HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem #01 - Discussion ItemEXCERPT OF
MINUTES OF SPECIAL COMISSION MEETING MEETING
April 27, 1976
The Commission convened at 2:00 P.M. in special session to select11
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a new City Manager. Ali members of the Commission were present. -
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Mayor Ferret I would like to at this point explain my vote. Anita
Compino is here,and I Rave her an envelop a little while ago. I was not
privy to the way anybody would vote, but I assumed, took the prerogative
of writing down on a piece of paper how I thought this commission would
vote. I put down exactly the way everybody voted. I did not miss one. I
want to explain to my Latin friends, my Cuban friends, and Puerto Rican
friends, who are here, that I could have taken a politically expedient
approach to this problem since, had I voted for Joseph Perades on the
first time around, there would have been a tie, two for Perades, two for
Hickman and one for Grassie, and I would have then faced the Latin community
and said I fulfilled my obligation and you couldn't have questioned it.
Because I would have said I voted for the Latin first. And then since it
was a tie, I could have switched my vote later on and we could have gone
through that process. I did not do that. I want to explain to the record,
and to all of you I consider my friends and those that do not consider them-
selves my friends, that I did not vote against anybody. I did not vote against
Chief Hickman, I did not vote against Joseph Perades. I voted my consience.
I voted sincerely and deeply what I thought would be the best thing for the
City of Miami. Mr. Grassie is a professional in his chosen field. Mr. Grassie
is 42 years old. He was born in Argentina and grew up as a young man and
speaks perfect Spanish. I have spoken long with him in Spanish. But he brings
other qualifications. He brings with him experience. Ile served for two year
in Nicaragua, he has served with distinction in Costa Rica, he has served for
seven years in a most difficult job where the City Manager never lasted. They
got in there and were kicked out. They couldn't get along with the community,
they couldn't get along with the commission. This man has lasted for seven years.
I think that speaks well for an individual. He comes with the highest recommendations.
I might say that a former president of the American Association of City Managers,
ACME, when I asked his opinion recommended Mr. Grassie of the five Arthur D. Little
chose as the No. 1 candidate. I might point out that a former county manager who
I have the greatest respect for, served this community with great distinction,
also in the grading process, rated Mr. Grassie as No. 1. Just to name two people
I highly regard. I have spent many, many hours calling on the phone all over the
nation. I have talked, I have asked individuals who have worked with Mr. Grassie
to check hiin out, black and white. I have people within our community to check him
out. I have asked members of the employee organisations, in one particularly large
organisation, Mr. Grassie was the first choice, as I was told by the head of that
organization. I have found nothing but the highest regard for. Mr. Grassie every-
where. I.artly, Commission Reboso flew up to Grand Rapids on Sunday and spent all
of yesterday with Mr. Grassie. I spent some time in discussion with Commission
Reboso asking him his opinion. He talked to the Mayor, he talked to the Chief
of Police, he talked to the newspaper people, he talked to many individuals and
Mr. Grassie has the highest regard, the highest recommendation, he is a true
professional, he is hieltly regarded by his piers, he is highly regarded by the
employees, he is highly regarded by the community that he presently serves and
has served for seven years.
I think the hi -lingual aspen_ t is not enough, What I think is important
about Mr. Grassie, is not only that be is bi-lingual, but much more important
is that he is hi -cultural. That means to me a man who hi -cultural means that be
is able and capable of understanding more than one ethnic group, and one culture,
Mr, Grassie's wife was born in Turkey. She does speak five languages, IL is not
sufficient for a person to indicate or imply that he is able to understand the
black community or that he is able to say that he can deal with the Latin com-
munity because this city does not belong to the Latins, even though we constitute
53%, no mere than the County belongs to the Anglo-Saxons, even though they con-
stitutc. a majority, Nobody in tl,:s Spanish speaking conuuunity has a deeper com-
mitment to the impending importance of the recognition that we live in a multi.'
ethnic community. This is not a melting pot any longer. This is a salad. We,
all of us, come from different cultural backgrounds, we bring different values,
we are not melted into one. We keep our cultural identity, we keep ethnic factors
and we ate proud of our heritage, It is no longer necessary for someone who comes
from a Polish or Italian or Lithuanian background, to forget that heritage. gut
that does not mean that that individual is less of an American then someone who
is of Irish stock, or who is pure Anglo-Saxon. It means that we are slowly recog-
nizing in our country the diversity and depth, and that we recognize by that,
that our future is very dependent on the recognition, that the majority of
Americans, the majority of the 220 million people who call themselves American
citizens, do not come from an Anglo-Saxon stock. If you add the German, Irish,
Polish, Slovic, Spanish, Black, Greek, Italian, and other minorities, they con-
stitute a majority(f what the United States is all about. We in Miami ate a
microcosm of that process. Miami is, as the great poet Sloan once said,'not
an island unto itself', we are a part of a whole. I think the importance of
whoever is to be Manager here is the deep conviction and understanding of this
process and the demonstrated ability to understand that we do not live alone.
Miami does not belong to the Latin community no more than Dade County belongs
to the Anglo-Saxon community, no more than Harlem belongs to the Blacks, and
no more than Boston belongs to the Irish. We cannot demand for ourselves what
we oppose for others. We cannot say in Miami that we wish something that we have
opposed in East Bronx, or in Chicago on Los Angeles. That is not the process
we are in the midst of. We are not going to create islands within this country.
What we must be conscious of is the delicate and essential balance in right
and wrong, in a country based on laws and justice, that what we must strive
for is justice for all, not for one group. The fact that certains groups have
been denied due process, the fact that certain people have been disenfranchised
from the process, does not at any point along the road give us the right to
deny that equal right, that equal access to due process to others, What is in-
volved here is not only justice, but much more important than justice, what is
right. I am not saying that I, in any way deny that ability and that compre-
hension to either Chief Hickman or Joseph Perades. I do however feel that
Joseph Grassie at age 42 has a demonstrated record as a professional adminis-
trator with success. That he comes highly recommended, that he comes with the
highest recommendation from Arthur D. Little, that Arthur D. Little classified
him to me personally as certainly one of the finalists in this process, even
though they could not take this posture publicly.
I would like to, in closing my remarks, say this. The City of Miami is
in a very precarious posture. We are at the crossroads. If we do not establish
our mark in the next few years, the City of Miami will not exist three years from
now, or four years from now. Not because the citizens of Miami will not want it to
exist, because on the electorial ballot I doubt very much if the citizens in the
near future would vote the City of Miami out of existence. But if we do not meet
the consent decree properly, if we cannot seek a proper balance with our employees,
with the pension system, with the unions we must deal with, if we do not
proceed with the projects we have begun, and most important, if we do not
approach the very difficult budget with extreme care and very dedicated ability
and knowledge, we will find ourselves either before the courts, or the verges
of bankruptcy or on the verge of as a going entity.
I think that Don Rickman can do the job, and I think he could do it well.
I think that Joseph Perades could do the job, I think he could do it well. I
was very impressed with both of their answers today, but my concern is that
of taking any chances. I am not absolutely certain that Chief Hickman could
do the job because I don't feel confortable with that I perceive as the very
ncessary knowledge in budgetary chatters that is absolutely essential for this
job. 1 think, not because he is 30 year: old, but because Joseph Perades' exper-
ience has been four years in the city of Miami, he started when he was 26. I
think what he has accomplished in those four years in his growth, I think what
he learned in the City of Hollywood, l think that his knowledge is extremely
impressive, but I do not feel comfortable that at age 30, he could cope with
the difficult problems that confront us. I could not be more honest, therefore
based on what I have just expressed here, I am not voting against Hickman, or
Perades, I feel that i MVO. make my choice in my conscience I feel is the best
thing for the citizens of NL.ami and the city of Miami, therefore, voting nay
conscience, I voted for Joseph Crassie.
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