Loading...
1a1 City of South Miami 2 Regular City Commission Minutes 3 July 27, 2010 4 5 CALL TO ORDE.2 6 7 The City Commission of the City of South Miami, Florida met 8 in regular session on Tuesday, July 27, 2010, beginning at 7:32 9 p.m., in the City Commission Chambers, 6130 Sunset- Drive. 10 11 A. Roll Call: 12 The following members of the City Commission were present: 13 Vice Mayor Valerie Newman, and, Commissioners Velma Palmer, Brian 14 D. Beasley and Walter A. Harris. Mayor Philip K. Stoddard was 15 absent. 16 17 Also in attendance were: City Attorney Laurence Feingold, 18 Deputy City Attorney Mark A. Goldstein, City Clerk Maria M. 19 Menendez and Acting City Manager Buford R. Witt. 20 21 B. Moment of Silence: By Vice Mayor Newman. 22 23 C. Pledge of Allegiance: 24 The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison. 25 26 D. Presentations(s) 27 (NONE) 28 29 921 32 1. Approval of Minutes 33 (NONE) 34 35 2. City Attorney's Report (15 minutes) 36 37 Attorney Guy A. Lewis, with Lewis Tein PL was invited to 38 give a presentation to the Commission; however, he said that his 39 main motivation was because of an article he read in the 40 newspaper regarding the City's bond issue with the garage. Mr. 41 Lewis then spoke about his firm which he said has a vast 42 experience on SEC matters. Prior to private practice, he served 43 as a federal prosecutor for almost 20 years, handling dozens of 44 SEC matters; he served as the United States Attorney for the 45 Southern District of Florida, interacting closely with the SEC; CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 1 July 27, 2010 llaTt! 1 he also served for 2 years as the Director of the Executive 2 Office for U.S. Attorneys in Washington, DC, overseeing all 93 3 United States Attorneys' Offices nationwide. Mr. Lewis's firm 4 represents a number of municipalities in South Florida on matters 5 both large and small. He said that because they consider it an 6 honor and a privilege to represent city government, they heavily 7 discount their rates for municipalities and that they would do so 8 in this case, from the $750 an hour they charge to $275 an hour. 9 10 After Mr. Lewis's presentation, Mr. Feingold recommended 11 waiting for the results of Squire Sanders ongoing investigation 12 which may be a matter of approximately 90 days, before making a 13 decision replacing Mr. Reiter's team with Mr. Lewis's firm. Mr. 14 Lewis concurred with Mt. Feingold. 15 16 At this time former Commissioner Lew Sellars was invited to 17 come up to the podium to provide his input on the subject. Mr. 18 Sellars said that as a resident of the City his advice would be 19 to stay the course and see what happens. 20 21 Mr. Goldstein at this time said that he has been contacted 22 by former Acting City Manager Carlton's lawyer; he wanted 23 authorization for us to enter into a non - binding mediation, and 24 he wanted to determine whether there is a majority of support to 25 do that from the City Commission. 26 27 Vice Mayor Newman said that Mr. Carlton was hired as an 28 interim with no contract and that in her opinion there is nothing 29 to mediate. This was the consensus of the Commission. 30 31 Regarding the financing of police cars, Mr. Feingold 32 reported that SunTrust will accept the revised letter and that 33 they will agree to finance the cars. 34 35 Mr. Feingold requested allowing Mr. Cassel to address the 36 Commission about findings regarding the pension; Mr. Cassel 37 explained that some employees in the past had been allowed to opt 38 out of the pension relying on certain resolutions; however, the 39 pension requires all employees to be in the pension. 40 41 With no further comments the City Attorney's Report ended. 42 43 44 3. City Manager's Report (25 minutes) 45 46 Police 47 • 10 vehicles received, being equipped; 48 • Upgrading Alarm billing software. CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 2 July 27, 2010 llaTti 1 Project Updates 2 (Public Works) 3 4 • Traffic Calming - Pinecrest Villas plan received. New 5 workshop scheduled 2 August at 6 PM; 6 • Larking Hospital Easement - Plan submitted second time to 7 Miami -Dade County. Questions received and answered 8 July; 8 • SW 66th Street Improvements Ph II - Design 60% complete; 9 • South Miami Metro Pedestrian Crossing 10 - At -Grade crossing now in planning. 11 12 Tree Debris: 13 14 • Vendor was approved by Resolution No. 193 -09 -13002 in the 15 vendors over $5,000; 16 • Open PO in the amount of $75,000 issued May 26 using 17 Oakland Park contract; 18 • Sun Recycling disposal rate per ton is $45 vs. County 19 disposal rate of $59.77; 20 • As of July 21, 2010 a total of 716.23 tons of yard waste 21 was dumped at Sun recycling, representing cost avoidance 22 in dumping fees to date of $10,579; Sun Recycling dump 23 site is 3.11 miles closer to the City than the County dump 24 site, representing 6.22 miles less traveled per trip; in 25 addition to fuel savings, we are also saving by reducing 26 turn around time, resulting in improved production, less 27 equipment wear and tear, and lower maintenance cost. 28 29 Financial Performance Audit: 30 (Finance) 31 32 • Scheduled Dates: 33 • City Organizational Assessment Jun 21- Jul 16 34 • City Department Interviews Jul 19 - 30 35 • South Miami Resident Satisfaction Survey Jul 19 - 30 36 • Department Output Analysis Aug 2 - 13 37 • Develop. of Perform -based Measures by Dept Aug 16 - 27 38 • Draft Performance Audit Report Aug 27- Sep 10 39 • City Review and Comment on Draft Sep 10 - 24 40 • Final Performance -based Audit Report Sep 24 - Sep 30 41 42 Finance 43 44 New External Auditors: 45 CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 3 July 27, 2010 1 C Keefe, McCullough & Co., LLP is the Audit Committee 2 recommendation for the City of South Miami External Audit; 3 • On August 17, 2010 Commission Meeting a resolution to hire 4 a new financial auditor and execute a two year audit 5 contract with the audit firm of Keefe, McCullough & Co. 6 LLP., with the option to renew for one year will be 7 presented for approval. 8 9 Farmers Market /Community Garden: 10 (Public Works, Planning /Zoning, Hospital, Green Task Force) 11 12 • City, Green Task Force, So. Miami Hospital 13 Two part process 14 — Market RFP draft sent to staff by the Green Task 15 Force, 30 Jul 16 — Mr. Witt explained that South Miami Hospital has been 17 involved with this project all along and that they 18 are working on grants for this in conjunction with 19 the City; 20 — Vice Mayor Newman expressed some concerns about this 21 issue and said that this should be discussed at a COW 22 meeting; 23 — Ms. Read said that South Miami Hospital has a larger 24 healthy communities initiative and they are 25 interested in several different types of approaches; 26 they are going for a grant to support that, so they 27 would offer some of that money to get the Farmers 28 Market up and running because the Farmers Market is 29 in their interest as well. 30 31 Various Projects: 32 (Public Works) 33 34 Traffic Calming - Pinecrest Villas plan received. New 35 workshop being rescheduled 36 Murray Park Pool RFP release date 6 Aug 37 Larkin Hospital Easement - Plan submitted second time to 38 Miami -Dade County. Questions received and answered 8 Jul. 39 SW 66'h St. Improvements Ph IT - Design 60% complete 40 South Miami Metro Pedestrian Crossing 41 - Phone conference 30 Jul 42 At -Grade crossing not eligible for CMAQ funding 43 (again); 44 $1.5 M is available but Transit recommending moving 45 to another crossing project; 46 Still studying Mayor's suggestions; CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 4 July 27, 2010 1 Vice Mayor Newman said that as per our lobbyist, Mr. 2 Fausto Gomez, we are entitled to that money, 3 therefore recommending for the Mayor to speak to 4 Commissioner Gimenez and try to resolve this issue, 5 and if that doesn't work, then our City Attorney will 6 have to go to the County to get the $1.5 million for 7 the pedestrian crossing project. 8 9 Project Updates: 10 (Various Departments) 11 12 • Marshall Williamson Park Restroom RFP released this week 13 (CRA) 14 • Demolition of six unsafe buildings approved and filed with 15 Court 16 17 Various Projects: 18 (Public Works) 19 20 • Pump station 177 schedule 21 - Miami -Dade County has modeled flows to determine the 22 pressures which will be used in the design process; 23 - Utilizing an existing design contract to prepare the 24 design for permitting, and then will be contracting 25 the construction; 26 - If everything goes smoothly, MDC sees improved 27 capacity within six months and new station in 2010. 28 29 30 Recommended COW or Workshop Topics: 31 • Cardenas & Partners, Washington, DC 32 • Parking BAFO 33 • Fuel efficient vehicle options 34 • Health Insurance Workshop Selection 35 • Budget Workshop (Tentative) - 16 Aug., 1 PM 36 37 Comprehensive Plan: 38 (Planning /zoning) 39 Update amendments continue 10 Aug Planning board 40 — Murray Park Pool: change to Parks and Open Space; 41 Community Gardens (Inspection Station): change to 42 Parks and Open Space from Transit (TODD) 43 44 With some further comments the City Manager's Report ended. 45 CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 5 July 27, 2010 t- 1 PUBLIC REMARKS 3 (5 minutes) 4 5 Frank Rodriguez said that he purchased an abandoned property 6 located at 6175 SW 64 Terrace about a year ago; he said that 7 during the permitting process he was not properly informed about 8 the charges for excessive trash pick up and for which he had been 9 issued a fine. 10 11 James Cassey spoke on behalf of the Police Benevolent 12 Association addressing the issue of the pension brought up by Mr. 13 Cassel, as it relates to police officers and explaining that all 14 those situations regarding those police officers are subject to 15 the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. 16 17 Yvonne Beckman urged to keep an arms - length relationship 18 with South Miami Hospital with regard to the Farmers Market 19 project. 20 21 Dick Ward said that South Miami Middle has a new Principal 22 by the name of Mrs. Alvarez, urging the Commission to pursue her 23 cooperation in getting the school involved in certain City 24 activities. 25 26 Rodney Williams commended Mr. Witt and Major Mills for 27 helping him during an arrest as the result of a tip to the Metro - 28 Dade police who detained him. He said that it is very unfortunate 29 that our own police was not even informed which is unacceptable. 30 31 John Edward Smith addressed the Commission about the 32 pedestrian crossing on US -1. He then referred to a project he has 33 envisioned for some time about creating an entrance feature at 34 all major intersections of the City, by adding some artistic 35 element to them. 36 37 With no further speakers the public remarks section was 38 closed. 39 40 41 3. Commission Reports, Discussion & Remarks (25 minutes) 42 43 44 Commissioner Harris spoke about the importance of 45 reactivating the Charter Review Committee. 46 47 With no further comments this section was closed. 48 CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 6 July 27, 2010 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 2.3 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 BT At this time Vice Mayor Newman announced a five - minute recess. As the meeting reconvened, the Commission unanimously agreed to place two add -on items to the agenda. RESOLUTION (S) 142 -10 -13176 5. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the City of South Miami, Florida, retaining Warren R. Trazenfeld, Esquire, to represent the City with regard to potential legal malpractice claims against Luis Figueredo, Esq., Figueredo & Boutsis, P.A., Nagin- Gallop- Figueredo, P.A., Bryant, Miller and Olive, P.A., and Adorno & Yoss, LLP; and providing an effective date. 3/5 (City Attorney) Moved by Commissioner Beasley, seconded by Vice Mayor Newman to approve this item. Mr. Feingold said that the sooner we act will be the best way to get indemnification. He said that we want to have the proper attorney to defend the City. With some further comments the motion to approve this item passed by a 3 -1 vote: Commissioner Palmer: Nay Vice Mayor Newman: Yea Commissioner Beasley: Yea Commissioner Harris: Yea Mayor Stoddard: Absent 143 -10 -13177 6: A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the City of South Miami, Florida, relating to the City's 2010 /2011 fiscal year budget; advising the Miami -Dade County Property Appraiser of its proposed millage rate of 5.1452 mills; its roll -back rate of 5.1452 mills and announcing the dates of public hearing to consider the proposed millage rate and tentative budget; providing an effective date. 3/5 (Acting City Manager) CITY COMMISSION MINUTES July 27, 2010 7 llayt! 2 Moved by Commissioner Palmer, seconded by Commissioner 3 Harris to approve this item. 4 5 Mr. Witt presented this item. 6 7 Commissioner Palmer said that one of her concerns is 8 whether keeping the same rate as last year's would guarantee 9 retaining the same staff. 10 11 Mr. Witt said that no staff members are being dismissed 12 with this budget because the ,reduction in staff consists of 13 vacancies. 14 15 Finance Director Riverol explained that the rollback rate 16 allows us to go back and does not represent a tax increase to 17 the residents. 18 19 With some further comments, the motion to approve this item 20 passed by a 4 -0 vote: 21 22 Commissioner Palmer: Yea 23 Vice Mayor Newman: Yea 24 Commissioner Beasley: Yea 25 Commissioner Harris: Yea 26 Mayor Stoddard: Absent 27 28 29 (BEGINNING OF CONSENT) 30 31 At this time the Commission discussed setting a date for the 32 Budget Workshop. The date was set for Monday, August 16, 2010 at 33 1:00 p.m. 34 35 Before the Consent Agenda was read into the record, Vice 36 Mayor Newman pulled item no. 10 (now item no. 12) 91FA 38 144 -10 -13178 39 7. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the 40 City of South Miami, Florida, authorizing the Acting 41 City Manager to execute a Letter of Agreement with 42 Multimedia and Information Technology Consulting Firm 43 in the amount of $5,500.00; and providing for an 44 effective date. 3/5 45 (Acting City Manager) 46 CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 8 July 27, 2010 llaTt! 2 145 -10 -13179 3 8. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the 4 City of South Miami, Florida, relating to budget; 5 authorizing a transfer of $5,500.00 from account No. 6 001 -1340- 513 -1210, settlements to account No. 001 -1340- 7 513 -3450, Contractual Services; providing an effective 8 date. 3/5 9 (Acting City Manager) 10 11 146 -10 -13180 12 9. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the 13 City of South Miami, Florida authorizing the Acting 14 City Manager to accept a donation of $10,600 from 15 Interval International, increasing the expenditure line 16 items for Football (001- 2000 - 572 -5630) by $6,000 and 17 Cheerleading (001- 2000 - 572 - 5631), by $4,000.00, through 18 account number 001-0000-366-91-00, "Donation Account "; 19 providing for an effective date. 3/5 20 (Acting City Manager) 21 22 147 -10 -13181 23 10. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the 24 City of South Miami, Florida, relating to budget; 25 authorizing a transfer of $9,000.00 from account No. 26 001- 2100 -519 -4720, Printing and Photocopying 27 settlements to account I No. 001- 2100 - 519 -4120, 28 Communications Telephone; providing an effective date. 29 (Acting City Manager) 3/5 30 31 148 -10 -13182 32 11. A Resolution of the Mayor and 'City Commission of the 33 City of South Miami, Florida; authorizing the Acting 34 City Manager to expend $7,500 of a Purchase Order 35 approved in FY 2008 -2009 in order to contract with 36 Florida International University, Metropolitan Center 37 to provide specialized services needed to produce an 38 updated Comprehensive Plan; and providing for an 39 effective date. 3/5 40 (Acting City Manager) 41 42 Moved by Commissioner Beasley, seconded by Vice Mayor 43 Newman, the motion to approve the Consent Agenda passed by a 4 -0 44 vote 45 Commissioner Palmer: Yea 46 Vice Mayor Newman: Yea CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 9 July 27, 2010 1 2 3 4 5 0 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Commissioner Beasley Commissioner Harris: Mayor Stoddard: (END OF CONSENT) RESOLUTION (S) (CONrD) pmq Yea Yea Absent 12. A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commission of the City of South Miami, Florida, authorizing the Acting City Manager to allow for processing and hiring of Reserve Police Officers, exempting the position from the current hiring freeze: and providing for an effective date. 3/5 (Acting City Manager) Moved by Commissioner Beasley, seconded by Vice Mayor Newman to approve this item. Vice Mayor Newman pulled this item from the Consent Agenda, asking for further information on the resolution regarding costs and if it will be for 4 or 6 officers, whether this increases the cost of insurance, the account from where this is going to be paid and the balance of the account. Moved by Vice Mayor Newman, seconded by Commissioner Beasley to defer this item, the motion passed by a 4 -0 vote: Commissioner Palmer: Yea Vice Mayor Newman: Yea Commissioner Beasley: Yea Commissioner Harris: Yea Mayor Stoddard: Absent ORDINANCE (S) SECOND READING PUBLIC HEARING (S) (NONE) RESOLUTION (S) PUBLIC HEARING (S) (NONE) CITY COMMISSION MINUTES July 27, 2010 10 m1a t! 2 (Moving all 1" reading ordinances for 2"d reading must be 3 done for date certain of 8 -17 -10 in order to comply with 4 ,public hearing legal notice requirements) 5 6 ORDINANCE (S) FIRST READING 7 8 13. An Ordinance of the Mayor and City Commission of the 9 City of South Miami Florida, amending the Future Land 10 Use Map of the South Miami Comprehensive Plan by 11 changing the future land use category from Single - 12 Family Residential (Two - Story) to Parks and Open Space 13 for the property identified as All - America Park located 14 at 6820 SW 64 Avenue (Folio No. 09- 4025 - 000 - 0430) ; 15 providing for severability; providing for ordinances in 16 conflict; and providing an effective date. 4/5 11 (Acting City Manager) 18 19 Moved by Commissioner Beasley, seconded by Commissioner 20 Harris to approve this item. 21 22 Mr.. Youkilis explained that this and the next three 23 ordinances relate to amendments to the Comprehensive Plan based 24 on what was in the EAR back in 2006. 25 26 With no further comments, the motion to approve this item 27 passed by a 4 -0 vote: 28 29 Commissioner Palmer: Yea 30 Vice Mayor Newman: Yea 31 Commissioner Beasley: Yea 32 Commissioner Harris: Yea 33 Mayor Stoddard: Absent 34 35 14. An ordinance of the Mayor and City Commission of the 36 City of South Miami Florida, amending the Future 37 Land Use Map of the South Miami Comprehensive Plan 38 by changing the future land use category from Single - 39 Family Residential (Two - Story) to Parks and Open Space 40 for the property identified as Van Smith Park 41 located at 7800 SW 59 Avenue (Folio No. 09- 4036 -039- 42 0020 and Folio No. 09- 4036- 039 - 0025) ; providing for 43 severability; providing for ordinances in conflict; 44 and providing an effective date. 4/5 45 (Acting City Manager) CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 1 1 July 27, 2010 m1a t- 2 Moved by Commissioner Beasley, seconded by Vice Mayor Newman 3 to approve this item. 4 5 With no further comments, the motion to approve this item 6 passed by a 4 -0 vote: 7 8 Commissioner Palmer: Yea 9 Vice Mayor Newman: Yea 10 Commissioner Beasley: Yea 11 Commissioner Harris: Yea 12 Mayor Stoddard: Absent 13 14 15. An Ordinance of the Mayor and City Commission of the 15 City of South Miami by changing the future land use 16 category from Single - Family Residential (Two - Story) to 17 Parks and Open Space for the property identified as 18 Dison Park located at 8051 SW 58 Avenue (Folio No. 09 19 4036- 000 - 0520) ; providing for severability; providing 20 for ordinances in conflict; and providing an effective 21 date. 4/5 22 (Acting City Manager) 23 24 Moved by Commissioner Beasley, seconded by Vice Mayor Newman 25 to approve this item. 26 27 With no further comments, the motion to approve this item 28 passed by a 4 -0 vote: 29 30 Commissioner Palmer: Yea 31 Vice Mayor Newman: Yea 32 Commissioner Beasley: Yea 33 Commissioner Harris: Yea 34 Mayor Stoddard: Absent 35 36 16. An Ordinance of the Mayor and City Commission of the 37 City of South Miami Florida, amending the Future Land 38 Use Map of the South Miami Comprehensive Plan by 39 changing the future land use category from Educational 40 (Four - Story) to Single - Family Residential (Two - Story) 41 for the property identified as the Rothan residence 42 located at 7435 SW 66 Avenue (Folio No. 09- 4036 -050- 43 0020) ; providing for severability; providing for 44 ordinances in conflict; and providing an effective 45 date. 4/5 46 (Acting City Manager) 47 CITY COMMISSION MINUTES 12 July 27, 2010 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 pmq Moved by Commissioner Beasley, seconded by Vice Mayor Newman to approve this item. With no further comments, the motion to approve this item passed by a 4 -0 vote: Commissioner Palmer: Yea Vice Mayor Newman: Yea Commissioner Beasley: Yea Commissioner Harris: Yea Mayor Stoddard: Absent ••►, i ► a PUBLIC HEARING (S) There being no further business to come before this Body, the meeting adjourned at 10 :24 p.m. Attest Maria M. Mene City Clerk CITY COMMISSION MINUTES July 27, 2010 13 Approved Philip K. Stoddard Mayor