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Meeting Minutes - August 9 20181 Mayor’s General Obligation Bond Advisory Panel Meeting Minutes August 9, 2018 City Manager’s Large Conference Room Chairperson Karen Rivo called the meeting to order at 4:06 p.m. Attendance was taken. Mayor’s General Obligation Advisory Panel Members in attendance were as follows: Last Name First Name Present Absent Phone Not Sworn in Rivo Karen X Breslin Ray X Glottman Jack X Gross Saul X Jones Carolina X Leibowitz Debra X Libbin Jerry X Malakoff Joy X Meiner Steven X Peter Marie X Ramos Margueritte X City of Miami Beach employees and City of Miami Beach residents present included: Commissioner John Alemán Eric Carpenter, Assistant City Manager Michele Burger, Mayor Gelber’s Chief of Staff Tonya Daniels, Communications Director Claudia Rodriguez, Community Outreach Coordinator Rafael Paz, First Assistant City Attorney Adrian Chamberlin, Aide to Mayor Gelber Erick Chiroles, Aide to Commissioner Arriola Roll Call Attendance of the Panel was taken. Chairperson Karen Rivo said that essentially the work the group was asked to do as a Panel has been completed, but the thought was to meet on a regular basis for the next 3 months prior to the election and see how the Panel can be an asset to the process. Minutes July 5 and July 12, 2018 Chairperson Karen Rivo mentioned that there were 3 sets of minutes, June 28th, July 5th, and July 12th. She said the Panel does need to approve them, but she doesn’t know if the Panel wants to take 2 the time now. She said to take the minutes home and they will hopefully approve the minutes at the September 6th meeting. Chairperson Karen Rivo and the Panel thanked Morgan Goldberg for compiling the minutes. Review ballot questions Rafael Paz, First Assistant City Attorney, went over the ballot questions. He reiterated what Raul Aguila, City Attorney, explained to the Panel previously that City employees and the Panel cannot engage in advocacy and political campaign activities while they are on duty. The City cannot engage or spend money. He spoke about Panel members being asked to attend community meetings and explained that Panel members are not speaking on behalf of the Panel or the City, but only as a resident. He said he believes that a political action committee will be created and the Panel members will be contacted to participate in activities. There is no issue with contributing time, funds, or doing fundraising on behalf of the political committee. Discussion was held. If a Panel member attends a community meeting and speaks, they speak with facts about the Panel and decisions that were made regarding projects, but not on behalf of the Panel. The members should speak as residents and not as Panel members. Explaining the process is just about the facts. Rafael Paz said we will be explaining the process with facts in the Voter’s Guide. We are not limited to public expenditures for education and outreach and factual information. Marie Peter said she has been asked whether she would advise people on voting yes or not on the G.O. Bond because she has been on the Panel. She should answer as a resident whether she would vote yes or she would vote no. There is no prohibition on expressing feelings, just because members were on the Panel. Rafael Paz said the ballot questions were conformed to final language after the final decisions were made at the Commission meeting. He continued explaining where the changes happened with the ballot questions based on what was decided by Commission. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin asked to see the other 3 ballot questions. Rafael Paz said he will print them out and bring them to the Panel. He said the first question will be the Charter amendment to create the Inspector General. The second question will be if a hotel project is passed, would the voters support dedicating the guaranteed rent that the City would receive from hotel project to three areas: stormwater projects in lieu of rate increase, traffic reduction measures, and education. The funds would be dedicated in equal portions from the rent annually. The minimum amount will not be in the language of the question itself, but in the Voter’s Guide we will clarify and there will be an example. The third question would be the 60% approval for the Convention Center Hotel Lease. This question is now clearer as to which lease we are referring to, so the order of the questions are important. The City felt we could put the rent question before the lease question. The G.O. Bond questions will be in the following order: Parks, Neighborhoods and Infrastructure, and Public Safety. Discussion was held regarding the hotel and it not being funded by the City. Debra Leibowitz asked about the bond being less than 30 years. Rafael Paz said the language is drafted so that if the bonds are issued with 20 years maturity and that is doable, it just cannot be more than 30 years. 3 The Panel thanked Rafael Paz for coming. Review final project list Chairperson Karen Rivo said that Eric Carpenter will go through the final project list. She said that Commission really respected the work of this Panel and that 95% of the decisions mirrored the Panel’s decisions. Commissioner Alemán thanked the Panel for all of their hard work on behalf of the Mayor and Commission. She appreciated their dedication and thoughtfulness to the whole community. She said she knows this was really hard and the Panel did a great job. Eric Carpenter, Assistant City Manager, went through the final project list that came out of the July 25th Commission meeting. He said the deviations might be from what the Panel recommended at the $400 million level. He said he will use the $400 million numbers and state if anything changed from there. He went through the list and explained why certain thing s were funded or not funded as recommended by the Panel. He went through the list starting with the Public Safety category, following that he went through the Parks, Recreational Facilities, and Cultural Facilities category, and finally the Neighborhoods and Infrastructure category. Discussion was held. Commissioner Alemán said project #1 911 Call Center should be added to project #5’s description since they were combined. There were a number of shade structures that were captured in a number of the small projects. Eric Carpenter then went through Parks, Recreational Facilities, and Cultural Facilities category. He explained that some of the small projects were added in because they wanted to make sure the smaller parks got touched. He explained some of the other projects as well. Discussion was held regarding the PAL, Fire Station #1, Flamingo Park and other projects. Eric Carpenter continued going through the list of parks. Discussion was held regarding Normandy Isle Park and Muss Park. Eric Carpenter said that there is a presentation in the Panel’s binders regarding the breakdown of the LED lighting in the parks and he will put it together on one page to reference it. Discussion was held about the cost of certain components of projects. Eric Carpenter said if the G.O. Bond passes, they will look at the best way to bond out the work and figure out what the burn rate is on the dollars and bond for the money as we need it. Debra Leibowitz said most of the questions she receives relate to the question of if we are just giving a blank check is the gist of it. Chairperson Karen Rivo said part of the discussion regarding the voter education will be what the FAQs should be, so they should finish going through the project list and discuss questions that members are getting after. Eric Carpenter continued going through the projects. 4 Discussion was held regarding some projects, including the skate park. The number for the skate park was reduced because it was priced too high. Discussion was held regarding the artificial reef project. Debra Leibowitz asked why it was cut. Commissioner Alemán said they were looking at cuts at that point and the artificial reef was a nice to have amenity and not critical infrastructure. Eric Carpenter said the total for the Parks, Recreational Facilities, and Cultural Facilities category came out to $169 million including the total debt issuance. Eric Carpenter continued on to the Neighborhoods and Infrastructure category. He went through the projects and discussion was held. Commissioner Alemán said for some of the citywide projects, we might think about good messaging to let people know about them and communicate them. Eric Carpenter said with the cost of issuance this category totaled $198 million. Next steps: Voter Education Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin spoke about the PAC. He said they have had 2 meetings to begin to formulate plans. He explained there is a leadership group that is the kitchen cabinet and they have not raised any money and they have to figure out how they are going to do that. They expect the budget to be $500,000. He said they really want to coordinate the Panel as far as getting the messaging to the whole city. They want to invite all HOA presidents and have one meeting for them. Prior to that meeting it will take phone calls and they welcome help from this Panel to help make those phone calls. They want the meeting to run smoothly and for them to be on the same page at the meeting. Once they have their plan on Monday, which will also include a detailed schedule regarding the votes. They are working under the assumption that they have to have the votes before absentee ballots. There is a short window where they need to get as much support as possible. Money needs to be raised relatively quickly. Tonya Daniels, Communications Director, spoke. She said she has her informal list of everything and she hasn’t prepared anything formal for the Panel yet. She said the biggest thing she thinks we are going to utilize to get the messaging out is the next issue of the MB Magazine, which is going to be a special edition, there will be detail, images, and great descriptions. Everything will be blessed by the City Attorney’s Office. The MB magazine gets mailed to every household in Miami Beach and it is consistently rated the #1 our residents get their information from the City. It is a very important tool. It is then put online as a flipbook style, we can share the online link to it and everyone will have the printed version. Taking the layout inside the magazine, we will then create a brochure for the Panel to hand out and to have the information. The next magazine will hit homes Oc tober 1st; we are in production right now. If there any questions between now and then, the Panel should let Tonya Daniels know. The magazine is 98% election guide. Tonya Daniels also explained we are going to be creating a series of PSAs with a mix of residents, Panel members, Mayor and Commissioners that will be run on MBTV, Atlantic Broadband, the Trolleys, social media. There will be a heavy push on social media. The City Attorney’s Office will make sure it is all educational. Tonya Daniels also said that Claudia Rodriguez is working to finalize 4 meeting dates in phase 2 like we did in phase 1 of the G.O. Bond. She provided the tentative dates and times and they are as follows: Wednesday September 26th at PAL from 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wednesday October 3rd at Scott Rakow Youth Center from 6:30-8:30 p.m., Saturday October 6th at the New World Symphony from 11:00 a.m-1:00 p.m., and the final one will be on Tuesday October 9th from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the North Shore Youth Center. We thought we would use facilities that will benefit from the G.O. Bond for these meetings. There will be a flyer done for those, which also be mailed to households. She said that Communications will work with John Woodruff to create a video to start these meetings off with and 5 also have that video running in other areas of the room. The style of the meetings will be similar style of the phase 1 meetings. Claudia Rodriguez, Community Outreach Coordinator, said there will be different areas in the room including financial of how it will affect residents. Discussion was held regarding the meeting dates because of the absentee ballots going out the first week of October. It will be looked into and see if we can change them. Religious holidays were being taken into consideration as well. About 30% of the residents vote absentee. The Panel discussed the meetings be coordinated around the absentee ballots. Commissioner Alemán said she thinks we should go to the senior centers because they do vote and need to be prepared bilingually. She also mentioned the Collins Corridor, maybe have a session on Collins Avenue, they might think about not going to other parts of the City, so if we can go to them she thinks it would be helpful. Tonya Daniels said John Woodruff and Michele Burger are going to be working hard to coordinate with the HOAs; Claudia Rodriguez is also going to be reaching out to the HOAs so we know when all of their meetings are scheduled. We are going to do our best to get on all of the agendas. Depending on when the meetings are, she believes John Woodruff and Michele Burger will work with the Panel members and Mayor and Commissioners to see who can attend. Jerry Libbin was recently at a meeting and exactly what he did is what will be requested of the Panel members if they are willing and able to attend the meetings. Discussion was held. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin mentioned that Seymour Gelber is having his 99th Birthday party on September 6th at 6 p.m. at Jungle Island and their group is planning to be there because there will be hundreds of seniors there to reach out to. It is put on by the Parks and Recreation Department, so anyone is allowed to go. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said their Political Action Committee name is Vote Yes for Miami Beach Inc., it is encompassing all 6 ballot questions. Commissioner Alemán suggested scheduling a live webcast, to allow the public to ask questions. Tonya Daniels said we have the ability to dual stream; we can dual stream on our Facebook page, so maybe we can do a Facebook Live and live on MBTV and field and share questions. Discussion was held about getting something at Miami Beach Senior High School to contact the School Board. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin suggested Tonya Daniels sitting with their leadership group so she sees what they are doing and maybe coordinate the education pieces. Commissioner Alemán suggested reaching the PTA parents. Tonya Daniels said in addition to everything she said we will be having a strong social media campaign, driving people to get information from the website, etc. Everything will also be posted on the Next Door application. Everyone on there is a verified resident and it is the second fastest growing platform for reaching out to our residents. 6 Claudia Rodriguez said there are about 10,000 people on Next Door. She explained Next Door, it an online platform discussion board for residents. It is a way for residents to engage with one another. The only way the City can engage with residents is if they directly message us or if it is from a post we do. Anything we message out goes on Next Door also. Print ads will be purchased in the Miami Herald to advertise the meetings. Tonya Daniels said we are compiling the list of FAQs and they will be put on the website. The list was passed around. Discussion was held. Language for what the answers are will be provided. They have to be approved by the City Attorney’s Office. They can be shared with the Panel before it goes live. If anyone has suggestions or concerns they can email GOMB2018@miamibeachfl.gov, which reaches multiple people including Tonya Daniels, Eric Carpenter, Claudia Rodriguez, John Woodruff, etc. Commissioner Alemán said we need to address what if the projects come in less? She said the list is the list; we cannot spend this money on projects not on the G.O. Bond. She also wants to make sure we inform people of how we start spending the money, so they know how much they are going to pay and when. The basis for this kind of money is property taxes. She talked about homestead exemptions and how much different people will be paying. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said we should try to find out how many residents who are tenants are registered voters, because they don’t pay anything. He would like the City to help him find this out. The 4 meetings that are scheduled are going to be solely about the G.O. Bond. Chairperson Karen Rivo said the 1999 G.O. Bond needs to be included in the FAQs. Marie Peter said people are concerned about who is going to be managing these projects. The fact that we are going to have an Inspector General should be part of these meetings because we need to understand we are bringing in someone who will oversee the management of these projects. She said if we can elaborate on that, it would be helpful. We need to address this in these meetings. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin asked about naming people on the oversight committee prior to the vote. It might give people a level of comfort. Discussion continued. Chairperson Karen Rivo asked about the timeline. Tonya Daniels said we are getting the language from the City Attorney’s Office this week, once we get all of that and we send it to the translator, we will have both English and Spanish. There are also the elaborations of the G.O. Bond questions. By the end of the week we can start putting together and laying out everything we need. Commissioner Alemán asked how much it costs to translate to different languages. Tonya Daniels said it is a minor amount of money, the translator charges for the whole magazine. Commissioner Alemán asked if Tonya Daniels can find out how much it would cost to translate into Russian. Tonya Daniels said she will have to find a translator and find out how much it will cost. 7 Senior Centers have a lot of Russian speakers. Marie Peter asked if the HOA meetings are already lined up because South of Fifth doesn’t meet again until September, so she suggested a special meeting. She said there is also a presidents club and they can bring it up to tell their buildings. She said the presidents meeting is on August 14th at 7 p.m. at Red Steakhouse. She said they may want to ask associations to have a special meeting. There are 14 presidents South of Fifth. Discussion about residents who are renters was held. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin would like two lists of households with registered voters and the building addresses for buildings that are mixed use buildings. Discussion was held regarding if residents knew that the G.O. Bond was being discussed. Discussion regarding how to better target and inform residents was held. Tonya Daniels said we are going to be posting on social media and not everyone is following, but we can do promotions that are geo-targeting. Even if you are not following the City of Miami Beach, if your cell phone is in the area of the geo-target net you will receive the promotions on Facebook and Twitter. Commissioner Alemán asked if the City can pay for robo-calls. Tonya Daniels said the text message list we have is the traffic texts list. Marie Peter said one way to get a lot of voters South of Fift h is to stop the project on the MacArthur Causeway. The ballot questions are set. Chairperson Karen Rivo pointed out for the 2nd question that it just says education and it doesn’t specify what the education is. Commissioner Alemán said they wanted to keep it vague like that, so it doesn’t specify to a particular group. Tonya Daniels said in our elaborations we can make sure to clarify those types of things. She explained the video that will run on MBTV, one will run in English and one is Spanish. Chairperson Karen Rivo said her and John Woodruff decided that the Panel didn’t need to meet every 2 weeks, so the next meeting will be September 6th at 3:30 p.m. She also asked when the different meetings are being set up, what will the method of notification to the Panel members to be present. Michele Burger said we will be proactive about that; the Mayor’s Office will be in contact with everyone and they will try to match the Panel members up with the different associations. Tonya Daniels got a preliminary response on robo-calls and she doesn’t think the City can do that. The following meetings are canceled: August 23rd and September 20th. The next 2 meetings are September 6th and October 4th. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.