LTC 556-2019 Progress Report Regarding City Manager's Deliverables, Goals and ObjectivesMIAMIB H
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC# 556-2019 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber and Members o the City Co
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: October 16, 2019
SUBJECT: PROGRESS REPORT REGARDING CITY MANAGER'S DELIVERABLES,
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this Letter to Commission is to provide a six-month progress report on the
Deliverables, Goals and Objectives set forth in the City Manager's Employment Contract. The City
Commission entered into a new contract with the City Manager effective April 1, 2019, which set
forth seventeen very specific Deliverables with timelines. Furthermore, it enumerated thirteen
Goals and Objectives that may extend beyond the term of the Employment Agreement, but which
shall nevertheless be part of the goals and objectives that the City Manager shall address.
Deliverables1
1. Former Par 3 (done within 4 years of Employment Agreement)
The Bayshore Park project (formerly Par 3) is 90% designed with the intent of completing
and issuing the Construction documents as soon as permits are received from the
County. The permitting of the project is being held up due to contamination related to the
former golf course use and concerns related to storing water on a site with identified
contamination. We are currently exploring creative ways to keep the intent of using the
park as blue/green infrastructure while still being sensitive to the contamination issue.
2. 600 Alton Park (Phase 1 complete in 30 months from executed DA)
The Development Agreement (DA) is executed, and the land use board approvals have
been issued. The development team and city team have been actively engaged in
weekly meetings to move the design forward. This project is currently on schedule to
deliver phase 1 of the park within timetable set in the DA.
3. North Beach Oceanside Park (complete within 4 years)
The park project is currently designed and permitted. The bid documents resulted in four
proposals that significantly exceeded the budget. As a result, we are working with the
1 Time frames above are subject to regulatory approvals by local, state and federal
agencies, and the actions of private developers (where applicable)
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design team to make minor modifications and will be reaching out to the construction
industry to determine why pricing was so high. The construction should take no more
than 12-18 months once a contract is signed; therefor it is still on schedule.
4. Beachwalk (complete within 3 years)
The final segments of the beach walk are fully funded through grants and general
obligation bond proceeds. The final section of middle beach will begin next month and be
complete by end of 2020. The North Beach Oceanside Park section is waiting on the
receipt of a grant from the state on July 1, 2020. It will take approximately 18-months to
procure and construct once the grant is in place.
5. Baywalk (substantial progress toward completion of entire Baywalk)
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The pedestrian bridge portion of the Baywalk is designed and submitted for permitting
from the City and FOOT. The pricing of th~ bridge construction is anticipated before the
end of this month. We may encounter cha,llenges with the costs related to this iconic
_ _ ___ __ bridge, but the agreement provides several options for addressing. The remaining
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we will continue to try to resolve. We are hopeful that the segment of bay walk included
in the West Ave phase 2 project will serve as a template for the path forward.
6. North Beach Town Center/Byron Carlyle/Ocean Terrace (substantial progress on each)
North Beach Town Center-A total of six projects have been approved and are in the
approval process:
Two development projects have been approved within the North Beach Town Center
(NB-TCC):
6970 Collins Avenue-Las Vegas Beach, File No. DRB19-0415 Approved on
September 3, 2019, Located at 6970 Collins Avenue, 55' tall, mixed use building, 21
dwelling units (of which 21 are co-living units), 3,685 SF restaurant
?2ND & PARK File No. DRB19-0407, Approved on October 2, 2019, Located at 7145
Carlle Avenue, 220' tall, mixed use tower, 270 dwelling units (of which 121 are co-
living units), 12,035 SF of retail
There are two projects approved under the previous (TC-1) code that are still active:
71+Collins Hotel & Condo File No. DRB18-0236, Approved on June 5, 2018, Located
at 7118-7114 Collins Avenue, 125' tall, mixed-use building, 24 dwelling units, 187
hotel rooms, 18,520 SF of retail/restaurant
New Addition of Golden Mile Shoppes, File No. ORB 23207, Approved on November
3, 2015, Approval extended on November 1, 2018 through file no. DRB17-0126,
Located at 6930 Collins Avenue, 51' 3-story rear addition to an existing 1 story retail
building, 13,453 SF of office/restaurant use
Two projects are under review within the NB-TCC::
71 NOBE-WEST PARCEL, File No. DRB19-0424, Review in progress-expected
approval January 2020. Located at 6698 Abbott Avenue, Tentative Program, 168' tall,
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mixed use tower, 125 dwelling units, 54,766 SF of retail (expected to include a Target
store)
6985 ABBOTT AVENUE, File No. DRB-0462, Review in progress-expected
approval January 2020, Located at 6961-85 Abbott Avenue, Tentative Program 159'
tall, mixed use tower, 110 dwelling units, 9,538 SF of retail, Adjacent to parking lot
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Byron Carlyle:
On January 16, 2019, the City Commission approved issuance of the Request for
Proposals (RFP) for the development of a mixed-use project with cultural component
(Byron Carlyle Theater). The city received proposals in response to the RFP from the
following two (2) firms: Menin Hospitality (number two) and KGTC, LLC, Pacific Star
Capital, LLC (number one). Both teams are qualified and have worked in the City;
however, the proposals provide very different visions in terms of programming and
aesthetics. Agenda item R7D on the October 16, 2019 City Commission agenda is a
resolution accepting the City Manager's recommendation to negotiate with both
parties to determine the best overall package to the city in terms of public benefit,
income and truly viable and achievable economic activity.
Ocean Terrace:
The Development Agreement for Ocean Terrace has been approved and executed.
There have been several meetings as we work with the Development Team to
complete the design of Ocean Terrace. Next step is to get the application submitted
by January/February for HPB hearing.
7. Maurice Gibb Park full plan (completed within 4 years)
Maurice Gibb Park is 60% designed and staff is working to close out the contamination
review so that we can begin the permitting process. Construction duration will be
approximately 18 months once permitting and contractor selection are complete.
Esciences has been retained to complete a mooring field feasibility study for the waters
adjacent to Maurice Gibb Park. The purpose of establishing a formal mooring field is to
manage and regulate liveaboards that are currently anchored adjacent to Maurice Gibb
Park. The study will provide guidance on the upland programming/operational elements
that are required to establish a managed mooring field and permitting and construction
requirements and timelines. The report is anticipated to be complete by early 2020.
8. Convention Center Hotel (by Art Basel 2022)
The administration has expedited and facilitated every city approval (ORB, Land Use,
Planning Board) to assist the developer to obtain permits and break ground on the project
as quickly as possible. However, the amount of work required to allow the site to be
prepared for construction of the hotel is extensive and has pushed the overall
development schedule to exceed the 2022 Art Basel time frame. The developer's current
schedule indicates completion of the project by mid to late 2023. Closing on the hotel
financing appears to be the next major threshold for the project. Until they close the
financing, the developer will not take formal possession of the site.
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9. Ocean Drive renovation (design work completed)
The Ocean Drive improvements are funded through the G.O. Bond and we have begun
meetings with stakeholders and are negotiating a contract with Zyscovich to evaluate the
scope of those improvements. The most significant obstacle to completing this design
will likely be trying to reach consensus on the scope of the project.
10. Lincoln Rd renovation (completed within 3 to 3.5 years after Notice to Proceed)
After a long delay to the project related to funding (the BID's contribution) and estimated
construction costs, the City Commission provided direction to proceed with the project as
designed, with minor modifications. The design team has been resolving permitting
comments and preparing the bid documents. A Guaranteed Maximum Price amendment
is expected to be presented to the Commission next Summer 2020 and construction
expected to begin Fall 2020. The BID is working on the expansion of its tax base to fund
significant programming dollars over ten years.
11. Remove the "pause" on sea level_ resiliency program and have projects fully underway in ··· --·--s-outh7MTd/Nortli beacli-Tsfartlmmedl•ite1Y-uponcomp-let16ii--ol'Jacot>S'analysrsr---~--
Several important planning studies are underway and will be ready for City Commission
review and action this fall/ winter that will better inform the city's holistic resilience
planning. They include the Business Case Analysis of the Stormwater Program, the
Historic Properties Adaptation Guidelines, and the Palmview Vision Plan. For the
stormwater program specifically, the Jacobs Team is planning to present the findings of
their first three tasks, including blue/green infrastructure, roadway elevation and project
prioritization. We are hopeful that this will provide a clear path forward with the next
group of neighborhood improvement projects. The challenge with moving complex
adaptation programs forward is trying to reach consensus in the community. The next
steps are the review and implementation of the planning studies. For Jacobs, the next
task will be the Design Criteria Packages for each neighborhood.
12. MBCC parks and AIPP (by Art Basel2019).
The two parks and the seven AIPP will be completed by Art Basel 2019. Design Miami
will be held in the new park. The city will hold the official unveiling of all AIPP projects
within the MBCC Campus during the opening events of Art Basel, which will be
complemented by a full public relations campaign to garner international coverage.
Collins Canal Park has been substantially completed and opened to the public as of
October 11, 2019. With the scheduled opening of the Carl Fisher Clubhouse by Art
Basel 2019, another completion of the MBCC campus will be realized. We see this as a
pillar in the campus and will further allow Spectra and Centerplate to curate greater
culinary and community initiatives and act as an additional source of revenue.
13. 50% of all financial transactions with the city available on line or automated (2 years)
• Progress-In September the city launched new E-bill functionality for utility bills so
customers can receive e-mail bills instead of paper bills. Additionally, Finance went
live in September with enhanced Resort Tax system software to be compatible with
all web browsers, ability to reset password via e-mail, mobile friendly, ability to
manage multiple resort tax accounts under same profile (useful for accountants with
multiple clients), and provide multiple log-ins for an account (owners can assign a
login to their accountant or representative). 95% of resort tax customers now file on-
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line. Beginning with this renewal cycle, newly issued BTRs are now e-mailed
providing the ability to print BTRs online, instead of having to receive by mail or in
person.
• Next steps include implementing functionality for electronic signatures by Spring
2020, whereby certain in-person transactions such as creating a Resort Tax
account, will be available on-line. Will use management information from the
upgraded queuing system in the Customer Service Center to identify other
opportunities to move financial transactions online.
14. Electronic plans filing for permitting purposes (2 years)
The city has contracted with Tyler to expedite the electronic plans review. Next steps
include developing a timeline and workplan.
15. Fire Station 1 (within 4 years of site selection)
We believe we have identified the best site, which is where the South Shore Community
Center is located on Sixth Street. We have engaged in community outreach and have
also presented to the Historic Preservation Board. Although there are issues that will
need to be worked out (e.g. temporary and/or permanent relocation of the non-profits
that use that space), we will now proceed to plan and design for Fire Station 1 at that
location. Miami-Dade County has also expressed an interest in relocating the South
Beach library branch to that location and we will work with them. Finally, we think there
is a wonderful opportunity to restore the historic firehouse designed by Morris Lapidus at
the current Fire Station 1 location and create a park with the renovated fire house
serving as possible home from some of the current tenants of the South Shore
Community Center (especially the day care). We will be bringing that item to the City
Commission in the near term.
16. Implementation of Public Safety Radio System (12-14 months)
Public safety staff procured, tested, and installed most of the radio system. One
remaining site needs to be installed and the lease is on the October 16, 2019 City
Commission agenda. The city expects to go-live with the system March 2020. Both
Police and Fire believe that it would not be prudent to roll out a brand-new system (that
will undoubtedly have kinks that need to be addressed during the roll out) prior to the
Super Bowl.
17. Complete 21 Quick Wins GOB projects (12-14 months)
3 Quick Win Projects are already complete: Polo Park, Security for Public Spaces-
Portable Bollards, and Soundscape Park-Soundscape 4K Technology. The remaining
18 Quick Win Projects are on schedule and within budget to be completed by the total
14-month period ending in June 2020. The Street Pavement and Sidewalk Replacement
projects are currently under budget.
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Goals and Objectives
Infrastructure and Environment
1. Stormwater/resiliency program
• Improve the quality of life enhancements, integrated planning, and execution of
neighborhood projects while enhancing engagement with the community.
• Created the READY (Resilient Enhancement Design for YOU) Team
immediately after the Urban Land Institute's 2018 review of the stormwater
management program. This interdisciplinary team studied the feasibility of the
ULI recommendations. There were 83 distinct recommendation in the report,
of these 48 are complete or in-progress, 11 were explored and not
recommended at this time, and 24 will be considered in the future. The team
continues to meet monthly to review projects with the purpose of integrating
resilience at the earliest stage of project development.
• The city has been working diligently with the Jacobs Team to create an
integrated plan for managing water that utilizes blue and green infrastructure
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closely with the neighborhoods that are already under design to incorporate
feedback and requested enhancements. In addition, a full external
communications plan is being presented to Commission this month to outline
the appropriate engagement and feedback strategy for these projects.
• Develop a plan to address aging drinking water and sanitary sewer infrastructure.
• Public Works has been working with a consultant for the past 18-months to
complete a system-wide water and sanitary sewer assessment that will
identify risks and consequences of failure to create a full capital plan to
upgrade the aging systems. In addition, the consultant has built a full water
system model as well as a sewer system model so that we can evaluate
specific improvements and their outcome on the system. All of these items
will be delivered before the end of this calendar year 2019.
• Work regionally to come up with plan to improve Biscayne Bay water quality.
• My team developed a clean water strategy for the city that outlines our past
efforts, proposed next steps, and partners with the regional stakeholders with
whom we need to work to improve the water quality of Biscayne Bay.
• Miami-Dade County established the Biscayne Bay Task Force in February
2019 to formalize collaboration and exchange ideas addressing concerns
related to Biscayne Bay among Miami-Dade County, agency partners, non-
profit groups, and other stakeholders. The goals of the Task Force are to
develop restoration, enhancement, and resilience strategies; to study; and,
address potential ecological concerns such as algal blooms, changes in biotic
communities, seagrass die-offs, sea level rise, and water quality. The Miami-
Dade State Attorney's Office released a Grand Jury Report on August 8, 2019,
about the health of Biscayne Bay, citing factors like the Miami-Dade County
aging wastewater infrastructure, septic tanks, debris, and excessive nutrients.
On September 9, 2019 the Task Force invited Miami Beach to present an
overview of the city's efforts in protecting Biscayne Bay. The Task Force
applauded the city's efforts and regional leadership in pollution prevention,
flood mitigation efforts, stormwater management, and data gathering. On
September 20, 2019, staff participated in the Biscayne Bay Health Summit
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and participated in discussions with regional stakeholders regarding actions
across government operations, policies and practices that will also be
presented before the Biscayne Bay Task Force for consideration.
• Miami Beach continues to go above and beyond regulatory requirements,
allocates funding for water quality monitoring, infrastructure, maintenance, and
looks forward to the Biscayne Bay Task Force recommendations.
• Implement controls to prevent issues of unpermitted work or work exceeding permits
on city projects
• The implementation of a collaborative approach to designing and permitting
construction projects between Public Works, CIP and Environment and
Sustainability Departments has created the checks and balances necessary to
make sure that no one Department is overlooking or circumventing necessary
regulatory steps.
2. G. 0. Bond program
Ensure quality planning including performance measures, coordination with other projects
and timely, on-budget execution.
• There are currently 29 out of the 38 Tranche One projects in some form of "Active or
Completed" status. The project dashboard and status report is complete and will be
the tool used to communicate progress and performance to the City Commission, the
G.O. Bond Committee and Miami Beach residents.
• The G.O Bond Program Team meets internal bi-weekly with all departments to
discuss the status of all projects including, but not limited to, the schedules, budgets,
permitting and approval process, Commission approvals and other coordination.
Individual internal project meetings are also scheduled to discuss project strategies
for the larger, more complex projects and to brainstorm issues as they come up to
reach resolution.
• The G.O. Bond Team and all active project owner departments meet once per month
with the G.O. Bond Committee and review, discuss, and report the status of all active
projects. Once on board, the Inspector General will join the process as I have already
introduced Mr. Centorino to Maria Hernandez.
Mobility and Community
3. Improve mobility for our community
Advocate for and drive regional and creative solutions including the prompt
implementation of a successful (e.g. ridership), new dedicated Express Bus on the Julia
Tuttle.
• The City Commission has passed eight resolutions from 2016-2019 in support of
premium rapid transit service and bus express rapid transit (BERT) routes across the
Julia Tuttle Causeway and MacArthur Causeway.
• Secured grant fund ($5.16 million) and FOOT funding for inside shoulder modification
on the Julia Tuttle for BERT service in 2022.
Continue to implement the Transportation Master Plan, expanding the City's bicycle path
network.
Transit Initiatives in the past 12-months:
• Awarded 4-star rating from the Transit Alliance for the trolley service (highest rated
service in Miami-Dade County)
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• Implemented a pilot program for on-demand transit in Middle Beach via a partnership
with Freebee
• Collaborating with Miami-Dade County on the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit
(SMART) Plan to improve mass transit connectivity.between the mainland and Miami
Beach, including Beach Corridor and BERT
• Designed new iconic bus shelters for installation at all bus stops in the City over the
next one to two years
• Contributed $25,000 for the Transit Alliance Better Bus Project and actively
participating in development of alternatives to improve regional transit service
connections to Miami Beach
• Pursuing a cross-bay commuter ferry service connecting to downtown Miami
Transportation Master Plan -Pedestrian and Bicycle Initiatives in the past 12-months:
• Installed 25 bicycle racks in public rights-of-way throughout the City
• Installed vertical bicycle parking and bicycle repair stations at 6 parking garages
providing for over 25 bicycle parking spaces with repair stations at each location
• Installed 8 bicycle repair stations throughout the City
• _6,_Qcj_~_g 3 miles of green bicycle lanes _______ -~ _ _ -------~-____ _
• Received County approval for the first parking protected bicycle lane in the County
(West Avenue) which is currently in the Design-Build phase
• Completed design and currently in permitting for the first bicycle box in the County
(West Avenue and 17th Street)
• Completed design and currently in permitting for protected bicycle lanes on Euclid
Avenue, Meridian Avenue (Dade Blvd to 16th Street), 72nd Street, and 73rd Street
• In planning or design for 9 corridors in Miami Beach all including protected bike lanes,
conventional bike lanes, shared-use paths or neighborhood greenways
• Finalizing the approval of the South Beach Pedestrian Priority Zone, the largest such
initiative in Miami-Dade County
• lmplementeq 2 pedestrian flashing beacons and will be implementing 7 new
pedestrian flashing beacons In 2020
• In construction for a new traffic signal at Alton Road/41h Street to enhance pedestrian
safety for the South of Fifth Neighborhood and in particular South Pointe Elementary
• Implemented the 2-way conversion of 42nd Street from Pine Tree Drive to Sheridan
Avenue and added a new protected crosswalk on the north leg of the intersection to
better serve the Jewish Community Center
• Completed Safe Routes to School projects addressing pedestrian deficiencies for
Nautilus Middle, North Beach Elementary, Feinberg Fisher K-8, and Bicayne
Elementary; and designing pedestrian improvements for Miami Beach Senior High
School
• Completed a study and received approval from Miami-Dade County to reduce speed
limits within residential neighborhoods from 30 MPH to 25 MPH
• Collaborated with FOOT to initiate a multi modal corridor study along Collins Avenue in
Middle Beach intended to prioritize pedestrians, transit, and bicycles over cars
• Completed studies leading to the .installation of 4 new all-way stops at intersections
throughout the City to .increase pedestrian safety
Safe, Healthy, and Clean Neighborhoods
4. Improve quality of life for residents
• Enhance ongoing execution of core city services (e.g. public safety, Code
enforcement, cleanliness, etc.), especially in the North Beach neighborhood
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o Staff will continue to improve cleanliness in the neighborhoods with the North
End Enhancement Team (NEET).
o Locating dedicated code officers at the North Beach Building Department has
resulted in increased compliance activities. Cleanliness has also improved
through the street sweeping program.
• Make significant progress on neighborhood revitalization and master plans (e.g.
Washington Avenue, 41st street, and North Beach).
o At the Washington Avenue workshop in early 2019, the Commission
requested that administration evaluate transportation, mobility and the
economic development of Washington, Collins and Ocean Drive as whole.
The city has begun to negotiations with Zyscovich and is concerned with the
initial costs for services. Staff will continue to work on their scope, in attempt to
ensure that the expected deliverables are provided at reasonable cost.
o Economic Development is working with the Washington Avenue BID to
coordinate the installation of vacant store front covers by the end of the year.
Additionally, the department is serving as a resource to the BID on their pop-
up initiatives and programming efforts.
o The administration is working to deliver on the 41st street committee's initial
vision plan. This week staff will be negotiating with the RFLI awarded vendor
for a farmers market in the corridor. Lighting enhancements for 41st were
evaluated for costs and feasibility and it was determined that in order to
provide a stable decor lighting, the lighting would need to be hardwired. Given
that infrastructure improvements are planned for 41st, staff will be modifying
the time line for lighting installations with that work. As part of this year's
budget enhancements, an additional patrol officer was added to the budget for
41st street. The position will be filled upon the completion of the training
courses by recently selected police candidates.
o The North Beach Master Plan progress is detailed in Deliverables, Item 6.
• Improvement and expansion of Parks programming and facilities through a Parks
Master Plan.
o The Parks Master Plan is currently being updated through, but not limited to, a
series of individual park plans, reporting on citywide statistic and demographic
changes, changes in recreational trends, long range capital needs
assessments, customer surveys, and supply and demand for recreational
programs. Final Draft anticipated Spring 2020.
o We have continued to roll out new or improved parks, including fitness
equipment in Flamingo, fitness lockers in Lummus, bathroom renovations in
Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and renovation of the North Beach Tennis Center.
• Increased cultural offerings, including strengthening our existing cultural institutions,
bringing the artists back, and elevating the Collins Park cultural district.
o The Tourism and Culture department has re-launched the Culture Crawl which
is a city-wide cultural initiative driving residents and tourists into our cultural
institutions on the third Thursday of every month, with free admission,
dedicated trolley service and varied cultural programming.
o As part of the Culture Crawl, the city will produce small cultural installations in
Collins Park to help rebuild awareness of that park as a Cultural Center within
Miami Beach.
o We have supported community led cultural activations through grants,
marketing and in-kind donations (tables, chairs, stage, etc.).
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o The Collins Park Rotunda will undergo renovations in January 2020 which will
see it as a fully useable cultural space. The City will set a cultural strategy for
this space which will see a combination of large scale and community led
initiatives.
o For Art Basel 2019, we will be installing five (5) temporary art installations
within Collins Park in partnership with Art Basel Cities program. There is a
chance that some of these installations may be able to be kept into 2020.
o The Tourism and Culture department is a finalist in the Knight Arts Foundation
for a grant to build an Artistic Academy on Washington Avenue, which will
offer spaces for artists to create, show and sell works in an attempt to bring
artists back to Miami Beach, and allow them to showcase their talents in an
immersive, collaborative environment.
o Tourism and Culture has begun a bi-weekly Cultural Marketing conference call
with our cultural institutions, the City, the GMCVB and the VCA where cultural
institutions are kept up to date on what each entity is doing and to give them
an opportunity to take part in all facets of our overall County wide marketing
initiatives.
o The Cultural Arts Council has awarded approximately $850,000 in Cultural
-<3rants to our cultural-anchors and other cultural-presenters to-show-their-work-----
in venues within Miami Beach.
o We work closely with our Cultural Institutions to ensure their success in our
city including helping to relocate O'Cinema from the Byron Carlyle and helping
the Fillmore and the Botanical Gardens navigate the Super Bowl plans at the
MBCC.
o Slamdance, one of the most successful independent film festivals in the
country will be coming to Miami Beach in 2020, as yet another asset in our
successful film festival season (ABFF, OutShine and the Jewish Film Festival
are others).
o The success of other large-scale films and music videos such as Bad Boys 3,
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the Jonas Brothers music video "Cool".
• Create an educational campaign to address public perception of crime and the Police
Department
o The department is creating a partnership for crime prevention through
community interaction. A long-term plan, this will build on the slogan, You
plus me = MBPD. It is based on the concept of encouraging the community to
communicate, sharing their top priorities, and working together to find
solutions. This will include the development of a police specific webpage and
increased community outreach through social media. This project is still in the
development stage and is hoped to be rolled out the second quarter of FY
2020. It will also utilize city resources for publicity-radio spots, MBTV,
wrapping transit buses, etc. This will include general crime prevention tips
that are broadcast everywhere such as the Park Smart initiative. The
Communications Department will trademark the slogan and a new logo.
• Continue and improve the enhanced use of technology and crime data by the Police
Department
o The department continues to utilize technology to improve their crime fighting
efforts wherever possible. A few examples include the expanding License
Plate Readers and Surveillance Camera systems.
o We have ten police vehicles with License Plate Readers (LPRs), three mobile
trailers and eight fixed locations. We will be adding the main corridors into the
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city (MacArthur, Julia Tuttle, 71 St) through the G.O. Bond Quick Wins. We will
also be adding over 20 additional fixed sites covering the main arteries during
tranche 1 and major roadway construction projects expanding pass tranche 1.
o Currently we have over 125+ cameras deployed across the city in a variety of
roles (traffic monitoring, special events, Ocean Drive, etc.). Via the GO Bond
quick wins, we are focusing on the Lummus Park/Ocean Dr Project which will
double the amount of cameras currently deployed in this area and _lay the
ground work for our next quick win project, the Beachwalk from 14place to
23St. Once these projects are complete we will continue to expand throughout
the entertainment district to include the Collins and Washington Avenue
Corridor. Continuing in tranche 1 and later will be the expansion into several
business districts (Alton Rd, 41st St, 71 st St) working with several other city
departments as such as transportation and public works. But our work does
not stop there, as we are currently involved in adding additional security at
several parks (Scott Rakow Youth Center and North Beach Youth Center), city
facilities (1755 Customer Service Center and City Hall) and parking facilities
(All enclosed parking garages). The Police Department is also working with
Capital Improvement on larger upcoming projects such as Lincoln Road, North
Beach Open Space Park, Convention Center Park and the remaining
Beachwalk areas. These projects are in addition to providing public safety for
all of the upcoming special events such as Halloween, Art Basel and the
Super Bowl.
• Increased community outreach by the Police Department, including collaboration with
neighborhood watch programs, private security and community groups.
o The department has recently created the Community Affairs Unit as a vehicle
to increase community outreach. This newly created unit will focus on
connection with neighborhood groups, business associations, schools, and
religious organizations. The first project orchestrated by this new unit was the
6th Street Block Party on September 22nd on 6th Street between Meridian
and Jefferson Avenues. This event was a huge success and brought together
residents, visitors, and local businesses in a very positive and engaging
atmosphere. This type of outreach will continue throughout the City with
events different neighborhoods within all areas of the city. The MBPD will
continue to attend HOA meetings, participate in the Ocean Drive, Lincoln
Road, Washington Avenue, 41st Street business associations, and coordinate
with security directors from the major venues throughout the city. In addition,
the MBPD has been conducting active threat/critical incident training for many
synagogues and businesses and will continue to promote CPTED type crime
prevention evaluations to any organizations requesting one.
5. Maximize community communications
• Continue development of creative tools and drive utilization (e.g. Engagement
Toolbox, online forums, advisory polling, direct mail, Facebook Live).
o In November, the city launched the Engagement Toolbox, easily found on the
homepage of the website.
o We hosted the first live town hall at the Colony Theatre that was streamed live
on Facebook as well as the city's MBTV channel
o In April, the city launched the MB Rising Above mobile app to provide
residents and tourists self-guided tours of our various resilience efforts. Over
the next year my team will be building upon the existing tours to include
additional tours on art in public places, heritage trees, and a map showcasing
#PiasticFreeMB partners.
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• Ensure residents have viable avenues of two-way conversation in anticipation of large
projects and/or necessary updates and emergencies via a comprehensive internal
and external communications plan utilized by all internal and external project
information officers.
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o The Urban Land Institute review of the stormwater program recommended
that the city adopt an integrated strategic communication and resident
engagement plan. Staff from Communications and the City Manager's Office
developed the RISE Guide for city employees and contract public information
officers to ensure consistent and transparent communications and
engagement. The RISE Guide is on the October 16, 2019 agenda for
Commission adoption.
More targeted marketing of city programs and cultural assets .
o A weekly eblast gets sent which includes upcoming arts and culture offerings
for the following week. The eblast has garnered over 1 000-uniq ue subscribers
in the last eight months.
_o ____ Tourism anaTUitorelias-rauncnecr a" Filmed irrMiamiBeactl'' websttewhtch.------------
allows users to see exact locations where famous movies were filmed.
o We have dedicated marketing dollars in our Culture Crawl production budgets
to be used towards targeted marketing.
o We have implemented a city wide "Film and Print Strategic Plan" that will help
promote our film industry and offer residents information on the importance of
film in Miami Beach.
o Staff has continued to utilize geo targeting and geo fencing techniques when
placing advertising. By doing so, they have been able to increase the impact
of education campaigns. The most recent example of this is the Resilience
education campaign, which has garnered over 21 million impressions and
increased traffic to the MBRisingAbove.com website by over 300% on some
~·
• Real time outreach to new residents, including tours of city hall.
o I envision that these tours will be educational and can be a new channel to
recruit for the spring session of the leadership academy. These tours will
begin after the current leadership academy concludes.
• Convene quarterly meetings of HOA presidents with senior staff.
o Staff has contacted all of our associations to confirm which day would work
best. It seems that the majority would like to meet on a Tuesday evening. I
have tentatively selected Tuesday, November 12 to host the meeting.
• More social media and media monitoring tools to ensure we are reaching our
residents and visitors
Prosperity
o The city has contracted with Cision, a media monitoring company, to monitor
news clippings in digital, print, television and radio.
o During High Impact Weekends, we have begun to contract with Sparkloft, a
social media listening company to monitor social media messages and the
overall conversation at this time.
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6. Convention Center campus
• Structure plan and identify financing for renovation of the Fillmore Theater.
o We have had preliminary conversations with the various stakeholders, but
more serious conversations will likely wait until the MBCC hotel project is more
underway and new leadership is appointed by Live Nation at the Fillmore.
• Work with GMCVB and Spectra to program MBCC with conventions and trade shows.
o Over the course of the last year, the GMCVB have achieved their goal of
increasing events. For FY 18/19 the GMCVB booked 14 out of 15 P1 and P2
events, achieving 93% of their booking goal.
• For FY 19/20, we have identified a list of issues that have kept events
from booking and will find remedies to each -the Hotel Attrition Policy
idea was born out of this list.
• The Convention Center Hotel has also been a large determining factor
in many convention bookings, so that issue will be removed in 2023.
o We will be working with the GMCVB and Spectra to finalize new marketing
materials and campaigns speaking to varied audiences with a very direct and
targeted approach above and beyond our focused P1 and P2 business
(boutique hotel meetings, galas, weddings, etc.).
o An example of the success of our convention booking business was Million
Dollar Roundtable which brought 1 0,000+ visitors to Miami Beach, 60% of
which were first time visitors, and whom shopped on Lincoln Road and ate at
local restaurants, where inventory was almost completely depleted.
7. Lincoln Road
• Continue to work with BID to achieve robust cultural and arts programming.
o We have worked with the BID to bring a large-scale art installation to be set up
in November 2019.Tourism and Culture worked with the Miami City Ballet to
fund a program that will have the ballet on Lincoln Road doing community
ballet classes similar to what you would see in bootcamp form from Nike or
Lulu lemon.
o We are working towards filling a more robust calendar of cultural programming
with our Cultural Anchors to have an 'always on' approach to cultural pop ups
on Lincoln Road.
8. Ocean Drive/ Mixed Entertainment District
• Bring creative solutions to improve resident appeal, public safety perceptions and
business vibrancy.
• Continue to zealously address bad operators and strictly enforce ordinances.
o During this year, administration has worked with the city attorney's office to
revise portions of the code that address unscrupulous operator behavior and
created the sidewalk cafe code of conduct. Specifically, to Ocean drive, the
code of conduct addresses verbal solicitations, which is a frequent complaint
by patrons and visitors to Ocean Drive. As the city revises code addressing
operator behavior, troublesome businesses are identifying loopholes that
circumvent the intent of the code.
o At the start of next quarter, the secret shopper program for cafes will begin.
The results of the findings will be shared quarterly to not only provide clarity on
visitor experience but to hold operators accountable for their operations.
• Work with stakeholder (including a BID, if formed) to create higher end activation and
programming.
o Prism programming has been incredibly well received with local businesses
asking for monthly or weekly activations following the success of the Puppy
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Brunch. Tourism and Culture worked with the ODA to identify funding for the
July 4th celebrations for Ocean Drive which we are looking to repeat for 2020
with Miami Music Festival.
o We have curated a weekly Artisanal Market which has grown in success and
has exceeded the requirements of the market (in number of vendors and
breadth of artisanal offerings).
o · The city has developed the parklet concept for live music on Ocean Drive.
o The city is working on a month-long activation plan for this area for March
2020.
o Ocean Drive will be one of the main media focus for Super Bowl 2020 with
major national media outlets setting up 12 hour a day live broadcasting from
their studios built with Ocean Drive as the backdrop. Tourism and Culture is
leading the city wide multi-agency taskforce to ensure successful
implementation of March 2020 and Super Bowl activations.
Organizational Innovation
9. Leadership
·-·· ·strategic-plan-thatlinks-eommtssion-goals;-management-objectives-,-and-th-e-bm:lget-. --· ------
o The City Commission unanimously adopted the 2019 Miami Beach Strategic
Plan on July 17th, 2019. The plan includes the City Commission goals
developed at the Goals Conference on October 3, 2018. These goals are our
organization's top policy priorities, and also includes a new and modern vision
statement for the city. It also includes comprehensive management objectives
that provide more specific direction to the management team. Highlighted
actions are my top priorities for departments to implement. The plan
incorporates my performance contract. Additional important actions are
identified and funded through the annual budget process. The plan also
includes the most relevant Resilient305 actions that Miami Beach will lead,
support, and benefit from.
o The FY 2020 adopted budget will link each department to the strategic plan in
a concise format, increasing transparency and implementation of goals,
objectives, and actions.
• Increase the use of fact-based analyses with robust business cases to assess
potential transactions (e.g. public-private agreements), and also quantitative
performance measures supporting after action analyses.
o I shared the Business Case Analysis of the Stormwater Program preliminary
mid-point results through the LTC on September 25, 2019. The full report will
be completed in early 2020 and include the direct and indirect costs and
benefits of public investments for the homeowner, illustrative neighborhood,
and citywide.
o I am holding after action reviews of rainfall, King Tide, and storm events to
review data, impacts, effectiveness of public infrastructure improvements and
recommendations for improvements. This has already led to coordination of
data and legislative recommendations.
o The citywide 2019 Resident and Business Survey results were presented and
shared with the Commission and staff to improve data-based decision-making.
Staff uses the data in Commission items, to adjust service delivery, and as
performance metrics. Staff analyzed the General Obligation Bond projects
with the survey data, and these ties are highlighted in communications. Next
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steps include launching a survey dashboard this fall to facilitate better use,
analysis, and include U.S. Census data.
o The city acquired a utility bill and energy management software to track and
audit energy commodity and bill details. The purpose is to reduce energy
consumption, lower emissions, and save money. This software will address
challenges such as utility bill processing, data integration, transparency,
workflows, reporting, project prioritization, tracking and verification of savings.
Departments were recently trained, and implementation begins in next few
weeks.
• Serve as a strong CEO. Further drive the city agenda and ensure that my, and
professional staff, expert point-of-view are heard at all Commission hearings,
including clear, concise recommendations on memos.
o All agenda memos state a clear recommendation, unless the item is for
discussion purposes to solicit Commission input. I frequently weigh in on
Commission debates to provide my perspective (e.g. the North Beach Town
Center ordinance).
• Increased personal presence at key community meetings
o Professional city managers must be impartial during election season. I intend
to set a more regular schedule of attendance after the election.
• Encourage stronger staff voice and leadership-especially design and aesthetics
o The Management Team puts forth strong recommendations on policy matters
before the City Commission and takes decisive action. Examples include the
Planning Department's recommendations to streamline the permitting process
and promote town center concepts; the Procurement Department's work to
streamline and implement best practices into the City Code; and the Finance
Department's recommendations with respect to increasing reserve goals and
using year-end surpluses to bolster reserves in lieu of increasing spending.
• Build senior leadership team capabilities for succession planning.
o Succession planning is a constant work-in-progress. I hold weekly executive
staff meetings, require the leadership team to hold quarterly strategic area
reviews, and empower my team to support Commission Committees. My
team is well-respected and routinely participates in conferences and panels
representing Miami Beach and bringing back best practices.
• Integrate resilience and sustainability into the capital budget process.
o Progress-A team comprised of Resilience, Environment and Sustainability,
and Capital Improvement Projects trained project managers and adjusted
capital application forms for new projects to specifically identify and maximize
resilience improvements and their multiple benefits for the community. This
was an important first step to integrate resilience thinking into all capital
projects.
o Next Steps-In the coming budget cycle, additional trainings will be held and
new and existing capital projects will be reviewed to increase resilience
benefits.
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10. Continue to fully embrace the new Office of Inspector General
• Proactively use the Inspector General as a valuable resource to improve City
performance and identify inefficiencies
o The Inspector General has not yet been hired, but I have already met with Mr.
Centorino to discuss our working relationship.
11. Chief Information Office
• Recruit and retain skilled CIO that can also lead on issues of innovation and customer
experience
•
•
o Accomplished
Work to implement an open data program
o Progress-Data is most useful when it's up-to-date. The G.O. Bond dashboard
is the proof of concept that various citywide systems data can be integrated to
promote/demonstrate transparency and how effective the city is at spending
those funds.
o --challenges--DeffnTn~f priority data 1or ~i portaTTs a chaiTenge: 1\aamonaiiY.ffie
city needs to invest in dataset automation, so that data is updated without
human intervention. As the demand for city data continues to increase, and
new technologies continue to surface, our goal is to automate more data, at a
faster rate.
o Next steps-Staff will test tools and processes that should bring us closer to
achieving this goal. These efforts will lead to more reliable data, while
allowing the city staff to work more efficiently. Staff plans to invest more time
into testing new methods of automation. Datasets are anticipated to be
available to the public within the next 6 months. ·
Explore policies to better align city functions for the modern workforce, including work
hours, travel, cell phones and social media.
o Progress-An optional modified four-day/ten-hour work week is being piloted
by the Human Resources and Procurement Department for 120 days.
Department offices are still open all week, with longer daily office hours.
Preliminary results of the pilot will be presented at the October 16, 2019
Commission meeting.
o Challenges-Staffing coverage for small departmental functions or work units.
o Next steps-Complete the pilot at the end of November and present the
results. Preliminary results are positive, and staff anticipates creating a city
procedure providing the option to departments. Applicability will vary
depending on departments and functions.
12. Customer Service
• Address root causes of CMB reputation of being "hard to do business with.
o Departments have developed customer service plans and have identified
point-people to address complaints. Next steps include developing an
organization-wide approach to documenting and addressing complaints and
routine training.
o Tourism and Culture held a Special Events University to address the new
special events permitting system, and to address any concerns from
Community stakeholders. This training had 140 people in attendance.
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o Building Department launched a customer call center and created an
interactive permit guide.
• Streamline permitting and development review process
o The City Commission approved a contract with the Matrix Consulting Group
on November 6, 2018 to review and make recommendations to streamline the
private development permitting and building process. Matrix developed 33
recommendations. Staff agreed with all but five and the City Commission
accepted the findings on June 5th, 2019. 19 were administrative in nature and
are being implemented by staff. 14 are legislative and three are on the
October 16, 2019 Commission agenda, R5U, R5V, and R5W.
o Additionally, the FY 2019-2020 Commission approved budget allocated funds
for a complete update of the land use development regulations, that have not
been reviewed as a whole since 1989. Item C7V on the October 16, 2019
agenda is a resolution accepting the Manager's recommendation to award
contract to Perkins & Will Architects Inc. to update and develop a resilient land
use code.
o Planning staff prepared several common variance ordinances to reduce the
need to apply to city boards for approvals.
• Improve BTR process
13. Fiscal
o After evaluating complaints regarding the Business Tax Receipt (BTR)
process, confusion arose comparing the city's BTR process to the surrounding
municipalities. To reduce this confusion and provide clarity to customers,
administration is finalizing the bifurcation of the certificate of use (CU) and
Business Tax Receipt (BTR). This bifurcation will allow for the review of a
business' "use" that is separate from the collection of their BTR fees.
Regulatory agencies will now have a mechanism for enforcement, separate
from the BTR. Staff is working diligently to make the online CU application of
the clear and easy to use prior to launching the new procedure. In the
upcoming months, staff will begin to do outreach on the new process which
will only be applicable to new applications.
• Improve the fiscal health of pensions, health care, and innovative risk management
o Progress-Both pension boards are lowering their investment rate assumptions
to be more conservative. The General Employees pension is lowering their
rate to 7.4% from 7.5% (FRS is 7.4%) and Fire & Police is lowering their rate
to 7.75% from 7.8%.
o Healthcare expenses have increased on average by 3% over the past two
years, as compared to the average 13% annual increase in the preceding 4
years. The City's Well ness Program has entered its fourth plan year and has
a 50% engagement rate (19% highly engaged). Participation in the City's
Well ness Program is almost 40% higher than other peer cities.
o For the June 2019 property insurance renewal, the City explored multiple
options to address wind exposures, especially due to the increase in Total
Insured Values by adding the Miami Beach Convention Center back on to the
schedule of values. Staff explored and purchased a $20 million parametric
policy that provides coverage for both wind speed qualifying events as well as
Cat-in-a-circle events. This provides coverage for underinsured and
uninsured economic losses, as opposed to the additional wind storm limit that
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only responds to damage by a Named Windstorm event. The policy has dual
trigger points: 1) either the sustained wind speed reaches 96 mph or above, or
2) the hurricane category is three or above within a ten-mile radius.
o Challenges-Funding to improve the funded ratios for the pensions and
funding to enhance insurance coverage.
o Next steps-In next year's budget process, staff will try to implement an
enhancement for pensions to "buy down" the future unfunded liability and
incrementally increase the amount annually. Staff will continue to monitor and
analyze innovative risk solutions.
• Focus on long term viability of enterprise funds (e.g. Parking, Sanitation)
o Progress-The structural imbalance of $855,000 in the Sanitation fund was
successfully addressed through the innovative use of zero-based budgeting
(ZBB) during the FY 2020 budget process (pending full implementation of
Alternative Side Parking citywide and elimination of the Big Belly contract).
Based on the success of this process, the Administration will continue to use
ZBB as a strategic tool during future budget cycles. The Parking fund was
·aaaressedaurihg lastyear's Budgefprocess. --· -- -
o Challenges-Resistance to increased Stormwater and Water & Sewer rates.
Negative trend in parking utilization rates.
o Next steps-Necessary rate increases in the Spring for the Stormwater and
Water & Sewer enterprise funds to support the sequence of capital projects
identified from the Jacobs Engineering study and prioritized capital needs in
the Hazen & Sawyer study. The Convention Center fund will become
structurally balanced as the event plan for the Convention Center reaches full
capacity in the next 12 to 24-months.
• Full implementation of program management budget
o Progress-Complete. The program budget format was fully implemented as
part of the FY 2020 budget process last Spring. Use of this innovative format
improved transparency and understanding of the budget while helping balance
the FY 2020 budget with minimal impacts to public facing services.
o Challenges-Refine the 10% reduction scenario to be more realistic.
o Next steps-The program budget kick-off for the FY 2021 budget process is
scheduled for October 18, 2019.
• Explore strategic streamlining/outsourcing opportunities to control head count
o Progress-In anticipation of fiscal challenges due to low growth in property
values, administration is currently researching and vetting various cost saving
opportunities including streamlining and outsourcing. I am committed to
identifying cost savings that help mitigate the need for potential public facing
reductions.
o Challenges-Implementing the cost saving opportunities may be difficult
politically.
o Next steps-Staff will continue to research and vet cost saving ideas that can
be considered by Commission at the Budget Retreat next May for the FY 2021
budget process.
• Explore more efficient management staffing and techniques
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o Progress-As noted above, administration is researching and vetting various
cost saving opportunities including more efficient management staffing and
techniques. I am also challenging departments to achieve a global third-party
certification in quality management. Building, Code Compliance, and
Environment & Sustainability recently achieved ISO 9001 Quality
Management Certification. Through this process the departments improved
their management systems and customer service approaches.
o Next steps-Staff will continue to research and vet cost saving ideas that can
be implemented in advance of or as part of the FY 2021 budget process. ISO
9001 certification means an ongoing structure and commitment to quality, and
I intend to expand this to additional departments.
Hopefully the foregoing progress report highlights the tremendous and extensive work from City
staff on a myriad of issues. We are clearly doing better on some projects than we are doing on
others. But all in all, I think we are making excellent progress on a large portfolio of projects and
objectives. I look forward to discussing this report at the City Commission meeting. Please feel
free to contact me if you require any further information about any specific project or goal. Thank
you again for the opportunity to serve as your City Manager.
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