032-2000 LTC
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA 33139
http:\\ci.miami-beach.fI.us
L.T.C. No. 32-2000
LETTER TO COMMISSION
February 25, 2000
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FROM:
Mayor Neisen O. Kasdin and
Members of the City Commission
Lawrence A. Levy, City Manager ~
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TO:
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SUBJECT: STRUCTURAL PLANS REVIEW PROCESS
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The following information is provided in an effort to clarifY the current situation with respect to the
plan review process in the Building Department, in particular, the structural plans review component
of the process. The Building Department is budgeted for two structural plans examiner positions.
However, one position has remained vacant as of March 1, 1999 due to unsuccessful recruitment
efforts. The aforementioned structural plans examiner vacancy combined with the surge in work
load (number of permits issued for this fiscal year is projected to increase to 14,000, in comparison
to 10,000 permits for previous years) has created an adverse impact on the structural plan review
process.
To alleviate the structural plans review situation, the City of Miami Beach has retained a structural
engineering consultant, Siddiq Kahn (the Consultant), to provide structural engineering plan review
services to the City's Building Department since May 9, 1999. On or about the end of January, 2000,
the City terminated the Consultant due to a conflict of interest which, in summary, evolved as a
result of the Consultant taking outside employment with private developers and representing said
developers in the City through the plan review/permitting process. Said termination was based, in
part, upon a verbal recommendation from the City Attorney's Office which essentially verified that
the conflict was prohibited.
Since termination of the Consultant's contract, in January 2000, the City's Building Department is
left again with a dire need for structural plans review services. As a result, there is a substantial
backlog with regard to the structural engineering plans review; hence the City may incur potential
delays in its overall plan review/permitting process.
On February 11,2000, the City attempted to contract the afore stated structural plans review services
on an interim basis, by "piggy-backing" onto a Miami-Dade County contract \vith CAP Engineering
Services; said contract essentially on a month-to-month basis and terminable for convenience by the
City. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the City must also ensure compliance with Section
287.055, Florida Statutes, also known as the "Consultants' Competitive Negotiation Act" (the Act).
The Act requires that those professional services within the scope of the practice of architecture,
professional engineering, landscape architecture, or registered surveying and mapping, must be
competitively bid, except in cases of valid public emergencies so certified by the head of the Agency
in question (i.e. in the immediate case, the City Manager of the City of Miami Beach).
L.TC
STRUCTURAL PLANS REVIEW PROCESS
February 25, 2000
Page 2
To that end, and in order for the City to continue to meet its customary and reasonable time lines
with regard to its responsibilities vis-a-vis the plan review and permitting processes, the City
Manager, upon recommendation of the City's Building Director, the Assistant City Manager
overseeing the Building Department, and the City Attorney's Office, would certifY that a short term
valid public emergency exists. Accordingly, it is recommended that the City proceed with a short
term contract with CAP Engineering Services to provide structural engineering plan review services
only to the Building Department on an interim basis, while the City issues a Request for Proposals
(RFP) for said services. At this time, it is anticipated that the RFP process, from issuance, through
sele~onl and award, should take approximately three (3) months.
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C: Christina Cuervo, Assistant City Manager
Mayra Diaz Buttacavoli, Assistant City Manager
Matthew Schwartz, Assistant City Manager
Ronnie Singer, Executive Assistant to the City Manager
Mary Greenwood, Executive Assistant to the City Manager
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