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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2020-03-25 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Meeting Minutes Wednesday, March 25, 2020 8:00 PM Special Meeting City Hall City Commission Francis X. Suarez, Mayor Keon Hardemon, Chair, District Five Ken Russell, Vice Chair, District Two Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Commissioner, District One Joe Carollo, Commissioner, District Three Manolo Reyes, Commissioner, District Four Arthur Noriega, V, City Manager Victoria Mendez, City Attorney Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 8:00 PM CALL TO ORDER Present: Chair Hardemon, Vice Chair Russell, Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, Commissioner Carollo, and Commissioner Reyes. On the 25th day of March 2020, the City Commission of the City of Miami, Florida, conducted and broadcasted a virtual meeting from its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, in special session. The Commission Meeting was called to order by Chair Hardemon at 8:22 p.m., recessed at 11:59 p.m., reconvened at 12:00 a.m., and adjourned at 1:07 a.m., on Thursday, March 26, 2020. ALSO PRESENT: Arthur Noriega, V, City Manager Victoria Mendez, City Attorney Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk ORDER OF THE DAY Chair Hardemon: Pursuant to Executive Order Number 209 from Governor Ron DeSantis on March 2020, municipalities may conduct meetings of their governing boards without having to be present,, physically or at any specific (INAUDIBLE) and utilize communications media technology such as (INAUDIBLE) as provided by Section 120.545(b)(2) of the Florida Statutes. Procedures for the public comment will be explained by the City Attorney shortly. Members of the City (INAUDIBLE) appearing remotely for this meeting are Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Joe Carollo, Manolo Reyes, Ken Russell, the Vice Chair, and me, Keon Hardemon, the Chair. Before we -- I won't make everyone stand up or anything for the prayer and the pledge of allegiance, but I would just like to say that this is an unusual time that we have within the City of Miami and the state of Florida, in these United States, and it takes unconventional methods of getting things done. And so, I want all the commissioners to know that this may be a time where we're going to have robust conversation, but we know that this is all for the people that we serve in our community. So, I look forward to the discussion that we're going to have, and I know that we're going to come up with something that makes sense for all the people that live within our communities. And so, Madam City Attorney, this is the opening of our Special Miami City Commission Meeting, March 25, 2015 -- I'm sorry, March 25th, 2020, and I ask that you read the procedures to be followed for this meeting. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Thank you, Chairman. Any person who is a lobbyist pursuant to Chapter 2, Article 6 of the City Code must register with the City Clerk and comply with related City requirements for lobbyists before appearing before the City Commission. A person may not lobby a City official, board member, or staff until registering. A copy of the code section about lobbyists is available at the City Clerk's Office or online at www.municode.com. Any person making a presentation, formal request, or petition to the City Commission concerning real property must make the disclosures required by the City Code in writing. A copy of this code section is available at the Office of the City Clerk or online at www.municode.com. The material for each item on the agenda today is available at the City Clerk's Office and online 24 hours a day at www.miamigov.com. Any person may be heard by the City Commission through the Chair upon registering pursuant to the published notice for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the City Commission unless modified by the Chair. Since this is a virtual meeting as authorized by the Governor of the State of Florida members of the public wishing to address the body may do so by visiting miamigov.com/virtualmeeting to upload their video comments and submit their written comments via online form. Members of the public may also call 305-250-5353 to provide City of Miami Page 1 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 comments via the dedicated City of Miami public comment voicemail. All comments submitted will he included as part of the public record through this virtual meeting and will be considered by the City Commission prior to any action taken. The City will accommodate any speakers desiring to appear in person subject to all applicable emergency measures in place to prevent further spread of COVID-19. Speakers who appear in person will be subject to screening for symptoms. Persons exhibiting any symptoms will not be permitted to enter and will be able to participate online. All interested parties are required to abide by all state, county, local emergency orders and are urged to remain at home and practice social distancing. If the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the opportunity to be heard niay be at such later date before the City Commission takes action on such proposition. When addressing the City Commission, the member of the public must first state his or her name, his or her address, and what item will be spoken about. Anyone wishing to appeal any decision made by the City Commission will need a verbatim record of the item. The video of this meeting may be requested at the Office of Communications or viewed online at www.miamigov.com. And I also wanted to add since this is our first virtual special meeting, I wanted to put some other things on the record with regarding to access to this meeting. Because even though the Governor suspended the quorum requirements, and thank you, Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, for assisting with that, the access to government is still very much in place. So, we wanted to make sure we advised you of all the efforts the City has made to make sure that there's public participation. Zoom is the cloud platform for the video and audio conferencing, collaboration, chat, and webinars across mobile devices and that's what we're using for the public to have the ability to view the meeting. The City Communications Department will broadcast the meeting through all usual channels and avenues that are provided when the City Commission meeting is held in chambers at City Hall, which is still being there. Our Clerk is there, Todd Hannon. The meeting can be viewed live on Miami TV, through the City's Facebookpage, on the City's Periscope channel, and Comcast Channel 77, City of Miami. The broadcast will be closed captioned. Additionally, the City has not selected a virtual platform that requires the public purchase or download any software. Aside from Zoom, the platform and the participants will be appearing remotely, and the public will have no discernible difference in their ability to watch the meeting. Public comment. The City has developed several new methods for ensuring public comment for virtual meeting, it has established three new options. The first option allows the public to provide public comments via the dedicated City Commission comments voicemail by calling 305-250-5353 where the individuals will be able to leave two minutes voice messages that will be played during the virtual Commission meeting. The second new option allows for the public to submit two minute videos to be played during the virtual Commission meeting. And the third new option allows the public to comment via the City's online comment form. The comments submitted through the comment form will be distributed to elected officials and City Administration throughout the day, and the elected officials can consider the comments prior to take any action. Additionally, the online comment form will remain open during the meeting to accept comments and distribute to the elected officials up until the Chairman closes the public comment. And all of this will be made a part of the record. Additionally, like any other Commission meeting, the public may comment at City Hall, and we will be making sure that this complies with all COVID guidelines that we have up until now. The four public comment options established and provided for the virtual meeting comply with Section 286.0114. and 286.0114 reads in part that the public will have an opportunity to comment. It also complies with Chapter 120. Commissioners, are you comfortable with this -- with all of this that I've read with regarding to public access? The Commission (Collectively): Yes. Ms. Mendez: Okay. Thank you so much. Commissioner Carollo: IfI could ask a question, Madam City Attorney? Ms. Mendez: Yes. City of Miami Page 2 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Carollo: Since we don't know where a lot of these questions are going to be coming from, or people, I've been some that have sent questions and have made statements from as far away as New York and California. Can we at least, if we're going to find ourselves that we're going to be waiting for hours because people outside of Miami are wanting to speak up for two minutes, are we allowed to limit how many of the same questions, or the same point of views are being given on a subject and we could just pick one or two out of each particular subject and then say on the record how many more there were? Otherwise we could be here 23 hours if you get people from all other the world that want to make statements to us. Ms. Mendez: Commissioner, in light of the fact that our -- everything is moderated, the same way that the Clerk and the Chairman in the past have been able to control that you only speak once for two minutes, that is the same -- the same process that we'll be using. Commissioner Carollo: But that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is -- Ms. Mendez: Speaking once. Commissioner Carollo: -- we can have anybody, basically, from any part of the world come in and have -- Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Commissioner Carollo: -- the ability to speak for two minutes. We want to be able to make sure that we can finish our business. And 1 don't want to find us in a situation, ever, that we have 10, 12 hours, 15 hours of people that want to comment, and maybe the majority are not even from Miami -Dade County, let alone the City of Miami. Chair Hardemon: So, Commissioner, if you would allow me to respond. The first thing is that right now our agenda is full of discussion items. So that's first. Discussion items, they don't require public comment. And second, if you look at Section 286.0114 of the public meetings reasonable opportunity to be heard. Requirements in Subsection 2, which talks about the reasonable opportunity to be heard, does not apply to an official act that must be taken to deal with an emergency situation affecting the public health, welfare, or safety, if the compliance with the requirements will cause a reasonable delay in the ability of the Board or Commission to act. So if it is deemed that, of course 20 hours in order for us to be on this call is unreasonable, and because this is an emergency action that we're doing, I wouldn't think that limiting public comment in this if we had something that was actionable would be problem. We know that we're dealing with some unusual circumstances right now, so the Manager is able to make a lot decisions through his power and we can certainly direct him to do as we please. And so we don't necessarily have to have public comment in this meeting. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman? Ken Russell. I believe from a procedural perspective we should be careful, because all of our public comment is recorded at this point. So, no one will be able to interject or continent once we get into the meeting if we decide not to take public comment at this time. We don't know what actions we may, or may not take as we take on the discussion items. Those discussion items may evolve into actions. So, it would be my recommendation that we just play the -- what I understand to be about twenty minutes of public comment in both video and audio. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair? Since -- since what we have are only public comments [sic] can we limit any -- I mean any discussions that -- from the public, that they have to be addressing in the discussion items that we have in our agenda? It has to be -- the only public comments have to deal directly with what we are discussing, not with all the questions that are on other items. I mean it is my opinion that we should limit it to those discussion items that we have. City of Miami Page 3 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Ms. Mendez: We won't -- we won't need to limit anything right now. If we take -- if the Commission takes any action, obviously we do need the public comment portion. If the Commission does not take any action then there is no need to accept public comment. And also, the Chairman has pointed out, pursuant to 286.0114, when they are emergency in nature, we can limit to not enter into a situation like the Commissioner of the third district has brought up. So right now I believe we only have twenty-two minutes of public comment and anyone else who may call in while we're doing the meeting. So, the Chairman will definitely have the opportunity to limit any of that comment if it gets too egregious or if we are -- if you do not take any action. Chair Hardemon: Okay. So, the question for the body then, because this is -- right now, the agenda does not call for public comment because it's (INAUDIBLE) we can move into our discussion if you like so we can have all the discussion that we need to have, and then if you choose, we can move into public comment or vice versa. But right now the way the agenda is set, there's not a necessity for public comment. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Mr. Chairman? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Alex Diaz de la Portilla. In an abundance of caution, we have about 24 minutes of pre -taped public commentary -- public comment, can we go ahead and hear it at least, and we can get that out of the way in case we do take action on some items? At least we're covered in that sense. According to our City Attorney if we're going to take action, we should allow for all public comment. We already have 24 minutes, why not simply hear it and get that out of the way? As we normally do in most of our normal Commission meetings. Chair Hardemon: That's perfectly fine. We can do that as well. So at this time I'd like to open the floor for public comment. So I know we have some pre-recorded public comments. I'll ask that our department for information technology play those public comments for people to hear. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD FOR SPECIAL ITEM(S) Maria Isabelle Rodriguez: My name is Maria Isabelle (phonetic) Rodriguez, my address is 2731 Southwest (INAUDIBLE) Street, Miami, Florida 33135. And my concern, it is that why the Mayor in Miami didn't put any restriction in the way that everybody is not supposed to go outside of the house? Because if any of the business just keeping open because they think that they are important and they are not, what happen is then the people will be continuing walking around, driving around, and then the disease it will be getting increased. So, please, do something about it. It's better that I keep it at home two weeks than I'm being -- getting everybody sick. This is my concern. Thank you. Juan Pineda: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Unidentified Speaker: Yes, hi. So if our President, Donald Trump, opens the country like he's saying by Easter, that would get rid of all the little regulations and curfews, right? Juan Pablo Ortega: Hi, my phone number is 754-234-5616. My name is Juan Pablo Ortega, and my address is 173 Northeast 106th Street, Miami Shores, Florida, 33138. I'm calling because we need to put in place a supermarket and food grocery mandatory laws. So I think people should wear gloves mandatory in supermarkets. And anything else that is essential that people are doing. The City of Miami should require people to wear gloves and mask. And also, there should be a special trash bag outside each supermarket where people can dispose these gloves and mask. I know there is a shortage of masks, but I'm sure there is a lot of gloves still around. And I think it's a good investment to require people to not only cover their faces when City of Miami Page 4 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 they're going out shopping but also wear gloves. This is going to make a huge difference in -- in the supermarket and the food. People are touching the food, people are coughing, you know, so it's important. Thankyou much. Rafael Apit: My name is Rafael Apit (phonetic). I work in 455 Northeast 24th Street, Miami, Florida, 33137. Pin just wondering, I see a lot of comments about essential and non -essential business. I work at a concierge company for a building, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) building. Are we an essential or a non -essential business? Thankyou. Sherman Rattner: Hello, my name is Sherman Rattner, I'm the President of the 1809 Brickell Tenants Association. We are a 270 unit, senior affordable housing. We have about 400 residents who are seniors and many of them have existing chronic conditions. In other words, we are at the highest risk of any group anywhere in the city or the country of contracting the virus, of spreading the virus, of being hospitalized by the virus and dying from the virus. There are key elements that we are asking that we need to have that aren't happening and are urgent that we have. And it's not just about seniors in our building, its seniors in buildings like ours all over the city, all over the county, all over the country. There is no security in our building. There is no testing of people in the building. There is no -- let me qualify that, there is inadequate nutritional support and emotional support, considering we are expected to be in self-lockdown for perhaps months on end. Now why is this important? Unfortunately, as we all know, the virus can be contagious, for 14 days before a person can show any symptoms. During that time in our building the whole building could become affected if one person carries in the infection. Why is it important that we have security? Because people come and go into this building like there is Grand Central Station. We are like a nursing home without nurses. In nursing homes throughout the state, it is in complete lockdown, even immediate family is not allowed in. And yet in our place we have people coming and going, catching the contagion and risking the spread to everybody. This has to stop. Kathy Parks Suarez: Good evening. My name is Kathy Parks Suarez, 4035 Battersea Road. I want to speak in general on the C-O-V-I-D, the Corona Virus. I would like to know why we haven't heard directly from our first responders, the people that are right there on the frontlines, and what it is to be dealing with this and not having the proper equipment, like the masks. Our Fire Rescue guys are wearing, the ladies and gentlemen are wearing masks for 24 hours. That's on the face 24 hours, that's not a 24 hour shift. It's like logging miles for a job. Come on, we've got to look out for these people. Whatever it takes, we've got to get them the equipment they need. This is still putting all of them at risk. Thank you and I think it's really important to hear from the doctors, the nurses, the fire people, the police department, the people that are actually in the streets doing this. Why aren't we hearing from them? I don't want to hear from a hospital executive what it's like for their people. I don't want to hear the politicians. I want to hear -- and I like -- love Chief Colina, I like the Chief of Fire, but we need to hear from the people that are doing it and what it's really like. Thank you. Diana Diaz: Hi, this is Diana Diaz. What I want to say is why don't you stop all the non- essential construction while we're at hone and trying to deal with the situation and the classrooms at home, and stop with the hammering and the roach coaches, and the blowers, and all the <expletive>, all the high rise construction and home construction? Especially in the City of Miami and Coconut Grove. And we can have some peace and quiet while we deal with our anxiety level. But who knows what you guys, you know, who you're in cahoots with with the construction big guys. So consider us small guys down here trying to keep sane without all this jackhannering around. Merrick Park, through the Grove, Gifford Lane. Bye- bye. Franky Faze: Good horning, my name is Franky Faze, I live in District 3, Little Havana. And the reason I'm calling is because of the shelter in place order. I believe this order should be not only targeted towards the residents of the city of Miami, but the homeless people in the city of Miami are people who can catch the virus. They are sleeping on the street. They are vulnerable to catching this virus. And they're also potential transmitters of the virus. I believe the City of City of Miami Page 5 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Miami Police should pick up these individuals and take them to the proper shelters to be able to contain this virus to a minimum. Thank you very much and have a nice day. Unidentified Speaker: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Denise Pujol: Hi, my issue is about the Corona Virus question. My name is Denise Pujol, my address is 6810 Southwest 4th Street, Miami, Florida, 33144. So my issue that I'rn talking about is 65 years or older or people that have the symptoms and have been exposed to somebody that has the Corona Virus. My brother and I have the symptoms. We have fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, fever at times, everything. I'm a teacher, my brother works in Ocean Reef where people travel a lot. My students travel a lot. And maybe 1 was exposed to it, the symptoms don't show up Jrotwo weeks, and I think it's ridiculous that if we have the symptoms we cannot get tested. We don't know for sure if we were with somebody, because obviously we're not friends with those people and we don't know them personally so we would not know. But if we have the symptoms, we will never know because this testing is only available for people that have been exposed to somebody, which is ridiculous, because if you're exposed to somebody then you have it. Why are you testing them? And the statistics are inaccurate because you're not testing everyone, you're only testing a certain demographic. So your statistics are based specifically on that demographic. Please, I would like for this question to be addressed. Thank you. Ronald Marquez: Hello, my name is Ronald Marquez, my address is 940 Northwest 44th Avenue, Miami, Florida, 33126. I'm just calling to find out some information to see if what -- what are the precautionary measures that we need to take. Because my wife is working in a warehouse where she is working with tenting, and we need to find out if it's an essential business that she has to mandatory go to work. If not, so that way we can follow the new COVID-19 procedures. Thank you very much. My phone number is 786-474-8201. Thank you very much. Janie Jackson: Good morning, Commissioner Hardemon. I hope all is well with you and your family. Please stay safe, please. Love you. My name is Janie Jackson, phone number 786-493- 9668, address 1161 Northwest 50th Street. I'm just calling this morning to let you guys know that I'm a senior, single mother, I have five sons, very stressful for me, and like a lot of others, just want to wish you and your crew well. Please say safe. I'm just concerned about how do I get the kids and myself food. And I just hope in all this thing, all this Corona Virus ends real soon. Love you and family, Commissioner, be safe, God bless you and your crew. Thank you. Unidentified Speaker: Hi there. I am speaking on behalf of all the people that work in the body shop, automotive collision repair industry. Nobody seems to have spoken of this. All of our respirators are unfortunately out of man's reach right now, everything is on back order. Yet body men are still forced to sand down Bondo and breathe in the Bondo, you know, that goes directly into their lungs. You guys can do the medical research on what Bondo could do to your lungs. Aside from that, the paint fumes that we're having to deal with, we don't have paint mask filters. Unfortunately they're just not available. Everything's on back order. Every single body shop needs it and especially the small -- the smaller body shops, like the one that I work for. We're a Mom and Pop shop. I'm not the owner, I'm an employee, but I do consider that business to be my own. I'm concerned about the risk of my employees. I'm concerned about the risk of all of the collision facilities. As I'm reading online, they have a large MSO (Management Services Organizations) corporation, which I'm not going to name, has stated that they have excessive amounts of masks and that they are giving them to their detailers before they clean the vehicles. I mean is this really an essential need? Or would those tnasks better be utilized if they were donated to local hospitals where they are needed most? Let's look at this front a different angle. Your assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Stephanie Minaya: My name is Stephanie Minaya, my address is 500 Northwest 36th Street, Miami, Florida, 33127. My concern I want to address to the Commission is due to rent and City of Miami Page 6 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 being out of a job. How will we pay our monthly hill if the Corona Virus is going to be shutting down my businesses until May or mid -April? Susan Singally: Susan Singally, 3000 Island Boulevard, Aventura, Florida. I would like to ask the Governor why he would allow flights in from New York, which is the epic center [sic] of this virus into our great state of Florida. You know that there are going to be people who have been exposed to this virus and yet you're letting them in to our state. I'd like to know why. Thank you. Sofia Valverde: Sofia Valverde, 620 Southwest 27th Road. 1 am talking about essential services JOY seniors. 1 consider pet services limited to dog walking and dog daycare essential Jro seniors and families and people in general. We want people to stay inside. (INAUDIBLE) walking their dogs. Seniors should not be in the streets walking their dogs. But it's a sanitary situation. They cannot have their dogs, especially depending on their size, doing pee pee and potty inside the apartment. They should be walked. But the seniors shouldn't be doing it. So I think pet services that already have seniors as clients or that already have their daycare clients should still be able to pick up the dogs and drop the dogs off And also go do their walks. They have no contact with the person, they pick up the dogs at the door, they drop the dogs off at the door. Mandatory that they use gloves and a face mask and always use antibacterial before and after touching the leashes. This way the people stay home, the dogs get exercised. If they don't get exercised they can have anxiety which can bring aggression and destructive behaviors. This is also something that we do not want within the families with small toddlers and seniors. So for the mental health of seniors, families, people, and dogs, 1 think that pet services limited to walking and daycare should be essential services still provided, taking the necessary health measures and precautions. Clinton Houl: Hello, my name is Clinton Houl and I currently live at 3081 Center Street, Miami, Florida, 33133. I'd like to comment today on Item Number 1, Shelter in Place, Part 4, Recreational Activity, specifically Amendment Number 2, to Emergency Order 06-20. I fully understand the extreme situation posed by COVID-19 to our city, state, and country. And the need for the government to prevent events like those that occurred at the Haulover Inlet sandbar this past weekend. However, the closure of all marinas in Miami -Dade is an overreach of government authority. You punitively punished the entire boating community for the actions of a few. In this time of crisis there are few activities left that fit within the social distancing guidelines, and responsible boating is one of them. Launching and using my own private vessel does not require me to come into contact with any people. Further, I currently pay $800 per month in dockage. Given as I am no longer able to use my vessel will the City compensate me for these costs? Will they suspend my dockage payments to the marina until the end of this crisis? If you do not address the financial concerns at the least, I will be forced to begin a lawsuit against the City to collect these costs and I'rn sure I will not be alone. Please reopen the marinas immediately. Thank you. Marshall Anderson: Hi, this is Marshall Anderson calling. I live in Downtown Miami. I'm calling regarding this emergency shutdown, or shelter in place order that went into place without adequate due process. Without allowing Miami residents to actually voice our concerns. And moreover, it's almost like people are making decisions without adequate information. And to what end? We're supposed to be in shelter in place indefinitely? There's no date. Our parks are closed, our beaches are closed. There's no concern for mental health, there's no concern for spiritual wellness. Like we are fighting against the wind. And there's an emphasis -- an over -emphasis, on fear and anxiety and anxiousness without a sense of empathizing a sense of community and awareness that we need to be working together to come up with a solution. And that does not necessarily mean that we need to be on lockdown, especially when there aren't enough cases to justift such extreme measures. So I'm calling because I'm concerned about the lack of due process and the extent of these extreme measures in restricting and stripping away our individual liberties when there are not vaccines, when there are not anti-virals that work. And we cannot be on lockdown for nine months until our governments come up with a solution while our economy is collapsing. This is a city where the City of Miami Page 7 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 majority of our economy is based upon tourism. Right now 60 to 80 percent of people, their jobs are related to tourism and the tourist industry. So what are we to do in a month from now when the vast majority of these residents do not have jobs, do not have food in their homes? Are you still telling them to stay in their home? This makes no sense. This should have gone before an entire committee and allow public access to comment beyond a 3:00 p.m. deadline that was recently extended to 5: 00 p.m. Unidentified Speaker: Hello City of Miami, members of the Commission, Mr. Mayor, the City Attorney, and members of the public present at today's virtual Commission meeting. This is my video comment. I commend everyone for the monumental efforts. I'm sure everyone is working very hard and had many sleepless nights trying to address the concerns of our residents and small business owners. I just wanted to submit at least one suggestion that was on my mind. I know a lot of business owners are going to be struggling to make their rent payments in addition to having to make some very difficult decisions about their employees and are facing a lot of stress because of the obligations caning from the federal government. And it's a tough time and everyone's doing their best. One thing that I know they've done in Seoul, in Korea, is commercial tenants who -- landlords who extend a rent holiday to their commercial tenants are -- are eligible for tax abatements and other incentives in order to ensure that small business owners don't go through a raft of evictions. Of course right now that might be a difficult process considering most of the courts are -- are at least mostly closed if not entirely closed with the exception of criminal proceedings. But I think that a tax abatement or some incentive to commercial landowners, property owners, to extend rent holidays to their tenants is an idea worth considering and looking into how to implement. And perhaps our friends in Korea may be able to offer some guidance on an efficient way to implement that as a program in the City of Miami, or in Miami -Dade County, or perhaps in all of South Florida. I'm very proud to see Miami leading on this issue in Florida. And, again, 1 commend all of you for your efforts. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Okay, I believe that was the end of the public comment section, so we're going to close the public comment section at this time. [Later...] Mr. Sarasti: I should also caution these haven't been pre-screened. So we'll keep a lookout for that. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: We can bleep them, right? Sharon Frasier Stevens: -- Sharon Frasier Stevens, I live at 6324 Northeast 1st Place, Miami, Florida, 33138. I live in the City district of Keon Hardemon, District 5. My question is how come every time you guys have a staging areas foodbanks, there's nothing over at the Little Haiti NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) Office which I live a block -and -a -half from? I understand that since I moved over here four years ago I have hardly ever seen the police officers ride around here to enforce the curfew. And also events to help the people in the Little Haiti community, which I live, having events at the park, the Little Haiti NET Office. We need to see more visibility of police officers and more community conversations at that park, community meetings. Once again my name is Sharon Frasier Stevens, 6324 Northeast 1st Place, 786-356-1574, luchie3@hotmail.com L-U-C-H-I-E-3@hotmail.com, and I'm waiting to hear some response from the City Manager because I left several messages with the City Manager's Office about the cleanliness of this community which I live in. Thank you so much. Waiting to hear -- Alex Held: This is Alex Held. My address is 174 Northeast 55th Street. I am in Keon Hardemon's District. My public comment has to do with the recent order for residents to stay within their own residences and to only go outside. for groceries or necessary amenities. What I would like to know is how the police will actually enforce this and whether or not -- City of Miami Page 8 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Vice Chair Russell: I've got no audio on my end. Anyone else? Mr. Noriega: No, there is no audio on this one for some reason. Ms. Mendez: Right, it -- you can go to the next one. Mr. Noriega: Accidental dial. Next. Are those actual crickets? Ms. Mendez: Sounds like it. Mr. Sarasti: Apologies. Starting the next one. Commissioner Reyes: What's going on? I hear like a cricket. Unidentified Speaker: Yeah, a cricket. Unknown Caller: -- finally be done with this because it's not -- it's never going to happen; it's going to keep spreading. Thank you. Claudia Sanchez: Hello, my name is Claudia Sanchez and I live in Miami, Florida, 33130. I'm calling because this is a great opportunity that we have or that the government has to impact and show the people that chose them they are worth it. I think that what we need right now for many of the workers that either lost their jobs or are not able to work from home or got their hours cut or even are risking the possibility to get infected, they need a package that provides them with the financial security so most of the people that may not need to be outside have the options to stay at home and therefore be able to better control what we're going through. It is time for the government to show them, the people, again the ones that choose them, that they're doing the right thing and not just focusing on big corporations. Thank you. Unknown Caller: Hi, good afternoon. Hi, I'm leaving this message for the Mayor and also for the Manager. I'm calling -- it's about the meeting tonight. I'm calling because you guys have the -- your (UNINTELLIGIBLE) they are working. How about are you guys not afraid that they're going to bring the virus at home to their family? And you guys want everybody to quarantine, stay at home. Why can't -- I don't understand, can you guys do something about it? Because they're also -- they want to be at home, they don't want to catch the virus. So I was hoping somebody can think of these people because you guys are not -- they come -- they go to work every day. So hopefully you guys will do something about it. Unknown Caller: Yeah, we've been trying to get your Commission meeting online, but nothing is coming up on the internet. It says coming up next Commission Meeting. Is it delayed or what? 305-987-4633. I want to know why the Commission meeting is not on as advertised. Thank you. Mr. Sarasti: IT (Information Technology) is done with that closer. Chair Hardemon: Okay. Is there any further discussion? Ms. Mendez: And thank you for receiving all the emails and acknowledging them in the record. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Seeing no further discussion, all in favor of the motion say aye. The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Hardemon: Any nays? Seeing no nays, motion passes. City of Miami Page 9 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 DISCUSSION ITEMS SP.1 DISCUSSION ITEM 7349 Commissioners and Mayor A DISCUSSION REGARDING MANDATORY SHELTER IN PLACE ORDER OR CURFEW. RESULT: DISCUSSED Mayor Suarez: 1 wanted to address something related to the stay at home order or shelter in place which is very specific. 1 think a lot of the confusion has arisen and some of. the messages that I'm receiving are from the fact that, you know, that only cities up to this point are the ones that have enacted a shelter in place order. It's -- today the Doral joined Miami Beach and the City of Miami in implementing a stay at home, safer at home, or shelter in place order. And I think some of the confusion lies from the fact that people don't really understand what is the City of Miami. They see boats docked at Haulover and they send me messages how can you let that happen? They see -- and I think Commissioner Carollo got this one as well, they, see a Flannigan's in Kendall overrun and they send me messages how can you let that happen? So they see ports [sic] docking as the Commissioner just said, ports [sic] docking in our port with, you know, a tremendous amount of people that are infected and they ask how can we let that happen in the city. And so 1 think, I really want to commend Commissioner -- all of you really - but I want to commend Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla for really focusing particularly on pushing forward this shelter in place order. Every comment that I've -- 90 percent of the comments that I've received, and I know that some of the ones in the public comment section were not as positive, but I will tell you that 90 percent of the messages that I've received about our actions have been extremely, positive. They've been about, you know, all of us collectively coming together to make our city as safe as humanly possible for our residents. Everything that we see from Italy to Iran to New York demonstrates that this is a growing threat right now in our world and in our country. And that we need to take the most proactive measures that we can take to ensure that our residents are safe. I certainly support the implementation of a curfew. I think the Commissioner has said in the past, or publicly, that he would want it to be 10:00 p.m. I have absolute -- I support that completely. If we want to be serious about what we're doing as a City to make sure that people are not congregating, I don't think that there's anything necessarily that is essential businesses that are open beyond that time. If there are essential businesses that are open beyond that time, certainly I think that those can be part of an exception for -- you know, for what's happening in our city in terms of, in terms of a stay in place order or a curfew. But I just want to go on the record to say that I would support if this Commission were of the opinion that we should have a curfew and that that curfew should be 10: 00 p.m., that I would be supportive of that. I've said that publicly and I want to maintain that. Because I want our police department, our fire department, our management -- this is what happens, by the way, when you're 14 days in quarantine, the light bulbs start going on and off and you have nobody to help you, but that's a whole other matter. And I apologize for the popcorn, guys, it was just I got a little hunger pang. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: You made us all hungry. You made us all hungry. Mayor Suarez: But again, I really want to commend the coming together of this government, the coming together of our individual personalities for a common goal. Every single person has been exceptional, every single elected official has been City of Miami Page 10 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 exceptional. And I just wanted to state my perspective for the record. 1 think the confusion that we -- and by the way, 1 had a call, and 1 want to thank our Chairman who is the incoming President of the League of Cities. 1 had a call with the League of Cities today to talk about a wide scale city implementation of a stay at home order. And this is a trend that is going to continue. And if the County does not act and do it themselves, I can tell you there is going to be a cascading amount of cities that are going to continue to do this. And hopefully that will create a little bit more comprehension in terms of the feeling among our coininunity that, you know, that there's some confusion because, you know, people just don't understand what the city of Miami is. People think Broward and West Palm Beach is the city of Miami (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And certainly as Commissioner Carollo said and I think some of you echoed, I think one of our biggest threats that we have to look at, Mr. Manager, and you kind of touched on it as well, is the close connection that we have to New York which most of the time is something that's extremely beneficial for our city, now it's one that I think we have to look at. Because right now New York is the United States epicenter of this Corona Virus spread. And so, you know, I just wanted to go on the record of my thoughts on the first agenda item and the last agenda item. And I thank all of you for keeping your eye on the prize in terms of the budgetary impact of this which we know is going to be significant. Chair Hardemon: And one thing I will say, Mr. Mayor, is that I apologize fbr not acknowledging you at the beginning. You know we've got these screens; 1 have two screens in front of me, and I was only limited to the number of people 1 saw so I'm looking at hands being raised, and 1 forgot to recognize you because I didn't see your face there. So, I've extended my view now where 1 can see more individuals, so I apologize for that. Mayor Suarez: No worries. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Russell, you had something you wanted to add? Vice Chair Russell: Yes, I want to move into some other elements of shelter in place. I wanted to give my opinion about the curfew. With regard to the curfew, I do understand and support the concept of people not being out at night. But I would like to defer to our Manager's administration of his manpower of the Police Chief for what their resources need to be spent on. Because if we're making unnecessary stops, it's going to make things -- it's going to stretch the resources a little bit more. The reason Pm hesitant on the curfew as opposed to just what we have right now is that what we have right now is in essence a soft curfew. Right now you're only allowed to leave when you have essential business. There really is not much essential business going on at night. And so if you're out, the police at this point have the ability to stop you and ask you if you are conducting essential business. If they see a car out, multiple people in it, it's 2:00 a.m., they can stop them. But I think the Manager was very specific in holding back on the curfew. And so I very much welcome the discussion, because I am supportive of the concept of what the curfew achieves. I simply don't want to stress the manpower of the staff at this point, especially with the police, and cause more exposure than is necessary, if they already have the tools they need to accomplish that. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I think to -- if I may, Mr. Chairman? Chair Hardemon: You're recognized. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I think more specifically, I asked that question of the Police Chief I asked him Ole was confident in his department's ability to handle a curfew and I think he responded yes. Is that correct, Chief? City of Miami Page 11 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mr. Colina: Yes, sir. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: So you're confident that -- Mr. Colina: Yes, if that was the will of the Commission, then obviously we would make the appropriate adjustments to be able to enforce the curfew if a curfew was put into place. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: But with your expanded manpower that you have now, today, you have the ability to enforce a curfew? Mr. Colina: Yes, sir. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Okay. I just wanted to make sure, Commissioner Russell, you understood that part. Maybe you didn't hear. I asked that specifically. You're right, I didn't want to overburden the police department, they have enough on their hands right now, but I wanted to make sure they had that. And when I do my closing and we argue about it a little bit more, debate it a little bit more, we'll -- I'll give you the reasons why a shelter in place and a curfew are different and why I think that we need to try to be on the right side of history on this one. And I'll make those arguments later on after the other commissioners give their opinions. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Reyes then Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair, and I want to make clear that I would love, I mean, hold on, 1 would support a curfew, but I want to see a plan of action. And I would be willing to vote for a curfew, but we have to have -- we cannot be enforced until we have all -- a plan of action and the manpower that the Chief of Police needs. How are we going to implement that and enforce it? And how are we going to distinguish and identify those people that they are in the city of Miami, and they are going out to work or they have to be out? I have received a text from a former commissioner, and that is he suggests that -- Mr. Gort suggests that those IDs could be obtained, or should be, we should use the NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) offices in order to obtain any type of IDs, if we implement this curfew. So the persons -- the individuals that are working and they need to be out on the streets, they will go to the NET Office and an ID will be issued. But I think that if we implement, and it is my humble opinion, if we implement a curfew overnight, you see, we are going to run into a lot of problems. And I think that it would be -- I don't think it will be -- in my opinion, it will be smart, because there's a lot of people that they are moving around, that they need to be out there. Unless we have an action plan and -- I mean, that takes into consideration all the different activities that people are doing and how we identify them and how much is that going to effect the manpower of the police officer and how can we provide it? Provide them with the manpower that they need. It won't be effective. I want it to be effective. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: Look, I think that there could be arguments for both sides to this issue. However, the main issue that I see Commissioner Reyes talking about and Commissioner Russell, the manpower. I can tell you that from a police operational point of view, you're taking more manpower now in police officers that are patrolling the streets, stopping people in the evenings with the shelter in place that we have, and having all kinds of exceptions. Trying to talk to them and figure out which one they have and trying to verify all those exceptions. It would take less manpower if you had a curfew that the patrol officer is going to know that it's a very, very limited amount of people that could be out there. And anybody that's out there, which is going to be a much smaller amount than with a shelter in place, they would be able to deal with City of Miami Page 12 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 them quicker, with lesser people being out there that they would have to stop and talk to than with the kind of exceptions that we have now in shelter in place. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. -- may I ask a question? Just a point of information. Chief are we stopping people now? Are we stopping people that are on the streets now? Because I didn't have that information. We are now -- are your patrols are stopping people that they are driving around the city of Miami? Or anyplace, either passing through or going from one place to another. Are we implementing that? Mr. Colina: We are, we're stopping people. It's not -- we don't have roadblocks or anything -- Commissioner Reyes: Okay, okay, no, no, that's all 1 wanted to know, because I didn't know that. Mr. Colina: Yeah, we are. And we receive -- people call the police department, and they'll basically say, listen, there are some people here or there's a business that's open that I don't believe is open. So, we'll go to these calls, and we'll document a report just to make sure. If we see somebody in the street, then very often an officer will stop that vehicle to find out what is their purpose to be out and about. Commissioner Reyes: But that's not the question, the question is people that are driving around. Because if we are doing that, we have a partial curfew. If we are doing that, if we are stopping, which I wasn't informed of it. And I'm not talking about going to a business that is not supposed to be open, I'm talking about a couple that is driving at 2 o'clock, at 12 o'clock, 11 o'clock, or in the afternoon, that is driving in the city of Miami, any of the streets of the city of Miami, that the police will come and stop them and ask them what are you doing out here, where are you going, and you're supposed to be at home. Are we doing that now? Mr. Colina: No. Okay, so now I understand. Commissioner Reyes: That's what I wanted to know. Mr. Colina: Right, no, no, so we're not stopping random people. You know, obviously is someone has committed a traffic offense, et cetera. Now what we are doing is we are verifying businesses; we are going to places -- Commissioner Reyes: Okay, that is completely different. Now, I want to ask you directly, do you need additional help or additional support to implement a total curfew, let's say from 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, whatever? Do you need any? Mr. Colina: No, no sir. We'll make whatever adjustments we need to make to make sure -- Commissioner Reyes: Okay, that's fine. That's all I wanted to know. Mr. Colina: -- handled properly. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chair? Chair Hardemon: Yes, you're recognized, Commissioner. Vice Chair Russell: Two questions on curfew because I want to make sure I understand exactly what we're talking about as opposed to what we have right now with enforcement of the shelter in place. If a curfew is implemented would the police be required to stop anyone they see and everyone they see? Whereas, at this point City of Miami Page 13 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 there's a bit of discretion. And I don't understand how that wouldn't create a more taxing situation. The second question is, would there be exceptions as we have in our - - as we have in our shelter in place order for the mother who needs to go out to the pharmacy or the night convenience store to get the diapers for her kid or something like that. And if so, is there really a difference between -- other than the language and the intention. Because if it's substantively similar to what we have now, but it's simply a stronger message I might be in support of it. But if it -- if it creates a different scenario where we're having to stop everyone who's out there driving at night, that would be a concern to me. Mr. Colina: So, 1 can answer at least part of that. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Well, if I may, Commissioner Hardemon, I may answer the second part and then 1 think Chief Colina can answer the first part of that question. There is a substantial difference. First of all, the County -imposed exceptions are 37 different exceptions. There are exceptions for everything. There are exceptions for car dealerships, for Christ's sakes, like if people are going to go buy a car during this crisis. So we have exceptions out there that don't make any sense, but they were put in there for whatever reason. So, it's way too broad. This would be much narrower -- a curfew -- a curfew will be much narrower in nature. It will allow people to go to work. It will allow people to seek medical help if they have a medical emergency. So, those are the exceptions that the curfew would allow for. It's much stricter, it makes more sense, it's a limited number of hours. But more importantly it tells people that we're serious about this. We have a very short period of time according to a number of statistical models, health models by the professionals, the health professionals, by the people that should be making these decisions or advising us on what decisions to make. Now we have a very short period of time left to flatten that curve and not overwhelm our healthcare system. And we have to do everything we can now, now, to make that happen. We can't afford to wait until next week or until tomorrow. I want to commend the Mayor in particular, and Commissioner Carollo, for leading not the County but the nation. When they canceled Ultra together, when they canceled Calle Ocho, understanding that the congregation of people is extremely dangerous for the spread of this very very aggressive virus. They led the County, and they led the nation on that. They were right then. The curfew now is the right thing to do now. We cannot wait any longer and say we'll do it next week because of this detail or that detail. Curfews have been implemented throughout the country; countless cities have implemented it. Here in Miami -Dade County we have the City of Miami Beach, the City of Sunny Isles, North Miami Beach, Key Biscayne. In Broward we have Coconut Creek, Hallandale Beach. More or less the same hours the Mayor talked about, you know, from 11:00 to 5:00, 10:00 to 5:00. So it works because it sends a very, very clear signal to the people of Miami, the city of Miami, that we're serious about this. That we're going to be ahead of the curve here and try to flatten that curve. And we're going to protect them. There's two schools of thought here debating this entire Corona Virus thing from the moment it started. One school of thought is the economics school of thought. That says, well, we have to protect businesses and we have to protect people's incomes. And all those things are extremely important. And that time will come. The federal government's addressing that, our state government will address that, our city government -- our county and city government will address those issues. That time will come. But the time for that is not now. The time now is to flatten that curve, protect our citizens because we're not dealing with -- correct, Manager Noriega, we're not dealing with civil unrest or civil disobedience, we're dealing with lives. Much more important. We need to bold, we need to be aggressive, as aggressive as this virus is. And don't shy away from making difficult decisions now that will save lives in the city of Miami. And Miami once again can lead the County and can lead the nation in doing what's right at the right time. Vice Chair Russell: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). City of Miami Page 14 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Corolla. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: I had one answer, I had two questions there and the other one was not yet answered. Mr. Colina: The first part, Commissioner, the enforcement element. Well first of all, typically, at least my experience and what's happened in the past is when there is an order of curfew put into place, believe it or not, the majority of the people comply with that. It's not like there's a lot of people out there for us to even stop. There are very few vehicles that are going to be out and about when there's a curfew put into place. Fortunately, and I'll be honest with you, it's not like the officers right now want to actually go engage people. We're doing that because we don't have a choice and we're going to do our job. But, you know, the officers are as anxious and stressed as everyone else. They want to avoid that contact. When they don't have a choice and it's their duty and their job to engage, obviously they do, and they will. But there's not going to be a lot of people. Right now there isn't a lot of people on the street. There'll be less if there's a curfew. And then, yes, if we see a vehicle out on the street, of course we'll stop that vehicle and ascertain what their purpose is. And if they give a reasonable explanation, 1 need to go buy pampers for example, those people are going to be allowed to go do what they need to do. But we'll be out there, and people will see us, and they'll see the lights, and they'll know that it's a serious act. And if they're going to be out the likelihood is that they're going to be challenged. Commissioner Reyes: And I want to add that the -- correct me if I'm wrong, Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, the proposed curfew is going to be from 11 to 5 o'clock in the morning or something like that. It will be at night. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Yes, sir, it will be from 10 to 5 o'clock. Commissioner Reyes: From 10 o'clock to 5 o'clock, you propose that? Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Yes, sir. Commissioner Reyes: And that means that anybody that is doing their business during the daytime, they can do their business -- Mr. Colina: They're fine. Commissioner Reyes: They are fine and they're not going to be stopped. Mr. Colina: No, Commissioner. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: All these 37 exceptions the County imposed on us - - if I may, Mr. Chair, through you. All these 37 exceptions the County imposed on us, well, they can do all that stuff during regular business -- Commissioner Reyes: During regular business hours. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: They can go to the supermarket, they can, you know, go to a therapist, they can go to a doctor. Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: They can do everything. City of Miami Page 15 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: Only -- only some certain exceptions will be in place from 10: 00 to 5: 00; that's totally different. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Correct, going to like medical emergencies, -- Commissioner Reyes: Medical emergency -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: -- take your dog out. And look, I trust our police department and our Police Chief Commissioner Reyes: Yes, yes. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: And when people are taking their dog out, you know, to go to the bathroom. Things like that the police is not going to stop them, is not going to arrest them on the street. So, you know, but basically some very few exceptions, but the most important thing is to send that message, that we're dead serious about this. That we're really going to impose this, that we want people to stay home and be safe and not expose other people to this very deadly virus. Commissioner Reyes: But I wholeheartedly agree with you because I have seen a lot of people that have taken this very lightly. Very lightly. Chair Hardemon: So I want to recognize Commissioner Joe Carollo then the Mayor. Commissioner Carollo: Yes, what I would like to ask is that we give ourselves at least two days to let the public know what's coming. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: In other words, if we impose this curfew tonight, that it doesn't go into effect until Friday evening. This way we have all day tomorrow and Friday until 10: 00 p.m. so that the public will be aware of it. And we'll make sure that they're aware of it in every way that we can. So, that's the only condition that I would like to impose before we do that. And I think it's important that we do it before Friday. Because even though we might not think so, there is still a small minority, and you don't need a huge amount of people to spread this virus on all of us, that is still taking it lightly. And they might want to go and party at somebody's house and be there until late at night partying. Then they're going out intoxicated, getting together, and I think we need to implement it before Friday evening comes. Commissioner Reyes: Yeah, and -- Chair Hardemon: No, no, I want to recognize the Mayor. Commissioner Reyes: Oh, okay. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Mayor, you're muted. Commissioner Reyes: We can't hear you. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: You're muted. Commissioner Carollo: We can't hear you, Mayor. Commissioner Reyes: We can't hear you. City of Miami Page 16 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mayor Suarez: I'll move to Commissioner Reyes. I know he wants to jump in there. Commissioner Reyes: No, 1 just wanted to say this, and 1 would like -- and the only thing I want to add is through the City Manager, because there are some people that work at night, Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, that those persons that they have to go and work at night. They have to be out on the street. That they will have a place that we will get the NET offices, I mean, ready to provide them with some sort of IDs, identifications, that they are -- would be allowed to be out in the street because they are -- I mean it is essential for them to be in the street. I mean we will identify them and go through a process that we vet them that they are required to be on the street at that time, you see? Because there are people that work at night, and they need to go to the jobs. Well, they have to have some sort of ID that will allow them to go (UNINTELLIGIBLE). They might be working at a hospital. We have a lot of nurses that they have night shifts, and they should be able to drive to their jobs because those are essential services. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Reyes, I -- Chair Hardemon: Before we move forward I want to say one thing. I want to remind Madam City Attorney; you can chime in as well as the City Manager. There's still requirements that we must meet in order for us to put a curfew into place. So, just because we think that it's the right thing to do, there is still a legal requirement that you must meet, at least be able to argue, to implement a curfew. So that's something that we should also discuss. Madam City Attorney? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Chairman, it would basically be the Commission directing the Manager to impose a general curfew. I believe that there needs to he certain criteria with which we clearly express what the exceptions are going to be. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Ms. Mendez: We cannot give discretion to the police officers that, oh, it's okay to walk the dog versus, oh, it's not okay to go get pampers. So we really need to clearly lay out what these exceptions would be. Remember that the Manager under his authority and powers under Chapter 45 can impose this curfew. So, if you would give him a day or so to come up with all the exceptions, unless you want to go through them right now. Chair Hardemon: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I know the Manager spoke about those things earlier, so I just to make clear, I don't want to run afbul of the law. Ms. Mendez: This would be imposed because the Manager feels pursuant to Chapter 45 and pursuant to the emergency chapters in Chapter 252, and pursuant to the Governor's Order, the first Governor's Order that established the state of emergency, if it is felt that if it is the public's health, safety, and welfare in order to establish this. Chair Hardemon: I should recognize Commissioner Carollo, I interrupted you -- no, Mr. Mayor, did you ever get a chance to speak? Mayor Suarez: No, no, go ahead. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Joe Carollo (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: Just real quick. I agree what the statements that many of you have made as far as people that work need some kind of ID that can identify them, and they could be at ease and not be worrying if they're going to be stopped. However, I don't think that under the present conditions we should do it by exposing City of Miami Page 17 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 our City employees in NET offices or even the people that might come. We don't know if that particular employee might have gotten infected that same day or the day before. Commissioner Reyes: We could do it by internet. Commissioner Carollo: So I think if they could do it through the internet, through Facetime, or many different apps they can use where they could be issued a number and a certain ID. Commissioner Reyes: That's right. Commissioner Carollo: And the police department could just look it up in their computer if need be just to confirm. Commissioner Reyes: They can be through the internet, and they can print it. Commissioner Carollo: Sure. Chair Hardemon: So, Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla then our City Manager. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I think our Mayor wanted to say something but let me just quickly address some of the points that have been made. 1 agree with Commissioner Reyes that some sort of ID would be good. Perhaps our police department if they happen to stop somebody at that moment they can give them a note saying you're okay to travel and if they're stopped again they simply show that. That's a good way to bureaucratically cut through some of the bureaucracy in a non - bureaucratic way. Perhaps that may be a solution. But I agree with Commissioner Reyes because the exceptions that we're putting in here, Commissioner Reyes, are exactly to your concerns. We're not going to -- I think this Commission should say what the exceptions should be, I don't think we should leave it to the City Manager. I love our City Manager, but he has expressed that he's not comfortable with a curfew, so I think that as the public policy makers here that we should make a decision on what those exceptions should be. And sort of direct him where we want him to go with this. I think the exceptions should be to go to work, I think for medical emergencies obviously, to take out your dog, things that make sense in the immediate vicinity. These are things, two or three things, but we don't want to create a County -like 37 exceptions where people can do -- practically make it, you know, not really a curfew. We want to make it a very, very, very explicit curfew with very little exceptions and to make it very clear and -- that's it's a very -- that we're very, very -- that we're dead serious about this. That we're really serious about people staying home and not congregating. And when people see that, and they see this Commission has acted with force and unity -- Commissioner Reyes: They'll comply. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: -- they'll see we're serious and comply. And we're going to move forward with this and get ahead of that curve. Again, I implore every Commissioner here, there are always reservations when it comes to these kind of actions. I understand that. It's happened throughout history. In this case, this is an unprecedented historical event in our nation, in our city, we need to lead the nation and we need to act forcefully. Deliberately but swiftly. We cannot afford to wait anymore. Commissioner Reyes: I will add, if I may through the Chair. And when you're talking about the exceptions, you see, it comes to my mind that at night we have a lot of deliveries and I think the police, they will use their judgment if they see a delivery City of Miami Page 18 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 truck, you know, a truck that's delivering goods to one of these stores and all the things like that and they are not violating the curfew. Commissioner Carollo: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) work Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: They're doing their work. They're performing a related activity. Commissioner Reyes: A related activity, that's right. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Noriega. Mr. Noriega: So, I want to address two things. First and foremost, you know, I -- whatever the will of the Commission certainly is I'm -- I'm willing to -- and certainly comfortable with proposing a curfew if that's, you know, the majority's desire. The exceptions I think are fairly easy, as Commissioner De La Portilla [sic] said. It's one of those situations where they are -- very well could be extremely limited. I don't think we need to get into the business of trying to issue IDs, Commissioner Reyes. I think what we can do is, because we could be talking thousands of these given -- Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Mr. Noriega: -- the sheer volume ofpeople that are -- potentially need to work, I think we will leave it at the discretion of our police department. Most of the people that are going to go to work, especially in these critical businesses or essential businesses, are going to have IDs that are appropriate to that, to speak to whatever their business is. Or can certainly be identified if they're wearing uniform. And I think leaving it to their discretion is probably the best case scenario. Commissioner Reyes: Let me be respectful. I disagree with you. I think that -- I know a lot of people that I know in this city, some of them -- I mean they're going to take advantage of that. We are leaving this place a huge burden in our police department that they will have the -- they will be the one that's going to decide if a person should be -- I don't know what the consequences are. Are we going to give them -- anybody that violates this, are we going to give them a ticket? Is going to be arrested? Is going to have -- are we going to give them a let's say a warning, if I catch you again then you will be arrested? I mean because if we are going to place a curfew, there must be some consequences for those that violate them. Chair Hardemon: That's precisely the point, Commissioner Reyes, is that the way I see it if you have a curfew the only way that you enfbrce curfew is by taking that person off of the street. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Chair Hardemon: You take them off the street by making an arrest. When you put them under arrest in Miami -Dade County, you're putting them in worse situations then they were before. So you expose them to more issues. You're exposing them to possible assault, you're exposing to certain disease. And we're talking about a respiratory, issue that we're facing. And I'll also add that, you know, the City of Miami doesn't exist in a vacuum, so we have neighboring cities that are all around us. Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Chair Hardemon: And this is another reason, dear statesman, Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, this is part of the reason that for instance each county doesn't change its gun laws as it pertains to concealed carry. You know, we have a uniform City of Miami Page 19 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 system. So, you know, part of what I think about in this situation, this is a cautionary, tale because obviously f we make a decision as a board and that's the decision that we're going to go with and that's what we defend. But when you consider this, that people are going to be coming from Miami Gardens, from Hialeah, from El Portal, from Miami Shores, you know, they drive through the city of Miami and they're going to be caught in this large drag net. And so the question is, you know, what happens? So if I take the route going through the city of Miami, you're telling me I'll have to go around the city of Miami. And so it's just, you know, part of the things that I think are impractical about it in just a city's -- just implemented in the city of Miami. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Mr. Chairman, 1 think the Chief was clear, that -- that's why 1 asked the initial question when we started the debate, is this going to be a soft enforcement or a hard enforcement. Sort of try to -- and the Chief was very clear, he's not out there to arrest people, he's out there to tell people you need to go home. And they're caught again, you need to go home, if they're caught again then you get a citation. He's not there -- he's not in the business of arresting people or putting their lives in jeopardy by some of the circumstances you described. Chair Hardemon: No, and I can understand that, Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla. But let me tell you, that gentleman, our Police Chief Jorge Colina, is someone that I think is spectacular. But we've found in our city when we've made arrests of people for putting fliers on buildings with tape and so, you know, these are obviously situations that shouldn't necessarily -- you shouldn't expect an arrest from. And someone being put in a prison cell -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Of course. Chair Hardemon: -- a holding cell for these types of things, but it happens. Because the individuals that are out there implementing it, they make different decisions than our Police Chief will actually make. That's all I'm saying about it. You know, I think that we should come to a resolution of the issues. I think we've talked about it quite enough. And if you want to put it to a test, then let's do that and move forward. Commissioner Carollo: Chairman, real quick. Madam City Attorney, how can we go about to issue citations for the first violation? Ms. Mendez.: On these, normally the -- any violation of Chapter 45 can be either arrest or municipal ordinance violation pursuant to Section 1-3, I believe, of the City Code. So we already have the ability to issue a municipal citation. Commissioner Carollo: Okay, so we don't need in an emergency situation to have an ordinance. If we approve this tonight we can just state that they will on the first offense they will be fined whatever the amount is that this Commission decides, whether it's a $100 citation or $250 or whatever it is, we can do that tonight in that fashion, correct? Ms. Mendez: If you want to have a different theme than what's allowed pursuant to our code, our City Code, then, yes, we would have to pass something. Commissioner Reyes: Madam City -- Commissioner Carollo: Well, let -- let me do this and we'll discuss the citation side later. Because I'd prefer to give the police more leeway in what they could do and make it easier. Because the idea here is not to throw somebody in jail. Commissioner Reyes: No, sir. City of Miami Page 20 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 [Later...] Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): First of all, if you're going to take action there's still public comments that -- Chair Hardemon: We had public comment. Commissioner Carollo: We did. Chair Hardemon: Anything now would be unreasonable for us to have in this emergency meeting. Ms. Mendez: Okay. So there's public comment that then will be placed on the record with regard to all the electronic media that has been put in. The other issue is that you have, unless you clearly establish what the exceptions are, you will -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: We just did to make -- Commissioner Carollo: We just did. Ms. Mendez: Right, but this is the problem, you just said work. So what is work? If you're not going to work, you want to be allowed, you know, exceptions then -- Commissioner Reyes: That'.s precisely what 1 thought. Commissioner Carollo: Either going or coming from work; an actual job that they have. Ms. Mendez: Right. So any job? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Ms. Mendez: Whether they're allowed to be open or not. I just want to make that clear. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair? Mr. Chair? Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Reyes. Commissioner Reyes: You stated, and I stated before, we are the position of the city of Miami, it's a crossroad for a lot of cities and other places. How are we going to identify those people that are going by? By the address? Are we going to leave that also up to the police in order to determine if that person is just going through? I mean if you live in Hialeah and you're going to go, I mean you live in Coral Gables, and you visiting somebody in Hialeah, and then you want to when you come back at any time you have to cross through city of Miami or you have to go all the way around, 87th Avenue or something like that. I mean we have to be aware of the city of Miami, the geographic situation of the city of Miami. It's in the middle of everything. And there are all the people from other cities and all the parts of the County that are going to be traveling through the city of Miami and what we have to do is that's got to be an exception because you said anybody that is traveling in the city of Miami. I mean we are going to create a mess. Pin sorry, but that's what 1 believe. We have to make sure that -- that our streets are traveled by a lot of people and those people, I mean they're not part of our curfew. And we have to make an exception. City of Miami Page 21 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Chair Hardemon: I want to recognize Commissioner Russell and then our City Manager and then the Mayor. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Can we also give the Manager some freedoms over this next 24 hours? Hopefully that the policy is completely finalized -- Commissioner Reyes: That sounds right, too. Vice Chair Russell: -- before sunset tomorrow so that everyone has a full 24 hours to digest this. And so that whatever we haven't thought of tonight in terms of an exception, that he has some freedoms to do that. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: And I mean just off the top of my head, for example, those in the business of transportation for that work, right? Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: Let's say somebody drives a taxi or ride share, is that considered an essential business that would be a -- an exception? And if so, can everyone who's in the gig economy be out there trolling around for rides? 1 just, we haven't thought it all the way through, and 1 want to give the Manager some leeway for that. Commissioner Reyes: I agree with that. Vice Chair Russell: And by the way, just for the record, I would not be in favor of creating the ID system that would need to be printed and created and find all the people and identify them. I think in this moment of emergency that's too much of a load on our system. People will definitely fall through the cracks. And when they don't have that ID what is the officer to do? So I really -- I wouldn't be in favor of that part of it. I don't believe that was in the motion, butt know it's been in the discussion. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. I do understand the position to an ID. I think it's a good idea, but if it is the will of the Commission not to do it or if the Manager considers that this is going to be very cumbersome, I mean as long as we are -- I do understand that we are placing on the shoulders of a police officer quite a responsibility, and they have to make the decision at the point. When they stop somebody going to say, okay, are you going to go to work? Prove it. And that is my only concern. But 1 also want to stress once again that we have to make sure that those people that are using our roads, they are not going to be punished. And those people that need to be out working, they have to have the right to move from the work, place of work, to the house. That's my concern. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Noriega and then Mayor Francis Suarez. Art Noriega (City Manager): We certainly have a couple of examples that we're going to use in terms of language, given all of the feedback we've had today. I also want to add an element to this just for clarification so when we draft it tomorrow, the rest of the Commission and the Mayor certainly are clear on it. We're also going to cancel all the noise waivers that have been issued for any period of time beyond outside of the exception of the curfew. Commissioner Reyes: Good. Mr. Noriega: And obviously we're -- I made a footnote to Commissioner Russell's comment relative to the transportation to and from. We're going to address Fire, City of Miami Page 22 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 we're going to address Police, we're going to address other government services as well. Commissioner Reyes: Deliveries. Mr. Noriega: And delivery, yes. Commissioner Reyes: And how about Uber and Lyft? Mr. Noriega: Yeah, that will be included in the transportation component. Commissioner Reyes: Okay, okay. Commissioner Carollo: I think, Mr. Manager, that -- Chair Hardemon: Let me, I want to recognize -- Commissioner Carollo: -- the area of work number one on the three exceptions. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Then define what we're talking about work. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Mr. Chair? Commissioner Carollo: 1 want to make sure that we follow what the City Attorney's instructing us in defining it. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: And I hope that by putting the three items down, work, medical emergencies, and taking your dog out within 250 feet of your residence, that should be sufficient. So, then whatever else we spell out, in particularly in work or if we need to define further what a medical emergency is, that we could do it without having to come back here and spell it out again. Mr. Noriega: Yeah, we're also, Mr. Chair, going to address the issue of obviously utility repairment and the like. Commissioner Carollo: Falls under work. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: That's all work. Commissioner Reyes: That's all work, but also, also, I am still concerned about those people that use our roads to go and come and they have to use it. And they're coming from someplace and they are going through the city of Miami. I mean that because they're using our roads, but they don't live in the city of Miami, they shouldn't be penalized. And the police can determine that by the address or whatever. Chair Hardemon: Mayor Francis Suarez and then Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla. Mayor Suarez: Thank you, Chair. I think we've come to the end of the discussion on this issue. I think we're all in consensus that we should implement a curfew with the limited exceptions. I'll tell you that the County order does allow municipalities to provide stricter exceptions. Obviously the best case scenario, and I think this would have addressed Commissioner Reyes' concern, the best case scenario would have City of Miami Page 23 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 been if the County would have just followed our lead and simply implemented a shelter in place order and a curfew as we have done and as Miami Beach has done and as many many more cities will be doing. I think Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla read off a list of about half a dozen that have already implemented them. My guess is just based on my conversation today with the League, and some of the calls that I've gotten from mayors from surrounding cities, not only in the state of Florida, in the U.S., but also in Dade County, that this trend is going to continue. So maybe what we should do is urge the County to follow our lead and put in a stay at home order and also a curfew so that as you said, Commissioner Reyes, you know, we don't have this confusion where people get concerned about if they're traversing -- Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Mayor Suarez: -- our cities. But 1 really think, you know, under ideal circumstances there would be a uniform policy. And unfortunately we have to lead in the absence of that uniform policy. So I think we're all on the same page. I just want to be mindful of the time because it's almost 11:00 p.m. and I know we have two more agenda items that we want to get to, so (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I'm going to let the Mayor close on that. I know the Mayor and I and Manager Noriega have been working on the shelter in place issue for over a week. It took us a week to finally implement that, and 1 want to commend the Mayor for his leadership, and I want to commend this Commission, Commissioner Carollo, his comments today for his leadership, and the efforts that we're doing here. We're once again going to lead the County and lead the nation in many cases in implementing strict policies to protect the lives of our residents. And I'm very proud of being able to sponsor this and very proud to support that that I've seen here tonight. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you Commissioners. With that I close, and I move the question. Ms. Mendez: Chairman? Chair Hardemon: Yes, Madam City Attorney. I know that you said you had a few voicemails that you wanted to play that were called in? Ms. Mendez: Yes, there was six voicemails and then all of you have received the emails that have come in throughout the meeting. But if we can play the six voicemails, please, it's12 minutes. Mayor Suarez: Can I make a brief comment before we play the voicemails? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Mayor Suarez: This is brief like 30 seconds. Chair Hardemon: Yes. Mayor Suarez: Which I want everyone to understand that all of the things that we're putting in place, this is important for people to understand, are only in existence while there is an emergency declaration. And emergency declarations at most are seven days. And so every seven days, and every day we're in communication with the Manager and myself, analyzing this thing on a day-to-day basis. Because obviously what we want is to return to normalcy as quickly as possible. But understanding that, you know, we have to be responsible. I think Commissioner Carollo, Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, and Commissioner Reyes, they've all talked about, you know, the City of Miami Page 24 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 fact that we're still on the upward trajectory. And so, you know -- but 1 do want people to know that this is only, at most it's a seven day implementation with an ability to refresh going forward. Chair Hardemon: Is the Information Technology Department ready to play those comments? Michael Sarasti (Chief Information Officer/Director of Innovation & Technology): In about 15 seconds. Mr. Noriega: Wonderful. Ms. Mendez: And I just wanted to clarify that the emails that came in, you've received those as well and they will be part of the record. [Later...] Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman? Chair Hardemon: Yes, you're recognized. Vice Chair Russell: Before we move on from SP.1, 1 have a couple other comments regarding shelter in place. 1'll be brief Chair Hardemon: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Manager, I'd like to ask if you could do a little deeper dive on some of the exceptions. It's my understanding we can go more stringent than the County if necessary. And here's a couple of examples. Obviously there's a lot of questions about what businesses are and are not exempt. I'd like you to look a little deeper into what is truly an essential business. Senior centers, now the Governor has issued rules for ALFs (Assisted Living Facility) but certain senior centers that don't have some of those rules that are private may not have the same application. One of the residents that spoke on public comment was asking for rules to be implemented from above because maybe their local building aren't implementing those. And those may have to do with (INAUDIBLE) and sanitation, cleanliness guidelines. The same thing, and this one is very important, goes for HOAs (Homeowners Associations) and condo associations. We have already closed gyms and pools and public areas of congregation, but in the Downtown and Brickell area the largest gyms, the largest pools, the largest congregation areas are within private HOAs and condo associations. Now I believe, if I'm not mistaken, because it has changed several times, the County order does specifically exempt them, those condo associations, leaving them to make their own decision. But I've heard from condo associations that are concerned about that. They're looking for us to give them the backing because they're worried about lawsuits internally from those who wouldn't support their decision. So I'd like you to look at that carefully. Groceries right now probably could be our number one vector for transmission if they're not following good guidelines. When I came out of isolation that was my first trip was to the grocery store and it was like whiplash for me how many people were so close together. The lack of hand sanitizer available to the customers. There wasn't a lot of spacing. I know they're doing the best that they can, but it might help for us to implement some rules and then create signage. And the signage I'm going towards is very important for our own business as well. Because our parks are technically closed, but it's hard for us to fault our residents who aren't following every one of our orders if they don't know about them. We need signage at our parks explaining to people what they can't do and what they should be doing. And I believe that's all I've got. And so I'll just leave it with the Manager. I don't think a motion's necessary. Thank you. City of Miami Page 25 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Reyes: I -- just as Commissioner Russell that he has received complaints about buildings that the pools are open, and people are having just like a party on the pool. And they are not following the social distance or the ordinance that they should be closed. I think that we should make sure that we include those pools, they should be closed from those apartments, I mean those buildings that own pools. 1 agree. Because I have many complaints about that. SP.2 DISCUSSION ITEM 7350 Commissioners and Mayor A DISCUSSION REGARDING ACCESSIBILITY OF MEALS AND OTHER SERVICES TO SENIORS. RESULT: DISCUSSED Chair Hardemon: So, now I'd like to move on to SP.2. It's a discussion regarding accessibility of meals and other services to seniors. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think our City Manager has a brief presentation on this, very brief on what the breakdown that was made and then I'm going to try to reshuffle the deck here rather quickly and sort of use a different metric for how these calculations were made or perhaps if the Commission agrees that we should be based on a different metric. But I think if the Manager could give a very quick update on what he's done with the breakdowns per commission district for the elderly meals program. Art Noriega (City Manager): Commissioner, I'll be cat -like quick. The program really identified a million dollars as an initial funding source to address the feeding of the elderly. In particular, those that have an identified need or an unmet need. And so we identified the million dollars and/or a two month timeline for the expenditure of that million dollars. The intent is to request a reimbursement from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Program) as part of that program. The extent of which obviously is still undetermined, but we feel fairly certain that there will be some aspect of this that will be reimbursed. The matrix by which we used was the current API (Anti -Poverty Initiative) allocation by district. So, the Mayor's API to divide the million dollars by district based on that criteria. The meal program will be obviously available to seniors 60 years or older and obviously they must reside within the city of Miami. The allocation of the money, would then be distributed to each individual district office associated with an approved vendors list of which the district office then would determine the methodology, the frequency, in line with the meal programs that we have procured. And that's really a quick summary of how it would work. Chair Hardemon: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Vice Chairman? Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. This is a question for Art as well as Victoria and then to get a sense of the Commission with regard to the meal program. If not mistaken, this is something that was put together before and if we were to change anything of it, it could be done by the Manager but would have to be retroactively approved by us later. And the reason I'm bringing that up is this, there was an article today written by City of Miami Page 26 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Udonis Haslem called the Real Miami in the Players Tribune and it really touched me with regard to food scarcity in the city of Miami and those who are affected by COVID-19. Seniors are a very incredibly vulnerable population to not only the virus but food shortage. But in our different districts we do have different food needs. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: And as long as it fits within the API, the spectrum of anti -poverty, I would like to expand that program so thatl would have the ability to use my share in my district for perhaps a greater population than just seniors. As long as they fit within the anti poverty spectrum. Kids aren't in school right now and they are experiencing a lot going through this with us. And to know what they're going through; we want to make sure food is not one of their problems. So, if we allow that flexibility and we are assured that we will still our reimbursement, and hell, even if we don't get our reimbursement I think it's the right thing for us to do so that we take care of all levels of the population. Chair Hardemon: So, one of the things I want to add into this before we move forward is that seniors are obviously a group of people that we need to focus on to insure that we have meals for them to consume. And I also want to highlight based off what you just said as well, Mr. Vice Chairman, that another group of people that are feeling the effects of this are people who are not necessarily seniors, but they are between, you know, 20 to 45 years of age. They're your bartenders, they're the people that work in restaurants, they're the ones who lose the job. They're the ones who may not be on any sort of government assistance and they don't receive any SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits or anything of that nature, and they still have to meet their daily obligations with that. And so part of the idea that was thinking of and I would love to hear my fellow Commissioners comments on this, is for us to have our City Manager identify more money that we can use to -- Commissioner Reyes: Oh, that's good. Chair Hardemon: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So I think, you know, if we had an additional say for instance million dollars, especially to provide for people to have hot meals, even mix in some of these cold meals with the hot meals for our seniors, but additionally hot meals available to people who are suffering from this -- from our actions. Because just now tonight when we we're implementing the curfew, we close all essential businesses, effectively we put people out of work. And so, you know, we understand that the reason that we're doing it is very important, but we must also take responsibility for the damage that it's causing a lot of people's lives. And so I think if we're able to provide these services to additional folk who may not meet what we normally would qualify as say anti poverty or anything of that nature, we make these funds available. Not just antipoverty funds but other funds available so that we can insure that people have an opportunity to eat. And I think -- so what I would like, I mean the program as it is for instance that's being proposed by the City Manager I'm fine with, but I would like to expand it more to include more dollars so that we can buy, hot food and for people who are -- who can come and actually pick up food and leave. I want to recognize Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla and then Commissioner Reyes. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I agree with both Commissioner Russell and Commissioner Hardemon. We need to have more dollars dedicated to needy people. We have -- I'm sure the federal government and the state government and obviously our government's going to tackle these issues as we move forward. There's severe economic impact as a result of this. There are serious consequences and ramifications we're going to be dealing with over the next months. This -- the parameters of this particular item, SP.2, is only for senior programs. So we're only here to discuss right now, SP.2 is only for senior meals, 65 and over. And the problem that exists with the City of Miami Page 27 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 existing allocations, per district, the metrics that was used is incorrect because there was a poverty index that was used for the entire population and not for the populations that we're talking about here, which is seniors 65 and over. So the recalculation for this particular program had to be made and see what that poverty index is 65 and over and then make the allocations according to that index for each respective district. In other words, probably some of the -- Commissioner Russell, your district will receive a little bit less money, Commissioner Hardemon, your district will probably receive a little less money too, because it's only targeting a particular population. But it's a very, very fair across the board for this particular program. I'd be more than happy to come back next time we meet, hopefiilly we'll have another virtual meeting. Don't worry I'm not going to call one today or ask for one today. We're going to have another virtual meeting just to address this issue. It's a serious concern, people losing jobs. Hopefully we'll have a federal program, the Senate and the Congress will agree, and the President will have a plan to alleviate some of these concerns, the bartenders and the people who have lost jobs. Hopefully the Unemployment Office in the State of Florida would have addressed the low amount of money they issue on unemployment, the fourth in the country in worse amount of unemployment benefits to give our population. So these issues are going to be addressed by other governments, but we also need to do our part. I will work with you to find those dollars, and with the Mayor of course, and with the Manager to find those dollars to address those particular programs that we can implement. But this program is not about that tonight, it's about seniors. Chair Hardemon: No, 1 understand. I understand what the discussion item is, but we can make this decision today about furthering our efforts to assist more people in our community. So we don't have to wait on it. I think this is something that we should act on. Look, and I completely understand your argument about 65, well we said earlier 60 and above, and we calculated it particularly just to look at that age range for this program. I don't have a problem with that. But I think that coupled with that I think we should also include a motion where we have additional funds that are allocated by our manager and have our manager give us the ability to, same way in each of the districts, be able to effect -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: And perhaps our City Attorney or City Manager can address this issue. That would be outside the parameters of this notice that we issued for this particular meeting, I believe so we would have to notice it. That's why I said we need to call another meeting probably, but we can issue a directive to the City Manager to explore the options if the Mayor chooses to do that. To explore the options available to us. But it would definitely fall outside what we noticed for tonight and what's open to debate tonight. And I'll work with you to get -- Chair Hardemon: So 1'll recognize Victoria to speak on that issue because I don't think that -- this is a special emergency meeting, well a special meeting, that we could probably handle that within this meeting, and then I'll recognize Commissioner Reyes, then Carollo, then the Mayor. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): With respect -- with respect to this meeting, it had to do with the four topics with regard to SP.4 which was an update of the City Manager and the progress. Any programs that the Commissioners would like to see could be addressed with the Manager. The Manager can follow up with these programs, actually start the programs, and you know, in consultation with the Commissioner, which I believe that the Manager also described with regard to the elderly. And it could be done for any other program. And then we would come back for approval in the future. But it does not preclude the Manager from starting, based on all the emergency procurement measures that have been -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: But not acting on it today. City of Miami Page 28 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Ms. Mendez: Well, we don't have to act on it, you don't. You don't have to act on it. You could if you wanted to, but you don't have to. Chair Hardemon: The Manager can do it himself Ms. Mendez: Correct. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I disagree. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Reyes. Commissioner Reyes: Yes, 1 was looking out for the distribution offunds, and 1 agree with Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla that this is based on the poverty level since this program, it is specific to target a population that is 60 years or over. I believe that it would be a -- better metrics would be based on the population for each district, the elder population, the senior population that each district has. I mean that will benefit some districts more than other. Maybe I will get a hit, but I think that since what we are truing to do is to be able to feed our senior citizens, then we should do this. I mean and it is nothing wrong with what was done, the API which is the index of -- the poverty index. But this would be just a simple recalculation, according to the census, how many people which are over 60 or 65 in each district and then that's it. You see? Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Reyes? I'm sorry, Commissioner Carollo and then the Mayor. Commissioner Reyes: Excuse me. Regarding what you just said and what you proposed, Keon, I wholeheartedly agree, and I will support your idea of getting a million dollars, an additional -- finding an additional million dollars for those, that population that is suffering due to the virus. And at this time, they are either, I mean particularly children, that are young people, since they are not in school, although the school is providing meals, but if we can identify those persons that per district that are suffering, we will provide food for them, too, if needed. But this is something else. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo and then Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Carollo: Thankyou, Chairman. I think that the discussion item that we have is very clear that it's serviced to seniors for meals. And we couldn't go beyond that. I do agree that this is different than the other monies that are allocated to each of our offices and the breakdown. This is strictly for seniors. And it should be broken down based upon where the seniors are at. And having said that, I'd like to bring all of us to reality. We're dealing in very, very different times as we discussed earlier on in our meeting. And went through the exercise with the Budget Director of what we have in reserves, the shortfalls that we're going to have for next month, and who knows into the future. So I would like to suggest that for the other areas of need in our community that are not elderly, that are younger, that we try to use the monies that each of us have allocated to our office on the API funds for food. I say that because we don't know for how long this crisis is going to go on for. We don't know if it's going to be a month, two months. God forbid that it goes on for the 18 months that some have talked about. Because I don't know what we're going to have left of a city or a country then. But we have to be cautious how we spend the money because if we start spending it all on the front end we're not going to have any reserves if this becomes a real long haul in the road. And we're not the federal government that we could print money as we need it. We don't have that luxury or option. So, I would say to be cautious how we start spending it now and let's go little by little on the expenditure of dollars. City of Miami Page 29 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Chair Hardemon: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree that in the reapportionment of the funds based on the fact that its supposed to address an elderly population. I also agree that we probably need to have a special meeting to allocate another million dollars based on an average population. I do agree with Commissioner Carollo's concerns about our reserves, but he and I have talked about, you know, some, you know, expenditures that are very necessary. I mean obviously testing is one of them -- Commissioner Carollo: Absolutely. Mayor Suarez: -- where our FEMA reimbursement is going to be most likely coming forward. But I think if you look at right now what this crisis represents Jroour residents, right, AT&T and Verizon have said they're going to make (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so cellular services and internet services will probably remain up. FP&L (Florida Power and Light) has said they're going to remain delivering power to people; they will not disconnect power. So when you start, you know, melting away the expenses the two expenses that I'm concerned about is mortgages and rents, which obviously, you know, even Senator Scott has made recommendations. And I've written a letter with the Florida Urban Partnership which is the Mayor of Orlando and the Mayor of Tampa urging the Governor to suspend mortgages and rents, both, because that's what's fair; right? You know, if you're going to suspend the rent you've got to also suspend the mortgage. If you're going to suspend the mortgage you've got to suspend the rent so that everyone's equally affected. But I think the biggest challenge for us is going to be, particularly if this gets extended, is feeding people. If people cannot make a paycheck, and a lot of people live in our city paycheck to paycheck, the big issue is going to be how are they going to pay for some of these basic meals? And I think before we even think about economic stimulus, which I agree with Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, would probably happen at the federal level, and there was just a stimulus package that was passed I think today, you know, we've got to target in the very limited resources that we have, you know, getting people the most direct, you know, benefit that we can. And I think what we've demonstrated as a government is one thing that we are pretty good at, and we're pretty efficient at, is delivering meals. They're inexpensive, they're very targeted, and - - and they're very important in terms of the one thing that we need. So I would totally be in favor of reapportioning this because I think it does -- it is a targeted group in terms of the 65 and older, but I would also be in favor, and I've be happy to call another meeting so that we can reapportion another million dollars. I don't think a million is too much. I mean I don't think we're going willy-nilly, and I don't think we're being irresponsible, but I do think that, you know, things can get pretty hectic pretty quickly. And I remember from Hurricane Irma when we were without power, in Day 9, things were out of control. And I remember Commissioner Carollo, you were campaigning, and we were, you know, giving out water and ice. You know, things were pretty apocalyptic. And so I do think that we have to focus and target. And I commend our City Manager for getting our -- and Commissioner Reyes who's doing a magnificent job. I've seen him on his social media feeding, you know, taking food directly to people. But I do think we need to put a little bit of resources behind this. Chair Hardemon: Well one thing that I want to say, Mr. Mayor, is that the difference between how we react when there's a hurricane and how we're reacting now, at the current moment, is that when there's a hurricane or the aftermath of the hurricane, we're benefitting everyone. You know, there's older, younger, I mean there's not one person that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we miss. Mayor Suarez: Agreed. City of Miami Page 30 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Chair Hardemon: In this situation, you know, 1 think we're doing what we should do as far as touching on seniors, of course, I just think that we need to go a step further and we have the ability to do that. They need their stuff now. So that we can actually effect the people who were also laid off from these jobs, who also don't have any other benefit that's coming their way. And so I think the meals are one way you can go about doing that. Vice Chair Russell: I'd like to make a motion, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair? Mayor Suarez: I totally, agree with you, and 1 think you're right, that we're going to need, you know, I remember when you passionately pled jbr us to raise the poverty initiative to the level that it's at, and I think this is a similar situation. We're going to have to do a targeted amount of money. And by the way, I jOrgot to mention that I -- and this might help all of you, that just based on the spirit of cooperation that you all have demonstrated, that I'm going to donate the Mayor's portion equally to all your districts. So, you guys will have additional resources so that you guys can spend in your district. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Well not equally. According to the percentage that they come up with, right? Chair Hardemon: You're recognized. Commissioner Reyes: That's right. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Ask and you shall receive. Remember, Mayor. Vice Chair Russell: I'd like to make a motion. Commissioner Reyes: Hold up a second. Before you make a motion, may I interject here? I do agree that we should set aside some funds that would be distributed in order to help all the people that are in need. And specifically for food, you know, we have to feed them too. But that should be reapportioned in a way that -- or to be divided, using API. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) back, since this program that's been developed to feed the elders, that it should go where the elderly are. And each district should receive their portion according to the percentage of elders that they have in the district. I agree with Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, and some of us are going to get a hit, some of the Commission is going to receive more money than what it is stated here. But I think that it is just, and it is fair because if they have more seniors than other areas they should be receiving more money. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Russell, you want to make your motion? Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Recognizing that my request to give flexibility to the senior meal program is not going to be accepted, as well that a reapportionment would mean less money even for the seniors within my district, I'd like to make a motion to the effect of what we've been discussing, directing the Manager to identify up to one million dollars that can be used for a food program. And to really study deeply how it would be divided and allocated. API is the current measurement of poverty in our city. We're going to be looking at an entire new landscape in a few months based on who is out of a job and who is going -- who is crossing that poverty line. And we don't know where that's going to be, and we don't know how to identify them just yet. But at this point the motion would be just directing the Manager to identify a one million dollar fund for a meal program that is not simply limited to City of Miami Page 31 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 seniors but can go across the spectrum. And work on and bring back a method of identifying those who would need it. Mayor Suarez: Mr. Chair, can I just ask a question? Chair Hardemon: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I'll recognize -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Did you second that? Did you second that, Mr. Chair? Chair Hardemon: Yes, I'll second it. Mayor Suarez: I have a question because I think -- and I want to make sure I understand the Vice Chair's motion, I think what we're talking about it and what there seemed to be broad consensus on is that we were going to allocate a million dollars, the current million that's on the agenda today based on the apportionment for senior citizen poverty in our city. (MULTIPLE PARTIES SPEAKING IN UNISON) Chair Hardemon: No, no, that's not the motion. The way that it was explained by Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, as I understand, it's included in the motion. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I'm not in favor of the motion. Commissioner Reyes: No, no -- Mayor Suarez: I just need clarity, because I thought we were -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Let me clarify because it's my item, right? So I'm not in favor of the motion because the motion deals with a totally different issue. We're in SP.2 now. SP.2 is about a senior meals program; a reallocation of those dollars based on the API and the respective districts. That's what we're discussing now. Chair Hardemon: And that's capturing -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Commissioner Russell's motion is a totally different issue and I'll not agree with that motion at this juncture right now. I think it's outside the call of this special meeting. I don't agree with our City Manager, I don't think we can make that. It's not on the table right now. I believe we -- Chair Hardemon: The reason -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: -- already discussed it. We already went through -- Vice Chair Russell: I clarified my motion because I believe it is directly related to this program and everything that's been discussed. Commissioner Reyes: And if we -- Chair Hardemon: Commissioner, I want you to clarify the motion. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. The motion is being made for me to be supportive of what you are looking to do with SP.2. That I'm bringing this motion to make sure that funds are identified for those I'm trying to serve in my district. And citywide, honestly, because recognizing that what's happening in SP.2 under your initiative, City of Miami Page 32 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, would not allow me to service hungry kids. It would not allow me to service people that are newly out of a job. And I'm looking for that flexibility. So this motion can correctly procedurally be brought during this item. And once we pass that I will be very in support of what you're trying to do with regard to reapportionment and holding it to seniors. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I think that it's outside the scope of the call of this particular meeting. I disagree with you. I've already told you and I said publicly to Commissioner Hardemon that I'm willing to support in a future item that you can bring before this Commission, like I did now, the million dollar allocation. I will be more than happy to support it. I think it's a very serious need that we have in our community. But I think we need to wait to see what the federal government is doing, what the state government is doing, and then we put together a good plan. I don't think that usurping the intent of this motion right now with this unfriendly motion, so I cannot support your motion at this juncture, Commissioner. Chair Hardemon: So the part of the thing I want to clarify is that the first million dollars that they're putting out there right now is being put into place without our decision making. I mean this is something the Manager has decided that he wants to move forward with, and he has the ability to do that because of the extraordinary circumstances we find ourselves in. So he could also do the same thing with the additional million to service other people (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: We don't need a motion for that. Commissioner Reyes: If 1 may. If I may. What I've been arguing, and 1 think that it was brought up, when I saw this division of the million dollars and I saw that it was based on API, which is the level of poverty, I also had a question, you see? But now I saw this, and I said well why don't we do it since it's for the seniors, why don't we do it where the seniors they are more -- I mean where they reside instead of by each district? This is -- this is targeted for seniors. This is targeted for seniors. If it's targeted for seniors, we have to go to where they are. I mean and we have to divide it according to the percentage that each district has. That is my opinion. Now, we -- Chair Hardemon: No, we agree with you. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. And now what I want to ask Victoria is, if we, today, we can make -- I mean add to this what the City Manager, he has all the right to do, I mean don't think he needs the votes from us. Probably a directive to set aside a million dollars and divide it according to API. And that's it. Ms. Mendez: Okay, I'm very confused because I believe that this one million dollars was already allocated a long time ago with percentages, or is this a new million dollars? Commissioner Reyes: No, no, this is a brand new million dollars that is going to be allocated for meals for the elderly, for the seniors in our district. And in particularly those seniors that they are -- I mean that some of them are homebound, you see? And then we have to take them to them. And then this is -- this is totally, I mean this is earmarked, earmarked for seniors. Ms. Mendez: Right, but -- Commissioner Reyes: Just this first million dollars. The additional million dollars is what Commissioner Hardemon was referring to in order to assist other people that they are in a state of poverty because by the loss of jobs and revenues, that that City of Miami Page 33 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 million dollars will be used to provide meals for those people. And that's the one that I have suggested that we divide according to their level of poverty. Chair Hardemon: And what's what the motion is that Commissioner Russell has made. I want to recognize the Mayor. Mayor Suarez: I think -- I mean I don't want to venture into your guys' territory. I've been burdened many times trying to do that. But I would argue that, you know, this particular agenda item, we're in a Special Commission Meeting which confines the discussion to the agenda at hand, about elderly meals. I think it's entirely appropriate Jroyou all to dispose of the money in whatever way you think is more appropriate. If that means reapportioning it based on elderly. 1 commit to Vice Chair because 1 understand where the Vice Chair's coming from and where the Chair is coming from, that 1 would call a special meeting on an agenda that they can sponsor, right, similar to the way that I called a meeting for the agenda that Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla sponsored so that we can apportion that additional million dollars on the basis of the regular API funding. Go ahead. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Mayor, -- Commissioner Reyes: But I want -- hold on a second -- just one point of clarification. I want to also clarify that those students, those students that they are not in school now, Miami -Dade County Public Schools is feeding them, you see? Mayor Suarez: I agree. Commissioner Reyes: They are not going hungry. I want to clarify that. That we cannot use this additional funds, I mean for those children. Those children, those students are -- Vice Chair Russell: My motion is not about these funds, though. My motion, I'm not trying to take from the senior funds, Commissioner. Commissioner Reyes: No, no, no, no. Vice Chair Russell: And Miami -Dade County is not handling their dinners. Commissioner Reyes: No, no, no, I'm talking about the additional money that Mr. Hardemon was referring to. No, no, I'm old but I'm not that confused, you see? I am very clear on what I'm saying. I'm saying that this -- what was presented to us, this million dollars, should be divided according to the percentage of elders in each district. Vice Chair Russell: That's fine. Commissioner Reyes: The additional funds, the additional million dollars that was proposed by Keon Hardemon, that -- I mean I agree with that, we need to help other people that are suffering too. That we have to also take into consideration that every children that is out of school is being fed by Miami -Dade County Public Schools. So, we could divide that according to API or whatever. But what we are arguing today, it is this million dollars, that it was divided to all the districts according to the percentage of API. And Mr. Diaz de la Portilla -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, brought about this, that I agreed with him, that it shouldn't be -- the metrics, that it shouldn't be that, it shouldn't be API, it should be the number of elders that live in the district. That's it. City of Miami Page 34 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Reyes, you know, my point is -- is that 1 agree with you and in the motion that Commissioner Russell had stated he agrees with you there as well. Commissioner Reyes: That's right. Chair Hardemon: I want to make a point of clarification that this first million dollars that we're using to help feed our seniors, that money is not something that we had to ever motion and a second and vote on to spend. Moreover, what we're doing right now is we're clarifying what the Manager's already done. He's already identified that money. He's already going to use that money to spend in our districts. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Chair Hardemon: And so we're saying, look, let's change this to make it more applicable to the senior populations that we have according to our poverty. And then - - and so that's that first part. And the second part is this, that what I'm saying is that the same way that the Manager created that first million dollars, he can do the same with the second million dollars. Commissioner Carollo: That's right, I agree with that. Commissioner Reyes: I agree. 1 agree with that. (MULTIPLE PARTIES SPEAKING IN UNISON) Chair Hardemon: -- special meeting for it. Same thing. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Hardemon, -- Commissioner Carollo: No, we do not need a special meeting for it. Chair Hardemon: Well, -- Commissioner Reyes: I, I, I agree with you -- (MULTIPLE PARTIES SPEAKING IN UNISON) Commissioner Reyes: I agree with you. I agree with you, and I think that the only that we have to do with this, I mean I agree that the Manager, he already allocated this, and it doesn't need a vote to allocate this. But what I'm requesting from the Manager is that the division be also -- the division be based on the number of the percentages. And that's it. Chair Hardemon: We agree. Commissioner Reyes: I don't think that we need -- I don't know if we need, I'm not an attorney -- I don't know if we need another meeting or not, but I agree with you that we should allocate some funds in order to provide also meals for people that are not seniors, and they are in need. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Carollo, the Mayor, and then Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. First of all, I think the Chairman is absolutely correct that we do not need a special meeting, an additional special meeting, for another allocation of a million dollars for food. The Manager can make that City of Miami Page 35 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 determination. Now, 1 also believe that based on what the law is and the limitations that we have in special meetings, we cannot take up Commissioner Russell's resolution at this time. And I don't think he should worry about it because the Manager has heard all of us here tonight. Commissioner Reyes: Correct. Commissioner Carollo: Furthermore, what I'd like to be very clear on this, that another million dollars besides the million that we have allocated to seniors, another million dollars for food for everyone else, it's really a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of dollars that we're going to have to spend through the course of this whole ordeal. We're going to be spending a lot more money than the two million dollars that we've been talking about. All that I've been saying is that we need to pace it out. Because until we get a full budget from the Budget Director and the Manager that we are working out the reserves that we have, other potential monies that we could pick out and how we're going to be spending it in this crisis, we need to be very, very careful. Having said that, if Commissioner Russell would be willing to withdraw his motion, I would like to make one that 1 think would be in line with what everyone else has been saying here. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chair? Chair Hardemon: You're recognized. Vice Chair Russell: I --1 disagree with the legality of the procedural that we cannot make a simple resolution directing the Manager to identify funds. It doesn't create the program; it's simply directing the Manager to put the program together and create the funds. And it certainly is in line with meals, in general. But even if it wasn't, we could have taken it up in SP.4 in the progress of what's going in the City and what the Manager's been working on. It's perfectly procedurally correct. I supported you in the curfew, I'm supporting each of you in the reapportionment of the senior funds. I'm simply asking for you to help me feed kids and send a message to our residents right now that we are serious about it and we're going to do it. So I'm asking for your support on a simple resolution directing the Manager. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Manager? Mr. Noriega: So, to ease any of the disagreement and potential angst or anxiety around this issue, I actually don't need to be directed to address the additional million dollars. I will do it, I will volunteer to do it, and I will take that on. But I want for -- just for a point of clarity, this million dollars that is being discussed now relative to the elderly meal program as well as any additional money, the additional million dollars will have to be approved by the City Commission at some point. I'm taking action on this obviously as an emergency measure, but it will have to come back for Commission approval at a future meeting. Commissioner Reyes: Of course, yes. Ms. Mendez: Yes, thank you. Chair Hardemon: Understood. Ms. Mendez: Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Mayor then Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla. Can't hear you, Mr. Mayor. City of Miami Page 36 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: Can't hear you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Suarez: 1 actually think we're all on the same page. You know, 1 think we're kind of talking a little bit past each other, but I think we're all on the same page in terms of the amount of money and where it should go. So I think the Manager, you know, came up with a very good idea and I think that allows us all to proceed within the confines of what our restrictions are and we can just move on. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: So, we would need -- we would need Commissioner Russell to withdraw his motion so that we can make -- Vice Chair Russell: Instead 1'd rather call the question. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: All right, well let's call the question then. 1 would recommend that you vote against it if you want to call the question. Vice Chair Russell: I don't understand the logic of why you would vote against a -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Don't vote -- Vice Chair Russell: -- simple resolution directing the Manager to do something he's already willing to do. It puts us on the record with how serious we are about it. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: It's out of order because it's outside the call of today's meeting. The Manager has already told you that he's going to look into it, he's going to get the million dollars. I've already told you publicly, every Commissioner has told you publicly, that we're going to help you and support you in that measure. And the Mayor has told you he's going to support you on the measure. So if you withdraw the motion as a courtesy to me because I'm the one that has to sponsor this amendment, and then we move forward. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Russell, certainly I'm your second on this, I understand all points of view, I'm very happy that the Manager stood up and said that he will allocate the dollars that -- for this program so we can get started. Because I want this program to get started just as soon as we can get the program started for our seniors. And so, you know, I'm going to take the Manager at his word, I'm confident that he knows what he's supposed to do, and, you know, I'm happy to have the support of my fellow Commissioners. I don't think we need to have a special meeting to address this. I think we move forward with the Manager's proffer that he's going to take care of this. We have other Commissioners' consent. And then when we come back to ratify all these dollars in the future, then we should take care of it. So with that, Commissioner Russell, I would also urge you to withdraw your motion so that it's just clear on the record how we're going to move forward, and we won't have any procedural issues. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman, do you believe that this is a procedurally incorrect motion? Chair Hardemon: I don't think that it is, but, you know -- Vice Chair Russell: Then all we need is one more vote of someone who is willing to put on the record, as a motion today, that we are taking feeding kids seriously, that we have a crisis right now, and that we're just simply willing to vote on that, that that's something we care about. It's innocuous in terms of it's not going to upset the meeting, it's not an unfriendly motion, it's -- it's a very important thing that we really hadn't considered up to now. I know we're working a lot with our seniors, and I respect that, and I support that. I'm not trying to distract from the motion that's on the floor. And City of Miami Page 37 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 I'm supportive of all the changes that were discussed. But 1 would like a motion. If you want to remove your second and that's the record, that's fine, but I'm not withdrawing my notion because I really believe it is procedurally correct. We seem to all be in support of it, I don't know why we can't simply just say yes and vote together to direct the Manager. That's all. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Call the question. Commissioner Carollo: He can't because -- Chair Hardemon: Did you say question? Commissioner Carollo: -- the Chairman withdrew his second. Vice Chair Russell: I didn't hear that specifically yet. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Well, do you withdraw your second, Chairman? Chair Hardemon: I really don't want -- I want us to be all in one accord. Vice Chair Russell: We've been very unified tonight. We've really supported each other on the things we care about. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: You have four people that are disagreeing with you. Vice Chair Russell: I haven't heard from everyone. I heard Commissioner Reyes said that he's actually' very supportive of the concept. Commissioner Reyes: Let, let me -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Well people are disagreeing with the way you're proceeding, not with the idea. Everybody's in agreement with the idea, but it's the wrong place at the wrong time. The Manager already giving his word that he's going to -- Commissioner Reyes: I, I -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: -- the Mayor said the same thing. Every Commissioner has supported you. There's no reason to be stubborn on this. Withdraw your motion and let's be unified and let's vote for the reallocation of these dollars for our seniors who are in desperate need of our attention now. Mayor Suarez: Can I -- Vice Chair Russell: This has nothing to do with the seniors -- Commissioner Carollo: Can I -- Vice Chair Russell: This is not taking away from them at all. Commissioner Carollo: Can I -- Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Carollo then the Mayor. Mayor Suarez: At the risk of interjecting at the wrong moment let me just, let me just say that we may not need to vote on either of the two. City of Miami Page 38 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Chair Hardemon: Any of them. I don't think we have to do it on any of them. Mayor Suarez: Right. Commissioner Reyes: That's right, we don't need to vote them. Mayor Suarez: Right, and so I think what has happened here - sonaebody's -- Vice Chair Russell: We didn't have to vote on the curfew. The done that unilaterally. Commissioner Reyes: Guys, guys. - let me just, because Manager could have Mayor Suarez: I know, but we're at a stalemate here and this is, what has happened here -- what has happened here is that there are two sets of million dollars. One of them is going to be allocated in the way that the Commissioner, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, directed. The other one is going to be allocated in the normal API fashion. Unidentified Speaker: (INAUDIBLE). Mayor Suarez: Your Manager has agreed to do it. We don't need a special meeting, like Commissioner Carollo said, we don't even need a vote. Everybody agrees, nobody disagrees. Everybody gets credit equally for these wonderful ideas and mostly what's important is that our residents get credit for -- for the funds that are going to be needed to feed them in this critical time. Chair Hardemon: I agree with you, Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla? Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I agree with what Commissioner Russell wants to do, in principle. I don't necessarily agree with you, Mr. Mayor, that we don't need a vote because we may need to allocate the million dollars Commissioner -- I'm sorry, Vicky -- City Attorney Vicky said, Mendez, that we need a vote to allocate the million dollars. Eventually. And I think that -- Ms. Mendez: It's not -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: -- (INAUDIBLE), right? Ms. Mendez: Right, eventually. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: (INAUDIBLE). So eventually we're going to need to vote to allocate this million dollars. So that's what's on the agenda today, we can vote on it now, dispense of that vote, and then we move on. Now he can, the Manager can come up with another million dollars and to allocate the million, he can do it the same way, according to the API, but eventually he's going to need a vote on that too for the Commission to allocate the million dollars, that additional million dollars. So I think that's kind of the procedural situation we're in. Chair Hardemon: But, but -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: We're all in agreement that we need two million dollars -- City of Miami Page 39 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: What the -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: -- but what's on the agenda today -- let me finish, Commissioner, please. What's on the agenda today is the first million dollars, the reallocation of that million dollars. And by the way, Mayor, we're going to need a little clarification because I thought it was 1.2 million, but that's a -- we can have that conversation. Because I thought it was -- it was -- Mayor Suarez: I commit to, in both my shares, in both pots of money, to distribute it according to the method with which you all are distributing the underlying monies. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Okay, that's excellent. So that's what's on the agenda today. We vote that out to make sure that we already allocated so we don't have to come back and allocate it later on. And then we have the Manager come back at a particular meeting to vote to allocate the additional million dollars that we're all going to support Commissioner Hardemon and Commissioner Russell, on because we think it's a good way to do it. We would have the advantage of having seen what the federal government has done, the state government has done, and we'll know where to best allocate that million dollars, instead of now doing it and not knowing where we're going to put it on top of everything else. So this is something that's been introduced at the last minute that's very important, that needs to be discussed, and that we're all in favor of but this is not the right time or the right place to do it. Mayor Suarez: But just to be clear that the money will be, according to our direction here and our agreement, even though the allocation vote will take place later, the money will be identified immediately -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Yes, sir. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Mayor Suarez: -- at the disposal of the Commission, immediately, so that Commissioner Russell can fulfill his priority immediately -- Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Mayor Suarez: -- (INAUDIBLE) vote at some later date. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Yes, correct. Commissioner Reyes: Yes, correct. Chair Hardemon: I think that's part of the (INAUDIBLE) -- Mayor Suarez: I want him to be comfortable that his initiative, which he fought for, is one that's going to be fulfilled according to the Manager's promise. And that the kids, you know, the objective that he's seeking to achieve today will be achieved today. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Yes. Yes, but -- but the allocation may be different months from now or a month from now when we get the federal package, and we find out that money is going to kids or money is going here. So we don't worry specifically what he wants to do but what segment of the population gets it. Mayor Suarez: I just want to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- City of Miami Page 40 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Chair Hardemon: Reimbursement - reimbursement is a different thing. You know, what we're talking about is ratification of the actions that the Manager will have in the future. That's what we're going to get in the future. When we look back and we say, listen, we spent $500,000 more in police, we spent $300,000 more in Fire, and by the way we spent $2 million in meals. And so we could ratify those expenditures and we could do that. The reimbursement of those is a completely, different animal. But those are things that we're obviously going to be preparing ourselves for and pursuing. So, I don't want to get lost on the idea that Commissioner Russell has and that you have, Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla. That's why I just want to remind everyone that this -- this expenditure, both monies can happen without our direction. And I think the direction that we're giving is important because we're saying, look, we appreciate what you've done with that first million dollars to allocate it towards our seniors, but we think you should reapportion how you spend that money. 1 agree with you, Commissioner Russell will agree with you there, especially if you're saying you're fine with the new allocation of the million dollars to go towards helping those who are affected by -- who are other than seniors. Helping those who are affected. Which really means that there's less money over that age group, that population. So, you know, they're not actually as proportionate. And so what that means is that if Commissioner Russell has that understanding, he has that peace of mind, and so will 1. And then we can just move forward. So I think even if we voted on his motion, it would be fine. Even if we decided not to have any motion at all, it will be fine. As long as the Manager moves forward with what he said he would do. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair, I think that we are here, as the Mayor said, we are on the same page. We all agree that we, that we have -- that we have -- the Manager said -- he said it, it's very clear, that he is going to ident another million dollars and it's going to be used the way that Commissioner Russell, it is -- I mean it's going to be divided according to the API, poverty level. I understand Commissioner Russell's frustration and his desire to have some funds to help his people. I do understand because by dividing it the way that it should be divided, he doesn't have the amount of the percentage of elders that -- of other districts, like you, Commissioner Carollo and Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla and myself have. And he wanted to make sure that he is going to have some allocated, some funds, that he could allocate to those people in his district that needs money. And I agree with him. And I promise you that I will vote for you. I mean I will support you in this. But the problem is' the procedural now according to the City Attorney and according to Diaz de la Portilla -- Vice Chair Russell: I haven't heard the City Attorney say that yet. Commissioner Reyes: Well, I mean procedural now, there is some sort of conflict there. But I promise you this, you have my support, you and Hardemon, if you bring that up, that million dollars. And if the Manager doesn't bring that money up, I mean doesn't identify it and brings that money, I personally will ask him, and I will join forces with you guys in order to get it, you see? And it is not -- I don't think that this discussion right now is necessary because the Manager already stated that he is going to set aside a million dollars to be divided according to what you and Commissioner Hardemon wants. And I trust him. And I trust him, and I trust his word. And I want to make, I mean you want assurance, you have my assurance that I will back you up and I will be after the Manager to do that, you see? But we don't need this conflict here. Yes. Chair Hardemon: Mayor? City of Miami Page 41 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mayor Suarez: 1 just want to reiterate what Commissioner Reyes just said. You know, the money will be available, the extra million dollars, will be available immediately pursuant to Commissioner -- Vice Chairman Russell's direction. And with the -- without the limitations of -- Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Mayor Suarez: -- the first million dollars going to a very discreet population that is on our agenda today. And so that is going to be your initiative, Vice Chair and Chair, and you know, that will begin effective immediately. Whatever actions we have to take retroactively to support it, I think everybody here unanimously agrees on that. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Mayor Suarez: Let's just move forward, let's get to the next item on our agenda. It's almost midnight. Let's -- let's move on. (MULTIPLE PARTIES SPEAKING IN UNISON) Chair Hardemon: (INAUDIBLE) is going to interrupt us because he has to flip the tape as he likes to call it. So we have to have just a few moments of silence while he prepares the next tape for recording what we're doing. Mayor Suarez: Well we can finish the last item in four minutes. Because 1 think we can do that. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Well if you can get it done by 11:59, Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I think we can. Commissioner Reyes: I think we can. Let's go over, I mean we don't need to vote this, right? Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Russell? Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I want to vote -- I want a motion on what's on the agenda, SP.2, today. I want to vote on reallocating those dollars. Just to be clear and we have no doubt that we codes today. I want to vote on that. Commissioner Reyes: Okay, I will move that. Vice Chair Russell: Commissioner. Commissioner Reyes: Hold on a second. I will -- Vice Chair Russell: I'm sorry. There's a motion on the floor. Mr. Hannon: Yes. Commissioner Reyes: Oh, okay. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Well there's a notion, as soon as he -- let's dispense of that motion, which whatever way the Commission decides, (INAUDIBLE) withdraw it, and then we'll just take the other motion up and bring this -- wrap this baby up. City of Miami Page 42 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Russell? Vice Chair Russell: All right, I'm going to make one last try here for unity. And I'll tell you why. If we come out of this meeting tonight with a simple vote on a curfew, we're telling our residents -- what they wake up tomorrow in the news, we're telling them what they can't do. And -- and what we need to -- one of the reasons we're having this meeting tonight is to project to our City the confidence and the positivity that we are taking the right steps and actions to take care of our residents. We need to give them that confidence. And so coming out with the carrot and the stick to say what we -- what we are being strict about, but then also how we're helping and how we're going to be there. And we need to be unified. We need to support each other. I do believe the Manager is going to of course move forward with this. But 1 also want the message to our residents on something that is very important, and I've submitted to the record the article that I mentioned earlier by Udonis Haslem, because it is very important, and I hope you read it if you haven't already seen it. And so it would be very simple, you can withdraw your second and the motion will die for lack of a second. Or we can simply vote on the item, vote on Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla's item, and support each other and move on with very positive messages for our residents. Not only for seniors but for those who are out of a job that need that message right now. That need to hear from us with a motion, a second, and a unanimous vote that we care about these residents, and we are going to be there. Not through there was a promise by the Manager about a future thing. Mr. Hannon: I do apologize. (INAUDIBLE). Vice Chair Russell: It's very simple to pass this resolution -- Mr. Hannon: I do apologize. (INAUDIBLE). Vice Chair Russell: If it does die for lack of a second -- Mr. Hannon: -- recess the meeting -- Vice Chair Russell: -- I won't be supporting the other motion. Mayor Suarez: (INAUDIBLE). Chair Hardemon: Flip the tape. Mr. Hannon: Chair, if we could go into recess. Thank you. Okay, we can stop the recording. Stop the recording. [Later..] Chair Hardemon: I think we are back live, so I'll recognize the Vice Chairman to finish his comments. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. And I'll just finish up. I would like to support Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla in his initiative to reapportion the seniors' funds, but that is taking -- that is taking money and food away from the seniors in my district. So I'm fighting for not only them, but for the entire concept here. And so I think we can do this. So here's -- here's my proposition to you. If Victoria -- if our City Attorney tells us that we legally cannot niake a motion simply directing the Manager to identify some funds for a program, then I will withdraw my motion. But if it is a legal motion, procedurally, then I will ask jrothe Chairman to reinstate his second and jroCommissioner Reyes to vote with me on this program. I know you support it; I know this is a good concept and I'm trying to be helpful with your City of Miami Page 43 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 initiatives and protect my residents as well. So, I'm asking for your support so that I can support you. Because if this dies for lack of a second, I will not be supporting the reduction of funding for the seniors in my district. Commissioner Reyes: Yeah, Commissioner, Commissioner. I mean, this is not going to be tit for tat, you know what I mean like that. If -- I told you that I support that -- your motion and -- and Keon Hardemon, the initiatives it was -- I mean, point well taken. We need to help some of people in the district, in everybody's district. That you won't be able to feed your elders, that's not true. You're going to feed the elders according to the number of elders that you have, okay. This is -- it was an -- an initiative from Keon Hardemon that -- that we should include the children and other people. Now 1 agree with you and I'm going to make a deal with you. If the Attorney says that we can do this, I'm going to vote for your motion. Okay. If she says we should wait and we don't need a motion, we don't need because the City Manager is - - it is -- a promise that -- then I won't vote for your motion. But what I want, Commissioner, you see, I want you to understand that all this conflict it is not needed. This discussion is not needed. We have the word of the City Manager. Vice Chair Russell: (INAUDIBLE) support each other. Commissioner Reyes: We have the word of the City Manager, that it clearly has stated that he is going to set aside a million dollars that is going to help you. That statement that you made that you won 't be able to feed your elders, it is not true. So that is -- Vice Chair Russell: 1 didn't say that. Commissioner Reyes: Yes, you did. Vice Chair Russell: I didn't say I won 't be able to feed them. Commissioner Reyes: Well, sir, that -- Vice Chair Russell: It's a reduction -- it's a reduction in the funding for them and I (INAUDIBLE) -- Commissioner Reyes: Well, it is a reduction of the funding because everybody is going to be funded according to the percentage of elders that they have, you see. I mean, some people have more, some people have less. But you're not going to get nothing more because or nothing less, it's according to the amount that you have, Commissioner. Vice Chair Russell: Madam City Attorney? Commissioner Reyes: And now what I'm saying -- what I'm saying is this, you see. That appeal to the emotions' that you are doing right now, you see, it's -- it's -- I mean, it sounds real good, but it's not real. What I'm saying -- what I'm saving is if the City Attorney says that we don't need a motion, then we don't vote on it. And but if she said, okay, let's do it and -- in order -- I mean, we have to end this -- this argument that everybody agrees on both sides, you see. But now you want a motion for -- I mean, for a resolution -- Vice Chair Russell: You're putting me in a position to vote for a reduction in the funding (INAUDIBLE) -- Commissioner Reyes: I'm not putting you in any position -- Commissioner Carollo: Listen, vote against it if you want, but we have to move on. City of Miami Page 44 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Vice Chair Russell: I'm ready to do that. Commissioner Reyes: Listen, listen. Commissioner Carollo: We have to move on tonight. Commissioner Reyes: I was -- willing to -- Commissioner Carollo: And we have really the most important item that's left. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Hold on a second, Commissioner Carollo, please. I was going to vote for you, I was going to support you. Now you are -- you are taking the -- 1 mean, the role of the victim that we are victimizing you and -- Vice Chair Russell: No, no, no, no. Commissioner Reyes: And that is not true. That is not true. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: (INAUDIBLE) is what it is. Chair Hardemon: Let me do this, let me do this. Let's hear -- let's hear from our City Attorney. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Chair Hardemon: Let's hear from Vicky about our point of contention here. Madam City Attorney? Ms. Mendez: So a couple things I just need to say this. We are on Item SP.2, correct? Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Right. Ms. Mendez: Okay. So Item SP.2 has to do with the senior's item. It's what's voted on for the senior's item, that's the vote that needs to take place. However, Vice Chairman Russell is correct, if you reopen SP.4, he can make this motion under SP.4. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: But he needs a vote to reopen SP.4 because we've already dispensed of SP.4. Chair Hardemon: We haven't. It was just a discussion item. I wasn't thinking we -- (MULTIPLE PARTIES SPEAKING IN UNISON) Chair Hardemon: It was all discussion. Ms. Mendez: However -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Do you want to play by the rules or do -- Ms. Mendez: No motions -- no motions are needed based on everything that you have discussed and what has been said by the Manager. So, unfortunately you all have to decide whether you want to go forward, but this item can be heard under SP.4, based on Commissioner Russell's request. SP.2 has to do with the senior's item. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: So his motion is out of -- City of Miami Page 45 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Ms. Mendez: So 1 hope that clarifies something. But you don't need any motions anyway based on everything that's been discussed and emergency powers of the Manager. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. That's it. That's it. Vice Chair Russell: All right. In that case -- in that case, before I withdraw my motion, I'm going to say though tomorrow I have to face my residents, my voters with -- with how I voted tonight, and to send a message to them that I'm voting to reduce their fimding is not the message I want to send. To send a message that I'm voting to increase the funding overall for how we're feeding people is the message I want to send. So, I will withdraw my motion. I will support you, Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, and then I will make a motion to reopen SP.4 for a simple motion directing the Manager to identify a million dollar fund to help increase the feeding program. That's all. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair, I want to clarify something because I -- I mean, I may have an accent, but do understand what's going on, you see. I understand very well and -- and I said before I don't hear with an accent. You see, you are trying to make us believe, or the people believe, that we are reducing the funds that were available for you to feed the people. In the first place, the funds are to feed the elderlies. It's to feed the elderlies. And they're going to be fed according to the percentage that you have in your district. It is just like if I said 1'rn going to feed everybody that is blonde, and the people that is brunette they're not going to get anybody -- any money. You see, this is for the elderlies, and you are taking that victiming [sic] --1 mean, position -- Vice Chair Russell: I'm not a victim. Commissioner Reyes: -- that we are -- hold on a second. That we are taking money away from you. We're taking -- what we're doing is redistributing the funds according to the need of each district. Now, when this additional fund that it is a million dollars, it is going to be divided accordingly to the poverty level of each district. So let's call a spade a spade. I mean, let's be clear what we're doing here. We are not victimizing you or your people. You can tell your people you know very clearly when you go back there, listen, we are feeding all elders, and I supported an additional million dollars that is going to be divided amongst the poverty level and I'm going to get some funds to help you. That's it. And you did your job and that's it. I mean -- Chair Hardemon: Mr. Mayor? Commissioner Reyes: I can't hear you, Francis. I mean,. Mr. Mayor. Mayor Suarez: Sorry. I think the story needs to be that we all collaborated together -- Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Mayor Suarez: -- to identify two million dollars. A million that are going to be targeted towards our seniors based on the population of seniors and another million that's going to be targeted based on our API funding to the rest of the City. It's a victory for all of us. Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Mayor Suarez: (INAUDIBLE) falling into bad habits and go back to -- you know, one of the things that everyone has been talking about in a positive way is how City of Miami Page 46 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 collaborative we all have been with each other. And -- and let's not break from that. You know what 1 mean? First of all, it's too important a moment, there's too much at stake, we need to get this moving right away. I think your advocacy, Vice Chair, has been pivotal because we walked in here with a million dollars, we're walking out of here with two million dollars. Commissioner Reyes: Two million dollars, I mean. Mayor Suarez: For your residents and for the elderly in our community, the Manager's committed to it and I will hold the Manager's feet to the fire. I know that you trust my ability to do that. And then you can sponsor an item allocating those finds and I will -- if you want it on a special meeting and you insist 1 will -- I will call a special meeting, just like 1 did for Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla who asked that a special meeting be called because we couldn't get a quorum for this meeting, and I'll be glad to do it for you. Commissioner Reyes: And I would second his motion. Commissioner Carollo: Chair? Chair? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Mayor, well said. We have to move on to the most important item that we need to hear from that's a life and death item on testing. Commissioner Reyes: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: I -- I really have heard enough of this. I don't know why Chairman Russell -- Vice Chairman Russell is taking this attitude when we have the situation and the emergency, that we have. He's gotten everything that he wants. He just wants to vote. He wants to vote so he can say, I did this. Vice Chair Russell: We. Commissioner Carollo: And this is -- Vice Chair Russell: We. Commissioner Carollo: -- not what we should be doing. And you've done this in many other meetings before. You've heard from all your colleagues, you heard from the Mayor, and you keep wanting -- I mean, we've been going at this for over an hour just because you don't want to listen, and you want to get your way. And this is not about you, it's not about me, it's not about Diaz de la Portilla, it's not about the Mayor, it's not about Reyes, or Hardemon, it's about working as a team like we've been doing at this. And you're getting an extra million dollars. Everyone's giving their commitment to it. Why do you keep doing this? Vice Chair Russell: A simple resolution. Victoria said under SP.4 the resolution -- Commissioner Carollo: So we could discuss -- Vice Chair Russell: -- would be legal. Commissioner Carollo: -- that the testing that our people need. Our people needs [sic] testing so we could find out who's got the virus, who doesn't and separate the healthy from the ones that are not. So if-- if I could implore in all of you just to put this aside already so we could move on to the last item. City of Miami Page 47 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: I'm ready. I'm ready. Mayor Suarez: And -- and Vice Chair, I want you know this is a huge victory for you. You have passionately pled, and we have all agreed that the people of your district deserve at all age levels to be fed and we all agree. So that's going to happen based on your advocacy, based on your leadership, and it is a credit to you and your advocacy and we're all agreeing with it. So let's move on because we do have one other item and then let's -- let's get going so we can go to bed. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. And you need your rest, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Suarez: Yeah, my lights keep flickering up here. People are asking what's wrong with my lights. 1 promise 1 can't go out and buy new lights and put them on. That's the issue. I'm -- Commissioner Reyes: I thought that was a signal for you to go to bed. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: There they went again. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Vice Chair Russell: Will -- will you support me on a motion if 1 withdraw and do it properly as Victoria said. We'll go through the rest of the meeting. I'll support Diaz de la Portilla with his efforts to reapportion -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Commissioner? Vice Chair Russell: I'll support everything of course having to do with testing. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I already -- Vice Chair Russell: Can we just have a motion on the record? Commissioner Carollo: You can't hijack a meeting like this, Ken. You really can't. Vice Chair Russell: It's legal. Victoria has said that it's legal. Commissioner Carollo: You're hijacking this meeting. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: No, Commissioner. It's not going to happen. You want to vote on your motion. You'll put yourself in a place to voting against seniors. If you want to vote against seniors being fed throughout this, you can go ahead and do that. You 're voting against seniors being fed. Vice Chair Russell: You're voting against kids if you want to put it that way. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Well that's exactly what you're doing. You're trying to put -- Vice Chair Russell: I'm not saying that about you, but you're saying that about me. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Then vote against it -- Vice Chair Russell: Let's work together. City of Miami Page 48 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: You're being petulant, you're being ridiculous. Everybody's telling you we're with you and you keep on insisting because you can't win. Vice Chair Russell: Then support me. It's very simple. It's a legal motion. Just support me. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: There's no legal motion. You -- you want to vote on your motion? We'll vote it down and we'll move on. Vice Chair Russell: Okay. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: But you're not getting a vote on any motion because you didn't put it on the agenda. Commissioner Carollo: Gentlemen -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: (INAUDIBLE) motion. Commissioner Carollo: -- can we -- Chairmen? Chairmen? Chair Hardemon: I'm listening, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Both you, the Mayor, and 1 are in agreement that we don't need a vote on anything here on having to do with food, whether for the senior or for anybody else. Can we move on to the next item -- Chair Hardemon: So, Commissioner -- Commissioner Carollo: -- so we can hear from the Manager and get to the meat of the most important things that people want to hear about? What we're doing about testing. So that we can finish this meeting tonight. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Carollo, I would agree with you there. I think that Tye can -- we can move forward. If no vote is taken on any of the two items that we just listed. Only the two that we just discussed -- Commissioner Carollo: That's what I'm saying right now. (MULTIPLE PARTIES SPEAKING IN UNISON) Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I agree with that. Yes, we can do that, but then we would allow the Commissioner to hijack a meeting, for political purposes to make a demagogic point. That's what we're doing. We're allowing this -- Vice Chair Russell.• I don't think the name calling is necessary. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: -- (INAUDIBLE) is wrong. The shear demagoguery he's engaging in here. Vice Chair Russell: Not at all. Not at all. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: If you want to bless that action and accept that and -- the hijacking a meeting in this way that's been going fine, then you accept it. It's just a wrong thing to do, Commissioner. And you know what, your constituents should be ashamed that they have you as their commissioner. City of Miami Page 49 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Vice Chair Russell: That's really low. That's really low. Chair Hardemon: Oh my God. Commissioner Carollo: Chairman, again Chair Hardemon: So, Commissioner Carollo, I would agree with you. I would say that we don't -- we don't have to take a motion on any of these, both items which are being advocated for that we all agreed upon, we don 't have to have any action by us to move forward. So we can move on to the next agenda item. If we're not going to have any action move forward, then I'll withdraw nay second. We do not have any action and then we can just move forward with testing. Commissioner Reyes: Let's move forward. Chair Hardemon: So I'll withdraw my second -- Vice Chair Russell: Then I'll withdraw. Chair Hardemon: -- motion dies for a lack of second and then we would move on to the testing procedures. SP.3 DISCUSSION ITEM 7351 Commissioners and Mayor A DISCUSSION REGARDING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S MARLINS PARK TESTING INITIATIVE. RESULT: DISCUSSED Chair Hardemon: So we're moving on to discussion regarding the City using Marlins Park testing initially. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: SP.3 was put on the agenda, Commissioners and Mr. Mayor, to have a discussion about our participation with Miami -Dade County with the Marlins Park testing site. I was -- kind of wanted to get an update from our City Manager how much of the testing is for Miami residents and how we're -- how that's corning along to kind of sort of get an update. It is a -- an expense and a use of City of Miami funds and I want to make sure that we're testing City of Miami residents. That's why it was put on the agenda. Commissioner Reyes: Good point. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: So, Mr. Manager,, I would like to hear from you to see how many people we've tested, how many are City of Miami residents at Marlins Park. Chair Hardemon: I'll also recognize the Mayor. Mayor Suarez: If I could just add to that, we also have a mobile testing program and I'd like, for our Manager to also update us on that as well if you don't mind. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. City of Miami Page 50 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Arthur Noriega (City Manager): So I'm going to allow the Fire Chief to give you the numbers. We have updated numbers as of the end of what we call our business day today. And that way he can kind of update you on how much has been processed at Marlins Park, as well as how much we processed at our mobile -- Mayor Suarez: And, Mr. Chair, ifI can also add one -- one more thing. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, if I can add one other thing. I know Commissioner Carollo and I have been working very hard on getting a second testing site in Liberty City in Hadley Park and so if we can get an update on that as well. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Mr. Noriega: Certainly. Chief? Joseph Zahralban (Fire Chief): Are you -- Mayor Suarez: Huge echo. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Chief you're in. Mr. Zahralban: Can you hear me? Chair Hardemon: He may have two devices. Commissioner Reyes: I think the computer wants to go to bed too. Mr. Zahralban: How is that? Is that better? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Mr. Zahralban: Mayor, Chairman, Commissioners, good morning. I'll give you an overview of each of the testing areas and -- and let you know about the newest developments. Can everyone hear me okay? Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Mr. Zahralban: Okay. First and foremost, we have two static sites that we are working on. The first one, as you all know, is Marlins Park, and the issue with Marlins Park is it is completely built out. It has an estimated capacity of approximately what we believe up to a thousand people. However, we are, as you all know, limited by the testing kits that have been made available. We're working through a partnership with both Miami -Dade County and Jackson Memorial Hospital and that has been the limitation thus far. Mr. Mayor and Commissioner Carollo, you are very, well versed on the fact that we are looking at the Hadley Park site, and that site is -- the contract has been executed. We met with the third party contractor today and we did a walkthrough of the site, we identified some potential areas of concern, some potential weaknesses, but all in all that process is moving forward. I do believe, however, that the -- the greatest success story that we have thus far is the mobile testing units, and it is more than just a mobile testing unit. For some time now, the fire department, the Department of Fire Rescue, has struggled with the -- the topic of and -- the -- the philosophy of community paramedicine. And that is essentially getting out into the community and being able to provide services to the community over and above the typical 911 service that we provide. Now this -- this situation, this unfortunate situation has provided us the opportunity to employ that community paramedicine model and it has been working quite well. We've been able to develop a City of Miami Page 51 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 -- a call system. We've been able to have probably in the neighborhood of 2,000 calls come in a day. Many of those have to be screened because they are coming in from all over the place, at least on the first couple days they did. We're starting to iron some of that out. But the true success in this story is the fact that we are able to reach seniors who are in the affected categories, meaning they are 65 years of age or older, they might have some underlying conditions that -- that make them more vulnerable, and most importantly they are typically not mobile. So we are able to get out to them in their homes and we are able to conduct these tests and we are able to send them off to the lab and give them results in a reasonable period of time. But it doesn 't just stop there. We also follow-up with these seniors, we check back -- we will be checking regularly as to the progress of any potential signs and symptoms, and what that does for us is it allows us to monitor them and get them the care that they may need before it gets bad enough where they need to call 911. Why is this important in our senior population? Because it allows us to address their signs and symptoms, provide support of care to them because we recognize that the seniors decompensate quickly. They end up in the hospital quicker than the average citizen, so that's why the monitoring of these seniors is so important. Let's speak about numbers for a moment. The numbers at Marlin Park, today as an example, we processed 264 samples throughout the day in Marlin Park. Now as I said, we believe we have a capacity that's up to a thousand people per day, however, we are limited by the sample kits available. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Can 1 interrupt? Mr. Zahralban: (INAUDIBLE) testing units, those again being limited by available samples, have a great capacity to increase production because all 1 need to do is continue to add mobile units to increase the -- the volume of production and the efficacy of the program. But it's important to point out that the -- the environment that we find ourselves in is changing on a daily basis and we had two significant breakthroughs today that are noteworthy. The first breakthrough that we've had was the fact that I had a call with the vice president of the national lab that we're using, BioReference Labs, whereby they provided us with 2,000 sample kits that we would take swabs from the community and, you know, provide that to the lab so that they could test those samples. The contract allowed for 20,000 samples to be tested. However we were only provided 2,000 swab kits and that was only an effort to get us up and off the ground, get us moving and the responsibility to replenish those kits was on our shoulders. We only had the commitment from the company for the initial 2,000 and then we were on their own. After a discussion with the vice president today, the vice president agreed that they would continue to supply us with the 2,000 that we have on a rotational basis as we turn them in, they will resupply. That will make a huge difference for us because it doesn't limit us to that initial 2,000. As fast as we turn them in, they will turn them over as long as they have inventory in stock. So, that was one of today's success stories. The second success story that we had today is we have been working very hard through multiple manufacturers to get a test called an immunoassay test. What that does is it allows us to conduct a -- an exam, an actual test in the field whereby it takes between 10 and 20 minutes to produce a result on that exam with approximately a 98 percent success rate identifying whether or not that person is positive. So you will see the landscape change in very short order. We will not have to send everything off to the lab. And I happen to have a sample of that kit with me, and it works very similar to a pregnancy test where we will put a sample of DNA on this device -- Mayor Suarez: Do you want to try it on me tomorrow? Mr. Zahralban: -- and it will tell us between 10 and 20 minutes and tell the individual whether or not they are negative or positive. Now one of the important points of this particular test is this is very similar to how we do what we -- conduct a test that we City of Miami Page 52 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 call blood serum glucose for diabetics, where we extract blood from the finger, put it on this device or on a similar device and get results within a matter of minutes. So the good news is every paramedic in the City of Miami is already trained to do this. So as soon as we get these in volume, we can begin to implement this type of testing. Then what you will see us do with the labs is that will become second tier. The labs will be a confirmatory test for these tests that come through positive. So let me give you an example of how it might play out. Use a static site for example. We will have vehicles come through, we will conduct one of these tests, we will put it on their windshield and have them move forward into a staging area. After about 10 minutes we will check to see whether or not they are negative or positive. 1f they are negative, we will send them on their way. If they are positive, we will conduct a swab sample in the traditional format and we will send it off to the lab for a confirmatory test. Cost, we are currently paying between $50 and $110 for each of the swabs that we are sending to labs. These will cost us between $12 and $15 apiece. Mayor Suarez: Wow. Mr. Zahralban: So it's a substantial savings and it will allow us to exponentially increase our volume. So initially what we have done is purchase or put a request, a quote, and put a subsequent purchase order in from two vendors for about 10,000 of these so we can get this process moving. As soon as we confirm the efficacy of these devices then I'm going to ask for an additional purchase order for about 100,000 of these -- Commissioner Reyes: That's right. Mr. Zahralban: -- which will end up costing in the neighborhood of $1.2 million or so. But when you look at the cost of that as compared to the same type of volume through these -- these third party contractor labs, it pales in comparison. So it will be an investment that is absolutely worth the -- the investment. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla -- Mr. Zahralban: Now with that, I'll open up to any questions that -- that you may have, but the final -- my final comment is, you know, I've said it before and I'll say it again, the approach that we're taking is a whole community approach, it's an all of the above approach and we believe that's the best way to impact the community. Thank you. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Thank you, Mr. Chair. You finished your comments by saying that as soon as you found out the efficacy of this exam, but earlier you said that it was 98 percent accurate. Which of the two is it? Mr. Zahralban.: Yes, the reported information -- I guess in order to answer that question accurately, I would have to explain the process that occurs during a time of emergency. Normally the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, would -- would have these -- these vendors, these third -party contractors or the manufacturers go through an extensive process whereby they would have to prove the efficacy of this device. During times of emergency, they have a two to three day approval process where they don't conduct tests themselves, but -- but in lieu of that, they look at the data that the manufacturer provides, and they base their decision on that data. So this will have FDA approval by the time we procure it, however, we still want to conduct some of our own tests on positive patients that we are aware of to prove the efficacy of the device ourselves. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Okay. So this is not FDA approved, correct? City of Miami Page 53 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mr. Zahralban: Some devices -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: This test, this test. Mr. Zahralban: (INAUDIBLE) we are going through the process as we speak. Some of these devices are FDA approved, some are pending approval, which could happen in the morning, could happen two days from now. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: But the one you said costs $12, and you get the immediate results, the one you want to use for the $1.2 million contract, that device, is that FDA approved? Mr. Zahralban: That device has received FDA emergency approval, yes. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Okay. Is that the one with the company in California? Mr. Zahralban: There's multiple companies. They're all, for the most part, coming from overseas. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Are they coming from -- where overseas? Where overseas? Commissioner Carollo: They're all coming from overseas. China. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I know that's what 1 figured. Mr. Zahralban: Both China and South Korea. And just one point that -- that I believe is important is when you look at the numbers that China was professing when they were saying -- when they were claiming to have tested about 100,000 people a day, this is how they were doing it. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: They're coming with those -- and South Korea did the same thing? They used the same kind of test? Mr. Zahralban: Yes, sir. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Okay. So -- so the question is why are we obtaining any other tests? Why do we continue to buy 2,000 kits that take three or four days? Because this test could go to the Mayor's house right now and he could be out of there tonight. Commissioner Reyes: Yep. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Right. And he's been waiting, and he's got to wait for results, and we have to wait for results. So the question is, if you have a product that you have confidence in, that you're talking about procuring a $1.2 million contract that has immediate -- abnost immediate results, I think you said 15 minutes or something like that, I don't remember the exact number of minutes you said, but that's it's immediate, it's the same day or right after. Why are we having a conversation about other testing kits that take three or four days to get results? Mr. Zahralban: The reason, Commissioner, and it's an excellent question. The reason is back to the comment I made that right now in order to be as effective as possible, we need to take an all of the above approach. We can't go down any one road and abandon another idea. These devices that I'm showing you now, the one I have in my hand and about 'bur others are only sample devices that were given to us by the City of Miami Page 54 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 vendor today. And you mentioned the Mayor, with the Mayor's permission, we actually are going to his home tomorrow morning in order to test this on him. So he will be getting that call if he hasn't received it already -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: (INAUDIBLE). Mr. Zahralban: -- from my medical people. Mayor Suarez: I have not received that yet. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: And one more question and I'll -- and I'll cede the floor. On a different item, you said 264 tests were done at Marlins Park today? Mr. Zahralban: Yes, sir. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: How many of those were City ofMiami residents? Mr. Zahralban: That information I do not have for you as of yet. It's a little difficult to obtain. There are only two ways for me to obtain that information. One is through the County's 311 system; the other is potentially through the Health Department (INAUDIBLE) process. Both of those -- I'm sorry, I just lost you. Both of those are, as you know, controlled by the County, so it's going to take me a little bit of time to access and effort that information. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: And the only reason why 1 ask that question to begin with, Chief was because I want to spend our City resources on city residents. I want to emphasize that point. I don't want to have a facility -- I think everyone should be tested, obviously, we have to help all -- all people living in our county and our state, but if we have limited resources I want our city residents to get those resources first. As City Commissioner, that's what I have to fight for. So to me it's important not to have a site inside the city ofMiami, inside Commissioner Carollo's District where - - where we're testing people from all the parts of the county. We can help the County by testing Miami people, the County can help its residents by testing people in West Dade and South Dade and North Dade that are also in need of testing. We're maybe duplicating efforts here and maybe we -- we should each have our own testing site so that we can better serve the people that elected us. So that's why I'm making that point. I think it's important for you to get that information to me as we move forward. Also I want to know how many people that we're testing at Marlins Park are city of Miami residents. Chair Hardemon: Okay. So I would -- Mr. Zahralban: Understood. Chair Hardemon: -- recognize Commissioner Reyes, then the Mayor, then Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Reyes: Chief,' let me ask you something, when -- once you prove -- I mean, you test that new testing method, would you incorporate them in all of our testing facilities? Mr. Zahralban: Yes, sir. My plan would be to use these devices very widely, i.e., all of the testing facilities, whether it be a static site or a mobile site. As I explained before, the process that I envision, although we're going to work through this model, but the process that I envision is whether or not we are going to people's homes doing a mobile test or they're driving through a static site, we would administer this test as a first line device. Depending upon the result of this test, we would then potentially for a City of Miami Page 55 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 positive result, swab the patient and then return that to the lab for confirmatory testing. Commissioner Reyes: Another question and the price of $50 per unit, per test, that was the less expensive of the -- of all the tests that were offered to us or we just picked that one because, I mean, they were better or better quality or did we shop around to find different prices for testing? Mr. Zahralban: Yes, sir. We actually shopped around exhaustively and although I do want to say that price was a factor, 1 would be less than honest if I didn't say that availability was more important a factor. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. I do understand that. The last question that and -- I really commend you guys for opening up another testing site in Charlie Hadley Park, I mean, that's fantastic. The more testing sites that we have, the more that we test everybody in -- in Miami -- in Dade County, the better that we are. That's what South Korea did, massive testing and I -- I agree with it, and when would that site will be open? Mr. Zahralban: The contract calls for the site to be open I believe, and I'm looking at the Manager, seven days from the point that the contract was signed. So, I know that - - that my assistant chief of special operations had met the -- the third -party contractor that came into town today. They discussed the site, they discussed the needs, and my understanding is it's moving forward under the direction of the third party contractor, but with the assistance of my assistant fire chief that is in charge with the Commissioner Reyes: You -- Mr. Zahralban: -- Marlins Park site. Commissioner Reyes: You've mentioned a contractor. What do you mean by a contractor? It's somebody else that is going to come and perform the test or are we performing it ourselves? Mr. Zahralban: The Hadley Park site -- first of all, when I say third -party contractor, I mean some -- a separate company, an outside company, that has been contracted through the City of Miami in order to provide a service. Whereas Marlins Park is a joint effort between the City of Miami, Miami -Dade County -- Commissioner Reyes: Yes, I do understand it. Mr. Zahralban: -- as well as the National Guard. Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Mr. Zahralban: This is a site that has a soup to nuts been contracted through to a private company to set up and -- and swab and send it off to a lab and return the results. Commissioner Reyes: And how's that -- that company was chosen by -- I mean, it is -- it has a track record and -- and it has a test that it is -- I mean, better than what we have now? Or what is the price; is it the same price? Mr. Zahralban: Price structure is a little -- is a little different. Again, it really goes back to the comment that I made and -- and I hate to repeat it over and over, but it really is that all of the above approach. Anybody who provides a service that has been City of Miami Page 56 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 vetted through us and seems to be reliable and able to -- to accomplish the goals that we set before them, we are looking at that option and contracting with them. Now when 1 say contracting with them, it's important to point out that we -- we are establishing a contract, establishing a purchase order, but the City Attorney as well as the City Manager are very careful to ensure that we are for the most part paying for services that we receive and in the event that the service -- Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Mr. Zahralban: -- ends up not meeting our expectations, that we have an out. Commissioner Reyes: 1 have two questions and I'm going to (INAUDIBLE). How much are we paying for those tests? Mr. Zahralban: Which tests are we referring to? Commissioner Reyes: The one that is going to go to this independent contractor? Mr. Zahralban: That is dependent upon -- it's -- it's a structured contract. It's a little more of a complex answer, but it depends on how many lanes we -- Commissioner Reyes: Well -- Mr. Zahralban: -- use and -- Commissioner Reyes: Fifty, a hundred? Mr. Zahralban: Up to five lanes. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. But $50, $100; how much; how much are we paying? Mr. Zahralban: One second, sir. Ms. Mendez: I want to say it's between $50 to $150. $150 is the most. Commissioner Reyes: Per test? Between $50 and $150? Mr. Zahralban: For this -- for test it would be $150, yes. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Let me ask you another question, let me ask you another question, which it's $115, you said, right? Mr. Zahralban: No, $150, 1-5-0. Commissioner Reyes: $150, 1-5-0, versus $50 this one. Now what -- another question that I have is this, we have and -- and I am being informed that the biggest problem that we have is with the lab. The labs that analyze, and that's why it takes so long. Is this, in the $150, is the analysis also included or do we have additional expenditures on -- on the lab? Mr. Zahralban: The -- for this particular lab, for $150, yes, that includes the analysis as -- Commissioner Reyes: The analysis. How much are we paying for the analysis now with those -- the tests that we are performing that we're paying $50? Mr. Zahralban: $50 would be the cost for -- for the other lab. We have -- City of Miami Page 57 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: The test and the lab -- Mr. Zahralban: -- three labs -- we have three labs, sir, that we are currently using. Commissioner Reyes: Wow. Mr. Zahralban: One is $50 per test, the second is about $100 per test, and this third - party contractor would be about $150 per test. Commissioner Reyes: You know, that's what -- Larkin Hospital, Larkin is charging for tests is $150. 1 don't know. I don't know and 1 haven't seen all the -- I'm not an expert on them, but I'm going -- I'm going to try to get -- educate myself a little bit more about the different tests and the different prices because 1 -- $150 is a substantial amount of money versus $100 more, you see. I don't know if it is because of availability or where they come from or -- or I don 't know. But congratulations for opening up the -- that -- that testing site at Charles Hadley. Mayor Suarez: Mr. Chair, if I may? Chair Hardernon: Okay, I want to recognize the Mayor and I believe Commissioner Carollo. Mayor Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 1 want to hopefully clarify a little bit in some of the differences and why those differences occur. And, Chief please step in or Manager step in and correct me if I'm wrong or Commissioner Carollo, or anybody who's been working on this. Okay. So the tests that are the 2,000 kits which are $50, that's just the laboratory component of the test. Those are being administered completely by Miami Fire Rescue. They're being administered to elderly who are calling the 305-960-5050 number. If I'm not mistaken, we've did over 127 today, is my recollection of what we did. Those are only city residents. Unidentified Speaker: Right. Mayor Suarez: They're only City residents and that is -- those are mobile tests. So that's -- that's one category. This -- this new category that the Chief is talking about is, obviously -- and by the way this is the first time I'd heard of it, so I heard about it just like you guys did with these new quick tests. My -- my assumption is that if -- if and when they have FDA approval, that then they would also meet FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Association) reimbursable standards, correct, Chief would that be correct? Mr. Zahralban: That is correct. Mayor Suarez: So -- so my guess is what he wants to do there is implement ubiquitous testing throughout the City. You know what I mean? That would be no standard, in other words, you wouldn't necessarily have to be symptomatic or whatever standard he applies, but it would be a far more liberal standard to at least get a first run test of a -- of a more -- a larger population to them have a backup test it seems like, lab tested, to ensure positivity. So I presume that tomorrow he'll be giving me both the tests. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. But -- Mr. Zahralban: I'll give you whatever you want, Mr. Mayor. City of Miami Page 58 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: What I'm asking is, you see, my, question is I really -- I really like this -- what he's saying and proposing what you're saying this new test that hasn't been approved yet. And I hope that it's going to be approved, you got to be approved. They are doing away with most of the restrictions, you see. But what I was asking was the price of the -- this contract that was signed that was $150 versus that $50 test. Mayor Suarez: That -- that's where I was going to go. So that third contract, which, you know, Commissioner Carollo's been working very hard on in trying to establish it at Hadley Park. The reason why that one's $150 as opposed to $50 is because you don't -- you not only have the lab component. You have all of the employees, you're basically creating soup to nuts the entire operation that you have at Marlins Park, but you're doing it with another vendor, right? And so they have to have all of the swabbers, they have to have the doctors, they have to have everything. Everything is there, so that's $50 probably is -- is a lab component and there is -- there is employee expenses, there 's -- Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Mayor Suarez: -- all the technicians, everything else that goes into it. So there's a -- an additional component that in the case of the 2,000 we're managing with our fire department. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. That's what I wanted to clarify. 1 wanted to clarify that because that $150 include the persons that they are performing the test, the persons that are directing traffic, persons that are managing that site. Mayor Suarez: It's a soup to nuts testing site. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. They're -- they're managing the site. Mayor Suarez: A to Z, exactly. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Mayor Suarez: So I think -- I think what's important about that is that we're going to have the capability of having testing sites in the -- in the northern part of the city, which I think is appropriate. Commissioner Reyes: Yes, It is. Mayor Suarez: In Little Havana, which is appropriate. And then we're going to have mobile and then we're going to have these ubiquitous quick tests that are all -- and by the way, all of it is reimbursable by FEMA, which is what -- Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Mayor Suarez: -- I wanted to just -- and I know -- I'm sure the commissioner would jump in and explain that, but all of it is reimbursable. Whether it's a $50 test or a $12 test or $150 test, it's all going to be reimbursable by FEMA, correct, Chief? Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Mr. Zahralban: Yes, sir. That is correct. Regardless of the cost, as long as we can justify the activities that are occurring it will be reimbursable by FEMA. But I believe the details of the -- of the actual transaction might be best explained by Commissioner Carollo, since he was so heavily involved in -- City of Miami Page 59 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mayor Suarez: Let me just ask one last question. Vice Chair Russell: Quick reimbursement question to clam what the Chief said because that's something I didn't understand to be correct. IfI could? Mayor Suarez: All -- all these series of tests are reimbursable by FEMA. Vice Chair Russell: Do we need to follow the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Preventation) guidelines for who gets tested in order to be reimbursed? Or if we make more liberal standard, do we disqualifY ourselves? Commissioner Reyes: It's a good question. Mr. Zahralban: That's an excellent question, sir. Commissioner Reyes: Good question. Mr. Zahralban: The guidelines that the CDC sets forth are for the most part the guidelines that would determine allowability for reimbursement through FEMA unless we can show a compelling reason why we deviated from guidelines for the -- the greater good or the greater public health. 1 believe that the reason -- and I keep going back to this that this plays such an important part in what we're doing is because as we expand testing, and we reach a greater depth of our population, the cheaper we can do it, the less exposure we have as it relates to potential reimbursement. Mayor Suarez: One last question before I pass it on to Commissioner Carollo. Is that -- that smaller test that you just showed, Chief the one that you're going test me on, the guinea pig, your guinea pig tomorrow, is that an antibody test? See now you've taught me a little bit about this. Is that antibody test or is that an antigen test? Mr. Zahralban: This one, sir, is an antibody test. It's IgG IgM, so, yes. Mayor Suarez Then that could explain the reason why it's 98 percent efficient as opposed to the swabbing, which is an antigen test that gets you closer to a hundred percent. Mr. Zahralban: Well the -- they both have strengths and weaknesses. The primary issue that we're investigating with these right now is is there a recommended period of time to wait post exposure to administer this test. And that would be the key component between and antibody test and an antigen test. When you are exposed to the virus, or a virus, you have the antigen or the RNA/DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid/Ribonucleic Acid) of that substance in your body almost immediately. Mayor Suarez: Right. Mr. Zahralban: An antibody test requires your body to begin to fight that antigen and as you build up that immunity to that antigen as your body begins to fight it, it tests for those antibodies. So there is a gap in time there that we have to analyze. Mayor Suarez: (INAUDIBLE). I want Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla to understand that nuance because part of the reason why we're so certain when we test negative is because the tests that we've been taking are antigen tests, so they test a viral load in cells. Right? The RNA viral load in cells. Whereas these antibodies tests are testing a reaction to the virus, which -- which takes time. So that's why you can test negative and still have, technically, the virus it's just not -- the antibodies have not been built up sufficiently, to test positive. So there could be a small differential there, which is City of Miami Page 60 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 probably what accounts for the difference in the 98 percent versus the 99 point whatever percent, which is why, you know, they were able to clear you guys from protocol based on the negative tests. Commissioner Reyes: Don't -- Mr. Zahralban: Yes. And just a brief elaboration, what -- what the antigen test does is it takes ribonucleic acid from your body and sends it to the lab and the lab actually acts as your body and it grows it in the lab, converts it to DNA, di -ribonucleic [sic] acid, and allows it to be present in quantity -- in enough quantity so that it could be tested and the test would come out positive. So basically it is being incubated in the lab instead of incubated in the body, which is why it is so accurate. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. That's very good. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. Commissioner Reyes: Very good very good. Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: Before I go into giving the Commission the history and the process that 1 think has been followed in lab tests -- and let me separate that. Lab tests, and 1 believe that so far we've been using two companies, and then the third that was mentioned that is supposed to start on the north end. Let me separate now lab tests, which is all that there is now in the country, to what the Chief mentioned on these other tests. These other tests for the most part are manufactured in China or South Korea. This is why South Korea has been able to do what we should be doing in Miami, and the rest of our country, is testing everybody. Commissioner Reyes: Masses. Commissioner Carollo: And this is why, they're about the only country that I've seen so far that have really been able to curtail the spread of this because you can't believe anything China tells you. They're telling you now they haven't had anybody infected for days, but I could tell you for a fact that's a lie because I know of orders they have placed Jroover half a million thermometers. I know people that have boots on the ground over there that are seeing all the dead being taken out. So, there's nothing they can tell us that we can believe as to the reality of what's of going on over there. South Korea is -- is the closest of what we could believe that has made a real stop in this. And they did it by mass testing, not just the elderly, but everybody, and some other pretty stringent methods, and using the kinds of testing that the fire chief mentioned now. And I'm glad that the fire chief became a believer now of what he and I discussed in the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) on Monday, when I first brought the fact to him of different tests that I had been approached on that were for $12 and even less -- Commissioner Reyes: Fantastic. Commissioner Carollo: -- on two kinds. One is the kind that he's talking about that blood is taken out of your thumb and there are a variety of companies that you can have them anywhere from 15 minutes to about 45 minutes return on site. And the other type is a swab in the throat, which I prefer that better than having to take blood out. The European Union has approved numerous of these manufacturers, and that's what they're using in Europe, where they're getting immediate readings, and it would vary in some. Some are lower than 98, some are 98, some are 99 and more percent. And my conversation with the chief on Monday was that we should be preparing to go City of Miami Page 61 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 that route. In fact, 1 had asked him if he could find out if they were not FDA approved like the ones that I was told even though they were European Union approved, could we bring them into the U.S. so that we could use them. The response to me at the time was that his people and -- and the paramedics were certified through FDA procedures, and they would lose their certification f they would use non -FDA approved testing. So Chief Colina was there, and I turned around to him, and I asked him at the time if any of his officers were certified. He said, no. I said, well, good. Then if we could bring them in and the FDA doesn 't stop us, your officers could then do the test because you won't lose the certification. And we all laughed. But the idea was to do what the fire chief has done for him to start looking at the different possibilities so that we could bring the cost way, way down and truly be able to do mass testing, which is what we really need. Because the only reason we're testing only elderly that have symptoms is because there's a total, first of all, lack of kits. But 1 submit to you that I believe within two to three weeks you're going to have a glut of kits. The kits is not going to be the problem going into the future. The problem were the labs. And in -- in saying that, I have to give credit where credit is due, and then start with a history of how we started the -- with the lab tests and think of the Mayor for even from home and being sick took the initiative that he was able to get these 2,000 kits that the police -- excuse me that the fire chief talked about at $50 our cost. Which by the way, that's probably the best deal of any city anywhere in the United States. That's unheard of today of paying only $50 for a lab test. The problem that we were facing was that was only 2,000 kits; we had no guarantees of getting more kits at all, and secondly, we were told that it was going to be at least a three day wait. The -- or four. How many, Mayor? We can 't hear you. Mayor Suarez: Initially -- initially they told us four. Then they sort of said two to four, but they initially' told us four. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Well this -- somewhere in there. I said three, but I forgot that it was four. But the -- the truth of the reality is that the labs are so full that for instance Quest, which is the other one the City has been using, that's the ones that you and I, Commissioner Reyes, Commissioner -- well all of us had the secondary testing took five days to get back. Those were the $100 kits. So, the idea here was as expensive as they are, because whether it's $50 or whether it's $150, anyway you cut it, it's expensive, was to be able to get one results back as quickly as we could where we didn't have to wait three, four, five days or more, where people would be potentially spreading the virus and then the anxiety that would bring to people and families, et cetera. And to, most of all, have 750 test kits guaranteed for a lab to handle. This is the most important part, an aspect of it because what we're really -- we're doing most of all here was guaranteeing how quickly we would get it from a lab. So what was promised was that from the time that it would be brought to a lab in Orlando that was found and guarantees were given, that it would be 12 hours return from the time that the tests were given to the lab in Orlando and within 12 hours we would know if people tested positive or negative. So, that was the idea on the speed of how we could do things altogether. The -- there were many discussions that we had on -- on this. In fact the discussions were going on for a -- a week. Nothing was taken lightly. The City itself, the initial 2,000 kits that the Mayor was able to acquire, we were planning on opening up, in fact, yesterday, Tuesday, the Marlins Stadium on our own. That's when the County. through Jackson Memorial Hospital. their CEO (Chief Executive Officer), President Mr. Migoya, contacted last Friday our City Manager and offered a partnership of Jackson, University of Miami Hospital, and the County, with the State, to come in into the Marlins site and the Manager immediately accepted it because that freed us up with those 2,000 kits that we had so that we could do the home programming that we're doing and we're doing just in the first two days, we're hitting around 100 people at home while we're doing it. The -- the idea is to try to expand this as most as we can. The north end, Liberty City, Overtown, the northeast part, there are no testing areas there. So, that's why the first emphasis was put on City of Miami Page 62 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 opening that area as quickly as possible. And then from there, opening up some additional lanes in Marlins Park so we could eventually be the ones testing all the people in our own city. While the County's offer, and the State's, and Jackson's was great, we don't know how many of the people that are being tested there are actually from the city of Miami. I have to assume from the limited information I've heard that the majority are from other parts of the county, which is fine. I mean, we're one county. But we're the City of Miami and we want to make sure that our people are going to be served first and as quickly as we can. So, to try to condense what I've said is what the City has done is we've gone from the five or more days to no less than three days lag time to accompany the guarantee that the minute the lab gets it they would have a 12 hour return so they would know that within the same -- the very same day, people that are tested are going to know the results. Those that are negative are not going to have to worry about the anxiety or being locked up for so many more days and those that are positive are going to know immediately so they're not spreading this into more people than they have already while they've waited anywhere from three or five days or more. The way to go into the future is exactly as was described here once FDA approves these new kits because it's going to be very inexpensive and you could get results right in the field immediately. But we don't know how long it's going to take. You know, it's -- it could be a few days, it could be a few weeks or more. That's really hard to tell how long it's going to take. But that's the way that we need to jump on once it's done. Because we could hit and cover all of our population at those prices, and frankly, as I told the chief the fire chief on Monday it didn't matter if the FEMA was going to reimburse us or not, because at $12 or less a pop it was so inexpensive compared to everything else that if they weren't going to reimburse us because it was not FDA approval, it didn't matter because we were getting out to as many people as possible, and frankly we would be able to do our whole entire population in a matter of a month and a half or so, or less. So that in a nutshell is the -- the process that has happened, how we've done this. And the difference for the -- big difference frankly on prices, you could, yes, pay a lot less for a lab that's going to get you test result in five days, three days, or more than five days or pay more for a lab and a company that's going to get you results within 12 hours when you get it in their laboratory. Mayor, do you want to add to that? We can't hear you. Mayor Suarez: No, I think you summarized it well. I think you've explained why there's three different tiers and actually now with these new kits, there's four different tiers of price. The good news is that all four tiers, or at least we suspect that all four tiers, at least the three tiers of the $50 to $100 and $150 will be FEMA reimbursable, so there's little to no risk on our end. We have seen -- I know that everybody here has been monitoring what has been happening nationally and all the indications are that the state will pick up another 12 and a half percent, the -- FEMA original regulations are 75, but then there's even talk that in the initial stimulus package, that FEMA may pick up the remainder. So it may end up being completely repaid by the federal government, and I'm intrigued about these -- these new tests. I'm -- 11171 excited to the guinea pig tomorrow to see whether or not they're going to be accurate. Because I agree with what the commissioner said, you know, all the examples in Italy and all the examples in the successful countries like South Korea, that seem to have gotten this sort of flatten the curve as they say, right, it's because there's been ubiquitous testing. Testing at a very, very high level. And that allows us to have a true picture of what -- how -- how, you know, I can't imagine that I was just the second person in Dade County. I mean, it's possible, certainly that delegation from Brazil what I've been told is over 40 people have tested positive from that delegation, but, you know, it's hard to believe that there's only -- there was only two people at that moment that were infected with Covid-19, you know. Commissioner Carollo: Well you're absolutely correct, and if— we would have been testing you would have, found a lot more. City of Miami Page 63 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mayor Suarez: Sure. Commissioner Carollo: You were lucky that we caught you early on because frankly - Mayor Suarez: You guys were lucky too. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. You (INAUDIBLE) one of those that was walking around just thought you had a little cold for a day or two which is all you had, and a little fever and you wouldn't have known that you caught this. Mayor Suarez: Yeah, no doubt. Commissioner Carollo: And this is the problem we're having in our population and that's why we need a breakthrough in our country, like other countries have, that's very inexpensive that we could test people in mass, not just the seniors that might be infected. Mayor Suarez: I agree. Anyone want to move to adjourn the meeting? Chair Hardemon: I see two fingers going up. Commissioner Reyes: Yes, please. Chair Hardemon: Alex Diaz de la Portilla I see your hand and mouth, but I can 't hear you, so you have to unmute your screen. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: I move -- I move that we adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Reyes: I second. Mayor, good luck tomorrow, okay? Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Good luck with your testing, Mayor. And good luck, commissioners, on everything. Mayor Suarez: Thank you for corning together as a group, guys. Thank you. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Thank you very much. Commissioner Carollo: Hopefully, Mayor, you are clear tomorrow, but if not, then you'll be the first one that we can do the 15 minute or half hour swab in the mouth, so you don 't have to shed blood on this too. Mayor Suarez: Listen, man, I'm happy to be a guinea pig. They're already asking me for my blood samples, the whole shebang, so -- Commissioner Reyes: That's good. Commissioner Carollo: It's good to see that you're -- you're doing well, and you held up throughout this what became a long meeting tonight. Mayor Suarez: Thankyou. Thankyou so much for your encouragement. Commissioner Reyes: Thank you very much, Mr. Manager. Thank you very much. And good night to all of you and be safe. Commissioner Carollo: Good night. City of Miami Page 64 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: Good night. Ms. Mendez: Thank you. SP.4 DISCUSSION ITEM 7352 Commissioners and Mayor A DISCUSSION REGARDING AN UPDATE FROM THE CITY MANAGER ON THE CITY'S PROGRESS REGARDING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. RESULT: DISCUSSED Chair Hardemon: What I'd like to do is move into our agenda. If we take a look at our agenda, the first item we have is SP.1. It's a discussion item, a discussion regarding mandatory shelter in place order or curfew. I want to recognize Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla. You're recognized, sir. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And if I may, if the Commissioners acquiesce, that we would like -- I would like for our Manager, Art Noriega, to kind of go through all the steps the City has taken so far to update the public and the rest of the Commission of what we've done so far, what the City has done. So kind of take the order out of place and put the last item first, get our update, and then we can ask questions when we move forward, and maybe move each agenda after that. If that's okay with you, with the rest of the Commissioners and with the Mayor. Chair Hardemon: That makes perfect sense. So what we'll do now is well recognize our City Manager for discussion regarding an update from the City Manager on the City's progress regarding GOVID-19. You're recognized, sir. Arthur Noriega (City Manager): Thank you. So obviously we've taken a number of steps, most of which are covered, some of the key elements are covered in the agenda that's presented today. More particularly, a number of emergency orders, the latest of which we issued last night which was a continuation or an expansion through a shelter in place order. Which in addition to that, obviously, we're addressing the issue of essential businesses that should or not -- should or should not stay open. And we've created, under our COVID-19 webpage, which is embedded in the City website, a series and lists of all of our emergency orders, as well as descriptions and releases that vet and describe a little more thoroughly what the -- what those emergency orders mean. Today we posted sort of a summary of all of those essential businesses that have been listed, both through our emergency orders, emergency orders issued by the State of Florida, as well as Miami -Dade County. And there's a detailed list (INAUDIBLE) essential businesses to provide a little further clarity with regards to -- for the general public in terms of what they may or may not do. Obviously we're trying to allow for the general public to continue to engage in those activities that are really vital to them, particularly, you know, the stuff that really makes common sense, getting your groceries, going to the pharmacy. And, you know, auto repair, you know, things that are really -- are essential to our day-to-day sustainability. I think businesses that are engaged in those essential services obviously employ a workforce that also needs the .flexibility to get to work. There's also that critical need of providing ,food. So, restaurants that provide delivery and pickup also have been allowed continued service which is vital as well. There is embedded into the City of Miami Page 65 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 emergency order as well, a travel restriction, but really is a -- limited to those essential businesses and normal daily activities and home repair, landscaping, pool services, and the like. In addition to that we've also obviously been engaged in a number of testing initiatives as well, which we'll cover in more detail as part of the agenda. We're working on a meals program. We've continued to supplement, even though -- even without a formal meal program, some of the feeding of our seniors. It has not been a formal process to this point, and that's what we have as a discussion item today. And I know we've presented some options and some ideas to the Commissioners as we've kind of been going through this. We've obviously activated our Emergency Operations Center, it's a Level 2 activation. Through that Emergency Operations Center, I want to commend our emergency management staff, our public safety employees, all of the employees within the City of Miami as well who have really really stepped up in this tough and critical, you know, situation we're in now. More particularly, you know, trying to address and asway a lot of the fears and anxiety most of our residents, property and business owners have. We're trying to maintain as many of our essential services, City services, to the public as possible while still being respectful of the fact that we have a workforce that needs to be mindful of isolation and taking care of their own, you know, personal needs and personal health and wellbeing. So, one of our key initiatives is we've really tried to scale back the workforce employed at our buildings. allowing more of our employees to work from home. And those that are in non -essential businesses, allowing them to go home and not crowd our offices, and respect our social distancing. So, along that light we've really at this point reduced our at -work workforce to roughly about thirty percent of normal. The balance of which are working from home and/or, you know, for all intents and purposes furloughed, but obviously being paid. The other things that we're working on as well are some key initiatives relative to the budget and financial impacts. We're starting that analysis as well. And starting to do some projections with regards to what are the short term, intermediate, and long term implications of our current situation. Obviously with the understanding that there are a lot of variables. This is a situation that's extremely fluid and we're going to be pivoting almost daily, if not weekly, in terms of you know, programming, impacts. Obviously the duration of our current situation is going to be a critical mitigating factor to that. So we're trying to be as flexible and as fluid as we can. And with that, that's kind of a general synopsis of -- and an overview of what we have been working on. Obviously we're also working very closely with the State of Florida, federal government, as well as our County government on a number of initiatives. We're also engaged in a lot of conversation with our fellow municipalities within Miami -Dade County in terms of, you know, offering insight, addressing best practices, and really just to providing a resource to each other in terms of information and trends. With that I'll entertain any questions you may have. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman, ifI could be recognized? Chair Hardemon: The Vice Chairman and then Commissioner Reyes. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very much, Mr. Manager. It's hard to believe that you only started this job a few weeks ago. And this is certainly a heavy trial by fire. And I'd like to congratulate you on everything you've done since we last met as a Commission. With everything we've been through, from a health perspective to a quarantine perspective, the State of Emergency handed the reins over to you and I feel very confident that this City is in good hands right now with the orders that you put in place, with the way you've empowered each of these Commissioners as they're working on independent initiatives, and with the health and safety of our residents. Knowing that health and safety is the number one priority, and that's where our focus has been on mostly, I'd like to ask a question about that. But I also recognize that SP.4 is really the only item where we can discuss items not having to do with SPs 1, 2, and 3, which are shelter in place, meals, and testing. So, I really City of Miami Page 66 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 wanted to talk a little bit about the state of the City and how we move forward here and the big decisions we may have to make from a financial prospective to take care of the most vulnerable of our residents. And I'm talking not only about their health at this moment, but their economic health, their housing as we move forward. Everything from the homeless person on the street, to the dishwasher that just lost their job, to the small business owner, to the transportation worker. There's so many things we need to think about. And the state of our City's finances are very important in order for us to address this and our partnership at different levels of government. But before I get into that, I just wanted to ask if you could address a couple things. One, I noticed in public comment, I believe it was a misstatement or maybe a misunderstanding, but there was a concern that our emergency medical technicians don't have the correct PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that's necessary to take care of themselves and the patients and change them enough times to make sure we're able to keep our guys safe and girls safe as well as the patients they're treating. If you could speak to that a little bit. If you could then, going back into the financial side of things, for a short and long term look, I'd like to know, maybe from Chris Rose, maybe from you, with regard to our municipal bonding capacity, the Miami Forever Bond is probablv the greatest asset we have before us for large scale spending to address some of these major issues. I want to know where the municipal bond markets are right now, if there's any instability there, and if the federal government is helping stabilize that. If not, if you could bring that back to us as an analysis, we could potentially advocate to the federal government to help if they aren't already. And then I'd like us to get a report from your office and the budget office with regard to our remaining budget within this year, to understand what non -essential line items we have and what items are not time sensitive, to see if we needed to make major policy decisions on our spending, what war chest do we have to take on the major initiatives that may be before us to help prop up this city and its most vulnerable residents. Thank you. Mr. Noriega: So, I'm going to address first the Personal Protection Equipment. I have our Fire Chief here in the room and I'm going to let him sit in for a minute and kind of walk you through some of their preparation leading up to our current situation. And then give you a status on how well equipped his public safety personnel are. Joseph Zahralban: Chairman, Commissioners, Joseph Zahralban, Fire Chief. Thank you. We have gone to great lengths to ensure that our paramedics, EMTs (Emergency Medical Technician), firefighters have the personal protective equipment that they need in order to do their job. We actually got way ahead of this in the end of December, early January, where we began to procure equipment because we recognized that everybody was going to be online, and everybody was going to be competing for the same resources. So, I'm pleased to say that we got probably about fifty percent of our overall order in stock before things got very competitive. So we are actually in a very good position with regard to personal protective equipment. We are meeting and exceeding standards and we continue to receive equipment on a daily basis, and we continue to put additional orders in to ensure that we have enough personal protective equipment for the long haul. So you can be confident that our EMTs, paramedics, firefighters, have everything they need to do their job. And we will not allow ourselves to fall to critical levels where it becomes a serious issue. If there's no other questions, I'll yield back to the Manager. Mr. Noriega: So from a budget and finance perspective, I'd like us to tap in Chris Rose if we can. Chris, you're going to step in? Oh, okay, come on in, sit down, relax. Chris Rose (Budget, Director): Thank you, Commissioners. Thank you, Mr. Manager. So as the Manager said, we are looking at sort of short term, medium term, and long term impacts. As of this past Friday, we had spent a little more than $2 million on some of the things that the Fire Chief had talked about, but that number is growing over time. But of a larger concern right now are the revenue impacts that we're City of Miami Page 67 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 looking at. And of course, we don't know how long this will last. So our projections, this has been one of the most difficult months to do a projection for my staff and if -- if this -- if we remain in the current situation for a month, and none of us know whether we will or will not, but if it's about a month then we're looking at about $17 million less revenue than we had looked at the previous month. Now that doesn't mean that every month is a $17 million number, it just means that that first month is a 17. So it is -- it's things like state revenue sharing and sales tax, it's charges jroservice, people are not in some of the places that they normally would be, giving the City payments for services that the City provides. And so all of this is going into what we're looking at, but there are a lot of variables right now. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: Chairman? Vice Chair Russell: You're recognized, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Do you mind if I ask the Budget Director a couple of questions? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Do keep in mind that I had Commissioner Reyes that wants to speak next. But considering the fact that he just jumped in, let you interject. So you can speak. Commissioner Carollo: You want me to go forward, or you want Commissioner Reyes to? Chair Hardemon: Because he just jumped in, I'll allow you to ask your questions of the Budget Director. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Chris, I've got a couple of key questions. First and foremost, on this fiscal year's budget, you've answered part of what I was going to ask you. You're estimating for next month maybe a shortfall of $17 plus million, correct? Mr. Rose: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. If it keeps up, what do you estimate, and I know it's only an estimate, on the following month how much will we be short? Mr. Rose: It really -- there's so many variables that I'm honestly not willing to go on the record vet. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. And I understand that. I understand that. How much do we have in this year's present budget in reserves? Mr. Rose: So, we are fortunate that City Code requires us to budget $5 million of emergency contingency reserve. We're also fortunate that the federal government has already said that they will reimburse 75 percent of most of the expenditures that are going on right now. We are operating under the assumption that the State will also reimburse half of the remainder, as they normally would in a time of crisis such as this. So with that said, $5 million is the answer to your question. But with reimbursements, we can stretch that a good ways. Again though, I need to stress that the expenditure side is not -- is not the largest of concern. The revenue side is -- Commissioner Carollo: I understand, but they go hand in hand. Mr. Rose: Yes, sir. City of Miami Page 68 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Carollo: Now, true, the federal government has said they will reimburse 75 percent. In theory, the State is supposed to reimburse us for half of our 25 percent, which is another 12 and a half percent that we get reimbursed for. And the President has said that in states like New York, and possibly others, they're going to have a hundred percent paid by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). So we might or we might not have the full amount paid. The problem is not if we're going to be reimbursed, when are we going to be reimbursed? So, we have to plan for a year, a year -and -a -half two years of when we're going to be reimbursed for dollars. And I think we've all had experience with the recent hurricane, look how long it's taken for the City to be reimbursed in many areas. Now 1 understand we have $5 million in reserves. There are more reserves in each of the individual departments that we have to be honest with each other and find and get a report to the Manager of how many reserves each department actually has within each individual budgets, including our own elected officials' budgets. At the same time you need to come up with a report to the Manager that can identify every single area that we can start making cuts right now and save money that we don't have to spend. Last but not least, this is in this fiscal year's budget, how much do we have in the overall City reserves that is actual monies that we can spend for any needs that we have? Mr. Rose: So all valid concerns, Commissioner, thank you for bringing them up, and they are things that we're looking at right now. I can say that the City's comprehensive annual financial report just came out this past week for the year that ended last fiscal year, and in that we are looking at 69 and a half -- no, 69.05 million of unassigned fund balance, effectively unrestricted fund balance. That is only about $2 million higher than what this City's self-imposed financial integrity principles require at about 67. So, we are meeting our financial integrity principles as of September 30th this past year, but we are sitting on, as you asked, about $69 million of unrestricted general fund reserve. We would of course never want to go too far down on that. And in a perfect world, we would not want to go any down on that. We would hold where we are. But in answer to your question, sir, 69 million. Commissioner Carollo: So you've got 69 and a half million unrestricted reserves, you've got 5 million on this year's reserve. We're at $73 and a half million, and -- actually $74 and a half million, of actual money that we have in reserves. That's without going department by department and finding out how much money we can pull out right now. Now in a perfect world, like you said, we wouldn't want to go below that. But we're not living in a perfect world now, we're living in a crisis unlike anything that any of us have ever seen in our lifetime. So let's be real, we're going to go way down on those reserves. We have no choice. Out of the almost $75 million that we have, we're going to have to cover from that 17 or more for the amount that we're not going to be getting in in new revenue next month. So we could start subtracting from that and see what we've got left for all the other needs that we have. I suspect that we can probably pull maybe as much as $15, $20 million in other reserves that we would find around the City, or in cutbacks that we could make. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much, Commissioner. I want to recognize Commissioner Reyes and then Commissioner Alex de la -- Diaz de la Portilla, I'm sorry. Commissioner Reyes: Well, Chris, I was going to ask you a couple questions, but first of all I want to congratulate and thank the Administration. Art, you're doing a magnificent job. You and your team, they have been outstanding. Outstanding, outstanding, the job that you are doing. And as Commissioner Russell stated, it is almost unbelievable that you've been a City Manager Jrosuch a short time, and you have the grasp that you have of our City government. I was going to cover a lot of questions, but they were very eloquently stated and asked by Commissioner Ken City of Miami Page 69 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Russell and Commissioner Joe Carollo. They were my same concerns. And I am real glad that we are on the same page. And one thing that 1 want to state is that traditionally what we -- the biggest problem that we had encountered in our finances is not this next year, but the second year, that will be 2022. And I think that we've got to prepare for that and the only way to prepare for that, to do that, is by taking the steps that you had mentioned, Mr. Carollo and Mr. Russell. We have to go back into our budget and see where we can save money or where we can use best practices and be more efficient. And I would love to see that. And I think that -- that when we talk about a reserve, unrestricted reserves, I have no doubt that anything that we use in the future years we will be able to recoup and make it whole again. But I'm glad that at least we are on the same page and that you have very eloquently took all the questions that 1 have have been taken care of by my colleagues. Thank you. Thank you, Art. And thanks -- thank to all the employees of the City of Miami for the effort that they are making. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla? Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I only have one question for Art and then maybe it will be a good segue into the first item we're supposed to discuss today, which is the shelter in place, and possible other actions we can take, curfew and others. My question, Art, to you is soft enforcement versus hard enforcement. We had some conversations last week that you initially were going to start with some soft enforcement, now obviously as things grow dimmer, we want maybe perhaps a stronger enforcement. What's your plan and what's the police force's plan, and maybe the police chief can address this issue to enforcement and, you know, how many patrols are we going to have, how are we going to tell people to stay home and follow the new rules and the new orders that have been issued? Mr. Noriega: Well we have -- and obviously we've had a number of conversations all of us individually with regards to enforcement, and more particularly how heavy- handed we want to be with that enforcement. The Chief and I have spoken on numerous occasions as we've added elements to the emergency orders. In particular, what type of businesses when we were really looking at occupancy loads initially and restricting those, we talked a little bit about the methodology. And in light of the current emergency order, we've specifically spoken in terms of how we're going to communicate that. Particularly in certain situations, certain instances. And that although the state statute would allow us to enforce all the way across the spectrum in terms of arrest, we've discussed really initially doing warnings and then potentially citing individuals. But if the host can patch the police chief and I'd like him to potentially expand on what I just referenced. Mr. Noriega: Chief are you there? Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: He's coming on. Commissioner Reyes: Yeah. Mr. Noriega: Yep. Jorge Colina (Chief Police): Mr. Manager, do you hear me okay? Mr. Noriega: We do. Mr. Colina: Okay. So to the question, yes, we've had many discussions in terms of the enforcement. Obviously with this order, it gives us now not just the power of suggestion, what we're basically asking people to shelter, this order gives us the authority to now to take formal action. That formal action can be up to arrest, which City of Miami Page 70 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 if someone is convicted, would be six months in prison and/or a $500 fine. Obviously that would he as a last resort. The idea here is that we go out and we educate the people that are out and about. If someone is blatantly disregarding the order, if someone is blatantly disregarding the social distancing concept, and they're not adhering to that, then obviously that's a place where we would be more forceful. We don't want people to feel like they can't go outside their home, for example, and walk their dog. If we see someone bicycling together, you know, we71 stop those people and say you can go outside and ride the bike around the block, but you want to have some distance between you and your other rider. The same rules apply to everyone. If we see vehicles out in the street, you know, we're going to stop those vehicles and make sure that these are people that are going out to the store, to go to the restaurant, that are performing an essential function. So that that first element, we think it's really important that it's more of an educational component, a warning component, unless someone is blatant. And the reason for that is we don't want to add to someone's misfortune of already they've either, a, lost their job or, you know, had a cut in hours, et cetera. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Are you adjusting -- may I Mr. Chair? Are you adjusting your rotation of your police officers, your patrols, throughout the city so you can enforce the stay in place order, the shelter in place order? Mr. Colina: Yes, sir. So what we've done in the police department is that every element of the police department, whether it's Investigations, Training, Administration, Internal Affairs, everyone is what we call patrol ready. So already, about a month -and -a -half ago or so, we were already getting ready that we might be in a predicament where we need to use all hands on deck. So we made sure that everyone had the equipment that they had to be prepared to go out and patrol regardless of their function. So right now we actually have more officers deployed than we would normally have. And we have more people in reserve ready to deploy than we would normally have in case we have to beef those patrols up. We also took the cameras, Commissioner, that are mobile, that we normally have in areas where we have a lot of people congregating, events, et cetera, and we took those cameras, and we moved them to areas of retail. So the Design District, Bayside, Southwest 8th Street, so we can monitor those areas to make sure that the people aren't, a, congregating and, b, that someone doesn't want to get the idea that this might be a good time to loot, for example. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: And if I may, and what have you found? What's been the pattern? Have you found any pattern of where people are congregating? Mr. Colina: You know, honestly in the city, in the city of Miami for the most part people are adhering. You will have a person or two. like we've seen on television, that is oblivious to what's happening in the world. But for the most part people are adhering to the rules. And when we have asked them to please make sure that they follow the orders, they comply. We've been documenting reports, so when we go out and we see someone that isn't, I'll give you an example, we had a call the other day about (FOREIGN LANGUAGE) that you know, they considered themselves essential, you know, we told them please close your doors. And we documented it in the form of a report. That way we can track who is repeatedly not following the order. That hasn't happened yet. So, everywhere we go where we speak to someone about, hey listen, you're not supposed to be open, you might have not known that, or you're supposed to practice in this manner and not let people be outside your window, we're actually documenting that in a report. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: And I have one more. If we were to implement a curfew, would you enact the same practices? Would you utilize the same practices in enforcement? City of Miami Page 71 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mr. Colina: No. If we enacted a curfew, we -- that would be a little bit more strict. Because in a curfew you're not allowed to be outside. And so, with the order as it sits right now, there are many circumstances on why you would be out and about. With a curfew, that wouldn't be the case. With a curfew, unless we made certain -- if we allocated for restaurants to remain open, for example, that would be one element. Outside of that, if it's a curfew you need to be in your home and if you're not in your home you're being challenged by us asking why are you not at home. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Would we need to implement certain exceptions like for a medical emergency or things of that nature within that curfew language? Mr. Colina: Yes, we can do that. We can do that, absolutely. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Have other cities done this in Dade County and have you been in contact with other cities and municipalities throughout the state that have done this in the last -- Mr. Colina: We have been in contact, Commissioner, with police departments not just here in the state. Tomorrow I have a conference call with police chiefs from across the state of Florida. I've been in contact with chiefs here in Dade County and I've actually been in contact with chiefs across the country to find out what they're doing since they're ahead of us in terms of how severe it is. So for example, I've spoken to the Chief of San Francisco, I've spoken to the Chief in Los Angeles, I've spoken to the folks in New York, just to get an idea of now that this has happened there, what are you doing, what has worked, what hasn't. There are some places that have already instituted a curfew and for the most part people are complying. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: And you feel confident in yours and your department's ability to enforce that curfew? Mr. Colina: Absolutely. You know, the City of Miami, Commissioner, as you know we've been through many things. Nothing quite like this, but I can assure you that the men and women of the police department always rise to the occasion. And we're going to be prepared to do anything and everything that we need to do to keep people safe. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Thank you, Chief Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chair? Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair? Vice Chair Russell: Question for the Chief Mr. Colina: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Chief Colina, the Fire Chief responded with regard to PPE for his employees. I'd like to ask you the same question to make sure as you enforce this and other laws, are your -- is your team well enough equipped, do you have what you need to make sure that they are safe and the people they are working with are safe? Mr. Colina: We're in a bit of a different situation than the fire department because the majority of the fire department's calls are medical related already. So, with the police department if it is a, and I'll just give you a random example, a disturbance between two neighbors, the idea is that we respond and we will deal with the people involved, while practicing the social distancing ourselves. And so if we can minimize contact, City of Miami Page 72 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 that's what we can do. Very early on in this process 1 sent a video message to all the officers explaining to them, you know, stop someone if they're not driving properly but give them a warning. If you don't have to give them a ticket don't do that right now. If you don't have to put your hands on someone, don't do it. If you have the ability to give someone a promise to appear as opposed to physical arrest, do that. Obviously, there's circumstances where we have to put our hands on people and that's just the nature of police work; we're going to do what we need to do. We have gloves, we have masks. We have more masks on order. We have the gallon jugs of the sanitizer. We don't have the small ones anymore, but we've ordered more of those. If we are aware that someone is ill and we're responding to a call, then obviously those officers will already be wearing masks, gloves, et cetera, to make sure if they have to interact with someone they believe is ill, they're better prepared. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, Chief. Commissioner Reyes: Mr. Chair? Chair Hardemon: You're recognized. Commissioner Reyes: Yes, I have a couple of questions. Well first of all Pm going to take this opportunity, now that you're mentioning the masks, to recognize Home Depot for donating 10,000 masks that we have received, EOC (Emergency Operations Center) has received, about 4,800, and there is another load that is corning on. Chief my question has to do with the amount of people or the people that they are not paying attention to this, to the shelter in place and maintaining distance one from the other. And like I know that maybe there are some places that we have seen people they are even partying and celebrating. Is there any area for the City that they -- you have noticed that type of activity is more prevalent than in other areas? For example, people that in some areas that they don't pay attention to all the different mandatory actions that we have, that have been stated by the County and by the City. Mr. Colina: The only areas, and it's really not a problem now, it was a problem probably four or five days ago, was some of the places in Brickell that have a lot of Airbnb. And so, they had people that were there visiting and of course they're thinking Tye want to be down by the pool area. And so we did get some of those calls. We did get a call that we had to respond to at -- off Biscayne Boulevard and 16th Street, where they were taking people out kind of like on a party boat. We had to shut that down because that was an obvious -- that's one of those circumstances where you obviously don't care what's happening. And so there, that was a hard shutdown. It hasn't happened again. But as of the last few days, I'm happy to report that at least in the City, you know, people are complying. Commissioner Reyes: Another question, Chief. In case that we implement a curfew, how are we going to distinguish from those persons that they are violating the curfew and those people that they are going to work, or they are going to the store to get some food, or they're going to go visit or bring some supplies to their parents? Are we going to be able to offer them like a pass? Because I had this question from many of my constituents. They are concerned that that they work someplace, I mean for example, a person called me, that person lives in my district, but he works in Hialeah. And he works at a restaurant in Hialeah and has to leave at 6 o'clock in the morning. And he was asking me if we had a curfew, how can he be sure that he's not going to be stopped or be arrested, or that -- I mean there's going to be consequences that he would have to face? We have to develop some type of process by which we identify those persons, and we provide them with some sort of identification, or a pass, or I don't know. I think that I'm going to ask for your expertise in order to suggest what we should do. City of Miami Page 73 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mr. Colina: So typically in a curfew, anybody that's out in the street we're going to challenge. And the reason behind that is because the idea is that we don't want you out in the street. We recognize that there's going to be some people that have to be in the street. And so if someone works at the news media that goes in at night, for example, or goes in early morning because they work in print media or they work at the hospital, typically those people have ID (identification). If you work at a hospital, you have ID. If you work for media and you're allowed to be out, you have ID. If you work for a government entity that requires you to work at night, you have identification. It's a little bit more challenging if we're going to allow restaurants to stay open past 11 o'clock in the evening. That becomes a little bit more challenging. Ideally they have some sort of identification that shows that they do work at a restaurant. That would be a challenge that we would have to face, if that's one of the exceptions. Now obviously you have the authority to say, listen, everyone at 11 o'clock or at midnight needs to be closed and there is a curfew in effect. That makes it obviously much easier for us to enforce. Commissioner Reyes: Well that's it -- if the curfew is going to be from II o'clock to 5 o'clock in the morning or whatever. Mr. Colina: Yes. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. And but what I'm also questioning is how we are going to identify, are we going to allow Uber and Lyft to also pick up and be on the street? And in my -- also 1 have calls from people that are driving, and they are Meals on Wheels, and they take hot food to the -- some of the senior centers, and they are afraid that this is going to, 1 mean, interfere with their job. There's not only those people that has -- that they have an ID, everybody doesn't have an ID. But what 1 would request is that we provide, or we establish a process, or some sort of IDs that that would be given to those people at probably, I don't know, the police department. The City Manager would have to do that. Those people that they are working in those essential businesses. And in order for them to be able to move around and don't be stopped. Mr. Colina: We didn't find -- Commissioner Reyes: Because we have to differentiate -- be able to differentiate from the people that are working and people that are loitering. Mr. Colina: Yeah, and what we can do, Commissioner, is, well first, obviously whatever it is that the five of you decide to put in that order or if you even decide to have the order, but let's just assume for a second that you do decide that you want to institute a curfew, first, whatever the exceptions are we would have to list that. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. Mr. Colina: And then if we challenge someone and they don't have an ID of that job, we still have the ability to take that person's name and information from that stop and essentially let them know that they need to tell us the truth. We're going to document who they are and verify where it is that they work. Because this is a crisis that we're in and there are people that just by nature don't want to comply with the law. But if you five decide that this is the course that we're going to take, we're going to challenge people in the street and they're going to have to have some form of identification from where they work. And if they don't, we'll document who they are and there will be consequences to that. And we'll just have to let everyone know, whether it's through a press release or the Manager speaking to the media or you gentlemen, letting everyone know this is the expectation, this is what we're going to be doing, so no one is misled. But if there is a curfew we're going to enforce it. City of Miami Page 74 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Reyes: I do understand, and 1 agree that we are in a crisis, and we have to take measures. What I'm trying to do is 1 am enumerating, or trying to point out different situations that in order that if we decide that this is the course of action that we're going to take, that we are aware -- Mr. Colina: Yes, sir. Commissioner Reyes: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE), we're going to vote for a curfew, but we have to take into consideration all this different aspects of it, so we are not going to be stopping everybody, 1 mean or ticket -- they're giving them a ticket or arresting or whatever. We have to provide certain type of IDs to those people that are legally, or they are complying with the requirements of the law. Mr. Colina: Yes, sir, understood. Commissioner Reyes: Okay, thank you. Commissioner Carollo: Chairman Hardemon? Chair Hardemon: I want to add something to this discussion. There was a time when this pandemic first broke out in the City of Miami, Miami Beach, and other neighboring cities, where we found ourselves where there were businesses that were open, where you had a significant amount of people that were congregating, where it was really and truly a space that it was problematic for us to thwart this virus. And so, I think we've come a long way from that time. So it's not -- we're not in the position right now where you have clubs that are open on Miami Beach or restaurants that are allowing people to sit down and congregate or people sitting down in bars and they're drinking and moving forward like everything's fine. We're in a position now where everyone for the most part is bunkered down, where only essential businesses are open, and people are generally respecting what is being requested of them. What I caution us about is implementing additional criteria that makes things not only more difficult for I would say our police department, but for us to maintain some sort of order. So, when I think about the curfew for instance, it makes me -- it makes me think, a curfew for to me becomes necessary when there is a threat to someone's property or safety, and we need to make sure that everyone who's on the street is friendly. And so police officers, for instance, if there was some sort of civil disturbance, or riot, if the people don't understand the language, then you would ask for a curfew to make sure that everyone that's out at night, no one's breaking into homes, no one is doing anything that is violent or destructive to people's personal property. In this situation our biggest issue is really social distancing, that's what the problem was. And we shut down the restaurants, we shut down all these different businesses, because they were not adhering to the social distance requirements'. And so I caution us to say, hey, this implemented curfew is going to affect social distancing, you know. Is that going to be something that's going to help us thwart the COVID virus? Because unlike Key Biscayne, we don't exist where you're one way in, one way out. So, a lot of people who don't live in the City of Miami, they find themselves caught up in this whole -- this net, if you will. People drive to and through our city all the time and I don't want to put ourselves in a position where someone who is not necessarily subject to a -- to this order gets stopped by the police and then negative things happen. You know, in our community, that's how things start, they start with a police stop, a police encounter, and then they escalate from there. And so I just want us to caution -- I just want to caution all of us about, you know, the road that we're taking because I think this is a very serious road. And it may be necessary, but I question whether or not it's necessary at this point right now. I'm going to recognize -- I see a finger up, so I'm going to recognize Commissioner Ken Russell and if there's anyone else just, you know, just show me your hand and I'll (UNINTELLIGIBLE). City of Miami Page 75 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Vice Chair Russell: Curfew question. Chair Hardemon: Then Commissioner Joe Carollo. Vice Chair Russell: It's a curfew question. I noticed in the stay at home, the shelter in place order that the Manager drafted, that the curfew was expressly not put in there. And I'd like to ask him his reasoning why in analyzing other cities and our situation why he chose not to. If there's a logic to that, I'd like to respect that and understand it. Mr. Noriega: So, my personal perspective on it is 1 felt that at this moment in time, particularly because the section of the code that really allows the power for us to implement a curfew is really wrapped around the issue of civil disobedience, civil unrest, and the need to protect personal property. So, I wasn't sure we were at that point yet, which is why I didn't include it in the -- in the shelter in place order, or part of the latest emergency order. Not to say that at some point in time it might not be necessary, I just felt it wasn't an important component of it really at this juncture. Commissioner Reyes: Do you think that it is necessary at this time after a couple of days have passed by? Mr. Noriega: I don't. Commissioner Reyes: You don't. Okay. Okay, now 1 want to add to what Commissioner Hardemon said. I am concerned, and 1 wish if we want to go into curfew that it's countywide, really, because given the geographic position of the city of Miami, we have everybody has to cross the city of Miami to go from point A to point B, you see? If you work in Downtown Miami, you have to go through city of Miami. You want to go to Hialeah, and you live in the south, you have to cross the city of Miami. I think that -- and let me tell you this, I am not opposed to the curfew. I want to be clear. But 1 see certain future problems that could arise because of people that is just going -- I mean is just traveling through the city of Miami, how are we going to differentiate that person from a person that is a resident of the city of Miami and violating the curfew? You see, that the police department has to stop them. And I would love to see if we get in this all together, the EOC, the County, and all the municipalities, and follow suit and we just start taking action together, you see, and have a consensus. But we don't have it. We don't have it. And so we have to analyze this very carefully. Very carefully. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. Chief? Mr. Colina: Sir. Commissioner Carollo: If I may ask of you and the Fire Chief that's off camera next to the City Manager, if on behalf of all of us, the elected officials, if you could express our gratitude and thanks and appreciation to all the first responders in the police department, the fire and rescue department -- Commissioner Reyes: Absolutely. Commissioner Carollo: -- and in particularly to their families. Because they are the ones that are having the biggest anxieties, the biggest stress, because you guys are out there in the streets, on the front lines, and this silent enemy that we have, we have no idea when we could pick it up and bring it to our.families and loved ones. So on behalf of all of us, please let all your employees know that we're extremely grateful of City of Miami Page 76 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 the job that they're doing for all of our residents, and us, at this point in time. And, Mr. Manager, if you could also express the same to all the other employees that we have that are not police or fire, like solid waste and others, that are in the streets now in essence being first responders, too, of a different type and level, doing the job that is also very dangerous for the reasons that I've stated. So, to all of you on behalf of all of us, express our gratitude and appreciation. Mr. Colina: Thank you, Commissioner, we'll do that. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. Having said that, and this is now to Chief Colina, the shelter in place that we have has a series of exemptions. And there's a lot of confusion all along this. So, what I think is important, Chief and I'm going to explain to you one incident that 1 -- I was made aware of. last night, it's important to have some guidelines that each of the officers that are on patrol have them to refer to and know what the exemptions are. And I'm not blaming any of your officers because there's a lot, and it's confusing, but for instance last night an individual, that after I spoke to the Mayor I told him that I thought he was fine as an exception, he's got a small place, sandwich store, he's doing take-out only and deliveries. And he was told by one of our officers that he had to shut down between midnight and 5:00 a.m. I felt bad because I told him that he was under exception. If I'm wrong, then I need to know, but if not, we need to make it clear to our officers. And again, this is not their fault because there's too many exceptions -- Commissioner Reyes: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: -- what the exemptions right now in dealing with it. Mr. Colina: It is -- it has been confusing. And I'm not making excuses for the officers, but -- Commissioner Carollo: It is, it is. Mr. Colina: -- it's confusing. We have one of the City attorneys that was kind enough to produce a pretty simple list of the latest exceptions. Because as you know that's kind of evolved. And then I think what's added to the confusion is that Miami -Dade County has been very vocal, and the changes are very frequent. So -- and it's not to criticize anybody over at the County, but they'll make one statement and then it seems like an hour later there's a conflicting statement. And I've received a lot of those phone calls, I've in turn have called our manager to get clarification. But today one of our City attorneys gave me a list that I think is quite helpful that we'll send out to all the officers. And then we'll do our best to update it. If something changes, we'll do our best to certainly update it. But I appreciate it. Commissioner Carollo: Good. And I appreciate that. One last statement on this shelter in place. And I think this goes hand in hand with that. Here, we're -- placed a shelter in place in our city. But I just heard that there's supposedly two additional cruise ships that are coming to the Port of Miami, which is controlled by the County. But in order for people to get out, they've got to come through the city, because there's no other way. And I'm told that in those two ships, there are people that have tested positive for this virus. Now -- and that almost makes it difficult, so I wouldn't use another word, to protect our residents when we're having this. I can tell you all that just two days ago I received a call from some very important individuals that were in the Bahamas with two huge yachts, that needed to have a place to put them in with their crew and themselves. And they promised that they would self -quarantine for 14 days before going out. And the Trust could have received anywhere from 200 to $400, 000. I declined it fir two reasons. First and. foremost, we had the Mayor of Dade City of Miami Page 77 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 County's Order on shutting down marinas. But secondly, I wanted to protect our people here, because this is a time that as much as we might need money going to the future, lives matter more than dollars. So, hearing this from two cruise ships corning in in a place that we don't control, it's the County, but they're going to be coming and being spread out through our city is very troublesome. So, Mr. Manager, what can we do in the spirit of cooperation that we should have and are having with the County to make sure that if they're going to be allowing ships to dock in the Port of Miami, that they be placed also in quarantine, like we're asking people to self -quarantine. That they're not going to be allowed to leave there where as this happened already. No one is even taking their temperature, no one's asking them a single question. And who knows where they're going to into our community. And maybe, just maybe, this is why the maps that I've seen, we don't have a central area of infection. It's all over. 1 mean where you can't really pinpoint a main area that people have been infected in our city. Mr. Noriega: So what we'll do, Commissioner Carollo, is following sort of the example with regards to the restrictions on flights from those, sort of -- we'll call hot zones, around the country which Governor DeSantis issued an order restricting them as well as screening passengers that deplane the planes and then forcing them into quarantine -- self -quarantine maybe we could encourage the State to issue a similar order for cruise ships as well as reach out to the County and get some cooperation and some compliance, really along the same lines. And I'll certainly make that effort, and I would encourage the Mayor to assist in that as well as each of you. But we have a -- we have an actual example of that in terms of what's happened in our airports. 1 think we should sort of follow in line with that -- that precedent. Commissioner Carollo: Unfortunately, Mr. Manager, the airport is self -quarantined from what I'm hearing right now. And particularly, in respect to people coming from other states that have a high infection rate. Now let me address this to the City Attorney. Madam City Attorney, since the entrance and exit to the Port of Miami is City land, they have to go in or come out through our city. Can you research to see if there's anything we could do to blockade that entrance or exit where we can limit only the people that are there to do essential work from going in or going out? And that we're not just letting every tourist ship that comes in, every cruise ship that comes in, unload people without -- not having any idea if they're infected or where they're going to go in to our community and spread an infection. Ms. Mendez: We'll do some research, Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: I appreciate it. Mr. Colina: Commissioner, I can speak to the Director in the morning and find out if they have a plan in place and what that plan is for these two ships, if they're allowed to dock there or not. I believe it's two Costa Cruise Line ships and there's supposed to be about 30 or so that are showing flu -like symptoms. And so I'll call him in the morning, and I'll find out is there a plan? Are these people going to be allowed to get off the ship? And what exactly is that plan? And then I'll deliver that information back to you and the rest of the Commissioners. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Chief And I'm saying this because before we started getting high numbers of people infected in our city, and overall in Greater Miami -Dade County, we had several of these cruise ships that were allowed to dock. Some of them it was confirmed that people had been infected and the reports that I heard was that nobody was checked whatsoever nor were they asked any questions when they were let out. Mr. Colina: Yeah, I'll get a report in the morning, and well see. You know, hopefully there's a plan in place, but regardless I'll get the information and pass it on. City of Miami Page 78 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Chief. Chair Hardemon: Okay, what I'd like to do is, we've been discussing SP.4, so there's been an update from the City management since progress. I know that we have three other items that are a bit more particular. And if you all are ready we can move to those items. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Mr. Chairman, I believe that we already did. We sort of segued, we were discussing the shelter in place, was Item 1, that we were talking about, the curfew. 1 think there was comments made to that, so 1 think we can procedurally move into taking up Item 1. And I think the Mayor had some comments to make. 1 heard him raising his hand. I don't know if any of the other commissioner has any other comments. Vice Chair Russell: He's muted. Commissioner Reyes: Can't hear you. Chair Hardemon: Who had a comment they wanted to make? Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: The Mayor I think had some comments. Chair Hardemon: I can't see the Mayor. Mr. Mayor, you're recognized. Mayor Suarez: Can you hear me? Chair Hardemon: Yeah, I can hear you now. Mayor Suarez: Thank you. First of all, and I'd sort of like to make some introductory comments. You know I called this special meeting at the request of Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla who provided a very comprehensive agenda about the things that we are dealing with in this crisis. I really want to echo what Commissioner Carollo said, particularly about our first responders. Those who are on the front line, who are the face of our city in this crisis, and during this crisis. I want to thank in a very very, special way our City Manager, our Fire Chief our Police Chief and our Emergency Manager, who have been exemplary throughout this entire crisis. I want to thank each and every one of the Commissioners. Each and every one of you have risen to the occasion, have promoted, as I think Commissioner or Vice Chair Russell said, your own initiatives to, you know, maintain a steady, quality of life for our residents during a very very difficult moment. And so I really, really want to commend you all for that. And I want to thank you also for always checking up on me. And I want to thank all our residents who have texted me and called me throughout this process. NA - NON -AGENDA ITEM(S) City of Miami Page 79 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 NA.1 7355 City Commission RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO ESTABLISH A GENERAL CURFEW THROUGHOUT THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") BEGINNING ON MARCH 27, 2020 BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 10:00 P.M. AND 5:00 A.M. DAILY UNDER THE AUTHORITY GRANTED TO MUNICIPALITIES BY FLORIDA STATUTES SECTIONS 252.38, ET SEQ., AND 501.160, AND EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 20-52 PROMULGATED BY GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS ON MARCH 9, 2020, MORE SPECIFICALLY, SECTION (4)(D)(1) PROVIDING THAT EACH MUNICIPALITY IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA IS AUTHORIZED TO WAIVE THE PROCEDURES AND FORMALITIES OTHERWISE REQUIRED OF THE POLITICAL SUBDIVISION BY LAW PERTAINING TO THE TAKING OF WHATEVER PRUDENT ACTION IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE THE PUBLIC'S HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELFARE, AND PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 45 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, TO PROHIBIT PERSONS WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY DURING THE DECLARED CURFEW HOURS FROM STANDING, CONGREGATING, OR MOVING ABOUT, WHETHER AS A PEDESTRIAN OR BY MEANS OF A VEHICLE, EXCEPT AS NECESSARY TO PROVIDE FIRE, POLICE, OR HOSPITAL SERVICES OR WHEN ENGAGED IN AN ACTIVITY ENUMERATED HEREIN; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO MODIFY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE CURFEW AS DEEMED NECESSARY; PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-20-0087 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Alex Diaz de Ia Portilla, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Diaz de Ia Portilla, Carollo, Reyes Commissioner Carollo: None of us want to do that. But let me go ahead and I think it will be appropriate for Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla, if he agrees with this, to make the motion. I'll gladly second it, or someone else can. It would be a motion to have a curfew in the City of Miami beginning this corning Friday from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 in the morning. And that the only exceptions that we're going to be having are people that have to go or coming from work, that need or have a medical emergency, or are taking their dog out no more than 500 feet from their place of residence. Because we don't want someone to be walking, you know, the whole town with a dog in hand and they're going to tell us I'm taking my dog out. It has to be no more than 500 feet -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Five hundred feet is pretty far, Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: Well, it is, so if we're giving them -- Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Two hundred feet, you know, because that's like three, that's like five blocks. Commissioner Carollo: Well no, no, it's not. City of Miami Page 80 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: Yeah, 1 know, I'm joking. Commissioner Reyes: Let me -- (MULTIPLE PARTIES SPEAKING IN UNISON) Ms. Mendez: Commissioners, -- Commissioner Carollo: We have -- Chair Hardemon: Everyone, everyone can't speak at the same time. Please allow Commissioner Joe Carollo to finish his statement. Then Manolo Reyes, then the City Attorney wants to say something. Commissioner Carollo: The three exceptions would be work, coming or going, medical emergencies, taking your dog out to a limit from your residence. And you can impose however amount of feet you want. I was just thinking where we have a lot of buildings that sometimes it's not easy to find a place. So, I think even 250 feet, half of what I suggested, should be more than enough. So we could do 250. Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla: And I'll second that motion. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved and seconded. 1 want to recognize Commissioner Manolo Reyes and then -- let me recognize Victoria first because she may have something that she wants to add. [Later... ] Chair Hardemon: All right, let's move on to the next item on the agenda. Vice Chair Russell: Todd's trying to speak but he's on mute. Commissioner Reyes: I'm sorry, I wasn't here when the vote was on. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Okay, it's already taken place. Chair Hardemon: You were walking up. Okay. So the vote was whether or not, I included you in the vote because I saw you sit down and you didn't vote in the negative. So, the vote was to implement the curfew as described and I gave options for a yes or no vote. Did you want to be included in the yeas or the nays? Commissioner Reyes: In the yeas, but I want to make a clarification. I want to have the City Manager, as Commissioner Russell suggested, I want to see that he prepares all the exceptions and very clear. And also I would like that we -- and I'm going to say this because I believe that at this time, we are in critical time now and we should be working with all the cities and the County, and I strongly recommend that we reach -- try to reach every other government institution and try to work together and put a plan together that will benefit the city. That's what I wanted to say. And I don't think that we should -- I mean, try to get everybody on the same -- try to get everybody working together. As it happened with Marlins Park now that we have a crossover of cooperation, and we have that testing site in place. That is my two cents on this issue, and I hope -- I hope that all the exceptions take into consideration those people that need to be there, like utilities and all of that. And deliveries and all of that. Thank you. I vote yes. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Mr. Mayor? City of Miami Page 81 Printed on 10/02/2024 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 25, 2020 Mayor Francis Suarez: Mr. Chair, I just want to make a quick point. First of all, thank you for supporting this agenda item that Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla proposed and that I support as well. I know the Chief mentioned this, hut I just want to clarify that members of the media who are working, who are documenting, you know what I mean, the implementation of the curfew or anything related to this COVID-19 phenomenon are going to fall in that work exception that Commissioner Carollo put in there. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, my apologizes, just for the record, the motion passed unanimously, 5-0. Chair Hardemon: That's correct. Commissioner Reyes: Okay. END OF SPECIAL MEETING ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned on Thursday, March 26, 2020, at 1:07 a.m. City of Miami Page 82 Printed on 10/02/2024