HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2025-09-25 MinutesCity of Miami
City Hall
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, FL 33133
www.miamigov.com
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, September 25, 2025
5:05 PM
Second Budget Hearing
City Hall
City Commission
Francis X. Suarez, Mayor
Christine King, Chair, District Five
Joe Carollo, Vice Chair, District Three
Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner, District One
Damian Pardo, Commissioner, District Two
Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner, District Four
Arthur Noriega, V, City Manager
George K. Wysong III, City Attorney
Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 25, 2025
5:05 PM INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Present: Chairwoman King, Vice Chair Carollo, Commissioner Gabela, Commissioner
Pardo and Commissioner Rosado
On the 25th day of September 2025, the City Commission of the City of Miami, Florida, met
at its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, for its
Second Budget Hearing. The Commission Meeting was called to order by Chairwoman
King at 7:11 p.m. and adjourned at 8:34 p.m.
ALSO PRESENT:
Arthur Noriega, V, City Manager
George K. Wysong III, City Attorney
Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
Chair King: We are also going to begin this meeting with prayer. We have today Attorney
Bonita Jones -Peabody, but she's also a pastor and my friend.
Bonita Jones -Peabody: Hallelujah. It's such a privilege and an honor to be here with this
commission tonight and to offer a prayer. I invite you to pray with me.
Invocation delivered.
Vice Chair Carollo: Everyone could stand, please. And we're going to say the Pledge of
Allegiance. Thank you.
Pledge of Allegiance delivered.
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ORDER OF THE DAY
Chair King: Mr. City Attorney?
George Wysong (City Attorney): Yes, Madam Chair.
Chair King: Would you please read your statement for the record?
Mr. Wysong: Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. George Wysong, City Attorney, City of
Miami. Statement of the City Attorney. This evening, the City of Miami is holding its
second and final budget meeting and the related second and final budget public
hearing for purposes offixing the City's final millage rate, adopting the City's final
budget, and approving various agency budgets for the fiscal year beginning
October 1, 2025 and ending September 30, 2025. This hearing was set pursuant to
Resolution No. R-25-0304, adopted on July 24, 2025, and in compliance with
Chapter 200 and Section 166.241 Florida Statutes and all other applicable codes,
rules, and regulations. Detailed information about the processes, order of business,
rules of procedure, and scheduling and rescheduling of City Commission meetings
can be found in Chapter 2, Article 2 of the City Code, a copy of which is available
online at www.municode.com. 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 member until
registering. A copy of Chapter 2, Article 6 of the City Code, entitled "Lobbyists, " is
available in 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 the City Code section is available at the Office of the City Clerk
or online at www.municode.com. The City of Miami requires that anyone
requesting approval, relief or other action from the City Commission must disclose
before the public hearing any consideration provided or committed directly or on
its behalf to anyone for an agreement to support or withhold objection to the
requested approval, relief or other action pursuant to City Code Section 2-8. Any
documents offered to the City Commission that have not been provided at least
seven days before the meeting as part of the agenda materials will be entered into
the record at the City Commission's discretion. In accordance with Section 2-33(f)
and (g) of the City Code, the agenda and materials for each item on the agenda is
available during business hours at the City Clerk's Office and online 24 hours a
day at www.miamigov.com. The meeting of the Miami City Commission is a limited
public forum. Any person may be heard by the City Commission through the Chair
for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the City Commission
unless modified by the chair. Public comment will begin at approximately 7.:20 p.m.
and remain open until public comment is closed by the chairperson. Any person
making offensive remarks or who becomes unruly in the Commission Chambers will
be barred from further attending City Commission meetings and may be subject to
arrest. No clapping, applauding, heckling, or verbal outbursts in support or
opposition to a speaker or his or her remarks shall be permitted. No signs or
placards shall be allowed in the Commission Chambers. Persons exiting the
Commission Chambers should do so quietly. Members of the public wishing to
address the body may also do so by submitting written comments via the online
comment form. Please visit www.miamigov.com/meetinginstructions for detailed
instructions on how to provide public comment using the online public comment
form. The comments submitted through the comment form have been and will be --
have been and will be distributed to the elected officials' and city administration
throughout the day so that the elected officials may consider the comments prior to
taking any action. Additionally, the online comment form will remain open during
the meeting to accept comments and distribute to the elected officials and city
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Meeting Minutes September 25, 2025
administration up until the chairperson closes public comment. Public comment
may also be provided here live at City Hall, located at 3500 Pan American Drive,
Miami, Florida 33133, subject to any and all City rules as may be amended from
time to time. If the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the opportunity to
be heard may be at such a later date before the City Commission takes action on
such a proposition. When addressing the City Commission, the members of the
public must first state their name, their address, and what item or items they are
speaking on. Any person with a disability requiring assistance auxiliary aids and
services for this meeting may notify the City Clerk. The City has provided different
public comment methods to indicate, among other things, the public's support,
opposition, or neutrality on the items and topics to be discussed at the city
commission meeting in compliance with Section 286.0114(4)(c), Florida Statutes.
The public has been given the opportunity to provide public comment during the
meeting and within reasonable proximity and time before the meeting. Please note
commissioners have generally been briefed by City staff and the City Attorney on
items on the agenda today. Anyone wishing a verbatim record on of any item
considered at this meeting may request it at the Office of Communications or view it
online at www.miam/gov.com/MiamiTV. Notwithstanding the foregoing, pursuant
to Florida Statute Section 200.065(3), and 286.0105, and Florida Administrative
Code Rule 12D-17.005(2)(c)(22), no verbatim record is required for the appeal of
any decision made during public hearings required by Chapter 200. This meeting
can be viewed live on Miami TV, the City's Facebook page, the City's X, formerly
Twitter, page, the City's YouTube channel, and Comcast Channel 77. Thank you,
Madam Chair.
Chair King: Thank you. Mr. City Manager, are there any items on this agenda that
you want to pull or defer, withdraw?
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): Madam Chair, City Commission, there are no
items to be pulled or deferred as part of this budget hearing.
Chair King: Thank you.
PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ALL ITEM(S)
Chair King: And at this time, I'm going to open the floor for public comment. If you
are here for this same organization, I will allow two persons from the organization
to speak on behalf of the organization. So, if there are multiple people from one
organization, please designate one or two persons to speak. You're going to say the
same thing. So public comment period is now open if anyone --
Vanessa (Minor): Good evening, everyone. My name is Vanessa [Withheld], and
I'm 10 years old. 1 represent Family Action Network Movement. FANM (Family
Action Network Movement) has helped families for 33 years. FANM has helped
people with youth programs, house assistance, immigration support, health and
wellness, and more. If you support FANM, it won't just help today. You will be
helping people have a better tomorrow so kids can have a safe environment to live.
Please support FANM. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Renita Holmes: Good evening.
Chair King: Good afternoon.
Ms. Holmes: Madam Renita Holmes. You can check with the Clerk's Office --
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Chair King: Wait, wait.
Ms. Holmes: -- because of security (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
Chair King: Madam Holmes, let's have the next person.
Ms. Holmes: Oh, the same organization?
Chair King: It's the same organization, yes.
Ms. Holmes: Oh, by all means. I'll wait for three or four more speakers.
Chair King: Okay.
Janiece (Minor): Good evening, everyone. My name is Janiece [Withheld], and I
am nine years old. I'm a part of Family Action Network Movement. Please support
FANM. The after -school programs helps with homework and reading. It will help
kids like me get a good education and be a leader in the future. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Okay. Well, I want to say that I'm supporting FANM.
FANM is in my district. FANM does wonderful work. So, I want to set your mind at
ease, that I am going to support your organization. And if we can quickly get a
picture, that would be great. You guys indulge me. Let me run down and take a
picture with them.
Chair King: Come on.
Thema Campbell: That's a tough act to follow. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and
Commissioners. My name is Thema Campbell, and I am the founder and CEO
(Chief Executive Officer) of Girl Power Rocks, a nonprofit dedicated to
empowering girls in our community through education, mentoring, mentorship,
mental health support, and creative expressions. We serve hundreds of girls across
Miami, many of whom face serious challenges, poverty, violence, lack of access to
safe spaces. But when they walk through our doors at Girl Power, they find
something different. They find strength, they find sisterhood, and they find hope.
With your support over the years, we've been able to provide life -changing
programs in Liberty City, Overtown, and beyond. We've seen girls improve
academically, grow emotionally, and develop into leaders, not just leaders of
tomorrow, but leaders of today. Investing in girls is not charity. It is smart policy. It
means lower crime, stronger families, and a more resilient Miami. As you consider
this year's budget, I urge you to please continue to invest in Girl Power Rocks and
organizations like ours and the rest of these beautiful people you see here in this
room this evening. Because when you uplift girls, you uplift the entire community.
Thank you for listening.
Chair King: Thank you. Good after -- good evening.
Stanley Young: Good evening, Chairwoman and Commissioners. Well, I was here
this morning, and I'm here tonight. Chaplain Stanley Young of Freedom Prison and
Jail Ministry. This is located in the city of Miami, 500 Northwest 2nd Avenue. I've
come back tonight to really invite each and every one of you to come alongside and
Freedom Prison and Jail Ministry, to see what we do, how we do, and why we do
what we do. Last year, 2014 [sic], we trained, we encouraged, we have helped over
2,000 people that is in the city of Miami to help them get off the streets, get off
drugs, help them, train them in different aspects of life to help them go on with they
[sic] life away from crime. But I really came back out tonight to really open the
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doors to Freedom Prison and Jail Ministry for you to come. Staff come, volunteers
come, whoever wants to come and see on the ground of what we actually do. We
also pass out over, 1 say, a thousand Narcans in the city of Miami with those who
are on hard drugs, those who are looking to get off drugs, who may overdose on
drugs, in that respect. We also give out bus passes that we -- to help these
individuals to get to jobs, to help them to get to hospitals, to help get to they [sic]
mom 's house, to help them to get around the city so they could not do anything that
is illegal. I'm committed on what I do. I'm open to any scrutiny, any kind of thing
that you would like to know about us. I thank you, God bless, and have a blessed
day.
Chair King: Thank you. Good morning -- good after -- good evening, Madam
Holmes.
Ms. Holmes: Good evening, good evening.
Chair King: I'm not used to being here at this time.
Ms. Holmes: Thank you, Madam Chair. It's all right, it's all right. I'm a little bit
disappointed, and I really want you to work on the timing. You know, it takes a lot
of time to come down. I'm getting that age. You know, when I come down for a
hearing that I got a lot to say. So, thank you for listening. I'm here to help raise
your awareness on the lack of resources, funding, or programmatic initiative to
address the disparate issue of domestic violence in Liberty City. Things don't have
to always get reported, but yet they're witnessed, and witness account means that
there's a constant reaction going on. I haven't heard any CBOs (Community Based
Organizations) that particularly deal with specifically the issue of domestic
violence and restraining orders, but housing makes a big difference for some of the
women. I tell you that there are women that are returning from prison, mothers,
they've done their time, some for protecting themselves. There are LGBQT
(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Transgender) that have fought hack, and their
restraining orders requires -- and their VAWA (Violence Against Women Act)
require that they have sufficient housing. Here's the bottom line towards resolve.
There are various properties that could be committed to provide homes for these
women lest they return to prison. There are various places for us that we need to be
where we can't be in the regular -- the trauma level is high. We have no one
dealing with that. I'm not going to take much of your time, but you know, I kind of
base things on facts and I don't have the numbers right there. I'm asking you, those
of us who take a special interest, no one should be beaten because of their sexuality.
No one should be discriminated in housing because of their sexuality. But there are
children and there are women with children and some men that really are catching
hell. 1 wish the police department was here to talk about it. They don't get many
reports. But the question still remains that I don't get an answer to. Why is it so
difficult for people to serve restraining orders with the City of Miami Police
Department? Why are people telling women that that's for the county to do? And
why is there no place to go although we have VAWA grants and VAWA vouchers
that are going out? If you're open --
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Holmes: -- to talking about some of these properties, there are those of us that -
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Holmes: And may I close?
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Chair King: Close.
Ms. Holmes: I've waited two and a half hours, just three more seconds, madam.
Chair King: You still only got two minutes.
Ms. Holmes: Okay, thank you. And so, as fairly as -- I thank you. But here's the
challenge to you all. If you genuinely care, please come back. We can talk about it.
Chair King: Thank you.
(COMMENTS MADE OFF THE RECORD)
Ms. Holmes: Yeah, yeah. I'm just finishing.
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Holmes: That's what we hear out there as vagrants and survivors. We don't
have time and so women die. Thank you.
Chair King: Good evening.
Elaine Black: Hello, my name is Elaine Black, the president of the Liberty City
Trust, located at 4800 Northwest 12th Avenue. We want your support for our 19 --
for our 2024-25 budget revision that allowed us to provide jobs to 170 young
people this summer. We also would like to have your support for our budget for
2025-26. Our focus is housing and ensuring that residents can get and buy new
infill housing. And because of our commissioner, wonderful things are happening
as far as infill housing in our community, the rehabilitation of housing in our
community, and ensuring that residents in our community are aware of rental
properties available. The youth program has made a difference in reducing crime
and providing young people additional training during the summer, job experience,
as well as learning. This summer; we had an opportunity to do photo shots of the
individuals who did participate. So that on their social media, they will now have a
photograph that they can be proud of as they move forward. Resilience, I'm so
happy we have not had a hurricane this year. But we did participate with the city of
Miami's resilience program to ensure that heat sensors were put into the homes of
many of our residents. And we will continue to work with them as we move forward
and ensure the Charles Hadley Park is a place where you can come and have heat
sensitivity there. You can get water and cooling spot for us here in the Liberty City
area.
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Black: So overall, thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
Ms. Black: And have a wonderful day.
Chair King: Good evening.
Theophius Williams: Good evening, Theophius Williams, 1391 Northwest 95th
Street. Oftentimes, we talk about budget situation. It should be -- out of four years,
it should be some communication with the taxpayer like us to tell us how the money
being spent, not come here every year to the county and other areas to say we're in
a shortfall. Maybe we're paying too much legal fees from people who don't --
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taxpayer help paying their legal fee. We need to look into some of that. How many
lawsuits? We need to look in -- they're not telling us this. They're not telling us. But
the problem is, it always be the little people get hit. But when we put y 'all, it's
politics over people. But when it comes to us, it's no answer. We have to pay the
price for what y'all doing rather than come -- half of the time, y'all do things where
we don 't vote on it. Y'all don't come to us to see how we feel. You got the CRA
(Community Redevelopment Agency) and all them building. We still got homeless
people. We need to look into all the CAR [sic] money going on, road improvement.
And if you got the lowest tax in the history of the city of Miami, why we at a budget
meeting? Why we at a budget meeting? And the leader, it's not him when we come
here. These the people we vote for. It's too many people getting in the race. It's not
going to benefit this city or this town. It's all about them. Be careful who you vote
for, because it's not about us. It's about them. It's a business now. The people
suffering, that's us. See, everybody comes for votes. And promise is broken promise.
And who can we trust? It's friends and buddies getting what they want. Politics
over people?
Chair King: Thank you. Good evening.
Samuel Latimore: Good evening. My name is Professor Sam Latimore. I live at 937
Northwest 55 Street, Miami, 33127. That's been a residence for us since the 1950s.
I'm here to support the resolution approving and adopting the budget of the Liberty
City Community Revitalization Trust and master plan for fiscal year 2024 and '25-
'26. And the reason for that is I've had an occasion to work with them on the board.
I've lived in this town for a long time; I've had a number of occupations. And they
have done more to impact, along with the assistance of the commissioner, in
changing the lives of people who grew up here. I grew up here, and I'm pleased
that they're doing some wonderful things. The jobs program is awesome, because
we're taking young people who don't get an opportunity to work, because they
don't have the necessary language skills nor the educational skills. So, I ask for
your support for the budget and help us and assist us with the housing
rehabilitation programs that we have started. Thank you. Have a good day.
Chair King: Thank you. Good evening.
Mercedes Rodriguez: Good evening. My name is Mercedes Rodriguez. I reside at
1510 Northwest 19th Avenue. Before anything, I want to thank the administration
for all the hard work they've done putting together this budget throughout the last
few months. One thing that we need to take a look at, as session starts in
Tallahassee with committee, is to have a consideration to try to have a fire taxing
district. One of the biggest needs that we have across the city is regarding our fire
stations and our fire equipment. They're old, we need to replace some of them, and
we also need to increase the number of training classes, also, regarding the CERT
(Community Emergency Response Team) program, which a lot of money has been
invested into. And also, we need to have a more of a bigger pace in hiring fires [sic]
and police officers as our city is growing in population. We are an international
city and most of us have a call to make regarding fire, not necessarily regarding a
crime issue, which is excellent because our fire department is doing a great job. But
from time to time, we do have a health issue. We do have accidents. Even our own
firemen need additional training. So, I would like to put that on the record in order
for us to consider that maybe in midterm, starting at the beginning of next year in
January. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good evening.
Brenda Betancourt: Wow, good evening. Brenda Betancourt, 1436 Southwest 6th
Street. I want to just echo what Mercedes was saying about a fire station and the
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police stations. We want to understand that the budget needs to reflect what we're
doing for the police and fire. 1 know we have a shortage, but we need to make sure
we have what we need. For those who don't know, at least in my area, is a lot of
gang activities. So, a lot of drug is being moving to this area. And I'm trying to be
more understanding about the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in police. But we knock on
doors, and we talk to people. The only concern, number one concern, is drugs and
crime. After that is how the streets are being taken care of which is done. So, we
need to make sure that our residents are receiving what we need. And I'm saying as
a property owner, to me it's very difficult to understand sometimes how the budget
goes. And you guys are in charge of the budget, but at the same time, the budget,
the way that you guys are distributing, need to show that you're actually doing
something with the money of the city of Miami. Streets are not better; sidewalks are
not better. Well, I cannot say that of Commissioner King because I went over to
Overtown and your streets have been clean as ever since I was there on Booker T.
many years back. But we have to see sidewalks, streets, police, and lighting. It's
really important and I know that most of you are trying to work on it., but the
flooding issue as well. So, please, I don't know how the budget is going to reflect
that, but we need to work on that. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you. Good evening.
LaVerne Holliday: Good evening. My name's LaVerne Holliday. And I am the
special assistant to Lavern Spicer, who is the CEO and founder of Curley's House.
We've been around almost 30 years, and I'm asking jroyour support, continued
support. We feed over 5,000 people a week, and some of them line up at 7 o'clock in
the morning in the rain and the sweltering heat to be served by 11 and until the food
runs out. So, we are asking for support in your '25- `26 year budget. And if there's
any leftover in the '24- `25, we're asking for your help in that as well. In addition,
Chairwoman King, I'd like to thank you and your staff for the support you've done
with us this year and also the mayor. So, thank you and keep us in mind. With the
budget cut, we are suffering significantly with the budget cuts from the county.
Thank you and have a great evening.
Chair King: Thank you.
Wendy Mendoza: Hi, my name is Wendy Mendoza, and I live at 815 Northeast 70th.
I'm not sure how this all works, but I'm here because of our stormwater
infrastructure and our seawall. And 1 don't know how it all gets distributed, but 1
just wanted to make note that we're in desperate need, and 1 know that you've sent
your people, and they're working on it, and they're wonderful, but I just want to
make sure that they remember us in this budget. So, thanks.
Chair King: Thank you. Seeing no one else for public comment, public comment
period is now closed.
BH - BUDGET HEARING
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BH.1 DISCUSSION ITEM
18063
Office of
Management and
Budget
BH.2
18007
Downtown
Development
Authority
A DISCUSSION TO ALLOW PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE FINAL FY 2025-26
MILLAGE RATE, FINAL BUDGET, AND ALL OTHER BUDGET ITEMS ON
THE AGENDA.
RESULT: DISCUSSED
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item BH.1, please see
"Public Comments for All Item(s)."
Chair King: I believe at this time our budget director will read a statement or read a
Marie Gouin (Director, Management & Budget): Good evening, Madam Chair,
Commissioners. Based on the millage reduction that we did in the last meeting, it
went from 1 -- 7.1364 for the operating millage to 7.1080. Based on the proposed
millage rate which was advertised on Sunday the 21st, the proposed general
operating millage rate is 7.1080 mills for the City of Miami for the fiscal year
beginning October 1st, 2025 and ending September 30th, 2026. That operating
millage rate is 7.67 percent higher than the state -defined rollback rate of 6.6015.
Chair King: Thank you.
DISCUSSION ITEM
A DISCUSSION OF FINAL MILLAGE RATE AND FINAL BUDGET FOR THE
DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
("MIAMI DDA").
RESULT: DISCUSSED
Chair King: And at this time, we are going to have a statement from our DDA
(Downtown Development Authority) executive director.
Christina Crespi: Good evening. My name is Christina Crespi, and I'm the CEO
(Chief Executive Officer) and executive director of the Miami Downtown
Development Authority. The proposed tentative millage rate to fund the operations of
the Miami DDA for fiscal year 2025-26 is 0.3900 mills. The Miami DDA's rollback
rate is 0.4053 mills. The current proposed tentative millage rate is 3.7 percent less
than the rollback rate. Thank you.
Chair King: Thank you.
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BH.3 ORDINANCE
18059
Office of
Management and
Budget
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), RELATED TO TAXATION, DEFINING AND
DESIGNATING THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI
("CITY"); LEVYING AN AD VALOREM TAX ON ALL REAL AND PERSONAL
PROPERTY IN THE CITY AT A TOTAL FINAL RATE OF 7.3616 MILLS ON
THE DOLLAR OF THE TAXABLE VALUE OF SUCH PROPERTY, FOR THE
PURPOSES OF FUNDING THE GENERAL OPERATING BUDGET AND
PAYMENT OF DEBT SERVICE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING
OCTOBER 1, 2025, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2026; CONTAINING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: 14398
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: BH.3 was pulled for discussion and BH.10. Let's take -- do you want to
take BH.10 first or BH.3?
Vice Chair Carollo: Let's take BH.3 if we could. This is for the Downtown
Development Authority?
Chair King: Oh, hold on one second.
Vice Chair Carollo: No.
Chair King: One second.
Vice Chair Carollo: No, it's BH.2.
Chair King: No, BH.2 was just a statement that was read by the --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, BH.3.
Chair King: Hold on. It needs to be -- the title needs to be read into the record.
George Wysong (City Attorney): Yes, Madam Chair. BH.3, ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Chair King: Someone had a question?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Chair King: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Mr. Manager, I have gone over the budget, and besides the
500,000 new dollars that we have now from the sign at Maurice Ferre Park, 1 found
that there was a major miscalculation of monies that will be coming to this year's
fiscal budget from the fee that Fire -Rescue collects from insurance companies. This
year, they've collected some $21 million. The year before, it was right below 10.
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When the new fire chief took over, he saw that there were some tremendous deficits
that didn't make sense, and he immediately jumped into it and brought it up to over
$21 million for this year. Now, being conservative, he doesn't feel that that could
necessarily go as high, but he feels very comfortable it could go up to $18 million. In
this proposed budget, you had allocated $12 million. I would respectfully suggest
that we go the medium amount, not 12, not 18, go with $15 million on the budget,
which will free up three additional million dollars. And let me explain where I think
this money should go. Looking at the whole city of Miami, like we should, obviously,
we all like to take care of our districts, but we're all commissioners of the whole city.
One of the biggest areas with the biggest populations that has a major deficit in how
long it takes to have an ambulance get to them is over by 37th Avenue, our big,
beautiful park that's there, all that area right across the street. Twelve minutes to get
-- on the average -- a Fire -Rescue truck there. That's totally unacceptable for an
area that large. And I suggest that out of that $3 million, we use $2 million to go
there. That will get us 13 new paramedics, firefighters, for that particular unit. And
you know, you need three, but times 24, that's three shifts, so you need nine. And
those nines, their 40 hours, they're done in four days out of the week, then that's why
you need 13, with the rest that cover the extra days and the off days also. $2 million,
I would propose, if you agree that we are correct, and I feel we're very
conservatively correct, that two million additional dollars should go towards putting
an extra Fire -Rescue unit to begin with. In the future, we could see what we need. I
feel pretty certain that in the near future, we're going to need also a fire truck, but
that's for the next budget.
Chair King: Vice Chair.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes?
Chair King: I believe you're talking about BH 10 because BH.3 is only the millage.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, well, yeah, I'm just talking --
Chair King: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- overall --
Chair King: Oh, okay, because we --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- to include for the budget.
Chair King: Okay. Because we were on the BH.3 part first.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Chair King: Just to handle the millage. Okay.
Commissioner Gabela: But concerning the commissioner's rightly correct
assessment of my area, I also would like to put into the record that we have a
firehouse on 41st Avenue and Northwest 7th Street that we've been trying to get
done. And I was wondering whether we can maybe work towards that end to kind of
get started on that, on the shortfall that we have, Mr. Manager? Because of that
firehouse, I've toured it, and it's very old, very outdated, and they've already
purchased land in the back to -- I think you're familiar with what I'm --
Chair King: Guys, guys, if I can redirect us, if we can address the millage first, and
then BH.10 is exactly what you're talking about. So, ifI could have a motion.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Move on the millage.
Chair King: And a second.
Commissioner Rosado: Second.
Chair King: Now, BH.3 requires roll call. Mr. City Clerk.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Thank you, Chair. Roll call on agenda item BH.3.
Commissioner Pardo?
Commissioner Pardo: Approve.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Gabela?
Commissioner Gabela: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Rosado?
Commissioner Rosado: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Vice Chair Carollo?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Chair King?
Chair King: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: The motion passes, 5-0.
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BH.4
18008
Downtown
Development
Authority
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), PROPOSING AN ADDITIONAL FINAL MILLAGE RATE
FOR AD VALOREM TAXATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 200.065,
FLORIDA STATUTES; DEFINING AND DESIGNATING THE TERRITORIAL
LIMITS OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT ("DISTRICT") OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("CITY"); LEVYING AN ADDITIONAL AD
VALOREM TAX ON ALL REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN THE
DISTRICT AT THE RATE OF 0.3900 MILLS ON THE DOLLAR OF TAXABLE
VALUE OF SUCH PROPERTY IN SAID DISTRICT FOR THE PURPOSE OF
FINANCING THE OPERATION OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("MIAMI DDA") FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2025, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER
30, 2026; PROVIDING THAT SAID FINAL MILLAGE SHALL BE IN ADDITION
TO THE MILLAGE ADOPTED BY THE CITY COMMISSION PURSUANT TO
ARTICLE VII, SECTION 9 OF THE FLORIDA CONSTITUTION AND SECTION
166.211, FLORIDA STATUTES, AS WELL AS ANY SPECIAL
ASSESSMENTS IMPOSED BY THE SAME; PROVIDING THAT THIS
RESOLUTION SHALL NOT BE DEEMED AS REPEALING OR AMENDING
ANY OTHER RESOLUTION OR ANY ORDINANCE FIXING MILLAGE OR
LEVYING TAXES, BUT SHALL BE DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL AND IN
ADDITION THERETO; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0407
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: Gentlemen, BH.1 and BH.2 were taken care of When our budget
director read her statement, that was BH.1. And when the DDA (Downtown
Development Authority) executive director read her statement, that is BH.2. So, we
have remaining BH.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Are any of the remaining items you
want to pull for discussion? Do you want to pull any of these items for discussion?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, I need to talk about the $9 million that has to do with
you, Commissioner Pardo, and the decision that we made here.
Chair King: Which item is that?
Commissioner Gabela: 1 don't know if that's pertaining to BH.10. City Manager?
Marie Gouin (Director; Management & Budget): Yes.
Commissioner Gabela: That would be the $9 mil that we spoke about coming from
the Bayfront Trust. That would be related to BH 10, correct?
Ms. Gouin: Yes, it would be BH.10.
Chair King: Okay.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, so I would pull BH.10.
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Chair King: So you want to pull BH.10?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah.
Chair King: Okay. Commissioner Pardo, do you have any items that you want to
pull?
Commissioner Pardo: No.
Chair King: I know. I'm sorry.
Commissioner Pardo: No.
Chair King: No. Okay. Commissioner Rosado, is there --?
Commissioner Rosado: No. I don 't have any that 1'd like to pull.
Chair King: Commissioner Carollo?
Vice Chair Carollo: I don't have any to pull, but I do want to add something to the
budget, if I may.
Chair King: Okay. So, before you do that, may I have a motion?
George Wysong (City Attorney): Madam Chair, BH.3 is an ordinance, so I just have
to read the --
Chair King: I'm not --
Mr. Wysong: I'm sorry.
Chair King: I'm not block voting it. I have been briefed.
Vice Chair Carollo: Which one are we doing?
Chair King: I'm going to ask for a motion to pass BH.4.
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah, so moved.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): BH.3? I'm sorry, BH.4 has to be voted on
individually.
Chair King: I'm going to do it individually.
Mr. Hannon: Oh, okay.
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.4?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Commissioner Rosado: So move, yeah.
Chair King: I have a motion and a second. All in favor?
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BH.5
18010
Downtown
Development
Authority
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries unanimously.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE FINAL ANNUAL
BUDGET OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY
OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("MIAMI DDA"), ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED IN
COMPOSITE EXHIBIT "A," IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $18,865,990.00,
AND MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FROM THE DOWNTOWN
DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT AD VALOREM TAX LEVY AND OTHER
MISCELLANEOUS INCOME FOR THE MIAMI DDA, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2025 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2026;
AUTHORIZING THE MIAMI DDA TO MAKE TRANSFERS BETWEEN
ACCOUNTS FOR NECESSARY AND PROPER PURPOSES; AUTHORIZING
THE MIAMI DDA TO INVITE AND ADVERTISE REQUIRED BIDS;
PROVIDING THAT THIS RESOLUTION BE DEEMED SUPPLEMENTAL AND
IN ADDITION TO THE RESOLUTION MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2025, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER
30, 2026, FOR THE OPERATIONS OF THE CITY.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0408
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH.5?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Commissioner Rosado: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: BH.5 passes unanimously.
BH.6 RESOLUTION
18032
Southeast
Overtown/Park
West CRA
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING AND APPROVING THE 2026 ANNUAL
BUDGET OF THE SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN PARK WEST COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("SEOPW CRA"), ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A," IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF
$280,997,692.00, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1,
2025, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2026.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0409
City ofMiami
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Meeting Minutes September 25, 2025
BH.7
17968
Bayfront Park
Management
Trust
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Damian Pardo, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: May 1 have a motion for BH. 6?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Commissioner Pardo: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries unanimously.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE ANNUAL BUDGET
AND MASTERPLAN OF THE BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT TRUST, IN
THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF THIRTY MILLION, SIX HUNDRED TWENTY-
THREE THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO AND 00/100 DOLLARS
($30,623,752.00), ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A," TO
PROVIDE FOR THE MANAGEMENT, OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE, AND
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS OF THE MILDRED AND CLAUDE PEPPER
BAYFRONT PARK AND MAURICE A. FERRE PARK FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2025, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30,
2026.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0410
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: May 1 have a motion for BH.7?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair?
Commissioner Rosado: Actually, I just needed some clarification on that one. The
million dollars for homelessness, that wasn't -- I know we had a few memos about
the Bayfront Trust budget, but I didn 't see that explicitly listed in there. I just want to
make sure that that has been set aside.
Chair King: That's in a resolution that we already passed in a previous --
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah. That you guys wanted for the homeless to be --
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BH.8
17989
Liberty City
Community
Revitalization
Trust
Chair King: The million dollar -- right.
Commissioner Gabela: Right.
Commissioner Rosado: Right.
Mr. Hannon: It was a direction to the executive director --
Chair King: Right.
Mr. Hannon: -- to include that in their fiscal year '25- `26 budget.
Chair King: Yeah, so that's taken care of.
Commissioner Rosado: Okay, just because it wasn't explicit in the budget, so there's
no --
Commissioner Gabela: No, that was taken care of.
Chair King: I know, as amended, Todd.
Vice Chair Carollo: That was in the last meeting.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, it was.
Commissioner Rosado: Okay.
Chair King: Yes. Okay, so may I have a motion for BH 7 as amended?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Commissioner Rosado: So moved.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE BUDGET OF THE
LIBERTY CITY COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION TRUST AND THE
MASTERPLAN FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025-2026, ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED IN COMPOSITE EXHIBIT "A," AND COMPOSITE EXHIBIT
"B, IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,391,958.00 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2025, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2026.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0411
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Meeting Minutes September 25, 2025
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item BH.8, please see
"Public Comments for All Item(s)."
Chair King: May 1 have a motion for BH.8?
Vice Chair Carollo: Moved.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair --
Chair King: As amended. All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Passes unanimously.
BH.9 RESOLUTION
18069
Office of
Management and
Budget
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY") FISCAL
YEAR 2025-26 MULTI -YEAR CAPITAL PLAN, ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED ("PLAN"), AS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO THE
COMMUNITY PLANNING ACT, SPECIFICALLY SECTIONS 163.3161 AND
163.3177, FLORIDA STATUTES, AND CHAPTER 18/ ARTICLE IX/
DIVISIONS 1 AND 2 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED, TITLED "FINANCIAL/ FINANCIAL POLICIES/ ANTI -DEFICIENCY
ACT/ FINANCIAL INTEGRITY PRINCIPLES," TO SET FORTH THE CITY'S
FISCAL NEEDS FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS, SUBJECT TO AN
ANNUAL PLAN REVIEW, TO DETERMINE PROJECT PRIORITIES, TO ADD
NEW CAPITAL PROJECTS, AND TO MODIFY FUNDING ALLOCATIONS AS
NECESSARY; PROVIDING FOR INCORPORATION OF SUBSEQUENT
AMENDMENTS TO THE PLAN; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0412
MOTION TO: Adopt
RESULT: ADOPTED
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
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BH.9 RESOLUTION
18069
Office of
Management and
Budget
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY") FISCAL
YEAR 2025-26 MULTI -YEAR CAPITAL PLAN, ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED ("PLAN"), AS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO THE
COMMUNITY PLANNING ACT, SPECIFICALLY SECTIONS 163.3161 AND
163.3177, FLORIDA STATUTES, AND CHAPTER 18/ ARTICLE IX/
DIVISIONS 1 AND 2 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED, TITLED "FINANCIAL/ FINANCIAL POLICIES/ ANTI -DEFICIENCY
ACT/ FINANCIAL INTEGRITY PRINCIPLES," TO SET FORTH THE CITY'S
FISCAL NEEDS FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS, SUBJECT TO AN
ANNUAL PLAN REVIEW, TO DETERMINE PROJECT PRIORITIES, TO ADD
NEW CAPITAL PROJECTS, AND TO MODIFY FUNDING ALLOCATIONS AS
NECESSARY; PROVIDING FOR INCORPORATION OF SUBSEQUENT
AMENDMENTS TO THE PLAN; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0412
MOTION TO: Reconsider
RESULT: RECONSIDERED
MOVER: Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
BH.9 RESOLUTION
18069
Office of
Management and
Budget
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY") FISCAL
YEAR 2025-26 MULTI -YEAR CAPITAL PLAN, ATTACHED AND
INCORPORATED ("PLAN"), AS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO THE
COMMUNITY PLANNING ACT, SPECIFICALLY SECTIONS 163.3161 AND
163.3177, FLORIDA STATUTES, AND CHAPTER 18/ ARTICLE IX/
DIVISIONS 1 AND 2 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS
AMENDED, TITLED "FINANCIAL/ FINANCIAL POLICIES/ ANTI -DEFICIENCY
ACT/ FINANCIAL INTEGRITY PRINCIPLES," TO SET FORTH THE CITY'S
FISCAL NEEDS FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS, SUBJECT TO AN
ANNUAL PLAN REVIEW, TO DETERMINE PROJECT PRIORITIES, TO ADD
NEW CAPITAL PROJECTS, AND TO MODIFY FUNDING ALLOCATIONS AS
NECESSARY; PROVIDING FOR INCORPORATION OF SUBSEQUENT
AMENDMENTS TO THE PLAN; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0412
MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s)
RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
MOVER: Joe Carollo, Commissioner
SECONDER: Ralph "Rafael" Rosado, Commissioner
AYES: King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Chair King: May I have a motion for BH. 9?
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Vice Chair Carollo: Move -- move.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Carries unanimously.
[Later...)
Chair King: BH.9 is -- I know I have to amend --
Commissioner Gabela: No, BH.9 we did already.
Chair King: -- but we have to bring it back to amend it. So, Todd --
Commissioner Gabela: What happened?
Chair King: -- with BH.9, I need a vote for reconsideration because they left out an
amendment. May I have a vote -- a motion for BH.9 to reconsider?
Vice Chair Carollo: Motion.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, but what are we reconsidering?
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah, what --
Chair King: They left out an amendment. They left some term out that we have to
include.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, what is that amendment?
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah, what's the term?
Chair King: I'm going to tell you when we -- I get a vote.
Commissioner Gabela: Oh, okay. All right, so motion --
Commissioner Rosado: Second.
Commissioner Gabela: -- to reconsider.
Chair King: So, I got a motion in a second to reconsider a reconsider, all in
favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion passes. Now.
Marie Gouin (Director, Management & Budget): Good evening, again. This item, it
was the exhibit that -- the memo that was distributed. I'd like to amend that memo to
include -- there was an item that was part of the mid -year that took the 10 million
that divvied up between the four districts to be for parks improvement. I need to
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Meeting Minutes September 25, 2025
amend that for it to be any capital needs that the district needs, they can use those
dollars, not just for parks improvements.
Commissioner Gabela: Hang on. Hold on. Where's this 10 mil coming from?
Chair King: From the Miami --
Ms. Gouin: The 10 million has already -- was -- has already been allocated from the
general fund.
Commissioner Rosado: That's from Freedom Park?
Commissioner Gabela: To where? Allocated to where?
Chair King: Each district.
Commissioner Gabela: Each?
Ms. Gouin: For each district.
Commissioner Gabela: Does this have to do with Freedom Park and the money
allotted jor Freedom Park?
Chair King: From Freedom Park.
Ms. Gouin: It --
Commissioner Gabela: From Freedom Park?
Chair King: From -- initially, it was just for parks, and now they're changing it so
that you can use it --
Commissioner Rosado: Okay.
Commissioner Gabela: But that wasn't the deal. That wasn't the deal. The deal was
that it was 10 mil to keep there. You and I talked about this, am I --?
Ms. Gouin: It's a separate 10 mil.
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): No, no, this is a separate 10 mil.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, but that's what I'm asking.
Mr. Noriega: That's not the 10 mil you're referencing. This was that other reso that
was passed to take 10 million from the general fund --
Ms. Gouin: From the general fund.
Commissioner Gabela: Got it.
Mr. Noriega: -- and allocate it --
Commissioner Gabela: To distribute --
Mr. Noriega: -- to each district. Yes.
Commissioner Gabela: Got it.
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Mr. Noriega: That's what she's talking about.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay. So, the 10 mil that's there, right? And this is the other
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
Mr. Noriega: Yes. Correct.
Chair King: Yes.
Ms. Gouin: From the general fund --
Mr. Noriega: Correct.
Ms. Gouin: -- to be distributed between 2, 4 --
Mr. Noriega: And what they're doing is creating more flexibility around how you
can use that money.
Chair King: So, you don't have to use it for park. You can use it for park, affordable
housing.
Mr. Noriega: Yeah, you can use it for whatever.
Chair King: And -- and -- and --
Commissioner Rosado: I have a -- yeah, I'm a little bit confused on this. So, it's not
related to the Freedom Park park funding, but you mentioned four districts, not five.
So --
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, because I got left out. I got left out because supposedly
since 1 got the 10 mil for Freedom Park for what's coming there, there was a deal
struck here, even though the original deal, I wasn't even here when it was struck,
you know, and then somebody somehow decided, well, if he's getting 10 mil, we got
to get 10 mil, and then you divided up -- right? That's the way it was.
Mr. Noriega: Yeah, I didn't divide it.
Commissioner Gabela: And I got left out.
Mr. Noriega: That's the way it was -- that's the way the reso was passed, in that the
additional $10 million would be divided amongst the districts outside of District 1.
Chair King: You had gotten left out one time too, but got put back in.
Commissioner Rosado: And I'm inviting everybody to the Three Kings Parade.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, remember, it's a District 3/District 4 joint event.
Commissioner Rosado: But everybody is welcome.
Chair King: So, may I have a motion for BH.9 as amended?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Commissioner Rosado: So moved. Second.
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Commissioner Gabela: So, the only thing -- hang on a minute, please. The only thing
we're doing here is we're widening the scope --
Chair King: Yes.
Commissioner Gabela: -- of how the money can be used, right?
Ms. Gouin: Correct.
Chair King: Correct.
Commissioner Gabela: Nothing else?
Chair King: No.
Ms. Gouin: Nothing else.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, thank you.
Chair King: May I have a motion?
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Chair King: Second.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Commissioner Rosado: Second.
Chair King: I already had that.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries as amended.
BH.10 RESOLUTION
18065
Office of
Management and
Budget
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH
ATTACHMENT(S), ADOPTING A FINAL BUDGET AND MAKING
APPROPRIATIONS RELATING TO OPERATIONAL AND BUDGETARY
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2025,
AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2026; RATIFYING, APPROVING, AND
CONFIRMING CERTAIN NECESSARY ACTIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER
AND DESIGNATED CITY OFFICIALS IN ORDER TO UPDATE THE
RELEVANT FINANCIAL CONTROLS, PROJECT CLOSE-OUTS,
ACCOUNTING ENTRIES, AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH AND FOR GRANTS IN PROGRESS; PROVIDING FOR AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-25-0413
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MOTION TO:
RESULT:
MOVER:
SECONDER:
AYES:
Adopt with Modification(s)
ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S)
Joe Carollo, Commissioner
Miguel Angel Gabela, Commissioner
King, Carollo, Gabela, Pardo, Rosado
Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing Item BH.10, please see
"Public Comments for All Item(s)" and Item BH.3.
Chair King: Okay, BH.10, go -- go ahead, Commissioner Gabela.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, no, I was just saying the city manager was about
give me a -- a response. He's talking to the Fire Chief now. Mr. City Manager?
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): What was the question?
Commissioner Gabela: The question is, firehouse.
Mr. Noriega: Oh, you want the firehouse question?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah.
to
Mr. Noriega: So, the current plan is to come back to the commission with a overall
capital plan specifically focused on both Police and Fire. So, from a public safety
perspective, you know, we've talked a lot about a public safety building, and we want
to eventually wrap that plan both on the disposition of the existing footprint of the
police headquarters and fire headquarters, and then the development of a new public
safety building, which we are in very short order. I wanted to get through the budget
to finalize this, come and brief each of you individually on the location
recommendations.
Commissioner Rosado: Mr. Manager, is that coming to us in October?
Mr. Noriega: Yes.
Commissioner Rosado: Okay.
Mr. Noriega: And then worked into that is the current capital needs for existing fire
stations, fbr any new stations we may need, right? And then also the upgrades to the
existing police infrastructure, which is both the north and the south -- central
stations. So, we're going to wrap all of that into a recommendation fbr -- fbr a bond
that would actually go towards funding the entire capital project. That particular
project currently has, I think a shortfall of what, (INAUDIBLE) --
Commissioner Gabela: 7 to 8 mil.
Mr. Noriega: -- more or less? I mean, the existing plan, but we've talked about value
engineering that plan anyway, so it would wrap that particular fire station, and then
we have a number of others that are in pretty poor condition that need to be
upgraded. We also have some that are just not the appropriate sire for the area they
service, and we need to add some more capacity there, too. So, all of that's going to
get worked into one overarching plan.
Vice Chair Carollo: Maybe, Mr. Manager, what you might want to do in the very,
near future is have a special meeting, a work meeting, so that we could dedicate it to
public safety --
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Mr. Noriega: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- and what our needs are both for Police and Fire so that we
know what is needed now and into the fixture, do a five-year plan of the needs of the
city and public safety so that we can take action now rather than later when it hits
us.
Mr. Noriega: Excellent suggestion.
Vice Chair Carollo: We have quite a major need, I think, both police and fire. But
this one right now that I'm mentioning is, I think, the most critical of all the areas.
There's not that many. There's a few in the city that are deficient, but this is the
biggest by far. It's got the largest population, biggest area, and 12 minutes to get a
Fire -Rescue ambulance there. That's unacceptable in our city and particularly when
we strive throughout the rest of the city to get it there in about five minutes or less.
So --
Commissioner Rosado: Vice Chair?
Vice Chair Carollo: -- this is where I would suggest that the $3 million that I've
shown that's there, definitely there, conservatively, that we use $2 million for that,
that would cover the bulk of it. And the additional million, that we use it for the
program that I talked about before, leave no kid behind, help each student succeed.
And this would be citywide with a million from this general budget like this, putting
in the other half million that we just got. And I would put a million from my own
district with two and a half million dollars. We could reach in excess of 750 kids, 28
weeks out of the year, through the school year, for no less than five hours a week,
two days a week in tutoring them. And I think that would go a long way, but it's not
going to be enough for the future. So that's laying the foundation for this program
into the future.
Commissioner Rosado: Vice Chair, could I ask a clarification?
Vice Chair Carollo: Yes.
Commissioner Rosado: I missed the location that we were talking about for fire
rescue.
Vice Chair Carollo: The location that we're talking about is in Melreese. They call it
the Golf Course of Freedom Park.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, what used to be the clubhouse.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, that's right across a huge area that goes all the way to
27th Avenue, correct, Commissioner Gabela?
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, 37th Avenue, approximately --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Commissioner Gabela: -- Northwest 17th Street, approximately.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, and that whole area takes 12 minutes or more to get an
ambulance from our city there, when the rest of the city, for the most part, is about
five minutes or so. So, that's a red zone that we have to take care of now. And this
will do it. Chief?
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Robert Hevia: Thank you, Commissioner. Robert Hevia, Director of the Department
of Fire -Rescue. So, to specifically answer your question, the Commissioner is
correct. We have areas that we need to both for fire suppression EMS (Emergency
Medical Services). We conduct heat maps and some areas that are 12 minutes
because it's kind of like in a dead zone. You look geographically when these stations
were built, 50, 60 years ago, traffic is much different now. So, it's not really
distance, obviously, that has changed, hut the density and traffic that's slowing our
units down. If you've been to the station that Commissioner Gabela was speaking of
Station 10 on 41st Avenue and Northwest 7th Street, for the unit to pull out of the
station, is a mission. Sometimes there's a delay just getting out of the station to be
able to turn. So, the area that we're looking at for this Freedom Park would extend
from 37th Avenue on the west side. It would be barriered by the river on the north
side and go down to Northwest 7th Street, and then would move east all the way to
around Northwest 21st Court. So, it's a pretty large area and it would cover all the
areas that we're talking about.
Vice Chair Carollo: And we're not even talking about into the future once that whole
complex is built with the mall, with hotels, with office building, and our own
administration building.
Mr. Hevia: We've counted the --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, you definitely will need it then --
Mr. Hevia: 100 percent.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- but now you need it because you have a huge area of people
that takes 12 minutes to get an ambulance or more.
Mr. Hevia: Yes.
Commissioner Rosado: Chief is this -- how does this overlap with the Beacom area
that we've discussed?
Mr. Hevia: So, this is going to benefit -- this is -- what we're talking about here is --
what the Commissioner is proposing is a rescue truck. So, currently because that
area is so busy, it's being serviced by the fire station on 41st and Northwest 7th
Street. So, what inevitably happens is that the rescues get called, they're busy on
calls, well, then another call comes in. The biggest donor to that territory is the
station on Beacom Boulevard, Northwest 7th Street, that is going into that territory
nearly 500 times a year. And that's where you see delays, because it's coming from -
- all the way from Beacom Boulevard all the way to 37th.
Commissioner Rosado: It's a longer trip.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah.
Mr. Hevia: So, what happens then? Well, then the Beacom Boulevard area is now
short of a truck, takes them longer to get hack, and it's kind of a domino effect. So,
this one unit really benefits, although it's primarily in Commissioner Gabela's
District, it does benefit all of the surrounding areas in District 4 and District 3, the
residents, because their units will stay longer in their territory where there are fire
stations.
Vice Chair Carollo: In particularly, the Beacom one, you would have your rescue
there not having to be so far away. And that's part of the things that we need to
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consider into the future. This is why I'm asking, Mr. Manager, with the police chief
with the fire chief that we have a meeting, especially for public safety needs into the
future because the city is growing so much. Traffic is getting so horrendous that it
takes longer, much, much longer to get from point A to point B now than ever before.
Therefore, we're going to have to build more fire stations. We might even have to
add a few more, you know, mini substations in different areas.
Chair King: Do I have a motion for BH10?
Commissioner Gabela: Motion.
Vice Chair Carollo: There's a motion with the --
Commissioner Gabela: BH.10 or BH --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- amendments that I've made.
Commissioner Pardo: Yes.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- with --
Commissioner Gabela: We're not on BH 10, are we?
Vice Chair Carollo: -- there's a motion --
Chair King: What?
Vice Chair Carollo: Commissioner Gabela?
Commissioner Gabela: No, no, but on BH10?
Chair King: BH.10, yes.
Commissioner Gabela: No, okay.
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah, I have -- have some items also for BH.10.
Chair King: Oh, I'm sorry.
Commissioner Gabela: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I thought.
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah --
Chair King: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the amendment that I made that the Manager would add $3
million that were overlooked that we all have for this next fiscal year's budget, and
that $2 million will go for the fire --
Commissioner Gabela: Right.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the rescue truck there and $1 million will go for tutoring and
helping each student succeed in leaving no student behind.
Commissioner Gabela: But is that part ofBH.10?
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Chair King: Yes.
Commissioner Rosado: Yes.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, so --
Chair King: That it would be if we agree.
Commissioner Gabela: All right. So, 1 just want to say one thing and then we can
vote if you all -- if you all are ready. So, what I wanted to say is that there's a $9
million proposal, just so you know, because it's, you know, it's not clear right now
what we're doing with the Bayfront Trust. It was proposed to take $9 million out of
the $22 million in reserve, okay, and use it to -- for fire equipment tentative next
year. And what I said to the city manager was that, you know, we were putting the
cart before the horse, because first we should decide what it is that the park is going
to become, and then take the $9 million. So, I just want you to be aware, because I
don't know, whatever we do to the park, it might affect you since it's in your district
and (INAUDIBLE) all you ladies and gentlemen are, you know, aware what's going
on. So, what was agreed on is that it's tentative there, it's not going to be touched
until next year, is that correct, Mr. City Manager?
Mr. Noriega: What we proposed in the change memo was, since the final
determination on the structure of whatever's going to happen with the Bayfront
Park, whether it end up in a -- as a city department, an enterprise fund, conservancy,
whatever, that we could move the allocation of that $9 million to a mid year budget
decision versus incorporating it into the budget now. That was what we proposed as
a --
Commissioner Gabela: Right, but its not going to be transferred. Whatever is done,
it's not going to he transferred until next year when -- if and when, we decide to
change the structure.
Mr. Noriega: Well, the commission would have to decide --
Commissioner Gabela: Right.
Mr. Noriega: -- because it would come through a mid -year budget.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, but right now, that's what we have on.
Mr. Noriega: That's incorporated into the memo.
Commissioner Gabela: Right, so in other words, no funds will be taken out at this
moment. No funds will be transferred. No funds will be dispersed of the $9 mil.
Mr. Noriega: No, nothing happens with the $9 mil until it comes for reconsideration
in the mid -year.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay. Just wanted to clear that up. Thank you.
Chair King: Commissioner Rosado?
Commissioner Rosado: I have a few items. I support what Commissioner Carollo has
brought up with regards to supporting our fare -rescue crew and as well as what he
has brought up in terms of assisting students. Certainly, helping our youth is a good
thing. And one of the comments that was made at the first public hearing about
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spending additional dollars on social services resonated with me. And I didn't know
exactly where 1 would want to support something like that, but I think his proposal
makes a lot of sense, so I'm happy to support it. I have a couple of items that 1'd like
to make adjustments to. I know that all of us have been supportive of adding
additional police officers, and the number that we collectively -- preliminarily settled
upon was 100 additional officers. But I will tell you in speaking with the department
and seeing the fact that we are at historically low crime rates, I am perfectly
comfortable scaling that number to a lower number because I just don't know that a
hundred is necessarily the number we need to land upon. I definitely want to support
an increase in oaar officer numbers, but I'm happy to, you know, slice that in half and
increase 50 per year for the next several years. And 1 think if our crime rates were
high, I would feel differently, but we had a press conference talking about just how
safe the city is. I think that's somewhere where we could scale back a little bit.
Again, we could look at it in the mid -year and make a decision if we are needing to
move in a different direction. As much as I want to support additional officers, I just
don't know that we need to go as high as a hundred.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, we definitely need a hundred more police officers per each
fiscal year. If you look at where we are today, in comparison to our population, we
should be higher, especially when you have to take into consideration that this city,
besides its normal live-in population, has several hundred thousand of people that
come to our city every day to work in it from somewhere else, or as tourists or
visitors. That's a very high population. Downtown, for instance, that we've talked so
much about today, I remember years ago you couldn't go past one block without
seeing an officer or two in every block in downtown. It's not the case anymore. You
could go through any of our neighborhoods, and you do not see the police presence
that you once saw. And, you know, we could get into the many reasons for that, but
just because crime all over the country, not just here, is in the downtrend, you do not
hold back what you need to do in your police department, your fire department,
because that's when it's going to catch you. And then when the trend starts going up,
you don't have the manpower that you need, nor the trained manpower that you
need. So, I am the only one up here that comes from a law enforcement background.
I understand what we need. I paean, even Marine Patrol; we don't have sufficient
Marine Patrol, even though we've increased it, but we don't have enough still. You
got all these boats that are going by, entering our Miami River that you can hear
from two blocks away. And it's still happening, Chief by the way. The city needs to
have an adequate police force. A hundred is not a high number to bring in. It's, in
fact, I think a conservative number to bring in. And 1 would not be in favor of taking
out one less police officer, and frankly, the only reason, that I've gone along with a
hundred each year because this way you have a workable number that you could
bring in through the academy, train them, be able to do adequate background
checks, and just not hire anybody.
Chair King: Anything else, Commissioner Rosado?
Commissioner Rosado: I'd like to hear from Chief Morales on this. And again, I can
certainly, respect that position. If crime were trending upward, if crime were even
flat, but if crime is trending downward, I think you all are doing a good job. I'm not
as compelled to have that higher number added to our rolls.
Manny Morales: Good evening, Manny Morales, Chief of Police, 400 Northwest 2nd
Avenue. Commissioner, we are absolutely having a fantastic year. We've had, for the
last couple of months, we're almost 20 percent down in Part 1 crimes, almost 40-
something percent down on stolen vehicles. And we're looking great, but we're still
having 10 to 12,000 crimes a year for a city of our size, right? So, what this would
do, the addition of the officers would do is prepare us for the future. Knowing that it
takes 13 months until that one officer that gets hired today is able to serve us on the
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streets. So, I'm just forecasting. Keep it in mind also, not only the growth of the
population, we're the number two destination in the United States, second only to
New York. So, the influx of folks that we're getting, the popularity and the vibrancy
of Miami just continues to expand. Now, we still have this year, just to give you an
idea, we did 71 hires, right? New recruits coming in, put them in the academy. We
lost 35; gives us a net of about 36 a year, right? So, as we're getting it, we see an
attrition of about 50 a year. So, as we're bringing in the 100, right, that we're able
to kind of grab and put through the academy, depending on the quality of candidate
in the pool, then we're kind of left with a net gain of about 50 to 60, depending on
the quality of the classes and the recruits, right?
Commissioner Gabela: But Chief is that a real net gain? Is that, you know, I've
asked this question before.
Mr. Morales: Correct.
Commissioner Gabela: We're making up for what we're losing, right? So -- but at
the end of the day, is it a real net gain? Because I think we need police officers. You
know, I've been advocating since I came in for this --
Mr. Morales: Absolutely.
Commissioner Gabela: -- but my question to you is, right now, I don't think we have
a real net gain.
Mr. Morales: The net gain would be --
Commissioner Gabela: If you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- the net gain that we're
replacing our officers that we lost, and we're putting new ones that we didn't have
before.
Mr. Morales: Yeah. If we're able to put four classes, right, one every quarter, which
is what our academy can handle per square foot, looking at the FDLE (Florida
Department of Law Enforcement) restrictions that we have in place, we'll get about
80 individuals through the academy. If our current trajectory on attrition holds
steady for 50, we're adding about 30 a year, real cops on the street, right, unless we
make some changes to our academy. I've floated some ideas with our guys about
running two academies, one in the daytime, one in the nighttime, farming out some
work to Miami -Dade Community North. Even though, no disrespect to our former
academy, I went to Miami -Dade North campus, our academy is far superior. We do
have some of the highest pass rates on the state exam that any training center has
across our state. So, I would prefer for us to have it in-house, but --
Vice Chair Caroilo: Back then, I remember that that's the academy that we had for
everybody.
Mr. Morales: Correct.
Vice Chair Carollo: When I went through BLE.5 (Basic Law Enforcement), that was
the academy. You went through what class?
Mr. Morales: BLE.158.
Vice Chair Carollo: 158. Okay.
Mr. Morales: Back in '94.
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Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah. I'm a little older.
Chair King: So, Chief you believe that we need the hundred?
Mr. Morales: Yes.
Chair King: Okay. Anything else?
Commissioner Rosado: Not on that specific subject.
Chair King: You have something else?
Commissioner Rosado: I do. I have two more items. The first one is in speaking with
the mayor in recent weeks, I mentioned to him that I'd like to see additional dollars
for housing assistance. I think it's probably' something that we're [sic] all asked
for. I feel like I'm asked -- I've asked on an almost daily basis. And I asked if he
thought of anywhere that we could find some additional dollars within the budget
that wouldn't hurt anything else. And he mentioned about the dollars associated with
Miami Coin. So, apparently, there's over $5 million that are available for housing
assistance tied specifically to the COVID era. There's approximately five and a
quarter million dollars sitting there. They had created an application process, but
almost nobody applied or nobody applied perhaps. And so, it seems like there's 5. --
if I understand it correctly, $5.25 million that we could use for housing assistance.
And in our district, this is such a common request. There's such a need for this,
especially for seniors. I'd like to see us use those dollars and divide them up,
perhaps by CDBG (Community Development and Block Grant) eligibility.
Vice Chair Carollo: Commissioner, that train already left the station. That's what
the manager, at least what was said to me, that he intended for that money that could
be used for divided into all our districts. But now that you mention Miami Coin
again, I have a major problem. And also, since you mentioned the mayor. It was the
mayor that came here and sold the city on Miami Coin, that this was going to be
what was going to do away with paying property taxes, because it was going to bring
so much money. We were supposed to get 30 percent of it. Now, based on the
calculations that were given to me, there's another $18 million, maybe more, that
we've never seen. I don 't know why we haven't taken it, why it wasn 't given to us.
And based on those calculations, there had to be at least $70 million, minimum, on --
and who knows how much more, that was sold to investors, institutions, and the
Miami Coin that was like a meteorite. It went up beaut fully and came down just as
quick and crashed, where it's worth less today than the Venezuelan Bolivar that you
need a truck to be able to buy a U.S. dollar with. What happened to all those millions
of dollars that we were supposed to get? Not just the five million, what happened to
the rest of that money? Because no one's been able to tell me what happened to the
money.
Erica Paschal Darling (Chief Financial Officer/Assistant City Manager): Good
evening, Commissioner. Erica Paschal Darling. The only, amount that we have
received in donation to date is the 5.2. The city coin was a donation agreement, and
based -- and they were given the ability to donate when they wanted to.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, but they used our name, they -- even the website today
that they still have, it has the Office of the Mayor of Miami that they used to sell the
Miami Coin and give the impression that it was backed by the City of Miami, or at
least its mayor or both. Now, was there anything signed with them that stated that
they were going to donate 30 percent, because in Florida even if you don't have it
signed, a verbal contract is as good as a signed contract and they put all over the
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place, we were getting 30 percent. So, what happened to that 30 percent? 5.2 million
is nowhere near 30 percent. What happened to the rest of that money?
Ms. Paschal Darling: We did not receive any further donations after the 5.2.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, then you know what? We need to do something about it
and get to the bottom line because when this came before us and we were put up
against the wall, because we were told by the mayor, that this was going to be the
solution to Miami's future, no more property taxes, so much money was going to
come in. Yeah, money came in for a few months that somebody made, but there were
hundreds if not thousands of people that got nailed and lost their money. But those
that had the great idea made money. And at that time, I had asked this
administration to make sure that these people were vetted before we would enter into
any agreement with them. And I've gotten the results today. We did no vetting. None
whatsoever. But what I did find out is that the guy that was the main one that had the
idea that we were speaking to all the time, the company, as was told to us, was a
Delaware non-profit corporation. They were supposed to, according to the
resolution that we passed, to have registered as a Florida corporation before we
would begin doing anything with them. They never did that. They never registered as
a Florida non-profit corporation or even fbrprofit corporation. What do know now
is that the Delaware address then went to a Los Angeles address in one of the -- let
me put it politically correct, less desirable areas of Los Angeles, in a strip mall
where you don 't expect to find major capital firms that are putting out major
offerings like this, and --
Commissioner Pardo: Is this offline?
Vice Chair Carollo: Excuse me?
Commissioner Pardo: Can we have that offline, the conversation, or --?
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, look, you can look at some of this like 1 did, and staff and
I want to know what happened --
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- to the 30 percent that we were supposed to get. It's worthless
now, but it wasn't then. What happened to it?
Commissioner Rosado: Mr. Manager?
Ms. Paschal Darling: We would have to research to determine.
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, I've been asking just that, the manager knows it. I've sent
a lot of requests, and you know, it's like a twilight zone, it's lost in it. You can't get
any answers. You can't get anything. It's shuffled to one group, to the other. And the
only thing I know, there were tens of millions of dollars that were invested. We were
supposed to get 30 percent. We only got chump change of a little over $5 million.
Some people made a lot of money and -- very few made a lot of money. And a lot of
people got nailed and lost all their investment. You want to talk about the Miami
Coin anymore?
Commissioner Rosado: I -- well, I want to know if we have that 5.25 available to us
and if' we could agree in the upcoming budget to allocate those to each of the
districts per CDBG eligibility ratio.
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Ms. Paschal Darling: So, yes, the previous resolution allocated $2 million to provide
supplemental funding to the City's senior rental assistance program and then $3.2
million was to be equally allocated between the five commissioner districts to
allocate appropriate future resolutions for district specific affordable housing.
Commissioner Rosado: The -- that initial two million that you mentioned, that is
available how?
Ms. Paschal Darling: I would have to --
Commissioner Rosado: Is it first come, first serve, or could we just agree to divvy it
up per -- based on CDBG eligibility?
Vice Chair Carollo: The what, the initial 5.2?
Commissioner Rosado: Yeah, apparently the entire thing is sitting there.
Ms. Paschal Darling: Yes, it is still --
Commissioner Pardo: No, but equally by district.
Vice Chair Carollo: Equally by district, yes.
Mr. Noriega: You could certainly do that. It wasn't part of how the original reso was
constructed, but you could. We could bring back a reso, if' you'd like, and
specifically codify how that money is distributed by district if you'd like.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay, then bring it to the next meeting --
Mr. Noriega: Yeah, we can -- we can modify that.
Vice Chair Carollo: I'd like for this city to finally see some money from the Miami
Coin, worth less than a Bolivar today.
Commissioner Rosado: I'll sponsor that item, Mr. Clerk, for the October 9th
meeting.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): 1 think the manager understands the direction.
Commissioner Rosado: Okay.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay.
Commissioner Rosado: The final thing that I wanted to discuss with regard to the
budget is my predecessor, may he rest in peace, he restarted a tradition that was
very important to many of us growing up, which is the Three Kings Parade.
Vice Chair Carollo: It's in the budget.
Commissioner Rosado: Well, it's currently in the budget. We've had internally a
number of discussions about this. It's currently in the budget for $200,000, hut
realistically, when it was done most recently, it was done on a very modified scale. It
wasn't that many streets. To take it back to what it was originally, to really restore it
to its glory, it would be a larger route, and so it would require more in -kind dollars,
et cetera. And so, after speaking with a number of folks, what we'd like to do is
request that instead of $200,000, that it be increased to $350,000 so that it can be
what it was when I was a child.
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Vice Chair Carollo: What 1 would suggest, Commissioner, so that we keep our
budget intact, since 1 haven't heard you mention any new money that you found,
since it's going to go through your district and mine, you could put the other $75,000
from your budget, I'll put the other $75,000 from District 3, and you got the extra
$150,000 to the $200,000, and this way, we don 't have to be here another hour
trying to figure out where we're going to get another $150,000.
(COMMENTS MADE OFF THE RECORD)
Commissioner Rosado: Deal.
Vice Chair Carollo: He wants more money.
Chair King: Who?
Commissioner Rosado: Deal.
Vice Chair Carollo: Okay. All right. That's fine.
Chair King: Run that deal by me.
Vice Chair Carollo: It's in-house. We don't have to vote on this one.
Chair King: Oh, okay. Are we ready?
Vice Chair Carollo: Commissioner Gabela, you're fine?
Commissioner Gabela: I haven't said anything. I'm fine. As a matter of fact, I
promised the late commissioner, may he rest in peace, that 1 would, you know, carry
out the tradition and you're the commissioner for that area, so I think it's only
proper and I think it's fine.
Vice Chair Carollo: Keep in mind that within two more budgets at least, if not one
more, there's going to have to be more money allocated there because you're also
going to require a fire truck, okay? So that's on you for the future to remind --
Commissioner Gabela: Got it.
Vice Chair Carollo: -- the manager. The last that I would like to do in Item 10 in
what I proposed that's been seconded, I believe, is that the half mil that we just
found in Downtown, that that also goes to the schooling, the tutoring for young
children and that half mil can take priority for the kids in Overtown, the Omni
district, Downtown, and if there's any leftover, which I doubt, then it could go to
other districts.
Commissioner Pardo: Let me express my reservation there, Commissioner. The issue
here is the most -- the people most impacted by what's happening there Downtown
are not being included at all, and these funds should be trapped, and their priorities
should be at least recognized before we make any decision like that. Not to say that
what you're proposing isn't a good idea, but I think it could be proposed to that
same group and see where we end up.
Vice Chair Carollo: That's fine. I would say propose it. You could do a mid year
revision earlier than right at mid -year and since you're going to have all these
public meetings to see what they want to do with it, once they decide then we take it
from the mid -year revision, but at least put this now so that we can begin this fiscal
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Meeting Minutes September 25, 2025
year with sufficient money that at least 750 of our kids we could provide tutors for, if
not 800. And that's all I'm asking.
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah, hut I don't want to allocate this now. That's the only
thing.
Vice Chair Carollo: Two million is not going to get us as far as a half million. It's up
to the commission if they want to include it here or not, but you can't find a more
worthy cause than putting it to help our next generation pass school, get better
grades, and be able to be part of the competition in the global workforce.
Chair King: Okay, so we have BH.10 for consideration. There was an amendment
proposed for --
Commissioner Rosado: It's a resolution that will be coming back at the first October
meeting to divide up the Miami Coin 5.25 million, but it's done separately. The
money's budgeted. We'll just bring it back how to distribute it.
Mr. Alban: So, if I --
Chair King: Wait, wait. No --
Ms. Gouin: That's not the BH.9 item.
Chair King: No, I said BH.10.
[Later...]
Chair King: Back to BH.10.
Vice Chair Carollo: There's a motion that I made, seconded by Commissioner
Gabela.
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Commissioner Rosado: For BH.10, yes.
Chair King: All in favor?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair?
Chair King: Wait, wait, wait.
Xavier Alban (Deputy City Attorney): Because there was a lot of discussion here, so
Ijust want to clarify what the amendments were. So, the amendments I have here are
that the Fire and EMS (Emergency Medical Services) fees, the revenue will be
increased by $3 million, $2 million for a new fire unit for the Miami Freedom Park
area, which will include 13 positions, and then $1 million for education of that, that
$3 million. And then --
Vice Chair Carollo: For tutoring for children in the urban core of the city.
Mr. Alban: So, tutoring for children in the urban core.
Arthur Noriega (City Manager): Yeah, I think he labeled it leave no child behind.
Vice Chair Carollo: Yep.
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Meeting Minutes September 25, 2025
Mr. Alban: And then there will be an additional $150,000 allocated for the Three
Kings Parade with $75,000 coming from --
Vice Chair Carollo: No, no, no. No $150,000 allocated. District 4 is going to put
$75, 000 from his budget, I'm going to put $75, 000 from my budget.
Chair King: Yeah, so --
Vice Chair Carollo: Otherwise --
Mr. Alban: Okay.
Chair King: -- so that doesn't need to go in --
Vice Chair Carollo: -- we have a deficit in the budget.
Chair King: That -- that doesn't -- that doesn't need to go into --
Vice Chair Carollo: Yeah, exactly. That doesn't need it. We said that before.
Chair King: That -- that's not --
Mr. Alban: So, then --
Vice Chair Carollo: You're complicating it.
Mr. Alban. Okay. So, then there's only that one amendment then of the fire EMS fees.
Mr. Noriega: And the 500, 000.
Vice Chair Carollo: The amendment is 2 million out of the 3 that we found for
Freedom Park for a fire -rescue unit that is going to have 13 new firefighters that
have to be hired and 1 million for no child left behind tutoring.
Mr. Noriega: And the allocation of the half a million dollars. What do we do with
that? Deferring that?
Vice Chair Carollo: Well, I think we should put that --
Mr. Noriega: We're not addressing that now?
Vice Chair Carollo: -- but it's up to this commission.
Commissioner Rosado: We don't -- yeah, we don't have to decide.
Chair King: Right.
Mr. Noriega: Okay, so it's just the $3 million. Okay.
Chair King: City Clerk.
Mr. Hannon: And I have two administrative amendments. So, on page two of the
resolution, it'll need to include today's date, and I also need to replace the
placeholder Exhibit A with an updated Exhibit A.
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City Commission
Meeting Minutes September 25, 2025
ADJOURNMENT
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, hang on people. I'm sorry. I'm in la -la land today. So,
the 500k, we're talking about the 500k of the sign business, right? Is that what we're
talking about?
Commissioner Pardo: No.
Commissioner Gabela: That you don't want it --
Commissioner Pardo: Yeah, that's not allocated.
Chair King: That's --
Commissioner Gabela: That's the one that you still don't want it allocated.
Commissioner Pardo: Right.
Commissioner Gabela: Okay, got it.
Chair King: Yeah.
Commissioner Gabela: All right.
Chair King: May I have a motion?
Vice Chair Carollo: Move.
Chair King: Second?
Commissioner Gabela: Second.
Chair King: All in favor?
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair King: Motion carries unanimously.
Mr. Hannon: As amended.
Chair King: As amended. Thank you all. This concludes our budget hearing for
September 25th, 2025.
END OF SECOND BUDGET HEARING
The meeting adjourned at 8:34 p.m.
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