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CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI
Rios' OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER Po
INTER- OFFICE MEMORANDUM 2001
Mayor Mary Scott Russell, Date: December 20, 2005
Vice Mayor Velma Palmer
And Members of the Cit Co mission
Maria V. Davis E Q Agenda Item # jq
City Manager Re: Contract with SAO To Handle
Prosecution of Local Ordinance_
Violations
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTON OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA, RELATING TO PROSECUTION OF MUNICIPAL
ORDINANCE VIOLATIONS; APPROVING THE ENTRY INTO AN AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, OFFICE OF THE STATE ATTORNEY FOR
THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA AND THE CITY;
AUTHORIZING THE REIMBURSEMENT OF THE STATE FOR THE COST OF
STATE ATTORNEY PROSECUTION OF CERTAIN CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS OF
THE CITY'S CODE FROM ACCOUNT #01- 1910 - 521 -3450 WHICH HAS A CURRENT
BALANCE OF _$26,142; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY AND AN EFFECTIVE
BATE.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
During fiscal year 2004/05, the City was advised of a new state law that requires the City to
contract with the State Attorney's Office (S.A.O.) in order for the S.A.O. to continue handling
the prosecution of local ordinance violations. Under the contract, the City must reimburse the
S.A.O. for these prosecutions at a rate of $50.00 per hour. The S.A.O. calculates the
reimbursement charges based on fractions of an hour as several cases can be handled within an
hour's time. After careful consideration by City staff and review by the City Attorney's office,
the City Commission passed a Resolution on January 4, 2005, authorizing the contract. Since the
contract was for a 1 -year term, it is now up for renewal.
For the four (4) latest billing quarters, the City has paid a total of $699.72, or an average of
$174.93 per quarter.
So far, we have found this arrangement to be substantially less costly than having these cases
prosecuted by our own attorneys.
The Police Department has budgeted $2,000 from its contractual services account #01- 1910 -521-
3450 for this expenditure. The current account balance is $26,142.
This Resolution authorizes the City Manager to execute the renewal of the contract.
RECOMMENDATION
Approval of the Resolution is recommended.
Page 2 of 2
1 RESOLUTION NO.
2
3
4 A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY
5 COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI,
6 FLORIDA, RELATING TO PROSECUTION OF MUNICIPAL
7 VIOLATIONS; APPROVING THE ENTRY INTO AN
8 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE STATE OF FLORIDA,
9 OFFICE OF THE STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE
10 ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA AND THE
11 CITY; AUTHORIZING THE REIMBURSEMENT OF THE
12 STATE FOR THE COST OF STATE ATTORNEY
13 PROSECUTION OF CERTAIN CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS OF
14 THE CITY'S CODE FROM ACCOUNT #01- 1910 -521 -3450
15 WHICH HAS A CURRENT BALANCE OF $26,142; PROVIDING
16 FOR SEVERABILITY AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
17
18 WHEREAS, the city finds that in order to maintain and improve the health,
19 safety and welfare of this community, it is necessary to adequately enforce and
20 prosecute violations of the city's municipal code; and,
21
22 WHEREAS, section 27.02, Florida Statutes, authorizes the State Attorney to
23 prosecute municipal ordinance violations punishable by incarceration if
24 ancillary to state prosecution or, if not ancillary to state prosecution, when the
25 State Attorney contracts with the City for reimbursement.
26
27 WHEREAS, two year's ago the Florida Legislature implemented an
28 amendment to Article -V of the State Constitution, under chapter 2004 -265,
29 Laws of Florida, which prohibits the state from prosecuting violations of
30 municipal ordinances, unless that prosecution is ancillary to state prosecution
31 or the state attorney has contracted with the municipality for reimbursement for
32 services; and
33
34 WHEREAS, pursuant to this change in Florida law, annually, the State
35 Attorney seeks the execution of an interlocal agreement with each
36 municipality; and
37
38 WHEREAS, the City seeks to enter into an agreement with the State Attorney
39 for the prosecution of violations of municipal ordinances; and
Additions shown by underlining and deletions shown by ever
1
2 WHEREAS, the attached Agreement is legally sufficient in form and content.
3
4 NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND
5 CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA;
6
7 Section 1. The mayor is authorized to execute and to deliver to the State
8 Attorney the attached Agreement for fiscal year 2005 -2006 between the city and
9 the State of Florida, Office of State Attorney for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of
10 Florida, which agreement is to reimburse the state for the cost of state attorney
11 prosecution of certain criminal violations of the city's municipal code.
12
13 Section 2. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon approval
14 PASSED and ADOPTED this day of December, 2005.
15 ATTEST: APPROVED:
16
17
18 CITY CLERK MAYOR
19
20
21 COMMISSION VOTE:
22 READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM: Mayor Russell:
23 Vice Mayor Palmer:
24 Commissioner Birts- Cooper:
25 CITY ATTORNEY Commissioner Sherar:
26 Commissioner Wiseombe:
2?
Page 2 of 2
STATE ATTORNEY
ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA
E. R. GRAHAM BUILDING
1350 N.W. 12TH AVENUE
MIAMI, FLORIDA 33136 -2111
KATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE
STATE ATTORNEY
November 16, 2005
Ms. Maria Davis
City Manager
City of South Miami
6130 Sunset Drive
South Miami, FL 33143
Dear Ms. Davis:
CJTY INIANA E 'S, (OFFICE
TELEPHONE (305) 547 -0100
Legislation passed in 2004 to implement Revision 7 to Article V of the Florida Constitution
provides that the State Attorney may prosecute municipal ordinances only if (1) the ordinance violation is
ancillary to a felony prosecution (s. 27.02(1), Florida Statutes), or (2) the county /municipality has entered
into a contract with the State Attorney for these prosecutions (s. 27.34(1), Florida Statutes). Additionally,
counties /municipalities are required to pay for the defense of indigents charged with a violation of an
ordinance (s. 27.54(2), Florida Statutes) and are required to pay a $10 filing fee to the Clerk of the Court
for each ordinance violation prosecuted (s. 34.045(1)(a), Florida Statutes).
Attached please find a proposed agreement for the prosecution of ordinance violations for the
period of October 1, 2005 — September 30, 2006. Please sign and return to this office as soon as possible.
If you desire to make changes to the contract and want an electronic version of this document, please
contact me at tedmannelli(d,miamisaoxom and I will forward you a copy. This contract is for the
prosecution of ordinances only; the State Attorney's office has no statutory authority to handle appeals
relating to the constitutionality of ordinances.
The State Attorney's office will need either a signed agreement to prosecute_ ordinances or a
response from you stating that you do not want us to prosecute any ordinance violations. If you opt for the
latter, we would further need to be advised as to what procedures you intend to follow if an arrest is charged
as an ordinance violation, i.e., you need to advise us who will represent you or whether you want us to nolle
pros any arrests which are charged against ordinances. In this regard, please understand that a signed
agreement merely gives us the authority to prosecute the arrests. If an arrest is erroneously charged as an
ordinance violation and you dispute your bill, we will review and make corresponding adjustments to our
records so that you will not be obligated to pay.
An ordinance with a corresponding state statute may be filed as either a state statute violation or
municipal ordinance violation. Whether a state statute or ordinance is charged is dependent on what the
officer indicates on the arrest form. Please be aware that the enabling code incorporates a state statute by
reference and converts the prosecution to an ordinance violation. If an officer lists the
county /municipality enabling code on the arrest form, it will be filed as an ordinance violation, thus
triggering the charges provided for in the statute. Some entities have directed their officers to file
everything with a corresponding state statute as a state statute violation. If that is the policy decision of the
county /municipality, police officers should be directed to put the state statute citation on the arrest form
while omitting the enabling code. If an arrest is charged to a state statute, the county /municipality will
avoid any of the charges provided for in statute; however, any fines that are levied will accrue to the state
and not the entity whose officer made the arrest. Whether this is cost beneficial is a decision that each
entity will have to make for itself.
We will be using data from the Clerk of the Court's database as our billing document (see
Attachment 2 for an example). These data represent ordinance violations for which the county /municipality
is being charged a filing fee pursuant to s. 27.34(1), Florida Statutes. Please note that this is a monthly
report, which will be provided to you on a quarterly basis.
You will be billed at the statutorily prescribed rate of $50 per hour. Our estimate is that, on
average, it takes approximately 20 minutes per case; therefore, you will be charged at the rate of $16.67 per
case. Section 27.34(l)(a), Florida Statutes, allows the Florida Legislature to specify a different hourly rate
in the General Appropriations Act. If the Legislature specifies a different rate for the 2006 -2007 state fiscal
year, the contract will be amended accordingly. Please note that this is the charge for ordinance prosecution
only. Pursuant to state law, there are separate charges for indigent defense from the Public Defender and
filing fees from the Clerk of the Court.
Since this process is heavily dependent on input from the arresting officer and the booking
correctional officer, it is possible that some errors might be made on the invoice. You are requested to
review the invoice when you receive it. Please note items that you dispute, deduct their cost, and remit the
remainder. The items under dispute will be reviewed by our staff and re- invoiced in the following quarter if
necessary.
If you have any questions about the procedures discussed above, or the contract, or if I can provide
any other information, please do not hesitate to contact me at 305 -547 -0562 or at
tedmannelli(a.miamisao.com.
Sincerely,
KATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE
State Attorney
By: Theodore F. Mannelli
Executive Director
TFM/cj
Enclosures
AGREEMENT BETWEEN
AND THE STATE OF FLORIDA, OFFICE OF THE
STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE ELEVENTH
JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA TO REIMBURSE
THE STATE FOR THE COST OF STATE
ATTORNEY PROSECUTION OF CERTAIN
CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS OF THE
CODE
This agreement is entered into this day of , 2005, by and between
a political subdivision of the State of Florida (hereinafter referred to as the
"City") and the Office of the State Attorney for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida
(hereinafter referred to as "State Attorney ").
WHEREAS, the City finds that in order to maintain and improve the health,
safety, and welfare of this community, it is necessary to adequately enforce and prosecute
violations of the City's Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, Section 27.02, Florida Statutes, authorizes the State Attorney to
prosecute municipal ordinance violations punishable by incarceration if ancillary to state
prosecution or, if not ancillary to state prosecution, when the State Attorney contracts
with the City for reimbursement.
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereto agree as follows:
1
ARTICLE I
Services
The, State Attorney agrees to prosecute municipal ordinance violations as
authorized in Sections 27.02, and 27.34, Florida Statutes. The City agrees to remit,
subject to the terms outlined in Article III of this agreement, to the State Attorney the
required funds to reimburse for costs associated with the prosecution of violations of the
Municipal Code for the period of October 1, 2005, through September 30, 2006. The
State Attorney shall provide such clerical and professional personnel as may be required
for the performance of any of the functions of the State Attorney as set forth in this
agreement. This agreement does not commit the City to pay for the prosecution of
Municipal Code violations ancillary to state prosecution or for the prosecution of
municipal ordinance violations not punishable by incarceration. This agreement
specifically does not authorize the State to handle appeals of municipal ordinances on
constitutional grounds, which shall remain the responsibility of the municipality that
passed the ordinance.
ARTICLE II
Terms
This agreement shall expire on September 30, 2006, unless terminated earlier
pursuant to Article VII of this agreement. Under no circumstances shall the City be liable
to continue or extend this agreement beyond this date. This agreement may only be
amended in writing, through a document executed by duly authorized representatives of
the signatories to this agreement.
2
ARTICLE III
Payment Schedule
The City agrees to reimburse the State Attorney on an hourly basis for services
rendered at a rate of Fifty dollars ($50) per hour. On a quarterly basis, the State Attorney
shall provide the City with an invoice including, but not limited to, the hours of services
rendered, number of cases prosecuted as set forth in this agreement, and the total amount
due for payment for the previous month. The City shall remit each payment within ten
(10) days after receiving said invoice from the State Attorney.
ARTICLE IV
Responsibilities
The City does not delegate any of its responsibilities or powers to the State
Attorney other than those enumerated in this agreement. The State Attorney does not
delegate any of its responsibilities or powers to the City other than those enumerated in
this agreement.
ARTICLE V
Reporting
All required reports shall be submitted to the
3
ARTICLE VI
Indemnification
It is expressly understood and intended that the State Attorney is only a recipient
of the reimbursements paid by the City and is not an agent of the City. The respective
parties agree, subject to the provisions of Chapter 768.28 (17), Florida Statutes, that they
will hold each other harmless from any claims arising from this agreement.
ARTICLE VII
Termination
Either party may terminate this agreement at any time with or without cause by
furnishing written notice to the other party with no less than ninety (90) days notice.
ARTICLE VIII
Service Charges
This agreement is contingent upon all City funding provided, and any interest
earned thereon, not being subject to any State service charges or administrative
assessments.
ARTICLE IX
Non - Discrimination
The State Attorney agrees to abide and be governed by Title II of the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990, Title VI and VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 USC 200d,
e) and Title Viii of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended, which provides in part that
there will not be discrimination of race, color, sex, religious background, ancestry, or
national origin in performance of this contract, in regard to persons served, or in regard to
M
employees or applicants for employment and it is expressly understood that upon receipt
of evidence of discrimination, the City shall have the right to terminate said agreement.
IN WITNESS THEREOF, the parties have caused this agreement to be executed
by their respective and duly authorized officers the day and year first above written.
ATTEST:
NAME
POSITION
ATTEST
By:
5
City Commission
M
State Attorney's Office
Eleventh Judicial Circuit
T. F. Mannelli
Executive Director