HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2015-09-24 MinutesCity of Miami
City Hall
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, FL 33133
www.miamigov.com
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, September 24, 2015
5:05 PM
SECOND BUDGET HEARING
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
Daniel J. Alfonso, City Manager
Victoria Mendez, City Attorney
Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
5:05 P.M.
SECOND BUDGET HEARING
Present: Chair Gort, Commissioner Sarnoff, Commissioner Carollo, Commissioner Suarez and
Vice Chair Hardemon
On the 24th day of September 2015, 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, for its second budget hearing session. The meeting was called to order by Chair Gort at
9: 31 p. m., and adjourned at 10: 33 p. m.
Note for the Record: Commissioner Carollo entered the Commission chamber at 9:34 p. m.
ALSO PRESENT:
Victoria Mendez, City Attorney
Daniel J. Alfonso, City Manager
Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
Chair Gort: Welcome to September 24, 2015 second budget meeting, and related hearing in the
City of Miami Commission in these historic chambers. The members of the City Commission are
Marc Sarnoff; Frank Carollo; Francis Suarez; Vice Chair Keon Hardemon; and myself Wifredo
"Willy" Gort, Chairperson. Also on the dais are Daniel Alfonso, City Manager; Victoria
Mendez, the City Attorney; and Todd Hannon, the City Clerk.
ORDER OF THE DAY
Chair Gort: We now will begin the second budget meeting related to here, and City Attorney,
you say the procedures.
Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Thank you, Chairman. Any person who is a lobbyist must
register with the City Clerk before appearing before the City Commission. A copy of the City
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 at wwwmiamigov.com [sic]. Any person may be heard by the City Commission through
the Chair for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the City Commission unless
such time limit is modified by the Chair. If the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the
opportunity to be heard may be at such later date before action is taken. Pursuant to Florida
Administrative Code, Rule 12(d) 17.05, anyone wishing to appeal any decision made by the
Commission tonight may view the video at wwwmiamigov.com [sic], or request it from the Office
of Communications. No cell phones or other noise -making devices; no clapping, heckling,
applauding. Any person who is unruly will be barred from the Commission chambers and
subject to arrest. No signs, banners, placards in Commission chambers. Anyone with a
disability requiring assistance, auxiliary aids and services for this meeting may notify the City
Clerk. The meeting will end at the conclusion of the regularly scheduled budget meeting agenda,
or as continued or reschedule by the City Commissioners, and that's it. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, Madam.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
BH.1
15-01053a
Office of Management
and Budget
DISCUSSION ITEM
FINAL PUBLIC HEARING TO DISCUSS THE PROPOSED MILLAGE AND
TENTATIVE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-16.
THE PROPOSED GENERAL OPERATING MILLAGE RATE OF 7.6465 FOR
THE CITY OF MIAMI FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1,
2015 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 IS 15.19 PERCENT HIGHER
THAN THE STATE -DEFINED ROLLED -BACK RATE OF 6.6379.
CITY COMMISSION LISTENS AND RESPONDS TO CITIZENS' COMMENTS
REGARDING THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE AND THE PROPOSED
BUDGET. ACTION RELATED TO THIS DISCUSSION ITEM OCCURS BY
ENACTMENT OF BH.5 AND BH.6.
15-01053a Summary Form.pdf
15-01053a Budget Discussion.pdf
DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: Mayor, you're recognized.
Mayor Tomas Regalado: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I will be more than brief
because we have done a lot of work, but just to recap, we have a modified budget, as the
Commission suggested, and this is, we believe, a budget that works. In this budget that the
Administration is presenting to you, we have included 60 new police officers; two new Fire
Rescue units; the staffing for new parks; traffic control specialist; and, of course, improvement to
operations in Solid Waste; Capital Improvement; NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) and
the City Attorney's Office and others. What is important about this budget is that it fitlly funds
all current commitments, especially those for the AFSCME (American Federation of State, City
and Municipal Employees) unions, and include raises for non- bargaining employees that have
not seen a raise in many years; enhance the Anti -Poverty Initiative funding by an additional $1
million; includes the conversion of 137 temporary employees to permanent status; and, of course
-- and this is important -- we are almost done, if not done with the Fire Union. The timetable is
that they're going to get the final documents they need 12 days, and probably the contract will be
before you maybe in the first meeting in October; and, of course, next week, there will be more
talks with the Police unions and as the will of the Commission, we will try to accelerate the
process; all of this with a new reduction in taxes, and this is important, because other
governments have left tax flat, but the City of Miami, because of what the Commission has done
in five years in a row, is offering a reduction in property taxes to our residents. So with that, Mr.
Chairman, we present to you and the Commissioners the budget for the year 2015/2016. I'd like
to introduce our City Manager, Daniel Alfonso.
Chair Gort: City Manager.
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, I'm going to be
really brief. We have listened We've put together a budget that addresses many needs. There's
an amendment that was part of the agenda for BH.6. We urge and ask for your support. Our
Budget director's going to go ahead and read some required statements into the record before we
start the public discussion on the various issues.
Christopher Rose (Director): Good evening, Commissioners. Chris Rose, Office of Management
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
& Budget. I have some State -required language. The proposed general operating millage rate is
7.6465 mills for the City of Miami for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2015 and ending
September 30, 2016. That operating millage rate is 15.19 percent higher than the State -defined
rollback rate of 6.6379 mills. Thank you, Commissioners.
Chair Gort: Thank you. B.1 [sic], the final budget hearing discuss the proposed millage
tentative budget.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And, Chair, for the record, the public hearing will be open for
items BH 1, 5 and 6, all at the same time.
Chair Gort: One, 5 and 6. Okay, open the public hearing. Yes, sir, you're recognized.
Javier Ortiz: Good evening, Commissioners. Lieutenant Javier Ortiz, Miami Fraternal Police
president, 710 Southwest 12th Avenue. The only reason why I'm coming up here is, upon
reviewing the budget, I noticed that there is an increase of an additional 60 police officers that
have been added to the budget. I am asking for that number to be lowered to 40. The reason
why I'm asking for it to be lowered to 40, it's a more realistic, more reasonable number. We have
approximately 50 positions that are open right now budgeted. We're going to lose about 50
police officers next year due to the DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Plan), and because of
other things that are outside of our control, such as officers that are either terminated, or
because of the stock market; there's people that are within their retirement guidelines that are
going to leave sooner, so the Chief of Police is going to have to hire just to fill those positions,
about 100 police officers, and to be able to fill up another 60 on top of that is an unrealistic
goal, and I must say that by looking at the other models and speaking to other agencies as far as
how they do their backgrounds, these -- the officers that are working in our backgrounds unit are
cranking them faster than I've ever seen, ever; I mean, some are within about two months or even
sooner than that, because they've been really expediting the process. And he's also freed up
overtime in doing things like the physical agilities on the weekends. So I urge you to lower that
number to a more reasonable number, which would be 40; not 60. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thankyou. Anyone else? Anyone else? Albito, let's go.
Albio Castillo: My name is Albio Castillo. I lives in 2235 Southwest 16th Terrace. Are the
police that are going to be hired by time, are they going to be certified, and is the 300 police cars
are going to be from one lot? I have a question that I'd like to know is on the sign and banners
that people have complained when they go to the offices that are having a hard time, they're
getting the runaround, I'd like to know is this going to be enforced citywide, or is it going to be
selective? And it's not in Miami 21. I already did my own investigation in the City Code, and
that we transfer the City Code to Miami 21 will make a lot easier on the inspectors, and are they
going to hire enough inspector to do the inspection, and if they're qualified to do the sign and
banners?
Chair Gort: Thankyou.
Mr. Castillo: I also like to know is how is the City going to do with -- they're going to continue
the aggressive (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? And the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to aggressively within
facilities? I'd like to thank my Commissioner for that. Now, there's another issue on the Marlins
on low attendance, and there's going to be Beckham Project. We're going to have problems
there, because it involved the City of Miami, the taxpayers, and eminent domain. Does any of
you attorneys want to take that, or do you want me to explain what it is? I could explain it. An
eminent domain is any municipality, a state or federal --
Chair Gort: We know, believe me; we know.
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Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
Mr. Castillo: Can I explain it or --?
Chair Gort: Sure, go ahead; make you happy.
Mr. Castillo: Any municipality state or federal government that needs property, the only way
that they could do it in a fair market public, it is with the Dade County Property Appraiser.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Castillo: Any question from the Administration? Any question from Administration or the
Commission?
Chair Gort: No, thank you.
Mr. Castillo: You're welcome.
Chair Gort: Anyone else? Anyone else? Close the public hearing.
BH.2 DISCUSSION ITEM
15-01054a
Downtown DISCUSSION OF PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE AND FINAL BUDGET FOR
Development THE MIAMI DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Authority
PERCENTAGE INCREASE IN MILLAGE OVER ROLLED -BACK RATE.
RESPONSE: 13.83% (0.475 IS THE PROPOSED RATE, 0.4173 IS THE
ROLLED -BACK RATE)
CITY COMMISSION LISTENS AND RESPONDS TO CITIZENS' COMMENTS
REGARDING THE PROPOSED MILLAGE AND EXPLAINS THE REASONS
FOR THE INCREASE OVER THE ROLLED -BACK RATE.
15-01054a DDA Budget Discussion.pdf
15-01054a-Submittals-Alyce M. Robertson-DDA Resolution No. 19-2015.pdf
DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: Okay, the millage.
Daniell Alfonso (City Manager): DDA (Downtown Development Authority) millage would be
the next topic -- I'm sorry; DDA discussion, BH.2.
Alyce Robertson: Good evening. Yes, it's evening. I want to read into the record the required
statement that this is a discussion of a proposed millage rate and final budget for the Miami
Downtown Development Authority. The percentage of increase over the rollback rate is 13.83
percent, at 4.7 -- .475. The rollback rate is .4173. The actions by the City Commission
amending the final budget, if necessary; recompute the proposed millage rate, if necessary;
adopt the final millage rate and adopt the amended final budget. That's BH.2.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir, you're recognized.
Alvin West: Yes. My name is Alvin West. I'm the treasurer of the Downtown Development
Authority, and I'm here to support the staff and also to ask you, the Commission and Chairman,
if you would be so kind as to give consideration to the millage and to the budget. And I speak on
behalf of the 13 -- 15 board members, if we would pass the budget and the millage as presented.
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Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir.
BH.3 ORDINANCE Second Reading
15-01059
Downtown AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Development ATTACHMENT(S), RELATED TO TAXATION, DEFINING AND DESIGNATING
Authority THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
DISTRICT ("DISTRICT") OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("CITY"); FIXING
THE FINAL MILLAGE AND LEVYING AN ADDITIONAL AD VALOREM TAX ON
ALL REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN THE DISTRICTATA RATE OF
0.4750 MILLS ON THE DOLLAR OF THE TAXABLE VALUE OF SUCH
PROPERTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING THE OPERATION OF THE
MIAMI DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2015 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2016;
PROVIDING THAT SAID MILLAGE SHALL BE IN ADDITION TO THE
MILLAGE ADOPTED BY THE COMMISSION PURSUANT TO SECTION 9,
ARTICLE VII, FLORIDA CONSTITUTION, AND SECTION 166.211, FLORIDA
STATUTES (2015), AS WELL AS ANY SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS IMPOSED
BY THE SAME; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL NOT BE
DEEMED AS REPEALING OR AMENDING ANY OTHER ORDINANCE FIXING
A MILLAGE OR LEVYING TAXES, BUT SHALL BE DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL
AND IN ADDITION THERETO; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
15-01059 DDA Memo SR.pdf
15-01059 Pre -Legislation FR/SR.pdf
15-01059 Back -Up from Law Dept FR/SR.pdf
15-01059 Legislation SR.pdf
15-01059 Exhibit A SR.pdf
15-01059-Submittals-Alyce M. Robertson-DDA Resolution No. 19-2015.pdf
ACTIONS BY THE CITY COMMISSION:
1. RECOMPUTE THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE, IF NECESSARY
2. ADOPT THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED FAILED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon
Noes: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
13559
Note for the Record: The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) millage rate of 0.4750 mills
required a 5/5 vote of the City Commission to pass.
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be
RECONSIDERED PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon
Noes: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
(BH.3) ORDINANCE Passed
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
15-01059
Downtown
Development
Authority
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), RELATED TO TAXATION, DEFINING AND DESIGNATING
THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
DISTRICT ("DISTRICT") OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("CITY"); FIXING
THE FINAL MILLAGE AND LEVYING AN ADDITIONAL AD VALOREM TAX ON
ALL REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN THE DISTRICTATA RATE OF
0.4681 MILLS ON THE DOLLAR OF THE TAXABLE VALUE OF SUCH
PROPERTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING THE OPERATION OF THE
MIAMI DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2015 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2016;
PROVIDING THAT SAID MILLAGE SHALL BE IN ADDITION TO THE
MILLAGE ADOPTED BY THE COMMISSION PURSUANT TO SECTION 9,
ARTICLE VII, FLORIDA CONSTITUTION, AND SECTION 166.211, FLORIDA
STATUTES (2015), AS WELL AS ANY SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS IMPOSED
BY THE SAME; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL NOT BE
DEEMED AS REPEALING OR AMENDING ANY OTHER ORDINANCE FIXING
A MILLAGE OR LEVYING TAXES, BUT SHALL BE DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL
AND IN ADDITION THERETO; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
15-01059 DDA Memo SR.pdf
15-01059 Pre -Legislation FR/SR.pdf
15-01059 Back -Up from Law Dept FR/SR.pdf
15-01059 Legislation SR.pdf
15-01059 Exhibit A SR.pdf
15-01059-Submittals-Alyce M. Robertson-DDA Resolution No. 19-2015.pdf
ACTIONS BY THE CITY COMMISSION:
1. RECOMPUTE THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE, IF NECESSARY
2. ADOPT THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon
Noes: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
13559
Note for the Record: The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) millage rate of 0.4681 mills
required a 4/5ths vote of the City Commission to pass.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So moved.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff.
Ms. Robertson: They have to -- it's an ordinance.
Mr. Hannon: One moment. We're going to open up the public hearing first on items BH.2, 3 and
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4.
Chair Gort: Public hearing on item BH 2, 3 and 4. Is anyone in the public would like to address
this issue? Seeing none, hearing none, the public hearing is closed.
Commissioner Sarnoff So moved on BH 2.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: BH 2 has been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff second --
Mr. Hannon: And it's item -- sorry. For the record, it'll be BH.3.
Commissioner Sarnoff You're right. I'm sorry.
Chair Gort: BH.3 for the record.
Commissioner Suarez: BH 2 There was a discussion, right? BH.3.
Chair Gort: Now the discussion, yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: I seconded.
Chair Gort: No, none? All --
Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): An ordinance --
Chair Gort: Second reading, yes.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Hannon: Roll call on item BH.3: Vice Chair Hardemon?
Vice Chair Hardemon: For.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Carollo.
Commissioner Carollo: No.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Sarnoff.
Commissioner Sarnoff Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Chair Gort.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-1.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
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Commissioner Carollo: I don't think --
Alyce Robertson: So we have -- I -- this I'll need a little help from the City Attorney's Office on --
we required a unanimous vote on that, and we did not receive it.
Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Right.
Chair Gort: Yes, you reduce -- okay, go ahead.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. So what happens is the police officers now take it out of the
budget, so we reduce the police officer by one -- we reduce by $110, 000; and now, we have to go
for a 4/5ths vote for the mill rate of .4 --
Ms. Robertson: Four -six -eight -one.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right.
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Carollo: And correction: The police officer does not have to be reduced. You
still have plenty of budget there to reduce it from somewhere else and still have -- dedicate
110, 000, and it's going to be less than that for a police officer. You have more than $110, 000
budget, so there's plenty of money there for a police officer if that's only -- if that's -- if you so
desire. You don't need to now take out the police officer.
Ms. Robertson: If I may, Commissioner.
Commissioner Carollo: You have vacancies there, and just two vacancies is 110, 000. Yeah, you
have five vacancies, showing it in your budget. Out of 25 positions, you have five vacancies.
Just two of those positions is more than $110, 000, so you could take it out from there; you don't
need to reduce it.
Commissioner Sarnoff. But still, it's still, nonetheless, Commissioner, with all due respect, a
reduction of a police officer that would have been put on the Miami streets by an agency that
would have funded it; that, you can't change.
Commissioner Carollo: No, you still can change -- you still can --
Commissioner Sarnoff. You can always add a police officer --
Commissioner Carollo: Yeah.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- under the general fund all you want, but --
Commissioner Carollo: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- we would have added an additional one.
Commissioner Carollo: No. You still can have an additional one.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Yeah, you --
Commissioner Carollo: You have more than enough funding, that's my point.
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Ms. Robertson: If I may put on the record, the Miami DDA (Downtown Development Authority)
voted last Friday to request that they not fitnd the additional police officer should it not pass on a
5-0 vote, so that's the recommendation of the DDA Board.
Commissioner Sarnofff. Right, but subject to the City Commission approving by 5-5, so that one
police officer, whether we make up for it in the general fund, whether we capitalize a police
officer, which you can't do, that police officer's no longer there, so now, we need to go to a new
mill rate, so you already --
Ms. Mendez: Point four -- 4681, which you will have to vote again in order to pass that one.
Commissioner Sarnofff. So let me make a motion for .48 --
Ms. Mendez: Eight -one.
Commissioner Sarnofff. -- eight one.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff second by Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Carollo: Discussion.
Chair Gort: Discussion.
Commissioner Carollo: Once again, correction: You have more sufficient monies in your budget
to fund a police officer. There is currently, from the information that Ms. Robertson gave me,
five vacancies. If you don't fill those vacancies, you have plenty of money to use that; you have
plenty of money to use for an additional police officer, or two police officers, three police
officers, four police officers, if you want.
Mr. West: Through the Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Mr. West: The board had spoken, and we have constructed a budget that would utilize all of the
funds that we have. The positions that you have in the budget are for critical need items that will
be used throughout the rest of the budget year, so it would be diverting needs to something that
was not anticipated by the board, and the board, I think, as you heard, was very much in favor of
moving to .4681 millage, and eliminating that position if we did not get the 5/5th vote.
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: And, listen, Mr. West, I respect you. I respect Ms. Robertson. I don't
want to be in this back and forth, but what's the difference between a manager in business
development and a senior management in business development? And what's the difference
between a manager in marketing and a senior manager in marketing? Because if those are the
critical positions, you have a vacancy in the manager, business development, and you have a
vacancy in the -- manager, business development; and manager, marketing; yet, you have filled
a senior business development position and a senior management in marketing, so what's the
difference between the both?
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Ms. Robertson: If I may, with the current position in business development, we just had a recent
change in the deputy director position of the DDA, and so the senior manager, business
development is now vacant, because that position is being recruited right now, and it's to replace
the deputy director, who was promoted from within. One person works on the financial initiative
with the industty as far as financial industty with the hedge funds and with the other private
equity firms that come in. The second position will be working on the tech industty and other
recruitment efforts. We have been very successful on the financial industry in recruiting firms
here, but that's a full-time job, really, so the other position is to go to the other industries, which
are -- we have identified as tech; as culture and -- arts and culture; and also as tourism. So
those -- that other position will be concentrating on those initiatives.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Can you be more specific with the -- when you say "that other position,"
are you talking about the marketing manager?
Ms. Robertson: Okay, we're going through -- right now, we're going through a reorganization,
because what happened is, is that as the deputy director left to take a job at -- in Coral Gables,
so I promoted from within, and we are doing recruitment efforts for those other positions that are
vacated throughout the organization. We have a compensation -- human resources firm that's
looking at -- to make sure that we have properly classified those positions, so the vacant position
I have right now is a business development specialist.
Commissioner Carollo: Well, you have more than that vacancy.
Ms. Robertson: I also -- if you want me to go through all of my vacancy -- we added three
positions this year, and the reason we added three positions is, as we grow as a downtown, also
the demands for our services as a DDA are also growing. We -- our tax roll grew this year to
$15 billion, and it -- and commensurate, there's other kinds of work to be done. The City doesn't
have an economic development arm right now that is robust like -- we're doing the basic
economic recruitment for the City of Miami, and it's working, and so --
Commissioner Carollo: The Beacon Council is also in the City of Miami?
Ms. Robertson: We work hand in hand with the Beacon Council.
Commissioner Carollo: And they're actually located in the City of Miami, too.
Ms. Robertson: I'll -- take for example the financial institutions. The Beacon Council doesn't
have a dedicated person that's working on the financial institutions, and we're -- we've been
drawing people. We have -- this is an initiative that we've been doing for the last two, three
years, and having some success because of economics in New York and Connecticut; and we're
also drawing from some firms in -- from Brazil, so it's been a very successful initiative; and
actually, it was Commissioner Sarnoffs idea to do the financial initiatives -- he calls it "hedge
fund row, " and we've had a lot of success.
Mr. West: Mr. Chair, Mr. Commissioner, we are also moving in the direction of trying to
increase the capacity in IT (information technology), and to do the same thing that we did in the
financial arena, we need help at staff level in order to make this happen. I can tell you, the latest
publication that was put out by the Downtown Development Authority, as an example, shows that
we today have a presence of at least 50 major companies -- a presence of 50 major companies,
IT companies in Miami; where in -- three years ago, we didn't have a quarter of that load So
what we want to do is to continue to grow that -- but if we do that, we need to have the human
resources and the financial resources in order to make that happen. The other thing, too, Mr.
Chair, is the board considers that we have a mission statement that says what -- we want to
partner with you, the Commission, and the City of Miami, to make Miami great. I think one of
the things we cannot lose -- you got it?
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Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
Commissioner Suarez: I have it.
Mr. West -- we cannot lose sight of is the fact that we can't let the good get in -- you know,
become the enemy of the great, and what is happening --171 give you an example. I applaud you
for the work that the Commission has done with other partners within the City; with the
homeless, as an example. I'm flying home yesterday, and I pick up the paper, and I read that LA
(Los Angeles) is committing a hundred million dollars to the homeless. We're already there, so
we know we're not resting on our laurels; we're moving ahead, and with your help and
partnership, but we need help making these things happen.
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. West, I'm not saying that you haven't done some great things; and
when I mean ` jyou, " I mean you and the DDA. I'm not saying that you all haven't done some
great things; however, what I am saying is that the amount of growth, I mean, realistically,
you're exceeding the amount of growth as per State law unless you get a 5-5 vote, and I truly
believe the legislature did this and they passed it in 2007; and, listen, in Miami -- let's just leave
it at Miami -- in Miami, we have short memories. In 2006, do you all remember what was the
most important issue in the City of Miami? I'll tell you, without hesitating: Property taxes and
insurance rates were through the roof and people were losing their homes.
Commissioner Suarez: Yes, '09.
Commissioner Carollo: 2006. Anyways, I believe in 2007, that's why this was actually put in
place, because what's happening now -- and, unfortunately, we live by the time period; and,
unfortunately, I guess, many times, people in government don't visualize the future -- what's
happening is that the property taxes are increasing, because the values are increasing of the
homes, so more and more, people are paying more taxes, and it's getting to -- like right now, I
guess it's in a level that people could still resist, but what happened back in 2006 has got to a
level where people were actually losing their homes, and I believe that in 2007, that's why this
legislation came into place; and pretty much, what it's saying is you're going to get growth in
order to enhance the services that you're providing; and, mind you, this is an independent
district. This is an independent organization; this isn't even a municipality or county, but
realistically, you're -- the significant growth, you're exceeding the growth. I mean, here in the
State legislature, it says a rate of not more than 110 percent of the rollback rate based on the
previous year's maximum millage rate. I mean, it's a lot of growth. You're getting that growth;
it's just to a level that, when I look at your expenses, your expenditures, I can't justify it; at least I
can't justify that vote.
Ms. Robertson: If I -- I don't know if you --
Chair Gort: I don't know if he was --
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Let's hear the motion. Let's hear your motion.
Commissioner Sarnoff. So all right.
Chair Gort: Did you make the motion?
Commissioner Sarnoff. I didn't make the -- I need to make a motion, but if you want to be heard
Vice Chair Hardemon: Yeah.
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Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
Commissioner Sarnoff. -- I don't want to interrupt.
Vice Chair Hardemon: No, I thought that a motion was made. I know that the first vote
declined so.
Chair Gort: That motion failed
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. I need to make a motion to reconsider item BH.3, yeah.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I second it.
Chair Gort: Been second Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying
"aye.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Aye.
Commissioner Suarez: Aye.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Aye.
Chair Gort: Aye.
Commissioner Carollo: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Okay. Now, I would certainly debate Commissioner Carollo, but 1 don't
think there's any point, because I don't think he has an open mind, and I don't think 1 would
waste anyone else's time up here, so with that said, what I'm going to do is make a motion for a
mill rate of .4681.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the previous motion so --
Commissioner Carollo: I'm sorry
Chair Gort: There's been a motion and second
Commissioner Carollo: I'm sorry, hold on. Question: What did we just vote on?
Commissioner Sarnoff We just reconsidered the motion for BH.3. But we --
Commissioner Carollo: Understood
Commissioner Sarnoff -- didn't --
Commissioner Carollo: Understood
Commissioner Sarnoff. Right. I'm now suggesting a motion where Commissioner Carollo can
very comfortable vote "no," and we can very comfortable pass it, anyways.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Okay, moved and second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor --
Mr. Hannon: Chair, it is an ordinance.
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Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
Chair Gort: It's an ordinance. Go ahead.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Mr. Hannon: Roll call on item BH 3. Vice Chair Hardemon.
Vice Chair Hardemon: For.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Carollo.
Commissioner Carollo: No.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Sarnoff.
Commissioner Sarnoff Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Chair Gort.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-1.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
BH.4 RESOLUTION
15-01060a
Downtown A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
Development ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE FINAL ANNUAL
Authority BUDGET OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ("DDA") OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("CITY"), ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED, IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $9,206,756.00, AND
MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FROM THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
DISTRICT AD VALOREM TAX LEVY AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS
INCOME FOR THE DDA, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER
1, 2015 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2016; AUTHORIZING THE DDA
TO INVITE AND ADVERTISE REQUIRED BIDS; PROVIDING FOR
BUDGETARY FLEXIBILITY; PROVIDING THAT THIS RESOLUTION BE
DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL AND IN ADDITION TO THE RESOLUTION
MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING
OCTOBER 1, 2015 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 FOR THE
OPERATIONS OF THE CITY.
15-01060a DDA Memo.pdf
15-01060a DDA Resolutions.pdf
15-01060a Back-up from Law Dept..pdf
15-01060a Legislation.pdf
15-01060a Exhibit SUB
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Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
ACTIONS BY THE CITY COMMISSION:
1. AMEND THE BUDGET, IF NECESSARY
2. ADOPT THE FINAL BUDGET
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon
Noes: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-15-0415
Alyce Robertson: BH 4.
Chair Gort: BH 4.
Ms. Robertson: This is the proposed operating budget for the Miami Downtown Development
Authority.
Commissioner Sarnoff With the exception of police officers.
Daniel 1 Alfonso (City Manager): As amended by the reduction in the --
Commissioner Sarnoff Right. I'll move it.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved and second Any -- we open up the public hearing for this vote. Any
further discussion? An ordinance.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): A resolution, sir.
Chair Gort: A resolution; sorry.
Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): And just for the record, we don't have the exact amount, based
on the --
Mr. Alfonso: Minus $104, 000.
Ms. Mendez: Oh, minus --
Mr. Alfonso: Minus $104, 000.
Ms. Mendez: Okay. So it's the amount of 9, 311, 000, a hundred and -- 9,311,000 -- I'm having a
Mr. Alfonso: Why don't you just --
Ms. Mendez: -- it's minus the amount just stated. Thank you. It's been a long day.
Chair Gort: Okay. All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
Commissioner Sarnoff Aye.
Commissioner Suarez: Aye.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
BH.5
15-01046
Office of Management
and Budget
Vice Chair Hardemon: Aye.
Chair Gort: Aye.
Commissioner Carollo: No.
Mr. Hannon: As amended.
Chair Gort: As amended.
Ms. Robertson: Thank you.
ORDINANCE
Second Reading
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DEFINING AND
DESIGNATING THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI FOR
THE PURPOSE OF TAXATION; ADOPTING THE FINAL MILLAGE AND
LEVYING AD VALOREM TAXES IN THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2015 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER
30, 2016; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
15-01046 Summary Form SR.pdf
15-01046 Pre -Legislation FR/SR.pdf
15-01046 Legislation SR.pdf
15-01046-Submittal-FOP Javier Ortiz -Proposed funding for Police Department.pdf
15-01046-Submittal-Commissioner Sarnoff-Police Hiring.pdf
ACTIONS BY THE CITY COMMISSION:
1. RECOMPUTE THE PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE, IF NECESSARY
2. ADOPT THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE
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
13558
Chair Gort: BH.5.
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): BH.5 is the City of Miami's operating and debt service
millage.
Chair Gort: An ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Do we have a motion?
Commissioner Sarnoff So move.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff second by Commissioner Suarez. Public
hearings; we opened the public hearing. Would anyone in the public like to address this one
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Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
BH.6
15-01014a
Office of Management
and Budget
issue; the millage for the City of Miami? Seeing none, hearing none, we close the public
hearings.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item BH 5.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 5-0.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), ADOPTING A FINAL BUDGETAND MAKING
APPROPRIATIONS RELATING TO THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY")
OPERATIONALAND BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2016, INCLUDING ADOPTION OF THE CITY'S
OPERATING BUDGET, FIVE-YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN, AND STRATEGIC
PLAN, AND ALL NECESSARY RELATED REVISIONS TO AND
APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE ADOPTED CAPITAL PLAN, OPERATING
BUDGET, FIVE-YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN, AND STRATEGIC PLAN.
15-01014a Summary Form.pdf
15-01014a Legislation.pdf
15-01014a Exhibit -Change Memo SUB
ACTIONS BY THE CITY COMMISSION:
1. AMEND THE BUDGET, IF NECESSARY
2. ADOPT THE FINAL BUDGET
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon
Noes: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-15-0416
Chair Gort: BH.6.
Daniel 1 Alfonso (City Manager): BH.6 is the City of Miami's budget, as amended by the
memorandum that has been distributed and discussed in briefings. I understand that there may
be, in addition to that, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) discussions, and I think there are two elected
officials that would like to propose some minor changes.
Chair Gort: Okay, thank you.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Alfonso: And the Budget director needs to read something into the record, as well.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I have a minor change that has a major effect. The Administration has, I
believe, carefully calculated the costs to maintain or enhance Martin Luther King Boulevard so
that it's more appealing to our visitors who come to the City of Miami, especially on that major
thoroughfare. We want to do some things, along with some requests, if you will, that will be
made to Miami -Dade County to further enhance their contribution to MLK (Martin Luther King)
Boulevard, and so that number, I believe, is about 170 --
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Mr. Alfonso: One hundred and sixteen -- $116, 000 is the net number, Commissioner.
Vice Chair Hardemon: One one six --
Mr. Alfonso: That's correct.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- thousand, and so I propose that we add that to the budget to be able to
do that.
Commissioner Carollo: Repeat that. I'm sorry, Commissioner Hardemon, could you repeat
that?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Right. It's to maintain the boulevard, 62nd Street -- I think it's from --
just tucked under the expressway, just east of the expressway.
Commissioner Carollo: And the amount?
Vice Chair Hardemon: One hundred sixteen thousand dollars.
Mr. Alfonso: One hundred and sixteen thousand, three hundred, to be exact.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Three hundred.
Mr. Alfonso: And it is to be done with the Greater Miami Service Corps folks.
Vice Chair Hardemon: So that -- what that does is it allows -- two fold -- to beautify that part of
the intersection of the street first. I think we -- I dedicated some capital dollars to -- not in -- not
with this, but to add irrigation to that area, so now you can beautify that area with flowers and
things of that nature. My vision is to have taller palm trees, up -lights, make it look a lot nicer;
and then in doing that, the people that we're servicing would be children who are in the Greater
Miami Service Corps, so these are children who had some issues in school but now are getting
training.
Commissioner Suarez: How many palm trees do you need?
Vice Chair Hardemon: You got some for me?
Commissioner Suarez: I do.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay, we'll talk about that.
Commissioner Suarez: Well, we got to talk about it in the sunshine.
Vice Chair Hardemon: In the sunshine, yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: You could set up a sunshine meeting if you want, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
palm trees.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Right. And so -- and they'll get training in how to care for plants, and
job training and such, and they'll also get paid for doing that service, so it's a win all the way
around for the community, and also for the children that will get job training to do that.
Chair Gort: Okay. Anyone else?
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Commissioner Suarez: I'm good with that.
Commissioner Sarnoff. Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff. There are presently five derelict vessels sitting right outside Coconut
Grove, right by the cloisters, so right off of Peacock Park. While I strongly urge the City to
pursue all avenues that it can for Federal funds for the removal of those five vessels, they still,
nonetheless, need to be removed. I figure at about $10, 000 per vessel, I'd like to put $50, 000 to
the budget. I think if they're careful, they'll spend no money, but I want to make sure that those
vessels are removed. It's right outside of a neighborhood that brings the City of Miami a little
under $100 million in property taxes.
Commissioner Suarez: A neighborhood (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
Commissioner Sarnoff I'm sorry. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in --
Commissioner Suarez: Oh, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
Commissioner Sarnoff Right, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Suarez: That's a hell of a neighborhood.
Commissioner Sarnoff Yeah. Eighteen million.
Commissioner Suarez: Whoa, a hundred million dollars, that's definitely not Coral Gate.
Commissioner Sarnoff Yeah. I think it's called the downtown.
Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's not Coral Gate, that's for sure.
Chair Gort: Okay, any further discussion?
Commissioner Suarez: That's good.
Commissioner Carollo: Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Carollo: Okay, I'll be quick with some of this, the items that I have. First of all,
around the same time last year when we did the second budget hearing, the general fund
revenues was at approximately 559 million; this year, we're at approximately 615 million; that's
an increase in one year of $56 million. It's a big increase. As a matter of fact, has the City ever
had in its annual general revenues this much money?
Mr. Alfonso: I couldn't tell you off the top of my head, sir; it's pretty large.
Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. I don't think it has; let's put it that way. So it's a huge increase
just in one year, so I think that we have to be very cautious how we spend monies in the bad
times, but also in the good times, because we could be setting up for the future. Unfortunately,
when we -- most of us got here, we got very surprised with --
Chair Gort: Big deficit.
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Commissioner Carollo: -- "big deficit" is a kind way of putting it, but with that said -- so I want
to make sure that some of the funds that we're allocating, we're allocating in the priority areas,
and -- for instance, at -- Mr. Manager, we spoke a little bit about this; actually, I didn't come
through because I was -- told you that I was going to ask the Police Chief and cc (carbon copy)
you on some information, and it's just so much information, so convoluted that I didn't get a
chance to; however, you have in the budget included the average response time to Priority 3
calls that are life -threatening and/or where serious injury has occurred or is imminent -- or is
imminent, and the minutes, in the actuals -- not estimate -- the actuals for 2013/2014, the
average 911 phone call, so in other words, you call 911. The average response time was
approximately close to six minutes. I don't think that's very good. I don't think that's very good
at all. I don't -- I wanted to ask year-to-date, to see where we were and if we've improved. I
have a feeling we haven't improved, because you're showing an estimate of 2014/2015 at four
minutes, and now you're showing it at five minutes, so my problem is how do we make that
response time go down? And I'll go a step further, and this is right in your budget book. I'm
pretty comfortable saying that this response time does not include the time that someone picks up
the phone, calls the dispatcher, calls 911, and then 911 contacts the police officer; even though I
understand sometimes, they're doing it at the same time they're getting information, and then
they start; however, there is also a lag time, so this almost six minutes possibly is higher, so I
want to know, how do we make that response time go down; and if we don't do it now, when we
see what growth we have, when are we going to do it?
Chair Gort: Chief.
Rodolfo Llanes: I'm sorry, will -- Rodolfo Llanes, Chief of Police. I'm sorry, the question that
you're asking is what?
Commissioner Carollo: Okay. So my first question is I want to verify, if you know it -- I
apologize, I'm not trying to blindside you. I actually told the Manager that I was going to be
requesting year-to-date information, and just looking at our agenda today, and then all the
budget things we have, so I didn't request the information; however, this information you have
provided in our budget, and -- this information you have provided in our budget, and it shows
2013/2014 actuals, average response time to a Priority 3 calls that are life -threatening and/or
where serious injury has occurred or is imminent at almost six minutes, so my first question is:
Does that include dispatch time, or hold time that --
Chief Llanes: First of all, there's no hold time for Priority 3 calls, so we don't hold Priority 3
calls.
Commissioner Carollo: Understood but what 1 mean is the time from when someone picks up
the phone --
Chief Llanes: That calcu --
Commissioner Carollo: -- and --
Chief Llanes: -- yes. That calculation is from the time that the call comes in to the time of
arrival of an officer, so all of that is included
Commissioner Carollo: The time that -- okay. The time that the call is in, the call comes in to
the police officer, or the time that a call comes in to the dispatcher?
Chief Llanes: I believe it's from the dispatch time.
Commissioner Carollo: I don't think so.
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Chief Llanes: Yeah; it's both. I believe it's both.
Commissioner Carollo: I don't believe it is.
Chief Llanes: Okay.
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, that's what we've been told; for that type of call, this is the total
call time.
Commissioner Carollo: I don't believe it is, and the reason why is because I pulled a lot of this
information last year also with the former Chief and the information he gave me did not include
that other lag time, and I requested that additional information, which he showed me so I could
see, and it did it by NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) areas so that I could see what was
the average call, 911 call in Flagami versus Little Havana versus the Grove versus Upper
Eastside and so forth.
Chief Llanes: If you give me two minutes, I'll look at what happened yesterday, because I have a
dashboard that tells me exactly what happens, and on a daily basis, so I could look at yesterday
from the call time till they got dispatched; it's a small sample size, butt can give you an idea of
what it is.
Commissioner Carollo: But that's a small sample size.
Chief Llanes: But that's what I got on my -- in my --
Commissioner Carollo: But I'm getting it from the budget book.
Chief Llanes: Okay.
Commissioner Carollo: I'm getting it from the budget.
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, the number in the budget book is the entire year of 2014 --
Commissioner Carollo: 'Thirteen/fourteen.
Mr. Alfonso: I know, '13/'14 actuals.
Commissioner Carollo: Right.
Mr. Alfonso: He -- like you just said yourself you didn't have the time, I understand, to ask us,
so we didn't come here with that kind of data.
Commissioner Carollo: For the current years, but I'm --
Chair Gort: The question --
Commissioner Carollo: I'm --
Chair Gort: -- that he ask, Chief, if it is six minutes, what can be done to reduce that respond
time?
Mr. Alfonso: Chief what kind of tactics will we employ to try to reduce response time?
Chief Llanes: You know, the -- I hate to throw personnel at everything, but --
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Commissioner Carollo: Personnel.
Chief Llanes: -- if you have more call -takers, you can obviously reduce that. You know, the
geographic dimensions of the City are going to be what they're going to be; and then, the officer
has to respond from wherever they're at.
Commissioner Carollo: Understood
Chief Llanes: And so that static time is static time, so it is an emergency call, and everything is
dropped, and there is no lag time, so the improvement there, there's a small room for that kind of
call.
Chair Gort: Chief --
Commissioner Carollo: But the way to improve is additional patrol officers or additional
officers.
Chair Gort: Let --
Chief Llanes: There's no -- well, you got to look at the entire scope of what happened from the
call screener to the officer on the street.
Commissioner Carollo: Understood
Chief Llanes: There has to be -- you know.
Commissioner Carollo: But as to personnel, like you said
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, may I? What we can do, if the Commission wishes to entertain this
idea, one thing that we have done as part of our review of a recruitment process, which we have
brought in somebody to kind of look at the process and say, "This is where you can make
improvements, " and we'll be getting a report on that in the near future. I have been to a number
of conferences where there are companies out there that will come into the organization and look
at how efficient we deploy resources, and we can take a cop -down approach; look at the entire
organization and look at the deployment resources. I mean, one of the things that I read in an
article at one point was that the 4-10s, for example, causes a lot of overlap in certain times of the
shifts, but a better deployment of resources may be a different shift schedule, and that may get
you more folks out there during certain period of times when you get peak calls; and is that
something that we're willing to entertain as part of the, you know, recommendations? We could
certainly look at that; not only just more resources, but better deployment of the ones that we
have --
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chair.
Mr. Alfonso: -- with shift changes.
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: Well, I'm definitely not advocating to hire more consultants, so I'm
definitely not advocating for that, but I could tell you this: If you add more police officers and
they're not going call to call to call --
Mr. Alfonso: Right, but --
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Commissioner Carollo: -- then, realistically, I think your response time would diminish; not to
mention, not to mention -- and I think the Police Chief would attest to this -- that even if you have
one police officer per zone, one patrol officer per zone, there are many two -man -unit calls where
you don't necessarily need two police officers in one car, but that police officer that is patrolling
that one zone needs to go now and meet up with another police officer, because it's a two -man
call.
Mr. Alfonso: Right, I understand that. What I'm trying to say is that if we analyze when our
calls come in, and when our officers are engaged in calls, there are different times of the day
when the number of calls, and calls waiting, et cetera, are higher, and there are different times of
the day when they're lower, and I think that we would all agree that there are peak times and
there are also valleys, so better deployment through shift changes of the officers that we existing
-- have on hand could make more officers available for those peak times and reduce the overall
response time.
Commissioner Carollo: Okay, but we're not just talking overall response time. I'm talking
specifically, and it's coming right from our budget book, 911 calls; in other words,
emergency -type Priority 3 calls.
Mr. Alfonso: Yes, Commissioner.
Commissioner Carollo: Priority 3 calls, so we're talking just those.
Mr. Alfonso: Yes.
Commissioner Carollo: Regardless of what time it is; whether it's 3 in the morning till 6 o'clock
in the evening.
Mr. Alfonso: Correct, but if you agree with me, statistically, when you get most of your calls is
when your officers are tied up, so you know that if you get another call, the people are already
tied up, that's going to push up your response time. If we're able to put more resource during
those peak hours that would reduce that response time, and we don't have to do nothing on the
other side when there aren't that many calls.
Commissioner Carollo: Again, I want the response time to go down, especially 911 calls and
Priority 3 calls. Now, I'm just talking about those right now. Now, I think you're talking about
regular calls, and then there's in progress calls; and in progress calls, I could tell you, if the
actuals were close to six minutes -- and by the way, to be fair, it's 5.81, which I say close to six
minutes -- if a 911 call, a Priority 3 call, which usually comes in through a 911 call, is taking
close to six minutes, an in -progress call -- for instance, you come home -- you're coming home
and you see someone jumping into your house, or they're breaking into your house, and you call
911, and that's an in -progress call. If the emergency Priority 3 call is taking six minutes,
average six minutes, I could tell you, the in -progress call is taking a lot longer than that, not to
mention a regular call. So, again, with the growth we have, I think we need to put the priority in
public safety, and I want to make sure that we start addressing how do we bring these --
especially for 911 calls or Priority 3 calls -- the response time down.
Mr. Alfonso: I -- we understand that, Commissioner; and, as I said, we're adding police officers
in this proposed budget.
Commissioner Carollo: And, by the way --
Mr. Alfonso: We could also look at shift strengths and shift --
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Commissioner Carollo: And by the way, Mr. Manager, by the way --
Chair Gort: Give him a chance to finish.
Commissioner Carollo: --just by the way, you could get this through -- because, like I said, I did
it last year -- through NET areas, so you could see that Flagami, I think you will see that their
response time for 911 calls are a lot higher than in other areas, or you can check the Grove, so
you could actually see where you need to use more resources of police officers, so I want to make
sure that that's being addressed, because I don't think it has, and I don't think our response time
is getting any better; and again, if we don't do it now, I don't know when we're going to do it.
Unidentified Speaker: Commissioner, may I say something?
Chair Gort: No, ma'am; excuse me. The public (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has been closed
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Carollo: I'm going to change the topic a little bit. I want to talk about cost
allocation, and I don't want to dive too much into this, because we could be here quite a bit, but
with regards to cost allocation -- well, so no one thinks that I'm picking on them, I'll use my
Commission office. So we have in the budget the Commissioners as a whole; and then, I
received the information or I requested the information, and I think we all have it, for individual
offices. Okay, how is it my retirement contributions is showing as a cost allocation of $60, 000?
And here's the thing, because that -- obviously, I have no control of that money; I have no control
of that amount --
Mr. Alfonso: Right. Commissioner --
Commissioner Carollo: -- but it still shows up as --
Mr. Alfonso: Right. So, Commissioner, we agreed a couple of years ago that we would take
those costs that were centralized and didn't show the true cost in the department, for example --
Commissioner Carollo: Understood
Mr. Alfonso: -- and we would allocate that cost out. The way the cost is allocated is by salary,
by union group. So if your employees are members of GESE (General Employees and Sanitation
Employees) --
Commissioner Carollo: Uh-huh.
Mr. Alfonso: -- we basically take the $35 million that GESE represents; look at the entire salary
for GESE; prorate it out through all the departments, including the elected officials' office. So if
you have five employees in your office and they equal $250, 000, pro rata, whatever that amount
is, is equal to everybody else's salary, pro rata.
Commissioner Carollo: Even though none of them may be in the pension.
Mr. Alfonso: Sir, it is by GESE, so if they are in GESE, it is allocated; if they're not GESE --
Commissioner Carollo: No. You could -- at least in Commissioners' office, you could not be
part of the retirement.
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Mr. Alfonso: No. Commissioner, what we're trying to tell you is -- I know a temp employee
doesn't get pension and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
Commissioner Carollo: I don't know. Even a full-time employee doesn't automatically get a
pension. They can elect not to receive a pension.
Mr. Alfonso: No, no. Commissioner, I'm trying to tell you is that we take the cost of GESE and
prorate it out through all the GESE employees, and wherever they are, that allocation gets tied to
that office; that's what I've been told
Commissioner Carollo: Regardless whether they are in the pension fund or not? So, in other
words, if I don't have any of my employees in the pension, I'm still showing a $60, 000 amount
attributed to my budget for $60, 000, which I have no control over.
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, do your employees not participate in GESE at all?
Commissioner Carollo: No, they're not, so I don't see how you're coming up with the 60,000.
Mr. Alfonso: That's interesting. It's interesting -- well, 171 have to look at that.
Commissioner Carollo: So it's --
Mr. Alfonso: But it also includes the 20 percent of your salary that goes into the pension.
Commissioner Carollo: No.
Mr. Alfonso: Yes.
Commissioner Carollo: It shouldn't.
Mr. Alfonso: You know, elected officials, last year it was approved that 20 percent of their salary
goes into a 401-type plan; that is in there.
Commissioner Carollo: I haven't done it.
Mr. Alfonso: I'm going to have to check with my benefits folks, Commissioner, to understand if
that's the case, you know. I guess you've turned it down; is that what you're trying to tell me?
Commissioner Carollo: I haven't done it. So, again -- and listen, the only reason -- and I
mentioned transparency a little bit earlier today, when we had that IT (Information Technology)
equipment that we could look up all the different things, and stuff like that, and I mentioned
there, "Hey, listen, 'transparency' is a great word, you know, and I just think it's being used very
loosely, " so, I mean, if we're really going to be transparent with our budgets, you know, I mean, I
could have stayed quiet and know, you know, hey, it's wrong, whatever, but the bottom line is,
how are you attributing $60, 000 to retirement contributions in my office where it's not there?
And it's cost -allocates, so, again, listen, we could discuss it later, we could look at it, but the
bottom line is you're allocating that amount to my budget where, realistically, I have no control
over it; it's just a number.
Mr. Alfonso: If you are correct, Commissioner, and it is not part of the budget that you are
allowed to spend --
Commissioner Carollo: Right.
Mr. Alfonso: -- because we charge it right to you, but we're going to double-check on your
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employees and make sure that they are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) who are not members of GESE.
Commissioner Carollo: Anybody -- but think about it, anybody that looks at that budget would
say, "Hey, you know, he's got" -- whatever -- "there's 'X' amount of money, " and realistically,
that's not --
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner --
Commissioner Carollo: -- being transparent. That's not really the truth, because --
Mr. Alfonso: -- if you are correct, we will make the amendment to your budget, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Mr. Manager, since we're speaking about benefits, I'm going to
ask a question that I've asked before: Why is it that our health insurance is going down when it
seems like in all other municipalities, it's going up?
Mr. Alfonso: Because we have a great benefits unit, sir, that have done an awesome job of doing
a wealth -- well, health and wellness program, and we're getting younger.
Commissioner Carollo: That sounds great, but I don't get a warm, fuzzy feeling; it's just -- it
seems like when we start looking at other government agencies, their insurance is going up and
ours is going down, and I'm just -- and here's my point: It's great that it's going down. I'm just
afraid of that surprise in a year or two where, all of a sudden, it blows up, and you know, we
didn't budget for it, so that's why I'm asking the question.
Mr. Alfonso: Well, in terms of the health, we have been surprised ourselves. This is the third
consecutive year where the actual expenses in healthcare in the City of Miami declined, so we
could not come back in with another year where we are budgeting higher after three consecutive
years of decline. One of the reasons why we have a significant surplus in '14/'15 is because we
were non -believers last year, and we said, "There's no way we can go with healthcare in
decline, " so we budgeted nearly double-digit growth and cost.
Commissioner Carollo: I got it.
Mr. Alfonso: And it didn't happen; actually, it went down again. So, you know, I understand
what you're saying.
Commissioner Carollo: Yeah.
Mr. Alfonso: And we'll monitor it closely through this coming year, which, you know, the health
plan year begins in January, so as the months pass, we'll keep a close eye on it and see where
we're going. By the time we've developed the budget for next year, if we see that trend turn
around, we will certainly be requesting increases in healthcare cost for the following year. And,
believe me, it's a concern to me, too, because there are a lot of things that we're planning to
increase that are recurring expenses.
Commissioner Carollo: I'm good
Chair Gort: That's it? Anyone else?
Chief Llanes: Chair, can I say something?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Chief Llanes: My crack research team, year-to-date, Priority 3 from created time to arrival time
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is 4.57 minutes; and the fiscal year, October to -- September to September is 4.75, so that's our
response time.
Commissioner Carollo: So, Chief my question would be: What has changed?
Chief Llanes: I'm sorry?
Commissioner Carollo: What has changed?
Chief Llanes: That's a fluctuating number. I couldn't tell you what exactly has changed. We
have --
Commissioner Carollo: Because it's a big fluctuation. As a matter of fact --
Chief Llanes: It's one minute less.
Commissioner Carollo: Yeah, you know that a minute could be -- you know --
Chief Llanes: Absolutely.
Commissioner Carollo: -- if someone's pounding you over the head with a pipe --
Chief Llanes: I wanted --
Commissioner Carollo: -- a minute is a lot of pounding.
Chief Llanes: -- to give Commissioner Suarez something to brag about.
Commissioner Carollo: I got you, I got you. So, then, let me ask you something: Why are we
estimating five minutes, then?
Chief Llanes: Well, we don't know what the next year is going to bring, and we have --
Commissioner Carollo: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Chief Llanes: -- more officers -- if I can finish, sir -- this year than we had last year. We also
have a lower crime rate than we had last year, so that's less calls for service. We've also had a
decline in calls for service, which means more officers are available. We also have more officers
deployed to Beat to handle those nuisance or other calls that officers would normally handle, so
there's a number of explanations; however, they're all anecdotal. We can assume that some
things happen or other things happen, but the facts are that these are the numbers, and so in the
research that we did here in the last 30 seconds, the Boston PD (Police Department) is just under
seven minutes, and we're still looking at the County. That data is from 2008, so that's a little old;
I don't want to use that, so those are the numbers.
Commissioner Carollo: So here's my question: Why are we estimating five minutes, then, for
this year? If we're at 4.5, 4.6, why are we estimating at five minutes, where last year, we
estimated to be at four minutes?
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, let --
Commissioner Carollo: If we're approving --
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner --
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Commissioner Carollo: -- why should -- why do we then --
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner --
Commissioner Carollo: -- limit ourselves instead of --
Mr. Alfonso: -- let me try it --
Commissioner Carollo: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) five minutes?
Mr. Alfonso: -- let me try. Commissioner, you're looking at numbers that were put together
sometime in April and May, when we had partial information, so the difference between 4.7 and
5, only it's an estimate. We don't put the actual down until we have the actual, so, you know,
right now, as the Chief said it's 4.7 minutes, but he -- we're three months from when this budget
was created three months ago, so it may have been that it was a little higher then, so the estimate
was five. I don't think that that variance is that significant; important to say that it is going
down.
Commissioner Carollo: And, Chief I'm going to want that per NET district.
Chief Llanes: Per NET? Sure.
Commissioner Carollo: Yeah.
Chair Gort: Okay, the -- did we have a motion?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Not yet, sir.
Chair Gort: Not yet. Do we have a motion?
Commissioner Sarnofff. So move.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff. Is there a second? Second by Vice
Chairman Hardemon. Any further discussion?
Mr. Alfonso: I would -- Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Alfonso: IfI can just say, as amended by the two changes and the reduction in DDA
(Downtown Development Authority), $110, 000.
Chair Gort: Correct.
Commissioner Suarez: I'd just like to make two very brief --
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: -- comments; just a little more. Wanting to commend the City Attorney's
Office for an initiative that we started when I got here on collecting liens for properties that have
gone into disrepair. Since we started that initiative, we've collected close to 1. -- a little more
than $1.6 million, so you were not a City Attorney back then when we started this initiative, but
just wanted to congratulate you on that. And I also wanted to, you know, say to the Commission
that, obviously, this is a large budget, and there's no way that we're going to agree on every
aspect of the budget, but I really want to thank the Commissioner for supporting the
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Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015
Transportation Trust component of this budget, because I think it's something that we absolutely
critically need to budget for to preserve our trolley program and the future of the City. Thank
you.
Chair Gort: All right, let me give you suggestions. Every month -- I don't know if you guys read
the reports by the Law Department; I read them every month, and I think it's very important for
us to read it. Thank you. Okay.
Mr. Alfonso: There is a statement that the Budget director needed to read into the record.
Chair Gort: Go ahead.
Christopher Rose (Director): Commissioners, two housekeeping items, very briefly. Chris Rose,
Office of Management & Budget. The Administration commits to reviewing parks and any other
facilities that may come online during the fiscal year, and addressing any necessary staffing in
the midyear budget amendment; that's point number one. Point number two is the $260, 000 that
was budgeted for the Camillus House Mat Program was mistakenly, by the Budget Office, shown
in the special revenue account for Commission District 2. We would respectfully request that we
show it in a citywide account instead.
Chair Gort: Okay. All right, any --
Commissioner Sarnoff That's it.
Commissioner Suarez: Vote.
Chair Gort: We need a vote. All in favor, state it by saying "aye. "
Commissioner Sarnoff Aye.
Commissioner Carollo: No.
Commissioner Suarez: Aye.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Aye.
Chair Gort: Aye.
Mr. Hannon: As amended.
Chair Gort: As amended.
Commissioner Sarnoff Codified, amender, changer, scrutinized.
Chair Gort: Thank you all.
Mayor Tomas Regalado: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Have a good one.
END OF SECOND BUDGET HEARING
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 10: 33 p. m.
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