Meeting Minutes 1.23.20
General Note: These meeting minutes are condensed and seek to capture the overall intent of discussions
as interpreted by the meeting coordinator. Each paragraph indicates the time on the audio recording
where the discussion commenced during the meeting. For more detail on the discussion, please refer to
the audio recording in its entirety.
G.O. Bond Oversight Committee
Meeting Minutes No. 13
January 23, 2020
Page 2 of 7
I. Introductions
1:40 Chair Karen Rivo called the meeting to order and had everyone introduce themselves. She
reminded the public that there is time set aside for two different public Q&As.
II. Committee Business
4:16 Chair Karen Rivo explained the changes in the committee’s composition. Yechiel Ciment has
been appointed to another committee and the Mayor will be appointing another representative
to fill his space. Jack Glottmann, Wendy Squire, and Marie Peter have all been reappointed.
5:00 Sean Smith explained that he is still waiting to be reappointed because the Parks Committee
tabled the vote, but that he is still considered a member.
5:11 Chair Karen Rivo said that Max Litt has been appointed to another committee and his
position will need to be filled.
Adoption of Meeting Minutes
5:54 Chair Karen Rivo asked for a motion to approve the minutes from December 19 meeting.
Motion:
6:06 Marie Peter made a motion to approve the minutes. Jack Glottmann seconded the motion.
Motion was approved.
I.G. Fee Ordinance Adoption
7:10 John Woodruff explained that the fee is designed to help fund the Inspector General’s Office.
Following First Reading in December, City Staff further analyzed the methodology. One change is
instead of a 1.5% fee on projects, it is going to go down to a 0.5% fee. There will also be a $50,000
fee cap on each project. The ordinance was approved at Second Reading and will go into effect
in April.
9:58 Jason Greene asked if the final ordinance ended up exempting some of the items the
Oversight Committee had discussed.
10:15 John Woodruff explained that there weren’t any exemptions in this ordinance but there
were in the Art in Public Places Ordinance.
III. Communications Update
10:15 Allison Novack informed the Committee that the G.O. Bond had a section in the Fall 2020
Miami Beach Magazine. The G.O. Bond Team started our “Road Show” at Miami Beach
Neighborhood Association where the Team updated the residents on projects. The Team also
went to Miami Beach United and Belle Isle Resident Association and did a presentation on the
website and dashboard. The Team received great feedback from the presentations. On February
5th the Office of Marketing and Communications will be hosting an open house at the Commission
Chambers, which invites the HOAs to come to City Hall.
G.O. Bond Oversight Committee
Meeting Minutes No. 13
January 23, 2020
Page 3 of 7
13:55 Jack Glottmann asked how long the presentation is.
13:58 Allison Novack said about 15 minutes, but it can be tailored to what the Associations want.
14:14 Jack Glottmann explained that the Lake View Homeowners Association has a meeting on
February 19th, and that it would be great if the Team could come and present.
14:54 Jason Greene asked Allison Novack if she can send an email to him of when the West
Avenue Neighborhood Association meeting is so he can try to attend to represent the Committee.
Discussion continued.
IV. Public Q & A
21:19 Robert Rabinowitz asked Allison Novack what the difference is between the “Road Show”
and the open house hosted by the Marketing and Communications Department.
21:38 Allison Novack explained that the open house is a quarterly event that the Marketing and
Communications Department hosts, where they invite multiple City staff to speak.
23:05 Maria Hernandez explained that the G.O. Bond Team focuses on showing the dashboard
and how it works at the “Road Shows”. She believes the open house might give more granular
information on specific projects.
26:15 Yechiel Ciment expressed that any frustration residents might have is due to
misinformation, so any opportunity, such as the “Road Show”, to smooth things out goes a long
way.
Committee Membership Rules
27:42 Chair Karen Rivo explained that Jason Jacobson was present to speak on the issue raised
at the last committee meeting regarding ex-officios not being able to vote on motions.
27:49 Ron Starkman explained that he received an answer from Raul Aguila where there are
exceptions.
28:07 Jason Jacobson said that City Ordinance 2-23 explains a prohibition on being on more than
one board or committee, but as Ron Starkman said, there are exceptions.
V. Program General Status & Financial Update
(Refer to January 23, 2020 Meeting Package on the G.O. Bond website.)
28:52 Maria Hernandez explained that the Program General status chart is a little different
compared to the past ones because as time passes Staff either adds sub-projects or changes the
number of sub-projects. She explained that the bottom chart shows that there are 115
subprojects, where 56 are either active or complete. She explained that the information on the
chart comes from the dashboard.
G.O. Bond Oversight Committee
Meeting Minutes No. 13
January 23, 2020
Page 4 of 7
33:15 Maria Hernandez mentioned that the committee also received a financial report from
Munis in their meeting package. She explained that the information on the financial report ties
to the dashboard.
Discussion continued.
VI. Quick Win Projects / Update
(Refer to January 23, 2020 Meeting Package on the G.O. Bond website.)
36:15 Maria Hernandez referred to the Quick Wins Gantt chart, where Staff shrank all of the
completed projects in order to focus on the active ones. Every Quick Win project is tracking to be
completed by June except the Beachwalk which continues on until early 2021.
VII. Major Tranche 1 Projects Update
(Refer to January 23, 2020 Meeting Package on the G.O. Bond website.)
#45 Fire Station #1
37:11 David Martinez explained that at the last Commission Meeting the Commission awarded a
Construction Manager-at-Risk contract to Kaufman Lynn Construction and Staff are now working
with Procurement on contract execution. Staff is still on track; doing a feasibility study and
looking at draft layouts, trying to figure out how to fit all of the asks.
38:14 Marie Peter asked how long the contract is for, and how long will the feasibility study take.
38:17 David Martinez explained that the feasibility study is being done to be able to get on the
Historic Preservation Board (HPB) agenda.
39:05 Jack Glottmann asked at what point will you be able to show a conceptual plan or
rendering.
39:12 David Martinez said that he believes he can show a site layout at next month’s committee
meeting.
40:18 Chair Karen Rivo asked about the disposition of the tenants.
40:27 Maria Hernandez explained that City Staff does not have any information at this time. The
next step is to take the existing Fire Station #1 to the Neighborhood & Quality of Life Committee
and Finance & Economic Resiliency Committee in March. Staff needs to make sure the
committees agree to give us the funding in order to renovate the existing fire station in order to
move the services from the South Shore Community Center into there.
#1 72nd ST. Community Complex
41:44 David Martinez explained that City Staff is proceeding with preparing the design criteria
package. Staff received the first draft and was reviewed by different departments, where
everyone provided feedback. The feedback went back to the design criteria professional and they
G.O. Bond Oversight Committee
Meeting Minutes No. 13
January 23, 2020
Page 5 of 7
owe us a cleaned-up version on the first draft by January 31, which will then be redistributed to
departments. The intent is to go to Commission in March to request to put out an RFP for the
design builder.
43:12 Laura Veitia asked when will Staff be able to review the design criteria package.
43:17 David Martinez said he believes once they receive the next draft. They don’t want to send
out a draft that is still too preliminary.
45:00 Yechiel Ciment expressed the importance of sending out the design criteria package once
it’s ready.
#23 Pedestrian Bridge
46:23 Eric Carpenter explained that there was a First Reading at the January Commission Meeting
and there are plans for a Second Reading of an amendment of the development agreement with
500 Alton, which would make the development team cover 100% of the costs over and above
the City’s maximum contribution, which currently is at $9.6 million. He believes that is significant
progress in the right direction if it happens. The developer has shown renderings and the
Commission will be approving concurrently the more finite concept of what that bridge will look
like.
Discussion continued.
49:15 Eric Carpenter explained that the amendment of the development agreement allows for
the Pedestrian Bridge to be built in a more reasonable timetable, which is 540 days from the
execution of the development agreement.
Discussion continued.
52:48 Marie Peter asked Eric Carpenter how City Staff are doing with the FDOT permits.
52:54 Eric Carpenter said Staff submitted the forms, but Staff have been making significant
changes. The revisions that they have been working on were supposed to be finished by the end
of last week. Staff is going to have to resubmit because of the modifications.
Discussion continued.
56:45 Marie Peter commended the City with doing an amazing job on the amendment.
57:18 Eric Carpenter explained the amendment to the development agreement, which would
settle an outstanding legal matter that Staff have between the City and the developer. The City
Attorney’s Office and Rafael Paz have done an excellent job, along with Tom Mooney and our
Planning Department, of working through some additional securities on both the park and bridge.
Explanation continued.
G.O. Bond Oversight Committee
Meeting Minutes No. 13
January 23, 2020
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#15 Bayshore Park
1:02:18 David Martinez reminded the Committee that the consultants were wrestling on the
issues with the lake and the contamination. Since then, the consultants have agreed on what
they wanted to measure, which required some additional testing. They have collected the data
and will convene again to come up with their methodology of how they are going to measure this
plume of water that is below ground. They expect to have all of that squared away by the end of
January to be able to present it to DERM. If all goes well, City Staff should expect to start the
Procurement process either late summer or early fall.
Discussion continued.
#10 Maurice Gibb
1:09:56 David Martinez explained that there is contamination at this park, but it is being handled
appropriately. The constraint is that they are doing significant work on the water so it has to go
through an Army Corp. of Engineers permit, which can take several months. Staff is projecting,
based on some feedback, that they are going to start the Procurement process either late
summer or early fall, if everything goes well with the Army Corp.
#40 41 St. Corridor
1:11:58 Amy Mehu explained that City Staff have engaged AECOM. Staff has received a scope of
services from them, which Staff sent back to them to revise. They will be developing a project
prioritization timeline with associated costs and will be looking at the feasibility for the Gehl
Studio’s recommendations. They will also be engaging with internal and external stalk holders
throughout the whole process and are anticipating a couple of months for their turnaround.
1:13:35 Yechiel Ciment expressed that there is a lot of frustration from the 41 St. Committee due
to there being a lot of different and conflicting plans for 41 St. Corridor. He explained that there
needs to be a better coordination between all relevant stakeholders to make sure everyone is on
the same page and to try to allocate funds sooner in order to impact the area quicker.
1:14:43 Maria Hernandez explained that 41 St. is a four tranche project. There is a million dollars
in each of the first two tranches and then $6 million in each of the other two tranches. The
original anticipation of this was that design and planning would happen in the first two tranches
and then heavy construction would start in the back tranches, which is all subject to Commission
approval.
Discussion continued.
1:24:12 Amy Mehu explained that City Staff is expecting AECOM to come to their March 41 St.
Committee meeting to better explain to the residents what they’re doing.
G.O. Bond Oversight Committee
Meeting Minutes No. 13
January 23, 2020
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#8 Lummus Park
1:26:03 Barbara Hernandez explained that City Staff is currently working on the RFQ for the
design. Hopefully this project will go the March Commission Meeting to go out to bid. This project
will take about 2 years to complete.
#9 Marjory Stoneman Douglas
1:28:56 Barbara Hernandez explained that City Staff have been working with South of Fifth
Neighborhood Association (SOFNA), specifically Frank Del Vecchio. Staff are trying to get a
working group together to do a vision workshop sometime in early February.
1:29:50 Marie Peter stated that Frank Del Vecchio has been asked to provide the history of the
park to create something educational. The South of Fifth neighborhood (SOFNA) has become a
very young neighborhood so SOFNA will be working with Barbara Hernandez to bring to her
young people that are interested in the playground.
#13 North Shore Jogging Path & Baseball Fields
1:34:00 David Martinez explained that in order to construct the baseball fields, Staff must remove
the parking lot that services the park. The idea was to always find a replacement parking lot,
which was ideally the parking garage at the 72nd St. Community Complex. The plan is that once
Staff breaks ground at 72nd St. they will begin to work on the designs on the jogging path and
baseball fields at North Shore, unless some other parking solution surfaces.
1:35:10 Chair Karen Rivo asked Sean Smith if the community is aware.
1:35:15 Sean Smith explained that the Parks & Recreation Committee has been aware, and they
continue to look for active fields in the City.
Discussion continued.
VIII. Public Q&A
1:41:05 Brian Keane from the West Avenue Neighborhood Association asked when a new
rendering of the Pedestrian Bridge would be available.
1:41:48 Eric Carpenter explained that there were renderings in the presentation given at the
January 15th Commission Meeting as part of that agenda item.
1:42:18 Robert Rabinowitz asked if the funding for the tree lighting for the 41 St. Corridor project
is separate from the G.O. Bond funds.
1:42:36 Maria Hernandez said yes.
IX. Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned.