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Meeting Minutes_06-17-21 General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee City of Miami Beach MEETING MINUTES No. 28 June 17, 2021 Members in Attendance Via Zoom: Karen Rivo, Chair Sean Smith Carmen Browne Jason Koslowe Scott Needelman Laura Veitia Francisco Diez-Rivas Bryan Rosenfeld John Bowes Jack Glottmann Absent: Jason Greene, Vice-Chair Staff and Guests Attendance: Maria Hernandez, Liaison John Woodruff, GOB Working Group Eric Carpenter, GOB Working Group Devin Ramirez Thais Vieira Allison Novack David Martinez Rudy de la Torre Lily Alvarez Vanessa Vazquez Elizabeth Wheaton Lauren Firtel Liz Estevez Frank Garcia Roland Aragunde Michael Festa Alex Denis Jason Jacobson Maria Cerna Tameka Otto Stewart Eric Garcia Rickelle Williams Jose Gonzalez Jani Singer David McKinney Robert Rabinowitz Meeting Start Time: 4:30 pm General Notes: 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. All current and past meeting materials including agendas, handouts, minutes, presentations, and audio recordings are available by visiting: www.GOMBInfo.com/OversightCommittee/Meeting Records. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 28 June 17, 2021 Page 2 of 8 I. Roll Call and Introductions (Refer to the Meeting Audio Recording 6.17.21 on the G.O. Bond Website.) 2:32 Chair Karen Rivo called the meeting to order. Roll call was completed. 4:24 Chair Karen Rivo reported that, with Staff’s recommendation, the July G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting is canceled. The next Committee Meeting is September 23rd. II. Committee Business Adoption of Meeting Minutes from 05-20-21 5:29 Chair Karen Rivo requested a motion to approve the May 20th meeting minutes. Motion: 5:35 Carmen Browne made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. 5:42 Francisco Diez-Rivas seconded the motion. Motion passed. Motions Log (New Document) (Refer to pages 2-6 on the Agenda & Handout Packet on the G.O. Bond website.) Motions Log 6:10 Maria Hernandez reported that this new document was a recommendation from Chair Karen Rivo. It is a ‘living’ document that logs all the motions the Committee has made since the beginning of the G.O. Bond in early 2019. 7:53 Chair Karen Rivo asked if any of the Committee Members have feedback on the Motions Log document. 8:15 Jack Glottmann suggested a column that lists the project # that the motion relates to. 8:27 Maria Hernandez accepted Jack Glottmann’s suggestion. III. Community Outreach (Refer to pages 7-9 on the Agenda & Handout Packet on the G.O. Bond website.) 9:13 Allison Novack reported the items related to G.O. Bond Program Projects document found on pages 7-9. She informed the Committee Members that Staff has been waiting for approval to schedule a ribbon cutting for project #24 Middle Beach Beachwalk. She is working with the Mayor and Commission’s Office to schedule a ribbon cutting that works for everyone in July. Staff will also be planning a groundbreaking for project #12 North Beach Oceanside Park Beachwalk. She also mentioned the new blog post that is found on the G.O. Bond website, which discusses the security camera projects. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 28 June 17, 2021 Page 3 of 8 12:11 Maria Hernandez reported that there will be a Capital Budget Presentation tomorrow, on June 18th, that includes many projects. John Woodruff will be showing and discussing the G.O. Bond portion of tomorrow’s presentation to the Committee later today. IV. Program General Status, & Sub-Projects Update, Closed Projects (Refer to pages 10-21 on the Agenda & Handout Packet on the G.O. Bond website.) 13:51 Maria Hernandez reported the G.O. Bond Project List by Phase found on pages 10-12, which is the first time Staff is presenting this list with the newly added projects to tranche 1. The added projects are shown in red. There are 31 projects that are closed and 2 projects pending a closeout. There are 8 projects under construction, 22 projects in design, and 16 in planning. The total amount of projects and subprojects are 84, as compared to 74 before the revision was approved. She explained the Program Progress Update, found on pages 13-20, which shows a comparison of the original revised implementation plan compared to the current. She explained that the savings to date is the same as last month’s; there won’t be a change until more projects are closed. Some of the savings will be used for the Park projects, which John Woodruff will discuss during his presentation. 23:00 Jason Koslowe asked Maria Hernandez to expand on her comment regarding using some of the savings for Park projects. 23:08 Maria Hernandez explained that there is a savings of $1.9 million in the Park’s category. Staff might need about $1.2 million for #10 Maurice Gibb Park, but John Woodruff is going to explain where all the funding gaps are on the projects and what Staff’s strategy is to move forward. 24:20 David Martinez explained that Staff is seeking two different grants. One of the grants will allow the opportunity to return about $600,000 back to the savings. V. Public Comment 26:00 Chair Karen Rivo asked if anyone from the public would like to speak. 26:09 David McKinney advised that the Historic Preservation Board sent Staff a letter regarding the South Shore Community Center. He expressed that this Center is a national asset that deserves to be preserved intact. He asked that Staff consider other sites for Fire Station #1. VI. Capital Budget Update (Refer to pages 22-38 on the Agenda & Handout Packet on the G.O. Bond website.) 28:20 John Woodruff went through the FY 2022 Proposed Capital Budget General Obligation Bond presentation found on pages 22-38. The same presentation will be given to the Finance Economic and Resiliency Committee the next day. He further explained that Staff is seeing a dramatic impact on some of the City’s capital project costs due to construction cost increases. Contractors have no choice but to build high contingencies into their cost estimates to G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 28 June 17, 2021 Page 4 of 8 compensate for the cost increases. Page 27 illustrates the price comparisons for construction and selected construction materials between last year to this year. The G.O. Bond projects that are currently being impacted are 72nd St. Community Complex, Bayshore Park, Fire Station #1, Police Headquarters, and Maurice Gibb Park. The funding gaps can be found on page 28 of the Agenda & Handout Packet (Slide 7 of the presentation). Explanations are as follows: #1 72nd St Community Complex 31:32 John Woodruff reported that if funding was available for the 72nd St. Community Complex, the contract could be awarded by September 2021. The estimated shortfall range is $24.6 million to $49.1 million. Staff’s recommendation to close the gap is to use parking bonds to close the gap between the total parking cost and the $10.5 million already budgeted in the project. Staff also recommends funding the remaining portion of the project gap from the sale of city properties that may or may not include the current North Shore Library site. #10 Maurice Gibb Park 33:25 John Woodruff reported that Staff is hoping to award the contract for construction in December 2021. The estimated shortfall is $1.2 million. Staff is recommending applying $1.2 million of $1.5 million available of G.O. Bond park category savings through a FY 2021 Budget Amendment to keep the project moving. #15 Par 3/Bayshore Park 34:11 John Woodruff reported that originally this project had a shortfall of $6-7 million dollars, but David Martinez’s team has done an amazing job of value engineering this project while keeping all the important elements. The budget gap is now $1.9 million dollars, which is much more manageable. Staff recommends applying $1.5 million of savings from the Middle Beach Recreational Corridor 2 project available due to awarded grant funds through a FY 2021 Budget Amendment. Staff also recommends adding $400,000 of additional appropriation through the FY 2022 Capital Budget process from the Quality of Life – Mid Beach fund. #45 Fire Station #1 34:51 John Woodruff reported that this project is more of a “wait and see” situation. The contract is anticipated to be awarded in October 2022. The estimated shortfall is $6 to $10 million dollars. Hopefully, by Summer 2022, the costs of material will decrease by the time that the construction manager begins the bidding process. Staff’s recommendation is to use funds from the sale of five vacant parcels of land identified by Property Management and CBRE’s asset inventory study to fund the project gap. #48 Police Headquarters Facility 35:22 John Woodruff reported that since this is an internal project, Staff has a little bit more flexibility to review the scope. The contract is anticipated to be awarded in October 2021. Work is phased over time as funding is split between Tranches 1 and 2. The estimated shortfall is $4 to $5 million dollars. Staff’s recommendation is to review scope for potential changes and use Tranche 1 funding to complete short term elements and potentially supplement Tranche 2 funds in future years with additional funding. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 28 June 17, 2021 Page 5 of 8 36:11 John Woodruff discussed the capital project funding options found on pages 34 and 35 of the Agenda & Handout Packet (slides 13 and 14 of the presentation). 39:26 John Woodruff explained Staff’s next steps, which is found on pages 36 and 37 (slides 15 and 16) of the Agenda & Handout Packet. The Operating Budget Finance Meeting is on July 16th. Staff will follow up with departments to finalize budgets on July 23rd. The City Manager and the Office of Management & Budget will finalize the Proposed Budget in August and prepare for the two public hearings in September. 41:39 Carmen Browne thanked John Woodruff for the presentation. She advised that she is very interested in project #1 72nd St Community Complex. She asked when the negotiation process with Haskell will be complete. 42:31 John Woodruff explained that Staff has been working with Haskell on value engineering with the current scope, which will be presented to the City Commission. 43:20 David Martinez explained that Staff has come to terms on the scope changes with Haskell through value engineering and the City’s consultant is in full agreement as well. Haskell is now working on the revised pricing with the new reductions. A formal proposal shall be given to Staff from Haskell by the end of June. At this point, Staff will present the proposal to the City Commission. 45:00 Jack Glottmann asked why the range of the shortfall for project #1 72nd St Community Complex is so wide. 45:16 David Martinez explained that the broad dollar range is the face value of the project before any value engineering occurred. The $25 million dollars is a reasonable estimate of where Staff thinks we can land with the current value engineering exercises. Discussion continued. 50:32 Jack Glottmann asked if Staff would still negotiate with the runner up contractor if the final proposal is $25 million dollars and additional funds are provided. 51:09 David Martinez explained that the direction the Commission gave Staff is to negotiate with the top contractor. Staff was given the authority to move on to the runner up contractor if an agreement is not made between the City and Haskell. 52:53 Alex Denis explained that this process is dictated by Florida statue. The City can negotiate with Haskell up until the point that Staff decides that we can’t come to an agreement. If the City moves to the runner up, no more negotiations with Haskell can occur with this project. 54:14 Scott Needelman asked where Staff went wrong in estimating the budget for this project. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 28 June 17, 2021 Page 6 of 8 55:28 David Martinez explained that when the G.O. Bond process began in early 2018, all the departments created a list of projects that were either needed and/or wanted by the community for the project. These projects had rough numbers attached to them, and in some cases, the scope wasn’t well defined. Unfortunately, many of the budgets were reduced during the approval process, with the idea that there could be discussions in the future about additional sources of funding if required. Maria Hernandez elaborated further by explaining that there are cost escalations that happen over time, besides the escalation caused by the pandemic, and that is one of the reasons why the administration wanted to advance projects from future tranches to be able to increase buying power. Discussion continued. 59.29 Scott Needelman asked what happens when the budget gap is too great to overcome, if it is possible to scale down a project. 1:00:20 John Woodruff advised that it is not uncommon in GO Bond Programs all over the country for projects to be abandoned, to be changed in some way, or to be done in a much smaller scale, or phased. These are the kind of things that happen, especially at the back end of the programs. These decisions are made by the City Commission. There are no constraints by law, however it is very difficult to sell the public on the next GO Bond, if the City doesn’t live up to the commitments made in the prior program. 1:04:21 John Bowes advised that this project is an important project for the residents of North Beach. He expressed the importance of reducing the cost and still getting a decent project for the community to help the development needed in that area. He stated that he rather discuss how the City can get to the estimated budget instead of what elements to cut to get to the estimated budget. 1:06:35 Laura Veitia agreed with John Bowes that this project is a very important project for North Beach. Discussion continued. 1:11:22 Jason Koslowe asked what elements of project #15 Par 3/Bayshore Park were value engineered since Staff was able to bring the gap down to $1.9 million dollars, compared to the estimated shortfall of $6-$7 million dollars. 1:11:46 David Martinez explained that the large components of the project have remained unchanged. This project extends through a couple of budget cycles. Some of the elements that Staff is going to leave out include excess park furniture, lighting, and railings that can be added later. VII. Tranche 1 Projects Update (Refer to pages 40-47 on the Agenda & Handout Packet on the G.O. Bond website.) G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 28 June 17, 2021 Page 7 of 8 #45 Fire Station #1 1:14:43 Maria Hernandez reported to the Committee Members that they all received a letter from David McKinney. The letter was forwarded to the Historic Preservation Board (HPB). This letter is requesting that the South Shore Community Center and Fire Station #1 become designated contributing buildings. Debbie Tackett refreshed the HPB’s memory on what Staff’s position was regarding the South Shore Community Center at the June 15th HPB meeting. The HPB concluded that they would like for Staff to prepare applications for the reclassification of the two buildings. This item will go back to HPB at their September meeting. 1:17:18 David Martinez explained that Staff is still moving forward with the development of the fire station at the current selected site. Staff will be bringing a presentation of renderings to the G.O. Bond Oversight Committee in the future. 1:19:00 Jack Glottmann asked what the life expectancy of the current Fire Station #1 is and is it a risk to the residents. 1:19:33 Maria Hernandez responded that she believes it is more of a risk to the firefighters. She explained that this fire station is a top priority to get them the fire station that they need. 1:20:29 Chief Virgil Fernandez expressed that the building itself is falling apart. He noted that the City pays a lot of money to keep the existing building minimally functioning, when those funds could be used to help more of the other fire stations as well. Fortunately, Fire Station #3 is not in as bad condition as Fire Station #1. 1:22:51 Chair Karen Rivo expressed her belief that as an Oversight Committee, Members need to make sure that this project moves forward as fast as it can. #15 Par 3/Bayshore Park 1:24:46 David Martinez reported that Staff is still waiting to hear back from DERM before the end of June. Staff is in the process of submitting the final plans to the Building Department to begin the permit process. #10 Maurice Gibb Park 1:26:52 David Martinez reported that Staff is still waiting on the Army Core of Engineers and DERM’s final approval. #48 Police Headquarters Facility 1:27:37 Frank Garcia reported that the next milestone is 90% Construction Documents, which Staff is expecting by August 2nd, followed by 100% Construction Documents on August 27th. Tentatively, construction will be from December 6, 2021 to September 29th, 2022. #33 Tree Planting- Tranche 1 1:30:22 Elizabeth Wheaton reported on the map shown on page 47 of the Agenda & Handout Packet on the G.O. Bond website. The map was created to help show the completed reforestation efforts. Reforestation will continue in some areas such as Normandy Isle. The upcoming areas include Normandy Shores, especially the tennis center area, Pinetree Drive and La Gorce Drive. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 28 June 17, 2021 Page 8 of 8 There will be an extensive reforestation in the Middle Beach neighborhood, adding 400 trees. Floral trees are also going to be added by the pump station on 28th Street. Staff is working on defining the scope of the reforestation of the Middle Beach Beachwalk. 1:33:58 Scott Needelman asked Elizabeth Wheaton how the type of tree gets selected and the location get decided on. 1:34:25 Elizabeth Wheaton explained that the City has an Urban Forester that scopes out the neighborhood to see where existing utilities are, figures out what complications Staff might have, what is the look and feel of the canopy, and then works with home owners. VIII. Brief Updates (Refer to pages 48-50 on the Agenda & Handout Packet on the G.O. Bond website.) #40 41st St. Corridor Improvements 1:37:21 David Martinez reported that Staff is currently selecting the designer and proposals are expected back on June 28th. A committee will then convene to rank the designers, which will then be discussed with the City Manager. The City Manager will then go to the City Commission with her recommendation. Staff will be presenting an item at the June 23rd Commission Meeting and will be requesting authorization to put out the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the Construction Manager at Risk. #24 Middle Beach Beachwalk 1:38:59 David Martinez reported that Staff is still working on the 11 street ends and anticipating the completion of 3 of them during July. The remaining street ends will follow weeks after. #12 North Beach Oceanside Beachwalk 1:40:27 David Martinez reported that staff received the fully executed contract. Staff issued a Notice to Proceed (NTP) No. 1 to the contractor on June 14th, so they can begin their permitting process. Construction is anticipated to begin sometime in July and will be ongoing for 12 months. IX. Public Comment 1:41:23 Chair Karen Rivo asked if anyone from the public would like to speak. No one from the public spoke. 1:43:35 Maria Hernandez noted that the previously requested Project Challenges Tracker sheet found on page 39 of the Agenda & Handout Packet has been updated. This document is a live document that will be updated and reported regularly. X. Adjournment 1:49:00 Meeting was adjourned.