARDEMON END OF DISTRICT 5 City of Miami Page 97 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 NA.1 14-00125 NON AGENDA ITEM(S) DISCUSSION ITEM COMMISSIONER SARNOFF REQUESTED A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR THE UNTIMELY PASSING OF FRANKIE SHANNON ROLLE, A LIFELONG EDUCATOR WHO LIVED IN COCONUT GROVE FOR OVER 70 YEARS AND WHOSE TIRELESS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COMMUNITY ARE REFLECTED IN THE NUMEROUS BUILDINGS NAMED IN HER HONOR, IN ADDITION TO A SCHOLARHSIP FUND ESTABLISHED FOR STUDENTS WHO OVERCAME OBSTACLES. DISCUSSED Chair Gort: Mr. Manager, do you have any items you'd like to pull? Commissioner Sarnoff Mr. Chair, could I have a point of privilege for a moment? Chair Gort: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. I'd -- just asking you if we could just have a moment of silence. Recently, the Village West lost a kind of stalwart, Frankie Shannon Rolle, who was an educator, died I think it was three days ago. Let's put it this way: Not too many people get their names on buildings, and she had her name on that building. She was an educator for the better part of over 53 years. She was born in Jacksonville. She called Coconut Grove home for the better part of 70 years. We've seen buildings with her name on it, and if we could just give a moment of silence, Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Sure. Commissioner Sarnoff. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Chair Gort: Thank you. NA.2 ORDINANCE 13-01021a Emergency Ordinance (4/5THS VOTE) AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, BY A FOUR -FIFTHS (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE, ESTABLISHING A ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY (120) DAY TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON THE ISSUANCE OF PARKING WAIVER CERTIFICATES ISSUED PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 35-225-228 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED; PROVIDING FORA SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED as an emergency measure, waiving the requirement for two separate readings PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez City of Miami Page 98 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 13430 Commissioner Sarnoff. I want to make a motion, as stated, except I'm going to amend it to 120-day moratorium. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Commissioner Sarnoff. Knowing us -- Commissioner Carollo: Second. Commissioner Sarnoff. -- we can't get it done in 30 days. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff. All right. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): I have full faith in this Commission, so that's why I was just saying till March 13. Commissioner Sarnoff. And I know us better than you. Melissa Tapanes: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: What's the motion? Ms. Tapanes: The Association doesn't have an issue with a moratorium moving forward. We just want to be very clear that those waivers that have been approved, there's no -- Ms. Mendez: Crystal clear. You have made it crystal clear that it is prospective. Ms. Tapanes: Thank you. Chair Gort: Okay. Commissioner Sarnoff Well, only if they went through your office. Ms. Tapanes: They all did; don't worty about it. Commissioner Sarnoff Don't advertise for you guys now. Ms. Tapanes: Don't worry; they all did. Chair Gort: Okay, there's a motion. There a second. Further discussion? Vice Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Sarnoff. It's an emergency ordinance. Chair Gort: An emergency ordinance. Commissioner Carollo: It's an emergency order [sic]. Chair Gort: Yes. City of Miami Page 99 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Ms. Mendez: Just to be -- if we should have a public hearing just on the emergency ordinance -- Chair Gort: Open to the public. I think we have -- Ms. Mendez: I think everybody's talked, but just in case. Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) like to talk, the public hearing's closed. Go ahead. Vice Chair Hardemon: No. I think -- Mr. Chairman -- Chair Gort: Okay, who wants to speak? Vice Chair Hardemon: -- a humble recommendation -- Chair Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- is to give people an opportunity, so announce it now. Chair Gort: Okay, public hearing's opened Who would like to discuss this issue at this time? Commissioner Sarnoff. Now close it. Chair Gort: Showing none. Being none, the public hearing's closed. Vice Chair Hardemon: I do have a discussion. I want to say one thing on the record. Chair Gort: Discussion. Vice Chair Hardemon: On the record -- Commissioner Sarnoff You have it? Do you need it? Do you want me to read it? Unidentified Speaker: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sarnoff Okay. It's an emergency ordinance of the City of Miami City Commission establishing a 120-day temporary moratorium on the issuance of parking waiver certificates, pursuant to Section 35-225-228; providing for a severability clause and an immediate effective date. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, Commissioners, there will be two roll calls on the emergency ordinance. Your first roll call. Vice Chair -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Well, before we move, I have discussion item about it, because I wanted to make something very clear before we move to the roll call vote. Chair Gort: Go ahead. Vice Chair Hardemon: The first thing I want to say is this -- Ms. Mendez: Four fifths. I just wanted to put that on the record. It has to be a four -fifths vote. Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: We have four. City of Miami Page 100 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Chair Gort: Go ahead. Vice Chair Hardemon: Well, the reason that we're doing this is so that we can have more revenue for this district to service not only the visitors that we have coming to the City of Miami but also the residents that are abutting these properties so that they have adequate parking for people to enjoy themselves within the City of Miami. So we've said a lot of things here and there, but know that the spirit of this is to improve the areas that we're discussing right now within the City of Miami, and to create an opportunity for us to have revenues to improve upon those conditions in that immediate community, moving forward, so that we don't have to -- and I know the Mayor's probably (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- raise taxes or anything of that nature to create more revenue to improve upon this area. Commissioner Carollo: And Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Just dovetailing on what Commissioner Hardemon is saying, the truth of the matter is not just more revenue. I mean, realistically, we're indirectly, I guess, promising something that with the revenues that we're obtaining, we can't do, and that's, you know, have adequate parking in that area. It's just not cost-effective. So that's why we're putting a stop to it. Because every waiver that comes to be, we are more and more in a deficit to actually produce what the intent of this waiver is for. Thank you. Chair Gort: Let me just make a little comments [sic]. I think this is one of the best things that can happen to the City of Miami, and I want to see it getting done, but I know attorneys. I know them. I mean, my suggestion, after we pass this on first reading, you all get together, please, 'cause I don't want to see this in court; 'cause I want to see this finished and done. I think this is a great benefit for the City of Miami and the residents of the City of Miami. So my advice is, please, after we pass all this, get together, talk to each other, go to lunch, go to dinner. Okay. Mr. Hannon: Chair, Commissioners, again I have a mover and a seconder. This is an emergency ordinance. There will be two roll calls. Your first roll call on an emergency ordinance. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: Your second roll call. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The emergency ordinance passes, 4-0. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Unidentified Speaker: Thank you. Thank you all for your time. NA.3 DISCUSSION ITEM 14-00130 DISCUSSION BY VICE CHAIR HARDEMON REGARDING RESOLUTION R-14-0031 (PROCUREMENT OF RECYCLING SERVICES FROM CHOICE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES OF BROWARD, INC.), WHICH WAS APPROVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION DURING THE JANUARY 23, 2014, COMMISSION MEETING, EXPRESSING HIS CONCERN THAT ACCURATE AND TIMELY INFORMATION BE PRESENTED TO EACH City of Miami Page 101 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 COMMISSIONER BEFORE A VOTE IS TAKEN ON ANY ITEM BY THE CITY COMMISSION. DISCUSSED Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman. Chair Gort: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Hardemon: Is Mr. Carswell here? Is he here? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): We'll check in the back. Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay. Chair Gort: You're recognized, Vice Chair. Vice Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, I am bringing this up as a discussion item. It is a pocket item since it was not on the agenda as of right now. But this is in relation to the piggybacking contract that we approved of at the last Commission meeting. So at the last Commission meeting, we approved the resolution authorizing procurement and recycling services from Choice by piggyback under the Broward County's contract for recycling. So on that one, we know that the -- Choice had 43 percent AMV (Adjusted Market Value) rebate that was offered back to the City. Keith Carswell (Director, Solid Waste): Correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: And -- Mr. Carswell: Keith Carswell, director for Solid Waste. That's a 43 percent share of the profit. Vice Chair Hardemon: Correct. And so, in that meeting, I made reference to a City of Hollywood contract and I asked that we look into the City of Hollywood's contract, because at that time, I wasn't too sure, but I had some reason to believe that there was a better rate of return to the City. And by "rate of return, " of course, that means increased revenues to the City. And from what we discovered, the Hollywood contract that I was referencing had a 80 percent return back to the City, so 80 percent versus 43 percent. So that -- I believe that contract was for ecological paper recycling. Mr. Carswell: Correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: Who, in the initial bidding the REP (Request for Proposals) -- the initial bidding of the first contract that Waste Management received was the only other person that -- Mr. Carswell: Correct. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- bid. They lost the bid; all is fair. However, when we brought the issue back before the Commission -- typically, I mean, we have two choices: We can either go to the second contract, but I think in that contract, it specifically said it would go back out for RFP. Mr. Carswell: In that particular case, there were two proposers. One was Waste Management of Florida, Inc. It was $41 a ton, plus 150,000 upfront; Ecological, which was $10 a ton. So it, you know, was a no -brainier when the committee met to make the selection. Vice Chair Hardemon: Right. But in that contract or in that bidding process -- I don't know if it was in a summary. I don't remember reading it in the summary, but at least in the backup, it said that if there was a problem with executing this contract, then it will go back out for an RFP. City of Miami Page 102 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 Mr. Carswell: Well, we were probably about 10 months into the contract with Waste Management, and they informed us that we had some -- they had some challenges with the level of contamination, and that was something that we tried to work through with them. We came up with some type of mitigation strategy that at least they proposed. In the scenario with the mitigation, in some instances, based on our level of contamination, we would actually be paying them money for disposal. So we went back and forth, and we weren't able to work that out. Vice Chair Hardemon: I understand that to be. All right, and what 171 do is I'll read this. This is a document -- it's in the agenda item summary form, and in the -- and also included in -- well, this is -- I'll read from here. Inter -office memorandum from Mr. Johnny Martinez -- I'm sorry, from Mr. Keith Carswell to Mr. Johnny Martinez, dated October 25, 2012. And what this is, is the recommendation of evaluation committee for REP 290257, the handling and processing of recycling materials. And in this it reads, after the committee ranked the firm as follows, Waste Management 468 points versus Ecological Paper Recycling, 240 points. The last sentence reads: "The committee further recommends that should contract negotiations fail with the highest -ranked firm, all proposals be rejected and that a new REP be issued." So this was signed and approved by, of course, Mr. Martinez. So with that being said, the stage is set -- If you want to take a look at it? Okay. So the stage is now set where if there's some problem with the contract negotiations -- and there were -- there was -- that this is going to go back out for an REP. Of course, that did not happen; and, you know, that's just a recommendation that was made, correct? Pablo Velez: Yes, Commissioner. Vice Chair Hardemon: Yes. Mr. Velez: Pablo for Procurement Department, Pablo Velez. Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay, so the recommendation is made. But before the Commission, then we had an option for piggybacking. And what my concern is -- and I believe is probably the concern of all the rest of the Commissioners -- is that we get as best of a rate of return to the City as possible, because this is all about revenue. This is all about providing the best service and getting the most revenue. So that's what my concern was about, and that's why I brought up the issue of the City of Hollywood contract. Now, since I learned that there was an 80 percent return -- because at that time in the last meeting, I asked you, Mr. Carswell, had you looked into it, and you said to me that it didn't make any sense for us to go with that contract because they had to haul the materials to Broward, okay. You're the expert, so I listened to that. But upon my research, they don't haul it to Broward; I believe they haul it to Opa-Locka -- right -- which is within Miami -Dade County. So then that being the only condition in which we would not choose that contract, as far as from what you represented to me, is a nonissue at this point. Now, in the meantime, before this discussion item came up, what I asked was to have a comparison of the contract that we piggybacked on and also the City of Hollywood contract; and to this date, I do not have that comparison, which further complicates this issue for me, because I want to be able to address the issue of how it is that we went with the contract that had awarded us 43 percent versus 80 percent. And I know, from communication with Mr. Carswell, that he has reached out to Ecological after my request, and they've stated some positions where they don't feel like they may be able to deliver on an 80 percent contract. All of that was done after the fact, and so -- You want to interrupt for a moment? Daniel J. Alfonso (Chief Financial Officer/Assistant City Manager): Yes. Vice Chair Hardemon: Go ahead. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, ifI may. If -- and the Procurement director can correct me if I'm City of Miami Page 103 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 wrong, but my understanding -- Chair Gort: Excuse me. You are? Mr. Alfonso: Oh, Danny Alfonso -- Chair Gort: Thank you. Mr. Alfonso: -- Assistant City Manager. Once -- as you saw the award -- the recommendation to a contract, which says, "If negotiations fail, you can move to the second bidder," et cetera. But once the negotiations are completed, and an award was made, and a contract was issued, that process is closed, so that if a year later you have a problem with that vendor, you cannot go back to the second bidder. That process was closed, so you would have to go to a new process. Now, fair question: Why not Ecological? And that's a different -- but that's a -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Right. Mr. Alfonso: -- different issue. Vice Chair Hardemon: Even if we don't move with the second one, I mean -- Mr. Alfonso: Right. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- to me that's not a big deal. What is a big deal is that we go back into the market and find the best deal that we can receive -- Mr. Alfonso: Right. Vice Chair Hardemon: -- for the people of the City of Miami, and so there was a time -- I mean, I would have preferred someone say to me, "You know what, Commissioner Hardemon? I don't know. I have not compared the numbers from the City of Hollywood and this contract that we're trying to piggyback on right now. But if you give me the opportunity to compare them or to look at the document, then you" -- "I will give you my professional opinion about the matter." But that's not what happened. Mr. Alfonso: Well, Commissioner, you asked us that question earlier this week. We have obtained a copy of the contract. We're looking at it. Vice Chair Hardemon: Right, we're remedying this now, but we're doing this now, and that's why this is as a discussion item. I mean, I'm not moving that we reconsider our vote. I'm not doing anything of that nature. What I am doing, though, is saying that my vote depends on, many times, the word of this Administration, the people that are charged with being experts in these fields, and that's who we depend on. And so when we, as Commissioners, make a decision to vote yea or nay for a project, depending on the word of the people who are charged with the responsibility of giving us accurate, timely information, then when I don't receive that and I look from a review of the documents and the different contracts that we lost out on things in the sense of maybe a profit or maybe so, it becomes vety troubling to me, because maybe my vote would be different, maybe my -- I would move to continue this item to another meeting; maybe I would do something then different than what I did, and that is part of my issue. So I appreciate the fact that we reach out to the president of Ecological after the fact. I would have better appreciated if it was done when the question was raised And so now, because we're dealing with maybe we have these lost profits. At that time, maybe we didn't -- we did not know whether or not he would have accepted the 80 percent contract with us. Maybe he would have countered with 60 percent, which is still better than 43 percent, and that is part of my concern with this. And I take this vety seriously, because of course, I'm going to be a part of -- I'm chairing the actual committee that City of Miami Page 104 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 deals with waste and recycling issues. So these types of things rub me the wrong way when what I'm doing is what I assume you have been doing, which is trying to monetize and create better revenues for the City of Miami through efficient processes and through the best contracts that we can. And right now, I feel like I was duped Right now, I feel like I did not have the benefit of doing that, and that's unsettling to me. Mr. Carswell: Keith Carswell, director for Solid Waste. Let me first clarify -- well, let me first apologize if it -- if that was the perception. I believe when the question came up about a contract in Hollywood, I think that's how it was put out, so when I hear "contract in Hollywood, " my assumption was that it was some company in Hollywood; was not aware of the particulars in terms of Ecological Waste being the provider or the processor of the recycling. Since that time, I have spoken to the principal. He is losing out on the contract with Hollywood He wants to get out of that contract. He is working -- he gave me some numbers that I don't want to put out in public. It's been a challenge. I've also had an opportunity to talk to the individuals at the City of Hollywood. Given what I know now -- and I would be the first to admit that we didn't do that then -- I still think that it was the best and prudent decision in terms of the recommendation, and we can talk about some of the particulars, but I wouldn't want to put that out about the business. Oftentimes, we do go through different due diligence, and sometimes just for the public. When you see 80 percent, it's a good number; and you see 43 percent. If you look at the percentages, you're not comparing apples and apples. Vice Chair Hardemon: And that's why I asked for the comparison. Mr. Carswell: Right -- Vice Chair Hardemon: Right, but the -- Vice Chair Hardemon: -- which I don't have, right? Mr. Carswell: The comparison -- Vice Chair Hardemon: And that changes the scope of our discussion, because if you give me now the comparison, I can say, "Well, in this one, I have "X, " "Y, " and " Z, " and in this one, I have "X, " "Y, " and " Z, " so that's the first part. That's what it gives me. And then second what concerns me about it is it's just the due diligence that we're giving when we're out there looking for contracts to piggyback on. I mean, the benefit of the piggybacking statute is so that we don't have to go through an REP and that we do this efficiently and we get the best price. We get the -- what's best for our community. Some of the -- Mr. Carswell: In talking with the owner, who's been in the business for over 30 years, I discussed with him the price that we were getting. He felt that that was a very good price, and it was within the market. Additionally, he indicated to me that there's a contract that's going out with the City of Hialeah, and they're going to put in a number. The number that he gave me is less than what we're currently getting, okay? And then, from that standpoint, what we suggested through the e-mails (electronic) and then also talking with Procurement is that we can look in terms of to see what the price is that they have or that Hialeah gives. Now also, Procurement gave me some guidance that we can't just piggyback off of Hialeah's process, because a process for us to piggyback off of would have to be similar to the process that we have. Their code is different than our code, but that would give me an opportunity to kind of gauge the market. And at this point, at least based on my conversation with him, also looking around in my experience with Waste Management, we -- based on those conversations, I think we're in the right market in terms of price. Vice Chair Hardemon: So -- and I think I probably echo the opinion of the Commission when I say we want -- when we're being asked to piggyback on something and Procurement has to do City of Miami Page 105 Printed on 3/10/2014 City Commission Meeting Minutes February 13, 2014 ADJOURNMENT their due diligence to scour the communities to find the best deal for us, we want the best information. If you come to me and you say, "Well, Commissioners, there is a contract that says 80 percent comes back to the City of Miami. That may sound like a better deal. But this is the reason why I don't believe we should accept that, for 'X, ' 'Y, ' and 'Z' reasons, " and it could be all the reasons that you wrote me in the e-mail, but we were not given that information. And I'm looking at a RFP process that deals with two people, and then the contract gets awarded back to an organization that has always done business with the City of Miami but didn 't get it this time. You know, there are red flags that concern me. And then when I -- when -- and then furthermore -- I mean, it complicates it when I don't get the information that I requested in a timely manner. I know it's not very, very difficult to get the information to compare them. It's not extremely difficult. So I still want that information. Mr. Carswell: Okay. Vice Chair Hardemon: I still want that information, the information I requested. That requests is not extinguished because we're having this discussion. But I want to make sure that when we come before -- when you come before this Commission and we make our decisions that we're making it on the best information possible, period. Mr. Carswell: Okay. Vice Chair Hardemon: Anything else? Chair Gort: Thank you. Let me add a little bit, 'cause his frustration, I think it was shown here before. We make decisions according to information we get from you all. I still have a lot of questions that I've asked that's pending, and I sent e-mails every day constantly. And whenever anyone, any of the department directors that come here to make a presentation, I mean, we got to take your word for it. We got to make sure -- be aware that you did all your work, you did all your diligence, and that's how we take a decision. And sometimes you come up with resolutions and things in here; we do our own research in my office, and we find some -- not all the work has been done. So, actually, this is a message to the Administration. Whenever you come in front of here, make sure you have all the answers to all the questions. Thank you for bringing it up. Mr. Carswell: Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. The meeting adjourned at 4: 40 p.m. City of Miami Page 106 Printed on 3/10/2014