hats off to commissioner Suarez you identified this I think one of your first meetings you brought forward an item about this um the marketplace needs to understand that just because it's the taxpayers money doesn't mean that it's an endless bucket of money and unless we start to send a message that there needs to be controls and limits in the cost that we pay for individual units of of of products the marketplace is just going to keep on thinking you know oh it's Miami Beach it's a rich city it has good coffers has good finances um you know that's the concern that I have um I see you shaking your head so I these These are these are this is a normal commercial grade uh systems that we're buying we're buying uh competitively competitively uh bid cameras that any commercial Enterprise would have this would pay the same cost or greater than what what we're paying we aggressively negotiate with our vendor and uh I I I don't think that I don't think that um the message will be received the way that that you that we think it would if if that's what you're trying to accomplish I think this is I this is exactly what exists in the marketplace I mean we can we can provide additional information if you'd like um on what competitors would be but um we're we're we're we're we're going to need to uh expand our systems if we're going to continue to grow um BL you and I I I would like you to be comfortable with uh knowing what the what the marketplace looks like if that's what it it's going to take yes and and i' like to yield to my colleague you know or give the floor back to to through the vice mayor or the mayor I don't know um if wh why why why do we need seven cameras here what was the impetus for so um this was requested by public works I don't know if there's anyone from Public Works that can that can uh if I could just add uh yes ma'am so this is a uh facility where we have our sanitation department employees and equipment so I look at this not just as a um Public Safety but employee safety as as well as uh trying to look at it from a risk perspective because of the types of equipment that we have at this facility so yes it's a garage but it's also an employee work area and so I do want to ensure that if anything happens in that area that we're able to check the cameras and see what happened as you know an incident occurred here at City Hall recently and you know I I think cameras are important to help us identify uh where we have uh any criminal activity or any emergencies it's always good to have camera access and so because this is an employee workpace I would recommend it so but this is for a storage room in the sanitation I mean seven seven cameras overall uh to be one of the areas I believe they mentioned was storage yeah turn up on yeah yeah thank you um this is for the 17th Street facility um it's not just a storage area it's also a place where we have employees that are that check in every day um I think we have a total of about 80 80 85 of our our sanitation employees that rotate and and and use that facility so these cameras I believe are not only uh to secure the area for the for the employees but they also provide security for the parking garage as well okay well I I um I'm okay with the the life safety one on the I think it was it I don't forgot which item that is X um what w w and this is for the 17th garage yes 17th Street yes that's sir correct okay and and look I I want to put on the record that you know like my my colleague commissioner Dominguez said that you know government pays more I don't know why I don't know why why I don't know why the government has to pay more for these cameras if if for example it was a corporation or uh anyone else I I I don't understand why that is it certainly seems that whenever it comes down to cameras the technology is like obsolete after a year but we were we're always paying top dollar um and and look you know I mean you this is going to integrate into our into our um into our Intelligence Center but you know right now we don't have someone viewing the cameras full-time right I think we have you know maybe someone part-time or um if they're injured right a police officer would be a monitoring there's over what a thousand cameras yeah you know I understand for the playback if there was a crime committed you can kind of pece me that which is which is great but you know when I see that going to be you know Pennywise and pound foolish but I think there you know we do need to somewhere draw the line on on you know what are we going to uh spend spend money on appropriately um so and um see where the other votes lie commissioner I think we all know where we this is UN figure up for USC fac is the person was caught days later but is it is it technology from n from 2019 2020 current technology who made the motion have a motion c7w make motion commissioner Fernandez second we have a second yeah second commissioner bot is seconding call the vote so I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez second by commissioner bot is this on both items or we want to do them separately well I think commissioner Suarez is voting one yes and one no so I think we should do it separately so we're going to do it on C7 W all in favor I anyone opposed c7w is 70 approved c7x motion by commissioner Fernandez and commissioner bot all in favor anyone opposed one one one no Commission of far is 61 thank you thank you call uh C7 BM C7 BM stop stop the pause policy 67th modified critical infrastructure projects it was separated by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um so I wanted to add something to the to this um I'm not quite sure commissioner Fernandez I mean I understand why you would like to to um to do this I think in some cases what you're doing so you're saying that if a project is 60% funded meaning West Avenue or first three which we've already addressed we cannot make any changes it needs to go to a five7 vote the problem is the scope of these projects change the cost of these projects change and none of that is um is addressed in your um idea in your resolution and we passed both of the projects I would ask that you withdraw this unless you really feel like it it it needs to happen but if it does happen I would like you to add into it that if the scope of the project substantially changes or the cost of the project substantially changes it remain a four a three four vote because otherwise you're just putting funding you're just you know you're you're you're empowering lobbyists and corporate interest and not the residents of Miami Beach because there have been times where where something in the past was approved that a lot of people did not want and you have to reverse course and uh it doesn't and so what if the scope changes and the amount of dollars change you can't hamstring Us by putting this into the hands of lobbyists so I would ask and I've actually written out a little Amendment for you okay that hold on I have to find it here let's here um gosh okay in the event of sub substantive material changes to scope or cost of any prior approved capex or operating expense the commission will still require a 4 or3 majority to move forward and not and not the 57s would you accept that Amendment so if I could be recognized commissioner Fernandez okay I'm not I can't turn my microphone on so help me understand this Mr attorney P I believe right now there is an existing policy that was adopted back in 2017 that says like changes to our storm water master plan um changes would require a 57th vote does that is it does this cover that um what a commissioner Rosen Gonzalez is is mentioning uh with those changes fall under what's already codified or no I I believe that commissioner Rosen Gonzalez asked if there could be a an amendment to your resolution to deal with cost changes to the project am I did I hear that correctly yes I I want to make sure that you're looking at the correct version of the resolution which was in supplemental one because the original version did not include um language that was added that relates to um funding emergencies funding limitations material impacts to the cost as a result of unforeseen site conditions um so there is already a carve out from the general rule for for those as well as for um any uh determination by the commission that it wants to accept the recommendation by the city manager to reject bids so that the the commission is not bound to accept the bid that it doesn't believe is appropriate and also there's an exception uh for the city commission not to be pressured into um moving forward if there are actions that need to be taken to protect the city's rights under a contract with a design consultant or contractor um so here's the thing about resiliency and projects is that the key word is adaptation we are going to have to adapt we are going to have to change we and this this is just making it more difficult and it's taking power away from the commission and kind of giving a discretion to both the corporate interest involved in some of these very expensive projects and the administration so I understand that we had a massive rain event and I know that there was a lot of feeling that you know like like like fear and we have this pause and we don't want to pause but we paused because they were ruining neighborhoods go to Pal and hibiscus it was dry but they were miserable for years and years and years and I don't know if we're still in litigation with Lanzo or not at this point we've addressed those major projects what I would ask because we don't have anything in 60% design phase right now and I think that what we're finding out is that instead of the mass these massive projects over the next 10 years we're going to address the 20 hotspots right so could you add in a third exemption to maintain a simple majority if the size and scope of the project changes substantially if the cost and scope of the project changes substantially Fernandez thank you thank you Mr Mayor so so let me let let me let me just lay the groundwork for for for this item the oig our Inspector General has conducted audits on various infrastructure uh projects and and in those audits the the office of the Inspector General has highlighted significant budget increases and delays due to design and scope changes they've they've provided three examples one example was pal and hibiscus um um that neighborhood Improvement project saw the budget escalate from about $9 million to you to about over $50 million okay that's a lot of taxpayers dollars from delays West Avenue West Avenue project jumped from about $40 million to what is it over 100 how much is it now matter about a 100 okay and Indian Creek it surged from 25 million to over 50 million so these delays and these untimely changes of design and scope is costing the taxpayers money it is impacting their quality of life it's impacting our ability to be resilient I understand that scope changes are important important and I'm I'm open to the idea of what you're suggesting for as long as we limit those scope changes to once a project reaches a 40 or 50% design completion once you reach a certain level of design completion it just cannot be a simple majority because we have invested so much time of taxpayers Staff time of resources of Engineers of people that have worked on this that we start to be wasteful at a certain point once and in fact if you see the oig's recommendation the the the the oig recommends that at 30% we Implement a similar policy to limit scope changes uh once you reach a 30% design completion and so I'm willing to accept your Amendment if we maintain that simple majority vote on on on that type of change to a 30% design completion and I don't know Mr attorney how we could phrase that properly into into the motion so that we remain consistent with the intent of of my item is that a question for legal Dominguez I wanted to speak next and if I take op yeah I'll call you next question okay um I'm sure that we can craft some language to address your goal and commissioner Rosen Gonzalez concern I do want to point out that as drafted the resolution already contemplates that if there are funding limitations these restrictions do not apply so in the example I believe that she gave is is if there's a material scope change which results in a material increase to the cost you want to have a carve out and that carel and maybe we need to tweak the language a bit but I believe that that is already covered by by this resolution unless commissioner Rosen Gonzalez has something else in mind so I just I just like to make sure I the answer so I don't have the microphone I I know I wanted to speak next so commissioner Fernandez finish and commissioning so so so so Mr attorney what you are saying is that the intent of commissioner Rosen Gonzalez's motion is already contemplated in the language of in the spirit and the language of the item as it is drafted and printed on the commission agenda this microphone Sy yeah the spirit of what commissioner Rosen Gonzalez is asking for is there perhaps we could modify the language a bit Yeah commissioner Dominguez thank you um I understand the intent to where my colleague is going in order to save money for the taxpayers I'm not supportive of this item and I will tell you why um a lot of the resiliency projects it's not like there's a playbook out there um showing us how to do things and along the way we've done things right and we've also made a lot of mistakes Indian Creek the Army Corps of engineer came in and had us rip it up and put it all together so that was not because of anything the commission did it was work that was done improperly and I also feel that this takes away from the commission anytime that there's been a pivot in a project it's made it better and I I feel that uh maybe we can uh send this to committee to talk about it more in depth uh rather than making the decision now um because I'm not supportive today but I completely understand where the you're coming from commissioner Rosa Gonzalez think yeah thank you um for some of these projects that come to the top of Mind Lake West Avenue or lake First Street I feel as if we're kind of winding up in a very very similar place to where we started years ago and there's just 10 years of delays um and it's because of just kind of kicking the can down the road right we're not talking about just rounding errors here IM material numbers for West Avenue uh Joe Gomez correct me if I'm wrong but we we're pretty much moving down a path very very similar minus some you know uh placements of pump stations and things like that uh but it's going to be very similar to essentially where was contemplated when the project would have cost $40 million now 10 years later it's costing $120 million it's $80 million think about the playgrounds we could build for $80 million think about the schools the summer camps and things like that um and this is in saying no you can't pivot right if there is a compelling reason if it is saying you know what this is critical the commission can decide it just takes a little higher threshold you know think about some of the things that we require 57th support for f increases that's six7 yeah um but only after a certain design point right 60% is 57s that's how I understand it yeah um so even there it leaves some leeway if Public Works and city manager and our steem staff come to us and say hey we we need to Pivot here and there's compelling reason to do so or if there's overwhelming input from the community where we say no you know we need to we need to save these oak trees or or we need to wide the sidewalks then you're going to get support up here from five Commissioners to do so but this really just kind of takes some of the politization out of things that have just cost taxpayers an exorbitant amount of money so to me yes this is giving up a little power of the commission but looking in the past history of how we've improperly and when I say we I don't mean anybody on on this body I I mean you know previous uh commissions they've for political reasons kicked the can down the road for really no change in scope correct me if I'm wrong but it's cost taxpayers we're getting into the hundreds of millions of dollars here I if if Joe could respond um thank you commissioner and through the chair absolutely and in in some cases it was wanting us to go back and look at other items but the eventual result was we came back with the same conclusion and we lost valuable time um spent a lot of money and in the end the project may not have gone through and then here we are 10 years later down the road projects that should have been completed are still in in in the design phase through the commissioner Suarez and let's vote yeah okay here's here's what I would say with this and I've lived through all of these starting with Sunset Harbor Sunset Harbor started out as a $10 million project it ended up as a $50 million project you know why because when you put when you start these projects the scope just organically changes and by the way when it didn't change for example on pal and hibiscus what we did was we went in and we took a couple of islands that were really some of had the most beautiful foliage in the world and we ruined them and by the way our the engineer who did that actually got was was fired okay because of some of the things that he did and because of how the project came out so commissioner Dominguez has also lived this because she was you know along with uh commissioner samulet when we started this whole project with with West Avenue we had objections and we made the project way better the scope of the project completely changed there were no like great sidewalks I mean there were like it was really not welld designed and by the way you're not taking into um account the fact that covid happened and everything was kind of stopped for a few years so you know what all of these projects have grown and adapted and changed and there's going to be some point in the future where you know we are in some type of a design phase and you might need to change that project and you might not be able to and what this is doing and there will be unintended consequences is literally putting um putting the the giving the responsibility because what will happen is we will be here and a lobbyist okay is going to be running the show behind the scenes because of this high threshold and not the residents so the residents will not be represented and you guys will be in trouble because it's so it will be very easy for a lobbyist to come along and just get you know and it's only you know only what do they have to do just get it will be impossible and right it because they're so powerful and there's so much money involved in these but what I will tell you is as you have seen the It Grow there's reasons behind it each and every time and I I invite you to go out and just talk to some of the people on palman hibiscus and by the way when we started with Sunset Harbor it was filling up like a fishbowl okay and had to keep adding money to it and we had to keep so I mean these projects are not something they are adaptable they are resilient I don't think you should make it a 67 um a 67 threshold because I think that you will have some example in the future and uh residents will come to you and you will not be able to do anything and I mean unless you I guess you could reverse this by by by the majority of the commission could repeal this right could so I need to to clarify just clarify just just to clarify and I'm sorry because commissioner Suarez I you but I just need to clarify the 67th vote that's only part of the policy the six sth vote is if if a project is shovel ready that's right and it's about to break ground and it has all all its permits and you're ready to you know you know break ground on on the project how are we going to say a simple majority is it's okay to stop something stop something that you've invested so much of the taxpayers money millions of dollars in in taxpayers money that is shbl ready and now a simple majority can can solve that that's what the 67th refers to the 57th uh vote re refers to you know to pause delay stop or materially modify a critical infrastructure project that where you've spent already at least a million dollars um I'm sorry having an estimated construction cost of at least a million dollars or is at 60% Des sign I mean that's 60% design you're almost complete with your design you're so far in how do you not establish a higher higher threshold and I understand the concern that you have we've worked in here language allowing for exceptions in case of unforeseen side conditions because those do occur you get to the site and you start to do work you start to move the ground you identify unforeseen conditions clearly you're not going to subject a project where you're encountering unforeseen situations to a higher threshold uh but I think we all as a body I think if the necessity is there and if it's reasonable enough if it's important enough I believe that the five votes would be there even if it's a 60% vote with that uh thank you Mr Mayor just wanted to clarify the the intent of the ordinance commissioner commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor I figured I'd just weigh in also and you know I I want to commend you commissioner Fernandez for putting this forward because you know when you're on the other side um from activist I gu to commissioner you you kind of see the whole picture um and and there is a lot of there is a lot of hold up uh for some of these projects and the fact that you can you know triple your the budget of the project because it just gets stalled over 10 parking spaces really uh in some situations it it's very frustrating and it's very frustrating to our our taxpayers and I guess this is where I get to be pound wise okay um because I don't think it's I I think it's ridiculous to have you know a permit 100% design and then you just have a simple 47 majority I mean really really it should be unanimous if you're going to be pulling a permit at that stage I can totally understand a you know 30% um a 5 sevens I think that's also you know good policy I think before we even get to 30% there really should be a a widespread communication push for any sort of project where you know we can say look we we did this this this to to engage the community maybe put out more physical signs like we do during a campaign season you know if we did that for projects I think the community and the surrounding neighborhood would be a lot more aware of what's going on and be a lot more informed than just an email blast um but look you know the ballooning cost of these projects is is a real concern um and I think that if there was a serious issue with a project there would be a 5 uh and a 67s um at at the end so I'm going to be in support of this Comm Ros Gales and then let's vote okay so let me give you an example the 72nd Street uh parking garage could be considered critical infrastructure and if we choose to modify it by any means according to this we would have to go to 67th vote similarly the Byron carile is over a million dollar they could say that that's somehow critical infrastructure given to if it's only if it's only relating to Public Work the mayor already talked to me will cause serious issues and residents are going you you will have Fallout from this um commissioner Fernandez because residents will no longer have a voice and uh only the lobbyists will have a voice uh we would not have been able to amend the Byron Carlile we would not be able to amend any we would not be able okay so what about the 72nd Street Garage so now we can't uh fix that unless we have a six sevens vote of the commission and by the way it's totally wa wait by the way it's totally arbitrary who says 37% and who says 60% who is deciding when it's 50% what anybody could tell you hey it's at 60% you can no longer change anything and the residents of that Community are going to come to you and say you need to make this critical change and guess what you're going to say I'm sorry I can't because a lobbyist only has to get to one or two of us to make the changes so we not longer have any power there will be unintended consequences to this across the city by the way anybody could somehow claim that any kind of project is critical infrastructure for example building the you know Workforce housing they could say that is critical infrastructure and we wouldn't have been able to make that change and the fire station we wouldn't have been able to make that change either you're hamstringing us with the fire station those kids and those seniors are going to be in trouble because of this and all I ask you commissioner Fernandez is to refer this to committee so we can further see what projects will qualify under the 60% and who is going to be hurt by this and which residents are going to going to suffer because the only people that are going to suffer from this are residents and I guarantee you with the administration many times and I love everyone who works here in the administration but you work on a daily basis with the heads of these companies with the special interest and I was elected by the residents I wasn't elected by corporate interest I wasn't elected um by by by by lobbyists and that's who I have to represent and this is going to make it very hard when we do need to make changes because some sort of bad policy from the past is going to come up so I you know and and and think about that when you think about think about the poor kids at the community center and the seniors I me please it's no this could be applied to so many things so what I would ask is could we please somehow flush this out at committee and see from the administration I would like a list of every single project that this could potentially uh somehow be classified under and how this would affect us if I could just make a comment by the way you bring up a lot of good points commissioner Ros Gonzalez but I'm going to defend commissioner Fernandez and and the good faith that he's brought this item is there's also a tremend look at the price of West Avenue it's tripled this is this is an item brought in good faith to try to protect our taxpayers so while I I there obviously are competing interests um I commend you for trying to save the cost and and obviously the more we can save our taxpayers on these projects because look what happens we you end up paying these contractors uh tremendous amount of money more because of the change that we are making some of them are necessary no doubt but that's money that we could use for other issues public safety quality of life issues uh commissioner Dominguez thank you thank you mayor um I was going to request also again as I mentioned at the beginning to please um refer it to committee so that we can flush out what it could currently be affected and just as commissioner Rosen Gonzalez mentioned um I believe commissioner Fernandez you were the one that brought the change in the fire station you wouldn't have been able to bring that on if um resp if it was you can thank you Mr Mayor Mr Mr attorney so this item uh references uh critical infrastructure as defined in this resolution could you please explain uh what how this resolution defines critical infrastructure the resolution provides examples of critical infrastructure and these include projects relating to fire flow storm water drainage portable water sanitary sewer projects deemed critical due to the advanced age of pipes or risk of failure utility projects to replace Andor upgrade systems that are at or near capacity Rehabilitation of City facilities deemed critical for providing services to Residents neighborhood Improvement projects that have been supported and endorsed by a majority of residents in the applicable neighborhoods such as Road raising and harmonization thank you Mr attorney so this has nothing to do with fire station the fire station is not included here 72nd Street Garage 72nd Street Garage is not included here um Child Care Facilities is not included here this is our underground infrastructure that is critical we're talking about fire flows that are underground that are some decades upon decades some of them six decades old that haven't been upgraded our storm water drainage our portable water our sanitary SE projects infrastructure infrastructures government facilities infrastructures that are at or near capacity we're not talking about fire station one we're not talking about about a about a parking garage we're not talking about a community center we're talking about all of the Antiquated aging infrastructure that is underground that is at capacity that is failing that is putting our residents underwater with rainstorms and that with each change of design and change of scope we are increasing the cost to the taxpayers by tens of millions approaching hundreds of millions of dollars and so I understand the concerns that you have but this resolution was written specifically with you commissioner Rosen Gonzalez in mind not to include the fire station not to include the 72nd Street Garage not to include Child Care Center not to include any of those things this and let the record reflect was written specifically so that this would not fall under the scope of that so that the Byron carile wouldn't fall under the scope of this of this of this resolution everything everything that you have mentioned this item has been written specific so that none of those projects or anything like that or would fall under this but the reality is that we have been told by our Inspector General that these that these changes being made so late in the process is affecting our community is affecting our community's pockets and as we've seen has now it been so delayed that it's affecting people's homes people's homes getting getting damaged with a foot of water in there I I I stand by this item I understand the concerns that you have I respect your concerns I respect if you have to vote no uh I respect the diversity of opinions here I think I think you have arguments that you firmly believe in I think we need I firmly believe we need to move on these critical infrastructure projects these are not projects we can do with without a 72nd Street Community Center we can do without uh an olympic size swimming pool we can do without that some of the other things that have been mentioned the Byron carile project you know we over here I'm sorry but can I please speak take the vot we know our position we know our positions already your your positions let's just take the vote and I'm sorry you're seeing that you're you're not seeing the correct version of the item commissioner Rosen Gonzalez that is that is not the latest version of the of the item it is in your supplemental material where that language was strucken out specifically because I never authorized for that language to be in the item it was not aligned with the intent of my item and I and I specifically asked for that to be removed and deleted because it went away from the from the intent of the item I so many supplemental okay Mr May if I could rehab reabilitation this is when the 67 threshold kicks in is when a project has obtained all permits and is shovel ready Joe 72nd Street Garage has that obtained all permits and shovel ready no sir Joe was the Buon car years ago obtained all permits and shovel ready no sir Joe was fire station one ever obtained all permits and shovel ready no sir so even if these were all included under the scope of that this legislation would have L to none of them falling under that six threshold correct stops all conversation thank you uh can we have a motion there's no motion on the table let's take a vote so a motion by commissioner Fernandez second by commissioner Suarez all in favor anyone opposed I'm I'm a no bad poliy it's 52 commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and commissioner vice mayor doming voting no item passes call c2e c2e is award ITN 2024 008 and ND Municipal circulator Services it was separated by commissioner Dominguez commissioner Dominguez thank you mayor uh so I had pulled this item because it was uh confusing to see that the city was um participating in negotiations with three different um organizations so if you could explain more thanks so good afternoon through the mayor chrisy B interim Chief procurement officer um we recommend the recommendation is to negotiate with um we drive you as the top ranked proposer and then also to negotiate with the tied second ranked propos osers which was lsf limousine of South Florida and MV Transportation they were um all qualified and can provide the services for the city as deemed by the evaluation committee um and again we drive was ranked uh first by three um committee members lsf was ranked first by two committee members and MV was ranked um top ranked by one Committee Member and resulted in the ranking that as I mentioned oh any other questions um I was looking at this item and I wanted to understand why we were negotiating with all three so the three vendors again were top ranked one was Top Rank this is an ITN first of all and first and foremost just so that you all understand we went into this understanding that we were going to negotiate with multiple vendors the results um of the evaluation committee put a a bidder in first ranked and then two biders tie for second all three were deemed qualified you know upon review of their proposals and their qualifications and therefore the recommendation is to proceed with negotiations with all three we will be coming back um after successful negotiations with an agreement for your approval and selection obviously um have a motion commissioner Fernandez thank you um what I wanted to suggest because you know over time I've heard a lot of feedback about our Municipal service um our our Municipal circulator services and what I like to see is once something is negotiated for it to go to the finance committee before it comes uh back to the city commission I like for for whatever ultimately is going to come back to us here here to to first stop make a stop by uh Finance I defer to was that acceptable apparently we drive you is not a local company and it doesn't have experience in public transit they do University shuttle I'm not quite I'm sorry to they have the city of Hollandale the city of Hollandale yeah and they do have other they are National they do have in California and other states in the country I guess the other question that we had is um MV Transit is a locally owned in part by a mid Beach resident reached out and we wanted to know why I would I would I would second your motion to refer this to the finance committee and flesh it out there whatever they negotiate is that okay with all of you so are you guys suggesting that um the administration negotiates with the three possible contenders and then once they conclude that negotiation that gets presented to us at Finance before it comes to Commission is that what the proposal is commissioner Fernandez I think the recommendation from the administration is they're seeking authorization to enter into simultaneous negotiations with we drive view with limousines of South Florida and with NV Transportation that's they're they're seeking our authorization to negotiate with those three entities and what and what I am suggesting is that whatever they negotiate bring it to the finance committee so that so that we can review it at a committee before we bring it back to the full City commission uh and and the only reason why I why I suggest that is that over time I've heard from the residents a lot having to do with our Municipal circulator services and so I know that that this is a contract that's important to our residents and I want to be able to for for us to give it a greater vetting uh in committee than what we usually do at these for these items when it comes to commission also I knew the question um for either the the manager or the the attorneys I'm not sure who is best prepared to answer or positioned to answer this so um you would conclude your negotiations with whoever you do you come to an agreement with it comes to finance and then um Finance would say this is great but fix x y and z and that would go back to be further fine-tuned I don't see how this works exactly and also um if we do it with this contract do we now open the door to doing it with other contracts which seems like a kind of a slippery slope recel is going to answer that okay uh so I do share that concern because of the number of entities that we would be negotiating with bringing all three I I guess term sheets or um preliminary term sheets to the finance committee for discussion could potentially cause the finance committee to want to request changes to one or more of those um those term sheets that have been negotiated but I'll I'll let the attorney add on well I guess the question is is the intention that the administration present a recommendation to the finance committee for one vendor for the finance committee to then a a a single one because if you come with three then that's a public meeting and all three vendors will see what their terms are which might not be in the best interest no no as a as as as I mention what I what I don't want is for the negotiated agreement just to be brought and ratified at the city commission without it first being vetted at commission whatever whatever is negot when we bring these items to commission they're usually on consent but they're usually substantive items they're big items we just never really go into them too much they're usually consent items this is an important service to our community we hear a lot from our residents about the municipal circulator service I I want to make sure that we're able to review this contract well before we bring the final you know the final negotiated agreement before the city commission I want to make sure that at least we give it we give it a fear a fair hearing a fair review at the finance committee a recommendation of the finance committee before we bring it back to the city commission no most certainly I don't want you to bring me three three three negotiated agreements to this to to committee you know that just doesn't work no the the one that you've negotiated that you intend to bring to the city commission bring that to committee so that we can review it and and make a recommendation Rosen Gonzalez you know when we negotiated the last Transit agreement 15 years we got stuck in it about 10 we got stuck in a very bad lease for 10 years okay and this is something that a lot of people say you really don't want to flesh this out on the de and I'm telling you this needs to go to committee and we need to really have a like a serious discussion about what's being proposed and look at the different Transit agreements and what we're what what we're signing on to because whatever we're signing on to is a long term I mean we're looking at what period of time for this new agreement similar period 10 10 10 years this is 10 years we're stuck in this agreement um for 10 years and we want to make sure that we have like not just the best deal but the best product and the best company and I'm not sure that we have that right now I don't know who was on the committee I I I I didn't go through with a fine tooth comb but I you know sometimes I wonder uh you know what the interests are of the appointees on the committee so I would like it to come to us and I want to have a very robust discussion and Analysis at finance and that will definitely benefit all of us in the long term because this is the a decision that is going to affect us for a decade is that a motion commissioner Fernandez I moved I moved for I move to got rid of this microphone system so awful I move I I move this item with the amendment that it first uh go by the finance committee for a review and recommendation of the negotiated agreement uh prior to coming to the full City commission second commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes take a vote take a question I just want to clarify I'm so sorry so so once the administration provides a recommendation as to the desired firm the committee would not then say we don't like what you've negotiated let's go to another firm that you but that's something that we are allowed to do isn't it I want to make sure that we're getting the best recommendation I don't know I don't exactly know what this committee decided but I can tell you that 10 years ago when we made this decision we didn't make a good decision and you know what people have suffered on those trolleys people have been suffering on those trolleys the handic APS have been riding in the back like prisoners okay people can't get on and off with shopping carts and I don't want anything like that to ever happen again so I want to make sure and I want to double check this decision and I think we have in our PR perview that right to do that at Committee in a public forum we have a motion in a second let's take the vote all in favor of c2e as amended with a referral to firk after full negotiations I anyone opposed motion carry 70 as amended c2e let's call r9b committees I think we can do this quickly yes sir we can everyone has a blue page on on the days these are appointments to boarding committees there are no oppositions to any of the candidates we could do this either one at a time or you can give me permission to do them by acclamation acclamation it is all them are appointed thank you so much R9 that's record breaking time thank you R9 AB R9 a b b RAB discuss act business closures unable to obtain BTR pending durm approvals in the interest of time I'll save my remarks but we're having a problem with a number of businesses um there there's too many to highlight 41st Street Dunkin Donuts as an example I believe they're going to be opening did they open today um but it's been a long road there's there's a number of complicating factors I won't we won't get into all them but what can we do as a city to expedite this from the durm perspective every third Thursday of the month we have explain what durm is for everyone who's watching who may not be familiar durm it's uh Miami day uh County Department of regulatory and economic resources uh better known by the four-letter word Derm or acronym um Derm approval is required before any Co certificate of occupancy certificate certificate of use CU or local business secr BTR is issued so they're required by county code to review every Co CU and BTR it's part of their it's part of the approval process Per County codification this is impacting existing businesses yes uh durm did an audit uh approximately 3 years ago and they sent us a list of businesses that did not have durm approval um similarly to the city they have a process where if a business does not renew their local business tax receipt within one year we make them reapply for their local business SE receipt that's our business process Derm has a similar process if you have not renewed your Derm within one year you have to start all over from scratch and a lot of businesses particularly restaurants that have grease straps and multiple restrooms have had to start the application process from scratch that means putting everything up the code so if they if had a grease trap from 20 years ago guess what that grease trap now needs to get to the new existing code so we've had a lot of problems for example that Dunkin Donut example there was two Dunkin Donuts one on Alton Road one on 41st Street the one on Alton Road got their local business seor SE almost immediately really quick they had they had a a newer grease trap the one on 41st Street had an old older grease trap and they had to go through the process uh to help to help with this uh again every uh third Thursday of the month we have someone here from durm here at the city in the building department to assist and troubleshoot with applications we also have contacts at durm similar to the city when if for example if you get a building permit and you have to get multiple disciplines looking at your permit mechanical electrical Plumbing durm has their multiple regulatory uh sections as well so we've seen applications approved from Durham in one day we've seen applications take months and we frequently find that folks that have not renewed their BTR have not also renewed their their durm permit that those are a lot of the the companies who've had issues with just using the 31st Street uh the dunan dness as an example there if we had not issued the violation would they have been able to stay open even despite the Derm um there yes well they were operating illegally they did not have a BTR that was that's a particularly that's a different case they had new ownership the new ownership never applied for the local business tax receipt so that was a a different example unique example what's a more common example a more common example someone that doesn't renew their BTR uh 92% of our businesses we have approximately 7,000 businesses in the city 92% of our businesses Renew on time by the due date September 30th that other 8% of the businesses if they go one year lapsing without renewing they're forced to reapply and part of the re process is getting uh durm approval and that's where the holdup is um okay in summary because certainly want to encourage our businesses to renew their btrs there's no question but at the same time we don't want vacancies we have enough of them as it is and now we have existing businesses that are getting shut down I completely agree we we send out for our notices we send out emails uh in July August September October all the way through January we send out snail mail we do up on phone calls and um if you haven't renewed it's it's not from us from our lack of trying commissioner Dominguez thank you mayor um I agree with you completely and Manny and I had a conversation about this earlier in the week because um 7-Eleven uh has been closed on Alton Road for a very long time and durm is a part of the process um in addition to snail mail or phone calls uh can there be an office visit or store visit so that people know how imminent this is and do they actually have to remain closed uh while they're uh getting some of their permitting back uh we we've had some instances where the business has resot the Durham and they've had some sort of consent agreement where Durham gives them permission to open and they they have an agreement with Durham for 6 months a year whatever the Durham agrees to and they give us author authorization but according to our business process according to city code we're not allowed to issue a BTR unless durm approves it and again we were subject to a durm audit approximately 3 years ago and durm specifically told us you're not allowed to issue btrs unless we approve uh we approve the business first so that's where the holdup is and and we facilitate we try to troubleshoot We call we we log on we invite the business into our office and sometimes help them through the application process and and try to call and troubleshoot as much as best as as as possible and thanks to to the commission we actually have someone from durm here uh every month as well yeah and I and I know we we had done that a couple of years ago we we worked on I think I brought an item on it sorry if somebody else did as well but I yeah um and I also met with county commissioner Steinberg recently about this I mean maybe we got to put some pressure on uh the county legislative body because it's not good commissioner Rosen Gonzalez when I brought this item and I believe it was a couple of years ago my idea was to have our person embedded at THM like have one position in the building department whose only job was to be to get these approvals done with durm because it's just not getting done look at the Cheesecake Factory situation salt and straw almost did because of this we we can't get our businesses open so if it's a question of allocating one person to only deal with durm maybe they don't have to work at durm but we have to give all the applications that are in backlog anybody who calls and says I'm stuck in Derm we just have this problem right now with um what's the theater the O Cinema our in our own building o Cinema um they were stuck in Derm for like a year and a half and until we started to help them and we make a lot of phone calls what we had to make a lot of phone calls for that and if I may through the mayor through the mayor um Miss Williams has started a BTR task force as soon as she became city manager um she's grabbed the bull by the horns here and started a BTR task force uh made up of department members from Economic Development from B from Finance from co-compliance and we're actually visiting businesses that were highlighted by Durham as not having their approval and not being able to open and before code goes out and issues them a violation and shuts them down we're trying to be proactive and and we're literally like bringing to the water to to to bring them to the pond so they have the water and helping them apply uh troubleshooting before dur before code goes actually out there and shuts them down because the code goes out they're going to issue them a violation and they need to shut how many applications are currently stuck in Duram the only reason I know this is cuz when I was opening a restaurant um I needed this grease trap batement I was just stuck in Derm and I had every single other approval I needed and literally I had to call um mayor Kaa and say can you help me because I couldn't get a response and they they there's a voicemail and they're so nice on the voicemail and you can click through and you can send them a message and then nobody ever responds and that can go on for 6 months eight months imagine people are paying rent during this period um I was able to email the mayor there's so many people who have no clue what's going on and they just can't get through so I mean the task force is going to help I mean as long as you're one by one how many applications for btrs do we have at this very moment do we know I I have to get back to I I could send an email through the through the manager's office with how many applications are pending right now I mean if we're being proactive about it that's great uh the poor O Cinema they couldn't get their equipment installed they didn't have a BTR they weren't able to get their beer and wine license it's like going to be one of the only movie theaters in Miami Beach I mean and we approved this equipment a year ago so it really is causing the backlog but if we do have a if we're solving the problem then that's great do we have to take any action I I can come back and give an update at a few today maybe in the future invite uh someone from durm over to speak at at a at a committee meeting could you we brought the head of durm the head of Derm came out he was so nice but then we just went back and actually nothing really changed we find that we have often have to reach out to durm to to fast trck things so okay well um I would like I would love for you to come back next month tell us how many applications are out there how many people are stuck in durm right now and then if we take that data to the county maybe we can just ify the need to have somebody at durm working for Miami Beach no cuz last time they said we don't want somebody in the county I believe that's what you guys said you went to durm you said we really want to have somebody in the building department um working with durm you brought the head of durm here the head of Derm spoke to us and then what happened after they said no because we didn't have the data yeah good afternoon commissioner Natasha Diaz assistant director building department I think what they wanted to do was first try out having a representative here once a month in the building department which they've been doing for the last about 5 months um they've been getting some visitors some people coming in and asking them questions and they've been helping them um but it's definitely something we can revisit if the numbers are not where we want it to be and we want to see some more improvements we can definitely revisit it with them and see if they can could we could we come back next month with the amount of applications btrs people stuck in durm and then we can justify the need to create a position where we actually have somebody inm at the county that's going to facilitate all of our applications I think that would be money well spent we have so many vacancies across the city frankly people don't want to do business here they don't want to open it up the rents are extremely high uh landlords don't want to give more than a couple of months and uh you look at Lincoln Road and it's impossible because they also updated all the qualifications for opening a restaurant right so everybody's grease trops are out of compliance everybody needs germ approval and they just can't get it commissioner another thing if I may that I learned at our last permitting ad hoc committee meeting where we had a germ representative speak about the things they do they mentioned um how they have a program where they can offer letters of interpretation and determinations to new businesses right as a due diligence for starting up a new business so I thought maybe that might be something good that we can promote to our community as something they can do prior to opening a new business and then they would tell them in advance this this is what's going on at your establishment the things you need such as a new grease trap that would then help them not prolong opening up their business one other thing is that they were I and I believe Lincoln Road when the bid came to talk to me they were talking about the fact that they were being they were um being asked to uh pay for like impact fees for Sidewalk Cafe seats that um that they might be using they might not be using saying like it was causing some sort of problem in the flow do you know what I'm talking about they came to me with a very specific problem saying that it was either the bathroom requirements or the impact fee per seat for outside sidewalk cafes um that was holding up the entire process do you I'm not familiar with side see like we should all be familiar because that's what's holding a lot of this um up so and and out of compliance but I don't know anyway I would come back next month with the head of durm and the data and make a case because they might change their mind if you're okay with that that would be my motion I like it I'll second is that literally a motion or I think yeah okay motion to get the data andite dur okay all in favor I I we've hit the 7:00 hour we we got through a lot of items great meeting very productive thank you all thank you to the administration we'll see you next month e e e e e e e e e e --------- R9 okay r9t can I make a couple of announcements about items that are being withdrawn and so r7j is being withdrawn r90 is being deferred till July r7j withdrawn r90 deferred to the July meeting mayor minor was a yes on r70 I'm sorry vice mayor which item did you want me to call R r9t is discuss reinstituting residential parking permit decal r9t Mr May commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor um I believe this has gone through committee uh with unanimous favorable recommendation um the idea here is very simple you know we have about six full on on any certain shift we have about six parking employees that check for um vehicles that are unregistered parked in residential parking spaces um and the idea is that we use a license plate reader to check these vehicles uh to see whether they're registered or not or they have a or they have a visitor pass for example and having six I don't think is enough to cover all of Miami Beach uh and if those license plate readers break down or they become inoperable for whatever reason um we're we're we're we we're not really enforcing other than having um our our parking attendants walk around take picture of the license plate and reading off whether it's valid or not valid um so the idea here of reinstituting the decal program is to get community policing from the residents on a block byblock basis because when if you live in an area where and you rely on on street parking you're you no one's going to know your neighborhood or your block better than you and your neighbors and so if you notice that a car is out of place after circling the block five times because you can't find parking uh you're going to and you notice that they don't have a decal you can call the parking department and say hey this card doesn't seem like it's it's valid uh or or or as belongs here you know can you please send someone to um see if it is registered and so I think this would be a great step for quality of life for people that you know who who who can't find parking in residential neighborhoods uh this is going to this is going to be tremendous for North Beach now that we just passed this pilot program or or we hopefully pass this pilot program um where if you do see a car that's being tur roed or you do see that construction worker being dropped off uh and then getting shuttled to Surf Side you can call it in because you know that they're not a registered uh vehicle in a residential neighborhood so I'd like to hear what my colleagues have to um say about this um thank you commissioner Suarez so this is um interesting uh when I first read it it seemed like we were taking a step backwards and having decals again but if we only have six people that's concerning for the entire city I'd like to hear from uh the city Administration the transportation director to see how they feel about this program thank you Mr Mayor Commissioners Jose Gonzalez Transportation Mobility director and interum parking director so um and commissioner Suarez summarized the the uh the initiative uh very well um I will say that we do have some concerns there's there's advantages and there are disadvantages certainly the community policing is an advantage any Resident can just walk up to a vehicle check to see if they've got the proper decal if they don't they call it in and enforcement is on the way um however there are also advantages to a virtual permit system which is the current system that we've had since 2016 and it's the system that most metropolitan cities have moved towards some sort of a virtual uh system that more easily tracks um many things including uh even for purposes of Statistics how many citations are issued how many license plate uh are scanned uh with a paper decal system that is much more challenging to accomplish than with a virtual automated system there are also the convenience um aspects of this um the fact that a resident can purchase a permit from anywhere remotely from their home uh and that and it's in real time as soon as that permit is purchased through the uh through you know through the uh platform it's instantaneous rather than purchasing a permit having it to wait uh so either pick it up in person or wait for it to to uh to arrive by by mail so those are some of the disadvantages if you will of a you know paper system that we we wanted to just highlight and for all of you to be aware uh certainly community policing is in advantage of the paper decal system which is why um one of you know one of the options that we suggested was perhaps a dual and I think it was discussed at the at the last uh uh firk meeting on April 19 which I attended but not in this capacity um but uh there was some discussion of a dual system which would allow for both a decal system as well as continuing to keep the virtual system uh which has its its advantages as I just mentioned of course with a dual system not every registered uh vehicle will display a decal so there is that drawback to a dual a dual system but it will allow us to continue to use the virtual system maintain the Integrity of that system and uh consistency and continuity in terms of enforcement Jose if I may of course commissioner um what is the um incremental cost to doing both programs for the first year so the uh and and I'm going to defer to uh Manny Marquez and the finance department they would handle a lot of those uh resident walk-ins and and transactions thank you good afternoon Manny Marquez assistant uh footfall visits at our customer service center so we would have to ramp up with staff um this is for theal so there's there's a lot of Fraud and there is going to be a lot and then we we we got a lot of customers complaining that when we stickers they never so person to pick up the stickers to avoid this fraud so that's one of the concerns that we have with with the stickers so we make it could TR license plate recognition and the sticker and secondly to to do a pilot program for a year we can do a pilot program the online where we give a new sticker you know obtain by going back to the physical decal is something that can help Citywide and so I wouldn't I wouldn't want us to just you know pick one neighborhood and you know and then one bigger in other are to the right person you just to move it along it's very important because remember once theou signed it's not going to be instantaneous the the positions are going to have to be advertised individuals are going have to be hired they're going to have to be trained to get up to speed so it's not going to be instantaneous at all so if they could get moving on it that would be helpful um we don't have the m at this point so okay so from our standpoint we've done everything we're waiting on the county absolutely okay we'll talk offline how we can expedite that thank you thanks for the update wel call uh c4a c4a uh referral to art in public spes Implement call to artists for mural on Colony theater it was separated by commissioner bot so um I like the idea of um elevating The Colony theater if the colony theater folks are favor I'm supportive I don't want to get in the way of this um and I don't know if the um rendering included in the packet was um just a placeholder but I was really surprised that the way I understood it the mural that was being contemplated was of pinup ladies in scanty clothes um well not scanty by today's standards but I and I understand that the the thought behind it was to celebrate the Golden Age of of Movie Theater history I just think it is absolutely counter to the message that we want to be sending in the city of Miami Beach um you know we're fighting to get streets named after notable women the last thing we want to do is objectify women on the side of of a building so there are lots of different ways we can celebrate the golden years of um movom and I would suggest that my wish would be um that as this moves forward which you know I'm not going to stand the way of it but as this moves forward um the subject matter of the mural is really reconsidered um so uh the item did not explain that this was Barbara Hulan Nikki's um Vision not mine and you know we're paying her and she is the creative mind behind this what I would suggest and um by the way you were not the only person who had an an objection um Michelle Housman the director of the Colony when he saw it cuz it's a massive white wall and right now it's just white and unsightly um what we decided to do was make it U more of diverse and and um and and reflect the different uh Latin uh kind of diaspora well if you will um like afro Caribbean that was very important to him because that's uh part of his Theater now if you wanted to um you know I am not the creative person behind this who suggested this inspiration it is it is strip and that was just some sort of inspiration what I would suggest is sit down for example with Barbara Hulan Nikki and ask her how could we make uh put you know how could we how how could we change this Vision um because what we found through this process is that you know she is creative license and that's why people like Chris Blackwell and Craig Robbins and the uh estons have hired her to do their Stu you know she's the Visionary it was not me at all um uh you know um what I would suggest is to ask her you know if this could not be the inspiration and I would like to empower women and I don't find this empowering at all um maybe you could work with her to get something better um that you liked uh you know it's it's whimsical and we were going to make it a little bit more diverse but we're calling Michelle hman and and get their thoughts and maybe give a little bit of a different bit of guidance I I understand she's a brilliant creative mind and I don't take that away from her at all but sometimes you know um there there's more to what gets um put forward than just pure creativity because it's got to reflect the community it's not a private home or a private business it's a community and it needs to be appropriate and embracing and aspirational and lots of different things um than um than one what somebody might do in their hotel for instance so anyhow I'm not going to I'm not I am not stop not stopping I just want to make that okay so what I can do oh sorry so I would like to um do you want to say so make sure that Barbara attends this art and public place meeting right Jacqueline has done a very very excellent job of picking Barbara up because you know Barbara is well on in years I believe she's 89 at this point so we really are having an icon uh design these things but we will give her your feedback we'll make sure that she gets that message yes we're getting the thumbs up and uh U this will be heard publicly if you want to you know reiterate those thoughts at Art and public places and again before the HPP and by the time it comes out we should have something nice we just we need to put it through this process and we also need to you know get the funding for this correct I mean I think we we will definitely okay so with that Mo all in favor C7 c7x