Res No 082-24-16187RESOLUTION NO. 082-24-16187
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY
OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA, RELATING TO THE
FISCAL YEAR 2023/2024 BUDGET, AUTHORIZING A
BUDGET TRANSFER OF $85,000 FROM THE POLICE
LEGAL SERVICES ACCOUNT NO. 001-1910-521-3120 AND
THE PERSONNEL DIVISION LIABILITY ACCOUNT NO.
001-1330-513-4510 TO THE CITY ATTORNEY'S OTHER
PROFESSIONAL LEGAL SERVICES ACCOUNT NO. 001-
1500-514-3410; PROVIDING FOR IMPLEMENTATION,
CORRECTIONS, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, on September 19, 2023, the City of South Miami (the "City'') adopted
Ordinance No. 15-23-2466, approving the Adopted Budget for the Fiscal Year 2023/2024 (the
Budget,,); and
WHEREAS, Section 2. F. (1) (Transfer of Appropriation), of Article IV of the City,s
Charter, provides that at the request of the City Manager, the Commission may transfer, by
resolution, any unencumbered appropriation balance or portion thereof between general
classification of expenditure from one office or department to another; and
WHEREAS, a budget transfer of $85,000 is being requested to the City Attorney's "Other
Professional Services" Account No. 001-1500-514-3410, as follows: (i) $40,000 from the Police
Legal Services Account No. 001-1910-521-3120, and (ii) $45,000 from the Personnel Division
Liability Account No. 001-1330-513-4510, to fund the remaining anticipated additional services
and special projects, and possible unanticipated matters, not covered by the general sen1ices
retainer account, for the remainder of FY 2024; and
WHEREAS, the budgetary line items for City Attorney are used to pay the Firm's General
Municipal Services Retainer and Other Professional Legal Services, however, it is anticipated that
the "Other Professional Legal Services'' line item which is used to pay for special or excluded
Page 1 of3
Res. No. 082-24-16187
"Additional Services" is currently projected to exceed the FY 2024 budgeted amount by
approximately $85,000. Additional Services include ongoing work relating to Labor and
Employment, City Hall Redevelopment, Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Changes related to the
Zoning Study, and Litigation; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and City Commission desire to approve the transfer of funds in
the amount of $85,000 to the City Attorney's "Other Professional Services" Account No. 00 l-
1500-514-3410, specifically (i) $40,000 from the Police Legal Services Account No. 001-1910-
521-3120, and (ii) $45,000 from the Personnel Division Liability Account No. 001-1330-513-
4510, to fund the remaining anticipated additional services and special projects, and possible
unanticipated matters, not covered by the general services, for the remainder of FY 2024; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission finds that this Resolution is in the best interest and
welfare of the City.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA:
Section 1. Reeitals Adopted. The foregoing recitals are hereby ratified and confirmed
as being true and they are incorporated into this Ordinance by reference as if set forth in full herein.
Seetion 2. Authorization. The City Commission hereby authorizes the City Manager
to transfer funds in the amount of $85,000 from (i) the Police Legal Services Account No. 001-
1910-521-3120 in the amount of $40,000, which has a current balance of $40,000, and (ii) the
Personnel Division Liability Account No. 001-1330-513-45 l 0, in the amount of$45,000, with has
a current balance of $174,239, to the City Attorney's Other Professional Legal Services Account
No. 001.1500.514.3410, for FY 2023/2024.
Page 2 of3
Res . No. 082-24-16187
Section 3. Implementation. The City Manager is hereby authorized to lake any and
all actions necessary to implement the purposes of this Resolution.
Section 4. Co1Tections. Conforming language or technical scrivener-type corrections
may be made by the City Attorney for any conforming amendments to be incorporated into the
final Resolution for signature.
Section 5. Effective Date. This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon
adoption.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this 18 th day of June, 2024.
ATTEST:
READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM,
LANGUAGE, LEGALITY AND
EXECUTION 1HEREOF
S SEROTAHE
& BI MAN, P.L.
CITY ATTORN EY
APPROVED :
M ~
COMMISSION VOTE:
Mayor Fernandez:
Vice Mayor Bonich:
Commissioner Calle:
Commissioner Liebman:
5-0
Yea
Yea
Yea
Yea
Commissioner Corey: Yea
Page 3 of3
Agenda Item No:5.
City Commission Agenda Item Report
Meeting Date: June 18, 2024
Submitted by: Lillian Arango
Submitting Department: City Attorney
Item Type: Resolution
Agenda Section:
Subject:
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA, RELATING TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2023/2024 BUDGET, AUTHORIZING A BUDGET
TRANSFER OF $85,000 FROM THE POLICE LEGAL SERVICES ACCOUNT NO. 001-1910-521-3120 AND
THE PERSONNEL DIVISION LIABILITY ACCOUNT NO. 001-1330-513-4510 TO THE CITY ATTORNEY’S
OTHER PROFESSIONAL LEGAL SERVICES ACCOUNT NO. 001-1500-514-3410; PROVIDING FOR
IMPLEMENTATION, CORRECTIONS, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 3/5 (CITY ATTORNEY)
Suggested Action:
Attachments:
Memo Re Budget Amendment - City Attorney - Other Legal Services for FY 2024 CAv4.docx
48Z4419-Resolution Authorizing Transfer to City Attorney Other Legal Services FY 2024 CAv2.DOCX
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CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO:The Honorable Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Lillian Arango and Tony Recio, City Attorneys
cc:Genaro “Chip” Iglesias, City Manager
DATE: June 18, 2024
SUBJECT: Budget Transfer of $40,000 from line-item 001-1910-521-3120, Police Legal
Services, and $45,000 from line-item 001-1330-513-4510, Personnel Division
Liability to the City Attorney’s “Other Professional Legal Services” Line-Item No.
001-1500-514-3410 to fund Additional Services for the remainder of FY 2024
RECOMMENDATION:Approving a budget transfer of $40,000 from line-item 001-1910-521-
3120, Police Legal Services, with a current balance of $40,000,and$45,000
from line item 001-1330-513-4510, Personnel Division Liability, with a
current balance of $174,239to fund “Other Professional Legal Services” by
the City Attorney that are not covered by the Legal Services Retainer for
general representation. These additional services include Labor, Litigation,
Eminent Domain and Special Projects such as the South Miami Parking
Garage, Stunnas Fit, City Hall Redevelopment (including the Library
Interlocal Agreement), Comprehensive Plan and Zoning changes related to
the Zoning Study, and Annexation.
BACKGROUND:The City Attorney Department is funded by two (2) of the three (3)
applicable line items in the Adopted FY 24 budget:
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THE CITY OF PLEASANT LIVING
I H t LI I Y U ~ t'LtA:,AN I LIV JNL,
CITY ATTORNEY BUDGET FY 2023-2024
001-1500-514
ACTUAL ACTUAL
ACCT NO ACCOUNT CLASSIFICATION FY 20/21 FY 21/22
0011500 5143120 LEGAL SERVICES -RETAINER 282,310 285,589
0011500 5143410 OTHER PROFESSIONAL LEGAL SRVCS 16,543 40,280
0011500 5144065 NON -PROFESSIONAL LEGAL EXPENSES 21,264 9,341
TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES 320,117 335,210
TOTAL LEGAL SERVICES 320,117 335,210
BUDGET ESTIMATE ADOPTED
FY 22/23 FY 22/23 FY 23/24
297,385 353,474 288,000
60,000 60,000 109,385
40,000 40,000 0
397,385 453,474 397,385
397,385 453,474 397,385
CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM
The budgetary line item for “Other Professional Legal Services” is used to
pay the City Attorney’s services that are not included in the general
services retainer and often unforeseen at the time of the budgetary
approval process. To date, $107,000 has been paid for services rendered
through April 30, 2024, for the “Other Professional Legal Services Line
Item.” The remaining balance of $2,385 is not sufficient to cover the
remaining anticipated services and special projects, and possible
unanticipated matters, to be provided for the remainder of FY 24 as
detailed below.
“Additional Services” is defined in the City Attorney’s agreement and
provided below for your review:
Additional services, including without limitation labor and
employment representation, litigation, eminent domain,
specialized services, costs for any legal fees paid or recoverable
from third parties (including development projects or applications
subject to cost recovery), Requests for Proposals or Qualifications
for real estate or construction not covered as general services or
infrastructure, bond work, or Special Projects as further described
herein (collectively "Excluded Services,”shall be billed onan hourly
basis. Litigation includes adversarial proceedings before
administrative tribunals, courts, mediators, arbitrators, and
appellate tribunals. Special Projects include non-recurring,
unanticipated major projects (e.g., rewrite of land development
regulations, Evaluation and Appraisal Report and related
Comprehensive Plan amendments, general obligation bonds) not
already identified in the City's current adopted budget for the
2022-2023 Fiscal Year.
It is important to note that the Additional Services provided under this line
item occur either because of the City Commission’s policy decisions and
directives, or due to other circumstances which are either unanticipated
or outside of the control of the City Attorney, such as lawsuits against the
City. In other words, the Additional Services provided, and consequently,
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THE CITY OF PLEASANT LIVING
CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM
the fees incurred, are due primarily to Commission policy directives and
secondarily to the actions of outside parties necessitating specialized legal
services. The specific matters that represent the majority of the line item
attorneys’ fees paid to date for services rendered through April 30, 2024
are labor (approximately $22K paid), litigation (approximately $23K paid),
City Hall redevelopment (approximately $35K paid), and Zoning and
Comprehensive Plan amendments related to the Zoning Study
(approximately $10K paid). These fees are demonstrative of thevision and
hard work of the current Commission, which has pursued adiligent agenda
for the improvement and best interests of the City.
The four matters described above in particular are estimated to involve
additional fees above those budgeted for legal services for the remainder
of fiscal year 2024. Labor in particular will incur ongoing fees due to
collective bargaining that has recently commenced. Zoning amendments
will also ramp up with additional work as several of the long-awaited
changes are finally brought to the Commission this summer. Litigation is
not expected to generate substantial fees, especially in light of the positive
results in the Ming Tien litigation (injunction issued by court), but that
expectation could change at any moment based on a new lawsuit or appeal
filed against the City. Finally, the City Hall Redevelopment Project is
ongoing and will most certainly generate fees, but some of those new fees,
and potentially some previously paid fees, should be recouped based on
the cost recovery provisions in the City Hall RFP.
Additionally, to the extent that an RFP for Lot B moves forward, the costs
of such RFP would be charged as “Additional Services.” There is potential
recoupment of such costs through the RFP and cost recovery process.
For some final context, it is important to note that a significant amount of
time intensivespecialized services performed by us have not been charged
to the additional or “other services” line item, but have instead been
absorbed by the General Services retainer. These include numerous RFPs,
solicitations and agreements for Placemaking and Mobility services, all
other contracts, approximately 25-30 legislative and other agenda items
per month, the bulk of the ERPB rehaul legislation, ARPA legislation, Sub
Area K Septic to Sewer conversion, police and code enforcement support,
planning, building, and zoning support, and many other kinds of other
specialized services and representation.
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THE CITY OF PLEASANT LIVING
CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Lastly, in accordance with the City Attorney’s Retainer Agreement, fees in
connection with private land development applications are to be absorbed
by the applicant through the cost recovery process.
Pursuant to the City's Charter, expenditures may not legally exceed
appropriations, but funds can be transferred between departments under
Article IV, Sec. 2.F(1) of the Charter. Accordingly, funded expenditures
from one line item can be applied against other line items.
Based on the foregoing and reasonably anticipated ongoing special
services, as well as providing for unforeseeable circumstances
necessitating additional services, we request that $85,000 be approved
and appropriated to “Other Professional Legal Services” for the remainder
of FY 2024.
Our Firm has the honor and privilege of providing legal servicestotheCity,
and we look forward to representing you in the years to come. We value our
relationship with the City and enjoy working closely with the Commission
and staff. We appreciate your consideration of this request.
FUNDING:Transfer of $40,000 from line-item 001-1910-521-3120, Police Legal
Services, with a current balance of $40,000,and$45,000from line item001-
1330-513-4510, Personnel Division Liability, with a current balance of
$174,239; to City Attorney’s “Other Professional Legal Services” Account
No. 001.1500.514.3410 for a total of $85,000.
ATTACHMENTS:PROPOSED Resolution
Resolution 176-22-15929
Weiss Serota FY 2024 Billing Detail
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THE CITY OF PLEASANT LIVING