09-06-05 Item 1c[ 'J
k S al
1 City of South Miami
2 Special City Commission Minutes
3 August 30, 2005
4
5 CALL TO ORDER:
6
7 The City Commission of the City of South Miami, Florida met
8 in special session on Tuesday, August 30, 2005, beginning at 6:11
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 Mayor Mary Scott Russell, Vice Mayor Velma Palmer and,
14 Commissioners Randy G. Wiscombe, Marie Birts- Cooper and Craig Z.
15 Sherar.
16
17 Also in attendance were: City Attorney Luis Figueredo, City
18 Manager Maria V. Davis and City Clerk Maria M. Menendez.
19
20 B. Invocation: The invocation was delivered in silence.
21
22 C. Pledge of Allegiance:
23 The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.
24
25 D. Presentations: (NONE)
26
27 Ms. Davis explained that the two items before the Commission
28 were pursuant to the Code of Ordinances. The first item is a
29 housekeeping item to invoke our emergency procedure. The second
30 item addresses the issue of allowing us to continue providing
31 service to the City and cleaning up the City.
32
33
34 ITEMS (S) FOR THE COMMISSION'S CONSIDERATION:
35
36
30 -05 -1852
37
1. AN ORDINANCE
OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF
THE
38
CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA, DECLARING A WEATHER
39
EMERGENCY PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 14.05 AND 14.12
OF
40
ORDINANCE NO.
11 -93 -1539; GIVING THE CITY MANAGER
THE
41
NECESSARY AUTHORITY AND DIRECTING HER TO TAKE
ALL
42
NECESSARY AND
APPROPRIATE ACTIONS TO PREPARE FOR
AND
43
RESPOND TO
HURRICANE KATRINA; PROVIDING
FOR
44
SEVERABILITY,
PROVIDING FOR ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT;
45
AND PROVIDING
FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
4/5
46
(City Manager)
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION
1
MINUTES - August 30, 2005
1 Moved by Mayor Russell, seconded by Commissioner Wiscombe to
2 approve this item.
3
4 Ms. Davis presented this item, which puts our emergency
5 procedures in effect from the day of Hurricane Katrina and
6 forward. This is standard, which provides that the City Manager
7 is authorized to perform all of the duties and responsibilities
8 for declaring a weather emergency pursuant to sections 14.05 and
9 14.12 of the Code.
10
11 Commissioner Wiscombe inquired about the expenses. He stated
12 that he would like to have a weekly accounting so that we know
13 where things are going.
14
15 Mayor Russell verified with the Manager that next the
16 accounting will be provided at the next regularly scheduled City
17 Commission meeting.
18
19 Commissioner Sherar asked that in the future on an occasion
20 such as this when we have a last minute meeting called that we
21 fax the agenda to him because he likes to look it over
22 beforehand. He said that he wants to make sure that the
23 procedures are right.
24
25 With no further comments or discussion, the motion to
26 approve this item passed by a 4 -0 vote:
27
28 Commissioner Wiscombe: Yea
29 Commissioner Sherar: Yea
30 Vice Mayor Palmer; Absent
31 Commissioner Birts- Cooper: Yea
32 Mayor Russell: Yea
33
34 Vice Mayor Palmer abstained from voting because she had
35 missed the first part of the discussion on this item.
36
37 31 -05 -1853
38 2. AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE
39 CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA, RELATING TO PAYMENT OF
40 EXPENDITURES INCURRED DURING A WEATHER EMERGENCY
41 RESULTING FROM HURRICANE KATRINA; PROVIDING THE CITY
42 MANAGER THE NECESSARY AUTHORITY TO USE UP TO $500,000
43 FROM CITY CASH RESERVE FOR RELATED EMERGENCY
44 EXPENSES; AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY
45 FOR ANY AVAILABLE ASSISTANCE TO REIMBURSE THE CITY
46 FOR THE FUNDS EXPENDED; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY,
47 PROVIDING FOR ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT; AND PROVIDING
48 AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 4/5
49 (City Manager)
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION 2
MINUTES - August 30, 2005
Moved by Mayor Russell, seconded by Commissioner Birts-
Cooper to approve this item.
Ms. Davis presented this item. This is also an ordinance to
authorize staff to invoke the authority, the emergency
procedures that are in the Code; to allow staff and management
to operate the City in an emergency fashion by acquiring
equipment, authorizing overtime, and expending dollars in an
emergency fashion in order to keep the City safe and as clean
as possible. So, the first ordinance basically invokes those
emergency procedures; the second ordinance is to provide the
City Manager the necessary authority to use up to $500,000 of
cash reserves to pay for the expenses as needed. We have
already incurred into $162,548, minus the two roofing
estimates. We have cleared approximately twenty percent of the
City to date. She said that we anticipate a surplus in our
budget of approximately $200,000 that we will be able to
utilize. However, we are projecting the total expenditures to
be beyond that amount; therefore, she said that she is
requesting permission from this Commission to allow her to go
into cash reserves because we need to continue to clean the
streets. The expenses will be primarily incurred by Public
Works and Parks. She said that there is no question that we are
going to exceed that ` $200,000 that we are projecting and which
is going to be in excess of the revenue that we have projected
this year. She said that it is for occasions such as this that
we need cash reserves.
Mayor Russell asked Ms. Davis to explain the reimbursement
procedure so that everyone will understand that this money is
just not going out the door but that we will be reimbursed 87.5
percent. FEMA will reimburse 75 percent, 12.5 percent will come
from the State, and the municipality then is responsible for
the other 12.5 percent. Therefore, we will apply for
reimbursement which is a lengthy process. FEMA comes and
evaluates what we have done and looks at all of our invoices.
Staff is very well versed on how to prepare for FEMA
reimbursements. When they see that we have properly expended
those dollars they will reimburse us 75 percent and then the
State will reimburse 12.5 percent of our costs. Ms. Davis then
explained how the City is being cleaned and talked about the
different contractors working on our streets.
Commissioner Wiscombe asked how much the arborist is
charging us. Ms. Davis said that we have not received that
information yet.
Commissioner Sherar asked whether the people that are doing
the clean ups are charging by the hour or by the ton or the
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION 3
MINUTES - August 30, 2005
truck. Ms. Davis said that they charge us an hourly rate and
then we pick up the tipping fees. She then said that the Public
Works Director would explain what these fees are.
At this time Mayor Russell addressed staff about the amazing
job they have done getting the roads cleared and that they
appreciate all the hard work that Public Works has put in. She
said that she had gotten a call from FP &L thanking and
complimenting us for making their job easier by getting the
roads cleared so that they could work.
Vice Mayor Palmer asked whether the figure of over $162,000
in expenses incurred presented to them is in addition to the
$500,000 requested in this ordinance. Ms. Davis said that what
she is asking for is authorization to expend up to $500,000 in
the event that we need it. To date, from last Thursday, minus
the two estimates for roofing, we have expended that amount of
dollars. We know that we do not have enough money in this
year's budget to cover all the expenditures that we are going
to have, so rather than having to come back to the Commission
over and over to ask for additional dollars, we are estimating
that it could go up as high as a half million. Debris removal
and the overtime constitute the major expense. Ms. Davis
clarified that the $162,000 is not an advance; it is coming out
of the $200,000 that we could use out of this year's budget
before we even go into cash reserves. Once we finish those
$200,000 out of this year's budget, we will need to go into
reserves.
Commissioner Birts- Cooper asked Mr. Balogun about the clean-
up schedule. He said that they started with the special
targeted areas where there was an emergency. Starting this
Monday, they have been working from the north and south and
will meet at the middle towards the end of this week. Tomorrow
(Wednesday) they will be working from west to east in the same
fashion. By Thursday, Friday the latest, they would have been
to each house at least once.
Ms. Davis said that garbage service is going to remain on
schedule.
Commissioner Birts - Cooper said that even before the
Hurricane, she has noticed that the trucks leave the garbage
cans half way on the street. Some people need help in order to
move the cans. She asked Mr. Balogun to take care of this.
Commissioner Wiscombe asked whether it would be possible to
use any of the CRA funds for some of this clean up.
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION 4
MINUTES - August 30, 2005
1 Ms. Davis said that the CRA funds cannot be used for that
2 because the CRA funds are for economic development. They do not
3 qualify under the Statute for debris removal or garbage pick up
4 or tree trimming from a disaster recovery effort.
5
6 Vice Mayor Palmer said that we cannot develop unless we
7 clean up.
8
9 With no further comments or discussion, the motion to
10 approve this item passed by a 5 -0 vote:
11
12 Commissioner Wiscombe: Yea
13 Commissioner Sherar: Yea
14 Vice Mayor Palmer: Yea
15 Commissioner Birts- Cooper: Yea
16 Mayor Russell: Yea
17
18 Before adjourning the meeting, Mayor Russell thanked Chief
19 Martinez who has been here since the Hurricane hit; South Miami
20 Hospital has sent over 80 hot meals for the Police, Public
21 Works and Parks; Alan Ricke was here early the morning after;
22 Kathy Vazquez has been here making sure that we were able to
23 get everything that we need. The Mayor then said that those who
24 do not have power could not see this, but for those who do have
25 power and knows of somebody in the neighborhood still without
26 it, to please call 1- 800- 40UTAGE to report it since they might
27 have missed that branch. For anyone with special needs she said
28 to call us at City Hall, and she asked for everybody's
29 patience.
30
31 Vice Mayor Palmer also thanked the' entire staff since
32 everybody worked very hard and there were a lot of sacrifices
33 that were made during this period of time. She said that this
34 is remarkable considering that everybody have their own
35 families to take care of.
36
37 Commissioner Wiscombe also thanked staff for the great job.
38 He said that with all the trees and the clean -up work he is
39 surprised that nobody got hurt. He then said that we should
40 keep Mississippi and Louisiana in our prayers because that
41 could have been us, very easily.
42
43 Mayor Russell said that Commissioner Carlos Gimenez was here
44 yesterday as well, making sure that we got what we needed and
45 provided us with free ice which was distributed from City Hall
46 to our residents yesterday.
47
48 There being no further business to come before this Body,
49 the meeting adjourned at 6:39 p.m.
50
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION 5
MINUTES - August 30, 2005
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Attest
Maria M. Menendez
City Clerk
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION
MINUTES - August 30, 2005
0
Approved
Mary Scott Russell
Mayor