LTC 102-2013 Thank You VIAMIBEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # i02 =2013 LETTER TO COMMISSION'
To: Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Kathie G. Brooks, Interim City Manager 03 i_k!
DATE: 'March 28, 2013 "
SUBJECT: THANK YOU o ;
Nine months ago, I accepted the position of Interim City Manager while the City.
conducted a nationwide search for a permanent Manager. On Monday, April 1, Jimmy'
Morales will begin his tenure as the new City Manager, for the City of Miami Beach, and
as many of -you know, the transition process is already underway. As I began my interim
assignment, my focus was on ensuring a seam less•transition as we continued to move
this organization forward by maintaining the agenda and priorities of • the City
Commission and strengthen i ng.the. ethical culture within our organization. j.
As 'I conclude my interim assignment, I would like to thank the Mayor and. the
Commission, the community and City staff -for all of their assistance and support during '
the 'past nine months that has resulted in the organization achieving many
accomplishments which are described below.
As expected, there were many challenges along the way. One of my first priorities was
to begin implementing initiatives to address any potential corruption in the City. This has
been the concern that. often kept me up at night, nonetheless, I believe that we have,
begun., to change •the culture of -the City of Miami Beach employees including. the
deployment of a citywide Zero Tolerance Gift Policy (although still in impact bargaining
with the Fraternal Order.of Police and the International Federation of Firefighters); and
the implementation of.a Duty to Self Report Policy, requiring employees to report when
they have been arrested, indicted or convicted-of a crime;, and approving a contract with
the Miami -Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust to provide ethics
training to all City employees who work in regulatory Divisions of the City.'
Other initiatives have also been implemented in order to address any potential corruption
within the City including; an external audit conducted by Crowe Horwath to' review the''
workflows and business processes for all of -the City's regulatory Departments /Divisions
with draft recommendations being reviewed 'by the Finance and Citywide Projects
Committee; - continued implementation of Automated Vehicle Locator Systems (AVLS).in
all City vehicles and the deployment of an AVLS policy for use and monitoring; the
initiation of an in -depth review of select personnel practices in - various operating '
Departments,' and the assignment of a Police Sergeant to.the Internal Affairs Division of
the Police Department in order to create an 'internal affairs 'unit that 'conducts
investigations relating to Miami Beach employees Citywide.
Thank -You From Interim City Manager Kathie G. Brooks
March 28, 2013
Page 2
During my tenure as Interim City Manager, I was presented with many staffing
challenges due to a number of vacancies in key executive level and mid - management
positions.- I addressed these staffing challenges in a manner that ensured that the City's
budget process was not negatively impacted and recruited and filled a number of the
• critical, mid - management positions, while keeping the key executive level positions open
so that the incoming City Manager could have maximum flexibility to select his own
management team. Other accomplishments include:
• Moved the Convention Center Development and Expansion project forward with
the selection of two (2) short - listed proposers who are both well underway in
developing proposed master plans for the Convention Center District.
• Began the process for labor negotiations with four of the City's collective
bargaining units whose contract expired on September 30, 2012.
• Provided needed support to the Budget Advisory Committee's review of pension
reform, which presented their final report and recommendations to the City
Commission in August 2012, and are being discussed as part of the ongoing
labor negotiations.
• Improved communications with the Mayor and City Commissioners to ensure that
information was always accessible to, and just as importantly, ensured that you
felt that each member of the Commission received consistent information at the
same time as one another.
• Remained committed to keeping the agenda and the priorities of the City
Commission and ensuring that the day -to -day services to our community were as
important as our priority action items.
• Facilitated the adoption of the City's Stormwater Master Plan, the first in Florida
and possibly the country, to take into account sea level rise. There -is still more to
be done in this area, as this is only a Stormwater Plan and the City still needs to
develop a more comprehensive approach to address sea level rise and storm
surge. We have begun to have conversations in these areas and are reaching
out to experts locally, regionally and internationally to assist us. We will also
need to continue to monitor and adjust our plans as the science of sea level rise
changes.
• Advocated for the City's endorsement of the Southeast Florida Climate Action
Plan and have continued my participation in the Compact Steering Committee.
• Implemented a major crime reduction initiative that focuses on prostitution and
related robberies, with significant reductions in robberies in the first six weeks of
implementation.
• Ensured sufficient funding in order to keep the City's Capital Improvement
Projects moving forward.
• Developed a comprehensive assessment system for our Parks and Recreation
facilities. While this is not yet fully implemented, the Parks and Recreation
Department now has a preliminary assessment process in place.
Thank -You From Interim City Manager Kathie G. Brooks
March 28, 2013
Page 3
When I accepted the honor to serve as your Interim City Manager, I was committed to
the philosophy of being transparent; accessible and responsive to our community and to
the Mayor and Commission. As I indicated during my interview, I worked hard to make
the transition between City Managers seamless, without losing the momentum on our
major initiatives. I believe I have successfully done so, and plan to do continue the same
in supporting the incoming City Manager.
Thank you all again, and most especially, I would like to thank Jorge Gomez, Max Sklar,
Carla Maglio Gomez and Pauline Walters who stayed many late nights with me in order
to make the interim process as seamless as possible.
KGB