GOB Committee Meeting Minutes No. 1_1.31.19
G.O. Bond Oversight Committee
Meeting Minutes No. 1
January 31, 2019
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I. Introductions
Chair Karen Rivo welcomed everyone to the first G.O. Bond Oversight Committee. She asked for
everyone in the room to introduce themselves.
Everyone in the room introduced themselves.
II. Sunshine Law
Debora Turner, First Assistant City Attorney, explained the importance of the Sunshine Law. She
stated that anyone who has a question may contact the City Attorney’s Office.
Marie Peter asked if there will be times where the board will be working with ot her board
members on overseeing a project.
Debora Turner said no.
A gentleman from the public asked if he has to wait for a meeting in order to get your questions
answered.
Chair Karen Rivo said that she failed to mention in the beginning that she is setting aside the last
10 minutes of the meeting to recognize the public and people not sitting at the table. She
welcomes them to stay. She asked that the gentleman wait until the end of the meeting.
Jimmy Morales, City Manager asked if because these projects are across the City and around
areas where members live, if that in itself is a consequence.
Debora Turner said it depends and if anyone has any questions to please contact her office.
The City Manager mentioned that most of these projects are broad. He explained that the
Sunshine Law only applies to the extent of communication between members.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if anyone else had a question for Debora. No one had any further
questions. She then introduced Mayor Dan Gelber.
Mayor Dan Gelber began with thanking everyone. He explained the process of how this all began.
He stated that they did everything they possibly could in order to let the residents know what
they were getting. He said that they tried very hard to give the residents access to the answers
of every question that they had. He then stated that this committee’s job is to deliver as promised
and to work with the staff. He explained how the Committee, which he selected and was
approved by Commission, all have a different background, but that the members are doing this
for the whole city. He said that the only agenda is to get the G.O. Bond right and to keep the
promise they gave to the residents.
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January 31, 2019
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III. Timeline and Meeting Schedule
Chair Karen Rivo referenced tab 3 in the binder where the G.O. Bond Oversight Committee
schedule is listed. She asked the Committee if everybody agrees to meet from 5 pm to 8 pm. No
one in the Committee objected to the meeting time. She then explained that the first five
meetings are calendared before the Commission meeting in March, where the Committee’s work
will go to. She also asked for the Committee to hold 3 hours per meeting. She also explained to
the Committee that they need a Vice-Chair that is just as tough as her and who will move the
meetings along because she will be out of the country for two of the scheduled meetings, which
she plans on calling in for. The decision for Vice-Chair will be on 02/07/2019. She proceeded to
ask the Committee if they have any questions, as well as reminded them that there are 11
members- 7 voting, 4 non-voting. The 4 non-voting members represent 4 different committees.
Ron Starkman was there from the Budget Advisory Committee and two of the committees have
not selected members because they haven’t met yet. The fourth non-voting member wasn’t able
to make the meeting. She then asked Maria Hernandez, Liaison of the Committee, if she would
like the add anything.
Maria Hernandez began with explaining the overall calendar. She told the Committee that the
goal of the Committee was to come up with recommendations to bring to the March 4 th
Commission Workshop, so that the Commission can debate what it is that the Committee does.
After this Commission workshop, the plan is to take a certain amount of projects to the City
Commission on March 13th for them to be able to vote. March 13th is significant because John
Woodruff will be taking the bonds to market in April. Maria Hernandez will update the calendar
to reflect the agreed meeting times from 5 to 8 pm, which has, and will continue to be, advertised
in the Miami Herald.
Chair Karen Rivo asked the Committee for a motion that the new meeting time is 5 pm, and not
4 pm, as previously advertised.
Jason Greene seconded the motion.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if there were any more questions regarding the business of the
Committee.
IV. Overview of G.O. Bond Process and Financing Plan
Maria Hernandez notified everyone that the meeting was being audio recorded. She also
explained that booklets were made for members of the public and that all of the information
found in the given binders are found online.
Chair Karen Rivo stated that she wanted to take a few minutes to discuss what the Committee’s
charge is and what their charge is not. She then wanted to bring everyone up to speed since some
members were on the Mayor’s G.O. Bond Advisory Panel and some were not, to understand the
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January 31, 2019
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work that went into what they have today, which John Woodruff will explain. She asked everyone
to look at the Committee Charge on the bottom of the agenda, in tab 2, in order for everyone to
understand what their role is. She asked the Committee if anyone was involved in the 1999 G.O.
Bond; no one said yes. She explained how the past Panel was very much in the weeds. She asked
for either Eric, John, or Maria to explain what the Committee’s charge is.
Eric Carpenter explained that, from his perspective, the group is here to give City Staff additional
resident perspective into the process of programming out what is a massive bond issue to a group
of smaller bond issues and ultimately make recommendations, give them input, take input from
the community and serve as a conduit of things that may come up during the process, whether
it be an initial setting of expectations and goals to the invariable construction challenges that
they may face during the process of implementing the program. He also explained that the group
of City Staff will have all information readily available and they can hopefully take the pieces of
information and help inform the Commission’s decision -making process.
Chair Karen Rivo then stated that their charge is to review, advise, inform, and report, and it is
not to authorize, endorse, deny or reject because the projects are set. She also asked that City
Staff direct the Committee if they go in a direction that is not in their purview.
Maria Hernandez pointed out that the Committee Charge comes from the City’s ordinance, which
is provided in the binder. She also explained that things may happen cau sing things to change.
City Staff will go to the members of the Committee with the changes in order to receive guidance.
This guidance, along with City Staff’s recommendations, will then be reported to the Commission
and Inspector General, once appointed. The Inspector General will also be overseeing how the
funding is spent and how the projects are going. She also explained that this process is not a
sprint, but a marathon.
City Manager Jimmy Morales pointed out the first paragraph of the Committee Charge and said
that the Committee is meant to help him, City Staff, and Commission stay on-time and on budget.
He also explained that most of the projects will have separate processes through the City and will
have some level of design review, whether it’s the Design Review Board or the Historic
Preservation Board. He stated that one of the critical issues, in his perspective, is that City Staff
needs the Committee’s help with scope creep. He explained that this a $439 million block of
money and that once staff reaches out to the community, there will be things that people want
more of. He believed that scope creep was a critical issue in the last G.O. Bond. He suspects that
the tough meetings are the ones where the residents will request more, and if we go off on that
tangent, the Committee will be there providing their assistance.
Marie Peter stated that most of the members are liaisons with the City and the community,
where they all belong to their own neighborhood associations. She asked if projects are
happening in their own community, and being that they are part of this Committee, if they can
present at their meetings what is happening and get feedback.
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Jason Greene brought up the issue with the Sunshine Law since several of the Committee
members may attend the same meetings. He asked if more than one Committee member
attended the same meeting, being that several of them attend South of Fifth Neighborhood
Association (SOFNA), how the Sunshine Law would work.
Chair Karen Rivo told Jason Greene that Debbie Turner was no longer there to answer the
question but that it was a great question since members and meetings tend to cross over.
Ron Starkman said that from prior experience, two of the members will have to leave the room
because they cannot be in the room while someone is talking about it.
Chair Karen Rivo said she was going to verify with Debbie Tuner to make sure they are correct.
Chair Karen Rivo then explained that at the next meeting Tonya Daniels, Marketing and
Communications Director, will speak about the importance of the communications aspect,
because it will be vital for the Committee to communicate all that the city is doing. She also sai d
that the website has gone live and she was looking at it today. She then asked if anyone had any
questions about what the goal of the Committee is. She asked John Woodruff to explain where
the Commission started a year ago.
John Woodruff explained that it has been more like a year and a half because they started in the
Summer of 2017. He began to explain that what they were experiencing were a lot of projects,
either existing projects that needed substantial funding or new projects, like replacing fire
stations which costs $10 million, which is not an amount that the City can afford to take out of
their checking account. He then said that G.O. Bonds are how cities finance their big capital
needs. Discussion began where they looked through over a dozen masterplans, and they received
a lot of input by talking to directors and committees. He said that getting the input was the easy
part because the city is small, consisting of over 40 boards and committees. They created a wish
list which was about $1.1 billion, and during a workshop in April of last year with the Commission,
they were able to help cut down some of the more exotic requests to get it down to about $700
million. They had an idea that the G.O. Bond would be around $300 to $500 million dollars so
they needed to create a process to get to the $700 million. Commission decided to engage the
residents in order to bring the total amount lower, instead of having City Staff take a shot at it.
The Mayor’s G.O. Bond Advisory Panel was created, where their charge was to help prioritize
those projects. There were two phases done during this process. The first phase was to cut the
list down and inform the public, where four public meetings were held. There were boards all
around the room with summary descriptions of over 100 projects. A survey was also conducted
at community meetings and online, where residents were asked to prioritize which projects they
liked the most. He explained that the Advisory Panel met weekly in order to get to a finish line
that they were shooting for, which was July. The Panel took the public’s input and came up with
recommendations in three funding levels. The Commission then had a meeting and they landed
at $439 million, which was voted on and approved in July, that it could appear o n the on the
November 6th election. A lot of public outreach was done, as well as a series of community
meetings with neighborhood associations. A website and financial calculator were created in
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order to show how much a project would cost the residents. He believes that the residents really
trusted the process, being that the G.O. Bonds passed with a 70% vote.
Maria Hernandez explained how the City Manager’s memo to Commission on December 10th set
the stage for how he thought the process should happen, wh ich is available in the binder given
to Committee members, as well as online. She also said that it may take Committee members,
especially the ones who weren’t in the process before, a little bit of time, but that the City Staff’s
goal is to help them get up to speed as quickly as possible. She then explained what the members
will find in their binders.
Chair Karen Rivo asked the Committee members to go through their binders while Maria
explained each tab.
V. Discuss Implementation Plan Criteria
Maria Hernandez started off with explaining tab 6, where all of the projects are listed, explaining
the amount of money that is allocated for that project and a quick description of what the project
is. She also explained the second part in the same section, which provides more detailed project
descriptions. This is all available on the website, which provides a map that is interactive. In the
future, the interactive map will show how the project is doing financially and how far it is in its
execution stage. Tonya Daniels’ group and the IT Department will take that website to another
level. For now, looking at the individual projects and details gives the Committee an overall idea
of what the projects are. She then told the Committee to go to section 7 in the binder , where
staff set the criteria for how these tranches of money will be disbursed within the next 12 years.
$150 million has been set for tranche 1, $1 00 million for tranche 2, $100 million for tranche 3,
and $89 million for tranche 4. Each tranche is three years apart.
Chair Karen Rivo asked Maria Hernandez to hold and asked that everyone go to tab 7 in their
binder and look at the 2nd page in that tab.
John Woodruff began to explain the financial aspect of the plan. He said that when you take out
a $439 million loan, we cannot spend all of that money that quickly, which is why a series of
tranches was issued. The first tranche has the most amount of money, which will get a lot of
projects done and there's quite a few smaller scale type projects that the City can get done fairly
quickly. The numbers work out as more of a cashflow plan, where amounts will sometimes cross
from different tranches. The City will start to pay debt service with the first tranche, as well as
pay off some existing debt, to make the transition even smoother. He said that he found residents
surprised at the total amount of the bond because they thought it was going to cost more. After
about six years is when half of the impact will show, as they begin to issue more debt. He then
explains that this committee will need to validate the plan before the March Commission
meeting, where three bonds will be issued. The concept is to balance the projects across the
tranches.
Jack Glottmann asked if there could be a project that is funded by 2 different tranches.
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John Woodruff said it can be funded by 2 different tranches and explains how the 72nd St project
will be funded between 2 tranches.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if anyone else had a question.
Yechiel Ciment asked why not all of the projects start in tranche 1.
Maria Hernandez explained that there is a reason why not all projects are beginning at once. They
met with all departments, knowing that they needed to remain within each tranche of money.
They then looked at all 57 projects and developed a criteria that they called shovel ready, big
impact, and quick win. A shovel ready project is a project that has a contract and/or either the
design is completed or design is not necessary. The process is either minimal and/or fast. And/or
the permits are ready to go. Community engagement is complete or not necessary. Also, there
are no anticipated objections or interruptions with 3rd party agencies, such as FDOT and DERM.
If you go down your list and the answer is “Yes”, then it is a sh ovel ready project. Projects that
have a big impact are defined by the extent of the benefit to the most amount of people and a
number of different benefits, such as resilience or permeable benefits, or has an economic
catalyst for an area. An example of a big impact project is the Bayshore Park, which will be
transformational to that area. Quick wins are listed on a one pager and tend to be smaller. The
plan is to have them completed between a year and fourteen months. These projects are smaller
for the most part and they’re faster and easier to implement. The little Parks projects are a good
example of what is a quick win project. People can already see their dollars being used in their
backyards throughout the whole city. There are 21 quick wins and the y’re worth about $40
million.
Chair Karen Rivo noted that the Committee may identify other criteria and it is important that
the Committee starts it and gets it right. Staff has identified three of the major criteria to sort of
line up and prioritize. She wanted to see a list of non -G.O. Bond projects and their timelines and
how they will impact the G.O. Bond projects in order to not inconvenience the residents. She
wanted the Committee to try to come up with other criteria.
Wendy Squire asked for clarification regarding the $150 million in tranche 1 and asked if the three
categories were set.
Eric Carpenter said that once the bonds are issued, they cannot move the money around and that
part of the committee’s charge is to either agree or disagree with the staff’s suggestions.
Wendy Squire then asked that once the bonds are set if they are set in the categories or if they
can be moved to another tranche.
Eric Carpenter responded with an example. For example, if they funded the design for a larger
project in tranche 1 and the construction is in tranche 2, if they finish the design in 2 years, but
they aren’t ready to issue tranche 2 bonds yet, there might be another project that is lagging. He
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explained that the City is looking from a cash flow perspective because the G.O. Bond is backed
up by the full faith and credit of the City of Miami Beach. They have an ability to move some
money within those buckets to move forward with procurement of the next phase if some
projects are moving slower than others. The list of projects will become a living docum ent.
Jason Greene said he assumes that one of the criteria is the ability for the City to be able to
manage these projects. He brought up the City Manager’s memo where there was a discussion
whether to bring someone from the outside, such as a general engineering consultant, so that
the City’s staff can do their every day jobs. Based on the discussions, there is sufficient resources
internally to manage these programs. He also noted that not all projects can start at the same
time.
Maria Hernandez pointed out the general note at the bottom. She explained how the City would
not start a G.O. Bond project in an area where a non -G.O. Bond project is going to be done. She
also said that if the City is doing a project on Lincoln Road, they wouldn’t start a project on Ocean
Drive. They are looking at Miami Beach’s economy as a whole, in order to not hurt tourism. She
then pointed out to the detailed plan, which explains how they got to where they are now.
Ron Starkman asked what the operational cost of the ongoing budget is. He noted that he does
not see cost savings and projects costing more factored into the amount and shared his concerns
about front loading many projects.
John Woodruff explained that during the Advisory Panel exercise they came up with some
estimated costs. The two big projects are 72 nd Street and the PAL Facility, which are separated
between tranche 1 and tranche 2. The two big hits will hopefully be separated between two to
three years. An idea that City staff would do is start setting asi de some capacity in the budget in
order to absorb the costs.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if there were any questions.
Ron Starkman said he wanted to add that the sooner we do the projects, the more savings will
have.
John Woodruff pointed out the General Note where efficiencies were mentioned, which is one
of the things that City staff was looking at. He referenced the PAL and Fire Station 1 being in
terrible conditions, where Property Management is constantly doing emergency repairs. These
projects are more in the front end of the process in order to capture the efficiency/savings, in
order to make better use of the dollar capacity that they have.
Yechiel Ciment asked if the reason why they can’t take from category t o category is because the
voters selected a gross amount.
Maria Hernandez said correct, to Yechiel Ciment’s question because there were three different
votes.
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John Woodruff clarified that he may have presented incorrectly. He said that although they
provided a guideline, the Committee can do whatever it is they want to. There is plenty of
flexibility before the March 4th meeting, which is when a recommendation from the Committee
will be needed. The recommendation is what will be voted on at Commission.
Chair Karen Rivo said that the Committee is going to go through each project one by one, which
is when the Committee might decide that something needs to be shifted.
Eric Carpenter said that from a staff level they debated on how to best use the Committe e’s time,
which is why they packaged the information in order for the Committee members to decide
effectively what they do and don’t like. He stated that the package is to hopefully help the
dialogue.
John Woodruff said that technically the Committee could do nothing and roll with the package
or not, but that there’s plenty of room to move around.
Jason Greene asked if he can assume that the City is not going to follow the County’s steps, like
Marlin’s Park, where it is all backend loaded debt.
John Woodruff said that the debt is all leveled and that the goal is to finish all projects within 30
years.
Jason Greene complimented the staff’s extensive work saying that the Committee would never
know all of the information provided. He stated that the syne rgies of overlaying multi-
jurisdictional projects is very difficult and that he has experience in this for many years.
Yechiel Ciment asked if contingency is baked into the numbers although they should never be
used.
Maria Hernandez answered yes.
Eric Carpenter said that the short answer is yes. There is a soft cost, hard cost, and contingency
built into the numbers. The only thing that wasn’t baked into the numbers is present value of the
projects because they were unaware of when the projects were going to executed. The longer
projects take, the harder it is to complete projects because they don’t have that built in.
John Woodruff said he wanted to add that one of their strategies to manage that is to ramp up
their on-going capital money that is available in their annual budget so that they can help close
gaps as they come along and not come to a full stop because there isn’t enough money. He
explained that we need to be careful with scope creep, which is different from inflation.
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Marie Peter directed her question to Eric Carpenter assuming that he is aware of all of the
projects going on in the City. She asked if the major projects in the area would affect the future
G.O. Bond projects in that same area.
Eric Carpenter said that internally they have discussed where they would not want to do a
sidewalk repair job on 1st street now if they have a project that’s coming online within the 3 years
in that area, with all safety concerns in mind. Instead, they would do a patch job. Three years was
the rule of thumb that they used as they were putting the list together.
Marie Peter asked if the Committee should make the Fire and Police projects priority because
they are safety and things they need now. She stateed that the residents want the Fire
Department and Police to have what they need.
Chair Karen Rivo said that they will go through each project and see how staff laid it out and
respond accordingly.
Ron Starkman wanted clarification from John Woodruff regarding the $439 million. He wanted
to know if that was in today’s dollars because some of the projects will be done in 10 to 15 years.
John Woodruff said it is best to think that it is in today’s dollars. He used 72nd Street as an example
saying that the longer we wait, the less bricks and mortar we will be able to put into the ground
for that project.
Jack Glottmann asked if they have an estimated timeline for all of the projects.
John Woodruff said that the spreadsheet and tranches are intended to be a timeline.
Jack Glottmann asked from past experience have there been situations where some parts of
projects were able to be done through the general operating budget or capital expense budget
so that we can have a savings early on which can be carried forward and help.
John Woodruff said that often times they can leverage grants. By receiving grants, they can free
up some of the money. They anticipate receiving grants but they don’t know how much they’re
going to get, which is why they didn’t plug those numbers in.
Jack Glottmann mentioned that maybe they should set a goal of trying to save 5% of each project
to build a reserve for the future.
Jason Greene asked John if any of the projects that were in his long-term financial plan funded
by the G.O. Bond, that were going to be funded by the General Fund.
John Woodruff said no, but that there ended up being a couple minor subprojects that needed
work done but they got the work done another way. They tried not to have any overlap in
projects.
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Jason Greene mentioned that he had heard in one of the community outreach meetings that the
City was going to emphasize building a reserve through the budget. He asked if staff will begin to
prepare a policy or will it be on a year to year basis.
John Woodruff said that currently it is not a policy, but practically they know that values aren’t
growing very much right now and that it will be very difficult to set aside real money that way.
Marie Peter asked if they can put a side note of the reserve consideration to the Commissioners
because they brought it up at their Advisory Panel more than once and the G.O. Bond budget
was approved without reserves.
Ron Starkman added that the reserve has also been talked about at the Budget Advisory
Committee. He said that this Committee should be worried whether or not if there is enough
money for the projects because we are hearing that there really won’t be unless there is a plan
to deal with inflation.
VI. Review Tranche 1 Projects in Draft Implementation Plan
Chair Karen Rivo asked that everyone looks at the one pager.
Maria Hernandez explained that the one pager is the list of 21 quick win projects that equal to
about $40 million. They are trying to execute this list as soon as the bonds are issued, between
12 and 14 months.
Chair Karen Rivo told the Committee that they are going to first go through the quick wins list.
She started with item number 5.
Maria Hernandez explained item number 5. It is a public safety radio system, which is $10 million.
It is already under contract and can be delivered by this December. This project is a quick win,
big impact, and shovel ready.
Chair Karen Rivo asked Chief Oates if he wanted to speak regarding the radio system.
Chief Oates said that their radio system is complet ely at the end of life and that they already
signed a contract, so if the $10 million is not spent there they will need to find $10 million
somewhere else.
John Woodruff said that this project is so important that they were going to try to fund it one
way or another.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if there were any questions.
Yechiel Ciment said that he is 1000% in favor of this project. He asked if there are multiple bids
that go out for each of these projects.
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Chief Oates said that there was a complete selection process that was very complex.
Laura Veitia asked how the radio system relates to the police officers at the schools.
Chief Oates said that they are partnering with the City of Miami and that this new system will be
seamless and it has much more capacity.
Jason Greene said that regarding Best Practices, this project is an obvious safety practice and that
it absolutely needs to be a priority.
Marie Peter asked that as a committee they can say this project is a go because everyone agrees
it is necessary.
Maria Hernandez said that she will take notes of each project that they agree on, sort them out
and come back the following week with a working document.
Chair Karen Rivo said it is too early to vote the projects up or down and instead they should just
go through them.
Jack Glottmann said that it may be better to hear all of the projects before making a final
determination, but it is important for the Committee to vote if it is a go or not.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if everyone is in agreeance with this project to raise their hands. Everyone
raised their hands.
Maria Hernandez moved to project number 7. She asked Eric Carpenter to discuss the pavement
program.
Eric Carpenter explained that they went through a Pavement Condition Assessment across the
entire system and they received PCI ratings. He said that they are constantly trying to capture
the repaving process right before the pavement starts to lose most of its value . The $7.5 million
per tranche is believed to be necessary by them to keep the PCI numbers where they are today.
They created a list of anticipated neighborhood improvement projects because they wouldn’t
want to fix the streets in areas where that is already in the neighborhood improvement project
plan.
Ron Starkman said he recalls a study that was done that they discussed in the Budget Advisory
Committee. This study stated that the City needs to spend about $7 million a year to maintain
the roads properly, meanwhile we’ve been spending only $1.5 million. He said he believes that
this is one of the top needs of the city and asked if the other money will be supplemented with
other money or are we going to continue to try to get along with spending just a mi llion dollars.
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Eric Carpenter said that the City has minimal operational dollars which will still be used when
they’re going in to do a watermain repair/replacement. They have asphalt that is operationally
programmed there, but they have big chunks of mo ney in the neighborhood improvement
projects that are ultimately going to be taking care of some of those problem areas and ultimately
it is a combination of this individual pavement and the ones that are part of a larger
neighborhood.
Ron Starkman said that it would be helpful to see what dollars the City plans to spend per year
either from the G.O. Bond or from other projects to see the total amount spent.
Roy Coley, Public Works Director, showed a map with how the City plans to pave the areas
between the tranches. A large portion of the money is coming from the Stormwater Program,
and the project sequencing is being reviewed by a new consultant.
Ron Starkman said that he does not want the G.O. Bond money to be used as maintenance funds.
He said that going forward we should make sure we have enough money every year to fix
sidewalks and roads. He believes that this most of this money should be spent earlier on to bring
the city up to where they should be and look at other funds for maintenance.
Jack Glottmann asked if project sequencing is the main reason why the project is being broken
down by $2.5 million per year or is it a resource related reason.
Eric Carpenter said that he does not believe it is resource related because most of the work i s
done with contractors. It is more a matter of addressing the areas where a lot of money will be
spent. He then asked if Roy Coley had anything to share.
Roy Coley said it was not a resource matter and that the City has the capability of doing more.
The bigger challenge is when someone wants an entire area repaved and it impacts a FDOT
project or an outside agency project, which would cause adverse traffic patterns.
Jason Greene asked if he can assume that every section on road on the map has its own PCI, and
has when it was last paved and when it should be based on its useful life.
Roy Coley showed the map again, that shows all of the PCIs color -coded and suggestions from
the City where the G.O. Bond funds should go to. He explained that some areas d on’t have a
color-coded line and that is because they believe in the next few years they will be improved by
the neighborhood improvement projects and FDOT.
Jason Greene asked if they know when to anticipate the roads that are not highlighted in the map
and if they have a long-term plan for those roads.
Roy Coley said that the long-term plan is not mapped out like the map he has but what they do
have is the wisdom in the next 3-5 years of what roads need to be repaved to maintain their PCIs.
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He is unable to tell what year they propose to pave what is based on the neighborhood sequence,
which is a great matter to the Commission.
Eric Carpenter confirmed that it is about $7 million to keep up the PCI.
Jason Greene said that if they are looking at $7 million a year and they’re only putting $2.5 million,
they’re obviously short. Even based on the G.O. Bond and the existing funding stream on an
annual basis, we are still coming up short $3 million. He asked if there will be any other projects
that will supplement the shortage.
Eric Carpenter said the $3 million gap is made up when they go into a neighborhood and replace
watermains and stormwater piping, the roadway is being ripped out. Once they’re done, they
put asphalt under the cost of those utilities and repair the roads.
Ron Starkman said that it is still a little fuzzy in terms of what the numbers are. He said that when
a road gets to a certain point, it gets much more expensive because you are no longer just
repaving.
Eric Carpenter said he agrees 100%.
Jack Glottmann asked if it’s safe to say that paving projects are being funded from three buckets.
The first bucket is the underground work, such as road infrastructure and street raising projects.
The second bucket is above ground improvement projects. And the third is $30 million, which is
primarily going to areas where none of this work is being done.
Eric Carpenter said that they are not anticipating that the $30 million is going to areas that are
being worked on. It is solely for streets outside of the neighborhood work.
Yechiel Ciment asked Maria Hernandez if the Committee is supposed to opine on the
neighborhoods that need to be worked on or the overall allocations. He also asked where are
they best put to use.
Maria Hernandez said that if the Committee does not feel comfortable with the information
provided, maybe staff has to come back with a little more information. She believes that this
project needs to be thought out a little more in the next meeting with whatever concerns the
committee might have.
Chair Karen Rivo asked Yechiel if Maria Hernandez answered his question.
Yechiel Ciment said that for more the most part yes Maria Hernandez answered his question, but
as a committee they need to come up with what information they need from staff.
Chair Karen Rivo asked Yechiel Ciment if he was asking about where specifically the money was
going to go.
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Yechiel Ciment clarified that he was asking to what level of specificity they have to get involved.
He understood from Maria Hernandez’s response that if they have any questions City staff will
come back with the answers.
Marie Peter referenced the $7 million a year to maintain the roads properly report and said that
it would be helpful for the Committee to understand the damage that has been done.
Eric Carpenter said he will absolutely get them the report.
Jack Glottmann asked for a pdf of Roy’s map.
Chair Karen Rivo stated that she is not sure if it is up to the Committee to approve the timeline
and/or different neighborhoods and streets.
Yechiel Ciment said that the condition of part 2 is so bad that we should heavily prioritize tranche
2 and tranche 1.
Chair Karen Rivo clarified Yechiel Ciment’s statement. She asked if he means to change the
amount in tranche 1.
Eric Carpenter said that they would want the Committee to stay away from “Don’t do Meridian
Avenue, do Jefferson Avenue.” But that he absolutely would like some feedback from the
Committee if they feel like the project needs to be more frontloaded or pushed back.
Wendy Squire asked if the money was spread evenly to be able to move between tranches.
Eric Carpenter said it is even because they will continue to have needs throughout the program
and they ultimately don’t want to throw a lot of money upfront.
Wendy Squire asked if it is in today’s dollars.
Eric Carpenter said correct.
Marie Peter directed her statement to Eric Carpenter. She reemphasized that there are many
projects going on in the city that are not part of the G.O. Bond. She stated that they will be saving
money there because those projects will need to repair the pavement.
Ron Starkman asked Roy Coley if he can put on the map what areas are going to be affected by
3, 6, 9 years and then they will see what areas they will be using the G.O. Bond money for.
Eric Carpenter suggested that they put together a map that is based on the prior prioritization of
the neighborhoods.
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Chair Karen Rivo asked if everyone is in agreement with the information they are requesting from
City Staff. Everyone agreed to a map. She also stated having a timeline of the projects.
Jason Greene asked if tranche 1 is recommended to be at $150 million.
John Woodruff said that $150 million is what they told the community the projects would cost.
Roy Coley said that they have all of the contracts in place and they can start tomorrow. It is n ot
a resource issue but it’s about coordination.
Jason Greene asked Roy Coley if the general PCI will be better after 12 years.
Roy Coley said that the plan is to maintain the PCI score and not change the score. He asked Eric
Carpenter to comment.
Eric Carpenter said that the $30 million is used to maintain the PCI, as it is today.
Jason Greene asked what the PCI is and if the Commission has a policy where the condition rate
always needs to be met.
Roy Coley and Eric Carpenter said they are unaware of a policy.
Roy Coley said that at the time of analysis, the overall City’s score is 72.
Jason Greene asked if we are being sufficient with the $30 million and if we might be missing
something, like extra funding.
Roy Coley said that assuming we don’t slow down neighborhood improvements we should be
able to maintain.
Chair Karen Rivo asked the Committee what information they want from staff.
Jason Greene said a 12-year map of the resurfacing from Roy Coley and the summary of the
original PCI report from Eric Carpenter
Ron Starkman added that they also want the list from AECOM, which lists where other work is
being done.
Chair Karen Rivo asked when they will be expecting the information requested.
Eric Carpenter said that the list and summary can easily be emailed.
Roy Coley said he will have the 12-year map at the next meeting.
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Chair Karen Rivo asked if there were anymore questions.
Marie Peter said that once the Committee sees the summary of the study they will feel much
more comfortable, making it easier to discuss the project.
Jack Glottmann said he would like to see all of the roads paved within the next 12 years.
John Woodruff stated that he’s speaking for the staff when he says that he thinks they have
received enough input to be able to come back next meeting and address the concerns.
Chair Karen Rivo moved to the next project which is project number 10.
Maria Hernandez said project 10 is a quick win, with a portion of the project in tranche 1 and the
other portion in tranche 2. This is a maintenance and repair type project for Property
Management.
Ramon Duarte, Property Management Assistant Director, explained that there will be a lot of
things that will be done there, such as change the roof and enhance the area. They have all of
the prices and contractors, it’s just a matter of putting it all together.
Eric Carpenter wanted to make clear that some of the projects on the quick win one pager have
a smaller amount because they are components to larger projects.
Chair Karen Rivo asked that City Staff redo the quick win list so that the numbers match with the
full list of projects.
Marie Peter asked if a public safety project with a high priority is not a quick win only because
they are not far along in the process to get done within 12 months. She referenced project
number 8.
Eric Carpenter said that the reason why that is not a quick win is because it will take abou t 18 to
24 months in construction and because there is a debate in the community.
Jack Glottmann asked if the timeline can be reorganized to show tranche 1 breakdown, such as
quick win dollars and balance of tranche 1.
Maria Hernandez said she will convert the sheet into a longer sheet and add another layer.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if anyone had any questions.
Maria Hernandez introduced project number 12 on the long sheet, which is the Beachwalk. This
quick win project is $4.5 million.
Eric Carpenter introduced David Martinez, CIP Director, to speak on the Beachwalk.
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David Martinez said that within the next couple of months they will have completed. The $4.5
million is only part of the total cost and the other part is being funded by existing money and
state grants. The project is designed and they are looking to advertise some time in March. They
would like to go out to bid as early as May.
John Woodruff noted that as they go through the quick wins, and the Committee has strong
feelings towards a project, they can bridge funding in order to begin the project.
Chair Karen Rivo said that the boardwalk is a quality of life issue and getting this boardwalk done
will be extraordinary.
David Martinez stated that if this project goes th rough, as well as another one in the North end,
the project will be completed in roughly a year and a half.
Maria Hernandez told the Committee that the City Manager gets the most compliments on these
Beachwalk projects and that it is important for reside nts and visitors.
Marie Peter asked what the total for the project costs.
Maria Cerna, CIP Division Director, said it is around $10 million.
Jason Greene asked in what basis is a grant provided.
David Martinez said that these are mobility related and an enhancement to an alternate means
of mobility.
Wendy Squire asked if this is the last piece of the boardwalk.
David Martinez said she is correct.
Jack Glottmann asked if the City is going to apply for more grants and if it is possible to get any
more grants.
Maria Cerna said we received a lot of money from FDOT already.
David Martinez said they have some money earmarked for the Boardwalk on the North end.
Marie Peter said that this project is a no brainer and doesn’t see why anyone would object, just
like the radios.
Chief Oates explained that the Boardwalk needs to go.
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Jason Greene gave a thumbs up for this project due to safety issues and this project should be in
tranche 1. He asked if the project can move forward with the grant money.
John Woodruff asked if it’s a reimbursement.
Maria Cerna said it is a reimbursement.
Jack Glottmann said that if there is grant money and everyone agrees with it, wh y not let them
begin working on it.
Marie Peter asked Jack Glottmann if he wants to vote.
Jack Glottmann said yes.
John Woodruff said they can either have a vote as they go or vote after the second or third
meeting, but what is valuable is that the staf f knows that there is a strong consensus.
Maria Hernandez said that they can do another column on the spreadsheet called super quick
for the projects that they want now.
Alex Denis, Procurement Director, mentioned a comment that David Martinez made, wh ich is
that they are waiting on the money in order to release the solicitation. He asked if they want to
wait to have the money in hand to release the solicitation.
John Woodruff said that that is a discussion that they can have internally to help find a way to
expedite the item.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if they are voting on expediting the projects or if they are waiting a few
meetings and go through the list.
Eric Carpenter asked David Martinez if the grant funds are 2018 -2019 or 2019-2018 because the
State is very particular about having the funds in place in their fiscal year before they allow the
City to go out for bid.
Maria Cerna said that the funds are from 2018-2019 and that they have the money. They are
currently waiting for a permit.
Eric Carpenter then asked if we are getting held up by the state’s fiscal year to go to bid.
David Martinez agreed. He also said that the State would like to review the invitation to bid.
Alex Dennis asked if the permit is issued.
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Maria Cerna said she is waiting for the permit and that as soon as the permit is issued the State
will give the go ahead.
Eric Carpenter said let’s work to release it since there is an appr oval from the group.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if there were any more questions. No one had any questions. She asked
Maria Hernandez to move to the next project.
Maria Hernandez introduced project number 13 on the big sheet, which is project number 11.
This is the Soundscape Park project, which is $4.5 million. The storage facility is going to take
longer but the cameras and projectors are quick wins. She explained that the park is very special
to many residents and visitors. She asked if the storage facility will be a quick win component.
Eric Carpenter said he does not think so.
Maria Hernandez said that this project might need to be carved up.
Eric Carpenter said that there is someone present from Soundscape.
Chair Karen Rivo asked that David Phillips reintroduce himself.
David Phillips said he is from the New World Symphony. He said that this particular component
that is being funded by the G.O. Bond is about half of a multi-faceted project that they are
working on to upgrade their infrastructure. They have already invested $2 million in buying new
cameras and $250,000 in buying projectors. The G.O. Bond is funding the connection of
infrastructure, which will connect the cameras. The total for that component is about $3.8, which
is 85% of the total cost. This has been planned for several years and they are signing contracts.
That component will be done by the end of September. They are looking at expanding the
bathrooms, but they understand that there is another process in the City that they need to go
through for that. The storage component referenced in the spreadsheet is intended for storage
for the park’s needs, such as extra garbage cans, lawnmowers, and trimmers, but this storage
may not be a true need.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if anyone had any questions for David Phillips.
Jason Greene asked if the $3.8 million has already been specked out and ready to be procured
and if it is being procured through the City.
David Phillips said it is being specked out as they speak a nd hope to have everything finalized by
the middle of April.
Jason Greene said that the $700,000 is for the restroom/storage facility which sounds like there
are still some questions on location and need. He asked if it is possible to move some of the
money around.
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John Woodruff said they should have netted the $700,000 out of the quick win part, but that they
would still want it in tranche 1.
Maria Hernandez said she will net out the $700,000 from quick wins.
VII. Next Steps
Chair Karen Rivo mentioned that it is 7:47 pm and instead of starting a new project, she was going
to open the floor for questions from the public.
A gentleman from the public talked about his area, which is on West 62 nd street. He mentioned
that he is very impressed with what the City has started to do and that they attended the meeting
on the basis of Public Safety, due to a number of cars that speed through that street. He also is
interested in the map that Roy Coley is going to provide because they have been notified of the
street raising but they have no idea where the project is at.
Chair Karen Rivo asked if anyone would like to address the gentleman’s statement.
Eric Carpenter responded saying they spent a long time talking about that particular discussion
but that that area is incorporated in the La Gorce project, which was put to bid.
The gentleman from the public said he remembers having the surveyors for months.
Eric Carpenter said that was the first project put into the reassessment with Jacobs Engineering
Group. Jacobs Engineering is going to come back and make recommendations on who has the
greatest needs and where does it prioritize on different factors. He st ated that this is a to be
continued discussion, but he appreciates the resident for coming out and getting engaged.
The gentleman from the public said he has been lead to believe in several different ways, but
that he follows the infrastructure project very closely and he will continue to follow this project
very closely. He said he sees no movement and understands the timing issues between getting
the infrastructure done and the above ground stuff done, but that they need some safety on that
street.
Chief Oates said he might be able to do something about the speeding so they should talk after
the meeting.
Chair Karen Rivo said she appreciates the public and they should come back.
Marie Peter said that everyone has done a terrific job and that it will be much easier as they move
along.
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Chair Karen Rivo complimented the staff. She said that as members of the Committee they want
to feel really good and asked what success means to them. She spoke about looking ahead in a
couple of years and seeing these projects active. She told the Committee that they will be
together a lot and to keep thinking because they are evolving. She said that once they approve
tranche 1, they will take on oversight and ask the staff to be accountable for the budget and the
timelines.
VIII. Adjournment
Chair Karen Rivo asked if there was a motion to adjourn.
Members of the Committee motioned to adjourn at 8 pm.