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City Manager's Performance Evaluation Memorandumm MIAMIBEACH OFFICE OF THE MAYOR AND COMMISSION TO: City Commissioners FROM: Matti Herrera Bower, Mayor DATE: October 14, 2009 SUBJECT: City Manager's Performance Evaluation MEMORANDUM On August 21, 2009, the City Manager completed his eighth year of service as City Manager of Miami Beach. Pursuant to his Employment Agreement, the City shall review and evaluate the performance of the Manager annually, and the Mayor shall provide the Manager with a summary of the findings of the Commission. Compensation, performance bonus and other adjustments to his contract are also reviewed at this time. The City Manager has provided me, and I have shared with you, a comprehensive report setting forth how the City Manager and his Administration have fulfilled the goals and objectives endorsed by the City Commission, and summarizing their accomplishments over the period between August 21, 2008 and August 21, 2009 (attached). The Commission has also reviewed guidelines from the International City /County Management Association (ICMA) regarding criteria for evaluating the City Manager's Performance. I have forwarded your written comments to the City Manager and have directly relayed my observations of his performance over the past year. I am also aware that each of you has also had the opportunity to relay your observations directly with the City Manager. The attached resolution adjusts the City Manager's Employment Agreement in recognition of his exemplary performance. Thank you. Attachments __ ._ 1 We are committed to providing excellent public service and safely to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. m MIAMIBEACH OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER TO: Matti Herrera Bower, Mayor FROM:. Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager DATE: September 28, 2009 SUBJECT: Performance Evaluation for August 2 08 -August 2009 o `~~ 9 C' ~~ ~~ .y/ j i` y.. us, ~J MEMORA lJ~?~;/1 As of August 21, 2009, I am proud and privileged to have completed my nirith year serving as City Manager of the City of Miami Beach. I want to take this opportunity to share with you and your fellow members of the Commission some of the key areas of focus of my Administration, as well as highlights of our achievements over the past year. Generally, these initiatives and results cover the time period of August 2008 through today, and they reflect how we, collectively, continue to build on the efforts I have focused on since becoming your City Manager nine years ago. Pursuant to our employment agreement, "The City shall review and evaluate the performance of the City Manager at least once annually. Further, the Mayor shall provide the City Manager with a summary written statement of fhe findings of the City Commission and provide an adequate opportunity for the City Manager to discuss his evaluation with the City Commission." As I have done. in previous years, I am attaching a form developed by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) which you may want to use to solicit input and feedback from the City Commissioners. As a reminder, this information is subject to the Sunshine Law. My main priority in my role as your City Manager continues to be the same as my first day on the job - to work with you and the City Commission to make our City government amongst the best in the nation, regarded and recognized as ahigh-performing, quality organization, whose mission and work is focused on diligently and efficiently addressing the needs and priorities of our community. It is my sincere belief that our commitment to our strategic planning process has helped us work together to reinforce our City's mission, vision and strategic priorities which, in turn, has resulted in real, measurable improvements, as well as continued, judicious decision-making based on the principles of fiscal prudence and the most efficient and effective use of resources. This year's budget process, although arduous and complex, is a testament to this practical and effective approach. The budget for Fiscal Year 2009/10 reflects a total combined millage rate that is 2.8 mills lower than that for Fiscal Year 1999/00, and is lower than the total combined millage for 27 municipalities in Miami-Dade County. Once again, our budget is balanced and continues to provide the services expected by our community, while continuing to adjust to the effects of state-mandated property tax relief, as well as the impacts of the national -and global economy. We are committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who lice, work, and ploy in our vibrant tropical, historic community. Peifonnance Evaluation August 20D&August 2009 Page 2 of 24 I am proud to say that the City of Miami Beach is well-poised to deal with these challenges, which we face as a community, and I am also proud that we continue to capitalize on opportunities that present a benefit to our residents, businesses and visitors alike. In spite of the many challenges we faced during this evaluation period, my Administration and our City government accomplished a great deal, of which I know you, as well as my staff and I, can be incredibly proud. Equally gratifying, our community echoes this sentiment. The 2009 Community Survey reported that 86.6% of respondents rated Miami Beach as an excellent or good place to live, and 78.3% of respondents stated that they would definitely or probably recommend Miami Beach to friends and family as a place to live. Improvements in these two indicators tell us that we continue to move in the right direction in developing and implementing policies and strategies that best serve the needs of our community. SUMMARY AUGUST 2008 -AUGUST 2009 Strategic Plannin_g & Fiscal Management As you know, following our 2005 Community Satisfaction Survey, the Administration and the City Commission formalized specific strategic priorities and adopted the City's first strategic plan. The first community survey in 2005 created the baseline for us to track our progress over time in addressing the Community's needs .and priorities. The results from follow-up surveys in 2007 and earlier this year, as well as other feedback received from the community, has helped the Commission and the Administration gain insight on community perceptions of how well we are doing, and in which areas we must dedicate greater focus and resources. I am extremely pleased with the feedback received through the 2009 Community Survey. From an overview perspective, the survey showed that 31 of the residential tracking questions from 2007 experienced increases by an overall average of approximately 7.0%; and 28 of 32 business tracking questions experienced increases by an overall average of approximately 8.8%. The results of the survey tell us that we have indeed been focusing both our attention and resources in what residents and businesses feel are their priorities. As part of our Commission Retreat process in May of this year, together we reviewed data from this and prior community surveys, our environmental scans/demographics, socio-economic information, .service workload and performance data, as well as feedback received by you and your colleagues from your interactions with your constituents. It was through this comprehensive process that we determined the areas of focus for the coming year. Our priorities, referred to as Key Intended Outcomes (KIOs), continue to serve as.our primary areas of focus and guide our plan of work. Overall, these KIO's are intended to help us achieve our Vision for the City: • cleaner and safer; • more beautiful and vibrant, mature, stable residential community, urban and historic environment; • a cultural, entertainment and tourism capital; • an international center for innovation in culture, recreation and business; • well improved infrastructure. In anticipation of the challenge we would face in balancing a budget with state-mandated reduced revenues, while at the same time attempting to address community priorities, I worked with Rick Jensen to ensure that opportunities were provided at this year's retreat for you and the Commission to walk through the thought processes that would be needed for you to consider the We ore committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work, and play in our vibront, ;Topical, historic community. Performance Evalua8on August 200&August 2009 Page 3 of 24 proposed budget when presented to you in the early Summer. I hope you found the exercise helpful in preparing for these subsequent budget deliberations. And there is no doubt that this year's deliberations were some of the most complex we have had in my tenure. As you know, in the last two years alone, General Fund expenditures have reduced by almost $28 million (more than $31 million across all funds) to a General Fund budget of $235 million in FY 2008109. Given the continuing recent decline of property values, and a similar decline in return on pension fund investments, the FY 2009/10 budget incorporates an additional $16.2 million in General Fund reductions ($16.8 million Citywide) for a total reduction of virtually $50 million and 185 positions in three (3) years. Despite these reductions, the proposed budget continues to reflect our focus on providing °value of services for tax dollars paid" by continuing to provide services to the community free of charge or at significantly reduced fees. These include free cultural programming and movies in the parks, free access to pools and youth centers, and reduced fee recreation programming, among others. I believe that our focus on these quality of life amenities is why our residents told us in the 2009 Community Survey that we give them more bang for their buck - 64.9% of respondents told us that the value of City services for the tax dollars paid is either excellent or good. This is a significant increase from 46% reporting the same in the 2007 Community Survey. This year, even more so than in years past, I felt the employees should know what these difficult budget times could mean for them. I conducted a series of informational sessions for the employees to discuss the budget process, what I had tasked departments to do as part of the budget process, and as always, to ask for their ideas on how we can be more efficient. In addition to making copies of the informational session available to all department heads so they could provide it to those employees who were unable to make the sessions, I asked employees to send me their ideas and feedback, and created an email account for them to send me their recommendations, anonymously if they wished. As I have told our employees, they are the organization's most valuable asset. Without them, we cannot provide services to our residents, businesses and visitors. I was overwhelmed by how many employees expressed a willingness to give up some benefits in order to contribute to the City's current financial state. Planned Progress Our City's capital improvements program (CIP) continues to be a priority for my Administration, the City Commission and our residents. Overseeing approximately $850 million in projects, our CIP Program includes projects for parks and public facilities (including golf courses, fire stations, an emergency operations center, and community centers), right of way (ROW} improvements, water and sewer infrastructure upgrades, as well as parking facilities. As such, the recruitment for a new CIP Director, upon the retirement of former Director Jorge E: Chartrand, was a very important decision for me. In order to find the best candidate for the job, and in addition to a standard recruitment and selection process, I conducted an assessment center, where I invited local developers, community activists and Homeowner Association representatives, as well as City staff, to meet the top candidates, ask questions and 'provide me with their feedback on each candidate. I selected Charles O. Carreno in May 2009, after a thorough and- intensive recruitment period. Mr. Carreno is a registered Professional Engineer both in the state of Florida and in the state of New York. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida. We are committed to providing excellent public service and sofety to oll who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. Pe~ibimance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 4 of 24 Mr. Carreno has almost twenty-five years of experience in the industry. He possesses broad knowledge and work experience in both the private and public sector. He has extensive experience with municipal infrastructure projects which include utility infrastructure, roadway construction, streetscapes, pump stations, parks, seawall restoration, wetland mitigation, groundwater remediation and environmental assessments. It was essential that the change in leadership in the CIP Office not delay any of the important projects that were in the process of implementation. I am pleased to report that additional oversight from my office ensured the successful completion of 24 projects this past year -with a value exceeding $68.5 million. The projects range from underground utility infrastructure improvements to magnificent parks and facility improvements. Projects that were completed in the past year include, but are not limited to, the following: • 6"' Street and Lenox Avenue Infrastructure Improvements • 8tt' Street Flooding Remediation • 12"' Street Garage Glass Block Repairs • 16tt' Street Anchor Garage -Light Pole Replacements & Miscellaneous Electrical Re~airs • 17 Street Garage Elevator Upgrades • 28"' Street Triangle Landscaping • Carl Fisher Clubhouse ADA Restrooms Renovation • Collins Park Cultural Center Improvements • Collins Park Temporary Parking Facility • Colony Theater - Restroom & Parking Lot Renovations • Fire Station No. 2 • Jackie Gleason/Live Nation Phase I, ll, and 111 Improvements • Oceanfront 41st Street Streetend • Pump Station 11 Landscaping • South Pointe Park • Surface Parking Lot 8C - 4000 Chase Avenue Phase ! • Surface Parking Lot 8D -Pine Tree Drive • Surtace Parking Lot 8E - 4141 Alton Road • Surface Parking Lot 24A - 925 Normandy Drive • Surface Parking Lot 26A -Collins and 80tt' Street • North Beach Recreational Corridor While all of these projects are important to our community, I am especially proud of two major projects. South Pointe Park After atwo-year, $23.5 million renovation, South Pointe Park has been transformed from an outdated and underutilized space into a spectacular destination. Visitors who arrive at the entrance on Washington Avenue can experience walking under the fountain jets on their way toward the 20-foot wide cutwalk, which is an expansive promenade along Government Cut that must be experienced when cruise ships sail by and that, in the evening, is illuminated by 18 light towers. that are unique to South Pointe Park. An interactive children's water feature, one-of-a- kind tot lot, elevated walkway, dune field and pavilion rooftop deck with views of the Cut and the Atlantic Ocean make this one of our Park system's crown jewels, and a popular destination for residents and visitors alike. We ore committed to providing excellent public service and sofefy to all who live, work, and ploy in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 5 of 24 Monument Island Another project that was completed this year and has monumental significance to the City is the restoration of the Flagler Memorial. The Flagler Memorial sits in the center of what is more commonly called Monument Island. It was originally constructed in 1921 by Miami Beach founding father Carl Fisher, in honor of Henry Flagler, a man Fisher much admired for his success in bringing the first railroad to Miami Beach and developing South Florida. The restoration of this monument was a daunting task due to the coordination required to restore a monument where no permanent or temporary water, electricity or sanitation facilities were available -and was accessible by water only. This year also saw the launch of many other projects, including parks, parking facilities, and the challenge of restoring and/or enhancing the City's aging infrastructure. To that end, there are $162.5 million of programmed projects consisting of utility infrastructure improvements, parks, and parking facilities, such as: • 17th Street Garage Miscellaneous AC ~ Structural Repairs • 17"' Street Garage Elevator Machine Room Door Replacement • City Center BP 9A (Convention Center Area) • Collins Park Children's Playground Feature • Collins Park Phase 1 • Collins Park Phase 2 • Collins Park Rotunda • Convention Center Improvements - C & D Phases • Indian Creek Water /Wastewater Replacement 28th to 41St Streets • MMPF Parking Garage and Office Building .Structure • MMPF Office Building Tenant Improvements • Miami Beach Golf Club Cart Barn Facility • Nautilus ROW Improvements • Normandy Isle /Normandy Sud Right-of-Way (ROW) improvements • Normandy Shores Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • Normandy. Shores Golf Course Clubhouse • Scott Rakow Youth Center Of these projects, the following merit particular mention: Municipal Multipurpose Parking Facility The new Multipurpose Parking Facility directly behind City -Hall will include over 650 parking spaces located on seven levels, as well as approximately 32,000 square feet of office space for the City of Miami Beach. As part of the overall City Center Redevelopment Area, the area surrounding the facility will receive site improvements, such as new sidewalks and walkways and new landscaping. The project will include a public plaza that will also tie in with planned improvements for all of City Center, as well as street improvements along 17th Street, Meridian Avenue and Convention Center Drive. This project is among the first of many development pieces of the City Center/Convention Center Master Plan that will also be complemented by future right-of-way improvements along Lincoln Road, 17t" Street and the area adjacent to the Convention Center, as well as the New World Symphony and Lincoln Park. And most importantly, this project provides more ample and convenient parking for many people visiting the Convention Center campus, and frees up space at the 17~' Street Garage for visitors to Lincoln Road. We are commi~Yed to providing excellent public service and safely ro all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, fropical, hisbric community. Performance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page ti of 24 Normandy Isle/Normandy Sud Right-of-Way (ROVI~ lmprovements These improvements have been a priority for this neighborhood, and proper implementation has been an important priority for me, as well, since these projects cause the most direct impact to our residents and their-daily lives. The next round of projects, valued at $115 million, are also moving through the permitting I bidding phase so that in the next few years we will have improved the quality of life of many more residents in our City. Those projects that are in permitting and will soon be released for bidding or will soon be released for construction are as follows: • 17"' Street Garage Miscellaneous Repairs • 35~' Street Beachfront Restroom • Bayshore -Central Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • Bayshore -Lake Pancoast Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • Bayshore -Lower Bay Road Right-of-Way (ROW) lmprovements • Band Shell Facility Improvements • City Center BP 96 (17~' Street) • City Center BP 9C (Lincoln Road) • Fire Station 2 -Building A • Fire Station 2 Hose Tower Replacement • La Gorce BP 5 Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • Little Stage Theater Master Plan • Muss Park Pavilion • Oceanfront Neighborhood Improvements Phase II West • Pump Station 4 Landscaping • Pump Station 10 Landscaping • Pump Station 10 Odor Control Equipment • Pump Station 22 Landscaping • South Pointe Booster Pump Station • Surface Parking Lot 9A - 69~' Street & Harding Avenue (West) • Surface Parking Lot 9E - 69~' Street & Harding Avenue (East) • Surface Parking Lot 12X - 9~' Street & Washington Avenue There are many more projects in the planning/design pipeline (value of $215 million) that will improve the appearance of our City, as well as maintain and/or increase property values. These include the following: • 42"d Street Garage -Light Pole Replacements & Miscellaneous Repairs • Bay Road Drainage Pump Station Upgrade • Beachfront Restrooms - 6~' Street • Biscayne Point Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • Botanical Gardens • Convention Center Campus Master Plan • Flamingo Neighborhood Improvements r • Flamingo Park • Lichenstein Mermaid Restoration - Fillmore • Muss Park .Parking and Chase Avenue Realignment • North Shore Right-of--Way GROW) Improvements • Par 3 Golf Course • Perry Sculpture Restoration We ore committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work, and piny in our vibrant tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 7 of 24 • Oceanfront Streetend - 32nd Street • Oceanfront Streetend -34th Street • Oceanfront Streetend - 37th and 38th Street • Oceanfront Streetend - 39th Street • Oceanfront Streetend -40th Street • Property Management Facility Relocation • Pump Station 5 Landscaping • Pump Station 29 Landscaping • Red Light Traffic Camera Project • Star Island Neighborhood Improvements • Sunset Islands 1 ~ 2 Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • Sunset Islands 3 & 4 Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • Sunset Harbor Parking Garage • South Pointe Streetscape Phase III, IV, & V Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • Star Island Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • South Pointe Park Pier • Surface Parking Lot 1A -Ocean Drive & 1~ Street • Surface Parking Lot - 34th Street & Collins Avenue • Surface Parking Lot 8B - 42nd Street and Royal Palm • Surface Parking Lot 13X - Washington ~ 10th Street • Venetian Islands BP 13C Right-of-Way (ROW) Improvements • West Avenue Neighborhood Improvements This list includes many important projects for our community, from much-needed and long anticipated improvements to our Convention Center via a master plan process, enhancements to our Botanical Gardens, and renovating the South Pointe Park Pier and the Par 3 Golf Course. I am pleased, however, that we have been able to shepherd one project to the point where we will be able to make much-anticipated improvements: Flamingo Park Master Plan The City's most visited park, the 36.5 acre Flamingo Park underwent the final stages of a master plan effort in the past year that is intended to enhance the user's experience through a series of open paths, increased shade canopy trees and multi-use activities. As part of the City's master plan effort, the park will undergo in excess of $10 million in extensive renovations to improve some of its widely used amenities. This will include newly aligned pedestrian promenades, new bike paths, a new tennis center with state-of-the-art hydro-grid courts, upgraded/expanded handball courts, a community garden,- expanded dog park, basketball courts, skate park and improvements to the soccer fields, fencing and the historic lodge. Job Order Contracfing The City continues to use the Job Order Contracting (JOC) procurement method whenever feasible. During this last year, Invitations to Bid (ITB) were issued to the general contracting community. Numerous respondents replied to the ITB and contracts were executed with a number of firms. During this last round of bidding, the City obtained bids from contracting firms that specialize in electrical, refrigeration, vertical construction and horizontal construction. As anticipated, due to the current market conditions, adjustment factors and labor related unit prices decreased significantly from the previous JOC agreements. This has resulted in the .City maintaining a cost saving tool that can be utilized to deliver capital projects in a cost effective and timely manner. The new JOC agreement price points have been low enough to result in the City being able to reject ITBs and use JOC pricing on a few occasions. We are commixed to providing excellent public service and safety to al( who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropicol, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 8 of 24 Enhanced Value The City has learned to add more value to maintenance projects by creating opportunities where they might not originally exist. The CIP Office has initiated the improvement of unsightly surface parking. lots by reconfiguring parking layouts to adhere to new code requirements. This reconfiguration activity has allowed the City to convert what was once considered a neighborhood necessity into a neighborhood mini-park that provides necessary parking, increased green space, as well as shade tree canopy and increased parking revenues. Since this program was initiated, the City has increased the available parking inventory by 220 spaces without any expansion of real estate. This is equivalent to $4.5 million when compared to the costs of building elevated parking structures, as well as an additional 0.5 acre of green space, and the installation of 400 treesJpalms that will result in an increase of the shade canopy by eight acres once the trees have reached maturity. Realized Savings Today's economic crisis has provided opportunities to recapture premium costs that were experienced during the recent development boom. Aggressive negotiations led by my office, and supported by the CIP Office, have yielded approximately $2 million in soft costs savings, thereby allowing the City to provide more infrastructure improvements to its residents. An aggressive approach to buying the City's various projects has also yielded what can be considered additional savings in the amount of $18 million. The softening of the construction market, as well as rebidding of projects, has also resulted in savings, as the programmed funds for projects have been more than the actual funds expended during the course of the project. Buildin_g Department During the past year, !appointed Alex Rey as the new Building Director. Alex is the former Town Manager of the Town of Miami Lakes and brings with him almost twenty (20) years of experience in public service. This new appointment also reflects a change in the structure of the department, as it separates the Building Director function from the Building Official function. I strongly believe that this functional change allows the Building Director fo focus on issues of process, customer service and accountability, while the Building Official has the responsibilities associated with the interpretation and enforcement of the Florida Building Code. Watson Rice Study On August 13, 2008, the City entered into a contractual agreement with TCBA Watson Rice to conduct the Building Department Organizational and Operational Review. After a comprehensive, seven-month process, TCBA Watson Rice presented their report that addressed four areas: an organizational and. operational review and analysis of the Building Department; a review of the Permit Fee and Cost Allocation Plan request for proposal; the identification of outsourcing/privatization opportunities and considerations; and, the identification of "best practices" used by other similar organizations. A list of 25 recommendations was presented to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee in May 2009. The Building Development Task Force Departments met with Watson Rice and reviewed all of the recommendations. In general, the departments agreed with the recommendations and have initiated steps to implement many of them and, in some cases, have fully implemented them. This exercise has yielded well coordinated efforts, and the departments did not wait until the final report was issued to begin addressing the concerns raised by the consultants. The Building Department will be preparing quarterly updates on the progress in our implementation of the various initiatives until they are all implemented. To date, 15 of the 25 We are commiY,ed to providing excellent public service and safelyro oll who live, work, and play in our vibran#, ,7opical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2o0&August 219 Page 9 of 24 recommendations have been implemented by the Building Department, though many of these recommendations require active permanent monitoring. Fee Study The objective of the fee study was to analyze the City's direct and indirect costs related to the building development process and, based on this, simplify and restructure the fee categories, charge fees based on the level of effort, and ensure the integrity of the permitting process and collection of fees. The study involves a three phase process: • Phase I -Develop Cost Findings: During this phase, the Consultant interviewed City Staff to determine the level of effort involved with each of the processes. Based on these results, they presented to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee a recommendation to re-distribute the fees to ensure that al- of the departments involved in the Building Development Process recover the same ratio of costs. • Phase ll -Corroborate and Refine Consultants Results: The City is now working on corroborating the data provided by the Consultant and will verify the following: 1) Fee Categories 2) Permit Quantities 3) Time Estimate 4) Re-validate estimates against available time. • Phase Ill -Develop Fee Pricing: The Consultant will assist in creating a fee structure that is simple and closely related to the level of effort performed by the City. We will benchmark these fees against other municipalities to make sure that they are in line with what they charge. In addition, the fee structure will have a self correcting mechanism that will allow for re-adjusting if necessary. We expect the fee study to be completed by October 2009. Call Center Pursuant to RFP No. 08-08!09 dated January 28, 2009, the City of Miami Beach outsourced the inbound call volume received by the Building Department's Automated Call Distribution (ACD) system. Prior to the Cal! Center's April 22, 2009 implementation, customers experienced extremely long hold times, high abandonment rates and calls often never reached a live person to answer questions or provide customer support. After the Call Center implementation, the average response time is about five seconds and the abandonment call rate is about 2%. Approximately 50,000 calls are expected to be handled annually, and the Department currently maintains at least an 80% customer satisfaction level. Other technology initiatives include: • electronic plan review to offer design professionals an expedited, environmentally friendly, standardized method of review while adding consistency and accountability of the plan reviewers (pilot implementation began in September 2009 and full implementation is scheduled for March 2010); central record automation to significantly reduce the turnaround time for records requests from days to hours, and reduce paper that will save the City valuable resources and promote a `green' environment (implementation began in early 2009; full implementation by December 2010); anew website that has or will shortly have Web-enabled features, such as online payments, the ability for contractors to pull sub-permits for approved master permits, and the capacity for home owners to pull `remove and replace' type permits over the Internet, online forms, We are committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 70 of 24 and online permitting; • handheld computers for inspectors that provide the ability to monitor inspection routes and increase accountability; • vehicle tracking systems to improve daily efficiency and serve as an internal control tool (currently testing for early 2010 implementation); • the implementation of the QMB walk thru plan .review queuing system that expedites the review process and makes the experience completely transparent to the customers (launched in August 2009); • the launch of a new interactive voice response inbound call flow that provides four clear options to our customers, addressing their most common questions and providing a live response within four seconds of selecting the option to speak with a representative; and • the permitting system software replacement that will include permitting, inspections, code enforcement and the business tax receipt process, and replaces a system currently used by approxima#ely one half of City departments. This new system will significantly increase operating efficiencies, provide extensive auditing and security capabilities, contain internal and external automated notification mechanisms to streamline operations and enrich customers' overall experience with the Building Department. It should also be noted that during the year, several new or redeveloped properties finaled their building permits and received a certificate of occupancy, which added $1.782 billion to the City's total property value. Environmental Initiatives/Sustainability In an effort to bring attention to the need to preserve our natural resources, the City's Ad Hoc Green Committee (now a standing Committee known as the Sustainability Committee) was established with the objective of providing a mechanism to discuss green (environmental) issues of concern to the community and match that with appropriate levels of response by City government. In light of the interest in this issue, I assigned Senior Staff from my office to support the Committee. As a result, the following initiatives have been implemented to date: • Adoption of a new Key Intended Outcome for .the City's strategic plan to support sustainable community initiatives; • Hired an Energy Performance Contractor to perform a Comprehensive Energy and Resource Use Audit and to develop solutions to save energy and resources; • Expanded the City's recycling effort through the development of a Public Area Recycling Program and the expansion of a Single Family and Multi-family Recycling Program through a new Single Stream Collection Program; • Endorsed the adoption of the U.S. Mayor's Conference Climate Control initiative; • Successfully sponsored a Green Conference; • A LEED Ordinance was also adopted that provides financial incentives for the development of new buildings and/or major renovations to achieve LEED certification; • Commenced the process for development of a Master Sustainability Plan. Energy Conservation The Administration is in the process of finalizing the Investment Grade Energy Audit of the City by its energy saving contractor, Ameresco. It is expected that the immediate project list will consist of eight (8) energy conservation measures with projected annual savings of $1.3 million dollars and a project payback time of just slightly over ten (10) years. The Administration will continue to work with Ameresco on at least two (2) other projects that may also be brought to the We are committed to providing excellent public service and sa`eiy io all who live, work, and play in our vibrant fropical, hs;oric communiy. Performance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page 11 of 24 City Commission for subsequent implementation. The completion of the Energy Conservation Projects will significantly upgrade the City's green status as it relates to its buildings and its operating practices. Bike Share The Administration has completed, and the City Commission approved, a contract for the implementation of aself-service bicycle program in the City of Miami Beach. The program is expected to be, if not the largest, one of the largest operated by a municipality in the entire United States. Uniquely, the City of Miami Beach Bike Share Program provides a positive revenue stream to the City of Miami Beach and does not require a public subsidy as in many other programs. This project, once implemented, will result in a significant enhancement to the City's mobility options; it is anticipated to lessen the reliance upon automobile trips, and is environmentally avery positive project. Shared Car The Administration continues to work with the Shared Car vendor to determine if there is a creative mechanism which will allow this program to be implemented in the City of Miami Beach. The economic condition in the region, as well as nationally, makes this a very challenging time to implement a program of this nature; however, we continue to negotiate in the hopes that a creative solution that works to the advantage of the community and the vendor can be found. If implemented, this program is also a green initiative that will enhance mobility and decrease reliance on personally owned vehicles. Recycling Over the past year, the City has undertaken a number of different initiatives in order to significantly enhance the City's recycling efforts. Most significant was the change to a single stream recycling program in conjunction with Miami=Dade County that has boosted the number of persons recycling in our single family. neighborhoods, as well as the quantity of materials being recycled from single family residences. The initial program results have indicated that participation is up by approximately 20% and that the quantity of recyclables has increased by four times: A similar program providing a more formalized recycling approach for all of the multi- family dwellings in the community that otherwise had not had recycling available was also implemented. The City is also preparing to install public area recycling containers which will broadly distribute recycling containers throughout public venues in the community to enhance the collection of recyclable materials in those areas. Cleanliness Index The award-winning Public Area Cleanliness Assessment is entering its fourth year and scores continue to improve across a-I public areas. Cleanliness continues to be one of the City of Miami Beach's Key Intended Outcomes, .and year to year we continue to make progress in having a cleaner City, which contributes to the quality-of-life of our residents and ensures the sustainability of our businesses. Quarterly cleanliness assessments conducted since 2005 show steady improvement. In fact, in the 2009 survey, residents identified cleanliness as the number one service the City should strive not to reduce. The percentage of assessments citywide rating clean or very clean have improved from 65% in FY 2005/06 to 82% in FY 2006/07 and 80% in FY 2007/08. Cleanliness of streets, public areas and garbage collection was also identified by business owners as a key driver to successfully run a business in Miami Beach, and to recommend .Miami Beach to other business owners as a place to open a business. Overall business ratings of cleanliness of streets and waterways and collection of garbage and trash improved significantly from 2005 through 2009. VYe ore committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropicol, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 72 of 24 Litter !Beach Cleanup This year my senior staff convened regular meetings with the County's Parks Department. These meetings also included our beachfront concessionaire, our Parks Department, and our Asset Management and Sanitation Divisions, to develop strategies to improve beach maintenance efforts. This resulted in schedule adjustments and process improvements that ensure high use beach areas receive attention in a timely manner. Targeted Initiatives: Youth and Seniors Although not the traditional role of a City Manager, as a parent, resident and as City Manager, I am immensely proud of the City Commission's approval on January 16, 2008 for me to execute an Education Compact with Miami-Dade County Public Schools. This partnership, which is the first of its kind in the entire country, includes a funding commitment by the City of $500,000 and measurable miles#ones tied to our City's strategic priorities. The areas- of focus in our compact include: teacher recruitment and retention, enhanced communication of educational and community events, family involvement and support as well as engaged youth and community, increased health and well-being of students, enhanced student achievement, improved safety and perceptions of safety in our schools, and improved access to technology. As part of the compact, the City and District committed to collaborate to implement an International Baccalaureate (IB) program within the Miami Beach feeder pattern within the next two years. In order to meet this timeline, I committed the assistance of the City's Organizational Development Division #o assist in the implementation of the Compact, and a competitive application submitted by our staff to secure on-site !B Level One training in Miami Beach was selected and funded -one of a few organizations selected to receive this training. This two day IB conference, developed and organized by City staff, was held in March 2009 at the Convention Center and attracted over 600 teachers, administrators, trainers, and guests from all the City's public schools and schools throughout Miami-Dade County, Texas, Utah, and private schools. As of July 2009, all public schools on Miami Beach have attained IB candidate schools status. In August 2009, South Pointe, Fienberg Fisher K-8, North Beach, Biscayne and Treasure Island Elementary schools began their first year of implementation of the IB Primary Years Program. Our City is the only City in the country that offers an IB education for every child from grades Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Also unique to our IB endeavor is the City's request that Miami Beach Senior High School grades 9-10, Nautilus Middle School grades 6-8 and Fienberg Fisher grades 6-8 form a triangular partnership in order to provide afive-year "Middle Year Programs for grades 6-10, allowing every child the opportunity to attain an official MYP certificate of completion from the IB organization. These three schools will submit their application in December 2009, securing their position as the only five year MYP in the state of Florida, and one of only a handful in the country. The City recommended and funded the hiring of an external consultant in June 2009 to support an intensive five-day workshop to assist our three schools with the aligning of their curriculum to ensure curricular continuity for our children and access for all. The anticipated authorization date for all programs, Diploma Program, Middle Years Program and Primary Years Program, is August 2010. Consistent with the spirit of our Education Compact, we also made great strides this year to implement additional components of the Compact, including the Career Experience Opportunity Internship Program that placed Miami Beach Senior High School students in positions in City government that are aligned to their chosen career path, co-hosting monthly grant development workshops for Parent Teacher Students Association (PTSA) members to maximize the pool of We are committed to providing excellent public service and saieiy to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 73 of 24 available resources to serve the city's schools and residents, and the development of a Speaker's Bureau in partnership with the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. These new developments warrant enhanced access and communication, which included the addition of a Next Generation column in the MB magazine, the addition of an Education tab on our City's website homepage, a Next Generation segment in the City's TV newsmagazine CityVision, and the inclusion of the "Teaching with Perks at the Beach" link added to the MDCPS website to highlight the many City-funded incentives offered to teachers working in Miami Beach schools. This includes information on access to City-funded affordable housing programs managed by MBCDC for which our teachers and school employees might be eligible. Some other recent incentives include IB professional development trainings, various discounts, and many other benefits. am pleased to report that during this past year the Children's Trust approved grant renewals to continue funding for three City programs: the Out of School {OOS) Program, funded in combination with more than $1 million in City funding, provides after school and summer programs in our Parks {almost a half million dollars for scholarships, social skills development, transportation, after school snacks, uniforms, field trips and supplies for 325 income eligible kids between the ages of 5-13, and 4,599 youth in our recreation programs); the Miami Beach Service Partnership/Success University, providing truancy prevention services to Miami Beach Senior High School students through tutoring, family group counseling and care coordination services, as well as improving service delivery among the City's social service providers ($400,000); and the Promotion and Prevention grant which funds the City's Youth Empowerment Network ($180,000) providing fifty-two (52) children in our community who are at-risk for academic failure and truancy, with after school tutoring during the school week to enhance academic success and improve attendance. It was a personally exciting moment when I had the opportunity to join the members of our Teen Club as they inaugurated their new home at the 21St Street Community Center. These teens were so excited with their unique space, which includes a music mixing/editing suite; pool, air hockey and ping pong tables; after school tutoring; a computer lab; and, no doubt their and my favorite, the latest in video games -all thanks to a Department of Justice grant secured in conjunction with Congresswomen Ileana Ros-I_ehtinen and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Another program developed by our Parks and Recreation Department, along with community partners, the Surf Camp for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, completed another successful week during Summer Camp 2008, and garnered media attention, including being highlighted on the Herald's front page and also featured on "Despierta America" Univision, a Spanish television station. On the other end of the generation spectrum, providing services to our community's seniors continues to be an important issue for this organization. This was made particularly evident this year, as specific KIOs were added to our City's strategic plan to focus on our elderly population as well as our youth. This year, the City hosted the first ever Senior's Night Out, a free senior dance, on June 21, 2008 at the 21St Street Recreation Center. This was followed up with two more dances at the Miami Beach Convention Center in partnership with Global Spectrum, and a Halloween party at Mansion nightclub. We have also continued our Senior Transportation Service, making it possible for our seniors to enjoy recreational outings, such as trips to local theaters and other cultural events, visits to parks and museums or movies. In addition, this year we implemented the 25% discount on membership and golf rates for seniors at the Normandy Golf Course. Our full-time Elderly Services Coordinator has been working with local programs We are committed to providing excellent public service and sofeiy to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant tropicol, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2006-August 2049 Page 74 of 24 and senior housing providers to provide information on available programs, while assisting seniors who come to the City with referrals and access to services. Arts, Culture and Special Events Our arts and cultural programming continues to provide a variety of world-class opportunities for our residents and visitors. In my role as trustee, I had the opportunity to select Silvia Karman Cubina as the new .executive director of the Bass Museum of Art. Her vision and fresh perspective have yielded positive results and have elevated the museum in the cultural landscape in our community. I have continued to work with Dennis Richards, the Bass Family's testamentary representative, on contract amendments that will respect the contractual obligations of the City, while addressing governance issues that hinder the museum's ability to function as most major art institutions do. One of the most exciting and ground breaking programs initiated by the Bass is a newly drafted elementary level program, ImaginationDesignExperimentationArt@theBass, which is based on Design Thinking", an innovative methodology championed by Stanford University and the very successful design firm IDO, established by Tom Kelly, renowned designer, in Alto Palo, California. The official definition of Design Thinking is a process for practical, creative, resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future imaginative result. Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a creative process based around the "building up" of ideas. There are no judgments in design thinking. This eliminates the fear of failure and encourages maximum input and participation in the ideation and prototyping of solutions to problems. Outside the box thinking is encouraged in these processes since this can often lead to creative solutions. The IDEA@theBass curriculum is a thematic program especially designed for classroom teachers which uses selected works of art as the catalyst for thinking creatively and imaginatively. It is NOT an art program, but a program that motivates students to be critical thinkers and to question, research, and articulate creative ideas and solutions to problems. In order to establish this curriculum in a sequential and meaningful manner, the educational staff at the Bass Museum has focused first on the K-2 grade levels. This curriculum has been vetted by the Early Childhood Division at the School District and the Region Office. tt also compliments the Sunshine State Standards and the CBC, and of course we feel strongly that many of the activities encompassed in this curriculum will assist students achieve higher levels in the FCAT. Our mission is to implement this curriculum in the Miami Beach Elemeritary Schools in accord with Region and District mandates and requirements. Stanford University is so excited by the °potential°' of this program at the national level that they have enthusiastically agreed to partner with the Bass Museum in developing and implementing .this program. This program goes hand in hand with the IB program being implemented in the Miami Beach feeder pattern. City-produced events, such as Arts in the Park and the Festival of the Arts continued to attract interest and attendance. Unfortunately, a weak economy resulted iri a one-year hiatus of the popular Sleepless Night. The event, comparable to Nuit Blanc in Paris, and events in Madrid and Montreal, among other major world-class cities, will be held on November 7~' and attendance is expected to eclipse the 2007 number of 125,000. This event was one of only a handful of events to receive funding from the Knight Foundation, as well as other foundation grants. Our major events planning process once again proved successful, helping us to manage annual events that brought thousands of visitors to our City with no major issues (e.g. Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami -nternationat Boat Show, South Beach Wine and Food- Festival, Memorial Day Weekend, New Years Eve, Winter Music Conference), as well as one-time events such as the IDB and Pow Wow. And at a time when the film and print industry has experienced major We are committed to providing excellent public service and sofety to oll who live, work, and ploy in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page 75 of 24 cutbacks, our staff assisted several productions, including the popular cable series Burn Notice, in film shoots in our City, producing an economic impact from what is considered a "green" industry. Joint Venture Proiect Update I continue to pursue beneficial joint ventures where the City partners with private developers in order to provide additional parking and/or right-of-way improvements and enhancements for our residents, businesses and visitors that we could not otherwise afford to provide on our own. On August 8, 2009 we reached a milestone with a joint venture project as substantial completion of the construction of the Fifth and Alton project was achieved with the opening of the project's first retailer, Best Buy. Other anchor tenants Publix Super Markets, Ross Dress for Less, TJMaxx, Staples, Petco and Vitamin Shoppe will open within the next few months. The property is more than 92 percent leased and the approximately 1,100 space parking garage is operating as a municipal garage. In addition to providing much-needed parking, this project brought national retailers to the City. The City of Miami Beach is not unique in the type of joint venture projects it pursues, but there is no doubt that we are unique with whom we collaborate. Signature buildings like the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain or the Birds Nest at the 2008 Olympic Games are works of art as much. as functional structures. In the very near future our City will house signature buildings by the same world renowned architects - a Frank Gehry designed symphony hall and public garage on one end of Lincoln Road and, on the other end, a parking garage, designed by Herzog & de Meuron with a streetscape designed by Raymond Jungles. Both projects went from concept to construction in the past year, following hours of deliberations that culminated in development agreements. A little over four years since the City and the New World Symphony (NWS) entered into a Lease and Development Agreement, providing for the development of NWS' Campus Expansion Project (formerly referred to as "Soundspace") on the 17"' Street surface lot between Drexel and Pennsylvania,Avenues, the Campus Expansion broke ground with an official ground breaking ceremony on January 24, 2008, and continues to move forward, with an anticipated completion date in mid-2010. The Frank Gehry-designed project includes astate-of-the-art facility that incorporates. educational, performance and intemet broadcasting facilities, next to a Gehry- designed, 530-space municipal parking garage with ground floor retail space. On April 22, 2009, the City Commission approved a Second Addendum to the Development Agreement providing for approval of the Final Garage Budget, in the amount of $17,085,000 and amending the Design-to Park Project Budget from $14,960,000 to-$13,085,000. The garage component has broken ground and completion is expected to coincide with the opening of the Campus Expansion building. On July 22, 2009, the City Commission approved NWS's selection of West 8 New York, Ihc., an internationally acclaimed landscape architecture firm based in Rotterdam, Holland, to replace Gehry as the design professional for the Park. The first of three public workshops to solicit input for the design and programming elements of the Park was held on August 24, 2009. The Park is anticipated to be completed in 2011. While these projects progress, I continue to work on other promising joint venture. projects. In December 2008 the Commission approved the agreement between the City and the Scott Robins Companies for the development of a parking garage with ground floor retail in the Sunset Harbor neighborhood. This project will help the -City accomplish a number of goals, including providing parking in an area that needs it, further revitalizing the neighborhood, expanding commercial service options, as well as creating the opportunity to relocate the City's Property We ore committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page 78 of 24 Maintenance Division to a more appropriate area. This relocation has the additional benefit of allowing the recapture of an additional acre of open green space into Flamingo Park. The first closing for the garage project took place in April 2009, and the City is working with Arquitectonica as they develop the project's construction documents. The Administration also continued to work toward joint venture parking solutions in two other neighborhoods, Collins Park and North Beach. Negotiations with Ron Bloomberg have progressed significantly and a proposed term sheet was presented to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee on September 3rd. The proposed project would provide ground floor retail and a 380-space parking garage in the Collins Park area, behind the Miami City Ballet. Additionally, the Administration met with principals of City National Bank to jump start discussions regarding a potential assemblage and joint venture opportunity to provide parking and redevelopment in North Beach. The Administration and City National's real esta#e consultant, Terranova, are continuing discussions to determine project viability and the most appropriate opportunities to pursue. Growth Management and Historic Preservation This past year we continued to work on growth management initiatives, as well as the preservation of our historic building stock, by recommending several ordinances to address planning and growth management concerns. With regard to single family residential zones, ordinances were adopted to regulate the short term rental of single family homes, to improve the criteria for reviewing proposed lot splits and to improve the ad valorem tax exemption for historic preservation of single family homes. Concerning the development process, ordinances related to application requirements, residency requirements, recusals & absences for land use board members were adopted. Ordinances were also adopted regulating accessory bars and restaurants south of Fifth Street, and setting regulations to permit the use of mechanical and robotic parking systems within the City. During this period, the Planning Department successfully oversaw the detailed restoration, major expansion, and re-opening of both the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels, a combined redevelopment investment approaching a billion dollars in the City's tourism industry. Today, both hotels are fully operational, demonstrating the success of attracting new visitors through quality historic preservation in combination with first class new development in Miami Beach. The historic significance of these two buildings was validated in December of 2008, when the Fontainebleau Hotel was individually listed in the prestigious National Register of Historic Places (at the request of its owners). Other significant advancements in our historic preservation efforts included the November 2008, official listing of the Normandy Isles Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places, an initiative sanctioned earlier by the City Commission. Qualifying `contributing' properties in this National Register District are now eligible to apply for Federal historic preservation tax credits. On the heels of that designation, in January of 2009, the westward expansion of the world - renowned Flamingo Park Historic District was completed, extending the historic district to Alton Road, between 6~' Street and 14~' Street, at the specific request of Miami Beach residents. Simultaneously, construction began on the renovation of the 1100 Block of Lincoln Road into a spectacular new pedestrian mall, building on the tropical design themes of Morris Lapidus. Also in January, the County Tax Appraiser verified ad valorem tax abatement benefits for improvement to two individually .designated single family .historic homes in Miami Beach, representing a tax savings to their owners of $2,337 and $3,918 respectively for ten years, while preserving these historic homes. We ore committee' to providing excellent public service and sofety to ell who live, work, and play in our vibront, tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page 17 of 24 The previously mentioned restoration of the Flagler Memorial on Monument Island, resulted in the City of Miami Beach receiving Dade Heritage Trust's highest Restoration Award last May for this exceptional public project. Also during this period, the City completed the restoration of Old City Hall and commenced the detailed restoration of the historic Beach Patrol Headquarters in Lummus Park, as well as the restoration and expansion of the 10"' Street Auditorium. In the summer of 2009, at the request of the Administration, both the Historic Preservation Board and the Planning Board unanimously recommended the designation of the Morris Lapidus/Mid 20"' Century Historic District, along Collins Avenue from 44~' to 53~' Streets. ~ Additionally, the designation of the Miami Beach Rod & Reel Club, on Hibiscus Island, was initiated as a local historic site with strong neighborhood support. Employee and Workforce Achievements GASB 45 fully funded and created OPEB Trust The City has established and maintained certain post employment benefits, other than pension, for its retirees and their eligible dependents. These other benefits are known as Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pension {OPEB), and include medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage. The .Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 45 "Accounting and Financial Reporting by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions° effective for the City for the period ended September 30, 2008. This statement established standards for accounting and financial reporting for OPEB expenses/expenditures and related OPEB liabilities or assets, note disclosures, and required supplementary information in the financial reports of the City of Miami Beach. Prior to GASB Statement No. 45, OPEB generally was based on apay-as-you-go financing approach. According to GASB, this approach generally failed to measure or recognize the cost of OPEB during the periods when employees are renderee the services or to provide relevant information about OPEB obligations and the extent to which progress is being made in funding those obligations. With the implementation of GASB statement No. 45 the City now has to recognize the liability for the OPEB when employee services are rendered and not when actual benefits are paid. Based on GASB, the City's total unfunded liability can be amortized over a 30 year period and the annual required contribution (ARC) recorded to the City's books as expenses/expenditures each year. The GASB does not require that the ARC be funded, but only recorded in the financial statements as an unfunded liability. Therefore, the City has the option of never funding the liability, funding the liability if and when funds become available, pay only the current year's expenses/expenditures (pay-as-you-go), or provide funding based on a plan to fully fund over a period of time. However, since an unfunded liability reported in the financial statements can impact the financial rating of the City, it was determined that the City would fund the FY 2007/2008 liability and form an OPEB Trust based on the City's plan to fully fund the liability over a period of time. For FY2007/08, the City's ARC for all employees, as determined by an actuary, was $13.3 million, of which $6.4 million was-paid on behalf ofi retirees or beneficiaries, and approximately $6.9 million was recorded as expenses/expenditures on the City's books and appropriated to the City's OPEB Trust, essentially funding the FY 2007/08 ARC. We are canmi~;ed to providing excellenr public service and safety to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community Performance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 78 of 24 At the February 25, 2009 Commission Meeting, Resolution 2009-27024 was approved, establishing the City's OPEB Trust funded from funds that have been set aside and designed for OPEB in the General Fund as follows: Amount Fund $4,000,000 General fund budget/fund balance from prior year $ 612,410 FY2007/08 year-end transfer from Enterprise and Internal Service Funds $2,234,528 FY2007108 year-end transfer from the General Fund 54 062 Other Governmental Funds $6,901,000 Total OPEB Trust funding Funding for the 2008/2009 ARC will be based on the updated actuarial reports for FY 2008/2009. Implementation of Self-insurance program Our self-funded group health plans for the employees and retirees of the. City of Miami Beach became effective January 1, 2009. Although the City had taken steps over the past several years to mitigate cost increases in group medical and dental insurance, such as conforming the City's benefits plans to industry standards, increasing the City share for the standard benefit plans to encourage employee enrollment (these plans were introduced in 2004), continuing City support and premium contribution for dependent group health coverage, changing the City contribution for Retiree Group Health to coverage based on years of service, and pursuing the use of Medicare HMOs and Supplemental Policies for retirees, these changes did not sufficiently limit the continual annual increases required to continue group health coverage. When providing employees with fully-insured group health benefits, the City provided coverage to employees and retirees with limited risk or reward. The carrier bore the risk for the cost of claims, while maintaining a profit margin for their services; these ~profits° were built into and passed on to the. City as annual premium increases. Upon regular review of the annual premium increases incurred by the City, the decision was made to investigate the cost of providing aself- insured group health plan. Thus, allowing the Administration to take charge of healthcare costs, reduce carrier expenses and profit, receive cash flow advantages (including interest on plan reserves and all prescription rebates), and to design health programs for retirees over age 65 and part-time employees. !n addition to the City experiencing savings, plan participants are also afforded the advantage of faster claims processing and the City benefits with more efficient and prompt reporting of plan costs, including the cost of claims. The City contracts with a plan administrator who processes the claims and provides the .City participants access to their network of providers. For plan year 2009, the City made no changes in carriers or benefits so that staff could become familiar with working on aself-insured plan before making significant changes. Based on current actuarial calculations, it is projected that the City will experience almost $1 million in savings in the 2009 plan year from profits that would have otherwise gone to the insurance carrier. Again, this is without any changes to make the plans more cost effective. These funds will be set aside for use on future claims or group health plan related costs, as they can only be used for those purposes. Health care cost held flat With the implementation of the City's self-funded group health plans, the Administration was able to implement changes to the coverage options and plan designs to deter any large annual cost We are commixed to providing excellent public service and sa;eiy to oll who live, work, and play in our vibrant, iropicol, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2008-August 2009 Page 79 of 24 increases. To continue to provide the employees and retirees with value added benefit programs in a cost effective manner, the City authorized its benefit consultant, Gallagher Benefits Services, to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the medical, dental, and life insurance plans for the plans beginning on January 1, 2010. As a result of this RFP process, the City was able to: • reduce administration fees for the 2010 plan year for the group medical plan, continuing with the current medical plan carrier Humana; • change dental plans carriers to MetLife plans which provide a greater benefit at a reduced cost; • reduce the cost of Basic Life Insurance by 50% and enhance the employee's coverage options, including the addition of employee funded dependent life, by changing life insurance carriers to Hartford Life; and • Add additional employee funded short-term and long-term disability options.. These new plans expand the City's benefit offerings and provide an enhanced benefit program at no additional cost to the City. Classification and Compensation Study For the first time since 1995, the City contracted with a consultant, Condrey and Associates ("Condrey"), to conduct a comprehensive classification and compensation study. Although the 1995 study addressed only general employees, the Condrey study included all general employees as well as the police and fire positions covered by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) unions. The purpose of the job classification and compensation study was to examine the Cites current classification schedule, and appropriately update all job classifications to ensure internal equity and external competitiveness. The study consisted of an analysis of the City's job descriptions and duties, compliance with Fair Labor Standards Act regulations and EEO Class Codes, and a market-rate analysis of pay. The consultant was also tasked with recommending strategies to shift the paradigm to control future escalation of personnel costs. Condrey presented their findings to the City in October 2008, just days after the significant downturn in the stock market, and after the announcement of major local and national businesses laying off workers and impacting others' salaries. The City asked Condrey to reexamine its findings based on the change in the economy. Condrey presented their updated findings to the City and at a City Commission workshop on March 2, 2009. According to Condrey, the vast majority of the City's classifications are in line with the market rate paid for the particular type of work performed. As you know, this study was extensively used in determining final recommended actions on wages as we balanced the FY 2009/2010 budget. Revisiting Pension Contributions In March 2009, there were a series of Commission Workshops held to discuss alternatives regarding the City's two pension plans, the Miami Beach Employees' Retirement Plan and the City's Pension Fund for Firefighters and Police Officers in the City of Miami Beach. As most issues regarding pensions are highly technical and complicated, the Administration hired actuaries from Gabriel Roeder and Smith (GRS) to analyze both pension plans and explore alternatives. Subsequently, the City hired Actuarial Concepts, Inc., and Michael Tierney to review and further analyze the City's two pension plans. Mr. Tierney has worked continuously full-time in the actuarial field since 1964 and specifically in the field of pensions since 1970. Mr. We ore committed to providing excellent public service and safely to oll who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page 20 of 24 Tierney has served as a consulting actuary to many cities in 'the State of Florida pertaining to issues related to their general employees, Police, and Firefighter pension plans, including assistance with union negotiations, and compliance with Florida Statutes 175 8 185 (Fire and Police "share plans") and currently works with several cities throughout the state of Florida. The Administration has worked with Mr. Tierney the past several months to fully analyze options and recommendations, which in turn have been discussed at the Executive Sessions with the City Commission on July 15, 2009 and September 9, 2009. As has been discussed with the Commission, any decision made with regard to altering the City's current defined benefit (pension) plans for those employees whose classifications are represented by a union will have to be bargained with the respective unions as part of the collective bargaining process. Formal contract negotiations with four of the five unions began in August 2009 and the pension alternatives will be negotiated with all unions during the collective bargaining process. Legislative Advocacy As City Manager, I am responsible for representing the City's interests in on-going County, State and Federal issues. These complex. issues take months and sometimes even years to discuss and resolve, and involve hours of staff time and research to ensure that a professional recommendation, reflective of .the community's best interest, is developed for the City Commission's consideration. This past year resulted in significant progress relating to the proposed expansion of the Miami Beach Convention Center, as well as changes in the management structure of this important economic engine. have continued to meet with Global Spectrum on a regular basis, including participating in the three Executive Management Committee meetings held during the contract year. This has been a challenging year for the tourism industry, and our discussions have allowed us to identify potential opportunities and challenges. Last December I led the Convention Center Stakeholder meeting where we received the preliminary results of the Convention Sports and Leisure (CSL) study. As you know, this new study focused on, among other things, identifying current industry trends, competitive/comparable facility analysis, existing and projected utilization at the convention center, and a market demand analysis. At my request, CSL was asked to conduct additional research, and a final report was presented on April 30, 2009. At that time, and based on the updated information provided, the stakeholders agreed to recommend a phased plan that would use the $55 million in County GOB funds available now to address short-term needs/projects., while the master plan was concluded and the long term needs -and funding for those long term needs -would be identified. However, the Interlocal Agreement with the County for the GOB funds had not been executed due to the City's concerns with certain language in the Agreement. On May 1, 2009, I again met with County Manager George Burgess to discuss the status of the Convention Center project and possible options to address the Interlocal Agreement language. These changes were subsequently pursued by my staff at the GOB Advisory Committee, and subsequently at the County Commission. The majority of the requested changes were approved, and we will be executing the Interlocal Agreement shortly. This will permit us to execute the agreement with Arquitectonica to implement the master plan process, which is estimated to take approximately six months. On the funding side, this year has been a significant one for federal funding, and not only We are commifred to providing excellent public service and safety to ol! who live, work, and ploy in our vibrant, tropical, historic community. Performance Evaluation August 2008 August 2009 Page 21 of 24 because of the stimulus program. From the FY 2009 federal budget, the City received earmarks for three projects: $1 million from the Department of Homeland Security for the City's Emergency Operations Center; $570,000 from the Transportation Appropriations Bill for the Atlantic Greenway, and $200,000 for the Parks Departments After School Program. Although Congress has not completed work on the FY 2010 spending bills, the House of Representatives has earmarked an additional $500,000 for the After School Program. The City also worked to receive funding from round one of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Although HUD had initially identified an amount of $1.5 million for Miami Beach, the City's efforts resulted in an allocation of $2.5 million by the Florida Department of Community Affairs. The City has received additional federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This act provided direct funding to local governments through six programs, and the City of Miami Beach is one of only five cities in Miami-Dade County to receive funding through all six programs, in the approximate amount of $5.6 million. This includes $2.13 million for transportation projects, $945,460 for transit, $839,000 from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, $473,477 for law enforcement, $715,418 for homeless prevention, and $467,896 for the Community Development Block Grant program. The Administration continues to explore and apply for additional ARRA funding opportunities, including the recent application for $17 million from round two of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Organizational Achievements Fire Department Re-Accreditation The Fire Department was first accredited on August 11, 2004. The Department began this most recent accreditation process on October 1, 2008 which ended successfully in Dallas on August 27, 2009. The Fire Department conducted a self assessment answering four basic questions: 1. Is the organization effective? 2. Are the goals objective? Is the mission of the organization being achieved? 3. What are the reasons for the success of the organization? 4. How does the Department plan to continue successful service delivery? This is a very comprehensive process and involved hundreds of hours of staff time to complete. Currently the City of Miami Beach is one of a select group of 9 Fire Departments worldwide who have achieved both internationally accredited status and a Class 1 rating. from the. Insurance Services Office (ISO). There are presently 132 agencies which have attained accredited status. We can all be proud of our Fire Department's achievement which demonstrates a professional organization that provides assurances to peers and the public that the organization has defined missions and objectives and strives to meet or go beyond them. Customer Service and Communication Excellence Miami Beach initiatives continue to focus on improving the way our employees interact with our customers, as well as promoting a "One Team One City" philosophy. Again this year, we had each employee fill out their Essential Piece card, which gives each employee the opportunity to discuss with their supervisor how they contribute to our mission and strategic priorities. We ore committed to providing excellent public service and safely ro all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic communiy. Per/ormance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page 22 of 24 Also, this year, we yielded positive Customer Service results through the Miami Beach Service Shopper Program and citywide surveys. Since this program began, we have continued to see quantifiable improvements in the way we deliver services to our customers. Improvement in our Citywide service shopper scores, on a scale of 1 (not meeting standards) to 5 (exceeding standards) is demonstrated when comparing the average score of 3.39 for FY2006, to an average score of 3.68 for the first three quarters in 2009. In addition, 90% of departments have Service Shopper scores above a 3.0 as of FY2008/09 Q3, and 100% of departments were shopped during FY2008/09 with survey results also showing an increase in satisfaction with employee contact. Since the .inception of the program, service shopper scores have improved in all departments. The overall Service Shopper score has improved by 9.0% since the inception of the program. I continue to focus on ways to improve communication with our entire workforce. This year we have continued to distribute Miami Beach (MB) Line, our quarterly employee newsletter, which is shared with all employees to keep them informed on what is happening in our City, as well as to celebrate milestones in the lives and careers of our employees. Another top priority for my Administration is continuing to focus on improving the way we communicate with our external stakeholders. We have received positive feedback from our residents on all our communication efforts, as supported through the results of the 2009 Community Satisfaction Survey. Survey results show that a total of 41 % of respondents said they most often get their information about the City from one of our three mediums of communication - MB magazine, MBTV 77 and CityPage. Last year, ih our efforts to continue mailing the award-winning MB magazine directly to all City residents on a quarterly basis, we were able to reduce the distribution and production costs of the publication while increasing the number of pages, by revising our advertising rates and securing additional advertisers to offset our production costs. I am proud to announce that MB won a national Savvy Award from 3CMA (City-County Communications and Marketing Association) in the magazine category and a Crystal Award from the Florida Government Communicators Association,. and MB is again a finalist for a national 3CMA Savvy Award in the magazine category. Our Parks and Recreation Department continues producing their award- winning Recreation Review magazine. We continue to produce several in-house television programs on Miami Beach (MBTV) Channel 77 that have also been recognized nationally. In addition to the bi-monthly CityVision newsmagazine show, other new and original programming produced in-house in -the past year includes a new cultural arts show, MBCulture, hosted by Emmy-award winning reporter and former Cultural Arts Council chair Ileana Bravo; Planned Progress, our show on CIP projects; Plan & Prepare Miami Beach, a hurricane preparedness show that addresses emergency preparedness and response issues unique to Miami Beach residents; and the popular Playground Review that showcases the talents of our Parks summer camp participants. New additions to the programming line-up were MB Currents, and its Spanish-Language counterpart Miami Beach AI Dia, which are each a 15-minute in-studio production featuring a timely topic of interest. Also new this past year, we reactivated our AM radio station signal, 1670 AM, to provide traffic, parking and other transportation updates, while also providing useful information to our residents. The messages are updated weekly and have been used to provide targeted We,ore committed to providing excellent public service and s~eiy to oll who live, work, and play in our vibront tropical, historic community. Perfom-ance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page 23 of 24 information during major events weekends and emergency activations. This is a highway information radio signal heard in car radios. Where we spent a considerable amount of time in the past year was in building our online communications efforts through our ListServ distribution lists, including the bi-weekly "E-Briefs," and many other E-mail notifications to subscribed customers (About 3,000 E-Briefs subscribers and close to 9,000 active contacts combined). Additional E-mail groups include information such as capital improvement projects, neighborhood information, cultural events information, and public meeting notices, to name a few. Our E-Briefs' °click through rates" (the number of hyperlinks clicked-on throughout the newsletter) is way above the national average (our average: 35.23%; national average: 6.9%), showing that our subscribers are interested in the information they are receiving from us. This past year saw the City enhance our outreach tools to include social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr, in addition to YouTube and MySpace. MiamiBeachNews on Twitter gains about 100 new followers a week, with close to 2,300 followers receiving the over 100 tweets sent to date. The City of Miami Beach on Facebook is closing in at 1,000 friends too. Photos and videos are posted on Flickr and YouTube, respectively, making them easy to share. Management Team My personal management philosophy is based on the idea that a manager and an organization are only as good as its people. For this reason, I want to take the opportunity to thank each and every City of Miami Beach employee for their commitment to serving the public and for being a part of the team. The City of Miami Beach is fortunate to have professional; experienced staff, particularly at the Management and Executive levels, which bring. numerous years of experience in both the public and private sectors. In addition to the appointment of Building Director Alex Rey, CIP Director Charlie Carreno, Code Compliance Division Director Greg Tindle, and Bass Museum Director Sylvia Cubiria, this past year I brought in Anna Parekh to manage an office that includes our Asset Management division, the RDA, Housing and Community Development programs funded by the State and Federal Governments,, and Homeless Outreach. This year has been a particularly challenging one for this office as they have aggressively pursued federal stimulus funds, while ensuring the implementation of pipeline affordable housing projects, addressing the space allocation needs for our City departments, pursuing competitive leases for our vacant retail and office spaces, and pursuing the best deals possible for various concessions throughout the City. In addition, I also hired in my office, Emanuel Mayer as a Special Assistant to assist the CIP Office, Public Works staff, and me in improving our capital construction efforts. Together we have been successful in realizing significantly reduced costs for construction and consulting agreements. Summary of Accomplishments I have attached, for your information, a summary of some of the key accomplishments from this past year. For ease of review, these accomplishments are organized by the Key Intended Outcome Vision Linkage, as identified in the City's Strategic Plan. Conclusion It has certainly been a challenging year. I feel proud and privileged to serve as City Manager for the City of Miami Beach as welt as being an active resident of this community. The City of Miami Beach is a city like no other - a fast paced, dynamic and sophisticated organization -that, after nine years on the job, continues to challenge and motivate me. I still come in each and every We are commifred to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community Performance Evaluation August 200&August 2009 Page 24 of 24 day looking forward to serve this community with the same commitment and passion I felt on my first day on the job. As City Manager, I have also continued to represent you and the City as a Board Member for the following organizations: the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Committee; the Chamber of Commerce; the Miami City Ballet; the Wolfsonian Museum; the Bass Museum Board of Trustees, and the Super Bowl Host Committee. It is only at this time each year that I have the opportunity to reflect upon what we have achieved, and it is incredibly rewarding, both personally and professionally, to see the progress we have made. Yet, there is no doubt that there is work that remains to be done, and without the contributions of each of our employees, we would not be able to celebrate such successes. In conclusion, I would like to thank you and the City Commissioners for your continued guidance and support, as we work together on behalf of our residents, business, visitors and other community stakeholders. I look forward to speaking to you and your colleagues in greater detail about our work during the past year, the accomplishments and results we have achieved, and how we can continue to work together to make Miami Beach an even better place to live, work, visit and play. If you have any questions or need any additional information, please feel free to contact me. Copy: Members of the City Commission Attachments F:\cmgr\$ALUJORGEGON\City Manager's Evaluation\2009\2009 CM Eval - FINAL.doc We are committed to providing excellent public service and safely to all who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic communiy. Summary of Accomplishments Cleaner and Safer • Instituted high rise and condominium hurricane re-entry and credentialing plan • Drafted the City Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) and the Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) • Completed National Incident Management System (NIMS) 700,100, 200 levels for all personnel and 300 8 400 level for command staff personnel. • Completed Telestaff implementation, reporting and integration into EDEN payroll module including off-duty detail work. • Fire responded to 5,795 calls for service including structure fires, car fires, construction accidents, hazardous materials calls, medical rescue incident, water rescues and public service calls. • Police reported 9,205 Uniform Part 1 Crimes, which represents 106 reported crimes per 1,000 population, with a clearance rate of 15.6% • Police conducted a Beach Crimes Task Force operation of uniformed and undercover officers to target persons committing crimes on the beaches and boardwalk. This initiative resulted in arrests and a decrease in reported thefts • Initiated a Burglary Detail of patrol and investigative personnel deployed in the Middle District which netted a ring of organized burglars • Implemented the Fall Crime Blitz to stop criminal activity throughout the City, this operation resulted in a significant number of arrests including fugitives wanted for murder • The percentage of City of Miami Beach responsibility beach area assessments rating clean or very clean increased from 73% in FY 2005/06 to 81 % in FY2006/07 and 86% in FY2007/08 • The Fire Department achieved Re-Accreditation. The Police Department also began the process of its departmental Re-Accreditation Beautiful and Vibrant, Mature, Stable Residential Community, Urban and Historic Environment • Increased participation in our Senior Scenes Club has continued from 75 to 117 in FY 2006/07, 158 in FY2007/08 and 154 as of March 2009 Page 1 of 5 Summary of Accomplishments • Phase I I of the Reforestation Plan trees planted on 51st through 63rd Streets west of Alton Road, Central Bayshore Neighborhood, Beachview Park, Park View Island Park, Normandy Shores Golf Club, and other in-fill locations in the City's parks and rights of way. In the second year of the Reforestation program, approximately over 1,400 trees and palms were planted • Parks and Recreation Department operating funds, grants, Capital Investment Account funds have been used during FY2008/09 for the following landscape restoration and streetscape renewal projects: o Harding Avenue and Hibiscus Island Welcome Sign o Lincoln Road Tree Wells Phase I (Alton to West Avenue) and Art/Play Piece Design o Beachview Park design development o Indian Beach Park Development o Brittany Bay Park Outdoor Fitness (VITA) Course o Biscayne Point New Entrance Medians, La Gorce Island, and Palm Island Medians o Ocean Terrace 0 41st Street/Arthur Godfrey Road o Sunset Island I ~ II Entrance and Sunset Island II Park o Triangle Park, o Julia Tuttle On-Ramp and Welcome Sign o Normandy Shores Golf Club "Welcome" Sign and Clubhouse o Belle Island Park & Swales • Family-friendly Arts-in-the-Parks series has seen attendance grow with 2,035 attendees during its first year in FY 2006/07 and 3,625 attendees from October 2008 through April 2009 • Teen Club at North Shore Youth Center: 170 teens enrolled both in the FY 2007/08 Fall quarter (October 2007 -December 2007) and in the FY 2008/09 Fail quarter (October 2008 -December 2008) and 174 teens enrolled in the FY 2007/08 Winter quarter (January 2008 -March 2008) and in the FY 2008/09 Winter quarter (January 2009 -March 2009) • Provided 5 movies during FY 2007/08 and 4 movies through March 2009 as part of our free Movies in the Parks series • Provided 1,142 full and partial scholarships for intramural athletics, gymnastics, and summer specialty camps in FY 2007/08 and 43 full and partial scholarships for gymnastics through March 2009 Page 2 of 5 Summary of Accomplishments • Provided free-of-charge "Learn to Swim" programs to 218 three to four year old residents from October 2007 to March 2009 • Designated parts of Alton Road as a local historic district • Created specialized use regulations for the City's hospital districts • Completed the North Beach Town Center Plan • Created an Ordinance limiting the height of new developments in the City's Historic Oceanfront Districts Cultural, Entertainment and Tourism Capital • Provided support of the arts, providing $630,000 in grants in FY 2008/09 • Continued to provide staff support and guidance to the Nightlife Industry Taskforce (NITE). • Expanded cultural offerings free-of-charge to participants in our after school programs and summer camps, including Arts for Learning, Arts in the Park, and field trips to plays and ballet, etc. • Successfully hosted Interamerican Development Bank 2008 Convention, an international conference hosting finance ministers and dignitaries from over 45 nations around the world • Coordinated significant Film and Television projects including: Old Dogs (Disney), Chilled in Miami (Universal), Untitled Sam Medes (Universal), CSI: Miami (CBS), Hogan Knows Best (VH-1 ), Miami Ink (TLC), Ocean Force: Miami Beach (Tru TV) and Burn Notice (USA) • Supported Trade Shows: South by Southwest Film Festival/ Austin, Tribeca Film Festival/ NY, Locations Expo, LA, Independent Film Week/ NY • Supported Florida-based filmmakers through initiatives at State film festivals, including Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Florida (Orlando) and Sarasota International Center for Innovation in Culture Recreation and Business • Continued implementing recommendations from the City's Sustainabili#y Committee established in FY 2007/08. During FY2008/09, City staff became LEED certified Page3of5 Summary of Accomplishments • Completed 2 dune restoration projects with volunteers between 83rd _ 85th St. • Reviewed and approved 120 applications for Sidewalk Cafe Renewal Permits • Reviewed and approved 1,350 news rack permits citywide • Launched the Auto-Pay feature for utility bills which provide ease of payment to customers by automatically withdrawing funds from their accounts every billing cycle • Increased collections and reduced the Water ~ Sewer receivable by 17% from FY06 to FY07 • Designed PD Anonymous Tips Web Application • Film and Print Permitting Application • Successfully completed the Garage Sale permitting application • Successfiully completed the Reaf .Estate permitting application • Successfully completed the Online Building Inspection Route application • Successfully completed the Building Up-Front fee calculator for payments Well Improved Infrastructure • Replaced over 5,000 linear feet of sidewalk, paved 4,000 linear feet of streets and alleyways, and rebuilt 25 sidewalks and 20 ramps to be ADA compliant • Completed FY 2008/09 capital renewal and replacement projects totaling approximately $2.1 million and completed the $7.4 million Historic City Hall Renovation project • Adopted the Bikeways Master Plan in October 2007. During FY2008/09, fifty four (54) bike racks have been installed citywide, with an additional seventy bike racks to be installed by the end of the fiscal year. • Developed Draft of the City Traffic Calming Manual • Paved, striped and added traffic. signs. on.18 alleyways in the South Beach area Page 4 of 5 Summary of Accomplishments • Replaced 63,000 square feet or 12,600 linear feet of sidewalk citywide • Repaired 224 water line leaks/breaks including 104 emergency main breaks • Replaced 3,150 linear feet of 6" sanitary sewer laterals • Repaired or replaced 125 fire hydrants • Cleaned and inspected 1,182,000 linear feet or 224 miles of sanitary sewer lines • Cleaned and inspected 396,000 linear feet or 75 miles of stormwater pipes and outfalls F:\CAPI\$al(1TIMHEMSTICMO Assignments\CM Eval Summary of Accomplishments Attachment 2009.doc Page 5 of 5