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Meeting Minutes - September 6 20181 Mayor’s General Obligation Bond Advisory Panel Meeting Minutes September 6, 2018 City Manager’s Large Conference Room Chairperson Karen Rivo called the meeting to order at 3:33 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: John Woodruff, Chief Financial Officer Melissa Berthier, Public Relations Manager Adrian Chamberlin, Aide to Mayor Gelber Claudia Rodriguez, Community Outreach Coordinator Roll Call Attendance of the Panel was taken. Chairperson Karen Rivo and everyone in the room introduced themselves. Minutes 6/28, 7/5, 7/12, and 8/9 Chairperson Karen Rivo mentioned there are many sets of minutes to approve.  August 9th minutes were reviewed and approved, motion by: Margueritte Ramos, seconded by: Former Commissioner Joy Malakoff, all in favor.  July 12th minutes were approved, motion by: Margueritte Ramos, seconded by: Former Commissioner Joy Malakoff, all in favor.  July 5th minutes were approved, motion by: Margueritte Ramos, seconded by: Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin, all in favor.  June 28th minutes were approved, motion by: Margueritte Ramos, seconded by: Marie Peter, all in favor. 2 Voter Education John Woodruff, Chief Financial Officer, explained that there are quite a few deliverables and not are complete yet. Folders were dispersed with G.O. Bond related handouts. John Woodruff explained the items in the folder, which included the Be Ballot Ready one pager, which is in Spanish and English and includes all 6 ballot items. It also included an updated FAQ, he spoke about the impact to property taxes, and he said we landed at $82 for every $100,000 of taxable value, but the real point is that you wouldn’t see the $82 until 10-12 years from now. The money would get phased in over time and you can understand it better by looking at the table. There will be a visual aid at the community meetings. Discussion was held. John Woodruff continued to talk about the hand outs in the folder. There was a presentation included in the folder. The Panel recommended making the presentation more clear regarding the $82 annually because people won’t have to pay for years down the road. The Panel said it is misleading. John Woodruff mentioned that the project descriptions were updated and they are also available on the website, GOMB2018.com. He said the folders contain the information we are planning to hand out at the community meetings. Melissa Berthier, Public Relations Manager explained the Voter’s Guide. The Voter’s Guide is going to be the main component of the MB Magazine. It will include all 6 ballot questions. The magazine will be in people’s homes the first week in October. Discussion was held. John Woodruff said the website has been updated with a variety of things and there will be an interactive map added soon as well. Discussion was held regarding the Biscayne Pointe Canal and Collins Canal. The neighborhoods are probably looking for their name to be in the project list. Discussion was held regarding LED lights. John Woodruff said we are working on a video for the website. He said if anyone has any suggestions regarding the website, it can definitely be updated. Melissa Berthier said included in the media plan is wrapping 25 trolleys on the inside. Community Meetings Schedule John Woodruff handed out a one pager that shows the dates of the meetings. We are doing four meetings at North, Mid, and South Beach locations. John Woodruff said we are planning on having the Mayor or City Manager do the introductions at these meetings and then have the video that is being created, and then there will be an open house atmosphere. There will be project boards for all of the ballot questions including the ones for the G.O. Bond. There will also be a map. He also explained the cost calculator that will be at the meeting for people to use to measure what the G.O. Bond will cost them. 3 City Staff will be in attendance to answer questions, etc. Discussion on how meetings have gone so far was held. A major question that people asked was about resiliency. John Woodruff said at least 25% of the G.O. Bond directly includes resiliency and many other projects have resiliency elements in them. Discussion was held regarding a way to make sure that certain projects visibly indicate that they include resiliency. Discussion continued regarding how the meetings have gone, for example if we are updating FAQs afterwards, etc. Discussion was held regarding taxes increasing if the G.O. Bond does not pass and how to educate people on the projects and encourage people to vote. Ideas were discussed on enhancements for the meetings, for example, having laptops or iPads to explain the taxes. Discussion was held about the City managing the G.O. Bond projects and projects not being completed last time and residents having a lack of confidence in the City. Discussion was held about the City’s budget and having a reserve to complete some of the things that are in the G.O. Bond. John Woodruff spoke about the millage rate and maybe if it was higher we would have been able to fund the projects. He also spoke about the Pay-as-You-Go (PAYGO) fund. Discussion was held about people being concerned about the City managing the G.O. Bond and we need to make residents feel more comfortable. Discussion was also held about positions within City Departments. Some members mentioned it would be helpful to have the list of the projects/accomplishments that the City has done to show residents, that the City has been completing projects to help with the confidence factor. Discussion was held regarding how residents feel about how the City is going to manage the projects and residents should recognize that there will be an Inspector General to oversee that. There will be an Oversight Committee to oversee implementation of the projects. The Commission passed a resolution in May to create one if the G.O. Bonds are approved by the voters. John Woodruff said besides the video and the projects boards at these meetings, the Mayor and elected officials can also speak about points that keep coming up to answer a lot of the concerns. The Panel members would like to be involved and engaged in the process. Neighborhood Meetings Schedule Adrian Chamberlin, Aide to Mayor Gelber, said the Mayor would love if at community meetings and neighborhood meetings one of more Panel members were available and on the agenda to help answer questions. Some of the meetings overlap, so it would be helpful if panel members can attend. 4 The list of the meetings was given out. Adrian Chamberlin said that we have tried to book all of the meetings as early as possible before early voting. There is a confirmed and unconfirmed list of neighborhood associations. The Panel members discussed when they could attend meetings. There will be a fair South of 5th, so the date for the South of 5th neighborhood meeting is still pending. Adrian Chamberlin took note of which members could attend which meetings. He said they will advise the associations that panel members will be available to attend and answer questions. The meeting dates and locations are on the website. Community meeting dates were also discussed. If anyone has any ideas of how they think these meetings should go, they should reach out. Discussion was held about addressing the issues upfront that panel members hear in their neighborhoods. Discussion about the Inspector General was held. The Panel members would like the list of frequently asked questions and answers circulated to them. Discussion was held regarding a visual aid for the amount of money that residents will be paying in the early years to pay for the G.O. Bond if it passes. It might c alm down the residents’ concerns about how much this is going to cost them. October 4th is the next and possibly last G.O. Bond Advisory Panel meeting. Discussion was held regarding recording video statements that are purely informational regarding the panel process. John Woodruff said we are working on a script that is close to final for the video for the meetings. The Panel members have provided valuable feedback today for the meetings. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 5:03 p.m.